Brutal Doom V20b early review news

Brutal doom, has had a very checkered history. And by checkered I mean the mod has had some major issues. And I am glad to say that mark4 has finnally fixed several of the main glaring bugs in the new release of brutal doom v20b. No longer can you quickly kill barons of hell, and even cyber demons with shotgun head shots. As well as some minor AI issues with allied space marines. Also he finally managed to get a very balanced and tight weapons system, where every weapon fits into a pretty specific role, sans the single barreled shotgun. The weapons feel satisfactorily punchy, and the new kick looks great. The dual wielding weapons is fun, as it channels Wolfenstien the New Orders weapons Overall the weapons are good, the gore is well..... still the gore, nothing much to say on that front.

Now onto the maps, oh the maps. The maps are awesome, they flow well and they are extremely fun to play, even though the difficulty is rather high. The early maps, do feel a lot like a horror game with the dark areas, and good pacing of enemies. The maps are highly re playable, and i recommend them to people who just like good, atmospheric doom levels, as using mark4s mod is not required to play the brutal v20b starter pack levels. As i don't really want to spoil too much the whole map pack, but here is a summary of some of the levels in the mod.

Maps 01-10, or episode 1 "hell on mars"

The levels are styled after the original episode of doom 1, and follow the story line of the original knee-deep in the dead. The maps contain several advanced gzdoom features such as dynamic lights and 3d floors.

Overall if i had to score this, i would give episode 1 a 9.5 out of 10, as mark 4 has a lot of texture issues on several levels in episode 1, but the level design is top grade.

Maps 11-20 or episode 2 "the Battle for Los Angeles"

These maps are really where the strength of the map pack shows. You go into some of the best city levels Ive ever seen. The massive battles in this episode do create a strong middle portion.

Overall if i had to score this, i would give episode 2 a 11 out of 10, as these levels are completely f@cking awesome. These levels are like playing more maps by John Romero.

Maps 21-30, or Episode 3 "Descent into Darkness"

These are some great hell maps, but after the great levels of episode two, the levels feel like a bit of a let down. The difficulty is getting extremely high and feel like battles of attrition. The architecture is good still. I recommend dropping the difficulty down to play this.

Overall if i had to score this, i would give episode 3 a 8.7 out of 10, as the levels are fun, but wear on your nerves after a while. It does feel hellish, and like a journey to kill the icon of sin.

The last thing I have to say is the wolfenstien level is one of the best Wolfendoom styled levels, only surpassed by tormentor 667s the blade of agony. Overall i think its something that you would not want to pass up, as even if you do not like mark4s brutal doom mod, the maps are completely compatible with other weapon mods and plain old standard doom game play. Final score 9.8 out of 10.

Till next time

Demo_the_doomer