| Doom Moon | |
| by Andres Gonzales | |
| iambobsushi’s Review | |
Before the masterpiece we know as DM II came to be, there was Doom Moon I: The Rescue. It was a first effort, obviously, but was very good for one. Andre Gonzales (arpadgon@caoba.entelnet.bo) showed his talent to for the first time with this, and as the prequel to Doom Moon II, it is almost a must-play. It’s also a good way to understand the author’s style if you get stuck in DM II (and who hasn’t?)
Like his second attempt, DM I is very well designed, has a pretty good plot, and is a lot of fun. None of these are incredible, but are a couple steps above just decent.
First, the plot. For the most part, it was very good, with a few moving scenes, like returning to the tower and finding it destroyed. At first it seem like a regular, “kill the cultists” style scenario, but it quickly becomes obvious that it is set apart from others. The trip to the depths of the Underworld is has been done in other scenarios, but I think this was one of the better attempts. When Hellscream is killed after that sequence, there is a certain feeling of terror and helplessness that I haven’t felt in too many other scenarios, besides Redemption when you find McNemier dead.
The design is good, to say the least, but not revolutionary. There are a few bugs here and there, but nothing fatal, and many nodes are used to their full potential here. The dungeon where the space to place the gems was shown by different clouds was a nice touch; there were many examples of little unique things like these.
Most importantly, the scenario was fun. It wasn’t especially difficult, except for the big Demon fight, and the final dungeon was well made, with the 3-part Sword key and all. Armageddon was a great ending, and suited the scenario well. Finally, having Amber as a party member made some parts a lot easier, and made the whole experience more enriching.
There were a few custom graphics put in, all pretty nice, especially the futuristic ones, which remain some of the few created. The spelling department the only one where the scenario died a horrible death. Errors abounded, and this dropped the scenario’s quality a lot.
Simply put, this is exactly what would be expected as Andre’s first effort. I give it an 8/10.
— iambobsushi