Review by DrCrypt

My real acquaintance with this level is through a gigantic opus called "Tricks from the DOOM Programming Gurus". I found this book in my cut-out bin shopping at a local bookstore and it is probably the only such DOOM-editting related book that I have. You could kill a wharf rat by dropping this thing on it. I believe I bought it for two dollars, which was quite a bargain for the cd that it came with. However, the reading material is a bit shallower... essentially, except for a few original sections, the entire book is made up of the instruction documents for editors like Deu and Waded. Still, one of the original sections is "Best 5 Addons of All-Time" and, as I recalled, the DOOM incarnation of Trinity was placed among there. Why did I find this so memorable? Basically, because, as I recall, Stephen McCrea wrote the "Best Addon" list, and I remember finding it simply amazing that someone would have the arrogance to include one of their levels as one of the best DOOM levels ever made.

Personally, I don't think it counts among the top 50. But still, it is a good, amusing, and really nice looking level that is a jolly good time to play.

Everyone hates these University levels, generally made by schmuck sophmore computer geeks with too much time on their hand and no inherent originality or level designing ideas besides "Why Don't I design a level that looks exactly like a location I've seen every day for the last few years?" The University-Office Building phenomenon is disgusting and almost never carried off well. D2trinty is an exception to the rule. Not only does it play rather well, but it is also a really nice level to look at. The level is based on Trinity College in England (where I understand Colin attends university... perhaps he can give us some words on whether or not it is a faithful adaptation or not (Colin - the main outdoor areas are very close to the real thing; I believe he took pictures of the real thing to make the graphics). However, it is spruced up by many scanned in new textures that act as arches, walls, and doorways. One thing I really liked about the level, although it can be frustrating if you don't know what to look for, is that several doorways in the level are not doors that you open. Rather, they have a textured doorway on them that you can walk through. I rather like this idea, since it is very nice looking... on the other hand, it is only done on two doorways, and there are many walls textured with this graphic, meaning that everytime you see one of these graphics, you need to try to walk into it and see if you can go through it. If you are going to do something like this, you do it consistently, not haphazardly. Its a nice effect, but I can see it being very annoying if you can't figure out where to go next in the level.

For what the level is trying to accomplish, the architecture is nice, and it doesn't seem to have any texture misalignments. One problem I have is that the level seems to have a lot of pointless rooms. The way I feel is that about DOOM level design is this: there are two types of structures in DOOM, passages and rooms. Passages rooms, rooms are locations you need to get to in a map to accomplish something (whether flip a switch, pick up a new weapon or get a key). Where I'm going with this is that it is stupid to go into a room, shoot a few former humans, and then go back out, since the room doesn't lead anywhere. I understand that the makers of d2trinty were attempting to accurately translate Trinity College's architecture, but since other portions of the level are obviously not "faithfully translated" (ie: the subterranean level with walls of human flesh and a gigantic river of lava threading through it), why bother? It just makes the level boring and meandering.

Monster placement is good, weapons and ammo aren't overkilled, and the level is really pretty to look at. I have to mark it down some on general playability just because of the amount of pointless rooms in the level, which also marks down the architecture. However, it is a classic level, and well-worth playing. I need a new catch phrase to tell people to go get the level.