Having played many different types of maps over Doomserv, each session I've gone through revealed new wads that I had never even seen or heard of before. Some days I was able to play a decently-designed map, while on other occassions I ended up playing on a megasphere-laden piece of crap with requisite bad texturing and BFGs sitting in every third corner. In a lot of ways, playing over Doomserv seemed like digging your hand into a bag of Halloween candy; sometimes you get a nice chocolate bar, but more often than not end up with the dreaded 10-year old Tootsie Roll (ugh). There was a stretch where the maps I had been invited to play on were total dogs, and after a while I was starting to get desperate. Wasn't there anything out there worth playing on?! Eventually I was invited by Falconer to match against him on this little map; my dread-o-meter was ready to burst when I first stepped into the level, but all my fears were completely gone by the end of the game. I had found my diamond in the rough!File name: pit.wad Author: Mike "Biff" Blakely Map Size: Small Map Summary: A happy play pen [with] surrounding territory. This started as a Heretic wad with the teleports arranged to circulate tomed-up mace balls. Reworked it for Doom2 when I joined Long Beach DWANGO, many improvements came over time. (Excerpted from pit.txt)
The BFG hides inside this tiny metal pillar.
I won't lie to you people - this is one ugly map. Try to imagine a jumble of wood, marble and Wolfenstein textures all thrown in together, and some slime tossed in for good measure. Alright, you may already be thinking, "but how can you stand this map if it looks like hell?" The answer is that beauty is only skin deep, but more on that later. Anyway, the texturing isn't extremely terrible, and there's at least some taste to the way the author arranged the decor in the level. No shading exists in this map at all, but that's due to the its outdoor nature. The architecture isn't really special either, but some flourishes in the middle area make the central part of the level look ok. If Pit really innovates somewhere, it would be in the way the author constructed the layout of the map. As the author mentioned in Pit's readme file, the wad was originally intended for Heretic deathmatch; a series of teleporters lets players maneuver up the sides of a central arena. In theory, Heretic players would be able to fire tome-powered mace balls into the teleporters, carrying it along the upper ledges. The overall visual result is that the surrounding elevated areas makes the arena look like a "pit"; hence the name.
No, it's not a bad dream...that's a Hitler/Wolfenstein texture alright.
So far the map doesn't really sound like anything special. Then what gives? The key here is the way the map plays due to this unique "pit" layout. Players starting out in the bottom arena have access to standard and combat shotguns. This makes for some straightforward dueling, but anyone wanting some better firepower will need to look to the high ground. You'll need to navigate two lifts to reach the plasma gun; while that doesn't sound all too difficult to do, the delay on those lifts make it so that it's a simple matter for other players to ambush you even with just 2 players. As such it's a risky proposition to try for the weapon, especially when it exposes you to just about every part of the level. Teleporters on the sides allow access to higher ledges on the map, and one side carries a rocket launcher and some ammo. The launcher's placement makes it simple for players to grab it and start spamming the area indiscriminately, but a well-timed ambush from the teleporters on the sides will cut them short. Grabbing the BFG is a long and involving process which requires a series of steps to complete; trigger the lift opposite the plasma gun, take a teleporter up to the topmost ledge, run around the side to a very slow moving floor, hit the door behind it, then teleport into the tiny metal pillar in the middle of the map (whew!). Even after all that trouble, getting the BFG invariably exposes you to almost every angle of attack possible in this map, but believe me when I say that it's still worth the trouble despite all that. What all this results in is a very hectic, fast paced environment that makes it a dream to deathmatch in this wad. The vertical nature of this map makes for lots of surprise attacks, and you gotta love the desperate fighting that goes on in the enclosed upper ledges. Navigating the area seems just right, and all the weapons are in their natural places.
This is the home stretch to the BFG teleporter.
Taking all these elements into account, it's easy to see that Pit is a fairly good deathmatch experience. But what keeps it from achieving true greatness? For one thing, you just can't avoid the fact that the map isn't all that great to look at. Even the most easily-pleased Doomer must admit that placing a random Hitler texture on the plasma lift just looks horrible. There are also a few areas that sport flash lighting - if you're like me and have your eyes constantly attracted to motion in a dm game, these will eventually drive you nuts. Lastly, a bad effect was used to replace the old BFG shooting sound. It makes the king of weapons sound more like a battery-operated raygun than the power sucking behemoth it should be. What more can I say? If you think you've tried them all, at least make sure to give Pit a spin. There are a lot worse maps on Doomserv and cdrom.com that you could play, but at least you're guaranteed a fun game with this wad. In the end, Pit won't win any artistic points for texturing or architecture, but it packs enough fun and gameplay to give lots of other maps out there a run for their money.
Review by Razorback
The Doom DM Resource Recommends:Get Pit, mirrored on our ftp site.2-3 Players If you're using a jump-enabled port, turn jumping off Play over Doomserv - ideal for one on one play Use with Zdoom/Legacy (for the freelook)