Kristian Ronge

Yes, I too was surprised to see so many comments making light (so to speak) of the red key fight. I went in before I got the BFG, played with doom2.exe compatibility, and I thought it was tough. Maybe the RNG said "fuck you" to me or something but I hardly got any infighting going and was bombarded with Revenant missiles from ... everywhere. *shrug* I kill everything when I play casually, or at least attempt to. If something is intentionally or unintentionally unkillable (due to severe ammo shortage, some gimmick or bug) then I make a note of it and may think less of the map for it. By the way, reading D.o.t.W's account of the way the secrets in the start of map 24 work, I need to retract some of my criticism, as the setup makes more sense to me now. OTOH, the system described is so complex that players may go blissfully unaware of it even if playing the map dozens of times. I'm not convinced that is a good thing.

Map 24 -- Abyssmal Affliction First off, this map is gigantic. I mean, gigantic in the sense that a -nomonsters run-through takes me almost 4 minutes (knowing the route, although 40 secs of that is waiting for the lift at the red key). Gigantic in the sense of 540 monsters, who are spread evenly throughout. It's also quite hard from a pistol start, unrelenting throughout most of the first 20 minutes, and ungenerous in terms of ammo until about two thirds of the way in (after you get the blue key), when you start building up reserves. Most of it looks gorgeous. The progression is simple: a fairly large part of the map is accessible right from the get-go, and there are three side areas requiring keys, so once you find the first key it's a very linear affair. The gameplay is for the most part okay but oftentimes you're pitted against opposition where you are at a severe disadvantage (Revenants, HKs, Barons, Cacos, and shotgunners firing at you over large distances, PEs released in a cluster of monsters in large rooms, so on); sometimes monsters are simply thrown at you with a "good luck!", as in the red key trap -- by far the most difficult fight where you're susceptible to (homing) missiles and fireballs from all angles with so-so chances to escape them -- and there are fights aplenty which are just pointless. Who is going to jump down into hurtful blood and fight those demons? Who is tediously going to pick off the strangely placed Arch-Viles in the YK area one by one using a hitscan weapon (because they are placed in such a way that you waste a lot of plasma/rockets if using those weapons)? etc. Well, I am, because I play 100/100. Which brings up another problem: the secrets. As far as I can tell, getting 100% secrets involves opening a back door to the starting room, which lands you right in the lap of three Hell Knights. The two empty secret sectors in that back door aren't accessible later -- you *must* jump in there with 100/0 and a pistol. If you aren't scratched to death quickly, you run out to be greeted by a dozen or so Mancubuses and some PEs, but it's survivable... with enough attempts. The third secret is a chainsaw (which you can grab without having to release the Arch-Vile BTW, and which, I guess, can be used on the imps on those ledges to conserve ammo at the beginning. Don't understand why it' so valuable as to count as a secret compared to the goodies found just outside). The fourth contains nothing but a few chainguns, or should I say chaingunNERs if you haven't killed them when going in. Finding it may let you lessen the severity of a trap which I'll get back to, but that's purely up to chance for first time players, who might easily arrive to that secret from the other direction. The fifth, a megasphere, is very helpful, as you can get it early on and it just might keep you alive long enough to get far enough where things get easier. There are three Cybers, curiously all of them are killed for you. The one at the start I just fled from and when I came back it was dead. Go figure. The second is killed by a crusher in a sequence where you are supposed to dash past it to grab the BFG which activates the crusher. Surviving splash damage from rocket(s) is mostly down to luck, unless you took that megasphere in which case survival is 20% luck or so. I guess you could kill it by shooting it with the (S)SG/chaingun but considering how tight the ammo balance was for me until I got past the BK door, I doubt you'd have enough to comfortably play on. Maybe by chainsawing all the imps? The third is released in the yellow key trap but I don't think any player would stick around inside that cage -- I just vaulted out and stayed close by, provoking infighting (which made this trap very easy, I left it with about 190/190, think I got hit by a chaingunner just as I was running out of the cage or something). The Cyber was killed by the other monsters and I could mop up the handful of remaining monsters with the BFG. What else? Oh, yeah, the chaingunner/crusher trap was a shock and I was lucky I had just picked up the megasphere as I was low on health just before. Lots of players will hate the author for that one. The rest of the fights, well, picking off the monsters on the ledges at the start was all right, the HK army teleporting out past the BK door was kind of funny, the invisible imps were annoying as hell, there was a curious AV reviving a Revenant in one of the corridors which just felt gimmicky: I didn't even notice it when running past. What was the point? By the end I had almost full health and full rocket/BFG ammo and so nothing about the last fights caused me any trouble (but I wouldn't label them as fun). I guess you could accidentally be blasted into the exit if you're a bit slow in killing those last AVs, which would suck if maxrunning and having spent a lot of time in the map. All in all: looks absolutely great, plays so-so. I'll dock an extra point for the needlessly annoying start if playing max. Bug report: There's a strange ceiling texture on the switch out by the Mancubuses which opens up access to the cage where you get the YK. --2/5

Map 22 -- Bone Dread More of the same of what we saw in map 21. I kind of like this "double-feature" to start off episode 3. This map is slightly more intricate than the last, with tons of secrets for such a small area (all super easy to find, you only need to be a little wary of strange-looking textures to find the blue armour secret, and have a decent memory to find the BFG one). Progression is simple, and again you navigate damaging floors and have to use the rad suits wisely. Action is good, with some fun fights, including a great AV trap and two fun chaingunner traps. Difficulty is still very firmly in easy territory, I had lots of health and ammo throughout, it's a blast to play though. Probably the author's best map in this collection. --4/5 Map 23 -- Bloody Castle Well-designed subterranian map in the wood/E4 theme (don't see anything resembling a castle much though). The penultimate room with the twin Cybers was hectic and a bit of a pain in the arse because of all the additional monsters. I plasma sniped them and found the BFG after everything was dead, go figure. I don't really understand why the map went on after that, that helpless Mastermind was a definite anti-climax. Some pretty tough encounters throughout to keep you on your toes... I played carefully when I could and conserved ammo. Isn't the yellow key teleport placed a bit off (unless of course there would be some trap awaiting the player when running back up to the teleport)? Can't think of much else to say, some good fights here, and an enjoyable experience. --4/5

It's about to get ... less easy, believe me. :-) BTW, just wanted to say that I much enjoy reading everyone else's thoughts about the maps so far, even though I rarely comment on your comments, so to speak. You all have a distinctive style, ranging from minimalist (BlackFish) to essay (Demon of the Well). Another BTW in case some map authors are reading my reviews: don't take my criticisms too harshly, I consider any map I give a grade of 3 to be good and any map with a grade of 2 to be totally decent. It's just that I sometimes focus more on what I didn't like than including details of what I liked. Also, my personal rating system gravitates slightly less towards 5 than /idgames. ;-) I've enjoyed *all* the maps I've played so far (up to map 29 ATM) to at least some extent. I've had a lot of fun hitherto.. :-)

Map 21 -- Wrong Dimension Hell-themed little gem, as old-school as they come. A breather from some large maps as of late (17,18). The pacing of the map is excellent: it keeps moving along at an appropriate pace (for old-timers like myself ;-D). Gameplay is quite easy throughout but I enjoyed every minute of it. You teleport to different parts, where you can sometimes see where you're going or where you've been. I stumbled into the SSG and soulsphere secrets right at the start and never looked back -- SSG all the way from there, almost. There's a neat little BFG secret as well, which opened a monster closet catching me completely by surprise -- well done, Sir! Like in map 15, much of the action takes places in rooms with damaging floor but here the rad suits are used well, and you're forced to play with much more tactical awareness. The map looks suitably plain, like an E3/E4 replacement in a very good UDoom '95 project. --4/5

Map 20 -- Beta Tower A delightful map, again deliberately designed to look like a map from a top-notch project in '95 or possibly '96. It looks like a base/installation of some sort, set in the outskirts of a town, with parts built into the surrounding rock. Yet again, things start off violently, but you can duck into a side door, and get some ammo before cleaning out the outdoor area. Difficulty is medium, I'd say, if playing from scratch. The fights throughout are very fun; I was caught completely by surprise by the SSG trap -- well executed! Aaah, and the red key trap. It's the kind of trap where *everyone* knows it's a trap: veteran players know it's a trap, noobs know it's a trap, admiral Ackbar knows it's a trap, hell, the carcasses of all the monsters I just blasted through know it's a trap! You've run through empty corridors overlooking the key for 15-20 seconds, and it's just sitting there, glowing in the dark, taunting you. Yeah, it's a trap, and you know those monsters are gonna come beaming in or bursting out of the walls... but this is Doom! And you *want* that damned key and you *want* to finish this map, and you just prepare yourself, breath in and think "fuck it!" and go for it. What a delightful sequence. :-) It gets easier towards the end but never easy enough to relax. Small suggestions for improvements: the two last fights (in the rocky outdoor area and by the yellow key) could be made more interesting by not blocking the monsters; it would punish more careful players (like myself) if the awakened monsters hunt you down! :-) Also, the addition of, say, an Arch-Vile in one of those fights would spice things up a bit. Also, there's a hanging torso by the red key which blocks players' movements in vanilla Doom. Those are just about the only flaws in the gameplay department. Lots of plasma ammo, but I couldn't find a plasma rifle (though maybe that would have made things just too easy...). Three nice helpful secrets, which don't ridiculously over-stock you, especially if you don't have any plasma rifle. Great stuff! --5/5

Map 19 -- Castle Grounds Small hellish castle map with lots of good fights. The double Arch-Vile feature at the SSG was devilish and quite difficult to survive from scratch but by playing it like a sissy and running back into the cave whence I came, sniping the first AV, then picking off hitscanners, running back and getting the SSG, then running back into the cave and sniping the second AV I survived. The rest of the map isn't at all difficult, really, but it uses the monsters exceptionally well; a great example is the chaingunner and Hell Knight waiting for you as you come up that lift after having picked up the yellow key. WAD authors everywhere take note. Progression is fine except that after having picked up the yellow key I had to(?) run with the yellow key all the way back through the starting areas of the map without any new monsters to greet me. Felt empty and I was expecting something to pop out, but no. ;-) Same story when I picked up the blue armour... No trap there? For shame! Other than that, perfectly designed. One easy-to-spot secret which really helps. There's a second plasma rifle which you can pick up early on at the exit area, which is also helpful (and perhaps could be marked secret?). Yet another very good map. --5/5

I rather liked that map 18 wasn't as detailed as most contemporary maps. I thought it was done on purpose?

Bug report map 32: the teleporter just right of the start in the first cavern, sector 17, has a sidedef with a strange back upper texture set (SP_HOT1) which is visible if you turn towards the starting ledge on the right stairs.

It is quite possible that the map can cause a savegame buffer overflow; it's a large map with lots of monsters and items. Play a bit into the map and try to pick up some items, then save your game.

Map 18 -- City of Burning Sulphur I liked this one. I'm a real sucker for this kind of map: it's a spacious cavern/hellish setting with lots of small and semi-small fights in the cavern itself, side areas, and various buildings placed here and there. Competently done, and with a clear sense of style, it's quite deliberate in all aspects: the secrets are deliberately obscure and difficult to find (I roamed around this one for ages to find them all), the detailing is purposefully restrained (to give the impression that it's an older map), it has a mandatory Cyber finale, and it's made very clear at several points throughout that it could have been a lot more violent. As it stands, even though the monster count is fairly high, the demons are spread thinly over this large area, making the nice views stand out even more, but, alas also making a lot of the fights slightly lacklustre. Progression is delightful: it's still the classic flick-a-switch, find a key, open a door, but the author makes a damn good job of it. Because you get so much breathing room you're never in any trouble; the most difficult part was probably the start. There are some small traps throughout to keep things interesting, but they're easy to survive (I didn't even lose 1% of health at the red key). The fight in the RL building and the fights at the start were very enjoyable, but that also made me think that maybe there should have been a bit more of that. The Cyber finale was a bit of a letdown, too, as it's only natural to fight it safely from the other end of the corridor. This is one of the best maps yet. --4/5

Map 17 -- Antidote Large (400 monsters!), sprawling map, tough as nails on UV (playing from scratch without saves). Strewn throughout are a number of dangerous traps and fights, which will test any player's skills. Progression is quite free: collect all three keys and go to the exit, basically. It took me a good 10 or so attempts before I finally got through (in about 35 minutes): all deaths except one was right at the start, because yet again you're thrown into action ; this time with hitscanner hell, with a side order of imps and Barons and a Cyber overlooking everything. What is it with this WAD and ridiculously violent starts? Seriously. Anyway, I happened to play it in the order yellow-red-blue keys which ended up being an okay ride, I guess, although there were enough set pieces and traps to never allow me to relax. The red key AV fight was inventive and put a smile on my face, the blue key Arach/imp triple trap was intense, as was the demon/imp+Revenant/Arach double trap. Arch-Viles are placed here and there throughout to annoy you, but seldom in places where they can wreak complete havoc, thankfully. 4/5 secrets were all concentrated to a single area, curiously, and I really liked how you accessed those air ducts to get to the blue armour and backpack. Ammo is fairly tight throughout, but from about 2 minutes in I was never in serious risk of running out (though, in retrospect, I could have, had I chosen different paths through the map. I guess that's always difficult to predict if you're set on designing a map where the player can roam freely). Thematically it doesn't give off any coherent impression: various indvidual sections look good in an old-school way though. The westernmost part was slightly strange: you're given a fantastic view of a large section of the map, which you'll never access! There are other places, too, where you're given nice visuals for no apparent reason, and entire sections such as the chapel, which serve no function at all. I did like a lot of the action throughout but I'll dock a point for some annoyances (especially the start, and the realization that I wasn't meant to telefrag that Cyber when I reached its elevator) and the disjointed feeling of the map... as if the author focused on some nice locales, set-ups and battle arenas but didn't tie them together. --3/5

Map 16 -- Hell House A rather small map which is made to seem larger by leading the player through a series of small corridors and lifts. The theme is a brown stone mansion of some sort. A consistent theme and consistent action throughout. There are quite a few monsters for such a small area, most of them are the smaller monsters (with chaingunners aplenty) but there is no shortage of larger monsters. Fights usually restrict you in some way, as they take place in cramped quarters. Traps are of the old -- oldest, even -- kind: lifts which drop down with monsters on them or next to them, and one or two monster closets. After the initial start, which is delightfully chaotic but a bit too violent for my taste, you can visit the whole map in any order apart from the end section beyond the RK door, and if you do stuff in the "right" order you'll have a much easier time. You're given plenty of ammunition throughout but it's difficult to use the RL efficiently considering the tight quarters. The fight at the alcove just before the end with the teleporting monsters was very fun. The rest of the fights were okay but nothing special. I don't understand why all those Hell Knights at the start aren't marked multiplayer only. 3 monsters (two Revenants and a Mancubus) didn't teleport out during my playthrough. Maybe because of buggy teleport lines? Two easy-to-find secrets (soulsphere, blue armour) which if taken early makes the map a breeze. --3/5

We're doing secret maps now? Okay... Map 31 -- Degravitation Yikes, this one packed a punch! It's a subterranean level featuring a world turned upside down. The gameplay is pretty tough, with several neat and deadly traps. You'll be fighting off Revenants and Arch-Viles throughout as you progress deeper into the inner depths of the map. I generally enjoyed myself here, because while it's definitely not easy, there are few very cheap tricks and you're given enough health to make it through unless you make serious mistakes (I made it through in my first attempt with one very close call). If you let the Arch-Viles resurrect too many monsters you may get some ammo problems midway; I was down to a handful of shells at one point but as I'd found the berserk pack I punched a few monsters and worked my way through. The environment is rather well-done, there are plenty of places where you feel like you're going through a world turned upside down. At one point I didn't really know where to go, and found I had to run back to a place near the start and activate a switch there in an area which had opened up. Felt a bit unintuitive to me, there was no reason for me to go back there (in hindsight, there were some imps let loose from there, but I didn't realize they came from that direction when I encountered them). Secrets are good, with enough rewards to ease the pain of those tricky fights in close quarters. In the end you're given an abundance of ammo and a megasphere for.. no discernable reason, really? Unless you're playing the maps in sequence I guess. The way to get to the secret exit was excellent; it took me several minutes to figure it out, but hey I'm an idiot. :-) First time I've seen that type of trick used for such a purpose, unless I'm forgetting something. You trickaholics should also be able to glide through the bars to reach the exit. All in all, a mostly fun and tricky map. By the way, the intermission screen shows another title ("Another Dimension"). --4/5 Map 32 -- The Cataclysm A smallish map with obvious references to, among others, MM maps 5 and 24 and MM2 maps 12 and 21. It's pretty good. I usually don't care much for these designs but I felt that this map always played fair and when I got into some trouble it was (with the exception of the teleport right next to an angry Revenant) pretty much my own fault. The challenge, like most of the time with this type of map, depends a bit on how you choose to confront the monsters. I berserk punched my way through most of the monsters in the first cave using the invuln, and from there it was mostly plain sailing playing the rest of it slowly and safely. The map looks nice and there are enough of the bigger baddies to keep you interested as you move along. The progression wasn't stupidly easy, nor confusing (because the map is so small). The battles behind the yellow key door were fun but then the map makes you backtrack a bit to the ending room with no real purpose (other than to give you a megasphere which is helpful for continuous play). Two other secrets: the soulsphere I rocketjumped to -- which cost me about as much health as I gained (I wonder if a strafe50 jump is possible? Hmm...) -- but I found out you can reach it through a teleport, and the health potion one was a little pointless and definitely difficult to spot, had I not jumped off the ledge there to look for monsters. All in all, not bad. --4/5

Map 15 -- Elm Street This stone temple takes the word "old-school" seriously indeed. If someone told me it was made in late '94 I would not doubt them for a second, it looks that old. Sadly, it's not especially interesting. It's small and undeniably plain, with hurtful blood for floor in large sections of the map. This, initially, makes for somewhat of an interesting challenge as you try to find radiation suits to keep going. You're given so many throughout, though, that you wonder if the author intended you to run around for a few extra minutes after killing everything to enjoy the scenery... which is ironic, considering there's precious little scenery to enjoy. Gameplay is for the most part all right, even though you get an almost insulting amount of ammo. There's a boring Arch-Vile/Cyber combo fight which one has to fight using the SG and chaingun if playing from scratch, and which seemingly takes forever. Okay, okay, there's an alternative: rushing into the small room where the Cyber resides and grab the SSG, but I'm not suicidal. That's pretty early on, and after that you get so stocked up on goodies, weapons and rad suits that you breeze through the (short) end. There's really not much to this, except for a rather nice double secret to get to the secret exit (alternately, you can get to it by using an AV). Not bad, but a bit dull and very forgettable. --3/5 Incorrect, I mentioned it in my review. There are well-hidden thin steps allowing you to get back up to that switch again.

Adam, I like your comments too much to not protest your quitting! :-) So, I must third Magnus' and LordK's opinion: IDFA the start, play until you reach a safe spot, and spend some minutes shooting into a wall so you have roughly the ammo supply as you did originally going in. And if you didn't have the BFG yet, just don't use it (Gentleman's agreement). Well, yes. I jumped down there with a SG, 80/0 or so in health and maybe 15 shells. That's what I meant by "hilariously underequipped". ;-) I did put up a good fight though but succumbed to a Revenant missile after some braveheart fighting, being slowly pushed down towards the blue armour/backpack secret area. But, anyway, it's just silly because if I had made it through and up to the red/blue key door I would still have to go get the blue key and then go through that same area again. Why allow the player to go down there, regardless if by accident or by choice? Well you can, actually, but very few shots connect from the ground (only as the Mastermind is at its closest to the front edge) so it takes a shitload of ammo. I killed it from the green armour ledge, quite safely (you can even avoid its attack easily).

Map 14 -- Vertigo Plant The setting is a large complex, floating in the sky. Gameplay is not my cup of tea: if you survive the start, you spend the first 3-5 minutes frantically running around scavenging for health and ammo while being shot at and/or ambushed by monsters constantly, from just about everywhere. After chaingun sniping Mancubuses and Arachnotrons on the surrounding floating pillars, you can finally stop having to stumble into new areas and monsters and try to focus on figuring out what to do and where to go. Which brings up another observation: There's no discernable theme here... what exactly is all this trying to represent? Anyway, once you've found the yellow key and gone through the YK door, the progression is quite linear and gameplay gets easier, in spite of some fierce resistance, since you're given an abundance of ammo (especially plasma). Several fights throughout are, at best, ho-hum (all three boss monsters can be fought very safely), and at worst, tedious. Now, to be fair, the part after getting the blue key and all the way running up to the blue/red key door had pretty good action, and without a doubt the best fights in the map. The map presents several places from which the player can, by accident or through curiousness, jump off the floating structure and kill himself and the author does little to prevent this; in fact, in several instances such behaviour is encouraged: the megashere secret requires a stupid jump which, if missed, means insta-death, and the same goes for the very last secret, when everything is (or should be) dead, which contains a few precious stimpaks (yes, I'm being ironic). At other times, jumping off ledges blindly may land you far ahead in the planned progression route, presenting fights for which you are hilariously underequipped. I thought it was possible to break the map progression at the end, just past the red/blue keyed door, if you jump into the ooze prior to pushing the switch in the nearby control room, but I found when looking in an editor that there's a (well hidden) way to get back up. There are plenty of secrets, and while one or two are clever (the soulpshere, the blue armour + backpack room), some are pointless (the secret right at the very end? The berserk secret which unloaded a bunch of Revenants on me?), or -- in the case of the aforementioned megasphere secret -- downright stupid. The map ends with a silly AV trap while exposed on a ledge, flanking you with chaingunners. Ugh. I survived this last trap on my first attempt but others will not be so lucky. Whereas map 12, in spite of pulling a few cheap tricks and placing the player in some unfair situations, was somehow intriguing to play and was accompanied by a sense of accomplishment, this map is a one-shot for me. --2/5

I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked it. :-) Same here, killed it on my first try. I was (apparently) lucky enough to dispose of the Cyber quickly, since it only teleported once (ended up behind me), and I could kill it with a few BFG blasts. What is interesting, though, is that had I died, I would've immediately loaded up the map again.. as I had just done after being killed by the blue key area chaingunners on my first playthrough. There's something about that map which is ... enticing, and I cannot put my finger on it. I wanted to finish it. I do know that I will play the map over many times in years to come, which is not the case for a vast majority of the thousands of maps I've played in the /idgames archive.

I wouldn't be too sure ... Map 13 -- Underearth A delightful cavernous marble/brick palace. The fights are very nicely set up, the health and ammo balance is overall good (though health borders on generous, and towards the end you're given a lot of ammo), there are some neat traps (the demon fight was fun!) and the progression is simple yet not dull. Add to this some very cool sequences -- the building staircase and the rising walls in the marble hall with ensuing hectic fighting -- and you have yourself a great little map with immensely enjoyable gameplay. It all looks slightly plain but aesthetically pleasing, and there's some attention paid to lighting. The soulsphere secret was great: requiring a keen eye but not requiring guesswork. Surely, it could have been slightly more challenging, but I was so happy blasting away monsters that I couldn't care less. I'm trying to come up with some complaint but I really can't, this is just a solid old-school map. --5/5

Oh yeah, completely forgot to commend you on that run in all the excitement: A time below 1:00 is sensational!

Map 12 -- Alpha Tower A vast map, reminding me somewhat of MM2 map 28 "Corporate Hell" in some ways, covering several large towers, some caverns, marble palaces, brick arenas, and more. Several bits are sparsely populated and the monster count is still 330 on UV (although, a lot of them are released in two set-pieces). The progression is fairly simple: you first make your way to the yellow key which gains access to the central hub whence you can access the red key area and blue key area separately. I believe only one of the keys is needed to get to the exit from there. Difficulty is hard, especially if playing 100/100 (like I am), if playing from scratch (as I am), if playing without savegames (as I am), and if choosing -- or rather, randomly selecting -- to play the blue key area before the red key area (as I did). I did manage to get through it all in my second attempt, but there were some close calls along the way. The bulk of the opposition is made up of smaller monsters (imps, zombiemen, chaingunners), however droves of the larger monsters make guest appearances throughout, so you're in for a rough time. The ammo balance is fair, but there are ways to play though the map, especially the first half, which could cause you to run out, or almost so, and this adds greatly to the difficulty. There are two set-ups with teleporting monsters; the first, a swarm of imps released in a darkened corridor area was pretty fun, although I was sort of expecting it and ran away to fight all of them from one side, which made things easy. The second, a grab bag of beasts released on a descending platform á la HR map 31, with a couple of Arch-Viles sent in at the end to try to revive what you spent a lot of time killing, was surprisingly unchallenging, given the vast amounts of plasma ammo given, and that the monsters have a single entry point. I basically stood still and fired continuously at one spot, and not until the very end did I have to seek some cover, when the Barons started teleporting in. Then I just grabbed the BFG and mopped up. No, the challenge was instead surviving early on, when you're ill-equipped and lacking both health and armour, and getting through the marble section, with its gnarly chaingunners and Revenant trap (I was totally expecting some kind of trap there and managed to use the curvature of the corridors to pick the monsters off basically one by one). There are two secrets: the berserk is useless because I'm not punching through a horde of HKs/Cacos/Revenants when I have the RL, and the computer map is found behind a random piece of unmarked wall. I have no idea why I thought that might be a good place to wallhump but I did find it on my first playthrough by chance. I expect the vast majority of players will not. It all ends with a super cheap Cyber finale, which, had it killed me would have pissed me off to no end after spending almost half an hour playing the map. However, I had the BFG with plenty of ammo and went in 180/180 so I survived. Blowing up the towers to exit the map was, by then, extremely satisfying. This map represents a HUGE step up in difficulty to the first 11 and some players will like its gameplay, some players won't. Overall I thought it was rather fun, minor complaints aside, but I understand why some won't. --4/5 By the way, I noticed that this map has three authors... I wonder what author did what part of the map. Perhaps two people designed the red and blue key areas, respectively, and the third did the rest?

Of course! Such an easy solution. Thank you very much, Looper! :-) Now I can finally sleep at night... ;-) origx197.zip

Absolutely, which is why I agreed that it could have been placed to the side. Oh and I agree that there should be some incentive to move to the end of the room after having picked up the RL in map 11. There were some such moments in map 6, too.

Map 11 -- The Ocean Outpost Very cool stone/brick structure set by the sea. I had a blast running around in this one. The first, symmetrical part looks a little like something from Tim Willits (ATTACK.WAD anyone?), then the map sort of sprawls out, but still sticks to the overall theme. It looks nice, bright, almost cheerful at times. You have the option of playing this one almost any way you like, but it is never confusing since areas are unique in appearance, and once you get the computer map it's easy to keep track of where you've been and where to go look for keys. Once you have collected them, it's on to the finale, which was kind of a letdown, as it is much too easy since you are so juiced up by then and the layout is very much in your favour. The way there, though, is, apart from one too many chaingunner setups perhaps, enjoyable. The fights aren't at all difficult if you pace yourself and pick off the monsters one by one. I liked the soulsphere secret. All in all, one of the best maps so far. --4/5 When playing the map from scratch that armour is very helpful. I agree that it would be better if it were placed to the side (as with another green armour later on, by the double-lift).

Much obliged, that works. Strange that there's no direct way of doing it though. :-)