The DWmegawad Club plays: Hell Revealed 2

[Roofi]

Map 25 : The End is Nigh

 

 

 

I love this map, it's one of my favorites in HR2.

 

This level has the particularity to use new textures without leaving the stock ones. This map is memorable for its big fights with a ton of ammunition in infernal courses. On the other hand, the Tech-Base parts are much more forgettable to my taste and seem off-topic compared to the excellent music.

 

The details are notably more advanced than in the vast majority of the levels with perfect pentagrams, or more rounded structures.

 

[3saster]

I've been a little distracted lately, but I promise, I'm gonna catch up by the end of the month!

MAP15: The Path II

The first proper level of the second half of Hell Revealed 2, and one of my personal favourites. I decided to have some fun and play much more for speed than the previous levels, and while I'm honestly not satisfied with the final time (could easily grind out a sub-13), I'll do that some other time. 13:43 is still pretty fast, and beats the old UV-Max by William Huber, so I guess that's not bad. I was really sloppy with rockets here, don't judge me :P

 

A sequel to MAP16 of Hell Revealed 1 (one of my favourites there too), this map takes the asks the question: what if we took the extreme density of the previous maps, and did it over a much larger map? Thus, we get a level far larger than any previous one, and these much larger maps are what defines the second half of HR2. It takes the basic idea of its predecessor, a level dominated by small pathways surrounded in blood, where the monsters cannot cross, and you have to rely on radsuits, and knocks it up more than a few notches. Unlike the original, the radsuits really are scare (though this time there is somewhat less combat on the "paths" themselves), and the level is no where near as grindy. Make no mistake, you will have to carve your way through hundreds of enemies at once, but unlike the original, where it was mostly barons to tediously grind through with no danger, this time, the absurd density is used to create a genuine danger. You're also given an enormous supply of rockets, and a healthy amount of BFG ammo, so things go down quickly, but you will often be in danger this time. The rather simplistic, large style harkens back to the original Hell Revealed too, something rather rare in this mapset, and welcome.

 

There are lots of fun quirks I like here too. The Mancubi snipers, Archvile tower, and HK island are a great reference to the original, and I love the visual+audio indictor at the end to show when the manubi get crushed. I love that HR2's idea of a breather before the cyberdemon is to have you rocket a hundred demons that pose no threat; does Feragon really expect you to punch them? The secret level exit is clever too; I like that it's subtle and can be done without going out of your way to find/hit the switches, but still requires you to pay a little attention. The beginning is weird though; what's the point of the spiderdemon you immediately telefrag? The BFG is annoyingly placed too for pistol starting; if you miss it, you might as well restart the level, you won't be making it very far without it.

All-in-all, truly a fantastic level in my eyes, and one of the highlights of Hell Revealed 2.

 

[gaspe]

MAP25: Suddenly some custom textures appear, it's odd becasue they are used only in this map and I wonder why they did this since some of them look good. They cover up the very simple layout that in the 2 biggest parts of the level are just flat and empty areas but the gameply is really fun, with lots of ammo around so you can go wild with the BFG and the RL without worriying too much and play aggresively. The third area has a change of pace both in the theme that turns to tech and the combats that slow down with a search for the 3 keys and the place that become more cramped. My favourite part was the BK area that feels more like a uzzle to solve and the trap that unveils the area is a very nasty one.

[AFallingObject]

MAP25: The End is Nigh (UV Continuous)

This map must be the Jekyll and Hyde of the WAD.  Most of it is easy to abuse with door camping.  This was necessary for me in the first area because I finished the last level with 15% health.  In later sections, I door camped because I felt like it.  Returning to the first area, much to my amazement, I sat in the "secret" room and watched the kill count go up to about 150/450 from infighting alone with zero effort on my part.  That's poor design.  The wad authors leave all this ammo in the starting area I don't need, simply because the monsters are placed so badly that I don't have to lift a finger to wipe them out.  This is true of the third area as well.  I was bored.  At least the key area provides a few challenging set pieces.  I prefer the last level's open but challenging gameplay over the cramped slog getting the three keys provides, but I'll take the challenge there over 300-odd toothless monsters and scores more ammo than I need.

101% Kills

100% Secrets

*yawn*

[golbeeze]

Voting begins today, right?

 

+++Mars War

[Roofi]

+++ Mars War

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP25 - The End is Nigh

glBoom + 2.5.1.7um , skill 1 pistol start, no saves

 

Another great map! 

The multiple megaspheres seemed a bit much, but later on when I opened the red key door and got swarmed by Knights, I wished I'd taken an extra.

Same with the BFG ammo. It seemed there was a crapton, except in the parts where I ended up needing it. This just added to the challenge in the map for me though.

Came very close to missing the yellow key among all the corpses, that would have sent me on an annoying goose chase.

Also I agree with others I wish they'd used these custom textures in other maps too.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Andromeda]

MAP25: The End Is Nigh (Hell Revealed II)

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

 

Eh, not a big fan of this level. Sure, there's lots of meat to slaughter and you're provided with the big guns early, but there's so many supplies that you have no risk of dying. To make it more interesting I restricted myself to only use the rocket launcher and while it was somewhat more fun I still hardly lost any health! The first big encounter is easily cleared by letting the Cyberdemon infight everything, then finish it off. The second large fight all you have to do is pick a corner and rocket the monsters, dodging projectiles every now and then.

 

The last battle before the cramped hub area is slightly more dynamic, but if you're able to circlestrafe you won't have any trouble either. The hub section is more of the same, though you have to be slightly more careful to not rocket yourself. The traps are rather predictable and thus easy to deal with, I guess they can be quite dangerous if you don't see them coming however. At the yellow key comes the dullest moment in the level, with a wall of arachnotrons that is easily dispatched via rocket spam.

 

Fortunately the level picks up some steam afterwards, I really enjoyed the blue key area - very trappy and encouraging aggressive play, my highlight goes to the trap that triggers after picking up the key which is exactly the same as it is on UV! The small fight after the blue door is quite cool as well, a good finale. In the end it's a decent level, saved by the two last areas that I really enjoyed. Also of note is the good usage of a few new textures, perhaps they could've been used in the bland looking first half of the wad.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP21: Conflux

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP15: The Path II

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP19: Mind Trap

MAP32: Playground

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

 

EDIT: Before I forget, +++ Mars War

[riderr3]

MAP24
On a gameplay scale, this is more like a neurosphere with urban elements. In the beginning we see 4 distinct indentations, clearly created for coop play.

I liked the first location, there are enough windows and shelters, there are elements "turn the switch and you will see what opened through the window". A little later we encounter an unpleasant bridge. Why unpleasant, because the columns on it are located not on the outside, but on the inside, which impedes movement; and even here there are a bunch of dead cacodemons that stupidly block the player's view (just like in the case where we need to shoot a button that is in a cell with cacodemons).

The second part of the level (where the first cyberdemon) is played differently (I would say more intensively), as if another author had worked on it. And I was not mistaken! As it turned out, two authors worked on the map. At least there are secrets here, but there is a slight disappointment that I find them later than when they were needed.

In the final arena, you need to constantly consider that rockets can fly in from the side or back, when you eliminate the first two cybers, it will be much easier.

MAP25
We were immediately thrown into the thick of things, but here you could just go down to the basement niche and wait a bit - when the rumble was over I went upstairs and there was a lone cyberdemon and pain elemental.

The second location represents almost the same thing, but over the third eastern one (out of three!) authors preferred to be cast out as it was 10-15 levels ago, I don’t even want to comment on it.
It is worth noting that on this map there are custom textures; but what are they doing here whereas they were not there before, except a waterfall one?

[galileo31dos01]

I would like to see Marswar winning just not next month that I'm not participating, oh well :p

 

 

Map 25

 

+ Metabolist strikes back after the disaster in the sixteenth map and whatever he did in 24, with a more liberating environment. It's no science to guess he designed the outdoor areas and the hub, or was at least in charge of the ammo thing distribution, though I suspect PAGB666 may have dropped some bullet/shells, just taking a guess if I think of his next solo contribution. This leaves Andy who I'm not sure what to point my finger at. They obviously know better who did what. Regardless, the point is this is a breather map, all things considered, which some of us needed coming from the previous map.

 

+ The fights are good, cathartic, engaging for closeup BFG-zerging with the usual risks on archviles and gunners, though perhaps not in every scenario. I rather preferred to slay the pain elementals safely out of the way of infinite height shenanigans, but nobody is forced to, rushing and pushing should be viable as well, or pumping few rockets here and there. Megaspheres and, most predominantly, ammo are always within reach outside, as if it rained rockets and cells, which reinforces my theory that Metabolist and PAGB666 actually did m. Some people might find this generosity overly generous, and it certainly is less of "hell revealed" and more like "heaven got the flu" sort of, but I take breathers on any slot as long as they let me build up from something so disgusting like the prevOKAY I'LL STOP.

 

+ Strange sudden reveal of custom textures, though I liked the pentagram a lot more. Pretty sure PAGB666 drew it.

 

. If I have to point out a questionable part is one wall of cybernetic meat obstructing a switch, because it's out of place. 

 

Don't ask me why I even pulled out the SSG, there's no why :x

 

 

[Arbys550]

Map25

Well, I expected to like this, but to tell the truth I thought this map was pretty idiotic at times. I really did not like the very beginning and the far-off area with the hub. Those parts were just filled with annoying traps and gotcha moments. Also claustrophobic. The ammo balance was all sorts of screwed up as well. I don't mind when a map has low ammo, but I DO mind when the balance is inconsistent, which is the case in this map. What I mean by inconsistent is when one part of the map has a ton of ammo, but then other parts have very low ammo. It lures the player into a false sense of security and it's kind of a dick move in my opinion.

 

The middle parts with the big arenas were okay, although I think they were pretty spammy. Not once in this map did I have to formulate any kind of strategy. Also, this is the best looking map so far in my opinion.

 

Spoiler

Maps I loved:

Maps I liked:

     Map18: Excess Meat

     Map13: Hardcore

     Map11: Raw Hatred

Maps I thought were okay:

     Map07: Not That Simple II

     Map02: High Voltage

     Map23: When the Heavens Fall

     Map14: Metal Meltdown

     Map20: Fear of the Dark

     Map03: Shackled

     Map25: The End is Nigh

Maps I didn't like:

     Map01: Ignition

     Map21: Conflux

     Map06: Revival

     Map10: Base Blaze

     Map08: Ballistics

     Map16: The Chapel of Black Granite
     Map15: The Path II

     Map09: The Siege II

     Map32: Playground

     Map31: The Descent II

     Map17: An Eye for an Eye

     Map12: Anti-Static

     Map24: The Inmost Dens III

     Map22: Sewer Slaughter

     Map05: Insatanity

Maps I thought were awful:

     Map04: Reluctant Pain

     Map19: Mind Trap

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Arbys550

[AD_79]

+++ Isolation

 

I may try doing write-ups of some sort should this be selected. It's been a while since I've attempted this.

[Spie812]

Map25: The End is Nigh, Eternity -vanilla, UV Pistol Start, Saves

Custom textures? Since when!? This map is mostly a sequence of arenas filled to the brim with enemies and ammo which you can approach almost any way you please. BFG spam makes up the bulk of this level but it is pretty short overall so it doesn't outstay its welcome. The more cramped area has some pretty nasty traps and the arch vile usage was rather nice. I enjoyed the sudden room reveal at the blue key. My only real complaint about this level is that movement in the cramped area next to the teleporter and also in the blue key pit can be a bit awkward. Apart from that though, this is a solid level in HR style.

 

2 days until Resistance Remains

[DJVCardMaster]

+++ 1K Lines

[rehelekretep]

map24 fda

complete garbage. worst map so far. just utterly boring and a waste of time

 

map25 fda

this was a lot of fun. it reminded me of a 'slaughter-lite' map, kinda like Rush.

 

honestly the quality control on this wad is hilarious.

[dobu gabu maru]

On 4/24/2020 at 6:05 PM, DSC said:

Can people who don't participate in the club vote for the next wad to play as well?

 

On 4/24/2020 at 6:06 PM, Horus said:

I think this should be added to the OP as this seems to be a common question.

 

I haven't made any hard rule about this yet because I'm generally unsure of how to answer it. My uninhibited response is "don't vote if you're not going to play" but sometimes people vote for wads they intend to play, don't have the time, and therefore don't comment—which isn't that much different from non-players voting. Plus when the club was created I thought it was fine to have people play along and not comment, so long as they felt some level of camaraderie from seeing others writing about their enjoyment/suffering. It then follows that it's fine for folks that aren't our typical posters to vote, since they may still play along with us.

 

Generally, just use your best judgment. If it's something you really want to see played, or if you want to support one of the posters here, go ahead. But if a bunch of non-players are voting and the threads I make become a ghost town, then we have a problem.

[Salt-Man Z]

Played these 3 maps spread out over the past 24 hours, so the first couple aren't as fresh in my mind:

 

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III (HNTR/continuous)

21:22 | 98% Kills | 75% Items | 20% Secrets

This didn't really remind me of the Inmost Dens (I or II) at all. A couple points of action, especially at the blue key pickup. The moat around the opening area was a pain on account of me missing the jump out a couple of times and then having to traipse around the entire moat to get to the teleporter back out. The bit after the blue key barrier with the raise bridges looked neat, but the metal supports on the bridges played havoc with my rocket launcher, and so I must hate them. The stuff after that is pretty fun, though, with two exceptions: the wall of cacos (literally stuck inside a wall) was laughable; and the four-cybie showdown at the end was an absolute pain (focus on one target, and get blasted in the back by three others, yay!) Also couldn't find any way out of the final arena back to the rest of the map (again! Why must you vex me so!) I was curious about the invul secret people mentioned, so I looked on the wiki, and...wow, there really is a difference between HNTR and HMP: in this case (for example) 0 archviles compared to 10! I've found HNTR pretty boring, but man, I think I probably made the right choice!

 

MAP25: The End Is Nigh (HNTR/continuous)

19:22 | 100% Everything

A kind of bipolar level, alternating between a couple of big arenas that you'll visit a couple of times, and some very close-quarters stuff for the key pickups. The arenas were fun but also entirely harmless, especially with the free megasphere at the start of each.

 

MAP26: Dis 2000 (HNTR/continuous)

18:47 | 100% Kills | 80% Items | 66% Secrets

That certainly is a Dis map. I must say I was very confused when I first got to the end only to discover that I only had 80% kills (like 40 guys left) since I'd killed everything I'd seen! So I went back and discovered that the northern section had east and west wings that I never even saw on my first trip through, so what the heck was the point there? (I think maybe one of them gave a plasma gun, but why wasn't it accessible earlier? In my consternation, I also forgot to go back and pick up the early zerk pack that I didn't need at the time (and still didn't when I left, 'cept for maxing.) Anyway, eh, not a fan. Traipsing around the main Dis area ledges was a pain, as well as dealing with the mancs and spiders (and chaingunners) that popped up every time I came back. The various key hunts were fine, but nothing terribly memorable.

[Snikle]

MAP26 - Dis 2000

Well this one suffered from the same problem as my hated MAP24: The SSG is only in a secret way back near the beginning. At least I found it this time… after 235 out of 239 monsters were already dead. Same goes for the secret with the soulsphere and green armor in the HK/CG room. Don’t know what opened that, only know I found it after everything was dead. This map was nowhere near as bad as 24, of course, but I was disappointed in the end. The Masterminds were useless, only fighting the mancs and each other. Some of the side areas were fun, such as the cyberdemon room. Others were imaginative and could have been fun for me if I had a goddamn SSG, like the hallway with pinkies and the AV, but weren’t because I had to grind down pinkies with a ‘zerk fist while I was never more than two bites away from death, and only had 1 BFG shot to take out the vile, always losing time by having to switch to it. So, like the original Dis, not too good.

 

EDIT: Since it looks like my first vote isn't going anywhere, I'll change it to +++Mars War. I'll try for Refracted Reality again next month.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Snikle : Changed Vote

[FrancisT218]

If I recall correctly Dis 2000 is by @pagbwho still to this day uploads videos of DooM and other games on YouTube.

[Roofi]

 

 

Map 26 : Dis 2000

 

This level is an obvious tribute to Ultimate Doom's E3M8 with its Shuriken shaped arena and the final battle with the 4 Masterminds. On the other hand, the level also reminded me a lot of map 23 from the first Hell Revealed, especially at the very beginning with the wall that separates the imps and the player.

 

The way you play and probably the fun you'll have on this map will vary depending on whether you find the SSG at the beginning or not. I didn't find it so I was rather bored but I liked the exploration and the big structures.

 

It's a highly detailed level, which compromises the vanilla compatibility since it's one of the only levels where the VPO explorer displays red areas in reachable parts. I play on prboom , so I don't know if it actually crashes on DOS.

 

Spoiler

 

[gaspe]

MAP26: Well, here we Dis and the original area is used as a hub. The floor of the star shaped arena is lava and it was an interesting choice. There are sone nice setups: the PR room, the lava room at the north and the YSK where you can orchestrate some infight. Though for the rest is a pretty boring level, the BSK wing is the most offender. But even at the RSK where it's mandatory to kill the spiderdemon to get the key and trigger an invasion of cacos that can be just skipped. It's nicely detailed at least.

[tchkb]

MAP25 “The End Is Nigh” (PAGB666 / Sam Woodman / Andy Olivera)

Spoiler

 

This could’ve been a really good map, but it has a couple of really annoying parts and just a bunch of wasted potential overall. I’ll just list the sections in their order of appearance:

- starting room: Quickly grab Shotgun before you’re swarmed by the resident Pinkies and Imps, then play the shepherd until everything’s dead. Then trigger and retreat from a hitscanner trap in the tunnel. I think the room could’ve been smaller and a bit less populated to make the intro a bit shorter so you can start the level proper faster, but it’s not too bad.

- outdoor arena 1: The idea behind this is pretty clear – quickly grab your weapons and rush to the teleporter while squeezing through monsters to let them infight to death. Even in casual play trying to do this fight legit would be way harder than skipping it for later. The main problem with this area’s design is the "moat" encircling it filled with Imps that serve absolutely no purpose, just like the "moat" itself. Maybe you could use it to cheese the fight without running past it, but I’ve never tried it.

- gothic fortress: Just a bunch of Imps, Pinkies and hell nobles stuck on the central column – just boring death fodder. Then you release 3 Arch-Viles that are there just to be instantly killed with BFG. Then you’ve got a squad of deaf Revenants that can be either cheesed or dispatched quickly. Very underwhelming overall.

- outdoor arena 2: Probably the best part of the map. One central Cyberdemon and a whole bunch of Chiangunners, Arachnotrons and Pain Elementals. This fight requires some quick wits and movement to plow through quickly without getting yourself killed. What I don’t like is the utter time waste that is the small army that’s constantly being teleported to the large teleporter pad on the top of the tower and is simply stuck there.

- techbase 1: Very cramped corridors with a lot of enemies. The room with Red Key is okay. The tunnel connecting it to the other room has a practically nonfunctional “trap” with Revenants that can’t even attack you due to their AI. The other room is more or less skippable and has some annoying enemies in an annoying layout.

- Yellow Key + backtrack: Yellow Key is guarded by a bunch of Arachnotrons. I would prefer a more substantial teleporter pincer ambush. After that is the worst part of the map: a Cyberdemon (thankfully just an Arch-Vile on HNTR) that teleports into the gothic fortress. If you just rush through everything normally like you would in a speedrun, there’s a pretty high chance that he will walk into the room you teleport into and just instantly kill you during the fraction of a second you’re immobile after teleporting. I’d much prefer a larger Arch-Vile group.

- techbase 2: A pointless Baron teleporting onto the telepad behind you once you walk past the yellow door, usually with a significant delay too. The trap with Chaingunners and AVs after pressing the button is pretty cool. The design of the arena below with all the pillars is also neat. Arachnotrons aren’t that great of a monster pick there, but I understand why them instead of HKs for example – anything else would be very likely to block you from dropping down. Everything else about the arena is very obviously flawed, though. First the extremely slow elevator with an immobile Arch-Vile. Then the two closets, one with Arch-Viles and the other with Cyberdemon, from which they can’t move away from because of monster blocking lines. That’s a huge waste of a potentially interesting fight – I imagine the architecture would make a duel against freely-roaming Cyberdemon a very tense one. And then the stupid pillar that slams down right in your face, requiring triggering it and then going back to press the switch.

- ending: Just an average cleanup job, first against a bunch of meat + turret AV, then against a dozen Revenants. Feels like an anti-climax, even more so after the above.

I used to be way less critical of this map than I am now, but after gaining more experience with modern slaughtermaps this really feels like a boring janitorial job rather than a proper BFG frenzy.

Personal rating: +3/5

 

 

 

MAP26 “Dis 2000” (PAGB666)

Spoiler

 

Another speedrun-friendly map with a bunch of potential infights to instigate – some more risky than others (also depending on your foreknowledge).

The northern area presents a dilemma – you can ignore the central Mastermind and the key it guards and do the three side areas there to get Plasma Gun and some cell ammo for it, but these areas are actually pretty difficult fights themselves, so my preference is to skip them until I get BFG later and either slowly hit&run the Mastermind with basic shotgun or grab the key from under its body (pretty random to successfully pull off and certainly risky). Then just run away from the Cacodemon army that spawns – again, better return with BFG later.

Yellow Key area is where you get BFG, but grabbing the key (needed to access BFG room) unleashes 3 AVs+Cyberdemon (UV) in addition to an already present Manc army. Another dilemma – is it better to dash for the room hoping that Cyber and AVs cooperate on your way out, or stay in the chamber and risk not being able to deal with the opposition without BFG in the layout where AVs can easily flank you or cut off your dodging space? Speedrun-wise the former is definitely better, but your mileage may vary if you just play casually.

Running past the Mancs spawned in the Dis arena will let you recruit them later for infights vs Masterminds. But first you have to do the Blue Key area, which is a little disappointing challenge-wise. Maybe the first-time players would have trouble with it, but for me it’s an autopilot after I figured out a consistent strategy to lure the Mancs where I want them to be.

Overall a somewhat nonlinear map with not particularly great, but at least decently designed fights.

Personal rating: 4/5

 

 

[Walter confetti]

+++ 1k lines

Even if looks like next time we'll have Mars wars to play, probably.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP26: Dis 2000

glBoom + 2.5.1.7um , skill 1 pistol start, no saves

 

E3M8 remake? Hell yeah!
The lava in the middle is a funny exemplification of what the original felt like (on a pistol start at least).
This might not have been the best combat I've experienced in this wad, but on style points alone I have to love this one.
Also PAGB666 pulled a Rush MAP11 on me here with that BFG trap. I waited for a little while expecting the bars to lower on their own before noticing the shoot trigger.

I saw Roofi mention a battle with 4 masterminds, which I'm sad wasn't in skill 1/2, though maybe I just missed it.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Andromeda]

MAP26: Dis 2000 (Hell Revealed II)

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

 

What is this, a non brown level in Hell Revealed II? Blasphemy! In all seriousness this is a really cool looking level, the fact that it uses primarily marble textures (which are some of my favourite stock ones, by the way) makes me like it even more. The MIDI is also great, conveying an epic feel that's needed for a remake of a boss level. Interestingly this might actually be easier than the original (from a pistol start), considering that gathering supplies doesn't require you to be exposed to the lethal attack of the Spiderdemon.

 

From a gameplay perspective this has some flaws, like the lava in the Dis portion of the level which makes traversing the arena much more time consuming than it had to be (a couple of radiation shielding suits inside secrets wouldn't hurt, I think) and the only super shotgun is in a secret, much like MAP24. Combat wise there's not much threat, the monsters are generally deployed in areas that are too large for them to be dangerous.

 

However, there are some really clever traps with heavy weapon dudes sneaking up behind you so watch your back! I liked how the trap springs when you pick up the yellow key and the silent lift to the blue key wing is also neat. The blue key area is set in an area that perfectly emulates the Hell Revealed look, though it's a tad underwhelming in terms of combat. The finale had 16 arachnotrons instead of four Spiderdemons, while unfortunately you can't make them infight it provides for a fun plasma battle so it's all good. All in all, this is a stylish breather level, I liked it!

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP21: Conflux

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP15: The Path II

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP26: Dis 2000

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP19: Mind Trap

MAP32: Playground

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

[joe-ilya]

+++ Mars War

 

==============

 

MAP24

Hoo boy, this one's the most grindy map in the mappack so far, it's more grindy than MAP15 and MAP19 without secrets.

The start of the map forces you to kill shotgunners with no armor, and then kill a few mancubuses with the pump shotty, then kill AVs, then snipe off several chaingunners off windows, and a ton of other shit such as cacos and barons, I'd lose my sanity if I wouldn't find all the secrets, they're semi-mandatory, you can beat the map without any of the secrets, but that would be at the cost of an eternity in this hell of a map (in a bad way) with the pump shitgun and a meat-mincer Doom calls a chaingun. I swear HR would be so much better if there were no secrets and all the secret items would not require finding semi-/obscure secrets.

 

The map is so unbelievably cramped, a lot of it is set inside 64-unit wide corridors and bumpy walls, this kind of layout would be good for low-tier enemies, an occasional mid-tier, and a boss-tier somewhere, but no, every 64-unit wide space has a bunch of mid-tiers and every 128-unit wide space has mancubuses, and all the player has is SSG and RL, even then sometimes the awful bridges do not let you shoot rockets and you'll have to snipe dozens of mancs with a chaingun-shitgun from afar anyways.

All the fights consist of tedious corner picking against mid-tiers, they're all stuck somewhere faraway and make you snipe them because there's either no space or there's AVs in their areas.

 

Best part about the map is the last cyberdemon encounter, but it requires skilled sound and projectile reading from the cybers, but I'd rather trivialize it with the invul secret because it's a very challenging arena, so that I don't accidentally die and have to grind the whole map all over again. Shame.

Another good thing about the map is the detailing, this is the prettiest map in the mappack, such a shame it's wasted on fucking Hell Revealed II forcing mappers to put tons of enemies in their maps, no matter what, because it's totally cHaLlEnGiNg.

1/5

 

MAP25

I assume the first two seperated layouts are made by Pedro, because the next map made by him also has symmetrical, and open arenas with nice detail.

These are two gorgeous arenas, and incredible BFG gameplay, I found it to be as, if not, more fun than the initial cleanup in MAP32

I don't like the start with the hitscanner trap with no armor nor cover, and the AV trap at the second separated map.

It's refreshing to have a carefree BFG experience, unlike the previous map. Killing cybers and pain elementals with BFG is so satisfying after the hell of MAP24.

 

Speaking of the previous map, the two mappers that worked on that piece of shit, seemingly made the last layout in this map, it feels that way because of the cramped spaces with grindy AV placement, because of the crampedness and the AVs they managed to make BFG not fun.

Then we revisit Pedro's layouts, but it seems that these continuations were designed by Woodman, you can see that because of his signature "The floor is ammo" shtick that was in MAP08, but at least there was space to move around, and the encounters were short and subtle.

I hope these two incompetent idiots don't touch, nor make another Hell Revealed map, or I'll straight up refuse playing and reviewing it.

3/5

I do realize the irony of placing MAP25 lower than MAP32 despite saying I found MAP25 more fun, but the last layout ruined it.

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

(5/5)

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP08: Ballistics

(4/5)

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP21: Conflux

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP32: Playground

MAP06: Revival

(3/5)

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP19: Mind Trap

(2/5)

MAP15: The Path II

(1/5)

MAP03: Shackled

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP05: Insatanity

(0/5)

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

My playthrough (skipped MAP24 due to technical difficulties) :

 

 

[3saster]

MAP31: The Descent II
A sequel to MAP31 of the original Hell Revealed. Much like the original, the title comes from a long elevator ride down, with a couple hundred monsters popping in on the way down. This elevator ride is a little harsher than the original, featuring a cyberdemon and multiple archviles, but it's balanced out by the BFG you get to use this time. Whereas its predecessor featured the elevator ride and a boring filler section at the bottom, this level has a bit more substance to it beyond the descent itself. The rest of the level is very Hell Revealed 2, featuring dozens of monsters to carve your way through, and lots of ammo to make the action not too grindy. As with other HR2 levels though, despite the monster density, the hordes are not always a major threat. The level is still enjoyable however, if you enjoy the HR2 style, but this is not among the highlights. Some ideas could have been used better; the Cyberdemon on the elevator ride would perhaps have been more dangerous if it popped up in the middle of the ride, when there are other monsters to contend with. The secret invulnerability is weird; the design of the room seems designed with it in mind, but it can be easily missed; even if you do find it, on a blind playthrough, it's easy to use the invulnerability at the wrong time. I do like the secret exit though; as with the previous map, it's subtle and can be picked up along the way easily, but requires you to pay a little attention.

Overall, a fun, inoffensive level, but not one of the highlights. The next level on the other hand...

 

[galileo31dos01]

Map 26

 

+ Well, marble green in grand scale is perhaps the scheme I most instantly relate to very old maps, those looking crude by today standards. Though in HR2 we almost never saw this texture so spread out, the formal presentation is, if feeling optimistic, decent enough with a few visual eye candies, like the huge pentagram (I mentioned this in my previous post), or the metallic borders at the stairs, something I also like to apply on mine. I really liked the detailing in room flooded with spectres and chaingunners too. In grand scale, DIS was always plain ugly to look at, but I must say the lava gives it a nice twist. 

 

+ I'm with Tchkb about the speedrun aspect of the map. If you want to take out each section in a better-fashioned way, you have to somehow beeline to the main tasks (switches, keys) and skip as many enemies as possible, pursuing infight meanwhile. The more groups you leave behind, the better they'd be bunched up later for BFG cleanup, though it takes knowledge of what's ideal to skip or not. Having said that...

 

. The fights lean towards typical HR2 grind with limited high power on your side, though the flavor is more similar to the first Hell Revealed because of the openness. PAGB666 relied heavily on shells and bullets, while rockets need to be tactically used and cells best saved for the BFG. For this balance, having the SSG in a secret may put off some players, though it appears very early, it's just easy to overlook if you had nothing else to do in the start room. The PR is perhaps for completion, since it's not necessary but for ammo. I'm unsure if the total of cells is enough to maximize in every baron/mancubi ambush so not to use SSG ever, if the infight leaves a ton to deal with. Rocket supplies run out until the BFG room, and it's awkward to kill these many mancubi with SSG (blockmap, weird HP). The BFG trap can be cheesed, maybe not too obvious how, but I found it funny :)

 

. Likewise, part of the monster grind seems to be optional, or is triggered via linedefs that are easily missed: the spectres in the corners, the baron/rev room, the BFG technically speaking, even the mancubi outdoors once the SMMs arrive to get busy immediately, because by then you just need to press use two times and exit. And I don't see the point of the first two cases, well I was more concerned about the spectres that seemed to never show up until I crossed the RL platform from the stairs, but the baron room is an ammo storage that I don't even need, or want to use against them. 

 

 

[Ecafr8708]

I know I didn't play, but +++Joy of Mapping 4. Only because I had a hand in its E1M1.

[Arbys550]

Map26

Stopped playing this one midway through the red key section because this map honestly is an absolute atrocity. It breaks my heart to say this because I'm familiar with the mapper and he's made some maps I've liked. Maybe this was before he got good at mapping? I don't know.

 

Anyway, this map sucks. I hope you like killing a spider mastermind, dozens of barons, and literally a fucking swarm of cacos with the single shotgun or chaingun. Yes, there's a rocket launcher but there's nowhere NEAR enough ammo for it. This map needs five times the rockets and I'm not exaggerating. I unleashed the caco swarm, decided to skip it, opened the red door to see if it was hiding the rockets I needed for the cacos, and I saw gigantic fucking army of hell nobles guarding the precious plasma I needed to be able to clear the spectre/archvile tunnel. There were barons tightly locked behind monster block lines, meaning I had to kill them with either the shotgun or chaingun. I just quit after that.

 

I probably missed a secret bfg and 10,000 rockets with an invulnerability and a megasphere.

 

Spoiler

Maps I loved:

Maps I liked:

     Map18: Excess Meat

     Map13: Hardcore

     Map11: Raw Hatred

Maps I thought were okay:

     Map07: Not That Simple II

     Map02: High Voltage

     Map23: When the Heavens Fall

     Map14: Metal Meltdown

     Map20: Fear of the Dark

     Map03: Shackled

     Map25: The End is Nigh

Maps I didn't like:

     Map01: Ignition

     Map21: Conflux

     Map06: Revival

     Map10: Base Blaze

     Map08: Ballistics

     Map16: The Chapel of Black Granite
     Map15: The Path II

     Map09: The Siege II

     Map32: Playground

     Map31: The Descent II

     Map17: An Eye for an Eye

     Map12: Anti-Static

     Map24: The Inmost Dens III

     Map22: Sewer Slaughter

     Map05: Insatanity

Maps I thought were awful:

     Map26: Dis 2000

     Map04: Reluctant Pain

     Map19: Mind Trap