The DWmegawad Club plays: Judgment

[Book Lord]

MAP 11 – Shrine to Madness

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol Start, blind run w/saves

 

It is appropriate for the eccentric hellspawn populating Doom levels to dedicate a Shrine to Madness, but to what kind of madness? The player’s madness, of course. If you get mad when forced to shoot rockets at Pain Elementals, this map will demand to leave your comfort zone. The death exit of MAP10 left me without weapons, and only the rocket launcher and relative ammo were provided for most of the map. The challenge was enhanced further by introducing the Wraith, a melee monster from Doom 3 that moves fast as lightning, teleports around, slashes like a knife, and only pauses briefly before attacks and teleports. A customer that is better served with SSG or plasma rifle, if only they were available.

Spoiler

Under these premises, killing the measly 36 monsters was all but a simple task. At least the progression was a no-brainer: from the classic Judgment crossroads hub, the locked doors invited to follow a certain order of exploration, allowing only an early detour to the RSK area that I unintentionally avoided. The wooden chambers contained various surprise deployments of Pain Elementals, as well as the BSK and the RSK in succession. At some point the chaingun was given but the ammo was limited, so it should be conserved for the Wraiths in the sludge pit, and not wasted on Forgotten Ones as I did.

Spoiler

Inside the red door area, the environment got larger, a condition that normally favours the player, except when fighting Pain Elementals. Many brown balls were trapped inside bloody cages, ready to be released when I entered the YSK terrace. After an annoying fight, only one monster was left according to the stats. I was not expecting the Spider Demolisher yet. It appeared at the centre of the area, surrounded by slow crushers, and it soon made clear it was not a wuss like the vanilla Mastermind. Not only it was twice as tough, but its firepower was a force to be reckoned with. I panicked when I heard the BFG sound and I ran for cover, then I resigned myself to use the crushers as a protection, while slowly shooting rockets. It took a long time to bring it down, but I had no other choice because I missed the SSG secret. Finding the BFG on the way to the exit and learning that I was not going to pistol start MAP12 as well, was quite a revelation. A good showcase for the last new monsters, Shrine to Madness was one of those levels designed for the sake of variety, trying to propose an alternative gameplay. Rayziik did it in a competent way, even though it resulted in more frustration than entertainment.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP09: Hanging Death

Kills: 91%

Items: 44%

Secrets: 25%

Time: 8:29

 

Hanging Death is another strong map to come from Judgment. Kinda large-scale MAP08? Still has that gorgeous visual theme and introduces, believe it or not, yet more .deh monsters in this megawad. This one successfully doubles Doom II's hitscanners. It's basically a Wolfenstein guard but with shotgun blasts instead, given my history with regular shotgunners, I'm not necessarily excited for this to be honest. I like the fight when you hit the switch in the big open area with Revenants on circular pillars, the Revenants do a nice job raising the pressure here, and later on the Arch-Viles in the mossy cave area I find can be surprisingly deadly. When you get the keys and get back to the surface, you'll meet a Cyberdemon who I don't find particularly threatening. You can run away. Overall this one is another solid and completely gorgeous map.

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: B-

 

 

MAP10: Cenotaph

Kills: 80%

Items: 32%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 7:40

 

I don't care as much for Cenotaph really, it's not my thing. This map feels shorter than it really is. The visuals are neat, but I've been going back and forth on them really. It's way too dark for me, but square lights are neat. This episode is going off in so many different directions visually, I wish it would have the 08 and 09 visuals the entire time. I find Cenotaph has a frustrating amount of Chaingunners, and this combined with the mentioned darkness isn't super fun. The big fights are mostly okay, but I don't think they compare to MAP08 and 09's larger brawls, the ending is fun though, pretty cool usage of a Cyberdemon and Revenants. I don't have much to say on this map, reminds me of Quake in a way, a little boring but also frustrating somehow.

 

Grade: B-

Difficulty: C+

 

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP09: Hanging Death

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/4 secrets 

 

The theme here is much the same as MAP08. Green bricks, mud, nukage, torches, and even a green one used again for a secret. I like the look though, especially enjoy the central outdoor area with the nukage and the returning revenant pedestals, the architecture and the vines draping it looks very cool here. Great midi too, sounds nice and has a good atmosphere to it.

 

One thing this map does not have in common with the last canon map is an oppressive ammo balance, it feels just right in this one. This might partially be helped by the large number of hitscanners, this map seems to have quite a few. This is especially notable in the stretch through the dark mud-tunnels, where the map throws some of the more damaging fodder enemies at you in dangerous numbers. It also brings in a zombie with an automatic shotgun, can be sure he'll cause lots of trouble later on. Wouldn't say the level delves into "hitscanner hell" territory though in any case, it has a nice balance of both the lower health and more mid-tier demons. I also get a sense that Rayziik really likes archviles. Totally fair, so do I. In any case the combat in this one is solid and fun throughout, my one complaint maybe is the fight near the end with the cyberdemon felt a bit underwhelming and easy. 

All-around a tight map. Little footnote, loved seeing the impaled corpse decoration see some neat usage, serving as a minor gate blocking you from accessing a soulsphere.

[kalaeth]

MAP 10 - Cenotaph :

 

Starting with a view of corpses and an entry into a building is always a good sign. A shotgunner and a few other zombies plus a pair of pinkies wait for me. killing them gives me access to a plasma gun and a quick encounter with a rev. Further ahead the SSG is there for the taking, a green armor on the next room, and only one door that I can open, that leads me to a trap where I pretty much empty my minigun. From there I catch a lift up, switch, blue key, blue door, rocket on the teleporting monsters, any key door, release the dog, other blue door. Shotgunners, both kinds, rifle dudes and cacos guard the red key. More shitgunners, HKs, lift. Armor, health, ammo. Red door, red door. Shotgunners, imps and a spider, also the RL. To the side a 'porting AV and then the yellow key. Grabbing it unleashes another trap, and after that the main room has imps, HKs and a manc. Yellow door, a HK on a cage, potions and ammo. Other yellow door and it's the exit. But I'm 23 monsters and 2 secrets behind .. Secret 1 found, And then I notice that that's way too many enemies for the secret so I hop into the exit teleport and it was a trap! After clearing it with help from last level's BFG I hop back to search for that one secret missing.. (in the meantime I had to go and do things, ended up not finishing the level yesterday. Back at it now) Ok, f5ck it.

100/79/50 K/I/S, 0 deaths, 22:58 most of it spent looking for and not finding that second secret. Not even IDDT helped me.

 

MAP 11 - Shrine to Madness : 

We are inside some wooden structure, with no weapons but the riffle. As soon as we pass the turn we spot a rocket launcher and a megasphere on a pedestal. A pair of teleporting little buggers show up and I am forced to riffle them to death, and then grab the RL. Then I move to the megasphere room and pain elementals show up! Getting rid of them isn't hard, but annoying. Only after do I go for the 'sphere. Now. Blue door, red door, white door. White door it must be. Again with the PEs? We get it, it's hard to kill PEs with rockets (and auto-aim isn't helping!) 4 crusher-protected switches after, more PEs! and then finally the BSK. After that, another door, red key and mud. And those teleporting melee bastards. Not through here, so blue door. Oh look, more PEs, I wasn't expecting them at all.. But is it? Is that a mingun I spy with my little eye? IT IS! Now we are talking! Come at me skulls! Oh, switch. More melee suckers, lift, backpack! Platforming and then the level finally did it : It got me to face-rocket a skull and get dead.

I should have saved. This time I do as soon as I pick the 'sphere. And then again before the platforming. I survive, switch, down, RSK, red door. Kill the PEs while they are caged, remove the annoying melee teleporters ( I think I'm gonna start calling them nightcrawllers). Up a lift, more PEs, and then megasphere plus plasma and YSK. I'll save before the pickup. One last round trip to the room before exiting and I found the secret : a SSG! With ammo to spare! Oh! the new SMM! the reduced hit-box is indeed evil! But the ample offering of megaspheres makes up for it. Oh look, a useless BFG and that's that.

 

100% K/I/S, 1 death, 12:54.

 

The gimmick was wearing my patience thin by the time the minigun showed up, but other than that, I actually enjoyed the level.

[finnks13]

MAP11 - Shrine to Madness:
After pressing the first switch in the blue key room, behind the crushers, I thought to myself: "Surely this entire map isn't just going to be rocket launcher versus pain elementals right?" 

 

...So, this map centers around you having to rocket a load of pain elementals to death. This may be some people's cup of tea but it certainly isn't mine. To be fair, I'm not sure how you could make this gimmick fun, and the arenas do have a fair amount of variety to them but that doesn't change the fact that rocketing a load of pain elementals (buffed pain elementals, for that matter) is just not fun.

 

You do get a chaingun (and later a plasma gun) but not many bullets considering it'll take around 40-50 to kill one of the pain elementals and all the lost souls along with it. I found that not picking up the yellow key and plasma gun lets you trigger the final ambush of 8 pain elementals while also leaving the door open for you to just rocket them from the doorway - I would not have wanted to do this any other way. The map ends with a duel against a spiderdemon, which can now shoot rockets at random and also has a lot more health, this was alright and the rockets certainly shook things up but it mostly consisted of me peekaboo shooting the spiderdemon with rockets and walking between two crushers which lined up perfectly to give me complete cover from the chaingun fire. Overall, the challenge here felt incredibly artificial and I didn't care for any of the fights. Oh well...

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

Really Liked: MAP02, MAP05, MAP33
Liked: MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP09
Mixed Opinions: MAP03
Didn't Like: MAP11

Boring: MAP01, MAP04, MAP10

 

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with DSDA-Doom, saves are allowed)

Map 11: Shrine to Madness

100% kills, 80% items and 100% secrets 

Time: 9:18

 

E1's episode closure was great, and I wondered how could Rayziik make one that was as good for E2 while only using 35 monsters. I had a good first impression of the map, the visuals and midi were nice and I liked the introduction of the wraiths (only an introduction if you didn't play 33 first). However, after that, the level became boring. Bewteen the “introduction” of the wraith and until the final fight, the action is solely about chaingunning wraiths and rocketing pain elementals and their spawn. The final fight is just about killing the new mastermind, who has more health and can shoot rockets and BFG balls. Despite that, she is still not threatening in this area and it takes way too much time to kill her. I can also let you guess how pleased I was to find the secret SSG after I killed the spider who is resistant to splash damage. Overall, it's a really disappointing ending to Judgment's second episode.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 5

Map 10

Map 6

Really Like:

Map 33

Map 3

Map 9

Map 8

Map 2

Like:

Map 7

Map 4

Map 1

Dislike:

Map 11

 

 

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 11: Shrine to Madness

 

The second episode's concluding level chooses to take all our weapons from us and sets the following confrontations within a wooden temple of sorts with vines hanging down from the ceiling and even a cavern of sorts outside featuring those ever-wonderful circular pillars Rayziik just can't get enough of for some reason. Cool midi too, though I wasn't paying much attention to it.

 

So right away, you're confronted with a pair of those Wraiths that showed up briefly in the secret map. They're not too threatening here, but still maintain an erratic attack pattern similar to that of the Rippers from Shadow Warrior, though much less durable thank god. Although shooting them with rockets is quite annoying, ngl, though you do get plenty.

 

The next accessible room features what might be a statue of sorts, and at the other end, a furnace with several corpses from whence a Pain Elemental will emerge to make your life miserable. Try to use rockets on the Lost Souls here as well, because its only here I realized just how ultimately useless your starting rifle is against fast enemies like them and the rippers, though you may not necessarily have too many options.

 

After collecting the blue key, once you press switches in the previously mentioned room, along with rocketing more Pain Elementals, you then emerge into another hallway with a chaingun at the end, finally giving you slightly more options for striking back against your opponents, specifically against a pair of Rip...I mean Wraiths that teleport in around this time. What's more, the dark area herethat I'd originally glibly dismissed was actually something of a threat, though it still does a poor job of concealing the Pain Elemental welcoming committee.

 

It's shortly after this that you'll emerge into the cavern mentioned at the beginning, though there's not really much to do here, other than shoot some fools and hit a switch which lowers the RK.

 

Back inside, opening the RK door will reveal a large, cross-shaped room (sound familiar?) with a seemingly useless large and functionless wooden platform, surrounded by Pain Elementals in the surrounding corridors that probably won't be able to do much but perhaps spit a Lost Soul through the caged windows they reside behind. The rippers are probably more of a threat, but hopefully, you'll have a plasma rifle you might want to be more careful with wasting than I was. Because as soon as the yellow key is collected, you'll hear a fearsome howl, and next thing you know, a modified Spider Mastermind with wires hanging below her will teleport in. I struggled for cover behind the moving bloody pillars and to dodge not only a chaingun but rocket launcher and occasionally BFG fire as well. I did a poor job with the latter, as I wasn't moving for the most part when the ball started charging up. If you thought I was killed at least once you'd be absolutely right. Though it turned out there were still some scattered medkits around when I finally succeeded in killing her. I completely missed the secret SS though, which apparently is around in this room someplace?

 

The very end, you're trolled with a useless BFG, featuring a sprite replacement appropriate to a weapon of its power, but probably a little bland, before finally walking into a darkened room and exiting.

 

Honestly, yes the gimmick wore thin, but at the same time, pretending like the boss monster wasn't sufficiently challenging...I can't

 

Since we have reached the end of the episode, here are some updated map rankings

 

Maps by order of favoritism

 

Spoiler

Map 33

Map 06

Map 10

Map 07

Map 08

Map 11

Map 09

Map 05

Map 03

Map 04

Map 01

Map 01

 

 

 

 

 

 

lmd_judg11.zip

[cannonball]

MAP11 - “Shrine to Madness”

 

It's a gimmick map, and not a particularly fun and inspiring one. The concept of giving the player a weapon against monsters that it isn't really suitable to use on is interesting if placed in combat where you have other threats. However this is just plain aggravating. The blue key has a rather torrid moment of making you hit 4 switches, all of which spawn a pain elemental (It just felt pointless, it isn't hard or satisfying). The final fight isn't that difficult, but that spider is built like a tank and again is a monster you avoid using rockets on because of the nature of it (I assume it doesn't take splash damage). 

This could have been an interesting map, but it invests too much specifically on the gimmick of rockets versus foes that are dangerous to use rockets on. It could have been used in accompaniment to other things to make the play space more varied and interesting. Alas it is a poor end to the episode. 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP11: Shrine To Madness

Kills: 100%

Items: 65%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 9:48

 

Eh, Shrine To Madness isn't my thing overall. It's a gimmick map, which generally work well for episode closers in my opinion, but this is a case where the gimmick isn't necessarily fun or exciting. Pain Elementals can't carry a Hunted-style map for me. It doesn't help they're slightly more aggressive, even if the Lost Souls are weaker in this wad. What also doesn't help is the (formal) introduction of the Wraith. A little teleporting Imp bitch who gets in your face and claws you whenever he can. He's almost impossible to kill directly with rockets, which doesn't help a map revolving around them in the slightest, they are super obnoxious here. The ending is okay, containing the first Spider Mastermind of the wad, who received a major glow up to the status of "Demolisher". Despite having a major strength boost, the last fight still is mostly peppering her with rockets until she dies though. Not even a BFG can save her, speaking of which, grab a pointless BFG for me in the last room and skedaddle. This map is eh.

 

Grade: C

Difficulty: C

 

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP10: Cenotaph

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

This one pivots into a more dark and gritty look. After bloody cliff exterior you enter a demonic structure with metal, wood, and skin textures on the walls, and blood on the floor in many places. The midi is a great metal track by AD_79 with a ton of energy, reminds me of the style of some of the tracks we heard last month in MSCP. I'm pretty sure I've heard this one in another wad before too, but I can't remember which one it would have been.

 

Despite the rather serious and heavy tone in the visuals and music, I found this one to be the easiest map in a bit actually. It's not boring about it, the ambushes definitely have quite a bit of energy to them, but things feel a bit more stacked in your favour than usual. The first fight on the blue key path can be pretty dangerous out of pure shock factor, but generally the fights are pretty forigiving and give you a lot of room to work with. Health and ammo balance felt relatively plentiful too. The last fight is quite a fun one, even if it's mostly circlestrafe to win. There's a cyberdemon on a centre structure with 4 pain elementals flying around, and revenants and hell knights on the outer ledges. Get rid of the pain elementals and their spawn so that you are free to manoeuvre as you please and you should win this relatively easily.

 

Pretty good one, liked the atmosphere a lot. 

 

MAP11: Shrine to Madness

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

More like the Shrine to Facerockets. You're forced into pistol starting this one because of the previous level's death exit, and you'll notice this map only has 35 monsters. This is a gimmick map and a boss map rolled into one, with the bulk of this level pitting you and a rocket launcher against a bunch of monsters you'd much rather not be using a rocket launcher on. The pain elementals are the obvious one and take up most of the level, but the wraiths also make their debut in the set's main path, and they can be even worse. They have a tendency to teleport right in front of you, and if that happens as you're firing a rocket you're going to take some serious damage. Obviously you'll want to take out the pain elementals as fast as you can, and you'll have some rifle shots to use to clean up lost souls. You do get a chaingun later in the level which will help out a bit as well, but you're better off saving shots for the last room where you have the opportunity to kill pain elementals while they are still caged. The level ends with a boss monster, the spider demolisher. She's a spider mastermind outfitted with dual chainguns, a rocket launcher, and a flippin' BFG. She's not so bad actually, you have some unreliable cover that works out nicely, but she does take a long time to take care of with rockets so that gives you a lot of time to mess things up. There is a secret SSG, but I didn't actually find it until after everything was dead and I was searching for the exit.

 

Decent little gimmick map, if a bit slow.

[Book Lord]

MAP 12 – Chemistry

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The third episode, named Mutant Techgnawlogy, finally brought me to tech-bases, my favourite Doom scenario. Chemistry embodied the quintessential UAC nukage treatment plant, employing well-known stock textures (e.g., SHAWN1 & 2) and mingling them accurately with community content. The result was pleasing and believable, a fine depiction of a facility in the middle of a rocky crater with plenty of waste to process.

Spoiler

Now I know it: almost every map of Judgment has a crossroads hub. The central base structure acted as such, providing most of the arsenal and access to all secrets. The eastern branch displayed the YK and unleashed a big group of monsters to protect it, including the first Archon of Hell in standard levels; the western wing should be visited later, as the YK-operated switch unblocked the stuck door to the southern bridge. The Cyberdemon guarding the entrance to the underground installation could be faced right away by continuous players, while pistol starters should probably hop to a lower platform to collect the BFG. The point-blank Lords of Heresy were brutal and immediately received a green ball upon their muscular chests.

Spoiler

Inside the base, several teleport shenanigans in narrow areas were set up to pepper Doomguy’s path to the exit. Firstly, some Revenants appeared for a corridor sandwich. Secondly, a crowd of Imps and hitscanners filled the nukage room with the RK. Lastly, the RK worked on a switch in another room, opening the door to the exit and releasing the Archons inside. The dark chamber with beams of light radiated by floor lamps, METAL walls, and enemy closets, was an explicit nod to the starting area of The Crusher. Chemistry was not a mind-blowing creation, but it offered genuine and realistic tech-base glimpses. The intensity and the size of the ambushes slightly increased from the second episode, and Rayziik kept the ball rolling until the end. The new episode has gotten off to a good start.

[kalaeth]

MAP 12 - Chemistry :

Armed with a BFG, imps waiting and barrels. I go for the shotgun, kill the imps, jump down, door. The lights go out as soon as I step into the room, cool effect, grab the SSG, kill the HK that was busy killing the plasma soldiers, kill both flying wraiths, now. left lift, 'cause I like alliteration, and I'm outside. Caged imps ahead, zombiemen to the left, a PE to the right guarding the RL. I go down, feeding rockets to the mancs, the switch behind the column gives me a chainsaw, switch, chop some pinkies, plasma to clear most of the rest, SSG when the cells end. Yk in hand I go back, lift up, stairs down, stairs up. Kill pinkie, grab minigun, kill chaingunner, shotgunner and rev on pillars, steps down to grab a blue armor, go towards the switch, save and go lunch.

 Back from lunch, let's press that switch. Oh, the HKs really close are evil. But I killed them and the cacos and now.. Ah, yellow door open. Lift, a couple zombimen and regular shotgunners, switch, fuck! I run for the cells but I wasn't fast enough, got cyberrocketed to the face. BAck to the YK switch. This time I'm going down before opening the cyber door. Oh, good call. BFG, cells, megasphere. And I just had to SSG a baron to get them! Now, switch, teleport, BFG to the face! Done. Corridor, revs, corridor, dark room leading to a red switch, back to the normal switch. Hum. rad suits, key in the middle of the sludge.. Save, grab suit, jump, and.. Uff, this was closer than I'd like to admit but I survived the imps and AV wave. Then.. Door opened elsewhere, of course. Dark room, switch, kill the zombies and the HKs, back, kill the.. Ahn.. neon baron? Red door, exit. But! I'm 2 secrets short. One of them has to be the soulsphere. It is, but I don't know how to reach it.. Ah ah! found one, one more to go... Ah! found. They are both well marked actually.

 

100% K/I/S, 1 death, 20:12.

 

After the gimmick heavy last level this one is rather welcome. 

[finnks13]

MAP12 - Chemistry:
The opener to the only techbase-themed part of Judgement is fairly unusual. I like the dark metal aesthetic along with the green slime, it's a colour combination that I think works very well together. I like the hell knight security guard at the entrance of the facility, and the running around for decent weaponry at the start of the map while being flanked by demons from a few sides. The yellow key ambush is a bit scrappy, though does introduce the Archon of Hell to the regular enemy
roster, and I immediately found out that it explodes upon death. I look forward to forgetting this fact and dying to splash damage every time I fight these guys.

 

The surprise cyberdemon leads to a BFG (I guess that's why Map11 has no death exit) and a series of entertaining fights. The fight with the Wraiths in what seems to be an homage to The Crusher is fun, and they work very well in these close-quarters fights with large amounts of cover. I like how conveyors are used in the red key fight to bring some imps down to your level, it's a neat touch and definitely makes what could have been a boring fight stand out. Good start to the episode and a fun map in general.

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

Really Liked: MAP02, MAP05, MAP33
Liked: MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP09, MAP12
Mixed Opinions: MAP03
Didn't Like: MAP11

Boring: MAP01, MAP04, MAP10

(As always, don't take these as an objective measure of quality, they're just reflections of how much fun I had with the map after completing it and this could vary wildly for various reasons.)

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 12: Chemistry

 

The new episode takes us to a UAC base, reportedly having undergone some corruption. You start below an overhand leading to a base and several dark Imps facing away from you, leading to an ugly tower with those delightful Map 02 underhalls textures. Also, why SHAWN? Why? A couple of fenced outside areas dotted with towers round the layout at. When you enter the building, you  are greeted by a security station with a Super shotgun and  hitscanners in a pillbox not too far ahead of you with Sigil-esque red cracks running through a darkened room. Pick up the yellow key that you'll find taking the right path?, you're then attacked by an ambush of Hell Knights an pinkies, an Archon of Hell (those cooled-lava colored Barons) along with a Pain Elemental or two. If you've found the hidden switch, you can also pick up a chainsaw. Push the yellow switch at the other end of the map, thr nearvy towers open up revealing some Cacos and Pain Elementals. Don't worry you'll get enough ammo to take them on. Now head the door opened by the yellow swiitch, head outside, deal with the teleport trap and kill the Arch-vile that appears here, leave and be confronted by a Cyberdemon it's hard to cause infighting with because of his position in a narrow hallway, head to the next room containing a slime pool, push a switch in a room that seems like a blatant Crusher homage where you face off against wraiths that aren't actually so hard to deal with here,grab the last key, prepare to deal with an ambush that in addition to chaingunners on the left wall facing away from the exit also include masses of dark imps, pinkies, spectres, a baby caco or two;) and an Arch-vile. Because of the latter, it's best to charge through the ranks of the Imps as soon as you can, lest you find yourself in an unwinnable situation since you only get so many rockets. Unfortunately, a Baby Caco got in the way as I flipped around and there was just no way I could avoid shooting them unless I died from the nearby Imp. It certainly didn't make taking out the final Archon pair at the exit any easier.

 

Cool episode opener, and the last few fights were good, also there was good use of hitscanners. But we'll see how this stacks up against the rest of Mutant Technology.

lmd_judg12.zip

[General Roasterock]

Map 09: Hanging Death

  Hanging Death suffers from the same issue that Temple of the Lost did. This map really does feel like an extension of Rotting Garden, they both have these tall walls lined with gothic fences, large rectangular hallways big enough for Arachnotrons to stand around nukage, a secret skull switch placed behind a torch, and a damaging floor platforming bit over circular columns with a secret for those who explore the bottom layer. These aren't thematic choices, these are core gameplay pieces that have clear parallels across a map that I just played before. 

  I liked rediscovering the practicality of the destructible decorations to get to the Soulsphere, and the cave area felt natural for the landscape. I feel I cleared out the central area too quickly, and that the Cyberdemon was meant to assist me in the sprawl that happens there. I thought the Arch-Vile chase at the start was unique, I don't know how many maps actually get the pace going in that regard, but that's the one step up I feel this map has over its twin. Everything else feels very spacious to the point of nullifying challenge. If these actually were extensions of Rotting Garden, and they were cut into their own map for the purpose of conciseness, then that's great, and I'm glad both maps can benefit from that, but this one is missing a little something something. 

Map 10: Cenotaph

  Could just be me, but this map is a pretty big difficulty spike. That probably has to do with it being one center room that diverts into a bunch of other rooms for fights, as my mind is now set on skipping over anything I feel like I'm going to come back to. The visuals feel strikingly different from the rest of the episode in the texturing, it feels more like a middle third Sunlust map than stone reservoir, but maybe that's just the effect of playing the last two maps back to back.

  Most of the combat blends together with a great bunch of other scenarios I've seen so far, but I did really like the last fight with the Cyberdemon pyramid. I will give credit where the maps have never underequipped me for something to the point where I couldn't handle a fight, or at least moving around it. The fights were cool, the helper dog was useless, standard experience that I don't have as much to say about.

Map 11: Shrine to Madness

  Bro what the fuck.

  This map is like something I would make out of spite. The first fifteen seconds or so had me thinking that there would be this interesting dynamic involving the Rocket Launcher that is unique to this WAD. The true introduction of the Wraith here (even though it was also in Neon Crater as a little bonus), combined with the explosive payload that is your only good defense against them here, makes for a cool use of Doomguy's speed. I was guessing that tighter and tighter Wraith scenarios were going to start popping up to get people used to how fast they were. 

  Then the map starts throwing Pain Elementals out, and it's nearly the whole of the enemy count. 

  I don't mind that there's already pretty slim pickings for places to safely shoot a Rocket Launcher in this map, and I don't mind that all the encounters are built for this exact purpose, but this map decides to go this direction while the Pain Elementals in Judgment are BUFFED to shoot more souls on average in their lifetime. I don't consider it hyperbolic to say that the singular extra soul during the PE's death is the make or break point on this map, as now the act of shooting an extra rocket to account for the survivability of one of these guys is a threat, and very easily punished.

  Of course, yet again, I don't find the very helpful SSG that would have solved this until the end of the map, but even still there are a huge amount of PEs that have to be cut through to reach that point. I liked the other Wraith fight in the lava, that was a cool balance of damage between floor, monster, and self. I ate shit on every other fight though solely because of PE related shenanigans.

  Of all the maps so far in this WAD, why does this one get the honor of introducing the Demolisher? A really cool custom enemy is preceded by what could classify as a jokemap. I never got to see its full potential because I just stood behind one column and shot rockets at it, nullifying all potential it had to damage me. God bless the BFG at the very end of the map for giving continuous players the attention they have never received. I did not have fun with this one.

 

Power Rankings:

Spoiler

Neon Crater

The Stronghold

Rotting Garden

Pit of Fire

Arcanaeum

Cenotaph

Incised Path

Ritual Ground

Hanging Death

Blood Mountain

Temple of the Lost

Shrine to Madness

 

Rayziik's Circular Column of the Day:

Spoiler

 

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with DSDA-Doom, saves are allowed)

Map 12: Chemistry

106% kills, 97% items and 33% secrets 

Time: 9:46

 

This is more like it! The introduction to Judgement's techbase episode is a really fun and memorable map. Just entering the complex and seeing the lights go out is really cool, especially as it allows nightshades and hitscanners to be way more dangerous than usual. My favorite encounters include the yellow key fight with the first non-secret archon, along with lots of pinkies, spectres and hell knights, the moment when tons of hitscanners and an archie teleport after going through the yellow door or the red key trap with the imps, spectres, archie and baby cacos. Some other fights such as the ones that activate after pressing the red switch or before grabbing the red key can be overwhelming due to the limited space, but are still pretty fun. The visuals are again very good and Psyrus' midi fits the theme very well. Chemistry is a really good map!

Footnote: The episode is called mutant technawlogy......

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 5

Map 10

Map 6

Really Like:

Map 33

Map 12

Map 3

Map 9

Map 8

Map 2

Like:

Map 7

Map 4

Map 1

Dislike:

Map 11

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP12 - “Chemistry”

 

A much better experience compared to the last couple of maps. There are some decent fights in here, the yellow key probably offering the best balance between fun and challenge. The red key is straightforward if you have been frugal with ammo (Rockets + imps is always a good combo). The BFG is again present in this one, and is needed for a couple of fights, including two shotting a cyberdemon. The red key switch has a nasty little surprise, alas we have dressed up doors with health at the exit again. 

A good variety of combat themes here, not the greatest layout but perfectly serviceable to play. A solid effort.

[sandwedge]

Finished up Map 11 and 12 today so I got to experience the end and beginning of two mini episodes.  And I gotta say, map 11 stole the show, lol.

 

 

Map 11 Monument to Madness was quite a rollercoaster of emotions, so a fitting title for sure.  First off all I love the little corner hallway you start in with gradual lighting, it definitely looks like something out of a horror game and this map definitely plays into that feel.  I knew this was the end of an episode so I was quite surprised to see the monster count at the beginning.  Of course this is a lesson in stretching out your monster count as far as possible, and might be an idea for any monster limited community projects!  That is, if lost souls don't count.  Well before the flying skulls we have a couple monsters out of a creepypasta mod or something, they run straight at you with their blade arms and seem to phase in and out of reality.  One encounter with them legit scares me which is hilarious and not what I was expecting in this megawad, freaking jumpscares!  Thankfully they aren't too hard to deal with, as a close range SSG blast can take care of them.  The problem?  You only have the rocket launcher for long stretches of this map!  And Rayziik takes full advantage by sending pain elementals and lost souls at you like it's going out of style!  Once I realized this was the map idea I realized 35 monsters was actually going to be a pretty tough time.

 

Thankfully, Rayziik does hand out a chaingun to help, though you still need to do some heavy lifting with the rocket launcher.  It's a good idea I have done some rocket/ pain elemental combat training before in the micro slaughter community project, otherwise this map would be pure pain.  If you keep strafing out of the way of lost souls and pay attention to their spawning you should be able to dispatch them.  However, the big setpiece room is loaded with more pain elementals who actually triggered much sooner than I expected!  The big caveat is that you can run the heck out of the room and rocket them through the door as they clump up there.  I can only imagine a fight where this wasn't possible, and indeed if you keep running to the megasphere and key I believe it will lock you in.  The enhanced pain elementals and lost souls along with only rockets would make this room a serious problem if locked in, so I'm glad I exploited this encounter.  You might say cheesed, but I mean, I imagine it is an intended strategy because otherwise I would probably still be here playing this level!

 

Of course, the piece de resistance is definitely the new and improved spider mastermind, who has finally realized she is the worst boss monster and decided to strap on several more heavy duty weapons.  Yes that's right, now she's packing rockets and, to my absolute amazement, a BFG!  These seem to come out of the same hole, but one thing about Doom is we learn not to ask about the holes.  With the pain elementals gone, this is about using the wood pounders to your advantage, but honestly the rocket splash damage is a serious problem even so.  You also only have a bit of plasma so it takes a lot of rockets to dispatch her, and it takes a while.  Thankfully more megaspheres seem to appear to help you out.  I'm not sure how her BFG works here, if you only have to worry about the ball or if there are tracers too - I don't think there are tracers because that would be an absolute nightmare.  This was a really fitting end to an episode - absolutely crazy, toying with my expectations and emotions, but not trolling me so hard that I want to stop playing.  Fantastic work.

 

Of course I dip my toe into the next episode, Mutant Techgnawlogy, with map 12 Chemistry.  There is a lot less to say here, but I am interested to see what Judgment decides to do with the techbase theme.  This one has a slightly scary archvile and imp ambush that probably would have gone smoother had I remembered the BFG, though.  The BFG has a nice reskin but otherwise seems to work the same.  I mess up the order of the last trap and let the cyber out to shoot me in the back during an ambush.  There's also a bizarre projectile shooter that keeps teleporting in while I play the map, and I don't what the deal is there, but it kept confusing me, making me think something was teleporting in behind me, lol.  Glitch or intentional way to mess with me?  I would guess the latter since this wad seems to want to do that to me quite often, but in the best way possible.

 

 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the video and/or write-up, this was a really fun episode due to a very crazy and fun map.  Looking forward to how the techbase-y episode develops!

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Blind/Saves

Map 11: Shrine To Madness

100% kills and secrets

Time: 13:12

Deaths: 5 (all behind the blue door)

 

Reading some of the other posts about this level, I was wondering if it was as annoying as some of those posts were making it out to be. It is kinda annoying at times, but I think the map was pretty interesting. Having your primary weapon rockets and your primary enemies be ones that like to charge into your face is an interesting map dynamic that I think does work very well. Trying to maneuver out of the way of a charging forgotten one so you can rocket the pain elemental that just spewed it is a unique challenge. Add in the wraith's first non-secret map appearance, and you have an added challenge. My biggest complaint is the lack of health, especially since it's pretty much guaranteed you're gonna face rocket a few times. I think more health would make it less frustrating. After you grab the yellow key and try to leave to room, you instead get locked in and have to deal with a new boss monster not listed in the Judgment thread: the Demolisher. This Spider Mastermind decided a chaingun isn't enough, so she added another one, plus a rocket launcher and a BFG. Thankfully, there's enough cover here to avoid everything, even if those pillars like to raise up leaving you coverless. You'll have a minigun and plasma by this point (plus a hidden SSG in this area), so you'll have enough ammo to take it out. I didn't find the SSG initially, so I wasted all my plasma, spent some bullets, then rocketed it, rocket resistance be damned. Heading out, you'll grab a BFG and exit the map. Yay for continuous! Overall, I didn't mind this level. I liked the gimmick, and it made for some interesting fights. Lack of health was a huge detriment though. Some of those megaspheres in the demolisher fight could have been spread out through the map.

 

Map 12: Chemistry

100% kills and secrets

Time: 13:52

For the first map of the 3 episode, we are now entering some good ol' techbases. This map isn't too challenging, but there's a few nice set piece fights, with some nice enemy combos. The yellow key fights sends pinkies, cacos, a pain elemental, and the first non-secret archon. Now I can see what they do. They can spew normal noble projectiles, along with nightshade bouncing ones. They have a few different types of spreads for these, making it hard to judge what kind of attack they'll use. You can get 3 projectiles one after another, or a spread wave of them. Interesting! Thankfully, they seem to be weaker than a normal baron. 2 of the 3 secrets don't really seem that valuable (a blur sphere and a chainsaw), but make sure you look out for the wall hiding a teleporter to the soul sphere. You can use that for the surprise cyb. Before hitting the switch behind the hitscan and archie wave, platform to the BFG/surprise 3 baron ambush. This way you can have enough cells to 2-shot the cyb. The red key fight is pretty simple. Rocket the chaingunners, then focus on the imp swarm, and make sure to take out the archie as soon as he appears. The dark room the red switch is in looks scarier than it is. Just hot the switch and minigun the imps and wraiths. Take out the 2 archons guarding the exit, and you're good. Very nice beginning to the ep! Looks good. I liked the red hell cracks in the first indoor room. The natural environment looks nice too.

[Book Lord]

MAP 13 – Combustion

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The tour of tech-bases continued in a bright indoor factory, lit by vivid flames burning in hot furnaces. The rooms featured pools and conduits filled with a scorching yellow mass, possibly molten gold, which paired pleasantly with the brown walls and paved floors. Close to the start, I heard the bark of an unseen dog, so I searched for a secret door. Looking at the automap, I jumped to the secret cell pack before locating Marine’s Best Friend, who was not very active due to the unsuitable layout. I missed the Computer Area Map secret, hidden behind a wall where I have never directed my glance.

Spoiler

Combustion had the great merit of lacking Judgment’s signature crossroads hub. The first area was a series of small, interconnected rooms, communicating through windows or passages. I liked the asymmetric layout, as it promoted interesting combat every time it was crossed during the progression. The BK was on a terrace that could be reached from an L-passage at a lower level, where Imps lurked in alcoves and Hell Knights were taking a shower in yellow ooze. It was a bit grindy to be honest, the only portion that lacked good inspiration. In the basement, a chamber presented the chaingun, along with the complimentary hitscanner ambush. Getting back up to the starting area pitted me unexpectedly against two Arch-Viles, who had the time to resurrect many fallen demons before being put to rest.

Spoiler

An Azazel was unleashed on the BK terrace while I was under Shock Trooper crossfire. The opposition must be dispatched quickly since there was no cover, so I equipped the plasma rifle. The key triggered the access to the northern part of the map, a large arena thronged by lots of Imps, Pinkies, two Azazels, and some Wraiths. It was not an overly dangerous situation after killing the monsters on ledges, but I handled it more comfortably with plasma and the ammo distribution seemed to agree with me. The return to the hub was saluted by a death squad of Archons of Hell & hitscanners. The cramped space and the bars blocking my escape produced an exciting encounter, with the high-rank Nobles posing a serious threat in close quarters. Overall, the combat was well concocted in this second tech-base, and the visuals were detailed and distinguished enough to stand well above average. Combustion continued the third episode as I hoped for, changing not only the graphics but also exploring the use of new bestiary in narrow spaces, and breaking the absolute linearity seen in Bringing Death in Kind.  

Edited May 13, 2022 by Book Lord : corrected several wrong monster references

[sandwedge]

Hey what was agreed on with map numbers and days?  Can't find it.  And I just got to the secret levels through playing and I'm now unsure when I can upload it.

[Book Lord]

On 5/4/2022 at 3:05 AM, dobu gabu maru said:

As per Rayzik's wishes, I'm gonna be altering the playlist once more. That means we're playing:

 

- MAP08 along with MAP33 on the 8th.

- MAP15 along with MAP31 on the 15th.

- MAP32 on the 16th (which will bump every map afterwards by one day, ie MAP16 played on the 17th)

- MAP24 along with MAP34 on the 25th.

 

Sorry for all the inconveniences!

 

57 minutes ago, sandwedge said:

Hey what was agreed on with map numbers and days?  Can't find it.  And I just got to the secret levels through playing and I'm now unsure when I can upload it.

See above. 

 

I think it would be easier to post about MAP32 on any day after the 15th, instead of losing sync between map numbers and days, or to postpone it on the 31st, but let's stick to dobu's post to avoid misunderstandings.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with DSDA-Doom, saves are allowed)

Map 13: Combustion

102% kills, 97% items and 66% secrets 

Time: 11:13

 

First of all, this map is my favorite looking one so far, I absolutely love the combination of the tech elements with the flames and yellow liquid, especially when the theme is supported by an awesome AD_79 track. However, Comustion ain't only visually impressive, the combat is still very good. While the section leading to the blue key has way too many imps and hell knights for it's own good, the rest of the map makes up for it with it's high body count and exciting traps. My favorite is the red key arena that starts with mancubi and shock troopers, but later throws hordes of pinkies, imps and some azazels. The icing on the cake is that exiting this area reveals a few archons and teleports a lot of hitscanners and imps, who are ready to be detroyed by your minigun. Overall, it's an other really good map, very pretty and entertaining.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 5

Map 10

Map 6

Really Like:

Map 13

Map 33

Map 12

Map 3

Map 9

Map 8

Map 2

Like:

Map 7

Map 4

Map 1

Dislike:

Map 11

 

 

[UnknDoomer]

M32: WWMiH 2021
GzDoom/UV/Saves
99% and 0% secrets
Time: 32:23.

 

 

Currently playing this wad and randomly noticed this thread. So.

For those to whom the previous 17 levels seemed to be too easy, the authors prepared a brutal battle with 2000+ (2645+ in my case, lost souls doesn't count, as I've got) enemies. However, with proper dexterity and running in a circles, this map, in comparison with similar ones in other wad's, will not cause much troubles, except, perhaps, the blue key part / holding out until the gate will open. Most of the enemies will enter in high infight here.

Map basically doesn't require to kill all the enemies - you might collect 3 skulls and exist from and there is some places to hide available here as well,



but I decide not too + didn't use the invulnerability item.

 

I've missed one revenant somewhere, it seems.

Edited May 13, 2022 by UnknDoomer

[tonytheparrot]

@UnknDoomer Do you know that unless dobu changes the rules, you're not supposed to post about this map before the 16th? If you don't want to remove it, at least put it under a spoiler tag and mention that it is for map 32, as some people have probably not played it and will be spoiled.

[UnknDoomer]

There is no number "32" in the month, so I've read the rules like I can post it / previosly map 33 was discussed here. Anyhow, moved out under the spoiler.

[tonytheparrot]

@UnknDoomer First of all, thank you. Second, I understand the confusion, generally maps 31 and 32 are played the same day as 15, but it is different this month as Rayziik thought that it would be better to play 32 on the 16th due to it being "a doozy compared to 15 and 31". Also, we played 33 on the 8th as it is accessed through a secret exit in map 8. Also, in case you stay here, starting from the 16th, we are gonna lose sync, map 16 is gonna be played on the 17th, 17 on the 18th....

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 13: Combustion

 

The AD_79 track gets ya pumped and that's all that needs to be said there. It's not one of his most memorable pieces (Map 17 of 1000 Lines and some of his Arrival stuff are probably more deserving of that).

 

The map itself....consists of a number of rectangular hallways that can be described as a central area of sorts, filled with some delightful and molten yellow liquid, some of it flowing out of the walls, with some fancy yellow trim complementing the look. The overwhelming aesthetic is made up of tan walls, broken up in certain rooms by  Doom 1 industrial pipe textures (you might remember from that one section of Central Processing in Doom where there's lots of platforms through rooms of slime). Honestly, I love the appearance of yellow in Doom engine games, like certain Heretic wads that throw gold everywhere in particular locations.

 

For no other reason than my own shit mood, I was a little 'meh' on this. You ever get to the point where you're only impressed by excellently-staged encounters rather than careless numbers? Not to say that's all completely true, but play a ribbiks map or something by Wilou84 and you can probably figure out what I'm getting at. But anyway, the start is sufficiently intense. You're handed a Super Shotgun right away, so you should be able to handle the corridor Imps and occasional rooms with shotgunners no problem. Especially because there's a little and surprisingly trap-less room with armour, a backpack, and enough shells for you to never complain about your supplies on that account. Although I completely failed to find any secrets, which would've given me a fair amount of additional rockets.

 

Anyway, push a switch somewhere in this central area, and lower some bars with lots of pinkies and a pair of Azazel guarding a plasma rifle. This is where I started to feel that they were truly used in an effective manner because its not hard for them to seriously damage you, though perhaps you should use the plasma rifle. Good luck on accessing the cells behind an anonymous waterfall in the east near the first green armor though. IDDTing it will not help you find it, and, um, that's a shit reward.

 

Anyway, there's a lift that leads down to some swer-esque tunnels with the yellow liquid running from the center. The berserk pack here is a sort of clue of the series of mini-encounters with little groups of Imps, along with some scattered Hell Knights hidden inside the flows. It would suck keyboard-only (I fucking hate punching things with keyboard), but with mouse, it's not bad at all, and you can use the plasma rifle/shotgun when things get too hairy. At some point on the left, there's an optional room with a chaingun that you won't be able to take unopposed as you might expect. The monster closets contain hitscanners that aren't too threatening, though there are chaingunners among them, and ironically, I collected them before I got the middle chaingun since the closets open when you hit the switch that lowers the chaingun.

 

At some point when you enter the sewers, two Arch-viles are also unleashed back in the central halls entirely without knowing about. I came upon the first one on the left when I exited the sewers at the other end. They were dispatched without even batting an eye. The other Arch-vile was able to resurrect several enemies on the other end. I had enough plasma for the resurrected enemies, but you can imagine how annoyed I was at that point.

 

I didn't have the blue key here, so I had to go back to the sewers and take a lift on the left up to a ledge above where the plasma rifle is, which triggers some closets with plasma troopers to open up that I carelessly charged and lost much of my health as a result, allowing the Azazel that teleporter in shortly thereafter to finish me. Picking up the blue key was little trouble after this.

 

So head to the blue key switch in the north, which you then press to...reveal 4 Revenants on either side in total, but two of them teleport, predictably, behind you. I have mixed feelings on this tactic since it's so predictable, but I'd picked up more plasma by this point, so they were terminated with little trouble while the other two were punched out. Both hallways behind this door lead to a large open room that doesn't seem like too much at first, despite the distant presence of plasma troopers, but ends up turning into a large conflagaration with Archons of Hell, Mancubi, Hell Knights, and Imps, along with other enemies, probably including hitscanners. Grab the red key, open the red key door here, hit a switch and take a teleporter to a small platform in the central hallway.

 

Presumably, this is also what triggers a neareby section of wall to lower, containing a switch, which reveals the nastiest ambush of the map, easily! A square area with at least 2 Archons of Hell and several Brutes is revealed. Unfortunately, I didn't intuit the nearby location of the room right away, so after a couple of deaths, I rewinded to a point before I pushed the switch, rocketed them to oblivion, and thankfully had enough plasma ammo for another Archon that appeared in the sewers.

 

I have no other words. I think I liked 12 better, though. Not bad at all.

lmd_judg13.zip

[NiGHTS108]

MAP12: Chemistry

Kills: 100%

Items: 62%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 8:50

 

A tremendous start to E3. Chemistry's combat really lands for me. It's pretty basic, sure, it's more linear than most maps in this wad so far, but I don't care about that stuff. All the fights land really well. I do really like the visual style too, sort of a merger of canyons and traditional tech bases? It's no 08 and 09, but it also comes off really well. At the yellow key, I love the ominous pool of corpses foreshadowing the (formal) introduction of the Baron Of Whatchamacallit, he's much more dangerous, giving out a constant spray of projectiles everywhere, I dig it. Also beware of the fight at the end, I suggest saving at least a few BFG shots and/or rockets for this segment. Those Imps can be trouble with just an SSG up your sleeve, and the Arch-Vile later? Sheesh... This map is really neat, there's a lot to love here.

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: B-

 

 

[finnks13]

MAP13 - Combustion:
The second map of episode 3 ditches the METAL aesthetic for a theme using more BRONZE-y textures. I like the yellow liquid running through this facility (as with Eviternity Map31, I can't imagine it as anything but liquid gold) and while the layout is very blocky and corridor-heavy, I think it works well for the fights and refinery aesthetic. The start is fairly low key, with imps, shotgunners, revenants and mancubi shooting you in the maze-like corridors of the first area, with some pinkies and two azazels joining in after pushing a couple of switches. It's fun to run around and take everything out, and the relatively high amount of fodder enemies keeps it from becoming a slog. Dropping down into the darker section is much the same, though you now have a plasma gun to take care of the hell knights.

 

Leaving this area spawns 2 archviles in which were an absolute nightmare to take out for me, they kept resurrecting mancubi and azazels, which blocked them in and stopped me from plasma-ing them. My favourite parts of the level come behind the blue door, the large ambush in the red key room isn't particularly challenging but it's very fun to run around rocketing the hordes of imps and zombies. The ambush where three Archon of Hells appear from inside the walls in the corridors at the start, which has transformed into a pretty small arena, was fun to take out and the threat of death by splash damage made careful execution of them very important. Great map overall.

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

Really Liked: MAP02, MAP05, MAP33, MAP13
Liked: MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP09, MAP12
Mixed Opinions: MAP03
Didn't Like: MAP11

Boring: MAP01, MAP04, MAP10

(Don't take these as an objective measure of quality, they're just reflections of how much fun I had with the map after completing it and this could vary wildly for various reasons.)