The DWmegawad Club plays: Kama Sutra

MAP03: Mr. Adolph Kill You - 1 death

Stats: http://i.imgur.com/353aOyk.png

Weird naming for the map. Entering the map with 25% health and almost no ammo wasn't much fun. The first time I got my ass handed to me by the hellknight trap after stupidly rushing the berserk kit. The second time around, it was much easier because of a useful little thing in Doom I call a door. And closing it.

The SSG trap with the pain elemental was dastardly, but good thing it ended up fighting one of the imps. Also, I watched a zombieman survive a revenant rocket, causing me to hurt myself from splash damage.

MAP04: The Water Base - 2 deaths

Stats: http://i.imgur.com/58zWORM.png

A much better map than the last 3 in design and gameplay, and the remix of the Underhalls music is a nice touch. Died once for being stupid at the BFG room, and another for walking into an archvile's open arms. Which reminds me, I ended up wasting that BFG shot and killing like 3 imps with it.

I also don't understand the crusher logic here: http://i.imgur.com/58zWORM.png

Was it a teleport linedef? Scroll based?

MAP05: Klondlike - 1 death

Stats: http://i.imgur.com/RNQCZAQ.png

I cursed at the existence of the pain elemental for the chaingun. I died once near the megasphere because I initially approached it without grabbing it, and caused the monsters to spawn. When I was going for it, I died from lack of health, and again, wasting my BFG shot. :(

http://i.imgur.com/fGnuSko.png

Overall it was a fun map, but I disliked the "deep water" effect because it was glitchy and didn't help with fighting off the lost souls. (I think it's my first time killing 3 LS with one SSG shot). For example, this one part is clearly different from the rest because you're much taller here than in the other parts.

http://i.imgur.com/ycDELZx.png

The music reminded my of Alien Vendetta.

MAP05: Klondike

This one I like. Exploration is rife, scenery is nice and the deep water effect is a nice touch, although I'm pretty sure it'd look crap if you died in it. :P Managed to beat it first try, but I missed 5 monsters and one secret. Fun to play and the music compliments it nicely.

Map 06 -- Research Complex - 100% Kills / 66% Secrets
Method's second map is a lot like the first--a compact, orthogonal, and monster-packed affair where most battles take place at point-blank range. The theme this time is sort of a 'Deimos in DooM II' thing, a water-bound but otherwise clean and tidy techbase of green riveted metal and grey paneling checkered--very casually!--with many marble slabs bearing demonic portraits. A little bit quirky, but again, that's par for the course for KS.

It actually plays a lot like the previous map ('Klondike', I mean) in that most combat is frontal/direct and that the route is extremely linear and hallway-laden, although this one is unarguably bloodier--some of the hallways are really packed with bodies, ranging from the level of zombie weaklings up to some rather high-HP beasties (and one VERY high-HP beasty)....at least the SSG shows up early, this time. Additionally, much like map 02, Method put in a few dirty traps, generally involving small floods of imps that can easily crowd the player's space if s/he doesn't react quickly enough. This map also introduces the cyberdemon, and unfortunately, I can't say I really approve of the way this was done--he's stuck in a little room where he can chokepoint the exit, but not do much else. As such, he's essentially just a giant glob of meat that you laboriously grind through in a protracted game of peekaboo, although you can speed this up somewhat if you save the invulnerability sphere for him and just stand in front of him and hold down the trigger (not that that's any more exciting).

Even though the layout and visuals are less elegant than in the broadly similar map 05, I suppose it's good that combat in this one does have to be taken more seriously--space is simply at a premium in a number of the fights here, so you have to take a bit of a proactive/intuitive approach to weapon selection, and have to stay on guard throughout....but this is a bit euphemistic, honestly, as this more or less truly is "Chokepoint: The Map." Also, where the hell's the backpack? Is there one in some excruciatingly obvious place I missed? Not having one must've cost me something like 40-50 shells or more in forced ammo pickups, and it could've been more if I hadn't done some metagame-y stuff to limit waste. Unlike some of the other Club members, I'm generally not one to be very perturbed by the occasional unavoidable pickup, and I suppose it's moot in that I hardly needed all of those lost shells.....but there really was some very crass item placement, here (again, assuming there isn't some obvious backpack that I heroically managed to utterly ignore).

MAP05:

Map06: Research Complex

A small and bloody map, I liked it. Yeah, the combat is definitely similar to that of map05 but the corridors here are filled to the brim with all sorts of hellish minions ready to spill the players guts on the wall. The enemies are generally placed in front of the player so cautious players can survive most of the map quite handily by doing the chokepoint dance. There are two traps that require some other strategy though, those being the BK and RK traps respectively. Both unleash a horde of imps upon the player with very little room to maneuver in RKs case and even less at the BK ledge. The Cyber placement is indeed rather questionable and I would definitely recommend saving the invuln for that fight to speed it up considerably and make it more tolerable.

Apart from the secrets, I remembered this map quite well and had no real problems finishing it with my first go even without playing too cautiously. Found only 2/3 secrets though, the backpack being the only one I missed. So yes, there is a backpack in this map. Shoot the baphomet when standing on top of the BK and a wall opens to your right revealing it. Not a very obvious secret so I wouldn't kick myself over missing it too much but it's there all right. Some visual weirdness is to be found here in true KS fashion but it's mostly pretty standard tech-base stuff. I do love the cartoonish way the metal corridor explodes into an earthen cave before the BK though, looks silly but great at the same time. Also found a slightly random SWIM written on the water when I jumped down from the bridge leading to the exit haha.

MAP06 - Research Complex - no deaths - 100% kills 66% secrets - 1 cheat use

Reminds me of MAP04 with all that grey and water all over.
nothing much to say in this one either , it's all about hallways with different textures.
So here's a demo that also explains why I cheated.
http://www.mediafire.com/?jr22r62dbgnzipn

Map06 - “Research Complex” by Jakub Razak

hmm... well this was very much an exercise in pushing through narrow corridors blocked with walls of various kinds of meat. The main challenge was the lack of strafing room as you dodge from side to side whilst chewing through them with SSG. There were a few moments of interest, the revs guarding the rocket launcher at least make you move backwards a bit, and the teleporting imps can get you from both sides if you try to retreat (though if you stay at the end of the corridor where the key was then its business as usual). There's an archvile who either kills you or doesn't while you are pinned on a lift, and then the cherry on the top of the corridor blocking meat fest is a cyberdemon who you have to squeeze past while invulnerable. I've no idea if there is enough ammo to actually kill him, I didn't hang around. Its not the kind of map that encourages fighting with cybers really. Not a very memorable map for me.

Map05 - “Klondike” by Adolf Vojta
Rather cramped but much better looking compared to previous maps, the mix of ashwall and later plutonia rock works pretty well. Again there are plenty of little amusing features like the light-house, the tree trunk and the axe, and the most pointless pain elemental in the history of doom mapping.
The gameplay was pretty easy, unlike others I didn't struggle with ammo, mainly as I punched out the revenants by the yellow key switch which gave me more for the pain elementals, they are quite trivial when there is nothing else around. The later stages have a few fun but easy ambushes.
It's a pretty good map overall.

MAP06 Research Complex

*Regular Run*

CCCool map. But the weird piston thing behind the first door was making too much noise IMO. Tried berserking alot of enemies, which resulted in some scratches by those fucking furballs. The level is short, but provides decent challenge, on HMP that is. HNTR isn't too problematic unless you're like me and want to make it problematic with the imps and stuff. The invulnerability made the archvile (yes there's an archvile on HNTR where the cyberdemon on higher difficulties is supposed to be) meaningless. Final Time 2:41.

*Reality Run*

For some strange reason I thought this run was easier than my regular run, even though it's longer. I only really had a trouble spot with the first baron of hell, as I'm kinda in a tight spot. Most of the rest wasn't bad after that, though there was a revenant in another tight spot. And the teleporting imps in the eastern part of the map can be a bit unpredictable. Still the archie at the end was meaningless with an invuln. Final Time 3:25.

Map06 - “Research Complex” by Jakub Razak
Yeah this map isn't great, just an ssg slog more or less with a tonne of meat in an orthogonal and linear path to the exit. I died few times in the 1st third of the level yet survived the rest with no issue. I had no ammo trouble at all, but that might be down to extensive fist work on demons/spectres/imps and the revenants in the rocket launcher corridor which frankly are easy to dispatch with the zerk fist, even by own terrible standards.
Meh weakest map so far for me.

Research Complex - K:100% S:66%

This map returned to the theme seen previously in that there is no single theme. It starts out tech base but is built into the side of a cliff and yet there are demon structures all over. Basically just a jumble.

I'm not a very big fan of fighting in close quarters, which is why I loved Water Base, and this level forces you into it. I really like the layout but if all the hallways were about twice as big, I'd have a greater appreciation for it.

I too didn't care for pot-shotting a Cyberdemon. Just didn't feel like how a fight should go with one. The Yellow Key trap is just cruel. Forcing me to take an Arch-Vile attack is kind of lame.

I actually don't mind slogging through groups of imps provided I have enough ammo. This map had plenty of that so I was never in any danger of running dry. Plus now I have a sizable Rocket collection thanks to the Revenants. And I just could not find the backpack secret (I noclip upon completing a level to see what I missed, if anything). I still have no idea how to get that cubby open.

MAP06: Research Complex
100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Agree with cannonball that this is just a SSG slog. Lots of narrow corridors and meat packed into it. Overuse of the 'block monster' line also plays a part - lots of points where there's a bunch of hell knights or imps in a hallway that can't approach the player because of it. The cyberdemon fight at the end was boring. AND THAT GODDAMN PISTON AT THE START AJIOSDALDSKAS

MAP05: Yay a cavern+cliffside map! The gameplay was pretty par for the course but I really liked the atmosphere and feel of the level, letting it stick out more in my mind than some of the others. The megasphere at the end was kind of a bummer since it was largely unnecessary once you start circlestrafing that arena, but it was still a charming map overall.

MAP06: An astoundingly offensive level. It’s just narrow corridors jam packed with enemies with almost no rhyme or reason, wasting a lot of time by requiring the player to camp corners. It starts off with a lot of meaty baddies and then spams an obnoxious imp wave past the red key, culminating in an AV that requires foreknowledge to kill and a painfully long corner fight with the cyber. Everything about this map just seemed to scream “amateurish” rather than creative.

Map 06 - Research Complex - 100% Kills/Secrets - HMP Skill.

Not a big fan of this level. I found it to be actually the easiest so far, and I don't even think I went below 100% health. The reason is there is an abundance of shotgun ammo, so I found that except for the final battle, I spammed the SSG.

Probably the reason for its simplicity is the fact that nearly the whole level is a corridor crawl. As long as you know how to dodge, you can't get hurt. Even the surprise Cyberdemon was defeated without me losing any health. Only when I picked up the red key and was swarmed with imps did things get a big hairy.

Secrets are quiet cryptic, unless you are a player who shoots every suspicious texture or panel. Oh, and that dreadfully annoying noisy machinery at the level's beginning, how did that make it through the final version?

MAP07 Colosseum

*Regular Run*

A preshow, leading to a "Dead Simple" colosseum setup. In the preshow, two secrets, but one of them is a dead giveaway, I don't get it. Anyways, I get my plasma and rockets and go into the arena. Ran around shooting the fatasses with rockets till they're dead, then showered cybie with plasma till he's all soaked up. Opened the red door and just showered enemies with BFG while pressing a switch lowering the teleporter to the exit. I had to watch for the archvile who comes from that teleporter as I was slaughtering cacodemons, but things weren't bad at all. Final Time 2:38.

*Reality Run*

Mancubi are very unpredictable with their projectiles, which makes them annoying for reality runs. I somehow just discovered a blur artifact behind the teleporter to the colosseum which I never knew before. And I used it. Wasn't too bad taking down the mancubi even though I was more careful of course. Everything else was pretty much similar to my regular run, except that the archvile somehow entered the teleporter where he came from, teleporting to the exit and rendering him harmless and prone to a telefrag :). Final Time 3:06.

Map 07 -- Colosseum - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Ye Olde Dead Simple Replacement: Kama Sutra Edition. With a name like 'Colosseum', you'd think that this would advertise what it's all about up front, but it's not really the case. At heart it's another simple take on the manc/arach-arena concept, but with some qualifiers.

For one, there isn't really any structure in the map that really resembles a coliseum (or the Colosseum), even taking into account the Doom engine's limits. The closest it comes is of course the tiered mancubus arena with the marble box that eventually reveals a cyberdemon; the unusual thing (and the thing which makes it not really resemble a coliseum) about this is that play space here is nearly all 'stands' with very little actual 'arena', making firing angle the number one concern in the battle against the mancs (because most players will tend to use the rocket launcher here). It's not so much that I'm faulting a Doom map for not 'realistically' resembling its namesake, hell no--I just bring it up to make the point that, once again, available movement space, or rather a relative lack thereof, is one of the chief defining characteristics of these earlier KS maps.

For two, it's not a pure arena fight, anyway. First, there's a little bit of preamble involving some light pinkie-pounding, a touch of vile action, and an incredibly easy megasphere secret (as well as a baffling 'free' secret sector in the room with the pinkies). Second, the progression (such as it were) stops resembling Dead Simple once the mancs are dead, as there's an interstitial fight with a cyberdemon and a large caco swarm, with the arachs tending to be a bit late to the party. This is a pretty clumsy setup, I feel....the cacos are trapped behind the red door threshold by a crass monster-blocking line and can't enter, with a few arachs behind them; naturally it's easy to grab the red skull from under the cyb and bait him into fighting with the wall of cacomeat (although you occasionally have to open the door again for them), assuming you don't want to just blast everything yourself with the BFG and big pile of cells sitting next to the key. Crossing the red threshold apparently causes a few more arachs and cacos to be able to teleport into the stands of the manc arena; cleaning up the arachs lets you throw a switch in the yard to access a two-cyb finale (simple to handle given all the space), and then you exit. I dunno.....everything involving the red door and afterwards seems pretty haphazard/rather clumsily choreographed to me, like this map's rough draft ended up being its final draft.

Visually it's a bit shoddy, as well, and this time not even really in that quirky KS way--it's just plain sloppy. Given the mostly outdoor setting and the stock beige-hued cloudy sky I suppose it's not unreasonable that light levels are flat/uniform, but there are quite a few glaring misalignments (on various masonry structures, on the 'rocket' containing the exit switch, etc.), and the sides of the 'secret' lift down to the megasphere yard aren't fixed in place and thus bizarrely scroll up and down with the lift platform itself. Most subtly, but also most oddly, if you look out the northern windows of the little side rooms with the rocket launcher and the plasma rifle (the latter of which I never used, incidentally), it looks like the whole building ends a few feet further on, but going through the connecting passageway into the arch-vile room obviously involves traveling much farther than this. Just one of those surreal engine-isms, I suppose. On the other hand, I do like the burning beacon towers that appear all around the outer perimeter of the playable areas.

Yeah, I've seen much worse, but this still certainly isn't a map to cure me of my general lack of enthusiasm for maps formatted after Dead Simple's example.

MAP07: Colosseum
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

I shouldn't really be surprised at this point. Bizarre non-secret? Check. (It would make sense if it was the only one, but there is a normal megasphere secret) Poor use of monster blocking lines on the red door? Check. And of course, an aesthetic design that could best be described as "functional."

The caco swarm and cybers make for a nice little expansion of the usual Dead Simple mancubus/arachnatron swarms, and I'm actually somewhat glad the caco swarm was stuck in a relatively low area so they didn't fucking fly everywhere. Man I hate cacos. Still, aside from the initial frantic mancubus fight, nothing here is terribly interesting as you just hold the BFG button down repeatedly. I did enjoy getting the last Cyberdemon to teleport into the spaceship and get telefragged, though.

Map07: Colosseum

This was easier than I remembered. I did die a stupid fucking death by the hands of the very last Cyber for trying to be way too cute but overall I thought this was a relative breeze. The Manc fight is definitely the toughest and the most interesting part of the map. It's a classic case of create your own safe spot -kind of battle and standing around in one place for too long isn't exactly recommended. I cleared the stands from top to bottom which seemed like an effective strategy since I had no troubles either time.

After the Mancs you get to kill half a million Cacos split into two hordes but both are kind of limp due to the monster blocking lines at the red door. I let the Cyber and the Arachs do my dirty work for a while but if you're feeling bored you can just blast through everything because ammo is hardly a concern here. It's an okay map, the Manc battle is enjoyable and the level of bloodiness is appreciated but I felt the latter parts had much more potential than this.

Map07 - “Colosseum” by Adolf Vojta / Jakub Razak

Doesn't look like they spent much time on this one. I guess the fun you get out of it depends largely on how you play it. Playing safely makes it fairly easy and a bit dull maybe. First the mancubus arena, circling round and round the central pillar firing rockets at the fatties, repetitive yet effective. Then knowing its map 7 I left one alive and scouted around the upper tiers for goodies, I was up the top when i killed him so the cyberdemon reveal was no danger. Then dropping down a couple of tiers allowed me to shoot him from behind one of the pillars on his pedestal so he couldn't shoot me back (I played in zdoom and noticed this tactic didn't work in prboom). I guess it would be more of a challenge if you needed to grab any of the ammo he is guarding but I had enough to finish him off. Taking the fully loaded bfg and opening the red door reveals a wall of tomatoes, which are fairly easy to cut through and run in that room to mop up. I didn't even notice the monsters appearing in the previous room, they couldn't seem to get me through the door anyway. Disposing of those ones from relative safety you then get another cyber, this time in a large open space with a bfg so he doesn't live long. After I killed him his friend appeared in the rocket, he was pretty easy to shoot down, though I discovered after that I could have just telefragged him. Playing it again I realised he wasn't meant to be in there, not that he posed any more of a threat running around outside.

I guess it is only map 7 so maybe I can't fault it for being too easy, but the ease is compounded somewhat by the sheer weight of monsters used. Design-wise there is not a lot to say other than its pretty basic.

MAP07 Colosseum - 1 death - 100% kills - 100% secrets - scratch start - UV - max

A simple map with a secret behind you and a weapon prepare in both doors and two berserk packs , I guess this was made for coop.
The basic punching demons and kill the archvile guarding a teleport, kill all mancubuses, steal the bfg from the cyberdemon kill a huge swarm get inside and do the same thing again just from the other side, nothing special but the two cyberdemons are fancy placed and I barely spotted the teleport for the spaceship , because I was busy killing cybers and dodging rockets , so it took my a minute to spot it.

Demo: http://www.mediafire.com/?dczzg12spyc7we3

I actually got lucky in for the last cyber : I shot him with the all my remaining cells from my bfg then I ran out of cells so I started shooting with my pistol until I had the last bullet which killed him , that was amazing.

Map07 - “Colosseum” by Adolf Vojta / Jakub Razak
The mancubus fight was good, nice way to add an extra dimension to the battle. The rest doesn't really work, having a huge wall and a door with blocking lines doesn't really work well to create a decent battle and ends up being pretty easy in the end. Add to that everything after the mancubi was essentially BFG spam.

Just Where's All the Data, you ask? Why, how convenient a question! I've just now managed to wrangle together these two half-parts for your viewing pleasure, featuring your regualar co-hosts!

Part 1a = http://www.twitch.tv/st_alfonzo/c/2886837
Part 1b = http://www.twitch.tv/st_alfonzo/c/2886850

We apologize for the breakdown toward the end of the second video. The stream would have gone on for longer had my brain not turned into a uniquely giggle-induced blend of insanity and foul language.

Map 07 - Colosseum - 100% Kills/Secrets - HMP Skill.

This map finally starts to showcase the slaughter elements that make this megawad so popular. You are practically spoiled at the start with numerous berserk packs, weapons, and a megasphere secret. I promptly lost nearly all of that health boost once I entered the level's supposed namesake (although it's more of an amphitheater than a Colosseum).

The easiest way I found to take down the manc's after much trial and error was to start up top and work my way down, while constantly being on the move. The Cyberdemon battle was a bit easier, although I had to play a bit of chicken and run onto the platform to grab the ammo while risking a direct blast.

Once the red door opened, I was at 19% health and saw a well-deserved soulsphere...surrounded by a sea of cacodemons. With the BFG at hand, it was rather easy. The second cyberdemon battle wasn't too difficult either due to the larger amount of space. Overall, I found this level to be a more enjoyable and challenging one than some of the previous levels.

Colosseum - K:!00% S:50%

I really can't believe I missed the Megasphere secret, but I did.

Oh well this level was less about having an intricate level design and more about slaughtering waves of enemies. The Mancubi fight was fast and furious, but required a second go at it. I died, for the first time because my goal was to clear the top row of them out before the invisibility wore off. Failed to do that my first attempt, caught myself in a bit of my own rocket blast and by the time it did wear off, I got spanked.

The Cyberdemon fight was pretty fun, I saved my cells for him, wore him down and finished with the SSG. Collected the key and cells but mainly used rockets for the Cacodemons and Arachnotrons. I share the sentiment that the door also being a monster blocking line is pretty weak. Namely because the door is so small that it would hardly be big enough for them to flood in enmasse anyway.

The last two Cyberdemon fights are a breeze considering the space and the ability to telefrag one of them. Just be wary of the numerous Cacodemon corpses, they almost got me blasted because of the obscured vision.

Overall a fun level in my opinion. A coherent theme, but a damn lot of brown textures. Not anything new or groundbreaking in terms of being a Dead Simple map, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

MAP06:

WARNING: I recorded this late at night with my friend who doesn't like Doom. Hilariously dumb ramblings ensue. You have been warned...

MAP07 coming later today!

Map04: Water Base

This is where Gusta really starts to get a handle on how to unlock the potential of his style. Lots of space to be found here and the battles benefit as a result. I have very little to complain about here, though you don't even need to stretch your mind at all to grab that yellow key early. Makes for good speedruns, though.

Map05: Klondike

A different kind of map than the previous ones, this is as much about atmosphere and feel as it is gameplay. Easily the most aesthetically pleasing of the early maps, this is just a pretty map that has a couple of decent battles. Nothing too memorable and it's a sort of blink-and-it's-over map in the end.

Map06: Research Complex

I don't know why, but this map always makes me think of Knockout from HR. Honestly, it's a pretty annoying foray as Method's still not quite in his element. Mowing through enemies packed in is only fun to a certain extent and there needs to be another idea mixed in for it to really be entertaining. Not a great map.

Map07: Colosseum

I love this map for the tyson demo alone. It's actually kind of fun to play this in unorthodox ways - take the second half in a pacifist-esque approach, go for as many telefrags as humanly possible, etc. Using the first cyberdemon to take out as many enemies as possible makes for a nice challenge. That being said, playing it straightforward is still a good time and business is starting to pick up. Not a bad map at all.

I've started on this yesterday and played up to MAP04. It's got a reputation as a difficult WAD so I'm playing in HNTR, continuously and limiting saves as much as I can bear. I was disappointed to hear that Kama Sutra is not very reliable in vanilla so I'm using PRBoom+ to avoid VPO crashes.

Well, I wasn't overally impressed with the odd look of MAP01 but it played pretty well enough. In HNTR the bezerk is more optional than necessary and the combat is pretty straightforward. There were some odd design choices like invisible blocking lines but it didn't harm the experience a lot. MAP02 was a little more intense and had a new slant on the hub centred map layout. MAP03 was a little less memorable for me but I watched a playthrough on Youtube and I now recall it being quite a fun little run, minus the pop up monsters. I never found the super secret room that gives the level it's name. I didn't bother looking for secrets since starting in a secret sector is usually a dead giveaway that there will be nothing to find. I thought it odd that a project made by speedrunners would lack genuine secrets. Some bigger monsters and guns appear in MAP04 but the difficulty still hasn't curved at least in HNTR. I liked this one but felt like it had been elongated towards the end, the last few areas did not add much but it never dragged on to the point where I thought it should have ended sooner.

I took a peek at MAP05 and it looks differently themed to the levels I've done so far - should be interesting.

Map08: Time Is Tickin' Out

Now this was pretty awesome. I will, however, start off with my only major gripe with this map: why in the hell would they put the only ssg of the map into a freaking nukage pit? Nothing suggests that jumping down there is a good idea so obviously I missed it. Playing the map without the ssg doesn't make it any worse though, quite the opposite actually, but finding out that you could've got it right at the get go was very annoying.

Visually the map is pretty much split into two. The first part of the map is a rather standard-looking grey tech-base exterior surrounded by a lake of nukage. Looks pretty good overall and bonus points for the amusing tech-monument which can be seen from the RL pickup spot. The BK door seems to be a door to another dimension since after that the map suddenly turns into a marble/brown ashwall hellscape with torches and all. Doesn't make any sense but whatever works. The second part of the map looks cool as well and the time tickin' out/darkening sky as you progress -feature is a GREAT idea.

The combat here is fast-paced and intense, without the ssg slightly less but in the latter parts Plasma Rifle/RL are the weapons of choice anyway. Without the ssg the first part of the map was surprisingly tough and I died a few times at the very beginning. Even berserk got it's use against the duo of Revs teleporting in after grabbing the BK. The second part is basically three times a battle in the central area against different opposition every time and two identical battles to acquire the keys. Combat in the central area is pretty good, the third time standing out the most with the introduction of Archies to the mix. I had some problems with the second Archie teleporting in, or at least I assume so because I had to run around the map for a while to get it to appear. The key fights are enjoyable as they are but doing the same thing twice is a bit questionable imo. Health is handed out like candy after the first BK door so aggressive playstyle works fine. So a great map overall, the best one so far I'd say.

MAP08 Time Is Tickin' Out

*Regular Run*

Gusta seems very generous with health (and berserk packs) on this level, at least on this difficulty setting, so I need not worry about too many hits. And I suffered very few most of the way until the end. I liked this level, and the music helps a lot too. Task Force happens to be my favorite ROTT song, and the fact that a level with I Choose the Stairs came before it, now I'm loving it. One part I really don't like about this level are the two identical key rooms I teleport to which leads to a marbley place with mostly imps teleporting and being annoying (more monsters on other difficulties). They both have a 30-second door just to lengthen the level more. But don't worry about the level title a bit, this is a nice level to play on. Final Time 3:51.

*Reality Run*

Had to act FAST to get those zombies dead before they fire. Also had to handle it quite carefully in a number of places, especially the baron guarding the first key's switch, and the zombiemen who teleport to one barrack nearby. Afterwards there's no more hitscanners in the final areas bar for two shotgun guys in towers, but I handled most everything with ease. The marble areas were handled differently, I tried not to step off the teleporter on occasion just so the initial imps could be taken out. The teleporting monster afterwards were imps and cacos mostly and came from the entrance to the night area, so they weren't problematic. Final Time 5:47.

Map08 - “Time Is Tickin' Out” by Adolf Vojta
This wad is starting to show some teeth, this is nicely negated a little by the abundance of health which lessens the amount of pain you will get through this one. The first third is a grey/plutonia tech base which is pretty decent. Following the blue door is a marble/brick area where the gimmick is the map gets darker after collecting the other keys which is pretty darn cool. The key areas are a little questionable, especially as you do the same thing twice but the main area with the brick exit area really hits the spot nicely. Decent challenge and fun to play.