The DWmegawad Club plays: Alien Vendetta

[mouldy]

MAP21 - “One Flew Over the Caco’s Nest” by Pablo Dictter

hmm... Its ok this map, it has a few quirks though. The main theme of it seems to be the frugal supplies, so I dunno how that works for continuous players. From pistol start its a game of resource management, puching as much as you can to spare the bullets, but trying not to get hit because there's hardly any health, and a lot of it has been placed on damaging floors just to troll you. Lucky i found a secret soul sphere early on. No armour of course, other than a few pieces sprinkled around. The map itself is just a long corridor, though I was concentrating so hard on surviving that I hardly noticed. Another secret soulsphere right at the exit, whats that for? Maybe its the author's way of telling me I should have played continuous..

[Steve D]

mouldy said:

MAP21 - “One Flew Over the Caco’s Nest” by Pablo Dictter
Another secret soulsphere right at the exit, whats that for? Maybe its the author's way of telling me I should have played continuous..

LOL!

[Demtor]

dobu gabu maru said:

Hey, welcome! I think AV is a pretty good starting point if you're getting back into pwads. Gotta say, it must be kinda crazy to see where Doom's at if you're fresh to the community—especially considering the state custom wads (like Sunlust) are in now. We've definitely gone a little crazy with this humble FPS haha.

Thanks. Crazy awesome, I'd say! I tried making my own map a looooong long time ago and with only a tiny bit of amateur map making experience; the level of detail I'm seeing in some of these maps, is astounding to me. I'll have to go back through the old threads and read about Sunlust because I just reached map 21, and my God that stuff is goooood.


Map 21 “One Flew Over the Caco’s Nest” by Pablo Dictter
Should have been named something like "Satan's Interactive Modern Art Gallery" or something similar. You roam from one room to the next taking in weird and twisted visuals much like you would in modern art showing except here you get to help add to the art displays with dead monster carcasses. What fun!

From the maps so far, this one served as kind of a visual palette cleanser and a good way to start this next episode. I appreciated it. I like a good breather map every now and then. Something simple to help catch your breath before being thrown back into the slaughter.

I have been playing normally with gzDoom, mixing continuous with pistol starts depending on how much I enjoy the map. This one I replayed again with Brutal Doom on UV and a pistol start. LOVED IT! With the added opengl lighting effects and the extra edge on the difficulty, it felt perfect. Plus, it's really fun with the additional bloody carnage splattered all over the creepy weird architecture and macabre displays. I highly recommend it.

[Deadwing]

22: This one is similar to the previous level, but with a lot more
interesting layouts and monster placement. Following the trend of this
wad, it is also quite linear, giving that on-rails feeling. Still,
monst of the monster placement was trap-based, with some snipers here
and there and a nice mix of hitscanners with bulky monsters. The
cyberdemon battle was really fun and the double archville at the end
was a nice surprised. 8/10

[Pirx]

MAP22 - “Rubicon” by Brad Spencer

music is from descent? it's outstandingly good i'd say. the map itself is linear too, but enjoyable. it has some fights which are not that hard in itself, but can go wrong quickly. there are several fights like these in several key areas. for the last fight it's better to keep some rockets and lure the barons outside the exit room, so the viles can't revive their doors with health. as often advised, look behind at the start, there's a welcome shell box, but later you get a backpack (also secret) and plenty of shells, so the ssg carries the action, including against the cyberdemon.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP22 Rubicon

I consider this to be a direct continuation of the previous level. I also think this is Brad's weakest map in the set as it just doesn't compare to his other ones, but then again, this does have it's memorable combat moments unlike the previous one. The bloody bridge area with mancubi, plus the remnants that come after the red key, and then later the library and marble complex. This has quite some back-and-forth going for the yellow key, although the cyberdemon that appears after the first wave tends to block the doorway sometimes. Ending isn't much apart from a two archvile smackdown which is quite tough.

[Demon of the Well]

So.........about ten days and one hard disk Chernobyl later, I return, with a new PC and a looooootttt of catching up to do. Given my irrepressible tendency towards longwindedness, I'm not sure I'll actually be able to catch up, but I'll give it a try, I suppose. I also seem to have gotten oddly rusty not playing Doom lo these past several days, which is troublesome but also amusing in its way.....been quite a spell since I've gone that long without playing at least a little bit of Doom.

Map 11 -- Nemesis - 101% Kills / 100% Secrets
I've always liked this one. Myself and others have characterized Alien Vendetta as a mapset which tends markedly towards the 'adventure' style, and "Nemesis" not only evinces but also epitomizes this trait (though there is arguably at least one other map in the set which trumps it in this regard). A lot of AV's maps are built of carefully paced sojourns through fantastical surroundings (and this becomes more and more pronounced in the game's third episode, which the rest of you are just now entering), which, for all of their sightseeing and bloodletting merits, are also unabashedly linear, something it's difficult not to become more and more acutely aware of when one sees so many in succession. "Nemesis" may not quite have the cosmetic beauty of some of the later maps--playing it again this evening I was immediately struck by the impression that it received very little visual polish between what is now AV_OLD.wad and the current version--but it can show almost all of them a thing or two about carving out a memorable journey. More than an on-rails walking tour of a series of vignettes, this is an adventure level that, like so many of the best and brightest examples of the genre, focuses as much or more on creating a sense of place and depth of location as on purely aesthetic wow-factor.

Not to say it's exactly 'non-linear', mind you. On the contrary, up until you finally enter the citadel proper, the path is more or less rigidly set, though there are a couple of amusing (if minor) diversions if you're sharp enough to spot them, ala scrabbling around the thin rock ledge around the western periphery in order to troll some of the citadel's defenders a bit. Upon reaching the great hall, however, your itinerary opens up quite a bit, affording you opportunities for general exploration of the fortress grounds to net more goodies alongside the obvious 'events' of note, such as dealing (or not dealing!) with the cyberdemon, circling and climbing around to the yellow skull key, or taking a detour to comb the basement for leads, which itself soon enough segues into further delvings in the network of sea-caves over which the fortress is built. Architecture and detailing are, apart from a stylized arch or two and some incongruous micro-detailing in the caves, generally simple, though the layout itself is much more involved, with a subtle but significant vertical element throughout which impacts play and navigation in many small ways, introducing a deceptively complex network of paths and redundancies and avenues of exchange which allow the task of cleaning out the citadel proper to be carried out in any number of ways. All that said, though, I don't really want to frame the level's success as an adventure in terms of non-linearity.....I think the key point is that the setting is exceptionally well fleshed-out as a location (which the touches of non-linearity are a natural consequence of), while level progression is just controlled enough to create a little bit of narrative arc without obviously micromanaging what the player is doing or where s/he is going at every step of the way. From the first time the citadel comes into view, to the gradual climb up to and indirect infiltration of its sanctum, to finding that the rocky headlands have their own secrets rather than simply serving as a blob of land for the citadel to sit upon, the setting is constantly revealing new facets and layers of itself as the player explores. Quite lovely.

There are inelegancies, of course, the most significant being uncrossable lines which sharply curtail what would seem to be natural exploration in a number of places--for my part, I find these much more intrusive than the ones in the water from "Beast Island" earlier on, because it's never quite clear while you're climbing around just where you will and will not be allowed to go until you've smacked up against an invisible no-pass zone. The very end of the actual level progression also seems strangely shoehorned in, as unless you take a certain route it's never quite clear what the keys you collect are actually for, and the exit itself is revealed at a mysterious time and in a place first visited early on which visually asserts no particular significance and may even be mistaken as a cosmetic off-map area. Complaints about the interactive iron bars gating off different parts of the level don't hold much water with me--I'm from a time when asking the player to occasionally try the spacebar in areas of interest without having to put up a giant neon billboard expressly telling them to do so was considered to be perfectly reasonable design--but I will agree that perhaps the level's biggest miss is simply that it lacks a real climax of any kind, which underscores the somewhat haphazard placement and implementation of its exit.

I've not talked much about fights. Well, I reckon this is hardly a level made by choreography, to say the least. To reiterate, the star really is the setting, and most of the combat is flavored not through pressure or even threat per se as through the richness of the construction offering each player some ability to tailor the proceedings to his/her liking (do you make heavy use of window-sniping, or do you prefer much more CQC, do you fight the cyberdemon directly or bide your time and end up discovering the built-in "Gotcha!" scenario, etc.) as well as the possibility for some variation in the order of weapon/tool acquisition in the middle part of the level. The basement/caves segments are generally constricted enough to preclude most significant measures of flexibility, though the occasionally uncanny vertical and switchback placements of monsters compensate somewhat, as do the occasional small traps here and there.

Still cool, even after all these years. Not particularly intense or particularly beautiful by modern standards, I reckon that the level's handling of its sense of place is nevertheless something with a timeless appeal.

[dobu gabu maru]

Hey guys, feel free to post about "Valley of Echoes" from the old Alien Vendetta on the 25th if you find yourself with some extra time this weekend. I was planning on playing it myself and was curious what other people will also think of it.

--------

MAP21: Boy, what a mean little bastard this map is! I remember nearly nothing about it from my first playthrough but wow did it leave more of a mark this time. It's a psuedo-berserk map that gives you enough ammo so that you can choose which foes to shoot and which to pummel (is it just me or has there been a lot of berserk punching PEs in this wad?). The problem is that Dictter follows in Spencer's footsteps and doesn't want to give the player any health, which makes every blow suffered that much more harmful. It lightens up a bit at the end when there's not goddamn chaingunners waiting around the corner, but ooof this was one of the nastiest maps yet.

Visually, I love what Dictter did here. Lots of trimming, thematic consistency, some variation from room to room, and all those candle cubbies! It was an unfortunately flat map for the most part, but his style of detailing really gels with my own, and I think its perhaps my favorite looking map outside of Malde's work. So overall I'm quite enthused with the start to E3.

MAP22: Spencer's final effort doesn't stray too far from MAP21, making sure health remains barren and the monsters are mean and numerous. Despite being entirely linear I had fun with this one—a huge part might be because Alien Vendetta has finally entered its "crimson" phase, which is definitely one of my favorite hell themes even if its egregiously overdone (that throbbing red wall at the start, mm mmm mmmm). A lot of the traps got me here since I was running around and saving at <10% health; the double AV nasty surprise at the end was probably my favorite because I knew I had to neutralize those twins as fast as I could and blew myself up plenty of times attempting to do so. Yet another map that feels a bit like "Spencer-lite", but its certainly welcome as we begin our ramp up to insanity.

Demon of the Well said:

So.........about ten days and one hard disk Chernobyl later, I return, with a new PC and a looooootttt of catching up to do.

Daaamn, was wondering why you vanished—PC problems can be real nettlesome. I recently cloned my HDD to my SSD but ran into a snag where the computer kept reading off the HDD (even after telling it to boot from the SSD), so I stupidly deleted Windows from the HDD. Then my Windows 10 copy went into this weird zombie-like state where it still "worked" but I couldn't use the start menu, any search functionality, and most of my programs lost their directory paths... and when I went to simply reinstall the OS, my mice (USB wireless, wired, and PS/2) wouldn't respond during the reboot screen, a problem I found was due to my motherboard being incompatible with Windows 10 only when attempting to reset/revert my computer to a prior state. So a fresh new SSD upgrade turned into a pricey new motherboard + CPU upgrade :( Hopefully you backed up your stuff in advance!

[Spectre01]

Map 22: Rubicon

Brad is back and this time with an indoor hell map, a departure from his previous techbase levels. It's a linear map, which people like bringing up as a negative, but plays well with good flow and interesting encounters. Health is in rather short supply and a chunk of the map requires fighting through without an SSG. That hallway with the Vile and some Cacos before the Plasma Rifle actually gave me a hard time since I had only 3 rockets, low HP and the Demons kept blocking me while trying to kill the Archvile. The Cyberdemon duel was good too due to the limited space and vulnerability to splash damage. I find Cyber fights are still fun when they aren't used for infighting simulators and you can't circle around them easily. The visuals are consistent with map 21, following a mostly green brick and flesh theme with a library as a sort of central hub for the map. Enjoyable level.

[Demon of the Well]

Dobu: A lot of my stuff is backed up in one way or another, but some of my recent work was well and truly lost beyond the odd bit of 'hard copy', leaving me with little recourse but to manually redo/reconstruct (and occasionally re-research/re-survey) it, quite the timesink to say the least. Oh, well, serves me right I suppose. I really should've replaced my old PC before something like this happened, it had certainly seen more than its share of labor in its long, hard life.

Oh yeah, Windows 10, what a bitch, eh? As a side-effect of all this, now I'm stuck with it too, until/if I get up the wherewithal to get a different OS up and running. Feel like I don't have to say anything more, no doubt there are thousands of folks out there ready and willing to commiserate with the both of us on that point.

Map 12 -- Entropy - 101% Kills / 100% Secrets
A Spencer/Windsor joint, reading retrospective author comments the thought process behind this oddly disjointed little kill-corridor makes more sense (though I must say the original concept of having the map(s) expressly depict/fit the IWAD maptitles seems more than a little halfhearted in execution here). Back when AV was contemporary, I recall I had thought of the level's conspicuously high bodycount as being chiefly a function of Vorpal's involvement (having seen his solo maps later in the set, I'm sure you can all now surmise why that might be), and indeed there are at least a few obvious instances of his AV-era clump-style placement (esp. the specters in the odd little E1M2-esque optional room), though having seen some of Adam's much more recent (and generally quite bloody!) work for comparison brings this 'lost' piece of work into considerably clearer focus. At its best, "Entropy" is reminiscent of an 80s/90s action blockbuster wherein the hero effortlessly guns down ridiculous numbers of utterly inconsequential goons in an equally ridiculously short timeframe, something which the skew towards zombies and other weaklings jam-packed into the base's many rooms conveniently betokens. Cute little quickfire monsterclosets opening at point-blank range is also an obvious Windsor trait, and helps to prod the reflexes just enough to keep the decidedly door-heavy/room-clearing action from seeming entirely one-note. What I'm most curious about is perhaps the handful of monster teleportation scenarios, something I've seen both authors use in similar ways at various points.*

At its worst, the level's perhaps a mite too chewy for its own modest dimensions and simplistic progression to credibly handle, with the inevitable emptying of the red key room in particular seeming more prolonged than it needs to be (or perhaps it's those silly deaf cacos down in the pit which push it over the edge). Not a terribly long or labor-intensive level, the lack of much real variety in terms of core encounter design coupled with the persistently smallscale/stubby corridor-based environment does create something of an impression that it's laboring just a bit to really fill out its full runtime, with the big teleportation ambush in the second half of the level seeming a natural conclusion but turning out not to be one.

Another salient feature of this level is that it's chock-full of little pushwall/closet-style secrets, many of which are marked by a traditional irregularity in texturing or decor, and a few of which are a little more 'inferential' in cast. I don't object to these per se, but I usually don't like to encounter them in the kinds of numbers one sees here, since they tend to introduce a nagging psychological pressure to hump-n-bump every other piece of the facility during one's tour, which plays hell with the smoothness of the flow, even in a simplistic level like this one. Of course, I've played AV 'a few' times, and so I've more or less memorized all of these, but if this were a blind playthrough I imagine I'd be carping a little more loudly. I do like the later secret which allows one to violently defang the YK ambush, though, always nifty to see a secret which alters the proceedings in a way that goes beyond providing the player some extra ammo or the like, and makes some of the others seem even sillier in comparison (that lone medikit, really?).

Framed as an episode opener (and also an introductory map for the tech/industrial base theme which the mapset had conspicuously sidestepped in its first episode), I guess it's easier to cut this level slack, and in truth there's little here amongst the sort of "Hot Shots Part Deux" slant to gunplay to actively offend, even if the thing's very much a B-side. Its biggest drawback is probably simply its case of 'map 01-itis' as evinced in its simple construction, which largely precludes the gameplay/progression from being much more robust than it is, ironic because it's map 12 and interesting given the core material's origins.

* Ah, Vorpal it is, it seems.

[baja blast rd.]

OMG map23 is awesome. <3 <3 Can't wait to write about this one.

[gaspe]

Map22: A hell level a bit in the vibe of the previous, though this one is definitely better. Combats are way more interesting and I liked the changes of settings in the various areas. The best part for me is the hallways with the cyberdemon. I remembered the area with the mancubi, it's rather easy to use them to infight the monsters that will appear when you come back after you pick the key, and you can just let the mancubi there and save many rockets.

[Pirx]

Pirx said:

as often advised, look behind at the start, there's a welcome shell box, but later you get a backpack (also secret) and plenty of shells, so the ssg carries the action, including against the cyberdemon.

Demon of the Well said:

Oh yeah, Windows 10, what a bitch, eh? As a side-effect of all this, now I'm stuck with it too, until/if I get up the wherewithal to get a different OS up and running. Feel like I don't have to say anything more, no doubt there are thousands of folks out there ready and willing to commiserate with the both of us on that point.

yeah, guess who i thanked for that tip :)
i was also wondering why the long posts were missing.

as for windows 10, i upgraded my 2 pcs about 9-10 months ago (the old one i use as internet machine now, and the gaming rig) and almost everything went fine... except that since i upgraded, the gaming pc would have short random stutters in gzdoom, which of course dooms attempts at playing through large maps without saves, it's annoying as hell. i didn't go away despite all driver upgrades and having a gtx 1070 with 8 gb now. i even think of going back to windows 7, just to get rid of that stuttering. i should make a thread for this in the source ports forum.

[antares031]

MAP23 - Blood Sacrifice
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

Kim André Malde's another castle garden with three Cyberdemons. That being said, if you missed the secret room with a plasma rifle, you're screwed if you're playing with pistol start since every cell packs around the corner will be useless to you. It could be better if this level offered a plasma rifle in the middle of the courtyard; right in front of the second Cyberdemon. And I would put some more shells around the sector 61, a passage in front of the exit door of hall with a Spider Mastermind, to avoid ammo starvation before the secret plasma rifle. Regardless of those issues, I really like the design and layout of the castle with unconventional grid line. Certainly you can make the whole area first and rotate it, but I won't take a risk to cause problems with building nodes. And yes, try to inspect the opposite side of switches. Not as much as MAP20, but It's an another memorable level, just like other levels by the author. Although I can see that some flaws I've mentioned might cause some issues to other pistol starters, depending on their gameplay style.

[Capellan]

Map23
While this level shares many of the issues that afflicted map20 - several instances of backtracking, overly linear progression, too many corridors - it’s hugely redeemed by being much less of a slog. Instead of wave after wave after wave of barons and HK to slowly shotgun to death, there are only a handful, with most of the level’s hit points tied up in a trio of cybers and a spider mastermind. While the level definitely fails to make the latter fight at all interesting, the cybers are more engaging. Additionally, the corridor-heavy layout is actually used quite cleverly with the several Archviles dotted around: some fun stalking battles there.

Looks-wise it is a solid map. Not as distinctive as Misri Halek obviously, but capably assembled and with a good variety of zones. The rays of light through the exit bars is a particularly memorable moment, visually.

Malde ends his contributions to AV on a high note with this map. It’s my favourite of his four entries.

Map20 is still dreadful, though.

[Pirx]

MAP23 - “Blood Sacrifice” by Kim André Malde

awesome map i had less fun with during the first playthrough, because i played it wrong: i didn't remember where the pg and the bfg were (both in secrets, the pg with a single revenant iirc and the bfg down in the baron & manc room), so i had to dash past the mastermind and slog through with the ssg, killing the cyb at the yellow key with careful corner kung-fu. at least, it worked :)

the map offers plenty of cell packs so playing it fast and aggressively works. there's some good archvile usage , 2 right from the start (whether you go upstairs to the armor or straight ahead). it's an interconnected stone castle with a layout i found confusing at first, but it offers several routes (like i played first and how it's done better) and good fights, some exercise in 2-shooting cybs, or dancing with revenants
(i jumped through the window to the soul sphere and punched the rev here to death, fun thing)

[Spectre01]

Map 23: Blood Sacrifice

If you're playing from Pistol Start, your enjoyment of this map will directly depend on whether or not you grab the secret Plasma Rifle early on. If you happen to miss it, like I did, it's a slow SSG and Berserk grind where you don't even have enough shells and rocket to shoot everything, especially the Cybers. The visuals are quite cool though, with the grey castle part looking a lot like Scythe 2 maps 27 and 28. The metal texture slabs attached to the tops of the walls are peculiar though. There is some exploration here, but most alternate paths lead to dead ends or secrets. There are also quite a few doors that you'll be temped to revisit but only serve as decoration and never unlock. Seriously though, never hide a core weapon in a secret. This map probably plays alright with the PR but I did not leave satisfied and smiling.

Edit: Replayed it while not missing the PR and had a good time. Good map, stupid mandatory secret.

[baja blast rd.]

map22

Decent map, although indeed a step down from Vorpal's e2 offerings mostly. The red key area with the vile is the most interesting part, strategically (not in the sense that it matters much what you do, however, since all approaches are comfortably survivable): you can fight the vile conventionally with the chaingun, which gives time for the cacos to approach; you can rush for the RL with the vile still around; you can temporarily block its teleport destination long enough to grab the RL and run out; or you can even try to lure it to infight with the mancs, which will have a good chance at distracting the cacos too. Much of the rest of the combat is maybe too meaty for its own good, in particular the library room with the fat mancubus blocking the way in, all but preventing you from rambo-ing it. A good time to clean up those ledge mancs while the room's inhabitants infight, I suppose. The cyber wing is nice, with a suitably frightening lead-up, and the rest of the map is a solid denouement with a capper, although it would have been nice if the switch fights weren't copies of one another.

[Deadwing]

23: Okay, I love that MIDI :P The beginning feels one more standard
level from AV, with its strong linearity and adventurous feeling and
so-so monster placement, until you get to that beautifuly crafted more
open fortress area. This is actually a lot fun and I was impressed
with the layout of that fortress, with lots of mid-texture, creating a
good illusion of two-floor structure. The cyberdemon battles were also
fun to deal.

While the previous level had some more interesting monster placement,
this one felt more cohesive. 8.5/10

[gaspe]

Map23: Remember that the green torch always hides a secret :) the PR seems mandatory for having a enjoyable run if you pistol start the map, and you have also the classic misaligned wall on the entrance of the secret room... Another secret trope is the switch hidden behind another switch, like the one of the BFG. It's quite funny that those kind of stuff seem disappeared these days. Architecture and lightning was excellent, and I approve the castle made with the white/grey bricks form Eternal Doom. There's some nice exploration to do and the atmosphere is set very well with that midi, though MAP20 did a better job in this regard but I admit that Blood Sacrifice plays better. Interesting cyberdemons fights, and the arch-viles really surprised me.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP23 Blood Sacrifice

Kim's last map, and it's a castle one. There's really not much to go around though, as like Kim's other ones, this one plays entirely linear. The one arch-vile in the first major hallway can be used for a speedrun shortcut, which allows the player to skip much of the castle (that's like over half the gameplay there) part of the level. The first cyberdemon has a good smack of infighting as well.

The actual castle, in the northern part of the map, has quite a lot to explore, and is the one nonlinear portion of the level with various ways to go. But it usually ends up with me finding a few switches, not hard to find because the castle is quite small, and taking out the preset enemies, including two cybers, rather swimmingly. Bit of confusion at the yellow skull which functions like a switch, and the revenants that pop up after you enter the room ahead makes it easy to miss the OTHER switch in that room. Which is necessary for the final parts of the map. The mancubus meet-and-greet is rough, but the spiderdemon is easy. Interesting how it ends where it began too.

[Demtor]

MAP23 - Blood Sacrifice
Can't add much more to what's already been said but I will say as much as I enjoyed the map I really didn't like having zero idea on where exactly I'm supposed to go. No exit signs. No flashing key card out of reach you can see. No real way of knowing what switches activated and where. You're just expected to wander around the entire map again and again looking for what was triggered. It took much longer to figure this sucker out than it should have. And in the end, your supposed to go back to the start of the map?! What?? There is zero reason to even run by there again. Blah. Not a fan.

[BlondieMcFilthy]

Map 22 - Rubicon

This one is a pretty okay map, though I do have to agree with the sentiment that this map is a step below Spencer's work in episode 2 overall. Not that it's a bad map, certainly - it's a nice looking journey through a hell mansion (and in particular, the wing with the Cyber that teleports in looks fantastic). That being said, combat here in this map is a little stilted, particularly in comparison with Spencer's earlier maps - I think a lot of it is that the general layout of the map isn't conducive to the sort of big, bloody fights that dominated maps like Suicidal Tendencies. Here, this map tries blindsiding you with some trap work and most of it is pretty hit or miss.

What is definitely a hit is the final room, which has one of my favourite encounters of the WAD. (the twin Archviles.) Overall not the best map in the game but nothing to hold your nose up to either - it's solid.

Map 23 - Blood Sacrifice

Malde's final contribution to AV is a journey through an Eternal Doom-style castle - swap out the blood-red sky for Eternal Doom's blue/black one and the similarities are even more pronounced. This is perhaps his most robust map overall - while certainly not the huge journey that Misri Halek was, this one makes you thoroughly explore the layout of the castle as you move through it, looping back in on itself in a way that doesn't feel overly repetitious by dint of how the map presents this; namely it offers slightly different perspectives & vantage points. Combat wise this is probably the most 'well rounded' of his four maps in terms of bestiary use - while there's still a lot of hell nobles and mancubi roaming the place, there's also a strong emphasis on cacos, Pain elementals, and of course a handful of Cybers - and not to mention that trap in the room with the first Cyber you encounter in the map is surprisingly mean spirited if you haven't gone through it before.

Episode 3 of this WAD makes terrific use of assets from Heretic, with this and Demonic Hordes being the best examples of the bunch. Strong stuff.

Map 24 - Clandestine Complex

Glaringly out of place for when it appears in the WAD. The reason for this is that this was, I believe, the last map added to Alien Vendetta - the original Map 24 was Demonic Hordes and Map 25 was Valley of Echoes, but Anders Johnsen disliked the latter and ended up cutting it from the final version of the map set, essentially replacing it with this and moving Demonic Hordes to the Map 25 slot.

The reason why the map feels out of place is that it's essentially a romp around and eventually inside a techbase, naturally corrupted by hellspawn of course. While the outside portions of the map do have that "jagged" quality most hell maps end up possessing, the tech-base itself is pretty much what you'd expect, albeit with a shitload of damaging slime. Basically: this map feels more like it should be somewhere in episode 2 than anything else. It plays pretty okay, though i'm of the opinion that it gets a lot easier as it goes on - the map rarely throws true heavies at you, with the most threatening encounters usually involving close-up Revenants. It's an alright map but i'd say it's one of the less inspiring maps of the set.

The next one though? Oh yes, now that's a map...

[Paul977]

I'm looking forward to massacre Demonic Hordes

[T-Rex]

Hey guys, looks like I've got some catching up to do, so time to get some maps out of the way.

Map16: Mutual Destruction (Brad Spencer)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 09:50

A techbase map with a mixture of themes, giving it a rather Shores of Hell vibe. The monster opposition is thankfully at a slightly lower key, as far as Vorpal maps go, but even so, it still has its share of nastiness. First off, there's the occasional monster hordes to tackle, specifically beyond the blue key door where once the marble wall opens revealing an arch-vile and the yellow key, swarms of imps spawn in behind you, and beyond the yellow key door in the dark blue room where walls holding a bunch of revenants will open. Speaking of which, as you make your way down to the cellar, the fight with the six cyberdemons is my least favourite part of the map, because while you may have an invulnerability which you have to grab in order to lower the walls holding the cyberdemons, you can only BFG as many before it wears off, they easily push you around the area with their rockets, and the columns and boxes don't help either as they tend to get in the way of your attempting to kill BFG all the cyberdemons quickly. The ending has you platforming while evading mancubus, revenant, and cacodemon projectiles (luckily the teleporters below take you to the areas where the revenants and mancubi are), and as you approach the exit, the barriers blocking the castle entrance lower, while the rain of demons pouring in, and on top of that, there's the stationary chaingunners, though they can be dealt with beforehand. The map may have some bullshit moments, but it is thankfully not as hectic as Vorpal's previous maps in the set. Design is decent, even if it's a mere hodgepodge of themes.

Map17: Nukefall (Anders Johnsen)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 05:31

Quake style map that is surprisingly short. Immediately take out the chaingunners before they start firing. If you're playing this on HMP as I am, you'll find a mancubus in the cage with the BFG instead of the cyberdemon. I think on the lower difficulties, it's a hell knight/baron, I'm not sure. Anyway, there's really not much to say this map, it's slightly easier and shorter than Map16, the Quake theme is done quite well, and as for the midi soundtrack, I thought it was a kickass track from TNT, even if guys like AltimaMantoid and darkreaver think it is absolute garbage. I have heard worst tracks used in other Doom wads. Could have been a bit longer, considering we've gone past halfway of Alien Vendetta.

Map18: Lake Poison (Anders Johnsen)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 20:47

This map is basically a Plutonia meets Hell Revealed kind of map. Tons of monsters to slaughter and there's a plethora of homages. The starting area obviously takes from Plutonia Map16: The Omen with its usage of textures and floors. When you enter the east side of the castle ahead, you'll eventually reach a room that directly lifts from Plutonia Map23: Tombstone, followed by a sewer section that screams Plutonia Map28: The Sewers. Watch out for the archviles in the yellow key quadrant as they can catch you off guard, and you get a slew of imps spawning all over the sewers, so expect a lot of rocket pumping or BFG fragging. Once you collect all three keys, you can finally gain access to the west side of the castle, and boy there's an epic fight right there in a giant chamber that pays tribute to Hell Revealed Map28: Top Hell. You have imps, revenants, hell knights, barons, mancubi, arachnotrons, and spider masterminds all attacking at once as you step in, so hold on and brace yourself. There's soul spheres and megaspheres present, so be sure to grab them when you need them. This point in the map is where you'll be spending the most time on. The final area as a few more fights with mancubi, zombies, and imps, including an ending that lifts from Ultimate Doom E1M7: Computer Station. This is by far the toughest map in the second episode of Alien Vendetta, and it rivals Overwhelming Odds in more ways than one. Fun and frantic, but pretty lengthy. The TNT midi track goes quite well with the map too.

Map19: Alien Resurrection (Madani El Hariri)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 14:58

Madani's second and last map is a yet another breather from Map18 like his Map15 from Map14. Lots of brown bricks and metal, making it pretty Quake-like in design. Action is pretty mild especially compared to the previous map, but there's a few moments where you'll be dealing with some nasty opposition. Some memorable moments include the southwest section where after you gain access to the southmost part, you have these sleeping arachnotrons and some will emerge as the invisible walls holding them in their cells lower, and also the northeast section where when you teleport after opening the yellow key column, you hump one of the doors and it opens another area right behind you. The map relies mostly on traps, and the arch-viles are used to repopulate areas you've already cleared, hence the title of the map. The ending fight with some new and resurrected monsters, including a cyberdemon for good measure caps off the map and it's one of the most memorable. I enjoyed this map, it's not too hard, but it certainly doesn't go down that easily. It's like a mixture of Quake and Plutonia in that sense. I also enjoyed the use of Heretic's E1M1: The Docks midi track.

Map20: Misri Halek (Kim Andre Malde)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 33:22

So this is main attraction of Alien Vendetta, and it's highly regarded as Kim Malde's magnum opus. It's a humungous, sprawling map in the Egyptian theme. Think TNT Map31: Pharaoh, but make it Eternal-sized, and you get this map. You enter inside a giant pyramid and it's one hell of a maze to explore, but it is absolutely well done. There was a lot of attention to detail and lighting here that made it so stunning to see as you explore the pyramid. It's very intricate and puzzly too as you have to hunt for switches which open up areas as you progress. You get a lot of action to avoid the boredom, and there's lots of monsters to battle inside the pyramid. I find it neat the deep inside there's a network of caverns full of red rock and lava, and you'll be doing a lot of navigating to make your way through them. Later on you get the outdoor area in which you scale up a mountain, but watch out as there's a lot of enemies waiting, and some of them emerge from walls that open while you climb up. The peak has a tomb that is full of switches that lower the bars to the rooms inside as you search for the yellow key. Getting the keys will take quite a while, and that is a testament to how long this map is. You'll come full circle as opening the yellow key door takes you to the other end of the pyramid you couldn't gain access to due to the trench that splits it apart, so reaching the exit will involve some backtracking. You have to hunt for several more switches in the now opened areas of the pyramid to reach the end where you battle some nobles, chaingunners, and finally the spider mastermind guarding the exit portals. This map is absolutely the biggest, longest, and most complex map in the entire set. Due to its intricacy, it's very easy to get lost, so keep track of where you have been to avoid getting stuck. Nevertheless, this is still one of the best maps in Alien Vendetta, and it's a noteworthy successor to TNT Map31 in terms of Egyptian-themed maps, so much to the point that it influenced mappers like Erik Alm with his Scythe 2 second episode and Eternal's Epic 2 megawad in which the Egyptian is predominant. Bravo, Kim Malde!

Oh, man, I can't believe I have to do all this straight through without saving, but that's the price of playing Alien Vendetta in vanilla as many of these large-scale/heavily populated maps trigger the dreaded savegame buffer overflow if you attempt to save on any of them. Time for my weekend break as usual. See you all in the last third of the megawad.

[antares031]

MAP24 - Clandestine Complex
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

I'm glad to see an explorable, well-connected layout. And that music from The Last Ninja 2 is great. I enjoyed everything of this level, including overall level design, secret placements, sufficient amount of radiation suits for those toxic sewers, etc.... except monster placements. Especially chaingunners, if you ask me. Most of my deaths from this level were done by those vicious hitscanners from nowhere, like behind the wall or unexpected teleportations. That means I really hated three chaingunners from teleportation after I jump into the sewage pit with two mancubi. Still, this level is enjoyable for me, thanks to the strong points I've mentioned. By the way, does anybody know how to grab the super secret hall of flame? I guess an arch-vile jump would do the trick, but I'm not sure.

[dew]

So, who here is up for some extra Sunday challenge? Apart from the ridiculously massive Demonic Hordes, you can also check out the replaced map Valley of Echoes... and then the recent remake by Brad Spencer, aka Alien Vendetta Black Label map02! Pertinent downloads here.

[mouldy]

MAP22 - “Rubicon” by Brad Spencer

Almost feels like a continuation of the previous map with its corridor crawling. All good fun though, and a lot more forgiving with the health and ammo. Nothing particularly noteworthy or memorable, just does the job I guess.

MAP23 - “Blood Sacrifice” by Kim André Malde

Quite a cool castle map, I enjoy playing this one even though I know there is one bit that will annoy me every time. Without fail I seem to be left in a position where I don't have enough ammo to fight the cyberdemon guarding the yellow key, despite having 600 cells. Is there a plasma gun somewhere I'm missing I wonder... So the only option is to run past the cyber, grab the yellow key and then somehow squeeze past him again while he is outside the door. Thats not really an ideal set up. Apart from that its all fine though.

Just seen from other peoples' reviews that there is a secret plasma rifle, thats a bit naughty. Its clearly necessary, and would make the whole map play quite differently I reckon. I'll have to look out for that next time.

[Capellan]

Map24
Now this map - with the exception of a couple of pieces of very obtuse progression - I liked a lot.

The first obtuse progression was the crate-assisted jump in the pitch dark room. The room doesn’t start pitch dark, mind you - but if you go looking for secrets you are likely to plunge it into darkness, which marks stumbling across the necessary crates a matter of stumbling around until luck strikes.

The second obtuse progression is that it appears you are required to find at least one secret in order to finish the level, as it conceals a mandatory blue key. That’s not very cool, though thankfully it didn’t actually stymie me in this playthrough: I recognised how the required parkour immediately (though I thought I was just getting a tasty treat, not actually doing something mandatory).

Other than that, though: thumbs up. It’s a fine looking tech base level (another example of the way AV happily jumps between visual styles) with lots of exploration-based gameplay as you find little nooks and crannies. And heck, it even has consistently damaging nukage!

Is there any way to legitimately access the “Hell of Fame”?

[Deadwing]

24: A tech base level in an hell episode? That felt strange, but who
cares, I loved that level. It had some nice monster placement, lots of
height variations, damage floors, barrels and some kind of weird ~in a
good way~ non-linearity (or at least an illusion of it :P). It felt
tight balanced and challenging, health was scarce, but secrets did a
good job helping careless people like me. 9/10