Worst map in The Plutonia Experiment

[superchargecacodemons800]

In Plutonia, I haven't seen a stupid map, and I think that all maps (except Neurosphere) are pretty, and there is no ugliness at all, so which map do you think is the worst in the wad?
 

Addition to that, I think that Map18, Neurosphere of Plutonia, is the worst, because one of the Casali brothers thought of stealing the design for Map14, The Inmost Dens of Doom II.

[Deleted_Account]

Map 04: Caged

[Xyzzу]

Tombstone, the look and gameplay just feel so bland compared to the rest or the maps.

[Magnusblitz]

49 minutes ago, superchargecacodemons799 said:

Addition to that, I think that Map18, Neurosphere of Plutonia, is the worst, because one of the Casali brothers thought of stealing the design for Map14, The Inmost Dens of Doom II.

Plutonia is full of IWAD layout/design re-uses, so you can't just single out one map for that. MAP21 "Slayer" is Doom II's MAP11. The start of MAP12 "Speed" is E3M1 and the start of MAP19 "NME" is E2M1. And so on and so forth...

[leodoom85]

1 hour ago, Magnusblitz said:

Plutonia is full of IWAD layout/design re-uses, so you can't just single out one map for that. MAP21 "Slayer" is Doom II's MAP11. The start of MAP12 "Speed" is E3M1 and the start of MAP19 "NME" is E2M1. And so on and so forth...

and don't forget Go 2 It. Heck, even in Plutonia 2 uses E1M1 for Go 4 It...

[Erick]

My least favorite map goes to MAP17: Compound, I don't really find the map all that appealing with having to walk on toxic from the start and the rest of it being rather short and uninteresting to play. Also might be that the difficulty in the level just kind of sloppy, I do find it notably easier than the levels prior to it.

[Nine Inch Heels]

2 hours ago, superchargecacodemons799 said:

Addition to that, I think that Map18, Neurosphere of Plutonia, is the worst, because one of the Casali brothers thought of stealing the design for Map14, The Inmost Dens of Doom II.

Since when is adopting a well known and respected visual theme the same as "stealing" the "design" from an older map? Why does a similar visual theme make a map bad? And how could it possibly be stealing if "id" themselves tested the entire set of maps and deemed it good enough to be officially released as part of the DooM franchise?

[Memfis]

Well, the obvious answer is 11, which aged horribly, but I'll let it slide since at the time it was clever and scary. 30 and 31 are also very easy to attack as outdated gimmick levels but again, it was a different time, so they get a free pass.

 

With that in mind, I'm gonna go with 16. The moving bridge setup is awkward as hell, the design of the last outdoor room is a complete failure, the music choice is one of the worst in the wad, it is dull looking and appears to have been made hastily. I still very much enjoyed speedrunning it though!

 

How could anyone say 04 or 23?

[baja blast rd.]

The map with the revenants, chaingunners, and archviles! 

 

/s  

[printz]

9 minutes ago, Memfis said:

Well, the obvious answer is 11, which aged horribly

That map can be improved, even in vanilla Plutonia, by replacing those doors with lifts, and maybe even adding pinky demons. Then the archviles and demons will be able to open the doors to follow you, increasing the tension.

 

A map that I hate in Plutonia is "Abattoir", because of the huge ambush room. If you don't know what to do in advance, your chances are too low.

[Tristan]

14 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

And how could it possibly be stealing if "id" themselves tested the entire set of maps and deemed it good enough to be officially released as part of the DooM franchise?

Indeed, id had previously demonstrated that they weren't afraid to keep crappy remakes out of commercial releases, with Tom Mustaine's ill-fated MAP14 ripoff for the Master Levels.

 

When I first saw this shot, I thought it was MAP14, with different textures. Now that's stealing! Fortunately he went on to make Paradox, which was just a better map on all fronts.

 

As for Plutonia, I have to say 11's snooze-fest. Nothing else is jumping out at me as being particularly bad right now, actually.

[Philnemba]

Personally to me there is no such thing as a "worst" Plutonia Experiment map.

[leodoom85]

1 minute ago, Philnemba said:

Personally to me there is no such thing as a "worst" Plutonia Experiment map.

Same. There are least favorite maps without a doubt but I can't see the worst map in the compilation...

[Scotty]

I always thought Sewers was pretty drawn out, toothless and lacked any really memorable areas or fights.

 

Seeing Caged and Hunted mentioned is surprising to me, especially Caged, one of the best Plutonia maps imo...

[NuMetalManiak]

The maps I like the least are the ones that have the chaingunners resurrected by the hidden arch-viles. Perpetual turrets suck.

[leodoom85]

Just now, NuMetalManiak said:

The maps I like the least are the ones that have the chaingunners resurrected by the hidden arch-viles. Perpetual turrets suck.

Hmm....Anti-Christ is one of them -_-

[Megalyth]

I've never liked Hunted. It's a Wolf3D map spamming a monster that poses no threat in a corridor setting. Yeah, it was a bit unsettling seeing so many of them at the start, but they were all reduced to doors with health.

[Reisal]

Hunted. Boring, tedious, monotonous, easy to get lost and worst of all, no automap(?).

[joepallai]

Bunker (Map26) was my least favorite--it felt boring compared to everything else

[Job]

I can't really think of a nice way to say "all of them." 

[SleepyVelvet]

Map28: Sewers from plutonia.wad is like the Map25: Bloodfalls of doom2.wad

I can enjoy both maps on some level, but they're room-n'-corridor heavy in a way that makes them seem more bland and uninteresting to explore when compared to the rest of the maps.

 

Hunted is simply too iconic to be considered a bad map for me; it's an example of a map that is better when you are newer at doom and less skilled, when you probably rely on a more cautious and timid playstyle.  Because of this, Hunted had the strongest impression on me.  I've never had the urge to replay it though, keep in mind.  It just goes down in memory as one of the most terrifying maps I've ever played.

 

If I were held at gunpoint and forced to choose, I'd choose Sewers.

[valkiriforce]

I don't think there are any bad maps in The Plutonia Experiment - it was arguably the first fan-produced set of maps I'd ever played after The Ultimate Doom and Doom II, and I was consistently impressed with the quality of design and cleanness of architecture that went level after level. The only map I could say I found less interesting than the other maps would be NME, since it has smaller areas connected with teleports, including a solitary bridge teleport area and the following teleport leads you to an otherwise empty room. Despite that though it was incredibly engaging to play on Nightmare when we played it over TNS (also lol @ exit room full of multiplayer archviles).

 

And dang, people mentioning The Sewers? I always loved that map, I found it to be sprawling and spooky with that Doom 1 music track - trudging through a sewer system all alone with your only neighbors being demon-spawn. Kind of reminds me of Shadows of The Empire for the N64, with that creepy sewer level with tentacle monsters hiding in the waters. Just looking at the map inspires me - I like to look at it as a humongous playground where you fight lots of demon spawn:

 

 

It's the kind of design that looks like it came from free-form thinking and just playing around and having fun in the editor.

[leodoom85]

The Sewers is fine by me to be honest. Same for The Omen (map16) and the other maps that are in the middle of the mapset (from map17 to map 23).

[Gifty]

The entire final episode. Everything before that is extremely solid.

[Megalyth]

I feel I should clarify, I don't think Hunted is objectively bad, especially within the context of Plutonia. In fact, it's a bit clever in its placement as a variation on the theme, like the authors were saying "So you think you've got it all figured out? Try this on for size."

 

I just personally didn't derive any enjoyment beyond the initial shock of seeing so many arch-viles. In execution it was just hosing them down with plasma as they appeared one after another.

 

I don't claim to know the perfect deployment of the arch-vile, but it can be used to much greater effect.

[june gloom]

15 is God's punishment for an evil world.

[The Nate]

Which one was the one with the invisible bridge again?

[superchargecacodemons800]

8 hours ago, Sgt Jack V said:

Which one was the one with the invisible bridge again?

The first with invisible floor was Well of Souls. The second was the invisible bridge (however it is marked with torches) to the blue key in Aztec.

[scifista42]

MAP03 seemed relatively bland. Admittedly, I still haven't properly fully played many of the later maps, though I've been running around them with cheats many times.

[The Nate]

2 hours ago, superchargecacodemons799 said:

The first with invisible floor was Well of Souls. The second was the invisible bridge (however it is marked with torches) to the blue key in Aztec.

Yes, I didn't realize there was an invisible bridge for a long time.