Best/Worst maps in The Plutonia Experiment

[Phoby]

My favorites have got to be Aztec, Cyberden, Odyssey of Noises, and of course the Super Saiyan version of Entryway known as Go 2 It.

 

I don't really hate any of the maps in Plutonia, but if I had to choose some least favorites, it would have to be Caged, Genesis, and The Twilight. Caged and The Twilight are ugly and have some really unfair sections and Genesis is boring and way too easy.

[seed]

Odyssey of Noises is definitely my favorite map, and the only one I hate is Hunted, the rest is great unlike the mixed bag that TNT is.

 

Hunted has an interesting concept, but I just can't stand the annoying doors which make navigation a pain in the ass since the map is literally a maze.

 

 

[The_MártonJános]

Aztec might be one of the better-visualized maps, but the confusing navigation and crampedness makes me dislike it. Tombstone is a runner-up in the "easy to get lost" aspect, the others aren't that much of a stinker for me.

There are quite a couple of ones that made on my list of lovely, but I shall admit, I really adore - the IMHO really underrated - The Crypt.

Edited August 19, 2018 by Cell

[Guy Montag]

I honestly did not like any level from Plutonia. Ugly, switch-hunting maze levels, colored either 100% green or brown, with overpowered enemies.

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

8 minutes ago, Guy Montag said:

Ugly, switch-hunting maze levels, colored either 100% green or brown, with overpowered enemies.

Did you actually play the wad? There were very few actual switch hunts, and almost all of them were in Milo's maps. The enemies were the exact same as in Doom II, just used such that the levels are much more dangerous.

 

My favorite map is MAP22: Impossible Mission, but I like Dario's maps very much over Milo's.

I might be in the minority of those who don't like Go 2 It very much. It's fun, but I liked Cyberden better.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Most Hated : Tie between the stupid map with nukage and stairs at start (with the room with like +50 zombies on platforms behind a door) and the map with chaingunners and out of reach viles resurrecting them. The former screams filler with nothing remotely challenging nor interesting and the later is downright obnoxious without secret invul spheres.

Edited August 19, 2018 by Pegg

[MFG38]

Am I in the minority then in finding Odyssey of Noises to be one of the worst levels?

[FyreOnix]

all of them are equally the worst

[Juza]

Twilight gets pretty easy once you know where the secrets are located. I still think it's a bad map. I always loved Genesis and Odyssey of Noises. I always hated Aztec, Caged, Baron's Lair, Impossible Mission, Temple of Darkness. I like all others tho

[galileo31dos01]

Not sure which one's my favourite, I really like Congo, Baron's Lair, The Crypt, Go 2 It, NME, The Sewers and Tombstone, probably Slayer too. I might have other favourites too but those are the standouts I can think at the moment. The ones I don't fancy or bore me are The Twilight Zone and Cyberden, respectively. Casually, Odyssey of Noises was amazing the first time and it still brings me joy but I'm sure with 1000 more monsters it would be more awesome, by today standards.

[Deleted_Account]

-Best Maps-

 

Well of Souls

Aztec

Ghost Town

Baron's Den

Realm

Onslaught

The Crypt

Genesis

Compound

Odyssey of Noises

 

-Worst Maps-

 

Hunted

D_Runnin

[NeilK]

Death's Domain, Abbatoir, Well of souls, Sewers, and NME were awesome maps.

 

Never was a fan of the Realm, Antichrist, Final Frontier or Speed.

[Novaseer]

I don't like Impossible Navigation Impossible Mission.

 

When a map is frustrating even with ROK you're doing something wrong.

[Solmyr]

Best: Congo, Well of Souls, Baron's Den, The Crypt, Compound, Bunker, Tombstone, Oddysey of Noises, Cyberden.

 

Worst: Neurosphere (The Inmost Dens from Doom II retextured and with a terrible name), Go 2 It (Entryway on Berzerk and Steroids), Temple of Darkness, Ghost Town.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Solmyr

[jazzmaster9]

Hunted has to be my least favorite map. that map pretty much me Quit Plutonia for good.

It's a shame really, most of Plutonia's maps upto that point had meticulous placement of enemies and encounters, but Hunted just shoved a million archviles in a maze and called it difficult.

[riderr3]

15 hours ago, Guy Montag said:

switch-hunting maze levels

Haha. Try to play late levels of Eternal Doom 3. (This wad should not to be confused with new Doom Eternal game).
And this is still on my list of the favorite wads.

Edited August 20, 2018 by riderr3

[Phoby]

I think Hunted is a really cool idea for a map, it's just a shame that it turned out kind of ugly and confusing. The repeat textures don't really bother me all that much, but what really grinds my gears is the tripwire mechanic. Would it really have been that hard to ALSO let the player open doors manually?

[SGS Man]

I'm a big fan of all of Plutonia's maps. It's my favorite IWAD since it takes the best aspects of The Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 and fuses them into a Brown and  Chaingunner-Revenant-heavy package. There's a lot to love about all of its maps and frankly, I don't think it has a "bad" map.

 

Though if I had to choose, the best ones are probably Hunted, Go 2 It, and Odyssey of Noises.

 

Hunted is probably the quintessential gimmick map. A confusing and repetitive maze filled solely with Arch-viles. And it gets great mileage from the 14 (18) Arch-viles on Ultra-Violence. The dickish fake exit trap at the end is also excellent, as it cripples continuous players before Speed (which is on the harder end of Plutonia's maps). Go 2 It is classic balls-to-the-wall madness. Easy by today's standards of slaughter-ish maps, but it still serves as a great introduction to that sub-genre of Doom maps. Odyssey of Noises is a city map done right. I've grown to be more forgiving of the city sandbox maps in Doom 2, but I still find that they're extremely tame. They are content to let the player explore at little risk and only unsheath their fangs sparsely. Odyssey of Noises resolves that by making entire lanes lethal with several turrets (most notably the Cyberdemon one) and having progression that requires the player to move into those lanes.

 

The weakest maps are The Temple of Darkness and Cyberden.

 

The Temple of Darkness feels like the fusion of two different maps aesthetically. There's the blood-red area with wooden planks, and then there's the jungle-temple structure. Still, the map plays well and has excellent ambushes. My only issue with it gameplay-wise might be the nasty shotgun ambush at the start. Continuous players would be able to withstand that, but pistol-start players are at a sizeable disadvantage. It's still fairly easy to snag new guns and recover though. Cyberden boils over into grindy territory with a touch of ammo starvation. The Cyberdemons control a ton of space, and the map requires you to move into that space quite often. This incentivizes the player to kill/weaken the Cyberdemons with just the Rocket Launcher and Super Shotgun (to conserve plasma for the eventual BFG). The final armada of Revenants is still quite engaging, but getting there just ends up feeling tedious.

[Jerry.C]

Best: Odyssey of Noises and Go 2 It.

 

Worst: Slayer - this is essentially "Kill all enemies, press a switch, Arch Vile comes out, kill all enemies again." Yuck!

 

[seed]

2 hours ago, Phoby said:

I think Hunted is a really cool idea for a map, it's just a shame that it turned out kind of ugly and confusing. The repeat textures don't really bother me all that much, but what really grinds my gears is the tripwire mechanic. Would it really have been that hard to ALSO let the player open doors manually?

 

Honestly, I think they wanted to make the map itself difficult as well. The absence of the tripwire mechanic trivializes the level. Say, an AV attacks you near a door, you can just open it, get away from his line of sight, fire the SSG a few times or use the RL if you have rockets and voilla, solved.

 

But what do you do when you can't exactly run away that easily?

[jazzmaster9]

1 hour ago, Agent6 said:

 

Honestly, I think they wanted to make the map itself difficult as well. The absence of the tripwire mechanic trivializes the level. Say, an AV attacks you near a door, you can just open it, get away from his line of sight, fire the SSG a few times or use the RL if you have rockets and voilla, solved.

 

But what do you do when you can't exactly run away that easily?

I mean if that's their way of making it difficult then it's the cheapest way to go went about. Its like trapping a player in a coverless area with Shotgunners.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

2 hours ago, Agent6 said:

 

Honestly, I think they wanted to make the map itself difficult as well. The absence of the tripwire mechanic trivializes the level. Say, an AV attacks you near a door, you can just open it, get away from his line of sight, fire the SSG a few times or use the RL if you have rockets and voilla, solved.

 

But what do you do when you can't exactly run away that easily?

 

Except you can run past every single archvile in the level and corner camp them just like any other map (Most corners aren't blocked by doors). The trip-wire just make the maze even more annoying especially the stupid path to the switches.

[seed]

8 minutes ago, Pegg said:

Except you can run past every single archvile in the level and corner camp them just like any other map (Most corners aren't blocked by doors). The trip-wire just make the maze even more annoying especially the stupid path to the switches.

 

Indeed.

 

The tripwire mechanic is there to make your life more difficult.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Agent6

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Lol it is the easiest map in all of plutonia. Shitty doors that make the map take a couple more minutes to beat aren't difficult. 

[GarrettChan]

Don't Like: Map11

Like: Map15, Map32, Map29

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Maps that I liked?

 

Map 32 - Fun, difficult, but not so hard that it feels cheap.

Map 16 - Either played after Twilight or Go2It, either way Omen is a little under-rated. I love that map.

MAP 29 - Man for an ending is it a gorgeous map!

 

Maps I full-on Hated however...

Map 11 - No health until you've FINISHED the maze. Plus, the maze is filled with Arch-Viles... not fun

MAP 12 - Comes right after Hunted and isn't any easier...

Map 15 - Painful is an under statement

map 21 - I'm not a fan of maps where I die within the first 20 seconds

Map 24 -  I'm also not a fan of maps where I die in the first 10 seconds

Map 27 - Nor am I a fan of maps where I die every 20 seconds and get lost very easily

Map 30 - Needlessly spammy, odd map design choices and Arch-viles AND Cyberdemons in close proximity = not fun at all

 

 

I hate Plutonia but TNT is still worse... maybe :l

[Grain of Salt]

I can't believe people are still complaining about plutonia's difficulty in 2018. It's been 22 years, guys.

 

Try harder. Get better. Stop making dumb excuses.

[Scotty]

Yay:

4 - busy, relatively dangerous, action packed yet compact map

7 - see above

12 - see above

15 - see above

16 - see above

24 - cool layout with a good cyb sniper

27 - fuck-the-player indestructible chaingunner is hilarious (and lots of good combat to be had anyway)

 

Honourable mentions: 9, 11, 14, 21, 22

 

Meh:

2 - just a bunch of bad ideas placed into one map (worst map in the wad, imo)

26 - long and not very interesting to play

28 - long winded and grindy with little real danger

30 - IOS rubbish

Edited August 21, 2018 by Scotty

[Maser]

10 minutes ago, Grain of Salt said:

I can't believe people are still complaining about plutonia's difficulty in 2018. It's been 22 years, guys.

 

Try harder. Get better. Stop making dumb excuses.

 

Difficulty and annoyance are two separate things.  Plutonia is ungodly annoying!  I never had any issues with the Heavy Weapon Dudes until the one and only time I played all through Plutonia. 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Maser

[jazzmaster9]

 

56 minutes ago, Grain of Salt said:

I can't believe people are still complaining about plutonia's difficulty in 2018. It's been 22 years, guys.

 

Try harder. Get better. Stop making dumb excuses.

So I'm not allowed to voice criticism on annoying design when i see it fit? Sure...