I finally beat this on Hurt Me Plenty difficulty today with a drifting Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and it felt like a greater achievement than a lot of Ultra-Violence pwads I've beaten on PC over the past year.

It took me almost a year to beat this, and I don't think that was simply down to my insistence on pressing onwards with a controller instead of giving up and switching over to PC. The maps are huge, sprawling affairs that can sometimes take upwards of an hour to beat (if you know where you're going) and just about every switch-press or item pickup triggers a huge monster ambush, which adds up to a gruelling marathon search-and-destroy loop that often left me more exhausted than other infamously difficult wads like Sunlust and Plutonia that have the good graces to make a solid level last only a little longer than the average coffee break.

The grind is exacerbated by the insistence on theming all 20+ maps with the exact same texture pack and style guide, leading many levels to blur together into an unremarkable treadmill of glammed-up METAL1 and SUPPORT3. Despite being a community project with dozens of mappers in the credits, homogenous texturing strips many levels of their identity, and that's more of an issue to me than believing that the whole wad is a cohesive adventure through a single installation. Every level is impressively detailed and architected, but about halfway in I stopped being impressed with air vents and shipping containers and lifts with accurate mechanical details because the wad was offering me nothing else in between.

When things are good though, they are very very good. It's worth noting that this is a pwad that's fully compatible with the original DOOM2.EXE from 1994 - there's no additional coding tricks or source port wizardy or anything else of that nature enabling the sprawling space vistas and underwater adventures. Many sequences really highlight the genius of the Doom engine in ways that the game's original programmers and designers didn't even come close to realising - every enemy type is used in increasingly devious ways and paired up with other members of the bestiary to challenge the player into maximising use of their arsenal and the environment. It's an eye-opening example of what Doom II is truly capable of, and effectively demonstrates why people are still making maps for a game that launched on MS DOS almost 30 years ago. Cool!

Wow, talk about a major step back from the previous entry.

Story took some very odd directions to the point that I didn't really anything in particular when the credits rolled and the A-Trans system was cool at first glance, until I realized you only really use them to look for upgrades.

Overall, a very weird and, in some ways, unsatisfying way to cap off the Zero/ZX series.

While not as bad as "Keen Must Die" in my opinion, it is still a step down from the previous two in this trilogy. I don't know why, but for some reason the platforming on the slanted ledges are just so buggy in this entry. I do appreciate them adding another planet to this franchise to expand the lore, and the new enemies have fun and goofy designs. It's a shame the story for this was left off on a cliffhanger, but luckily a CK fan known as Ceilick created a whole new trilogy to finish the story. Episodes 7-9 I will review next.

So nice to finally beat this game from my childhood lol

This may partially be the nostalgia talking but The Simpsons: Hit and Run is still a surprisingly solid licensed game, especially considering The Simpsons' rather... mixed history with video games. The driving controls still feel pretty good for the most part, and it's very fun just to drive through the different hub worlds representing different areas of Springfield from the show - all complete with different setpieces from the show on top of little references and gags sprinkled around each world. This is really a game they could have easily phoned in as yet another mediocre Simpsons licensed title, but with how the game's world is set up really just feels like a complete tribute to the show up to that point, and as a big fan of the show itself, it's fun just seeing all the little gags and reference especially now that I'm older and have watched the first ten seasons multiple times at this point. Plus I also like how each chapter lets you play a different character from the Simpsons - which includes the titular family themselves but also Apu for one chapter, which was a little bit out of left field but kinda cool at the same time for giving a more 'supporting' character some time in the spotlight. Not to mention that, even outside of the main missions, there's a pretty damn good amount of replay value for those who just want to explore the different hub worlds through different cars you can collect, street races with various characters, different outfits for each character (which correspond to certain episodes of the TV show), and the Buzz Cola cards to collect. It all comes together to make the city of Springfield come to life so to speak in a GTA-styled video game with a lot for the player to interact with.

If there's anything that drags down the experience a bit for me though it's definitely just how annoying some of the later missions can be if I'm being honest. I really feel like a lot of it just comes to, more than anything else, the time limits given to do some tasks feel way too tight and essentially require you to go out of your way to traverse almost every shortcut possible to even have a chance at beating the mission. Plus, I said earlier that that driving feels good for the most part, and the reason why I say that is because some of the vehicles in this game just do not feel good to drive at all (either being way too being slippery or way too slow and stiff) - and unfortunately you're basically forced to use some of these for certain missions. The biggest example of this is Abe's WWII vehicle being forced on you for the last mission in the game and boy all I can say is that it's probably the worst car that they could've forced on you with how slippery it is while you're trying to be careful and not hit anything so the toxic waste container doesn't go flying.

But yeah, The Simpsons: Hit and Run probably won't blow anyone who didn't already grow up with it away, but all things considered, I still think it's a rather solid licensed title overall. Also the best GTA game I've played.

Speed of Doom is probably the most conflicted I've been on a Doom megawad, and the reason why is abundantly obvious to me. The essence of this megawad is its unique synthesis of classical inspirations with forward-thinking originality. It is a game of balances, and nowhere is that clearer than its authorship. Speed of Doom features the work of two mappers, Joshy and Darkwave, who split the 32 map load into an even 16 each. The game continuously alternates between each mapper, with Joshy handling the odd-numbered maps and Darkwave handling the even-numbered maps (with the exception of the two secret maps).
There's no nice way to say this, so I'll be blunt. If this mapset were entirely Darkwave's work, I'd be inclined to bump it up a point. If it were entirely Joshy's, I'd be inclined to bump it down one. On the whole, I find Darkwave to be a much more engaging and fair mapmaker than Joshy. Darkwave's work fluctuates between pensive and explosive, atmospheric and dramatic. There is a strong sense of momentum in each of Darkwave's maps, which makes them highly rewarding to pistol start.
Joshy, on the other hand, has a frustrating penchant for cramped spaces and awkward weapon progression from pistol start. Speaking of pistol start, I should probably mention that I beat every map pistol start with the exception of one: Poison Ivy II. This map is everything wrong with Joshy's style in a nutshell. I beat it, of course, but only after a swift "get weapons" input into the console. Now, all of this is not to say that I think Joshy's maps are all bad. In fact, there are few that I quite enjoy. But the simple matter is that I find his maps generally much less engaging than Darkwave's.
Speed of Doom's back and forth between its two co-authors is what defines its unique progression, but the difference in quality between its two co-authors' styles is ultimately what keeps me from calling it a new favorite. It's absolutely worth playing for any classic Doom fan, just know that, for some, Joshy's style might be a more acquired taste than Darkwave's. Then again, who's to say the opposite isn't also true?

Let me get the gripes out of the way before I gush, because they're bothersome enough that I feel like they're worth mentioning.

-- I'm not a fan of tying the Horizontal and Vertical Dash upgrades to the same button, because it's very easy to accidentally tilt slightly up while in movement and V-Dash when you totally meant to H-Dash, and consequently end up falling flat on your face or eating boss damage like it's candy. Maybe that's a controller-only issue, I don't know. I just know it happened to me enough times that it was significantly noticeable.

-- Despite the game sometimes holding your hand about the general idea of where to go, there are some subsections of the station that can be a bit of a pain to navigate or to be certain where you need to go to get there. Hard to really complain here, since I love exploration, but if I know I'm in the right area and I'm still having trouble figuring out how to progress, maybe the pathing could be a little better.

-- Putting a kill-plane right below a boss for an area you're expected to drop down to is just garbo. Especially if you haven't gotten the "Cheat My Face Off" power-up to make your movement nice and easy.

-- The woodland biome had a couple branches that felt like actual ledges when they weren't. Minor frustration, but it happened enough times that I felt like noting it.

With that out of the way, let's talk about why this game is some solid gold.

The boss design is pretty good in most cases (assuming you're playing on Normal -- on Easy, you can probably tank most of the bosses in a run without much grief). There's some optional bosses in the main game that will also be more than happy to take you to task if you can reach them.

Power-ups feel significant and it's very easy to see how they impact your movement through the world. The hookshot is a little cumbersome at first, but once you get a handle on your angles, it's amazing fun to just launch yourself into the air off a well-timed use of it. The game also does an excellent job of really getting you used to using these abilities, because you'll absolutely need them by the end of the game.

General world design is clever, with lots of hidden passages for you to wander into -- some are obvious, some are not, and some will leave you scratching your head as to what the point of them is, at first.

And that leads us to where the real shine of this game is -- the postgame. The postgame asks you to beat those main game optional bosses and make sure you've got all the power-ups you need, then gives you the opportunity to use them to navigate some hellish area designs that result in even more optional boss encounters and several additional endings. Clues are scattered all over the station while you're playing the main game -- veritable hints to let you know that something more significant is going on. Frankly, I'd recommend a guide for the postgame because it's just that overwhelming of a level of exploration.

Beyond that, the music's pleasant, the graphics are rough but work well enough that you're largely able to appreciate everything that's going on without having to squint to figure out what's what in a retro-looking game.

In short, the game has a few drawbacks that keep it from being in my personal pantheon of the best of Metroidvanias, but if you're looking for a solid one, it's well worth it to pick this up at full price -- a whopping eight bucks. You could always keep an eye out for a sale, though -- as I write this, the Steam Winter Sale is going on and the game has been discounted 60%, down to $3.19 USD. If you're a fan of Metroidvanias, do this dev a solid and support them because they definitely earned it with ESA.

Very well made when it comes to presentation and content but this game doesn't respect it's players time. The basic level design is more difficult than doing 100% completion of the entire original trilogy. Completely mean and sadistic level design. The new characters are fun and interesting to play as but it adds insult to injury when after beating their segments of a level you end up repeating the rest of the previous crash level you just struggled with. I refuse to ever 100% this game, the bonus requisites are way too high.

Excellent Cacoward winning gameplay mod with a crisp HUD, clever enemies and awesome weapons.
The most recent version is 0.2a, and the author has not updated it in many years but it is very playable and fun and to this day remains one of the best gameplay mods around IMO.

Side note:
I made an add-on for this mod some year ago.
It adds more monster types consistent with the ones in Project MSX:
https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?p=701153

It's...fine?

Exploration is sometimes fun because there's a lot of secrets to discover, especially if you're willing to just pay attention and also in respect to powers you acquire later for when you start backtracking in the world.

Platforming is fine sometimes, and other times it's a chore because some terrain blends in with the background or some areas are just a pain to go back through. You get to the end of a path, acquire something, and assuming you don't want to come back and get it again, you've got to get back to a save point and that can mean a lot of precision platforming that might be harder on the way back than it was getting there. Not terrible, but not exactly fun times.

Bosses are extremely underwhelming, despite being these huge things that should be really fun. In most cases, they're 1, 2, or 3-trick ponies and as soon as you understand what those tricks are, you can sleepwalk your way through the fights.

As an example, there's a boss that will spit out these root-like things that will embed themselves in the ground and come up, hoping to contact you to do damage. They always show up at the same places and there's never more than three. The only other attack it has is to dash toward you and attempt to "eat you" (overlap and cause damage), and it will only do that if you're too close. You can quite literally stand next to one of the roots, charge up a spell, and leap up (so you don't hit a root) and shoot it over and over without ever having to break a sweat. And even if you hit a root, it'll simply spit another one back out to replace it!

A lot of bosses have that feel I mentioned above -- just take your time and be methodical and the fight will easily go your way.

Fast travel is limited and roughly evenly spread out throughout the game (once you've unlocked it), but if you're interested in checking out the optional areas of the game, there's going to be a substantial amount of extra footwork involved because there's only five warp points in total.

The soundtrack is fine -- my favorite track out of the whole game is the Sunken Temple, which is a completely optional area you can skip/miss out on, which is a shame...that track needed more love.

Equipment is a mixed bag that basically amounts to the same amount of functionality as your platforming abilities from the controls -- clunky, occasionally fun and useful, and largely uninspiring.

The game definitely wears its 8-bit homage on its sleeve, since there's obvious references to the NES era -- the SMB-like curtain drop for some story scenes, the House of Ruth and Summon Falcon spell that reference "8 Eyes" (the falcon's name is Citrus, even!), a relic that lets you jump on goomba-like things, some obvious LoZ references, and even a terrible TMNT-like swim section with electric seaweed.

From a nostalgia standpoint, it's a good time. Outside of nostalgia, though, it's just a game that's got so many features that have been handled better by other games that have come before and after it. Good effort, but it's not going to be getting any Christmas cards from me this year (or ever).