purist
Senior Member
Posts: 1618
Registered: 04-04 |
I wanna get involved!
OK, housekeeping to start with. I'm going to playthrough on HMP in PRBoom+ and carry over weapons unless I die, in which case I will forego my arsenal.
Before getting into the maps themselves I would say I was a little disappointed that the wad has been 'packaged' without a replacement TITLEPIC or intermission level name graphics and no dehacked patch for the automap names, which in my opinion gives a mapset a little personality. I also noticed D_RUNNIN music in MAP01 but it seems music has been replaced in some of the maps.
01 - Vigilance By Phobus
Phobus kicks us off with a MAP01 that feels like a MAP01. Short, punchy, populated with entry level monsters and respective weaponry. It occasionaly growls but doesn't really show it's teeth. I have a soft spot for opening levels that force the player into some pistol time so although the gameplay begins sluggish as a result, I wouldn't deduct points for this. Getting the shotgun midway through feels like a liberating experience.
My main greivance is the texture usage, which looks frankly looks ugly. This is perhaps due to the garishly recoloured texture pack that the mappers in this project were encouraged to employ and Phobos perhaps felt obligated to oblige. Some of the detailing looked a little blocky but there was some decent architecture so I think I could live with it quite comfortably if the stock textures had been used.
The level really excels in the map flow, which has the player popping up into previously seen or explored areas from all sorts of angles and once you get firing there were no gameplay faux pas that I made note of. This helps both aesthetically and also for navagational purposes.
Decent start overall.
EDIT: Straight onto MAP02...
02 - The Golden Age By Walter C
I am a little familiar with Walter's mapping for his work for Hadephobia and PCCP. A trademark of his was expansive areas married with small, sometimes odd, detailing. With this in mind I was a little suprised at the close quarters action on offer in this map.
The map starts with a nice view of the levels exterior that, alas, I would never set foot in. It hints at an epic scale but what we get instead is claustrophobic squeezes through tight corriders and mostly small rooms. Not automatically a bad thing but in this instance it certainly doesn't improve this set. Thankfully, the lack of space is not abused by higher tier monsters, the most common varient being the common or garden Demon. The close range skirmishes play into the hands of the melee only monster but simply backing off when they are released will usually give you ample room to manouvre.
The level uses similar custom textures as MAP01, which have not grown on me any, but this time it's mixed less consistently with contrasting hellish or gothic textures in Petersenesque way. Ineffective Boom-specific visual tricks such as scrolling flats and transparent textures add little. The map also doesn't benefit from Vigilance's attractive open style layout either.
Jury's still out. The bottom line is that there's nothing to offend or admire here.
EDIT II: Hell on MAP03...
03 - Derpman 3D - The Other Game By Walter C
Two Walter maps in a row and this is certainly an improvement on the last. While the quirky details and interchangeable themes remain they are handled in a much more palatable way, which gave off an E2 1993 vibe rather than The Golden Age's PWAD 1994 vibe. I consider this very much A Good Thing. More tasteful texture choices and interestingly shaped areas can be credited for this I think.
I had my first death on this map, having suffering lag at an unfortunate moment while hopping accross the stepping stones and finding myself in the lava. The start reminded my of Walter's MAP11 in Hadephobia, which employed a similar setup at it's start. It's not a difficult map in HMP however, with little pressure applied on the player and usually a medikit nearby when one's needed.
It's not perfect and dips in quality noticebly towards the (extranously extended) final third but it's a step up from MAP02.
Last edited by purist on 12-22-12 at 22:54
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12-20-12 05:18 
