The DWmegawad Club plays: Uprising

[finnks13]

MAP13 - Sci-Labs:
To me this map felt like a Shores of Hell map that actually had fun gameplay, it's got a similar theme in the corrupted techbase, but the slightly confusing layout and darkness combined with the very spooooky MIDI really reminded me of E2M4 or E2M6. This map is also the proper start of Uprising's obsession with the colour red. For my money, I think dark grey, black and red combine to create a striking and fairly unique aesthetic but I do understand that this can get a bit one-note. In this map, it's reserved for the more overtly "evil" parts of the techbase with concrete and tekwall textures used elsewhere.

 

This map also gets the combat of Uprising back on track, you get an SSG fairly early on in a rather mean ambush where you're trapped in a little room with 2 revenants and 2 chaos knights, while dark imps teleport around you and pepper you with fireballs through the windows. There's a couple of cheeky archvile traps, and the map ends with a very entertaining finale involving a load of drones and imps for you to blow up. The gameplay outside of these areas is more incidental and less interesting, but the full roster of custom enemies in Uprising allow for this incidental combat to be very fast paced, since there's so many more options for enemies that have low HP and this keeps the incidental combat fresh due to the wider variety in monster setups than would normally be possible.

 

Overall, this is a spooky techbase that begins this wad's obsession with RED.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 13: Sci-Labs

100% kills, 67% items and 33% secrets

Time: 9:01

 

Now, you may have seen that I have been pretty critical of some of the less combat focused maps of Uprising, especially 8 and 11. Given that Sci-Labs is more focused on survival-horror than combat, you may think that I would not be a big fan of it, but you would be wrong. There are 3 main reasons that explain why I love this map so much:

1- The atmosphere is mastered thanks to the great work on lighting but most importantly Xulgonoth's midi, which brings a lot of stress and tension to the playthrough. I especialy love these notes around the end that sound like heartbeats as they are absolutely chilling. This track creates an atmosphere reminding of Metabolist's “Killing Spirit”, used in HR2 map 13.

2- The visuals are impeccable and the whole picture stands out thanks to the disturbing hellish corruption.
3- The map ends with a banger, 2 waves of enemies coming one after the other, all ready to send you to the Reaper, but fortunately, they are nothing against your heavy arsenal!

Overall, Sci-Labs is Uprising's best slower paced map so far thanks to it's tense and stressful atmosphere, awesome visuals and great final encounter.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 13

Map 12

Map 4

Really Like:

Map 6

Map 1

Map 10

Map 7

Map 3

Map 5

Map 2

Like:

Map 11

Map 8

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP13 - “Sci-Labs”

 

A return a more slow paced style of combat. Now this isn't actually an issue if you are able to sell the other things that are going for the map (Be it exploration or a more survival horror motif), the latter is used here and it actually turns out really well. There is a genuine sense of dread whilst you slowly work your way through this map, potentially being ailed by anything that lurks in the shadows. The map isn't particularly difficult, but there are one or two ambushes that can really roast the player. The first is the blue key, which may catch you off guard (One of those you open the blue bars from the opposite side to what you think you would do), the monsters used here are well chosen to make a balance between being threatening but not obnoxious. The rest of the map follows suit, there is one complaint for me and that occurs right after picking up the yellow key. The fight in here is fine, but the lowering floor behind the bars is very cheap to be honest, you can easily succumb to infinite height issues here and an archvile is also in player in. 

The final fights are pretty fun, again nothing overly threatening but engaging. Those little robots are a right pain, but again it isn't too over the top... yet.

Overall a really good map, this map gets proper shores of hell vibes and would not feel out of place in either of the modern TNT sequels.

[Sethlab 79461813]

* GZDoom - UV- Pistol Start - Blind - 100%K any%S - Saves allowed (no cheese) *

MAP13: Sci-labs

This map is an excellent study of atmosphere and tension as you work your way through the dark and sinister halls of this UAC testing facility. The chilling midi combined with great lighting and enemy placement makes for a really immersive experience. The incidental combat really works here; hiding hitscanners in dark corners or just beyond your reach creating ambushes that, combined with some of the harsh spikes in the midi, made the hair on my neck stand on end. I'm disappointed to see that we didn't continue the snow theme from the last map. Instead we get texturing and environments more reminiscent of The Shores of Hell (as someone in this thread pointed out) with some of that episode's excellent atmosphere to boot. The prevalence of red is starting to pick up with some of the textures. As a Revilution fan, red/blood/tech stuff really works for me. What doesn't really work is the texturing style of this map. It's a bit too disjointed and haphazard for me with geometry of rooms making no sense and entire floors and walls that look a little too abstract in my opinion. I would have like to see some primitive doomcute to help build the world of the UAC performing these horrible experiments you're presumably experiencing. Instead, your mind is supposed to fill in the blanks based solely on the fact that you're in a spooky area that has flesh and tech. I didn't feel immersed in this environment or that it was trying to be a real place; an outlier in this wad which has, so far, taken great pains to make believable maps. I also found that any fights with real teeth in this map could be neutered in seconds with accidental and simple infighting. It's almost as if Cheesewheel is too scared to take the kid gloves off for fear of making the wad too hard. I see potential for interesting mashups and environments in these bite size previews and I feel like the mapper should not be so reserved because they are capable of really engaging and difficult combat.
 

[kalaeth]

ok, back to civilization, so let's play a bit! 

 

MAP 10 - Outskirts : 

We left UAC HQ and are now outside. Up ahead there's the blue door, a fall down one of two paths and a switch with a trap and a backpack. I end up jumping into the river eventually going up some stairs,pick up the secret berskerer and then it's the other side of the river, kill everything, pick up the secret bluesphere, down to grab the SSG, cross the sewers minding the traps, up a lift, pick the red key, red door, go grab the yellow key, don't die in the ambush, yellow door, lift, ambush, blue key, and now the blue door from before, kill all, kill manc, switch, die to a combination of terrible rocket aiming and rev ball to the face, repeat from the blue key, and now I' one enemy and one secret short of the end. Found the shotgunner who was still alive and now to grab that blue armor.. ooh, that's a tiny switch to hit. Found, exit : 

100& K/I/S, 1 death, 16 minutes 16 seconds.

 

MAP 11 - Shipping Zone : 

Follow the blood to a switch that opens up the way, then follow until you find another switch that will give you another path, a small detour to find the secret berserk,

and then don't stop moving or shooting. There's a secret blue armor in some crates inside a ship, then hit the control room find some rev protected switches in a pool, that will eventually allow to cross to the other side of the dock, beware of the teleport trap, grab the blue key and go to the blue door , then move towards the red key, were assuming you play better than I do, which isn't hard, you won't die to the ambush, and then head back to the start, open the bars, enter the submarine and we are gone from here! 

100% K/I/S, 1 death, 13 minutes 14 seconds

 

MAP 12 - Bunker Bust : 

Nice view of the carnage about to unfold. And there's a new enemy! Some star-warish flying drones! Grab everything you need and then catch the lift up. Grab the yellow key and then its outside, grab the secret and back inside to the other yellow door, a short outside, red key, red door, brain pit, switch, lift, and exit! 

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 6 minutes 13 seconds

 

MAP 13 - Sci-Labs : 

We go in by the sewers, again, and then there's this brainy floor maze with a few exits. I go back, find the armory and the secret backpack with rockets, move a bit and find myself in the brainmaze again,find the right exit, teleport, nearly die, grab the blue key, other exit with the broken glass window, secret blue sphere, secret berserker, f5cking AV, red key, red bars. Room full of drones, yellow key, cacos, AV, yellow door, exit! 

100%, 64%, 100%, 0 deaths, 14 minutes 13 seconds.

 

MAP 14 - Lockdown : 

Another techbase in the cold, a big sprawling connected one. There are imps, all kinds of zombies and revenants. I die to the revs twice. Different ones! Third time I decide to do it slower, go back, up, kill the drones, press switch, the red room sinks, kill the caco, jump into the sewers, and keep on moving and shooting. Eventually I reach a red floored room and from it I spy a much needed bluesphere so I try to go around and find the lift but not the switch, so I keep moving and go up, until I find the switch, dash for the lift, grab it, go back, switch, cybercacos!  They do me good, but only once. Then I walk around searching for the blue door, find the bars, jump down and it's a mini cyberdemon! This thing in a small space must be really scary.I then move on to a lift, that takes me closer to the red key, but there will be a fight for it. Save, switch. A single cybercaco? Yup. Good.Red door, blue door, move to big red door, outside and the yellow key is at reach. After that yellow door, switch, open the exit, go back for the secret at the start, and.. Exit! 

100% K/I/S, 3 deaths, 21minutes 51 seconds.

  

 

Totals : 100% everything*, 7 deaths, 2 hours 54 minutes and 59 seconds time.

 

*except items, I somehow missed almost 40% of them in map 13, but I don't much care for those anyway.

[finnks13]

MAP14 - Lockdown:
Lockdown is where Episode 2 really gets going - we're in a prison complex of some sort and are immediately flung into a large non-linear section containing tight rooms and snowy outside areas. While the progression of the map is very linear, this main area has loads of pathways through it, though you'll probably want to grab one of the two rocket launchers fairly early on during your exploration of this area since you'll be lacking ammo if not. I managed to miss both rocket launchers and then got stuck at the blue key ambush as I had ran out of shells and bullets. I won't hold this against the map since there is a rocket launcher right next to the blue key, that I didn't find until after clearing it.

 

We're also introduced to the last two enemies that will appear regularly from now on - the Cacobot, a robotic cacodemon that fires a wide shot of mancubus fireballs followed up by a revenant missile and the Cybergunner that fires a rocket and then hitscans you (it functions almost identically to the Cybruiser in Eviternity). These are the two beefiest additions to the monster roster, but I think they work well as high-threat enemies that use deadly attacks. I also like that you can interrupt the Cacobot's attack before it fires a revenant missile which did help out in the fights that included them.

 

The area behind the blue key door is quite mean, there's very little space to move and there's sniping zombies and imps everywhere, as well as a cybergunner which is incredibly dangerous when in an area that is so enclosed. Every key fight in this map includes Cacobots in various circumstances and I think it introduces them well and teaches you different scenarios of how they're going to be used. The finale involves you blowing up a load of drones which is always entertaining, and also surprises you with some Cacobots to finish out the map.

 

Overall, this is a fun non-linear romp through a techbase that is probably best experienced knowing the weapon positions in advance.

[Doomy__Doom]

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 14 - Lockdown

 

Although the key order is linear, starting area has another open layout. Much like my original blind run, this time I went in the "wrong" direction again. You're supposed to go left of the starting area and find yourself RL, CG and a suit of green armor. However, monster placements can easily lead you right, delaying acquisition of those invaluable resources until much later. In my case I've only realised that I can even go there when I was in front of the exit with missing enemies.

 

Fortunately, there is another RL on the map - it comes along the BK area's introduction of CyberCacos. A top priority enemy combiming, flying, rev and manc. What makes them really evil though is low mass - they have the same 400 as Cacos, so sending them flying in awkward directions is very easy, and at that point you have to deal with a literal thorn in a side. In my solo-net run CC was introduced in map 10 (Outskirts) but used very sparingly until this map.

 

After some more snowy techbase exploration in search of what appears to be keys to a prison complex control room, we come across another new enemy in a Cybergunner - basically a slower version of Eviternity's Cyberbaron - shoot 1 rocket followed by hitscan volley. Unlike their Eviternity counterparts, these are too slow to pose a mobile threat, but are immune to splash damage. Yet another "too late" SSG is available behind the Cybergunner's spawn. In coop this enemy was unceremoniously introduced in the beginning of map 06 - Sewer Rat - and then forgotten entirely.

 

RK fight with CyberCacos is probably the most difficult part to do straight (staying in the arena) due to awkward stair fight momentum and aforementioned CacoWeight issue, so it got me on first try. But there is an avenue of escape back to the Cybergunner area that can trivialize the battle if you don't mind a little backtracking.

 

Bonus content: I went the right way this time :)

 

Solo-net adds obligatory Cyber in BK area. Awkward to get past, but CKs and then CCs whittle his health and occupy attention enough that it's not an utter chore to clean him up without SSG/plasma. Don't spend rockets though.

 

More Cybergunners are used - it was fun to watch 2 duke it out in RK area.

 

Area behind red door gets pretty mean - there are 2 viles and Cacos/CyberCacos they can res repeatedly. While you have basically infinite shells on coop, rockets do run out.

 

No massive improvements to health situation (i.e. Megas), so overall the map is slightly more busy but not fundamentally different.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 14: Lockdown

99% kills, 83% items and 100% secrets

Time: 14:54

 

Lockdown is another techbase that boasts a theme similar to map 12's, but it works better in the former as the snow is much more present and the stalagmites and  midi also embellish the whole picture. However, I don't get why Cheesewheel used GrayTall for a staircase, it's surely a very minor flaw, but this staircase feels out of place. Gampelay-wise, despite it's focus on incidental combat, I enjoy this map much more than 8 or 11 for example, possibly because it seems faster-paced and contains a higher body count and a non-linear layout that doesn't feel overly confusing. However, the “standout” fights feel weaker as they generally release either a few heavies and chaff enemies or a lot of drones. By the way, the cacobot and the cybergunner are introduced here, the former is a robotic caco with 600 health and who fires 2 mancubus fireballs and later a revenant missile, while the latter is a robotic demon with 1000 health and who behaves like the annihilator from Eviternity, which means he shoots a rocket, then a burst of chaingun fire. Again, I hope they are not gonna become too much of a pain later. Overall, it's another really solid map

 

Footnote : I don't know if I screwed up, but I couldn't get a chaos knight and caco to teleport in, oh well...

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 13

Map 12

Map 4

Really Like:

Map 6

Map 1

Map 14

Map 10

Map 7

Map 3

Map 5

Map 2

Like:

Map 11

Map 8

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP14 - “Lockdown”

There is probably a bit too much distance between the yellow key and the subsequent door for my liking, as such it took me a while to find it again. Otherwise for the most part this was very solid. There is a heavy level of attrition to the threat here, probably more so than the previous map. Monsters can creep around everywhere and unlike other wads some of these fodder enemies can deal large amounts of damage in one hit. To be honest having a more accessible green armour would have been nice. 

We get two new monsters here, the robocaco is the one mostly used, whilst the other is only used once. I like the robo caco, he sort of behaves like Scythe 2's Afrit, but with less health and actually looks pretty decent. They are also used reasonably well. 

Overall this was pretty solid and enjoyable.

[Gibbon]

MAP14 - Lockdown

 

A nice short, action-filled map.  The only thing I'd complain about is the yellow key trap.  I know it is meant to be an ambush but when you get stuck between a few imps, it simply becomes unfair, rather than a challenge.

 

Short and sweet overall I'd say.

 

Spoiler

 

 

MAP15 - Communications

 

I decided to pistol start this one.  Big mistake.  I kept on dying so I basically gave up on this one.  Pretty tough and lots of those plasma dudes just keep whittling your health away.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP14: Lockdown. 240/240 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 29:54.

 

A decent map that I felt was a bit chore to do. Completion time rose to close to half an hour... Maybe my problem stems from the map being another snowy techbase we already saw, and that it doesn't bring that much new to the table... Except that it does, two new enemies, one remniscient of certain Eviternity demon, and another that acts like a certain Eviternity knight, but looks like something I saw in 1000 Lines 3 (but is probably originally from somewhere else). Much like the drones (which are still okay by me, I thought I'd gotten fed up with 'em by now), I hope not to see them too often :P

[kalaeth]

oh, it's map 15 day , so.. Secret levels too? Let's see! 

 

MAP15 - Communications : 

We start on a lift, and then there's another lift to grab the chaingun, and then it's outside, clean it up a bit and then enter to the right side building, then press the switch and survive the ambush, enter the next building, lift to grab the backpack, and now.... Where am I supposed to go? Ah, I see, I have to enter the building at the end of the courtyard and from there reach the blue key. Oh cool, secret bluesphere, and then I die to the mini-cyber.. And I think I forgot to save? Yeah I did. Oh well, from the top. Ok, I'm finally ready for the central area. Oh, no, I wasn't. Got facerocketd, somehow? Oh, it must have been a teleporting shotgunner. Next time it was my fault (or autoaim's fault, since there was a dude on top of the stairs but it shot right into the stairs and got me splashed). Finally, survived. Now, save, go grab the blue key. And I survived! Almost, since after killing almost everything I got shot by a dark imp... Different approach, I went back after the switch and finally survived! Next, to go grab the red key. There's a bit outside with a secret shootable switch, the SSG is across a bridge, tons of drones after, then grab the red key, kill the cacos, both kinds, and now.. Red door. Oh, another switch. Red door now, saved, rockets! No, wait, I need a smoke first. Ok, let's go.

 Outside, clear the space, first switch, shoot another face, second switch. Not too bad, and now, third switch. And cool, I survived! Now, back through the yellow door, all enemies dead, one secret to go. And there's two exits. I entered one but I think this is the "normal" one. Yeah, it was, so reload, go pass over the secret bluesphere pillar since the secret hadn't triggered and now, to the secret exit. I'm guessing the switches raised the lifts? Maybe. Exit :

100% K/I/S, 5 deaths, 24 minutes 26 seconds.

 

totals : 100% everything, 12 deaths, 3 hours 19 minutes and 26 seconds time.

 

I'll do the secret levels later today. Maybe.

Edited to avoid double post : 

 

MAP 31 - Dereliction :

Oh, we got transported to a space station! But it seems as if the demons have been here already.. An SSG and a backpack as a starting gift.. Not normally a good sign. Switch opens 2 doors, I head trough the smallest, where more corpses and ammo await. Went around to the other door. A megasphere lies in the middle of a big room, a secret soulsphere can be reached by the stairs, a pair of big doors lead outside where two more megaspheres wait,a red door eventually, I keep moving, exploring the corpse filled station, reach a big hall with even more corpses.. Another door and it's the command center, save, switch. Grab the yellow key, nothing happened. Outside the room a really fast plasma guy and then a teleport sound.. Ah, another one. and then another one, another, 4 down 9 to go, bedrooms, a office, blue door for the exit, another teleport sound, 8 left,  7 left, 6, 5, I'm on the cafeteria, open the yellow door, grab the red key, 4 left, 3 left, this one didn't even have time to shoot at me, red door, blue key, grab the other secret, 2 left, and this is the exit. However.. Oh wait, this isn't the exit. Oh, cool! It ports you back to the level 15 exit. However.. I'm one enemy short and I need to open the secret exit (that I'm pretty sure will be the hangar like structure next to the control room), so I head there and hope the last guy pops up meanwhile. So, I'm obviously missing something.. Found the last dude, and he got me good. But killing him opened the trigger for the secret exit! Reloaded, went back, killed the dude, exit.

 

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 26 minutes 18 seconds.

This is a really cool and atmospheric map, and these faster plasma soldiers can go through your life in a second! Scary stuff.

 

MAP 31 - Beyond : 

Oh, UAC Chronology labs? Time travel here I come? So.. Last map had 13 enemies. This one? 1114 enemies! This will take a while. I won't talk much, but first open some bars, go to the entryway and open the door, and reach a switch that opens a teleport to.. 1917! Trenches!  lot's of former stuff, and now to cross the no mans land, grab the yellow key, find the secret, and exit by the 'port. Now with the yellow key, I wonder where in time will we be 'ported to? 1520? So it seems. Aztec ruins and lava! Also, chaingunners. A few. They've got me dead twice already! Two more deaths, one to rev one to chaingunner, again, and now I'm saving each ten steps, and yet.. Fuck the spiders room! And then fuck the mancubus chasm, and then.. I'm lost and I don't have time for more. I'll play the rest friday.

(currently at 305 / 1114 kills, 1/4 secrets and 27 minutes. I can't say how many times I died.)

Edited June 15, 2022 by kalaeth

[Sethlab 79461813]

* GZDoom - UV- Pistol Start - Blind - 100%K any%S - Saves allowed (no cheese) *

MAP14: Lockdown

Right away I'm happy to see that the snow textures were not a fluke and are, in fact, the aesthetic for episode 2 as a whole. This map takes place in a vile prison facility, with countless human corpses a testament to their grisly torture and demise at the hands of the demons. It evoked feelings of the Quake 2 prison complex in that the demons have no issue with just murdering humans outright as well as assimilating them into their army. We return to Cheesewheel's familiar and signature mapping style, with tightly packed and efficient techbase layouts. Unfortunately, we're still encountering mostly incidental combat throughout the majority of the map with the only real setpieces being the introduction of two new enemies: The cybercaco (?) which is just adorable. I like to think he strapped on his late 90's spy gear visor to read secret messages from his friends that he launches with a wrist mounted dart launcher. I love how dorky he is. it's no pushover though, being a fair bit chonkier than the regular caco and the manc/rev combo whilst flying makes for a very nasty monster. We are also introduced to the chungus (I didn't read the readme as to be surprised so they all have nicknames) who essentially functions like the annihilator from eviternity but is much, much tankier. I like them. They feel like a demon/human hybrid experiment that sells the world well. The pistol start ammo economy is something I think that the mapper is very aware of; making each pickup feel significant and secrets being much more desirable. However, I'm finding the tuning of said economy something I'm not jiving with. I'm typically not a huge infight or chainsnipe-peek kind of player and pistol starts on these maps really feel ammo starved. The ratio is just off for what I'm used to. This is the first wad I've played in a long time that makes me feel like I should play it continuous.

The Jimmy midi is amazing. I could go on forever about it but I think we all know his midis are great. I would love to have a chat with the guy about music. It seems like he and I use a lot of similar motifs and ideas in our riff writing. Some of his call and repeat lead lines, the stumbling 7/8 measure groove and the way the electric guitars are charted makes me think that perhaps he plays guitar or another stringed instrument. It sounds shockingly close to midis that I have tabbed out for old metal bands I was in back in high school. He's my favorite midi artist by far and this is a track of his I have not heard before. I think it wants for a more adventure focused map though, and I find this map (and none so far in the wad, for that matter) to be fitting of these kinds of tracks. I loved every second of it, but it made me want to venture off and explore exciting vistas, not stumble around and get lost in areas filled with slain demons.

MAP15: Communications

I'm gonna be honest, I don't have a lot nice to say about this map. This marks the peak of my frustration with cheap enemy placement in the wad so far. The opening into the main courtyard took me over 10 attempts to get right. The amount of projectiles flying at you, at different speeds and movement patterns, from areas you cannot shoot at, nor afford to based on your ammo, therefore forcing you into narrow areas filled with enemies that do not drop more ammo for you, is too goddamned high. I have not raged at a doom map in literal years. I had to go take a walk after save scumming my way through the entirety of the map until I got the rocket launcher. Every death on this map did not feel earned or important, I learned nothing, and I walked away not feeling like I had improved in any meaningful way. I felt worse about myself because the only way I could complete this map without raising my blood pressure to dangerous levels was to play it like an absolute rat. When the map was over, I breathed a sigh of relief; I was not relieved that I had endured a compelling and challenging battle. I was relieved that I could stop playing doom and go play another video game. That's not a good sign for me. 

My bias aside, the map is competently made with clear thought made to enemy placement and encounters, even if, in my opinion, that thought is "I hope the player dies to this when they aren't aware it exists". The final fight, the YK area, was a very well done and fun combat encounter that actually gave you ammo (but not enough that you can be reckless) room to move, and infighting opportunities. It's the only fight of its type that I can recall since map 9's cyber/caco cloud and subsequent imp/vile swarm. These fights are amazing and I want more of them. Their drip feed inclusion in the wad is confusing when the vast majority of the fights are so different. 

I'm excited to play the secret maps. Can we talk about those yet?

Edited June 15, 2022 by Sethlab 79461813

[Cheesewheel]

MAP12 - Bunker Bust

 

Fast paced and carries on the narrative. The drone is introduced and I think not abused too much, they are very noisy and slow with only 50hp.

 

MAP13 - Sci-labs

 

This one almost went in the bin but the midi saves it. The gamplay isn't particulary challenging and I think many areas are too small to really convey the lab aesthetic I was going for.

 

Map14 - Lockdown

 

The tonal shift of the megawad - fights will be larger and tougher from here on out. I really enjoy the open areas of this map and the appearance of the Cacobot - expect to see a lot more of these guys. The cybergunner is also here but less noteworthy. Originally the prison cells had marines in them with the plan to free them. Then maps moving forward would involve these marines off in the distance showing how they were helping you - instead these marines got scrapped and turned into something evil...

 

Map15 - Communications

 

This one is bonkers and I love it, I rush the rocket launcher switch and just let chaos unleash itself. The blue key fight is brutal with prefiring and the yellow key fight is dramatic as all hell. I only wish the red key and backpack were easier to notice.

 

I'll leave the secret maps for a more in depth post.

[Doomy__Doom]

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 15 - Communications

 

Finally, the kid gloves go off - monster counts and high-stakes combat encounters both shoot up. Right away the entire beginning is a massive carnage in a snowy courtyard. It retains all the signature mapping elements we've seen so far - well-placed snipers, dark imps coming from awkward angles, open layout - but add both a nice blue face/armor stack and a variety of ground opposition that presses initial space and forces players to move around aggresively.

 

After carving out some safety, some slower-pace adventuring eventually leads to BK ambush - a good old narrow bridge-slash-corridor with waves on both sides. One side's heavy part of roster is revs, the other - a cybergunner. Rev side density isn't enough to prevent a focused rocket-assisted breakthrough, provided you watch out for pinkies doing what they do best when you have the tube out.

 

The area past blue bars managed to deprive me of the remainders of the blue stack, with a timely green armor replacement.

 

YK fight can easily go wrong, but that's what the plasma is for. Or you can cheese the most difficult first/vile wave by running back into red/yellow door from where you came before it closes off, although you might run out of rockets and of course risk ghost monsters. The last wave is probably the easiest, as you have ample cover behind the comms array and a frienly Cyber to infight stuff you aren't rocketing away. Between a mega and blue stack to spare, as long as you don't tank 3 rockets you should be fine.

 

Secret exit switches are placed on paths player is very likely to take or places player will look at due to monsters being there.

Bonus content: Solo-net gets real busy

 

With a sizeable upgrade of 323->382 + a ton of resources, coop version is pretty much a bigger and better version on all counts. The only really mean placement is 2 viles at the very beginning on the backpack and RK perches. Area they cover enforces you to spend time chain/shotgunning them from safety of the starting room. Past that, as long as you can get to RL - not nearly as trivial as it is on regular UV - you'll have a billion rockets to blast away and some extra Megas/Soulspheres to back you up.

 

YK/last fight gets I believe 2 extra viles prior to opening the YK and 2 cybers on that platform, making it a pretty difficult but satisfying to get right fight.

The exit area is populated by 10 random mancs who barely fit in there for some reason.

 

 

Secret levels will be separate posts.

[finnks13]

MAP15 - Communications:
I liked this map, though it does feel a bit like "more of the same" that we got in Map14. Admittedly, that same is still the incredibly solid incidental combat that Uprising offers, along with the well flowing and non-linear layouts and some very fun and brutal set-pieces. Visually, this map is very similar to Map14, and while I like the communications towers dotted around the map reinforcing the theme, the outside areas of this map do look very monochromatic and quite bland since basically everything is a shade of light grey. This does stand out against the sky, but it's a little too one-note in this map.

 

I don't particularly care for the rocket launcher ambush, Uprising is fond of putting hitscanners in it's teleporter ambushes but this is the first time they really irritated me. There's no cover and you basically have to grab the rocket launcher and cheese the fight from one of the various chokepoints leading into this area, which isn't particularly satisfying. I do like the blue key fight, you're sandwiched between two large groups of monsters and have to rocket you way to safety - trying to leave through the blue bars will show you to a Cybergunner and unleash all the monsters behind the blue bars that you've inevitably woken up.

 

I like that the Cacobots are becoming more common in the regular combat, they're a good mix-up to an encounter. The red key area is a bit odd, there's the first (and only?) instance of nukage in the wad and the method of unlocking the key feels a bit weird. I do really like the finale, the massive group of 80 monsters and while you can systematically unleash a wave at a time, it's much more fun to flip all the switches at once and let the cyberdemon go to town on the horde! Unlocking the secret exit requires shooting three switches and brings us to a set of communications panels recieving a distress signal from a space station. Naturally, I'm going to check it out as Uprising's secret maps are not to be missed!

 

Overall, while this map is fun, it's not particularly distinct.
 

MAP31 - Dereliction:
Admit it, you thought this was going to be an archvile map didn't you? I know I did on my first time loading in, 26 monsters, spooky area - bring on the flame boys! No, this is much, much more terrifying than archviles. Before we get to that, I want to compliment this map on it's impeccable atmosphere. The music is chosen perfectly, and everything about this map is a bit "off" and that adds to the atmosphere. There's signs of an incredibly large battle, between the inhabitants of this space station and the demonic hordes with the demons winning. It seems we've been tricked. The relatively mundane sights of a cafeteria and bedrooms only add to the unnerving feeling, since they give the impression that this area is not meant to be used as a battleground. I knew exactly what was coming, and the atmosphere still put me on edge - though to be honest, knowing what's coming might actually make this more effective :P

 

Getting to the bridge of the ship, you have to shoot a switch, which reveals the yellow key and your enemies for this level - the Scythe 2 marine. I can't begin to describe how perfect a choice this is, if you've ever fought these before then you know how much of a threat they are and they are absolutely terrifying to encounter. Archviles are very predictable when fought alone and stop to attack you, but these guys are relentless and will absolutely decimate you if they catch you off guard. The sound of zombies running around the ship is incredibly unnerving since they tend to eventually find their way to you and this knowledge only makes the inevitability of that worse.

 

Cheesewheel plays with your feelings here, as there are a few monster closets that teleport one of these Evil Marines away from you and I can't begin to describe how terrifying it is to walk down a corridor and hear the goofy zombie wake up noise. Maybe I'm just a complete wuss (and I'm not disputing that, I do not like horror normally) but this map works perfectly on me and gave me a huge adrenaline rush to stay hyper focused on the map. It's such a relief to see the monster count trip over to 100%, knowing that I don't have to deal with these guys any more. Going back to the bridge after getting the blue key reveals another shootable switch, which opens a hangar with a spaceship inside that takes us to the UAC Chronology Labs. This map is superb.

 

Overall, this is the best one-monster gimmick map I've ever played.
 

MAP32 - Beyond:
Beyond is an incredible map. We've flown through space to the UAC Chronology Labs, where the demons are presumably travelling to various parts of history to overtake and destroy humanity in every era. Quite rude of them if you ask me. The Chronology Labs are a fairly standard techbase that forks out into four increasingly red areas that end with a Time Portal taking you to various themed mini-maps. I really like the space theme while you're on the ship, the effect works pretty well despite not being able to actually use a sky texture.

 

Passchendale, 1917:
The first time portal takes us to Passchendale, 1917 where we have to hack through two trench worth's of hell's forces with basic weaponry. Thankfully, with the exception of one cybergunner as you go into the opposing trench, there aren't many enemies tougher than a Chaos Knight which keeps this section very pacey. The dismal visuals of the trenches combined with the deep red sky is very effective at conveying the depressing atmosphere. The trenches could have been a confusing maze to navigate, but they're thankfully small enough to get around without too much trouble. Heading out of the trench to No Man's Land is, fittingly, a horrible idea that spawns in a load of hitscanners and pretty much forces you to retreat. You can't kill everything from the trench and will eventually be forced to make a mad dash for the megasphere. Picking up the yellow key spawns in a lot of flamethrower zombies which are very threatening in the tight trenches, and the exit is blocked by an archvile which will be a nuisance without the secret SSG.

 

Popocatepetl, 1520:
The second time portal takes us to Popocatepetl, 1520, and a theme that is completely unique in this wad - Aztec ruins set into the side of an active volcano (thanks Wikipedia!) As soon as I teleported in here, I immediately recognised it as one of the most frustrating areas of my first playthrough, due to the first area's complete lack of easily accessible health (I think there is one medikit here that is easy to get) and the high presence of hitscanners, plasma and flame zombies and mancubi make this area the toughest challenge so far. I didn't find it anywhere near as bad on this playthrough so I guess foresight is a boon here. Opening up a horde of flamethrower zombies, 2 Cacobots and an archvile is a terrifying prospect especially as hugging the platforms to avoid the archvile's flames will kill you with the flamethrower's scratches.

 

Completing this takes us outside to a lava-filled canyon, I'd recommend heading to the right first as this will let you lower the rocket launcher, which I was definitely wanting at this point - 20 minutes into my playthrough. Grabbing the soulsphere behind the rocket launcher drops you into a lava pit where you'll be battling an archvile, some chaos knights and mancubi against the timer of a radsuit. The finale of this area is a rocket duel against some revenants and a cacobot.

 

London, 1348:
This part of the map is set in medieval era London, and after gathering the supplies around the clock-tower (nice callback to the main part) we're let loose to explore this very large city area which is infested with demons everywhere. There are two cyberdemons here which you'll wake up immediately after shooting and they will hunt you throughout this entire section. They're not annoyingly dangerous but are a constant threat as they'll be firing rockets at you when you least expect it. Your aim is to find 5 switches hidden among the buildings which will unlock the blue key in the clock-tower. Each switch is accompanied by a little ambush, mostly of cacobots but there is an archvile or two to catch you off guard. This part of the map is really fun, it's constant action and while it's not overly difficult, that doesn't really matter. The blue key reveals a teleport trap, along with one Evil Marine! They are apparently part of the regular roster now, which is... great.

 

???, ???:
The finale of the map is a slaughter in a peculiar green dimension, which stands in stark contrast to the rest of Uprising. There's depictions of a reptilian humanoid of some sort flashing on the walls, which suggest that this arena takes place in the far past or far future of Earth when something other than humans (or demons) rule over it (or maybe it takes place now and these are some of those evil reptilians that I've heard so much about :P) The fight itself gives you the first BFG of the wad, an invulnerability and lets you loose among the 600 remaining enemies of the map. The first part of this is the hardest, since you can't circle-strafe the horde. Hitting each switch reveals a big group of revenants and chaos knights in the centre along with two archviles, which isn't much of a threat since they can be very easily circle-strafed. It's not a particularly complex arena, but I liked it.

 

I think this is a great concept for a map, especially in a megawad so commited to it's theme as Uprising. Tristan Clark's rendition of Death's Bells from the TNT: Evilution MIDI pack lends each area a feeling of melancholy which the dismal-ness of the settings adds to. I've said before that marathon maps rely on their memorable moments to land for me, and this map is filled to the brim with them. Uprising's secret maps are absolutely fantastic and even if you've got no desire to play the wad as a whole, I think these maps are worth playing on their own.

 

Overall, this is a near perfect long map and a great idea for a secret level.

[Doomy__Doom]

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 31 - Dereliction

 

I knew what this map was all about since I played it, and I'm no good at gushing over atmosphere and visuals, so I'll leave that to others. A derelict ship where after a lot of exploration you will end up fighting lower hp Scythe marines - Traitors. I've been occasionally dealing with them ever since I picked up solo-net in Trainyard (yes, Traitors are present in map 5). I skipped playing on UV and went on to solo-net straight away, which went uhhhh...

 

Bonus content: You. Are. Not. Prepared.

 

You probably thought: there will be more Traitors. But that's okay. They die to a rocket. Surely there will be more rockets, right? Maybe even a spare supercharge or two? No one is evil enough to break the gimmick of the map, eh? Makes no sense why one would.

 

Well, wrong. The multiplayer-only flagged things list consists of:
- 8 boxes with shotgun shells
- 35 yellow egg-headed aliens

 

Checkmate, Hunted. Try this on for size. You thought it wouldn't be a vile map? kekw try groups of 2-4.

 

There's no way to kill this many viles with mere 160 extra shells - you'd need 280 at a theoretical minimum of 4 attacks per vile (not realistic). You have to scavenge the ship for non-coop ammo (all 8 extra boxes are given to you right away), and all the rockets you thought you'd spend on Traitors will be long gone. Get comfy with non-berserk punching out too, just in case you go the wrong way which has no ammo :)

 

It's quite an experience, I gotta say. I guess having more people does progressively make it easier, since you'd get extra x8+x4 shells for SSG/SG pickups and like 2 rockets per person, but it's still looking like a tough cookie.

 

Now excuse me, I need to detox.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 15: Communications

100% kills, items and secrets

Time: 13:56

 

Sigil's soundtarck is, believe it or not, the perfect fit for this trap heavy snowy techbase. Despite being more linear than the last map, Communications is way more intense, containing some pretty nasty encounters like the teleport ambush with revs, chaos knights, imps and zombies that triggers after grabbing the rocket launcher or the blue key sandwich with revs, imps, chaingunners, a chaos knight and a cybergunner. However, nothing beats the 3 "yellow key" fights, which are some of my favorites in the wad so far. There's one with an arch-vile and lots of low-tiers, one with some heavies and low-tiers and a final cyberdemon infight party. This level is pretty, really fun, exciting and perfectly scored, one of Uprising's best so far. Since it's map 15, don't forget to search for the secret exit in which you will find a distress signal, let's see where that takes us...

 

 

Map 31: Dereliction

100% kills, 88% items and 50% secrets

Time: 7:11

 

The distress signal leads to this UAC ship. When you arrive, you see nothing except dead enemies and marines and while searching for any sign of life, you grab the yellow key and later find a sign of life. The problem is that this life comes in the form of the traitor, who boasts 100 health and works just like the Scythe 2 evil marine. Given that the station is mostly cramped and full of angles, the traitors have the advantage over you in here, and 26 of them inhabit the place and need to be silenced with the plasma gun. The main appeal of this map however resides in it's atmosphere, it is really tense thanks to the midi, lighting and huge amount of bodies, along with the fact that you feel lonely in the middle of space and that traitors can surprise you at any time (hearing them open a door is chilling). If I needed to compare this map to other ones, I would say that it is a mix of Equinox map 10 and Mr.X from Scythe 2, the former because of the settting, the latter for the traitor only enemy roster, and both of them for the atmosphere. However, this map has a big flaw. It may be tense, but fighting “evil marines” in tight spaces can be annoying. I also wonder if the map keeps or loses it's appeal on repeated playthroughs. But overall,while it can be a bit annoying to play, Dereliction is a really stressful experience and one of the most memorable maps so far in Uprising.

 

 

Map 32: Beyond

102% kills (with cheats), 88% items, 75% secrets

Time: 34:53

 

As I saw the enemy count of over 1000, I thought that Beyond was gonna be another super-secret slaughter map, but it is much more creative than that. The level takes place in the “UAC Chronology Labs”, in which you can find 4 time machines, all leading to a different time period, and just to get it over with, all of them look great and are very distinct from one another. You need to go through all 4 sections to open the exit, and after one is complete, you need to go through the lab to reach the next portal. However, I won't talk about the moments in the lab as they are relatively uninteresting and clearly not the main focus here. I will explain every section of the map in the order you need to traverse them in.

1. It takes place in 1917, during the battle of Passenchendaele in Belgium. The combat mostly takes place in trenches and most of the enemies are zombies and revs. Even if I think that zombies are a bit overused here, they are not annoying to the point of making the section unenjoyable and they fit the theme as they can be seen as undead WW1 soldiers. Also, the layout is not too confusing as Cheesewheel doesn't use the trenches to confuse the player. Overall, it's a nice section.

2. The second one takes place in 1520, inside an Aztec temple built inside of the Popocatelpetl volcano. Starting from here, heavies and fireballers become more common and some of the traps such as the red key one with an arch-vile, chaos knights and a ton of mancubi can get very deadly. However, this part is my least favorite as I think it has the weakest combat of the 4 sections since the traps are either annoying or too easy and the incidental combat is just fine. Despite that, I have to admit that the reveal of the volcano is absolutely jawdropping.

3. Taking place in 1348's London. This part is way more open and the most populated one so far, containing snipers and imps on all sides and 2 cyberdemons who will destroy you if you don't move fast enough. Your goal is to go all around the city to press 4 switches and reveal the blue key, which is guarded by a lot of baddies including traitors. It is great fun.

4. After all of the first 3 areas are taken care of, a part of the ship opens and reveals a portal to an unknown place at an unknown time period, it seems very weird, but you enter inside. And there, Cheesewheel goes balllistic, making you slaughter hordes of demons with the new red BFG in a green environment reminding of Sunlust and Struggle. Despite this part having around half of the map's population, it is less threatening than it sounds as it is spacious and Cheesewheel gives a ton of megaspheres, cells, rockets and 2 invulnerabilities (one is a secret). While I couldn't get around 30 enemies to teleport in, which is why I used cheats, it's an awesome fight and a very good conclusion to the map.

Beyond is also massively helped by Tristan's Death's Bells remix, which feels way more melancholic than the original song in my opinion. Overall, the concept is great for a secret level, it looks great, it's perfectly scored and the gameplay is great outside of a few weaker moments in the labs and the Aztec section.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 15

Map 13

Map 32

Map 12

Map 4

Really Like:

Map 6

Map 31

Map 1

Map 14

Map 10

Map 7

Map 3

Map 5

Map 2

Like:

Map 11

Map 8

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP15: Communications. 323/323 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 32:17

 

At first I regretted insisting on pistol starts. I didn't get the rocket launcher until much frustration* while dealing with ammo starvation. The start of the level is very frantic as you are underequipped, and only until you get the RL things ease up a bit. That said, the fight for YK had me use one midfight save even.

 

* Regarding RL situation: I even reached the blue key fight before obtaining RL -- which I couldn't survive, adding to my despair, so I had to rewind a little and look elsewhere frist.

 

The level itself is good, I like these sort of tech bases, but at the same time it felt a tad samey than what's come before, only some ambushes are more dickish, and monster count higher. I kinda like that the secret exit isn't tagged as secret, you just spot the secret switches that apparently open up the way. It makes the secret levels more secret when you are not reminded of having not found all the secrets upon reaching the regular exit.

 

[I'm falling behind the schedule here, as I'm not able to do the secret levels today -- apparently the other is quite length as well, and if this level took half an hour...]

[cannonball]

MAP15 - “Communications”

This map certainly has more teeth to it, the openning area is nasty and you add to that mess when you lower the rocket launcher. There is plenty of room to move around and there is health and armour present. The blue key sandwich is another step up, I must be honest this felt a little luck based to me. The red key progression and the resulting quest to find said door is probably the low point of the map, with some clunky progression and I missed the SSG (That said I coped without). The yellow key is an mess of heavy hitters and custom monsters. Again you get the resources and archvile usage is still sparing in comparison to other wads.

The secret exit wasn't too hard to find in the end, 3 gargoyle switches raise 3 lifts that gain access to the secret exit. 

Overall another solid and fun map, not perfect but certainly an uptick in tempo after the last couple of maps.

 

MAP31 - “Dereliction”

Well this is a perfect fit for a secret map, you are presented with a moderately sized map with nothing but weapons, ammo and dead corpses. All is quiet until you shoot a switch to reveal the yellow key and rest is as they say history.

You are given enough resources to cope with what comes here, a number come straight for you when you shoot that switch, however some are simply left lurking, waiting for you to cross their path. This gives a great sense of paranoia, which adds to the sense of horror this map exudes. Collect all three keys and you are free to leave and by this point everything should be dead. The secret exit is a case of revisiting an early part of the map where you can now shoot another switch to reach a shuttle that is destined for the second secret map.

This probably is a play once type of map, very much like another map from another wad. However it sells the gimmick very well, and that is all you can ask for in a secret map. 

 

I am left with the daunting task of playing maps32 and 16 tomorrow, given the monster count for 32 I sense I might regret that decision.

Edited June 15, 2022 by cannonball

[NiGHTS108]

MAP13: Sci-Labs

Kills: 98%

Items: 75%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 9:33

 

Sci-Labs feels like a pleasant change of pace. This one quite consistently reminded me of Halls Of The Damned actually, it feels like a less surreal and more cohesive version of an Ultimate Doom E2 map in general, and the atmosphere is further boosted by an ominous MIDTWID MIDI. The chunks of this gloomy tech base overtaken by hell boost the strong red imagery of this wad, and in general the combat takes more of a backseat role, resembling more the stylings of E1 with some exceptions, like the yellow key fight, and then the fight leaving the yellow key room, but these are the exception rather than the rule. All in all I feel this one comes together nicely.

 

Grade: B+
Difficulty: D+

 

 

[Gibbon]

MAP16 - Thermal

Port: RZDoom

 

Well hot damn, this is a hot map indeed.  Tons of hitscanners, traps, Revenants and those nasty horrible health sucking Cyber Caco thingies.  The end was pretty nail biting and I hid inside the switch room to pick everything off before it was safe to escape to the exit.

 

Wonderful map.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Anarkzie]

Map 13 Sci-Lab

Straight of its refreshing to see some much needed texture variety, the opening keys of the midi match that darken corridor well, I like usage of light and shadows in the first zombie man ambush. This level overall is a step up over the last two levels and I can see some real inspiration in enemy placement at points.

Map 14 Lockdown

Another very maze like level. I feel the snow theme is being stretched way too far and that it could really help if the white authentic was restricted purely to the areas that would experience the affects of weather. In general maybe just having had just one snow level would have been best. That said there are some nice looking areas and usage of water textures in this level. I like the new enemies and the midi complements the map well.

[RHhe82]

MAP31: Dereliction. 26/26 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 21:17.

 

Here's a much needed change of pace! I'm not sure if Dereliction has replay value, but I for one appreciated. I really hope we don't get to see the featured enemy anymore!

 

The ambience is top-notch, it has the same eerie atmosphere than Revilution's gloomy map.

[Doomy__Doom]

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 32 - Beyond

 

A massive time-travel-to-kill-demons-in-the-past adventure accompanied by appropriately relaxing space/void themed midi. I jumped into solo-net straight away, since I knew the scale of the map and monster count isn't upgraded that much (1191->1231).

 

Area 1, 1917 trench warfare, by means of an obligatory coop cyberdemon(tm) in the middle area presents you with a hard choice - plink at him with SG/CG once the middle-zone wave is done with or press on. I knew of the secret SSG in the area, so I opted to blaze through chaingunning like it's NM100S. Welp, the far trench comes with a cyberguner. Somehow I pushed through stuff like revs and a vile zap and grabbed yellow key along the way, to eventually find myself cornered at SSG secret.

Spoiler

Nerve-wracking, since the bunker can cover from Cyber or a zap but rarely both, but all goes well though, Revs, Cybergunner and CK infight well and Vile goes in the process.

 

Area 2, the massive lava temple, delivers some massive engine shenanigans - I got zapped to death by two coop viles without audio or visual cue. Blessed be rewind feature. These viles were quite awkward to kill in advance due to the parapet being slightly too high, but there was a friendly arachnotron to help out.

After starting off on the wrong note, misfortune-slash-poor-play continued throughout the zone - the canyon is slightly overpopulated with mancs, so a couple attention accidents resulted in single-digit health followed by a series of inevitable hitscan around the corner deaths into doing the RK pit without blue armor.

 

Area 3, a massive city arena, gets 2 extra Cybers, a couple roaming traitors and probably something less obvious in coop. It also houses the first secret I would describe as wall-humpy - the teleporter to megasphere is not really telegraphed, at least not to my tired eye.

There is also a broken enemy - a Traitor doesn't wake up due to a mistake in joining sectors for sound propagation. He is not coop exclusive, so this map is technically not max-able.

 

Area 4 is a massive slaughterfest in a vaguely "late Struggle but green" aesthetic. I was really unfocused and completely autopiloting by this point, not even able to keep track of my ammo, much less navigate well. Today was a wrong day to do this map. Not going to do 16 until tomorrow.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 16: Thermal

100% kills, 75% items, 100% secrets

Time: 13:56 (same as 15, wow)

 

Thermal is a... well thermal station that shifts from the previous maps' snowy theme as it is darker and the outside areas are mostly composed of red rocks and lava. This level contains more setpieces than most of what's come before and the combat favors the use of the rocket launcher by giving tons of ammo for this weapon, but also throwing fights that only this gun can take of. The standouts are the 3 encounters for the keys which all spawn a lot of enemies incuding archies, cybergunners, pinkies, revs, chaos knights and cacobots, with the latter ones being an absolute pain if not managed correctly. The rest of the combat is fine, but one of Thermal's main selling points is it's midi : “Prototype”, which is my favorite in the wad so far and I honestly don't know if I would have liked the map so much without it. But overall, this is a pretty and really fun level which is gets a nice boost from it's music.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 15

Map 13

Map 32

Map 12

Map 4

Really Like:

Map 16

Map 6

Map 31

Map 1

Map 14

Map 10

Map 7

Map 3

Map 5

Map 2

Like:

Map 11

Map 8

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP32 - “Beyond”

It is certainly an ambitious level, that said the first half of this map is a real chore to get through, the second half (Probably halfway through the Aztec section onwards) is actually pretty fun.

The techbae sections are pretty non-descript and only serve to take the player to the other areas of the map.

The trench section is heavy going, you only get the shotgun and chaingun to chew through this. It is rather slow for the most part and some of the ambushes are very nasty. Now bare in mind I found the SSG secret, without this the rest of this section and the early stages of the Aztec section are quite horrid to play through. Overall I like the setting here, the big fight is nicely done with the use of the megasphere and partial invisibility, the yellow key fight almost borders on the mandatory finding of said SSG to survive.

The Aztec section is worse than the trench section because of the sheer number of monsters and lack of firepower. The odds tip greatly once you grab hold of the rocket launcher, in fact entering the volcanic bit is the point where the map improves. The rest of the fights here are pretty fun, including the red key where you need to take out one of the monster closets to gain cover before methodically dispatching everything else. 

The ye olde London section is probably the most fun of the periods you travel to. A proper sandbox layout with plenty of heavy hitters strolling around. I left the cybers until nearly the end to assist my efforts in clearing various areas out. Overall this was a faster paced affair.

The final fight is essentially BFG spam, it isn't actually that difficult, use your invulnerabilities wisely and you should be fine, however I have no idea why the lift to the teleporter is used alongside a couple of monster closets, meaning revenants will trickle in if you activate said lift. I left the map with just under 50 monsters left, by the sounds of it, 100% wasn't possible here.

Overall, this map actually encapsulates the megawad so far quite well. Plenty of visual narrative going on, some really neat moments, but also some rather clunky encounters. Honestly the map would have been a lot better if the weapons were not drip fed to the players, the early sections are a real grind and for a map of this scale, it risks losing the player before they reach the high points. At the very least the SSG should have been given before the first teleporter along with a little more ammo during sections 1 and 2. It would make these parts much more fun to progress through.

 

MAP16 - “Thermal"

The use of midtextures in this one can make the central area quite disorientating. However navigation is less of an issue here as you are never to far from the next objective. The incidental combat starts hot and remains so until the very end, the set piece fights are a little more hit and miss. The yellow key fight I essentially ran from and defended from the top of the stair, this felt too chaotic to me, the red key fight however was good fun, the blue key I found running up and down the perimeter until I could essentially camp at the door I came in to be the best strategy and then pump rockets at everything that approaches. The monsters behind the blue door are pointless because you can killed them through the windows. 

There is a lot to like about this map, it goes for the throat from the start and the darker theme is a nice change from the silver/grey dominance we had been used to. There are a couple of iffy set pieces, but they won't detract too much from the experience. The second episode continues to impress from my point of view.

[kalaeth]

back at it! 

MAP 31 - Beyond, part 2 : 

(currently at 305 / 1114 kills, 1/4 secrets and 27 minutes. I can't say how many times I died.)

 

I eventually played a bit more, finished the 1520 section and reached the London one,

There's ammo and weapons, imps come at me, so do cacos. After killing most of them I run for the blue armor, up some steps, down some other steps, up another stairway, killing a few of every thing that shows up in the aims of my SSG until I reach a face switch that I press, and die to a dark imp.. From the teleport.

 This time I take longer to clear the central arena, but then die to an AV when I run out of rockets. Next try I went for the plasma approach : run around throwing plasma at all that move. I managed to find the bluesphere secret, and from there I managed to reach switch 1 and 2, still alive, although by the time the 4 cybercaco trap ended I was in a rough shape, but with enough medikits for it not to be a problem lying around. The AV posed no threat once I knew to expect him. After havingf cleared most of the outside the level get's easier, or at least less difficult. There's a secret megasphere but I can't reach it... So back to the center, grab stuff, save, press switch. Plasma is again the weapon of choice and it does me good service. Then I found the teleport to the 'sphere and then, blue door. Back to the labs, new path, destination : unknown. And over 600 enemies still to go! Oh yey.

Save, jump.

 And it's all at once, I see. After a ton of BFG, a ton of invunerabilities, I'm down to 11 enemies missing. 9, 8, and that's it.. I won't 100% this level. There's 4 that didn't teleport and 4 others still on the other times.. So without cheating I can't keep my perfect score.

 

99, 96, 100& K/I/S, 1 hour 4 minutes and 8 seconds. God knows how many deaths, but I'd say around 20-ish? 

Map 16 is for after lunch.

ok, let's do this.

 

MAP 16  - Thermal : 

The small train leaves us at what appears to be a undergound facility with a lot of hitscanner damage around. Opening the door the danger ramps up, cacos and revs are added to the mix, and then we reach outside where lot's of lava, imps, shotgunners and many more try and kill us. Armed with a SSG we do the same but with more success. A red door, a blue door, and more. I cross the room with the lava showers, find the secret blue armor, another secret with a chaos knight guarded plasma riffle, shoot a switch, that must have done something even if I'm not sure what, oh, it opens a panel with another switch for a blue sphere, and after that follow the trail of rockets to outside again and find the yellow key. Kill the after pickup ambush and go up the potion stairs, cross some lava to find the next secret (rockets and a megasphere), yellow door : rad suit, mancs, switch, all with the RL in hand. Teleport, get rid of the attack of the flying robot balls, red door. Spiders, revs, and then.. Oh wow, that's a lot of rockets. And two blue spheres and a mega sphere? Oh well. Switch, kill, survive. I did. Blue door, after killing the cacos through the windows, switch, and now blue door to the exit.

 

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 18 minutes 12 seconds.

 

totals (minus secret maps since I lost count of deaths in map 31 and wasn't able to max it): 100% kills, 100% secrets, , 12 deaths, 5 hours 8 minutes and 5 seconds time.

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by kalaeth

[Doomy__Doom]

Playstyle: dsda-doom (-cl2), UV (generally max but occasionally might skip secret hunt), pistol start, sparse saves/rewinds (no mid-combat)

 

Map 16 - Thermal

 

A brutal start with close quarters hiscan and no armor. In the main area of the facility, I choose to make my most classic mistake - run around instead of killing everything in my face sequentally. Eventually I stabilize from 8% back up, find secret blue item combo and immediately waste it in YK fight to a sneaky point blank Cacobot.

 

RK fight goes alright, the brown face secret helps.

 

BK fight is pretty spicy. Cacobots and pinkies occupy a ton of space, center has the Vile and U-shape edges are controlled by slow ot leave Cybergunners. Doing the U-shape at the start is not that easy, holding onto plasma ammo you can obtain mid-level helps a lot - you'll probably have to narrowly break past Cacobots at some point, and their pain chance is 50 (~16%), so a fast-firing gun is helpful here. Just make sure remembering you have plasma doesn't involve a facerocket like it did for me.

 

I believe this is the first map with >3 secrets.

 

Bonus content: late SSG strikes again

 

Solo-net start goes from "brutal" to "needs routing". The first ambush houses a vile, so make use of that shotgunner alcove. Another vile immediately left of the inner lava base entrance - more shotgun time, much like map 15. Then comes the hard part - rocket launcher is now resting under an arachnotron's belly, and there are plenty more enemies of many shapes roaming the base. I didn't find a better strategy than "lure cacobots into the fenced lave caves and pray that your first attempt to grab RL works out and retreat back to the train area". All you get in terms of health is an extra blue face to grab along in the RL area.

 

After the bad part and some explorative cleanup, come 3 big fights. Each one houses an awkward to get past and finish off with SSG Cyber now. Especially  awkward is yellow, since you need to get past him 3 times - to get the switch/key, to get SSG, to get back in and dance in a narrow space to kill him.

 

For BK fight, I found that it is surprisingly consistent to creatively beeline for closed not-red door alcove and rocket stuff from there. It seems counter-intuitive, but enemies infight a lot and/or pile in the sides of U-shape, giving you opporunity to clean up some much needed space.

 

 

I'll see if I'm in the mood for 17 today.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played continuously on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 17: Digsite

102% kills, 46% items, 66% secrets

Time: 15:59 

 

I feel like I have nothing interesting to say about this map so my comments will be shorter than usual. Digsite takes place in a snowy techbase which later leads to a.. well, digsite and while I like the setting, the midi is my least favorite in the wad so far. Gameplay-wise, it only contains 1 good fight (the red key trap), the rest is forgettable outside of the very annoying teleport ambush with cacos, cacobots, revs, knights, hitscanners and imps before the yellow key (who by the way get revived later by archies). It is mostly painful because of the weird arena layout and the cacobot and revenant placements, which are some of the worst possible. These issues make Digsite my least favorite level so far.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 15

Map 13

Map 32

Map 12

Map 4

Really Like:

Map 16

Map 6

Map 31

Map 1

Map 14

Map 10

Map 7

Map 3

Map 5

Map 2

Like:

Map 11

Map 8

Mediocre:

Map 17