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dobu gabu maru

The DWmegawad Club plays: 99 Ways to Die & Troopers' Playground & Talosian Incident

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5 hours ago, tmorrow said:

 

Can you clarify this rule Dobu? Do you mean you can't choose 1 episode from more than 3 different wads?

 

That's correct. My problem isn't necessarily the episodes themselves—Valiant itself had 5—but it's collecting more than 3 wads together that bugs me. The multi-episode months take the longest to create the OP for (each needs a DSDA link, Doomwiki link, link to kmx's blog, mapsets typed out, info looked up, screenshots made), and I have to establish a hard limit otherwise we can slide down a slippery trail where we're just filling each month with individual mapsets. I'm not against the club going in that direction if it wants, but I won't be creating the threads if that's the case.

 

EDIT: Since I'm at the top of the page, may as well organize the votes thus far:

 

Mayhem '16 & Dimensions of the Boomed - 3 votes

Heroes' Tales - 3 votes

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28 minutes ago, dobu gabu maru said:

That's correct.

 

Thanks Dobu. I'm comfortable with the rule, I just wanted to make sure I understood it correctly. I appreciate that each additional wad means more work for setting up the original post each month, so setting a wad limit makes perfect sense. A leaning for fewer wads (ideally a single one) is more in the spirit of megawad part of DWMC anyway.

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MAP15

Not a fan of slathering silver on all the walls in Doom. I don't think it looks very good. Also not a fan of all the backtracking in this. There is rather a lot of it, and it's not like the map releases new monsters to give you something to do while hoofing it back and forth, either.

 

Memorable encounters in this are few and far between, and those that did stick in my mind did so for the wrong reasons: the room full of demons, which is a tedious exercise in chainsawing from a corner on continuous; or the red key room where you can pistol or chaingun whip to death all the monsters while they futilely batter the silver ramparts with their fireballs.

 

It's also possible to get 100% secrets without finding the secret exit, which is a bit odd. Seems like sector 645 really ought to be one.

 

I didn't originally get to the secret exit – I'd worked out where it was, but not how to open it – but I saved just short of the normal exit and looked in DB2. When I saw that I just needed to move 64 units further toward the normal exit to open up the secret one, I did so.

 

Brian Owens joins Dan Huff in the "at least they only did one map" pile.

 

 

MAP31

The multi-stage demon cubbies in this map are the height of Doom-tedium. Boooring. After that's finally done with, you get to run in circles and let monster infighting do 90% of the work of clearing the map for you.

 

Getting the secret exit is a bit of busy-work here, but assuming you spot the teleporter back near the start (which in your laps of the main area, seems likely), then it's really just a case of spotting a misaligned wall and then backtracking back and forth flicking switches. I'm not sure why the last two switches were necessary, really. Possibly Sailor wanted to force the player to engage all the monsters, and was worried about people bee-lining the exit. Let 'em bee-line, says I.

 

 

MAP32

So hey, a secret map I found 100% legitimately! That's quite rare.

 

And in this case, it really wasn't worth the effort. Take two teleporters to a couple of cavern areas, kill the Keen-replacements, then exit. A couple of the fights in the "chainsaw teleporter" section are OK, but the other area's basically just an Imp swarm and not much else. The biggest challenge it offers is probably that on pistol start, you probably have to get across the chasm there fast enough to nab sufficient ammo to fight them all. On continuous, you can just rocket them all with near impunity.

 

The "BAD" teleporter exploits the secret exit linedef properties to restart the level (or sends you back to map01 if you -warp'd to map32). Such laughs. Many japes.

 

 

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lol wtf princess

 

MAP15 Solvent

 

So this is the final of the authors who's names aren't John Bye or Malcolm Sailor or anyone else I know of. And he does decently well enough. Again, bad design overall, lots of silver, the beige faces don't scroll, and then you get into some brown castle for some reason. But it's got decent enough combat and a bit of puzzle aspect. I'll admit those red buttons are rather easy to miss, a low point, and there's a bit of puzzling as to how to get both the red key and the red door across the balcony. Not to mention the secret exit. At least this guest mapper did decently enough to make something playable.

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MAP15: Combats are unremarkable, except for the room full of pinkies but it's something that stick out because it's rather ridiculous. The design was nice overall, the tech-base parts have some really good lighting to back up the silver, plus there's also the usage of light effects activated by the player a couple of times (the dark staircase that lights up as you go forward was cool). The room with the faces on the walls was somehow creepy, and thinking about the map title, are we in a chemical plant? There's also a rather short visit in a brown stony dungeon. I liked the presence of some puzzle elements but idk, they could have been better, there's some uninteresting backtracking to do.

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41 minutes ago, GarrettChan said:

Gotta support this since this gives me excuses to play!

You need excuses to play? What's gotten into you? ;-)

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https://www.twitch.tv/videos/265677160 (99 Ways to Die & Troopers' Playground)

 

It's been a long while since I last covered this stuff on stream. True to form I've left it plenty late, but hopefully still with enough time to knock Talosian out cold in the next few days. Happy viewing!

 

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MAP15: Solvent

 

I feel like this is the largest, longest, and most intricate map the WAD has offered us for a while, probably since the two-parter that is The Fort, though much of the length here can be chalked up to a frankly unnecessary amount of backtracking, some of which is mandatory, some of which comes down to "Okay, was that the switch that opened up one of gaggle of identical doors halfway across the level?"  Combat is more varied than in the recent maps but the design feels rather incoherent, smooth-walled silvery techno-tunnels merging inexplicably into a basement area of mortared stone; unlike the architectural spelunking of MAP04 through MAP09 or the cleanly-rendered techbase four-pack of MAP10 through MAP13 I just don't have a clear sense of what this is all supposed to be, which is a break from the norm, a curiosity and ultimately a bit of a led-down in a WAD that otherwise has been quite deliberately about the triumph of atmosphere over gameplay (and the map here is no great shakes in gameplay terms either).

 

Secret level(s) to follow later in the day.

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map15: Solvent, by Brian Owens
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Brian Owens gives us a techbase, a substantial part in silver textures and the rest in brick and metal. The map features a major switch hunt with no secrets at all even for reaching the secret exit to map31.

The weapons are handed out in a sensible manner with adequate ammo, shotgun, chaingun, super shotgun, plasma rifle and finally rocket launcher. The enemy composition is ramped up in manner commensurate with the new weapon pick ups although you may want to save most of your plasma for the last dozen enemies.

While there are some fun fights and battles there are some frustrations as well. I have no problem with switch hunts as long as the effects of hitting them are readily apparent and there isn't too much backtracking back through previously cleared out areas. This map has several switches that give no clue to what they have done. You have to extensively backtrack to find out.

There is also an armor imbalance on the map. There's a stairway of 14 armor bonuses early and then nothing until you finally find the blue key. If you are clearing all that you can as you go, you will have killed 178 of 188 enemies and collected 60 of 61 items before finding the blue key and megaarmor. That is one late key and armor pickup! Then as you head for the end you are given a courtesy megasphere with hardly any enemies left to make a dent in your new health and armor.

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13 hours ago, rdwpa said:

I would like to change my vote to 30 single maps by Memfis. *pulls out flogger* Guards, seize Dobu!

 

Great idea, but too restrictive.

 

Partial maps for the win. I'd like to be able to cherry pick sections from from multiauthor maps or selecting a section of a hub map. So if 5 mappers worked on a map I want to pick one of the mappers sections and it should count as 1/5 of a map. If a hub map has 6 teleporters, I want to be able to select one one of them only and have it count for 1/6 of a map. Allowing partial maps has the benefit that in general we should have a better fit to rounding out each month with less wasted days. You know, I think you might be able to fit up to 100 wads into a month if you pick carefully. The DWMC thread creator would of course be delighted to extract each of these partial maps into a revised custom wads for the occasion.


After that we can consider the dream where the integer and rational number restrictions are thrown away completely in favor of real number choices for partial maps. Imagine picking Pi/4 or e/3 of a map. Then, perfectly fitting the wads to to the month would be guaranteed, no gaps at all! Joy!

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3 hours ago, Alfonzo said:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/265677160 (99 Ways to Die & Troopers' Playground)

 

Great stream Alfonzo! I liked hearing your spontaneous on the fly reviews. You would have saved a bit time on 99ways, map03, UV teleporter bug if you'd read the May 1 posts. No matter, you fired up an editor and worked it out quick enough.

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MAP15 - Solvent

The last handful of maps have been some of the best of the wad, even MAP14 wasn't too bad but this has got to be one of the worse ones in the wad. It's ugly as hell, annoying and tedious to play through and it's got some stupid design decisions as well. Like why are half the switches just tiny little red lights on the wall? Why do some of these switches do something completely obscure like lower a little block on the other side of the map? I understand that it's Doom and things don't have to make sense but this was just annoying. When it comes to looks this whole map is basically just a grey blob except for some sort of torture dungeon area later in the map which has the same problem except it's brown instead. put all that together with the fact you con easily spend 5 to 10 minutes backtracking trying to figure out what the hell all these switches did and we easily have one of the worst levels in the wad to play.

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MAP31: The fun part here was finding the secret exit, the gameplay is quite boring. You encounter the first cyberdemon which is more useful to wipe off the barons and the arachnotrons, maybe it's the kind of battle that was more engagin in 97'. The little maze area looks like an homage to Doom 2 MAP18

 

MAP32: This one reminded me of A.L.T. a lot. There's mix of themes and plenty of surreal touches, and the gameplay is as much weird as the visuals but nonetheless it's entertaining.

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Back again to continue playing the other two wads, and I'm excited for this one. The Trooper's Playground by Matthias Worch. The wad contains 9 nicely-designed levels which showcases new textures and a new monster which replaces the Wolfenstein SS and are a force to be reckoned with as they can do a lot of damage if you're not careful. It pretty much feels like a spiritual successor to The Innocent Crew's Obituary, especially when the level design is somewhat reminiscent to the Moellers, though without the hordes of zombies and more emphasis on tightly-packed gameplay and crafty design. There's also two bonus wads, with the first one, according to Matthias Worch in his level design retrospective series, was his earliest attempt at a Doom map, and it shows. The second one contains two deathmatch-only maps. As for the author himself, Matthias Worch has not offered anything else except for being one of the mappers for Memento Mori II and Requiem, and after his offerings to Doom, moved on to Quake to create the immortal Beyond Belief episode, which ultimately led him to become a professional mapper in the gaming industry, starting with being a level designer for Sin by Ritual Entertainment (also handled by Tom Mustaine and Richard "Levelord" Gray). Now with that out of the way, let's play The Trooper's Playground! But first, I'm gonna start with the bonus wad since it doesn't require the DeHackEd enhancements to be able to play it.

 

TTPBONUS.WAD

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 12:58

 

Despite being Matthias' earliest map, it's decent and competently made. It also contains embryos of many of the devices and idioms he has developed as he progressed with his mapping. The start has you taking down a few gunners and imps and you enter a hallway with more small enemies. You'll need to rush for the shotgun ammo in the room with the baron so you can be able to take him out. Also pick up the chaingun so you can kill the revenant in the cavern down the stairs. That way, he won't be a problem later on. Take the northern section afterwards where you'll be forced to wade through nukage all the while eliminating baddies and collecting the red key so you can access the nukage maze for the yellow key. Then return to where you killed the revenant, but be careful as you'll enter a dark room where walls will open revealing pinkies and spectres. Eventually, you'll reach the ledge with a switch that will raise the stairs to the yellow door. The ending is pretty interesting. After going down a spiral staircase with monsters to the bottom where you'll face a baron and imps, you'll be doing a guileless switch puzzle where you need to hit switches in order to open certain doors while clearing out the rooms holding arachnotrons and mancubi. Make sure to pick up the radiation suit and hurry to the wall from your left to open a secret room with the soulsphere as not only will you have more health for taking out the arch-vile, but you'll also have a vantage point. Finally, hit either shootable switch to raise the platform the arch-vile emerged from and hit the exit. Overall, this is a good map that feels right at home in classic Doom 2.

 

Now for the main event. The Trooper's Playground on Ultra-Violence.

 

Map01: Welcome

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 06:15

 

Great introductory map that while easy for the most, packs a bite in some parts. Eliminate the shotgunners first so you can collect their dropped shotguns, but watch out for the imps advancing on you. While you can choose either path, I always go for the yellow key first and then the red key. Either way, you need to take caution as you explore both ends as they have a few traps. Monsters are mostly gunners and imps, with a few demons, and even a cacodemon, hell knight and baron to boot. Some nifty little puzzles here and there, especially those to secret areas. Once you collect the two keys, you're good to exit, but that's where you'll encounter the evil trooper, and they hurt very badly so stay on your toes when you encounter one.

 

Map02: Intrusion

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 11:55

 

The diificulty cranks up in this map as you'll be facing mancubi with a regular shotgun until you can obtain the super shotgun later on. It's very trappy as hitting switches often opens walls holding monsters. You'll also want to wait until the lowered doors open in the area with the soul sphere so you can kill the cacodemons before going in as doing so lowers the stairs trapping you, and on top of that you'll have to face a baron that teleports in from where you jumped off and a hell knight guarding a switch that reveals another switch that raises back the stairs. Make sure to kill the two spawned mancubi before grabbing the super shotgun. The yellow key area harkens to Doom 2 Map04: The Focus, which is pretty neat. Just when everything is all hunky-dory, you get one dickish trap where shooting the fake exit switch reveals the real exit switch guarded by enemies. Brutal but fun and manageable once you know what to do.

 

Map03: Simply Dead...

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 13:37

 

Here's yet another map with a harsh opening. After collecting the goods, you'll reach a large area with two revenants up on a pillar and caged chaingunners along with other monsters including a pain elemental. Gameplay is mostly non-linear as it wraps around a central cross-shaped area in the centre, and you can choose to go in any of the doors that are not locked by keys. Lots of clever bits there, like the section with the crushers and you have to kill the caged by barons by rushing for the switches and hitting them so that more crushers will activate, crushing the barons. There's also the sewer section at the east, where once you grab the key, you are trapped in while a wall opens letting out an evil trooper. The ending is where you'll finally get the rocket launcher, and you'll be facing two barons, but watch out for the sniper chaingunners above. The secrets are not that difficult to find and they will help ease up the tension of this map.

 

Map04: Going Down

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:38

 

This one is extremely fun! Very straightforward map and a good flow all the way. You need to be careful not to fall into the pit where the blue key is or you'll die. Instead, you need to solve a switch puzzle in order to make it rise up and be obtainable. A nice jaunt through a tech area while you're tracking down the yellow key, with a chaingunner ambush, and there's a nice section that reminds me of that one secret area in Doom 2 Map15: Industrial Zone. Then after getting the red key and taking out another ambush, you're good to go where you'll have a few more fights to the exit. Don't forget to check the fake wall for the teleporter to a secret holding the backpack. Neat stuff and cool map.

 

Map05: Underground Temple

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 13:34

 

As the name suggests, this is a subterranean map that takes place inside of a marble temple. Lots of exploration to do. The western section takes you into doing some switch hunting where you'll eventually collect the blue key, but not before facing an arch-vile guarding it. The eastern section has you, after grabbing the yellow key, entering a large cavern which is full of cacodemons and lost souls. Well-orchestrated battles, be sure to get your circlestrafing up to snuff so you can be able to manage the opposition, which includes taking care of some cacodemons, barons, and later on, revenants. There's even some mancubi for good measure, so make sure not to overdo it. Finally, you have access to the southern section, that was near your starting position, where the map does a neat trick involving the non-blooded canals being filled up. From there, you can head down and deal with some arachnotrons guarding the red key. The ending is just facing a couple of revenants, then barons, and finally chaingunners. Lengthy but amazing map with striking architecture.

 

Map06: Deep Down Below

100% kills, 100% items, 80% secrets

Time: 13:03

 

If anyone has played Requiem before The Trooper's Playground, then you would instantly recognise this map. It is Map09 of Requiem, though there's no major changes to the gameplay, except for the evil trooper in the red key area and different textures in some places. But for those new to this map, it's another catacomb level that's tightly packed and has a lot of switch puzzles. Make sure to grab the megasphere from the small room where you killed the demons before raising the stairs at the start as it's a secret area. Monster placement is just mostly imps, gunners, demons and cacodemons, with a showdown against two barons at the end, including the obligatory evil trooper. While the texture is all stone and bricks, there's some techbase halfway through the map. The main highlight is the red key switch puzzle where you'll be hitting switches to raise bridges, and when you think you can grab the red key, a wall lowers with another switch to hit, which you'll be doing a few times before you finally have access to the red key. Watch out for the evil trooper as soon as you obtain it, and then you have the end against the two barons. Architecture constantly changes as you progress. There's a secret situated right near the steps around the techbase part, so you can't get 100% secrets unless you use the noclip cheat. Overall, it's a solid, fun map, but if you've already played Requiem, don't expect any drastic differences.

 

I'm gonna call it a night now. Will finish the rest of TTP tomorrow night. Take care and have fun, everyone.

 

20 hours ago, tmorrow said:

 

It's a bug. Look for a patch to 99ways wad on the first page by @Memfis, posted May 1. Note on map03 that one of the secrets won't register.

 

Also since you are about to tackle TTP, note if you are using zdoom you'll need a patch to the def file so the evil marine works properly (it works fine in prboom, glboom, gzdoom though). Refer to my fix, posted May 1. Further note that map06 has a bug where a secret that won't register.

 

I look forward to your reviews!

 

Thought so, tmorrow. Ah well, 99 Ways to Die on HMP plays exactly the same as on UV since I don't think Warren Marshall has applied any differences in the difficulty levels for the monster placement. That won't be an issue since I play wads that require no source port on vanilla. I'm aware of that bug on Map06 cause I've played Map09 of Requiem and it has the same issue due to the secret being a mere tiny sector next to a staircase so the only way to make it register is to use the clipping cheat. Thanks!

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My hard drive crashed after whatever the last map I reviewed was, so I have to step out until I get a replacement.

As for votes:

+++ Strange Aeons

Even if I miss half the month.

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33 minutes ago, Aquila Chrysaetos said:

My hard drive crashed after whatever the last map I reviewed was, so I have to step out until I get a replacement.

 

Eek! The hard drive crash nightmare has happened to me twice in the past and I can confirm that it is no fun at all. One of my hard drives crashed within a week of purchasing it! I hope you get operational again soon!

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so, a bit of catching up, and hopefully finishing tomorrow:

 

 

MAP07 - “The Church” by Malcolm Sailor

 

what church. it's a cave. well, one has to expect a dead simple clone in a wad from that era, and i'm not strictly against those as long as they provide good gameplay, but this one doesn't, as door camping rules here, even if it has less door than the previous 2 maps.

 

 

 

MAP08 - “Focus” by Ola Björling, John Bye

 

much better lighting than the maps before. we see ola's hand here, i guess. brown brick and rusty metal everywhere and a creepy music. unfortulately, what remained in my mind from this map was the cruel idea of sticking chaingunners behind fake walls. i had my guns from the maps before, i knew about them from the comments here, but the idea still pissed me off. that's something most people today view as unfair and annoying, did those guys think 20 years ago that this was challenging and innovative use of the game's resources?

 

 

 

MAP09 - “The Palace” by John Bye

 

again a name that does not fit: it's a series of corridors connecting big, bland, brown boxes, made with little thought to gameplay. i mean, put a bunch of zombies into the boxes, far a way from the player. that's like begging the player to a) notice how empty the room is and b) camp the door until the zombies get nearer, or snipe them with the chaingun. 

 

 

 

MAP10 - “Hardware” by Malcolm Sailor”

 

starts in a storage room, is it supposed to represent a server facility? mostly very easy gameplay, like the imps on the rails and red key spectres, i literally stood there unloading the ssg at them. the rest was dealt with using the berserk pack, including the one arachnotron, as this works in gzdoom. a bit short map, but still an improvement over those before.

 

 

 

MAP11 - “Software” by Malcolm Sailor

 

i see why everyone was praising this map. it has some striking lighting in the starting room with the hell knights and is full of surprises: the revenant behind the imp box, and especially the soulsphere trap. it's simple to defuse though: i simply jumped down to collect the cells first, because it smelled so much of a trap, which let me shoot the vile alone, making the rest much easier. still, very enjoyable. and something this wad gets right: the creepy music. 
 

 

 

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Actually, should we be doing secret levels today?  I know the general tendency with 32-level megaWADs is to do them on the same day as MAP15, but doing so brings us to the end of The Talosian Incident a couple of days early - not that I have a problem with that, I just don't want to go stomping ahead of where the club as a whole is it.

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1 hour ago, TheOrganGrinder said:

Actually, should we be doing secret levels today?

 

Don't fret it, the rules aren't that hard and fast around here.

 

I just went off @rdwpa's post this month which listed some conventions. I'd like to see these posted in the original post somewhere. Usually the secret maps are unlocked on the same day as map15 unless an atypical schedule is noted by the original post. I'm not sure how rdwpa determined an atypical schedule was in play though unless counting up that there were enough days left to fit it 1 map per day into the month.

Edited by tmorrow

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MAP31 Inferno Revisited

 

Set up like a boss level. What you get is highly dependent on your skill setting, and sometimes the results are just fruity. The interludes before the arena are demon/lost soul, then you get up to 4 barons to tackle, then the big water arena. One cyber on UV, loads of imps on other settings, then up to 6 arachnotrons depending on the skill level. On easy settings, you're completely done with the combat, on higher settings, there's more meat to find, but if you find the secrets you'll get them and the secret level. Since this level is small, that's not really a hard task.

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map31: Inferno Revisited, by Malcolm Sailor
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Red brick, green marble, water floors makes for a welcome change. The weapon of choice is the super shotgun and there is plenty of ammo for it, the first fight with a pair of barons does require a switch to chaingun though. A small but a very enjoyable map to play.

We get to fight cybie at last. Poor cybie is thwarted by a bunch of tall torches that keep blocking his rockets though and so he doesn't really stand a chance. In my run I did let cybie have some fun as he splattered 4 barons before going down to the sting of the super shotgun.

On this map finding the secret exit to map32 requires finding all the other secrets as well. There are more fights to be had in the secret areas so they are well worth picking up.

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Welp, I went ahead and posted the secret levels with MAP15 like we usually do...

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Three more maps, and I'm done with The Trooper's Playground. Let's go!

 

Map07: Three 'O Matic

102% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 19:14

 

Now here is perhaps the toughest map in this wad. It's very interesting to note that while the music for the wad is unchanged, using Doom's soundtrack, Matthias Worch has swapped two tracks around, with this one playing Into Sandy's City. Anyway, this is another map where you can choose whichever path since you have to do all three of them in order to exit. The first path has you searching for the blue key, which you need to access the hallway beyond the blue door. Be careful, as you make your way beyond, though, for a pair of arch-viles will spawn in and revived the enemies you telefragged. In fact, almost everything you do here triggers a trap or ambush. The second section leading the yellow key has a trap where grabbing the berserk pack awakens two chaingunners, and then when you hit the switch after riding up an elevator where you'll find a radiation suit, two evil troopers will be awakened, and of course, grabbing the radiation suit which you need to jump on the slime and hit the switch to lower the yellow key platform causes two revenants to spawn. Beyond the yellow door is a cavern with some fairly treacherous encounters. Lastly, the third path, best strategy is to take out the arachnotrons from one side systematically and then the other before you rush in, and you'll be doing some switch hitting which culminates into a fight against the mancubus with no cover. Completing all three paths and you're set for the exit, where you have tons of rocket ammo for a showdown against the only cyberdemon in the wad. It's advisable to also use your plasma rifle action as although there's plenty of rockets, the cyberdemon of course doesn't get full damage from them. Just when you think it's all over once the cyberdemon's dead, you've got one more obstacle in the shape of some imps, zombies, cacodemons and pain elementals guarding the exit. A hard map that is relentless from start to finish.

 

Map08: Star Control

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 16:05

 

Oh, boy, this is absolutely my most favourite map of the set. It's a large techbase with so many interesting quirks and gimmicks. Monster encounter is mostly easy enemies, but be on your guard as there are some of the nastier ones roaming about. The central hub has an elevator where once you get up, the bridges raise up. You'll be doing a lot of switch hunting as you search for the yellow key. There's a nice touch where once you reach the higher platform in the central hub, you check out a room with multiple doors which contain teleporters that can warp you back to areas that are now inaccessible. There's also the invisible floor trick, which also makes the red key inaccessible until much later. Afterwards, you reach the end, but you'll be greeted by some zombies and imps, and eventually a couple of evil troopers that spawn in. Awesome map with great architecture and it's a lot of fun. There's some clever homages to some of the Episode 1 maps of Ultimate Doom.

 

Map09: Deliverence?

600% kills, 100% items, 0% secrets

Time: 01:04

 

Final map of the wad. Since Map07 used Into Sandy's City, Matthias Worch decided Map09 should play Shawn's Got the Shotgun. Just your typical Icon of Sin map with a twist, which STRAIN would use for its final map. Collect the rockets and fire away out the window to any level of the barred windows (I prefer taking the highest level) to waste Romero's head inside. Be mindful of the spawning enemies that can attack you while you're distracted. Starting point is set in a way that co-op players will start at different angles and they'll teleport to different levels of the main area, which is a nice touch.

 

So that's The Trooper's Playground. In conclusion, this is a really great wad and one of my favourites to play through. Very interesting and fun scenarios, some challenging parts here and there, especially Map07, and you get to see a nice variety of themes. The new evil trooper monster definitely keeps you on your toes, but thankfully they are rare and usually appear by themselves on in groups of two. It really feels like a follow-up to Obituary, both thematically and gameplay-wise. My favourite map in the set is of course Star Control, but there are others I enjoyed as well, like Going Down and Underground Temple, including Deep Down Below which was of course in Requiem as Map09. The bonus map is also fun to play through. Matthias Worch established himself as a talented mapper which got him into being in the gaming industry. For more of Matthias Worch, there's Memento Mori II, Requiem, and his Quake episode Beyond Belief. Highly recommended.

 

Okay, that should do for now. See you all tomorrow where I'll play The Talosian Incident.

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