RJSLOTH

I've never done a review for a rocket jump WAD, so this might turn out somewhat like a ramble. Apologies in advance if it does.

I picked up RJSLOTH while learning the most basic things about rocket jump maps. That said, I really should have waited with this WAD until later, when I'd be more consistent with basically everything this genre entails. For those of you who have never made contact with this genre I'll have a short description in the spoiler below:

 

Even map 02, in spite of being dated in the sense that it was made prior to some discoveries in rocket jumping, turned out to be somewhat demanding at first. However, as is the case with many ToD maps, there are consistency checks here that really helped me to get some moves into my muscle memory with brute force. Especially things that require precise timing are something that you either learn to do properly while you play this, or you give up trying. The map also features some "combo-jumps" in places, basically as "highlights" of a given section to round off the package. I'm glad I didn't give up. Beating map 02 felt really good.

As for map 10, which is a brutally tuned up version of map 02: You're looking at something that seems to have been built in a laboratory with a calculator. Each one of the jumps there requires extreme precision, and if you're anything like me, which means you're still looking to become consistent with the techniques for "(relatively) modern rocket jumping", you should only attempt this map during a weekend or so, because it could take you "some" time to nail these trick shots perfectly. I didn't manage to finish this map yet, but from the obstacles I have made it past I can tell that this map, as well as map 06 of this WAD, is aimed at people who can do certain tricks of ZDaemon rocket jumping blindfolded. Being able to build maps like this, so precise and unforgiving without feeling totally unfair is an impressive feat for sure, but for my tastes and current skills it is almost impossible to "digest", also due to the sheer size of map10. I will come back to it eventually though, because I wanna see the end of it.

The only reason I'm not putting down 5 stars here is that these maps are a little bit too repetitive for my liking in places. Obviously that's an easy impression to get when I can't do things very cleanly, which results in repeated attempts, so take this reason with a grain of salt and you'll be fine.