The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 In Spain Only

[brick]

GZDoom, Doom strict compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.
And once again I'm struck with how slow I can be sometimes, I kept wondering why the interpic had these weird red band filters on the top and bottom, before remembering what the Spanish flag looks like.

 

MAP08 - “Trucos y Trampas” by Alfonzo, Tarnsman
Deceptively low enemy count with a couple of challenging fights. My problem with it is that, unlike its iwad namesake, the tricks and traps basically boil down to surprise-ambush, damaging floors, or surprise-ambush on damaging floor, all of which had already been copiously used in the previous maps (and, for that matter, in too many previous wads). I found both the red and blue key ambushes to be just plain irritating, and there's not much to the map other than these 2 setpieces.

 

MAP09 - “El Pozo” by Tarnsman
This is the real Trick & Traps, with its inescapable crushers, Cyberdemon surprise (even the trick of getting it to infight with nobles), and of course an abundance of chaingunners, ambushes, and chaingunner ambushes. I mostly enjoyed the map, even some of the bullshit, with a couple of exceptions. The linedefs that activate/deactivate the crusher guarding the megaarmor are set up so that it is possible to get in a situation where the armor becomes inaccessible. The other sore spot was the Cyberdemon ambush, I had to reload a few times to get the Cyberdemon to fire at the right time and trigger the infighting; ignoring it meant eating rockets in the back while waiting for the lift. The rest of the map is more fun, but by the time I got to the end I realized I'm really getting fed up with the ambushes, they're all too alike and far, far too frequent.

[Biodegradable]

MAP09: El Pozo

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

This was another middling map for me, which makes it difficult to say much at all. Truth be told, I found the amount of dead-ends in terms of progression to be somewhat irritating, though not enough to write the whole thing off. Plus, there are rewards for the exploration in the form of power-ups and weapon caches. Honestly, the biggest issue was finding that pesky yellow keycard that somehow managed to stay off my radar for an embarrassingly long time. I'd say the Chaingunner library was my favourite part. There were a couple of interesting little references to the IWAD maps, though admittedly even those have gotten a little tiresome after a while. That's all I've got for this one, honestly.

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP09 - El Pozo - Tarnsman (El Pedersen) (100%K/I/S):

How poorly translated is the title? Another good dub! You can't fail at this one though.

This was a really fun map, it really feels like something made by Sandy Petersen, texturing and non-orthogonal, open layouts make it feel like it. There are some thing you can kind off relate to original Doom 1 and 2, in terms of rooms, like those nukage rooms with a "pipe" at the middle, quite reminiscent to Refueling Base or even Limbo. Gameplay-wise, holy hell, this was hard, not as hard as the last two maps but, this one dragged for longer, so that was the big deal. There is quite a nasty cyberdemon guarding both the blue and red key, so it is interesting that a cyberdemon has so much impact in progression. You can obviously skip it, but it is placed around there just for you to use it as an infighter, as both key grabs will show some packs of nobles trying to punch you in the face. try to be quick, make them infight and don't waste your ammo on them. Secrets were carefully placed but, at least for me, necessary, luckly I've got all of them, aswell as the BFG, which is non-secret if I'm not mistaken, so I could easily finish said cyberdemon after some infighting. There are some nasty traps like crushers, which are really cheap if you ask me, you never see them coming.
This one was really enjoyable, although it felt longer than previous maps, and I'm not liking maps dragging for long, so I hope for the next set of maps to be a bit shorter, so I don't fall late into the latter half because of time constraints.


(UV - Playthrough/Crispy Doom)

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP07
MAP09
MAP08
MAP06

MAP05
MAP02
MAP04
MAP03
MAP01

 

 

[bioshockfan90]

MAP09: El Pozo

 

100K | 97I | 75S

 

This map has been driving me cuckoo batshit bananas over the past 2 days and I’m glad to say I finally beat it. A majority of my deaths have been to the map’s grueling long start and slow wind-up of action with a bunch of fat (quite literally) to cut through to get all the D2 weapons and some secret powerups. I’m not quite sure why there needed to be a bunch of Mancubi scattered around the courtyard, but they do their job well as there’s plenty of imps and hitscans around to make dodging their fireballs even harder.

 

Once you get a good start, it’s important to take out the Cyberdemon guarding the red key from afar with plasma before you even get a chance to get close to him. I am aware that it is possible to go up the lift and dodge rockets, but I tried it a grand total of 1 time before deciding this was the better, safer route to take. Once you get past Ol’ Cybie, the map peters out and just kinda flows from point to point with a couple keygrabs and maybe the only interesting part past the start, a horde of hell knights to take out with some rockets. Yeah, this map starts off strong but it loses momentum after you grab the blue key. Problem is though, said start is so good it’s probably one of my favorites in the WAD so far. It is the true definition of ‘run-n-gun’.

 

I finally connected the dots on this particular part of the WAD’s influence, BTW. After seeing Memento Mori door textures I realized what it was going for and was able to appreciate it all the more. As for the architecture - well, I’m no expert, I’ll leave that to Catpho or Tarnsman to elaborate on, but I found it visually striking and appealing. Top 3 material, above map02. 4.8 out of 5.

 

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

MAP06

MAP07

MAP09

MAP02

MAP01

MAP05

MAP08

MAP03

MAP04

 

 

[Pechudin]

MAP09: El Pozo (UV, Saves: Yes; Deaths: 2)

El Pozo opens up with no monsters in sight, with the titular pit on the left. The map can roughly be divided into an above- and underground part. In the first one, a courtyard gives access to all 7 of the weapons, sometimes one needs to fight for them (like the SSG or the Plasma Gun), and others are given almost as freebies, like the unceremoniously presented Rocket Launcher - just one Fatso guarding it. None of these areas are particularly dangerous, unless you happen to be particularly clueless about ceilings descending upon you - certainly wouldn't happen to me twice, no way!

 

The underground bit houses the keys - the blue one, guarded by some Hell Knights and a Cyberdemon; I dispatched him with the plasma ammo I had, and the Red one. Neither one of these fights posed any real trouble, the space was abundant and Rocket ammo was just enough to kill the Nobles guarding the Red Key - perhaps if some Pain Elementals were thrown into the mix?

 

All in all, a map where the real danger does not really come from the enemies, but more from dickish traps - I found myself thinking that this one should've been put into the MAP08 slot! I liked its mix of incidental combat and environmental hazards, and only complaint would be the final exit sequence which felt like needless padding. But hey, at least we got a Radsuit in the nukage.

[DavitW]

MAP09: El Pozo
Some players might find the amount of optional areas in this one annoying, but I quite enjoyed the non-linear nature of it. It gives you plenty of options on how to handle the map. It's not like these areas are really optional, either. You'll probably want the plasma rifle, you'll probably want the rocket launcher, you'll probably want the backpack and secret soulsphere. All in optional areas, but you'll likely have to visit most of these areas if you want to beat the map with relative ease. The crusher in the room with one of the mega armors can easily be broken, rendering the area inaccessible from what I can tell. You don't have to go through there to complete the map, so it doesn't lose too many points for that. Losing out on the mega armor is a pretty big setback, however. There's a cyberdemon in the titular Pozo that spawns in after you grab the blue key, and if you don't take him out then you'll have to do so later to get the red key. When it comes to cyberdemons, I like to ask myself if they actually add anything to the map or if they're just an obstacle to soak up your time and ammo. This one's not too bad, though. His presence added to the overall experience in a mostly positive way.

 

 

D2ISO09.zip

[Celestin]

MAP09: El pozo by Tarnsman (as El Pedersen)

 

The start isn't very good, with too many mancubi that you'll likely have to chop down with a shotgun, unless you know where to find a super shotgun, rocket launcher and a secret BFG. With bigger guns, clearing out this place and several adjacent buildings was a piece of good fun. 

 

Once you finish your bussiness here, you can ride a long elevator down to find the blue key. It reveals a cyberdemon inside the titular hole, which caught me by surprise. You'll have to fight him later on, but he's easy to distract with a group of hell nobles. The final leg of the map is Tarnsman's favourite use of monster closets (which are used throughtout the map, but are the most noticible at the end).

 

Aside from the start, there's a lot to like here, Tarnsman gives you a lot of ammo and the map flows well.

[Roofi]

Map 09 : El pozo

 

 

"The Pit" from Doom 2 , contrary to "Trick and Traps", is one of my most disliked maps from the IWAD. But God Tarnsman appears and improved the concept in every way. When I played this map first on continuous, this map equalled map 06 in terms of quality, but it's now my favorite for the time after replaying it on pistol-start.

 

Let's talk about the visuals first : the layout looks sexy as hell featuring curves and lot of interconnections. The deep pit guarded by the Cyberdemon is the most memorable megastructure of the map and  the long lift to the yellow key highlights its depth. The open sandy courtyard located at the north of the map, populated with mancubus, has strong "Suburbs" vibes to me but this part serves more as a hub in order to reach the other parts than an actual combat zone. The omnipresent brown is delicious as usual.

 

I can understand this level may be frustrating if you play blind because weapons are a bit hidden but this map is seriously much more forgiving, I think, especially as three secret soulspheres can be easily found. Once you obtained the weapons, ammo is pretty abundant and the cyberdemon can even be killed with safety from the YK's zone. Overall,  "El Pozo" was more indulgent than the previous maps to me and it doesn't harm the adventurous, even heroic aspect of the map at all. The music is also one of my favorites so far, transforming a rather sinister base into a fabulous ride.

 

This map is more or less what I'm looking for in D2ISO, I want more maps like this one. 

 

Grade : A  (17/20)

 

 

 

[Azure_Horror]

Map 09 - “El Pozo” by Tarnsman

Continuous from map 06, Vesper mod -complevel 21, UV, reloading is allowed.

 

Doom 2 Hell on Earth has map 09 The Pit. That one map:

1) vaguely Plutonian in its designs.

2) very much disliked by many doom 2 players.

It seems like Tarnsman decided to transfer both those traits to El Pozo. Two disgusting crushers serve to enable 2), while all kinds of ambushes do indeed provide the map with Plutonian vibes. Well, the references to the Pit all there! Still, I would have preferred to not have those crushers... They seem unfair on a blind run, and pointless after that.

But other than those two points of annoyance, the map was quite fun all around. I love big round nukage cisterns, BTW! They look cool, and also make for wonderful backdrops for a cyberdemon fights and other encounters. One of the cisterns also hides the secret BFG, but I didn't find that particular secret in my Vesper run.

So BFG will wait... This concludes my initial run of El Pozo.

 

But a fellow club member @brick made an interesting point in his review: El Pozo also seems like a homage to Doom 2 Tricks and Traps (IWAD Map 08). I didn't see that during my main run, so I decided to replay the map from a no-mod pistol start to see everything for myself. And yes, I pretty much agree with @brick - El Pozo does indeed has many Tricks and Traps traits in it: there is a good chunk of non-linearity, there is a quite scary and diverse monster roster, there is a smartly hidden arsenal of Doom 2 weapons. And the cyberdemon infight spectacle is also there! (It is not necessary for completion, however - there is enough ammo to deal with both groups of hell nobles and with the cyber itself! I checked!)

 

Conclusion: another brilliant map. I maybe could have called it my favorite map of set so far, but I am still salty about those two crushers... Other parts of the map are really cool, however.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 09: El Pozo

by El Pedersen.

 

"Pozo" appears to be a rather lazy translation since "wells" aren't necessarily "pits" and let's just say the titular feature could be both. blehhhh

 

The Peeds finally returns to give us this little entry that's possessed of a more free-wheeling style than the previous map so you know Sal Verde wasn't responsible. It's yet another city map although it naturally proves much less confusing than something like Downtown. In either case, it seems on the semi-industrial end of things so buildings are lower, however, it's not like every building is METAL. Not every building is strictly necessary to enter but there's some neat goodie inside basically all of them that's mandatory for pistol starters. Also, there are pools of slime in several buildings which I guess give more hints to the production too. One of the first rooms we entered was the library...and let's just say things are cramped enough here that the chaingun is not going be enough. Even with a secret Supercharge we discovered within probably 10 seconds of starting, it just leads to a seriously annoying and tedious situation. Not to say dodging several Mancubi and quite a few Spectres in a courtyard wasn't but at least we found a chainsaw in short order - but the berserk would've been better. In either case, we take a lift down in roughly this area, and after some desultory combat, come across a blue key cause a big section of wall to raise revealing a Cyberdemon! Nothing more can be done here, so we leave, wander around some more, end up back in the region of the lift, next to half a dozen spectres and several Cacodemons! We still didn't have a berserk at this point, so we chained the spectres, walked around this vast Limbo slime pit, picked the Super Shotgun up which made our job much easier but unleashed more spectres, along with three chaingunners at the point where we entered, and did our best to rocket the Cacodemon mob here, but we didn't have too many rockets at this point. From here, we had to reload once due to low health, but in the middle could be found a quad of Imps and a BFG, like the map this was based on!

 

Before using the blue key, we head into a crusher room with some Megaarmor, pick up a berserk pack that triggers a trap and also enter a place with a plasma rifle we'd managed to miss earlier. We then used the plasma to blast through the library and acquire a backpack, along with a hidden Soulsphere behind a blue flag before returning to the beginning to use the blue key, plunge into a slime river aside a knoll and completely gloss over the yellow key's location due to how Tarnsman places it on a path that most people will barely notice! Anyways, the yellow key opens a sort of computer station and contains a trap which killed us because we're not really at our best right now, nevermind the blursphere that's right there! The teleporter here takes us to a cave leading to the slime pit with the Cyberdemon but not before a trap of nobles is unleashed it would be tempting to trigger some infighting were it not for the fact that a rad suit is nowhere to be seen. There wasn't too much reason for this, but aggressive BFG usage should dispose of everything in relatively neat fashion. Once the red key has been collected, the map might as well be over. There is a caged area with some Mancubi and several pop-up traps but they seem to exist mainly to not have the exit be so sleepy.

 

Honestly, it's probably my favorite but it's also indicative of why D2ISO is so divisive. Cool fights, but it almost seems like there was too much effort to be as annoying as the Pit. It's much more playable of course, but there are a few design decisions that seem intended to befuddle and confuse most players.

 

 

[espilka]

MAP10 Base de Reabastecimiento - K: 100% / S: 100% (HMP, continuous)

Tally - Deaths: ~26 / Secrets missed: 1

 

The very beginning is baffling, just a little annoying, and quite funny.  i would have loved to return to it later, but apparently there is no way.  First death came by the Arch-Viles at the start, but got going after that.  It was very strange being able to exit the map having explored likely less than half, but that's a really interesting design choice, and i approve of it.  i was so happy about my pretty good performance so far that hesitated to go on, but decided to leave a save that i could turn back to if need be.  Ended up going through everything, and the second half of the map was really quite fun exploration and combat (most of ambushes took me a couple of tries to get through).  For me the hardest was the crusher-corridor, with lowly Imps giving flank support to frontal assault from an Arch-Vile, and it really was more challenging to me than it should have been - only managing on third try.

 

The exploration was fun, but what's irritating is it yielded no reward!  i thought that after the BK door's final fights there must await the weary player a Megasphere as a reward for all the hardships, but once i'd got through everything, my health was at ten percent without any reprieve in sight :D  (The map turns out to be very stingy on health.)  The design however is again quite ingenious, with beautiful height variations and combination of natural and constructed environments, and in the engaging progression there are also quite a few surprises (like a combo of a crusher and surprise Hell Knight behind me...) and many out of the way places to explore.  Only one secret, i even forget or didn't notice what it was.

 

Very strange map, but i really liked it.  The first part before reaching the exit seemed quite mundane, even too modernist to my taste, very straightforward progression from one fight to another (albeit in a interesting layout), but felt totally different on the voluntary second half (which i must stress again, yielded no ultimate reward :D )  In the end, i think i'll end up using my earlier save to enter the next map - and that's why i only mark two deaths for this map - i did lose count but my death count through the whole would have been 10-12.  And as usual with this set, i think second run would yield a very low death-count.

 

Final note: the difficulty here arises mostly out of the surprise factor, but i checked the enemy counts on HMP and UV, and there's only minimal difference between them (three Revs, two Cacos and couple of shotgunners), which seems quite meaningless.  Interesting.  On MAP08 and on MAP09 the differences were also very small, and seem almost perfunctory (have to admit that's on paper, and of course the small numbers could make a huge difference in practice... maybe.)  Just looking at the numbers makes me feel like i could have with same trouble played on UV, which is a bit disappointing (from what others say seems the significant difference here is between pistol start and continuous play, as well as blind vs. second run.)  But, HNTR does in light of numbers seem a much more serene journey.  So at least a minor point is: seems the jump from HNTR to HMP is much larger than HMP to UV. i find it hard to know myself what my exact point about this is, i honestly don't even know if i'm grumbling or not.. at least not very seriously (the most important thing is, i've had a lot of fun with this so far!)  But still. :D  (i know from having seen decino play this that later maps will be very difficult to someone like me, and i hope in those maps the differences at least will be more substantial.)

 

Ranks:

Spoiler

MAP06 La Trituradora - 4.5

MAP07 Fácil de Muertos - 4.5

MAP02 Salas de Debajo - 4.5

MAP03 Las Vias del Trent - 4.5

MAP01 Entrada - 4

MAP10 Base de Reabastecimiento - 4

MAP09 El Pozo - 3.5

MAP05 Los Túneles de Residuos - 3.5

MAP08 Trucos y Trampas - 3

MAP04 El Foco - 3

 

[Pechudin]

MAP10: Base de Reabastecimiento (UV; Saves: Yes; Deaths: 4)

This one is special, gotta say. First off, Google Translate says "Resupply base". Perhaps that is due to the ridiculous sight of 6-7 MegaArmors and 40-odd Souspheres at the beginning, something I'd expect to see in a 90's WAD with the explanation of "Uh it's an armor factory". Very generous! Well, savor that generosity because no health beyond this point bucko, get bent.

 

The start gave me a scare, but I managed to duck around a corner just in time, cleared out the bottom floor and survived the lowering-pillar Archvile trap. Picking up the Red key brought me to the Exit where I could choose whether to continue with the map or go on, and I gotta say, at this point I was getting mighty peeved at the absolute lack of any health, the thought of just being done with it was tempting. But ...

 

... the curiosity was stronger. And, have to say, very glad I stuck around! The fights after that are very interesting, the crusher trap with an Archvile beyond the cage (thankfully had enough Rockets to focus him quickly), the three-way closet trap where again the RL proved to be a great choice, and the frantic BFG bumrush which rewards quick thinking and decisive action to quickly kill the Archies.

 

All in all, I really liked this map, It decides to do something a bit different, but it also gives the player an option - if you don't want to take the challenge, you can exit straight away - I respect that. The architecture of the level is rough, monolithic, but evokes Thy Flesh Consumed - perhaps of the abundance of that rock texture. Very Romero-like, but on a much grander scale. Good map, and probably my most favorite thus far.

[Celestin]

MAP10: Base de reabastecimiento by AD_79 (as Juan Romero)

 

The irony of placing a ton of supercharges and megaarmors in the first room you can't backtrack to, while the map itself offers very little in terms of health and ammo is not lost on me.

 

I expected this one to suck, but aside from minor hitscanner damage, I managed to survive this without losing much health. The enemy density is on the lower side and other than a confusing start, you should be well equipped to deal with threats. I like the use of verticality, the map revolves around a tower in the centre which holds all three keys (technically you can leave with only the red one, the first one you find; it's kind gesture, allowing you to proceed to the next map anytime you want). The setpiece fights are solid, but they feel subdued due to map's gimmick. I think the only one that can go wrong is the one involving crushers, groups of imps and an archvile outside. I can see this place turning into a ghost factory, but I was lucky to have him distracted by a cacodemon. The ending, where you are given a BFG to finish off a couple of archviles is a fine moment to blow off steam after a tense map.

 

It's not a bad map, but I feel like it's too restrained by its own limitations.

[RHhe82]

MAP10: Base de Reabastecimiento. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 68/178 K, 1/1 S, 79/124 I. Comp. time 8:53

 

Yup, this is the same as the maps that have come before - I remember struggling. And I definitely remember the weirdness of the starting area with all the armors and soulspheres, but I guess that's what they keep in a refueling(?) base. And as with previous maps. it was less stressful than I thought, and I think this was a bit easier than the few maps we've been through lately, although it compensates in being longer and making good use of archviles and other snipers.

 

[Insert a joke about Wormhole and make DWMC participants think I was finished with the map and then reveal I wasn't, ha ha what a riot]

 

MAP10: Base de Reabastecimiento. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 178/178 K, 1/1 S, 124/124 I. Comp. time 19:04

 

Yeah, it's weird you can basically skip half the map. But okay, let's move on. We traverse around the hot chocolate lake. THere's a set ambush in curved crusher hallway that could have been troublesome. There I at least died to a facerocket. Pesky archvile that made me do it.

 

Anyway. It seems to me the map veers awaw from the Spain style -- Base de Reabastecimiento looks feels more like an Arrival map. A solid effort anyway. Not one of my favourites, but it's still good -- D2ISO hasn't had any map I would hate to replay, only maps I thought I might have hated to replay, but everything's been solid at worst so far.

 

Other clubbers have reported on health item deprivation -- I didn't realize that was the case here, at least this time I didn't suffer too much of it, but I guess you're right. When I entered the phased fight before the blue key I had something like 43 % health, far less than I would have hoped for a fight I thought was going to be hard. Maybe that's why my memories of the blind playthrough indicate so much distress, because upon replay I don't think it's that bad. Anyway, maybe that's the gimmick; technically there are tons of health and armor items, too bad you can't reach them after the start, haa haa!

[Biodegradable]

MAP10: Base de reabastecimiento

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

When I saw AD_79's name on the map listing, I knew I'd be in for a good time. One of my favourite Doom landscape artist's never fails to disappoint with his trademark height variations with towering structures to make you feel like a tiny insect, exciting combat, dastardly traps, delightful detailing and a particular gimmick or theme that runs throughout the entire map; in this case, it's a surprising health deprivation challenge! AD's idea here is to spoil you from the get-go with blueberry orbs and armour to make sure you're to the nines in supply before he slowly (or quickly depending on how clumsy you are) leeching off your health and teasing you with nothing but scarce health bonus vials scattered about to make you paranoid of even the most feckless of cannon fodder stalking around and double-checking behind you as AD makes frequent use of Billy Backstab techniques in the form of Revs hiding in monster closets, usually with some pesky little assistant to help. Eventually you reach the exit after collecting the red keycard, but AD presents you with the opportunity to keep going and find the other two keycards for some possible rewards. As a continuous player, my health was pretty dismal, so I decided I would try to meet the challenge in the hopes I'd be rewarded with a Megasphere or something to help.

 

I'd say getting full health and armour again along with a BFG was well worth it, especially when I got to exact my revenge on those Archies that scorched me at the very beginning and robbing me of my blueberry juice. I can't wait to see what AD has in store for me in MAP13! :^D

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP10 - Base de Reabastecimiento - AD_79 (Juan Romero) (100%K/I/S):

How poorly translated is the title? Well, it is difficult, as there isn't any proper one-word translation for "refueling", the correct one would be "Reabastecimiento de Combustible" Yes, Spanish is awful and overly verbose at times ("Reabastecimiento" is already long enough), not even having simple words for "refueling" or "starve", for example. So, additional worlds may be added to serve the purpose of giving a context/meaning. Spanish 101.

Well, what an unconventional map, it does not even take itself seriously, but this is not even a bad thing, for starters, you are presented to a room full of mega-armors (Impossible to pick up more than one from this place), and a fuck-ton of soulspheres. When you see a starting room like this you just think about 1994 mapping, and nothing else, but I get the idea of a "refueling base", though. Second dumb thing is the music, just a Ricky Martin copycat midi. I guess we are living la vida loca.

When you enter the actual map itself after teleporting from the starting area, you will get surprised by a fuckton of archviles, that will quickly spawn somewhere else if you manage to quickly escape into safety. The map is great, but it feels really weird, as it kinda ends quickly, because you will only need the red key card, and you will be at the exit area. When you reach it, you will see that you have additional optional tasks to complete in order to 100% the level, so the map is not actually that short. Me, a completionist, ended up finishing the map entirely. Each keycard task involves trying to get some goodies, so you finally end up with a BFG to kill all those arch-viles that were bullying you at the start of the level. Also, it is a reward for continuous players like me, too bad I finished this level with 9% health, but I'll do my best tomorrow. You know how much I love optional areas when done right, and this was the case. In terms of looks, it is even better, as it switches thematics entirely to an apology to Romero style of mapping and E4, and I also like that. This one has to be the most colorful map yet, so that's even more additional points.

It started being somewhat weird and possibly a downer, but so far this one is my favourite. Even though it is at Kamasutra levels of not taking itself seriously. Also, really fun layout.


(UV - Playthrough/Crispy Doom)

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP10

MAP07
MAP09
MAP08
MAP06

MAP05
MAP02
MAP04
MAP03
MAP01

 

Talking about language lessons, I'll have to take my English exam for 5th year of my career this Thursday and I think I will fail it considering how drunk I am at writing theese reviews (I still confuse thursday with tuesday).

[Catpho]

MAP10 - “Base de Reabastecimiento” by AD_79

 

D2ISO has been very kooky with its free spirited level design, but the last thing I expected was an intellectual exercise. Structurally, it's mostly a trademark post "Virulent Well" map from AD, but with the exit placed at the endpoint of a typical AD map's first act, no strings attached. This transforms the level into a game of "when is a level complete?", or, to restate, "when does a player feel it is ok to end a level?". Basically, it becomes an investigation of its own structure — the components of a satisfying AD level, previously taken for granted and delivered on a silver platter, become actively sought out. This is a bit different from a secret laden level that you can just exit early: in those levels, exploration and carving your own path is a big factor, but "Base de Reabastecimiento" is mostly a linear, pure action level. It's also not a ludricious change of pace - 1KLine 2 map32 standing out on account of being a puzzle map centered around tight parkour and an obscure mechanic is one instance - or framed as a mystery, like myhouse. So the level becomes a build-your-own-action-level kit, where each new setpiece is the process of you wanting to find the missing pieces to create that fun, satisfying action map. The end result showcases how playing a Doom map is a process constructed by the player as much as it is built by the mapper.

Ok, I kinda wrote the above just to use the words "intellectual exercise" in a Doom review. Realistically, the map acting as a refueling station for continuous players, or just being coy with refueling in general, having two discrete refuel stages, one more exaggerated than the other - using a similar idea AD had in Isolation MAP29 where there was a single healing fountain in the level’s hub - is probably close to the real answer; either of which is an equally cheeky take. Nevertheless, the “exit vs completion” idea was way too fun for me to ignore.

The actual map is good, yeah.

[DavitW]

MAP10: Base de Reabastecimiento
As the map goes on, it slowly becomes more and more apparent what the whole idea behind it is. There's basically no health and armor to be found anywhere past the starting room filled with mega armors and soul spheres. Unsurprisingly, there's no way to get back there once you teleport into the map proper. How many players actually expected a doom mapper to hand out so much free health and armor without a catch? There's a berserk back and green armor accessible once you get the yellow key, but other than that you'll only have a few measly health bonuses to get by on. There's also a BFG available behind the blue key door. Funny thing is, you don't need to open either of these doors or find the respective keys for them as the exit is just right there out in the open, meaning you can easily skip around two thirds of the map if you're not going for 100%. It's a good map, though, so I'd recommend seeing what the rest of it has to offer.

 

 

D2ISO10.zip

[Pechudin]

Maps get harder as this goes on folks. Might have to drop down in difficulty. Still, I had a bit of a mapping block but playing these maps and mindfully analyzing them is giving me a renewed elan for mapping.

[Roofi]

Map 10 : "Base de reabastecimiento"

 

 

Regarding the grand scale of the map, I'm supposed to be astoundished but the journey left me quite indifferent for several reasons. 

 

First of all, the introduction to this map is particularly amusing and hints at a concept around resupply , but in the end there's nothing of the sort and it's just a banal exploration map involving some arch-viles. For example, I would have thought of a manhunt with arch-viles in the same way as "Hunted", but with the possibility of accessing a large supply room via a single teleporter, for example. I'm sure AD_79 could have come up with a concept like this with his expertise, hence my disappointment.

 

Secondly, the architecture is really top-notch for a modern tech-base. That doesn't surprise me from AD_79, but it's not exactly what I expect from D2iso. The level's theme doesn't have much to do with Spain and the Hispanic ambiance for me, apart from the textures whose use strikes me as particularly haphazard, as if they were thrown in at random. For example, how come some of the ceilings use the grape textures? Maybe I'm asking myself too many questions, but I'm a little puzzled. While playing it , I always had the sensation that this level was originally not made for this project and Ad_79 just replaced some textures with the ones from D2iso.

 

And at last, maybe this wad deserves more color variations than omnipresent brown but there are too much clashing colors. 

 

All in all, it's still a good map, demonstrating the author's talent for creating great, high-quality layouts in vanilla format. Progression is also very fluid when you play it again. But I also see a lot of missed opportunities, which makes for a rather lukewarm experience.

 

Grade : B-  (12/20)

 

 

 

 

 

[Azure_Horror]

Map 10 - “Base de Reabastecimiento” by AD_79

Continuous from map 06, Vesper mod -complevel 21, UV, reloading is allowed.

 

I must admit, that the huge pile of blue armors and supercharges at the start does count as a Refueling Base of sorts...

However, this map reminds me not about Refueling Base, but about Thirteen Angry Archviles/Fourteen Angrier Archviles from Vanguard/Valiant.

Worst of all, Tres Viles Jefes Enojados (I hope I did translate "Three Angry Archviles" somewhat correctly...) at the start of Base de Reabastecimiento take their sweet time before teleporting away, and attempt to blast the player right at the start of the map! Yeah, I should have searched for that BFG secret on map 09...

 

After frying me right at the very start, the map continued to throw serious challenges at me. Worst of all, the map disn't include much health after the initial supercharge storehouse (which can only be visited once)! I was preparing to clench my teeth, and hunt for all the keys, but Base de Reabastecimiento mercifully let me escape right after obtaining the blue card. It seems that Yellow and Red Key sections are optional. I won't complain about that. Firstly, the map was kinda hard, despite all my continious-with-a-mod shenanigans. Secondly, an early exit fits very well into "Doom the Way ID Did" design approach.

 

Tenth wonderful map in a row! How long will this win streak go? I hope, for all 32 levels. But we'll see...

(Map 11 is sure nice, tho. Will discuss it tomorrow.)

Edited September 10, 2023 by Azure_Horror : Jefes Viles corrected to Viles Jefes. Spanish is hard...

[bioshockfan90]

MAP10: Base de reabastecimiento

 

94K | 61I | 100S

 

This is such an oddball, weird map and I adore it for that. Easily my favorite so far and I’ll divulge into why.

 

You’re started with a PLETHORA of supercharges and megaarmors, but you get a hunch right off the bat you probably won’t be returning here. Maybe the 1 secret in the map takes you back here after a long fight? Nope. Just early plasma. Then BAM 3 archviles blasting away at you, and lemme tell ya, folks - you NEED to get past them unscathed or you will pay the price, as the only health after those soulspheres is in the form of health bonuses and 1 berserk pack you unlock as part of the OPTIONAL BFG route. 

 

Yes, you heard me - after getting the red key and barely any kills on the counter, you are technically free to leave should you want to. But right by the exit switch are 2 other key doors, and a whole other route to explore. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is face off against a gauntlet of nasty traps, archviles, and precarious cliff-hugging all for… a BFG and a choice encounter with like 6 AVs? Yeah, I don’t get it either. Maybe there was something I missed, but I had long since wanted the adventure to be over watching my health slowly drop from a pristine 200 close to the 50s. I had *enough* kills and decided, eh, screw it, let’s just leave this. I’m curious if there is any benefit to taking this long optional route other than a BFG for continuous players. I guess I’ll find out.

 

I could talk about aesthetics and how cool this looks or go more in-depth with the encounters, but I’m in a storytelling mood today. Fight me. 4.9 out of 5.

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

 

MAP10

MAP06

MAP07

MAP09

MAP02

MAP01

MAP05

MAP08

MAP03

MAP04

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP09 - “El Pozo” by Tarnsman

This one is more of an acquired taste, and one where first playthroughs can end up in the player royally screwing themselves over. That said once you can get the rocket launcher and the other weapons nearby then this one isn't too bad. I can see why people may feel that this fits the Map08 title better than map08 did. In the end I guess this excels in trying to replicate Sandy's own brand of sadism and in the end this one was quite entertaining, though there are other maps I have enjoyed more. The cyberdemon offers an interesting scenario too, especially for pistol starters. 

 

MAP10 - “Base de Reabastecimiento” by AD_79

Well this was a rather audacious level, this reminds me of Hell Reveal Map19 in terms of the kind of set up involved here, but if anything this is even more obnoxious in regards to the health. I like the fact that you are only expected to complete the first section of the map and essentially leave the rest as optional in terms of wanting more, that said you only need to complete the second section to solve the map because the yellow key also gives you 100/100 health/armour. There are a couple of cool fights within this one, first being near the red key with the archvile and mass of other monsters, the second being the crusher/plasma gun area. I was also not expecting the number of archviles when grabbing the hard fought BFG. 

Overall this was a really neat map that perhaps extends beyond Sandy levels of absurdity at times, there feels like a mix of inspirations (Including some of the more wacky perdition gate texture schemes), in the end I had a good time here.

[espilka]

MAP11 Círculo de la Muerte - K: 99% / S: 66% (HMP, blind, continuous)

Tally - Deaths: 29 / Secrets missed: 2

 

Decided first to replay MAP10, and got through with only 2 deaths (both silly, forgot the crusher/HK trap, and caught a Rev missile at the pit-ambush).  So am continuing from this non-blind run.  But it really is a great map and had to improve its ranking.

 

O of Destruction is even longer, and took me almost 40min to complete with only three deaths along the way.  After reaching the exit, i went to look for the secrets and additional areas, and got most, but missed the last secret.  The map plays very similar to MAP10 - the combat is quasi-classic, with a modern hard unforgiving edge to it, and appears mostly incidental.  The most annoying things were the all-too-familiar Chaingunner closets, but they failed in their intentions this time.  The biggest difference to MAP10 is the almost abundant offering of health, in form of medikits, a secret Megasphere (which seemed quite easy), as well as one Soulsphere.  The central Spider Mastermind luckily had miscalculated her own effectiveness, delivering only moderate pressure and frustration at times until her telefragging - but she was a nice prop of which i approve!  Loved also the once again the optional and secret areas.  Couldn't say i loved the mini-slaughter arena, it got me killed on first try, second i just did my best to plasma everything, dashing for the Soulsphere, and with some luck it worked.  i'm not sure if the last secret is connected with the radsuit, i thought i heard something opening, but that one i let go - and assume that the missed kills are there.

 

Checking Doomwiki again for enemy counts, this time looks like HMP is easier, more in particular of Arachnotrons and Cacodemons would make a real difference here in strategic places.

 

Ranks:

Spoiler

MAP06 La Trituradora - 4.5

MAP07 Fácil de Muertos - 4.5

MAP02 Salas de Debajo - 4.5

MAP10 Base de Reabastecimiento - 4.5

MAP03 Las Vias del Trent - 4.5

MAP11 Circulo de la Muerte - 4.5

MAP01 Entrada - 4

MAP09 El Pozo - 3.5

MAP05 Los Túneles de Residuos - 3.5

MAP08 Trucos y Trampas - 3

MAP04 El Foco - 3

 

[Tarnsman]

Map 09:

Definitely the most 90s map in the first batch. I wanted it give the same feeling I got playing through the more enjoyable parts of Maximum Doom while also not being too aggressively 90s.

 

One of the most interesting things about a lot of 90s PWAD content is how differently they viewed the game than we do today. Reading through the text files of a lot of mid-90s PWADs is wonderful because you can really understand the ideas they were going for even when their maps are clearly nowhere near what they intended them to be. A lot of people treated Doom as more of this adventure puzzle game rather than a kinetic action experience. Inescapable death traps were fine because it was a dungeon crawl and why would the path in a dungeon be obvious? Of course they'd hide the way to get to the end of the dungeon in a door track switch, it's a dungeon after all, it's supposed to be secret.

 

While never as obtuse as the PWAD stuff from that era, Sandy also took this sort of dungeon master approach to a lot of his maps that gets overlooked because people know them back and forth and there's plenty of available documentation on them. (Think of how weird it is that every key in The Citadel is a secret.)

 

Map 10:

AD can chime in if he has any fun facts.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 10: Base de Rebasticimiento

by Juan Romero 

 

The name seems a touch clunky, and perhaps using the wrong form of "refueling" or however it's represented in Spanish. Cool music though. This sounds ripped from somewhere, idk.

The map presented here to us feels a little bit like alternate John Romero admittedly, but @AD_79's fingerprints can be found all over. From a certain fondness for Plutonia textures to the introduction of a certain green variety of a wood texture created for this wad due to the extensive use of verticality, he'd probably be anyone's first guess for this sort of map. So there's not really tons to say. It's nice to see Brayden's use of contrasts though. Odd as it seems, this is the first map where brown and tan don't entirely predominate, as there are plenty of green textures in keeping with a certain Plutonia aesthetic (with a unique scrolling one in a room with an Imp/Arch-vile trap proving particularly lovely and striking), to say nothing of some hellish-stuff that can be found in one corner of a cave (white marble and red rock) but also at a few places indoors like the fireplaces for instance. And the Memento Mori red cross doortrak that was also in earlier episodes prove as a further complement!

 

The combat is kind of pointless to talk about since it's 100 percent incidental but it flows nicely and does have some standout moments. Such as the aforementioned Imp/Arch-vile trap which also throws a Mancubus in at one point to keep us from escaping easily. Strangely enough, we were having so much fun that we didn't think to save until something happened that would've killed us. But that brings up something else very interesting. See, the exit is exactly where it appears to be, no tricks and no trampas. But continuous players may find themselves tempted by the berserk pack and so, go exploring around a raised natural surface into another part of the complex I'm not remembering too well but it terminated in a square wooden courtyard with a series of traps, flattening out at the end, right before we reach the yellow key. We can then take this key, head to the exit that we're teleported close to anyway, and pick up our goods and exit. But wait! Why is there a blue door? 

Basically, we head toward another yellow door spotted earlierthat dares to toss out hell knights in close quarters and in a particularly nasty moment, decides to teleport in an Arch-vile at the same time our attention is occupied by Imps in a certain narrow hallway behind a roundish cage next to some brackish water. Needless to say, there was no surviving this the first time. But after that, we get teleported next to the hell knights which will probably punish careless players as we pick upt he blue key. This entirely superflous key opens up a teleporter taking us to a central tower with a two-pair of Arch-vile teleporting in on either side, along with a BFG? Why not at least 2 Cyberdemons? I suppose it would have made other enemies irrelevant since this isn't exactly what one would call an isolated optional area.

 

After this, we can finally exit and leave this behind! So the design here is actually really cool. The only other example that comes to mind of something similar would be Map 25 of Memento Mori II where Denis Moeller actually tries something different and provides an exit you'll probably reach in under 7 minutes - but you'll miss a large chunk of said map if you do! Although there's no temporary exit raising here so you can go back if you're chickening out or tired.

 

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP11: Circulo de la Muerte. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 183/183 K, 3/3 S, 27/27 I. Comp. time 34:02

 

The trend of skewed preconceptions keeps on -- and yeah, this was the map I was thinking of in MAP07, the spidey's here. This time my memories of stressful map was mostly backed up by this experience; At first I was slightly struggling. Partly this was due to me thinking there was gonna be ammo starvation, so I spent a lot of time inciting infight.

 

La 'O' de la destrucción looks good, I really like the spanish town crumbled into lava aesthetics. It kinda resembles Arrival once again (maybe that's just stuck to my head this time), but with more Spain elements.

 

There are a couple of (intentional?) annoying elements. Not gonna mention hurtfloors (see what I did there), but for one: the revenant behind one yellow door that just wakes up and teleports behind you. Not a big deal, but *sigh*. Then the secrets behind the one yellow door. I knew from memory that there was something, but on the first play I remember spending ages to realize you need to shoot in the dark -- and then you need to realize the wall that looks sloppily aligned is indeed a hidden switch. (Although now that I wrote that down, it doesn't feel so stupid after all. Ah well).

 

So, a great map, again. And as this wasn't my first time around, I think I was able to, somehow, minimize hurtfloor traversal, which is always a good thing.

[brick]

GZDoom, Doom strict compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

 

MAP10 - “Base de Reabastecimiento” by AD_79
I guess the title (and the reverse-translation even more so) applies to the half dozen Megaarmors and 50 Supercharges just sitting there, but the whole setup feels like one of those "intentionally bad designs" and made me roll my eyes. The 3-archvile ambush did not help, I get the idea but they have a tendency to just stand there, block the way and roast away. I was surprised when the exit switch turned out not to be a trap and actually quit the level, with 2 keys missing and over half of the map still unexplored. The optional section that followed was my favourite part of the map, there are some fun fights and surprises, especially the blue key. The whole point of this though seems to be to get the BFG, which will only be useful if playing continuous, but doing so neuters that first archvile ambush, you can easily just kill them all there. Strange map, but enjoyable nonetheless.

 

MAP11 - “Círculo de la Muerte” by Tarnsman
The Circle of Death is definitely there, now deadlier because of the Spider Mastermind standing on the elevated central platform shooting at you if you stay exposed too long. Ducking and avoiding her fire while you make your way around is fun and there are some good fights on the way, there's even a turret archvile later on that I thought was well done, but several design decisions were irksome. The Circle does not actually go all the way round, and it makes the extensive backtracking eventually tiresome. There are lots of damaging floors, but the radsuits are placed in the most trollish fashion possible, almost always after having crossed the floor where they would've been useful. It seems we've reached a turning point with the ubiquitous ambushes, there's a dozen or more of them and only one manages to surprise me, because they've become so predictable that I activate them by walking backwards because I know a bunch of enemies will attack from behind when I pick up this item or go up these steps (that teleporting revenant was just... yeah). Finally telefragging the Spider is such a satisfying moment though. I don't know if the music has become less outrageous or if I'm just used to it now, but it doesn't even sound out of place anymore.

[bioshockfan90]

MAP11: Círculo de la muerte

 

97K | 100I | 66S

 

This feels similar to MAP07 in that there’s a central platform made of metal in the center guarding your ticket to the exit and lots of damaging floors around it, but there’s a lot more padding to this one and exploration. Very nonlinear as well, you can pretty much go any way about this and still end up with a well-balanced experience. Picking up the rocket launcher from the start is probably a good idea though. Blue key gives you yellow key, YK gives you access to 2 health secrets and a little sequence that takes you to telefrag the mastermind to get RK, and RK door is exit. In truth though, there’s so much more to this map. There’s a little desert area with cacti and a truckload of arachnotrons and revenants, there’s a “The Living End”-esque section with an archvile looming over you in a far off tower as you make your way up along the ledges, another tower (this time that you can platform out of to backtrack)... It’s pretty fun and I do like the chaotic nature the combat forces on you at the start as you scramble to get weapons, but on HNTR even I felt ammo other than shells was very limited and the plasma gun, beyond its initial ammo, had no ammo in the map. Maybe I missed a secret, maybe it would’ve been too OP in the map so this was an intentional decision, but some of the balancing here just felt off despite it still feeling rather fun and well-crafted. 

 

I made the MAP07 comparison earlier and this is easier than that and not as exciting so for that reason I will place this map below it in my rankings, but it is slightly better than MAP09 as more things are going on. 4.7 out of 5.

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

 

MAP10

MAP06

MAP07

MAP11

MAP09

MAP02

MAP01

MAP05

MAP08

MAP03

MAP04

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP11: Círculo de la Muerte by Tarnsman (as El Pedersen)

 

I told you D2ISO will be ruthless with its hurtfloor usage. The Spanish version of Circle of Death is full of damaging liquid that is a pain to traverse when you don't know where to go, mostly around the central structure with a spider mastermind at the top. Thanks to (in)convenient placement of gaps in walls, you can get hit by her in many spots of the map. This adds to the wear and tear you'll experience throughtout the map and if you don't actively look for secrets, you'll be low on health for the majority of your run.

 

The start is very chaotic, a natural instinct to run away from fights when outgunned will only open additional monster closets or lead you to wandering arachnotrons and revenants. I think it's better to run north from the starting room, instead of south where you're facing - this way you can find a rocket launcher and a super shotgun. Use them well, as the ammo balance is rather tightly calibrated. The rest of the map is a string of ambushes, some especially nasty - like that one that gives you a plasma rifle and teleports into a room with revenants and mancubi. The route to the red key (and telefragging the mastermind) is another tense encounter, where you have to deal with enemies in front of and behind you on a narrow ledge, plus arachnotron snipers and archvile watchtower.

 

The map looks good, with a nice contrast between mastermind's red chamber and tan walls of surrounding areas. Like MAP07, this one also is mostly made of hexagons, but I think I prefer Facil de muertos and its visuals. 

 

Círculo de la Muerte is a well made map, but not one I had fun playing. Especially since its template is going to be repeated a lot here.