The DWmegawad Club plays: Uprising

so, let's do this.

 

MAP 08 - Street Fighter :

Let's fight some streets! Oh, return of the doomcute! And a picture of a dog. This house has seen better days. Lift down, enter the warehouse to open the exit door, and outside we are. There's a river of lava running through the city, things on fire, lot's of zombies, a huge RESIST painted in blood on a demon wall.. But let's start by the start. Straight ahead from the building, lift to the left, nothing there. A door a bit further, still on the left, it's red. Another lift, to the left, switch, pick a backpack, to the right, shotguns, shoot a switch, cross, another switch, cross, lift, a drop down and the yellow key complete with caco, chaos knight and revenant. Now, a lift down? Nop, this leads to the lava. Back up, exit by the other side, yellow door. There's an implosion in the park! Meaning there are a lot of imps and I make them explode with rockets, in a park. Then.. The door, lift, another yellow door, and it's an unidentifiable space with a blood fountain. Oh, it's a supermarket? I'll go shopping for potions and armor bonuses. Then up a floor to press a switch to lower the blue sphere, back down, grab sphere, back to the park and from there a trek on the lava. Pick rockets, kill spiders, lift up. Switch, there's a jump you can make for no purpose at all except check the other side of the lava, then lift down, cross the corridor, lift up, oh, pretty the room with the light from the widows on the floor. Reach the room with the plasma and cells, save, switch. Was expecting worse. Now.. Back to the park,

explode some spiders too, go back, fall into the lava 'cause I'm an idiot, lift back, and off to the alley with brains all over it and the blue door. Another lift, kill, kill, switch, back, and.. Well.. Oh, let's pick up the rocket and deal with the CK and the caco. Back to the switch and ah ah, there's a new opening. Jump down, pick teh red key, kill everything (plasma for the revs and pinkies, rockets for the rest), switch one, switch two, jump, red door, next red door and it's the subway! But not yet, I'm one secret and some 15 monsters short. Back to the start, and off to the side. A lift I hadn't taken yet, bunch of imps, switch, bunch of zombies and a rev as a free bonus for the SSG. Now, done on monsters. And the secret is the very obvious blue armor that somehow I missed the first time around and now off to the train tracks! 

 

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 24 minutes 50 seconds, the biggest map so far! 

 

Totals : 100% everything, 1 death, 1 hour 34 minutes and 38 seconds time. 

MAP08 - Street Fighter
Before I write about the level, I need to say this - I adore this MIDI, I think it's my favourite song I've heard in a Doom Level (and that's saying something considering how talented this community's musicians are). I heard it first in the wad "Oops! All Techbase!" and just fell in love with it. It's called "Mars Monolith" by Dial-up for Murder, and it's pretty much cheating if you want me to like a map.  It's crazy to me that this song wasn't written specifically for Uprising because it feels so perfectly at home here. It sounds hopeless and quiet at the start but a defiant guitar riff comes in halfway through that punches through the hopelessness as if to say "No! Humanity refuses to die quietly!" despite the fact that bar you, it seems we did.

 

...Where was I? Street Fighter is a city map with some great set-pieces that unfortunately falls into a lot of the pitfalls that city levels often do for me. The completely open layout combined with locked key doors mean that, while you could go basically anywhere in this map, the progression itself is hyper-linear and navigation is rather challenging since you actually can't go anywhere you want to. There's also a fair amount of snipers that aren't threatening enough to kill immediately, which makes the cleanup at the end of the map a bit of a pain. I love the vanilla city-scape visuals, it's an aesthetic I've grown to really like as I've played more Doom, and the darkness of the indoor areas really adds to the desolate, abandoned feel that this city has.

 

The map is very low on ammo up until you get the yellow key, though I didn't mind the attrition and it certainly added to the atmosphere. The yellow key is the hardest to find, it's locked behind some shootable switches on a fairly remote part of the level. The rocket launcher is also pretty easy to miss since the staircase to get to it is obscured by the darkness. I like the area behind the yellow door, it starts with a massive imp horde and you then jump into a lava pit to face some perched arachnotrons and an archvile. The red key is guarded by the toughest fight in the wad so far - you'll probably have barely any armour left as you go into this arena meaning that a bad hit from one of the revenants or chaos knights will put you into the range of being one-shot by the archvile - I remember really struggling with this fight on my first playthrough.
 

Overall, this is a flawed city level with some tough ambushes that I still love due to the fantastic atmosphere and perfect music choice.

3 hours ago, Sethlab 79461813 said:

The sad dog photo next to what I assume is his eviscerated owner legitimately made me say "oh no" out loud. 

 

That dog got me as well lol, just I let out an extremely camp "Aw".

2 hours ago, finnks13 said:

MAP08 - Street Fighter
Before I write about the level, I need to say this - I adore this MIDI, I think it's my favourite song I've heard in a Doom Level (and that's saying something considering how talented this community's musicians are). I heard it first in the wad "Oops! All Techbase!" and just fell in love with it. It's called "Mars Monolith" by Dial-up for Murder, and it's pretty much cheating if you want me to like a map.  It's crazy to me that this song wasn't written specifically for Uprising because it feels so perfectly at home here. It sounds hopeless and quiet at the start but a defiant guitar riff comes in halfway through that punches through the hopelessness as if to say "No! Humanity refuses to die quietly!" despite the fact that bar you, it seems we did.

 

I'm glad someone else was able to sense the same imagery with this one. It WAS almost like cheating using a midi this good.

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 8: Street Fighter

100% kills, items and secrets

Time: 15:30

 

There's a lot to like about Street Fighter, it is a pretty but ominous city level benefiting greatly from Dial-Up for Murder's midi. I also love the opening part in the first building, especially thanks to the somber lighting, but also because you violently murder the sole inhabitant, a lonely dark imp. However, the map is lacking in the combat department. Most fights are just okay and really easy, with the only exceptions being the imp splatterfest after opening one of the yellow key doors and the revenant, caco, pinky, chaos knight and arch-vile fight at the red key. On top of that, the progression can be pretty confusing as it requires pressing and shooting a lot of switches and the really open layout makes it easy to hit dead ends or to find doors that can't be opened yet. Street Fighter is not bad, but it's my least favorite map so far and it feels a bit overlong.

 

Poor dog :(

 

 

Rankings:

MAP08 - “Street Fighter”

 

This map really needed a little work to make it a truly fun experience. As it is you can get lost and stranded with very little in the way of firepower. As it is this would be a great map with foreknowledge of where everything is, but quite horrid for those going in completely blind.

From what I could see, each weapon is placed in the map just once, of course the shotgun and chaingun can be robbed from their former human opposition. However this is probably the most glaring flaw. The SSG and rocket launcher really needed a couple of positions to really help the player. The net flaw comes from the yellow key, this requires finding one specific ledge, that leads to a specific shootable switch and a series of what could be a great chain for a big power-up weapon turns out to be the essential yellow key. What is even more odd is that the SSG requires hitting a thin switch (The same type of switch that is used for the secret soulsphere).

Once you are through the yellow key door, the map actually becomes quite simple to navigate (As long as you remember where the blue door is positioned), as the map is pretty much a straight line to the finish. There are some nice fights here, the mass of imps is more fun than challenging, though the blue key trap got me first time (Very unlucky getting hit by a pair of max damage revenant missiles that managed a seemingly impossible angle to hit me). The red key trap despite being far more vicious managed the same number of pelts (Just the one), beating this actually involves making a counter-intuitive decision to kill the demons emerging close to where you drop down, at least you only have monsters coming from one direction. Good stuff.

From there it is a cluster of monsters behind the red door and down the derelict track to the finish. In the end this is an impressive level in terms of scope and world building, a good midi and some solid fights. However it does feel like it lacks that "something" to make it feel truly memorable. There could have been more combat on the ground, helped by providing the weapons in a less chastising manner and finally progression could have been made a little easier, at least in the earlier stages of the map.

MAP08: Street Fighter. 258/258 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 34:17.

 

Street Fighter feels like it's the biggest level yet. It was good enough, but it kind of felt like a chore to me for the most part. That's partly on me, as I found the SSG only when I was nearly done with the map, when I should have found it far earlier. Still.

 

The best part was the red key ambush, I thoroughly enjoyed that. Also, even if the level felt a little padded, it's still a decent city level, miles and miles above the likes of Downtown.

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 08 - Street Fighter

 

This is the first level which made me zone out completely. Downtown-style level consisting almost entirely of incidental combat is not my thing. It's well-done aesthetically, it continues on with corruption theme well, but the only interesting piece of combat is RK fight, and it's pretty much the last fight in the level.

 

Highlights include facerocketing myself by accident involving a lift and losing 200/140 stack, a Chaos Knight dying to 2 rockets and a ghost resurrection of a dark imp by the exit who remained to tell the tale as I ran out of rockets before I noticed him.

 

Bonus content: I didn't complete solo-net this time, but took a peek. Blue armor secret's upgraded version is quite meme-worthy:

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Doomy__Doom

MAP07: Human Processing

Kills: 76%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 9:46

 

Human Processing is the seventh Uprising map. Yes. You ever have one of those maps that does all the right things, yet still leaves you kinda underwhelmed? That's this map for me. I mean it's considerably more dense with setpieces, which if it wasn't obvious at this point I definitely prefer to incidental stuff, but I'm not sure here. It doesn't feel like it connects the dots in a satisfying way. Maybe I was just being stupid, but I found the rocket launcher was a little too out of the way for my liking. I didn't mind in MAP05, but with the blue key fight and ending, it can maybe feel obnoxious. I'd say the ending is definitely a highlight, even if it is just Dead Simple #6041, at least the map wasn't JUST this fight, and the Cacodemon usage is pretty cool. Human Processing has a few pretty nice moments, but it doesn't really come together in a super cohesive package for me.

 

Grade: C+

Difficulty: C-

 

 

MAP08: Ultra Street Fighter II: Turbo

Kills: 89%

Items: 37%

Secrets: 50%

Time: 15:35

 

Eh...

Okay, Street Fighter has one major issue dragging it down, that what they call the "yellow key". I find the opening to this map very dull, and I use "opening" very lightly here because this map is probably confusing enough it'll take at least two thirds of the runtime to obtain that key. Lots of areas here that serve no purpose whatsoever except to confuse where you're supposed to go. You don't have to enter the south third of the map like almost at all, not unlike Downtown, as several here have mentioned. As I said I'm already not big on incidental combat, so this hunt really fails to appeal to me personally. I think after you actually get the yellow and blue keys, the map at least has a cool ending fight to drag it out of the D range, but as a whole it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

 

Grade: C-

Difficulty: C-

 

 

Uprising - MAP09 - UAC HQ

 

Well slap me twice..  the wads first semi-mini-slaughter map.  Run and gun and have fun is the name of the game here.

 

I carried my weapons over from MAP08 and I'm glad I did because I just let them rip!  The red cyberdemon was a nice treat, and those Revenants..  oh cheesewheel loves those Revenants.  Why do they always shoot homing missiles 'every-single-time' :)

 

Good stuff indeed though!  Took about 15 minutes to finish.

 

 

MAP 09 - UAC HQ :

We reached the UAC headquarters! Oh, lots of cells, a warning and a switch to open the teleport. And then, it's a plasma fest! And I died when I switched to the rocket launcher to kill some black imps. Restart. Plasma fest inside, rockets for the revs outside, and now, teleport to the rocket area. Plasma every imp, rocket the cacos, grab the 'sphere, jump into the 'port. Now. Blue door, but first! secret? Yes. Invun, blued door, kill the chaos knights, open the 'port, and the WADs first cyberdemon! He's red! But he still blows up at the end. Then rockets for the imps and soldiers, grab the secret bluesphere, and exit.

100% K/I/S, 1 death, 8 minutes and 5 seconds.

 

So, I almost survived the mini-slaughter, with only one death. I won't be around a computer until Tuesday so I'll catch up by then.

 

Totals : 100% everything, 2 deaths, 1 hour 42 minutes and 43 seconds time. 

*GZDoom - Blind - Pistol Start - UV - 100% Kills - Any% Secrets - Saves (no scum, no cheese)*

MAP 09: UAC HQ

If the question posed by the previous map was "wait, that's it? I don't have any more ass to kick?" Then, MAP 09 answers with kicking my teeth firmly down my throat. The absolute hottest start of the wad so far, for better or worse. The map opens in an unassuming cave connecting to a sort of service entrance to the UAC facility. It seemed to me to be maybe a kind of adventure map to world build the UAC, judging by the enemy count and the tepid opening. Once you enter the teleporter next to the sign marked "WARNING DEMON THREAT EXTREME" you will be thrust immediately into complete bedlam. Once I died a few times and took a breath and a sip of my coffee, I jumped in with my resolve slightly more steeled. The fight isn't nearly as bad once you start some infighting, doubly so if you can get a foothold in the outside hallway. Once you survive the initial ambush, what ensues for the remainder of the map is a light-hearted bloodbath that will put reckless doomers in their place if you don't respect it. The opening is the only section that killed me (even if it was around 7 times) but the dense packs of dark imps and hitscanners will cut static players to ribbons. This map reminded me of Going Down right away. The rooftop battle surrounded by the burning city skyline made me feel as if, somewhere, in one of those distant buildings, Mouldy is fighting through his own skyscraper. This map isn't nearly as cruel as that wad, but I'd say this is the most difficult map of Uprising so far. The texturing and architecture didn't really make me stop and marvel, but it serves the battles well, which is the star of the show anyway. The red Cybie was well done, imo, if a little bit corny and on the nose. I grinned like an idiot when I saw it because what other color would it be? Some may groan at the abundance of red. I find it self-aware, earnest, and damn consistent with the theme. You may find black and red a trite combination, but for me, I've not seen another wad that looks quite like this one. I felt that this map was a nice uptick in activity after MAP 08's more somber and exploratory experience. I think that once I've completed this whole wad and can look at its composition as one work, this map will stand out as a pleasant map I will look forward to playing again, but not one that I would tell others they absolutely MUST experience. 

As a TNT apologist, the midi choice got my bias rock hard. As anyone else playing the map, it's a complete throwaway. I actually think that the spooky lich/clown atonal harpsichord sort of licks I was griping about from MAP 04's midi would be a neat little homage to Going Down here. I think I may be way overthinking it. Either way, vanilla midi tracks always make me groan in the end.

MAP09: UAC HQ. DNF.

 

I quit at the fight where you first obtain the rocket launcher. Can't use it because of cramped quarters. Plasma doesn't quite cut enough, and I don't have enough cells anyway, at least not for the archviles joining in the fight a bit later.

3 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

MAP09: UAC HQ. DNF.

 

I quit at the fight where you first obtain the rocket launcher. Can't use it because of cramped quarters. Plasma doesn't quite cut enough, and I don't have enough cells anyway, at least not for the archviles joining in the fight a bit later.

there's a secret invuln in the main sort of lobby area that made the rocket fight a lot more manageable.

MAP09 - UAC HQ:
Wow, what an adrenaline rush! Uprising's soundtrack is mostly kept pretty atmospheric and relaxed so when you hear TNT's Sadistic playing (the best TNT midi) you know you're in for a fight for your life! I wouldn't normally expect a slaughtermap from Map09 of a classic-styled megawad, but holy shit I'm so glad that Cheesewheel decided to put a few of these incredibly intense maps into the running order as they stand out from the crowd while letting you appreciate the atmosphere of the rest of the wad. This map is set in a fairly conventional techbase, on the top floor of a skyscraper in the middle of the city. The outside areas of this map remind me of Going Down - probably because of the out-of-bounds scenery.

 

The hardest part of the map is the very start, you've got monsters all around you and basically have to hold your plasma gun's fire button down and pray. Cutting through the hordes of fodder and few higher-HP foes in the techbase's hallways is very fun and while you could grab the blue key immediately to make progress through the level, it's far safer to duck through the teleporter leading you to the rocket launcher first. The rocket launcher battle is pretty brutal - loads of dark imps with pillars making for easy face-rocket potential, topped off with two archviles at the end. It's far easier to grab the secret invulnerability and tear through these hordes with no fear about the splash damage.

 

The blue key spawns in a ton of enemies, but if you're able to take out the archvile in the room quickly, then you tend to have enough space to rocket everything that comes to the door of the room, if you're willing to eat a bit of splash damage. Through the blue door, we come to the wad's first cyberdemon. It's been given a red makeover and looks pretty intimidating due to this colouration. It's pretty easy to get him to infight with the caco-cloud that spawns in soon after you enter this arena and this makes the fight clear itself without too much trouble. Just a large horde of imps, flamerthrower zombies and two archviles block your way from escaping this ruined building and the map.

 

Overall, I really like this map, it's not as immersive or atmospheric as Uprising tends to be but who cares when it's this fun!

30 minutes ago, Sethlab 79461813 said:

there's a secret invuln in the main sort of lobby area that made the rocket fight a lot more manageable.

 

Oh my, and I usually consider myself observant. That really dipped the scales on that fight. The rest of the level was not-easy, but didn't require savescumming, either. So:

 

MAP09: UAC HQ. 301/301 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 10:17.

 

Even if my first experience with the map ended up in quitting and feeling miserable, I don't think there was anything wrong with the map. Sure, the dark imp cramped quarters encounter was tough, and if there was no secret invulnerability, I probably wouldn't have made it (even if managed with Haste and MSCP a while back). The rest of the mini-slaughter wasn't that bad, although I had to try the initial onslaught a couple of times to justify a save (ie. getting into a safe position where there's nothing threatening you).

 

The cyberdemon was surprising - I saw that it looked different from the original, but was it different in some other way? I made it infight with the cacocloud, and finished it with plasma. It looked like it was firing rockets at me in the usual manner.

 

So, a good map, but a definite difficulty-spike, especially if you don't happen to find the other secret.

 

 

6 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

 

 

So, a good map, but a definite difficulty-spike, especially if you don't happen to find the other secret.

 

 

 

Yeah I considered amending my post to reflect this as I don't think I would have been able to beat it first try without the secret either. I just found it right before I jumped into the teleporter so it didn't even register that the fight would be VERY different without.

Map 04 - “Remnants”

HNTR

After 3 pistol zombies and one shotgunner, there is no more time for jokes! There are two dark imps guarding the gates of the mansion! Remember - those guys have 100 hp, and throw baron projectiles! Pretty threatening foes at this stage of the game, especially on HNTR with meager starting recourses.

 

Behind the gate there are two more dark imps and some other low tiers. The chiangun is trapped: picking it up sets free a revenant, a chaingunner and some other fodder. The yard is pretty wide, so Rev heat-seekers can chase their target for a lo-o-ong time. Luckily, you get green armor as a consolation. Shells are abundant, but bullets - less so.

 

Climbing the tower in the graveyard nets you a backpack and also unlocks the blue key. Blue key is guarded by a crowd of enemies. There are lots of plasma troopers, a rev, a caco , and a crowd of less dangerous foes. Mix of fast plasma bolts from troopers and slow projectiles from other monster is unpleasant to dodge.

 

Blue door leads you into the mansion itself. There is a doom-cute kitchen and a chute leading to a secret supercharge, but only a few enemies here, all lowtiers. We can peacefully ride the lift up and proceed to the main hall of the mansion. Here we find imps, shotgunners and a good old friend – the SSG. Hell yeah! Behind SSG, there is an empty (on HNTR, at least) library with a red key. Red key is trapped – picking it up unleashes a Chaos Knight and a crowd of backstabbing lowtiers. Chaos Knight replaces the Baron of Hell in Uprising. It needs only 3 SSG blasts to put down, but it has a devasating attack – it shoots 3 baron projectiles instead of one! If you get hit by all three – OUCH!, what else can be said?

 

The red key unlocks the exit from the mansion and also provides access to hedge maze. Funny story here – when I was shooting the pinky near the entrance to the maze, it ignored 3 SSG blasts in a row! I began to suspect that I triggered All Ghost Effect somehow, but the fourth shot finally landed. Thanks, blockmap bug...

 

On HNTR, the maze has very few foes, all low tiers. No unpleasant surprises in there, and the second supercharge is sure nice. Yellow key lowers the maze walls and unleashes the final ambush: a squad of plasma troopers, a lone Chaos Knight and a bunch of lesser monsters. A good opportunity to start a big infight party! Note to self – do not hide from Chaos Knight salvo behind an imp – imp dies to the second projectile, and the third one hits me right in the face...

 

After beating the maze fight, there is only one enemy remaining – the single Chaos Knight in the exit room. Nothing major in the context of this map, but I will return to this encounter later, when I will discuss map 05. On HNTR, the main challenge of the map revolves around conserving health and some minor exploration of surroundings. Shell ammo is abundant. Overall, the HNTR version of Remnants resembles a UV version of a moderately difficult Ultimate Doom level.

 

“Remnants” - UV changes.

UV has more monsters in general and more nasty monsters in particular. Around the main yard, there are quite a few plasma trooper ambushes, Chaingun ambush has two more chaingunners, there is a rev near the graveyard tower and so on, and so forth. Additional monsters make the fights more difficult and they also require additional ammo. Due to all additional monsters, on UV the ammo is pretty tight, Unlike on HNTR version.

 

Another significant change - the RK room is not empty on UV. Inside the mansion, there also more monsters. First major thing - there are two revenants in the kitchen lift. It is best to save some bullets for those two. There additional monsters on the second floor, too. And the red key room is no longer empty. It houses two revenants and an archvile! Pretty dangerous encounter, given all the things before it.

 

Maze area is also more dangerous. The maze now has a number of midtiers, including another archvile near the yellow key  and a chaos knight in the maze supercharge section. Yellow key ambushes is also more nasty – it now has two revenants and quite a number of chaingunners. And don't forget about ammo problems. Unlike HNTR, provoking infights feels necessary on UV. At the end of the map I had only 29 bullets and 4 shells, even with big infight among Yellow Key monsters!

 

Overall impression

This map is built around messy fights, high-damaging monsters and some minor exploration. On HNTR Remnants resemble a map from Ultimate Doom, and on UV it resembles a map from Plutonia instead. On both UV and HNTR preserving health between encounters is important, because not all combat zones have accessible healing items, and also because the monsters can deal quite a lot of damage.

The shotgun continues to be our main weapon, but now the SSG also appears. To me, the combat felt quite lively, because the monster composition is diverse, and also because the all the maps so far are pretty short in length.

In conclusion, Remnants is yet another cool map. All maps so far were pretty fun!

 

 

Map 05 - “Trainyard”

HNTR

Compared to map 04, this one has less numerous monsters, but they attack from lots of different directions. The main hub in particular has many angles of attack. The enemy roster is quite dangerous: there are dark imps, plasma troopers and shotgunners present.

 

On HNTR in particular, there is one notable flaw. Between big projectiles and many hitscaners, dying is pretty easy. And there is no health in sight! Healing items are placed quite far away from the start. For HNTR, this lack of healing feels wrong. (Remember that Chaos Knight at the end of map 04? That dude can cause that the player enters map 05 with very little health! And they will not get any healing at the start of new map! Quite a nasty surprise for HNTR difficulty. (There is pistol start, of course. But I think that quite a number of HNTR players would prefer continuous play.)

 

Apart from health issue, this map plays pretty well on HNTR. While rocket launcher can be easily missed, it is not really needed – the first half of the map has no big scary monsters at all, and the second half is also pretty manageable without RL – behind blue door, there are only 6 midtiers in total, and the player can easily run circles around them.

 

“Trainyard” - UV changes.

As an experiment, on my UV playthrough I ignored the rocket launcher until the very end of the map.

 

The first section of the map has the same idea as on HNTR – "try not to die". The health situation is once again bad, but on UV the lack of healing feels fair, unlike HNTR.

 

Blue key encounter is much nastier on UV – there are quite a number of monsters, including three revenants. But even without RL, this fight is quite fun, because the cramped spaces allow for easy infights between midtiers. Mopping up the survivors does not take long.

 

On UV the blue door fight gives even more infighting opportunities – so once again, it was pretty fun even without rockets. And even if the player decides to clear everything by themselves – the map is relatively small, and the comabt would not be that tedious. (But using RL or infights is much more fun, of course).

 

Overall conclusion:

IMHO, rocket launcher placement is pretty fair. The map is beatable without it, and the location of the Rocket Launcher can be easily pinpointed with minimal exploration. After all, previous maps 03 and 04 did hide some strong items in corners here and there. Also, having a big pile of rockets does imply that there is a rocket launcher somewhere – and it is a good idea to go search for it before venturing further into the unknown.

 

But I have a different beef with weapon placement on this map. Where is my SSG? It would be very appropriate in the narrow passages of map 05! There is even a perfect location for SSG – the room before backpack secret. The single barrel shotgun there could have been easily replaced by SSG, because the shotgunners from the starting area already provide the player with a single shotty!

 

And the health situation on low difficulties feels a bit unfair too.

 

But other than above two complaints, I very much like this map. It has a non-trivial geometry, lovely doomcute and a pretty effective combination of monsters. The map difficulty feels "just right" after the previous maps. And the gameplay once again feels a bit reminiscent of the IWADs, despite all the new monsters. A very nice small map indeed.

 

 

Map 06 - “Sewer Rat”

Both HNTR and UV

 

This is the biggest map yet. And a very fun map too. Maps 01-05 were also fun, don't get me wrong.

But map 06 feels like the most fun map yet. It is less atmospheric than map 01, less quirky than map 04, or less cute-looking than map 05, but when it comes to Fun – map 06 is the best (at least, so far).

 

For this particular map, the differences between HNTR and UV can be shortened as follows:

- HNTR – less difficult, in particular no archviles and chaingunners are present.

- UV – more difficult, in particular there are archviles and chaingunners on the map.

The differences can be described in more details, of course. But they do not feel important in the grand scheme of things.

 

Things of note on this map:

1. New monsters – Imp Salvo Troopers. Those soldiers wear white armor and shoot a salvo of three imp fireballs. They fire much faster Than Plasma troopers and feel a bit more mobile. In most cases those guys are less threatening than Plasma Guys or Dark Imps, but they still can be pretty dangerous. They generate A LOT of projectiles, and can deal quite a lot of chip damage. And, of course, getting hit by the whole salvo hurts pretty significantly. Overall, Imp Salvo Troopers resemble Possessed Soldiers from Doom 2016, who also like to shot salvos of small projectiles. BTW, Doom 2016 former humans also have white armor! Is this a coincidence or a deliberate reference?

2. While the map takes place in the underground sewer facilities, there is a little section above ground. It was quite unexpected and provided a nice scenery.

3. Even going the wrong way at the start of the map and not picking the Rocket Launcher and chaingun felt "fair" on both HNTR and UV. On UV, the monsters from this section very consistently harass the player on the way to the blue key. This way, player gets a reminder about the forgotten section.

4. The map has petty diverse environments despite a rather standard setting for a Doom map. It also has pretty diverse fights, with many different monster types involved in those fights.

5. This map feels very much like a "modern" Doom map. It reminds me of some sections from Arrival and Atmospheric extinction in particular.

6. Despite the above, the map does not contrast with IWAD-like style of the previous five maps. In fact, Sewer Rats would fit quite nicely somewhere in the middle of Doom 2. So IWAD design elements are definitely there, but here they very organically coexist with "modern" design style. Pretty interesting trait!

 

Overall impression:

Quite a lot of things are taking place in the same time. It seems like map 06 combines influences from OG Doom, Doom 2016 and modern pWADs. The resulting map is very fun to play. A perfect ending for a six map mini-episode.

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 9: UAC HQ

100% kills, 66% items and 50% secrets

Time: 6:55

 

UAC HQ is my favorite map so far as it is full of explosive, loud and angry fights that mark a departure from the previous level's slower pace of play. Starting from the moment you teleport out of the beginning area, Cheesewheel takes the gloves off and throws hordes of imps, hitscanners, revenants and chaos knights, who will make you run around and spray plasma bolts all over the place. After that, you will need to beat other fights that are some of the wad's best so far, such as the dark imp slaughterfest or the (red) cyberdemon infight party followed by an imp and zombie gibbing spectacle that can last forever thanks to the arch-viles. The action is also sublimed by the iconic ”Sadistic” from Evilution, which is the perfect fit for a level like this. However, this map is the blandest looking one so far. Now don't get me wrong, it looks nice, but the visuals lack personality and were clearly not Cheesewheel's main focus here. UAC HQ is Uprising's best map so far thanks to it's aggressive and incredibly fun fights, which was exactly what we needed after map 8.

 

 

Rankings:

 

Level 8 Street Fighter

This level features more of Cheesewheels brilliant examples of world building, from the sad apartment scene that greets you when you start the level of the guy and his dog to the impaled political activist by the wall with the simple message of Resist graffitied on it. I love how the music builds on this level it perfectly mirrors the levels plot from the lonely walk through the mostly empty apartment hall ways to the chaotic street fight below. I wish the track were longer though, I feel once it's reached its apex it cycles round too fast. The level architecture is impressive and it definitely shows growth. I liked the shootable switches.

Map 09 UAC HQ

"Warning Extreme Demon Threat"
I flippantly scoffed at that the first time I saw it, but it's really no joke, this level sticks it to you. I died too many times to count but with every death I got right back and tried another strategy. This in my book is the mark of a good slaughter map, the planing and executing of a good strategy and the final feel good feeling of winning.I think to someone that's not familiar with these kinds of map it can just seem like placing a ridiculous amount of enemies on a map but it's really more of a puzzle than anything. This level is fun, probably the most fun I had in the wad so far. I've heard this midi before, it sounds like something from one of the official commercial releases too but I still cannot place it.

MAP09 - “UAC HQ”

 

Okay, so there is one fight in this, which is going to get the heat it deserves, however the map is saved from a panning because the map is entirely beatable without having to endure this...

So this map is completely in your face and you are handed the plasma rifle from the start and provided with enough ammo to take down an entire army single-handedly. Now given that a large proportion of the opposition is fodder with a sprinkling of mid-tiers, then most go down easily. The initial rush at the start is a real awakening and the intensity carries onto the very end. The yellow key is solid, though I decided to let the cacodemons/cyber sort out their squabbles before engaging, the follow up fight is good fun.

So that one fight, yep it is the rocket launcher fight. It doesn't work for me, the dark imps have too much health to be place in a situation where the author expects the player to unload the rocket launcher and splatter these monsters all over the walls, you fire a rocket into a group of imps and you get a massacre. With the dark imps, the one you hit will drop but the others (Even with a hit the deals large amounts of splash damage to several nearby monsters) will likely remain standing and swiftly you run out of room and die. In the end I actively sort out the invulnerability and rocket-punched everything in that room. This room feels completely out of kilter with the emotion of the rest of the map, I don't mind a difficulty spike but this crossed the line between hard and fair, and something more bitter.

The last map got quite a lot of dislike, but honestly I came out of that one more satisfied than this, despite the fact that 80% of this map is full throttled fun. If that rocket launcher trap had imps instead of the dark variety, this would be a solid A grade map. Unfortunately that trap brings the map down a little bit. The visuals are okay inside, solidly good outside. I do dig that corrupt/dank city-scape that has dominated the last few maps.

Map 07 - “Human Processing” (“Meat Grinder”)

Both HNTR and UV

 

This half-hellish, half-industrial map is quite a sight to behold! A very stylish place, this map moves the Uprising visuals and gameplay into a more action-oriented direction. Compared to maps 01-06, this map has much more midtiers, and offers more heavy wepons to fight them. Low tier foes are also used quite aggressively.

 

There are many notable differnces between HNTR and UV difficulty levels, but those differenses are better discussed on per-encounter basis. Generally speaking, Meat Grinder has about twice more monsters on UV than on HNTR, but one notable section is the same on both difficulties. This makes for intersting overall experience.

 

The map can be naturally divided into 5 sections:

1) Start, SSG, Red Key

2) Red door, Rocket Launcher, Crusher

3) Blue key fight

4) Yellow key stretch

5) Final fight.

I will now discuss the differnces between HNTR and UV for each section.

 

Section 1 Start, SSG, Red Key

This section is dominated by low-tier monsters. Imps, Zombies of all kinds, Caingunners, Pinkies - everyone is here. But the most abudant monster type here is Dark Imp. On HNTR, this section has only a single midtier - a revenant in red key arena. UV,  has 4 additional midtiers (one Chaos Knight, and 3 revs) in strategic positions. UV also has almost twice the number of low tier monsters and loooves to throw Dark Imps literally in your face. On both HNTR and UV this section revolves around gathering resources and navigating close-quarter fights. But on UV, the fights feel much more suffocating.

 

Section 2 Red door, Rocket Launcher, Crusher

This section seems the same on both UV and HNTR. If there are any differences - I did completely miss them.

So HNTR has all the good stuff from UV - an archvile, lots of chaingunners, multiple lines of fire to juggle, sniping revenants, ambushes and more. All this stuff leaves quite an impression on HNTR. The archvile and chaingunner squads are especially notable, because they are the first archivle and first big group of chaingunners on on HNTR. But the section still feels fair, even on HNTR! The monsters here can be defeated slowly one squad after another. With this strtegy the fight becomes pretty mangeable. Overall, on HNTR this section is a very exiting challenge, and can be considered a centerpiece of Meat Grinder on this difficulty.

On UV this section is also quite exiting, but it feels less like a next level action setpiece and more like a natural development of previous section.

 

Section 3 Blue key fight

On both HNTR and UV this is the first big mid-tier fight of Uprising. But it varies quite a bit between difficulty levels.

On HNTR there are 4 Revenants, 3 Dark Imps, 3 pinkies and 2 Chaos Knights. A pretty hectic fight, but it feels less difficult than section 2 with all the resources provided. On HNTR this section serves as a pretty approachable introduction for arena fights against midtiers.

On UV? On UV this is the hardest fight of the WAD so far! The numbers of Revenants, Dark imps and Chaos Knights are doubled, but that's not all! Two archviles also join the party. On UV this fight requires quite a lot of effective movement and good target prioritization with rocket launcher. If we are talking UV, then this section is a very explosive encounter, which can go south in mere seconds.

 

Section 4 Yellow key stretch

This section provides a breather before the final fight. The combat here is easy, and the differences between difficulties are minimal. Lack of chaingunners on HNTR is  pretty clear however.

 

Section 5 Final fight

Finally! It is time to... to...

To introduce the plasma rifle, of course! The red body with yellow electronics looks very pretty, and the lack of cooldown between plasma salvos makes this version of the gun a very reliable weapon. To test our new gun, we get 200 energy cells and a big fight to defeat. This fight has two main waves.

- First wave focuses on Mancubi with Dark imps and Revs as reinforcements.

- The second wave revolves around arachnotrons, but also mixes in a flock of cacodemons.

Mancubi and Spiders? Yep! This is a map 07, after all. Map 07 specials allow for smooth transition between phases. A pretty clever, if not groundbreaking idea.

There is a long-standing tradition of bashing Dead Simple mechanics, but I think they were used quite tastefuly on this map.

Unlike your typical Dead Simple fight, this one has the same number of Spiders and Mancs on both HNTR and UV. The difficulty setting impacts not the key monsters, but the amount of supporting demons. On UV this fight is extremely clautrophobic in the first half and can also get a bit crowded in the second. On HNTR, the player gets much more freedom to run around.

UV also adds a third phase: after unlocking the exit, two archviles will attack the player. Yes, two archviles, and yes, there are many copses lying around the battlefield. Rocket launcher can prove quite handy here. Oh, and on UV there are 4 chaingunners, who want to say goodbye right near the exit. Lets have full Plutonia experience, shall we?

 

In conclusion, this map is pretty great.

It introduces both a new waepon and a new type of encounters into Uprising. Apart from the final battle, the most meoraqble fight happens in the middle of the map. It is a blue key fight on UV and the section behind red door on HNTR. The idea to transfer monster compostion from UV onto HNTR may seem quite counter-intuitive, but it works very well here. Aspiring mapmakers should take note of this trick.

Gameplay is the main focus of Human Processing (Meat Grinder). But the atmoshere is pretty good too. The hellish factory provides a perfect background for a set of difficult fights.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Azure_Horror : Deleted a doubled sentence

1 hour ago, Anarkzie said:

 I've heard this midi before, it sounds like something from one of the official commercial releases too but I still cannot place it.

Just in case you still can’t place it, it’s « sadistic », which was used in maps 1 and 9 from TNT.

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 09 - UAC HQ

 

Alright, let's nerd over talk about "that fight". Others already said most things I was going to say about the rest of the level, so I'll focus on this. I've spent a couple hours doing it without invuln, and while I don't have a foolproof strategy, I definitely do have a strategy. A short demo contains me collecting a few rockets because the timing at the start does not let you collect enough from just backpack and then doing the fight.

dd_uprising09_uv_dimp_fight.zip

 

Before we proceed - yes, it's a difficulty spike, it is completely unlike anything before in the wad, it is nigh impossible to beat first try and I very much understand anyone who found themselves frustrated on a blind run. It's a bona fide combat puzzle, and one based on properties of a custom monster to boot.

 

So, what are the pieces of this puzzle?

• square room with low pillars and high exit teleporter.
• lowerable Mega. For this demo and in general when making strategy, I assumed player has to grab it.
• 4 Cacos - they're big, round, infinitely tall, go above pillars.
• optional - mobs in the original base, including manc who can shoot. This negatively affects Cacos as they might infight them, it's better if they aren't there to avoid accidental path blocks.
• timed viles from different places - it's impossible to kill enough stuff to move freely by the time Viles drop.
• the dark imps - according to "Dark Imp Dynamics for Dummies, 2nd edition" - they can survive splash damage, often get pushed around by RL, and of course pack a mean punch. Standard imps' movement habits.

 

With that, some considerations:

• Cacos have to be pulled into the center. We can't afford to waste time killing them.
• Dark imps cannot be blasted through like imps. We can't slow down massively for extended period of time due to their damage output, and we can expect rockets to make hole through a combination of kill and push-away, rather than a massive gib passageway we're used to.
• We need to have ample space to deal with at least one Vile asap. We want one of the initial imp alcoves to be empty as the wall lowers.

So, the strategy. I replayed the demo with iddt on to make these pics, so the movement of enemies is all real.

 

Step 1 is to grab RL (duh), press the megaswitch, grab the brown face and go to the corner as the wall lowers. This will start pulling imps and cacos in.

 

Step 2

Now as stuff is chasing us we smack 2-3 rockets into close imps and we want a loop around. The bottom mass is already starting to spread, making it easier to break through into the horseshoe-opposite corner.

 

Step 3

The actual breakthrough may go wrong every now and then. Dark Imps sure aren't imps.

 

Step 4

Once we're in the corner, we need to turn around in a way that doesn't eat a billion fireballs and imediately start punching through back. We need to be right on time for the vile. Too early = imps will close in and corner you, too late = free viles and too many living stuff. Once there, 4-rocket the vile as he is still in the alcove.

 

Step 5

Once the Vile is dead, everythng is firmly centered (remember - we made extra center space by lowering megasphere!) and you can horseshoe around freely using plasma

 

Step 6 is cleaning up the other vile and then dimps, not too hard most of the time.

 

In conclusion. Is it a good fight? Hell yes. Is it a good fight for map 09? Hell no.

My man just went full John Madden on this doom map. 😳 excellent work!

3 hours ago, tonytheparrot said:

Just in case you still can’t place it, it’s « sadistic », which was used in maps 1 and 9 from TNT.

Thanks Tony, I knew it was from something I had played a lot but I just could not figure it out.

Uprising - MAP10 - Outskirts

 

This is where Cheesewheel starts to enjoy Revenants.  All the time, in the lifts, on the balcony's, teleporting.  I have to say, I'm not a fan of overusing Revenants just to make it difficult, I'd much prefer Mancubi or a mix of other ones.  Running away from the missiles gets really tedious for me.

 

The level itself is alright, not the best.  Lots of backtracking and areas that don't let you go back unless you take the long way around.  I did this three times due to Sprinkled crashing on MAP11 (no idea why) and it messed up my screen recording.

 

 

Map 10 outskirts

Off the bat I can say I did not like this map. There's nothing majorly wrong with it, I just did not have any fun playing it. I got stuck in the pit off to the left of the bridge at the start and could not find my way out but that was probably me not looking hard enough. I avoided it on my next play through and in fact did not need to return there so I never did. Nothing much really stands out for me to talk about, the midi was fine I don't love it but I don't hate it either which sums up my feelings towards the level. Sorry to be so negative, I'm sure plenty of effort went into but me and the level just did not gel.

MAP08 - I enjoy the atmosphere and exploration aspects of this. My intention was an improved version of MAP22 of CPD "Ghost Town". Aesthetically, yes, needed more things like health bonuses and bright lights to guide the player however - lesson learned moving on.

 

MAP09 - Interrupt a board meeting by telefraggin the boss archvile - then show off the power of the new plasma rifle. This is action packed and I replay this a lot. I'll address the elephant in the room, the RL fight - several times I considering removing it and making the map plasma only - maybe that was the right choice (or possibly optional secret fight - a missed opportunity). As it stands the fight is optional and you can beat the map with plasma only as there are plenty of cells. I'll say no more on the matter, moving on!

 

MAP10 - A break map for me, the run up to MAP09 spent a lot of creative energy and I needed to fall back on something simple, hence it kind of being forgettable and bland... On replays you can spice this up by rushing the SSG, you can get to it straight away.

Playstyle:

Pistol start, DSDA-doom complevel 2, playing for fun so saves and time-rewinds allowed

Difficulty: each level played on HNTR, then replayed on UV.

 

Map 08 - “Street fighter”

General Notes

 

Map 06 and Map 07 were pretty action-packed and put less focus ob atmosphere. Street Fighter brings the atmosphere back into the center of our attention. This map focuses on guerrilla combat in devastated city. A somewhat frustrating affair, but also very atmospheric, thanks to perfect midi choice and a lot of small atmospheric details.

 

A lot of threat comes less from enemy composition and more from enemy placement. Urban environment allows for a huge amount of ambushes and sniper positions. Rushing forward is ill advised, unless the player knows what exactly they are trying to accomplish.

 

Gameplay on HNTR

Main threat comes almost exclusively from well positioned stationary monsters, setpiece fights are relatively easy even by HNTR standards. Last fight (Red key) presents some scary midtiers, but it is less demanding than the Blue Key fight on HNTR map 07.

 

Basically, on HNTR the gameplay plays second fiddle to the atmoshpere. This provides a nice break after the difficult action-focused map 07.

 

Gameplay on UV

Lots of additional monsters added here and there. This leads to a notable increase in overall difficulty.

Three changes felt especially memorable for me:

- Yellow key fight now has chaingunners overseeing the arena. On HNTR this battle is just a happy imp murderfest, but on UV it can cause some non-trivial amount of damage, if the player is not smart about their positioning.

- Archvile in the end of the lava trench presents a nasty surprise. Usually a lone archie is pretty easy to avoid. But here, the nearest cover is pretty far away, and thus to reach that cover, the player must react almost instantly.

- Red key fight has an additional archvile and greater monster density. The space to maneuver is rather limited, and there is also a real risk of coming to this location with 100 health and only green armor. Thus this battle can be quite dangerous on UV.

 

Conclusion

Street Fighter is an inventive and finely-executed map, but its gameplay is definitely not for everybody. The Downtown approach to map layout makes for some drawn-out gurrelia warfare in urban environment. Some people appreciate this, but others find such design style tedious. Personally, I am a bit conflicted about this map.

On one hand, I love and appreciate many things about this map:

- I always liked OG Doom2 Downtown.

- I like the exploration and resource hunting aspects of Street Fighter.

- Both incidental combat and big battles felt pretty nice for me, especially on UV.

- Street fighter has absolutely phenomenal atmosphere.

- The different sections of Street Fighter look and feel very distinct. This is very helpful when you are lost. While you do not know how to progress, you can easily remember what parts of the level you have already checked, and by the way of elimination you can finally find the missed button or room.

- The gameplay feels like a very successful recreation of Doom1 and Doom2 gameplay with a small pinch of more modern design to spice things up. Kinda like Doom Zero by @DASI-I , or some of the maps by @Doomkid.

On other hand, I also dislike some aspects of this map:

- The map really lacks smaller setpieces, to narrow the contrast between incidental encounters and bigger arena fights.

- Wandering around this map can be fun due to doomcute and atmosphere. However, there are not that many rewards for exploration. It feels like the map lacks  secrets and out-of-the way pickups.

 

Overall, I like this map, but find it somewhat flawed.

 

 

Map 09 - “UAC HQ”

What do we have here?

Shotgun...

Chaingun...

Plasma rifle ?!

"Warning. Demonic threat level: Extreme"

Ahh, sweet memories of Doom 2016! "Demonic invasion in progress", "Demonic presence at unsafe levels"...

 

Whatever, it is time to assault the UAC HQ in the middle of the city and find out, what secrets are hidden within. Let's enter the teleporter and...

SPLAT!!!

Oops, seems like demonic higher-ups gathered in UAC HQ for some meeting. And the RebelGuy telefragged the archvile who was presiding other the whole affair! Other demons definitely didn't like it – and the battle for UAC office began!

 

To recap, we have

1) A funny event right at the start.

2) A demon-infested UAC building in the middle of the city.

3) Lots of chaotic action.

This sequence of events instantly brings to mind Going Down by Mouldy. Once I tried to approach this map like it was a Going Down level – I felt right at home.

 

I will discuss UV difficulty first, because my playthrough of Going Down was on UV.

 

The office space is pretty claustrophobic and has many windows to let projectiles through. Think Evil Admin. But there is a key difference compared to Mouldy's WAD – we have a plasma rifle right from the start! Plasma is a perfect weapon for chaotic fights, and thus the main section of the map feels much less oppressive than a typical Going Down map.

 

But theres is a more authentic UV Going Down experience.

To find it, go search for a Rocket Launcher. The fight for RL is a proper, 100% authentic Going Down encounter. In Going Down, there are quite a lot of sadistic claustrophobic rocket launcher fights – and the rocket launcher on UAC HQ is guarded by exactly this type of a fight.

Being overwhelmed by high damage Dark Imps, while cacos distract you from the back and the archviles are getting ready to join the battle – you cannot get more Going Down than that! (I mean, you can, but you get the point.)

 

This fight is a HUGE difficulty spike compared to other fights in Uprising. But luckily, this battle can be made much less demanding. In the main administrative building there is a pretty noticeable Invulnerability sphere. It makes the fight much, much more manageable. A few months ago I managed to win the rocket launcher battle on UV without invuln, but it was too hard compared to other fights on the map. I think that the invul is the intended way to get Rocket Launcher on UV.

 

Almost forgot - this map also introduces a cyberdemon. Uprising cyberdemons are RED. Cool!

 

HNTR

On HNTR this map has much less monsters and also provides an additional invulnerability right at the start. Rocket launcher fight replaces the viles with revenants and has only 10 dark imps. Nothing scary, but for HNTR this fight still feels non-trivial – the player is locked into arena, the geometry is unpleasant and monsters attack from 3 different directions.

 

The cyber fight is the main highlight of HNTR. Again, nothing really difficult, but remeber – cyberdemons are pretty scary on HNTR.

 

On HNTR, this map is not as memorable as on UV, but it still plays an important role. It further develops the idea of lock-in arena setpieces, which were introduced on maps 06 and 07. Compared to those maps, map 09 is much more "in your face", even on HNTR. On UV, the player can be expected to "deal with it". But on a lower difficulty it is a good idea to ease the player into this type gameplay.

 

Overall impression

A very good map.

Some DWmWC memebers said that Map 09 has less character than the previous levels of Uprising. Personaly, I did not felt this way. In my opinion, UAC HQ has quite a lot of character – it is very dynamic and a little bit absurd. The mundane interior of the office complex contrast nicely with the sheer craziness of the fights and the spectacle of devastated cityscape outside. Like in Going Down, or in Doom 4 and 5 the absurdity and the spectacular action fit together very well.

 

The rocket launcher fight? IMHO, it is a good fit for the map. It is both optional and can be won easily with invuln.

 

 

A little digression about the music in Uprising.

So far, the choice of MIDIs in Uprising seems brilliant. The music tracks fit their respective maps perfectly, and greatly contribute to the atmosphere. And Map09 is no exception. When compared to the MIDIs from previous maps, 'Sadistic' from TNT:Evilution feels a bit unexpected. But it is a very good fit. First, it helps to create an atmosphere of crazy action. Second, 'Sadistic' feels a bit weird compared to the tracks from previous maps – and this is good! In the context of Uprising, this familiar, but a bit weird tune works almost as good as the Going Down soundtrack does. Its weirdness helps to underline the sheer craziness of the action and the absurdity of the setting.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Azure_Horror