The DWmegawad Club plays: Hell Revealed 2

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP28 - Beyond the Sea

glBoom + 2.5.1.7um , skill 1 pistol start, no saves

 

Somewhere..

beyond the sea

Andy

torturing meeeeee

 

AAGH!

Some armor would've been nice, jeez.
At least more than the tiny bit you get throughout the level.

 

I don't have the level names dehacked so when I look at the map it says The Spirit World. I wish.
This managed to be almost as frustrating as MAP29 of Doom 2.

 

I was incredibly close to giving up multiple times. Even on skill 1 this was torture.
 

Spoiler

 

 

[dobu gabu maru]

Voting wise, we're currently at 5 votes for Mars War, 2 for Isolation, 2 for 1k Lines

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP27: Resistance Remains (HNTR/continuous)

18:25 | 100% Kills | 77% Items | 25% Secrets

I only vaguely remember the original map, but this one definitely feels familiar. It feels more cramped, somehow, too. It's also pretty much a breeze on HNTR/continuous, just mostly plugging away with the BFG and saving the megaspheres for when you really need them. 

 

MAP28: Beyond the Sea (HNTR/continuous)

44:21 | 98% Kills | 100% Items | 83% Secrets

I didn't mind this one! Very grindy, yes, and though there were very little (if any) rockets and cells, there was plenty of shells and bullets. Dealing with the lather-rinse-repeat vile/chaingunner waves grew tiresome, but it was mostly a matter of finding a place to camp and snipe. The first cybies absorbed most of my carryover cells, the second one I sniped harmlessly over the starting catwalk, and the last two I just SSG circlestrafed (easy enough in the wide open arena once the turrets were cleared.) Pretty fun all told, but maybe a bit overlong. (I didn't realize until typing this up that I took 45 minutes! Geez!)

[Andromeda]

MAP28: Beyond The Sea (Hell Revealed II)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

Almost at the end of my playthrough I was ready to come to this thread to bash the level, but then I saw how much of a joke the cacodemon/heavy weapon dude building is and realised I'd struggled so much because I just bruteforced through. See, this is a recycled level from Andy's 1998 wad D2200EP1 hence why it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of Hell Revealed II. It really shows its age, be it in terms of looks or gameplay and would fit right in in the original Hell Revealed instead of here.

 

Ammo and health balance is really tight and there's a good chance that even if you play your cards right you'll end up dying before you get to tackle the second half of the level - yes, even with foreknowledge the first half of the level is pretty hard, the second is actually fairly easy if you know what's coming. Here's my strategy that worked well on my second successful run of the level. At the start you're greeted by four shotgun guys on high pillars, demons in the water and several heavy weapon dudes on high platforms on both sides in the distance.

 

There's a shotgun behind you and a berserk inside the ring in front. Grab the shotgun, ignore everything here for now then enter the door to the left. Squeeze past the cacodemons and kill the shotgun guys quickly, then enter the tunnel and rush for the small opening on the right side before the mancubi attack you. Kill the enemies in this passage and grab the backpack beside a window - from here, try to make the monsters infight until there's only mancubi left.

 

Now comes the hardest part in the level by far - lure the mancubi to the other side of the area (close to the barons, make them infight if possible but it might be too risky) then quickly enter the small room (kill the imp if it's still alive), collect the super shotgun and take cover because an arch-vile spawns behind you. Try to get two shots in before the pissed off martian can box you in then make your escape towards the backpack passage and finish it off.

 

Now you get to kill everything that you skipped. At some point you'll get the rocket launcher - this is a red herring, you'll only get to use it to deal with arch-viles in two specific spots since rocket ammo is limited. Each time you press a switch in the ring two arch-viles spawn, one in each platform with the heavy weapon dudes, as well as a Cyberdemon in the water which is easily ignored. Your goal is to kill the arch-viles so that you can deal with the Cyberdemon in peace.

 

After the first switch tackle the one on the left platform first using the rocket launcher - depending on your luck this should take from 5-10 rockets. Use the switch as cover and fire a rocket at a time at an angle for best results and to avoid losing health. Beware as you approach the other side as an arch-vile is waiting for you after the tunnel, take it down before it gets too many monsters resurrected. Afterwards you can collect the armor and play the rest of the first half by ear, it's more of the same - note that pressing the second switch on the ring also unlocks a secret megasphere in the tunnel, which you should save until after dealing with the second wave of monsters. 

 

Try to use either Cyberdemon to kill the monsters that await you behind the door to the second half of the level in order to save ammo. The northern section of the level is much more manageable (I finished it with 160/160), with only a couple traps that will trouble a player without foreknowledge. The trickiest moment is the dual arch-vile reveal after pressing the first switch, you should rush to the other side and lob rockets through the window (taking cover between shots to avoid being damaged) until they're dead.

 

To make the other troublesome part easier I recommend opening an unmarked secret nearby on the northern wall. After you press the switch that unlocks the last building revenants and heavy weapon dudes will spawn behind you - quickly escape through the secret you've opened and (again) kill the arch-vile below before it spoils everything. Note that pressing the last two switches in the ring opens secrets containing supercharges in the first half of the level should you need them.

 

If you've read the wall of text above you probably noticed that this level's most dangerous encounters involve arch-viles. This is because they're placed expertly and the fact that the level has no BFG9000 means that you have no easy way of dealing with them, just grit your teeth and kill them with the SSG (RL on the specific spots) as quickly as possible, easier said than done. Supply scarcity also plagues this level but also makes it so memorable - if it had four extra megaspheres, a BFG, 1000 or so cells and an extra 100 rockets it would be a pretty easy and forgettable level, as I suppose it is for continuous players.

 

The architecture is oppressive, perfectly matching the level and the MIDI is aggressive and oddly motivating, pushing you to the limit as you slowly but surely make progress. This was quite the experience and I feel that if I hadn't given it a second chance I would be missing out, it plays much, much better with foreknowledge and I'm glad I went through it again. It's such a relief once you hear those bizarre stairs being built towards the exit teleporter and getting to see the intermission screen is a great achievement. In my opinion, it's possibly Hell Revealed II's magnum opus unless the final two levels manage to top it, excellent stuff!

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP28: Beyond The Sea

MAP21: Conflux

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP15: The Path II

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP26: Dis 2000

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP19: Mind Trap

MAP27: Resistance Remains

MAP32: Playground

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

Edited April 29, 2020 by Andromeda

[galileo31dos01]

Map 28

 

+ Okay, first order of the day is to scavenge a positive aspect. I suppose in theory this is another very specific conceptual map, from the active fighting to how progression is unraveled. Go figure if this was purely experimental or he mathematically designed around certain tropes and limitations because it's what he really liked at that time, but solely for distinguishing from the rest, more in questionable ways than legitimately understandable, it gets at least a tiny bonus point that map 24 couldn't even get (still have some milligrams of salt left from that playthrough last year). 

 

. IIRC, I didn't really mind the oppressive pistol start, one or two times, though repetition certainly degrade the map in some aspects, while help in others, since knowledge of the secret health spheres, when and where they are revealed, is greatly important. The start is the slowest part to conquer by far, so once I started to die somewhere around halfway through, I kinda felt burnt just from repeating the same shit over and over. It's not until I claim the first megasphere that I actually feel stabilized on one side, so what else I could do with my hundred shells/bullets and thirty rockets... grind patiently and never look behind. There're a few interesting, exercising setups here and there, like early punching hell goats, or revenants teleporting on an unpolished pentagram, some optional infight to spice things a bit, but unfortunately that doesn't save the map from being an everlasting grind which wants you to repeat the same fights multiple times until you are sick of it.

 

- And speaking of repetition, I'm intrigued what really costed the mapper to vary his fights just a little bit. We already killed those perched archviles, the chaingunners resurrected and the cyberdemon below, why make us go through the same deal another three more times? How about two pain elementals on each side and an army of arachnotrons on the water, then perhaps a couple spiderdemons or a horde of spectres, or maybe nothing since I cannot think of a fun fight in that area with the meager rocket supplies you get. There're also many instances you're better rushing away from exposure or taking a safe approach, because again archviles and chaingunners (the rev room, for example, or the repetitive snipers as well), or the room that's filled to the brim with cacodemons and gunners too, so that leaves little to actually feel engaged if not from a safer place and, of course, grind patiently and never look behind.  

 

- There is a secret alcove that contains a bunch of chaingunners plus one archvile, and nothing of reward. Missed opportunity for a hundred boxes of rockets.

 

- Visuals, well, it's bright as fuck everywhere, outdoors and indoors, though I seem to recall at least the intention to apply shadows around torches. Not something I really mind to be honest, but at the same time it causes confusion when multiple rooms look similar in colours (on my first time I got lost many times, since progress is basically a crude switch hunt). Map 15 also suffered slightly from this, though it was much more fun to play than this.

 

The shortest UV-Max in dsda is about 26 minutes, while mine is 40 minutes. That pretty much says how time-consuming this map is no matter what.

 

 

[Snikle]

MAP29 - Hell's Cauldron

Now this one was fun for me. First of all, it gave me the SSG at the start! AND it gave me enough ammo for all the weapons! This alone does not make a good map, but it sure as hell helps. The fights themselves were fun too though, IMO. Some of them were a bit grindy, but with adequate rockets and energy cells this is much less of an issue than it was in many, many other places in the WAD up to this point. The highlight of this map was the first cyber battle. Lots of delicious infighting there. Ending was a bit weak, the spider died at the hands of her children pretty quickly. There were plenty of instances of block monster lines taking some of the teeth out of things. Icon of Sin comes next, oh boy. Will they starve me, or will the map actually be enjoyable?

[Roofi]

Map 29 : Hell's Cauldron

 

 

Jonas Feragen offers us an epic adventure around an almost monotexturated volcano. This map is one of my favorites and is the only map with exclusively "natural" landscapes.

 

The aesthetics have not aged well on this level but the atmosphere is there with the dramatic music, the progression of the "rise to the top" style simple and effective, as well as the high number of monsters.

 

The level is fun with lots of ammo to exterminate all the enemies. The only annoying point for me are the monsters that teleport towards the end of the level.

 

[Grain of Salt]

On 4/27/2020 at 1:15 PM, 3saster said:

Remember this came out in 2003; I don't really think anything quite like this at the time, except perhaps for MAP25 of Alien Vendetta. It's interesting to note that this particular map is very modern in that sense; the map really is a playground, and you are basically free to go about it any way you want.

 

The HR2 beta came out in february 2000, and contained map32 (almost exactly the same as the final), and that version received a fair number of demos, so I think it makes more sense to say the map came out in 2000 really.

 

I can't think of many proto-slaughter things from around 2000 (or earlier) besides PL32, some of HR1 and maybe Memento Mori map23.

[joe-ilya]

MAP29

Lacks interesting visuals, it's all just the same shit brown texture everywhere, no marble ruins, metallic/wooden support, nor red rock to break it up, nothing. It would've been ok if there were more interesting lighting, but the only area with that kind of design is in a single tunnel with a couple of torches in the entire map.

 

The first half of the map is well designed, the enemies were placed in strategic places and not always behind monster block lines. The ones that were, were effective in their own way, the revs at the start and the imps on the cliff that provided some mean crossfire in the main battles.

Some of the secrets are mandatory; particularly the invaluable BFG to kill a trio of cybers.

The ammo is placed in strategic places too, you have to take some risks if you want to take some cells and rockets on the edge of a cliff. I would've liked more rockets instead of shells.

 

I did not like the middle section of the map that much, all the enemies were placed behind monster block lines, including AVs. To make it not grindy, you'll have to find the secret invul under the cacoswarm and waltz in, to kill the AVs in a fun non-camp way.

What comes afterwards is a grindy mess of teleporting enemies behind more monster block lines, with AVs to force you to camp and waste more ammo killing resurrected enemies, a couple of pillars in that area would be a good decision, so to not force players to hide behind monster block lines, and a allow a more moving strategy.

 

The last section of the map takes out the awful AV-block-line combat and allows you to dodge projectiles instead of taking cover, the combat was simplistic and satisfying, even threatening at times because of how some enemies can actually get to you.

The last arena was stupid easy in allowing the player to just run past everything, but killing everything is still fun because of the proper ammo.

4/5

 

Maps in order of preference :

Spoiler

(5/5)

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP08: Ballistics

(4/5)

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP29: Hell's Cauldron

MAP21: Conflux

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP32: Playground

MAP06: Revival

(3/5)

MAP26: Dis 2000

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP19: Mind Trap

(2/5)

MAP15: The Path II

(1/5)

MAP03: Shackled

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP05: Insatanity

(0/5)

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP27: Resistance Remains

MAP28: Beyond The Sea

My playthrough :

 

[Summer Deep]

13 hours ago, dobu gabu maru said:

Voting wise, we're currently at 5 votes for Mars War, 2 for Isolation, 2 for 1k Lines

 

....and 1 for Doom Zero!

 

:)

[Salt-Man Z]

+++Doom Zero for me, as well. Played the demo however many years ago, and loved it. I need to get to it this year, with or without the Club.

[gaspe]

MAP29: I feel very close to what Roofi said on this one. Visually is dated and bland but nonetheless it's still able to have a rather epic journey climbing up this volcano. Is has also the highest monster count of the wad. With all the infight you can cause it's easier than what it seems and you got plenty of ammoand there usually enough space to move in this map. My favourite trap was at the bfg, you get rewarded if you don't get scared by the sudden revs. The middle part slows down a bit, though the area with the cyberdemon in the cave was quite interesting. Right after that I liked how in the area with the spiders the monsters teleport in random way, prabably due to how the closets are designed, but it made the fight less predictable. The real flaw of the ma to me is the ending, the big red crater looks cool and it's the best part visually but the fight is very underwhelming. Similar to MAP19 it lacks a proper climax.

[Snikle]

I certainly want to see the club play Doom Zero as well. That and Refracted Reality. And some Doomer Boards Projects. And someday I want to play the intriguing but lukewarmly recieved "Doom II in Name Only" with the club too.

 

We're never gonna run out of months though. I plan to start playing Mars War later today.

[Horus]

Doom Zero is a great wad and definitely a good choice for the club, but I won't personally vote for it as I played the first beta and prefer playing mapsets new to me. Playing through CC4 has softened me to the idea of playing a 90s megawad next month anyway lol.

[Andromeda]

MAP29: Hell's Cauldron (Hell Revealed II)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

This is a fairly long trek through natural landscapes, but not a slog by any stretch! The setting of this level is a stark departure from the man made structures that dominate most of the wad, which makes it feel fresh and gives it a epic feel that matches perfectly with its slot. Despite the almost 600 monsters that populate this place it ends up being a pretty easy level, given that enemies are generally placed in front of you, there's plenty of ammo and a fair number of powerups including three invulnerabilities (two of them in secrets).

 

Combat ends up being mostly rocket spam, with a few bits of SSG usage when rockets run out but the level flows quite fast since most of the monsters are fodder - it does slow down a bit at the end with some unnecessary teleport traps behind you but nothing major. The final area is very cool looking but with a rather underwhelming fight, I think if it had stairs it would be a more dynamic encounter at least. One last word for the MIDI which is great on its own but complements the level really well, improving the experience further. Hopefully MAP30 won't be a letdown...

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP28: Beyond The Sea

MAP21: Conflux

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP29: Hell's Cauldron

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP15: The Path II

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP26: Dis 2000

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP19: Mind Trap

MAP27: Resistance Remains

MAP32: Playground

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

Edited April 29, 2020 by Andromeda

[Snikle]

43 minutes ago, Horus said:

Doom Zero is a great wad and definitely a good choice for the club, but I won't personally vote for it as I played the first beta and prefer playing mapsets new to me. Playing through CC4 has softened me to the idea of playing a 90s megawad next month anyway lol.

I prefer new mapsets too, which is why I want DZ up soon, so I can play it with the club instead of by myself. Same goes for RR, don't want to play that until we get to it here.

 

When you think about it, if DZ gets picked next month for the June thread, we'd have gone Doom II-HR2-MW-DZ, four classic (or classic-style in the case of DZ) megawads in a row. I'm kinda hoping to get RR for the June thread just to break up that little streak, plus it should have a final version by then.

 

EDIT: Yeah, I know I already did it once, and this might make me look like an indecisive drip, but I'm gonna change my vote again to

+++Doom Zero, Although I would be happy with DZ or Mars War, and whichever one we don't play next month will surely come up again soon.

 

After all, it was my original idea before RR got released.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Snikle

[Arbys550]

@Sniklethat is a really strange coincidence that you say that, because I just started playing through Doom 2 In Name Only for the first time yesterday.

 

Map29

What the heck? What is this? Seriously? Where was this map hiding all this time? This one was pretty damn fun! I loved the beginning. Pretty much all the encounters were in point. They found a way to be fun each and every time. Plus there was enough ammo to use the rocket launcher on the hordes as opposed to most other hell revealed 2 maps.

 

Unfortunately the map loses some points at the half way mark. For some reason they decide to stop giving you rockets randomly, forcing you to use either the SG or plasma gun on some hordes. Fights in from the middle to the end can be a little dodgy at times, mostly consisting of randomly teleporting cacos that you can easily run back and kill from safety. Also some weird block line placement. The final room was okay but way too easy compared to the rest of the map. I was expecting a big slaughter fight and was disappointed.

 

Spoiler

Maps I loved:

Maps I liked:

     Map29: Hell's Cauldron

     Map18: Excess Meat

     Map13: Hardcore

     Map11: Raw Hatred

Maps I thought were okay:

     Map07: Not That Simple II

     Map02: High Voltage

     Map23: When the Heavens Fall

     Map14: Metal Meltdown

     Map20: Fear of the Dark

     Map03: Shackled

     Map25: The End is Nigh

     Map27: Resistance Remains

Maps I didn't like:

     Map01: Ignition

     Map21: Conflux

     Map06: Revival

     Map10: Base Blaze

     Map08: Ballistics

     Map16: The Chapel of Black Granite
     Map15: The Path II

     Map09: The Siege II

     Map32: Playground

     Map31: The Descent II

     Map17: An Eye for an Eye

     Map12: Anti-Static

     Map24: The Inmost Dens III

     Map22: Sewer Slaughter

     Map05: Insatanity

Maps I thought were awful:

     Map28: Beyond the Sea

     Map26: Dis 2000

     Map04: Reluctant Pain

     Map19: Mind Trap

 

Don't know what Mars War is but I guess I'd like to play Doom Zero.

+++Doom Zero

[galileo31dos01]

@Snikle In case you're interested, this is the closest D2INO will ever be to "a bunch of mixed reviews by a bunch of people".

[Snikle]

3 minutes ago, galileo31dos01 said:

@Snikle In case you're interested, this is the closest D2INO will ever be to "a bunch of mixed reviews by a bunch of people".

Nice, thank you. I'll look into this thread once I finally get around to playing the WAD. Still could be fun here in the club someday, but this satiates me for now.

[riderr3]

+++ 1K Lines

 

MAP28
If we see two shotgunners in front, then, logically, there will also be a couple here behind. To level 28, it all becomes too hackneyed and repetitive.

In the beginning, it even seemed to me that there would be an interesting theme and the name of the map contributed to this. But later the impression was that the author didn’t have much desire or imagination for more, and just continued to press CTRL-C and CTRL-V.

 

Let's first look at this map in terms of layout and design. Some places are unjustifiably bright for no apparent reason. Progress is the most tedious of all HR2 maps - after activating each button, we have to go around the entire map to find where the passage opened or the steps raised. A lot of dull repeating symmetrical structures, although it is noticeable that the author still sometimes tried to partially introduce asymmetry, but this did not help much.

 

From the point of view of gameplay, perhaps I want to note several disgusting points: a terrible lack of rockets and cells for such opposition; monsters right behind the doors, arranged one after another in ranks - they just take your time and nothing more; the central location is filled with the same monsters 4 times and you just won’t be able to run across it without unnecessary perversions; a steep staircase above or below which death awaits you simply because you don’t see who blocked the passage.
A little enlightenment comes only when we accidentally find hidden soulspheres and megaspheres.

 

It feels like many awful maps are pushed here just to occupy the slots. 40 minutes of senseless running back and forth, finding the right path and tedious shooting archviles from SSG.

 

MAP29
Well, now this map has become a breath of fresh air, after the previous one. Finally we saw hell landscape, red rocky walls and similar stuff. Although there were a lot of grindy moments, the map still turned out to be fun.

 

The primary danger here is chaingunners and arachnotrons in ambush on cliffs. Some monsters attack you from below, while others try to divert attention. You can also note the sudden monster pop-ups but they are pretty predictable. BFG is interestingly hidden behind the switch pedestal - I have a long-standing habit of peeking behind such pedestals and making such secrets myself.

 

Some of the opponents can simply be skipped by running forward, this also applies to the final arena.

 

MAP30
I expected that I would spy on the counter of enemies and see hundreds or even thousands of monsters here - but I was wrong. Then I turned and said: "Hello!". There archvile stood with his back to me. A little further there were also several of his relatives, who were accompanied by imps.

 

The second part of the level is the final battle itself, where we will have to deal with the cyberdemon blocker, collect the necessary keys to open the metal tank, dodging spawning cubes along the way. In general, a good idea for the level, although it could be worse.

 

Overall verdict
This megawad was a bit late for its years, it was noticeable that some map slots were filled just for show. Although there are also few decent maps that are lost among other mediocre ones, the quality is very different and for the worse. It really lacks testing, especially in the gameplay part.

[tchkb]

MAP29 “Hell’s Cauldron” (Jonas Feragen)

Spoiler

 

I don’t have much time to write about this one, so long story short – I hate the broken teleporter setup after the dark cave with Cyberdemon that sometimes fails to warp monsters in even after a few minutes. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to check what exactly is broken there – it doesn’t look like anything’s wrong from a quick look at map editor, yet something evidently is. The ending is also very underwhelming. Some combat setups are good, others are meh. Overall a long crawl that doesn’t get exciting frequently enough for me to like it too much.

Personal rating: 3/5

 

 

 

MAP30 “Source Control” (Jonas Feragen)

Spoiler

 

The intro area is a meme. The ending is a very impressive and random clusterfuck with all those IoS spawns. The bars that block the entrance to Cyberdemon’s tower leave a large enough gap that he can just lob a rocket between them if he positions himself perfectly while you’re busy opening key doors and activating the secret to telefrag him – a huge minus that can easily end runs.

Personal rating: +1/5

 

 

 

Last words

Spoiler

 

As someone who’s always liked killing a lot of monsters but was pretty bad at this game, I’ve always liked this WAD and I still kinda do at least from speedrunning standpoint. But careful analysis of each level reveals a huge number of glaring and perfectly avoidable map design errors (at least from our current perspective). Perhaps it could’ve been better if it hadn’t ran into development hell back in 2000. But people didn’t have the same ideas of what constitutes good Doom gameplay back then, so perhaps it would’ve been heavily flawed regardless. I’d say it’s still nowhere near as bad as the original HR. Except, ironically, for the first 12 maps or so – most early HR1 maps were a lot better than their mapslot counterparts in HR2. It gets better after that, but there are still some meh-to-bad maps and the rest still has occasional flaws that prevent them from being truly good maps.

But despite all its flaws, I’d say it’s much more historically notable than most people give it credit for. Until 2003-2004 when Erik Alm and Huy Pham spearheaded the high-octane slaughter gameplay we’re all familiar with, this WAD (or rather what was being assembled for it around 2000) was the best bet for finding the primitive bits of this archetype scattered across its maps.

I wanted to do a D2ALL RTA run of this WAD for this occasion, but currently I don’t have enough time to do that. Maybe sometime next year. You can have this "1 map = 1 segment" UV-Max demo instead (if you want to waste 5 hours of your life watching some boring ass gameplay). I intentionally played each map for safety rather than speed to see how much I would be dying. The included textfile lists my death count for each map. MAP04 is indeed the hardest (and worst) map of the WAD.

 

 

h2allx30.zip

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP29: Hell's Cauldron 

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um , skill 1 pistol start, no saves

 

Now this is the content I crave.

I was wishing yesterday for The Spirit World, and today I got it! Despite the simple texturing, I think this is one of the best looking maps.

 

SSG at the beginning was a big help. I never did find the secret BFG. I did find a secret megasphere at the beginning which helps a lot.

My first run I actually frantically ran through, sprinting toward the end, and actually got decently far. It was quite exciting.

 

Imagine my surprise when I grab the invuln sphere at the end, clench my teeth, and jump down the well, just to have the level end!

 

Spoiler

 

 

[joe-ilya]

MAP30

The pre-IOS area is boring, uninspired and repetitive AV killing behind corners.

The IOS battle itself isn't anything to write home about either, it's generic, and seems to be a rip-off of the IOS from Requiem, with how you open a reactor and blast it, except with a tiny key hunt. It didn't add anything to the original concept except for a bigger enemy count, which isn't very creative.

I like the secret, but it's hidden behind a random wall you have to shoot. Why?

 

Extremely underwhelming way to end the mappack, the last arena in MAP29 made it look like MAP30 would be something grandiose, but the map itself is just a generic brown cave.

I like to consider MAP29 to be the true ending to Hell Revealed II, while MAP30 is just some filler bonus fight.

0/5

 

Maps in order of preference :

Spoiler

(5/5)

MAP23: When The Heavens Fall

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP08: Ballistics

(4/5)

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP29: Hell's Cauldron

MAP21: Conflux

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP32: Playground

MAP06: Revival

(3/5)

MAP26: Dis 2000

MAP25: The End Is Nigh

MAP22: Sewer Slaughter

MAP19: Mind Trap

(2/5)

MAP15: The Path II

(1/5)

MAP03: Shackled

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP24: The Inmost Dens III

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP05: Insatanity

(0/5)

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP30: Source Control

MAP27: Resistance Remains

MAP28: Beyond The Sea

My playthrough :

 

 

Hell Revealed II in general :

 

This is such a mess of unplayable, or simply low effort garbage (below 3/5), and some genuinely fun maps with fun ideas (above 2/5). Exactly half (16) maps if you look at the preference list.

Most of the maps are characterized by mandatory secrets that if you don't get, then you will fail to have any sort of fun, which is not what secrets should be, you shouldn't be forced to find every single secret just to be able to beat the map in a fun and quick way.

 

Feragen is inconsistent, he made some of the best maps, and some of the worst. But I gotta say; he was the more experimental guy, often going for gimmicks such as the tower defense in MAP09, and the tall bridge tower in MAP19.

Woodman is much like Feragen, minus the experimental part.

Other guest mappers were also all over the place, some of them made absolute junk (Olivera), some of them made OK maps (Pedro), and Friberg has stolen the show with his two maps.

3/5

[galileo31dos01]

Map 29

 

+ Almost close to the climax of the megawad, which for most of us is a relief (daily write-ups are a good exercise for me, a non-native english speaker, although a bit demanding when I'm not in the right mood). Having played this before, I must reckon this map already feels like the actual closure, and the next one a separate set piece or "bonus fight" like Joe said, just that bonuses are typically optional, and if you want to conclude HR2 you gotta get through another of those endings.

 

+ An "Epic buildup a la The Living End" or so, which maps like this tend to be the ultimate challenge in a set of whatever length, albeit not intentionally the hardest, most of the times. This is because you get a lot of room to breathe in between each of the steps you have to climb, and there's usually a simple way out if you start to panic. Tests are gradual, but in the HR2 flavor essentially putting you an immediate task to solve. While I'm not always the biggest fan of the 29th slot, for reasons depending on the wad in question, I actually found this purely dynamic and rarely ever being a showstopper, but you have to plan ahead to fully keep a steady pace, and maximize in infighting, all looking at it still from a "casual playthrough" perspective. Of course, it wouldn't be an old fart HR-styled map without a hidden convenient powerup here and there, namely the BFG, though it's in no way "bullshitty" hidden like in other previous maps. 

 

+ Very fitting epic midi. No joking, but I first heard this track in multiple videos from Aquarius199, and that's where my mind goes everytime I listen to it lol. 

 

. Visually unimpressive in general. The final cauldron area is perhaps what I found the blandest part, both in terms of visuals and from a finale perspective, not the most exciting climax, although it's funny to look at all that plasma scratching my shadow. Then again, what this map excels at is in giving a cinematic final showdown against the hellspawn, so aesthetics practically don't need to steal the show over the action, at least not suddenly in a 29th slot.

 

Props to me for picking a neat thumbnail for my video :p

 

 

[Snikle]

MAP30 - Source Control

And that’s a wrap on HR2! Hell, it was a ride. Before talking about the whole experience, lets go through this map. Let’s start at the start: Was the whole starting area necessary at all? It’s the same thing like 4 or 5 times, and it’s not even interesting to begin with. Kill imp or two, then kill vile, all with SSG. Over and over. Why? Then we get to the level proper. Not the worst icon setup I’ve seen, of course. The walkable ground being so thin was a challenge, but with constant BFG firings it wasn’t too bad. Then once the cyber was dead and all the keys were got, the platforming path opens up. For the life of me, I could not make it to the top. I would make it through all of the intermediate platforms, only to fall down at the final platform. I don’t know why, but it was infuriating. No, I did not have infinite height turned on or anything (I don’t know why anyone would voluntarily have that on, but they do.) Noclip time then, I’m not gonna try and fail at the same platforming dickery without even knowing why it doesn’t work the way it should. Rocket brain, win game, you know the rest.

 

HR2 is not a WAD I would ever play again. There were just too many grindy levels, too much resource starvation, too much SSG starvation, and it was pretty ugly on top of that. There were maps I enjoyed, of course, although my top 5 list might be based more off how memorable the levels were later on than how much fun I might have actually had with them.

 

Top 5:

MAP15 – Loved the open layout. Monster-blocking lines were BS though

MAP19 – This one had some problems, but in the end I remember the good stuff from it pretty fondly

MAP12 – I love open but manageable slaughterfests.

MAP23 – Another one I really enjoyed, had some fun large battles here.

MAP29 – Reminds me of The Living End, pulls it off very well. Liked this map a lot.

 

Bottom 5:

MAP24 – Fuck this horrible map. Looked good but played horribly

MAP28 – Resource starvation and repetition at its worst

MAP26 – Again, SSG hidden away makes for boring and bad grinding

MAP04 – Still one of the hardest maps in the set, even after I did all the rest

MAP09 – Repetitive, boring, and ugly.

 

There! Finally made it through a whole DWMC thread!

Edited April 30, 2020 by Snikle

[Roofi]

Map 30 : Source Control

 

 

IOS map. Nothing special to say. The appearance of the core is really very disappointing. Some poor silver thing that the monsters would've stolen from map 10.

 

My Top 5 HR2 maps :

 

Map 12 - I love the minimalist aesthetics and the big compartments with lots of monsters.

Map 19 - One of the real "big" maps with a lot of verticality.

Map 32 - One of my favourite slaughtermaps ever made

Map 18 - Very good exploration in natural landscapes

Map 29 - Amazing "rise to the top" kind of level with many monsters

 

My Flop 5 : 

 

Map 03 : Boring and very grindy gameplay

Map 09 : The concept ok but I would like to have more exploration before the last fight.

Map 14 : Too symetrical 

Map 26 : This map is ok but that's all

Map 30 : Ios map

 

My opinion on HR2 :

 

I have a very strong opinion on this wad: it's one of my favorite wads despite all its highlighted flaws. A lot of maps have aged badly, but the wad has its charm for several reasons and it's the kind of wad I can play several times.

 

Here are several reasons why I love this wad:

- Vanilla megawad with only stock textures (with a few exceptions).
- The maps are aesthetically simple and I like it. I really like several maps for their minimalist look and the use of brown and metal textures.
- Regular use of 3D bridges.I'll always be a fan of those little quirks that can be done with vanilla.
- Memorable music. I love this alternation between the very atmospheric music of Metabolist and the Metal music of Thyrbse.
- Good ideas for traps and gimmicks on some maps.
- Many HR2 maps are "old fashioned" slaughtermaps with an overabundance of ammunition, not really threatening enemies to kill in groups....

 

 

However, I couldn't really compare it to HR1. To be honest, I don't think it deserves the name "Hell Revealed 2". The atmosphere is not at all the same. The only real successor to HR is Kama Sutra in my opinion, for reasons I won't list here.

[DynamiteKaitorn]

+++ Refracted Reality

[Suitepee]

+++ Panophobia, yes I'm going to start mentioning this a little bit more!

 

+++ Refracted Reality

[Horus]

Refracted Reality is only 15 maps, are they that big? When I nominated it I paired if with Paradise and Shotgun Symphony to get it up to 31 maps

[Phobus]

I think I might try and take part if it's Mars War or Doom Zero (although I've already played a few maps of the latter).