The DWmegawad Club plays: Hellbound

[rehelekretep]

map18 - fda here

still sg central but a lot more bearable as there's less mid/high tier enemies about; pinkies/sergeants/marines mostly. enjoyable re-imagining of Doom E1 - like a 'deluxe' version. didnt like the central hub area; too much meat, not enough rockets.

[DAZZER]

MAP15: The Vault
Difficulty - UV
Time - 20:32

Again a pretty standard Tech Map. But with cool Ideas like that 2 switch choice or the floor ripped apart from the flesh ^^ Also I liked the combination of the Red Computer Texture and the grey Brick :D The Dark Room with the production line was very atmospheric, well balanced and thankfully quick over ^^ As it should be with very dark rooms (my opinion) All in all cool level but the end with the revenants and the Archvile is harder then it looks like :/

[gaspe]

MAP19: After an E1 themed here it comes a level that calls directly Shores of Hell. Well , pretty much all the level is made of rip-offs from E2. This one was really boring to play. Though the cyberdemon that comes from the crate was fun. Apart from that it's an uninteresting level.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 17 -- Starport - 100% Kills / 75% Secrets
Another good one, mostly. The "Starport" here mainly comes off as an airport in the desert, with the long and very carefully painted runway and map-wide luggage transit system being its most assertive features. Visually, this is comprised primarily of textures from Doom II's early 'Starbase' episode, which I somehow doubt is entirely coincidental. Using this subset of assets normally makes for a somewhat gritty/grungy setting, though here I didn't really get that impression, with the mood lighting and brown-caramel-tan scheme with bits of shiny trim and blue carpeting and other 'luxe' touches putting me in mind in some of the older real-world airports I've been in--more or less nice places with an aesthetic sensibility dating from the 70s or early 80s. In terms of shape and layout it's fair to say that, runway and surrounding desert aside, this is essentially an orthogonal-pattern network of corridors and chambers and little in-between spaces, but I would say it gels rather well; it smacks of one of Hellbound's most ephemeral qualities, that being the ability to more or less harmoniously marry a fairly high-fidelity representational design sensibility to the sorts of spaces and shapes idtech1 is actually suited to rendering. The place is very clearly an airport (or 'starport', whatever), with any number of easily identifiable and credibly wrought trappings--concourse, baggage claim, security check, maintenance areas, whatnot--but built in such a way that its realistic accoutrements segue neatly into and blend in with more abstract/generalized structure that would be quite at home in any modern techbase (and at heart that is of course precisely what this is, a big techbase map), with a flow to the gameplay that follows suit. In this regard, this mapset is inhabiting a rather rare and special design space indeed, in a small grey zone between the more abjectly abstract or conveniently vague stylized construction which holds sway in the vast majority of Doom maps and that halcyon realm where grids of identical 'classrooms' slathered in loudly homemade textures and sector-toilets taller than Doomguy himself hold sway.

Plays fairly well too, I thought, although I managed to miss the rocket launcher (which is not 'secret', mind you, just very easy to pass up when rattling around inside of the complex layout) for essentially the entirety of the map and so had to live with that unpleasant nagging feeling one gets when holding a full load of ammo for a weapon one doesn't possess. The opening segment in the barricade-addled below-ground corridors with the faint striplights is largely disposable, and the decision to situate the actual exit in there is a bit of a headscratcher, but once you ascend into the port proper and start pressing past the first couple of rooms the action begins simmering along nicely. The level fields over 600 monsters on skill 4, and though it's physically expansive it's not actually terribly long (I finished in a few seconds over 30 minutes on this first go, with a portion of that time dedicated to ambling through the cleared map at the end looking at stuff), so that's a lot of bloodshed packed into a fairly focused window. This is accomplished in that oldest and most reliable of ways: piling on low-tier enemies in bounteous portions. The vast majority of the enemies are zombies, imps, and demons, and through a combination of far-reaching sound-leaking, many windows and overlooks and such, and again a conspicuous absence of monster-blocking lines, they are empowered to follow you all over the place and path through the layout in highly variable ways, which keeps you killing and on your toes right up until you finally make it out onto the runway proper; battle here is all about hearty SSG cluster-kills and mowing down phalanxes of troopers with the chaingun, watching for sneak-attacks by the occasional larger enemy, and I imagine I'd have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't missed that damned RL (I'm abstaining from complaining too much about its somewhat out-of-the-way placement, as my gut tells me this is largely a case of boobery on my part rather than a real design flaw). Per usual, most of the most individually memorable fights are memorable more through their context in the setting than through the actual maneuvers of combat themselves, ala being charged from down the loooooong final leg of the baggage conveyor with its tangle of partitions by a pack of pinkies with an arch-vile somewhere in their midst.

Again, as is the Hellbound wont, it's tactically and physically undemanding but usually satisfying stuff, grilled cheese and tomato soup, if you will, albeit perhaps an unusually large portion. Dessert at the end is another massive yet largely harmless swarm of enemies which appears en mass on the runway--on skill 4 there are a ton of mid-tiers of all shapes and sizes, a pair of cyberdemons, and the spiderdemon who will have been rattling around out there since the early going. It will gleefully decimate itself through infighting at the drop of a hat, as one might surmise, though there are plenty of cells and rockets strewn about inviting you to wade in if so inclined. I'm fine with all this, though unusually for me I found the pop-up sector trick used to introduce a large portion of the monsters involved in the final wave rather irksome--the most common complaint about this device is that it looks quite silly, and while I don't disagree, in most contexts I find I simply don't really care. Here, seeing a big division of 'trons and others spring up out of the tarmac without warning was a little too ridiculous to mentally gloss over, especially in the context of a mapset that generally takes its realism fairly seriously.

Nevertheless, another engaging romp here.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP19 Frontier Lab

Well now we have a conglomeration of E2 highlights. I liked that episode a lot more, and this level is another big one. More homages to E2 than there were E1 homages in the other one, and the big one here, of course, is the E2M2 homage. A big crate maze to run around in with various foes. Even after running through it the first time (cyber at the end, pros) and getting the blue key, enemies were still roaming around in it.

That being said though, figuring out what to do after the blue key took awhile. The places to the northeast are locked for now, so my route led me to the southeastern part of the map. The red key is here, but requires a rather annoying switchhunt, finding switches in hard-to-find places or places which are so easy to overlook and hard to remember. In fact, I don't even get that key next. I instead, clear pretty much the entirety of the level out of monsters, while getting the yellow key from the crusher hall doing so (and I got an invulnerability beforehand, so it was effortless). The yellow key is needed for side rooms to the west side of the map, which had some stuff in it.

So for the red key, there's several switches to open the bars leading to it around in the vicinity, but two switches lower the red key pedestal, one behind a blue door and one behind a yellow door. Both rooms are identical, really, a baron guarding a switch which gives way to another switch. Yet they are so far from one another and far from the red key itself. A cyber shows up somewhere near the red door after getting the key, so wasting him and going on reveals, another portal thingie, with enemies jumping out of the FIREBLU again. Tougher ones this time, but afterwards, we jump in for the next level. The death exit actually worked this time.

[DAZZER]

MAP16: City Bounds
Difficulty - UV
Time - 25:17

This clearly was the better City Level ! The High monster count didnt came from massive spawn ins (except the Cacos and Pain Elementals) and the design was absolutly amazing ! This Massive Highway through the Canyon is just beautiful and when you can kill spider masterminds on it... its just perfect ! You had enough Space for every Cyberdemon and I really like the Monster and Item Placement in this one ! It is impossible to ran out of munition ! So another really great Map :) I think one of the best until now ^^

[rehelekretep]

map19 - fda here

mixed bag; i hate crate mazes, and i found some progression confusing, BUT some of the combat here is multi-directional, challenging, hectic, surprising - all the good stuff.

i specially liked the portal at the end. most doom fights make you corral and condense hordes to promote infighting but after trying and failing to make a stand in front of the portal i realised that spreading all the enemies out was much easier. appreciate the novelty.

[Demtor]

MAP19 - “Frontier Lab”
gzDoom - UV - Continuous

I have never played an E2 homage before so I REALLY liked this as it tapped in to old memories I had never revisited before this. From browsing the Shores of Hell wiki I realized where Hellbound got it's logo art from. It's actually taken from the end of E2. Completely forgot about the ending art from some of those original episodes. A part of me thinks I should go back to the classics some time soon.

rileymartin said:

Next up is an E2 tribute! And just like E2 itself, it's a lot more interesting.

Well said. All of the creepy weirdness and lonely isolation felt in E2 is captured perfectly in this map. There are lots of skillfully crafted visuals and backdrops to monster closets to examine once you get past the E2M2 boxed nightmare, which is a hellish boring torture of it's own kind but at least there were added touches to it. I messed my pants pretty good when that Cyberdemon dropped out of that huge box too, lol. Nice work.

The key cards got some good looking love too. Simple but effectively disturbing stuff. The switches to lower the red skull key were a good idea and added a little extra thought to the key hunt quest. Also, I appreciated the easy to grab Mega Sphere. Finding optional side areas in a sometimes confusing map like this is a challenge itself really.

I liked the final set up where you had to fight the Cyberdemon followed by another another gateway battle to end it. Everyone should be able to see this one coming; kiss all that armor and ammo good bye! Time for another trip.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP19: Frontier Lab

Just as MAP18 played tribute to KneeDeep In The Dead, this one goes on evoke The Shores of Hell, borrowing its overall layout (and its music) from E2M2 while making reference to many of that episode's other individual maps in its various subsections (such as the E2M4-esque laboratory to the south-east and the E2M1-derived secret accessible near the start). A couple of cyberdemons are unleashed as the player navigates areas near the "spine" of the map, the green marble corridors that radiate along the cardinal points, one coming as the player first approaches that hub and another popping out on the way to the exit, though the main course of missile-spewing Hellbeef is followed up by a tasty dessert of arch-viles, demons, and revenants. Said exit is another gateway of the sort encountered at the end of MAP06, and, similarly, is a death exit that strips you of your weapons before throwing you out the other side.

Where MAP18 brought with it a comfortable sense of familiarity and a more relaxed pace, this one is a bit more vicious, with an early teleport invasion that brings in a lot of hitscanners to soften up complacent players and a stronger presence from the heavy hitters in the bestiary. Teleporters dot the map, but some are one-way, offering quick and easy return trips once certain objectives are completed but otherwise throwing you frustratingly to the other side of the map to retrace your steps through its intricate innards. On the other hand, the atmosphere is great; the map oozes corruption and communicates a very strong sense that events are stepping up, building towards a climax as you make your way toward the classical point of transition from Doom II's city episode to its hell levels - even if, with the death exit presented here, that transition seems to come a map early.

[DAZZER]

MAP17: Starport
Difficulty - UV
Time - 30:16

This is more then a normal Tech Base ! This is a masterpiece ! I never saw a Map which had so good detailing and atmosphere in such giant areas ! So the first Part of the Map is like you imagine a normal UAC Base... Computers and machines everywhere, production lines and scanners... But the Second Part is just breathtaking :O You find yourself on a big Airfield and it begins a massive Spawn in right infront of you ! you take your megasphere and start the Slaughter :D Theres more then enough room to fight the 2 cybers and the arachnotrons are very helpful for infight ^^ Surely a great great Map :)

[Demon of the Well]

Map 18 -- Computer Complex - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
I wanted to like this map more than I do. As a very transparent KDiTD homage-fest, it gets one important thing about that episode right that adoring re-imaginings of Romero's brainchild have been getting soundly wrong since the beginning of PWAD history and still continue to get wrong to this day, where the "classic" marketing angle is well into its cynical middle-age, that being that IWAD E1 is really fucking bloody. Almost comically so, at points, and in kind Z86 has stuffed his "Computer Complex" to the gills with scads and scads of jobber-class monsters just begging to be mown down with buckshot, bullets, and the occasional crunching explosion like the delicate flowers they are. The SSG is once again found in a mid-map secret here, and one of the set's trickier ones, at that, though in this case that's a design decision I'm okay with, since the pump-action shotgun and chaingun should more than suffice to keep pace here (with the timely aid of the occasional barrel-cluster, mind), leaving the decadent smorgasbord of potential cluster-killery unlocked by having the sawn-off shotgun in one's hot little hands feeling like a fair reward for inquisitiveness rather than a mysteriously withheld staple. Played at pace--which anyone really paying attention should be able to do in this case, since we all realistically have a sort of loose foreknowledge of what we're up against given the map's core concept--the level will burn through its complement of 450+ monsters in surprisingly short order, which remains one of the game's most visceral joys. I also applaud the use of roving packs of specters in the demi-requisite darkened computer maze at the tail end of progression, surely a missed opportunity on the IWAD's part if ever there was one.

The praise stops there, though, I'm afraid. While playing at pace makes for a fairly lively spate of massmurder, if at any point you should happen to drop below it a number of nasty ragged seams and other snarls in the design quickly become apparent. Most egregious of these is, perhaps as unsurprising as it is disappointing, a tragic infestation of monster-blocking lines, probably the worst case we've seen thus far in the mapset. If you're rolling right through the action the negative effect of many of these is more cosmetic than anything (i.e. a group of imps gets shredded by your SSG after hitting a block-line 5 steps away instead of meeting the selfsame fate 3 steps away in the line's hypothetical absence), but in some of the larger areas these severely limit the wandering monster/hunting party phenomenon, inexplicably undercutting bits of construction that seem purpose-built for that aspect of play. A few of these are genuinely asinine, ala the line-blocked pinky demons in the ooze pit below the BK (this same setup also represents a complete failure to account for infinitely-tall actors if approached from above, incidentally). I suppose for me this is like a more severe case of what I felt in map 14--the action that's available certainly has its merits, but it's difficult to really enjoy it without reservation when it's so obvious that what's here could've very easily offered more, so much more.

My other qualms are more purely subjective, I suppose. The biggest of these is that, bloody gunplay aside, there's really too much direct IWAD homagery here for my liking, especially considering that the most acute references tend to be self-contained areas that don't interact with the rest of the map in any way, ala the aforementioned E1M2 maze or the E1M5 YK area; if you've played KDiTD, you immediately know more or less what's going to happen in these places, and why and in what order, and the potential appearance of a few additional Doom II monsters doesn't really do much to shake things up. Truth be told, the only thing that surprised me here was the lack of any really significant E1M3 homages....figured that one was more popular? Speaking of the Doom II monsters, I suppose it's a petty thing to complain about, but I felt that the use of revenants and HKs sort of undercuts the core concept without adding much to play here, since these monsters tend to be found in little isolated pockets of their own kind. The textfile says the author felt like these are a natural fit for the KDiTD theme, and while I can sort of buy into that as far as the chaingunners are concerned, for the most part in practice this gives the level a monster composition quite similar to many of the set's other levels and so actually detracts from the nostalgia angle and the unique thrust of the map's gimmick more than it heightens or accents them, or so I felt, anyway.

What can I say? I've never really been a big fan of cover songs, I guess, regardless of who's performing them.

[A2Rob]

Map19 - Frontier Lab
Difficulty - UV
Time - NA

Frontier Lab continues the author's little trend of tribute maps, this one being "Shores of Hell" inspired. I liked this level much more on an aesthetic level compared to Computer Complex, as there's just a lot more going on here in comparison. The large crate area, the marble hallways, and the abundance of hell flesh slowly taking over the complex. There's these large marble teleporters peppered throughout the level that look really cool as well. The giant flesh room in the blue keycard area was one of my favorite visual areas of the level. The final area's portal was quite ominous as well.

Spoiler

Nice E2M4 reference

There's a few spots that got me in this map, causing me to play over large parts of the level because I forgot to save (oops). It's overall not a threatening map though, save for a surprise teleport invasion at the start that throws a shit ton of commandos in your face, as well as an arch-vile. The spots I did end up dying in were usually at my own fault, not exactly due to difficulty. Didn't really take liking to the surprise cyber demon in a box, the area felt way too cramped to have a proper fight that didn't boil down to two shotting him with the BFG, assuming you play continuous, which I'd recommend, because the more I play this wad, the more I'm convinced that these levels were not designed with pistol start in mind.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 19 -- Frontier Lab - 107% Kills / 100% Secrets
As "Computer Complex" was to Knee Deep in the Dead, so "Frontier Lab" is to The Shores of Hell. Many of my same general attitudes and criticisms of the former apply--again, the IWAD references dominate the map, and other than the notable replan/reimagining of the spiral-core room from E2M4 most are 1:1 conceptual knockoffs, so again much of the content is very predictable. One strange technical quirk is that here the monster-blocking lines which kneecapped the previous map have a significantly lessened presence (though there are still some really strange ones in there, ala the little one under the awning into the wooden E2M5 V-sphere shrine in the YK area), instead being swapped out for a lot of deaf monsters who thus remain in their area until the player breaches their sound-sector. Generally I reckon this is a preferable approach, though it's not without a hitch here, as a number of the monsters can be approached from the 'wrong' side via the vagaries of the non-linear layout and will remain totally motionless regardless of noise until directly attacked.

That being said, I would say that "Frontier Lab" is definitely the stronger of the two. To some degree this probably involves that I myself simply prefer the general mood and atmosphere of E2 to that of E1, but on a more concrete level it's also because this map's a lot more playful with its monster usage, if nothing else. The inevitable E2M2 crate warehouse is emblematic of this; the hitscanner warp-in plus arch-vile attack that occurs shortly after descending into the underground E2M3 hub is clearly designed to get the pistol-start player (imagine that!) to flee into the imp-infested warehouse, which sooner or later will end up with the first cyberdemon making his minotaur-of-the-maze debut. A second cyberdemon comes out to play near the tail end of the level, appearing in the vaulted marble hall (again, E2M2) serving as a junction between several different wings of the lab, including the exit. He is a fairly rote 1-on-1, true, but it's fun (and fairly intuitive) to use him to spoil the ambush that comes unglued upon approaching the final exit portal. Devil's advocacy aside for a moment, I reckon it's highly unlikely that all of the opportunities for showier tactics that I've seen throughout the mapset were consciously designed in by the author--his periodic hand-wringing about monsters pathing around too freely certainly suggests otherwise, at any rate!--but this bit shows that he is willing to experiment with more involved sequences of moves or ploys. What on Earth (or Deimos, if you like) is the hidden E2M2 crusher-alcove shortcut for if not gleefully trolling that last cyberdemon and the final horde?

Quite a lot of hidden stuff here, incidentally, including a number of unofficial secrets or super-secrets, some of which are hidden inside of other secrets! A number of these are very 90s in thrust--"E2M3" or "E2M1" or the like spelled out on the floor of a hidden alcove in blinking ooze-letters--and a few are quite obscure, particularly the aforementioned E2M1 secret which grants access to the earliest plasma rifle. On that point, as has been the case with a number of previous levels in the mapset, some players may begrudge Z86 for the way in which these secrets are balanced--you only ever get a plasma rifle by finding one of two secrets, IIRC, and the early backpack secret is potentially a real gamechanger as far as the pace of one's exploration goes--but many of the highlight encounters here are, perhaps uncommonly for the mapset, of the sort that are fun to tangle with while underarmed, and I tend to feel that having a lot of strange hidden stuff somehow suits the E2 theme, anyhow.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP20: Borderworld

Thus ends the second episode of Hellbound, with the player stripped of gear and thrust into a hostile halfway-place, a transition zone between UAC's teleporter technology and the mouth of Hell itself, demanding that you rebuild your arsenal to dominate this new battlefield only to be subjected to another death exit as you go from this inter-dimensional pocket realm to Hell's very doorstep. This one feels isolated, then, within the WAD's narrative; neither your achievements before, nor the progress that lies ahead, affect or are affected by how you handle things here. It's a somewhat isolating setup, but also one that encourages you to cut loose and play aggressively.

The map is laid out as a series of areas with different visual themes arranged in a stack from north to south; you start out in a techbase area, UAC's foothold in this dimension, sandwiched between grey-walled caverns into which blood sluggishly poured, and the southern of the two caverns is itself a border between the UAC base and the demonic bastion of green marble to the south, wherein lies the exit portal. I'm uncertain about the description, in the text file and in the intermission text before MAP21, of the UAC trying to "take the fight to Hell" through their actions here; while the trenches and bunkers of the northern cavern do suggest a battlefield, the south face of the base is proudly surmounted by a flimsy and brilliantly illuminated UAC sign suggestive of a corporate office or a franchise location that gives me a sense that the UAC came here looking not so much for a fight as for a new market to peddle their goods to.

There's a strong sense of peeling back layered defences as you rebuild your gear, thwart (or evade) an invasion of hellspawn into the northern cavern, and gradually pick your way through the ruins of UAC's presence here, gradually gaining the means to open the gate of the infernal stronghold. There's also some good back-and-forth in the pacing, with moments of triumph (bringing down the spiderdemon that has made its lair in the north cavern, or defeating the cyberdemon that lords over the southern cavern from the fortress gate and looking down from his former vantage point as the new master of this chthonic domain) followed by a sense that, no, Hell is pushing back (the aforementioned invasion of the northern cavern, the wave of reinforcements that appear in front of the fortress when you snag the yellow key), as well as opportunities for satisfyingly cathartic carnage - I'm thinking in particular of the strutting horde of Barons of Hell and their lesser brethren that emerge from the fortress gate once it's finally unlocked, tripping over themselves in their eagerness to claim a marine scalp, only to be pounded into mush by the player's rocket launcher.

[gaspe]

MAP20: A really interesting map, and the thing of the techbase used to fight the forces of hell is rather unique. The nothern area with the trenches suggests that the UAC was engaged in some sort of defensive action against the demons, though in the southern cave the base doesn't look to be particularly suited to resist to a siege, I guess that the hell surprised the UAC at their back?! Anyway, the northern area with the trenches recalls The Spirit World, while the southern cave is Hellbound's take on The Living End, also it's really cool how this area is revealed. The cyberdemon was used really well there, it can shoot at you almost everywhere and you have to be careful even when you are climbing the towers. The horde of hell nobles was fine to end the map, after you enter the hellish castle you have to take one of the lateral routes to gain access to the portal to hell, which was filler stuff. Another thing that leaves me puzzled is that before entering this level there's a death exit, it doesn't feel right to be there.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP20 Borderworld

My first order of business is to get a...backpack. Then it's off to the northern reaches. A chainsaw helps against the demons here, but I also get the rest of the weapons I need in the trenches here. Too bad fighting while in one isn't fun, especially one this narrow. On top, I run for the red key, and then get what comes to me. I get an SSG, a megasphere, an invulnerability, and several hordes of enemies coming for me. Thankfully with the invulnerability everything is made easy.

Going back now, a few stragglers appear, and I head for the southern reaches, where inspecting a marble tablet with a face on it lowers the whole damn wall. A few snipers including a cyber are around, so I run for the blue key next. The blue key is then used for two towers near ground floor, one of which has the yellow key with one very assholish arch-vile trap that fucking fucked up fucking everything I had at one point. The other, well a switch. This one opens a teleporter which helps telefrag all those mancubi from earlier, and a secret with a BFG is here too.

Climbing up to where the cyberdemon was, looks like the front gate isn't accessible, but a side path to a yellow door is. There's a switch in these halls which lowers the bars around the front gate switch. I head back since there's no way through anyways. The front gate holds a hell lot of nobles in it, and a weird lava warp that, you guessed it, another overcliched death exit. And that's just after the previous one. Beating them, there's two paths to take to get to the room behind that portal. Either one is fine really. I believe a cyberdemon appears after you press the final switch and head through the teleporter, but I think he appears on higher settings.

[rehelekretep]

map20 - fda here

this one was quite fun. the trenches in the first area were a bit too narrow and disruptive for my liking, and there was quite a bit of superfluous detailing but it was nice to have a real sandbox to run around in; pity it can just be run away from and the hordes cant follow you through the one trench to the rest of the map.

blood arena was cool also. the final cyberdemon absolutely demolished me while i used the PG so switched to the SSG for the repeat!

[DAZZER]

MAP18: Computer Complex
Difficulty - UV
Time - 18:17

Pretty easy Map if you compare it to the Maps before ^^ which doesnt mean this Level was bad. It felt more then any other map until now like a Doom 1 Tech Map. And that comes from the Original Doom Maps which are copied and were clever put into the Map ^^ I think It was E1M2 E1M5 and E1M7 (maybe forgot or didnt see some) There are no Archviles, Cacodemons or Pain Elementals in this Level which makes it so easy... and so Doom 1 like ;D

[Demtor]

MAP20 - “Border World
gzDoom - UV - Continuous

Very different kind of start where after teleporting you end up in a quiet, seemingly abandoned, tech base but soon discover this hellish battlefield. Equipped with next to nothing you desperately have to sprint to the back to find weapons which really piss off the hounds of hell as they start warping in and giving chase. Great stuff.

I didn't expect to be running in trenches from bunker to bunker in a Doom map but a sight like this will keep your head ducked down pretty regularly especially when there are two Masterminds walking about! Felt very cramped at times but there was just enough room to scamper around from bunker to bunker trying to start in fighting while avoiding enemy fire. Lots of hit and run stuff. Pop up out of cover, take down a couple bigger guys before drawing too much attention, then duck back down again and scramble for health and more ammo.

All that combat just to kick things off as the last half of this map took place on the other end but first you have to re visit and fully explore the base you started at again which was really enjoyable thanks to some enemies populating the empty spaces and a side trip across a bridge and up a tower.

Eventually you drop this gigantic wall into quite an awesome canyon of blood with islands to connect to more towers and a larger portion of marble covered rock with giant evil columns where a Cyberdemon dwells above. It's a really cool area with lots of angles and action below as imps camp out in every nook and caco's flying everywhere. The hair raising climb up the cliff with a Cyberdemon breathing down your neck is always great.

All in all, really fun stuff throughout here with multiple phases of enemies triggered and spawned again to blast at you from afar after grabbing the YK. If you didn't die immediately to the slightly unfair AV ambush there, you are a quicker player than I. That was a real pisser initially. Second and third attempts went a little better.

The horde of nobles later was a lot of fun. Lots of room to deal with it but that was an impressive amount of satanic beef. Exploring the side area with all of the evil architecture was impressive. Once you step further in to where the gate in the background is you can draw out a lot of guys to fight with the mancubi across the way. Fun stuff running between those pillars. Deeper in around the surrounding hallways you'll find a lot of tough enemies mixed in with good visual setpieces and another run in with some AVs.




There is some really cool stuff packed in to such a smaller area of this map. Overall this was a challenging multi layer map that kept revealing more and more of itself as you go which I really like. Collected quite an array of arms and ammo, but alas... you lose all of your gear again at the end. Ah well. Demonic gateways and portals are just not very accommodating to the average space marine.

[Pirx]

got behind promptly at the 15/31/32/16 mark as usual :p


MAP15 - “The Vault”

a large uac research facility with a main corridor connecting several sections. this corridor is subdivided by blast doors which need to be openend or circumvented elsewhere. quite pleasing visually again, with mostly tech texture, computer panels and the like in the dark, inspired by doom3, and striking red and blue lining. from the start, turn right first, and get the ssg behind a panel, since the map relies on it - overly so, i think. combat is less inspired than the visuals, consisting mostly in methodical ssg-ing groups of enemies placed more or less in front of the player. exiting to map 16 or 31 is presented as a choice, depending on whether you can find the key, and the secret exit already looks like a preview of map31's design.



MAP31 - “Diabolus Ex Machina”

secret map in a techno-hellish design supposed to represent the unreality of the place you are visiting. large monster count, but it's not very threatening, compared to slaughter maps, as you have enough space to run circles around them, or the enemies are placed in a way that helps them infight quickly. nevertheless i managed to die in the outdoor area with the revs, hks and mastermind, for trying too hard to make them infight. contrast that with simply shooting them, for which ammo is amply provided, and getting away with barely a scratch. still a map with memorable visuals, such as the "sky wheel" with corpses hanging from it. getting to map32 involves shooting some kens, an intricate process that requires more patience than i have...



MAP32 - “Spear of Destiny”

...especially as i see wolf3d map in doom as a break in style with their cartoony graphics and flatness. but here, z86 combines wolf3d and doom textures in a natural looking way, and the map is quite elaborate in architecture with its libraries and wooden support beams. i too think that the tower with the spear of destiny is inspired by spear's title graphics. upon grabbing the spear you're teleported into hell, to fight a single cyber and his specter horde - a toothless encounter, same as the ss dudes before, unfortunately. the archviles at the red door were the only surprise. when you get back you see how the entrance to map16 has been overgrown by the organic hellstuff - i'm impressed how z86 manages to give a sense of continuity to the adventure.


closing here for today, as i'm still on my way through map16... getting weapons and ammo here is not the problem, as i'm playing from pistol start, and i've also decimated the caco swarm... but knowing where the hell i'm going is ;)

[rehelekretep]

map21 - demo here

lol

[baja blast rd.]

Haha, I love the 0% kills. Usually at least one monster succumbs to infighting in most runs like this.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 20 -- Borderworld - 102% Kills / 100% Secrets
For the third time in a row, here we see a map that trades in IWAD references, this time Doom II's m28 and m29, here rendered chiefly in ash and blood with pockets of corrupted techbase and gothic marble at its beginning and end, respectively. There's a fundamental difference between what's seen here and what was seen in the previous two maps, however; in "Borderworld" Z86 has borrowed memorable concepts from these levels on a very general level, and then summarily repurposed and reimagined them to suit his own ends. The result is something that, while immediately evocative of Doom II's endgame levels, is very much its own thing, in contrast to the baldfaced architectural and conceptual transplants of m19 and especially m18.

The monstercount of 450+ is rather misleading in this case. "Borderworld" is a medium-length map at most, showcasing its ideas in very direct and immediate ways, never dwelling on one for any extended period of time before moving on to the next. In the context of the set's persistently simple (yet persistently bloody) combat, this gives the level something of a different feel from everything that has proceeded it, a quick series of conceptual vignettes loosely united by general aesthetic (though even here there is some disparity), accented by its uncharacteristic shortform weapon progression which hands out most of the arsenal in very short order (with the BFG available in a secret as a luxury item). As TheOrganGrinder says, it is thus a level that seems to stand alone in some sense, an extended intermezzo between the end of E2 and the beginning of Z86's vision of Hell in E3.

The first of the aforementioned concepts is of course the 'trench' segment, which was surprisingly short (to me) but not quite what I'd call trivial. In gameplay/progression terms it's essentially a cinematically elaborate way of tooling you up from pistol-start (which all players will again face here courtesy of m19's death exit), yet not quite what I'd call trivial, as remaining in the trenches for too long in the early going can be deceptively dangerous--I actually very nearly died here when a bunch of cacodemons I didn't see coming trapped me in the little RL dugout and took turns gnawing on me for horrifying damage until I managed to break free--thank badness for the plasma gun, and for the nearby megasphere. The red key found in the small caves at the back of the area has a huge monster-flood tied to it, which can synergize nicely with the topside spider masterminds (which otherwise serve as little but momentary props to enforce the brief trench-running sequence); I reckon that the V-sphere which becomes available nearby (along with the level's SSG and the aforementioned megasphere) goes too far in trivializing this, though players accustomed to horde-flooding scenarios can likely control the tide with little but a decisive rocket-barrage and a few dodges. As has often been the case in the mapset, though, if you've a mind to do so there's room to stretch this out in novel ways, i.e. by retreating back to one of the pillboxes in the trenches, which some experimentation suggests may actually be trickier from an attrition standpoint in spite of installing a solid barrier between them and you. Choreographic considerations aside, this whole segment is again emblematic of the mapset's bent towards cinema and marrying narrative with gameplay, and in that regard is one of the most novel ideas seen in the set thus far.

A more traditional take on the cinematic unfolds at the kickoff of the map's second half, with the huge ashen cavern and its marble bastion slowly revealed through the gradual crumbling of a massive wall--the sort of thing that might feasibly involve 'earthquake' tags in different engine spec. The large area thus revealed, apart from reading like an imaginative riff on the final objective of the iconic "The Living End", trades the hordes and trench-congestion of the previous segment for a more standard Hellbound offering of lots of monsters (and thus lots of firepower) spread out over a generous playspace, though here sharp height changes and the omnipresent harmful blood which seems to be the defining feature of the Borderworld places a soft restriction on simply running around carefree, though there are plenty of radsuits to mitigate this. I personally felt that this area needed more concerted opposition--more flyers, most likely--though the cyberdemon at least does a decent job of keeping you on the move, as his position affords him an excellent degree of overwatch. There's an attempt to reuse the area for a second battle following the acquisition of the YK (which also involves what is arguably Hellbound's first trap with real insta-kill potential, though savvy players should be able to suspect, read, and react in time to avoid such a fate), and I suspect that on a replay it's probably more fun to combine this bit and the two short tech-tower climbs.

Following the fortress gate opening and the ensuing festivities of what may or may not be a Deus Vult II reference, the level extends further into a marble stronghold thematically reminiscent of the haunted halls in the deeper reaches of "Encrus Station" from earlier on. I think I agree with Gaspe that this bit at the tail end reads more like padding in what is otherwise a deceptively snappy map (esp. by Hellbound standards). The shift towards frontal hall-clearing away from more conceptual fights is very pronounced here and seems somewhat out of step with the rest; I reckon I'd have preferred the level conclude with the noble stampede (which is essentially threatless, but again, cinematic) and then the cyberdemon guarding the gate, he's a good hubris-magnet as far as tempting the two-shot goes.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 21 -- The Gates of Hell - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Dig the stiff with the clip rotting behind the dimensional gate at the start. Strangely ominous.

On top of sidestepping the map07 = Dead Simple trope, here Hellbound also avoids the map 21 = Tyson/austerity trope, although this is perhaps not too surprising given its general bent up to now. This is still a very short map, however--by far the shortest in the set thus far. Gameplay is extremely simple here, to the point that it's almost entirely ceremonial, rather than anything substantial, even by the WAD's loping, leisurely standards. Basically, you shotgun a few assorted beasties before wandering over to an ominous temple facade, and then sort of jog around for a few minutes while a 100-monster salad emanating from places unknown proceeds to soundly toss itself. There is a cyberdemon present, but he is positioned on a sunken causeway and is extremely easy to avoid entirely if you've the notion. At some point you need to step into the temple proper and claim the red skull from its eldritch altar of queasily undulating flesh-nodules, which theoretically involves brushes with whatever monsters haven't already dispatched themselves at that point, but given the scale of the space it's again extremely easy to ignore them entirely. This seems to be what Z86 assumes players will do, too--not sure how to interpret that, honestly--as the key actuates a switch opening the exit door, rousing an infernal vicar to action before he promptly ports away, moments before the player is in turn ported back to the facade (the vile reappears on the bridge and so is effectively just as useless as the cyberdemon was). I suppose the thrust here is pretty straightforward, but again, it doesn't really make a lot of sense, since there is absolutely nothing to prevent you from jogging right back to the exit immediately afterwards. Topping it all off, there's another gratuitous V-sphere sitting down on the causeway bridge, as though the general scenario weren't utterly toothless enough to begin with. I'm all for open-ended scenarios using lots of space and straightforward placements in order to invite players to direct their own scenes, and it's crystal clear that this level is intended primarily as an intro sequence rather than a map proper, but this really rather half-baked regardless.

Aesthetically it's a bit more substantial, at least. The opening shot is quite striking, something that's been oddly rare in a mapset as consistently scenic as this one. The theme is a classic Inferno patois of malevolent red crags and defiles scorched by a river of brimstone, with a very arch ancient temple of green marble and black iron nestled in the valley. Bits and pieces of body-horror and other miscellaneous themes crop up here and there to lend an extra edge of surreality, most notably the case with the anomalous twin vortexes of tortured soul-essence which serve as your tickertape parade just before Hell formally rolls out the red carpet for you. Spacious and shadowy, it's a solid presentation that does a good job of lending its classic blend of art assets a proper/authentic air of menace (few things worse than a cheerily-lit Hell map, IMO), though I felt the temple interior loses a little something by dint of being almost totally symmetrical. The BGM track's also not much of a winner, I must say....it appears to be "Shawn's Got the Shotgun" with an extra layer of warbling guitar-synth that sounds cheaper in make than the tones of the base song added on top of it--pretty suspect.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP21: The Gates of Hell

Short and sweet despite its use of large outdoor spaces, this one mostly serves to genuinely introduce Hellbound's take on the infernal aesthetic after the teasers present in some of the earlier maps (the side trips in MAP07 and MAP09, plus the small infernal bastion in MAP13) and to begin equipping the player anew for their fight against the demonic hordes on their home turf. The shotgun, plasma gun, and berserk pack are on offer, but the relatively modest population of monsters (82 on Hurt Me Plenty) can be coaxed into doing some of your work for you. There's a cyberdemon standing guard over the red key, but the provided invulnerability essentially makes this an exercise in hoarding your plasma and hosing him down during that window of opportunity, if you want to take that option. Its brevity helps this one to stand out; I think the impact of the theme change would be diminished if the map itself were just as long, large, and intricate as what's come before (and what lies ahead). Lots of nifty little nuggets of detail, too, from the damaged teleport beacon with its dead guard marking the absolute limit of UAC's forays into Hell, to the gloomy torture chamber within the barbican that guards the approach to the infernal temple proper.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP21 The Gates of Hell

I think I prefer the more atmospheric MAP21's to the overcliched berserk-Tyson-shortage-whatever type MAP21's. This is of the former, with no enemies until after raising that first bridge. Eh, I'll just run past the baron and pick up the plasma gun, how about that? Better than wasting time popping shells into his face. The next open area gives us the berserk and some demons, fine. Going down the stairs reveals an invulnerability, as well as a cyberdemon who just shows up here, so I use it there. Then I storm the castle, figure out the red key while enemies teleport around, and exioh wait, a surprise teleport back, to ensure that I fight some more. Too bad I killed the majority by the time I hit that. Short, and generic. But we are in hell now so expect no base traffic.

[sazza]

Map 16 - City Bounds
Another massive city map, this time we seem to be in more of a slums with a massive overpass cutting through the area. After clearing out the bottom area you make your way to the yellow key (although that took me a while to find the right door) before unleashing the swarm of cacos. I remember there being a lot more cacos last time I played though, I didn't manage to run out of ammo this time. Through the yellow key door and a demonic teleporter we leave the city itself and enter the canyon area, travelling through the massive canyons we find the red key on the corpse of another marine, allowing us access through to the starport. The fighting here is mostly letting the critters kill each other, as well as letting loose various bouts of plasma and rockets until everything falls down.

Map 17 - Starport
We arrive in the star port, a massive installation with a lot to explore, most of the map is spent running through the installation just trying to find out where everything is. As per the norm for Hellbound the place looks amazing, like its almost a real area. After getting a few keys we make our way to the runway, where all hell breaks loose as usual. The actual fight itself isn't too difficult, a bit of circle strafing and the monsters tend to take care of themselves. It was a bit startling turning around and seeing a horde of arachnotrons in my face, I had completely forgotten about them from last time.

[gaspe]

MAP21: It's pretty much something I would expect from the opener of a hell themed E3. It feels a bit like playing E3M1 for the first times as the ammo don't seem enough to kill all the stuff, but some infight and a invuln. orb will help you. The starting area is taken from Doom 3, I remember that one level has also few other homages to Doom 3 hell but I guess we will see it later then. Am I the only one who think that the music track is awful? It's like someone pasted over the original MAP07 song the guitar riffs from South of Heaven by Slayer, but the melodies don't match.

[Demtor]

MAP21 - “The Gates of Hell”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous

The music is indeed terrible. So is this map. It's the worst so far IMO. A short, uninspired Doom 3 rip off. Blah, no thanks. The final area is okay, but it's not enough to save such a boring attempt at a "Gates of Hell" kind of deal. After all of the really cool environments and settings we've seen so far, I really thought something entitled Hellbound would have had a better gateway to hell map. This... felt phoned in, so to speak.

[DAZZER]

MAP19: Frontier Lab
Difficulty - UV
Time - 31:17

Needless to say this Level was very inspired from E2 Maps :) which is a cool thing... But that doesnt save the Map from its Gameplay :c pretty boring... there is nothing which makes you think "I didnt see that coming !". The most is foreseeable (without the Cyber in the Box :D)... But a good thing is that this Map uses more Demons then Hitscanners ! realy grateful for that ^^ A good Map for the End of Episode 2 but nothing special here :)