The DWmegawad Club Plays: CC4 (Starting JENESIS Oct. 1st!)

MAP02: (pistol start) I really, really enjoy skillsaw's design in general. He always provides enough space to move around while keeping the levels compact and clean, not over-saturating each area with detail but keeping it the architecture interesting enough. And enemy placement... es magnifico! I felt each enemy was deliberately placed and I found myself in more interesting brawls compared to the first level, which was a lot of "peek-n-shoot" (although it was still fun).

I enjoyed having two paths to proceed through, and since I took the blue key path first, I was prepared for the revenant trap after the red door. There was quite a bit of ammo, but he didn't provide an abundance of health, so I felt like it balanced out. Final battle was superb too, as my intial thought pf "zombimen and pinkies? Pfft" didn't last long. Super fun, as per usual coming from his levels.

I also agree with Purist that it feels nice to have a consistent tonal theme coming from the previous map.

Map 03:

Died once, in the darkish north section when a Spectre teleported next to me after I picked up a stimpack. In fairness, I should have been able to deal with that.

A very different atmosphere to the first two - there were 3 distinct sections. Bright techbase to begin with - i missed the blue key and had to come back for it after I'd found the exit. This bit was a fun couple of minutes.

The outside bit was a little confusing, I don't play with mouselook, probably could have done with it here. I didn't bother killing a lot of the imps and I wasn't especially bothered about exploring this section, I wasn't sure where I was going out here. That big plasma pack looked inviting, though I didn't find a weapon for it here - was this meant for the secret in the previous map? Didn't get to it in the end, might reload my exit save and have another look in a minute actually.

The third bit took us inside again, into a dark rusted base / cave complex. Very tense, for sure, but I like to be able to see enemies tbh. Numerous times I was hearing spectres and shooting blind around me with the SSG. Same with imps & hitscanners slightly further on. I thought it was very clever how the BK led you back to the start bit (had to look at the automap to check that was right), and at that point I found both of the 22% secrets I got.

I did play this yesterday, but I don't remember the music at all.

Overall i found it fun, but imo the least fun of the 3 so far. The overriding thought this level leaves me with is "I'd love to see how a top speedrunner goes about doing a UV max".

I loved it.

glenzinho said:

I question the need for 2 SSGs in the map though, as you can't really miss either of them.

I think Skillsaw places two so that you won't get it faster by taking one route over the other. I thought he did a pretty god job of balancing the two paths.

Ah I got it now, cheers purist!! I've played it a couple of times now and I always went the blue key path ... that improves my overall enjoyment for an already great map.

Map03
This is OK, but ... nothing very memorable. Base to start out. A little bland and grey. Lots of very large height differences which are a pain with no mouselook.

The dark caverns aren't bad, though I think that the darkness is a bit overplayed. The exit puzzle - is it a puzzle? - didn't do much for me. The first exit door I tried didn't open. The second did, and the exit was in there.

Never went into the yellow key section, and left a fair chunk of the blue key section unexplored. I had lots of ammo and health, so there didn't seem much point.

Toughest monster I remember seeing was a spectre, which feels a bit odd after the revenants on map02.

MAP03

I get the feeling I missed a lot of this one. A lot.

So, the start is the closest this WAD has felt to a classic Doom level, what with shotgunning fodder in a GRAY-textured techbase of reasonable light levels. And the first classic music, which fits this theme. Although there's a hint of a dark and moody outdoors, so things could change - and soon after the blue key door, they do. I'm greeted with an excellent dark and slightly-claustrophobic cave section and then an entry to a darker, brown techbase; which wouldn't look out of place in a Quake mod (don't worry, I like this fact). It's grainy enough to render Spectres completely invisible, too, which was nice. After a short sortie into this tech base I came upon two exit doors, picked one (and a teleporter pad that didn't work) and flicked a switch. Level end. Was that it?

I'm not replaying this one. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. ;)

Capellan said:

Map03
This is OK, but ... nothing very memorable. Base to start out. A little bland and grey. Lots of very large height differences which are a pain with no mouselook.
[snip]]

Nonsense, I killed everyone in the level without mouselook and enjoyed sniping every last one them imps.

Didn't post about map02 yesterday but I played it; not much I was going to say hasn't been said. Didn't leave me quite as pumped as map01, I thought the layout was a little too predictable right from the start and almost too easy to follow. Didn't once get a sense of disorientation which almost made it feel like a COD map or something. But the tele fight in the end was pretty great. Also, damn non-looping midi :|

MAP03: Since I was playing this continuous, I came into the map pretty well beaten on from the finale of map02, so I had to be kind of cautious during the the yellow key section. Lots of z-axis action going on here. Overall a marked drop in difficulty from MAP02 though. One thing I really liked about this was the atmosphere though, especially in the outdoor area. The dimmed lighting on the high perched imps mixed with some not-too-easy to spot spectres was pretty good. The ending area felt... unfinished. Not sure how else to put that, but it looks like the author wanted to do more and just gave up on it. I could be wrong though. In any case, I still had fun, and the slower pace after the map prior to it was welcome.

MAP03 “Three is a Charm” – James Cresswell (Phobus)

I wonder if the title refers to the exits, unless I miscounted I remember one not opening, another blocking itself off and a third actually allowing me in to finish the level. The level name lead me into expecting more of a gimmick.

I found this level to be a little schizophrenic. The first part was a shiny tech base with lots of gray walls and garish details. I wasn't overly fond of it's look but, although it was by no means as polished as the first two maps, that would be a very high standard to maintain and it was more that it was not to my taste then outright bad. Gameplay-wise it was fair but not memorable.

Getting outside is where the map really improved graphically and atmospherically for me. I liked the gloomy canyon and rusting base and although the height differences and lighting occasionaly causes issues with gameplay it was a fair payoff for the immersive theme and Phobus was forgiving with his monster choices. There was a real sense of adventure at this juncture also. It felt rewarding to explore all the nooks and crannies and Phobus was smart enough not to take the player too far off the beaten track.

Overall secrets was strong part of this level, I'm guessing there are 11 in total and I only found 4, but tossing a few easy ones at the player always adds to the sense of acheivement.

My main gripe over the level was that the progression was not clear. I think I found the keys before finding the corresponding doors and, although I'm sure I must have, I don't remember passing through any of them. I'm sure there's much more to this map than I discovered but, like CosmicMischief, although it was fun while it lasted I'm not sufficiently intrigued to replay it.

3/5

Hellbent said:

Nonsense, I killed everyone in the level without mouselook and enjoyed sniping every last one them imps.

My experience of the level was my experience of the level. The fact that you had a difference experience does not change it, or make it nonsense. It's fine that you enjoyed sniping imps. It annoyed me.

Map number 3, this one was a bit of an adventure, not so much in the way of combat but i guess it was more about the exploration and the atmosphere. I love the weird mix of styles, going from clean tech base through rocky outdoor canyons to some kind of rusty old forgotten base, it reminded me of one of the metroid games. I really liked ending up back at the start as well, didn't check the map so never realised I was going in a big circle.

The low lighting gave me a bit of eye strain though, I ended up lighting the way with bullets at one point. I didn't even bother hunting for secrets, just hunting for the exit was task enough for me. Come to think of it I never found the rocket launcher either. I'm assuming there was one.

Well, I think I'll give this a shot. I stopped playing BF_Thud because I couldn't stand it, to be honest. This WAD seems much more promising. I've already played the first two maps so those won't be fresh impressions, unfortunately.


MAP01:
That was a cool intro map. I really liked the music choice, it was intense and memorable. The green techbase design was interesting and a nice spin on the classic Doom feel.

I think the ending was a bit much though, especially for an intro map. The continuous traps were kind of unforgiving. I still enjoyed it, though.


MAP02:
Wow. This map was great. I liked how you had a choice between two one-way paths at the beginning, that was really cool. The enemy placement was great and the music was awesome.

The ending was pretty hard. It took me a few tries to get through it, but that's mostly because I'm bad at encounters like that. It was still fun and despite how many times I died, it didn't feel unfair. Good design.


MAP03:
I'm not sure what is going on with this map. I really like how open-ended it is, but I feel like I missed a good chunk of the level by the time I reached the exit. Nonetheless, it was a fun atmospheric romp through 3 different aesthetics.

I really liked the progression though, going from a regular tech base, to the outdoors, to a old ruined tech base was kind of cool. The encounters with the Spectres was kind of annoying because of how hard they were to see, but I can't shake the feeling that the developer intentionally designed it that way to make the base feel haunted.

Interesting map.

MAP04: Polluted Paths by Forty-Two

This map follows loosely in the general theme of the first two maps. Nicely designed & with great architecture, this map has flow. A lot of connectivity, and this leads to revisiting previous areas in a natural progression with new things happening upon each visit. Has a nice balance between open areas and smaller cramped spaces. A few higher level monsters become commonplace here, ramping up the difficulty nicely. Watch out for the exit though!

100/88/0 17:23 UV
Great challenge with tougher monsters and good battles. Only gripe is that there is a lot of health & ammo placed where you don't need them (yet) and that you can't avoid.

I missed the RL in map04, but managed to find 80% secrets. O_O The mapset maintains the high quality.

MAP03: (pistol start) This map is definitely a bigger map than the previous few, considering the size and amount of secrets. I liked the bizarre, asymmetrical architecture, and the trip from the techbase to the rusted base (especially how the outside area was split between the caves and the valley). It was pretty fun and well balanced, but I felt like the caves and techbase were too dark, and I accidentally skipped over the yellow key because I failed to notice the switches on the ground. Also, when I went through the first fake exit, I felt a little lost mainly because I didn't notice where the other doors were before studying the map. Good atmosphere though.

A solid map but I just wish there were a couple more lights to help me out. I enjoyed its mazey nature

Rock on with the idea, and heh nice work with the pic. Now, the idea is to play a map offline, then come here to post thoughts on it? Why not have mini-coop seshes too. I could sort you guys a server or two, passworded, 4-6 players. Y'all could pop on TS or use in-game voip (zdaemon) and make vids for yewtube. I've recently been meaning to get something VERY similar to this up and running hehe.

Map 3
Played on UV with pistol start

Brief comments and trivia:
- I have played this before and found all nine secrets. This is the first time on the official release.
- Only one key is required to reach the exit.
- Little risk of dying for the wary, even if out of armor (hey, I got a bit sloppy on my playthrough)
- The berserk trap can be cheesed through at little risk for damage. It does require finding another secret to accomplish and isn't obvious at all on a first playthrough.
- No plasma weapons on UV singleplayer (unless I blindly missed something) despite two cell packs and an energy cell being available
- I never found an SSG and believe there isn't one on this difficulty.
- The access to the computer map secret seems so obvious in hindsight. First time I found it was mostly accidental. There's no visual clue I'm aware of so it takes Doom Jedi senses or peeking in an editor to intentionally discover.

Have a rough route in mind for a UV max so it's off to some practice runs and testing the best spots for rocket usage. The berserk appears to be important too.

This is painful to do a map a day given all the free time I have. This thing gets better with each map. I'm lovin it.

if CC4 is now, then Interception will be next. Followed by TNT2. And if it gets released, either ProgFic or D2TWID. I'd play, but I'm saving all my megawad glory till TNT2 is out and Interception is finished (maybe longer if the other two are near release)

Let's Play of MAP03:

Hellbent said:

This is painful to do a map a day given all the free time I have.

Play another wad in conjunction. I'm running through CC3 concurrently with CC4.

Pure Hellspawn said:

if CC4 is now, then Interception will be next. Followed by TNT2.

Whatever we play next is probably what people want to play most. I really like the idea of playing new megawads because the map designers get to at least hear the thoughts of the players on their maps. I wouldn't be against playing any of the big projects currently being put together.

MAP04: A lot of odd architecture here, but another map with a consistent theme. Felt like a combination of maps 1 and 3, since it lured you around a lot of odd corridors but also kept a consistent stream of enemies coming at you. All the traps were decent too, definitely keeping me on edge when I'd hit a switch. I also appreciated how the map kept leading you back into areas you've already visited.

Map04
This map feels a bit old-school. Little effort is made to make this feel like a 'real' place: it's a Doom battleground, with all the weird layout, dramatic shifts in look, and teleporting monsters that entails.

None of which is a bad thing if the map is fun, and I enjoyed this. It's run and gun Doom with varied locations to fight in, and no ridiculous traps (even if the exit is a tiny bit cheap, it's nothing a reflexive jab of the mouse button won't fix).

Only located one secret - right at the start of the map - but wasn't ever exactly short of ammo. The abundance isn't quite a much as it first appears, though - you'll often be returning to areas that are now re-populated with monsters.

Another fun map--the quality holds in this 4th map of CC4. My only criticism of this map is that some blue lights at the entrance to the RL alcove would have been helpful to an rétard like myself. I keep making an ass of myself in these LPs. Oh well.

Map 04:

My favourite so far, and I'm not even sure I could tell you why.

Died twice, once in the room with the spider, and the other in a small corridor at the hands of a revenant. Would have died at the exit as well if I didn't approach it with 200% health..it was clever but I really should be seeing this shit coming by now..

4/5 secrets, I was pleasantly not amused (so to speak) when in the hub room I took cover from a revenant behind a big pillar, which promptly lowered to reveal a secret berserk.

Took me forever to find the exit, though I think that's probably my fault more than the mapper's.

Music was good, fit the map perfectly for me. Had a lot of fun with this one.

MAP04 “Polluted Paths” – Forty-Two

A very good map from an author I'm unfamiliar with. I obsess a little over map titles and found this one odd since there's no nukage but I suppose the paths are 'polluted' by monsters.

This one looks more in tune with the first two levels than MAP03 did. New textures are used liberally but themes kept consistent and the pallete set very much to gray. It doesn't look boring though, Forty-Two adds enough trims, highlights and intriguing architecture to catch the eye. Then just as you're over familiar he jars in some cool brown mountainous terrain that adds contrast effectively and naturally. So it looks good.

It plays good too. Occasionally, height differences get a bit steep for comfort but for the most part the monster placement in these potentially awkward spots are sensibly forgiving. Outside of this I don't remember Forty Two putting a foot wrong. There's a healthy variation between hitscannings and other low-level monsters to encourage swapping between weapons for efficiency and the mid-tier baddies are infrequent but intelligently placed to ensure that when you do meet them you're usually in for a fight.

My luck finally ran out on this map, dying for the first time after being caught unaware by a couple of revs. I never felt cheated though as I heard them before they found me, giving me an even money change of catching them first. Funnily enough, on my second playthrough they never manifested. One good thing about dying was that I got to try the map again from pistol start and it's worth noting here that, other than having to manage longer without an SSG, there's not a great deal of a difference.

The layout started as a hub, then seemed to journey off on a tangent before doubling back up. I preferred the progression up to the rocky area as I wasn't sure of the correct direction after this (even though I guessed correctly) and was surprised when I found the exit. I assumed I'd missed a lot of the map, like I did with MAP03 but 100% kills suggests I saw it all, in terms of the main route.

41/42

I've got to ask. Did anyone pick up that lone armour helmet under the ominous crusher-looking pillar? It looked like a trap to me but maybe I was just paranoid!

MAP04
Attack of the brown and grey for the most part.

This was a pleasant enough map but offered very little standout moments - I found that almost every big encounter in this map can be 'bottlenecked' in some way - that is, I could back off to a previous area and pick enemies off. Almost died a couple of time, one of which being a close-quarters Revenants-and-Baron fight, but there's usually always a nearby secret to save my ass.

Although there was a lot of snaking around familiar areas, I found this to be a map with a very linear progression after a promising start. Absolutely loved the Archvile encounter at the end, that's my kinda ambush - although there was sufficient cover for me to come out unscathed.

The weakest map so far, though still fun. Area with the Arachnotron being the best enemy placement in the whole damn thing, had me constantly ducking and weaving for cover; usually behind imps. ;)

purist said:

A very good map from an author I'm unfamiliar with.

Forty-Two = stewboy :) My favorite musician in the community...