The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom II: Hell on Earth

[Arbys550]

Map13

Maybe my least favorite so far. Too many damn teleporters that, in my opinion, ruin the sense of space. I don't really feel like I'm exploring anything when it's just guesswork where you're gonna go. Also that stupid teleporter that just takes you back to the start. Why does it even exist? Just to confuse the player?

Spoiler

Best

Map09: The Pit

Map05: The Waste Tunnels

Map06: The Crusher

Map07: Dead Simple

Map04: The Focus

Map03: The Gantlet

Map02: Underhalls

Map12: The Factory

Map08: Tricks and Traps

Map01: Entryway

Map11: Circle of Death

Map10: Refueling Base

Map13: Downtown

Worst

 

[Summer Deep]

^ I noticed that the Mancubus 'disappeared' on one occasion when I was entering the blue key area. It must have walked into that teleporter, so it could be used to create a nasty surprise should the player choose to step into it.

[DuckReconMajor]

Yeah a few times when trying to punch out that manc, it lazily waddled over into the teleport, as if bored.

[noisebloom]

MAP11: 'O' of Destruction

GZDoom, UV, Pistol Start, 88% K/100% S

 

I really like 'O' of Death - er... Circle of Destruction... or whatever.

 

It's another one of those Doom II maps that looks like it came out of a toilet bowl (in terms of color... not shape), but the map has a really nice flow (no pun intended). You can even use one of the secrets to get the red keycard easier than you're supposed to - awesome!

 

Pistol-start again is a little rough at first... getting the secrets helps, and then just making sure you get every ounce of ammo strewn about.

 

The best part of this map is the introduction of the Arch-vile. The Arch-vile is one of the most terrifying things I have ever since in my entire life. It's a pale, fast-moving spidermonkey of a nightmare that can kill you in its mind's eye with fire. Seriously, if it can see you, it can hit you, and you'll literally get thrown up into the air when that happens. If that wasn't terrifying enough, this evil guy can also resurrect dead enemies... this is a complete gamechanger, and again, Doom II reminds you that it makes the rules, and you have to endure them.

 

Seems like things are starting to look up again as far as map quality, right? We'll see...

 

noise's map ranking:

Spoiler

 

MAP06: The Crusher

MAP05: The Waste Tunnels

MAP02: Underhalls

MAP11: 'O' of Destruction

MAP07: Dead Simple

MAP09: The Pit

MAP01: Entryway

MAP04: The Focus

MAP03: The Gantlet

**************** I like maps above this ****************

MAP10: Refueling Base

MAP08: Tricks and Traps

 

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by noisebloom

[noisebloom]

MAP12: The Factory

GZDoom, UV, Pistol Start, 94% K/100% S

 

So we're officially on Earth... and honestly, I found the huge spaciousness of these city maps pretty mindblowing when I first saw them many years ago.

 

Like Mt. Erebus from Doom, there are several buildings to enter here. My recurring complaint about pointless, optional areas in Doom II applies here, especially with the imp ambush building. "Oh... you're pistol-starting? Hope you choose this one first!" Provided you enter the correct building and procure the BFG early on, this map isn't actually that hard, and regardless, there's lots of health scattered around.

 

I actually enjoy speeding around this map, entering the buildings and emptying my rounds. There's not much that strikes me as especially brilliant compared to what we've seen before, but there isn't much that I actually hate too much. I do find it extremely annoying that entering the final building (the cacodemon one) locks you in (a bug?), meaning that you're basically screwed if you run out of ammo, which isn't too unlikely. This is really a glaring oversight, in my opinion.

 

Anyway, mowing down some of the hitscanners, the roaming arachnotrons, and mancubi can be quite fun.

 

Spoiler

 

noise's map ranking:

MAP06: The Crusher

MAP05: The Waste Tunnels

MAP02: Underhalls

MAP11: 'O' of Destruction

MAP07: Dead Simple

MAP09: The Pit

MAP01: Entryway

MAP04: The Focus

MAP03: The Gantlet

MAP12: The Factory

**************** I like maps above this ****************

MAP10: Refueling Base

MAP08: Tricks and Traps

 

 

[Pechudin]

MAP14: Neurosphere The Inmost Dens (Deaths: 0, Kills: 100%, Secrets: NaN)

    McGee comes back with another visually very attractive map, again looking some 5-6 years ahead (aestethically speaking). Sure, it's mostly brown and water, but it is very cohesive, it all fits together. And what is this? A shotgun at the map's start? How considerate! That being said, the ammo is still kind of tight until the later parts of the map. I had one embarrasing encounter where while fighting an Imp, I ran out of ammo for the chaingun, and auto-switched to the Rocket Launcher. For some reason I though it'd be a good idea to keep the fire button pressed, and almost died as a result.

 

    Opposition is generally very light, mostly Imps, Zombies and an odd Lost Soul. The final Archvile feels like a mini-boss in that sense, as if there is a narrative reason for him being there, preventing you from reaching the level exit. The Arachnotron tucked in a corner feels a bit tacked-on, however. Why even include it there? It poses no threat, and adds nothing except ammo drain to the map.

 

    Nothing exceptional, really. Sometimes I recall it being harder than it is, but that is only because of the myriad copycats this map provoked. For some reason people like to copy this style. I guess it is the 'maturity'? While Sandy's maps throw ideas around (sometimes brilliant, sometimes not) but look like a hodgepodge, this one feels 'AAA', polished, serious.

[head_cannon]

3 hours ago, Arbys550 said:

that stupid teleporter that just takes you back to the start. Why does it even exist? Just to confuse the player?

 

The other two exits from the room are the door (which might be blocked by roaming demons and be certain death) and the teleporter into the Cacodemons' ammo cache (which also might be certain death). The resources available in the more dangerous routes justify the risk, but it's way more consistent to simply warp away from where all the monsters have clumped up. It also means that - for a player who doesn't want to single-shotgun the Mancubus down - you can always just dash through the room, stealing the key and warping out before he even knows what's happening.

[Walter confetti]

MAP14: Another iconic map from the City episode and probably, the best McGee map for Doom 2. This map is also responsible of many map tropes from other mappers after it's appearing, especially for many user maps and most especially for some certain megawad called Plutonia and Hell Revealed 2 (mostly for texture theme), you probably heard of them. The level is set into a brick fort surrounded by water (ah, returning to the water zone like in the start... and guess what comes back? Prisons! And metal cages! YEAH!) and the layout resembles a lot a bigger version of The Waste Tunnels, with places that can be reached by jumping down to ledges and cliffs, the level is well interconnected and cohesive, with some pretty good eye-candy and detailing all around the map, the gameplay is on the medium difficulty side, with chaingunners as turret monsters and some other strong monsters like Revenants and one Arch-Vile after 3 maps from MAP11, this time more useful than the one in Circle of Death... but for the rest there's quite a large amount of shotgunners and imps in HMP, is challenging but not really hard.

 

Overall, a really good and solid map, another best map after Refueling Base

[Summer Deep]

MAP 14 (The Inmost Dens)

 

UV pistol start, GLBoom+, no saves

 

I liked this one, and wish we had more of this sort of compact and fairly intense level in Doom II.

 

Hitscanners are back with a vengeance here, and I'm sure that one of the long-standing members of this thread would've been railing against 'distant chaingunners', had he been participating this month!

Lots of variety in the way you move around the map here, with quirky automated gates, rising platforms built into the walls, and even jumping out of windows all playing a part. The lone Arachnotron was a bit of a disappointment - you don't have to confront it or even release it, I'd like to have seen a couple more of these characters patrolling the waterways.

100% kills, 100% secrets (0/0)

[Arbys550]

Map14

In my opinion, this map aged incredibly well. There's almost no presence of those weird 90s-isms that can cause a map to be dated. The layout is really cool, and the gameplay is tight. There was no super shotgun this time, but I didn't mind since the enemies were mostly low-tier.

Spoiler

Best

Map09: The Pit

Map05: The Waste Tunnels

Map14: The Inmost Dens

Map06: The Crusher

Map07: Dead Simple

Map04: The Focus

Map03: The Gantlet

Map02: Underhalls

Map12: The Factory

Map08: Tricks and Traps

Map01: Entryway

Map11: Circle of Death

Map10: Refueling Base

Map13: Downtown

Worst

 

[DynamiteKaitorn]

MAP 14 - The Inmost Dens

This might just be my favourite city level. (possibly) It's got a cool land-with-moat style going on. Also, this map is fairly detailed in a few areas which is impressive for the time (that weird eye-shaped indent in one of the walls must have caused a ton of crashes during this maps development).

 

Another thing I like here is the map is, for the most part, easy. There's not a whole lot that can go wrong here (unless you pistol start it then GL with the lack of a BFG or rocket launcher (unless there's a secret with those weapons in)).

 

Also I have no idea how but I managed to avoid all the secrets... despite me trying to get them all.... dafuqingtons?

 

FINAL SCORE: 100% Kills 0% Secrets (somehow .-.) 1 Save [14 Total] 0 Deaths

 

Pretty obviously this is going high up on the list :)

Spoiler

The Pit

The Inmost Dens

Circle Of Death

Entryway

The Gantlet

The Focus

Downtown

The Crusher

Underhalls

The Waste Tunnels

Tricks and Traps

Dead Simple

The Factory

Refueling Base

 

[Andromeda]

MAP14: The Inmost Dens (Doom II)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

One of the most inspiring Doom II levels, it spawned so many reimaginings that it's pointless to give just one example. This is due to its very detailed, albeit simple look and run and gun gameplay - it's a lot of fun to mow down the hitscanners while jumping from platform to platform. There's no secrets, although there's a few non secret areas that could've easily been assigned sector effect 9. There's one thing that annoys me a lot though, when you fall from the main path it takes a while to get back on track since you have to wait for the lifts to rise. Other than that, a solid level.

 

Video:

Spoiler

 

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP08: Tricks and Traps

MAP09: The Pit

MAP06: The Crusher

MAP12: The Factory

MAP10: Refueling Base

MAP01: Entryway

MAP14: The Inmost Dens

MAP13: Downtown

MAP04: The Focus

MAP11: Circle of Death

MAP03: The Gantlet

MAP05: The Waste Tunnels

MAP07: Dead Simple

MAP02: Underhalls

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP14: The Inmost Dens

Unless another map steals it for me in this run, this is still my favorite level. It looks great, has a theme, and plays well.

With the mega-armor at the beginning, there's just enough hitscanner action to keep things interesting, without being too unfair.

 

Another archvile. Great setup for this battle though.

You can see at one point me giving up on life when a shotgun ghost resurrectee gets in my face and shoots me to death. At least I think that's what happened.

edit: yep at 9:25 or so in the video you can see I kill the shotgunner again and he gets mashed right before he gets re-animated, then proceeds to chase me all the way down that pathway and end me.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by DuckReconMajor

[Summer Deep]

^ Very entertaining video!

[head_cannon]

MAP14 - The Inmost Dens (Crispy Doom, UV, Pistol Starts, No Saves)

 

After the back-to-back Petersen maps with little-to-no presence of hitscanners, this is a nice change of pace. McGee plays fair by providing a megaarmor right off the bat, and I found it fun having to keep track of windows and sightlines. This is probably the one singular point in the game where there is an Invisibility Orb that you'd actually want to use on a section you're tackling. Shame that you don't get it until the level's nearly over.

I like how rewarding it is to figure out how to get over the parapets and go exploring in the canals. The rocket-launcher secret is a particularly good prize to be found, but that "deathmatch-only" crusher in its room seems like it could just cause unnecessary confusion.

 

I thought the use of the Revenant and Arch-Vile as minibosses was very appropriate, particularly the latter in his second appearance in the game. This time he is given a horde of minions to command, and the player is geared up with a plasma gun right before the final showdown. I thought it was a nice touch how, for new players who are still too unfamiliar with and scared of the boss, there is another route to sneak in the back way and steal the blue key without having to fight him.

The final battle itself is a little hampered by the maddening inconsistency of those motion-activated airlock doors. It really bugs me how they only activate when you step on one particular lit-up square in the center of the tunnel. Why weren't these lines extended to cover the whole width of the tunnel?

 

That minor awkwardness aside, it's still a cool dash of linearity thrown in as a bit of relief; a welcome breather from all the "search the city and find the exit" maps. Speaking of which, we've got a doozy of one up next.

[Horus]

MAP14 - “The Inmost Dens” by American McGee (0 saves, 0 deaths)

 

Another enjoyable map, one that has been copied countless times. Notable in this map is the heavy use of symmetry – I mean it’s not exactly symmetrical, but it’s close. Which is not always a bad thing, but it does lead to less variety in feel and combat. But it is a nice easy cruiser, the only hotspot is the archvile/perched chaingunner combo section.

[Uncle 80]

Map 13: Lots of fun running around and picking up stuff. When I first played this map, I was a little put off by the progression of the map, that jump down to the ledge with the revenants was a bit obscure for a mandatory route. But I have forgiven that design choice a since long ago. This nice little city, which barely resembles actual buildings at all is all in all a very playable map. Like others have mentioned, I would have liked to see the verticallity expanded and exploited a little better than a few jumps and such, but well, they didn't have Doom Builder with visplaneexplorer back then, so they probably wanted to go safe with the design process rather than spending 200.000 hours of playtime to ensure their would-be slighly more realistic maps were 100% visplane overflow free.

 

Map 14: Never liked this one much. The texturing theme is the brownest in the whole game, the gameplay is distant hitscan, and the music is that bloody map08 track again. So this is my "map in Doom II that everybody enjoys but me" moment. I'll have more fun tomorrow!

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP14 - "The Inmost Dens" - American McGee (100%K/100%I/0%S):

No secrets tagged as such in this map, that's why Vanilla counts it as 0%. This is one of the most out of place maps in Doom 2, and not because of a bad reason, but because this map is one of the better designed in the entire Doom/Doom 2 maplist, if not the best. This was made with such care and precision in order to not make people able to scam it by jumping from the balcons or things like that, just to skip parts of the level. Also both the details in this level and the combat itself, is a really enjoyable map, totally different from the rest of Sandy maps, and that would be my only complain, it's just out of place, but, again, in terms of the map itself, it's just a master piece of oldschool Doom mapping. It may be way too brown, but hey, it works, it works that much, that you can see countless and countless clones of this map on several wads, Plutonia MAP18, Memento Mori MAP13 (Which is called 'The Inmost Dens II'), Claustrophobia 1024 MAP15, etc.
I did underrate this back in the day, but I can see why people tend to copy it.

Deaths: 19 (UV Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

 

Order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP14
MAP11
MAP10

MAP04

MAP13
MAP05
MAP02

MAP09
MAP01
MAP08
MAP12
MAP07
MAP06
MAP03

How many MAP14 clones do you know?

[universal-quantifier]

MAP14: The Inmost Dens

UV, pistol start, 100% K / S

 

The textures used here make the map seem more like a medieval fortress rather than a modern city, but this is still easily one of the best (if not the best) looking maps in the game. Every area is meticulously detailed to the point it's almost hard to believe it came out in 1994. Hats off to American McGee for being able to create something like this without the help of fancy current day tools like Doom Builder.

 

Unlike Factory and Downtown, this map plays it straight: you are given the necessary resources right from the start, no need to spend the first couple of minutes fumbling around looking for weapons and ammo. Even if you end up dying, you don't really lose much momentum on restart as you can jump right back into the fray. High tier monsters are largely absent, although the Archvile makes a triumphant reappearance, this time actually getting a chance to use its resurrection ability. I remember being absolutely terrified of this particular encounter on my first playthrough as I had no idea how you were supposed to avoid the Archvile's attacks back then. All these years later, it's still an entertaining although much less challenging battle, heh.

 

My only major gripe with the Inmost Dens is the amount of "platforming" required; balancing yourself on the ledges is slightly frustrating as falling off usually means you have to backtrack quite a bit before getting a chance to try again. Also, 0 secrets? There are plenty of hidden areas here that could have been given the secret tag.

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

MAP02

MAP11

MAP05

MAP14

MAP04

MAP10

MAP07

MAP03

MAP06

MAP09

MAP01

MAP13

MAP12

MAP08

 

[Pechudin]

MAP15: The Industrial Zone (Deaths: 0, Kills: 100% Secrets: 7/11)

    The Industrial Zone is...okay. Looks like Romero's take on a Sandy-styled city map, and just as ugly. Why are wooden buildings in lava? At least there is some consideration for a pistol-starting player, as there is a Shotgun and a shellbox at the start of the map. Most of the opposition is Zombies, strewn around the vast open area. They may chip your health away, but this is compensated by Stimpacks littering the floor all around.

 

    I remember being very angry at this map the first time I played it, this was the first map that required me watching a playtrough. How was I supposed to know I had to go back into the teleporter I just came trough to get the Red Key? What the bleep, Romero?

 

    The gameplay was slow and methodic for me, similar to my experience on the MAP13, a puzzle. Standout encounters are the Baron/PE/Caco BFG trap (and you get more cells for it later), and the final wooden building. I really liked the entrance, where i could goad all those enemies inside into infighting, I always like cheesing the monsters in that way.

 

    I had to watch a playtrough to find out how to get to the secret exit, as it was not really obvious how to do it. Come to think of it, I think i never legit got to the secret exit before, as I never really went for the Invulnerability in the lava.

 

MAP31: Wolfenstein (Deaths: 0, Kills: 100%, Secrets: NaN)

    Not much to say about this level, I did not play Wolf3D (too archaic for me), so this holds no special value for me. Walk into a room, clear it, rinse and repeat. Spam 'E' on every swastika and Hitler portrait you can find to find secrets (which are unmarked). Meh. Proportions are all sorts of screwed up as well, it looks silly when a Nazi walks out of what seems like a 5-meter tall door. What did the people back in '94 think of this Easter Egg? Did they think it was lazy, or did they appreciate it?

 

    Found the exit the legit way, although this time it was not behind a swastika-wall.

 

MAP32: Grosse (Deaths: 0, Kills: 100%, Secrets: NaN)

    Nice, some supplies at the beginn...is that blood on the ceiling? Sandy? Sandy. The map is trivial, you get the BFG and Invulnerability sphere, so there is no way to screw up. I do not like those large columns rising up/down and having supplies below them, it looks silly. Why are supporting columns of a room detaching themselves from the floor? Maybe I am nitpicking, these maps are supposed to be nice extras for those who find them, I suppose. Really the most interesting part of this map to me are the Commander Keens in the final room, the story about Adrian Carmack 'ritually murdering' it because he hated Tom Hall for making him draw cutesy stuff.

[Magicana]

I'm going to try and play this through in one continuous go (Any deaths only back to start of the level) so I guess I'll be posting on the last day of the month (Wouldn't want to spoil anyone who hasn't played the levels before...)

[Walter confetti]

MAP15: Another iconic map and we return of large sandbox city, this time instead of having our good old Petersen at the mapping we have Romero and this time i think he nailed the theme of good city map, even if that bloody, horrible inescapable lava pit is the worst offender of all the time. Over this, the map itself is really well done, intricate, interconnected and with a interesting style for the map, even if some part are pretty obscure to get, especially the blue key. Gameplay again is not difficult but it's a little bit challenging... Overall, a pretty good map! Loved the new trickery like fake room-over-room effect in the wooden structure with the yellow key

 

I have to talk about MAP31 and MAP32 now or can i wait until tommorow?

 

Also, i've used a music wad for playing this map and avoiding the "Running from Hell" hell, sorry about that lol

[Summer Deep]

MAP15 (Industrial Zone)

 

UV pistol start. GLBoom+, no saves

 

This doesn't look that much like an 'Industrial Zone' to me, but never mind. At least we can get straight down to business here, as there's ample ammo, including that left behind by the dead enemies. Like a previous poster, I felt the method of getting the red key was a bit obscure, especially for newcomers to the map, and Romero seemed to be teasing the player by giving the initial impression that you could climb up to the key via the boxes. 

 

Anyway, with the key in the bag, we can get across to the other side of the sludge, and this is where the fun really starts. The Baron/Pain Elemental ambush soon after takes some surviving, and you need to make good use of your limited BFG ammo. That said, you can then pick up a very generous helping of health and armour, which should see you through to the end of the level.

 

The emphasis now switches as much towards exploration as to combat. Most of the secrets seem to be very obtuse indeed, and I only found 4/11, which fortunately included the sequence which revealed the secret exit. But apart from that, how does one get to the chainsaw, or gain access to that area with the Lost Souls? And what did that switch high up on the battlements do? I kept hearing a lift in action whenever I pressed it, but never discovered where it was. I did get the megasphere though, and that rather pointless invulnerability in the Caco room.

 

Some decent action in this map, and it's not that bad looking, but a fair amount of frustration too. A respectable 7/10 for this Romero effort.

 

99% kills, 36% secrets

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by Summer Deep

[Summer Deep]

MAP15 (Wolfenstein)

 

UV pistol start, GLBoom+, no saves

 

Oh well, why not? I 'qualified' for this map, so thought I might as well play it. Wolfenstein was the first FPS game I ever encountered - there was a three-level demo version of it on the PC in our workplace in 1994. So it was interesting or at least nostalgic to be back in familiar surroundings, but I struggled to take it seriously. Why were there trees growing in those indoor halls, and what were those Nazi nitwits actually shouting (sounded like "Shoot double, oim lieben!")?

 

I actually fought just about the whole campaign relying on the pistol, berserking and infighting, which made it a real grind. Found the rocket launcher and plasma gun, plus ammo, but was saving them for an anticipated final showdown with a lederhosen-wearing, toothbrush-moustached Cyberdemon or something. Nothing of the sort occurred of course, so I did a bit of exploring and found a room with a megasphere, a BFG and a SSG, but had no inclination to look for the other three secrets by this time.

 

100% kills, 25% secrets

 

 

MAP32 (Grosse)

 

Wasn't officially qualified to play this, but hey this is the 1940s....

 

Big redbrick rooms with Third Reich decorations, at least it didn't look identical to the previous map. It's probably possible to dispose of the SS men with the pistol and infighting, but you might as well speed things up by using the heavier gear contained within the columns marked by blue torches. These also contain quite enough ordinance to deal with the Cyberdemon who then shows up, without needing any of the ludicrously excesssive stuff in the secret side rooms.

 

You finish by having to shoot four images of 'Commander Keen'. I looked this character up, and he seems to be identified with BJ Blazkowicz, the hero of Return To Castle Wolfenstein and the guy who apparently won the Second World War single-handed. Hmmm....

 

100% kills, 100% secrets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by Summer Deep

[Horus]

1 hour ago, Walter confetti said:

I have to talk about MAP31 and MAP32 now or can i wait until tommorow?

 

Maps 31 & 32 are done at the same time as Map 15

 

MAP15 - “Industrial Zone” by John Romero (0 saves, 0 deaths)

 

Back to D_RUNNIN. A track I’m actually onboard with, if paired with the right map. And there doesn’t seem to be a conflict here. Another map with many secrets, which kinda makes sense for a MAP15, and the computer map is pretty welcome here to help you find them all. The map starts as a open plan hitscanner fest, but a lot of them are zombies so it’s not too bad, especially if you go immediately for the mega armor. The BFG baron trap is probably the hardest spot, because you only get enough plasma for one shot, which may be enough for the baron, but not the cacos and pain elementals.

 

Which brings me to another theme that seems to pervade throughout these maps which is the notable lack of SSG. The cacos and pain elementals are a much harder task with just single shotgun/chaingun. But wider than that, the missing SSGs do make the maps longer, sometimes harder, sometimes just grindier.

 

The use of textures here is rather hellish for an ‘industrial zone’, suggesting perhaps that Romero is going for a ‘corrupted by hell’ look for the map.

 

MAP31 - “Wolfenstein” by Sandy Petersen (0 saves, 1 death)

 

I never played Wolf 3D back in the day (nor do I ever intend to). The Wolf SS are quite dangerous hitscanners, and on pistol start supplies are tough, at least until you find that Megasphere-BFG-SSG secret. The challenge is getting there without dying though.

 

That secret aside, this is a map with very little variety in anything really, the one thing it does have going for it is it being relatively fun to speedrun

 

MAP32 - “Grosse” by Sandy Petersen (0 saves, 0 deaths)

 

A waste of a secret map really, just pointless imo

[Uncle 80]

Map 15: Great map! So much to explore, so many jumps, popcorn enemies, secrets and memorable areas - good examples being the yellow key house, the castle with the secret exit, the wooden house with the normal secret, the megaarmor building etc. This map was the second time the game slowed down to almost unplayable on my 386, glad I got rid of that thing. I actually found the secret exit as well as a few of the other "big" ones too, so now it's off to...

 

Map 31: A decent homage, but little more. Why didn't they bother making rotations for the SS guard? Lazy. Funny thing is, I didn't know about the secret exit on Wolfenstein's E1F1 until I accidentally stumbled across the secret exit in this map... and I actually had to replay Wolf3D to see if it was the same... which it was.

 

Map 32: Another decent homage. Little more to be said. But hey, thanks for including that Keen doll mechanic, I'll be sure to use them somehow for cool effects in my one-man megawad I started in 96.

[Pechudin]

23 minutes ago, Uncle 80 said:

But hey, thanks for including that Keen doll mechanic, I'll be sure to use them somehow for cool effects in my one-man megawad I started in 96.

Huh, at that point the megawad is going to be as old as me! It would be interesting to see evolution of someone's style. Roudabout when will it be finished (VERY rough estimate)?

[Uncle 80]

24 minutes ago, Pechudin said:

Huh, at that point the megawad is going to be as old as me! It would be interesting to see evolution of someone's style. Roudabout when will it be finished (VERY rough estimate)?

 

I'm aiming for a dec 13. release around 2040 or so.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP15 - "Industrial Zone" - John Romero (100%K/100%I/90%S):

I tried really hard to not to die here, being almost at the end with low health and getting back to the start where the medkits are just to stock up some health, that was some tryhard move, but it's a long level and I didn't want to replay it since I was out of time, and I had already died on the last section previously. Still, I enjoyed it.
This is a city map done well, but for some reason I hated this map before (probably D_RUNNIN overusage), but playing through it again, made me like it a little bit more, I can't find which map I like more in between this and MAP13, but I think this one wins by a little, overall it has the things MAP13 didn't have, like rooftop and balcon jumps, and overall cleaner design. The wooden building I really like, with those weird bridges trying to "simulate" rooms over rooms, a good attempt by Romero at making something new, and at attempting  something more out of the box. Some other parts of the level felt like if they were made by Sandy, anyways, like the overall layout, or the green building that looks awful, or the central building aswell. It's a weird map coming from romero, but it works, and hey, this map has a secret exit.
Also I couldn't make the untaggeable secret work here, I tried, just for the sake of "completion" oh well...

 

MAP31 - "Wolfenstein" - Sandy Petersen (100%K/98%I/75%S):

The first secret map is based on Wolfeinstein 3D first level, it is what it is, the only change is the basic pistol soldiers by SS Nazis, which are as dumb as a regular Zombieman but with a faster fire. they come in groups which make them easy to kill them with one rocket most of the time. Also the dogs in Wolf3D are replaced by pinkies, the only change here is that there is a secret area reminiscent to an area in E2M2 from the first Doom, with that recognizable Sandy Petersen style, the only enjoyable area on this map. This level, for some reason, is augmented in size, making most of the rooms big and pointless. The Maze-like design of Wolfeinstein 3D maps feel really old on the Doom engine, and overall the experience is just boring. It's just a meme map, because is a secret map and ID designers wanted to pull out a joke, it may be fun the first time, but it gets old as quickly as meat outside the fridge. Find some secrets to stock up some ammo and get the SSG, and proceed with the next map.

MAP32 - "Grosse" - Sandy Petersen (100%K/I/S):

Another meme map, based this time on the boss of the first episode of Wolfenstein 3D, this map is just a boss battle with a single cyberdemon without any twists, it's just another map that feels even more pointless than the previous one, secrets here are just to rush this map, and stock up some ammo for MAP16 if you are a continuous player, if you pistol start, you may have just a little bit of fun, nothing more.
The map ends to jump the shark with a Commander Keen cameo I didn't even get as a child, since I didn't even know what a Commander Keen was, just some random pixelated kid hanging. Shoot them and hit the end switch to return everything to normal.

Deaths: 20 (UV Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

 

Order of preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP14
MAP11
MAP10

MAP04
MAP15

MAP13
MAP05
MAP02

MAP09
MAP01
MAP08
MAP31
MAP12
MAP07
MAP06
MAP03
MAP32

 

Hearing "Mein Leben" constantly and badly pronounced tilted me for sure. Their only purpose is for custom monsters, and custom Door opening scripts in every level in the case of the commander keens, thanks god they exist as entities, they are like Internet Explorer.

[AFallingObject]

MAP14: The Inmost Dens (UV Pistol Starts)

This isn't a Romero map?  McGee is impressive here.  This is one of my favorite levels in continuous play and it holds up well from a pistol start.  Ammo is fairly tight until you get a plasma rifle, but with opposition this weak and a blue armor, it's no big deal.  The walkover triggered doors are put to insidious use by putting an archvile behind one of them.  Well played, but I fried him with plasma.

 

100% Kills

100% Secrets

0 Deaths here, 18 total

 

MAP15: Industrial Zone

Good map.  I wish I'd gotten the additional plasma in the middle of the lava before I went for the yellow key.  Having only 1 BFG shot killed me once.  I also forgot where the secret exit was after remembering how to open it in the first place.  Good map.  It doesn't feel as aimless as downtown, which I see as both a good and a bad thing.  I guess it depends on what you like.  In my case, I like both the open ended exploration style of downtown and the more directed style on display here.

 

62% kills

30% secrets

1 Death, 19 total

 

MAP31: Wolfenstein

I played Wolf3D once.  The source port I played moved at sonic speed and it was great fun.  Then the mutants showed up in E2.  I killed Hitler at the end of E3 and hung it up, satisfied.  At least there are no mutants here, since this is a recreation of E1M1.  Getting the secret exit is annoying here.  So is the health and ammo starvation.  I never had issues with either when I played Wolf3D.  Getting the secret in the dog pound would help with both cases of starvation, but that borderline requires getting the zerk first to deal with the pinkies in the way.  They were the last enemies in the map I killed.  I was upset.

 

100% Kills

100% Secrets

3 Deaths here, 22 total

 

MAP32: Grosse

Were these throwbacks prepared by different designers?  I was drowning in gear on this level.  It's almost like however placed all the ridiculously overpowered secrets wanted to make up for the pain of the last level.  Too easy.  Maybe it was meant as a bonus for people that found the admittedly absurd secret exit from MAP31.  After all, Doom 2 was meant to use pistol starting as a punishment, so getting almost every weapon (I don't think there was a regular shotgun or chainsaw) to carry into MAP16 can be seen as a reward...

 

100% Kills

100% Secrets

0 Deaths here, 22 total