The DWmegawad Club plays: Whitemare & Sacrament

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP04: Others have already stated their feelings on this better than I can. It’s an atmospheric slog through hallways which offer no interesting scenarios other than the first AV in the plasma gun path. Thankfully I’m playing continuously so I at least could SSG my way through most of it.

MAP05: This was an entertaining level that went on a bit too long in my opinion. The funnest part was donning the rad suit and braving the boiling depths below as I tried to clear out most of the enemies above (and wasted a lot of ammo doing so. Some of the various prison-like areas were nice to fight through too, but the monster closet infestation towards the end wore thin pretty quickly.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP08 Zone X

DAT FIDDLE.

Where MAP07's music really reaked me off this one brought my spirit back. Nice level too. Level layout seems similar to MAP03 of Zones of Fear at first, quite boxy, until the Northwest section. Manageable fights as well as manageable nukage sections. I only really had problems with the hellknights behind the bars up near the red key area since I couldn't see them well. Also, some might get confused once they press the switch behind the last archvile, as it turns out the exits back in a newly opened nukage tunnel near where you first see the nukage. But all in all, one of my Sacrament favorites. Love that music!

BTW, for next month I'm highly wanting to play Scythe, or Scythe II.

[Demon of the Well]

Sacrament Map 08 -- Zone X - 101% Kills / 50% Secrets
Again, a very strange music selection here, some kind of upbeat fiddle/electric guitar track. I was initially thinking of saying that I don't think it fits the map very well, but it sort of grew on me by the end, seemed to go nicely with how easily I was mowing down the opposition.

The huge spaces and long corridors from Archi's previous map are for the most part gone in this one, which is comprised mostly of close-quarters combat in and around some squalid little buildings in an abandoned industrial district. The opposition is mostly smallfry, but they come in tight clusters that seem larger than they are by dint of them being crammed into small spaces. There's a lot of unavoidable door-camping in parts as a result, but I don't think it's so offensive in most places here--having just the basic shotgun to fend off the earlier attacks works pretty well, because the monsters can come through more than one door and you have just enough firepower to beat them back. One of the nukage processing plants has apparently undergone a catastrophic mechanical failure of some sort (don't they always?), and so one of the facilities and parts of the road leading away from Zone X has dissolved in a stream of corrosive waste--so there's a bit of ooze-slogging, but adequate radsuits are conveniently available, to the point where the pernicious fluids hardly register as a factor.

It's an unassuming but inoffensive outing, feels pretty good at the start and then kind of tapers off as the player gains momentum (read: weapons/ammo). My major criticism of the map is that the exit requires some completely unnecessary backtracking--I personally don't mind backtracking if I get ambushed along the way, or if some other complication arises, but when I'm just walking back to an area with nothing going on after all of the real gameplay has transpired, it's one of the worst sorts of anticlimax, or at least it is in a map with this type of very conventional flow.

[Demonologist]

What about playing some of Eternal's works next month(s), peeps? Like Epic 2 and stuff.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP08: Zone X
100% kills, 0/2 secrets

Bond, huh? Interesting choice for music... but I can't complain.

I was in the mood for a quick run-n-gun, and this delivered. The guns in Doom are best at short-to-medium range, and I always felt the game is best when blasting away at lots of little monsters. Just so fun to turn around a corner and wipe out three imps with one SSG blast or just unload on a whole corridor of zombies with the chaingun. The start of this map delivers that, before eventually turning towards some of the badder monsters. Nothing demanding though - both of the Arch-Viles are pretty tame due to placement, and the hardest fight I had was the Pain Elemental only because it kept floating up where I couldn't quite shoot him but he could spit out lost souls at me.

I too forgot where the exit was, thankfully I have exits marked in my minimap in orange. So useful.

So yeah, nothing special, but it hit the spot quite nicely.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP09: Vancouver
100% kills, 1/1 secret

What this has to do with Vancouver, I have no idea.

I am a sucker for marble and green vines though, so I find this level quite appetizing to the eye. Some of the detail is horribly overdone though (the area with the bricks on the ground is a good example) and sometimes the random poles here and there provide the greatest danger as the player tries to dodge fireballs. Still not much of a challenge here, there's lots of nobles, and one cyberdemon, but there's plenty of ammo, an invuln sphere for the cyber, and plenty of angles/cover to use. Progression can be a tad confusing, requiring lots of repeating old areas, but isn't too bad. The end unfortunately is a bit of an anticlimax as the player ends up in more of a techbase area that consists of three rooms, a few barons and a non-threatening AV.

Also, between this music and the chaingun sprite replacement, I really wanna play some Unreal or UT99...

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP09 Vancouver

64 enemies on easy seems laughable until you see that they are almost all the big monsters. Still pretty easy though. I ran from many monsters and bottlenecked them together for infighting and easy kills. Cybie was easy too, but I fell into that nuke pit a lot for some reason. NE area can be confusing, you have to stand on the wall as it rises. I really didn't see a good use for the invulnerability behind the cyber though, he's still easy for me without it. The revenants in the NW area seemed to be hard to deal with, so I used it there. Shorter than some other levels but still can be a nice romp.

[Demon of the Well]

Demonologist said:

What about playing some of Eternal's works next month(s), peeps? Like Epic 2 and stuff.

Epic 2 was actually going to be the next 'old' WAD I had planned to relentlessly agitate for (like I did with Vile Flesh before it), so I'm all for that. I'm not sure if we're set to do another 'new release' WAD or what next time, though, which would probably require a different choice.

Sacrament Map 09 -- Vancouver - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Having never been to Vancouver, I can't really shed any light on the map's name, either, but it sure does look cool--the vine-congested marble maze brooding under the deep indigo of the night sky speaks of the distant sadness of a long-fallen grandeur, and the music selection fits the mood very well this time, as well. While some of the detailing is perhaps a bit on the finicky side (particularly the loose Floresian bricks around the switch that releases the three knights from their marble cubes, presumably the same area Magnusblitz referred to) or arguably even a hindrance to gameplay (ala the curtains of vines at a few points that hinder visibility), for the most part I think the very sector-rich, smallscale approach works pretty well for this map, since it's effective in communicating the area's disrepair and, perhaps more importantly, is generally done on such a minute scale that most of the issues that tend to go along with sector work of this type are avoided (e.g. there's very little disruptive floor-bumpiness since the change in vertical level used on most of the floor detailing is so slight). What really seals the deal is the aesthetic curveball the map throws, though, where you suddenly end up on some surreal island with an old tower and a bit of crumbling marble skywalk floating inexplicably in the night sky--quite memorable. Definitely a case of surface detail making a simple layout work; everything from the cruel-looking iron fences on top of the maze walls to the lone dead tree in the poisoned pond on the island do their part in establishing the setting.

It's kind of interesting that while the map can, for the most part, be reduced to a linear corridor-slog where most attacks are frontal/direct, one tends to notice it less, and thus to be put off by it less, than in many other maps that could be broadly described in the same way (e.g. map 04 from earlier in Sacrament, for example)....I suspect this might be a good argument for the power of verisimilitude (even that concerning a very fantastical/abstract environment such as this one); that is, one doesn't find one's sense of immersion being damaged so much here simply because the setting convincingly presents itself as a rotting funereal/memorial ground of some kind, and it only makes sense that the player finds himself hemmed in between high walls (and fell beasts) that meet in a tangle of corridors at most points. The encounters, while generally straightforward, also work pretty well in this kind of setting, I think; I rather like the cyberdemon's placement, for instance, because his great size and decent speed make him genuinely imposing in the context of the dog-legged, hemmed-in pathways one must face him in, where it's necessary to find a way to slip by him in order to grab the V-sphere behind where he initially stood in order to silence him (or you could lead him back to the start room, which has sufficient room for a simple SSG-tango). I certainly wouldn't say it's beyond reproach, mind. Fact is, while the 'minotaurs in the maze' thing was probably too obvious/tempting a tack to take, you still end up plowing through more one-on-one SSG duels with Barons than you really need to, and like some of the other Sacrament maps, the action in this one falls off oddly at the end. For example, it really felt to me like more action should have occurred at some point in the sequence of switch-hittery on the floating skywalk later in the level--all kinds of scope here for unleashing a group of flying monsters, teleporting more foes onto the island to snipe at the player, something, anything, hell.

Nevertheless, I think this is an enjoyable map despite (and perhaps even because of, in some senses) its underlying flatness/mazeness, probably the best of Archi's offerings in this set.

[Steve D]

Demonologist said:

What about playing some of Eternal's works next month(s), peeps? Like Epic 2 and stuff.

I've heard a lot about Eternal's work and I'm very interested, but I almost hope we don't do any Eternal in February because I'm completely buried in mapping hell and other projects with little hope of getting out of it until March. So I won't be voting and I'll just wait and see what happens. But one way or another I want to play Eternal's maps.

[Marcaek]

I wanna suggest D2TWID or maybe Scythe 1.

[Suitepee]

I suggest NOVA: The Birth for the next DWMegawad Club!

[Memfis]

I vote for Marswar of course.

[Demonologist]

@ Demon Of The Well: while Epic 2 is his biggest work, there are others worth mentioning. Hell Ground, Baker's Dozen, Voodoo Guns etc. In fact, if people decide to pay close attention to all this stuff - this would take more than one month. I've replayed a sheer number of Eternal's maps recently, so I'd put a word or two about them as well.

[Veinen]

I'll try to participate again next month and I'd love to play some of Eternals stuff. Epic 2 or any combination of his smaller sets would work for me, even though I'm pretty familiar with most of his stuff. They're just really great so I wouldn't mind replaying them at all. Would not mind Scythe II either, if you'd prefer saving Eternal for later.

For newer wads, I guess D2TWID is the obvious choice. NOVA is a good mapset but I (and a few other regulars here) played & reviewed the beta version already, so I at least would skip the month should that be the wad of choice.

[Doominator2]

Lol this looks like a funny WAD. I will have to try it out.

[purist]

Me and Dylan played a bit of Whitemare on co-op this weekend. If you want to watch us mumble through the first three levels in fuzzy lo-res, see here:

http://www.twitch.tv/purist_chris/c/3615006

So far I've quite enjoyed it but I think this is because I like the snowy theme rather than the gameplay.

Depending on what's on next month we may either carry on with this on move on with the club. Legacy is picky over compatibility so anything more advanced than cl-2 is a bit of a minefield.

[Demon of the Well]

Demonologist said:

@ Demon Of The Well: while Epic 2 is his biggest work, there are others worth mentioning. Hell Ground, Baker's Dozen, Voodoo Guns etc. In fact, if people decide to pay close attention to all this stuff - this would take more than one month. I've replayed a sheer number of Eternal's maps recently, so I'd put a word or two about them as well.

Indeed, I believe I've played nearly all of his work (or at least the stuff that's made it to /idgames), with the possible exception of the alternate version of that one earlier snow/ice-themed standalone map (the name of which I can't remember at the moment). Eternal is one of Russia's national treasures as far as I'm concerned, shame he's apparently been incommunicado for a while now.

Epic 2 is a good choice because it fits most neatly with the Club's usual format, but I'd gladly do the others sometime, particularly Hell Ground (which I've always secretly hoped would get a sequel like Epic did) or 32-inch Nails, two of my other favorites by him.

[Ribbiks]

purist said:

Me and Dylan played a bit of Whitemare on co-op this weekend.

hah, that's awesome. If only there was a boom-compat or zdoom-derived port that had split-screen.

[Archi]

Ribbiks said:

hah, that's awesome. If only there was a boom-compat or zdoom-derived port that had split-screen.

Legacy is a boom-compat port with split-screen. I used it to play several years ago to play with my friend and it was good.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP10 Wood Prison

Well now this certainly is impressive, large but impressive. Really a mishmash though. Nonlinear, you need two keys at first. Pretty nice to romp around in. However, gameplay falls flat on its face here. Mostly imps and former humans, and the big monsters like mancubi and hellknights are in such open areas that it's barely a problem. Gives me another good excuse to use the berserk on the big foes. There are no archviles, no pain elementals, and the one cyberdemon is nullified by an invulnerability at the end. The southwestern lava filled area was the standout, but it wasn't a problem either. I either retreated or made enemies infight. Too easy for a level this long. But I did like the idea of mocking the player by having the exit visible behind him, yet it's inaccessible from there.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Wood Prison
76% kills, 5/11 secrets

Yup, this one's a big one. More so because of the size of the rooms rather than the layout (though there is plenty to explore) The 300+ monster count would usually be a bit of a grind, but as Hurricyclone says, it's actually pretty sparse. It's not the atmospheric nearly-emptiness of Doxaymine Moon, but there's rarely more than 1-2 hell knights per room, and nothing larger than the odd baron except for a Cyber near the end which just screams to be run past. I originally was going to disagree with Hurricyclone in regards to it being poor because of the monsters, but I think he's right... it just feels a bit too easy, and isn't quite awe-inspiring to succeed on looks/atmosphere alone.

[Demon of the Well]

Sacrament Map 10 -- Wood Prison - 99% Kills / 72% Secrets
Ah, yes, this one. A lot of Azamael's earlier maps are like this--long, expansive, thematically directionless (notice that there's not actually much wood here, although perhaps by 'Wood Prison' he meant 'Prison in the Woods'), colorful, and full of areas that seem to be big purely for the sake of being big--the 'Hell' portion in his "Time of Sorrow" WAD exemplifies this mishmash style. Incidentally, he's come a long way since this time--his later maps are still expansive and large in scale, but generally tend to be much more focused both thematically and in terms of level progression, ala his maps in A.L.T., but that's (hopefully) a story for another time.

The polyglot texture style and collection of large yards and disparate concepts on offer here does really scream "TNT" to me somehow, as do the fiddly little bits of random interactivity (e.g. the upstairs 'control room' with many switches), so that's another point for Marcaek's earlier observation that these Russians seem to take a lot of inspiration from Evilution. There are some pretty inviting vistas here, some apparently designed to be actively grandiose, ala the seaside graveyard that looks down over the strange abstract blue key pier, and some that are more incidental--I like the way you can stand in one corner of the central 'cloverleaf' and, courtesy of the engine's functionally infinite draw distance, see the dark shapes of monsters moving to and fro in the high windows in other 'petals', silhouetted against the glowing fire(wall)s in some of the upper chambers. This map is also rather dark over most of its expanse, something that some players may find distracting, but I think it really helps the effect--it even makes caged zombiemen seem at least nominally threatening at one point.

Now, as to the comments that the combat in the map feels a bit inconsequential, I certainly agree. However, it may be interesting to note that the version of this map from the original release of Sacrament was much more imposing in this regard--in fact, when I first began my playthrough of the map for the Club, I thought I may have accidentally started it on HMP instead of UV or something, so pronounced is the difference. But no, the gameplay has been fundamentally changed in this release, it seems. The original version was a heftier challenge not so much by dint of having more monsters (although some key threats have been removed in the current version, it seems) but by having FAR less ammo available to deal with them. Pistol-starting that old version of the map, I was leaving large groups of monsters alive for long periods of time, meaning that I was usually being chased around by something while in the central cloverleaf, and I felt it behooved me to make smart use of infighting and the chainsaw/berserk pack in the side areas. By the end, I remember that I was able to gather up enough ammo to clean the map out, so there was a definite feeling of gaining momentum and gradually triumphing over unlikely odds that this version lacks. As to the threats that have been removed, they are few, but some were significant--there was originally a spider mastermind who dominated the petal of the cloverleaf that houses the red key, and the area past the strange lava-flooded crate area was originally home to a coven of arch-viles, to name the two differences that stand out most clearly in my mind.

Honestly, I think the heavy adulteration of the difficulty/gameplay style in this map in this version of Sacrament kind of spoiled its overall impression a bit, changing it from a weird, oppressive, sinister environment to one that's mostly just weird. Will be interesting to see how the next map (also by Azamael) has changed.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP11 Seaport

Nailed it, it's linear. Again, easy gameplay, and weird use of heights. I actually like my stuff flat (sue me). The lame gameplay owes to the fact that there's mostly imps, and rarely any decent use of the heavier monsters (there's no archviles again). That part with the loong elevator can be annoying especially since monsters seem to take forever with teleporting. Going down the vertically emphasized staircases is gimmicky at best. Visually though, it's a Russian impressionism that works. I like the actual seaport here.

[Demon of the Well]

Sacrament Map 11 -- Seaport - 100% Kills / No secrets
A whimsical Nightwish MIDI to go along with a whimsical little romp. While 'Wood Prison' sort of dropped you into the middle of a big mess and let you wander around at your own behest until finding the way out, 'Seaport' is extremely linear--essentially a guided tour of a few ancient ruins and an abandoned smugglers' den inside of a massive sea-cave. The main draw of the level is absolutely the spectacle of it all; one gets the impression that both the early ruins section and the final port section exist mostly to establish the sense of basic Doom gameplay (e.g. you collect weapons and shoot stuff), and are mostly just pragmatic adjuncts to the main event, that being the trek around, down and through the massive cave with the secret dock. It is a breathtaking scene, particularly when the mouth of the cave and endless expanse of the sea beyond it first comes into view, and the way the route has been carved out so that you see it several times from several perspectives and can often see areas that you'll eventually traverse well before you actually reach them is extremely well-done. There are some criticisms to be had--for instance, I think that the flat roof of the cave decorated only by sector-stalactites looks a bit scrappy--but for the most part it's a well-realized scene, I feel. I will probably adore Doom-vistas that are as expansive vertically as they are laterally until the day I am no more, and things like this are a fine example of why that's so.

Unfortunately, as was the case in 'Wood Prison', the gameplay here has been seriously nerfed in this version. Now, in this case, I can certainly see a good argument for the original balance needing to be retooled: on the old version, UVmaxing this map from a pistol start was practically impossible, or at least something that would fall chiefly under the purview of the TAS scene--essentially, killing everything in that version of the map would have required the player to use the chainsaw to take down large numbers of Hell nobles....with arch-vile support. To give you an idea of what I mean, the bit near the end where you fight off a few chaingunners and imps while waiting for the loooooooooooong lift to the surface to descend originally featured viles and nobles instead, all that after going through a map that has maybe a third of the amount of ammo that the current one does. In this version, ammo is plentiful, and most of the strongest opposition has once again been removed; apart from the absence of viles and Barons, the arachnatrons that originally commanded the upper pathways of the cave have all been replaced by groups of imps.

The end result of these changes is, as was also the case in 'Wood Prison', to make the actual action seem more than a bit paltry, leaving the map to stand largely on its visuals and sense of place (which this one still does fairly well, granted). Note that even the old version of the map wasn't actually difficult to simply finish; it was just suicide to attempt to clean out the entirety of the monsters it held (at least from a pistol-start). Thus, I suppose one could argue that it had something of the feeling of an 'escape' scene, which would seem to have fit the vague Sacrament narrative a bit better, and honestly was something I feel to have been preferable to the current version, where the combat is mostly just an absentminded diversion along the path of the sightseeing tour. I think it would probably have been better to add extra ammo in this version while leaving the monster placement from the older one intact, but alas, what do I know?

Oh yeah, is it just me, or is there no rocket launcher in this level, despite the presence of several rocket boxes? Not that one really needs the RL in this version, of course....can't remember if this was also a feature of the original version or not.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: Seaport
90% kills, no secrets

I was worried that this level would be as nonsensically named as Vancouver, but there is a Seaport at the end (though it's really more of just a cove than a port...), albeit coming after tons of brick temples and caverns along the way. Much like last level, the difficulty is pretty non-existent, with monsters existing simply to provide some sort of Doom gameplay.

I really like the first boat cove with it's huge ceilings (as Demon says, getting a vertical vista is a nice change of pace), especially with the varied rock strata on the sides. The ridiculously huge staircases and ridiculously long elevator (21 seconds one direction!) show some silliness, though. The end feels a bit tacked-on, and the fullbright nature of it undermines the looks.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP12 Industrial Processing

An incredibly confusing outing TBH. It's dark, but once again, rather easy when it comes to combat. It's better than the Azamael levels though in terms of gameplay. I got lost in several places, pushed random things, got some secrets, and cursed randomly trying to find my way through. An interesting scenario close to the end where you teleport to several random areas that you saw beforehand before finding your way back to the exit area, this is where you press five switches while dodging revenants and a cyber. I fought only an archvile and only one revenant playing on easy. Nice atmosphere overall though, probably a keeper.

[Demon of the Well]

Sacrament Map 12 -- Industrial Processing - 106% Kills / 100% Secrets
Hmm, I remember that when I played the first release of Sacrament, this map somehow seemed underwhelming/forgettable to me, but this time it made a much more favorable impression. I'm not sure if that's because the gameplay was changed in this release or something or if I was just in an off mood on that first contact, but whatever the case, I rather liked the map this go-round.

This is a heavily atmospheric affair, as established from the word go by the opening shot and the ominous BGM, and the delayed appearance of the first monsters. Depicted is a huge, abandoned, yet not-quite empty facility for processing industrial waste (for typically nebulous means). The impression of a derelict factory building comes off quite palpably; I think most of the design elements come together quite well here--spacious, largely empty rooms textured in once-flashy decayed tiling mesh nicely with tight waste-disposal channels and dingy machine-rooms. Much of the map is quite dark, which I feel works brilliantly; where light appears, it tends to be fluorescent-bright and so creates some very sharp contrast, whether it be pools of light on the floor of a cavernous salesfloor (crucial for detecting lurking specters) or simply cast by glowing parts of nameless machinery. There are some vague narrative hints to complete the mood, as well--for example, what's a morgue doing in a squeaky-clean (before it was abandoned, I mean) industrial building?

While monster population is again fairly low relative to the size of the installation, this is a little more deceptive than in the previous two maps--monsters are few in number but many of them are placed to be fairly dangerous if taken lightly, ala the inconvenient revenants and cacos in the toxin settling tanks or the cyberdemon who dominates the maintenance corridor near the exit. As aforesaid, the action starts a bit slowly here (I reckon a lot of the underpopulation is played for tension), but around halfway it starts to hit its stride, particularly if the player doesn't keep cool or plays brashly, as ammo and weapons are relatively limited for the first half or so (although you get pretty loaded pretty quickly past that point). Shit started to hit the fan a bit for me in/around the large northern room, because I had forgotten about that one cheeky arch-vile....long story short, my surrendering the upper floor to him for a time somehow resulted in my running all around and waking up most of the monsters in the nearby rooms who all kept chasing me back to the large room, me with nothing bigger than a chaingun initially. I'd like to think Dragon Hunter planned it this way, but perhaps I'm being too charitable (or maybe I just sucked at DooM tonight)...whatever the case, it was fun. I liked the end fight as well, the shape of the maintenance corridor sort of downplays some of the usual anti-cyb tactics (infighting, circle-strafing, etc.). Still pretty easy all around--I was near death a few times but was always able to recover--but quite nicely-paced, I think.

Pretty good map, no idea why I had a vaguely dismissive assessment of it from the first time. Next map's still the star of the show, though.

[Crusader No Regret]

The weapon sprite replacements in Sacrament? Well, I had played 5til1 Complex before this so I had adjusted to them by this point. As the sprites don't quite match up to where the guns aim (unchanged behavior), it threw me off until I adapted.

Most of my commentary will be from an HMP continuous playthrough using Zdoom. I'll indicate any notes from other settings. The file I used was last modified in 2011, which from reading others' comments appears to be an older version.

Map 2: Yep, this is memorable for how different it is. Automap disabled and desolate with very little in terms of population. Playing blind, I actually managed to figure out the yellow skulls were involved with some task after finding the second or third one. I did track down the red key so I found where to use them. I even managed to deduce that there were six of them. What I didn't do was actually acquire all six without cheating. The dumpster key has a tough jump beyond my skill level (or I just suck at lining it up) and another on a box stumped me quite a bit until I tracked down a hidden switch.

Map 3: After the last two maps, I was glad to obtain some more guns to play with. Believe I left a few survivors upon exiting since I didn't locate some of the secrets.

Map 4: By the time I figured out that it was possible to take only one of the two paths, I'd already saved past the point of no return.

Map 5: I'd abandoned my playthrough for six months before coming back to it on this map. Those revenants in the outdoor area sure know how to be irritating.

map 6: A different experience on Zdoom since the bushes block mancubus fireballs so it was a less dangerous outing than intended. Gave up on 100% kills here; there were one or two I didn't figure out how to activate.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP12: Industrial Processing
92% kills, 6/11 secrets

Fits in with a lot of the other Sacrament maps recently... large, sprawling, some nice detail, lots of secrets, and a monster count that's a bit underwhelming. I'm okay with that though, since the main enemy here is the darkness. I too found it a bit confusing, and was very happy to find a pair of lite-amp goggles (maybe too happy, which is a bad sign). Darkness is a good thing to use in Doom, but it can be overused, and being unable to see textures on a wall two feet in front of me is a good sign. On the other hand, it helps cover up the typical eclectic texture selection of this WAD, I have a feeling I would notice more of the "use every texture in the game" design if the lights were up higher. Still, overall, an enjoyable map. And I'm always a sucker for secret design like this.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP13 Controlled System

Russian crazy shit man, I need a new keyboard.

The platforming bits are atrociously difficult and frustrating for me. The level's incredibly big and incredibly dark, not to mention the lava on the outskirts EVERYWHERE. Four cardinal directions. The Eastern part had to be cleared before heading to the middle; easy, but the elevator had me in a grog. I like the northern area most despite the lava; it has quite a few tough enemies. But it still was boring to slog through.

The western side had an interesting bit, run around the big rectangle area and go across to get the BFG and access to the BK. Since I played on HNTR, guess what, I missed out on TWO spiderdemons! Would've been a lot of fun watching them infight. The southern area really didn't make me happy at all. 10 secrets total, one of which is totally useless on the HNTR difficulty since the items there aren't flagged for that difficulty. Expansive, interesting look, but not a good finisher in my book. At least there's no IOS to kill.

Oh yeah, lots of lost souls in places where they're not going to really affect anyone, so they are useless and a waste to kill.

MAP14

And it ends here just like Whitemare, no exit switch, just scenery.

Final Thoughts: Sacrament

On the whole, Sacrament's just as Russian as Whitemare, just without the coherent theme. Like Whitemare, there's the ups and the downs. Sacrament provided us with new weapon sprites, which are pretty hit or miss. The levels are generally more expansive than Whitemare, but not really Eternal Doom like in my book. They could really use more monsters or generally better monster placement, especially the Azamael levels, although MAP10 was supposedly tougher as Demon says. I guess it's an okay WAD, but it isn't really a "pick up and play" type of WAD due to it's apparent unpopularity and rather easygoing gameplay.

At least MAP02 had one hell of a sidequest.

Best map was MAP02 for obvious reasons, worst was probably MAP04.