The DWmegawad Club plays: Memento Mori 2

MAP05

If you don't find the secrets, you could well be hurting for ammo, here. There's quite a lot tucked away in hideyholes. Probably pretty fortunate then that for once I did okay on that front, picking up 75% of them, including the one with 40 shells and 100 bullets in it.

I liked the transformative effect on the yellow key, where it goes from "in the corner of a cave" to "outdoors" via the flick of a switch. It's a nice bit of visual flair.

Texturally the map certainly has a considerable variety of themes. I'm not sure it all fully gels, really, but it does give each area something of a different visual stamp, which might potentially be useful for navigation.

Lots of use of 'see through walls' here, which I'm a bit so-so about as a technique in general. At least they're all given mid-textures to flag that there is a barrier there, though.

Well I'm back for Memento Mori II, The first Memento Mori was one of my favorite wads but I only got a few maps into the second so now's a better time than any to try and complete this one. Played with Prboom+ on Ultra-Violence.

MAP01: Outpost

We're immediately thrown into a hellish atmosphere with this one. This map can be a bit dangerous if you get reckless mainly due to a lack of armor and some of the enemies managed to hide themselves quite well. A Pretty close quarters and straight forward level that serves as a good opening map.

MAP02: The Feeding Pit

Somehow I got stuck on this map first time I played. I assume it had something to do with locked door and the beginning which seemed to be opened up by the cross or something in the opposite room, Beside that another straight forward and simple level that was a very easy 100%. There's not a whole of health but there's no basically no dangerous traps or enemies here so that should be no problem

MAP03: ...And Hell Beneath

Another close quarters map but not quite as simple as the last maps with a bit more backtracking and switch action going on. Enemies are still mostly Zombies and the weaker demons but the tight rooms and hallways means if you get caught in a bad position they can drop you quickly. Once again no armor I could find so that made the weak enemies a bit more dangerous. The Cage traps that lock you while the chaingunners shoot at you from below were a bit of a pain. And doing it once again in the same spot felt a bit uninspired but the map kept things interesting enough. First time through I died in the slime pit at the very end when i fell though the little gaps in the floor. You can lower the walls but I couldn't balance on the 4 or so pixels they gave me and melted away instead. But that's mostly my fault for being careless.

After warming up on the first two maps we get the first substantial level.

There's some great pieces of lighting and design through out this map, with well defined visual themes to aid navigation through the cleverly interconnected layout. Armour is once again scarse, but combat feels less dangerous than maps 1 and 2, though there's some great little reveals such as Cacodemons rising out of a blood pool, and the focus is on solving lots of little 3D awareness puzzles to progress and open up new areas of the map to explore further. Enemy placement often feels deliberately designed to draw our attention to where it's needed, and as a reward for working out what to do next.

The whole ensemble shows a maturity of design and I can see why Worch would go on to become a professional level designer.

Map03 ...And Hell Beneath:

Kills:88%

Items:88%

Secrets:0%

I was to lazy to wall hump or search for secrets on this one but this map is much more complex has a large spike in difficulty and here's the good. The first thing I like is how the monsters are placed in most of the level and it's a much bigger and more complex map than the opening level or the second one. Now the bad parts of the level is the fact textures but in only like 2 rooms they look pretty bad. That's the 3rd map it's pretty good honestly but not the greatest.

The night is dark and full of hit-scanners.

Once again the map is puzzle box wherein we are rewarded with more things to shoot for our progression. There's a satisfying rhythm to it, interspersed with traps and ambushes to throw us off guard, and some exploratory secrets that aren't hard to find. It's cool, clever and occassionally quite deadly. Something of note is the use of 'secrets' as progression. There's a few switches and doors that are either obscured, or straight up hidden, so first-time players may get frustrated, especially since it's easy to forget which of the four routes through the map you've already explored.

Scored my first backpack (which is a weapon upgrade in Argent) and tried out the grenade attachment for the shotgun, but it didn't compare well to the SSG I already had, so I replayed the map and took the rifle scope instead which proved more effective.

MAP02 - “The Feeding Pit” by David Davidson

David Davidson's gameplay ideas are certainly not something to write home about. A random assortment of trash monsters haphazardly placed, and they look utterly confused on how to stop you from murdering them one by one. Despite that, this map still sticks with me whenever i think of MM2, mainly thanks to Davidson's great sense of architecture. Every part of map is uniquely detailed and nice to look at, with shoutouts to the bloody throne/feeding pit thing and the abstract red key room, and the main citadel shot is a 90s sight to behold. Also, it managed to get itself a sweet David Shaw track!

It's weak for sure, but not lacking in memorability. As a side note, it's kind of like every map this author has ever made :P

^{That author name is seriously distracting}

Quote

kmxexii once said: I can't figure out how to open up the exit chamber, though.

I still don't know how this can happen

@Urthar You can press the pillars to lower em. I feel ya

Some screenies:

MAP05
This map have obscure progression when finding secrets is easier that usual progression. Here you need to find some "magical" midtextures and niches with switches which are opened unexpectedly. I've even maxed this map before end it.
I found secret in starting room because everytime I've see "starting silver door" I check it, and later when rechecked this room, I've found the supersecret inside it.
Where is "exit" signs is located is most harder to find how that floor should go up, then I realized that you need press small blue skull texture that really a switch.

MAP05: Another map full of interesting things. It seems that the author had fun with mid-textures and transparent doors (somehow this kind of stuff is less prominent in modern vanilla wads, same for 3D bridges). The trasformation of the YK cave was pretty cool, and and in that area you can also find a switch that turn the damagin floor into non-damaging rock. I like the "invisible" switch in the sont area with the SSG and the CG. The secret in the northern area was weird, there are few armor bonuses and a hell knight. I don't understand either the caged cacodemons and PEs on the circular corridor before the BK, you can avoid to release them, unless you really want to go for 100% kills.

MAP04: Ratamahatta

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Like the last map, this one is full of tight corridors that can make the small fry dangerous. It's basically a key-less hub map, and I do like the way it was presented to the player with three of the spokes closing off at first, forcing the player into one then opening up the other three to be done at the player's choice. There are a few dangerous traps (the four-chaingunner one got me pretty low) but thankfully there's lots of health around to stock back up. There are a few green vests as well but they seemed a bit strangely located, as I went through the first half of the map sans armor and then late had more than I needed. I really liked the berserk/caco secret, I always appreciate it when I try jumping somewhere and find something fun there.

MAP05: Rites of Passage

Remember to teach your kids to check the doors behind the start, they might hide valuable stuff. That's basically a lesson from TNT17, and here the secrets serve to get comfy with ammo and an early chaingun. The other important is the SSG for the pace, although I'm not sure how many kills you can get in a secretless run, considering all the mid-high HP. Anyway, I liked the use of darkness throughout the indoors sections and texture variety, says the author cared a lot for immersion. The big area looked imposing, with spectres/sergeants coming from the shadows. Casually, only the lightest part of the rocky texture is damaging. One of the most memorable parts in MM2 from last year was the curvy road with the fake marble wall at the end, I realized this time that a crusher was activated in front of the switch, but I was in the rush to kill the gasbags before they spit babies and shit. There is no pressure to kill anything there but it's funny to peek at the meatballs in their cubicles and find out they were guarding bonuses. The YK reveal was another cinematically cool effect. What was with all the radsuits anyways? I took one because why not, but uh there weren't that many pain sectors, or were there?... Whatever, nice map. 

BTW, crusher for a sleeping caco is inhuman and disturbing, not cool Paul, not cool. (?)

MAP06

Adam Williamson was a prolific poster on usenet back in the day, and still pops up here on Doomworld (he's AdamW). I really didn't like his Requiem map (29), and I can't say I like this much better. It's visually pretty bland, and compounds that lack of flair by having a lot of doors that just raise up into the sky. That always looks a bit naff (though to be fair I was guilty of it myself from time to time, back then). The gameplay's not got a whole lot to recommend it, either, IMO. As with Requiem map29, there's a lot of monster closets here. A whole lot, in fact. So much of the map consists of a monster popping out behind you, that it almost becomes a surprise when none do!

I also feel like the map squanders to introduction of both the revenant and the mancubus. The latter in particular can be completely ignored.

IIRC, the map received a fair bit of criticism on the MM2 mailing list, though I don't know what if any changes resulted from the feedback. At the end of the day, TiC obviously figured it was good enough to include.

Bizarrely, UV has two non-secret green armours whereas the other difficulty settings only have one.

On 11/4/2018 at 3:42 PM, riderr3 said:

MAP04
Near of "Duck Nukem", grave I jumped to the other side and found myself in a untextured pit with imps that clawed me to death. Maybe I should not be there ahead of time, or this is just a bug.
 

Wow, a bug I was completely unaware of! These pits are raised by only one linedef #1895 (Tag 39) and your route/progression skipping it is absolutely natural, though I never chose it myself. To summarize: drop to the NW pit before the NE pit at the start (NW leads to crushers and steep staircase with chaingunners), then jump to the lift that leads to the big secret (sector 213), jump further east and you end up in the untextured pit... Good catch.

MAP04

A level hated by Andy Olivera and Peo Sjoblom ("ugly", "annoyingly repetitive"(??), "too dark"). Well, I like it. It is a very old-school, solid map (if we forget about the bug just discovered 20+ years later and other one mentioned in Doom Wiki). The idea of using raising pillars instead of keys is brilliant. Four pits (three of them temporarily sealed) are cool. There is some spooky atmosphere indeed...

The first pit to jump into is SW (mandatory) and while the whole map has an Ultimate Doom vibe, this section is the most Ultimate Doom of them all! Texturing a la Slough of Despair, no chaingunners or hell knights yet, there is even a chaingun to be picked up, a feature rarely seen in Doom2 levels. Of course, the player has an SSG which is not very Ultimate Doom-like, but I approve this decision. There are just too many demons/spectres to be comfortable with minor weapons only and lack of rocket launcher is still acceptable here. Well done Florian with item placement!

My normal route is SW, NE (backpack+teleporters), SE (chapel) and skipping NW (crushers). How is it possible? If you escape the chapel quickly, you can jump onto the second pillar while it's being raised, form the second to the third and to the exit :)

Speed demos involve linedef skipping, so even the SW section can be ignored.

A question to very experienced mappers: is it good mapping habit to put these walkover "Crusher Stop" linedefs? They are EVERYWHERE in the maps from the 90's. As they are placed when the player is walking away from the crushers, do they change anything? Do active crushers slow down the old computers or something?

(map rating: 4/5)

45 minutes ago, vdgg said:

Wow, a bug I was completely unaware of! These pits are raised by only one linedef #1895 (Tag 39) and your route/progression skipping it is absolutely natural, though I never chose it myself. To summarize: drop to the NW pit before the NE pit at the start (NW leads to crushers and steep staircase with chaingunners), then jump to the lift that leads to the big secret (sector 213), jump further east and you end up in the untextured pit... Good catch.

Then it needs to be added to Doomwiki MM2 page of this map.

45 minutes ago, vdgg said:

A question to very experienced mappers: is it good mapping habit to put these walkover "Crusher Stop" linedefs? They are EVERYWHERE in the maps from the 90's. As they are placed when the player is walking away from the crushers, do they change anything? Do active crushers slow down the old computers or something?

Only 30 platform-type actions can be active at once, regardless of type. If this limit is exceeded the game will bomb out with the error message "P_AddActivePlat: no more plats!". Most source ports remove this limitation.

MAP05:  Not a good first impression - gimmicks like crushers and false walls, plus the prominence of so called 'damaging
floors', annoyed me to such an extent that I made a real hash of things and even accidentally deleted my beginning of
level save. Resuming with a UV pistol start was actually a good thing though, forcing me to play the map properly and pay
more attention to the basics. Working out how to get to the armour in the sergeants gallery (ridiculously simple, in
retrospect) gave a much needed boost, as did finding the extra supplies in the areas above the main crusher. That was
sorely needed, as the absence of a chainsaw or Berserk meant a lot of ammo used up on Lost Souls and demons.

The highlights were probably the encounters in the yellow key area, and the Cacoswarm on the ledge around the vast
bloodpit, but some other bits seemed rather contrived or fell flat, such as the large array of hitscanners on the central
structure in the same area, who were easily dealt with and not much of a threat at all. Likewise the tricks with the
walk-through barriers, which generated a couple of HKs and Cacos, were really only of interest for the extra ammo they
revealed.

94% kills, 3/4 secrets

MAP06:  I rarely feel any genuine fear when playing a videogame these days, but the part when the lights went out after
picking up the red key was genuinely scary, with a Hell Knight and Baron at large in the darkness.. The other memorable
moment occurred after crossing the bridge into the fortress-type building, and mayhem suddenly erupts - trying to hold
one's ground is suicide here and I found the best strategy was to rush through the red door to the relatively safe area
there, and try to lure the Cacos and PEs in one by one. The chaingunners and Revenants on the ledges can then be sniped in
a fairly clinical fashion. Not a bad finale, maybe could have been made a bit more testing if the blood-floor in the Baron
area had been toxic, much as I hate that sort of thing.

100% kills, 1/5 secrets

MAP05: Rites of Passage

100% kills, 3/4 secrets

This one is definitely a throwback to the abstract weirdness days, with a lot of strange design bits and overly complicated areas (such as the secret behind the secret chaingun at the start). The floating (and sometimes one-sided) midtextures I'm pretty down on, but I think the fiddly nature of stuff does give the level character. Clearly there's some stuff that hasn't aged well, like the caged cacos/PEs on the curved corridor to the blue key - god knows a lot more could/would be done with that in a modern level - but some of the stuff is cool like the yellow key transformation/reveal. Overall not bad, revelling in the weirdness.

MAP04: Ratamahatta

Another tight map consisting mostly of cramped hallways and small rooms to fight through though it can still take a while to get through. I liked the design of the map but unfortunately most of it's difficulty seems to be derived from dickish chaingunner placement, although the only one that was unforgivable to me was the 2 chaingunners way at the top of tall skinny staircase room. they're too high up too see near the bottom so it's either an oversight or a big fuck you.

MAP05: Rites of Passage

This was definitely an interesting map. There's a few secrets and tricks in this one and the way forward isn't always obviously clear, It was nice seeing somebody trying to do something different for once and overall i'd say this map worked well with a good amount of combat mixed in with the more puzzling sections. Not everything might have worked out well but it was definitely something unique.

MAP06: Trapped

Really bad pistol start here as we spawn in the middle of 2 chaingunners and 2 shotgunners with absolutely no cover or weapons to help us out. I suggest killing a shotgun guy and just go for it. Besides that the maps really ugly and there's nothing particularly interesting except maybe towards the end. There's a few poor design choices here like a useless Baron on top of a pillar which can easily be plucked to death from safety unless you run into the room and all of the monsters closets just felt uninspired after the first minute or so. It's not so much that the map is bad but rather that there's nothing particularly good about it.

MAP06
I suppose here will be a tough start for pistol starters, still you can use cover behind another monsters and infighting. The pits are probably inescapable.
What is good about this map it's have pretty intuitive progression. Visually this map can look simple, but only for modern standards.
Ambushes in dark corridors are getting obvious after a while.
I wanted to return for blue armor from north-west area but realized that I'm trapped temporarily, before I jump down.
This map contain more mid-tier monsters, still there are not much need for stronger weapon (at least for HMP skill). Though after grabbing yellow key I wished to have a plasmagun.
Chainsaw here helping to save many ammo even when you play continuously.
I suppose before entering final room there something is hidden inside the cube with baron carving. A weapon or goodie probably?

Currently, MAP06 and MAP04 among my favorites, even despite the fact they have a certain bugs.

MAP05 - “Rites of Passage” by Paul Noble

Gimmicky is definitely one way to describe this map. It feels like the author tried out a bunch of quirky mapping experiments and then combined them into a map. Compared to the previous 4 levels, there is very little in the way of visual or thematic cohesion here and some of the locations are just plain ugly. There are also plenty of fake walls and one-sided switch textures as part of progression, among other peculiarities. Most of the combat is simply there, although the computer room with 3 Hell Knights is quite fun due to the limited space.

MAP06: Probably one of the weakest maps, for sure it's among the levels that I like the least. Nothing really interesting here, I liked the transforming building after the red door (though later the revenant and the mancubus are poorly used in those distant closets, and there's also a lift with a hom), and it was a nice bit the preview of the BK room. There were many little traps with opening closets and the gameplay wasn't exactly so bad in some points. It's the linear progression of these bland areas that isn't compelling.

MAP06: Trapped

Yep, harsh start, not a pleasant one. It isn't the worst in the wad anyways, depends on RNG but you're given an armor pretty soon, that isn't a common thing in the wad. Visually uninteresting, some doors that raised into the sky, and big boxy rooms that, well, in this case had nothing appealing imo. The dark green textured corridors are probably the best the map can offer in immersion, and maybe the blooded room with perched HKs. I suppose the title is also a reference to the kind of combat, sudden monster closets opening to keep it dynamic at least, and silly 90's traps like the surprise lift in the RK path. These ideas lose the charm after a second time or so, if they had any, I wasn't keen on that particular lift setup back then and I still find it cheeky. Also, even if the combat is light and grindy, missing the secret SSG means pewpewing barons and mancubi that pose no threat, which isn't a fun idea, or jasoning spectres and imps, though that's good for me. The BK trap and subsequent ambushes in the main hub are the highlights imo, first one from a cinematic aspect, you get a preview of the room but it isn't just imps guarding the key. The second because it was more substantial than the dull crossfire in the other area (though in one opportunity I got the rev and manc to infight). There's a lot of boring backtrack to do in addition, so the map is overall a step down in quality imo, but still not that bad.

I do wonder what exactly holds the ceiling in the start area. Also, lol at the HOM. 

MAP07

That door.

That expletive door.

If you've played the map, you know which door I mean, and you know why the level has its name.

What we've got here is a rather tech-base affair, given the ostensible "hell first" approach of MM2. Perhaps you could argue that the Alien textures reflect that this is a hellish mockery of Earth, but the swathes of startan (delicious, delicious startan) sure don't fit that concept. Texture alignment's also pretty wonky at times, especially noticeable on those ickwall 'crossbeams', given how many there are.

In keeping with the map name, progress in this is often a bit complicated and indirect. Enough so that it is a bit of a chore to sweep for goodies at the end, if you're playing continuous. I still did so, though, because I'd found both blue armours and wanted to exit with 183/200 instead of 183/132. Also because I'd left quite a bit of ammo behind. Supplies in general seem reasonably generous in the latter half of the map, but pistol starters can easily wander into encounters they're not really equipped for, at the beginning. There are also a fair few times (including that door) where you can get banged up by chaingunners you can't readily see/target.

There are mancubi here, but no use of the 666 tag. I couldn't remember if it factored in the map or not, so I killed them just in case. I also found myself flicking a lot of switches and not knowing what they actually did. At least these generally impacted something close, and the visual clue about the effect of the switch that turned off the 'nukage bars' was appreciated.

Not one of MM2's top maps, this, but a map named 'Frustration' could certainly have been a lot worse.

MAP06: Trapped

89% kills, 1/5 secrets

Potentially tough start for pistol starters having little cover against hitscanners, but thankfully there's a good chunk of health in the room to heal back up. Unfortunately you'll wish you saved it as the map goes on because the health dries up in a hurry, and I slowly but surely got chipped away to the point where basically all I could do was save scum and play peekaboo with enemies with my 4 hit points. There's a couple of interesting traps (usually by having walls that look safe completely disappear) but overall the level is ugly and a slog to play through, especially in the back half with no health and only the single shotgun and chaingun.

MAP07: Frustration

100% kills, 5/5 secrets

This one gets a lot of mileage out its relatively small footprint by making the player track back and forth across it a few times. Personally, I find The Door hilarious, but I admit it can be a bit grating if you get lost and traverse it more than necessary, which is possible given some of the 'what did that do?' switches near the end. Thankfully supplies are pretty generous (especially if you find the secrets, which is pretty easy since they're all helpfully plastered with the same hint), having the SSG makes all the difference between this map and the last one.

MAP06 - “Trapped” by Adam Williamson

Uh... where is my rocket launcher? Had to Chaingun-tap said Manc pictured above as well as the Revenant. This map's pretty cool overall I'd say. The dark, atmospheric hallway was nice and I do like how this central area opens up. The two Imp-alcove secrets are kind of silly as all you really get for straferunning to them is like 4 shells. Midi is nice too; got those trumpets + ambient stuff going on.  

MAP07 - “Frustration” by David Kuykendall

I feel like an opportunity was missed by not making the slime damaging and the map even more annoying to navigate. Otherwise, you mostly get what the title promises. Plenty of backtracking and revisiting areas that get repopulated from monster closets opening up. And also the infamous door that doesn't open properly half the time. The aesthetic is as out of place as map24 of Alien Vendetta, which is also an industrial nukebase map in the middle of what's supposed to be a Hell episode. I mean, this level is not exactly very fun to play, but that must've been the intention.

MAP05

So some of you say it has many themes, many clashing textures. I remembered it as a marble level. But yes, there are vines, green bricks and other stuff. The techbase bit (with 3 hell knights on UV) is out of place, for sure.

This is the level which triggered something in my brain and I love MM2 since I played it for the first time. The map started normally, some kills, some thinking where to go next. Then I saw that arrow telling me to jump down. Playing this "underground" section felt like playing an AD&D RPG, and the music added to the atmosphere. The culmination was the yellow key area transformation, I loved it, and it is nice to see most of you did notice it and liked it as well.

Paul Noble for sure had great imagination, had he continued to map, he would have become another Cyb or BPRD... In 1996 he still had some sloppy mapping moments, though. Before I go into MAP06 review I need to find where did I read about "wafer-thin" switches, I liked this term (what is worse, these switches only are visible from one side). And progression can be broken so many times that the Pacifist/Speed route is utterly ridiculous.

From the start you can jump through the window easily and grab the red key from behind the grates. And it is funny as there is a gargoyle switch that builds the stairs there so you can go back, which is useful also for the max route.

Back to UV Speed, after the red key grab you can go into the nearby teleporter and go for the blue key straight away. Then it's  blue key -> teleporter to the start -> through the red door to the platform near the exit -> press the floor (a blue skull switch is raised there, but z-axis...) and exit. Below 1 minute.

Oh yes, and the "switch that turn the damaging floor into non-damaging rock" which gaspe mentioned. MM2 has plenty of redundant switches, which do something useful or not, but are non-essential to exit the maps. Kind of a leitmotiv. I'll be mentioning them later.

Rating 5/5 due to nostalgia (now I understand Kristian Ronge giving high marks to all Fava Beans levels). It's weaker than other 5/5s, but still.

MAP07: So here we start to move out from hell and enter more industrial/human settings with a (classic) sewer themed map. There's some back and forth to do with the keys and the map gets repopulated with closets and some teleporting monster. It looks very good (barring some misalignments), and I really liked the pipes around and the "alien" texture that give a rather grim look to the main duct. The secrets were all behind a METAL3 door. It's only weird that the nukage isn't always damaging.

MAP07
This level will make you run like a mouse in the tunnels. Especially considering the lack of medikits.
One of the few maps where I have consistently 10-30% hp but I still manage to survive somehow. Goodies from hidden locations helped a lot.
On this map there are unusual "broken" doors that open after some mockery of them.
I spent 30% of the time trying to get the blue key. I still do not understand what kind of trigger opens the door in front of the blue key? After several returns to the location, the left door opened. On the way back, it is easy to determine the monsters ambush if you have a computer map.
And by the way, take care of your head, in sewage tunnels you can bump your head into the upper crossbar.

MAP08

Much like the last map, this one doesn't feel all that hellish, being pretty thoroughly a tech base; albeit an underground one. But then, who is going to tell Denis Möller he's doing his own project wrong? :)

Amusingly (or perhaps not) it has damaging slime while the last map had non-damaging nukage. I'm in favour of consistency of damaging flats, myself, but I can't throw too many stones, since I did non-damaging nukage in my STRAIN map.

Anyway, despite those complaints I really like this map. It has a genuine sense of exploration as you poke into various nooks and crannies and find multiple routes into and out of different areas. You also get to look in or across areas before you enter them, which delivers a strong sense of progression throughout the level. Good stuff.

The exit teleport swarm is a fun one, with monsters coming from multiple directions, though it feels like it comes a bit too late. There's really nothing to stop the player just lowering the lift, stepping onto it and flicking the exit switch immeditely. You might get dinged for a few health if a chaingunner is fast off the mark, but you're probably going to get even more dinged if you stay to fight.

Overall though, my quibbles are minor. This is a good map.

MAP07:  This fills the 'Dead Simple' slot, and maybe the number of Mancubuses to be found here is a nod to that fact, but
it certainly bears no other resemblance. Revenants and chaingunners also pop up frequently to keep the player alert and
gainfully employed.The most interesting area was in and around the room behind the slime barrier with the  towers in the
corners, where one could snipe some of the enemies from the outside, then jump in Rambo-style to clean up. The nukage in
this map only seemed to be toxic in one small area, despite all the hazard notices, but I'm not going to complain about
that. The title 'Frustration' may refer in part to one of the main doors jamming frequently, but it was also frustrating
that the level ended without warning (or at least a switch to press), denying me the chance to go back and pick up some
blue armour I'd deliberately been keeping in reserve.

98% kills, 3/5 secrets

MAP08:  I do wish more Doom maps were like this. Not ridiculously hard, no swamping of the playing area with masses of enemies, no too-clever-by-far puzzles or confusing layouts, just manageable doses of pretty challenging but straightforward, enjoyable combat in a compact but interesting environment. I actually completed this one on the first attempt with no saves, which is always pleasing, though almost got blown up in a barrel explosion while desperately trying to ward off a horde of imps. The strafe jump to get to the green armour in the nukage area seemed impossible at first, not least because of the strategically placed stalagmite, but this proved not to be the case.

100% kills, 1/2 secrets. 
 

i might join into this a little late. i love some of those early MM2 maps in particular. MAP 05 in particular is a favorite of mine. Paul Noble was a great mapper based on his two MM2 maps and i'm sad he didn't do more. at least it won't be too hard to catch up with the smaller size of the levels.