Review by Colin Phipps

The space station theme has never been that popular with Doom. Partly I suppose this is id's fault, for ditching half of Doom 1's tech textures from Doom 2, and undoubtably the fixed gravity and the presence of only two high-tech weapons has been a deterrent to many authors too. Not to mention the early attempts at space base levels for Doom, which either consisted of tacky Star Trek or Star Wars sound schemes and music, were bland one-texture gray or metal mazes, or refused to give you any weapon except the plasma rifle - the less said about them the better.

Hopefully the Vrack series will start a new trend. Especially in the early areas the level has a great hi-tech feel, with liberal use of features like computer panels, crates, and double door airlocks to make the architecture interesting. There's a good starry sky imported, and music taken from Descent too (the only part of Descent that I liked).

It's the gameplay that really makes this level though. The main areas are well equiped with a good mix of monsters; early on there are plenty of sargeants and imps, with a sprinkling of cacodemons to keep you busy. There are some good traps and more use of the heavier monsters later in the level. The generally wide spaces and well connected areas make it work well for coop as well, which is how I was playing it. There are some good secrets too.

You'd better hope you find a few of those secrets, because the level gets hard toward the end even with them. Just when you've got the exit in site there's a final twist, with two big traps and another major area to explore. We were pretty low on ammo towards the end, but managed to make it through.

Overall then, as I'm sure you'd already heard from better sources than this, it's a good level. Certainly the architecture is overshadowed by the rather grander VRACK 2, but you can't fault the gameplay of this one. Or maybe I'm just scared of the warning in the text file - Just remember that I know where you live... - you'll just have to find out for yourself.