The DWmegawad Club plays: Bloodstain

[Magnusblitz]

MAP05: The Intersection
100% kills, 4/5 secrets

Yeah, this MIDI really isn't doing the level any favors. A bit of a shame since this one was the first that really did a decent job of selling me on the E1 Phobos setting (especially the little outdoor RL secret).

It's becoming clear that these maps are really hurt by the compact size. Making the areas twice as large would allow the player to actually enter areas and run around and have some interesting fights; as they are, the player pretty much has to hang back at doorways and just whittle away at the hellspawn packed into every square inch. The last area is the one that stands out, I really like the Pain Elementals 'appearing' out of the central tube (though the teleport sound sorta ruins the effect... any way to do it silently? probably not in limit-removing). The insta-pop hitscanners in the cages was dumb, though, and the effect can really be ruined if you jump from the north end to the exit door instead of going back across the walkway you raised.

[mouldy]

MAP05 - "The Intersection

Interesting choice of music. Anyway yes, this map. I like the structure of the layout, with multi-tiered spaces and windowed rooms to exchange fire between. That intersection needs a bit of work though to make it less awkward to navigate, I kept getting stuck on its steps for some reason. Also in this map I am starting to notice the other recurrent theme of this wad, which is restricted enemy movement. Apart from encountering them across gaps where they can't reach you anyway, there are blocking lines to hold them back (either that or the steps are too steep). Monster blocking can be useful in many ways, but here it only serves to keep them separated from the player so that you can comfortably stand there filling them with lead. I know this crops up a lot in later maps, so I will probably start sounding like a broken record, but I think it is a bit of a weakness in a map if you can't trust the inhabitants to wander freely, and in gameplay terms it separates you from the action. Its not a big deal on this map, just noticed it creeping in a bit. Anyway, on the plus side I like how the secrets are fairly easy to find, I'd have been stuck for ammo at one point without that berserk, and killing the archvile without a rocket launcher would have been a chore.

[Benjogami]

MAP05: The Intersection

boring demo of someone playing badly 99% kills 60% secrets

I didn't like the midi choice at all. Too loud, too iconic. Now I've heard that song 10 more times, added to all the times I've heard it on the radio and in commercials. Probably missed some audio cues due to it drowning out sfx and my inability to turn down music volume with the SDL midi player.

Didn't care for much else in the level either. The arachnotrons were cool. The demons in the pit that attracted my rockets and killed me were cool. The halls and cages full of hitscanners I did not find so cool. The first pain elemental was pretty cool. The optional box traversing was appreciated.

This kind of level, with this kind of midi, is begging to be more open. Let doomguy stretch out them legs. Claustrophobic levels should be moody, with carefully crafted fights that exploit the tight spaces. Here, the tight spaces just felt like they were filled with stuff to physically block the player.

I appreciated the arachnotron fight because I had to go through the doorway, and then had to worry about a few different attack angles, and rockets were awkward to use.

[Aquanet]

MAP05: The Intersection

When this level first loaded, I wanted to find out what map warranted Song 2. It turned out to be not my favorite so far. The three big rooms (intersection, crates, arach platforms) were each overly impinged by bars and supports, the final one probably the least. Pipicz says in the txt file this was one of the earliest maps and went through multiple reworkings.

I'm not automatically opposed to this wad's door-crawling style, but when even this is impeded by clutter, I start to object.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP05: Intersection
100% Kills/100% Secrets/0 Deaths (0 Total)

-Camp camp camp. With all the meat in this level, I only found an opening to run around in the southern courtyard, and only after thinning everything out.
-Cliche berserk secret, but I made use of it a few times against spectres. It shines in the RL secret.
-You get a non-secret RL at the end to help mop up the "shitscanners" (great choice of words). That last room was terrible. I'm glad I had dozens of rockets from earlier levels to vent my frustration instead of the ten or so I found lying around here. I haven't died yet to this wad, but sections like this frustrate me.
-The problem with the shitscanners at the end is how dark the cages are. Good thing I have dynamic lights on in GZDoom so they flash when the enemies fire. Otherwise I'd have had no idea where the enemies were.
-The spectres in the exit area weren't an issue for me. I got the spiders first with autoaim. Then I dropped down and punched the melee guys below with the zerk.
-With five deathless levels, I'm going to start counting my deaths. I got around 450 playing Skill 3 Sunlust last time I counted, if I recall correctly. This wad won't top that. I doubt Ancient Aliens blew me up any more than 150 times, to compare.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP03: Love the SSG room! Real clever way to make grabbing a weapon feel a touch more gratifying. Unfortunately the rest of the map wasn’t doing it for me, as neither the gameplay nor brown visuals were to my liking. Perhaps what soured me the most was that new enemy, which feels waaay more durable than it probably should be (and six of them at the first encounter? Come on). As much as I loathed the plasma trooper from Ancient Aliens, I really liked that they were the flimsiest of the aliens, so having a more durable “chaingunner” just doesn’t make sense to me.

MAP04: Lotta red flags from this map. Rude start? Check. Delayed SSG? Check. Nasty RNG trap at the SSG? Check. Revs stuck behind a block monster line? Check. Insanely inconvenient AV placement? Check. I mean the map provides plenty of action but it takes the pacing of the wad from 0 to 60 and demands a helluva lot from the player, which makes me worried for the future. Will keep the "bump down to HMP" option in mind.

MAP05: This map is dominated by two things: symmetry and hitscanners. Like revs, hitscanners are always dangerous no matter where you fight them, so the action stays mildly tense during this outing. Unfortunately, due to their bulky number and rampant presence, you have to play the map very cautiously and hide behind corners, sniping your foes to bits. Not my cup of tea.


^ Question: Why are barons referred to as “doors with health” while PEs used in this setup (or similar configurations) are not as widely regarded as such? Is it because they have the chance to waste even more of your ammo? Or that their “projectiles” are much more active than the baron’s green slime? Both monsters require at least 5 SSG shots to kill (taking the Lost Souls released upon death into account), so I don’t understand why one gets referred to as an “ammo tax” when the other is just as impotent and wasteful when used improperly.

[Benjogami]

MAP06: Anomaly Entrance

Since I kinda liked this one, here is a shitty UV-Speed/UV-FE (4:46) instead of a shitty FDA. Highlights include forgetting to hit an important switch for awhile, and getting lost after getting the red key.

HMP impressions that I wrote before trying UV:

By far my favorite of the wad so far. Some good fights, some open areas, an appropriate midi.

Despite the very generous ammo and health on HMP, I died to the caco elevator. That's a pretty harsh trap, but it was cool. The baron reveal at the bottom of the elevator was neat thematically but a total dud gameplay wise. Despite their faster attacks, there was still no threat due to lots of cover, room to move around, and a large stockpile of rockets.

The 2 blur sphere fights were cute, where it helps in one fight but hurts in the other.

The archvile fight in front of the red door and the plasma rifle ambush were both quite threatening and fun (I don't really agree with marking the plasma rifle secret, though, unless I unknowingly did something obscure to open that area).

[Pirx]

gzdoom, uv, pistol starts.


MAP01 - "Inception”

a small base under an ud ep1 sky. mostly concrete but also some brown plutonia mud walls and trees. it's mostly pistoling zombies, or, if you run into the berserk pack, beating them to pieces. i appreciate that pipicz gives one the option of berserking through the first maps. twice you're dropped into a trap with 3-4 imps, when you pick up the shotgun, and at the exit. very standard easy opener.


MAP02 - "Brass Square”

wow, that's tiny. you're encouraged to rush the square with the fountain and get the armor because staying at the starting point sniping just leaves you without ammo. there's a ledge leading to a backpack (pointless in such a small map, btw) and a berserk pack when you climb the red brick building. from there you can jump onto the chaingun. some harmless imps and cacos, and then a few sergeants in the exit room, just in case you're too eagerly punching stuff.


MAP03 - "Conquered Quarters”

another brown brick base, a courtyard with some imps and zombie snipers on the walls. first chaingunners here, although not in threatening positions. i kept hearing the voices of wolfenstein ss guards as i was fighting in the courtyard, they're the replacement slot for a new helmeted zombie guard who appears at the end of the map and seems to have an auto shotgun. these guys changed back to wolf ss bodies when i shot them (anyway this happens with smooth doom and ketchup which i use)

[Spectre01]

Map 06: Anomaly Entrance 100% Demo, 17 minutes

Nearly 340 starting monsters on UV? Looks like we've finally got a sizeable map going here. When I first played Bloodstain, this is the map where I felt the wad started taking off and the first one to really impress me. It still very much follows the E1-style techbase theme but things get weirder as you make your way closer to the anomaly portal in the corrupted depths of the base. The Quake 2 midi is great too.

Despite the high monster count, even on pistol start, the map took me around 20 minutes to finish. If someone parrots "grindy" again I'll e-slap you in the nuts and tell you to go replay AV again. There are plenty of rockets and plasma ammo which let you blast away the opposition. This is also the hardest pistol start yet, with a YUGE number of hitscanners above the starting area and a massive Imp warp-in below. Grab that SSG and move your fat ass up one of the elevators, taking out high priority Chaingunners and Shotgunners. After that you can drop down and pick up the blue energy drinks. Unlike previous maps, there are two (or three if you count the last room) setpiece encounters with lock-in mechanics.

The first one is a massive wave of dudes in a teleporter room, which ends with some Z-Sec at the end. The blur sphere is essential here, as even with it, and 200 starting HP, I ended up with 95 after grabbing a medkit. There's also a trollish blur sphere later on when you get sandwiched between a Cacoswarm and 4 Arachnotrons which you should avoid before clearing that encounter. The second setpiece fight is similar to the first, but there's much stronger opposition and very limited space to maneuver. I started with the rockets launcher and switched to plasma spamming when things got too cramped. Lost Souls are used well to deny brainless rocket spam.

Speaking of plasma, I really liked that lone Pain Elemental surrounded by Lost Souls before the hallways to grab the Rifle. Quite the nasty trap at the end with 3 close range Revenants as well as a small army released from the alcoves in the hall. The dark lighting really set a nice atmosphere for that part. The same goes for the final section of the map. There's an elevator ride down with 4 Cacodemons released quite rapidly during the descent. Using the Plasma Rifle, you can fry them as they appear. Once you get to the source of the anomaly, you're greeted by 8 new Baron variants with a really cool design. Remember the Valiant Imps that thew 2 fireballs? They're kind of like that except they attack with the same damaging plasma and are significantly more threatening when firing from multiple directions or in large groups. Thankfully, their reveal here is quite mild as there is plenty of cover and room to circle around them while using plasma or rockets.

Best map so far. The only bug I encountered was missing 4 Cacodemons which didn't seem to spawn in.

[Spectre01]

Pirx said:

these guys changed back to wolf ss bodies when i shot them (anyway this happens with smooth doom and ketchup which i use)

I suggest you modify Smooth Doom to remove the SS and Baron as it will mess up those enemies which are new in the wad.

[Magnusblitz]

dobu gabu maru said:

^ Question: Why are barons referred to as “doors with health” while PEs used in this setup (or similar configurations) are not as widely regarded as such? Is it because they have the chance to waste even more of your ammo? Or that their “projectiles” are much more active than the baron’s green slime? Both monsters require at least 5 SSG shots to kill (taking the Lost Souls released upon death into account), so I don’t understand why one gets referred to as an “ammo tax” when the other is just as impotent and wasteful when used improperly.

Pain Elementals are a lot more threatening than Barons. You can't just leave them alone, they'll flood the area with lost souls. Part of the reason Barons are equated to doors is because they're about as threatening as a door. Strafing their slow-ass projectile is the easiest thing in the world.

(Also, barons, like doors, do not fly)

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP06 Anomaly Entrance

Opening shootout at the SSG is quite the kicker. After that, it's a very key-oriented level, going for one key, then the door, and there's a few arena-like moments against some former humans while waiting for the next place to go. The yellow key segment is just as interesting as the blue one, although the imp-filled shootout at the plasma gun makes the section stand out a bit more as a whole. The yellow door battle is filled with imps and other demonic creatures rather than former humans, but the overall premise remains similar. The finale is a bit of a burden with barons of hell, but you can tell the levels are getting a whole lot better the more we continue. Also the barons attack with both their hands now, cool. Oh, and two enemies never teleported into the map, I assume their teleport destination isn't flagged properly.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP06: Anomaly Entrance
98% Kills/100% Secrets/0 Deaths (0 Total)

-Better than the last level. I didn't camp nearly as much here.
-The big outdoor area you visit before any of the keys had the same problem as the end of the previous level. I could barely tell where the hitscanners were.
-I got lots of ammo to cut through all the meat. I made good use of the rockets and plasma here.
-The hitscanner arena was pretty boring.
-Where's the first death exit in this wad? I think I need to disable smooth doom. The Z-Secs work properly, but I don't think the barons are, judging by other people's descriptions of them.
Overall: Nice to have some breathing space. I'm glad MAP05 seems to be an anomaly in quality, as of now.

[Jayextee]

MAP06 - ANOMALY ENTRANCE

Much better! Looked like the blue and yellow keys could be taken in either order?

Had my first death on this stage, late on during the cacodemon shaft; luckily I sensed the danger and saved right before, a move more necessary than saving before the onslaught of Z-Secs and soldiers in the megasphere room.

Not much else to say. Still a little on the cramped side in places, but enough open areas to offset that a little. Very pleased with how the Archvile surprised me when I went for the red doors late on.

Also what the hell's going on with those healthdoors, I mean barons at the end? Looks like they stepped in molten cheese. Maybe that explains the attitude problem.

Oh yeah, and the plasma secret (plus soulsphere in that) was awesome. Great stuff.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP06: Anomaly Entrance
98% kills, 6/6 secrets

I agree that things take an upswing here... not by a ton, it still very much has the same design scheme, but the level is both longer and a bit more open. Some decent fights here and there, too, and I was glad to see the RL appear early on (I am playing continuous, but at least it means it was 'intended'). They often consist of trapping the player in a room or corridor filled with monsters but it works, at least for now. Best one was the plasma gun 'secret', shades of E3M9 there too. My chief complaint is still that things are depressingly brown, can't help but feel it would look a lot better just with a different texture/color scheme. Good fakeout at the end, though even the modified barons still feel like... well, doors with health. (As does the lone Pain Elemental in this level, a good example of how NOT to place them... sorry rileymartin).

[mouldy]

MAP06 - "Anomaly Entrance

This one felt relatively easy-going, never felt short of ammo or health anyway. The plasma rifle certainly made short work of things, I'm assuming that was a secret, though I'm not sure how I opened it. We are introduced to a new enemy at the end, a pissed off baron, perhaps because his hooves are on fire. I didn't get a chance to work out how different they are before wiping them out, but possibly they shoot more. The first time I played this map I got a bit confused by the layout, I'm not sure how though because this time it seemed very straightforward, often warping you to where you need to go next and drawing your attention with new enemies. Decent map.

[40oz]

Demos: first completion

MAP04: Fallout Shelter
MAP05: The Intersection
MAP06: Anomaly Entrance

[Aquanet]

MAP06: Anomoly Entrance

I thought there was some decent contrast in this map between large and confined spaces. The archvile fight by the red doors was probably my favorite moment. I ended up playing the plasma gun trap a few times and was never bored by it, cool stuff. The final sequence was exciting on the first playthrough (the caco shaft followed by archon-barons) but on subsequent playthroughs the greatest risk was firing rockets at the plentiful cover and blowing myself up.

Like previous maps, there's a strength here in interconnection and a weakness in arena design ... which ... we'll see a lot more of in the next map. The big rooms aren't bad, they're just a bit underwhelming for one reason or another. Regardless, my overall fun level with this wad is still quite high.

[KBlaney]

Map 5: It is always fun to immediately recognize a song that is backing a level, even if it is at odds with Doom's general feel. I'm really starting to get this WAD's rhythms as when I was passing through the first circular area I saw the two yellow doors and figured I'd be passing through this way in the perpendicular direction later on. The action is pretty non-stop here with lots of zombies to shotgun through almost literally making a line guiding you to clear out the perimeter of one of the main arenas before moving in. It also appears that these maps are slowly getting larger and larger physically with an increasing number of “combat zones” as we progress. I can only imagine that this means the last few levels are going to be gigantic.

Map 6: Although this level is quite a bit larger than the previous one, it still mostly obeys the combat zone layout from the previous maps with a single critical path that winds you through the level. Despite the labyrinthine structure it is actually fairly hard to get lost (even despite how dark the level is overall). The only flaw with this structure here is that there is comparatively little reason to ever fully clear out a room. The switches to escape are usually plainly visible and so can often be hit during the combat leaving the rest of the monsters to duke it out for themselves. This even carries through to the final fight against the pallet swapped Barrons as the room lends itself to circling around them. Somewhat ironically here the places I found myself in the most trouble were the elevator shaft fight with the cacos and the secret to get the plasma rifle which, on paper, should be among the easier fights.

[Spectre01]

SoundofDoomDoors said:

-Where's the first death exit in this wad? I think I need to disable smooth doom. The Z-Secs work properly, but I don't think the barons are, judging by other people's descriptions of them.

First death exit is at the end of map 20. I suggest pistol starting map 07 as it gives you all the weapons you've had before and a good amount of ammo at the start which should feel as though you're playing continuous still.

[Benjogami]

Gonna pretend to be European again :P

MAP07: The Amphitheater

Another pretty fun one, so after the HMP FDA, I made a quick and dirty UV-Max-FE demo (5:07).

Another midi from a famous song, but I think it works pretty well this time.

The yellow key fight and exit fight were both pretty terrible. Most of the time, the spider mastermind would get stuck on the ledge after a couple of SSG shots. The revenant afterparty was okay, but then the AVs that are blocked from leaving the exit room are silly.

Next weakest is the dead simple combo in the middle of the map, but it's followed by a really fun cyberdemon fight. It's way more fun on UV, which brings me to my next point: the HMP->UV differences seemed poorly considered.

The differences that I spotted:

1. First fight has some barons instead of HKs.
2. Dead simple fight has 2 extra mancubii up high (probably some more arachnotrons too but I didn't notice).
3. 4 pillar revs join the cyberdemon fight.
4. 2 door AVs instead of 1.

Changes 1, 2, and 4 hardly make any difference to those fights. I suppose the barons do throw more fireballs, as do the 2 mancubii, but the extra threat seems minimal compared to the extra cleanup. Change 3 might actually make the cyber fight harder (and much less fun), since there are less monsters to distract and infight with the cyberdemon.

[Spectre01]

Map 07: The Amphitheater HMP Demo UV Demo

Obligatory arena-based map 07 micro-slaughter. Only instead of the expanding Dead Simple style room, there are 3 sequential encounters. I tried playing on HMP for shits and it definitely takes a lot of the bite from some areas. On UV, the first encounter is probably the hardest due to fast-firing Barons and 8 caged Revenants. On HMP you just get Hell Knights and 4 of the Revenants are replaced by Impse. Anyways, you can circle the room the grab the ammo before triggering the fight by taking the weapons in the centre. Run a circle while firing rockets at the Revenant cages and make use of the two Berserks if you take a big hit. You want to save 10+ rockets for the second encounter so I suggest using the SSG to clean up the Nobles. This is only relevant to pistol start though.

The second area is the most fun and has a surprise Cyberdemon as part of the 3rd wave. The worst thing that can happen is getting stuck on one of the spiders so make sure they don't roam to the side of the arena too much.

Now for the last area. The Spiderdemon is bugged in both Zandronum and -cl 9 for me where he mostly afk's and maybe/sometimes/possibly chooses to attack if he feels like it. In my UV demo, he did some major work on those pesky Revenants so I'm not complaining. Probably the platform is too small for him to move around which bugs out the attack chance. Either way, the placement is quite trivial and you can just SSG pop him from behind the pillars if he was aggressive. 2 AV's guarding the exit as an idiot check for whether or not you can use walls as cover. Would be more interesting if one teleported out to where he could revive the Revenants to create some sort of threat.

As far as Dead Simple homages go, this is one of my favourites, although the bar for those is extremely low and there are plenty of straight up dumpster versions out there. Liked the Rum Stein midi too and the amphitheater design in the second arena.

[Crunchynut44]

Map04:

Though the pacing is slow I actually don't think this is a bad map, though it's very linear which is typically something I detest. I guess it's the fact that it feels so oldschool that I can't help but find the nostalgic value in it. I am playing on HMP so I didn't have to go head to head with the AV (I have already done a pt on UV) and for the most part the map is watered down enough where it's not too grindy or at all hard. It's also very claustrophobic especially with the dark room but I found that to be a neat little challenge. Most people would consider this map short but I find this to be the ideal length if not a little too long, and to my dismay the maps get much much bigger. Oh well. Secrets within secrets are always fun!

Map05:

I have never been a fan of those secrets behind the elevator door, it just never made sense to me. Ugh the music was so frustrating, and for some reason I found that initial intersection really buggy, and I kept getting caught on some of the stair linedefs which was odd and frustrating because it caused me to get a blast of a rev rocket. I did really like the outdoor area, but that's where my fondness dies out for the level. The map is mostly composed of a hallway, room, hallway, room progression that falls flat. The map provided some cool challenges that were ruined by the level architecture (the PE's at the end), as the lost souls would get blocked by the impassable lines making them redundant. Overall one of the worst levels in the mapset, moving on.

Map06:

This level is definitely a vast improvement on the last map, with some really fun challenges (blur sphere + hitscanner ambush) and some beautiful architecture. Though the map definitely exceeds my ideal length it didn't feel dragged out or grindy. We also get the PG which thereafter made the map very trivial, especially with the copious amounts of cells scattered around the place. I also really like the new Baron, and although the placement wasn't the best here I think it does make for a really fun variant when used right, and it's so much fun getting your strafes right for dodging it. I generally dislike hitscanner massing but here it's fine because it's very easy to camp behind doorways or in alcoves to take them out. Fun map! Looking forward to the next map as from memory it goes for a change of scenery and adds some green to the mix.

[Aquanet]

MAP07: The Amphitheater

I replayed this on UV (been playing on HMP) and it was about twice as tough and twice as fun. The HMP version feels half-finished, especially in the second arena. The UV version is a proper layered tapestry of monster flesh. From a pistol start, it took pretty much all ammunition available. The mastermind is also bugged out for me in zdoom and rarely attacks.

Drawback: In the second arena, the different platforms reached by teleports are very samey, so it's hard to tell which direction you're pointing without popping open the automap. And unless you've already dispatched all waves and the cyber, that's a risky maneuver.

[Spectre01]

Aquanet said:

Drawback: In the second arena, the different platforms reached by teleports are very samey, so it's hard to tell which direction you're pointing without popping open the automap. And unless you've already dispatched all waves and the cyber, that's a risky maneuver.

I actually had to re-record my UV demo because I got confused and took the wrong teleporter 3 times trying to grab the second key and ended up looking like a jackass idiot. Stupid rotating automap in GLBoom mang.

[joe-ilya]

MAP06

Symmetricity done right where you don't have to go to each area.
I even liked the arena fights with the waiting gimmick, it was nicely executed because it was quick and not too hard.
One thing that puts me off is the plasma gun placement, you don't see it untill you pass a certain path that doesn't look friendly and you don't even know what you'll get, it would be better if the plasma gun was catchable from the start and it would teleport you to that trap.
Because if you don't get the plasma gun, you won't be able to pass the lowering elevator with cacodemon closets opening up while you get down, you won't be able to kill the cacos quick enough without the plasma gun and they'll start floating above you and eat you dead from above where you can't shoot them.
Alternatively, you could make the trap wider so you'll be able to see the cacos floating above you.

The final trap was lame, just push a bunch of switches and fuck off, the new enemy introduction is lame there.

3/5

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP07 The Amphitheater

Arena-style at the start, and yes, a shooter switch to start it off. After waiting a minute there the next one is the trite Dead Simple rite of passage, and then you escape from a cyber it looks like. I actually contemplated telefragging the guy, and after a few tries I eventually succeeded! Two keys later, a spiderdemon and the yellow key to the exit. Simple, but stale.

[Spectre01]

joe-ilya said:

Because if you don't get the plasma gun, you won't be able to pass the lowering elevator with cacodemon closets opening up while you get down, you won't be able to kill the cacos quick enough without the plasma gun and they'll start floating above you and eat you dead from above where you can't shoot them.

I just skipped to the elevator part and did it with the SSG. You don't need the Plasma Gun to clear that section, it just makes it trivially easy.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP07: The Amphitheater
96% Kills/100% Secrets/5 Deaths (5 total)

-Yawn. I hate dead simple clones.
-I pistol started this to get rid of smooth doom. The new barons are pretty boring.
-All of my deaths were in the last room. Now I know what people mean about getting caught on the scenery. I could barely move in there!
-Both bosses were complete non-threats. I killed them painfully slowly with the SSG because of the pistol start. Now I know why people recommend AGAINST playing this way. Never again on this wad.
Overall: Dead Simple clone/10.

[baja blast rd.]

map06

Cool map. The bad traits of previous maps -- mindless monster spam, cramped scale -- are strengths now, because the encounters are designed organically around them. The symmetry and recurring fights feel somewhat like a song's hook, tying together the more unique fights. My favorite of those is the plasma rifle fight, because the area that hosts it is so dark and spooky. The archvile fight was also fun, and I enjoyed the cheeky blur sphere usage. I remember snuffing this one out in my original playthrough, with a thought process something like "Yeah, if I were making this map, this blur sphere would be a dick move, so I'll wait to see what materializes before picking it up".

The concluding fight with the snazzy-booted barons is something of a dud, however. There is too much cover, impeding both their fireballs and your rockets, turning the encounter into a prolonged circling. I do like the new barons, though. The change to their behavior is somewhat modest, but it does make a big difference. Punching them is a lot slower now; you can't simply do that thing where you punch on one side and then the other and then the other and so on, basically uninterrupted. They are more useful as turrets -- from what I remember, there are spots in later maps where a small cluster can send a very menacing storm of slime, which can wreck you easily if you miss it. And of course, infighting. The usual barons are strong enough as is. I'm really looking forward to the first cyber and baron encounter. They might actually be weaker in certain traditional "cramped baron" setups, simply because they hold still for longer and their projectiles aren't that much harder to dodge, making their movement more manageable, but we'll see.