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Torment & Torture 3

I might as well say it now, as you have probably already figured out that: This wad is awesome and it gets the "What A Wad Award"! There now you know it, now you are happy. Lets move on shall we.

The road to the price was not easy for this creation. I had serious doubts at times whether or not it was worthy. However, then I judged it for what it is: An indication that zDoom effects can make a Doom level come alive and, when used correctly, elevate the level into a higher creation! This is exactly what the author has done, and done it well too. However there are glitches in the smooth surface and there is no turning the back to the fact that if it was not for the extensive scripting, use of atmospheric sounds, fog, new monsters, cool music, slopes and new textures this level would be quite average. The clear downside to this level, as I see it, is the very linear and uninteresting layout of the levels. The progression involves entering a room, finding a switch and opening a door of sorts. It is varied of course, but the general feeling is that is all a bit boring and unexciting. This is where all the above mentioned effects come in and save the day and make it all better.

As mentioned there is a ton of new things and it has been used very well. Though I find the usage of textures a bit monotone. It varies from brown to black in the sense that they have not been merged very well. One room is overall brown, the next is black. The textures look fantastic and there is nothing wrong with either their alignments or placement. That is spot on! They just tend to divide the level into sections and adds to the feeling that you take one room at a time before moving on. And taking a room can be difficult as some new monsters lurk in the hallways and will do anything to stop you. There are cool black Imps that shoot a tracking yellow skull at you, Hellknights of a sort that caries shields to avoid your attacks and black Cacodemons that fly faster and shoot three fireballs instead of just one! All very worthy additions to the hellish forces and very fun to battle. Which does not get much better once you get hold of that awesome fire thrower! Too bad that the ammo balance is a little tight as there are basis for some fierce action here. One could also question the fact that at times when you hit a switch, a camera shows you a shot of what you have done and when you enter the game again there is an Arch Vile almost in front of you... too bad if you have got the wrong weapon as he will most likely fry your ass before you can say "I'm fucked!". Health is not exactly spread all over the place and punishments such as this can be a bit annoying. But hey, the surprise factor is high and you know he is there the next time you enter that room!

I could keep on and on praising this level's magnificent features and commenting its downsides, but it is such a complex creation that it would simply get too damn long this review. All I can say is that you gotta admire the amount of work that has gone into this creation and it is without a doubt the best of the TNT wads. Not a word about the final fight against those PESKY GOD DAMN.....*cut* Download it now and enjoy one solid zDoom experience!

Score: 90/100%

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