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dobu gabu maru

The DWmegawad Club plays: Unholy Realms & Zone 300 (simultaneously!)

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Unholy Realms Map04: UAC Courtyard

Here's the FDA I promised and here's a first-exit UV-Max in 3:45 because why not. The speedrunning trick that someone mentioned was used in the maxdemo and it shows what I imagine is the proper way to get the blursphere. Some terrible ammo management as I exit with about ten rockets left but I counted at least three SSG triple kills which are always satisfying to see haha.

Definitely enjoyed this map overall. Pretty chaotic actually with all the teleporter traps and whatnot and yeah, the hitscanners in the outside areas are used very well and are a legit threat. The inconsistent nukage damage bugged me as well though and the solid fences were a slight annoyance.

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UR Map03 - "Nukage Processing Zone": I think out of all the maps, this is the most easily forgotten one. It's a pretty straight-forward affair with a lot of texture variation which can honestly feel out of place (like the yellow tech tunnel), and other than some good uses of the chaingunners nothing feels striking about the combat... the ending features a nice use of "go hit a switch in nukage", although you can trigger the trap before taking the dive and clean house. It's definitely not a bad map, but on replay it lacks the shine that the other maps possess.

UR Map04 - "UAC Courtyard": Out of everything, I honestly think the chaingunner teleporting behind the player at the start is the most nasty, imbalanced part of the map. Since the player gets stopped by the first one they're automatically set up to get chewed by the second, and although it pushes them deeper into the map they release and anger more hitscanners as they do. There's a lot of health as a tell that this is the right action, but it still feels like it causes premature deaths, especially when you feel like there's nothing you could've done. I don't have DotW's fortuitous aptitude so I ate it about five times here.

Otherwise I like this map as a whole, taking the player through two separate halves lined with hell's forgotten. The trap of having you walk through a doorway just to teleport you backwards is a great one, and even if it isn't exactly realistic it's still a wonderful way to catch the player off-guard. Knox makes sure to fill the titular courtyard with a lot of opposition, and the fight for the SSG features a good trick too, which is sadly reduced to a joke with foreknowledge. I made this map a bit harder on myself as I forgot I picked up the RL, SGing my way through a lot of meaty enemies. Still, it's a fun one.

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Z300 Map03 - "The Alleyway": Similar to the previous Z300 map, this one primarily features some big trap oriented fights that aren’t too tricky to beat (well, the last one is bound to leave you a bit wounded). Don’t really have too much to say—I thought the first trap with all the pinkies was going to be pretty brutal but I forgot that I picked up a berserk pack.

Z300 Map04 - "Canyon Hub": Another fun map, I liked quite a few things here: the chaingunner reveal, the imps laying down fire from afar, use of Lost Souls to be a nuisance—hell, even the stand the yellow key is on is neat. Ran out of ammo at the end and while I thought about bursting the guts out of hell’s last noble with my fist, I took the coward's way out and ran.

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UR map 04
FDA

Very trappy map, although I somehow managed to survive the whole thing on the second attempt - first go killed me near the start. After a while you come to suspect every wall panel of opening suddenly and pouring monsters out. Some nasty moments, the teleport trap was naughty, also using non-damaging nukage at the start and damaging nukage later. The hell knight sandwich i thought would kill me but i managed to squeeze out of it. Cool stuff, I'm getting close to the point where I want to start saving already though so not sure how much longer I'll do these demo recordings.

300 map 04
FDA
This one had some nasty chaingunners who kept killing me, think maybe I wasn't taking things seriously enough at that point. Nice bit of outdoor free-range monster fighting after that.

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UR MAP04: UAC Courtyard

Difficulty gets ramped up here with a bunch of traps. Some are amusing yet easy (the teleport-back-into-the-same-room one), others are deadly (both the chaingunner and hell knight sandwich). The player doesn't get the SSG until late in the level, so lots of rockets are needed. I also like the "only go off after you went a certain way" traps, couldn't figure out how you would do them, but taking a look in the map editor clued me in. Clever.

That said, there are some things I didn't like. One was the texture selection in places, especially the lights - blue lights here, orange there, green here, but then red lights for something that requires the red key. Also, one spot uses a "grass" texture for an interior green wall, which was a bit weird (but not really a problem). I also didn't like how the sludge was non-harmful at the start but harmful later on. And dear god, those sudden pop-up enemies. I get why you used them (don't want the enemies in the courtyard cleared out beforehand for safety) but why not just use teleporters instead? 3/5

Demon of the Well said:
the music track....is it my imagination, or is it some kind of reworking of one of the tracks from Evilution (damned if I remember the name of the one I'm thinking of, though)?


Sounds to me like "Infinite" from MAP10/MAP18 of TNT.

Zone300 MAP04: Canyon Hub

And yet it's not actually a hub map, which is surprising knowing Pcorf's work. Heh. This one actually seems shorter than the others, somehow... first the start room, then another small building outside, and the canyon, and that's it. Not sure why... maybe just the large outdoor space? Good monster placement though. I really dig the middle part of this music track, though it seems a bit too epic/adventerous for a MAP04. :) 3/5

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The good news for everyone is that (if memory serves correct) Map04 is the last real abuser of pop-up monsters in this wad. I'll probably start doing something of a "mapper's log" in this thread to share my own thoughts on how things turned out if you don't mind. Think it'd be fun.

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Zone 300: Map 4 - UV, pistol start

This was another pretty good map, but not as good a the last one. There were a few nice secrets in the opening room, it took me awhile to figure out how to get that soul sphere. The chaingunner ambush almost killed me, but other than that this was another easy level. Of the new music tracks this is the first one that I've enjoyed so far.

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Magnusblitz said:

UR MAP04: UAC Courtyard
Sounds to me like "Infinite" from MAP10/MAP18 of TNT.


Basically what it was based off of. A song very similar in style, I liked the idea of using Square Leads as a sort of ambientish thing. x)

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Zone 300- Map 05
Well, that was bad.

The start is pure hitscanner roulette as far as how much damage you take, ammo is very tight through the first 2/3rds unless you find the secret Rocket Launcher, but there's no melee weapon that would make such a situation anything but an uninteresting "well, time to hope the RNG favors me today". The Revenant fight is actually defanged by the teleporters PCorf added; I don't see why he felt the need, given that two Revenants vs. a marine with an SSG is hardly an overbearingly difficult battle, even when done up-close and personal. Then, the end mass-hitscan battle only to punish anyone who wants to play even slightly aggressively.

Also, I have no idea why PCorf seems to think that a small number of nobles in an open area is a good fight. It isn't.

I guess the Lost Souls at the start were OK, although the shape of the start means that when they miss you, they fly off for ages towards the horizon. And there's too many random trees scattered about that do nothing but catch the player when he's strafing.

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UR Map 05 -- Slime Depository - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Hmm, this definitely feels less dangerous than the UAC Courtyard did. It also feels like it might be one of the oldest maps present in the set, or at least it feels a lot more basic/straightforward in layout than most of the others thus far. If you look at it on the automap, it's pretty clear that it's a map comprised mostly of arrow-straight corridors (albeit with a lot of sector-trim of various sorts around their edges) and a handful of small arena-boxes. At one point there's a switch in a yard that lowers a post that the red key is sitting on; you know this because the yard you're in is separated by a railing from the yard the key is in. This is about as complex/nuanced as the layout gets.

It looks alright, mostly. As in the Nukage Processing Zone before it, this 'Slime Depository' really only contains a small amount of slime, and it's mainly found right by the exit (at least it actually affects play this time)--for the most part this is more of the riveted green metal/computer theme from map 01, in fact this looks a lot like it might be an extension of that same facility, what with the dirt/machinery guts beneath its exterior. Speaking of that, I didn't really care for how squarish the dirt tunnels and the dirt mound the yellow key is on were, or for that strange green brick skylight lattice. The rest is fine, with my favorite bits being glowing CPU the forms the partition in the U-shaped hallway, and that metal pipe on the ceiling that subtly hints at the backpack/berserk secret. I did see a couple of visual errors: at the end of the hallway leading down to the red key yard there's a visible 'sound hole', and the texture above it is noticeably misaligned. Also, in the red key yard itself, the metal border around the upper edge of the building is noticeably cut-off right by where the key initially sits.

As I said earlier, on the action front this feels quite a lot simpler and less threatening than what was seen in map 04. I actually had an ammo issue very early on, but once I got down into the red key yard it cleared up and never returned, most of the rest of the map being flush with shells and especially bullets, a lot of which I didn't need, since I ended up using the berserk fist a lot (as a matter of choice rather than necessity, of course). A lot of the enemy placement is quite direct, and there are essentially no scenarios where the player is likely to be flanked or broadsided. There are still a few traps, mostly in the aforementioned arena-boxes, and mostly easily-handled. The best fight by FAR is the one in the little control room with mesh windows; a lot of bodies quickly end up occupying that tiny space, and the cacos firing in from outside add an extra layer of pressure. Nothing else here really compares....the yellow key guardians are primed for rocket-splash, and I didn't like the slime tunnel/exit trap much, just became a trifling chokepoint battle in short order. I guess I could have used the plasma rifle from one of the secrets to fight it out on the platform, but in truth I'd forgotten I even had it.

Well, it's not offensive or anything like that, but I'd absolutely say it's the weakest map I've seen thus far in Unholy Realms. Oh, and this time I'm pretty sure I heard some 'I Sawed the Demons' references in the BGM. Makes me wonder if some of the other tracks have had (or will have) nods like this that I simply didn't catch.

******

Z300 Map 05 -- Skybase 300 - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Can't say I really cared much for this one, either. The first two chaingunners are probably the most dangerous things in the map....I think that the western area, where the player follows an extensive perimeter walkway around some nukage vats, could've had potential if it had employed more/different monsters or used some of those closet traps that a recurring feature of Zone 300, but as it is it's just a few piddly weaklings and thus not a very exciting area. This map also ups the ante on Zone 300's apparent insistence on putting the exit switch in a narrow corridor and then stuffing said corridor with a glob of ineffectual hell-meat....I thought the whole point of a 300 lines map was to be short and sharp, what's the sense in so crassly trying to pad them out like this?

Of course, being a 300 lines map it's unlikely that it's going to have oodles of detail dripping from every surface, which is quite alright, but I'd say this one's pretty bland and grey and boxy any way you slice it. I am irrationally bothered by the shoddy/irregular alignment of the warning signs plastered on some of the inner walls of the nukage vats, as well. Shit, I didn't even like the BGM this time. Like I said, Zone 300 isn't exactly blowing me away, but this map's a cut below the others thus far.

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Demon of the Well said:

Oh, and this time I'm pretty sure I heard some 'I Sawed the Demons' references in the BGM. Makes me wonder if some of the other tracks have had (or will have) nods like this that I simply didn't catch.


Took me a sec to realize which part you were talking about. It was actually more inspired by White Zombie but I guess E2M1 is similar enough, hehe. I suppose you'll see later on what references are in there ;)

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Demon of the Well said:

I thought the whole point of a 300 lines map was to be short and sharp, what's the sense in so crassly trying to pad them out like this?

I think it's to make your life harder if you're trying to run from the next-to-last battle, although Viles or Revenants or a mass of Lost Souls or even a couple of Pain Elementals would certainly be a better choice.

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UR Map05 - "Slime Depository"
Well I didn't have any ammo issues here, but one trap left me raging, the mesh windows trap. My goodness it's near impossible to tack with just a boomstick, chaingun and berserk (if you found the secret), then even worse you can totally cheat the trap altogether. I mean there is a massive difference between almost instant death and going through the entire trap the cheating way without being hit???
The rest of the map was ok, I liked the rather chaingun heavy approach and the fun I have punching monsters, the map was very breezy after grabbing the rocket launcher and secret SSG.
Mixed feelings about this one.

Zone 300 Map05 - "Skybase 300"
This map is ok, it starts out pretty neat with the outside area posing a neat little threat, the central area has a lot of baddies and fills up nicely.
The walkway could have contained some tougher opposition but as a speedrunner I didn't mind ploughing through the weaklings with the chaingun. I disagree about the revenant trap, given how the player could easily run from this trap, I think it's a neat idea for them to teleport to the entrance door to reap sweet revenge on their cowardly victim :P
The exit room is terrible, end of story. Also the stone1/2 allignment!!!

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Unholy Realms MAP05 - "Slime Depository"

I think I've found a bug. I believe it IS bug. You can't open the southern red door from the other side.
http://i.imgur.com/2Il1Yh9.png
Anyway this map is another pleasure with everything so well crafted that you're just amazed, it all seems not that elaborated yet in fact very difficult to achieve to make such a map. Snakes knows how to use detail, even a lot of detail, so it doesn't detract from actual gameplay experience. Somehow this map was easier than the previous one, which I am however glad for. :) I like the non-exaggerated nonlinearity, the use of detail and light contrast, and certainly all the fights.

I found 0 secrets but I think I've discovered one of those "speedrunner's shortcuts" near the

Spoiler

end ;)

Zone 300 MAP05 - "Skybase 300"

I enjoyed this a lot, the most of all maps so far, I'd say. I admire how pcorf could afford so many interesting areas after the first lineeating staircase. All of the battles were well thought out, and nice visuals are present too. I specially like the half-outdoor part with nukage, because it looks great, giving a sense of large scale, while also lets me realize that it's pretty linedefs-cheap. That part pretty much could have appeared in 100-lines map and win the day. The first part is good too, I actually came to a conclusion that if the fight there was more hectic, it wouldn't have a positive effect on the map as a whole.

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Unholy Realms Map05: Slime Depository

UV-Max, first exit. Forgetting that one spectre was rather costly in the end, I thought I'd just kill it along with the YK-horde but the dumbass decided to teleport himself into the PG/armor secret before that.

I thought this was alright fun. Nothing very tough except for the BK-switch fight which is admittedly a bit dickish. It's fine by me though and I think it's a very bad decision to make it skippable by not stepping over the bar-triggering linedef, if it's even intended to be possible in the first place. Checked out that scifistas shortcut and yes, it's definitely a speedrunners trick possibility. I suck hard at gliding though so I'm not the one to demonstrate it :p Visually it's pretty good as well and there's some neat looking details like the slime tunnel near BK and the CPU hallway that DoTW mentions.

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MAP05 Slime Depository

Hey! It's the first music track from Reverie! Okay, maybe not, but it sure sounds like it!

*Regular Run*

I will say that this is the most fun level so far. Nice balance of enemies and secrets (find the secret plasmagun) but nothing too nasty as of yet. Level's designed to be inspired by Clear for Death (MAP10 of MM2) and this shows particularly with the 30-second door trap, which for this level is actually well executed. Bravo! There was a bit of backtracking involved though to open the last key, reminded me of Basement Jazz (MAP08 of WOS), one area in design even reminded me of that map. Then of course, a sewer ambush before leaving. Great map! Final Time 5:10.

*Reality Run*

I guess the two hardest parts are the 30-second door ambush and the sewer ambush, but really nothing else. Not even the RK ambush could shank me. For the 30-second door one, I had to be nimble, and also watch out for the outside cacos who would try to eat my face in (as if demons weren't already trying to do that) and the inside imps would be taken care of due to the space being quite confined. Bit o' luck there. For the sewer ambush, I used my PG ammo to take out some monsters before switching to a different gun. Final Time 7:43.

MAP05 Skybase 300

*Regular Run*

Damn those lost souls! Those puckers be droving at me, but going off across meaning they're more trouble to kill than to ignore. When I get inside, I'm reminded of some of 2002ADO with the walkway of nukage and other things. Oh and I got surprised by the revenants at the YK. Good map! Used up my rockets on this one! Final Time 2:25.

*Reality Run*

I guess it's not too hard, but watch out for the chaingunner at the beginning and of course, the souls. No revenants guarded the key this time, but that nasty hitscanner ambush is annoying to handle, so I lured them closer to the door so I can pelt them with bullets. At the end corridor I scored a two-rocket hellknight kill. Victory! Final Time 2:32.

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UR map 05

I'm giving up on recording demos now as I am starting to die quite frequently. This is a cool map, beyond the red key there is a nice choice of paths to take, I found ammo quite tight at the start which forces some bold gameplay. Some traps of the claustrophobic wall-of-meat variety which makes things good and frantic, though I am far too haphazard to survive half the time so its time to start saving. The trap where you get locked in, I found that once you know the bars will let you out after a while i would just wait for that before pressing the switch that sets off the ambush. Its cowardly I know, but feels a little bit broken because of that. Then again there are more enemies waiting outside so you don't get away withuot a bit of a tussle. I was definitely glad to find the secret berserk and SSG. The back and forth between the blue and yellow door felt a bit backtracky perhaps, but only cos the rest of the map was so busy. Good stuff.

300 map 05

Nice music on this one. I was getting a fair hammering from hitscanners in that central room, those pillar decorations that they can shoot you through make things interesting when trying to hide from bullets. Another nice and simple map, I have to say I'm not doing well finding secrets in this wad. I'm not looking very hard to be honest, so unless they are bloody obvious I'll probably miss them.

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Hurricyclone said:

MAP05 Slime Depository
Hey! It's the first music track from Reverie! Okay, maybe not, but it sure sounds like it!


Ha! This track was actually made before "Let's Rock!" ;) In fact, it was the first track I made for this WAD, I believe.

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Snakes said:

I'll probably start doing something of a "mapper's log" in this thread to share my own thoughts on how things turned out if you don't mind. Think it'd be fun.


Please do, I really appreciate when an author comments on their own map.

UR Map05 - "Slime Depository": We take a break from the really sneaky traps for a simpler, longer, more traditional outing. I feel like this is a good mid-episode map as it's still somewhat devious but offers a nice break before we warm up again, taking you from courtyard to base to cavern to sewers. A lot of good texture usage here too—specifically the use of the brown door texture in the blue door section—and it never quite feels out of place as it does in MAP03 despite the variety.

My favorite battle is the one inside the mesh container as I'm always a big fan of enclosed spaces being swarmed, especially since this fight has been a bit tuned up from when I beta'd. Only problem I had was with ammo, since I was left with 14 bullets and two full health mancubi at the end, with no berserk pack (or any secrets) found. It cost me some lives trying to get on the elevator, but at least I survived to fight another day.

And come on Snakes, you thought no one would notice this misalignment? Speaking of which, you might need to fix that on the automap as well.

Z300 Map05 - "Skybase 300": I thought this was a quaint little map. A couple of traps with nothing too nasty, although the big hitscanner trap at the end did worry me. I thought the revenants teleporting away just to kindle panic was pretty amusing.

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UR MAP05: Slime Depository

Kinda expected more slime, but I guess it's being (mostly) held in deposit. :)

Good map, and lots of nice details with a bit of a "multiple paths" layout at the beginning. There's a couple of tough fights (both of the teleport ones), and I always like fights using pinkies as cover while trying to not get bitten. The rest of the fights are fairly toothless though, with enemies in front of the player and in small numbers (the one that reveals nothing but one mancubus around the corner was especially a bit odd). I liked the secrets, the plasma gun took me awhile but when I found it, I felt as though I had made a good logical progression rather than just getting lucky. 3/5

Re: the speedrunner's trick near the end?

Spoiler

Maybe I'm completely missing it, but are you guys talking about running onto the slimefall on the right? Because it gives you a little corridor/window you can see the exit switch through, but damned if I can actually hit the switch from there.

Now, bugs:
- As others have said, you should fix the obvious sound tunnel by the red key
- There's an imp stuck here
- The "changed to a slightly different texture and missed one section" problem I noticed in MAP01 returns!
- In the final area, the sludge under the open "skylights" aren't all damaging sectors (one is, five aren't)

Zone 300 MAP05: Skybase 300

I suppose I liked this more than others did. I really like the lost soul ambush at the start, though I liked it better when I thought it triggered with the blue key pickup (and the cacos) rather than by sound and you can wait and handle them without the cacos. The slime area is good, it does help give a sense of scale and I don't mind having weaklings there as a break between larger battles. This makes the map actually seem larger than MAP04, for some reason. The revenant trap is cool, though the teleporter does actually help "de-fang" it as Cynical points out. The hell knight wall at the end is pretty bad, though, and seems like an afterthought.

Fairly breezy on continuous, but the ammo count is murderous on pistol start - with no melee weapons and literal "I have four shells left to kill this revenant" situations, it can get pretty dicey. 3/5

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@Magnusblitz: Ya that's it, you can do a glide to squeeze through the gap and reach the exit switch. Useful trick if you're a fast at it.

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Pcorf here. Now with Skybase 300. I never felt so uninspired when making a map before. The result was a very linear map somewhat similar to twzone2.wad MAP21. But it gets better after that. I certainly did enjoy the testing and gameplay of the smaller maps.

Why is the exit room terrible? ... well I ran out of linedefs so I had to make it as basic as possible and like with many other exits I put monsters into the rooms to increase challenge. Making a map restricted to 300 linedefs is a challenge and sometimes you are constantly removing detail to spare linedefs.

Hint: At the start. When you raise the staircase, run straight on to it from the western side after pressing the switch to save going around and climbing it.

The version I uploaded to idgames is the earlier buggy version from September 23. But incoming has not cleared so I cannot upload the final version to idgames just yet. Maybe Ty is on vacation.

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PRIMEVAL said:

Ha! This track was actually made before "Let's Rock!" ;) In fact, it was the first track I made for this WAD, I believe.


Unholy Realms simply has some great music, my favorite song is MAP28.

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Zone 300: Map 5 - UV, pistol start

This was another fairly enjoyable map. The opening area was pretty annoying from pistol start, I was down to 20% health for most of the map because of the lost souls. I had my first death of the wad, after a Revenant teleported away he decided to open the door so chaingunners could snipe me from far off :P. This map also had another cool music track.

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Z300 Map 06:
I certainly liked this one more than the previous two.

The start setup is kinda fun with the imps at your back, and the blue key fight is entertaining... until you realize that you can just chokepoint the whole thing. I kinda wish PCorf had skipped the lighting details in the hallway and used those linedefs to do something to force me to stay in the room, at least briefly. The rest of the map is OK, aside from an utterly pointless Baron guarding the exit, who is nothing but a time sink.

Time to make the demons taste dark chocolate? That's certainly a strange intermission text.

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UR Map 06 -- Sewage Entrypoint - 101% Kills / 100% Secrets
Hmm, bit of an unusual level here, I suspect it's the sort of thing that will prove fairly memorable, regardless of whether one likes it or not. Thematically, it's like some kind of cover-album of the 5 maps that preceded it--there's an open-air courtyard with another ornately-framed skylight, Plutonia bricks, green bricks, basic tech composite, computer stuff, ooze-tunnels, and even a gritty rocks 'n iron bit to the north. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but the sum effect is more than a mite disjointed, although it's not so pronounced as to really drag the map way down. Similarly, if map 05 was very evidently a corridor-fest, this one is quite evidently little more than a small group of boxes where fights take place, so suffice to say it's not the most interesting affair in terms of aesthetics or layout....

....but what fights! They're this map's saving grace. Apart from some light incidental stuff on the raised walkway around the perimeter of the central yard (itself somewhat redolent of the recurring action on the walkways in the UAC Courtyard), it's essentially a collection of setpiece battles, evident as soon as one takes a few steps--I really dig the opening teleporting imp fight, an interesting setup and a good way to get the blood flowing (literally and figuratively) from the outset. The blue key fight in the slime-settling area involves a fairly standard trap-box setup, although the tail end of that quest involves a surprise point-blank arch-vile (easily handled if you don't panic, but a bit startling nonetheless) and a very sneaky teleporting imp to keep it from being too rote. The usage of the arch-vile/crusher setup in the yellow key room is great, though...the pair of demons distracted me for just long enough for him to raise some ghostly sergeants, which I assume was exactly the intent--good show, but I'm sure lucky I didn't end up with any ghostly revenants. The 'phase' gimmick in the central courtyard battle is the kind of thing that drives some folks bugshit, but it was fine with me....over time the nobles gravitated more and more towards the center of the yard, and thus began phasing about less and less, hardly an unreasonable nuisance. I even kind of like the way the spider mastermind is used at the end. This is one of the most difficult monsters to implement in all of Doom's bestiary, but Snakes makes it work decently well, largely by virtue of not 'overthinking' the matter--there's no gimmick to the fight, and the final area isn't particularly conducive to the spider's movement; but by the same token the loosely barred facade and only slightly greater height of the central yard relative to the spider's yard affords it ample opportunity to fire on the marine in most positions he is likely to adopt. The limited amount of heavy ammo in the map also precludes a quick kill of the spider for the marine, so the two are on surprisingly even ground.

A bit disheveled/simplistic in terms of construction, but the variety of fun/interesting fights more than make up for it here. Oh yes, I did see some sort of medusa effect at one point in the eastern rocky outcroppings in the final yard where the spider is fought. There's also at least one medikit in this area sort of rendered 'through' the patio around the large double doors the spider bursts through. Finally, in the intermission text, the words 'after', 'stench', 'ever' and 'ahead' are partially cut off in Eternity, but not in PrBoom+, for whatever that's worth.

******

Z300 Map 06 -- Whispering Corridor - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Again, not a whole lot of substance here, but it's certainly better than the last couple of maps. It feels quite a bit smaller/shorter than Skybase 300, and quite a lot more visually polished, as well. Of course, these two things essentially go hand-in-hand in this case; the reason it's so much smaller is that so many more of its 300 lines are tied up in purely aesthetic pursuits, like the lighting effects around the torches lining both sides of the titular corridor. Indeed, apart from the somewhat suspect choice of material for the pedestal/altar in the confluence of the two outdoor streams, it's a pretty decent-looking level overall, with a reasonable vine/ruins theme and some simple but effective lighting choices. Didn't really feel the music track suited the mood, but whatever.

None of the battles are anything to write home about it in and of themselves--it's all a lot of basic corridor (heh) and closet stuff--but a very noticeable lack of healing items and the total absence of armor (actually, there might have been a few helmets, but that's it) requires that you take the small number of enemies at least somewhat seriously. Ammo might also be fairly tight, depending largely on the whims of the RNG, since the major secret is placed in such a way that getting optimum use out of it is a bit inconvenient.

Edit: Oh yeah, that intermission text. PCorf should probably just outsource these, to be frank.

Edit II: Boy, I sure did fuck the formatting up there for a minute...

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I'll go ahead and add that even though I'm not playing UR with the club (unless y'all catch up to me; a very real possibility given how hard map 27 is kicking my ass, heh), map 06 is by far my favorite map out of that pack's first episode, and an excellent map in general. I didn't get any ghosts out of the Vile/Crusher business, but I ate a Vile blast while speed-killing him to prevent such a scenario. All of the fights here are great fun, and I definitely like big, open rooms more than corridor fests.

IMO, this map is more like what future maps in the wad are like than most of the first 5. Snakes certainly seems to have an affinity for arenas and sandboxes.

EDIT: Also, Demon of the Well, check your PMs on "that other site".

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UR Map06 - "Sewage Entrypoint"
This map was pretty good, though it's a shame the start can be escaped so easily, perhaps maybe a shootable switch in one of the imp chambers might be a good idea here, but that's a small nitpick in a solid map with plenty of fun fights. Ok the final baron in the red key area nnoyed me teleporting all over the place, not really any danger, just took a flaming long time to put him down.
The mastermind finale was well just that really, not much else to say. The other fights were really good though.

Zone 300 Map06 - "Whispering Corridor"
This map looks nice and has some nice fights, the only irritation is that baron at the end who for me just refuses to come down and play with the other monsters. Ammo and health were not really an issue for me personally though the lack of armour does mean an spot of RNG will game over you pretty much on sight.

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MAP06 Sewage Entrypoint

*Regular Run*

Quite possibly the most frustrating level so far for me, due to the key ambushes. The YK one, it's best not to rush, even though the sargeants will likely be crushed, I have to deal with an archie and any potential ghosts that are resurrected. BK one isn't hard actually, but a surprise delayed arachnotron is there. The red key ambush can really fuck off with the monsters teleporting in an open area, a la Judgment Day (MAP20 of HR) but this time I'm not standing in a door. The extra cacos certainly didn't help. And the spiderdemon is a douche. Final Time 4:56.

*Reality Run*

Strategy at the beginning was to shoot a rocket at those computers since they open up right away. Then, luck. I'm totally serious by the way, zombiemen can be flukes. Tried going for YK first again, that revenant actually proved to be more annoying than the shotgun guys, not surprisingly enough. At least I didn't have an archvile on HNTR, just another revenant. Still had problems with the teleporter ambush monsters who would keep popping up each and every time. Didn't wanna use rockets there because it's a small arena and one could show up right in front of my face. That was tough enough, trying to avoid the spiderdemon's hitscan attack relied almost ENTIRELY on him not going to get me when I hide behind a pillar, unfortunately he kept cornering me. But a few tries later (I used the PG on him BTW) I would successfully take him down. My way of play frustrated me here. Final Time 5:30.

MAP06 Whispering Corridor

*Regular Run*

Not too much like WOS if you ask me, more like Plutonia. First level which I got the chainsaw. Oh and the music reminded me of Lode Runner TLR. Gameplay-wise, I ran around like an idiot getting all sorts of monsters after me which allowed some infighting probabilities (or not). Pretty fun to play RNG actually. Final Time 1:58.

*Reality Run*

The first hitscanner reveal can be a bit annoying, I shoot one couple with a rocket before hitting the other one. The other annoyance was the chaingunner on the BK pedestal, but I managed through with him. Everything else, done and easy. Final Time 1:56.

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UR map 06

Man this map was a blast, constant killing from the first moment. I love that starting imp ambush, and that every piece of progress through the map spawns an immediate threat. Red key trap was quite mental, though not so bad once you figure out what the hell is going on. Interesting mastermind fight, was very awkward finding cover. Certainly my favourite map so far.

300 map 06

That start is quite a hitscan lottery, took me a couple of goes to survive that but thereafter things are fairly straightforward. I thought at first the blue key scenario was a little easy to escape, but the exit trap takes care of that I guess (nice timed-lift meat-wall combo).

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