Enemy forces have compromised the space shield and have begun another assault on Earth, causing seismic disturbances and chemical contamination on various cities. Duke has been tasked to retrieve classified EDF documents and beware of a mirror production facility commandeered by aliens. What appeared as a rote invasion soon reveals something esoteric brewing beneath the surface.
Having lost an old childhood friend, Veddge visits their hometown for the funeral and later receives some old belongings. Amongst them is a floppy disk containing an unreleased DOOM project. Driven to complete this work as a tribute to their friend, countless nights were spent polishing the map and adding some modern amenities. Progress is made despite some strange occurrences during development, eventually the map started to form a life of its own and grew beyond the original concept.
Duke’s been ordered to travel to a southwestern canyon area in the USA, where there have been reports of EDF troops being fired upon by unknown assailants. Soon after arriving he finds signs of alien presence and what looks to have been a recent conflict, what’s going on here?
Wake up, take a leak and get some breakfast. Nothing out of the ordinary, it’s just a day like no other. This level guides you along a linear narrative presented using neat effects and rich design, starting off with an amusing introduction until something feels off…
As the captain of a cargo vessel, you are on a three month journey in charge of transporting dangerous aliens contained below deck. Before reaching its destination, you are awoken from cryosleep by the ship’s computer taking place at different times and presented with a new problem that only you can solve.
Like a love letter to QUAKE2 and named after an unofficial expansion pack, ZAERO takes all of its influences from the base game and designs a three level unit around ZDOOM features. Despite being labelled the first episode, two decades have gone by at the timing of writing and a sequel still hadn’t surfaced and therefore took interest revisiting one of the earliest wads I ever played to see how well it holds up.
Bored out of his mind after defeating the last alien invasion, Duke loiters around his motel room playing computer games and watching TV. An unexpected “Pizza Delivery!” with a gnarly growl soon turns into a failed assassination. Duke finds a note on the alien’s smoking corpse revealing they’re up to something else around these parts. Something… something… teleporter units. Better go check it out.
Alien forces have taken over “We Stor Your Crap” and someone needs to take them down to secure future enterprises! Duke is perfect for the job and accepts it without any complaints, any excuse to kick around some alien scum.
Duke has been taken captive and imprisoned by the aliens, now his only goal is to escape from his cell and find a way out the prison complex. Simple enough. Maybe blast a few aliens along the way for good measure! JAILBIRD is a classic oldie and was Page’s first release, which later received a small update on June 22nd 1997 under the title JAILBIRD2 making minor tweaks but is essentially the same level.
Recreations of levels from other games are a common staple across modding, either a nostalgic one to one replica or an undercooked transition. On occasions some of them do stand out from the crowd, such as this little curiosity I came across while browsing DoomWadStation. Created by the same author who released Crimson Canyon, the first level from DUKE3D has been reimagined within the constraints of DOOM’s engine.