The DWmegawad Club plays: Mars War

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP18: The Edge

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4 pistol start, no saves

 

Way too Doom2-ey for my tastes.

And yes, that crusher can go f itself.

I don't remember Smoke on the Water sounding quite like this, but it's a nice rendition.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[vdgg]

MAP19. This is different, a  bit of puzzle element is present. We have these 8 teleporters... Good use of red colour, an opening is much stronger than in many previous maps (revs + lava), plenty of powerups. For the yellow key, I was clueless for something like 15 minutes, it's another one of these

Spoiler

shootable doors

Once I got three keys, I decided that was enough and let's watch Grazza's demo. The level is certainly an improvement, the best since MAP14, though not as good as MAP14.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP16: The Enlightenment

100% kills, 10/10 secrets

 

Yeah, this one is more of a continuation of MAP32 than a normal map, meaning that the thematic cohesion of the regular maps flies out the window here and the player is instead presented with random sector art like a floppy disk, floating toothbrush, and literal giant kitchen sink. Even aside from the sector art areas, the map feels like it's a random collection of scraps and drafts. Lots of secrets, but many of them are anticlimatic ones (like the assortment of push closets near the megasphere).

 

MAP17: Commercial Sector

100% kills, 7/7 secrets

 

Definitely back to more of a theme here, as the first half has a lot of stuff like stores with cash registers, a house with a computer and (literal) waterbed, etc. The second half gets more experimental with stuff like the shelf hallway, and blue doors that don't actually end up using the blue key. I did get a kick out of the cremator. Balance is also back to that of the start of the WAD with a ton of health and armor, more than you'll know what to do with.

 

MAP18: The Edge

100% kills, 8/8 secrets

 

Seems like a tiny little city level at first, but starts to get pretty abstract after that. There's a large Wolfenstein section (complete with SS) that soured me, but I suppose it's optional so I can't hate it too much. We get the first AV (aside from the secret map) as well I believe, albeit after being gifted the BFG and plenty of cell ammo. There's also some ridiculous secrets (three invuln spheres?). @Phobus noted that the text file says it's the author's first Doom II map, which might explain a lot - the Doom 2 monsters seem somewhat randomly strewn around.

 

[golbeeze]

I had a lot of catching up to do so I cut the commentary to speed things up a bit.

Maps 31 and 32:

I don't much care for map 31 as it is a pretty straightforward Wolfenstein level. I went through it pretty quickly and there wasn't much to see there.

However, map 32 decided to spawn a black spider mastermind. I thought to myself, well I'm glad I made that save before the secret levels! However, I managed to find out it was spawned in the "zoo" area so I didn't really need to fight it. It would have murderized me I'm sure, but I found an invincibility first. Also, I saved before a very suspicious switch thanks to all the comments about the lights going out! I "noped" out of that switch real fast.

Maps 16-18 to be uploaded at a later date.

Ranking: (preferred <---      ---> less preferred)

11, 8, 9, 15, 18, 10, 32, 13, 17, 5, 4, 6, 1, 16, 12, 31, 7, 14, 2, 3

 

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP16: Enlightenment (UV/continuous)

17:26 | 100% Everything

We start with some sorta-goofy music.. and then the map goes entirely goofy. A giant floating toothbrush? And then a giant kitchen sink (everything and, I guess.) A very odd level where the vast majority of it seems to be optional. But it's mostly fun, and the giant plumbing theme is amusing. (The secret areas opened by using the faucet handles was particularly delightful.) And LOL at the caco-chomping teeth! :^D There was a nasty chaingunner trap that I could've done without, but I survived it, so whatevs.

 

MAP17: Commercial Sector (UV/continuous)

26:09 | 100% Everything

And then this one has even more optional stuff. At point, I stumbled across the exit and was surprised I had found it! Then I went back and spent more time maxing everything out. I did not appreciate the bottomless death pit in the northern crate room; I hadn't saved yet, so I clipped out, but kept the damage (since I was starting at near-200% anyway.) And the western secret soulsphere cage was a nasty (but well-implemented) trap that was actually a net negative for me, health-wise! (Thankfully, I still had another soulsphere waiting for me.) And then the end... looks like a toilet, especially after last map. Or was that just me? I did really enjoy this visual, though, even knowing the door is nonfunctional:

 

MAP18: The Edge (UV/continuous)

25:20 | 100% Everything

And continuing the theme.. I believe this map has more optional content than not! I did enjoy the odd slapdash character of this level, but having so many maps where I find the exit like a third of the way through is getting kind of obnoxious. I had a bear of a time finding all the baddies, on account of not picking up the SSG in the starting area (thus releasing 4 pinkies) and in the northern hallway a hidden-up-high PE failed to leave his alcove until I finally noticed him and drew him out. Also LOL at the number of soulspheres/otherspheres, geez.

 

MAP19: The Foundation (UV/continuous)

23:53 | 100% Everything

At first I didn't think I was going to like this one much, on account of not being a fan of mandatory damaging floors. Thankfully there's more than enough radsuits (although not always in handy places) and the amount of unprotected lava-running you have do is at least fairly minimal. This really put me in mind of a good E3 Inferno-themed map, with all the red and a central teleporter puzzle. Was there a way through the eastern crushers? If so I never saw it, and just brute-forced it, which... isn't ideal. Also not a fan of the ashwall cave to the red key, where you have to wallhump to progress anywhere. But this one was still pretty neat! Probably one of the better maps in the WAD.

[Phobus]

MAP19: The Foundation

Actually a pretty solid map! There's some things I didn't like, such as the crushers on the way to the blueyellow key (as they mashed the shit out of me), but between the decent BGM, nasty chaingunner traps, lava and radsuits and open exploration, it feels like a reasonably big, reasonably challenging map. The eight teleporters are, thankfully, visually distinct and have a clear connection to the area they lead to (such as being textured with the key bar for the key you'd go there for), which aids in navigation significantly. The radsuits are plentiful, so you rarely need to take lava damage, but I took plenty of other hits (aside from those crushers) and ended up burning through a blue armour and a megasphere, before having to rely on green armour to take me to the exit. Soulspheres were quite common, though, so my health never stayed below 100 for too long.

 

There's a couple of instances where progression is very unclear. Chainsawing any door that doesn't open at a press seems to be a legitimate strategy in this map set, but there's no rhyme or reason as to when that should be. Likewise, I'm not sure what I actually did that got me out of the ASHWALL cave - I started humping and chainsawing all round and it suddenly opened.

 

Visually the map is still both mixed and messy, with plenty of ugly burning walls despite the texture not tiling vertically in the slightest. Still, it played reasonably well, so we can ignore how crude it is. A few more like this and we may yet get some legitimate deaths before the month is through.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Phobus : I see below that I'm wrong and it was the yellow key with the horrible crushers. Thanks TheOrganGrinder!

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP19: The Foundation

 

After several maps of what felt like aimless wandering through the map author's sketchbook of half-formed thoughts and unfinished ideas, this feels like a return to form for the WAD, with a descent into the burning caverns and catacombs beneath the city, a corrupted and transformed place upon which the flights of fancy presented earlier in the episode rest unsteadily.  The gameplay is centred around a little bit of a navigational puzzle, with a teleport hub providing access to the different regions of the map which gradually become more interconnected as the player flips switches, collects keys, opens barriers, and otherwise steadily assembles the pieces of the path to the exit.

 

Damaging floors are used extensively throughout the level and although radiation suits are in generous supply, I occasionally found myself making a mad dash across lava without that protection when I passed for a second or third time along a route I'd already visited.  The evolving interconnections were a little unexpected; the initial state of the map is very neatly subdivided into its separate nodes, but progression opens up a series of "back doors" that mostly seem to exist to allow you to escape from one part of the map into another without having to run through an environmental hazard (for example, the horrible crusher gauntlet in the yellow key node).  Overall I found this to be a fun map and one of the most genuinely threatening that the WAD has offered up so far.

[elend]

Map19 - HMP, Continuous Play

I did not like this map at all. The rooms are way too huge and empty, and there are way too many teleporters. If I land in a room where I can see 8 teleporters, and I know already, that I have to go through all of them and who knows how I get back, etc. then I already don't want to anymore. :/ Also, some of these chaingunners are way too far away for me to snipe, but they are happily chipping of my health, wtf. Not really enjoyable, imho.

[Alper002]

MAP19: The Foundation is undoubtedly a map set in Hell. It has a solid thematic direction, something that feels like it's been sorely missing in the past few maps. Instead of being thematically disconnected, it is instead almost only physically so.  It's a good thing the teleports are telegraphed pretty well, the bases of the teleporters all look different. The keys have their respective color, the one that leads to the 3-key-requiring exit uses part of the exit door, and the others make enough sense after one trip through them.

 

The sets of crushers blocking one of the keys seem impossible to pass without taking the singular invulnerability in the map (I 100%ed secrets, so I don't think there's any more, at least), which means that the map could theoretically be rendered impossible to beat if you used it wrong. Other than that, gameplay as a whole was pretty fun.

Combat is decently tough, with some sniping chaingunners that can be a bit of a dangerous nuisance, and the damaging floors occasionally helping enemies pose a threat.

Overall, pretty fun map.

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP10:Transport Ship
MAP14:Civilian Center
MAP09:Death Management
MAP08:Bunker Zero
MAP06:Beta Base
MAP04:Alpha Base
MAP16:Enlightenment
MAP31:Wolfenstein
MAP19:The Foundation (new!)
MAP12:Operations
MAP11:Dropship
MAP32:Hell Labs
MAP07:Infestation
MAP17:Commercial Sector
MAP15:The Fringes
MAP13:Warehouse
MAP03:Manufacturing plant
MAP05:Crash Sight/Site
MAP02:Theta base
MAP01:Terraforming station
MAP18:The Edge

 

[Pechudin]

MAP19: The Foundation (Kills: 98%, Secrets: 4/5, Deaths: 0)

    Everything I wanted to say has pretty much been said. Like some, I expected to hate the map (damaging floors radsuit rationing), but there were enough of them around. I liked the how the mapper cut out the backtracking with the opening pitch-black teleporters, and there were some decent traps (the 3-chaingunner trap near the Blue Key was vicious if you do not react quickly). Also, some consistency was nice. I suppose this one would be on-par or slightly inferior to some of TNT's hell maps if I had to compare it to anything. Still kind of unremarkable though, and at certain points I was annoyed by the infinitely tall monsters below tall ledges.

[Andromeda]

MAP19: Foundation (Mars War)

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

 

This level is fairly large and surprisingly there's not much optional content. Much of the floor is covered in lava but fortunately there's many radiation shielding suits around, so don't worry. Don't miss the megaarmor at the start because it'll be a while before any other armor appears. There's an early invulnerability that's best used to traverse the annoying crusher section en route to the yellow key (not sure how to prevent being damaged by the crushers otherwise). Fortunately the rest of the level is pretty easy considering the amount of supplies. Secrets were easy to find, however you only have one chance to get the BFG9000 - not a big deal though. There's potential to be confused by the teleporters in the "hub area" but the author kindly marked every one of them, making it easy to figure out where you'll end up on. The highlight to me is the exit area, I enjoy the look of the lava stairway with a few imps sprinkled around. So yeah, another fun level.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP32: Hell Labs

MAP15: The Fringes

MAP13: Warehouse

MAP08: Bunker Zero

MAP09: Death Management

MAP07: Infestation

MAP16: Enlightenment

MAP14: Civilian Center

MAP19: Foundation

MAP04: Alpha Base

MAP10: Transport Ship

MAP12: Operations - Earth

MAP11: Drop Ship

MAP18: The Edge

MAP17: Commercial Sector

MAP31: Wolf 3D

MAP02: Theta Base

MAP05: Crash Sight

MAP06: Beta Base

MAP03: Manufacturing Plant

MAP01: Terraforming Station

[rehelekretep]

went awol, played the maps but cant remember them, cant be bothered to watch the demos to do write-ups. sorry, normal service resumes tomorrow

 

map14 fda

map15 fda

map31 fda

map32 fda

map16 fda

map17 fda

map18 fda

map19 fda

[Magnusblitz]

MAP19: Foundation

100% kills, 4/5 secrets

 

I agree with @TheOrganGrinder that after the last few maps feeling like aimless scraps of experiments, this one is a return to form with a very clear theme and design philosophy. I found this one pretty fun to explore - lots of blind teleports, but thankfully they're labelled so you can figure out where they go without much trouble. There are a couple of tough spots though - the yellow key crushers are much more dangerous than they appear (I was able to get through with minimal damage by waiting for a good moment, but trying to rush it will hurt), the shootable yellow door took me awhile to figure out, and I appear to have gotten lucky in the red key cave by shooting something unintentionally since I didn't get stuck at all there. Pistol starters should also probably avoid the 'fire door' section at first, as those hitscanners will rip you apart (unless you want to use the invuln so you can get a chainsaw). Aside from those tricky spots though, pretty fun map.

[Arbys550]

Map18

See you guys next month

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP19: Foundation
glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4 pistol start, no saves

 

Challenging and fun level.

Start the level getting slammed to death by doot doot balls.

Took me a while to realize the teleporter room wasn't just random nonsense, that they actually led to different places.
The BFG had a megasphere nearby, which was greatly needed.

My final successful attempt I nearly died several times before sprinting to the exit, the epitome of the Doom experience in my eyes.

 

6 hours ago, Andromeda said:

There's an early invulnerability that's best used to traverse the annoying crusher section en route to the yellow key (not sure how to prevent being damaged by the crushers otherwise).

I managed to run through the right-side crushers without damage, but the left ones were always lethal.

I had to learn this because that soulsphere that lowers kept distracting me and i kept jumping out the window to get it hahaha

 

Spoiler

 

 

[elend]

Map20 - HMP, Continuous Play

This map I liked way better than the previous one. Fun to explore with interesting rooms, lots of optional goodies and a very inspired end-teleporter room.

[Pechudin]

MAP20: The Land of the Lame (Kills: 100%, Secrets: Did not count, Deaths: 0)

    Well, this is a lot more enjoyable and well made than the previous few offerings (either that or my standards have gotten way lower). We are exploring a massive complex overtaken more or less by demonic forces (as they do). Most of the rooms are isolated encounters that do not really communicate with each other so you generally should not have monsters coming from who knows where (except a Lost Soul or two).

 

    A couple of things were a bit tedious, for example the Imp teleport ambush which dragged on forever and the Red Key teleport-under-a-crusher that teleports you right in front of a Spider Mastermind, which is beyond cheap and had I not had a BFG on me I would've died almost certainly. There is an invulnerability but you need to know it is there in the first place.

 

    The exit room is cool though. I was bracing myself for a Cyberdemon battle as that exit door was lowering, but nothing. Was there even a Cybderdemon in a non-secret map thus far?

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP20: Land of the Lame

 

I feel as though the map name is making some specific reference to the jargon of '90s-era Linux/Windows rivalry that's going over my head, but oh well.  The level starts out feeling as though it's going in the same direction as Gotcha!, dropping the player off before the gate of some enormous fortress which soon enough opens onto a cavernous interior space, but there are no bickering bosses to tease into infighting here, and instead the greater part of the map is given over to relatively conventional (by the standards of the WAD) tunnels in a corrupted base/city theme, populated mostly by low-tier threats.  I feel as though what we're being treated to here is one last breath of vaguely fresh air and one last glimpse of the open sky before our plunge into the abyss; emerging from the preceding level's subterranean sojourn, we're given an fortified bastion to traverse before plunging back into the burning depths, this time taking a fateful step through a helpfully-labelled Hell Portal to the WAD's final episode.

 

I don't think I was really firing on all cylinders when I tackled this one; I lost what I'm sure was a lot of health grabbing at the plasma gun without a radiation suit, simply because I hadn't gone poking into the tunnels where the map's supply of suits were tucked away (and indeed, had failed to notice that those tunnels even existed; situational awareness was not my forte, apparently).  Missed one of the map's three secrets, too (the enclosed walkway over by the Spider Mastermind) though I don't know that it would've offered me anything useful at that point.  Onward, then, to the closing chapter of Mars War.

[Alper002]

I've tried my darndest to write something slightly substantial about today's map, but I just don't seem to have it in me. It'll only be a summary of my thoughts today.

 

MAP20 was pretty fun. I liked how open the layout felt, and the combat usually felt just tough enough. Personally think the mastermind encounter was a bit too much about trail-and-error and having enough health, though.

 

Oh yeah, the portal to hell being labeled as such also got a little chuckle out of me.

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP10:Transport Ship
MAP14:Civilian Center
MAP09:Death Management
MAP08:Bunker Zero
MAP06:Beta Base
MAP04:Alpha Base
MAP16:Enlightenment
MAP31:Wolfenstein

MAP20:Land of the Lame (new!)
MAP19:The Foundation
MAP12:Operations
MAP11:Dropship
MAP32:Hell Labs
MAP07:Infestation
MAP17:Commercial Sector
MAP15:The Fringes
MAP13:Warehouse
MAP03:Manufacturing plant
MAP05:Crash Sight/Site
MAP02:Theta base
MAP01:Terraforming station
MAP18:The Edge

 

[Phobus]

MAP20: Land of the Lame

The opening shot bothers me here, as it's another big ugly stack of fire textures. What's more annoying is that he's actually made it look good on the smaller buildings in the starting area, by layering mid-textures with windows in front of it.

 

This map has an open layout, lots of damaging floors and plenty of places you can explore early on. I was particularly amused by the giant red hand that squashes you against the ceiling (luckily you can still move around whilst being crushed that way), but allows access to the only megasphere I found in the map as well as the BFG (useful against the surprise Mastermind - I'm happy I read the above three reviews and got an inclination as to what was happening). Likewise, the "HELL PORTAL" and "WALL"-with-a-zombieman-squished-on it in the exit room made me smirk.

 

The imp waves are definitely a bit slow by the rocket launcher and in the central area nearby. I had a mixed wave of zombies and imps come out of nowhere at one point - not sure what I did to trigger that! Ammo and health generally felt ok, but outside of secrets and highly risky damaging floor/crusher combos, armour seemed thin on the ground. Even access to the soulsphere was via two (or three, if you get the radsuit) damaging floors and gets you crushed, effectively losing half of your bonus.

 

All told, the map did a lot of damage, but I made it through without dying thank to playing continuous and seeing what people said beforehand. A very hostile environment, and now I'm actually in hell for the next map, where you start with an imp in scratching range right behind you...

[rehelekretep]

map20 fda

not my favourite. i never felt like i was having much fun with the combat here. the only dangerous encounter is trivialised if you pick up the invuln for it. the progression is confusing; i never felt like i knew where i was going or what i was trying to do. a bit too out there and without logic for me personally. also the midi is horrible and repetitive.

[DuckReconMajor]

13 hours ago, Pechudin said:

    The exit room is cool though. I was bracing myself for a Cyberdemon battle as that exit door was lowering, but nothing. Was there even a Cybderdemon in a non-secret map thus far?

MAP11 was based around the ending Cyber battle in the downed ship. it blocked the exit

 

MAP20: Land of the Lame

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4 pistol start, no saves

 

"What do you think you're Yonatan Donner or something?" was all I could think while suffering death after death here. 

Overall the combat was fun (and often showed the dominance of the single-barrel shotgun in some scenarios), but the really stressful nonsense at times diluted the really great other challenges.

That stupid hand. UGH! I wonder how many tics you really have to time that jump right to not get smashed or miss the BFG/megasphere.

 

On my final successful attempt, not only did I slam into the megasphere pillar hard enough to actually collect the megasphere, I managed to linedef skip the teleport to the spider mastermind and grab the red key. If neither of these had happened I'd either still be trying it now or have given up.

If the remaining levels are this difficult I may drop down to skill 3 or 2. But we'll see how things go, I might have the patience to just plough through.

Give the video a few years to process, it's another long one.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP20: Land of the Lame

95% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

Yeah, didn't have too much fun with this one. Combat is either fairly boring (chainsawing spectres, slowly picking off the imps teleporting in the RL room) or unfair (the SMM blind teleport is basically death if you go in without your BFG out, ready to hit it). Lots of damaging sectors and not a lot of armor also made things somewhat difficult - there is a lot of health to recover with, but you still gotta be smart (for example, not trying to grab the megasphere/BFG without a radsuit).

 

The Iron Man music on the intermission screen actually has vocals, interesting.

[vdgg]

1 hour ago, DuckReconMajor said:

 

That stupid hand. UGH! I wonder how many tics you really have to time that jump right to not get smashed or miss the BFG/megasphere.

 

 

13 tics for the BFG

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP21: Highway to Hell

 

One of the things I was struck by as I played through this map is how much more developed it feels, as does its artistry, compared to much of the MAP16-MAP20 sub-episode; the wiki note that MAP15, MAP20, and MAP25 are new to 2009's v3.0 release, but I'd be interested to know what the build order or completion dates for the other levels are, because I'm left with a feeling that this is a product of a point in the WAD author's career significantly later than, say, MAP16 or MAP18 especially.  One of the immediate contributing factors to this perception is the big five-pointed star that forms the map's central courtyard; it's not a thing of geometric perfection, certainly, but it feels bold, defining in its relationship to the other parts of the map assembled around it, compared to the often random shapes, sizes, and scale of adjacent areas in many of the earlier levels.  Similarly, I feel that many of the map's rooms and areas exhibit much more care spent at least on internal consistency, co-ordination of textures into a pleasing mise-en-scène, and the like, even if the results are occasionally uneven (the DOORTRAK-and-ASHWALL tunnel in the north of the map is an eyesore even if it calls to mind a shaft bored forcefully through rock) and the overall consistency of the level doesn't seem to have had the same degree of attention lavished upon it.

 

The presence of a single locked door (the exit, as it turns out) makes this seem like a simple map on paper, but structurally there are some pretty interesting things going on here, with a "horseshoe" arrangement of paths to the blue key and the switch that grants access to it, almost meeting but ultimately denying the player their prize thanks to a narrow, barred gap and compelling the marine to backtrack all the way around the horseshoe to claim the key; it is of course entirely possible to clear out the other arc of the horseshoe first (as I did), clearing the way to the key but finding it out of reach, bringing a delightful sense of relevation when the switch at the far end of the roughly-bored mineshaft doesn't just open the path to the key but also reveals to the player that it has done so.  The player is also quite free to ignore that part of the map entirely and instead clamber through the southern arc of courts and chambers, following a convoluted path to the exit only to find that final step toward progress blocked by their lack of a key.  The trap in the south-eastern room is nothing special mechanically - cross a tripwire and some closets pop open to turn loose monsters - but the presentation is wonderfully whimsical, glowing light-booths springing open apparently in mid-air in a way that's very much an expression of the Doom engine and its quirks.

 

This isn't a great level but it's one of the better ones the WAD has so far offered, in my opinion, and I think it's consciously trying to engage the player's mind in a way that most of the previous levels have not.  If the rest of the final episode has more in common with this level than with the lacklustre middle section of the WAD then I'm definitely looking forward to rounding out the month.

[Andromeda]

MAP20: Land of the Lame (Mars War)

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

 

Like MAP15 (and MAP25 that we'll cover later), this level wasn't present in the original release and was added 11 years later. While it's not as huge as "The Fringes" it's still fairly large and has a different feel than the older levels. The opening vista is very striking and a testament to how you don't need a lot of sectors to create a great looking scene, my favourite part of the level hands down. The level also has other tricks up its sleeve, like the blood structure in the first room that rises and requires you to perform tricky jumps to be able to collect the goodies or the crushing floor by the supercharge (fortunately it's hinted at like in MAP05, otherwise I would've fallen for it).

 

Unfortunately combat is somewhat unengaging, consisting mostly on killing enemies placed in front of you (other than a toothless imp teleport trap). There's a fun battle against a Spiderdemon reminiscent of Hell Revealed MAP12 that almost manages to even it out though, that was pretty cool! Another interesting moment is a secret where you have to jump into a well after waiting for a FIREBLU portal to rise. I also liked the final room with the WALLs (one of which has a zombieman instead of a shotgun guy like in MAP12) and with a clearly marked portal to hell :) A very interesting looking level slightly let down by subpar combat. Still good though!

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP32: Hell Labs

MAP15: The Fringes

MAP13: Warehouse

MAP08: Bunker Zero

MAP09: Death Management

MAP07: Infestation

MAP20: Land of the Lame

MAP16: Enlightenment

MAP14: Civilian Center

MAP19: Foundation

MAP04: Alpha Base

MAP10: Transport Ship

MAP12: Operations - Earth

MAP11: Drop Ship

MAP18: The Edge

MAP17: Commercial Sector

MAP31: Wolf 3D

MAP02: Theta Base

MAP05: Crash Sight

MAP06: Beta Base

MAP03: Manufacturing Plant

MAP01: Terraforming Station

Edited May 21, 2020 by Andromeda

[elend]

Uhm, am I missing something in Map21? I cannot progress and leave the star shaped courtyard. I only managed to explore the left part of the map so far. Don't know how to reach the blue key and on the right side of the map there is no door or anything where I could progress?!

[Horus]

I was a bit behind thanks to focusing on my MAYhem 2020 map, but now all caught up. If the below reviews are a bit duplicative of what's already been posted, it's because I like to write my own map reviews before reading others' reviews.

 

MAP19 - “Foundation”

 

Yeah this one was fun. The start of this was an ‘oh shit’ moment for me, as immediately you are presented with two revenants, ill-equipped to deal with them. Then the rooms the other side of the FIRELAVA are also pretty dangerous, mainly thanks to the chaingunners, but also thanks to the imps.

Soon after that you get to the ‘core’ of the level so to speak, with eight teleporters branching off into different directions, helpfully indicated by the texture of the linedefs bounding the teleporter, the key indicators especially were nice to see.

 

There’s a lot of freedom to do these teleporters in whichever order you want, adding a degree of non-linearity to the level.

 

The crusher section I didn’t enjoy so much, and the BFG megasphere secret was certainly way overpowered. But all in all, I enjoyed it. The ending was an example of where pistol start can sometimes be easier than continuous. A whole bunch of imps in a pain sector, were I playing continuous the temptation to conserve ammo and use a weaker weapon would probably be too tempting to ignore, but in pistol start I happily spammed by BFG for a quick and easy conclusion.

 

MAP20 - “Land of the Lame”

 

Eurgh, this map was appalling. Like most of it was fine (the imp teleporter area and surrounding hitscanner area was genuinely enjoyable), but my opinion of it plummeted thanks to a highly bullshit section, namely the RK skull key. You reach there, to teleport to a 20% pain sector with a spider mastermind, zero cover and a switch that takes ages to lower with the invuln sphere. Then to top it off if you don’t leave the room before the invuln expires, the crusher kills you on the way out.

 

Abysmal design for which there is zero excuse. Secondly, the arch vile & co battle the other side of the RK barrier basically requires you to get the BFG to complete it without skipping the battle entirely. And the method of getting the BFG is convoluted and easy to miss. Worst map so far, definitely.

 

MAP21 - “Highway to Hell”

 

Jeez, the difficulty went way up all of a sudden. This level is pretty difficult from a pistol start. What worked for me in the end is to head to the SSG area first, distract the lost souls, grab the ammo boxes, then get the cacos to infight with the mancubi, at last leaving me a clear path to the SSG. Phew. Then take care of the remaining pinkies and cacos, at this point I then discovered the rocket launcher area (might have been helpful to go there first lol) and used that to carefully dispatch the pain elementals, then grab the chainguns. Phew again.

 

The difficulty then doesn’t really let up throughout, to a degree that I imagine this map will pose a challenge to continuous players as well. Ammo is a constant problem throughout, fortunately the map provides a chainsaw, and it is definitely needed.

 

The progression to open the locked door by the poison pit is stupidly confusing. Eventually I worked out the central poison sector is a lift, and used it to get to the switch that opens up the door. Not a fan of when non-lift textures are used as lifts.

 

In the final section, again ammo was a problem, I needed to finish off the baron with the chainsaw, fortunately I had enough health to do so.

[Horus]

42 minutes ago, elend said:

Uhm, am I missing something in Map21? I cannot progress and leave the star shaped courtyard. I only managed to explore the left part of the map so far. Don't know how to reach the blue key and on the right side of the map there is no door or anything where I could progress?!

 

Spoiler

The north point of the star lowers a lift if you press it

 

[elend]

Map21 - HMP, Continuous Play

Okay, now that was a fun map. Apart from one very hidden lift, that didn't let me progress, I enjoyed this map quite a bit. Unique rooms, unique encounters, great music and a fun secret. I especially enjoyed the trippy Baron trap in the later half of the map and the end room.