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dawn of the undead - reviews

Geit-vd-plas in ZDaemon's Wad Reviews

un-death match time!

A horror themed deathmatch wad by Milian that has everything a horror wad needs. Lets see:
Creepy music - check
Darkness - check
Full moon - check (sometimes even two!)
Open graves on a graveyard - check
Thunder and lightning - check
Church - check
Meat hanging all over the place - check
horror themed skins - check
Guns?! - check!

So, sounds promising.. lets me skip through all the maps..

Map1 First map and a bit of a slow starter.
This is the smallest of all and the most simple one. It has a tower in the middle with a rocketlauncher plus stealth revenant on it and some supershotguns around it. Standard DM arena map with a twist of horror in it.

Map2 Again, a really creepy map.
There is this kinda like castle in this map, but not one of those medieval rock castles..
This castle seems still in use by some sinister figures with lit torches and hanging body parts in some sacrifice room, not a nice place to walk around in on your own.. But then, its awesome when not alone! This place suits death match perfectly, guns are in good balance and the horror details don’t bother you when it comes to game play. Okay, not a bad map, on to the next one.

Map3 Style wise, perfect… Gameplay wise, frustrating.
This map called “Home of the Undead” is really narrow in some places such as the passages when you are inside. Sometimes you only fit through when jumping or after bouncing against some wall. Only when you're outside can (and must) you run at full speed. When not running at full speed you’ll fall in some hole that used to be a grave…I wouldn’t play this map if you want a good 4 person match. Though its graveyard and vampire coffins are awesome.

Map4 Oh yes, one of my favourites.
A church where you feel hell is with you, isn’t that a good place to have a fight? This map is nice and big. It has a large room with a lot of standard church benches and an altar where Satan fanatics can chant their words, a small place outside where the gate is at, a smaller room with benches with some secret door, two balcony’s and some narrow hall ways. Good one.

Map5 City of the doomed.
It’s a well detailed spooky city with again, narrow ways and this time also small doors.. This could be fun but ain't everybody’s taste I’m afraid. This map is as the name explains and nothing much more to it. Nice looking map, but I’m afraid the detail does bother you when it comes to gameplay in this map.

Map6 A mansion with some dining rooms and books.
A bit more simple then the previous maps. It’s a small map with two hallways, you can get into several rooms from out the hallways, the hallways are connected to each other with a stairway. This aint a bad map, but when your getting used to the awesomeness of other levels from the wad, it is less satisfying.

Map7 A ship, less spooky and less detailed then the other maps but it sure is as good as the others.
It’s a large ship suited for a good fight. Again, weapons are in good balance. Good map when you just want to kill without looking to the map. Though there’s one thing that bothers me, there’s a door that opens near when I grab a med kit. There’s totally nothing behind it and it doesn’t have any effect on the rest of the map. Is it to scare me, or is it to release Klaas? Only Milian knows!


In summary, could have been a lot better. It’s a quality wad and it has a very nice atmosphere. The bad thing about this wad is that sometimes its so detailed and beautiful, the author didn’t mind game play an experienced mapper must know you shouldn’t make maps so tight for Deathmatch. In some maps, the horror details are just to much, you can’t move smooth and you blow yourself up when shooting shooting a rocket most of the time.

About the score - could have been a lot worse if the maps were overrun by undead people, it wouldn’t fit
7/10