The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom Zero

Doom Zero

Chocolate-doom v.3.0.0 (Ubuntu), Bring on the Pain, continuous, saves when needed, blind run.

Map 03: Marble zone

I like this map, looks like a Plutonia map with all the green colors, I feel that FreeDoom's music fits the map a lot more. I had no idea of how to grab the armor, so, I did a rocket jump to it. I'm not a huge fan of chaingunner traps, but this ones don't feel too brutal. The gameplay is good and I like the SSG animation. I guess there are a lot of secrets, as I got 80%.

MAP03 - Marble Zone

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

The opening map of Ultimate Doom, Hell Beneath, should have taught an old timer that marble texture = difficulty ramps up, and a good notch. Marble Zone has a deceptive gentle start in a sparsely populated and vine-covered keep, along with some intriguing secrets to uncover.

When I realised the elevator was going down to a lower floor with an unguarded SSG, my Plutonia-hardened sixth sense tickled. Still, the flock of Cacodemons caught me off-guard, as I was not expecting anything so dangerous at this point of the WAD. It is not because of the numbers; it is the setup of this ambush that is lethal for the unaware UV-fast wannabe hero. There is a Cacodemon in plain sight, which encourages to pull off the chaingun for an easy stun kill, then in a matter of seconds 6 more join the fight rising from below. I startled, I gave up the SSG and ran up the stairs, killing imps and shotgunners on the way, finding that there was no escape and I was still surrounded, with the Cacos coming up from two sides. I definitely fell for the trap! I am glad I did, otherwise I would not appreciate the concept!

I could have swinged the situation in my favour in many ways, e.g. getting the SSG, or just retreating up the elevator and collect my wits there, but hey, if you play with -fast you should be ready to eat the dust sometimes, as you can’t make mistakes. This is the reason why I still use saves, especially when playing new maps.

The rest of the map is not so unsettling. There is a pair of monster closets with switches and a well-stocked final area, with plenty of ammo, secrets and cover to deal with the opposition, while you complete the platform-o-rama to the exit. Even the Plutonian Chaingunner trap did not surprise me as the Cacodemons did. I will not underrate the lethality of Doom Zero again.

Visually the map is pleasing, and the water texture looks more natural than the OG. Gameplay-wise, it’s an unexpected but engaging step up in difficulty. The only drawback are the Cacodemon custom sounds, which are at the basis of my clumsy first encounter with them. When I am unloading the chaingun on a Cacodemon, I sincerely expect a chorus of painful groans. Thus, I hesitated while shooting, as it seemed I was not damaging the Cacos as usual, and they cornered me. It’s like bats flying and chirping around when you are shooting. It makes the creatures more distinct, but a louder sound suits the big beasts better. Moreover, sharing Doomguy chaingun sound makes the former human commandos less intimidating than they should be, as others have pointed out.

I'm going to jump into one of these for the first time in an effort to not drop a megaWAD at the halfway point. I'm also not nearly as good at the classic DooMs as I'd like to be so something around or slightly above IWAD difficulty should do me some good (I've just beat map15 of Memento Mori 1 which was engaging if not too too tough). I'll be honest and say that this WAD never seemed enticing with it's reputation for puzzle-heavy levels but a) I just mentioned I'm playing MM1 so I don't have much room to talk and b) it'll probably make me a more well-rounded player or whatever.

I play using PrBoom+, UV, pistol starts, and saveless. I always try for 100% kills but if monsters are tucked away in secrets I don't feel like hunting for then they get to live another day.

MAP01: High-Rise Roof

An expectedly breezy opener that doesn't offend and introduces DASI-I's mapping style. The "1-of-3 keys" choice is an early standout moment. Not much else to say. The combat is fluid which deserves some points but it's too early to be able to dive deep into it.

MAP02: Toxic Tower

We've shifted into second gear! The difficulty is roughly the same but the encounters and progression are overall a lot faster. I actually came close to death at the right side hitscanner trap but was able to preserve my 4% health with some ginger peekaboo shooting. I'm not sure how I feel about the new Chaingun animation. It's certainly smoother but the spread feels more inaccurate, even though I know it isn't actually. I am a fan of the little bits of jumping we're required to do. It's nothing complicated of course but jumping in DooM has always felt slick to me and I enjoy it. The secrets were a mixed bag: The mega armor barely counts, I'm never excited to grab a chainsaw, and I thought the scrubsphere was implemented well. I'll also mention that the blue floor textures and being able to see your exit near the beginning of the level remind me a lot of Fava Beans. Overall a good map that ups the speed without spiking the difficulty.

MAP03: Marble Zone

Very heavy DooM 64 vibes in this one with the huge chunks of dynamic level geometry. I really dislike a lot of the visuals here but that's because I really dislike green marble. It's probably my least favorite stock texture. The combat remains mostly incidental and offers little challenge. The SSG fight isn't hard but at least it summons a decent number of cacos, and the chaingunner trap towards the end is the first spot where a fight has felt neutered. I know this map set isn't famous for its challenge but I think the health bonuses could have been replaced with more hitscan and still avoided overwhelming the player. That would have made the soul sphere feel more valuable as well. 

I'm hoping for a noticeable difficulty spike some time soon because we've been cruising for 3 maps now.

Map03 - Marble Zone

I can’t help but think the level title is a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog. I liked this level, it's sort of split into two areas, the beginning circular area and the water area. It was a bit of a hot start to this one, luckily you can get the shotgun off of the sergeant very quickly. The secret with the mega armor was pretty difficult to figure out but I eventually got it. Going through we get the super shotgun for the first time, but it’s guarded by a ton of cacodemons (like others have said, I'm not crazy about the altered pain sound effect). Took a bit of a beating there but nothing too bad. The switch to access the water area kind of confused me at first. I thought maybe you needed to grab another half of the face to continue, but I quickly figured out it’s just a clever way to see that the switch opens the door behind it. So far the wad has been great with showing what switches do, as to not confuse the player. I really enjoyed the water arena fight with the elevating floors. All the secrets have been well telegraphed so far, so I really like that (rocket launcher one is a bit tricky). So far with this wad I love how the maps loop back in on themselves. Even though this map which was pretty linear, you have to criss cross and loop around through the arenas in order to progress, which makes things more interesting (as opposed to a straight hallway).

MAP03: Marble Zone

100% kills, 3/5 secrets

I thought this one was a step down difficulty-wise from MAP02, as there's two big area chunks with plenty of cover and you shouldn't be getting hit from multiple sides if you're smart. Only dangerous part was walking into the second area too quickly and getting pincered by chaingunners I hadn't seen, which are really dangerous with the souped-up firing speed. (I can also see the caco swarm being dangerous, especially if you're playing on UV-fast like @Book Lord.) There's a lot of switch flipping here, but the level is small enough and guides you along the path so it's hard to really 'get lost'.

I agree the new cacodemon sound seems just unnecessary, but the increased speed on the SSG bugged me a lot more because the animation looks like it's missing a few frames with the awkward pause between firing and reloading.

Map 02: Toxic Towers

(UV, Pistol-Start, Crispy Doom)

Holy damn this was fun. I almost died a few times too! Very nice traps, and very fun barrel placement. This was just ultra violent in the best of ways, and THAT CHAINGUN! It's like Valiant's Super Chaingun The Way Id Did. @P41R47 said something about it being unchanged gameplay-wise but damn it still feels amazing.

 Love everything about this map - except the fact that I could not work out how to get the supercharge or blue armor. That's on me though.

Map 03: Marble Zone

(UV, Pistol-Start, Crispy Doom)

This was a lot easier than the last one for me, apart from tight start and big firefight at the end - the latter of which doesn't have much teeth because you can leave the arena at any time. I only got one secret this time around, I think I'm just bad at hunting them today. Anyway, I liked the shifting geometry of this one but the visuals were a bit bland, the firefights weren't as furious as the previous map, and it didn't use the excellent flamenco inspired song from Sonic, so I'm not overly impressed. It's not bad, it just doesn't quite live up to the previous two maps.

Also I have no idea what the white liquid everywhere is but I am concerned.

Well, the first two levels were an excellent insight into the first episode, if not the wad! Levels 3 and 4 were excellent, as well. I am still on UV and haven't considered any of the combat difficult so far. There was a certain room with pinkies and cacos in 04 that could have been troublesome if you run in too quickly. However, I'm taking my time and methodically taking each combat at my own pace. I am loving this wad and it definitely feels like it would have been at home with Final Doom.

MAP03 - Marble Zone

Crispy Doom 5.10.0 (Debian), UV, continuous, no saves (yet)

Despite the name, this level feels less like Sonic the Hedgehog than the last level, because it seems meant to be played slowly. Did lots of corner fighting to avoid large crowds of hitscanners. I do like the aesthetics here, the last two levels were nice but this is absolutely beautiful. I also like how the switch puzzles completely reshape the whole map environment, especially in the final room.

Also, what the hell is with those custom Cacodemon sounds?

MAP04: Triple Town

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 6/6 secrets

Yay, my first max run. This level also gave me my first death of the wad at the very start, where I made the poor choice of running in guns blazing and was unfortunately overwhelmed by all of the chaingunners. Visually, this map finds you in exploring a few small buildings made of brick/brown textures. It's nothing too great on the visual side, apart from the very end that finds you going through a neat cave section with some nice lighting. Apart from my initial demise at the very start, the map isn't much for difficulty, although I probably found it to be the most fun thus far. The beginning itself is quite easy if you know to be patient with it and not just charge in recklessly. The most threatening area is likely to be the building entered using the red key, where you will be up against quite a few cacodemons and pinkies in tight quarters. If you make the decision to run down the hall to safety, you will not find much of that, as a decent-sized group of hell knights awaits. The hell knights themselves also have some new sound effects that, like the cacodemon, are a little odd and I'm not sure if I like them much. This building was probably my favourite encounter in the wad thus far, not too challenging but can definitely feel frantic when you first set foot in it.

We also have the rocket launcher and plasma rifle here, both with some nice changes. The rocket launcher, like your punch, fires more immediately after you hit the fire button. The plasma rifle has a new skin and no longer has its reload animation when you stop firing, which means you can begin firing again immediately after stopping. Both changes are welcome ones for sure.

Overall, very good level. Despite not really being my thing in the visual department, it's probably my favourite so far.

MAP04: Triple Town

Woof! 5.0 (-complevel vanilla), UV-Fast, pistol start, no saves. One die :(

100% kills / 100% secrets

oh buddy, i traveled this map a lot to collect all the secrets. I died in a pseudo-trap of hitscanners in the corridor of the berserk pack, all my dies in the wad it was their fault (and for a fast pinky in the map03)

I enjoyed this map a lot in the search for the remaining secrets, but until now I haven't felt that puzzlecentrism (?) that's supposed to be in the wad, I assume that later the progress through the levels will become more complex

I still find the difficulty of the wad very easy so far :/

And the hell knight's sound change gives me A LOT OF CRINGE, I find it to be even worse than the harm they did to the cacodemon

Marble Zone: 100% kills and secrets - HMP continuous

  Sonic!  We get snoozeville IWAD music though.  Boo, hiss.

Combat is showing more teeth now.  Still not too rough.  Since everyone is commenting on the cacodemon sounds, might as well throw in mine as well.  I'm neutral about them.  If anything, it felt weird to me that so many monsters in the original Doom2 share the same 2 hurt sound effects.  The chaingunner attack noise threw me off in a good way at first.  I do appreciate it matches their weapon of choice once I thought about it.

Required progression still feels simple.  The secrets are getting pleasantly devious here.  I keep thinking there's a different solution to reach the megaarmor than the one I used but I felt clever exploiting the engine to reach it.  Kept trying to do some tricky juggling to reach the berserk secret before I found the much more straightforward solution.

UV Pistol start with saves, DSDA Doom

Map03 - Marble Zone

100% kills 4/5 secrets

Thought i was playing a 1994 wad for a moment, with Countdown to death playing and Marble textures everywhere... At least the second part of the map was a bit prettier.

But the combat was worse than the first part, the cacodemon ambush only wastes your shotgun shells and i felt that the chaingunner ambush was made only to let pistol starters use the rocket launcher (found in a secret right next to the ambush).

Also, the new cacodemon sounds are unnecessary.

I know it's only the third level, but i expected more.

Doom Zero - MAP04: Triple Town (HMP: K 100%, S 100%, D 0)

i really enjoy the clearly delineated sections here, and the cleverly compact layout which is definitely one of the strengths of this whole WAD.  The map begins in a cave and ends in another, going through some sort of complex in between.  The encounters are again a step up in difficulty, but i take the point some have made, that they're actually 'not that difficult' so far.  There's a group of Chaingunners close to the start, which of course poses no threat at least on continuous play, unless one wants to play hazard, but it's still something to keep one on one's toes. 

The central area has a little bit of bite into it, with a classic fight against assorted demons to clear the area before proceeding.  All the three connecting sections are good, which you must go through to raise a three-part bridge to enter into the final cave.  They all have the ability to be lethal, but playing carefully that won't happen.  For me, the biggest danger was again with the Cacodemons (perhaps these suffer from asthma...), as i forgot the door closes behind me and two were left with Pinky when i got locked in.  Does that sound dangerous?  Maybe not, but it woke me up after sniping most of the Cacos one at a time from the door.  Maybe we can say that these maps are quite forgiving.  In this section the first Hell Knights of the WAD appear also, but this early on they aren't really meant to pose a threat.  With the bloody aesthetics, this is a standout area in this level.  

Another moment of some danger was in the small tech-area where sneaky Chaingunners got my health below 100% as i decided to run up the stairs instead of playing it safe.  Again, that's nothing to regret because these maps are generous with health and armor.

The progression here is achieved by two separate means - raising the bridge with three switches which is the main task, and getting two necessary keys.  Personally i think things would've worked better if the parts had been switched around.  The bridges could've been raised to gain access to different sections to collect the keys, and the keys could've achieved progression to the final cave.  i don't know, but having a bridge of three separate parts with scattered switches bothers me a bit as it makes no actual sense, and thus feels like it's there only for the gimmick. 

Not a big deal, but flattens the map a bit for me.  Maybe i'm the only one bothered by it, or maybe it makes some sense i don't grasp.

But the solid combats and the other gimmicks and secrets more than make up for this little faux pas.  The second difficult secret of the set is in the RK section, and having the tendency to miss things that are directly in front of me, took me too long to see the lowering bloodwall.  Again the secrets were really rewarding to find as well as in substance. 

Also, i don't know why, but i really enjoyed the path that runs across another, requiring a jump over it.  (This gives me also the excuse to mention that the light platforming required so far in these maps has also added flavour to the gameplay.)  This path takes us to the 3rd section which is populated by Pinkies, and in few other places too i simply like the way Pinkies have been used in numbers.  It's nothing very unique, but just proper use of them in right places at the right time in right numbers.  A special mention for the secret with the Hell Knight guarding the plasma gun.

MAP04 – Triple Town

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

MAP03 was a kick in the teeth for me, so I took a more cautious approach. This level starts with a mini-teleport ambush, featuring a new “fiery pentacle” thing that reminds me of Doom 3 spawn spots. The tech-ceiling architecture of the first room is quite nice, I must say.

Behind the structure I found an awkward Blur Sphere secret, which I managed to get by moving randomly around the triggering line. Then I reached the place I suppose is the “Triple Town”, where a tripartite bridge needs to be raised. There is a good number of low-tier monsters here for a warm welcome, made considerably easier by the invisibility.

There are two possible routes you can tackle in any order. I chose the one winding back over the starting corridor. Again, I was a bit careless with jumping in the new room and I took a huge amount of damage from lurking (-fast) Demons.

I did not see how to get out from there, so I incidentally uncovered the secret leading to an early plasma gun and megasphere. I discovered that also Hell Knights have their pain sound replaced with an ineffable, ridiculous squeak. And they seem to have no action sound at all, which is rather confusing. Eventually, I returned to the Town and opened the red door into a puzzling room, with monsters staring at the walls.

My overly prudent reaction was to shoot from the door, hoping for an infight; on the contrary, the first Cacos and Demons were alerted one-by-one, which looked just wrong, but I stopped only when I could not shoot from there anymore. I entered and noticed the door had yellow bars inside and was supposed to trap me in; shooting inside the room caused all the remaining monsters to awaken. Once more, the trap layout seems to favour sensible play over rushing through the level.

There was a platoon of squeaking Hell Knights in the next chamber, good to propel some rockets, and a couple of rather obscure secrets, one of which I missed completely. The last section of caves introduces Lost Souls and has no special charm, besides lighting. At least replacing the pain sound of the LS is a thematic improvement, even though their yelling infights are hilarious to listen. A good level, quite easy if you do not rush into new areas.

MAP04: Triple Town

UV | Continuous Play with Saves | GZDoom

This was a curious one that kind of felt like a riff on old MAP12: The Factory but with a more concise layout and use of brick, concrete and tech textures but with a lack of Round Lads and Brainiacs. Instead, we've got a lot of Chaingunners, Pinkies and Cacos with some small servings of zombies and imps, as well as our first encounter with everyone's favourite grumpy cow-man, the Hell Knight. His new sound when you shoot him sounds like you're shooting him in the balls and I don't know how to feel about it lmao. Oh yeah, and that pesky mosquito we all hate, The Lost Soul shows up too hiding out in an underground cave with some Cacoboys. I enjoyed the progression, the way the bridges/platforms formed as you made your way around was fun. The first secret I found, I didn't understand how I was supposed to get. Those of you who watch my footage will know what I'm talking about. No idea what you're 'sposed to do with that, but I didn't care because the "prize" was shit anyways. I wasn't able to find too many others except for one that gave me some plasma and Mega-Armour, but that's pretty dandy, honestly. Not as memorable as the other maps so far, but still enjoyable.

Doom Zero

Chocolate-doom v.3.0.0 (Ubuntu), Bring on the Pain, continuous, saves when needed, blind run.

Map 04:  Triple Town

A very interesting map, Into Sandy's City fits the map rather nicely. The map reminds me of Scythe Map 01, with the red building and all that stuff. The new pain sounds are very... weird. It's a short map, and I like the last zone, a pretty good cavern. A bit slaughy, but nice.

MAP04: Triple Town

Crispy Doom 5.10.0 (Debian), UV, continuous, no saves (yet)

(screenshot in god mode because I forgot to take one in the actual playthrough)

Just another neat switch/platform puzzle, this time in a city setting. I think the combat is more enjoyable than in the last map; you get the option to use the Berserk, the opening chaingunner ambush is neat, and there are some heavier enemies. Apparently the Hell Knight and Lost Soul get custom sounds too, thankfully they are less weird than the Cacodemon's.

MAP04 - Triple Town

PrBoom+, UV (96% kills, 50% secrets), Pistol Start, No Saves, Blind

17 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

...increased speed on the SSG bugged me a lot more because the animation looks like it's missing a few frames with the awkward pause between firing and reloading.

I noticed myself starting to agree more with this statement in this map, it slightly bothered me in MAP03, but the more I use it, the more awkward it feels.

I took my first death of the wad in this map, thanks to the multitude of hitscanners. I'm not really a fan of the sound replacements in this wad so far, the cacodemon one is very irritating, and the lost soul + hell knight ones are like.... they exist, I guess, they're nowhere near as bad as the caco replacement, but they don't sound right to me at all. The caco + pinky room was pretty cool, visually at least.

This post probably makes it seem like I'm disliking this wad much more than I actually am, I'm pretty neutral on it at this point, but I am waiting for it to kick it up a notch, hopefully soon.

Doom Zero - MAP05: The Pits (HMP: K 100%, S 100%, D 0)

On my blind run, this is where i died the first time, unprepared as i was for the numbers and strength of the opposition, killing the Hell Knights as some dastardly wheezing Cacodemon floated in from the window behind me.  It doesn't get much easier after that, as we emerge into a large complex area with pits that harbour Cacos, and with distant sniping imps.  It isn't that hard when you know what to expect, but on a blind run it was certanily a drastic and dangerous change.  But as usual, one should have enough health and armour not to get killed unless very reckless.  i also died in one of the ambushes of the siderooms in this area first time.  i like this level a lot, and this area is no exception - it's a mini-puzzle of combat, and there's again some switches to press.  i guess if one was overly critical, one could say the switches in this particular area are kind of idiosyncratic, and same could have been done with keys.  It really makes no real difference, so i guess it's just thematic.  i only think that it's niceR when gimmicks actually add something.

The other main area of this level is also an open space, with the first Archvile!  He's really not very harmful, easy to take out first with the rockets from safety.  i like the switch gimmick here - you must raise a non-tripartite bridge over a lava-pit and run fast enough over to both not get blocked by a metal grid in the middle and get to the secret at the other end.  (This secret i missed on my blind run...i just didn't hurry enough so i didn't know the mechanism on the other side - and i still could barely see it, maybe because i'm playing at 'original' resolution.) 

The final area has some teleporting Hell Knights, but the best thing about it is that you teleport into it, and a separate structure you've seen from the window at the beginning, and most likely you will have killed the Imps that harassed you at the start already.  Very nice.  The secrets in this level are perfectly nice but nothing extraordinary (guess i feel a bit spoiled..)

This is my favourite level so far, whilst the fourth is my least favourite (which still is perfectly fine, and wouldn't mind playing it again).  i have to say though, in all honesty, as it has become clear to me at this point, that whilst i loved this WAD on my first playthrough, this second time it's so far very good, but not extraordinary.  And i'm a little bit disappointed because of this, as it's taken me completely by surprise. 

Next level i remember having a foreboding atmosphere...and unfortunately i don't think i remember which key to choose :D  On the other hand, the level after that i sadly have a feeling like it'll be a bit of a chore.  This is the first time i'm forced to re-evaluate a WAD, even if i've played many levels from many WADs multiple times this is the first time i'm experiencing this.  Still, every level has a lot of things that i like, too, so i'm hoping it'll be so with the seventh also.

Map04 - Triple Town

Very fun map, now we get exposed to some more hellish areas. This map had a great sense of progression, starting out in some buildings then going down into the cave like area. The beginning area was a bit difficult on pistol start trying to kill off all the chaingunners. The main courtyard area was made much more easy due to the partial invisibility secret. I liked working my way through the different areas, really loved the red room with the secret plasma rifle and megasphere (I really like the new sound for the plasma rifle too). To be honest I beat the level but couldn’t find the last secret so had to look up where the soulsphere was. Like before I like how all the switches are made obvious as to what they do. So far the maps are very bitesize so far which makes for easy playing.

UV Pistol start with saves, DSDA Doom

Map04 - Triple Town

100% kills 6/6 secrets

Say hi to the pentacles, if you see one, get ready for teleporting monsters. 

In this map we need to hit 3 switches to raise a bridge to the exit room Marathon style, in the way to the switches there are lots of secrets, one of them gives you a plasma rifle which now works like the Doom 64 one thanks to DeHacked, in the same room there is an orange Megasphere ...and some hellknights

15 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

His new sound when you shoot him sounds like you're shooting him in the balls and I don't know how to feel about it lmao.

...

The exit room is guarded with some lost souls, they got some weird sound replacements too.

Overall, i think this was a step up  from Marble Zone in terms of difficulty and fun.

MAP04: Triple Town

Note to self: Do not try to take on a gang of pinkies with <100 bullets, a couple shells, and no berserk. You'll die.

This map handed me my first and second deaths, once in the pinky/spectre room and the other when I waltzed through the red door with too much confidence and not enough room to maneuver. 

An attention grabbing start with the mini-tele ambush and an actually threatening amount of chaingunners around the corner. The secret blur sphere helps mitigate some damage in the outdoor fight but some well placed Imps keep it from being a freebie. A death to some pinkies had me searching for weapons on my second try and yielded a very helpful SSG. After the first portion of the bridge is raised I drop down low and am greeted by some hitscanners, and then as I climb the stairs I'm welcomed by even more. I love that they're placed just out of sight until you approach the top of the staircase. It's clever and a trap that doesn't involve closets or teleports is refreshing. 

The yellow key area rewards cowardice patience and a keen eye will allow you to snag a mega armor and some cells. After a quick tussle with some hell knights it's on to the final cave, a cave that features my least favorite thing in all of DooMdom: manually placed lost souls. It's a straightforward fight against them and a group of cacos. The change in scenery is appreciated and I'd be down for some more cavern combat.

This is the first map that I actually had to piece together a little bit. The flow of combat continues to be smooth and our expanding arsenal is keeping the momentum up. I don't like the caco sounds much but the HK/Lost Souls I'm indifferent towards. Berserk admittedly feels better but the timing is slightly off and it's causing me a bit of frustration. 

All in all this is my favorite of the 4 maps we've played so far.

I've been out of town and not checkimg Doomworld for the last week. Happy to see one of my longtime DWMC wishes getting played, and as soon as I can I'll get onto playing it

MAP05: The Pits

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 3/7 secrets

Visually this one looks pretty nice, with some decent architecture and good mixture of marble and brown brick textures. I do think the level had some awkward ammo placement from a pistol start, where at the beginning I felt I had to be really careful not to waste bullet pickups when I was near full or else I'd be ammo starved, yet towards the end I felt there was almost way too much ammo to go around. The map also likes to catch you off-guard with its cacodemons, with the beginning having some creeping in through windows with the potential to hit you from behind if you aren't careful, and the lava pit area towards the end featuring a cramped caco ambush that can leave you cornered if you don't get moving when you hear them. We see our first two archviles in this map, one in the lava pit mentioned earlier and another surprising you when you lower a lift. Neither are too difficult to deal with. The map closes with a teleport ambush featuring several hell knights in a small room, which didn't give me any trouble but I can see being a problem if an error is made.

The puzzle element comes through in a pretty neat way here, this time being integral to your continuing through the level. You have to raise a narrow bridge through the lava pit in order to cross, but unfortunately there is a metal cage in the middle of the bridge that blocks you from progressing if the bridge is too high. So, the solution is obviously to cross under this cage while the bridge is still raising. However, there is a wall in your way that prevents you from getting there fast enough in order to do so, and the wall must be lowered to progress (not sure if someone extra speedy would be able to make it in time otherwise, I tried that for way too long myself). Really cool and inventive design in this room.

I'm noticing a pattern of the most dangerous fights in the past couple maps tending towards the "cramped room of mid tier monsters" side of things. The difficulty of these fights has been friendly so far, but it leaves me curious to see how they will evolve going forward when the wad tries to up the ante on the challenge side of things. So far I'll echo that the wad has been easy, but we'll see if that lasts!

It's been a while since I've gone 'Clubbing (sad I missed out on Heretic!) so when I saw Doom Zero was going to win, I got all excited to join... and then promptly forgot about it. I've been having to fight off children for Computer Time more often this year, it seems, but managed to sneak an hour or so in tonight. Doom Zero has been on my to-play list forever, it seems; I first played the 6(?)-map demo back in 2017, and had an absolute blast, so I'm really interested in seeing what the final product looks like. As usual, GZDoom/continuous/saves/keyboard-only, and I'll dial it back to HMP just let me relax a tad more.

MAP01: High-Rise Roofs

6:00 | no other stats for this one, as I forgot to screenshot them before saving

I think I must have started in on the full version sometime in the recent past, as this map and the next felt really familiar, even beyond the standard, "Oh yeah, this map!" I usually get when replaying WADs. The map itself is a tiny little techbase intro whose most notable feature is the three one-chance key options, only one of which lets you exit the level maxed out. I didn't think things through, and grabbed the yellow one. Some of you may remember that one-time secrets are a big pet peeve of mine, but this map's so short and sweet, your instinct is almost to just start over from scratch and Do Better next time. Besides that, I'm loving the dehacked tweaks; the weapons feel nice and punchy (minus the chaingun, which feels oddly sluggish to me) and Doomguy himself feels slightly more nimble. I like it.

MAP02: Toxic Tower

8:29 | 100% Everything

The titular tower is a nice, compact little exercise in switch puzzles, with lots of moving parts. But everything well-signposted with a clever bit of, "Here's the switch. See what it does. Now figure out the rest." (I should note that, after feedback in the release thread, MAP01 was given a little switch tutorial that wasn't present in the demo. I found it a little heavy-handed, given how well maps 2 and 3 take you through switch mechanics. This map also gets an added (?) little "Make you sure you learn to hit the right switch" lesson that likewise felt a little forced.) I will say that even HMP doesn't let you fully relax, with the mobs of hitscanners being particularly aggressive. Playing continuous and starting most maps well over 150% health mitigates that quite a bit, though!

MAP03: Marble Zone

17:20 | 100% Everything

Holy crap, I spent way too long trying to figure out that initial blue armor puzzle! I remembered that it was stupidly simple, and still couldn't remember how to do it... until I did. LOL. This level introduces us to cacos, who have received some new sounds that I don't quite think I enjoy. The middle section of this map gives us yet another switch tutorial, and then the final section is a memorable climb up and around and over a marble setpiece realized by, you guessed it, more switches. Fun map all the same.

MAP04: Triple Town

16:24 | 100% Everything

This map starts out with a little teleporter ambush, which appear to now come marked with a glowing pentagram sprite, a nice touch. The name of the game for this level is to find the three switches to raise matching platforms that allow you to access the exit. So we have a little hub, with two side areas granting two switches, as well as the red key, the door for which leads to the third switch. A lot of fun little bits here, with the lava section probably the most memorable. The pinkies and cacos with their backs initially to you is easily the toughest fight of the WAD thus far, and I think the only real time tonight I was actually in any real danger. (Thank goodness for secret plasma guns!)

MAP05: The Pits

23:10 | 100% Everything

This map is the pits! Har-har. A punchy start, with a couple of knights coming at you down the hallway, cacos flying through the side windows, and imps taking shots at you from across the void. Survive this, and you find yourself in the first of the level's two major setpieces: a large marble hall full of stairs and a quartet of eponymous pits, AKA Fireball City! The pits lead to tunnels that hold switches, which open doors on the stairways holding more switches that eventually raise the ramp to allow you to exit. Shortly thereafter, you arrive outside at perhaps the most memorable bit of the WAD thus far: a giant crack in the ground filled with lava, guarded by an arch-vile. I remember the vile giving me more grief last time; this time around, I just hid behind the northern wall and took shots at him from a crack in the wall. The puzzle here left me stumped for too long before I finally looked up and realized the yellow key led to a switch that would make the lava pit passable. But uh-oh, the exit all but kills you! (Dun dun duuuuun!)

Map 4: 98% kills, 5/6 secrets

That invisibility secret is sneaky, trying to work out how to reach it without the wall slamming down.  Felt clever reaching it though maybe the approach I used is the intended solution.  Found a plasma gun too though never used it here.

  Combat is still forgiving, even more so because I took it cautious alerting as few enemies as I could at a time.  The outdoor area is easily handled by letting them come to you without stepping out of the doorway to thin the resistance.  Required progression is more complex now, requiring hitting multiple switches to reach one of the ones that raise bridge segments.  Sure, two of the three are right next to each other but I'm anticipating setups that are less convenient further on.

  One surviving monster, likely holed up in the secret I didn't find.  Didn't see much profit in seeking it out though, having access to 200/200 and a clear path to the exit.

Map 5: 100% kills, 5/7 secrets

  Combat ramps up a bit here.  Not overly hard but I felt I needed to work more to survive.  Mostly because of cacodemons in fairly restrictive spaces like the lava pit.  And earlier in the map it was cacos with distant imps though I baited the cacos into taking most (all) of them out for me.

  Some of the secrets are devious here; two got the better of my ability to sniff out how to reach them.  A number of them entail backtracking to check for opened passages too.  I wonder if that archvile was necessary to reach any of the ones I missed but didn't think to test it.  That secret region around the lava pit, tauntingly just out of reach...

  Managed to preserve health and armor bonuses until after everything was killed to exit as healthy as possible and it's a death exit.  Oh you mischievous map you.

MAP05– The Pits

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

Another nice map, both in construction and aesthetics, where I experienced no major hindrance, except at the entrance of the “Pits chamber”. The level starts with an onslaught of enemies from that big room into the red-carpet corridor where the player begins, complete with Cacodemons from the windows. Then you face a line of Imps shooting from a ledge in the distance, inside a room where charging in is not very wise. Nothing unmanageable, but here I first noticed that something is impairing my chaingun-sniper skills. I cannot say if it is the reworked frame sequence, the single bullet rate of fire or what, but I am not able to shoot with the same accuracy as usual, and even the shotgun looks inaccurate at long range. I shot rockets to clear the Imps, which is not my usual approach to such situations.

The design tends to avoid symmetry, but after a closet ambush on one side of the pits, I was surprised to see walls lower and expose a bunch of corpses on the other side. I am still scratching my head about this scene.

The lava pool area is both good-looking and fun to play, with a trap that is established and at the same time tempered by the use of a metal barrier. The device prevents you from advancing, but it is also a good shield from attacks; I made my stand by the door, then I found a way to cross the lava and snatch the goodies.

The Arch-vile makes his debut, first as a nuisance in front of some Imp snipers, then in close quarters and flanked by Lost Souls, that are more likely to enrage him than Doomguy (courtesy of -fast).

The continuous play ammo balance is not the one I am used to. It is shifted towards bullets and cells. I do not waste plasma on low-tier enemies, but I forced myself to do so in the exit room, when I noticed I was low on shells. This is not the only resource I will miss in the next map, it seems…

MAP05: The Pits

UV | Continuous Play with Saves | GZDoom

Oh man, this map was pretty fun. The use of Cacoboys constantly surprising me by coming in from the window was pretty funny and the combat over all was nice and spicy. More switches and elevator puzzles that were neat. We even got our first Archie encounters as well, though the first one's not much of a threat. His placement made him a bit of a pushover, honestly. Second one caught me well off guard though hehe. The ending is a bit of a wet fart if I'm being honest and I think more could've been done there. Not a fan of that "death exit" because it didn't actually kill me but left me with 1% health for MAP06 tomorrow. I'm hoping that was a design choice and it'll come into play in a way I'll respect and not an elaborate trolling move by the mappers or even worse, a bug. Managed to nab a fair few secrets with this one, which was also nice. Now I've got my trusty chainsaw AND the good ol' plasma rifle. Only 5 maps in and I've got just about all my arsenal, hell yeah. This map felt like less of an homage to any particular Doom 2 map, but much like its predecessors, it carries its spirit for sure. I'm loving how the combat has been slowly getting a little more frenetic but at the same time not really unfair or punishing. It's a nice balance. I'm a bit bummed out that I only just remembered DZ's own music add-on and how forgot to include it in the loadout, so I guess I'm going to have to replay the WAD at a later date and remember to include it so I can hear it next time.

Doom Zero

Chocolate-doom v.3.0.0 (Ubuntu), Bring on the Pain, continuous, saves when needed, blind run.

Map 05: The pits (can't attach a picture)

I find this map very relaxing and I love the esthetic of the first room, like a very tall building of sorts, but, a floating platform? What??? The switch hunt room can be deadly if you're not prepared for that kind of combat. And here in this map we get the Plasma gun, and I must say that I like the new sprite, looks more realistic (at least IMO). I don't mind the bridge section, like, you have to be fast in order to pass down the fence. The death exit was surprising, I thought it was teleporter, but I don't think 9% health will be enough.

I got busy with work, but my playthrougths are here.

MAP02 - Toxic Tower

Official Port UV-SAVES. Continuous with losing weapons if dead.

This map start slowly, small rooms, and you can see the exit there, it's just need a Key card, few seconds, and we see the main room, thin corridors with toxic wastes if you fall down, and barrels an enemy to the right side of the wall, so you just can't hug the wall. This map also starts the trap of monster closets, and i'm very happy that I missed some barrels shots, because that's helped me to clear easily the new closet of enemies.

And fast enough we can see a door with a different texture. And a elevation of the toxic waste (like a tower, jeje). Push the button but nothing happens, at least not visible, Now this it's the best part of the map, challenge wise, they give you 3 buttons, but you can only see 2, one opens the door with the yellow card, other a door with the left, and the other a secret hallway (permanent). So you will learn that you can't just run so fast to beat the door, so there a púzzle to do.

Connect the order of pushing buttons, and you can win. Seems pretty simple, but learning this in MAP 02  it's cool if the map throws this stuff that i kinda like. Grab the yellow chainguners keys, so we just backtrack and others enemies attacks! At least it's the same tier as Map 01. Open the door, kill the Ghost Pinky (How many pinkies will be in their exits rooms) and go out.

Video was not recorded by mistake. D'oh

MAP 03:Marble Zone  

Official Port UV-SAVES. Continuous with losing weapons if dead.

OK, hot start of the map. 3 Shot gunners in front (but sleepy) and a running pinkie to you, it was with the chainsaw, but keeping shooting or chainsawing the pinkie means im dead for the shotguns, so we hide in the corner where the pinky comes. Face forward, and you can see a place that's remind me of a mini version of Plutonia Map 01, even with the green textures and vegetation, we come forward to a place where it's feels that's move around (and it's needed to learn how it's moves, if a secret you wish to have) with their triggers in the steps.

Enemies are really low, so you blaze this part until the elevator.  There you will find the SSG guarded by 1 Caco Demon, or it's it? The plutonia references tell me to grab and go back, and i go out of the arena with less that 5HP Ouch, run and grab the nice places medic kits if you're fast enough and i clean the arena, really a good place where if you know the trap you can make the fight in the same place, but there's also a retreat option to figth in a better state, that's a PLUS.

Activate the platforms and if you are good and seeing buttons and irregular patterns, you can find 2 obvious secrets, the mega-sphere and the rocket launcher. A last plutonia like trap activates and if you was low of HP, you can die here, but was not the case for me, so i activate the last door, search for at least 4 secrets more, and go to the new map.

MAP 04: Triple Town

Official Port UV-SAVES. Continuous with losing weapons if dead.

Back to a doom 2 map style, starting in the cave and facing forward to a small lowered bridge, the name of the map and the textures it's pretty straightforward, 3 places,  3 switches, i come first to the tech-base city, it's full of enemies but easy to clear. Grab the rocket launcher if you don't have it from the previous map.

Next i go to the red blood building, and this it's the part where the game wants you to use the rocket launcher, but also tricks you with pinkies for easy self damage if you're trigger fast. Low switch, and we see a not so well arena, don't know, but the slowing Hell Knight in the thin corridor it's so easy that not make it entertain. Make another switch like run puzzle like map 02 and activate the platform. 

Now in the last city, old tech city face the pinkies with you SSG and activate, that was fast, i think this was the first room you should had to visit but or well. Activate, go to the small cave, and use the rocket launcher wisely, as lost souls (with also new sounds) can make you self harm, drop you in the pit and you had won the map.

Also, i can't find many secrets here but or well..