The DWmegawad Club plays: 3 Heures d'Agonie 2

[Monsieur E]

Map07- Merciless Flow by Memfis 
100% kills 

While it's a step down from Map06, this is a simple yet enjoyable level. The water strangely damages you, which I presume is the reason for the title of the level but I find that the level has a neat flow to it overall. It never overstays its welcome and the encounters are easy to diffuse; for example, once the arachnotrons teleport in, you're equipped with a plasma rifle to clear them and their demonic comrades out. My favorite little detail in the level though is how you can telefrag the beginning Mancubi, it wasn't even be much of a threat nor would it be a too much of a time sink but I appreciated it nonetheless. The main encounter room is pretty straight forward and honestly I was surprised when I checked my kill count to see that I cleared out most of them. Nothing else to say really, just a neat little map. Also. I guess I should also respect the decision to not make a completely ass dead simple type map lmao (looking at you 3HA1).

[FrancisT218]

Oh yeah 3ha1 Map07 is...not good lol. 3ha3's is the best, that said.

[RHhe82]

MAP08: Simple Souterrain. 121/121 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 12:53.

 

Niveau magnifique! J'aime beaucoup! I think this is the best map so far, a small subterranean base that looks good, it plays good, it has a great rendition of a classic Doom II track. There is very little not to like; perhaps I would have liked a rocket launcher just to take care of at least some of the mid-tier enemies -- revenant trio at the red key or the final area enemies, and perhaps the berserk pack could have been given earlier for the myriad of pinkies and spectres that are almost absent after finding the pack.

[Roofi]

Map 08 "Simple Souterrain"

 

 

Along with map 06, Simple Souterrain unfolds into a rusty complex while emphazing on aesthetics. The remix of Doom 2 map 05's music show the colors ! The hardest part is definitely the moment where you jump into a pit in order to collect the yellow key, the two pop-up arch-viles may be also troublesome if not killed in time too.

 

I like how the secrets are hidden. Finding the tiny carved switch bring a lot of satisfaction (even when I already know the location of the secrets.)

 

For my part, I think this level would beneficiated to be a little more concise. The red key section' section was a bit redundant as well as the small part before reaching the exit.

 

Anyway, it's a solid contribution and relaxing in some ways. Definitely one of the highlights of the first episode.

 

Grade : B+

 

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Roofi

[Biodegradable]

MAP08: Simple Souterrain

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

Holy fuck, yes! YEEEEESSSS! Oxyde comes out the gate swinging with a fantastic map that uses all parts of the buffalo here. So much detail, so many sectors, all demons-save for the bosses-are all present and accounted for. Fun n' spicy combat, a twisting and interlaced layout with little set pieces with great variety and lovely texture work, this map is very impressive for a speedmap of only 3 hours! How'd they do it?! Oxyde, you clever person. I love this map! My absolute top favourite right now and leaves me excited to see MAP23 when Oxyde graces us with their skills again. Really impressive work for a speedmap, simply incredible. It's a big chef's kiss from me! 

 

 

[Dersulbob]

MAP08: Simple Souterrain
(Blind run, UV, Continuous, saves allowed, GZDoom)

 

Easily my favourite of the set so far. The type of Doom I enjoy - fast-paced encounters with time to breathe in between to enjoy the level design. None of the encounters in this map are particularly tough and there's always cover when things get dicey.

 

Despite having almost triple the enemies of the last map, including Mancubi, Revenants, Barons and Arch-Viles, this map doesn't feel anywhere near the slog that MAP07 did. I do have one small complaint about dropping into some very close hitscanners and I believe a Revenant, but even here there was enough room to make a getaway.    

 

I also like the design of the map, with good verticality in some areas, nice use of textures, contrasting dark internal hallways with lighter external areas. All in all, a really enjoyable map.

 

Grade - A-

[Book Lord]

MAP 08 – Simple Souterrain by Arnaud Florian@Oxyde

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

 

This was a speedmap that did not look like one. Simple Souterrain was not only the most complex level so far, featuring all 3 keycards and a rather elaborate layout, but it was also very rich on detail, considering it has been made in only three hours like the other entries. Combat was challenging and surprising on several occasions. Kudos to Oxyde, who has a good sense of humour, since he gave an unassuming name to a map he could have been proud of.

Spoiler

I played like a pistol starter and most of the encounters seemed to demand better weapons than what I was supplied with. My healthy habit of not jumping in holes before exploring every other path saved my life, as I would not have passed the YK section without the SSG. The welcome at the bottom was brutal, mostly because of the Cacodemons that hindered my evasive manoeuvres. I escaped upstairs in the cavern, killed some Revenants, and I literally bumped my face on two insta-pop Arch-Viles I was not anticipating. I thought I was about to die, but with some luck and desperate use of cover I killed them with the SSG. I returned downstairs to finish off the survivors and collect the key.

 

The rest of the map was less wicked, featuring frontal opposition and a couple of secrets that I discovered effortlessly. The areas were all distinct and had both a classic and a modern look, recalling some areas of the OG with superior lighting and detail. This was a worthy submission, and the restricted creation time only increased its value.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played from a pistol-start on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 8: Simple Souterrain by Arnaud "Oxyde" Florian

104% kills, 97% items, 100%  secrets

Time: 8:04

 

Simple Souterrain may be visually inspired by Underhalls, but Oxyde details his level so well that he manages to make it the best looking map so far, which is helped by the good lighting and the excellent remix of “DOOM”. Despite seemingly being designed for the second slot according to the text file, the combat is harder than most of the maps we've played so far, even if still stays pretty unthreatening outside of the pop-up arch-vile duo, red key courtyard and final area, which are still not too tough. The map also offers a few optional areas but I would recommend not being dumb like me and miss the one with the SSG if you're pistol-starting or you will have to shotgun 2 archies in a tight space who can resurrect spectres and a chaingunner, which is far from the mot friendly situation you can find yourself in. Simple Souterrain is overall really fun and detailed.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 6

Map 3

Map 5

Really Like:

Map 8

Map 4

Map 7

Like:

Map 2

Map 1

 

 

[kalaeth]

it's time for

MAP 08 - Simple Souterrain : 

My basic french tells me we are going underground. It's a mostly impish hot start, a jump for a shotgun and then a HK guarding the switch to open the bars. Into the water we go, there's a lift but before some steps. I go up. Pinkie, shotgunners, imps. A broken computer with a bluesphere, a yellow door and a corridor.  Specters and then chaingunners. I can either fall down or open the door.. Door first. The SSG, nice. Now a fall down and we are outside. Specter, zombies, caco, lots of imps. Also the yellow key. Switch, grab, into the cave. Rev, low level threats and then at the top, an AV. Having the RL I deal with him calmly enough before entering back to the base, through a yellow door. Another yellow door, but first let's visit that lift, ah, I see. It's for the blue door. Yellow door then. Corridor, with the zombies and specters, door, skull, switch, door, secret blue armor, stairs, 'port. Chaingun them all, grab the blue key, jump down to grab the medikit, down again, lift, blue door. Pinkie, imp, manc, chaingunners and shotgunners and then finally the rev. Grab the key and back to the start, red door. USe the door frame to cheese the final fight, cheese the baron too, since he won't leave the exit room and you can't enter, then it's done : 

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 10 minutes 23 seconds.

 

Totals : 2 deaths, 53 minute 37 seconds.

 

As always, I'll be back by monday for the next three levels. Have a nice weekend, doomworld.

[finnks13]

I promise I didn't give up on the set, I was just away for a few days! So, here's 5 maps in one post I guess.

 

MAP04 - Entraxe by Franckfrag:

3:32/1 Death

I know Franckfrag from Swift Death, and the style from that wad is very prevalent here. The map is at it's best near the start as it's throwing ambushes at you, quicker than you can take them out. I took my first death of the playthrough after activating the SSG trap in the hopes that it would help me to deal with the revenants near the rocket launcher - it didn't. Normally, patience and willingness to sometimes commit to slow-rolling high HP enemies to death is the key to victory in this style of map, so I decided to just single shotgun the revenants to grab the rocket launcher in peace. I feel the map loses some steam after the blue key door - there's no threat at all and the imps on the cliffs and spontaneously lowering bridges are rather irritating to deal with. Rest of the map's pretty good though.

 

MAP05 - Visions by Ch0wW:

5:25/0 Deaths
Another "nothing" map from Ch0wW, the visuals here are very rough and outside of the archvile ambush in the red key room, I find the gameplay rather lackluster. There's nothing offensively bad here, just annoying things like a lot of hitscanners that are *just* outside of your view range that you have to get the autoaim to cooperate in order to kill and the area behind the red key door is very dull, a minute of SSGing barely threatening enemies from a doorway - which you also have to do from the door of the red key room too. The last archvile ambush is incredibly easy to deal with, and feels like an afterthought. I also didn't like the MIDI here, it's very loud and obnoxious and barely fits the theme of the map.

 

MAP06 - Processus Logique by William Huber:

5:46/0 Deaths
I'm back in! This map is great, and cheats it's way into my heart by using my favourite Mark Klem MIDI - the fantastic "Time Runner". This map also debuts the wad's custom textures, which range from pleasing dark metals to slightly crap looking STARTAN variants. Huber is great at crafting tight, balanced ambushes that flow nicely into each other and this map is no exception. The two key fights are the highlights for me, and do a near-perfect job of applying pressure while keeping the difficulty low. The arachnotron sandwich at the end of the map to send you on your way, is the icing on top of an excellent speedmap.

 

MAP07 - Merciless Flow by Memfis:
3:11/0 Deaths
One of the most generic Map07's I've ever played, Merciless Flow is a fine map that I can barely remember. The visuals are a very vanilla techbase, but they've been tuned very well here and look good. The fights in the large room were fun, the arachnotron wave & mancubus and revenant ambush that guards the exit both very nearly got me and felt like they were just generous enough with ammo that it felt very fair. I don't like the damaging water - I've seen from some of your write-ups that it is marked, but I completely missed this on my playthrough and was very confused when I started dying to the floor when looking for health. The map would have looked just as good if it was nukage, so I don't understand why this was done beyond a quick "Gotcha! The water's painful! haha!".

 

MAP08 - Simple Souterrain by Oxyde:

8:33/1 Death
This was actually pretty great, the map is dripping with atmosphere in it's lighting, and this as well as the remixed Doom 2 MIDI brings an unsettling quality to the map. The map peaks in the area where you get the yellow key, you drop into a courtyard and have to carve a safe area quickly with the SSG and two archviles pop up after a small cave section which genuinely suprised me. The rest of the map is much less threatening than this, but still enjoyable to play. I think the visuals here, inspired by Underhalls, look superb - the custom textures are used well, but it's the sheer length and fine detailing that's been done here that really surprise me since it seems like so much work for just 3 hours. Looking forward to more stuff by Oxyde in this wad, as he's proven himself to be a force to be reckoned with.

[RED77]

Map 09

 

I try not to be too harsh, but this map was not very good.

Don't get me wrong. It's playable.

But to me, it commits one of the worst sins: it's toothless and boring.

I'm really not a great player and I was able to run thru it like it was nothing.

 

My least favorite so far.

 

★☆☆☆☆ 
 

[Doomy__Doom]

DSDA-Doom, UV-Max, pistol start

 

Map 08 - Simple Souterrain

 

For something with the word "simple" in the name, the layout sure isn't. It's a linear key hunt, but the whole thing is interconnected in a very thought-out way, reducing backtracking to a minimum and always emerging the player close to the next place to go.

 

Lots of detailing and great atmosphere. I enjoyed a little touch with the HK preview window, the non-secret ledges with berserk/backpack that give a sense of exploration in a otherwise small map, the variety of textures and lighting helps a lot as well.

 

The fights aren't difficult outside of maybe double Vile spook - the map does a good job of lulling you into a false sense of security and then throws the rude "actually have to react quickly" awakening. Docking points for 2 rockets without RL pickup - the would-be total of 5 rockets has a lot of potential places to use and provide a sense of tactical choice. Also the obligatory Vile at the end.

The good parts include YK/RK areas, lots of infighting pleases my aesthetic sense. Yay for baron/manc meatshielding. Nay for sniping 3 Revs at RK (hello missing RL).

[cannonball]

MAP08 - “Simple Souterrain” by Oxyde

 

After seeing near universal praise for this map, I started to wonder whether I was playing the same map because frankly... I did not like it.

Lets get one thing clear, this is the best looking map so far, and I suspect will be near or at the top come the end of this playthrough. The level lops around sufficiently to make progression fairly easy. However the gameplay was to be honest rather sluggish and outside of a few moments, lacked imagination.

Now the first mistake I made was to miss the SSG, this is the first time in a long while that I decided to restart the map because taking on the double archvile room without it is quite horrid. To be completely honest the SSG only helped so much, ultimately you still end up chewing through monsters that are pretty much entirely in front of you, like 4 revenants behind a door that has a switch to the blue key area, the entire red key area and the exit area. All of these fights are effectively redundant because they basically take one strategy - stand back and let the SSG whittle everything down.

The yellow key fight is okay, but you can easily screw yourself with infinite height if you don't drop down quickly enough, the blue key fight is fine and probably the highlight of the map. The ending archvile was probably not at the joke level it is now, but at the end of the day that monster is a door with health. 

Overall - It isn't the worst map, but frankly I would take the works of others over this. The good visuals can only go so far.

 

[tmorrow]

game mode:  gzdoom4.8.0, uvmax, pistol starts. If a map is too hard, I'll revert to using saves and note it on that map review.

---

map09

A medium sized tech base, starting in a warehouse. Progress is mostly linear and for the most part, the gameplay is straightforward. The first archvile turns out to be a pain, being well guarded by a small wall of cacodemons all gathered around the doorway. The later twin archvile attack wasn't nearly as much of a problem. the map finishes with a twin spider mastermind showdown. Even the most dim of doomguys can work out what to do. A surprising early boss brain is revealed at the end.
 

[Book Lord]

MAP 09 – Generator of Death by Sid Zetmeck

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

 

Sid Zetmeck had a small gimmick in store and slowly introduced it to the player, putting together a tech-base with lots of right angles and corners, which should be carefully checked for hitscanners and other lurking foes. The RK was obtained in a guard post and used to access a computer central with the BK. The teleport ambush with Imps and Revenants was very slow: the last Imp appeared when I was already fighting the new monsters near the blue door!

Spoiler

At that point, a straight path was in front of me, dotted with fierce monsters and most notably Arch-Viles. I was not enthusiastic about the Spiderdemon duo patrolling the titular Generator of Death; knowing the clover-shaped corridors around the area might inspire better actions than sniping them with the plasma rifle from the entrance. I was unsure what to do when the switch exposed a FIREBLU core, so I shot at it; the Romero head inside triggered an explosion and the end of the level. This was satisfying to play overall, but it had a pair of underwhelming moments that slowed down the advancement.

[LadyMistDragon]

Level 8: Simple Souterrain

by @Oxyde
 

Oxyde made probably my second favorite map in the first two-thirds of 180MPV, Etat 'd Emergencie or Map 17, featuring one of the craziest non-slaughter final battles outside of something like Sunlust or anything ribbiks did. Otherwise, the Perfect Dark fanboy has done nothing else significant I know of, though he seems to have been making maps longer than even Wilou!

 

Visually, there's not really lots to speak of here, just the usual down-color tech stuff, although the Underhalls reference is kind of nice, and that's a seriously swanking remix of "DOOM, DOOM, DOOOOM" Combat I have to say doesn't quite do it for me outside of some select spots. Although I think cannonball exaggerates when he says every encounter can be solved by SSing the lot from a standing location (though the YK fight is one of the worst examples of itt, there are a few places where things get just a touch ridiculous. It's still better than corridor crawlers from a certain *cough* collection from 2003 *cough", and thusly not bad, but Matt ain't completely wrong, honestly.

 

Which isn't to say I thought it was bad at all, perhaps just that the detail noted by many wasn't necessarily all that significant, regardless of how nice the outdoor areas may have been. They felt tacked on anyway to be honest, possible exception being the Imp cave near the yellow key.

 

The first ambush exiting the sewers briefly cornered me, but I'd end up restarting that run because it was on HMP (I'd read something in the other writeups about two Arch-viles so I knew I'd done goofed). Unfortunately, I ended up forgetting the Super Shotgun this time around which makes killing the Arch-viles nigh near impossible without some healthy rewinding. Oddly enough, I survived the blue key fight on the first try despite some admitted clumsiness, the best example of Oxyde's potential thus far. It makes the combat at the end quite disappointing, despite packing on the monsters since you can basically shotgun everything although the Mancubus here especially is still quite dangerous. Infighting does seem possible. The Arch-vile getting stuck in the exit was quite funny.

 

The two secrets were located easily, though the megaarmor one was tricky because you have to hit the obvious button at just the right angle since it's below you so I didn't come back here until I was done. I have to wonder if there's folks who would soit the supercharge one right off.

 

I think it's still my third favorite map so far. One of tmy favorite Doom II tracks gets a makeover and despite encounters feeling a little on the scattered side, at least they have more the 'room to breathe' feel as opposed to the sloppiness of Map 05.

 

 

lmd_3ha2_08.zip

Edited July 9, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Biodegradable]

MAP09: Generator of Death

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

While this map is a little on the flat side with rather minimal height variation, it makes up for it with its variety of room layouts, architecture and classic IWAD feeling combat. It has a nice run n' gun feel to it thanks to the plethora of hitscanners wandering around, so if you like the fast-paced shoot-out kind of maps like good ol' The Focus as much as I do, then there's fun to be had here. A fair bit more on the simplistic side, but it's elegant and well-paced with some fun set pieces. The combat itself is perhaps a little toothless, but you might die if you get a little careless. The Archie twin trap certainly nearly killed me! Overall it's not a bad little map that offers some bite-sized fun that you can knock out in a few minutes, which is all one can really ask for of a speedmap if we're being honest. It's not going to make my favourites list, but it's still better than some of its predecessors. It's a bit of the all right, mate. ;^P

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 09 - Generator of death

 

 

After replaying Generator of death, it became without a doubt my favourite map from the Episode 1. The whole design is more simplistic than map 06 or map 08 but the action perfectly blends with the new music composed by its author. It reminds TNT evilution in a good way.

 

What I liked about this map was killing packs of low-tiers monstres with my SSG and other weak weapons and then spraying plasma cells and rockets on mid-tiers monsters in the corridor leading to the generator Room.

 

The generator room with its Romero head hidden behind a forcefield of Fireblu and the two Masterminds is one of the most memorable places in episode 1.

 

This level, while being easy, makes me feel badass.

 

Grade : A-

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Roofi

[RHhe82]

MAP09: Generator of Death. 137/137 K, 2/2 S. Completion time 13:27.

 

I saw a critical opinion of MAP09 earlier, and was surprised the level was actually quite decent. I enjoyed most of it: breather-sort of map, nothing spectacular or anything, but still. Only the end left a sour taste in me, I mean the double mastermind feature and a handful of hitscanners. I took care of the masterminds with a plasma gun from the room leading up to the mastermind chamber. I guess the mapper ran out of time there, which is understandable.

 

Middle-of-the-road map, then.

[Doomy__Doom]

DSDA-Doom, UV-Max, pistol start

 

Map 09 - Generator Of Death

 

Mostly flat techbase, which immediately evokes "tnt but a bit more detailed" with a soundtrack spurring you into immediate action. The first half of the level is spent in a straight plow through hitscan, imps and occasional rev/pinky.

 

Past the blue door, the Generator generated a Vile behind Cacowall, with just SSG this pushed me back from blue door towards the low-ceiling lamps. Having a RL with a limited rocket supply (5 or so) would make this a bit more straightforward, but eh, you get basically infinite shells just before BD.

 

Cell packs clue you in to the plasma secret, followed shortly by RL and another Vile fight. I tried to play it straight and not run away immediately upon hitting the switch despite the painfully slow wall giving me all the time to do so, which almost got me blocked by Arachnotron resurrection. Got away with some facerocket splash, which rid me of the remainder of armor and backtracked health pickups left me at ~80%.

 

In that state I was somewhat happy to actually see two Masterminds, as they could keep each other busy and not RNG obliterate me in an attempt to go into the side tunnels and close the deal. All in all, not a memorable map but neither a terrible one. The only major complaint I have would be those really slow teleporter ambushes.

[Dersulbob]

Map 09 - Generator Of Death
(Blind run, UV, Continuous, saves allowed, GZDoom)

 

Opening room transported me back to E1, and it's been such a long time since I played those maps that it was a very welcome feeling. The aesthetics of this map continued to evoke the id WADs of the 90s throughout, which was not an issue for me. 

 

Combat-wise, the map was fairly tame. As others have mentioned, the teleport traps were very slow, to the point where they continued to spawn in long after I left the area. For example, when I picked up the blue key, 2 or 3 imps teleported in, I killed them and moved on. When I was clearing up after the following ambush, I could hear Revenants and Imps moving round, and realised they were trapped behind the red door where I had picked up the blue key.      

 

Throughout the rest of the map there was nothing particularly tough. It did take a while to kill the first Arch-Vile, due to the continuously respawning Cacos and Imps, but rather than being difficult it was fairly repetitive. The double Arch-Vile encounter was pretty tame when using the central pillar for cover, and the final encounter with the two Masterminds was toothless for obvious reasons.

 

I admit I did run around aimlessly for a little bit trying to figure out how to end the level, for some reason the "generator" concept passed me by so I didn't realise it needed to be destroyed.

 

Overall, didn't mind the design of the level but thought the combat was lacking.  

 

Grade - C+

[Thelokk]

MAP09 - Generator of Death by Sid Zetmeck

UV / 100% kills / 2 secrets found

 

Generator of Death might be a slightly misleading name, as the map is on the easy side compared to some stuff we've played so far; still, I dug its off-beat attitude, the mix of techbase with brick, and the balls of laying out a double Mastermind encounter where the two don't immediately annihilate each other. Retracing is made more interesting by frequent ambushes and, unlike some other players I've read from, the double archviles did give me some trouble. I'm just bad at dealing with that specific monster, I guess.

Pretty decent map overall, plays well enough and looks pretty good.

 

N.B: not going to play MAP10, since it's one more map with that idiotic 'spawning sector is the secret' bullshit. I just can't cope. 

[finnks13]

MAP09 - Generator of Death by Sid Zetmeck:

5:50/0 Deaths
A short blast of action through a very vanilla techbase, Generator of Death is a good time. It's full of uncomplicated fun and with the exception of the red key teleporter trap, full of snappy combat and ambushes that are pretty laid-back but keep you awake due to the high presence of hitscanners. The monster teleporter in the red key trap is very slow and a lot of my time in this level was spent waiting for it to slowly spit out the imps contained within. The finale can be dismantled very easily as the two spider masterminds can't resist infighting with each other, so you're able to spectate the duel and finish off the winner. Fun map, and the MIDI composed by Sid himself goes hard.

[tonytheparrot]

(Played from a pistol-start on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 9: Generator of Death by Sid Zetmeck

104% kills, 80% items, 100%  secrets

Time: 6:10

 

Generator of Death is a pretty good map. Despite being pretty flat, blocky and not really having a moment that stands out, it's simple, aesthetically consistent, fast-paced and the midi gives it a nice boost. I also appreciate how this level is the only one in the entire series that got a midi specifically composed for it, especially as it's a very good track. Since I don't have much to say about this one, I just wanna mention 2 weird things that happened in this playthrough, (I won't take them into account for the rankings) :

1- The arch-viles who are normally harmless created a ghost cacodemon while I didn't have the Rocket Launcher, which means that I had to run past a lot of heavies to grab it and even when I did, the caco flew very far away because of the rocket explosions, so I had to chase him through half of the map. It was actually pretty fun!

2- Like an idiot, I opened the fireblu core while the 2 masterminds were still infighting, which means that I had to keep them from destroying it by spamming plasma at them and manipulating their movement if I wanted to get 100% kills.

Overall, Generator of Death is a bit basic, but still really fun and just like what Roofi said, it makes you feel like a badass.

I also wonder, does anybody know if Sid Zetmeck released more maps?

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 6

Map 3

Map 5

Really Like:

Map 8

Map 4

Map 7

Map 9

Like:

Map 2

Map 1

 

 

[RED77]

Map 10

 

It's a very simple and small map. I like the aesthetic and the MIDI.
In the combat department, it's very simple.
Another non-secret map.
 

Just OK

 

★★☆☆☆ 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 09: Generator of Death

by Sid Zetmeck

 

Sid Zetmeck is someone involved with the French community only briefly it seems like because he only made maps for this and 20 Years of Doom. And, I dunno, I dunno, maybe that's too bad or maybe it isn't at all.

 

What I do know is that this map has constant flow unlike Map 05, despite the unchallenging combat for about the first 60 percent or so, with the little trickling ambushes doing little to alleviate this, as they aren't exactly to the scale of something like 10 and 18 from TNT ("Infinite" starts to play). Anyway, the opening crate room and corresponding receiving desk is cool and it's neat to see the hitscanners here infight so easilyAt a certain point, things slowly start to get a touch more interesting, probably around the point you encounter the hitscanner computer bank room, but it feels designed to be played keyboard-only.  When you get to the loads of ammo boxes, you can probably tell something big's coming, and that one of the heavy weapons is probably hidden. That's the only reason I had to press an anonymous gray computer bank which contained a plasma rifle behind it. It made killing the Arachnotrons in the next room fairly easy, but the Arch-vile which appeared came roaring forward with fury, resurrecting an Archnotron despite being rocketed fairly quickly. But the real killer is the Mastermind pair in the titular room, which is shaped just the right way to make infighting an unlikely and questionable prospect. I was hurt quite badly here, although ir proved to make little difference. Although if someone hadn't mentioned the Romero head above, it would've taken me much longer to start rocketing the core. The perfect cap-off to a map seeming to make various crappy attempts at jokes. In the end, I can't help but like this, despite it's probably middle-of-the-road when compared to the prior maps. And Sid actually composed the track here, which definitely makes the enjoyment feel less guilty! It sounds very familiar for some reason.

 

 

lmd_3ha2_09.zip

Edited July 9, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Magnusblitz]

On 7/7/2022 at 1:22 PM, cannonball said:

PS - I don't understand the dislike towards the damaging floor? I mean it is marked better than most wads I see.....

 

I feel a little dumb now, as I completely missed that (I even loaded up the level a second time and missed it again - I think because I always sprint forward to avoid the enemies, and the sign isn't marked on the back).

 

 

MAP09 - “Generator of Death” by Sid Zetmeck

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Good first half here, felt a bit like a combo of E3M3 and some of McGee's Doom II maps (Underhalls and The Focus maybe?) Not to say that this is trying to be a homage or anything, just that the low ceilings (an underrated design point IMO) and old-school architecture gave me that feeling. Lots of small fry early on too, but not in a way that's too boring, plenty of the more dangerous hitscanners. The blue key 'ambush' though was a bit undercooked, with all the demons and imps far-off not making much of a threat.

 

After the blue door things ramp up, with revenants, mancs, arachs, AVs and then some masterminds at the end. This latter half all feels a bit artificial to be honest, as if the author wasn't confident in just making an early-monster-tier map and felt he had to have a ramp-up through all the weapons and bestiary, which I think is a mistake that a lot of community project maps make. Obviously it's hard to know what the other authors will be doing and making the whole megawad have that sort of flow, but when every map goes from 0 to 100 it loses the impact I think. And, aside from the dual-AV fight after the arachs, none of the final fights here are all that interesting, with the monsters generally just being placed ahead of the player in a tight corridor. I think the spider one was intended to require a lot more player movement, with the looping hallways around it, but there's nothing pushing the player to move. And it's far too easy to make them infight then finish off the straggler without even needing to go into the side rooms.

 

Still though, one of the stronger maps so far, as the first half was definitely on the more polished end.

 

 

MAP10 - “Culture et Confiture de Mobs” by Jambon

100% kills, 1/1 "secret"

 

This one hits a lot of my pet peeves. No real secrets, it's entirely brown, the ammo balance is a bit too lean (no I do not want to have to plink at hell knights with a pistol), and it's entirely symmetrical with fights repeated. My favorite fight was probably the dark room lock-in with the spectres, which is a good sign of how dire this is. Eminently skippable.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Magnusblitz

[Monsieur E]

Map08- Simple Souterrain by Oxyde
100% kills 

This is another good level. The design of this level invokes Underhalls and I quite like the detailing and aesthetic cohesion here. Specifically, I want to point out that the dark lighting here serves nicely to disguise the specters and I'd say they were used pretty effectively. The short encounters connect very well and form a cohesive experience which never lets up. The level wraps back around itself and makes the level feel interconnected and cohesive, particularly I quite like being able to take the non-secret berserk pack after having seen it on a ledge earlier in the level. 

Map09- Generator of Death by Sid Zetmeck 
100% kills

This level starts off as a simple plow through hitscanners and other low tiers with the sprinkling of an occasional skeleton. Fortunately, you're equipped with the ssg quite early (as well as the backpack in the secret in the first room) and the running-gunning is fun throughout the map. I was gonna originally write this off as a simple laidback experience but then, the goddamn archie beyond the blue key struck. Reading you guys' writeups made me realize that I had missed the plasma rifle and just made that encounter quite a hassle lmao. In spite of that, I honestly had fun with it, the tight spacing as well as the obtrusive cacodemons make dealing with the healer a challenge and the presence of enemies in the second room make running to it to bottleneck the enemies an inviable strategy. After that, I didn't have much of an issue dismantling the duo of archviles or the twin spiderdemons (well they mostly dealt with each other). Ending the level by shooting at a Romero head in a fireblu column, which I presume to be destroying the titular 'Generator of Death' was weird and is honestly somewhat unintuitive but I didn't mind it a whole lot. 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Monsieur E : typo

[cannonball]

MAP09 - “Generator of Death” by Sid Zetmeck

 

Well you can tell that the author was not experienced when they made this. The rather flat layout is one of them, the other are the very slow teleport closets that mean that monsters could still very well trickle in well after you triggered them.

The first half with the fodder was pretty decent, unfortunately the map ends up having similar problems to the last one, there is a lot to chew through behind the red key door, again it isn't particularly fun. I was expecting something at the end, the double mastermind is only a threat until the they fighting with each other... and blow up the base... whoops.

In the end, a few highlights but overall a rather flat trek with monsters mostly running in front of your sights with little variation.

 

MAP10 - “Culture et Confiture de Mobs” by Jambon

The map is entirely symmetrical, involves having to shotgun to death 6 hellknights and an archvile, you get the SSG and rocket launcher for easier fights and then the map ends. Honestly, this was pretty awful, it is as basic as it comes and it wouldn't surprise me if this was made in the fraction of the allotted time of 3 hours. Sorry.

Edited July 10, 2022 by cannonball

[Biodegradable]

MAP10: Culture et Confiture de Mobs

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

Much like Cannonball, I wasn't all too fussed with this map either. I like a spooky library map, but the full-blown symmetry on display made things rather predictable. The dark trap with the Spectres is kind of fun and the first time the surprise HK in a tiny monster closet behind you when you reach one of the doors nailed me. However, that's all there really is to say about this one. Again, it's not horrible and I had a few funny moments, but overall it's really not much to write home about. Just a big ol' "Meh".