The DWmegawad Club plays: 3 Heures d'Agonie 2

[Monsieur E]

Map13- Traumateck by Franckfrag
100% kills 

This was really enjoyable map and I quite enjoyed it. It's pretty tight in terms of space but packs quite a punch, the level has a hot start as you get scramble to get rid of the revenants and nobles with your plasma rifle while zombies take potshots at you witling down your health. Following this, you go into the red key room which is simple yet quite effective. The revenant pushes you out into the fodder shooting range and to be quick with your weapons and on your feet. The switch which triggers the twin archvile is pretty deceptive I'd say especially with the price you gotta pay for pressing it, furthermore, it's entirely plausible to press it prior to entering the rocket launcher area making handling the two archviles an ass. The exit defense squad encounter is fun too. Throughout the level, I appreciate the abundance of shotgun shells as you only have the simple shotgun. I really liked this one, I think it carries its momentum throughout the entire level as opposed to Franckfrag's previous outing and I really like the interconnectedness nature of the level, I'd say it's my favorite level so far.
 

[Doomy__Doom]

DSDA-Doom, UV-Max, pistol start

 

Map 13 - Traumateck

 

A brutal starting room with no safety, a lot of instant death/unrecoverable high damage rolls potential and ammo being enough pretty much only to kill the wallbarons guarding the only way out in the red key.

 

Following that, a trap switch with 2 Viles which is more or less a pure gotcha - unless you skip the switch and explore for RL, there's more or less no way to have firepower to cope with the aftermath of a Vile being near 2 barons you've dumped most of your plasma allotment into at the start. I guess you can try to rely on infighting at the mid bars/berserk secret and hope the Vile gets caught in crossfire and you don't get zapped/hit doing in and out moves on awkward stairs?..

 

Once you are aware of these two elements the map becomes beatable, the remainder of combat is straightforward.

[Book Lord]

MAP 14 – Sarcasmes Malsains by Maxime Bisiaux @Datacore85

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

 

What could you expect from a level called Sarcasmes Malsains? The visuals changed course abruptly to a vanilla marble & blood dungeon of hell, featuring some nasty and unpredictable encounters. The Cacoswarm was large, considering that a pistol starter might carry only a shotgun; the SSG secret belonged to the cryptic kind, and so did the BFG behind the blue door, obtainable right before leaving, but only by players inclined to hump at everything.

Spoiler

A pistol starter should not fall from the zig-zag bridge, as the skull switch granted a much-needed plasma rifle. Easier said than done. Being forced to face the crowded SP_HOT1 room with no decent weapon would be quite aggravating. The collected YK opened a teleporter to a tricky room, consisting of a cage surrounded by Imps and Shotgun Guys on terraces. The Berserk Pack suggested a Tyson approach, but I could not perform it since there were too many instances of infinitely tall scratches from the Imps. I died twice before succeeding.

 

The switch behind the red door, opening another door marked as red at the opposite side of the level, was unnecessarily confusing. The last room with two Barons in a breathless cubicle caused another death, as I ignored the teleporter could be used in reverse to escape. Except for the last segment, I found the second level by Datacore85 even more interesting than his MAP03. The French mappers have abandoned the initial politeness and they will not shy away from dirty tricks, often with a sick sense of humour, or with Sarcasmes Malsains, if you prefer.

 

[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.

---

map14

A strange tech base in marble, blood and red brick with some tricky secrets. You will want to pick up the super shotgun secret as soon as possible or doomguy will not be having fun at all. Beware the yellow key pickup, the trap involves an obligatory archvile and his revenant and hellknight buddies. Save some of your plasma, you are going to need it for the final room.

 

The red key pickup is a 3 walled circus of imps/shotgunguys. Fortunately you can use play teleporter peek-a-boo to avoid a shredding.
 

I did say this map is strange. Doomguy would love to collect both the blue key and bfg secrets but there's a problem. In a massive troll, those last 2 secrets aren't available until doomguy has teleported into exit area and beaten 2 barons in cramped quarters, after which there are only 2 lost souls left on the map. A belated blue key and bfg can now be acquired. Datacore85 winks and says thank you for coming and have a nice day!

[NiGHTS108]

MAP11: Cendres Humaines

By JC Dorne

Kills: 88%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 2:11

 

Yeah... Not a fan of this one at all... This review kinda writes itself to be honest, it's a very basic looking map that barely has the weaponry or ammunition you need to deal with several unexpected ambushes. Again, similar to the last one, if you're into shotgunning large masses of enemies, kick back and enjoy. I'm ranking this map above Culture Et Confiture De Mobs because I at least don't find it quite as dull to sit through, but this one definitely has room for improvement.

 

Grade: D+
Difficulty: B-

 

 

MAP12: Wrong Address

By Memfis

Kills: 100%
Items: 100%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 4:11

 

Wrong Address is another sweet yet simple map that doesn't have a lot of meat on the bones but makes up for it by being generally pleasant to stroll through. The MIDI and texturing especially give this map a boost, borrowing a tune from CC2 and having quite the variety of visuals on display here. The combat is nothing to write home about other than a tasty Arch-Vile ambush right before you leave, but otherwise this one has a strong appeal in the fast pace and nice architecture. I like this one.

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: C-

 

 

MAP13: Traumateck

By FranckFRAG

Kills: 100%

Items: 88%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 3:38

 

Traumateck is another map I like a ton! Not unlike Entraxe from 9 maps back, Traumateck is a very tightly woven tech base where your biggest obstacle is movement. Funny enough I find the start is the hardest part of the map, it's easy to get caught off guard by several Barons and Revenants, but honestly from there things flatten out a little. Most of what comes after is a few casual soldiers and Imps, however I say MOST because you better act quick when that Arch-Vile appears after hitting the button over the mud basin, I got lucky in this recording and escaped by the skin of my teeth. Traumateck is simple and clean fun, once again one of the best things a wad in this series can be.

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: B

 

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP14: Sarcasmes Malsains

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

So, I'll be honest, I didn't like this one too much. It wasn't an irritating drag or anything like MAP11, more in the sense that I just really wasn't all that fussed with it. It's just kind of cramped and uninteresting. Bit disappointed since Datacore's MAP03 was great, but this one felt a little phoned in and uninspired with its dull combat and lackluster visuals. It's just... there. I struggle to think of much more to say about it, honestly. It's whatever, fam.

 

 

[Thelokk]

MAP14: Sarcasmes Malsaines by Datacore85

UV / 100% kills / 3 secrets found

 

This one gets bonus points for incorporating actual secret, but not much else. To me, this map is a prime example of a big mistake mappers tend to make while speedmapping: needlessly complicate layouts. The map could have easily been half its size and work just as well, some of the detours are needlessly obtuse and at least one of the keys is mere padding to artificially lengthen the map's play time. Combat is quite a step up in difficulty, it did take me a few deaths to pistol start this one. The visuals are largely an unappealing mish mash of vanilla textures, nothing to write home about.

Not impressed, sorry. 

[Roofi]

Map 14 "Sarcasmes malsains"

 

 

I like this sinister map. The marble/hell them fits well with the rough mapping style of Datacore. Indeed, Datacore doesn't follow the modern mapping tropes. Contrarly to map 03, I think "Sarcasmes Malsains" has a charming old-schoold vibe. There are several obscures secrets to find. I missed 2 two of them. I appreciate the use of E2M4's music in that case.

 

The red key's section was a bit irritating though, as well as the two last barons which were more time consuming than else.

 

Grade : B

 

 

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 14: Sarcasmes Malsains by Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux

100% kills, items and secrets

Time: 6:20

 

While it owns a lower enemy count than Sombre Angoisse, Sarcasmes Malsains is uncharacterstically cruel by Datacore's standards and actually the second hardest map so far, only behind Cendres Humaines. The map is full of fun, but also very deadly setpieces like the bridge that sinks leaving you at the mercy of spiders and tomatoes (press the switch to get the plasma, you will regret not grabbing it), the yellow key trap that opens a lot of monster closets, including one with an archie, the room with all the hitscanners and imps or the double baron surprise at the exit. On top of that, the amount of cells is pretty limited and you don't get a rocket launcher in this level. As with his last map, Datacore keeps a consistent theme throughout with his use of blood and marble hell and creates a sinister atmosphere thanks to another stock midi: "They're Going to Get You". Despite being merciless, Sarcasmes Malsains is a pretty enjoyable experience that really benefits from the Datacore's work on atmosphere.

 

Footnote: It's fitting that we are talking about a french wad on the french's national day!

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 6

Map 3

Map 5

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 8

Map 13

Map 4

Map 14

Map 7

Map 9

Like:

Map 2

Map 1

Map 10

Dislike:

Map 11

 

 

[RED77]

Map 15

 

THIS WAS PERFECTION.
Simple, well thought, clever enemy use (especially those lost souls)
Great secret.
10/10
no complaints.
More like this, please. 

 

★★★★★ 

[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.

---

map15

I wasn't as impressed as RED77 is with this level but I did enjoy it. It's a small back and forth map. You will find yourself taking repeated trips north and south to hit switches to open up more of the map and to try to find those elusive secrets. There's a couple of archviles to contend with and a handful mid tier enemies with appropriate weaponry given for both. I wasn't able to get into the secrets until the end but perhaps I missed the optimal route. Don't miss the secret exit, you just know you want to do the secret and super secrets maps.

map31

This is one vicious tech base, a great map. The huber'ing continues. Careful of the first switch, it's a hot one. My doomguy could only survive by mostly ignoring the hellknight/revenant/archvile rush by using the switch near the small platform of revenants early and reaching the safety of the half circular, plasma rifle alcove. My approach was to ignore the archviles until later when doomguy was better equipped and take the lift down to the corridor to the west. Doomguy also deferred the rocket launcher pickup until he had cleared to the main ammo stash of rockets and shells off to the side of the red and blue key room.

The switch that lowers the red key also spawns cybie in the mancubus corridor and a lot of hellknights/barons. Since ammo is plentiful, my doomguy took out all the revenants first and could then hug the wall below cybie and mancubi to safely rocket all approaching barons and hellknights to oblivion and then take care of cybie from below.

The switch that lowers the blue key releases a few archviles and barons and hellknights down the rocket launcher corridor as well as many arachnotrons on the switch ledge. Doomguy says rockets work great on those archviles after which the remaining riffraff can be readily eliminated.

In the final encounter doomguy faces 2 cyberdemons after collecting the much needed megasphere. Being the brave soul that he is, doomguy parked his butt in the semicircular plasma rifle alcove and plasma'ed the lights out of the platform cybie after which the roaming cybie could be handled with relative ease (confined to half of the room).

William placed a hellknight at the super secret exit so the uvmaxer is forced to not only find the secret but also make his way to that map exit.

map32

An obstacle course to test out doomguy. The map is all about movement and timing, no shooting required. The yellow areas are supposed to be the safe zones but I'm not sure they always work with rocket splash. Doomguy only used the yellow zones for the archvile section and ignored them completely for both of the cybie sections where he prayed to the doom gods and ran for the switches, trying not to retrace his steps. As for when to enter the spider mastemind area, doomguy just went for it when there were only 1-2 spider masterminds remaining after the infighting.

[RHhe82]

MAP14: Sarcasmes Malsains. 85/85 K, 3/3 S. Completion time 10:20.

 

An okay map, but not a good one. It has a certain 90s feel to it with rooms rectangulaires. Although I made one stupid mistake, that's not noticing the plasma gun in plain sight, which made the red brick corridor painful what with surprise archviles.

[kalaeth]

Let's 14 this bad boy! 

 

MAP 14 - Sarcasmes Malsains :

Marble temples, so it seems. SSG for the imp and pinkies, then a non-secret secret blue armor, go back for the secret secret SSG, lift, corridor, red cave, press the switch before falling down or you'll miss the plasma. Then switch, trap, grab the yellow key and leave back to the blood pool. Yellow door, teleport, survive the gauntlet, red key, teleport, red door. Switch, go to the other red door, teleport. A wall opens, another wall falls and another secret with a teleport. Blue key, blur door, BFG, exit door.. End.

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 6 minutes 59 seconds.

 

Totals : 

1 hour 29 minutes and 26 seconds, 17 deaths.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map14: Sarcames Malsains

by Maxime "Datacore" Bisaux

 

Good god......continously, this map is fairly hundrum with only the red cavern maybe presenting some problems but when you have to search for a hidden SSG (which I didn't find and caused me to rewind many, many times because it was more time-efficient) in order to have a decent chance of making the YK fight beatable, it causes things to be far more difficult. Stupidly, I never bothered with the chaingun on the platform in the corner of the blood pool. Killing the pinkies here felt really tedious and a touch unnecessary, probably a preclusion to the overall hostility of this map. In any case, you'll want to hit the switch behind the chaingunners because it opens a little closet with the plasma rifle. Don't use it right now because you have far more bullets to handle the Arachnotrons, Spectres and Cacodemons in close quarters (although the Cacos will turn you into a mass of blue flame if you stand still) run into the nearby corridor, dispatch the Arachnotrons, press the switch at the end, and face the trap that killed me more than any other! The hidden SSG would make things easier, but as it is, prepare to die die die on pistol-start because there's an Arch-vile here that's incredibly hard to avoid and you're unlikely to have much health at this stage and the other enemies make getting at them very tough so prepare to go up in flames a few times.

 

After this, the yk opens a teleport to a cage room that truthfully feels tacked-on. It's quite deadly, but survivable if you get the Berserk Pack in the corner. Chaingun the hitscanners, dodge these Imps somehow and perhaps not use too much plasma ammo because of the Baron of Hell pair that confronts you at the exit. Near said exit is a wall somewhere which opens a passageway back in the blood-pool room that leads to an outside area with a Blue key, which opens a closet with a useless BFG unless you lefty the Barons alive which hey fair play.

 

After looking up the SS secret, I'm actually quite confused how I missed it when I shot the torch in question but at this point, so what? It encourages to grab the chaingun as well, I guess. The cage with the RK was completely unnecessary

lmd_3ha2_14.zip

[Thelokk]

Map15 - Les Comtes de la Crypte by Jambon

UV / 100% kills / 2 secrets found

 

Another jambon map, another so so piece. Overall it's a little step up from map04, what with its unusual back and forth progression and its simple, but effective texturing.

Sadly, there is also a lot to dislike about the map. The combat is average at best, sometimes downright silly: some just don't realize that piling chaingunners on top of each other  makes them less effective, not more, as you can just peek in and wait till they off each other. The secrets are just meh - a bunch of cells when the map is basically over, and textureless switches opening the boring way to the boring secret exit.

All in all, nothing to write home about.

[finnks13]

MAP14 - Sarcasmes Malsains by Datacore85:

6:51/8 Deaths
A vanilla-looking marble stronghold, this map has exactly one memorable section which is the brutal yellow key ambush. Going into this you'll probably have a shotgun, chaingun and a plasma gun with no ammo - the best way I found to complete it was to get the hell knights + imps to fight, so I could grab the SSG, leave the ambush and come back from the other side, and hope that the archvile made it's way to the front of the pack. It's perhaps a little *too* harsh, but I don't mind a little adrenaline shot, and it was at least fun to die repeatedly to. The tiered room with all the imps was a pain to take out, because it felt impossible to do it at anything other than a snail's pace and the two barons guarding the exit are very easy to bait
into the teleporter in front of them, which makes them a breeze to take out. A mixed-bag overall.

[Monsieur E]

Map14- Sarcasmes Malsains by Datacore 
100% kills

I don't know if I was being more sloppy than usual in my gameplay but I really struggled with this level. I had fortunately remembered of the super shotgun secret from the Dean's review so it could've been worse. The descending bridge is not too challenging on its own but the cacocloud pouring into the room proves to be quite a challenge. Push past the specters, quickly take the plasma rifle and then carve out a space for yourself to deal with the cacoloud, it's a pretty enjoyable encounter. Then comes the yellow key encounter, damn you better hope the archvile rushes ahead before his squad does. Again, equipping the ssg early helps here quite a lot and it's pretty enjoyable. However, both of these do suffer from tight health, I had to deal with the entire yellow key fight with only 13% health or so. Now the map trips over and falls unfortunately because I completely hate the caged arena room. The moment you step out of the corridor you get shredded by shotgunners, don't even bother going for the berserk pack right now you'll just end up wasting it. Wait for the shotgunners to procedurally move out of their audience seats, chop them down and once it's cleared out, pick up the berserk pack along with the cell pack and then, clear out the imps on the rear seats. Following this, the level becomes pretty easy. Bait out the barons, clear up the final area, cheat to find out where the final enemies are, and you're done. The theming of the level is pretty concise throughout, and while I'm not a fan of green marble, I liked the cohesion and adherence to the theme throughout; the Doom1 track helps with this alongside with providing an ominous, stark vibe so to speak. 

As an aside, do we play the secret maps on the 15th too ?

[tonytheparrot]

@Monsieur E Yes, outside of some exceptions, secret maps are always played on the 15th of the month (of course there’s no problem if you post about them late)

[Book Lord]

MAP 15 – Les Comtes de la Crypte by Jean Bon (Jambon)

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

 

I am not one that complains about brown maps, but this level had nothing to offer in the aesthetic department. It made use of not more than 10 textures and 3 flats, with brown constituting 90% of the visible palette, and was also devoid of detail and light variation, except in front of the BRICKLIT walls. The author surely spent more time drawing his nice ham logo than texturing the whole map!

Spoiler

The combat was ok, a series of congested brawls that can catch a blind player off-guard but are destined to oblivion on a second attempt. The Revenants managed to surprise me as I thought the ambush would trigger with the switch, but the rest of the monsters were just in front of me. I did not like the time-consuming crushers appearing when the map was almost over, and I found the unlocking procedure for the secret exit a bit counterintuitive (return to previously visited areas for no apparent reason, since the trigger was an invisible linedef). A passable level for its combat scenarios, Les Comtes de la Crypte lacked substance and polish in almost every other aspect.

[Book Lord]

MAP 31 – Dextromethorphane 84% by William Huber @WH-Wilou84

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

 

Dextromethorphan is a drug used to treat cough. It can be either a medicine or a dissociating agent, depending on dose and means of consumption. The same could be said for WH-Wilou84’s secret map, a yellow and silver tech-base packed with baddies. As opposed to most of the megaWAD, this map proposed a modern texture scheme, created by the author himself, which is amazing since 3 Heures d’Agonie 2 predates OTEX by 4 years.

Spoiler

The combat recipe was simple, but masterfully executed. Instead of bite-sized chunks of hellspawn to chew, the level served a shovelful of enemies at each encounter. The first ambush, possibly triggered while still fighting the Shotgunners, was very wild and I enjoyed it immensely, as well as the teleport shenanigans at every crucial step. I stuck to the weapons available to pistol starters, and I had a great time mowing down the large crowd of fodder in the lower corridor. I used the passage to the keycard room as a choke point, exploiting a bulky Mancubus both as a meat shield and as an infighting champion. The author knew I would do so because he spawned a party of Arch-Viles right there later on.

 

The only gripe I have with this excellent work was the use of Cyberdemons. The first one appeared on a balcony without being announced first, so he caught me from behind while I was facing Hell Nobles. The other two were placed as the last guardians before the exit, and again the player might be ambushed by the boss emerging from the dark room, after the one on the podium drew his attention. I was tempted to use the BFG here, but I resisted. I tried to escape through the red door, just to fall into a new hole in the floor, and the teleporter pad dropped me again in the Cyberdemon room, facing the wall and ready for a rocket in the nape. The way to unlock the super-secret exit was exceedingly hidden, a puzzle that only cheats or Doom Builder could solve. I am sorry to have something to complain about, as this was one of the maps I liked best so far. Dextromethorphane 84% stood out boldly against every other submission, both for the special texture arrangement and for the high-octane gameplay.

 

MAP 32 – Safe Zone by JC Dorne @JCD

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

 

Presenting itself as an unorthodox level from the very start, Safe Zone used simple custom textures to create an alternative reality built on a square grid inside the black void, a setting seen in movies like Tron. The map consisted of four encounters, where a pistol starter had no choice but to run and perform the required actions to reach the next stage, like an old-fashioned videogame. As a continuous player, I carried the weaponry to dispatch both the Chaingunners and the Arch-Viles, but I could not engage the Cyberdemon turrets and the double wall of Spider Masterminds in the last area.

Spoiler

The wrong approach made me miss the real gimmick, explained by the texture JC_P018 in the first room: the yellow-coloured grid elements were safe from monster attacks, a trick probably achieved by editing the REJECT table, and they should be exploited to overcome the challenges. Monsters were duly crushed after leaving and no weapon needed to be fired; the painful death of the Spiderdemons demanded a long wait for the lowering exit, though. It was a good variation to classic Doom gameplay, but not something I am willing to play often. The lack of any reward for continuous players throughout the whole level was infuriating.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP14 - “Sarcasmes Malsains” by Datacore

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

A blocky marble temple, or perhaps corrupted techbase given the lifts (but it feels more Inferno than Shores to me overall). Aesthetically it's nice enough in its rectangular 90s way (marble solves a lot), but the combat design/balance in this is pretty dire. First up is a pack of pinkies to be slowly chewed through with a single shotty, then a pack of cacodemons which exists for much the same purpose - the lift really negates them from doing anything except coming down one-by-one. Stop making me single shotgun so many bigger monsters! The yellow key ambush really requires you to have gotten the plasma gun or SSG. The imp/shotgun room is sorta interesting, but honestly after a few attempts I ended up cheesing it with the teleporter (enter, fire a shot, retreat through the teleporter until the imp fireballs are gone, repeat). Then I ended up having to abuse the teleporter for the barons as well - the room is too small to run around them, and they won't tend to walk into the teleporter because it's facing the opposite direction of the exit. Also, good god, it makes you teleport back to the start so if you do need to re-enter you need to run through the whole map again. However, I did finally get them to go through the teleporter, which is how I accidentally discovered the SSG secret. Then there's a pointless BFG secret at the end. Ah well.

 

MAP15 - “Les Comtes de la Crypte” by Jambon

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

The second Jambon map, and like MAP11 this one is both symmetrical and aggressively monotonous brown. The combat design is a bit better this time around though, thankfully, although I think the ammo balance is still a bit too strict - I basically had to ensure the final AV didn't resurrect anything in order to have enough ammo to finish everything off. No idea how the secrets worked, I just wallhumped everything and later found the secret walls had opened up.

[brick]

The forum ate my original post, so the rewrites will be even shorter than usual.

 

MAP12 - “Wrong Address” by Memfis

I liked the compact city layout, combat is ok but a little stingy with health considering all the hitscans. I appreciate the pistol-start idea used here but I would not have enjoyed dealing with it and am glad I stuck with continuous. The MIDI fits the frantic action like a glove.

 

MAP13 - “Traumateck” by frackFRAG

I really disliked the (way too) hot start but the layout is pretty cool, the nonlinearity is impressive considering the tiny size of the map.

 

MAP14 - “Sarcasmes Malsains” by Datacore

Due to the way I tackled the map I ended up doing far more backtracking than necessary, which diminished my enjoyment. I like the idea of the secret blue key, but finding it (and the other secrets) was a bit too out there. The reward will be absolutely glorious on continuous though.

[Biodegradable]

MAP15: Les Comtes de la Crypte

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

While it's a step back in the visual department and still suffers from some predictable symmetry, Jambon's second offering is a step-up in terms of general entertainment. Not remotely close to hitting my favourites list, but it's nice to see something a little bit more interesting than their last map that has a couple of genuine surprises sprinkled here and there including a crusher trap with a curious looping factor when it comes to the map's overall progression. It's a muddled map for sure when you compare it to the other map, improving in one area but then taking a major step backward in the other. Oh well.

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 15 : Les comtes de la crypte

 

 

Les comtes de la crypte has a tad more enjoyable and diversified combats than Map 10 from the same mapper. Along with the minimalistic aesthetics , I really like his unorthodox music choices. The music enhances the eccentricity of this map.

 

However, as map 10, map 15 has a lot of symmetry but I oddly don't expect more from a map 15 so it suffice for me. I enjoy the staircase which transform into a small but stressful crusher section.

 

Grade : B-

 

 

 

Map 31 : Dextromethorphane 84% 

 

 

The yellow/grey color combination make me feel indifferent , but everything is better than purple to me , which seems to be an unpopular opinion. However the attention to details help making this level more remarkable than the others.

 

Map 31 was for me the first really difficult map in 3ha2 , just before map 16, not to the point to make me sick hopefully. Cyberdemons aren't the main threat if you know where to hide but the arch-viles resurrecting the barons and hell knights quickly become troublesome if you don't kill them in time.

 

The first time I played this map, I took at least 15 minutes figuring the secret exit. Wilou has the reputation to create difficult maps but he's also the king at making extremly (and needlessly) obscure secrets. For some reasons, he was fairer in 3ha2. I applaud anyone who manages to find the secret exit of his map 15 in 180mpv, without opening the builder.

 

I like map 31 but I prefer his other maps in 3ha2.

 

Grade : B

 

 

 

Map 32 : Safe Zone

 

 

JCD succeeded at crafting a new concept with his tron theme. The map is short and the music "Run like smeg" from ROTT allow you to have a little good time. For my part, I'm still attached to the traditional slaughtermaps for map 32. Safe Zone was great but it loses its replayability once you know how to survive each section.

 

By far the best map from JC in 3ha2.

 

Grade : B

 

 

 

 

[Dersulbob]

MAP13 - Traumateck
(Blind run, UV, Continuous, saves allowed, GZDoom)

 

Wow. I came into this level with under 40% health and found myself immediately staring down 4 Revenants and 2 Barons, with some Hell Knights and hitscanners off to either side, without an awful lot of room to manoeuvre. Somehow I only died once during this map and it was due to this harsh opening.

 

As more space became available, this map became easier, however it was not without difficult moments, particularly when the Arch-Vile teleported into the opening room together with some Revanants, and started to resurrect some of those enemies referred to above.

 

Visually there was nothing particularly notable, but this map was not about aesthetics, it was about survival. Good fun, a bitesize map but challenging.

 

Grade - B+

 

MAP14 - Sarcasmes Malsains

 

I found the encounters in the map to be a bit annoying. Maybe that was the idea, however being crowded by Cacos in a fairly narrow corridor wasn't much fun, which ended up with me dropping back into the main area and picking them off from below, which also wasn't much fun.

 

Again, there wasn't much room to manoeuvre in the encounter with the Arch-Vile and his minions, and the Imp/Shotgunner room was also pretty challenging for me due to the sheer number of projectiles. The final teleporter into the two Barons again left no room to move around, and going back through the teleporter meant having to play a waiting game whilst the Barons found their way through to follow me.

 

Overall, a frustrating map, I wasn't too keen on the aesthetic either.

 

Grade - C-

 

MAP15 - Les Comtes de la Crypte

 

I actually had a tough time at the start of this map with the Revenants in the main lift area, they were catching me with high damage attacks and with 0 armour I really struggled to break through.

 

Other than that, I don't really have too much to say about this one. The combat was okay but I found it hard to enjoy the map generally as there was so little variety in texturing, lighting etc.

 

Grade - C-

 

I was going to play the secret maps too but the last two maps killed my motivation a bit unfortunately. Might play them later on in the day.

[Monsieur E]

14 hours ago, tonytheparrot said:

@Monsieur E Yes, outside of some exceptions, secret maps are always played on the 15th of the month (of course there’s no problem if you post about them late)

Thanks :)

Map15- Les Comtes de la Crypte by Jambon
100% kills

This level is pretty uniform in its texturing and is quite lacking in the detailing department. However, I enjoyed this level quite a bit as opposed to Jambon's previous outing, mostly because the super shotgun is handed to you right off of the bat rather than forcing you to single barrel through most of the level. I appreciate how the level design isn't quite a straight Point A to Point B. None of the combat encounters here standout much, but they're serviceable. The second archvile before the normal exit can be a nuisance though, more so because of his baron bodyguards. Other than that, this is just a simple level. 

[Dersulbob]

Came back to this quicker than expected - apologies for the double-post.

 

MAP31 - Dextromethorphane 84% 
(Blind run, UV, Continuous, saves allowed, GZDoom)

 

Really liked the colour scheme in this map. Different to anything we've seen so far.

 

Combat throughout this map is fairly challenging due to the mix of enemies and the numbers sprung on you in each encounter, however there was always plenty of room to move around there was always plenty of cover available so it never felt unfair.

 

I found the first encounter to be toughest just because the room seem to fill up fairly quickly and I found it difficult to prioritise my actions. Should I target the AV first? Perhaps I should get rid of the Imps to create more room for evasion? Is it worth taking out the Revenants quickly or should I keep them alive to infight the Barons and Hell Knights? 

 

The combat in the key room was pretty tough too, especially because I left all of the Barons and Knights alive while I dealt with the Cyberdemon on the upper level, and pressed the button which lowered the blue key without dealing with them. This meant that I ended up stuck between Barons/Knights/Arachnos behind me and my escape route blocked by several Arch-Viles and resurrected beasts from an earlier encounter. Thank goodness for the BFG secret from a few maps ago. 

 

The fight with the two Cyberdemons spooked me initially, but actually wasn't too bad due to all the cover in the room.

 

This is one of the first secret exits I've been able to find without having to look it up so I'm thankful for how that played out.

 

I think this could be my favourite map of the set so far, with only MAP08 as a contender.

 

Grade - A 

 

MAP32 - Safe Zone

 

Interesting concept map. I really like the art style of this one and the clear message at the beginning basically telling you how to succeed in this map.

 

I figured out pretty quickly that there was no point in engaging with the enemies as it would just be a waste of ammo, given there were no pickups in this map to replenish (as far as I could tell).

 

I'm not sure it reached its full potential to be honest. I feel that I would have been more satisfied with the map if there a point at which ammo became available but picking it up removed all the safe zones and turned it into a more challenging firefight.

 

As it is, I liked the map just fine, but wish there was a bit more to it.

 

Grade - B

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 15: Les Contes de La Crypte by Jean "Jambon" Bon

110% kills, 11% items, 100% secrets

Time: 4:39

 

I may have defended Culture et Confiture de Mobs thanks to it's personality, but I sadly can't defend this one very much. Now, Les Contes de La Crypte has some good things about it: it is space-efficient as Jambon manages to make a long map relative to the space he uses and also makes you come back multiple times in some areas while adding crushers or monster closets for example. Contes also keeps the mappers's minimalist style and benefits from a fitting, if a bit repetitive midi. Sadly, the action still isn't great and the map feels much less unique than Culture. While the combat is a bit better than in 10, the moment when the first arch-vile resurrects shotgunners and revenants while your ammo balance is pretty tight and pinkies harass you is annoying and the rest is pretty forgettable outside of the fun arch-vile surprise at the exit. On top of that, the 2 secrets are pretty bad, especially as one gives 200 cells while there's no plasma or BFG at all. Les Contes de la Crypte is unfortuately a pretty mediocre map.

 

Map 31: Dextromethorphane 84% by William "WH-Wilou-84" Huber

110% kills, 91% items, 100% secrets

Time: 11:43

 

Another excellent Wilou map, Dextromethorphane 84% is a CC4 inspired yellow techbase (I am sure that the yellow textures are recoloured from CC4) that boasts the highest enemy count so far and benefits from Jimmy's excellent midi. Despite the high enemy count, this map is not as scary as it may seem due to the abundance of ammo, health and armor. However, it still isn't a complete cakewalk due to the heavies and low-tiers alike coming in big groups and the layout being pretty compact, but good movement will save you and killing all of these monsters is very satisfying. In my opinion, the highlights are the 2 encounters for the keys, which spawn hordes of heavies and even arch-viles for the blue key and the hardest part is the final pair of cyberdemons which can be very dangerous due to the limited space and annoying columns. Dextromethorphane is 3ha2's best map so far, it's pretty, but also immensely fun and satisfying.

 

Map 32: Safe Zone by Jean-Charles "JC Dorne" Dorne

100% kills, 0% items, 100% secrets

Time: 2:11

 

Safe Zone is a really clever concept map that takes you to a computerized land similar to Valiant's Cyberwar 7734 or JC's secret levels in his megawad Survive in Hell. The gimmick of this map is that you get no guns, but there are some yellow squares that block the enemies' lines of sight if you step on them and you get multiple sequences in which you need to alternate between running and stepping on the squares to make it out alive. You get one with chaingunners, one with arch-viles, 2 with cyberdemons (on these ones, it's better to Run Like Smeg than to use the squares) and a final one in which you need to follow a path of yellow tiles to not get turned into swiss cheese by 12 masterminds. While Safe Zone is not a fun map in a “conventional “way, it's imaginative and running past the enemies is actually really entertaining.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 31

Map 6

Map 32

Map 3

Map 5

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 8

Map 13

Map 4

Map 14

Map 7

Map 9

Like:

Map 2

Map 1

Map 10

Mediocre:

Map 15

Dislike:

Map 11

 

 

[RED77]

Map 31

 

First secret map.
I like the layout. But, once again, Slaughter maps are not my style.
Good level, you can cheese some of the fights.
For some reason, some of the switches are a little bit off the ground once you press them.
The Soulsphere secret it's useful.
The secret exit, putting that switch at a timer right beside a teleporter was cruel. But I got it.

 

★★★☆☆ 

[kalaeth]

secret map day! 

 

MAP 15 - Les Comtes de la Crypte : 

Kill shotgunners, go down, kill the revs, switch, enter one of the side doors, kill skulls and HK, switch, kill pinkies. Lift, kill the AV, go up, grab the yellow key, down, kill imps, down again, yellow door, hall of chaingunners, switch, pinkies, and now.. Two teleports. I pick one at random, kill the rev, kill the other rev, kill the spider, switch, down, another AV. OFC. And then after clearing the level, I die to a crusher looking for the secrets. Next try, I finish it, find both secrets (the plasma and the secret exits) and I enter one of them.

100% K/I/S, 11 minutes 45 seconds, 1 death.

 

MAP 31 - Dextromethorophane 84% : 

Much yellow, even more grey, and really? HKs and revs for a shotgun?! Switch two : another rev, PE, plasma and the SSG. Switch 3, hole in the ground, ton of imps.  Plus shotgunners, specters and a rev. Switch 4 : HKs, imps and a PE that kills me with a skull next to the face while shooting a rocket.  Again from switch 2, then 3, and again, chaingun, SSG to finish. This time I enter the PE chamber with the plasma, kill him and the imps and then rocket the HKs. Next room, rocket one manc, SSG the crowd and let them come to me, while I chaingun them.and after their numbers have been mowed down, we move forward. A mixture of rocket and BFG clears the revs and mancs, I press the switch and BFG the barons and HKs, now there's a cyber roaming and I have no more cells...  Go up, cells and the blue armor, grab the red key and GTFO, towards the red door. Cyber gets me point blank, but I survive, only to die the next time I open the door : immediate rocket to the face. I had no chance. 
Second try I managed to lure him out of the door but he still gets me.

Third try, again point black shot at opening the door. Fourth, I managed to enter the door and kill him with 3 BFG shots. Not a 2-shot but close enough. Then I die to the spiders. Next try I jump down, almost got fired by the AV but managed to survie and clear the floor before killing the spiders from the windows. Back up, another AV, using a rev as a shield! I managed to plasma him to death, blue switch, lift, megasphere, kill the AV and then die to the cyber. 

Life number 7, rockets for the fire boy, plasma for the cow. Both dead, 1 enemy to go, 2 secrets to find. Secret one :  a bluesphere. I hum evey wall, press every switch again,shoot at all I can and nothing yet..

Ah, RED77's post explained it good enough for me to find it. Now to manage it... Oh, shootable! Good. Finished in

29 minutes and 13 seconds, 100% everything, 7 deaths.

 

MAP 32 - Safe Zone : 

Why do I feel that name isn't sincere?  Uhh, pretty! Now this is a secret level! Switch, kill chaingunners, teleport, fall, switch. Oh damn, that's a lot of AVs. For the record, 2 AVs is already a lot of AVs, and I count 4. Rocket snipe them, one at a time, SSG the final one, switches 1,2, 3, steps, teleport. Again, switch, fall, cyberdemon. Not enough cells to BFG him to death so I end it with the SSG, and then switch 1, switch 2 and three other cybers! Switch one, switch 2, teleport. And now it's 6 SMMS! Cross the room, jump down, exit. No way I'm gonna get 100% kills. One enemy dies, meanwhile. One of the spiders, apparently. Then another. I guess they are being crushed? All spiders dead, the cybers are suffering too, and they too eventually die and I can just exit.

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths! in 5 minutes 11 seconds.

 

Totals : 

2 hours 15 minutes and 36 seconds, 25 deaths.