The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 Reloaded

[Magnusblitz]

driftyloon said:

@memfis Is it possible to give me a track list for D2RMUS?

There's a textfile for it in the ZIP:

Spoiler

D_DM2TTL, Title screen, Part of Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI
D_DM2INT, Intermission, from Starcraft
D_READ_M, Story screen, from Vile Flesh (Gwyn Williams)
D_RUNNIN, MAP01, D_EVIL from Strain (The Alpha Dog Alliance)
D_STALKS, MAP02, Metallica
D_COUNTD, MAP03, from Hexen OCTOR
D_BETWEE, MAP04, from All Hell is Breaking Loose
D_DOOM, MAP05, from Vile Flesh (Gwyn Williams)
D_THE_DA, MAP06, Unknown - D_RUNNIN from Real World 2
D_SHAWN, MAP07, Unknown - D_ROMER2 from NDCP2
D_DDTBLU, MAP08, Metroid Fusion - Frozen in Time
D_IN_CIT, MAP09, ROTT - The Fast Way
D_DEAD, MAP10, from Memento Mori II (David P. Shaw)
D_DOOM2, MAP11, Heretic E1M4
D_STLKS2, MAP12, from Vile Flesh (Gwyn Williams)
D_THEDA2, MAP13, Unknown - D_IN_CIT from A.L.T.
D_DDTBL2, MAP14, Unknown - D_BETWEE from Deus Vult
D_RUNNI2, MAP15, Escape from New York
D_DEAD2, MAP16, Unknown D_STLKS3 from NDCP2
D_STLKS3, MAP17, Blood CBLOOD3
D_ROMERO, MAP18, Unknown D_BETWEE from Wheel of Time v3
D_SHAWN2, MAP19, The Temple of Judgement by Grave
D_MESSAG, MAP20, Barabbas Reprise from Eternal Doom III (Rich Weeds Nagel)
D_COUNT2, MAP21, Unknown D_STALKS from DR2008V2
D_DDTBL3, MAP22, D_THE_DA from Strain (The Alpha Dog Alliance)
D_AMPIE, MAP23, Dance with a Skeleton by Grave
D_THEDA3, MAP24, Unknown D_SHAWN2 from NDCP2
D_ADRIAN, MAP25, Death March from Eternal Doom III (Rich Weeds Nagel)
D_MESSG2, MAP26, from Memento Mori "Scary 2" by Mark Klem
D_ROMER2, MAP27, Star Fox Adventures, Krozoa Palace
D_TENSE, MAP28, Final Fantasy 8, Compression of Time
D_SHAWN3, MAP29, Zombi Rises at his Grave by Grave
D_OPENIN, MAP30, Inception - Time
D_EVIL, MAP31, The Cult
D_ULTIMA, MAP32, ROTT - CCCool (Lee Jackson)

[BaronOfStuff]

I have old review posts around somewhere for this. I might actually do something this month, even if it is practically regurgitating bullshit old posts from another site.

[NuMetalManiak]

huh, so that's the new D2RMUS, just a collection of tracks I've heard in other wads. honestly, I like the one from DSDA better, the techno tracks seem to fit the techbase levels well.

[Memfis]

03 - there is a secret with about 40 (!) rockets, I find this ridiculous. Imo secrets shouldn't affect the experience THAT much. Well, it's so obvious that it's barely a secret I guess. I like the blue key disappearing in a kitchen sink but don't like how at the same time some door opens arbitrarily. Basically what happens is that you explore an area, see that there is nothing to do in it, so you go back and suddenly there is a new route to take. Not a good logic. The ending fight with lots of monsters teleporting in seemed too banal to me. I kind of grew out of teleport ambushes in general, nowadays I'm partial to more clever ways of repopulating areas.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP03 Phobos Overdrive

It's quite a momentary buildup at the beginning given the supplies just before the first hallway. and with that, we get a glimpse of another one of Andy's large, open areas, only troublesome had I not gotten the chaingun from that one chaingunner just before the entrance. the two hatches have radiation suits in them, and I momentarily forgot which switch does what, but it don't matter as long as I got a radiation suit for traversing the small nukage canal.

there's an interesting stumping point right after the canal, and to get by you have to shoot a side switch through the bars. I didn't like seeing this in Darken2 MAP12 and I don't like it now. rest of the map was pretty smooth. the blue key being rinsed down the sink was quite intriguing, but there's a second key in another nukage chamber. and then it winds on back to that large open area I was in before, to get the yellow key, when all hell breaks loose in the area before I exit. blasted hitscanners.

and that's plenty of rockets than necessary for a secret. at least ammo starvation won't be a problem for that.

[Demon of the Well]

Very well, DR2Reload it is, then. I've played this before, and while I naturally don't recall every minute detail about it, I can say that its prime virtue is that eschdoom persistently comes up with distinctly new and different ideas or level-defining concepts (a few of them quite memorable) over the duration, no easy feat in a 32-map set. The quality of the actual execution of some of these ideas is debatable (can't wait 'til you guys see...oh, map 17, is it?) and sure to be divisive in some cases, but I suppose that's some of the fun of these threads. Incidentally, vdgg's comparison of the WAD to Vile Flesh is interesting, and I suppose both WADs do exhibit certain similar tropes (clever secrets being the one that stands out most in my mind) and similar overall pacing, but I wouldn't say that liking (or disliking) one is really a good predictor of one's opinion of the other--I've a marked preference for Vile Flesh, myself, but we'll see how this one goes this time around.

UV/pistol-starts, as per usual. Since I can't do FDAs or the like this time, I'm back to using Eternity and my less-than-puritanical leisure setup (no infinitely-tall things, etc.) for this casual playthrough. Also loaded up pal_plus again, just for a change. So, here we go...

Map 01 -- Infestation - 100% Kills / 80% Secrets
Right out of the gate, I've got to disagree with majority sentiment on this map, I quite like it as a map 01, precisely because it's not wrought in a particularly 'traditional' map 01 style, I suppose. Opposition is fairly light given the map's general scale, but combat is not really trivial in aspect. Many enemies (particularly hitscanners) hold elevated or otherwise advantageous positions over the player in several areas, and healing supplies are scarce enough that the attrition factor eliding from the sniper-heavy enemy placement is something that must be taken at least a little bit seriously; just toddling along and expecting to be hand-fed a trickle of weaklings just because it's map 01 may just get you killed in this instance--you've got to keep on the move and pay attention to lines/angles of fire. I don't see the height variation or the so-called "invisible" hitscanners as problematic, myself. All of the targets can be cleanly/efficiently hit while soaking little damage in return if you move around and pick your spot/angle well (or just wait until you can get up close in a couple of cases, perhaps), but if you just enter an area and then stand around trying to pick stuff off as soon as you catch sight of it, I suppose you might have some trouble....again, I can't help but wonder if many players unconsciously engage in some very slovenly combat practices in situations like this just because "it's map 01." I certainly catch myself doing it from time to time, I'll say that much.

Anyway, on the aesthetic front, I appreciate the relative spaciousness of most of the map; rare to see this kind of scale or this much vertical stretch in a mapslot so often occupied by squidgy little techbases that knot in on themselves. Texture selection's a bit "stylized", to put it euphemistically, but I've certainly seen worse uses for the haz-striped concrete paneling and it goes fairly well with the deep blue water and simple skylight/light variation accents. To make another Vile Flesh comparison, I suppose I must have some kind of special fascination for levels that create a sense of location using only a handful of stock assets, and this map pulls that off surprisingly well given its simplistic architectural style--I particularly like the confluential stretch adorned with impaled bodies along both sides. In layout terms, it absolutely is essentially nothing but a corridor, but I think the sense of setting and the height variation inform/impact the gameplay enough that this is not really a problem. I suppose I'm not entirely pleased with the way the most serious combat in the map comes in the first 60 seconds (multiple shotgunners on the canal lips vs. you with a pistol and no armor), and the two hell knights at the end weren't really necessary either, but even in the latter case there's some hint of interest added by being able to approach fighting them in a few different ways, including a secret method for teleporting right amongst them.

Lot of personality here, all too rare in map 01s.

Map 02 -- Return to UAC - 100% Kills / 75% Secrets
D'oh, forgot about that one-time secret, even though I've played before. Missing it means no RL in addition to the soulsphere and other goodies you can briefly see before the shutter closes, which in turn means that later parts of the level (especially the long outer walkway in the underground nukage-filtering wing) can get rather sloggy as you shotgun/chaingun your way through some fatsos and other assorted HP-clots, including a couple of surprise arch-viles (more surprising that they appear rather than how they appear, that is), although at least I was able to troll the first guy using his over-eager arachnatron buddy in the distance. This brings up a stylistic point, fairly characteristic of the WAD as a whole, that I see as a minor flaw: while the WAD's many secrets are concealed in a wide variety of clever and often creative ways, the actual material rewards that several of them contain tend to drastically skew the gameplay in their respective maps in one way or another, most often on the side of trivializing combat that follows them. This particular example in map 02 is actually one of the milder/less troublesome cases, and I see that several players have already remarked on the huge rocket stockpile in map 03. The secrets are still definitely worth looking for in the sense that many of them are satisfying to figure out, and occasionally contain whimsical features besides the purely material rewards (for example, the first secret in this map provides you a murderhole to fire through to help clean out the first room) but they do occasionally pose some crass balance issues.

Gameplay in this one's very straightforward and generally not particularly interesting, although it does benefit somewhat from that ephemeral sense of 'bloodiness' that I often talk about--high bodycount comprised mainly of zombies, emphasized by a handful of opportunities for group/mass kills via barrel (and a few more such opportunities if you do get that secret RL, certainly makes clearing out the central room in the nukage wing more satisfying). The main issue is that, like map 01, this is really nothing but one long corridor (there's a bit of hubspoke design but absolutely no exploratory element, as the route is 100% prescribed by locked doors), but where map 01 benefited from its vertical scale and airier architecture, here there really is very little to see but flat, narrow corridors, meaning that there's very little variety or verve to enemy encounters. The squidgier scale and lack of verticality also hurts the aesthetics too, leaving little room for architectural elaboration beyond the odd light inset here and there or the nukage-curtain on the boundaries of the underground walkway. Tighter scale also tends to make more active demands of the lighting, and at least in that regard the map delivers, with more simple but effective alternation in the more featureless corridors and the odd bit of something a little sharper in occasional rooms, ala the one at the top of the first lift.

Not particularly interesting, but not something I'd describe as offensive.

[scifista42]

Demon of the Well said:

Map 01 -- Infestation - 100% Kills / 80% Secrets
Right out of the gate, I've got to disagree with majority sentiment on this map, I quite like it as a map 01, precisely because it's not wrought in a particularly 'traditional' map 01 style, I suppose.
Lot of personality here, all too rare in map 01s.

Yes! I knew that I couldn't be alone to think so. :)

[Havoc Crow]

MAP03: Phobos Overdrive

The beginning of this map had me running around in confusion. I was in the open courtyard, all the doors were locked, and I found a locker with a radsuit but the switch inside didn't work. This made me very reluctant to try picking up the other radsuit and see if there was a switch behind it. Turns out, there was, and this was the way forward. Still, a bad first impression. It was forgotten quickly though because the map turned out to be quite fun, although the only truly interesting encounter was the final battle. Nothing really stood out for me in this map though, maybe except for the "key vanishing down the drain (forcing you to hunt for it in the sewers)" gag. Oh - forcing the player to traverse a nukage stream (twice!) to get the key is bad design in my opinion if a radsuit or at least some more health is not provided.

[driftyloon]

Magnusblitz said:

There's a textfile for it in the ZIP:

Spoiler

D_DM2TTL, Title screen, Part of Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI
D_DM2INT, Intermission, from Starcraft
D_READ_M, Story screen, from Vile Flesh (Gwyn Williams)
D_RUNNIN, MAP01, D_EVIL from Strain (The Alpha Dog Alliance)
D_STALKS, MAP02, Metallica
D_COUNTD, MAP03, from Hexen OCTOR
D_BETWEE, MAP04, from All Hell is Breaking Loose
D_DOOM, MAP05, from Vile Flesh (Gwyn Williams)
D_THE_DA, MAP06, Unknown - D_RUNNIN from Real World 2
D_SHAWN, MAP07, Unknown - D_ROMER2 from NDCP2
D_DDTBLU, MAP08, Metroid Fusion - Frozen in Time
D_IN_CIT, MAP09, ROTT - The Fast Way
D_DEAD, MAP10, from Memento Mori II (David P. Shaw)
D_DOOM2, MAP11, Heretic E1M4
D_STLKS2, MAP12, from Vile Flesh (Gwyn Williams)
D_THEDA2, MAP13, Unknown - D_IN_CIT from A.L.T.
D_DDTBL2, MAP14, Unknown - D_BETWEE from Deus Vult
D_RUNNI2, MAP15, Escape from New York
D_DEAD2, MAP16, Unknown D_STLKS3 from NDCP2
D_STLKS3, MAP17, Blood CBLOOD3
D_ROMERO, MAP18, Unknown D_BETWEE from Wheel of Time v3
D_SHAWN2, MAP19, The Temple of Judgement by Grave
D_MESSAG, MAP20, Barabbas Reprise from Eternal Doom III (Rich Weeds Nagel)
D_COUNT2, MAP21, Unknown D_STALKS from DR2008V2
D_DDTBL3, MAP22, D_THE_DA from Strain (The Alpha Dog Alliance)
D_AMPIE, MAP23, Dance with a Skeleton by Grave
D_THEDA3, MAP24, Unknown D_SHAWN2 from NDCP2
D_ADRIAN, MAP25, Death March from Eternal Doom III (Rich Weeds Nagel)
D_MESSG2, MAP26, from Memento Mori "Scary 2" by Mark Klem
D_ROMER2, MAP27, Star Fox Adventures, Krozoa Palace
D_TENSE, MAP28, Final Fantasy 8, Compression of Time
D_SHAWN3, MAP29, Zombi Rises at his Grave by Grave
D_OPENIN, MAP30, Inception - Time
D_EVIL, MAP31, The Cult
D_ULTIMA, MAP32, ROTT - CCCool (Lee Jackson)

Thanks alot. I did some backtracking on the link and took me to the authors website. I should have looked instead of just asking ,sorry.

[driftyloon]

In map03 this happened: http://driftyloon.tumblr.com/image/115370783982

XD

[TheOrganGrinder]

JudgeDeadd said:
Well, going by the textfile, that's a yes :)

Heh. I must confess, I hadn't looked that far into the text file; usually I just refer to them for sourceport/setting notes, these days.

driftyloon said:
There was a SSG in map01 as a secret and one in map03 in the open.

Champion! Having missed the first of those I'll be grabbing the second today, then.

MAP03: Phobos Overdrive

...Man, this opening room has "future teleport ambush" written all over it. Whether that actually transpires or not, remains to be seen...

So, 'not' as the case may be, but this is probably the strongest level yet; it's the most developed and has the most personality. The loooped layout that takes you back through areas you've previously visited is nicely done, and I liked the visual cue of the blue key being sucked down a drain to inform the player "now it's time to go play in a sewer." This is the first map where I was able to find all of the secrets, and with the super shotgun and rocket launcher now in hand, plus a megasphere to top me off, I feel much more comfortably prepared for whatever challenges the next few levels might hold.

The big ambush after collecting the yellow key is nicely done and kept me moving; there's a good mix of monsters, with plenty of potential for infighting, but enough of them are squishy low-tier types that said infighting can resolve itself quickly and the hunt for the player can resume.

[cannonball]

Map03 - “Phobos Overdrive”
Better again here, more action and the visual again a little improve upon the previous levels.
There are still a couple of poor monster placement issues (the barons in the courtyard are of very little threat). Otherwise I cannot find much to complain about here, the gameplay is still rather corridor based at times and the secrets can completely alter how the map plays. The final ambush was fun though.

[driftyloon]

Map03 - “Phobos Overdrive” Secrets: 100% Kills:100%

This is quite a fun map with lots of action. This is the first map that actually impressed me. I think that 1 was poor and 2 was OK. However this map keeps you constantly moving. There are some bits which are a bit confusing like the where to go after the blue key disappears but that does not take that long to find out. Secrets were generally fine and helped greatly in the completion of the level.The only problem is that I have way too many rockets for the 3rd map. The bit at the end put them to good use though. When playing pistol start there is an OK amount of rockets but when playing continuous it is ridiculous.

Also,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v4hsHVGqDc. If anyone gives a shit :p

[mouldy]

Map03 - “Phobos Overdrive”

A decent little map with quite a respectable battle at the end (glad I had that secret rocket launcher). My experience was soured somewhat by the silly idea of putting a switch that doesnt work, behind a radsuit. So if you pick that radsuit first, thats one wasted radsuit, which you assume that you needed as there are two routes via nukage channels, and the other switch unlocks the other route. If you take that route you find your way blocked by bars, so you assume that you have to go the other nukage channel first, except that the switch obviously isn't working for some reason. So you open doom builder to see why the switch isn't working and then it transpires that it just isn't, and you actually have to shoot at a switch through some bars to proceed. So whatever the point of having a bogus switch and route there might be, the fact is that it appears like the map is broken, and if you think the map is broken then you don't go looking for an alternative way through it. From reading the other reviews it seems most people weren't troubled by this, but it annoys the hell out of me for some reason. Especially since i then had to run back down the nukage channel without a radsuit.

[yakfak]

I'm blogging about this great level set, doing rather amateur-ish max demos and writing tunes for each level as I go. Confused about all the negative sentiment so far - there aren't any bad levels in this set!

Infestation

[Capellan]

map04
Why is one duct-journey a mandatory part of map progression and the next, identical one, a secret? Who knows. It seems a good time to mention that I don’t like the various W_EE textures though. They all look pretty stupid.
This is even more corridor-y than map02, and I did not generally care for it, but the ‘ledge’ secret near the exit was quite neat.

[Memfis]

04 - another series of extremely generous secrets (260 plasma \ soulsphere + megaarmor) make this a walk in the park. Very cool laser area, though the entrance to it is once again seems contrived: you walk towards a bunch of crates, see a dead end and suddenly a new path opens behind you. At this point I'm getting a bit tired of total linearity that we've been getting so far. I want to make some decisions dammit! I love how locked doors have key marks on the ceiling too btw.

[scifista42]

Map02 - “Return to UAC”

Good continuation to the previous map. There's a change in texturing and location, but not really a change in style - which is all OK with me in this case. I really like how theme-oriented the map is. Design, details and even monster placement are accustomized to the techbase theme, in a way that I see as artistic and plausible. I liked how there was actually variation within the map, taking you from one semi-realistic location to a different kind of location, all looking like they could appear in a functional techbase. Once again, there were some interesting new textures, particularly the lift side sheets and transparent silver signs. Gameplay wasn't too difficult, but I've found it entertaining enough for this style of a map. I was actually OK with lots of hitscanners complemented by occasional higher-tier monsters. I liked how the very first room offered an alternative secret route that had a slight impact on handling the first fight (plus, of course, it gave me all the goodies). I've got 3/4 secrets, the one I didn't get was the shellbox on top of a crate (near the big UAC door that only opened a little above the ground). Linear a lot, which it could have been less, but still, I've enjoyed the map.

[purist]

I've played the first 4 levels in HMP. I'm not hugely impressed so far. Big scale maps but simplistic progression and utilitarian architecture and texturing style. It's not awful though, just quite unremarkable so far.

01 - To contradict what I've just said I did quite like the cement/water/brown sky combo in the later section of this level. Other than this the only thing to note is a larger than normal scale for MAP01 in a megawad.

02 - I quite liked the area with the switches with the raising bridges here. The rest was quite ordinary. Doing these in a block of four really made me realise how similar they are. Maybe if I played them one at a time I'd have more to say but as it is they all blend into one.

03 - I had the same issue with the first nukage run that mouldy did - just poor design. The second one should have been just as annoying but it was actually quite exciting without a rad suit. The ambush at the end was totally unexpected and the hitscanners made it quite deadly.

04 - Wow, finished this one only half an hour ago but I remember very little of it apart from the air duct runs and lazer beam. Neither of these things did anything for the for the level other than help me remember it existed. I'm not having a bad time playing this but I think I am going to struggle to have anything to say.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP04 Alpha Base

yet more techno goodness. and what a way to advertise your level with it's title on a sign "ALPHA BASE". there's an E1M6 homage not too far off, behind it are some offices. now, I don't like these windows, because you and the monsters can shoot through them (surprised no one had mentioned the shoot-thru windows yet, and this occurs through other maps in the wad as well). further on, there's a cool area where you are moving through a laser-shot chamber that's dangerous without a trusty radsuit, as well as a few crate-climbing secrets. good map, not memorable, but still good.

[Capellan]

I'm fine with the shoot-through windows myself. i just accept it as limit of the Doom engine that the "glass" doesn't shatter :)

[Memfis]

Yeah, at this point I don't even notice stuff like this. It's Doom...

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP01: Not too often that you see revenants at the start of a (non-slaughter) megawad—only other one I can think of is Jenesis. Anyway, you can press tab and just look at the map to see how interesting the level is. I really dislike the use of sergeants at long distance as they're prone to doing absurd damage at times, so I wasn't really fond of this map overall. It's not your typical MAP01 at least.

MAP02: Jeez the start is one rude area unless you find the munitions secret. I really like Stewart's use of lighting but his hallways are a bit too rudimentary, forcing all of the action to always be in front of the player. His enemy placement is also a bit confusing at times, like the AV standing on the otherside of that one lift—there's only one way to fight him, and its to slowly pick at his health every time the lift lowers. I'm crossing my fingers that this won't be another Vile Flesh situation where I really enjoy the visual design but find the gameplay dull...

[joe-ilya]

MAP01
A boring map with nothing interesting in it, all this grey and all that boring architecture just made me wanna beat this level quick. One of the secrets has a TV screen with some yellow guy in it, is that a simpsons refrence?

MAP02
Easier than MAP01, has a better layout, but the gameplay is downgraded here, when you get a rocket launcher and the berserk, the maps turns out fun. But that's the ending. Good thing there are no lengthy lifts like in MAP01.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP03: Phobos Overdrive
99% kills, 2/5 secrets

A decent map with a couple of flaws that, if ironed out, would've made it a much better map IMO. 1) The weird false switch behind the radsuit - okay, so I guess it's supposed to be broken (hence the dimmed light) but putting it behind a radsuit is just bad form 2) the shootable switch behind the bars, glad I read about that here first 3) a no-suit run through nukage, hope you had enough hit points beforehand. Also, I found the Rocket Trampoline (that's what I'm calling now with that terrible sound) secret, so the final fight was fun, but I can see it being a pain without it.

It's a shame, because, aside from those problems it's a pretty good map. The final fight is fun, and there's some good action in-between (shooting down scads of hitscanners never gets old). I also liked the little cinematic quest for the blue key after it gets flushed down the drain.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 03 -- Phobos Overdrive - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Not a huge fan of the way this level looks--kind of looks like the way people who don't like Doom II claim Doom II as a generality looks, if that makes any sense, ironic given it's presumably shooting for a Phobos theme. The music track in the new version of DR2MUS is also terribly ill-fitting, although I still prefer this version of the music pack over the stuff in the older version, myself. More importantly, however, I do think the map plays well enough. In some sense you can probably think of it as being map 02 on steroids: still very linear and hallway-centric, but the scale and expanse are larger and more breathable, and it's significantly more violent. Hell, that final teleport cascade managed to surprise me, I didn't remember it being that big, that bloody, or (perhaps most surprisingly) that dangerous--hitscan attrition absolutely shouldn't be taken lightly in this fight given the relatively low supply of healing in the area, and this is presumably why the secret blursphere exists (although making effective use of it essentially requires already knowing the map, that's not a design trait I personally have any categoric issue with).

The route/progression through the level are also handled more elegantly than in map 02. As in that map, you crisscross through the starting area a couple of times before you're through, but in this case it's not simply a matter of backtracking to/through the area in order to use a different door; instead, once you get started on the route through the northern ooze-channel, you are neatly shuttled back through the starting area on the elevated walkway you could see earlier (complete with new enemies made to appear to have been waiting in ambush, a classy detail) before setting off on the blue key vignette, which in turn dumps you out into the back end of a maintenance corridor and eventually sees you emerging from the other side of the very first blue-locked door that you saw. Sure, it's very linear and hallway-laden, but it has a sense of 'believability' to it eliding from a sort of background narrative cohesion, and so it seems natural and satisfying wending through the nukage disposal system, rather than like a lazily-designed video game level with no clear idea behind it. Of course, cleaving through hordes of hapless zombies like a bolt of Dran-o through so much offal helps as well. I suppose that's an important point here: however useful Ye Olde Checklist of Things That Good Maps Have (height variation, non-orthogonality, a slick and efficient route, tightly choreographed or stylishly freeform combat, etc.) might be as a rule of thumb, it's execution that really matters, and this map is enjoyable despite not being particularly well-endowed as far as Important Bullet Points go.

As an aside, I can agree about the inactive switch in one of the Baron-posts being in poor taste, although I think this is more because it has a radsuit in front of it than because it's inactive (or 'malfunctioning' in an in-world sense). I have no objections to the shootable switch a few moments down the road, though, seemed pretty intuitive to me, even back when I first played this. Maybe that's just one of those things you develop a sort of sixth sense for after a while, I guess.

Map 04 -- Alpha Base - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
A handful of neat little ideas here, and again a somewhat lackluster aesthetic. Well, I say 'lackluster', but perhaps that's not entirely fair. Most of the base is a neat and tidy arrangement of riveted green metal corridors with an endoskeleton of clean polished chrome (perhaps some kind of allusion to The Focus?), which is a pretty standard/sensible combination; the lack of visual vibrancy is more a function of the architecture (or lack thereof) than the asset selection in this case. Many corridors are more or less featureless and feel a mite stuffy on account of the often low ceiling, and while it's difficult to say that they look actively bad (basic dressing like lighting and the odd corpse prop here and there prevent them from seeming empty to the point of feeling unfinished or the like), it's true they leave very little impression. I imagine what most folks will remember about the map is the laser beam in the short trip through the "power distribution conduit", which certainly does stand out visually from everything else. Unfortunately, if this is a selling point for the aesthetic, it's a poor one....I personally really don't like the way this looks, it seems very cartoony to me (and I've been playing Doom for long enough to remember when its graphics were considered 'realistic'), with the laser seeming to be made of crepe-paper or the like on account of just being a midtex.

Visual issues aside, again this map is rather similar on a gameplay level to map 02 (something of a theme developing in that sense I suppose), although again I'd say it leaves a better overall impression. The bits of the progression that see you crawling through various types of ductwork (the power conduit segment, and navigating the air-ducts between offices in search of a blue access card) are naturally a bit dry, but there are a couple of interesting fight setups later on: the segmented chrome/pipewall tunnel makes intelligent use of imps behind a screen at your back and a distant yet potent nest of chaingunners with a platoon of bullet-blocking (both for you and for the opposition) rejects in between, and the ambush at the exit which casts you as the turkey in a turkey-shoot is amusing and entertaining in a Wile. E. Coyote sort of way. I also quite like the secrets in this map: the final one (which reveals the others) is a clever bit of parkour that you need a sharp eye to spot, always satisfying. The rocket launcher secret is delightfully involved; it's not difficult to spot its biggest tell, but you need just a touch of lateral thinking to activate it. Even the simple pushwall secret for the plasma rifle is disarmingly witty--again, you see what seems to be an 'obvious' tell, but it's a visual red herring and will bear no fruit until you have that 'magic eye poster' moment and see what is really being conveyed...I wonder how many players have hammered on that bit of wall and left with nothing, never knowing how close they were to the reward.

Entertaining enough. The combat and aesthetics are serviceable but not really much to write home about so far, it's definitely the understated novelty and clever little ideas in each map that are carrying the WAD to this point.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP04: Alpha Base
100% kills, 4/4 secrets

Definitely starting to get in the groove of what this WAD is about - lots of "semi-realistic" locations... yeah, it's a lot of boxy corridors, but in a way that would make sense for a real locale, and there's plenty of details that help set the environment - here's the work areas, here's the loading dock, etc. The laser portion is interesting, started giving me Opposing Force flashbacks. Gameplay-wise, a very linear romp through some mid-level baddies, but still decently fun.

[cannonball]

Map04 - “Alpha Base”
Old video time

Pretty fun map overall, still depending a lot on the corridor-esque design, but enough heavy firepower (especially from the secrets) to get you through relatively quickly.

[vdgg]

About glass windows I wrote in 2009 in dd322354.txt "The cacodemon battle is boring, as I said. Moreover, how can rockets pass through glass? Hello!? Look at WOS by Paul Corfiatis and Kristian Aro. THERE we have correct glass behaviour." I prefer them solid, no bullets/projectiles can pass.

[joe-ilya]

MAP03
Finally a map that isn't boring, this one has a more thrilling gameplay feel to it, it's not very thrilling, but it's more thrilling than the two previous maps.
This map feels arena based since you're pretty much going through it every now and then. The ambush at the end was cool.