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Castle of Evil. (previously released in beta form as ss27bet2.wad)
First of all let me say... This is bloody *HUGE* 8) I've been working on this for a long time since most of the earlier editors couldn't handle a large level like this one.
Made for sp, coop or dm (I aim to please.)
It's pretty open with only a few doors requiring keycards. Other doors may require a switch. There are peep holes and ambush spots almost everywhere for happy deathmatch. But open spaces are also provided for those all out battles.
Most heavy firepower is heavily guarded by monsters or hidden. The only easy weapon to get in single player mode is the shotgun. All the weapons are present.
This level is mostly hack, slash, ambush + puzzle type.
For more information consult the other .txt files in this archive.
There now go kill something... Send me some hate mail.
Really good puzzle map in a big dark metal/stone building. It catches the atmosphere of Bob Evans' Eternal Doom stuff, and I think there are even some homages to some other Eternal Doom maps as well (for example, the big two-layered outdoor area looks a bit like the "amusement park" in MAP26).
In my experience the puzzles were a bit easier than in "Silures" or "Excalibur", but it's possible that having played a lot of puzzle map stuff since I played Eternal Doom, having played through the whole canon of Bob Evans and Jim Flynn, and liking to search for Doom secrets in every map has made me recognize certain tropes better. The puzzles I liked most were (the spoilers only give minor hints):
Gameplay is good too, at the start ammo is scarce so the chainsaw and berserk are your friend, and midtiers say hello from the start on, but hitscanners are the biggest threat. Rockets should be saved for archviles until you find the first larger cache.
9,5/10
Fun, challenging set of maps that looks much better than you might expect for the time it was made. These maps will still slap you around a bit on HMP if you're not staying sharp. The author is fond of Chaingunner ambushes which keep you on your toes. I didn't find the SSG until around MAP05, which was cool, I like when its not given out too early. Pistol-starting the last two maps is pretty tough, but doable.
The map designs do a really good job of letting the player see crucial areas from different angles through progression and the layouts are really tidy overall, and feel a bit more modern than a lot of other 94/95 maps I've played. There are some really nice large-scale vistas (like the start of MAP06), nice uses of verticality and a good mixture of tight and more open combat.
Recommended!
Spectacular visuals and engaging combat make this an absolute must play. There's a puzzle with a "Shoot the thing" answer that kind of comes out of left field and can be an easy place to get stuck if you're not on your toes, but that hardly stops the map from being a thrilling masterpiece.
E3M9's refrain of back-tracking to a church for keys is a little tedious, and there are a few moments where things can become a frustrating key/switch hunt as you figure out what to do next, but aside from that, this an intense and rewarding adventure with beautiful lighting and architecture.