Review by Colin Phipps

The opening scene of this WAD is one of the most impressive that I have seen, with an excellent view of the dam (apparently modelled on the Hoover Dam). Despite the great complexity of this view, with the sloping canyon sides and the sweep of the river, the level wasn't particularly slow.

The level centres on the canyon, and you work your way around the sides, searching for tunnels/ledges to take you closer to the dam. The cliffs and caves are nicely done, giving a good impresssion of the canyon.

The action is generally good; I liked the way that imps and chaingunners were scattered around the canyon walls, and as you moved aroung the sides of the canyon different monsters would be firing at you. You can get down to the canyon floor and the river itself, and get back up via a teleport.

The caves and side areas branch off of the canyon, but never get too far away. Mostly these areas are small, and done OK (though nothing as good as the canyon itself). There is also a good pump room (complete with moving machinery), and a room where a chasm opens up behind you after you cross.

Some of these side areas are less good; there is a rather bland computer room, and some boring brown tunnels, with lots of demons one after another (in the days of Doom 1 these could at least be called shotgun practice, but with a super shotgun only a beginner could fail). There were a few minor texture misalignments near the exit, for no apparent reason.

The level come to a climax with a battle on top of the dam itself, in a furious fight against a wave of cacodemons - you have to fight fast and think fast too, making sure the cacos don't block the top of the dam and trap you at one end.

This level is an excellent modelling of a dam, with some good monster placement in the canyon; a slight pity the side areas can't match this, but they are still not bad.