The DWmegawad Club plays: Super Mayhem 17

[Magnusblitz]

MAP13: Koopa Anomaly

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

Reading rdwpa and TOG's reviews before this, I couldn't help but agree with the points that 1) this felt like a very conventional Doom level with the Mario textures (and pipe teleports) slapped on, and 2) the monsters are mostly placed in that scattered style that isn't very threatening or engaging... this really struck me when first descending the big spiral staircase after the blue door, killing one smaller enemy every few steps. Rdwpa pointed out that the average map would've made it more tedious by placing twice the monsters, but I'd actually go the other direction and suggest maybe no monsters at all here? I like the ambush at the bottom of the staircase, and wonder if maybe some total quiet before could work more effectively. Or maybe not, maybe players would just race through and the map would feel too empty. Either way, decent map, not much else to say.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP11: Ah, I see that without Ribbiks to contribute a map, Zzul has decided to take up the merciless mantle. I think the map is pretty neat—the secret hunting in particular is a nice surprise—but man do the fights cater towards particular tastes. Being an author with a claustrophobic penchant, I enjoyed all of these except for the berserk punching blue key, which required a finesse that my dull keyboard skills cannot handle. The lava room fight was also a bit cruel as well; I liked that encounter the most in concept, but without a blue armor to numb the rev rockets, I more or less had to keep restarting it until I was lucky enough to kill a bunch of revs without the AV targeting me. The BFG slaughter arena after that was practically a victory lap in comparison (it took me like two tries I think?) This is a very crafty, well thought-out, and exquisitely devious map by Zzul, but I feel like it needed a touch more mercy in order to feel like it flows nicely with the rest of the set... as it currently stands, it is a pretty sharp middle finger to pistol starters.

 

MAP12: Hey! I really enjoyed this one! I'm one of those weirdos that typically doesn't dislike water physics or ice physics in platformers, and for Doom it's no different—trying to dodge manc shots while sliding around is a lot of fun! Plus on top of that, the map doesn't actually immerse itself obnoxiously in ice mechanics: in nearly every room, there's plenty of "non-icey" ground for the player to attack from, only requiring them to move into the ice to dodge rev rockets. I think the only two things I wasn't really feeling were 1) the over-abundance of chaingunners given the lack of armor early in the map, and 2) the AV & rev that warp on top of the platform opposite of the green exit pipe is a really rude move, since there's barely and room to combat the wind there (one manc would've sufficed). Besides those, the map offers you plenty of options to counter its more cruel designs, like a secret megasphere, plenty of rockets, the ability to retreat from AVs if you feel cornered, etc. I also really liked the exterior design of the fortress and texture choice for the caves, specifically the glittering "pickup" block from SMB3. This might be one of my favorites in the set.

[tmorrow]

map14: absolute zero, by Obsidian
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

You start encased in ice. It's really cold, absolute zero in fact. I know the physicists are going to claim this is impossible but it's not their balls that are being frozen right now. So you shoot your way out of the ice to the sound of archviles being woken up. This is not good. You see that you are in a maze of ice and stone. What do you do when you've only got 50 bullets and peashooter and archviles are chasing you? Run! For such a cold place things are heating up very quickly! Follow the only path you can and run over the barrels, then negotiate the maze, run up the stairs to the pipe. Then wait for those 3 nasty archviles to teleport away. Make no mistake, they'll be back later.

After that crazy start, things settle down. The map is a maze and progression is mostly linear with some pipes and pswitches to find and activate. The secrets are well worth picking up for health and armor but are a bit tricky to locate. Don't poo poo the picking up of health and armor bonuses, they come in humongous stacks on this map, just look at that item count.

The traps and monster placements are easily memorised after a couple of plays and you can plan for each encounter in advance. The two most dangerous battles are in the large square room before the exit, the first with 2 archviles and friends and the second is the finish to a berserk frenzy when you release a bunch of pain elementals near the end.

This kind of map is not for everyone, especially those the prefer chaotic play that is more open and where the enemies come to you wherever you are. Happily I enjoy all kinds of maps, cramped or open, chaotic or planned, there's room for all styles in doom.

[Killer5]

Demos for maps 08 - 13 (i was streaming so you might see weirdness in the demos):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4z70dyczd3r795c/Mayhem17_8_13.zip?dl=0

 

Map08:

A short map by Eris. Looks amazing, especially that hall leading from the initial area (dark staircase with bright waterfalls), and I really liked the berserk secret. Oh.. and the trees.. the trees were really clever.

 

Honestly the length doesn't bother me. I really enjoy playing short maps that I can play and have a good time with.

 

Gameplay wise I had a pretty good time. I was bummed that I was able to run back to the starting area after getting the gold key, aggroing av, rl, etc. This really trivialized the fight. I was pretty bummed out about that.

 

Other than that it was a great map.

 

 

Map09:

An interesting map. I actually like the gimmick regarding the shootswitches. Also how did you run out of ammo @cannonball :P. But.. I really like maps where I can find myself in unwinnable scenarios if I screw something up so that wouldnt bother me anyways (something that is a good? thing that I took from playing old 'nes hard' games from back when I was a kid (physically) :P).

 

I enjoyed the map tbh. No complaints about anything.. it was particularly easy the supersphere secret was a but much too I think for the final bit.. I just sorta stood around without caring about the av at all.

 

Fun map.

 

 

Map10:

A very linear map where I shoot a bunch of dudes one after the other. I was particularly annoyed when I saw HKs appear when I only had a shotgun. I really don't enjoy shooting any mid tier monster except for revs or the occasional av where I have to be super careful. After paying the ammo tax I shot more dudes and eventually ended up at..

 

The red key area. The only damage I took here that I remember was hitscan damage.. I would have been beyond annoyed to die here (it would have been really close if I didnt get the soulsphere). Didn't really like this fight because of only threat being the few chaingunners that appeared (after they are dead you just kinda.. fool around with the rest of the monsters at your leisure).

 

After the rk fight the map is pretty much over. The final bit of revs is nothing new in the slaughter scene so they are dealt with.

 

But before I stop rambling about this map I need to mention the midi which was apparently created by the mapper. I thought the midi was a cover of a skyward sword desert song for the longest time.. so gg there.

 

Overall I think crunchnut has made far better maps than this.

 

 

Map11:

This map.. you are supposed to be an explorer following in the footsteps of another explorer (you find the explorer's ssg later) who died looking for an artifact of power (the bfg). The aztec natives have been corrupted by the demons and are now revenants (which is why there are so many). - was the backstory I had in my head when I made this map anyways. Basically a raiders of the lost ark reference (when Indy is at that temple at the very start of the movie talking about how the explorer (forget the name) checked out.. and how he was good.. he was very very good.

 

The zerk fight.. I just never really see many fights which require the player to use berserk so I made one.

 

The yk fight.. originally the cacos were imps.. but ribbiks suggested the use of cacos instead for uv.. so the imps became hmp and cacos for uv.

 

The cyb/av fight was originally 2 avs and 5 or 6 revs. I was told by multiple people that this was repetitive so I threw a cyb and an av in there.

 

The first secret fight (in the lava area) was originally a fight for a lost version of Dimensions Map02 before I decided that I needed to make upside down platforming. Hmp and hntr have teleporters leading back up present in the lava in this area.

 

The 2nd secret fight I drank a lot of beer and had a technicolor yawn spewing monsters in a room behind a 242 wall..

 

The secret fights were hinted at at the start.. you see 3 coins.. there is a secret coin.. so hopefully the player realizes that there are 3 coins to be found to unlock the secret area.

 

Hopefully people found at least something fun here. This was the 2nd map I have completed and released (barring nonsense I normally make in my free time that no one will ever see).

 

 

Map12:

@Nine Inch Heels is on drugs. This map is amazing. I pinched more loafs here dealing with the wind and friction effects than all of the other maps so far combined.

 

Sure the start is slow.. but honestly it took my health down enough to where I needed to pay attention during the slippery bits. Nothing else to talk about here really.. I enjoyed everything.

 

 

Map13:

An ok map. Pretty standard stuff following map12. I was able to glide out of.. some area just prior to a lift which took me up to and area with a switch that spawned cybs.

 

I appreciated being able to punch cybs. This was a fun map.

[Spectre01]

Extra late to the party, but might as well try. I usually like my Doom grim and frostbitten, so the radical change in theme (and the fact that Mario/Nintendo was never my thing) made me slightly skeptical going into this. PRBoom+, Pistol Starts, No Saves unless I get salty. I'll keep my impressions brief.

 

MAP01 - “Shroom Stronghold” by Dragonfly

Fun opener here that manages to avoid the "boring map01" trope by providing an SSG and quite a few mid-tiers to blast away at. The Vile duo was a nice surprise too. A single Vile is rather mundane, but you know the mapper means business when 2 or more are deployed in a map with more classic gameplay.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP09: Curse of the Mummy's Sister's Something-or-Other

15:03 | 100% Everything

This one was pretty fun. (I probably sound like a broken record, but most of these maps are just a treat. Bite-sized, punchy, fun little treats.) I took me probably too long to figure out what the bank of shootable switches actually did. It was a little obnoxious having to run back every time; kinda like some bizarro-world switchhunt. I liked the pole dancing bits. (Sure, I'll call it that.) The super-shroom secret was really clever; I had checked the back of the three sarcophagi in that area to no avail. (I thought I was clever, but Impie was cleverer still.) The ending room was pretty anticlimactic, though the vile was unexpected. Thankfully I had left plenty of health still lying around.

 

MAP10: Shifting Sands

16:32 | 100% Everything

Loved this one. I really dig this kinda of architecture: very Doom-y, showcasing the engine with lots of overlapping of sectors exposing floors and ceilings. (If that makes any sense. A very chunky, blocky feel to it.) Mostly linear, with a nice looping climb to it that I enjoy. The red key ambush was easily the most harrowing, but easily handled with BFG. Though a couple times when I thought I'd cleaned up, I'd be blindside by a chaingunner or something that teleported in late. Loved how you could gaze over the red key fence and see the starting area and even the exit corridor. Very neat.

[Spectre01]

MAP02 - “All Along the Bowser Tower” by rf’

Still getting used to/being confused by the sprite replacement props. Another enjoyable level, this time with a focus on early turret enemies that you don't have the firepower to remove.

[Catpho]

Go map 12 praise train

One thing i forgot to mention in my map12 review about it is that sometimes the detailing of the castle makes it look like its floating midair rather than situated on a mountain.

MAP13 - “Koopa Anomaly” by rf’

Another enjoyable run and gun fest from rf'. Detailed gameplay analysis can be found in @rdwpa's review (which means i agree with it), so i wont go in depth about

gameplay, but tldr: very good looping layout, easy but fun encounters that are not boring. Good looking map too with good use of the resource pack, cool caves section and i guess the anomaly refers to both lava and ice blending seamlessly in this map (how can these too conflicting forces go with each other so well?), plus the level transforms nicely.

Good one!

Some screenies:

 

[Poncho]

Map13: Koopa Anomaly

I believe in the general consensus that this level plays more like a typical Doom level, just with the Mario textures. And yes, a lot of the monsters don't seem to be that threatening. Hell, even the final trap can be cheesed by running to the balcony which overlooks the beginning. Despite this, Koopa Anomaly isn't bad. The ice doesn't bug the piss out of me this time, the enemy placement - while a bit useless in parts - can be dangerous (like the final trap IF you don't cheese it like I did) without the secret Invulnerability. The backpack secret is much simpler to get than I imagined, though. Oh well. An okay level.

 

Map14: Absolute Zero

Ohhhh, Obsidian comes along with this claustrophobic trek. There are 3 Arch-Viles (2 of which can be easily dispatched at the beginning), but the map obviously has much more than that. The progression is very bizarre, going here, there, over there, etc. Even though the enemy count is relatively low, it's not a piece of cake to complete, and I appreciate the level for that. The only part that's genuinely annoying is the Pain Elemental release at the very end. The ending also looks like some sort of death exit... but it isn't. Good map, mostly for its strange pacing and design.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP14 Absolute Zero

 

I'll be the one to say it, more gimmicks, more trouble. Two drop-in arch-viles! Classic Obsidian, gotta run. Though surprisingly they are the only ones in the map apart from another one that only appears on higher settings. A whole slew of things to find, interesting secrets, blocks floating, ? blocks that actually work to some degree. There's also a moment where he trolls you into a crusher if you are too fast. The rushing water area is a minor nuisance, just stay at the bottom and shoot imps before moving on. There's pain elementals (only on UV) or lost souls coming from the Torpedo Ted tubes, not to forget barons at the end. Is this the first we see barrels in the wad? Couldn't even find a suitable replacement for them. Maybe dormant Bob-ombs would've worked.

[Catpho]

MAP14 - “Absolute Zero” by Obsidian

Talking about gimmicks and trickery, Obsidian is one of its worshipers. Theres already one from the get go with a sorta intense chase secne involving archviles (another Obsidian regular) and breakable ice (!!!). Next is a bunch of claustrophobic battles, which not all of them are my cup of tea, and some friction usage is more annoying than engaging, but still, nothing too bad, just need to watch your step.The main stars are the aforementioned gimmicks, and the visuals: those cold mario blocks do a good job, and those red textures provides some nice contrast without breaking the mood, waterfalls (highlight were the ones that push you back!), torches and those question mark cube nods (but they way it works is inconsistent with Eris's map!). Isolation theme was nailed here, feels alien/artificial even, with added surrealism (floating bricks, strange progression,...)

That ending is one hell of a headscratcher. What does it mean: an illusion by the demons/new bowser troops/whatever they are? Hypothermia induced madness? Bullet heaven (because your just love ammo)? Im caring too much for a doom map ending?

Its basically a Obsidian map with mario textures.

Some screenies:

[Crusader No Regret]

Map 7: DNF

 

    Failing to finish is my own fault for not going for the megashroom secret even when teetering at 4% and the next shotgunner being quicker on the draw.  There's a long way to go before getting anything more than the shotgun unless one knows where to find other hidden weapons.  Nothing too dangerous individually until the double pain elemental surprise but I felt the scarce health; there is next to none outside the secrets.  Didn't find SSG until several attempts in so it was even more difficult than it could be.  Scouted ahead so I know about the cyberdemon being almost a freebie for reaching the end.  The death pits, much as I dislike inescapable pits in Doom, make more sense given the inspiration for this map.

 

     The texturing I quickly identified as from Mario 2 and there are plenty of nods to it within the map as walter pointed out.  Being aware the end cyberdemon is Wart's stand in does lead me to appreciate the placement more.  There's the doors, the subspace secret (the exit being in a place other than the door threw me off), the death pits all referencing the source material.  Even the items that rise up in the grass reference how the main source of items in Mario 2 are found by digging them up.  The map is also more bearable once I figured out "climbing" vines to reach the item/grass up there.  I enjoy this map more being aware of all the connections.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP14: Absolute Zero

85% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

Alternatively titled "what if MAP11 and MAP12 had a baby" combining MAP11's small-scale but dangerous cramped battles with MAP12's environmental obstacles. The run from the AVs at the start might take a couple tries to learn the path (and also not get unlucky with their teleports as happened to me a couple times), and the room with the slippery floor and the two cacos just felt like luck to me. The berserk certainly came at the right time since I was pretty much out of shells, not sure though if it's intended to be berserk-only from there on out. I ended up leaving the barons/PEs in the room before the exit thanks to a block monster line.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP14: Absolute Zero

 

Honestly I found this one to be peculiar in a way that just didn't engage me, and I can't write about it in a way that feels fair to the map or seems to do it any justice.  Maybe I'll come back and give it another shot at some other time, when my mood is different.

[tmorrow]

map15: ziegenhaus, by Xaser
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

One of my favorite maps in this wad! Oh what a tangled map we weave, when first we practice to deceive. Xaser, you evil genius! This map is a vicious beast the first time you try it out. A highly non linear map but it quickly becomes apparent that not all paths are created equal, some paths are much easier to get the drop on the enemy. It took me quite a bit of analysis to work out how to uvmax this beast.

Xaser starts us in the towns graveyard. There are a bunch of buildings to the east and a fortress of sorts to the south. Quaint looking town. Oh lookie, there's a rocket launcher and rockets, must be a present from the town folks. How come no shotgun? Shotgun! You ain't from around here are you boy, in these parts we prefer rocket launcher and plasma rifle, you'll live a lot longer.

I'll outline the safety path I developed to complete the map, elite players please ignore my feeble ravings in the next few paragraphs.

Clear the graveyard (you can get out early and come back later if it gets too hot). Next clear the streets from all the lowlife, including those taking pot shots out the the high windows and reigning fire down from the ledges. Clear up to the hexagonal fountain but don't let yourself get lowered by the platforms. We'll visit this hell fountain from another direction.

Tackle the 3 door goat house from the east or south doors first and clear out everything, then use the north door to go in and collect the goodies.

Take on the 4 door goat house containing the map exits from the northwest entrance. You want to pass through this area so you can take care of the hexagonal fountain area the easy way but you might as well clear the entire goat house out along the way, including setting up the stairs to the exit. Make sure to rocket 2 sneaky archviles hiding behind bowser's portraits to kingdom come.

Once you reach the collapsing staircase you are set to clear out the hexagonal fountain and moving platforms. Use the invulnerability secret if you need to.

Now you can head through the boathouse area and into the 3 fountains courtyard. You can actually trigger most of the enemies from one of the secrets rather than dropping into the courtyard which makes it a lot easier.

Finally you can fight your way to the pswitch that gets you into the fortress for a very interesting battle with 2 teleporting cybies. These bastards are almost impossible to beat until you work out the trick.
 

Spoiler

One cybie uses the red teleporters, the other the black. The message on the teleporter pads gives away the trick: "Do not obstruct". Trigger the cybies then run back to one of the two teleporters near the entrance. If you stand on it for long enough one of the cybies will get off the teleporters and start approaching you. Plasma him into oblivion. Repeat the trick with the other colored teleporter to take out the second cybie.

There are two exits to the map, the secret exit to map31 is nearby the normal map exit to map16, The secret exit door can only be opened by finding all 8 mysterious red coins on the map.

 

I've gone on for long enough, if anyone is stuck or interested I can post the locations of all the secrets and mysterious red coins in a dirty big spoiler.

[tmorrow]

map31: sinkysand switchland, by Dobu_GM
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Back to back favorite maps, Whee! WTF? What kind of bitter and twisted voodoo magic is this map? Dobu Gabu Maru (try to say that 3 times quickly after a few drinks) has gone to great pains to inflict an evil puzzle map on the poor doom community. Just to add injury to the insult Dobu has placed 28 imps to interfere with your efforts to work out what to do next. To be fair, Dobu could have chucked in 28 cybies instead, so I guess we should be thankful.

The puzzle action takes place on a map that is extremely confusing to begin with but that subsides after the 100th retry! The secret is in the visual clues. A trail of coins, a block lowers, trees trunks lose their centers, all are important clues as to what to do next. If you really don't like puzzles you may be tempted to avoid it but you will be missing out on an excellent and worthwhile puzzle map.

I'll indicate the broader goals for the map so as not to give too much away. Firstly it's map31 and there are two exits, the normal one to map16 and the secret exit to map32 in the standard doom2 tradition. You will need to find all map secrets in order to reach the secret exit. Dobu has cleverly provided an indicator involving a colored star so you will know at a glance if you are ready for a secret exit. The overall map progression is something like this:

1. Open up the starting and middle areas.
2. Reach the pswitch.
3. Reach the red/blue teleporter paths.
4. Complete red/blue teleporter paths.
5. Find all the secrets.
6. Pass through the pyramid.
7. Reach the exit(s).
8. Optional, find the non official soul sphere secret.

Some basic but important observations:

1. There are 3 stairway puzzles to solve along the way, 2 via switches and one by actioning 3 blocks to raise to suitable heights.
2. There are 4 switches that identically toggle the raising/lowering of the red and blue walls that grant and deny you access to various areas.
3. There are 13 golden blocks that can be lowered, some of these are critical to progression.
4. Finding all 3 secrets can be achieved without backtracking.
5. As far as I know you can't get stuck, there's always a way to get back on course.

This map took me several hours to solve. I must admit I uttered many expletives and shook my fist at Dobu several times. But like all great puzzles, once you solve them you fall in love with them and appreciate them all the more.

If anyone wants more details let me know and I'll post some spoilers. Here's a casual prboom-plus uvmax and all items demo - map31_demo. Let me know if I have used any odd prboom-plus settings, I rarely use this sourceport except for watching demos.

Edited April 17, 2018 by tmorrow : finding all secrets can be achieved without backtracking!

[tmorrow]

map32: return to birabuto kingdom, by Death Egg
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Death Egg gives us a monotone themed map and possibly the easiest map in the wad. There are plenty of low and mid tier enemies to fight in each room but the density is overall a little low and not too threatening. A generous amount of ammo and weapons minus the bfg have been provided. Excellent rewards to be found in the secret areas.

The most dangerous part of the map is probably the start and the first large room you drop into. After that you pick up all the weaponry you need to finish the map in comfort except possibly for the cybie encounter.

There is quite a bit of backtracking required to pick up all of the secrets and to collect all of the items but it's all good.

[Spectre01]

MAP03 - “Sillydust Sanctuary” by Jaxxoon R

So, the issue I had with this map is one of my personal peeves, and that is the author withholding basic armour while making you fight mid-tier enemies. I did miss one of the secrets and managed to grab the Megasphere after exploring a ledge. Ammo also seemed somewhat tight, especially in the shells department. Not a hard map, but those few quirks mildly grinded my gears. Also, the power of 8bit Software translucency while standing inside that waterfall.

[Spectre01]

MAP04 - “Marina Moonlight” by Pinchy

Tricky start here, with hitscanners and other perched snipers everywhere. I rushed the Invis + Blue Armour and it was smooth sailing (heh) from there. Big fan of how the new Plasma Rifle looks and sounds. Also, I ended up missing 2 monsters somewhere, despite finding everything else.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP13: After being traumatized by Zzul via MAP11, I've been so on edge that it feels... odd? to play a fair map. rf''s second outing is more my flavor since I'm a fan of both chill climates and the color blue, and I especially appreciated the abundance of ammo for the heavy weapons—it's a rare treat to get a map that pushes you to constantly use the plasma gun. The trap I liked the most was the one that decimated me: the lowering cave walls. I lost track of how the map was structured so when I saw the walls lowering I was like "haha, I'm outta here!" and zoomed back up the steps. Lo and behold, rf' planned for that, and kept me busy by throwing an AV my way. I was so busy trying to eradicate the yellow devil that I wasn't paying attention to what was behind me, and got a buttload of arach plasma up my keister. Very well done—I always appreciate losing a pelt to an arachnatron.

 

Besides that, the map is mostly docile, granting the player a lot of health and ammo for any slip-ups they might have. Very nice overall; I think more could've been done to make the finale more climactic, but it's still a fun ride.

 

MAP14: Despite the frosty setting, this has one hot start! As is... pretty typical of Obsidian, if you play on UV you're kind of expected to know the map front to back before you dare attempt it. Magnusblitz is right on the money when he describes it as the baby of MAP11 & MAP15—it has the ruthlessness of the former with a love of abnormal physics of the latter. However the two is less "PB&J" and more "ice cream & hot sauce", as you struggle from zone to zone. Maybe I'm just rusty, but man was this map a massive pain in the ass to finish, forcing me to resort to something I absolutely loathe doing: running from enemies. I have no goddamn idea how you're supposed to handle the dual AV pit with so many lost souls about (not to mention that if you lose track of one AV, your goose is cooked), nor did I want to spend the last fifth of the map punching out PEs one at a time. Like with all Obsidian maps, it's very intricately designed, uses its space well, and has some clever tricks to pull on you (I especially like the teleporting HK near the start), but goddamn does the map just really want you to play it flawlessly. MAP13 might be a bit on the easy side, but considering the cheerful nature of the Mario series, I'd rather have this set playing nice than being a bully.

Edited April 15, 2018 by dobu gabu maru

[Spectre01]

MAP05 - “Painfully and Elitely Rustled” by NuMetalManiak

Well, I was mildly rustled when stepping on the exit pad before killing the Cyberdemon. Very simple map here with a gangbang start I'm not too fond of. Viles got me a couple of times due to some bad movement on my part.

[Spectre01]

MAP06 - “Airship of Doom” by Gothic

The outdoor section of the ship is very cool indeed. The indoor parts - not so much. Though not too long, they contain repetitive sections of clearing non-threatening Imps on ledges and otherwise fully frontal combat down linear hallways. The final section before the exit is a nasty death trap in comparison, especially since you aren't exactly well-armed or armoured going in. Good thing teleporter cheese is a thing! Cool concept; dull execution.

[Spectre01]

MAP07 - “Groovy Hills” by Walter Confetti

Strange little map, that goes from low-key pistol/shotgun gameplay to giving you a BFG and Cyber to kill at the end. Not sure how I feel about those inescapable pits, as their placement seems a bit random. I was never really fighting enemies near them, where they could serve as a dangerous gameplay element. The part which caught me most off-guard was the 3 Pain Elementals while I only had the regular Shotgun and Chainsaw at my disposal. Well, it looks nice and the midi is indeed groovy.

[baja blast rd.]

Map 15: "Ziegenhaus" by Xaser Acheron

 

Really nifty map here, lots worth talking about. 

 

The rocket launcher and plasma rifle are the only weapon pickups available (save for a secret berserk available later, when it isn't that useful anyway). You don't even get a token shotgun or chaingun. It's 'gimmicky' :), and it's not really something you see too often. You also get lots of ammo for these weapons, yet they hardly feel overpowered, which is because Xaser has gone out of his way to shape the combat such that both weapons have their deficiencies. Working against the RL is the recurrence of extreme close-quarters combat (that hilarious double-rev trap at the early soulsphere being the first example of many) and the regular deployment of skinny monsters whose narrow hitboxes see them eluding the slow rockets quite easily. (Revenants and archviles are probably a good three-quarters of the monsters in this map.) The plasma rifle excels in close quarters but doesn't deal as much DPS as the RL, so fighting with it exposes you to risk for a longer period of time. 

 

Visuals are pretty cool all around, both the static scenes and all of the transformations. The drop into the blue key void is awesome of course but what I really liked was the set of stairs leading to the exit. I noticed that Xaser really takes a joy in making basic progression from A to B more interesting. Sometimes entire maps are built around such occurrences (his 50 Shades of Graytall map for example). The layout is an interesting mix between cozy little dwellings and taller, more surreal, staircase-heavy chambers. Combined with the cyberdemon void and the sky staircase down to the secret level, it puts me in the mind of a world that is being corrupted gradually. You can see lots of rifts between the two if you look closely -- the red grave dirt near the start which is slowly moving into city. Also in the building near the start. And of course the fragmented bridge to the blue key. Or maybe I've just played too much Terraria this year. :)

 

Secrets. Yeah, they are cool. My favorite is probably the invul. I like the motif of an invul that you can use to tackle multiple fights at once. The timing secret near the lift fight was probably my favorite method of concealment. I like how most of the keycoins are easy to find; you just have to look around for them. Despite being a reasonably compact map (~5000x4000 of playable area, but with a quarter of that going to the cyberdemon arena), it feels really big to me. The twisting networks of small rooms and passages in the building complex plays tricks on me. I can barely keep these in my memory at once because they are so many of them, so it feels like they could go on forever. 
 

This map is beyond my current patience to route thoroughly, so I just did a playthrough. I 'accidentally' 'cheesed' the lift fight but that wasn't my intention. 

 

 

[tmorrow]

35 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

This map is beyond my current patience to route thoroughly, so I just did a playthrough. I 'accidentally' 'cheesed' the lift fight but that wasn't my intention.

 

Nice demo @rdwpa. I think you found a bug with the archvile that should have come out to play when you were following the walkway to the computer map secret. Not sure why it bugged out, might be something to do with the walkway lowering at a critical time.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP15 Ziegenhaus

 

It's a Xaser map! Look for nasty layout design, awful crusher placement, and shotgun guys!

 

Actually, this level is a complete aversion of that. No crushers, and not even any hitscanners. Instead, we have tons of revenants, arch-viles, arachnotrons, and mancubi. Prepare for nasty combat of a higher degree than you may be used to, but also be prepared, as this is bigger than MAP12 and more puzzley. In other words, red coin challenge for the secret exit. You can opt out of it and just get the blue key for the normal exit, but note that five of these things aren't in secrets and you have to toughen your way out of everything, even the secrets. It all seems fine, except one thing.

 

The blue key area. Remember how one area can ruin a fucking map? Well, this does. It's bad enough that I have to fall, but these cybers are FUCKING ANNOYING TO SHOOT DOWN. Nothing about fighting teleporting cyberdemons is fun, nothing. I actually don't have the patience to spend minutes killing these things, especially given their teleport destinations, but players on UV be damned, while the lower settings provide invulnerability spheres, UV doesn't have any. I just pick up an invuln and rush to the waterfall, which is essentially a 30-second trap that keeps you dead without an invuln.

 

I just learned that the two cybers go to the color-coded red or black teleports, and they tell you not to obstruct it, although that is the strategy, remember you have two of these to worry about. So get one off of the stupid teleport pad, make sure he doesn't come back in, and also remember where the other one is. Looks like that's what I had to do. I guess it's a little less bad now, but as innovative as it is, I hate innovation like this. So after figuring it out, it's a bit better than I fared, but easily the toughest map so far.

[gaspe]

MAP13: Good map overall, the ammo balance was weird, initially it's too low then too much. I skipped the mandatory cyberdemons to put before the exit, even only one would have been too much...

 

MAP14: Oh no it's the map where at the start you wake some archviles that will chase you later... Thankfully it wasn't centered around that and it's a well done map with an odd gameplay style. Again I skipped the final fight.

[cannonball]

MAP13 - “Koopa Anomaly” by rf’

This was pretty decent, the gameplay was pretty non-offensive but relatively engaging. I think the number of cybers was overkill in the end though. Not much else to say really.

 

MAP14 - “Absolute Zero” by Obsidian

This is a map which starts off interesting with a nice series of gimmicks like running from the arch viles and shooting away pieces of ice. But my goodness some parts of this map left me raging. The SSG fight pretty much left me resorting to cheesing the fight by hiding where the monsters could not reach me, the slippery slope to reach the PE fight was tortuous for me and I like many others skipped the final fight. I appreciate the ideas that went into this map and some of the nice trickery. But it was not my cup of tea unfortunately.

 

MAP15 - “Ziegenhaus” by Xaser

This one was rather daunting, just mid-tier monsters and yourself armed with the rocket launcher and plasma gun. This was really fun but very frustrating at times. But it never felt like I was being screwed over. There are some quirky tricks involved here including the fight for the silver key and the various adjustable lifts and floors that inhabit this little town. The map looks fantastic with the sky for the background. I only managed one secret (alas).

 

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP31 Sinkysand Switchland

 

A wild Dobu map appeared! Get lost!

 

Well, that's the thesis of this particular map. Just look, 16 monsters, and all of them imps, a gimmick involving a switch lowering red or blue bars, and some yellow blocks that sink when stepped on. Too many gimmicks, as I said, can ruin a map, and holy shit, not even markers can save me from the puzzles this time around. There are quite a lot of gimmicks here, a naughty teleport maze with SMB2 vases, a "raise the color coded steps in proper order" fashion, and a sinking floor pyramid. The secrets are actually green stars, and are actually goals to get. I outlined them in the secrets page on the wiki, but didn't bother with any of the other puzzles. The majority of my headaches of course came from the red/blue switches. I don't even think there was a normal exit for this map either. This level was miserable to play through. Fuck you.

 

got stuck here, because of me apparently pressing use a little too much trying to figure out what to do.

[rehelekretep]

map12 fda

uv / pistol starts / no saves / glboom+

utterly obnoxious map, hated it - specifically the friction and wind effects, the combo of which in the ice caverns made me lose my shit like no other map has done for quite some time. the chaingunners on ledges, plus rocket launcher, plus pinkies everywhere at the start of each attempt is aggravating. and finally the combo of vile and cyber on the penultimate bit cost me a fair few attempts trying to get the vile to aggro on the cyber without getting a rocket in the face first.

of course if you play with saves these would be minor annoyances but the club is nice because people have different ways of playing. this map is not for me.