The DWmegawad Club plays: Tangerine Nightmare & UAC Ultra & Realm of Shades

Just shoot on beams. :p

6 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

im completely stuck on 07 - i have the BSK & RSK and i can see GSK but the (apparent) way to it is blocked off with wooden beams with an orange -> in the floor just in front of them... any tips? :(

I got stuck on this too for a while. Here's a tip:

 

1 minute ago, tmorrow said:

I got stuck on this too for a while. Here's a tip:

  Hide contents

You can shoot the wooden beams!

 

ffs i feel like a dunce now!

14 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

im completely stuck on 07 - i have the BSK & RSK and i can see GSK but the (apparent) way to it is blocked off with wooden beams with an orange -> in the floor just in front of them... any tips? :(

The orange arrow is a clue: go through the wooden beams. (I'll let you figure out how.)

 

*edit* Ninja'd!

it would be nice if that was foreshadowed earlier in the map: is there any other destructible scenery elsewhere?

MAP06: The Forgotten Land

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

Decently sizeable monster count here, but not too large of a map, moreso just built around some large battles for keys. Unfortunately, all of them are pretty easily cheeseable - the red key you can simply run back past the RL circle and shoot everything through the tiny window, the blue key you can retreat up to the switch that opens up the blue key room (if you stay at the top the monsters won't ever path up the staircase), and even the final one can be cheesed either by running for the middle building and killing things from cover (if you want to be really lame, you can shoot it with a rocket or plasma burst, and the rev/arach columns won't even raise, not sure if this is a compatibility issue or not). Not sure how to feel about this... on one hand I don't mind maps letting me find a way to beat them fairly easily and not be frustrating, but I also feel like the map is a bit more toothless than it could be. Looks really nice and plays nice otherwise, though.

10 minutes ago, Magnusblitz said:

if you want to be really lame, you can shoot it with a rocket or plasma burst, and the rev/arach columns won't even raise, not sure if this is a compatibility issue or not

Hunh, so that's why I was missing those 6 monsters (and why that finale felt particularly underwhelming.) I already had the plasma gun equipped (having left so many cell packs behind, I figured I might as well use it as much as I could) and when I saw I had to shoot that switch, I didn't bother changing to a hitscan weapon...

MAP05 - “Orange Juice” by Chaos

And the pointless Cyberdemon award goes to...

 

This map is ok. Much more setpiece-focused than the previous 4, with some of the fights requiring good use of the environment to survive; knowing how and where to bail out.

My issue here is with how late the RL (and Plasma) appear into the map. I believe I managed to grab the secret one first; and don't even get me started on the normal placement.

Overall, there's simply too much shotgunning mid-tiers here for my liking.

 

Here's an FDE demo (I died a couple of times to the first Imp Encounter): tn05-2314-NotMax.zip

 

 

MAP06 - “The Forgotten Land” by JCD

Now this is a fun map! It's large, has lots of enemies, and a nice atmospheric midi too. I also really like the final area, particularly from a visual standpoint with the full view of the sky texture. Several of the bigger fights were rather easy to cheese, either by retreating, or camping an upper ledge (like in the building with the Invul secret). Still, this has been my favourite map so far.

 

Here is an FDA+UV-Max: tn06-FDA-3824.zip

MAP08 Pandemonium

 

Emptiness plagues the mind of the euphorical Green Marine as he had just finished a gargantuan task of figuring out the mindset of Goetia. Up ahead, the candles show the way to the large walkway leading to this "big metal thing", as his simple and euphorical mind has to call it. He's been through orange things before at least seven times now, and yet he must traverse onward. He must avoid the gray water, for despite being water, it's laced with chemicals that stiffen the blood flow and can turn flesh to stone, later dissolving it and creating an uneven mixture that slowly stiffens anyone who dares smells it. The cages above the petrifying water are showcasing a few victims who luckily enough managed to avoid the water, but not the apparent cult that hid behind the "big metal thing". And the brooding atmosphere that is The Calling beckons its latest victim.

 

And boy, what a cult that Green Marine inadvertingly discovers. Hordes of hooded cultists in front of a large mural, that, in actuality, is several different linedefs with minor ceiling changes. Also a few red demons again, but whatever. Two arch-viles upon picking up the plasma gun. Wait, were they worshipping a gun from another dimension?

 

And that's where the good part of the map ends. The last part is another one of those marathon levels which are honestly never gonna be fun. Monster spawner at least puts the newcomers on flesh boxes, so you know where the monsters spawn in, but the marathon part involves the counter-clockwise climb through many hordes. And again, the stupid rising/lowering platforms further compound my hatred. The hordes pretty much tell you something, did you get that secret BFG way back at the beginning? Cause it will help. There's also an invulnerability secret that took me a lot of time to figure out. Sorry, but bullet hells are terrible.

MAP07 - “Goetia” by Roofi

This map is amazing, but I picked the wrong time to record a saveless attempt. Here's a 94 minute long demo which misses 2 secrets and 10 monsters: tn07-VERY_LONG.zip

Tangerine Nightmare has 10 maps but with UAC Ultra starting on 10th, I'm assuming the credits map has not been allocated for so I thought I'd squeeze it in anyway.

 

map09: Credits - JCD / Roofi
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

A credits map with 2 secrets to find but no enemies. Well worth playing to hunt for the 2 secrets and to enjoy the map layout. One secret takes you to the only map exit to map10, the wads bonus map.

To the north west, at the top of some stairs there are 3 metal bars blocking you from collecting a blue sphere, blue armor and a bfg. I'm not sure whether you can reach those goodies or whether they are there only as a teaser.

The bars are solid void, but there are 32-unit gaps between them so it is actually possible to fit through the gap via a glide trick. I wonder if guideless glides are even possible in ZDoom, heh. (I can never do them regardless)

MAP07: This was truly impressive. The place is very well done and it oozes atmosphere, and there are lots of secrets (I liked the text messages and the scarlet key you can collect). Gameplay alternates well the combats you have to do to clean the areas (especially against snipers) with more staged and not so taxing slaughter scenarios. I appreciated also the few tricks done with the self-referecing sectors, like the crushing fences, and that the keys progression isn't something straightforward. This reminded me a lot of the maps made by Eternal.

You must do a glide to reach the bfg. This is because JCD loves speedrunning so I installed a little trick here .:p

1 hour ago, Roofi said:

You must do a glide to reach the bfg. This is because JCD loves speedrunning so I installed a little trick here .:p

You mappers are very sneaky! I never would have thought of a glide.

Map 08 : Pandemonium (Tangerine Nightmare)

 

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

Well , that's the IOS map of Tangerine Nightmare. I'm not keen of IOS maps in general so it's one of my least favourite in the set but all is awesome otherwise. I rated this map as "Hard" even if Franck lowered the difficulty after complaints. In the first version , there was no BFG in secret at the beginning , more monsters around the tower and less health and ammo scattered on the circular path. For those who participated in the DWMC of the previous month , you must recognize the track of the thirteenth map of Reverie. It's not my favourite track but it fits with the map perfectly.

 

My favourite thing in this level is maybe the fact that everything is massive. I just love how tall is the church and how that creepy talking black tower dominates the surroundings. I prefer a big thing at the center than a texture sticked on the wall as the original IOS is. The rocks are incredibly detailled as usual , it sometimes a bit laggy but who cares?

As previously said , I also find automatic lifts annoying but it's kinda necessary to make the progression more difficult and the first time I played this level , I didn't understand how to grab the megaspheres on the pillars. The invulnerability sphere's secret is very hard to find and reach when 273642827 monsters are aiming to you. The non-secret BFG is also quite hidden , it's not easy to find it for the first time. there is a little arrow to indicate but
you are likely to not pay a lot of attention because of the monsters.

 

Once you reached the last teleporter , the top of the tower explodes in front of you and you can hear a very guttural cry of pain ! You won ! But is the Tangerine Nightmare really finished? You're only at map 08 altough there are 10 maps...

FUN FACT

 

 

Another FUN FACT ! (and also easter egg) :

 

 

Map 9 : Credits (Tangerine Nightmare)

 

 

Difficulty : /

 

Unfortunaly , The tower destroyed all on its path when it collapsed. You didn't survive and all what you have explored before are reduced to ashes. However , something has miraculously resurrected you. You come out of your coffin and you notice that you are now on an island lost in the void with tombs scattered everywhere. Everything is eerily quiet , no monster are living here but you feel that the nightmare is not finished. Something tells you that you  forgot to explore a hidden place during your adventure and also that this tower you just demolished was just a distraction.

 

The last level made by Wilou is accessible by finding the secret near his grave. There is also a tomb where it's marked "RIP Subject_119" in the other secret. Subject_119 had actually not participated in Tangerine Nightmare but he passed way two years ago. His grave is a tribute to him because he was a very active member in the french doom community. He notably participated in another projects , especially in datacore's ones and 3 Heures d'Agonie.

 

Each member of the team has its own grave otherwise. In order to avoid monotony , they all have a specific design linked more or less with the person so each tomb has its meaning :

 

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by Roofi

MAP08 - “Pandemonium” by franckFRAG

Now, I've read that this is an IoS map beforehand, so  my expectations were not incredibly high going in. The good here is that the map looks great, cool cathedral, nice tower, etc. I also found clearing the cathedral with the secret BFG to be amusing. The main area with the monster spawner is not something I enjoyed though. It's basically a forced, linear speedrun up the cliffs while spamming BFG and running over ammo + health pickups. Thankfully, it doesn't take too long, assuming you don't try and kill all the shit. There's a nice troll teleporter to the side of the main one which lets you beat the map. It craps you out on some tower and then takes you to the part before you jump down. Fool me once, shame on etc.

 

Here is a demo of my successful exit: tn08-557-NotMax.zip

I don't think I'm going to post any thoughts here without demos, as it's too hot in my country, my laptop is burning and I need my patience. There's a monster that never teleported anywhere in map 06:

 

 

Hurt me Plenty btw... another btw, FUCKING LOVE the colours. Bye.

We start UAC Ultra tomorrow so here's my final thoughts on Tangerine Nightmare.

 

map10: Umbreion Nils - [WH]-Wilou84
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

This map is quite difficult. There are several fatal traps on this map, some you can overcome with a good strategy but the last 2 rooms are beyond my skill at uvmax difficulty. You are not provided with either plasma or bfg. Instead you need to make the rocket launcher work for you.

I like the map layout and way the progression is done not by simply opening doors but by finding partially hidden switches. The map author William Huber describes the map as an "ancient gothic crypt".

The map slowly ramps up in difficulty as you progress. How far can you get? In my case I can make it to the penultimate crescent moon room of hell before "the wheels fall off". In this hellish room the action starts when you approach a bunch of of shells and a soulsphere and are greeted with 9 archviles blocking your way. A steady stream of hellspawn flow into the room after that. By the time the pain elementals and a bunch of revenants appear, the room is chock full of death. The rocket ammo is only on one side of the room so you have to plan when to restock.

The final room is just plain evil. A small room with a few pillars. You hit a switch to start the action. One corner wall is full of revenants while a couple of archviles on pedestals try to ruin your day. A daunting number of cacodemons and pain elementals waft into the room. Meanwhile blocking walls start to lower to reveal the 2 cyberdemons in the 2 red doorways. Quite the party! If you get lucky and the cybies leave you alone then you can do quite well by camping either of the 2 side rooms from where they emerged. One of the rooms has a switch the reveals the exit, guarded by 4 archviles that are "champing at the bit" to start resurrecting all the revenants you just killed. Good luck!

Overall Comments

A beautiful mapset, every map is a visual feast with great map layouts. The fights start off easy and gets progressively harder to the point of being extremely challenging at the end.. There's something here for all lovers of doom. highly skilled players will like map08, map10 while most players will appreciate maps01-06 and map09 (credits). A definite cacoward candidate.

Favourite Maps

• map07 - a roofi masterpiece
• map06 - fun slaughter map

 

Most Difficult Maps

• map08 - an icon of sin nightmare!
• map10 - last 2 rooms don't even pretend to be fair!

Edited February 9, 2018 by tmorrow

Hello all, been awhile.

 

TN Map 01 -- Sombre Venue -- 100% Kills / 50% Secrets - FDA (skill 4)

Vivid orangeness aside, this is indeed a very conventional m01 outing in the modern style, just as the textfile says, offering as opposition mostly small groups of weaker guards to casually take apart with the pump-action shotgun. A few mid-tier enforcers crop up here and there, but other than the pair of revenants who tumble out of their broom-closets to try to keep you from making off with the green skull, these are mostly momentary bumps in the road who stick to particular posts rather than trying to really muscle in on your space. Indeed, it does strike me that the majority of the creatures stationed here can not only be taken out from beyond a point of separation if you like (i.e. my tossing 9mm spitballs at the zombies through the outpost windows), but in many cases also actually cannot approach or move much since they're positioned in this or that sniping point or on the strange pumping pistons along the inner moat or whatnot. This kind of placement in a more substantial map tends to bug me a bit--sort of like trying to work around chastity underwear, if you will--though in the context of a casual, scene-setting m01 I find I don't really mind much, somehow.

 

What the level does do quite well, on that note, is set the scene. Yes, as advertised it's orange, or several rich mottled shades of it, and presumably much work was done on the colormap to make it read as naturally as does. What really pleasantly surprised me, though, was finding that the mapset doesn't really have the light/silly/holiday tone I had initially assumed it would (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that sort of thing, but it's generally not to my personal preference). The scene here is indeed somber, in its unusual way, with portentous twilight lighting and a grim dose of pig-iron and black basalt carvings to contrast the brighter orange tones of the 'natural terrain.' From the outset we also appear to be largely eschewing the common tech/sci-fi element of the Doom canvas in favor of something more inclined towards the occult, with zombies reskinned to look more like infernal parishioners than undead PMCs and the setting itself leaping straight into 'Hell' territory instead of futzing about with the usual easy/early = techbase conflation. Fine by me!

 

I guess I somehow failed to trigger the blursphere secret?

 

TN Map 02 -- Molten Desolation -- 107% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA

Like m01, this also reads as pretty standard early-game fare (though reasonably escalated over m01 given the set's compact 10-map length), though I don't think it acquits itself as well either visually or in terms of gameplay. Even more luridly orange than its predecessor, and with a few other macabre assets making their debut (particularly dig the unsettling dead face mascarons--weird and creepy!), the overall impression is less striking, the whole sort of settling into a largely nondescript network of short, squat bunker-style corridors and low-ceiling caves. It wouldn't surprise me to find that the level began life as a much more conventional techbase design, and if one stops to take in the surroundings with anything more than the lightest of perusals, that's really what it looks like--an ordinary techbase with its Halloween decorations up.

 

Nothing inherently wrong with techbases, of course, but I guess what I'm driving at here is that the modesty and relative plainness of setting in this case doesn't really sell me past some similarly plain action. Mid-tiers feature more prominently (IIRC there might not be any zombies at all in this one?), and given the nature of the layout there's not a lot to do other than work through them face-to-face as you meet them, mostly with the SSG, natch (I used the chainsaw a bit for some extra flavor). The level's short enough that it's hard to accuse this of ever really feeling like 'a grind', but it's not very memorable stuff regardless, other than perhaps the group of monsters guarding the exit, which struck me as being a bit too drawn out with respect to their actual effectiveness, which is limited to say the least.

 

To its credit, the layout does its best to jump through hoops to wring some flavorful progression out of its modest collection of hallways and little chambers, sending you rattling to and fro and through and around its few structural keystones in between major progression points at different heights (such as it is). This does at least make the space feel well-used, and lends extra emphasis to the otherwise unassuming visual element of layers of cut-through sectors in the inner reaches, though none of this is really a strong substitute for the much more striking sense of place of m01, IMO.

Tangerine nightmare looks very cool,but  i am saving for Halloween so i cant play it right now.

I might join in for Uac ultra though,i had good times with that wad.

Looks like DotW is finally back, huh. I've been making weird stories out of some of these maps while you were out.

 

MAP09 Credits

 

Monsterless credits map, go on these graves and find out who did what. Kinda like the Hellcore 2.0 one. A secret near the start gives three keys. Also looks like the hidden items are not supposed to be accessed, since there's another "you're not supposed to be here" thing. I imagine a glide could get them, if possible. And look, people already lampshaded it.

 

MAP10 Umbreion Nils

 

"You found the bonus level" shut up.

 

The author of the map is incredibly fond of Hell Revealed 2, judging from the monster count, teleport ambushes, and the music. Yet the design styles are not too different from the other things I see in WH's 3ha maps. It's just bigger in a number of ways, but sometimes a slow going map isn't necessarily something I have fun with. Alright, Serious Sam progression overall, got your linear small-numbered enemies, then you get locked in, have to wait a bit while killing those that teleport in. Main highlight is the fight on the left side, with two invulnerabilities on ITYTD/HNTR, good to save for the initial arch-vile group. The rest that come in always shows up in the gray water, and segmented so that one group goes well before the other. Again, more waiting, BLAGH. The end fight isn't so bad in comparison, again one nice invuln for the low settings, which is great for saving, but apart from the inevitable reveal of Rocket Dongs, not much in terms of waiting. Just shoot the archie pillars, the revenant wall at your leisure, the caco/PE combo from the bottom, and the barons and cyber that eventually make their presences known, and then the exit is ripe for the taking past a few more arch-viles.

 

Final Thoughts:

 

This wad was orange.

14 hours ago, tmorrow said:

Most Difficult Maps

• map08 - an icon of sin nightmare!
• map10 - last 2 rooms don't even pretend to be fair!

 

Stuff for 10:

 

Big rocket spam fight -> (1) Start out prefiring rockets against viles before releasing instapop, hopefully kill as many of those freely roaming ones as possible. Not having too many of those around, and the rest being injured, is essential. Delay megasphere pickup as long as possible, use medkits and BA for sustenance. (2) Run back to the corner and start spamming rockets at stuff, just need to dodge rev rockets well at this phase. (3) When tons of mancs/PEs show up, pick up a radsuit and run in a U-pattern between the back of the room and the left while spamming rockets. (4) SSG for cleanup at some point so you don't run out of rockets for those two viles LOL, like I did at first. 

 

End fight -> (1) Delay megasphere pickup again. Kill viles. (2) Hide behind crates from the revs and start firing rockets into the pit where gasbags emerge before you see them, infinite height cheese for the win. (3) You should start this fight with 100 rockets of course. By the time you are down to 40-45 rockets or so the cyb will show up, assuming continual spamming, so that's a good way to keep aware of timing. (4) The cyb down below will be infighting probably, you should be on the right side of the back of the room at first. Grab megasphere, run up to the ledge, and HOPEFULLY you can get the cyb up top to start (and keep!) infighting revs. There's enough space to slip around it. (5) Ignore soulsphere in other cyb cubby for now -- being in there is no bueno. (6) Spam rockets at gasbags outside, just watch out for stray souls. Again, at some point, save rockets for end viles if needed. Use SSG/chaingun against some of the high revs during cleanup at some point if necessary.

 

Anyway, I think the end fight is still pretty easy to go wrong. (Like, top cyb not infighting when you camp its room.) All the rest of the fights combined are pretty easy after working out a strategy, so maxing single-segment (I just threw down saves at those fights so I could work out strategies) would come down to those. 

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by rdwpa

MAP08: It has a pretty good introduction when you reach the cathedral and fight the zombiemen in there. Then to kill the boss you the quickly climb a path full of monsters as hurdles while the IoS keeps spawning monsters. Which is okay but it isn't something remarkable to be a truly good ending. It looked very cool though.

 

MAP09: Nice credit map, the music was spot on but the tempo of the midi sounded a bit off.

Map 10 : Umbreion Nils (Tangerine Nightmare)

 

 

Difficulty : Very Hard

 

Tangerine Nightmare ends with a map made by Wilou-84. The dark tower was definitively a farce. The Devil has left to hide in his well-hidden underground castle and concentrated his last powerful troops in it. You can't let him rebuild the Nightmare you have just destroyed.

 

You can summarize this level in one trope :

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrutalBonusLevel

 

Indeed , it's a real Doom god test on Ultra-violence. This level is perfect for the most hardcore players who like torturing themselves with Cryogenics , Stardate , Dimensions... I finished this level on Ultra-violence but I saved between each arena. This is also one of my least favourite levels mainly because of the ridiculous difficulty but the level design is just utterly BADASS. At first , I love HR2's music and "Dance with a skeleton" is one of my favourite midi. This music becomes epic  for endless and painful battles. Next , the combats are well rhythmed even if the gameplay is quite repetititve.

 

Whereas The eighth level proposed an epic fight with an IOS , you must survive in successive fights which happen in closed arenas this time . Contrary to what the layout suggests , the gameplay is non-linear :  two big battles in the order you choose at the middle of the level. However , you are obliged to go across the croissant-shaped arena to reach the blue key's door. The player must fight with a very restricted arsenal : a Rocket launcher and a Super Shotgun , that's all. Consequently , I often blew up myself because you must sometimes kill hoards of pain elementals with your RL. Moreover, arenas looks pretty large at first sight , but every trap consists of flooding the room with  monsters waves. You must react immediatly and don't stop shooting before the room become too much overcrowded . The spheres are really scarce , you must use them at the good time.

 

The last room is more than unfair , you need a good strategy and some luck to not being stuck and dodge one billion projectiles. You must make the cyberdemons infight with revenants and caco/Pain elementals. At the same time , you must reach the little hideout with the last switch in order to kill flying monsters without being harassed by the Cybie below (But be careful that the higher located Cyberdemon is still infighting). The last viles should be not to hard to kill if you have enough rockets.

 

So , this level is interesting only for its challenge because of lack of exploration , that's a shame. And also , the 64x64 lifts when you quit a fight zone are not coop-friendly at all. There are even so 2 secrets  : A  not so useful chainsaw , and a generously given soulsphere. The aesthectis are really nice even if the textures' usage looks pretty odd , Umbreion Nils make me think of a tech base mixed with a gothic castle. However its devilish ambiance will freak you out !

Edited February 9, 2018 by Roofi

Favourite/Least favourite maps of TN (without counting 07 and 09 for obvious reasons)

 

Favourites :

 

01 (a very cute and atmospheric little map)

04 (Very dreamy , I like void)

06 (A funny slaughterfest)

 

Cool maps but not my favourites

 

05 (Beautiful but too much cramped)

03 (Basic gameplay but cool architecture)

 

Least Favourites

 

02 (Boring and not so impressive)

08 ( Awesome but Icon of sin )

10  (Badass but way too hard to be fun)

 

 

 

 

I played this map a year ago for the Ironman League , I don't have accurate memories but I remember that it was a cool , short and not very tough mapset.

 

Games configurations : Pistol Start , UV , Prboom+ , I try to uv-max but I play without the alternative hud.

 

 

Map 01 : Dig (UAC ultra)

 

 

Difficulty : Easy

 

Let's go for the second wad ! Goodbye the orange! Welcome to Mars!

 

The first map introduces you in a crater where resides an infested futuristic base. As the title seems to say , you have been sent to Mars in order to extract rocks for a scientifical purpose. Of course , you are in a video game , so everything goes wrong upon arrival! In addition ,the outside air  is litterally unbreathable on account of the fact of the recent demonic invasion. You take a lost radiation suit and run to the base .

 

A medium-sized map for a first but the progression is very linear. The layout consists mostly of corridors and small rooms. To be honest , nothing special to note on the map itself , it's a modest but nice one. There are a few enemies and some traps just to stay a bit on our guard. During his route , the player can discover all the new graphics which are pretty neat and still very doomy. I have a favourite for the black gloves and also the yellow key .

Also , it's a Boom compatible wad , I liked the room with the unbreakable windows  , it gives a nice little touch. The music plays calmly , even if Mars is invaded , just relax and enjoy the ambiance.

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by Roofi

TN Map 03 -- Rain of Embers -- 105% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA

Again, a collab map with a piece by Datacore as the base. I think that "Rain of Embers" is a fair bit better than m02 before it, although many of the same general criticisms of combat apply--lots of straightforward fights in corridors and through doorways/thresholds, with the vast majority of the work done with the SSG. Bullets for the chaingun are conspicuously rare, and while this is hardly a problem for the viability of the balance, it does leave me curious about what the weapon's 'moment in the spotlight' for the level is intended to be, since there's not enough ammo for it to take a general-use role, and it's not as suited for chewing through most of the enemy clots as the SSG is, especially since it appears after the earlier groups which are comprised of imps and pinkies ('rojos?') and other low-level fodder.

 

As aforesaid, a lot of the action involves butting heads with concentrations of enemies as they try to pass through some key door or checkpoint towards you. While we tend to romanticize these days about the virtues of multi-directional pressure and forcing player movement and all that, I think this kind of encounter certainly has its place, and if used well is good for emphasizing a sense of infestation, and the bloody work of clearing one out. The pile of enemies which spills out of the set of six mirrored chambers at the north of the complex was something that worked well, precisely because it's somewhat disarming just how many enemies (of several different types, at that) are jam-packed into what appears to be a small/unassuming space.

 

On the other hand, again I found the fight before the exit somewhat inelegant, with perched monsters defending a narrow threshold which doesn't offer a good angle of attack for the player, so you end up having to pick away at the defenses one piece at a time, bogging down the pace for a few significant moments. Rockets or bullets(!) would've smoothed the process significantly, esp. versus the 'trons at the awkward angle down in the orange goo (I didn't want to jump down because the first secret area led me to believe the goo would be damaging, but apparently it's not in this spot..?), but I had very little of either to hand at the point. A chunky group of mancubi guard the exit proper, curious because they push you back, but by that point there's nothing to be pushed back into, so....why?

 

All that aside, the action in general's more engaging on the whole because the environment is more interesting, more like m01 than m02's set of anonymous tunnels, with more open space, more vertical scale (though again most actual combat happens on only one plane), and a variety of different textures and room shapes on display (I'm still drinking in, and quite enjoying, the sort of continental-satanic flavor to the assets and such at this point). Looks like there's also more than one sequence of progression one could opt to take in the vicinity of the central hub, with none obviously better than the others, a small but significant compliment to straightforward action of this type.

 

TN Map 04 -- Bile Noire -- 106% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA

Odd little map that looks bigger than it is; memorable, eclectic. Maps 01, 02, and 03 are all understated in a way that's more or less timeless, but "Bile Noire" gives me the impression in look and feel that its primary author is a fan of stuff from the mid/late 00s of PWADing in particular, particularly in its main chamber, with layers of somewhat austere yet dignified-looking colonnaded terraces overlooking a canal or sluiceway below. Between this general style, capricious little structural curiosities like the mini-maze over by the soulsphere lift, and the serenely blank black void just beyond the ramparts, there's something very 'modern HR' about this (and I mean that as a compliment in this case), although the thing placement style perhaps doesn't quite bear that comparison out. Of the maps so far, I'd say it's definitely the first one where the look and feel is defined more by the actual architecture than by the texture set or aesthetic window-dressing (though it is of course as aggressively orange as one might expect at this point), and indeed some of the cosmetic details, such as the ornate floor grates along the opening areas, give the impression of having been added as afterthoughts to address what would've otherwise been a noticeably spartan decor. Liked the music, which also gives that old-fashioned impression of not obviously belonging in Doom yet oddly fitting the mood somehow, regardless.

 

Given the more complex structure, clearing this out is naturally a little more involved than in previous maps, the most defining feature perhaps being that the player is tasked with circuitously climbing up to the top terrace in the main chamber before acquiring the SSG. The RL is readily visible from the outset, but can't be reached until quite a ways in, framing overall progression as something other than a key-hunt, in contrast to earlier maps. Progression itself is also rather quirky at points--particularly the impact-switch device granting egress from the eastern cupola or the rather inconspicuous (or so I thought) switch raising the lift to the upper terraces--again underscoring that slightly vintage feel.

 

Not terribly difficult (though I did manage to very nearly die at one point by totally dropping the ball in the RK trap, IIRC), all told, but action is certainly a bit livelier and more varied than in previous levels, from navigating a rain of projectiles from above in the early going to battling some cheeky close-range traps later in progression. Nothing too demanding, generally--you can pretty much always retreat if you react quickly, and there's usually little downside to doing so--but it's nice to wake up a bit, and to see the RL challenge the SSG as the level's marquee weapon for a change of pace. I imagine that if you have a very stolidly stodgy playstyle the opening minutes may not be very much fun--feels like you have enough ammo to snipe everything above away with shotgun if you want, and some might argue the balance doesn't do enough to preclude this--but I don't really see this as a problem. Salute to rocket-pounding catharsis at the end, not the last time in the playthrough I'll manage to screw that up, mark my words...

map07 fda (sorry, its a long one!)

glboom+ / uv pistol starts / saveless

this map is so incredible - the only thing i didnt like was the wooden beams you have to shoot to pass, i loved literally everything else. 10/10.

brilliant use of secrets and the map07 tags to create a nightmare warren of evil :)