Ok, my plans for this month’s game reviews are in disarray. I’d planned to review the “WG Mega” (2021) mod for “Duke Nukem 3D” (1996) but got distracted from it after playing about three-quarters of it. Then I’d planned to write a “first impressions” article about the 2023 (?) demo version of Kai Morgan’s “PsychoDive” for today, but my anti-virus really did NOT like the game’s executable and insisted on blocking it for several hours whilst it sent it back to HQ for further analysis. Annoying!
So, it was time to fall back on the old option of just reviewing a “Doom II”/”Final Doom” WAD, even though I’d planned to wait a few more days. But I clicked the “random file” on the /idgames Archive a few times and ended up with a WAD from 1997 called “Guardian” by Darren Morris.
As usual, I used version 4.8.2 of the GZDoom source port but, given this WAD’s age, it’ll probably run with pretty much anything.
Anyway, let’s take a quick look at “Guardian”:
Usually, I include a screenshot of the very first moment of the level here but, due to gruesome background details, I decided to use a screenshot from a few seconds after starting the level here.
This is a short single-level “Vanilla” WAD (eg: no custom stuff) which takes up the sixth level slot in your “Doom II” or “Final Doom” IWAD. What this means is that you’ll have to start a new game and then type “IDCLEV06” to jump to this level.
Even to this very day, I STILL don’t understand why some WAD designers don’t just put single-levels in the “01” level slot. If someone just wants to play a new level for fun, they shouldn’t have re-play all or part of the main game just to get to it.
As for the level itself, it gives you the Super Shotgun pretty much instantly and you get to fight some pinky demons and imps. However, and I should have been used to this given how much “WG Mega” (2021?) I’ve played recently, you’ll quickly find yourself totally “stuck” after you begin the level. Of course, the key you need to progress is hidden in a secret area…
After this, the level is a reasonably fun – but relatively linear – level with a few “set piece” battles against various monsters. There’s an optional area with two Arch-Viles but you’re given invulnerability and a BFG, so it’s no real challenge.
Yes, just casually obliterating two Arch-Viles in a single blast is rather cool, and it’s good that the level includes this awesome monster, but don’t expect much of a challenge here…
There’s a Spider Mastermind fight, but ample cover and a couple of nearby Aranchotrons which can be used to set off monster infighting means that experienced players won’t find this part too challenging either. There’s a fun little set-piece near the exit and the standard textures are used in a suitable atmospheric way in some parts.
This is a fairly short level which I was able to breeze through in about ten minutes. Ok, I’m probably being too harsh on this level – I was in a mildly bad mood when I played it and it’s an older level from 1997, one where the modding community only had about three years of experience with “Doom II” at that point.
And, again, for a WAD of this vintage, some of the locations look fairly cool and – secret key aside – the level is reasonably fun.
Yes, this level is nothing special and players might find the hidden key near the beginning to be annoying but it is still a reasonably fun – if short, linear and “easy” by modern standards – level. It isn’t exactly a bad level and, for its time, it was probably considered better. So, this is a fairly neutral review I guess. It isn’t terrible but it isn’t mind-blowing either. If you just want a mindlessly fun ten-minute level and don’t mind a bit of secret-hunting, then this will probably do.
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get a three.
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