The DWmegawad Club plays: Disjunction & Scythe X & Counterattack

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

MAP07

GZDoom 1.8.2, UV, continuous, compatmode 6 [Boom (Strict)]

It's another space base, but this one is black and grey. This one could also be called "Erik Alm likes chaingunners."

It's half a Dead Simple scenario, no spiders to be seen here, but there are fatsos to come out to play after opening the red doors.

One secret holds an immensely useful plasma rifle, which really proved its usefulness against the imps at the blue card.

Harder than before, but much of that difficulty can be attributed to the chaingunners that make up at least a sixth of the monster count.

 

MAP08

I'm not doing this one today. I already don't like Erik Alm's maps because they aren't fun, but the hitscanner presence in this one puts me off of it right now.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: The Encounter

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

The final level of Scythe X (as it stands) I couldn't help but be reminded of "Mr. X" here with the creepy music and dark base. The big encounter isn't a new enemy though but a close-quarters cyberdemon, with some other assorted monsters before and after it including a teleporting manc. Then outside comes the new monsters, some spooky green imps, pain elementals and spirits of some sort that seem to be really slow, easily killed souls that shoot fireballs. Hard to really get a sense of the new monsters with them all thrown at the player at once. Then it's over before ya know it, off to the next episode, except...

[Catpho]

MAP07 - "Gamma Sector"

One needs a breather after a few three digit monster count epics. While the difficulty does dials down in comparison to what came before, it's anything but trivial. Some really tight combat scenarios, starting with a nasty plasma gun crowd control duel. The map's later parts are rough cramped battles, made all the worst (for your survivability) by meat sponge enemies acting as bodyguards for pesky hitscanners. Seems to be a recurring thing for floatRand to severely intrude your playing space. Still, it's only 80 monsters. Shouldn't be too out of hand for the player that has made it to this point.

The mapset's visuals continue to be dominated by Ribbiks's and Dannebubinga's influence. Another techbase with colorful highlights over dark backgrounds that looks like it's ripped straight from "Sunlust", though this one differentiates itself with a cool night sky, cool lighting effects in the plasma room and those sweet looking energy beams (as mentioned by past reviewers: they are deadly! Makes killing those ledge monsters much more amusing :D).

A fun "intermission". After all, you are gonna need all the breaks you can get. The WAD's last stretch is just horrifying....

Some screenies:

[Pirx]

My biggest problem with that cyb in the dark was the darkness,  as It made incoming rockets hard to see.  I made him jump with that bfg hidden in his closet, but still had to feed him plenty of buckshot, a pretty tense fight in those close quarters. A good place to make one cyb dangerous as the player can't simply run circles around him.

 

The ending was just WTF. A rocky outdoor area with some fast ghost figures that swarmed me, I ran forward into a cave and here it ended. 

 

Too bad Erik didn't make this into a proper megawad. It has very nice detailed areas, then others which make more an impression of speed mapping. 

[Catpho]

MAP08 - "Foundry"

RIP no saves. You had a good run.

It's named "Foundry" because it will melt you, no matter what kind of metal you are made from. This hellish facility is especially unforgiving to players without foreknowledge: nasties can seemingly pop up out of nowhere, and with trap after trap after trap (of the cruel kind), you will have a hard time keeping your sanity and mental fortitude together before you can even think about resource management (you will be finding yourself punching quite often on UV). These draining encounters include mild slaughter battles and tricky arenas that abuses cyberdemons and the set's regular limited space battles. The final fight is a mix of the two above, and it's so sadistic i gave it a mention. Plenty of arch-viles lurking about too. There's never a break unless you make one yourself via saving or get to the end (i see you there masochists!).

A lot of brown in the looks department. A bit bland and samey sometimes, but i like the use of glowing lava to contrast it. There are some striking scenes created out of shadows of metal in this map, so ultimately it's not boring, but fittingly feels harsh and uncaring.

The set's very recognizable difficulty spike. Surviving it on UV is a achievement in and of itself. I'm not gonna touch this in a loooooong time.

Some screenies:

[Catpho]

@floatRand rest of the author's comments please :)

[jointritual]

Quote

I already don't like Erik Alm's maps because they aren't fun.

Seriously? Unusual to hear anything negative about his maps (apart from the slaughter ones obviously). Overall he’s considered amongst the best.

[Swalzi]

I like Erik Alm's Scythe series and Scythe X is no exception even though it isn't fully completed. What I like about his Scythe series is the replayability and somewhat simple map layouts and visuals. Megawads I go back to play again with Scythe 2 being my most preferred which got me into map making. I use Scythe 2 maps as a guide for designing my own maps and they helped me with layout, triggers, thing placement, everything.

Scythe X in its entirety feels like a mix of both Scythe and Scythe 2 in terms of length and encounter difficulty. Episode 1 has the most Scythe influence. Episode 2 is more like Scythe 2 but still has a bit of Scythe. Very short and fast paced wad with quality maps all the way through. I've recorded UV-max Pistol Start casual demos for Scythe X that includes all levels with mouselook turned on. Recorded in GLBoom+: Swalzi Scythe X Demos
 

map01:

Pretty good opener. Nothing too gimmicky besides two of the weapon pickups, the rocket launcher and shotgun has no ammo pickups. In multiplayer, there are more enemies and ammo for the shotgun. Chainsaw is placed at the end, but it does have a use if the player misses to many shots with the shotgun. Short and easy describes the bulk of the levels in the first episode.
 

map02:

This level is more of an extension to the first level. I like the Blur Sphere secret, it's a powerup I don't see often with the wads I'm currently playing. It can be a fun powerup for early levels in a map set. Combined with close-ranged imps and shotgunners, it's helpful. The green armor secret is clever due to a new player is more likely to get it by accident than on purpose. It requires shooting at a computer behind a fence that makes a cute explosion noise.

The dark and dank crusher corridor is the iconic of part of the level for me. It's very simple but atmospheric along with the fences and imps. The last secret features a berserk pack and a rocket. It's a pretty funny secret since there is no rocket launcher in the map. Done on purpose? Most likely. Erik wants the player to be the rocket after picking up the yellow key. The player rushing into the ambush crowd with a loaded fist is a symbolism of a rocket exploding and killing its enemies.

Then a nice return to the crusher corridor with a new threat. A chaingunner waiting to shoot you. The explosive barrel is helpful and stylish if the player doesn't destroy it on their run though here.

map03:
The player is offered a branching path. I tend to take the right path due to easier shotgun access, but the forward path also offers it but with more resistance. It's kind of hard to utilize the RL in this map due to the enemy crowd spreading or just doesn't feel necessary for the situation. That chaingunner in the tower bothering you? Blow that asshole up, it be more satisfying if there were explosive barrels up there so I don't have to waste 2 or 3 rockets on him. There's a few encounters with duo chaingunners and they're the best targets for rockets.

The vent secret is a neat piece of eye candy with the 3D effect. inside and out.

map04:
I really like the 3D bridges here. Compared to the last map, there are encounters where the rocket launcher can be easily utilized. The monster traps in this level are a bit more dangerous due to them being more of a surprise than the previous levels. I don't understand the chainsaw since there is a lot of shotgun ammo. Bullets can be saved for doors, lifts, and hitscanners. The chainsaw can be used for the next level to make it go faster, but I think the player is more likely to get hurt a lot with the lost souls in the next level. Forgot to mention that the first episode seem to be more based on continuous play than pistol start due to the maps being short.

At this point, secrets are getting one-dimensional. Open a wall and there's a thing, eughhh. The secrets makes this level easy, but health kits are uncommon in this level.

map05:
Woof! Woof! This wolf is disguised as a house dog. I like the idea behind the map, but to me it feels sluggish on pistol start. A choice between 12 rockets and 250 bullets. IMO, chaingun is easier whereas RL is faster. It's very likely the player is going to run of ammo for both and have to use the shotgun which feels even slower probably because the player has no mobility and is pretty much stuck in a corridor for the remainder of the map. The cacos usually float too high for mancubi fireballs, so infighting is uncommon. I've recorded a rocket launcher demo and chaingun demo to see how it plays out.

I think a choice between a plasma rifle and a BFG would be more interesting. Make the chaingun the side weapon. The map is balanced enough for what weapons Erik gives to the player, which is good. It's a more compelling map in multiplayer, primarily due to more cacos and a cyberdemon.

The atmospheric part about this map is the player can see map02. I like to think that this place has some sort of cloaking mirage device that makes it hidden from sight as this area isn't visible in map02.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Swalzi

[DavitW]

MAP09: Holding Area

Probably the lengthiest map of the set, I felt there was some good variety to this map. You got the Warehouse area, The outside area and the combat here keeps things pretty interesting. If you're a reckless player like me ammo can be pretty tight, I actually found myself with absolutely no ammo first try but once you learn the map a bit things get easier of course.

 

MAP10: The Encounter

So we got a dark ominous base with some weird music in the background, Some very nice atmosphere. The boss is a cyberdemon, but in close quarters making for an interesting fight considering we can't circle strafe around him so easily. From a pistol start we get a BFG and Rocket Launcher but not alot of ammo so I had to rely on the handy SSG to finish him off. Once we get outside we're finally introduced to the custom monsters of the wad and then on to the exit making for a pretty anti-climactic finish. If the wad was finished of course this would have likely left a better impression on the player.

[floatRand]

17 hours ago, Catpho said:

@floatRand rest of the author's comments please :)

 

Sorry, been kinda busy, I'll try to continue it today.

[floatRand]

Map06 - "Serpent Temple " - UV, 100% kills, 100% secrets.

This came relatively late into development, and there is something to be said about the development.

Before Serpent Temple, I was working on another map that I never unfortunately finished. It was a castle situated on top of a mountain, similar to idea of "Eagle's Nest" from DVII, but the climb being minor part and castle being where the map is mostly situated. It however got too bloated and ran some technical issues, plus layout was kinda shit. There was one gimmick in the map: set skull switches scattered about that raised the bridge to final area. I had also idea of requiring only 4 switches out of 6, with all switches revealing secret. 

I did worry that in this map people wouldn't get switches - although it is probably just me underestimating player. In Boom-format it would be bit more tricky to communicate to the player (without using additional textures for guiding). However, I did make sure the concept of switches was introduced at start. Hence rising from the ground at start and having on switch nearby as freebie. It should get through even the thickest skulls. 

 

The layout is kinda serpentine, with some interconnecting sections from the spawn that also connects to gate with the 5 switches. There are some distinct areas, as the section with water/gray bricks and the round structure. Visually it does kinda pull from Sunlust, particularly maps 11-15 or so. Round room architecture, mixed with some lighting effect and some tech panels, sorta alluding more advanced civilization than bricky structures give credit for. This is also first map where I started to learn to use invisible bridges, which is used to some significant effect.

As for the gameplay, I kinda wanted to experiment with SSG:less gameplay. On first release, the map wasn't that great because the enemy variety was bit too tough - that got changed later. I also added SSG on lower difficulties.

Another issue that eventually surfaced regarded the rocket launcher. As the rocket launcher had very limited ammo and I only gave refills on switches, players refrained from using it - which is a shame, since players get restocked for the final fight. I could have perhaps communicated this to players by moving the rocket boxes near the gate so players can see them, thus encouraging player to use them during the actual map. 

The finale itself is fine, I think. Bit too dark perhaps. The gimmick is forcing cacodemons to infight the cybies, while managing space so you don't get cornered by cacos or splattered by cybie. There is actually secret way to skip this fight, which was added for speedrunners!

 

Oh yeah. Secrets. 

Spoiler

1. In the round structure fight area, there is a switch behind the southern pillar which opens timed door at opposite end of the room, leading to the small area with hell knights in bridge room.

2. In the three round connected rooms, if you jump down the hole in last of them you can run and use railing to reach the area outside. 

3. After opening the gate, there are four torches - each are a hidden switch. It will open the pillars and offer some goodies before finale.

4. Just before the drop-down to the finale, in the right wall there is a hidden switch. Pressing it gives you a short arbitrary ride for secret marking and teleports in an archvile to the final fight. 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2018 by floatRand

[Catpho]

MAP09 - "Electron"

More and less a spiritual successor to "Foundry" (or prequel if we are going chronologically) gameplay-wise, with arena mode going full throttle: three distinctive battlegrounds for three skulls. There is a warm-up at the beginning with some shootouts against some hordes, which is not too much of a hassle if you have made it this far. Red skull fight channels some real "Foundry" pain, with all the tight walkways crammed with monsters again. Yellow skull was more creative, featuring a "murder go round" (similar to the infamous "Sunlust" MAP29 vile circle) like trap that has platforms sinking into dangerous liquid in a pattern while opposition with damaging projectiles loom as a constant threat. For the blue skull, your classic horde massacre trap, just make sure you get the timing right. Fights here are definitely more lenient to the player compared to MAP08, with more plentiful supplies refills and chances to let loose, but still no piece of cake.

A very cool visual theme going on here: vibrant blue motif, great lighting effects, great detaillng with the tech textures and good looking vistas (as always). I'm freakin sold by everything i see here, floatRand's mapping art is just awe-inspiring.

Another endurance test, but plenty of cool bits make it worth sitting through.

Some screenies:

[rehelekretep]

scythe x / glboom+ / uv pistol start / no saves

map04 fda

map05 fda (this takes bitesize to a whole other level lol)

[rehelekretep]

map06 fda

this was a bit more substantial (but not by much). i did appreciate the cacos as they can drift over the central structure which constrains you which makes them more dangerous than they would otherwise be.

 

map07 fda

dull and sloggy sg vs mancubi

 

map08 fda

map09 fda

combat picks up here and into 09 as well. fun maps.

 

map10 fda

very nice atmosphere. confused at first that i was meant to take on the cyber rather than avoid him but apparently not. when you get through the blue door all hell breaks loose. i noped out of the exit as i didnt want to play hide and seek with the cyber again.

 

its a shame Scythe X ends here; the green demons/new monsters certainly hint towards something interesting that unfortunately never came to light. the actual episode aside from maps 8,9,10 is played a bit too  safe for my liking. at least the maps dont out-stay their welcome at all.

all fdas in 1 zip

[floatRand]

Map07 - "Gamma Sector " - UV, 100% kills, 100% secrets.

 

Hoo boy, what a generic name. This map was last I made for the set, and was after I made one-two maps for other things (I am actually balling whatever I should release the one as standalone since the project doesn't seem to get released, but it'd involve bunch of converting stuff etc.)

This is much shorter than others, mostly because I had grown frustrated of making large maps lately, so I wanted to do something quicker and more lighter. Something that'd be fun to speedrun at least. Looking at it now, I think it serves as neat little breather after Serpent Temple, and before the last 3 maps, which are bit mean.

 

The layout was sketched really quickly, however, the theme did go bit of an overhaul. Originally it was supposed to be a sand-covered town, but I kinda got ideas for those laser beams, so I did what I did, made it sort of dark, tech-basey segment with green lighting effects. I think it came out visually rather well, although in retrospect, I think the sand/town would have been more interesting. I could have still included the laser beams in some funny way.

The combat itself? Outside of very specific encounter (it's a secret), there isn't much to talk about. It is pretty quick and dirty, one of the more difficult segments being the elevator. 

 

Laser beams actually kill any player that wander into them - however, this applies to monsters, as well. One way of ridding of cacos or pain elementals is to lure them into the beam and get them telefragged by voodoo doll moving at extremely hihg speed. 

 

Spoiler

1. There is a soulsphere behind southernmost mancubus-pillar. 

2. From the spot you find BK, look to the left. There is small faintly lighted section in the wall, if shot it reveals a switch, which in turn reveals a berserker pack and a teleporter. Good luck. 

 

Oh, and track is battle theme for Parasite Eve, a game I really should head out and play.

[Scotty]

Disjunction maps 2-4

 

2 - Lambda Base

Oh, hi Sunlust. Not that i'm being disingenuous, as it's still a great looking map regardless of influence. This map was fun enough, an initial scrabble for weapons and increasing enemy density once you enter the main building providing generally entertaining gameplay.

3 - Neural Nest

Two sides to this map for me. The good side being the very bleak industrial setting that looked absolutely fantastic, lots of really sweet detailing throughout too. The bad side being the combat... it all felt like random monsters put in rooms rather than anything thought out and substantial, which in turn created lots of slow clearing out of areas before moving onwards (not helped by my route not obtaining the SSG until near the end either - but this can happen in non linear maps). I was really glad to see the back of this one.

4 - Aqua Regia

Amazing looking, fantastic setting and moody music to go with it. Sadly the gameplay was at the polar opposite end of the scale. The map wasn't sure if it wanted to be a tyson map or not and this enforced very one-dimensional and tedious approaches to slowly eradicating enemies one-by-one and making sure you knew exactly who you were saving every scrap of ammo to kill with. On top of my frustrations with the previous map i just stopped with the wad halfway through this level.

 

Scythe X:

 

For me, Alm's mapping as greater than the sum of its parts and so it feels more fitting to review this episodically, soaking in the overall experience and journey rather than dissecting things completely map-by-map... even if we're only getting 10 maps here.

 

Episode 1:

This all feels very modern, still, despite being nearly 10 years old now, perhaps thanks to Alm's influence on Skillsaw (Vanguard particularly) and the knock-on effect that has had to many other mappers. This is reinforced visually by the mass use of banding textures similar to BTSX E1 and so many other modern wads.

The maps are very small and just fly past initially, so it is hard to find anything specific to say. That vibe was quite reminiscent of the original Scythe rather than the sequel, although compared to the original there is perhaps nothing very memorable for me either, aside from one neat air vent secret. Actually, one thing did stand out - the music was terrible in the first few maps.

 

Episode 2:

Started off with more of the same but the maps quickly became more substantial:

Map08 - things seemed to step up here with more noteworthy combat, as the pressure is applied with rampant hitscan and attacks from all sides, as well as a slight lack of firepower/ammo which encourages you to push onwards. I don't know if i was just unlucky but this map seemed to like having things teleport right in my face again and again, which got quite annoying... i think you can only really use that kind of trap every so often to keep it effective.

 

Map09 - good traps in this map. I am noticing that Alm is liking Mancubii in this set which is cool, as they can be quite unpredictable and pack a huge punch when multiples are invovled. That said, too many Hell Knights in this map that just act as ammo tax... I just want to go on record and say how useless and boring i think Hell Knights are. They don't have any unique attack patterns or movement unlike their fellow mid-tiers and when unaccompanied by other monster types, are only really a threat in tight spaces. Even Barons are more useful. Come to think of it, where are the Revs in this wad?

 

Map10 - a strong end to the episode, and wad, with this hugely atmospheric map. It is rare you get a good one-on-one Cyberdemon fight! The vista of the final area was cool and very Sunlust-esque. Those green ghoul things were goofy (reminded me of Ghostbusters... see below) and somewhat annoying with their ability to spam themselves everywhere very quickly, in spite of their seemingly miniscule HP.

 

So, yeah. That was fun overall,  like i said initially greater than the sum of its parts, and an "easy play" overall. Wads full of maps like this are inherently more entertaining to thrash through than megawads full of droning 'epic' maps, simply because so few mappers are actually good at building large maps that don't outstay their welcome. Luckily Mechadon does not fall under this category and so on to Counterattack we go...

 

Spoiler

Who you gonna call?

 

 

[Catpho]

mmm voting

How about a jungle pack next month? 

+++ Exomoon & Avactor

 

Edit: nvm changed to Heroes' Tales

Edited August 28, 2018 by Catpho

[Magnusblitz]

Counterattack MAP01: Aggilus

100% kills, 7/9 secrets

 

Okay, time for Counterattack, and -- oh geez this map has just under 1000 enemies. Yup, these are gonna be big maps. Long ones too... aside from a secret fight, there's nothing bigger than one or two barons here, with mostly small fry (zombies/imps/demons) with some mid-tier guys (cacos, hell knights, a few trons and revs) in parts. So just a lot of ground to cover. The map does a very good job setting the scene, opening in an over-sized teleporter room before spitting you out into a dimly-lit techbase interwoven into a stony outcropping. The opening combat is heavy on chainsaw, pistol and rockets - which, combined with the darkness, will have you proceeding somewhat carefully (to avoid Good at Dooming yourself). There is a shotgun and chaingun in secrets, but if you don't explore much you'll just have to wait a bit and find them in the main base proper.

 

Once there it's classic Mechadon, lots of angled corridors that you can approach a number of different ways. It might be a bit confusing at first but eventually you'll figure your way around. Combat is a bit predictable early on (especially the repetition of 'hit important switch' or 'pickup key' followed by opening small monster closets) but some of the fights later on are a lot of fun. Really liked the crusher setup by the red keycard, and a lot of the earlier fights do just let you unload rockets on big groups of zombiemen, which is always fun. The last fight is a bit anti-climatic, but I got to finish instead on the secret fight behind the yellow skull key (which rewarded me with the SSG... and nothing left to kill with it) which was better. I will also say that while it looks nice, I couldn't help but feel that the stock assets maybe let it down just a bit, and it would've looked even sharper with custom textures. Might just be me though (and I know that using stock assets was the point).

 

[Capellan]

13 minutes ago, Catpho said:

mmm voting

 

Starts on the 25th.  Even New Zealand is still on the 24th, right now :-P

 

[Catpho]

Edit: woops forgot the date

[Spectre01]

I'll drop in for some Scythe X as it's short and one of my favourites!

 

E1: Maps 01-05

A sequence of thematically-consistent, short and easy, "space-tech" maps. The choice of sky texture is excellent and really makes you feel like you're not just on some base on Earth, which is more evident in the 2nd episode here. The attention to detail and overall visuals are still great to this day. There are some cool design tricks too, like the vent in map03. Also really like that computer room with the mini-terminals and places to sit. I believe Mr Alm mentioned that the ending of each episode would present a spike in difficulty, and that's indeed the case here with map05. I made the "mistake" of grabbing the Chaingun first, which made keeping the Cacoswarm under control a bit harder than with some rockets. Nothing too serious, but enough to present an element of danger compared to the previous maps. Huge fan of pcorf's music work here too, with the main melody in map03 and 04 appearing in several of his other tracks. The intermission is simply great too.

[Catpho]

MAP10 - "Malebolgian Crimson"

Very penultimate. Very endgame.

Hoo boy, this was ugly for the player. This level takes every torturing trope of the map so far up to eleven, starting with an extremely mean crossfire. I think getting past the chaotic opening is one of the hardest parts, with lots of damaging floor trenches hampering movement and enforcing claustrophobia (those slow lifts don't help!), while monsters wastes no time beating you to a pulp, or roast you, in the arch-viles's case. Basically a big trial and error encounter, struggling to wiggle your way out. Later areas are filled with slaughter, but tbh they are much more manageable thanks to big guns pickups. Still ain't a piece of cake, especially the map's climatic final fight: hope you have the patients for figuring out those spawning patterns! All around very very very taxing, makes the last few maps look like training sections, while this being the big cheese (MAP11 is a different beast). You are gonna need some serious skill for this one!

The map's gameplay is also fitting for the map's aesthetic too. We are finally in hell, to be precise a tech-hell fusion, possibly built for some soul harvesting judging from all those really cool effects, plus all the bedlam for the "madhouse" looks. The constant and oppressive presence of red is also a great choice. One of the best depictions of hellish skintech madness I've seen!

A solid, if ridiculously demanding outing.

Some screenies (though it looks way better in game thanks to some really cool animated sections, these static shots don't do em justice!):

 

Edited August 25, 2018 by Catpho

[rehelekretep]

yeah i think i was guilty of focusing on the gameplay in my (brief) writings but the design and aesthetics of these maps is excellent

[FrancisT218]

I've played the first two levels of Counterattack. Mechadon sure never fails to impress you with visuals or to guide you around with expertise (especially in Level 2). I've enjoyed both levels so far though Level 1 is very clearly longer and harder for whatever reason. The fight with all those Imps in Level 1 killed me a LOT before I finally made it! Finding more secrets would definitely have helped.

Edited August 24, 2018 by FrancisT18

[Capellan]

+++ Dawn of the Dead, Earth and Classic Episode

 

I believe that's 28 maps including secret maps, so we could give the secret maps a day each of their own and have 2 days left over to spare.

[Spectre01]

+++ A.L.T.

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

I think I'll back Capellan on this one.

+++ Dawn of the Dead, Earth, and Classic Episode

[FrancisT218]

(Moved here from above & edited.)

 

+++Exomoon & one of the three @Capellan wads. (I'll go with whatever one shows up most should if this combination wins.) Provided there isn't a full megawad released in September, I'll be on board for +++ one or both of the unpicked Capellan wads (alongside something else) for October.

[FrancisT218]

Oh here's my FDA (but to-completion with reloads allowed) of the first two Counterattack levels (and I'm going to include an @Mechadon in case he's interested):

 

 

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP02: Phlogiston

96% kills, 4/10 secrets

 

At first brush this seems quite similar to MAP01 - it's got a lot of the same layout approaches (angled corridors, clearing out one hallway and then curving around on the ledge overlooking that hallway, generally same size to the areas). Gameplay is a bit more standardized, with regular weapon progression (shotgun/chainsaw --> chaingun --> RL ---> SSG/PG/BFG) and accompanying steady progression in monsters as well. It even has a crusher battle (though it plays quite differently from the MAP01 one). More linear, though - whereas in MAP01 you had flexibility in the order to gather some of the keys, this one is pretty linear (despite the central switch hub giving the opposite impression). All in all very solid stuff and enjoyable throughout, though I'm not sure that it'll be quite memorable.

Edited August 25, 2018 by Magnusblitz