Return to Hadron Episode 2 - The Collider's new clothes

Great Episode that picks up where the first one left off and increases the difficulty quite a bit. Again you'll wander through gorgeous architecture and eliminate hordes of hitscanners, imps and Cacos. Especially in later maps you'll encounter a ton of cannon fodder, but it always remains manageable. That's what I like about these maps, they seem to emphasize fun and not punishment.

If you have played Hadron Episode 1 then expect more of that but even harder in its sequel Hadron Episode 2. If you haven't played Hadron Episode 1 then out of this level set expect an episode 2 replacement for Doom that consist of nonlinear maps with incrementally increasing difficulty.  Out of the 9 levels the only ones I didn't like are E2M6, E2M8, and E2M9 as I am not a fan of slaughtermaps. The best map for me was E2M5 as that has the balance between constant action and the type of exploration you expect out of Doom. One final note is that the music in all the levels are top notch.

Played on UV, continuous, GLBoom+

This is a very absorbing and well put together Episode 2 replacement. The difficulty is cranked up incrementally throughout, and towards the end becomes seriously challenging, though always fair. Map 7 is particularly memorable, with its 500 monsters and a big surprise in the blue key room, as is the hellish descending escalator in Map 9. The final level is absolute mayhem, with 9 Cyberdemons and a supporting cast of 300+ sidekicks, but with a properly worked out strategy it's beatable: you need to make good use of infighting, plus it helps to be on the lookout for a secret area that isn't all that secret....

Not sure that any game ever merits an absolute 5 star rating, which implies that no improvement is possible, but this is certainly approaching 95/100 territory.

Definitely looking forward to checking out ConC.E.R.Ned by the same author.

Cannonball has become my go-to guy for very well made doom 1 episodes and I'm pleased to say that he has struck again with another classic.

The great map designs, well thought out monster and item placements, the rewarding secrets, fitting music, and at times pretty challenging gameplay (especially on UV) make this a very engaging and addictive doom episode.

Bravo!

CB is a master when it comes to Ultimate Doom maps and these are some of the dopest i've played up to this date.

"the Collider's New Clothes" what a stupid fucking title. RtH's second episode proceeds to give players an inch above the difficulty of the previous Return to Hadron, but still somewhat of the same. you'll notice cannonball doesn't want to leave a single space of layout without monsters in it, almost to the point of slaughter territory at times (doesn't fully hit its stride as slaughter if you ask me). gameplay will be rough, problem monsters need to be identified and eradicated whenever possible. be prepared for the long haul that is E2M7, and try to track down every secret you can when you play this one. obvious bits of inspiration in the textfile aside, you will actually notice, if you've already played concern.wad, that Episode 2 of Hadron barely resembles anything in E2 of concern.wad, a noticable departure. play it on ITYTD if you can't handle the sheer difficulty.