The DWmegawad Club plays: Ray Mohawk 1 & 2 (It's Our Tenth Anniversary!)

[Garlichead]

MAP10 - “Kalua Atoll” by DFF 102 Kills / 97 Items / 50 Secrets
13:20

Cool tight action package map.

This one feels like a callback to map 05, it introduces the flamethrower (which replaces the Plasmagun). I really like this kind of show off levels as it helps you familiarize with the new guns.

In this case, while you face a lot of enemies, the flame thrower can deal with all of them and makes you all hype about your new toy. Some of the invisible walls feel a little odd.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Garlichead

[Azure_Horror]

MAP02 - “Ossuary of the Hula Imps” (by MidnightMage)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

 

The secret with two candelabras is nasty. When I was playtesting the WAD, it took me a month to finally unlock the secret!

 

If we ignore the weapon rework, the gameplay of this map would feel like something from Plutonia 2. But we cannot ignore the weapon rework! Because even the pistol can destroy everything in its path! Revenant squads and double archviles included!

This level teaches the player about 3 things:

- Ray's new arsenal is really damn powerful!

- The pistol is especially good. It has range, damage, and reliable stunlocking capability.

- Therefore, unlike in normal Doom 1-2, the bullets are premium ammo, and it is a good idea to have a reserve of 40-70 bullets for an emergency situations.

Shotgun and melee weapons are essentially sidearms. They exist to save pistol ammo. Don't get me wrong, gauntlets, knife, berserk and shotgun are also quite powerful. But they are much less versatile than the pistol.

 

Aesthetically, this map introduces one of the recurring visual flavors of Ray 2 – a combination of ancient ruins and seaside vistas.

 

Compared to map 01, this map is a more focused experience, less reveling in excess. With its vaguely Plutonian gameplay structure, it leads the player further into Ray 2 gameplay loop.

 

 

MAP03 - “Beachside Bookworms” (by Doomkid)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

A vague mountain-techbase-library-waterway-seaside thing. Like map 02, this one has some Plutonia 2 elements in its enemy placement. Even nasty archvile ambushes are present!

 

This map likes to place monsters everywhere around the player. A bit unpleasant, but not insurmountable. (Insurmountable will happen later...)

 

“Beachside Bookworms” introduces Plasma Launcher – an extremely powerful weapon, that essentially combines the powers of Plasma Rifle and Rocket Launcher. Plasma Launcher has the following characteristics

- It shots explosive plasma bolts.

- It can occasionally oneshot a revenant with a direct hit.

- It has very quick firing sequence and impressive rate of fire.

- (Not sure about this) It seems to have faster projectiles than a normal rocket launcher.

- It uses only 1 cell per shot!

Needless to say, this gun is an extremely powerful instrument! Huge DPS, strong AOE damage, and extreme ammo efficiency! As for “Beachside Bookworms” – it is a perfect introduction for Plasma Launcher. It gives you lots of targets for the gun, while being a Little bit stingy with cell ammo. It invokes the feeling of "I want MOAR!"

 

 

MAP04 - “Surf’s up in Nuketown” (by Cheesewheel)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

You want more Plasma Launcher? Here is a perfect map for you! “Surf’s up in Nuketown” is a semi-open map with non-linear layout, many angles of attack and huge piles of ammo for Plasma Launcher.

 

Blast the enemies to your heart's content! Even the pain elementals and lost souls! Plasma launcher is THAT good!

 

Another very fun brick in a wall. What wall, you ask? You will see eventually...

 

 

MAP05 - “11 Holidays” (by SilverMiner)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

 

No plasma Launcher on a pistol start, and on the continuous start the map is not accomodating to explosive plasma bolts. The map has narrow corridors a very high monster density. Luckily enough, it is pretty small.

 

The start can be a bit troublesome with monsters attacking from multiple directions, but overall the map is not that hard. (Still, don't let your guard down! Monsters can be sneaky!)

 

Main treat of the map – the introduction of Auto Shotgun. It is an automatic SSG! You've read this right!

 

As long as most of the pellets hit their targets, Auto SG is an absolute beast. Its DPS is insane, and its stunlock potential is tremendous. But there is a catch. Like Doom 1-2 plsama rifle, auto SG has an after-fire delay. If you want to deliver the DPS – you must hold down the trigger. Getting used to Auto SG quirks requires some time. But it is a very good weapon nonetheless.

 

Apart from Auto Shotgun, this map feels a bit like a breather map. Bullets are abundant, shells are also readily provided. Health may feel a little bit tight, but if the monsters area dead – they cannot hit you! This is the way. The way of Ray Mohawk, the Great Prevailer, and the Exemplar Bringer of Havoc.

 

 

MAP06 - “Hidden Ship in Pirate’s Cover” (by UberGewei)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

 

This 600 enemies map is a pure joy to play. @UberGewei created a very fun and engaging experience.

 

This map has one key ingredient – the blaster.

The blaster is like Ray's pistol, but it has the firerate of normal doom 2 chaingun! The blaster is an absolute beast. It is essentially a hitscan Super Plasma Rifle. And unlike the Auto-SG – there is no after-firing sequence for blaster! MWA-HA-HA-HA! Kneel before me, pathetic hellspawn!

 

The map is built around blaster versatility. In offers lots of different combat situtions, and in every encounter the blaster proves to be extremely good. Only problem – running out of bullets. Guess, I need to use other guns too...

 

The map plays like a very fun journey in search of bullets to use and monsters to destroy. And under the cover of the blaster destructive potential, it begins to slightly change Ray 2 gameplay. This map introduces 3 little things

- Minor points of no return

- Archvile Crowds. Blaster can mow down 3 archies in row once, but 3 archies are still 3 archies.

- Cyberdemons. Those monsters have a fancy blue makeover, and a very powerful weapon upgrade. They fire 6 Explosive Plasma bolts instead of 3 Rockets. To defeat the cyberdemon shoot it untill it dies! Blaster is perfect foe this, but Autoshotgun and Plasma Launcher are pretty good too.

 

For now, everything is very joyful and pretty forgiving. But now we have all the ingredients for pretty deadly slaughter setpieces. Should I begin the Countdown to MoonDisgust, I wonder?

 

 

MAP07 - “WARehouse” (by Walter Confetti)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

 

Breather map with cool doomcute aircraft in the middle. Pistol starters get no blaster :-(

To unleash the final two monsters, you need to jump to the exit platform and intentionally miss.

Continuous players may enjoy a backpack and lots of ammo. Dont't worry – one day your oversized ammo coffers won't save you >:-)

 

Wish the height of the map was 5 times less extreme, other than that – a very nice breather map.

[cannonball]

MAP10 - “Kalua Atoll” by DFF

 

Well the new weapon here makes a real statement of intent and it is not hard to rush into this laughing maniacally. 

The map itself feels rather clunky at times, the strange invisible walls marked by those buoys, this could have made the cyberdemon fight really annoying, but I cleared this on the first attempt, so there is enough room despite actively avoiding the edge of the arena. There were also some rather cramped and dark caves to traverse between fights, which also felt a little jarring.

The best fight is in the middle of the map, the archviles are placed very awkwardly.... if this was a normal wad. Alas you can disintegrate the imps in a few tics and still char-grill the archviles before they have completed a single attack. The Cacoswarm merely resulted in an over-supply of grilled tomatoes.

The end felt a little meh, not a fan of chucking a circular arena like that and my first death came from the fact that I could shake off a mass of revenant fireballs despite having beaten the fight and only having the final two exit guarding monsters left. 

I am a little torn on this map for one reason. This is a fun map, but is it the map or the weapon that makes it fun? I think overall when I look back, I suspect it is the weapon that does the heavy lifting here, the map itself is a bit on the mixed side. There are some good fights, but a few bits that I didn't like. Overall this wasn't too bad and probably sits in the middle of the pack of maps so far.

 

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 10: Kalua Atoll by DFF

100% kills, 97% items, 100%secrets

Time: 7:03

 

Kalua Atoll is nothing more than a tutorial for your new weapon, the flamethrower, which works like a plasma gun with limited range but thrice the power. In this level, it's the only weapon you will get outside of a secret cell cannon, but it's also the only one you will need given that it can eradicate arch-viles, groups of mid-tiers and hordes of fodder with almost no effort. On top of that, DFF calibrates his fights around this weapon as he gives enough space to work with, a lot of fuel and teleports hordes of mid and low tiers at once, allowing the new toy to thrive, especially in the first fight, the cacodemon teleport ambush and the final encounter, in which you will run around all over the place while burning every demon in your path. Despite Kalua Atoll not being the most sophisticated map around, it's simply a ton of fun to play.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

 

[finnks13]

MAP10 - Kalua Atoll by DFF:

7:34/1 Death
After the lengthy outing of Temple del Sol, DFF debuts the flamethrower with a carnage filled trek through some beachside caves. The flamethrower's a fun weapon to use, it's main downside being that it's projectiles are so big, they obstruct your vision a lot. In this map, there's enough health, armour and megaspheres around so this isn't much of an issue though I expect it'll start to annoy me when this wad gets harder. DFF wastes no time showing you just how OP this thing is, as he spawns in a bunch of hell knights and barons at the start of the map which just crumble at the hands of your new toy.

 

It's not perfect, I wish the invisible walls blocking you from various areas felt less arbitrary - I know they're between the buoys but you'll have to fight around them a lot and getting snagged on nothing and dying as a result sucks. The final fight is also a bit disappointing since it can be mindlessly circle-strafed, though maybe this is the point, and another showcase for the flamethrower's power - either way I didn't like it. Overall, I think this map gets a rather large boost from debuting the flamethrower but I can't deny it's entertaining to fry 100 imps :P

[Magnusblitz]

MAP09: Temple del Sol by Moustachio

100% kills, 7/10 secrets

 

Now this is an adventure map! Lots of areas to explore, without feeling at all too linear. Tons of secrets too, which I'm a big fan of. The areas all feel distinct too - first there's the rocky coves, large outdoor area, the temple, all culminating in the wonderfully bizarre ending of emerging from the back door of an unassuming shoreside bookstore. I never felt lost, and thankfully there's ways to open up connections to the earlier part of the level to make backtracking easy. Combat is actually a bit on the easier side, similar to the first few maps - there's a lot of enemies but also a lot of ammo (after a somewhat tight start). If anything I think the map maybe provided a bit too much rocket ammo - as this is a common theme I almost wonder if there was a change to the ammo pickup size in development? That plus the invuln spheres (a nice gold, cool) make the large battles no problem. A great map all-around.

 

MAP10 - “Kalua Atoll” by DFF

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

And here we have a map entirely dedicated to showing off the flamethrower - funny enough I had just been wondering when it was gonna show up, so well timed. Most of the fights are pretty good, though being limited to one weapon there's not much too much variety, mainly "go burn this big swarm of enemies." The big weakness for me is something that seems to have annoyed a lot of people, the invisible lines. They often have buoys there, which seems like where the actual invisible lines should be, but often the actual block line is far closer, which feels bad and becomes downright aggravating in certain fights such as the cyberdemon battle. I understand needing to limit the player from having unlimited circlestrafing room but the visual indicator needs to be fair. Overall, it's basically a one-off gimmick (nothing but flamethrower) that succeeds or fails depending on how much the player enjoys that weapon.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Magnusblitz

[Capellan]

 

[Roofi]

Map 11 : "Vacation Gone Wrong"

 

 

The sunny episode of Ray Mohawk 2 concludes with maybe the most forgettable level of the whole megawad. Attention, I don't mean it's a bad map because I appreciate that one but for some reasons, it doesn't stick in my memories like the other.

 

The first cause is that "Vacation Gone Wrong" is stuck between two memorable maps : map 10 for being the level introducing the flame-thrower and map 12 for its difficulty spike and its moody atmosphere under the sunset as well.

 

Contrary to many mappers in Ray Mohawk 2, Hitboi didn't attempt to create a pseudo-realistic location. Map 11 just looks like a generic brown base. It's not ugly nor beautiful but ordinary. If some maps attract my attention more than others, it's simply because I explore more or less realistic places such as the temple in map 09, the city in map 16 or the supermarket in map 18 (sorry I spoil a bit).. Also, this map also has almost no interconnectivity knowing that the layout consists of detached parts linked with teleporters.

Gameplay-wise , it was short and pretty fun. The ending when you enter in the mouth was rough but you can just rush to the exit. In my video, a vile propelled me towards the exit.

 

Map 11 represents more a transition than a real map, but it has everything you need to make it work at least. Also, I really like the music in that one.

 

Grade : B

 

 

 

[DFF]

I like to add author insight when my maps are present in the DWMCP. Ive been playing along the mapset since i couldn't miss 10th anniversary but refrained from discussing the maps due to time.

Map09 was the second map created for Ray Mowhawk 2, and the only restriction for the map was to introduce the flamethrower. I wanted something short, snappy, and a showcase for the gun itself. Because of such i wanted to design a map exclusively around the flamethrower itself rather than a dedicated singular arena. The map was designed to introduce a few scenarios where the flamethrower would likely shine in, with the two open areas there to demonstrate the range and monster carving potential, while the cave barons and the cyberdemon were meant to show the player that the weapon can melt big demons quickly if backed into a corner. The visibility decrease also becomes apparent when dealing with the larger crowds or the archviles. The one major constraint i ran into with this map which dictated some of the arena sizes and interconnectivity was visplane limits. The map used to have a lot less rock and slightly larger spaces involved but some major work had to be done to make everything clean and run.

In regards to the buoys, I do want to apologize for those as a mapping oversight. I tend to rely too much on invisible lines from time to time to keep my map boundaries looking a bit more realistic, but in this case adding some rope to the buoys would have been much smarter. I even moved the lines to the front of the buoys since i didn't want the player getting stuck between a buoy and an invisible wall. I think this is a mapping feature i should try harder to avoid as its not realistically fair when playtesting, as I inherently know where the limits are as the creator, where the player will have to stumble upon the lines and likely die or be inconvenienced because of them before knowing.

As many have noted, a lot of the enjoyment from this map is whether or not the player enjoys the flamethrower, and because of how i designed the map to give the player ammo and weapons for other tools would defeat the purpose (without a redesign to incorporate such a focus). to that aim adding the berserk and cell cannon secret may slightly undermine that claim. The invisible lines also likely didn't help few who were on the fence about it. Either way the goal was to craft a map solely based around the one weapon as a true introduction. Im glad that some found enjoyment from it and others found room where I can improve.

[Doomkid]

For what it's worth, I really do like Kalua Atoll - probably obvious since I'm the leader of the project, but still. I had the thought to suggest a rope or midtex of some sort when the map was still brand new, but I don't think I did, or at least I certainly didn't push for the idea at all, despite having the thought my first time ever playing it. So a big part of the blame for the few who truly dislike the map falls on me. Whoops!

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 11: Vacation Gone Wrong by Mohammed "Hitboi" Firas

101% kills, 100% items, 80% secrets (one of them is unobtainable)

Time: 5:43

 

Vacation Gone Wrong is sadly my least favorite map so far. Now, it's not bad at all, but the monster placement feels a bit more haphazard than in the other Ray maps and the overly high monster density (there are especially too many mid-tiers in the first half) makes the combat grindier as you only get the pistol and shotgun for most of the level, with the blaster and cell cannon only coming into play later. Also, the fact that the layout consists of 4 areas interconnected by teleporters makes the map feel disjointed, even if it may be intentional given that the story text implies that this is a dream. Despite it's flaws, I can't say that I didn't have fun playing Vacation Gone Wrong and I really like the ending with the beast.

 

Footnote: For some reason, this map's Doomwiki page says that the midi is Lee Jackson's "How'd I Do?" instead of "The Reflex" by Duran Duran

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

Like:

Map 11

 

 

[RED77]

MAP11 - “Vacation Gone Wrong” by Hitboi

 

Fun little map. Pretty straightforward, and not very challenging.
Which is fine, but it feels off this far into the set.
I missed one of the secrets but the other ones are really useful.

That final face/arena. Funny stuff.

★★★☆☆

[Silhouette 03]

Map10: Kulua Atoll- DFF

 

You'll be armed with the flamethrower for the majority of this map, a new weapon that replaces the plasma gun. It's really fun to use, and the map does a good job of showcasing it's power.

 

This map is generally slaughter-y, but I have no problems with that, and this is coming from someone who only enjoys slaughter in short bursts. think the last few maps of Eviternity.

 

I really enjoyed the gameplay of this one, and don't really have any complaints.

 

Kills: 100%
Secrets: 50%

 

Map11: Vacation Gone Wrong- Hitboi

 

I really wanted to like this map, but there are certain flaws I can't ignore. The fights are well structured in their approach, but that doesn't make them fun. The fight after the first teleporter is really awkward, with that area being way to detailed to the point where it is very difficult to strafe, and the final fight, impressive as the doomcute flesh monster was, is also really awkward with so little space to move.

 I don't think that this is by any means a bad map, I just feel that some of the encounters could be tweaked.

 

kills: 100%

Secrets: 80%

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP11 - “Vacation Gone Wrong” by Hitboi

Unfortunately this one could be considered the first dud of the set in my opinion.

There is a lack of cohesion to the whole thing, kind of taking inspiration from Deimos Anomaly I guess with the teleporters to different sections. I don't think the immersion factor is here to sell the map that way.

The trouble starts with the lift up to the office area, that room isn't fun with plenty of monsters that can land a quick and decisive hit on you. In the end I used the lift to my advantage and allowed the monsters to drop down. In fact this issue basically encompasses the whole map, you will either be torn to shreds in a certain room, or you can door camp... The room to the east of the start has an archvile that you face with no cover - use the door for cover, the large brawl before the hellish ending, use the doorway etc etc. The circular outdoor room is a nice way of forcing the players hand, but it awkward to navigate and the mancubi are a real pain to kill (I left them and returned when I had the cell cannon). 

In the end there wasn't a lot I liked about this one, the ending looks cool, but the 'gotcha!' archvile behind the player, really? The ending fight is a doddle on second attempt as you can mow down the first archvile and pump cell cannon ammo into the ones guarding the exit. Overall this was below par, made somehow worse by the fact that I didn't even like the Duran Duran midi.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 11 "Vacation Gone Wrong"

by Mohammed " @Hitboi " Firas

 

Probably one of the weaker maps thus far which certainly isn't saying that much. Hitboi does manage some strong visual settings (the control room not far from the start and the ending room reflecting the ending of Ray Mohawk 2 (with his signature on the floor) but the linearity of this map is incredibly stifling. Most combat consists of large groups of monsters with Hula Imps always along the edges. The best part was finding the secrets which were largely clever (barring the accidental tagging of the flesh-covered pathway at the end). And the round outdoor area was pretty nice and more on the legtimately tricky side of things when there was arguably door-camping everywhere else.

 

These fights do start to pick up in difficulty. It took me some time to figure out that the best way to avoid getting blown into bloody chunks by the various Revenants around the room was to charge up the stairs behind 1 group. At least you can get a secret supercharge here for your troubles.

 

The end fight however....you know how some people like to throw in surprise enemies behind you in these situations? Well, it took no less than 4 tries before I realized one of the Arch-viles here was a sneak teleport. Not like it matters too much because you'll probably see them after running around the crates at the end, the only cover you get. Especially since the path here is very narrow and difficult to escape from. The cell charger as a result largely fails at being an effective weapon. Still like it better than Map 02 at least, and the midi here isn't really that bad, but I can't deny this was the period when Duran Duran may have started being weaker for a bit.

 

lmd_mohawk2_11.zip

Edited August 17, 2022 by LadyMistDragon : missed an end parathesis, added something about lake area with the lil' bullet/imp secret

[Garlichead]

MAP11 - “Vacation Gone Wrong” by Hitboi 102 Kills / 100 Items / 80 Secrets
08:53

Short action packed level. It is very linear and consists of short arenas against big groups of enemies.

I really like this short combat scenarios in comparison to the long arena matches from early on the wad.

The run and gun style feels better on short bursts.

[finnks13]

MAP11 - Vacation Gone Wrong by Hitboi:

6:35/0 Deaths
Not sure why this was chosen to close out the first episode, it feels very out of place and plays the worst out of all the maps so far. You go through a series of unconnected vignettes, which take a more abstract approach to the visuals than the attempts at realistic spaces that the rest of the episode goes for and it just doesn't really work. The fights are sometimes well calibrated, such as in the finale or the small section on a little island, and other times you're just presented with a clump of monsters that poses no threat (and this second type of fight is the more common one unfortunately). I do like the section where you get eaten by a horrible flesh monster (hiding an archvile behind the player is a dick move and I approve!) but it's a standout moment partially because the rest of the map doesn't leave much of an impression. It's a shame really since the wad has a massive change of character in the next map that persists through to the end, and it'd have been nice for the chill section of Ray Mohawk 2 to end on a high point.

[Capellan]

 

[Rujasu]

MAP11: Vacation Gone Wrong

Success: Screw the one attempt thing

 

A series of short, intense firefights, this one, in fairly cramped locations. While the rooms are quite plain, with the exception of the mini mouth of madness at the end, having these bite-size isolated combat scenarios dotted here and there among the more sprawling levels creates good variety in the experience. Good use of dehacked, really, since these encounters would have been miserable with the default weapons.

[Roofi]

Map 12: Beautiful Clean Coal 

 

 

Things changed here. The time passed and  the cheerful blue sky had been replaced by a more ominous sunset. The orange sky combined  with brown buildings give me some  Redneck Rampage vibes. It's a good thing because I love this game. Beautiful Clean Coal has a gloomier ambiance than any map I played before in the Ray Mohawk's series. The water became lava, the quiet Led Zeppelin's music tend to make you feel lonely and above all Map 12 was a major difficulty spike the first time I played it.

 

This map has more or less 400 monsters which is quite a lot but not as much than in map 09. However Doomkid sustainedly used powerful bestiary and especially the cyberdemons. Expect to meet at least 4 cyberdemons and 2 spider-masterminds in this level. Ammo tends to be scarce at the beginning and the high monster-density force you to progress steadily. It's a pretty long map.

 

Now I will confess, I'm not a fan of this level. The vast majority of ambushes involve monsters which teleport in your back.  It's fun at first, but over time it becomes too repetitive and therefore exhausting. The black coal mine's part was too dark and by far the least fun area of the map. I can enjoy long maps but that one felt more a slog. I however admit that I discovered how to get the invulnerability sphere before completing the map but it wouldn't have allowed me to kill everything in any case.

 

I really like the gloominess that comes out of this level but the fights didn't really amuse me.

 

Grade : C

 

 

 

[Rujasu]

MAP12: Beautiful Clean Coal

Success: Maybe some other time

 

I gotta say, I barely even noticed the change in skybox from the notable jump in difficulty, the first combat room containing five archviles and two cyberdemons, even if you can avoid triggering all of them at once. The cave contains large amoutn of enemies too, and somewhat annoyingly they tend to teleport back to the courtyard. It was neat at first, but got a little frustrating as the map went on. The other half of the map will have to wait for some other time; I don't really have the attention span for a map of this caliber right now.

 

It also kills me that I clearly recognize the midi but can't put a name to it.

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 12: Beautiful Clean Coal by Adam "Doomkid" Post

112% kills, 98% items, 100% secrets 

Time: 14:17

 

Beautiful Clean Coal sees the return of Doomkid, but right after you exit the first building, you will realize that this time, he is here to violently murder you. While I may be exaggerating a bit, this map is a pretty big difficulty spike compared to the rest of the wad so far, containing very big teleport ambushes, a high quantity of boss monsters and very annoying cyberdemon and arch-vile placements. Thankfully, you still get a lot of ammo, the cybers can be made to infight, even if it's risky and the last toy is introduced in here: the BFG9002, which unleashes 2 waves of tracers and shoots faster. That said, you should still be very careful as it is an easy map to get insta-killed in, especially because of the cybers' much more powerful attack. Thankfully, Beautiful Clean Coal is still very enjoyable and I like the moodier atmosphere created by the lighting, midi and orange sky, which is something you barely see in the Mohawk series.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

Like:

Map 11

 

 

[Garlichead]

MAP12 - “Beautiful Clean Coal” by Doomkid 114 Kills / 95 Items / 100 Secrets
19:41

Hard as balls arena combat map that takes place in a central plaza and some caverns.

Every time you progress through the map an horde of enemies and archviles gets released. The Archvilles keeps the action non stop and cause a sense of dread on the player.

The new bfg gets introduced on this level, it uses the same ammo as the rocket launcher and appears to be slightly more powerful and shoots faster. The highlight for me includes the cavern near the main plaza and the cathedral on toxic waste where you obtain the BFG.

Very difficult map. I considered lowering the difficulty here, but wanted to see if the difficulty spike was a one time ocasion or not. 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Garlichead

[RED77]

MAP12 - “Beautiful Clean Coal” by Doomkid

This was a weird one. 
Is not a slaughter map, but sure like the big-crowd ambush kind of fight.
There's plenty of heal and armor all over the place and some big baddies. And the BFG it's like a napalm blast or something.
There are some strange switches visual decisions and behaviors that make the map confusing. 

Not bad, not good.
★★★☆☆

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 12: Beautiful Clean Coal

by Doomkid

 

Here we have Doomkid's crowning achievement, although he decided to abuse the power of monster teleportation needlessly once again. Although it's not just like a chaingunner or two in Ray Mohawk, so it's hard to find any truly legitimate complaints, but the problem is that it's never seemed quite as effective as just teleporting them all around you.

 

The setting takes a turn. Another facility, but this time it's sunset, with multiple chemicals leaking and the sad music (a Led Zeppelin song but that tune has been in lots of other places) can only accentuate this feeling. Then add in random hell corruption near the last key and that's this map in a cracking nutshell.

 

I guess fighting so many Arch-viles can get a little bit exhausting. Probably more difficult than I'm letting on here. The real annoyance was the cybers, but I think they teleport behind the red door at a certain point anyway or was that some other group of enemies? There are just so many. The certain group of Arch-viles on the ledge near the exit door for one. But it's like, fight some Revenants, Hell Knights, and Mancubi in surprisingly close quarters than move on.

 

The ending suprise can be quite natsy if you were hoping for relief though, as you fight TWO Arch-viles in a very small room and a Duke of Hell or two in front of what seems to be a concert venue ticket station. After killing one last chaingunner in the darkness, the map finalluy ends

 

I probably enjoyed this map a little more than Roofi, with the main issue being that ammo's not quite present in in high enough numbers to call this the best map of the set. Maybe it's just a touch too exhausting.

 

 

PS: I really liked the BFG 9.5's design and fire icon, but I found no more ammo after picking it up, so that as they say was that.

 

lmd_mohawk2_12.zip

[cannonball]

MAP12 - “Beautiful Clean Coal” by Doomkid

This is probably my least favourite Doomkid map from this set, though it isn't really a bad map.

There is a definite uptick in difficulty, though a the same time the combat often feels rather clunky and haphazard. There are some neat fights, the opening reveal of monsters is really neat and a real about face moment as this is probably the hardest moment so far. Unfortunately the rest of the map never really lives up to this. The Coal cave is a real pain, especially if you end up a little light on health. There are 2 masterminds in the blood for some reason... At this point I assumed they had fallen out before I even caught a glimpse of them. The fight beyond the red key I simply cheesed by running straight in and out again, infighting commenced immediately. The path to the blue key is again rather constrained by the layout, as such there isn't much room to run and gun here, just a procedural push forwards.

Coming back to the clunky combat, there are a couple of waves of monsters that you can almost miss entirely, two ambushes at the start and one in the cave after picking up the blue key, the latter I seemed to bypass by accident... by following the intended path? Either way the fight was a pushover. 

In the end, there is a nice atmosphere and some of the combat is decent, however there was a lot of moments that didn't quite hit the mark.

 

 

[Monsieur E]

Was a little busy for the last few days so now I gotta catch up a bit!

Map10- Kalua Atoll by DFF
100% kills 

This is basically a stage set for the debut of the new weapon, the flame thrower. It's extremely powerful and can rip your opposition to shreds, but it obscures your view and has limited range. Furthermore, you do run out of fuel relatively quickly but there's fuel littered everywhere to keep the carnage going. Not a whole lot else to say, the encounters are fun and engaging however as others have mentioned, the usage of invisible walls were a tad annoying. I found the best fight to be the one in the circular room since it allows for the most mobility. Overall, this was another fun map and a nice presentation of the flamethrower. 

Map11- Vacation Gone Wrong by Hitboi 
100% kills

This map feels different from the other levels in the sense that it feels the least "zany" or adventurous. Otherwise, it's an alright level which primarily suffers from the lack of open space. Most of the levels preceding this one forced more active combat and often forced you to run around while this one seemed a lot more procedural. The final backstabbing archvile was pretty mean but I didn't mind it a whole lot, maybe I just got lucky :P. Either way, visually, the final room looks good but where did this giant monster come from, why did Ray go inside of it, why did he suddenly wake up outside at sunset, who knows! Anyways, I think this is a weaker map but not bad really and personally, I liked it more than WARehouse. 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP08: Chocolate Island

By Egg Boy

Kills: 100%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 50%

Time: 5:44

 

Chocolate Island is a pretty sweet and smooth map that... actually might be the only one in the wad with double digit monsters?? Don't quote me on that, I'm not completely sure. The Arch-Viles and Bleached Cyberdemon shine brightest here, even if they're not the most omnipresent, but the in-between fights without them are pretty well rounded and shouldn't be overlooked either. I really like what the architecture adds to that ending fight, relatively simple yet dynamic. That's a good way of describing this map as a whole in my opinion, a wad with so many huge maps benefits quite nicely from a small yet creative joint like this one.

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: C-

 

 

MAP09: Temple Del Sol

By Moustachio

Kills: 85%

Items: 65%

Secrets: 30%

Time: 15:50

 

Temple Del Sol.

Oh boy, Temple Del Sol.

First things first, this is easily the most Serious Sam like level in a very Serious Sam like wad. Down to the map name, progression, aesthetics, architecture within the temple, everything beat for beat. Anyway the map itself?.. I do generally enjoy it, but still think it's flawed. The outdoors stuff before the titular sun temple is probably my favourite part, especially the cave bit, the Arch-Vile placement really boosts the fight here. Sure, you can shred it with an Invuln, but this fight is still pretty nice. I also dig the pretty obvious secret where you can go around the back of the canyon to find some actual "NPC's" on some boats. It's nice. Sadly I think when the doors to the temple lower the competence kinda goes with it. Big kinda I will admit, I don't think this part ruins the map for me, the big fights are still cool but whenever I'm ploughing through the corridors it's just kinda dull and unfun. I praised the Arch-Viles at the start but not huge on the ones here mostly. Thankfully the map saves the best moment for last, with a cute gift shop right at the end of the line, I like that. A lot. Overall I used to kinda hate this one, and although I've considerably warmed up to it, I still don't love it.

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: A-

 

 

MAP10: Kalua Atoll

By DFF

Kills: 100%

Items: 89%

Secrets: 50%

Time: 6:59

 

Kalua Atoll is the introduction to the Flamethrower.

...

That's honestly all I need to write for this review, sadly I find this map somewhat shallow. Put simply, most of these fights are "Woah! Look how cool and epic the Flamethrower is!" And it's like, yeah it's a cool weapon but this map leaves little to no imprint on my memory that isn't "Oh yeah the Flamethrower one", I will admit for what it's worth it's fun, but this just feels like a list of ideas to introduce the flamethrower in some other map to me. It doesn't suck, I wouldn't even say it's bad, it's just pretty, say, dry? All things considered? Eh?
I'll see myself out.

 

Grade: B-

Difficulty: D+

 

 

MAP11: Vacation Gone Wrong

By Hitboi

Kills: 95%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 60%

Time: 4:48

 

Vacation Gone Wrong is probably the most average map so far, doesn't really leave a lasting impression. Even less than MAP10. It's a pretty simple series of rooms that ends with... walking through the mouth of some colossal beast in the void to finish the map??? Uh... Okay... Yeah this map kinda goes all over the place by the end, the layout is mostly just 3 random areas I wouldn't describe as particularly memorable. Okay well the last area was fun, even if it's such a bizarre (and unconvincing) shift. That's honestly all I have to say, simply wasn't too memorable. Damn, I was liking Ray Mohawk 2 quite a lot at first but these last few maps haven't been great, let's see what Doomkid has been up to!

 

Grade: C+

Difficulty: C

 

 

MAP12: Beautiful Clean Coal

By Doomkid

Kills: 98%

Items: 52% 

Secrets: 40%
Time: 11:11

 

Oh I dunno just making another fuckin' BANGER, dude if I was a mapper in this wad I'd be shitting bricks by now, this guy just cannot fail... or at least I would, because this map is apparently pretty divisive? At least in the club? I can't agree, I loved this one, it was amazing, for a start I think the MIDI does a good job with the atmosphere here. It's a good track in general, I really dig the quieter moments, really makes the map feel more alive in my opinion. The combat doesn't disappoint at all however! The coal mine itself might just be my favourite part, I like how you can take it more at your own pace, but I think when it gets going it's a real blast. Also it's worth noting this is the first map with the BFG 9002, which is demonstrated right away by giving you a Cyberdemon to tear apart (Also we didn't need an entire map for this weapon! Wow!) As a whole I just can't complain about Beautiful Clean Coal, great combat and atmosphere goes far, and I'll take something like this over random waves of enemies with a crazy superweapon any day!

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: A

 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by NiGHTS108

[DavitW]

MAP10: Kalua Atoll

A map that serves as a demonstration for the new flamethrower weapon. I like how it was in a crate at the start of the level, just a cute bit of detailing there. The flamethrower is a very effective weapon in almost any situation the wad can throw at you. Hordes of demons, Barons, Archviles, Cyberdemons, it melts them like butter on hot popcorn. The only real downside being how much the flames can obscure your vision, making it hard to tell if the demon you're toasting is done or not. Like most things in Doom though you start to get a feel for it after a while. I thought it was a good map, definitely served its purpose well. If they didn't force you to use the flamethrower so much in this level I imagine some players would underrate it's effectiveness in later maps and never realize how powerful it truly was.

mohawks210.zip

[finnks13]

MAP12 - Beautiful Clean Coal by Doomkid: 

17:18/4 Deaths
Doomkid's final map in the Ray Mohawk duology is unfortunately his weakest. Plenty of effort has gone into the visuals and atmosphere, the buildings that have been destroyed due to all the lava and nukage surrounding them against the orange evening sky look excellent. I really like the quiet start to the map, it lets you explore for a little bit and the similarly quiet start to the MIDI piles on the atmosphere. Where this map falls down is the gameplay, there's a couple of cool moments here but also some of the wad's least fun combat so far.

 

The dark cave section is alright, but all the random teleport lines are a very weird choice that takes away a lot of the threat this area could have had and makes clearing it feel pretty stilted as you'll have to backtrack to deal with the monsters that teleport behind you at some point and they're normally tearing themselves to pieces next to the tunnel. The fight for the red key suffers from being able to stand on a higher ledge and mindlessly butcher all the enemies below you after dealing with the very minor threats that appear on your level. The area behind the red door can be dealt with by walking in, waking everything up, then waiting for 30 seconds as they all kill each other and all the other waves that spawn here can be door camped with the little room to the north. 

 

The BFG is introduced here, and it somehow manages to leave the weakest impression out of all of the weapons here, it's fine but appears to function almost identically to it's regular counterpart - I know it's twice as powerful, it's just really hard to tell. The blue key fight is pretty awful, just a rehash of the red key fight with more archviles to overstuff the cave and large building with monsters and a random wave of barons and hell knights that have been sitting outside the red key area for the last 5 minutes - the highlight of this part was finding a ghost imp in the cave that I was able to steward to the exit :P

 

Overall, this map is fine but feels off due to some odd gameplay decisions which I assume were made to introduce the meaner second episode of Ray Mohawk 2, though we're only one map into it and I already miss the blue skies and fun atmosphere of the first one since this by no means that least enjoyable map in it.