T-Rex

8 minutes ago, DJVCardMaster said:

Have in mind that Abattoire, while being a map that looks nothing like other Milo maps, in fact they look like Dario ones, we know it's from him, since this map was uploaded to /idgames as a standalone map, BUTCHER.WAD, under his name. Abattoire looks like a Dario map, making it feel like both had similar styles, until Milo decided to test new grounds, like staying with 32 line grid and fancy circular corners, possibly to save time and make maps on a faster pace. Having a Tom Hall "canvas" is one of the things you would use to make maps on a faster pace, I tend to do it myself lately.

If you take a closer look at the map, however, there's a circular area in which you collect the yellow key, including a circular walkway at the final area, and some of Milo's maps would have the green marble ceiling and brown floor combination which this map has in some sections while Dario never did, and some of the wood-metal texture selections look at bit like what he applied in parts of Memento Mori's Map23: Showdown and Map30: Viper. And speaking of texture selection, I noticed that one of Milo's signature tropes is having a texture near the end of a room that "wraps" around the texture of the main passages, usually the rusted metal texture with the rivets lined vertically or the vertical wooden textures, which is often seen in his maps, but Realm, The Crypt, and The Temple of Darkness don't have those characteristics, and Abattoire used the fire wall and blood floor texture combinations seen in speed, so you can tell that's by Milo.

After playing some Hell Revealed to get me up for Plutonia, it's time to play some more.

Map12: Speed (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 09:15

Phew! I'm speechless at how punishing this map is. It's incredibly tough, and probably one of the hardest normal maps in Plutonia. The start isn't so bad as you first battle a few imps that pop out of the ground, but once you open the door at the bottom of the stairs, things really get intense and chaotic. Every bit of this map is dangerous with no safe spots as no matter where you go while you're fighting the enemies, you can get sniped anywhere, with shotgunners overlooking balconies and even the chaingunners from far distances. You also need to take out an arch-vile with a rocket launcher, but be ready to run for it and hide when he begins to light you up. The worst and most offending part however is the cyberdemon fight as you need to ride up an elevator to the higher ground in order to attack him, but watch out as he can quickly fire his rockets and if you don't act fast, you're dead. I barely managed to survive that part, but I was able to find a certain spot where his rockets will hit the torch stands instead of heading towards you and you can BFG him, but still, you have to be careful cause there's a good chance he can hit you if he's at the right position. On top of that, you also got more sniper chaingunners to deal with. Collect all the keys, find the switches guarded by the teleporting arch-viles, and locate the switch that opens the door south of the cyberdemon area where you get more sniper chaingunners, including some revenants that make their way towards you. The final part is just as ridiculous as you need to raise platforms but constantly taking cover from even more sniper chaingunners, and there's some revenants you need to watch out for, not to mention the arch-vile guarding the switch in the middle. And there's the switch to the exit guarded by chaingunners. Losing health to those snipers is inevitable as they're placed very nastily. Nicely designed level, but damn, this map really worked me up a sweat. Also worth mentioning that this is one of the two Plutonia maps with no deathmatch starts.

Map13: The Crypt (attributed to Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 06:33

Like Realm, I find it doubtful that this is by Milo Casali as it lacks his signature Tom Hall-ish geometry. The level design credits aren't always accurate so it's best to take them with a grain of salt, but I would consider this a Dario map. Other than that, this one's a bit more calmer than the previous level, except for the start with the lost souls, though there are still a couple of spots you have to be careful. When you grab the yellow key, prepare for an ambush of enemies that are revealed from the squares that lower. Take the yellow key door to the right as the left one requires also requires a blue key, which you'll find at the east section. Opposition there is mostly manageable, but get ready to take on a slew of chaingunners in the indoor area where they rise up from the blood, and when you attack them, a revenant spawns in. Locate the switch that lowers the teleporter to the blue key and don't forget that when you jump down the bloodfall, a swicth will be temporarily revealed, so hurry for it to lower the soul sphere platform which counts as a secret. Return to the atrium and take the right yellow key door to open the blue key door for a switch guarded by a baron. The ending has you dealing with a revenant ambush aside from some hitscanners, and keep an on the arch-vile at the window. Hit the switch to reveal the exit teleporter, but watch your back as the door lowers revealing another arch-vile and some zombies, including pain elementals from the sides. Thankfully a relatively easier map from the previous, and pretty fun with some good stuff, but still throws in a few nasty surprises.

Alright, time for my break from Plutonia. See you in the next couple of maps!

5 hours ago, DJVCardMaster said:

Possibly Realm is one of the older maps. I'd like to know what you guys think, which ones are the TNT rejections/older 8 maps?

I'm not too sure. It's too small to be considered a TNT rejection. That said, I still question if Realm really is a Milo Casali map because stylistically it looks more like it's by Dario, especially if you compare it to his other maps we played through. There's a later map credited by Dario that looks more like a Milo map, which you'll see when we get there, and given its size, I believe it's one of the TNT rejected maps.

Time to tackle the two maps to close the first episode of Plutonia! Let's go!

Map10: Onslaught (Dario Casali)

104% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 07:02

Plutonia is one sadistic bastard, and it certainly ratchets it up with this evil level. Right from the start you have chaingunner facing you and he will do massive damage if you don't act quickly. On pistol start, it's worse as you have to run and kill a shotgunner so you can have a better weapon to take out the chaingunner. Things don't get any calmer however, for as soon as you grab the blue key, prepare for a nasty ambush with chaingunners and cacodemons coming out of opened alcoves. Luckily, with the partial invisibility, the chaingunners will misfire at times and can hurt each other for an infight, but it's also a double-edged sword as the cacodemons can be unpredictable, so be very careful. With the blue key, you can open the door and hit the switch to open the bars, but get ready for a wall to open revealing revenants. Don't be too distracted though, as behind you a wall opens from where you start revealing an arachnotron. Prepare for some taking cover and firing your shots while fending off against the enemies on continuous play, otherwise, run like hell onward to your left while evading the revenants, including some mancubi and sniper chaingunners, but another lethal part awaits as you'll see a door ahead, but running to it opens ledges holding chaingunners and when you open the door, you'll be greeted by a baron. You have to coax him out, but be wary of the chaingunners, and if you haven't killed them, there are the revenants and mancubi coming towards you. This is a point where you really need to carve out a path without taking too much damage so you can get the baron out of the room and race inside to hit the switch before you get killed. You'll be quickly lowered to what looks like a sewage network, but there's pinkies waiting for you, so get ready to kill them pronto. You must now have a safe foothold for a while as the next section is just traversing the sewers taking out some shotgunners, spectres and hell knights, but once you return to the surface and hit the switch that lowers the yellow key, prepare for hell as two archviles will spawn, one right on the yellow and the other in the control room filled with chaingunners, and they can see you almost anywhere, Grabbing the yellow key will also spawn more nasties, including hell knights, revenants, pain elementals and imps. Immediately wipe out the enemies in the outdoor area while being mindful of the arch-vile and chaingunners inside. Then once they're dead, you can enter the yellow key door to deal with the remaining enemies and obtain the red key. Everything else is fairly calm up to the end, with the exception of a couple of ambushes at the end where you deal with shotgunners, hell knights and a baron. This is a very tough level and it pulls no punches, but it's pretty good.  

Map11: Hunted (Dario Casali)

77% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 10:15

Ugh, this is such a horrible level. The concept of a maze filled with arch-viles is quite intriguing and it is what became inspiration of Plutonia 2's Arch-Violence and Hell Revealed's Map27: Cyberpunk, with the cyberdemon (or baron) maze, but in terms of level design, it leaves a lot to be desired. It's drab, it's ugly, and it's so samey. You get nothing but a super shotgun and the ammo and backpack to take on the arch-viles, which isn't so much of problem when you know how to take advantage of the delay in their attacks so you can take cover around the corners. Stunning those firebrands is somewhat satisfying whenever it happens, but at times it can work against you when you're trying to take cover after taking your shots and the arch-vile continues chasing after you. That's the least of my gripes with the map. The thing that kills it is the linedef triggers that open the doors. Granted, once you know which linedef triggers which door, you can blitz through the map, but even so, it takes a lot of guesswork and you could be wandering aimlessly for ages trying to find progress. There is a hidden switch that lowers certain floor sectors showing lights to indicate a path, especially to the keys, but they can only do much, and speaking of the keys, as expected they won't be easy to find unless you remember where they are after playing Plutonia plenty of times, but I'm not a fan of how the switches open the bars from the other side, meaning you have to traverse through the maze again to find your way to the other switch to open the other bars, both of which lead to the teleporter to the exit area, and that makes this map such a chore to play through. Thankfully, you get a berserk pack to heal up if you've taken damage from the arch-viles, but try to avoid letting them land a hit on you, especially if you have armour as this map gives you none of that. The ending has you running up to some health potions and finally the BFG9000 which you'll be needing for many of the upcoming maps. There are two exit teleporters, the one to the left ends the map, while the right takes you to a box surrounded by arch-viles that will incinerate you until your health is below 10% in which by then the map ends. I don't bother going for 100% kills as firstly, it's virtually impossible to pull off even with the BFG. Second, the fact of that matter makes getting 100% kills not even worth it in the first place, and third I rather keep my health and remaining armour intact for the next level. At least in Plutonia 2's Map11, it's mandatory to lose your health to all those arch-viles at the ending dark area. Sorry, guys, but Hunted is my least favourite map in Plutonia. Dario Casali may be a legendary mapper from the 90s era of Doom, but he really made a stinker with this level. The delivery of the concept is very clunky at best, the design looks so dour, and having to backtrack with the key switches is not fun and such a cruel prank, which combine all the tedium of traversing the maze twice or more after playing hide-and-seek with the arch-viles makes it such a drag. Least I kinda see the idea of having Doom's Sweet Little Dead Bunny being played for this level.

So, the first episode starts off quite mercilessly, giving you quite a whipping if you don't know what you're in for, but presents very well the intense challenge of Plutonia as a whole and is fun once you're familiar with it. Too bad the episode had to have such a lacklustre time-wasting finish. I expect we'll get better maps as we go on, though. I'll be seeing you guys again later on for the next few maps. Have a good evening!

Back again to continue on Plutonia. Getting close to finishing the first episode.

Map07: Caughtyard (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 04:13

This is just a knockoff of Doom's 2 Dead Simple, but done in a very creative fashion, and this would serve as inspiration for Alien Vendetta's Showdown, and of course the sequels to Plutonia, with Enemy Caught for Plutonia 2 and Caughtisle for PRCP. It will also be lifted for the large central area in Hell Revealed's Map18: Hard Attack. First things, kill all the mancubi and fast because you won't have anywhere to take cover if you let them gang up on you. The zombiemen (making their first appearance this late in Plutonia unless you play ITYTD/HNTR in which you face a few on Congo) pose no threat so don't bother with them for now. However, once all the mancubi are dead and the walls lower, you can enter either of the revealed elevators, each containing a baron, but watch out, because now firing a shot will alert a gaggle of revenants, and they can really wreak havoc on you. Ignore the baron and focus on the skeletons with your rocket launcher, but if you got a plasma gun on continuous play, you can take one of the elevators and waste them all with it, but mind your back as you can be attacked while you're killing the revenants in front of you. With them defeated, you can collect the yellow key and megasphere from running down the stairs to jump on the fountain, but beware, because you'll be facing a rather annoying caged arch-vile that will teleport between the two cages. Fortunately, you can take cover and attack him from one side, and shooting rockets at him will make him teleport to the other as he sets his sights on you. Now that you have the yellow key, you can open the skull bars to hit the switch that raises the bridges over the moat, but you'll get a surprise hell knight that spawns in as well. Finally, eliminate those mini spider-bots around the fort, lower the door to plummet down to a passage where you are greeted by chaingunners and a hell knight (arachnotron on UV). Don't forget the opened alcoves at the start of passage as soon as you approach the exit teleporter. Straightforward and fun, but does throw in some surprises as you progress.

Map08: Realm (attributed to Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:15

First thing I noticed, I felt that the level design information is wrong. I mean, the map doesn't look like it's by Milo Casali as it doesn't have the Tom Hall-esque geometry and has some irregular-shaped rooms. I would say it's actually a Dario map, honestly. But enough griping, what can I say about this map? Well, we're back to some hardcore knockabout gameplay, though it doesn't come yet until when you reach the main central area. The start has you stepping on water that lowers down to reveal entrance to the ruins where you have some shotgunners to take care off outside and inside. Activate the lifts where you'll battle nobles (two hell knights on ITYTD/HNTR, one hell knight and baron on HMP, and two barons on UV). Then as you get to the other end of the central area, you'll be facing pain elementals and cacodemons, including hell knights and skeletons. The pain elementals and revenants should be the first to go as they're the most annoying. Take the path to your right where there are imps, zombies and a couple of mancubi lurking along the path. Find the switch to open the door back at the big battle area, but watch out for the revenant that will come for you. Go up to the platform where the revenants were and hit the switch to lower the waterfall to your left, but you'll be facing a group of revenants. Traverse the passage and eventually as you go down steps, you'll see three switches, and hitting either one lowers the doors, but act fast as there are chaingunners and spectres. You'll soon reach a green structure with elevators to go up to the platform where you'll find the blue, but that will trigger another nasty trap as zombies will spawn from both elevators. Open the blue door another tricky fight with more zombies including those flying meatballs and tomatoes and deadly skeletons at the other end. The slime is toxic so don't linger there for too long and take cover whenever you can to avoid taking too much damage. Go up the pillars where the zombies stood to hit the switch that lowers bars to the elevator where after you take care of chaingunner and ride up, you'll be back at the water passage, and then, you can hit the blue key switch that opens the banners, but before you can reach the exit teleporter, you'll have one more lethal ambush when the revenants come spawning in (including two chaingunners on ITYTD/HNTR, revenants on HMP, or arch-viles on UV/NM). The chaos is back in this level, but more of that will be coming.

Map09: Abattoire (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 07:59

Speaking of chaotic maps, here's one that is an absolute slaughter. Fittingly enough, the level takes place in a slaughterhouse, as the title of the map suggests, despite it having a spelling mistake. Interestingly, it seems that Milo saw his earlier map Butcher.wad fit to be in Plutonia, though he did gave it some tweaking, repopulating and retexturing for the set. A rather intense start, though the very beginning isn't so intense as you're just fighting a cacodemon and some spectres. However, when you go to your right down the stairs, ride the elevator down after grabbing the super shotgun, kill the pinkies and find the secret holding the soul sphere which you'll need, the chaos begins as soon as you step into the teleporter, because you'll need to take out a bunch of pinkies first while avoiding the revenant missiles and then kill the two revenants after the demons are dead. Insane part, but it gets much more insane when you step on the revenant platform, hit both switches and kill the lost souls that appear from the doors, cause opening fire will result in a massive horde of imps and revenants spawning in from the two crushers, including more revenants coming out from an opened alcove. Luckily, there's an invulnerability in where they came from, so grab it just as hell breaks loose and wipe them all out. It's quite amusing to see the enemies getting crushed by the crushers. With that ambush done with, you can hit the switch that will reveal the blue key, and return to the starting area to go to the blue door. From there, you need to raise a walkway to the other where there are two doors, one to the yellow key and the other which you'll need the yellow key open. More intense fights with imps and chaingunners, including a mancubus and arachnotron for good measure. Get the red key but be ready for another imp and chaingunner ambush. Back to the starting area, take out the arch-vile revealed in an opened pillar and then the imps from the opened alcoves at the sides. Open all three bars to the end, but grab the partial invisibility as it will come in handy for the ending which is without a doubt the most difficult and dangerous part of the map. After killing some more imps including a couple of hell knights and a cacodemon, find a door behind where you teleported for another soul sphere, and the very final area is hell, with chaingunners in front, imps teleporting to the circular platform, lost souls and deadly snipers (hell knights on ITYTD/HNTR, arachnotrons on HMP and mancubi on UV/NM, not to mention the cyberdemon on the narrow circular platform on multiplayer). This is such a crazy level, but a really good and memorable one that I enjoy very much.

Alright, two more maps before the end of the first episode of Plutonia, but I will leave it there for now, so see you again soon!

Hey there everyone, here to continue on with Plutonia as we get more juicier, meatier gameplay. 

Map04: Caged (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 07:04

Man, the difficulty keeps on hammering, and Map 04 is no exception. Despite starting off calm at the start, chaos erupts as soon as you teleport into the main area and hit the switch that exposes you out into the open with enemies firing at you from all cylinders, including shotgunners, imps, cacodemons and revenants. First order of affair is to eliminate the shotgunners on your platform and then the revenant so he won't bombard you with homing rockets, and then eliminate the snipers from behind where he stood. The rest is manageable once that's done, but it doesn't ease up for long, you have to wipe out the revenants from the chamber with the switch that raises the stairs, and when you hit the switch that reveals the path to the yellow key, watch out cause out will come pain elementals including some chaingunners. Getting the plasma gun also requires you to do a rather precise straferun jump across the pillars over the poison sludge. When you hit the switch that raise the stairs, run like hell so you can instigate the now awakened chaingunners that were initially sleeping to infight with the hell knights. The area behind the yellow key door is rather nasty cause once you hit the switch, it opens some doors revealing a couple of imps and some hell knights and barons that teleport into playing area. A pretty lethal trap, but once you've defeated the enemies, the rest is not so problematic. Find the teleporter past the opened doors that will take you to the platform with the stairs, hit the switch and take out the mancubi guarding the blue key, and enter the blue key door to hit the switch opening the door to the exit, but you have to take out a few gunners before you can really exit and there are two teleporters. The red one teleports you to one of the alcoves the nobles teleported from and the white one takes you to the exit where you hit the switch to end the level, the only time Plutonia does something different. Dario made a pretty good yet difficult remake of Doom 2's Map26: The Abandoned Mines, but eventually we'll see Milo's own version later on. Caged may not be as hard as Aztec, but damn, it's surprisingly difficult and you could get easily and quickly killed if you're not careful and don't act fast. I like it though as it's well designed and looked as if Romero made a variation of his own creation.

Map05: Ghost Town (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:32

Another very difficult map. You start with a couple of sniper chaingunners, and don't fall into the water, because it does hurt you and you won't be able to get out. You then have to hit the switches of either one of the pillars for them to lower which will reveal a hell knight and baron (two hell knights on ITYTD/HNTR and two barons on UV). Then you have a couple of revenants to deal with before you enter the central courtyard where you have a mancubus on the upper platform, chaingunners from both ends, some cacodemons and pinkies, so yeah, quite a brutal place where you can lose a lot of health. Just make a run for it and take out those annoying chaingunners so they won't be a problem as you tackle the southeast area, which has more chaingunners, a couple of arachnotrons and the first spiderdemon in Plutonia. My strategy is to take out the arachnotrons first, then step on the grass which will reveal the gunners and spiderdemon, and then take out the chaingunners while avoiding dealing damage by hiding whenever it is needed, then once they're all dead, wipe out the bitch herself, alternating between the plasma gun and rocket launcher to conserve ammo. Don't think you can get away unscathed, cause when you step on the platform the spiderdemon was to collect the rockets, doors will open to reveal more chaingunners to replace the ones you've killed. Take them out and then grab the blue key, but haul ass because alcoves will open to reveal revenants and they can waste you with ease. Try to group them together so you can take them down with the rocket launcher. Now for the southeast area, deal with the chaingunners, and watch out as you make your way up the stairs as it will reveal another dangerous trap in which chaingunners will be revealed on the lowered pillars around the room including a hell knight and archvile (two knights in the lower difficulties and two arch-viles on UV). Once you've dealt with them, there's one more lethal trap, open the door past the top of the stairs and the Baphomet walls open revealing barons and an arch-vile guarding the blue key switch. Lure out the barons so you can kill them from the hallway without getting zapped by the arch-vile and then kill the arch-vile to hit the switch to open the door to the exit teleporter. Pretty good map, but symmetrical in design, and there are so many parts that can be troublesome if you don't know what you're doing. Again, really difficult, and it seems that out of the two authors, Milo's the one that likes to use death traps at every chance he gets, so his maps are much more brutal than Dario's. I dig the level design as it looks Greco-Roman in style.

Map06: Baron's Lair (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:53

This map is a misnomer since there aren't any barons in it. You start out in an outpost of sorts, and when you step under the skull cube, you'll be filled with goodies which you'll need for the fights that awaits, and boy are they quite tough, though nowhere near as much as Aztec and Ghost Town. Enter the door marked by the black banners and you'll have to snipe some revenants with a rocket launcher, though beware one that will teleport to your area. Once they're defeated, go down and you'll have some mancubi to take care of, and when you hit the switch on the pool below, the stairs instantly lower revealing some arachnotrons so get ready for them. Kill them all, and then hit the switch for the doors to open, one takes you to a nifty secret holding a soul sphere and the other takes you to the red key. With the red key, you can open the door marked by the red banners, where you'll have chaingunners. Open fire and a bunch of monsters will spawn in including cacodemons and pain elementals and some imps (hell knights on UV). The barrels can be useful to kill or wound the lot. Once they're taken care of, you can head down to collect the blue key. With the blue key, open the door marked by the blue banners, and you'll see a switch which lowers the wall to a fountain, but don't go in the drink as the water is harmful. Not only that, but you have a horde of pinkies and some revenants to contend with. Best bet is to wipe out the pinkies so they won't get in the way when you pump rockets to the revenants. Hit both switches, and you can access the final area which hosts some spectres, chaingunners and revenants. Don't step out there yet, but instead stay behind the lowered doors and snipe the enemies out, and then collect the megasphere via a secret you can get by hitting switches revealed at the starting area as you progress, you'll need it for the last fights and heading straight for the switch raises them up, meaning you can't get back. First one is when after you hit the switch where you face some revenants guarding a switch which reveals the first of many cyberdemons in the wad. Luckily, he's not really difficult to take out if you stay on the high ground and attack him with the plasma gun as his rockets will always hit the wall, given you adjust yourself in a position where he can't get his aim. A bit easier than expected for a Plutonia map, but don't expect it to go that easy as it still provides some unique challenges and you need to know how to make the fights a bit more manageable, especially the one with the cyberdemon.

Gonna take a break for now. Take care and have fun.

Hello, DWMC members and fellow Doomers! Long time since I've been active! So, we're tackling Plutonia, which is without a doubt the main attraction of Final Doom and considerably the best of the official id-released wads. Since I'm playing Hell Revealed at the same time, I might as well join in a take on Plutonia with the rest of you guys, and just like my TNT Evilution rundown, I'll be doing a retrospective of the wad. With that out of the way, let's get started with its origins.

The Plutonia Experiment is the second half of Final Doom, created exclusively by the legendary Casali brothers. Even though Team TNT never had any involvement in the development in this wad, due to Dario and Milo Casali still being members at the time, it somehow counted as a TNT project. Because of how well-crafted the levels were designed and the new graphics gave it a unique, vivid look, Dario Casali got the job at Valve Corporation, who were impressed by the levels he designed, and he would go on to work on Half-Life. As for the development of Plutonia, it all began when the two brothers submitted eight maps of their own to id Software, and having impressed the big guys, especially American McGee, they would get them to create a megawad for Final Doom, so they set off to create more maps, which included their small level pack, and the rest is history, from September 1995 up until January 1996, Plutonia was completed. Some of these maps were also originally TNT maps that got rejected due to being large and difficult, and I'll be getting to the difficulty in just a short bit. Even though we've been given a full list of who of the brothers designed which map, I do kinda question a couple of them, because according to the credits, Milo designed more maps than Dario, when in other sources, it says that half of Plutonia's map was designed by each brother, so I would assume that both Milo and Dario made 16 maps each to complete the full 32 level set. Not to mention that a few of the maps attributed to Milo looked more like Dario's while one attributed to Dario looked more like a Milo map. I will discuss those as we progress through the wad.

Now with the story, like TNT Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment has its own story taking place after the events of Doom 2. To prevent further incursions of demonic invasions, the newly refounded and reorganised UAC corporation decided to work on a new technology on closing interdimensional gates using Quantum Accelerator Devices. The project began innocently, but eventually was regaining too rapidly. Naturally, demons came pouring into the research complex, but fortunately in its maiden test, the Quantum Accelerator Device performed perfectly and closed the invasion gate, even as far as splitting a cyberdemon in half. Then, the next day, a ring of seven gates opened throughout the base, and the Quantum Accelerator closed all but one in time. However, the army of monsters that poured was much too powerful and numerous that they overwhelmed the marines and killed or zombified them along with the scientists and bureaucrats within. The Quantum Accelerator and its prototypes are guarded by a demon Gatekeeper including the last Gate of Hell, and you along with several marines have been summoned by the government to the ravaged complex. You know that the other marines will not stand a chance, and only you can enter the complex by yourself and face the Gatekeeper to save Earth once and for all, which will not be an easy task as the powerful army of demons stand between you and the Gatekeeper, and they are awaiting your arrival...

The Plutonia Experiment has been well received and considered by many to be the most memorable of the official wads. One of the most notable, and nasty, aspect to the wad is the intense difficulty. While TNT Evilution was a bit more challenging than The Ultimate Doom and Doom 2, there was still a natural, steady and accommodating progression in the difficulty curve and it was still easy enough for amateur players to enjoy. The Plutonia Experiment, on the other hand, consists of 32 adrenaline-charged levels and they don't let up, clearly made for the veterans of Doom who are looking for an extreme challenge. It really is a prerequisite to play the other Doom wads, because for the most part, from the first level to the end, Plutonia's difficulty goes all the way to the top. You will not be prepared for how hard, brutal, and insane this wad is going to be. The Casali Brothers make no attempt to make this an easy game or even giving a sense of progression, they really stick it to you and will start ramming you right at the very first map. Even on I'm Too Young To Die/Hey, Not Too Rough, this wad is relentless. Plutonia could very well be seen as the Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels of Doom in that sense. With that said, it's time to take on the hardest official Doom wad, and I'll be playing on Hurt Me Plenty in vanilla. Let the insanity begin!

Map01: Congo (Milo Casali)

107% kills, 0% items, 100% secrets

Time: 05:53

What a way to introduce you to Plutonia! It really sets the tone for what you will be in for, and it's not going to mess around. Right at the beginning, you got shotgunners looking down at you, chaingunners up ahead that can mercilessly snipe at you, and they're everywhere in the map, including some mancubi, arch-viles (one of which will continuously resurrect a sniper chaingunner in the central area), a pain elemental, and revenants. Did I forget to mention that on multiplayer there's a spider mastermind in the central area which you face at the beginning? Well, there is! So yeah, this is a very intense map for a starter, and this probably the "easiest," though really there's little to no discrimination of the difficulty in the upcoming levels, with the exception of the brutal secret levels, but we'll get to those when we do. True to its name, it's got a jungle theme going, which is prevalent in most of Plutonia, and the design architecture is very reminiscent of Tom Hall, of course, I will talk about the level aesthetic differences between the two brothers much later on. Although there's the custom Plutonia MIDI pack, I'm sticking with the original soundtrack, since first time playing and hearing the tracks from the first Doom game gives a sense of nostalgia when playing Plutonia.

Map02: Well of Souls (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 0% secrets

Time: 06:38

The map initially starts off peaceful, but once you hit the switch to lower the water, get ready for some chaingunners to pop out, and when you reach the bottom, you got imps to contend with. There are two routes, one leads to nowhere except being able to snipe some revenants, which I advise doing so they won't pose a problem as you'll be back in that area later on to collect the yellow key. The other is the way to the tunnel in which you got some switches to hit, many of which reveals more monsters, and the farthermost one lowers you to an area where you'll be surrounded by chaingunners and even a baron for good measure. Make a mad dash to avoid the crushers and you'll fall into a basin with pinkies, leading to another cavern with some chaingunners and a revenant. Collect the red key, return to the ambush area to hit the switch to open the door to the red key, and you have the ending which can be pretty tough as you have to battle revenants situated at the other side including some cacodemons. Shoot the computer panel as it raises bars indicating an invisible bridge, but be quick so the revenant missiles won't get you. If you can get one or both revenants to infight the cacodemons, you should be fine, and there's the exit guarded by chaingunners. Pretty tough cookie from start to finish.

Map03: Aztec (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:45

This is without a doubt the hardest map up to that point, but the worst is definitely yet to come. Another jungle-themed map in the same vein as Congo but it sure emphasises on tight winding corridors, and you have two routes to tackle, though the first one to take is the one leading to the southeast section, and get ready for a revenant in a far-off distance including an arch-vile that will rise up as soon as you enter the chamber. But that's not all, you have chaingunners awaiting up the stairs, and as soon as you step on them, an alcove opens up to reveal more chaingunners. You'll soon come to the bullshit section, which is a large chamber with arachnotrons stationed on the corners, a couple of pain elementals, and you've chaingunners at the other side guarding the blue key, not to mention the revenants that will appear when you step on the invisible bridge. Dash for the chaingunners, grab the key and gun down the pain elementals while watching the arachnotrons, then take the teleporter to take out the two arachnotrons on the south corners and then shoot your rockets at the remaining ones, and then hit the switch that will lower the barricade, but watch out for the hidden chaingunners. The corrider to the northeast section from the start has a trap that will lower you to an area with health potions, a mancubus and a chainsaw, and heading for the red key room is booby trapped as some monsters including another arch-vile and baron will surround you. Continuing up the main path will lead to another bullshit area, thankfully not as bad as the southeast one, with chaingunners and mancubi, including revenants that pop out of the ground and trying to push through will open up a couple of walls revealing pain elementals. After that onslaught, the rest is breathable as you have the red key to open the door to the switch that opens the barrier blocking the switch to lower the exit teleporter, but its guarded by one more revenant. Overall, this is a very tough map, every single area is dangerous and the arch-viles are placed in positions where they can fry you with ease, so they're very deadly. If you play this on multiplayer, just when you think the southeast bullshit area with the blue key can't get any crazy, there's a cyberdemon on the invisible bridge. Have fun with that.

That will do for me, and I'll come back to play a few more levels after the next couple of days. Plutonia's only going to get more wild and woolly as we press on, that's for sure. Going to play some Hell Revealed while I'm on my break. Catch you later, guys.

1 minute ago, Alexagon said:

Which ones are its ilk? That's essentially what I'm looking for, is to avoid any of them like the ones you listed. 

Kama Sutra, Speed of Doom, Plutonia 2, PRCP, and Scythe 2 are the ones that come to my mind aside from the ones I mentioned.

You might want to avoid wads like Plutonia, Hell Revealed, Alien Vendetta, Scythe, and the ilk, cause aside from being super-hard, they have their share of slaughter maps, though not to the same extent as Deus Vult, Sunder and Sunlust, which are all really ridiculous slaughterfests.

Might as well finish The Classic Episode, so here we go!

E2M6: Outpost 666 (Jan van der Veken/Anthony Soto)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 12:17

The placeholder map from Dawn of the Dead is here in its completed form, and this is by far my most favourite of the set, a techbase map in the Episode 1 style, but it's got some elements from Episode 2 thrown in as well, including textures and enemies. Jan only did the starting area, while the rest was all done by Anthony, if I recall correctly. Level design layout is solid all the way through with lots of areas to explore and running up and down the various levels, feeling just like a map John Romero would have done if he contributed to Episode 2. The challenge is pretty tight as well, with the regular cannon fodder of Episode 1, some cacodemons and even a few barons to tangle, though with the later, the first two are easy to snipe off. However, the last couple of baron encounters are the most precarious, where you search for the red key in the outdoor area and get locked out while you have to fight two barons plus a bunch of pinkies who could hinder your movement with their fast movement and zigzag patterns, making you easy prey for the big bruisers themselves. Another encounter is at the end where the last baron guards the exit. Luckily, you got enough ammo to fend off the resistance, and I save the rocket launcher for the twin barons, but I would suggest using them before alerting the pinkies or when they're all dead. Overall, another fantastic map and even though it's mostly by Anthony Soto, it's very cool and pretty close to what Jan would have done. I save the soul sphere secret for when I'm about to end the map as it will be needed for the next one.

E2M7: A Place of Sin (Jan van der Veken)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Secrets: 11:26

The penultimate map is quite a tricky one! Unlike all the other maps that were Episode 1 and 2 themed, save for the secret level which took inspiration from Episode 4, this one takes after Episode 3, particularly E3M3 Pandemonium, and it starts you off rather intensely as you got a spectre coming your way, and attacking it alerts some shotgunners and pinkies. Careful if you choose to venture to the sides as in one you got more shotgunners, while at the other are some spectres and a baron. Either side has a couple of cacodemons that will teleport into the room as they get closer. There's also another baron opposite of the fake wall with imps and goodies in it. It's also where you'll get the BFG9000 at last. Almost every single area in the map is a trap, with a couple that are quite nasty. Going after both keys open up alcoves holding an assortment of monsters, beyond the yellow key door where you'll find the blue key reveals a baron and more enemies spawn in, and there's the optional area with the soul sphere where you get trapped in and when you pick up the rockets, all hell breaks loose with tons of pinkies and some barons emerging from their cubbies. If you know what to do in these situations, however, it shouldn't be that overwhelming. Once again, it's possible to exit with 200% health and armour if you save the soul sphere and the mega armours available. Just be mindful of that cacodemon guarding the exit switch. Hectic map from start to finish.

E2M8: Evil Refinery (Nick Baker/Travers Dunne)

The boss level of the episode. You start out in a hub where after you clear off the imps and gunners, you have the choice of teleporting to either the west or east quadrants each containing some enemies and even monster closets, and you'll have to visit both in order to finally gain access to the ending arena. As you hit the switches you find, a bunch of monsters will spawn in, saving the boss cyberdemon for last. At that point, the best strategy is to have the monsters infight with the cyberdemon so that by the time he has eliminated everyone, he would be softened enough to kill with just 2 BFG shots. Waste him, and the episode's over, ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.

So in conclusion, I must say that this is one of the best Doom episodes I have every played. All the levels have a very id-like quality to them, with a lot of cues and homages to the original Doom. The level design for the most part screams John Romero with a few Tom Hall-like maps, and the secret level nails American McGee's style and the Episode 4 vibes too. Challenge is mostly on the easy side, but there's a couple of tough nuggets here and there, especially A Place of Sin and Dissession. It's hard for me to decide which are the best maps as every one is very good, so if I have to say which are my most favourites, it would have to be E2M2, E2M3, E2M4, E2M6 and E2M9. All that leaves me now is to rate the three wads we played on a scale out of 10, like always whenever I play along with the DWMC.

Dawn of the Dead - 8.5/10

Earth - 6/10

Classic Episode - 9/10

Well, that's it for me. It was fun playing these three wads, though Earth was a bit of slog with all those maze-like caverns and armies of barons that slow down the gameplay. May you guys enjoy the next megawad you'll be playing for March, if it's one that I won't take part in, take care see you all again next time!

Continuing on where I left off with The Classic Episode.

E2M3: The Deimos Complex (Jan van der Veken)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 11:27

After two Anthony Soto maps, we finally get a map by Jan van der Veken. Even though it is called The Deimos Complex, it still feels a lot like Phobos, right down to using the basic enemies of Episode 1. Unlike the first two maps of this episode, however, it's larger and houses a lot more monsters. Be wary of the gunners as they can chip off a substantial amount of your armour and health if you let them. Although this is a Veken map, he still puts great emphasis on John Romero's level design sensibilities, and there are quite a few neat little homages to Knee-Deep in the Dead, which I see a bit of E1M2, E1M4, and E1M6 along with a few other Romero maps I may have missed out on. The enemy ambushes are well-orchestrated and they keep you on your toes, so every time you do something, you have to keep moving, or else you'll take more damage than necessary. The computer area in the southeast and the area with the stairs in the northwest are where you'll have to watch out for the enemy hordes. Nevertheless, this is still a fairly easy map.

E2M4: The Evil Base (Jan van der Veken)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 12:41

The difficulty ramps up in this Shore of Hell-style map as we are introduced to stronger enemies like cacodemons and barons. While the first three maps were John Romero in style, this map takes after the design tropes of Tom Hall, particularly E2M7 Spawning Vats since there's a couple of areas reminiscent to the map, like red monster closets overlooking the slime pool, the greyish stone wall textures, and the computer rooms. The tricky spots include when you reveal a secret holding the backpack and monster closets holding cacodemons open, and then there's the room en route to the red key where you have to contend with two barons while trapped in. Thankfully, it wouldn't be too much of a problem if you got the rocket launcher handy. A radiation suit will allow you to wade through the slime areas including the small room with rockets and a baron on the damaging floor. Beyond the red key, you get a nifty little warehouse with enemies and be ready for a couple of ambushes as you go for the blue key. This map is fun while on the tricky side. We're finally getting a bit of challenging, which would only get more interesting as we press onward.

E2M5: Deimos Observatory (Jan van der Veken)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 11:08

Here is yet another Episode 2 style map, and there's a bit of a sense of nonlinearity to it as at the start you have one path to take and another. Both passages lead to separate floors of an area reminiscent to Deimos Anomaly. Level design is all Tom Hall-esque, much like the previous one, and there are thankfully not as many tricky areas to tangle with, but still, you have to be careful of potential enemy ambushes. One ambush happens at the very start when you take another passage that leads downstairs to a switch. Another when you collect the red key in the northeast section, and then when you grab the yellow key. Ambushes consist of spawning monsters or monsters emerging out of closets that eventually open. Save collecting the berserk pack and the soul sphere for when you're done with the level so that you can max your health to 200% for the next map, whether it be E2M6 or especially the secret level. Again, this is another neat and fun map with lots of places to explore and enemies to plough through. Secret exit is rather easy to find, and I like how it's a neat homage to the fireplace area of E2M5 Command Center.

E2M9: Dissession (Travers Dunne/Jan van der Veken)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 11:30

The secret level of the episode. This one pays homage to Episode 4 with a hint of Episode 3, and it is a rather tricky map. Immediately when you hit the switch, you lower down to find yourself surrounded by monsters. First order of affair is to take out the shotgunners are they'll do more damage than any other enemy. My advise is to get the green armour first, then find the blue armour secret much later as you'll need it for the last couple of areas. Much like Episode 4, there are a lot of barons, so get ready to use your rocket launcher whenever you see them. Luckily, you'll be getting the plasma gun pretty shortly which will come in handy for a certain upcoming ambush. As Walter pointed out, this map is heavily inspired by American McGee, and it shows in the architecture. There's a part where you'll encounter a group of barons with their backs facing you and you can do some damage to them by activating the crusher trap, which also works for some shotgunners that will spawn in. Final testing ground is where you grab the blue key for the exit, and here is where the rocket launcher and plasma gun shines. Tough cookie all the way through.

Alrighty, that's more than half of the episode done, and I'll play the next couple of maps tomorrow. See you then!

Okay, after that slog wad that is Earth, it's back to good stuff with The Classic Episode. Smooth sailing at last. Returning to more maps by Jan van der Veken, with Anthony Soto, Travers Dunne and Nick Baker. Pretty funny how the episode consists of mappers who worked on both Darkening episodes. Like Dawn of the Dead, The Classic Episode is a love letter to the Doom maps designed by id Software, which makes them all the more close to Doom the Wad Id Did than the actual megawads, in my opinion. Nevertheless, much like its predecessor, it manages to house some rather trickier gameplay than the original Doom, with a couple of maps that will put you in some very tough spots. Additionally, The Classic Episode is where you finally see Dawn of the Dead's placeholder map Outpost 666 in its complete form, though it is Anthony Soto who finished the map and not Jan. But enough rambling, let's get on with the last third of the set played for this month. The Classic Episode on vanilla Doom, Ultra-Violence difficulty.

E2M1: Foray (Anthony Soto)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 05:07

We're off to a good start with this episode. This map is a techbase in the style of John Romero, and it's loaded with a lot of monster closets that open up as you make progress. Although it is an introductory map, it throws you into the action straight off, and there's so much to do, like finding all three keys, for example. There's an blur sphere with a chaingun as a secret, which helps to avoid getting perforated by the gunners, though you'll have to be careful as it affects the aim of the imps' fireballs too. Tons of exploration, and although the map is techbase themed, it's got a nice variety of textures to keep it interesting. The windows are also a nice touch and it helps in rendering the map to feel very interconnected. Enemy resistance is all gunners and imps with some pinkies for good measure, so this is quite a meaty starter.

E2M2: Mars Outpost (Anthony Soto)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 06:45

Here is yet another Romero-style techbase map by Anthony Soto, but it's a bit more complex, and it immediately starts you off facing enemies, with some teleporting in as soon as you make your way out. If you keep your cool, however, you should be fine. The windows and locked key bars provide a lot of opportunities to snipe off the enemies so you won't have to bother with them when you get to the areas they're in. Get the radiation suit after getting the yellow key, so you could be able to wade through the toxic slime, which you'll need to a couple of instances to progress further. Lots of switches open up mandatory areas or secrets, and getting the keys will spring some ambush traps. When you get pass the red key bars, there are two switches, one will open the door to the blur sphere secret, while the other activates a crate elevator holding the rocket launcher. This map is definitely a lot of fun.

Right, I'm gonna take a break from here and continue more tomorrow. See you guys then, take care and have fun. Oh, and now that we're on the topic of what megawad to play next month, here's my vote:

+++ Dimensions of Time

Right, time to finish off Earth.

Map07: The Emerald Tower

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 02:40

This is basically Roger Ritenour's own spin on the Dead Simple concept. You start by seeing a huge green tower overhead, which you'll be getting too pretty shortly. Make your way through another tunnel (groan) to enter a temple. Find the secret filled with goodies, cause you'll need it for a battle against an army of pinkies. While the intended way to take them out is by going for the berserk pack inside the alcoves they came out of, I found that in continuous play, it's much easier and quicker to use both the double barrelled shotgun and rocket launcher since with punching enemies, the hit detection is very finicky in Doom. Just be sure to alternate between weapons so you won't come up short on ammo, especially rockets which you'll need for the mancubi, and you can use the berserk on a few of the remaining pinkies. With them dead, you can exit. You'll be running another long bridge to the tower guarded by the mancubi, so waste them and the entrance will open. By far the shortest map in this set.

Map08: The Ammo Pit

134% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 17:48

I think at that point I'm getting sick to death with these caverns, but unfortunately, this map has to be tackled. So named because at the start there's a pit full of enemies, many of which are zombies that will drop their ammo, and there are also arch-viles that will revive them, which will allow more to be stocked up, much needed as throughout the rest of the map, there is no ammo to spare, except for health and armour. Trick is to get the monsters in the pit to infight with each other, weakening the arch-viles in the process. The cavernous tunnels have a very stringy and mazey layout, and you have to watch out cause some of the monsters spawn in them and with the majority of the tunnels so dark, you'll be having a hard time trying to gun them down. The keys are spread out, so look around carefully for them, especially the red key which is easy to miss even though it's situated in plain sight. Lots of backtracking involved too. Getting the megasphere secret will require you to have an arch-vile set you up in flames and you'll need to run at the right angle so you can be launched into the spot. Don't forget the invulnerability, but once you grab it, you really need to get it right otherwise you'll be forced to do it again without it, and that really hurts. After you navigate the caves, you'll reach the outside, but you have more enemies to face there and inside the building at the end. Not a terrible map, the over and under effects which The Innocent Crew are known for implementing are a nice touch, but the caves are so dark, and with no other ammo, you'll need to get the monsters to infight with each other, especially as there are a shitload of barons lurking around. Thank goodness this is the last cavern map in the wad. As for the music, well, I don't mind that much the midi rendition of the 1492 Conquest of Paradise theme. It may not be that fitting for Doom's gameplay, but it's rather quaint, to say the least.

Map09: Islands

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 09:59

This is quite a welcome change from all those dark caves I have to endure, and it's a bit on the fun side too. It also plays rather unfitting music, a midi rendition of Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now, so this map is another one with a lighthearted atmosphere. Rather good to finally be able to stock up on ammo as I'm almost dry from the previous map. First order of affair is to kill the mancubi in the starting island, then find the teleporter to get to the other island where there's two structures, one of which houses the red key you need to enter the large structure. You'll also need to scale down some narrow ledges to get the blue key. Watch out for all the teleporting monsters, though you can get them to infight. Make your way into the large structure in the yellow key, kill all the resistance inside and locate the yellow key. Return to the starting isle, now full to the brim with monsters. Finding the secrets will reward you with some health and ammo, including a megasphere that will come in really handy for the final map. Overall, while the map is rather bland in design, the gameplay is thankfully not as gruelling, and it's another short affair that goes by rather quickly.

Map10: The Hill

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 06:08

So here we are at the final map, which consists of a large mound hosting some baddies including a cyberdemon guarding the red key. Get them infight, and BFG the cyberdemon while he's distracted. Once everyone's cleared out, enter the northwest building where you'll be facing more enemies and the blue key. Go to the southwest building and take the elevator all the way up to your apartment with a TV and a grandfather clock. Turning on the TV will get you a rather pointless megasphere secret, but I'll still go ahead for the 100%. I can't say that much about this map as it's pretty anticlimactic and doesn't really offer that much. I do like how there's an invisible barrier between you and the elevator, giving a "glass" effect.

Now for my final thoughts on Earth. Roger Ritenour opted for realism with this wad, and for its time, it was rather impressive. There's a mixed bag of pros and cons. Pros are that the mapset went for exploration, the lighting effects were done right. The wave graphics made for some rather cool effects, and there were some nice renderings to give glass effects in a couple of the maps. Cons, well, the monster spawn randomisation can cause you to be facing some of the tougher enemies rather prematurely than needed, the caverns are way too dark, making it difficult to see where you're going, let alone shooting enemies lurking within, and there are way too many barons, not helped by the at times lack of resources needed to take out those bulky walls of meat. Facing them in cramped winding tunnels where it's tricky to manoeuvre doesn't help either and makes the gameplay quite unfair at times. I used to like it before, probably cause I used to play it at lower difficulties, but after trying it on Ultra-Violence, I felt that it crosses the line between genuine difficulty and pure annoyance and tedium. The music selection, while it uses some Doom and Doom 2 soundtrack, the others tend to be unfitting due to how bubbly and lighthearted they are. In conclusion, this isn't really a wad I'd want to play again for a long time, but nevertheless, it offered some rather neat and quirky effects that push the boundaries of the vanilla engine, and as Capellan summed up, it's an interesting wad to think about. If you want a good wad by Roger Ritenour, check out Phobos. While it's got similar level design to Earth, it's a lot better in terms of gameplay, despite it being only four maps in total.

That's it for now. Until then, I'll rejoin to play The Classic Episode. See you all in the brighter later.

Continuing on with my playthrough of Earth. Let's go.

Map04: The Chasm

100% kills, 85% items, 100% secrets

Time: 09:29

Finally! A map that I was able to beat in under 10 minutes! It also seems rather humorous that it plays a midi rendition of "Self Control," another light-hearted track that just doesn't fit in Doom. The map seems quite short and straightforward. Start isn't so bad either if you have the BFG from Map02, which will be effective against the arch-vile, baron and a couple of arachnotrons at the start. Get the blue key then climb up to a tunnel where you'll be greeted by a long bridge over the eponymous chasm, including some barons coming your way. After crossing the bridge you'll find the blue door, so go in to be teleported into the chasm and hurry across to the other side to collect the red key. Monsters will start spawning all around, and thankfully you could get them to infight with each other. Let them have it out, then wipe out the remaining stragglers. With all the enemies, locate the switch that will lower the teleporter so you can be back on the bridge. Return to the start where more monsters are spawned in. A yellow key will also be revealed which you'll need to exit. This map is a bit more manageable than the first few, but still, you'll have to keep your guard as some of the big, nastier monsters can be spawned in the inaccessible ridges.

Map05: Strategic Defense Command

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 17:27

Don't be fooled by the start. You would have thought the map will finally have some variety and include some techbase locales, if only that were the case. Instead, the techbase makes up a small portion of the map as like always most of it takes place in underground caverns. Anyway, the start has you battling a couple of Nazis, supposedly the stand-ins for possessed security guards. Enter the structure, and you descend into the caves below. You'll be doing a lot of climbing up and down, but be very careful when the monsters start spawning in. You'll be facing two different waves; the first is from when you start exploring the caves, and the second is when after you collect the blue key, located in a large room hosting the spider mastermind and several other baddies. Beware of revenants and arch-viles as they can do massive damage to you if you don't pay full attention to where they are. Getting back to the top will require you to activate the elevator through the tech section. Overall, it is not a bad map, but the darkness of the caves can be quire frustrating, and the lack of variety doesn't do it much favours either.

Map06: Observation Station

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 18:34

This is probably the only map that has more emphasis on the techbase theme despite it having a few cavernous sections. There's quite a lot of enemies to plough through, some of which can be quite lethal if you're not careful. At least most of the fights take place outdoors, so there's that. Perhaps the trickiest part of the map is trying to find the secrets and there's also the rather disorienting climb through the rugged cliffs, where it will be hard to have a footing while you're blasting the enemies away from the distance. Getting the blue and red keys are rather self-explanatory, though you'll have to stay on guard as you deal with the horde of enemies that appear. Then comes the yellow key section where you'll be having your first encounter with a cyberdemon here. Sometimes it helps to have him infight with a few of enemies, and if you have the BFG9000, the battle is slightly easier, though you have to be mindful of some of the weaker monsters that can get in the way. Getting the yellow key will require you to find a switch tucked away in a narrow ledge. One of the secrets you have to find makes use of the crusher ceiling/door trick famously used in Memento Mori 2 Map07: Frustration. The ending has you wasting Romero's head overlooking the big fight. This is somewhat better than the previous maps, though the rocky textures continue to persist throughout the set. The shoreline graphic effects make a return, so at least the map has some nice, striking visuals to compensate for the lukewarm combat scenarios.

Well, that's three more maps done, and I'll finish the rest tomorrow after a nice, long sleep. Take care, everyone. 

Hey, everyone, I'm back to continue on playing through the wads picked. So now, it's time for Earth, a 10-map episode designed by Roger Ritenour, famed for his 4-map episode Phobos, which along with Earth was listed in the top 10 wads for 1998. Here, you are battling through a rugged coastline infested with demons. This mapset consists mainly of natural environments, including ancient ruins, coastlines, mountains, underground caverns and a few bases as well. There is a great deal of realism applied and there are some really neat graphical effects including waves crashing. One of the most notable oddities of Roger Ritenour's level design sensibilities is the randomness of the monster spawns. To explain it perfectly, in most wads, monsters that repopulate maps spawn in exact locations, whereas here, Roger has set various spawn points in different locations, and any of the assortment monsters can spawn at these locations, so they're not always the same, giving the maps different challenges each and every time. One of the most annoying aspects of Earth, however, is that a good number of these levels are dark, so navigating through these dim tunnels can be a hassle unless you consult your automap. Anyway, let's dive right in to Earth, playing on Ultra-Violence difficulty.

Map01: The Ruins

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 12:31

You start off in a vista where you can see the waves crashing below, which makes the episode start off very beautifully. In spite of the action you'll be getting yourself into, Roger Ritenour selects a rather light-hearted midi rendition of "Stand By Me," which felt rather peculiar, but humorous, nonetheless. Immediately, you'll be picking up the shotgun, and rightfully so as there are some medium to heavyweight monsters to contend with, including hell knights, barons, cacodemons, pain elementals, revenants and mancubi. Watch out as you enter the first dark cavern as that opens up an alcove with monsters already spawned within. Soon after you get the red key, you can enter the ruins, and you'll need to find a switch to raise the bridge for the yellow key. Radiation suits are there so you can wade through the toxic sludge, and I dig the deep water effects. The fun of the map is searching for secrets, 10 in total, and some of them are found either in the toxic sludge tunnels (the rocket launcher) or humping walls (various goodies including a backpack, soul sphere and partial invisibility). There is also a secret that will allow you to kill the mancubus via a crusher. Decent starter, but mostly good for the exploration. Combat is nothing impressive and it mostly amounts to random monster spawning.

Map02: The Tomb

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 16:48

Here the map starts off overlooking a large pyramid. Unfortunately, you won't find any Egyptian hieroglyphics, but still it's another ancient ruins map like the previous. You have to go around to the back and climb up near the top and find the way in. Once you do, you'll teleport into a hub where you'll be hitting some switches revealing various passages to take. Random enemies also repopulate the base, and while the last map had fairly tight ammo, here you receive a lot more to spare and you'll soon be getting the plasma gun and BFG90000 as you search every nook and cranny for secrets. The first two keys are pretty easy to get, while with the last one, it's guarded by some monsters that did not spawn around. Use the BFG if you already found it, otherwise, you might want to have the monsters infight with each other. Layout is somewhat puzzly, but thankfully they're not as cryptic as Jim Flynn's maps or Eternal Doom. Once you found the blue key, the six passages are sealed off, leaving you to exit the pyramid. Overall, this is yet another exploration map. Despite the monster spawns, they're yet again not that great, and the rooms fell somewhat empty with all the resistance being disposed of.

Map03: The Mines of Moria

117% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 13:13

Eh, I'm not too fond of this map. It takes you into some rather deep, dark caves, so dark that it's almost impossible to see when an enemy is coming up at you or about to open fire. Doesn't help that now the map introduces arch-viles that will revive some of the monsters that you have already killed. Sometimes, they're spawned in spots that where the claustrophobic layout of the tunnels make it difficult to manoeuvre, rendering you helpless as they set you up in flames, so while the enemies are a hassle, it's the level design that will work against you at times. Thankfully, the map does offer a few neat visuals and there are a couple of lava pits as well. Neverthless, you'd want to turn up the brightness level, because the confusing layout of the tunnels will have you running around in circles, and the monsters can easily corner you if you are unlucky. Although you can collect all three keys, really you only need two to exit, unless you're trying to 100% everything, of course. This map is somewhat linear to a certain degree, but there's a sense of nonlinearity with all the multiple passages to take as you make your way through. The saving grace is that once you reach the end, you'll get to see Baphomet's face just before you hit the exit switch.

That should do for me. I'll continue on with the next couple of maps tomorrow. For now, I'll be playing some Commander Keen and Quake II. See you all then.

Continuing on with finishing Dawn of the Dead. Let's go.

E1M4: Atmospheric Processing

100% kills, 98% items, 100% secrets

Time: 14:18

This is yet another fine techbase map by Jan. Tons of enemies to plow through, and this is where you finally get the plasma rifle. While it's a pretty lengthy map, there's thankfully not as much backtracking as that in E1M3. I like the nifty little homages to Tom Hall in a few spots, such as the room with the plasma rifle which echoes E2M7's computer rooms and that baron chamber with the inverted cross. There seems to be a bit of E2M4's style as well in that secret with the baron and chainsaw after finding the switch through the nukage canal. Watch out for sneaky ambushes as you grab the important keys or certain items in secrets, and when you check out the optional outdoor area, don't drink the radioactive water, keep your eyes on anything unusual on the wall and think fast to get the rocket launcher. I saved the mega armour and soul sphere for when I'm close to finishing the map as it's inevitable you'll take damage from the hordes and ambushes littered throughout the level. The map was quite a ball.

E1M5: Outpost 666

0% kills, 0% items, 0% secrets

Time: 00:01

Nothing but a placeholder map that remained unfinished until The Classic Episode which we'll get to later on. Next.

E1M6: Fortress of Hate

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 15:54

Anyone who enjoyed Doom 2's The Citadel would feel themselves at home with this map. It's a castle map in that style, but much more crisper and cleaner in design, and also not loaded too many monsters. Even so, opposition is somewhat tricky and you'll be keeping your eyes peeled so that you won't be sniped off by anyone. Don't forget to dive down into the slime moat and grab the radiation suit so you can obtain a secret down below. Once you enter the castle, you are locked in until you find the keys and solve some rather mind-bending puzzles. It could be assumed that it's an establishment of the ancient relics as mentioned in the story. You'll be doing a lot of running around as you scour the place for switches. Once you gain access to the central courtyard, you'll need to watch out for a nasty ambush after you grab the red key, which involves a bunch of monsters spawning in consisting of some pinkies, spectres and even the bruiser brothers. As you explore the ramparts, you'll eventually come across as neat little Quake-style slipgate, and I like how you can be able to open and close the windows of the castle. Despite it being a stony castle map, which is a far cry from the techbase theme that make up most of the episode, it manage to house in some computer panels. Overall, this is a good map, but it can be quite tough and the progression tends to be counter-intuitive.

E1M7: Death Awaits

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 19:45

Hoo boy, this is by far the toughest map in the entire episode. Immediately as soon as you plummet down from the start, you are greeted by two barons and some spectres, so you'll be pressed to go ahead quickly, but onward are some shotgunners. This map does not pull any punches whatsoever, it will be trying to kill you with all those ambush traps and the sheer number of barons that can rival that of some of Episode 4's maps. Speaking of Episode 4, I couldn't help but notice that the level design is very reminiscent of Dr. Sleep. You'll be in desperate need of secrets to get yourself better equipped and in good shape as a lot of these fights are merciless, and if you don't know about the traps in hindsight, you could be trapped inside as all the enemies pour in and lose so much health in process with the possibility of dying. Guess that's why it's called Death Awaits. Luckily, you have some moments to breathe before you are thrown into more traps. Be sure to search for irregular bars the further you go as that will lead to a non-official secret where you'll pick up a mega armour, a computer map and some health if you need any, but the mega armour is absolutely necessary to track down as soon you'll come face to face with a cyberdemon, which promptly awakes once you shoot the baron marble face. Get the hell out of that room as fast as you can once you shoot it, cause stay while you wait for the bars to open, it will appear and blow you up. Make sure to stock up on cells if you have the BFG as it will help in the climactic fight. Luckily, there's a berserk pack for if you're in dire situation, and I would recommend picking that up first then fins the soul sphere secret to get 200% health. So glad to be done with this map, it took me a while due to being very wary of my surroundings and having to ration up enough rockets and cells, which is easier said than done as there are a lot of barons along with other nuisances.

E1M8: At the Heart of it All

Here we are at the finale, and it feels more like a souped up version of Phobos Anomaly, with the swarm of spectres at the start in place of the pinkies, including a cacodemon in the mix. Getting the soul sphere will require you to quickly step on the flashing sector further up ahead and race back before the block raises up. This has some rather neat homages to E1M8, E2M1 and even E3M3 with the imps hiding in the indentions that looked like the start of that map. After obtaining the blue key, you'll be able to get the lift up to the ledge where all those zombies were, and then you reveal a teleporter leading to the big fight against the bruiser brothers, flanked by some spectres and shotgunners. Fortunately, with the BFG handy, this should be an easy showdown. Once everyone is dead, you'll be able to leave and you teleport into another void getting murdered by cyberdemons to end the wad.

Okay, so now my final thoughts on this episode. Dawn of the Dead is a classic, and it truly feels like an id-style Doom episode, while mixing in all the elements of Episodes 1 and 2, including 3 and 4. Jan van der Veken has made an episode that starts off easy to being more difficult in the latter half. The execution was well done, and some of the traps were pretty fiendish, especially monster teleport ambushes. We get a good assortment of themes, from techbases to castles, both in flavour of stone, metal or marble. We also see the variety of styles Jan has cleverly emulated, from John Romero, to Tom Hall, to Sandy Petersen, and to even Tim Willits and Dr. Sleep. It's definitely worth playing and I highly recommend it for classic id-style Doom gameplay. The best maps in the set include E1M2, E1M4, E1M7 and E1M9. Who knows if we'll play another Jan van der Veken somewhere down the track, like No Sleep for the Dead, perhaps?

Anyway, that will be it for me. I'll come back to play Earth. See you guys next time!

Greetings everyone, T-Rex here to take part in playing the trilogy of wads set for this month. Let's get started with Dawn of the Dead.

Dawn of the Dead is an episode 1 replacement by Jan van der Veken, released back in 1997. The gist of the story was that simple lifeforms were discovered in Jupiter's moon Europa, leading to attempts to terraform the planet. The end goal was the colonise the moon, and at "present" time, there was a quota of 20,000 civilians and 500 marines were brought to Europa. They then discovered relics from an ancient alien civilisation that mastered teleportation technology, including later on some manuscripts containing vague warnings. Now the moon's colonies were overrun by unknown hostile forces, and having been experienced since the events on Mars, it's up to you to take care of the situation. As for the level design, Jan's calling cards were emulating John Romero's level design sensibilities. However, he is by no means a one-trick pony as he has also dabbled on other design styles of the others names associated with id, including Tom Hall, Tim Willits and Dr. Sleep. Most of the theme is techbase, but Jan explored other themes like marble, stone, etc. Gameplay starts off easy, and gets progressively difficult. It also comes with a music wad which consists of some new tunes including a couple of Doom's soundtrack. So time to be underway, here's Dawn of the Dead, played on Ultra-Violence.

E1M1: Warp Station

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 03:50

The episode immediately starts off with imps looking down at you. Don't waste your bullets on them. Instead, hurry straight into the base entrance, kill all the gunners and imps, collect the dropped shotgunners, then go back and deal with the imps at the start. Progression is linear, straightforward and pretty easy, though you later on will face a spectre and a cacodemon as you reach the end. The theme is predominantly techbase, but you get some metal textures to give somewhat of an Episode 2 vibe. There's also the classic Doom tropes, including the walkway that sinks into the toxic slime, and the little callbacks to E1M1, E1M3 and E1M4. Nice little secret which requires you to make use of the radiation suit, and the partial invisibility really helps to avoid getting shot by the zombies. Fun opener, and the midi rendition of Nine Inch Nails' Last sets the tone well.

E1M2: The Reactor

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 10:29

Fairly longer than the previous map and with plenty more enemies to slaughter. This map emphasises a lot on exploration much like E1M7, and it even lifts from it with the large nukage area where the catwalk is including the pillar that lowers revealing imps and a soul sphere. There's also another nukage chamber not far from the start after getting the red key which reminds me of that area in E2M2 leading to the backpack that gets raised up by the three columns as you approach it. Scan the walls beyond so you can find a switch that will lower a lift, giving you access to a much needed backpack for all the meat you have to plough through. The chaingun comes in very handy for the nasty ambushes in this map, especially when after you obtain the blue key. There's some backtracking involved as you search for the yellow key. Then as you get close to the end, you'll finally meet the lost souls in the sewers, but before you do any exploring, hurry to your left to grab the radiation suit, then you can search around for the switch that will allow you to reach the soul sphere on the pillar. A good map and it really picks up thanks to the sheer number of enemies to kill.

E1M3: Space Port

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 18:50

Much longer than the previous maps and the difficulty has scaled up significantly. Some of the nastiest parts this map offers is firstly the outside area which reminisces E1M6, and as you explore around the walkways, imps will start teleporting on the columns scattered throughout. Then there's the BFG secret, as soon as you grab it, the block lowers revealing a quartet of barons. Seeing the id logo where they stand makes me chuckle at the obvious homage to the Nine Inch Nails secret of E4M1. Another really tricky spot is the Episode 2-esque room with the arch-vile marble face where you grab the rockets and suddenly demons come teleporting in. You can easily lose a lot of health in those ambush traps if you're not careful. Anyway, the map does very well with the lighting effects, such as when you navigate dark passages and then they light up, allowing you to see the enemies better. The launch pad area is nicely done, and there's also the elevators behind the red key doors. One thing to keep in mind is that in the northeast section, do not take the teleporter with the symbol inside as you'll die through telefragging a voodoo doll. Another thing in the same area is don't go straight for the secret exit, or you'll be locked out from the rest of the map, including getting 100% of everything. This is by far a tough map, though t's only going to get tougher as the episode progresses.

E1M9: Hunted Down

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 09:39

Deviating from the Romero-style architecture, Jan van der Veken graces us with a map that is clearly influenced by Tim Willits as this map bears a resemblance to E4M9. As soon as you open fire, enemies are alerted to your presence, including a marching band of pinkies and spectres. Also watch for the gunners and imps that will hunt you down as they teleport into the atirum as soon as you make your way up. A couple of lethal ambushes, but they're not too overwhelming if you're ready for them. Try not to get hit too much as health is pretty much at a premium. Luckily, you got a berserk pack at the start, and once you find a radiation you can search for the soul sphere in the nukage pool. There's also a nifty mega armour secret guarded by those killer tomatoes. Overall, this is a map that while it is fairly easy, the scenarios and sparse health keeps you on your toes.

Okay, I'll stop right there for now. See you in the latter half of the episode. Take care! 

12 hours ago, Capellan said:

+++ Earth, Dawn of the Dead and Classic Episode

This probably won't win, but has the advantage of being exactly 28 maps (if we count secret maps) in a 28 day month :)

 

I'd like to play these maps as well, and makes sense as it's 28 maps altogether, so +++ for Earth, Dawn of the Dead and Classic Episode

Wow, this looks very promising. First John Romero treats us with two standalone E1-style maps, and now he creates an episode. Happy 25th Anniversary to Doom! If only we could get a full megawad with maps by him, Tom Hall, American McGee, and even Sandy Petersen, if they are also interested in making more Doom maps, then it would be definitely something.

Most of Plutonia's maps are excellent made with the intent to give the veterans a formidable challenge with the compact level design and nasty monster placement, but it does have its share of stinkers, most notably Hunted. I know some people can take it, but it's very annoying with the doors opening randomly in the arch-vile and the key switches are opposite to their respected bars.

TNT may not have aged well as its sister wad Plutonia, but it has some charm, and its quite fun if you love the techbase theme. There's numerous maps to name that are my favourites, but the ones that stood out for me are Wormhole, Open Season, Stronghold, Redemption, Crater, Nukage Processing, Dead Zone, Processing Area, Mill, Ballistyx, Heck, River Styx and Caribbean. Pharaoh, while a good map all the way, the yellow key bug does drop it points, especially if you're going for all kills and secrets. System Control is a neat little opener, and pretty much everything else is okay, with the exception of the following maps. I wasn't too fond of Prison cause its needlessly lengthy in spite of appearing short, Metal, it really felt like a map designed by someone who just started Doom mapping, so it's ugly with questionable design tropes along with monotonous texturing. Administration Center is a boring slog, unlike Central Processing, and as for Mount Pain, well its not because of a celebrity thing, it's more the fact that it's unfair and difficult for the wrong reasons. I mean, aside from it being lengthy with unappealing design, the ending bit is the worst part as you're forced to snipe at enemies on a ledge with no place to take cover from enemy fire, but your movement can be impeded by the shitload of lost souls that come flying in, and that makes it easy for chaingunners and revenants to waste you. The final area cuts no slack either as you have to be really fast and precise with taking out the more dangerous threats like the revenants, mancubus, chaingunner and arch-vile in that huge red cavern, and on top of that, the map just gives you the bare minimum of health with no soul sphere or megasphere present, so you're given little to no margin for error. Anyone who is still a fan of Mount Pain, just take it in stride as you're entitled to like the map, regardless of how infamous it is for a lot of players.

The Twilight Zone, Project X, and Icarus: Alien Vanguard are some of the wads I like to play through for a respite from the hardcore, knockabout wads like Plutonia, Hell Revealed and Alien Vendetta, or the sprawling puzzlers like Eternal Doom.

2 hours ago, Catpho said:

Heh, with so many things to document and cover (new movie, game,...), understandable when a non Cacoward-winning map hasn't been written in detail. Those secret totals and sector numbers are easy to fill cause they are statistics. Writing how to get to them is a bit too complicated for a bot to do it, and as mentioned current active human users have many things to do now. 

That's why it's a wiki though: anyone can help, maybe you can start by filling in descriptions on where the secrets in this particular map are ;)

 

Well, since you suggested that I describe the secrets I could find, here's the first five. Dunno the sector numbers though. ^^;

- Secret #1: In the east section of the map after you take the first teleporter on your left at the start. hit the switch that triggers the stairs, then hit it again as it will make the stairs lower down, revealing an indention holding a mega armour.

- Secret #2: In the east section outdoor where the slime fall is. Climb all the way up to the top, then using the bit of rock at the edge, race over the huge slime pool across the series of platforms that start lowering as you step on them. With the right momentum, you should land on the circular platform (secret area) holding the megasphere. Because the lowering platforms before it don't raise back up, you won't get a second chance if you miss.

- Secret #3: In the west corridor before the main northern central area, shoot the middle green face. It will open a door behind you revealing an imp and shotgun ammo (secret area). Enter the small sector however will cause the wall in front to open up, revealing another imp and a couple of medikits.

- Secrets #4 and #5: In the middle south area behind the fast-moving elevators, go up the stairs, hit the switch, run, get near and hump the nearmost green baron of hell face wall, then run as fast as you can before the way out closes up, quickly rush for the two backpacks that are accessible only for a short time and enter the small cubby where the baron came from. It holds the red skull key. The cubby is two sectors and count as two secrets.

That's all the ones I can get by now. The other 10, I have no idea, though with the soul sphere blood canal secret, you can have an arch-vile blast you up to it, though only on the higher difficulties. The other nine secrets are in the baron and cyberdemon maze leading to the exit. It seems as if the three suspended platforms count as three secrets, each one containing goodies, one holding an invulnerability orb, another holding a megasphere, and the last one holding a BFG9000. These are the secrets I'd need to know how to reach.

7 hours ago, Chris Hansen said:

I thought maybe I'd give it a shot and explain it to you. I can't remember that map at all, so I opened it in DoomBuilder and there's a million trigger effects going on! Honestly, it would take me longer to explain here than it would for you to just download, install and fire up DoomBuilder yourself.

Whoa! I knew that map would be so complex, but damn! While I'm able to beat the map once figuring the safer teleporter to start from and managed to find 5 of the 15 secrets, it's just the remaining 10 that I couldn't figure out. (9 of them are the 3 indentions in the ending maze with the cyberdemon and baron, and 1 is the blood canal at the north section where you can get a soul sphere, which on HMP and beyond, you can get to with an arch-vile assisted jump, but after looking at the layout of the map, there's a couple of unseen linedefs which if I don't know either mean nothing or could hint out stairs) Thing is that it doesn't say on the Doom wiki how to get to any of the secrets, it only says how many there are in total and their sector numbers.

14 hours ago, Memfis said:

May I recommend a more modern editor?..

I appreciate the suggestion, but it would save me a lot of trouble if someone can tell me how to obtain those secrets without having to resort looking up through a level editor.

I'm playing through one of Erik Alm's earliest Doom wads, Europa 1, and so far, I'm trying to get all 15 secrets. While I was able to get some of them, most recently one with the two backpacks that require some insane straferunning, I can't seem to figure out the last few. One is at the northern section where you have to go up the raised blood canal for a soul sphere that seems inaccessible in the lower difficulties as you could use an arch-vile to jump you up to it, and the others are near the end where you hit a switch to lower a pillar while avoiding getting spotted by the cyberdemon and baron. I tried firing up the DoomEd level editor to find clues, but it crashes every time I load up the map due to all the number of sectors and things, and I tried searching YouTube for a UV-max, but the only video available is just a speedrun by dew with no secrets found. Anyone who has played the map and found the secrets, please leave your comments.