Ramp2025 Reviews Part X
What, they did another RAMP thing in 2025?! Golly!!!
Index of my Ramp2025 reviews on Google Docs.
Health Inspector by XelaDaHedgehog
A fun, quick level. Really nice, well-polished, fun, I was ready to play again right away. 4/5
Verdant Foundry by Gargoyle
An exceptional design, helping the player master a space as they progress and re-progress across the same space. It reminded me quite a bit of an arena from Metroid Prime (laudatory). The end fight can be very hectic. I think I might have liked it a bit more if the ending (beginning) arena was about 20 percent larger, but I did end up winning so perhaps it's just as well. 4.5/5
My Doom Shrank In The Wash by AnstheRam
I guffawed when the first level popped up, but it is clearly much more in depth than a simple joke level, so, taking it seriously as what it is, this is a complete redefinition of what the "space" of a Doom level is. With only the shareware monsters and levels, the lowly barrel becomes a huge tactical danger and asset again, the tiny halls are crammed full of monsters, so it's very easy to get yourself stuck and slogging it out down to very low health. The one thing that doesn't work are the pinkies. I think I came across a total of one that was an actual threat, because the halls were just too small for them to get through and even slightly brushing a wall made them have to turn around. I would either have somehow edited the pinkies to accommodate the new size, or started with pinky sized hallways and worked backwards from there. The end fight is so excellent, you know what's coming if you're a shareware era guy like me who played these levels over and over until you almost dropped out of college (ahem) but the challenge of beating the knight and baron in tight quarters is really excellent. All in all it's a thought-provoking experience. Wonderful. 4.5/5
Baron Culture by Psychedelic Eyeball
A few awkward texture placements that I happened across early on lowered my bar a bit, but I was completely won over by some incredible sequences (the yellow key, the big cavern fight). These elevated it dramatically. Still, the lava sequences were hit and miss. You really have to replay them to get through them properly with any chance of proceeding. And ending the level when the spider mastermind dies just lets the air out. I was gonna get killed by the cyberdemon when I won! Still an incredible achievement. 4/5
Operation Shellback by Virathas
It's always a bit of a gamble to try to make Doom into a military oorah objective complete shooter. The fanciful nature of Doom's weapons and enemies just don't lend themselves well to it. Doom is at its best when it's not very linear, where there's big open spaces that you can approach in many ways. In that respect, the big loop of this base sort of comes near what a Doom level should be. But the very awkward inertia of it kinda drags it down. 2.5/5
Life, the Universe and Everything by ConstantineDTW
Nice little map with a few arenas, excellent infighting opportunities and - always my favorite - an early exit option. 4/5
What's in Store by Vex
WOW, a gorgeous, traditional level layout and theme, highly detailed and entertaining, with a banger soundtrack and awesome fights. The only flaw is the cramped entrance to a couple of cramped fights; forcing you to handle them in exactly one way. If you have a cramped entrance, give a bit more room inside, and if you have a cramped room, give a bigger entrance. That way we can make a decision about whether to push or pull back. But this is incredible. 4.5/5
Engineering Area by DuckyCart
What a fucking blast of a map, the music is pumping, the balcony surrounding the level full of monsters always keeps you on your toes, the impressionistic size and shape of the rooms, and it gets out right at the right time. An instant classic. I played it immediately after finishing. 5/5
Techbase Infiltration by Jay
Probably the only good DooM stealth kill I've ever seen is the first chaingunner in the level. It should be studied in schools why this is the only good DooM stealth thing that's ever been done. The rest of the level is pretty all right too, and the music's terrific. 4/5
Fort Atop Mt Omen by GreyBeret
While it's highly polished and you feel like you've made a real journey, you can too easily get into a pinch if you miss too many shots or don't search assiduously for ammunition. I'm not going to say we should never have a door that only opens once you've killed all the monsters, but let's put a pause until we figure out what's going on. 3/5