The DWmegawad Club plays: Memento Mori 2

[gaspe]

MAP13: Mixed feelings on this map. It's not particularly interesting visually, especially the starting mansion with its big and empty rooms and the hub that it's a big courtyard with a lava moat but the structure fails to impress being an undefined mess of brown bricks. I can't tell exactly why but using different shades of brown works on certain maps, here it doesn't. At least there was the effort to put detail like the cages with the corpses (albeit copypasted) and the having colored torches in all the levels helped to make the things less dull. I always like to see the classical hub with the 3 keys map, and going to the different separated areas through teleports was nice. The gameplay wasn't so special. At the beginning the scarcity can make the things more thrilling. The RK seems to have an interesting setup but in the end it doesn't deliver nothing. The AV at the plasmarifle was the best moment, and I must say that I also liked the maze with the spectres. The rest is just unremarkable. The secret soulsphere requires you to go back to an area where there was obviously a secret you couldn't reveal. At the start you can also find a SSG in an unofficial secret, which is a godsend since otherwise you have a rather long slog with the SG.

[vdgg]

1 hour ago, riderr3 said:

MAP13
When returning with red key I realized I've have only 9% HP and unable to cross lava pool, so I've reloaded the savegame. They even didn't add extra secret with medikits in this area, a poor design in particular place.
 

You can return from the red key without taking damage, see Tatsurd's UV -fast demo, he did it twice, at 2:03 and at 8:33. There's no guarantee you won't take this damage, but you are more likely to survive than not survive, you touch the pain sector for maybe 10 tics and every 32 tics damage is "applied".

[vdgg]

MAP13

Visually it's a step down. Less detail and I think it's the first map that doesn't use any new MM2 textures! Looks like taken straight from the first Memento Mori, maybe because I find Stoned the most typical MM map and the texturing and the size are a bit similar...

 

Gameplay-wise it's a step up... in difficulty. It's the most brutal map so far IMO. The area behind the yellow door teleporter reminded me of Plutonia, suddenly monsters everywhere, a similar moment might be in MAP25 (Temple of Darkness), but it may be just my impression.

 

Recommended demo

Any Pacifist demo, the fastest is 0:57 by Xit Vono (link). You know I tend to be overly critial if the mapper allows too many shortcuts, but these ones are so cute you almost think Rhys allowed them all on purpose. The whole route is unbelievable for me. First, a jump through the window using the SSG unofficial secret (super easy) then another window jump (this one is hard, I skip it and it doesn't save much time) and then the funniest moment: taking the deathmatch exit.

 

Rating 3/5

[Capellan]

MAP14

Generally speaking, I enjoyed this a lot more than the previous map. Solid stuff from Matthias Worch again, with a number of interesting looking locations in which to battle hellspawn. I did think it perhaps went on a set piece too many at the end with all the little bits and pieces you had to bounce back and forth to complete the map, and I will certainly never share Worch's love for pop-up monsters, but on the whole what we have here is a tough but engaging level that both looks and plays well. Definitely a stronger effort than map10.

 

 

Olden Timer Yarn

In preparation for tomorrow, a bit of background about my mapping career pre-MM2.

 

I started mapping for Doom as soon as I got my hands on a copy of DEU5, creating an entire episode of 9 truly, truly dreadful maps. I later converted some of these to Doom 2, but I never did anything to correct their dreadfulness. Trust me when I say you don't want to play them!

 

Anyway, sometime after Doom 2 editing became possible I decided to really and try to make some maps that looked good. Which was a bigger task than it sounds, given that I didn't know what unpegging did, or how to X and Y align, or even that light levels worked in units of 16. The result was the 7 "Talons" maps. You probably shouldn't bother playing those either. I did later re-vamp three of them as tbeast.wad which is I guess the least sucky way to try them out.

 

When I first started mapping, editing tools were not at all sympathetic to changing your mind after you'd laid something down. It was quite a chore to split a sector into two, for instance. So I tended to plan my maps on grid paper beforehand, generally using a 30x20 grid of 64 unit squares. I continued using this pre-planned approach when I got the mad idea to map a one-man megawad (Demonfear; honestly, I don't recommend you play it either ... well, maybe maps 26-29), even though tools had become a lot more flexible by then.

 

I'd made the first 25 maps of Demonfear when the open call went out for MM2, and I got the go ahead to make map15 ... as long as I did something bigger than I usually did. I was resolved to not just deliver on 'bigger', but to make a map that was ambitious in a way that Demonfear was not.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Capellan : clarity

[Magnusblitz]

MAP13: Devils Paradise

100% kills, 3/5 secrets

 

A generically brown level with a lot of tight corridors broken up by some larger areas, AKA nothing special layout-wise. I didn't find the hidden SSG which meant this level was another slog, single-shotgunning all the gasbags and hell knights gets old quick. You do get a chaingun (though not much ammo for it until the second half), a rocket launcher with ~10 shots (half of which you'll use on the yellow key baron most likely) and a plasma rifle which you will immediately spend on the AV and then barely get to use again.

[Summer Deep]

MAP13:  In common with a good number of reviewers here, I didn't enjoy this much. Thought I'd imagined it when a Revenant
rocket seemed to come out of a wall near the start, but apparently it really happened. Oddly enough I was also hit by a
Mancubus and a chaingunner firing through solid walls in this same level, though that's not unprecedented. Also fell three
times into inescapable lava, including when trying to strafe jump for the Berserk pack near the end. A 'bad day at the
office', as they say....

 

100% kills, 1/5 secrets

 

 

MAP14:  Another tough level. Opted to do the right hand side first, and died two or three times in the red key room before
resorting to the unlikely tactic of taking cover in the receptacle which houses the key and fighting off the monsters from
there. Plenty of difficulties in the left hand area too, especially that crafty  Revenant ambush, where it took a number
of attempts to work out what was going on. Then there was the Archvile: if the AV in map 12 was the most harmless one in
Dooming history, this one had to be the most stupid - instead of going off and reviving the Revenants and Barons, as per
his job description, he just strutted about pointlessly on the other side of the bars, while I shotgunned him from the
safety of that cubby hole with the hanging corpse. Another seriously damaging Revenant trap in the chapel at the end, but
then there was the consolation of finding the secret which unlocked the blue armour before exiting the level (the wall
panel was very reluctant to open for some reason).

 

99% kills, 3/7 secrets

[Capellan]

9 minutes ago, Summer Deep said:

MAP14:  Another tough level.

 

 

Good news!  MAP15 is all kittens and rainbows!

 

 

^{I may be lying.}

[galileo31dos01]

MAP13: Devils Paradise

 

Curiously, one of the mid maps I recalled from my first playthrough, just not exactly from MM2. Before replaying the wad all I could remember was blurry bits of some early levels and most of the latter five (26-30), which in my experience was the point I stopped enjoying myself. 

 

Now this map, being technically under the average in quality, wasn't that bad or boring, generally speaking. It is, for example, above map 06 in encounters, particularly the whole section post-YK until the bridge. Aesthetically, the brown scheme isn't something I'm against of, even if the texturing is a bit vague in places. I must admit I didn't catch the absence of custom textures, good one there @vdgg. Also, I noticed the first courtyard area is designed very similarly to the wooden indoors room in map 06. The difference is that this outdoors section functions as a hub and has a pool of lava to keep you alert, since it's inescapable. The wooden room was basically empty and added little to the map, other than connecting rooms. 

 

The only thing I disliked was how obtuse the soulsphere secret worked, a waste of time to be honest. On the other side, the map is kind of a back and forth like map 06. Strange that both were made by two different people, maybe one inspired the other? We'll never know. 

 

 

[Hells Kitchen]

MAP14

Yet more brown, but here atleast it is not as widespread and this map looks much better than the last. Gameplay reasonably tough, with chaingunners and revenants being the pricks of the day. That first secret after taking the left door - the definition of "reward" now apparently includes "chaingunner popping you while you wait for lift to rise". The archvile here is either quite dangerous or a complete waste, depending if you wish to sacrifice the berserk pack if you are healthy in exchange for the safe cubby hole. I was at 100% so I took the risk.  The centrepiece of the action definitely was after collecting the red key, teleport out only to be faced with hell knights and two PE's, and a metric fuckton of shotgunners teleporting into the escape route. Pretty action packed overall with some tough moments, and visually nice, pretty good map overall. 5/7 secrets, bloody missed the soulphere. 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP14: A Question of Time

100% kills, 7/7 secrets

 

Can definitely see Worch's influence here, with the brown, the lack of any armor outside of secrets... I was ready to write this one off as another horribly brown single-shotgun fest, but thankfully came across the SSG in the red key wing, which helped a ton. Not sure what I would've done had I gone down the yellow key wing first, probably bang my head against the wall. As it is, the red key wing is pretty fun, and the yellow key wing has some decent traps and fights if maybe a bit lacking in layout. In the end it's a solid map, but I feel it would be a lot better by just giving the SSG for free behind the blue door, throwing a green armor in there somewhere early on, and maybe putting a RL or PG in the SSG secret.

[riderr3]

MAP14
The starting area reminds me of previous map, thankfully this map is much different, it have better monster placement and texture/layouts. Liked those scrolling skull pillars.
Difficulty here also significantly raised, I say, to almost plutonia-like. Instant-popups, traps and teleporters here and there. Though many of ambushes are predictive, especially "goat floors" where is arch-vile will be teleported. I feel that and lured mr. baron in another room to prevent him being resurrected.

You will have meet many pinkies here which will try to block you from all sides.
The backtrack path after grabbing red key is most dangerous, the rooms will replenish with more monster reinforcements.

In the final "chapel" I thought a cyberdemon hiding inside, thankfully it is not.

[gaspe]

MAP14: There's a pretty rough pistol start here, in the first steps you haven't many resources and it's difficult to choose where to go. Maybe you can be lucky and be able to steal a couple of SGs from the caged sergeants. Perhaps going to the left route is the better choice since it has a very helpful secret. The teleport ambush is too slow, you can escape easily. Later at the red door there's another fork and again one route is better than the other. In the RK part you can find a secret SSG, and in the end there's a ridiculous ammount of sergeant that will teleport in the map. At this point you are overstocked with shells. In the YK in the room with the demon face on floor you can press the switches from behind the bars and skip a part of the map (though you will miss some secrets). It's a nice looking level with that vaguely hellish aesthetic of bricks, metal and marble. It's plenty of tricks and little traps on your way.

[Capellan]

MAP15

As I mentioned yesterday, by this time editors had got a lot more powerful. Automatic X and Y alignment existed, and you could split lines and sectors with keyboard shortcuts. So I could sit down without a plan. This had actually been true for a while, but the habit of drawing a map in advance had lingered. With MM2, the map grew organically, as ideas and inspiration struck me.

 

The first thing I knew I wanted to do was a hectic opening with enemies at various heights and coming at you from many angles. I'm consequently really happy with how the start has turned out. There's a fund combo of critters out for your blood, and even on my own map I can still get bushwhacked. You've also got a couple of choices of where to go yourself – into the main part of the complex to grab a green armour, or perhaps you're a speedrunner and will leap out into the courtyard outside as soon as you've nabbed the starting shottie and ammo.

 

You'll need to head to the courtyard eventually, since there are key doors blocking your route inside. The first change I would make if I was making this map today would be here: I'd make the 'chaingunner cubbyhouse' shorter than the main building and the blue key 'pagoda'. I might also made the latter higher than the main building.

 

Anyway, this gives you the blue key, and I wonder how many people notice that the marbfaces near the lift to this door actually shift over the course of the map? They start at the top, but when you come back with the yellow key, they're at floor level. I have no idea why I decided to do this, to be honest, but it's a cute little thing that 99% of people probably never spot.

 

So the manc (and later revenant) room is the second big setpiece of the map, at least for me. Again, this is something that happened quite organically as I was mapping. I knew early on that I wanted the player to come back to this room later in the map, but I probably got lucky in choosing the two monsters I did for it, since they create similar but different challenges for the fight.

 

Onwards, and you've got the crazy-pants AV fight for the red key, where I died about a dozen times today. It's a bit of a mad encounter to be honest, but you're not likely to forget it :) The crushers, of course, are there to stop the player from simply corner sniping poor Mr AV.

 

After an imp gangbang we have ADAM'S FIRST CACOSWARM. Again, I don't known what prompted me to throw so may flying tomato monsters at the player here – probably just that I'd always had a soft spot for them – but I really like this encounter. And I'm very glad the teleporters work fairly well, because my word some of the ones in early Demonfear levels are awful, and I still didn't really understand monster pathing logic at the time I made this.

 

From there it's the aforementioned revenants, and then a pretty straightforward run to the exit, just a couple of AVs and such to get in the way. I'm quite fond of the crate room; I stumbled across the pattern created by having a bunch of 16-long BIGBRIK textures and deliberately used that to create what I think is a cool variation of the basic look.

 

The second thing I would change with the map if I was making it now is the secret exit: you don't actually need to find any other secrets to open it, though they make it easier. I think I would make it that finding one of those is actually what opens it, rather than creating an arrow pointing to it. Also, I'd properly flag that final soulsphere as a secret, which it is meant to be :)

 

Overall though, I am still really happy with this map, even 22 years later. I've done more visually opulent stuff since, and more tightly designed stuff, but for me this will always be the map where I really stepped up a league in terms of my mapping.

 

One thing those of you who played Doom 404 may well notice is how much more generous this map is with the goodies. There's plenty of health and multiple armours here, as well as a pretty easy megasphere secret (which I saved to the end of the map so I will enter map31 with 200/200).

 

Final note: The DM section of map15 is completely separate to the single/co-op section. I actually extracted that part of the map into a separate WAD, re-textured it with purely vanilla textures, and spent many many hours playing it with my friends. It was hectic and a whole lot of fun.

 

 

MAP31

So, as far as secret map concepts go, "Hey, have a E1 map" is definitely not one I will complain about. It's also nice to see Orin doing something in the OG Romero style, rather than the Doom 2-era style for which he (Orin) is better known.

 

This is a fun nostalgia trip, though it's certainly pretty easy in terms of the combat: the odd sergeant will sneak up on you and give you a goosing with the shotgun, but other than that the enemies aren't likely to represent much threat. The map sometimes compensates for that with plenty of bodies roaming around. It doesn't actually make things harder, but it's fun to splatter the bigger clots of bad guys with the RL or plasma that are both available on the map.

 

Didn't find the secret exit. Some of the secrets I did find were pretty subtle (I still haven't worked out what was supposed to be marking the secret at sector 144).

 

 

[Summer Deep]

MAP15:  Nice variety of settings here, and some good quality, engaging action. The opening room illustrates the latter point, though you can't go very far wrong by camping around the opening at the foot of the stairs. The Mancubus room also requires sharp reactions, keeping moving and exploiting the limited amount of cover. The trap involving the two Spectres at the switch in the crusher area was a bit cruel, with considerable unavoidable damage, but there was a reasonably generous 50% of health provided - that, plus the secret soulsphere, if one has obtained it, should see the player through the AV encounter and the red key trap that follows it.

 No review of an Adam Windsor/Capellan map would be complete without a mention of the Cacoswarm factor - yes, it's fun to take this on once or twice in a level, but I really regretted not saving after so doing, and having to replay it four or five times due to failures later on: the most successful strategy for this seemed to be to camp outside the red door, though conducting the fight in the room with the 'red star' was more exciting, and trying to do so in the yellow key area was best left to 'Doom Gods'....

And what about the secret level exit? OMG, I spent getting on for an hour investigating every square millimetre of the map trying to find it, before mentally giving up. Then, just at what would have been the last moment, pressed the 'use' button almost as a conditioned reflex and discovered perhaps the most audacious secret level exit of all time (or at least until 1996). When is the obvious not at all obvious? I think I'd have put the SSG in the roof of my mouth and pulled the trigger if I'd resorted to looking on YouTube for the solution, but I was about 20 seconds away from doing just that....

 

103% kills, 8/9 secrets

 

[Summer Deep]

MAP31:  As a relative newbie in this thread, wasn't quite sure of when to post a review of the secret maps, but obviously it's permitted to deal with at least the first one.

 

Very little to say really. I thought it was a wasted opportunity, and didn't have much interest in playing what looked like an anaemic take on E1 M7. Had the impression that the second secret exit might be somewhere in one of the nukage areas, but couldn't be bothered to look for it and just wanted to get it over with asap.

 

95% kills, 1/7 secrets

[Capellan]

For most mapsets, you can do both secrets maps the same day as map15.  Exceptions are generally mentioned in the OP.

 

Re the map15 secret exit, there's a switch elsewhere on the map that lights up an arrow pointing to it.  I actually forgot to do the necessary steps for that while playing, but hey, I know where the secret exit is anyway :)

[Pirx]

MAP06 - “Trapped” by Adam Williamson

 

that map took more time than i felt it was interesting because of its fairly obtuse progression, like the tower with the imp alcoves, bumping into closed doors, backtracking, looking for changes and so on. the texturing doesn't make it very fun to play, also. blame it on quake and its following of brown walls. the texturing is fairly diverse, like some gothictx looking parts, then the alien-ish looking corridors, but overall it's all drab. found the ssg by humping a wall without any hint of a secret, and skipped the ending because i just couldn't kill those poor barons, they take too long, the doors with health.

 

 

 

MAP07 - “Frustration” by David Kuykendall

 

is that map name meant as a joke about that fucking doors? on one hand, the map is a convincing doom 3-style corrupted base (long before doom 3), with malfunctioning machinery. on the other, said malfunctions like the door you have to press like 4 times before it finally opens fully are utterly frustrating speed bumps. also, the layout requires much backtracking. basically you have a section where the keys are found, and a section where they belong to. the part with the damaged doors joins them, and you have to cross it repeatedly. map layout is rather corridor-heavy, texturing looks much nicer than in the previous map, and the music reminds of some track from requiem.

 

 

 

MAP08 - “Stigmata” by Denis Möller

 

rather compact map, found it fun to play after the door kung-fu slog. a demonized water treatment plant used to make acid stuff, with some chaingunners as the potentially most dangerous enemies, and a teleporting zombie regiment to mow down in the end. they take some time to warp in, though. obvious red key trap and an original exit where the switch is located above.

 

 

[DavitW]

MAP10: Clear for Death

Who thought it was a good idea to put 5 sewer levels in a row? This was probably the first one I found to be annoying though, Mainly due to a serious lack of ammo from a pistol start and having to kill shit like pain elementals with a regular shotgun. The cacodemon trap that locks you behind the bars would have been could if I had enough shells to kill them all with the shotgun, instead I had to pistol the last 2 to death instead. Other than that it's basically boxy rooms and boring hallways without much detail or excitement to them.

 

MAP11: Sewer Shutdown

First thing to say about this map is god almighty is it ugly, The tech base part is at least a bit more exciting but the sewers parts are just atrocious and where we spent most of the level. A lot of the combat is pretty plain blasting zombies and demons in corridors and shooting imps to the side in areas you can't get to. Once again very little ammo to be found, even the secrets I found didn't have much in them although atleast there were a few handy berserk kits. The last part of the map in the large circular area was easily the best part of the map, There was some actually interesting combat here and you can finally get your hands on a good bit of ammo or cause some infighting.

 

MAP12: The Waterway

Finally out of the sewers and into a map that's similiar to the end of Doom II. Not a large monster count here and the biggest threat is chaingunners hiding behind a corner and catching you by surprise. We finally get our hands back on the SSG here although it's in a secret i didn't find until towards the end so there was still plenty of peek-a-boo shoot segments with the regular shotgun against hordes of enemies, as well as a completely useless archvile. The map looked great but something about the gameplay just didn't feel right to me.

[ella guro]

continuing with catching up...

 

MAP06 - “Trapped” by Adam Williamson

this is the first real stinker of the bunch for me. it has a lot of the hallmarks of a 1994/95 map, from the linearity and backtracking to the repetition to the large empty environments. in spite of the lack of detail (which is to be expected), i liked a lot of the non-orthogonal architecture in this map and the way things unlock themselves in the central area, so you'd think i'd be more down for what this map was offering. but in execution, it just felt totally tedious. i didn't even feel like there was a really coherent idea behind the map - the first room gives the impression that you're going to be ambushed a lot, but that doesn't exactly play out in the rest of the map. i had a hard time finding one of the keys (can't even remember at this point... think it was the blue key?) and i had to do so much random backtracking that didn't feel particularly meaningful because i didn't really like any of the spaces that much. i also had a lot of problems with health and ammo on this one for some reason? i can't imagine trying to play it from a pistol start. i guess overall this map just felt kinda pointless, and like it wasted my time.

 

MAP07 - “Frustration” by David Kuykendall

by contrast, this one wasn't too bad. there was still a bit more backtracking and running back and forth down corridors than i'd like, but the central idea of the exit being right in front of you at the start but not being able to access it because Doomguy can't duck is kind of hilarious. the famous Door that only randomly seems to open properly is a fun little trick too. that would come back in ALT.wad and i'm sure other places as well. i'm kind of bummed that more wasn't done with the central sewer area with the too-low ceilings to make you have to dodge and duck and weave around them. that feels like a pretty missed opportunity. not that some of the tricky areas to the left with all the chaingunners and those tricky doors weren't kind of cool. but given how much i like the idea of the intro and exit area and it fits with the name, it just feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. still, this map is a major step up from the previous one and definitely has some worthwhile moments outside of the first area.

 

MAP08 - “Stigmata” by Denis Möller

i honestly liked this one just fine. i really like the underground cavern surrounding a techbase setting - it feels relatively well realized, and the flow of this map is actually pretty nice. the map has a sense of place to it because of that, and it's much less corridor-heavy than the maps preceding it and doesn't really outstay its welcome either. i like the use of exploding barrels in this map - i feel like we don't get to see those as often as we should. outside of a few quirky bits that honestly make this one a little more memorable to me than the usual non-linear techbase, i wouldn't be surprised if i saw this in a more modern WAD. which is i guess both good in bad. it flows much better than other maps in this wad, but individual areas are maybe a bit less memorable. it kinda just washes over you. i actually like that you can not stick around and just decide to exit for the final ambush though - i like any map where you can kind of avoid an ambush and just exit if you choose to. so all in all, a not bad map that def puts this WAD back on track.

 

MAP09 - “Sabbath Sewer” by Mark Klem

this is the most interesting of the bunch for me, probably. it definitely felt like a capital-a Adventure in the way that some of the better maps in Eternal Doom do. someone else on here said this map felt very magical to them when they first saw that, and i can definitely see that! there were moments that still evoked that for me, in spite of this map's age. it does feel like it's own world in the way that the previous several maps haven't really. yes, it's a bit rough around the edges and has a bit of a problem with big empty areas in the way that MAP06 does, but outside of that fact those two maps are really incomparable with each other. i guess you could say that the big picture of the map is very good (some cool details in key areas, the progression was mostly intuitive, the encounters were mostly interesting in one way or another), whereas in the small details it's definitely not as good (it's a bit bland and areas kind of randomly go into each other without a lot of purpose). but even still there are cool details like the sewer cutouts on the ceiling, or the slightly surreal outside lava area where you pick up one of the keys. these are the kind of ideas that people would take from and expand on further later. by the end i was starting to find the map a little tedious mostly because navigating in all these different strange areas to find all the different secrets was a little confusing. but i mostly enjoyed the experience. this is not a map that someone would make in a modern Doom wad, but it's definitely a very good version of that kind of map, rather than a bad one (like MAP06). and that might be what makes it so interesting.

 

MAP10 - “Clear for Death” by Matthias Worch

after the last map, this one felt like a blip. that's not saying it was bad, by any means. the Worch technique of trapping you in a cage while monsters spawn in is back. the overall combat is perfectly fine and the areas look pretty well-detailed in a more modern sense, just like MAP08. the ending in the nukage pit with a bunch of monsters spawning in was pretty cool and climactic feeling as well. i like the nukage pools where one of the keys appears in too. but even more so than MAP08, this one washed over me a bit. it's certainly not a bad transitional-feeling map, but definitely didn't stay in my memory as much as MAP09... or MAP05 for that matter. still not bad though, and it's nice to play maps like these after the super long ones!

[vdgg]

MAP14

Two mappers colaboration. Many things to like here: a nice, consistent theme, well staged fights. One thing I forgot to mention when writing about MAP10: the doors, or their frames. Was MM2 the first, one of the first? The doors are built into a "structure" LITE5/DOORTRAK/LITE5 (or DOORSTOP/DOORTRAK/DOORSTOP, etc.) Not just DOORTRAK. It looks more professional and if you build a door nowadays like this, nobody will say it's "old". This will be "improved" (made more baroque) on MAP22 with LITE5/DOORRED/DOORTRAK/DOORRED/LITE5 frame...

 

As for armor scarcity, get used to it! It will be scarce for the next ten non-secret maps, with a few exceptions. Another feature of the WAD.

 

Continuous players will be pampered with a few rockets and cells scattered around. Pistol starters have only minor weapons, berserk and a secret SSG, which is quite slow against many mid-tiers present.

 

The overall rating is reduced because a) there's another extremely slow monster teleporter - UV Maxers just leave this area and kills these monsters at the very end, it may take even 3 minutes to teleport every monster! b) switches that can be reached before intended progression. Apart from the ones gaspe mentioned, there are two switches in the 2 revenant closet that can be reached from below, and finally the lion switches in the big room near the start. I'm shaking my head in disbelief how little awareness was there in 1996 regarding this...

 

Rating 4/5

[Hells Kitchen]

MAP15

Great variety of settings here and easily the most dangerous and engaging gameplay of the wad so far. Had some fun sniping the zombies through the window in the start room, when a sneaky caco pulled up behind me from the outside. That's an example of the sort of dynamics that are good to see. Highlights were the outside blue key area, the crusher room, the mancubus room and the exit, with these areas featuring numerous hardbodies flanked by chaingunners and shotgunners so things get a lot more heated than we've seen in most of the wad so far. It was also fun to snipe the dudes in the window from the BK area. The archvile in the crusher room is genuinely dangerous and luckily in my case he was stunned by the plasma. That exit area, shit, that was an adrenaline rush. Archviles backed up by mancs, revenants and other lesser foes, all of which can converge down the corridors if you cower in the little room before it, so we have some genuine action here were camping is not an option. The secret exit caught me by surprise. Think I got 5/9 secrets. This is my favourite map so far, real action in a nice techbase type installation which offers more than the garden variety closets and traps we've seen so far. Visually it looks neat, and there is enough variety in its architecture to keep from getting bored, unlike certain other maps we've seen. 

 

MAP31

I always enjoy an E1 remake. Not the best E1-themed map I've ever seen, but alright nonetheless. It heavily references E1M7 in both architecture and gameplay, with many opportunities to snipe through windows, into the shotgunner-infested outdoor areas, onto platforms above you, and blowing clumps of baddies to smithereens with the rocket launcher. The key traps mostly involve closets of E1 enemies opening on the progression route, now this is done a bit too many times and just gets repetitive, although these closets are often located adjacent to a barrel or two, which I appreciated. That being said, I've found myself being surprised by spectres biting my ass a few times while clearing out these closets. The red key trap was pointless IMO, you get an invuln sphere to deal with a teleporting mass. It would've been better to scratch the invuln and have those monsters teleport out to various points of progression throughout the map. Another worthless trap came after the yellow key with a platoon of monsters congregating hopelessly in the nukage below the window, however it was great fun to rocket the window sill and watch them blow up! Found the secret exit, and all other secrets, yay! One of them (the one leading outdoors IIRC) was essentially unmarked, only got it by some random humping. All in all it's a decent E1 remake and it's always good to see takes on E1 classics, just a tad more variety in the key traps wouldn't hurt. 

 

 

[gaspe]

MAP15: This is a cool twisted techbase done with a great attention to the details. It has all the hallmarks of a techbase with computers, machineries, the inevitable pool of green slime, the storage (that texturing). All mixed with hellish stuff and even some surreal touches like those weird lifts near the start, and the floating cube at the cacos arena. The ammo balance was very generous and it encourages to play in an aggressive way. There's tough stuff in almost every area. Right from the starting fight. At the BK you are exposed to the arachnotrons and some snipers and you need to get the RL to clean the area and get the key. In the dark room with the mancubi you really want that SSG and camping on the elevator isn't a good idea. Worth of note is also the trap at the RK and the archvile setup with the crushers. The standout moment of the map is the cacoswarm at the YK. At the end the map shifts to bricks and wood. This has probably the most stupid secret exit ever made.

[gaspe]

MAP31: I never was particularly fond of this map but it's an allright E1 style level with the iconic techbase look and even the courtyards. There are lots of monsters but the level flows fast since you encounter only the E1 bestiary of low tiers, plus a lonely baron, to mow down with SG and CG and with some additional rockets and a throwaway plasmarifle. Obviously the SSG is absent here. The overall structure of the level is nice, it's plenty of windows on the surrounding courtyards. The secrets involve mostly random wall humping though you have more or less subtle visual clues sometimes, like the blue armor near the start and the courtyards that you can guess they could be accessible from somewhere. It plays with some secret tropes of E1. There was an imp stuck in a barrel and so it can teleport in the map.

 

MAP32: We didn't get our Dead Simple clone on MAP07 so here it is. It looks good enough and the start was rather tough. Like the original there a central courtyard filled with mancubi and an outer ring that this time is guarded by some pinkies, the spiders will teleport into the map later. There are 2 invisibility orbs but using them will be dangerous. To guard the last key you need there are a couple of cyberdemons (on UV), and pistol starting you don't so much stuff to kill them comfortably, personally I left all the spiders alive and let them to weaken the cyberdemons. Was this supposed to be on MAP07 originally?

[riderr3]

MAP15
The texture and light usage here is very quality. This map reminds me some of TNT maps like Stronghold, but more challenging and better detailed.
At the start you need to watch your back, because the caco from the window will chase you.
There are many simple secrets, some of them consists from small closet and lift.

I have meet enormous quantity of cacos behind the red door, I've even waste all my shells on them.
The two arch-viles near secret exit is dangerous threat especially when you have no BFG and there are many corpses to be revived. Also I've found secret exit accidentally, just by following this arrow.

 

[Capellan]

MAP16

Another solid techbase from Denis Möller. I like how the map keeps opening up new ways back into old areas, and also lets you see into future zones that you will enter further down the map – sometimes quite soon, sometimes not for a long time.

 

The final closet ambushes are fairly easy to skip past if you choose to do so, which can actually be quite fun since the heterogeneous mix of monsters is likely to infight as a result. I love the sound of demon rending demon :)

 

Instapop HK at the exit gets the stink-eye, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this romp.

 

 

[Hells Kitchen]

MAP32

Dead simple clone. Atleast some effort has been made to spice it up, with hordes of pinkies and a couple of cybers. The layout is very similar to the original with the mancubus courtyard and an outer ring of arachnotrons. This time however we have pinkies thrown in ready to get in your way, and a  couple of cybers. I tried to get the spiders to infight with the cybers but didn't quite go according to plan, often the spiders got in my way and had to kill em. The cybers are pretty dangerous here, they can sneak up behind you and around corners, as I found out the hard way, thankfully I was at 200/200 so didn't die. Dead simple clones are a worn trope, but this was pretty decent. Screw that ugly garish grey brick once again, however. 

 

 

 

[gaspe]

MAP16: Very fun techbase level loaded with lots of hitscanners, you have to be careful when you rush into new areas. On of the best features of the map are the various windows and openings on areas that you'll visit later, and there's also some back and forth to do to finally open our way to the exit. Near the SSG there's a creepy IoS staring at you from a hole in the wall, it will also damage you if you get close. The highlight of the map is the trasformation of the teleport room behind the blue door.

[vdgg]

MAP15

Horrible map :( Sucking from beginning to end. I could have been more daring in the end of this lmp, but the map got more attention than it deserved anyway. Ok, maybe the caco-garden isn't all that bad. The start tends to be very hard if you're speeding, mainly cause of all the rapid-fire....

(Anders Johnsen)

Now, you still were part of the Alien Vendetta team (kind of, I know...), did you know that?

 

Other opinions from '96-98: George Bell was neutral, saying more about toughness than qualities, Michael Grube gave a neutral mini-review and Henning Skogsto said: Also Anders recorded many boring and big maps like 21 and 15, both maps are big, though 21 has a great architecture and is generally very nice (...) so it's not favourable either, implying that the other map is not very nice ;)

 

As you may know, I am enthusiastic about this map, but I felt like my opinion was the one which was different.

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At the start, I turn back and go for the blue key. Always. Casual play - it's less pain, soon you know if you die or survive. Going forward means prolonged pain. UV Speed - obviously for the blue key. UV Max - the same, I need the key and the rocket launcher ASAP.

On 11/14/2018 at 9:08 PM, Capellan said:

You've also got a couple of choices of where to go yourself – into the main part of the complex to grab a green armour, or perhaps you're a speedrunner and will leap out into the courtyard outside as soon as you've nabbed the starting shottie and ammo.

 

So, go figure, I am a speedrunner. Part of me is denying, as I don't enjoy things such as running through Scythe's MAP28 and I if I am a speedrunner, I'm not the most brilliant one. So better be quiet... But now your analysis made everything clear.

 

Anyway, No demo in the nineties featured going straight for the blue key. Eugene Kapustin was the first one, in 2004...
 

On 11/14/2018 at 9:08 PM, Capellan said:

Onwards, and you've got the crazy-pants AV fight for the red key, where I died about a dozen times today. It's a bit of a mad encounter to be honest, but you're not likely to forget it :) The crushers, of course, are there to stop the player from simply corner sniping poor Mr AV.

 

There are two options: you want to kill the arch-vile or you want to press the switch and run away. The latter is recommended only in a single level UV Speed. On continuous I want to kill the arch-vile, doesn't matter if I want 100% kills or not.

Now there's a couple of more options. From the two medikits and the lift switch in the front, I go to the left. I invest time to kill 4 zombies from under the crusher (in a few installments), and sneak behind the arch-vile (that's why go left and not right). On continuous I can choose between plasma and SSG, on individual run I have no plasma yet, so only SSG. I think it works quite well, as even if the arch-vile doesn't flinch, there's a big chance a sergeant behind will hit the arch-vile, giving you plenty of time to reload and fire two more shots. The SSG is not 100% reliable, but you take damage only once in the worst case scenario, and you usually enter with 100% health and some armor.

 

About marble faces going down, I think I noticed that in the past but I completely forgot, so count me as one who was not aware.

 

Another interesting detail that I was staring at trying to figure out what it meant were these red lights (one flashing)

Spoiler

https://imgur.com/a/74499yp

 

Of course, there's more, the accordion shutters, the drilling machine (?), the big lift going to the basement, the ominous single lamp in the basement. Many memorable things.

 

Difficulty level adjustments. You mentioned you were surprised that AdamW placed one extra armor for UV only. But you did something similar IMO. There's a blur sphere in the "caco-garden" on UV and berserk on HMP. I take the partial invisibility over berserk any time. It allows me to grab the yellow key in front of all these chaingunners while staying silent (no shooting, no caco teleporting), and run away. In MAP27 there will be an invulnerability on UV only, which I find extreme.

 

Another curious fact: no barons, no hell knights here. You were faithful to your present self who doesn't value these monsters much.

 

Another fact: the first map in MM2 (and one of the very, very few) featuring crates.

Rating 5/5. One thing that I would change would be marking sector 124 secret instead of 464 which is hard to register.

 

 

 

[Summer Deep]

MAP16:  Another enjoyable map by D. Möller, maybe a touch more difficult than his earlier one and on a slightly larger scale. Plenty of action, few complications, nice layout. I survived until about 90% of the way through it, when I entered the yellow key room armed with just the shotgun and was cornered by two Revenants who seemed to burst out of one of the walls. The Hell Knight in the exit room spawned right behind me but didn't do any damage - how did that happen?

 

98% kills, 2/4 secrets 

 

MAP17:  Should probably have been pleased with my performance in this map. I recovered from a poor showing in the blue key area, where the encounter with the Revenants left me at 1% health, to complete the level without dying and also getting 100% secrets and items, and yet there was much frustration - I never found the yellow key, so a significant portion of the map remained unexplored, and was also unable to work out how to get the blue armour. If the YK and the means to get the armour weren't in secret areas or obtainable via secrets, then where were they? Plus, what was that mechanism at the centre of the main room all about (see picture): I 'activated' it, but to no obvious effect.

 

 

This was also a good map from the visual angle, with some impressive architecture in the area beyond the blue door.

 

88% kills, 2/2 secrets

[gaspe]

8 minutes ago, Summer Deep said:

Plus, what was that mechanism at the centre of the main room all about (see picture): I 'activated' it, but to no obvious effect.

It lowers that pillar, at its top there's the YK so you can grab it.