The DWmegawad Club plays: Hell Revealed 2

[Roofi]

Map 08 : Ballistics 

 

 

"Picked a box of shotgun shells"

 

Ballistics is a square, narrow and symmetrical map. In short, it is far from being great art.However, I love this map for its slaughterish aspect.

 

Unlike other people, I find it very amusing to see these ammunition lying around in a totally messy way. I'm really having fun doing SSG Spam in this map. However, my only reproach is probably the lack of health in the first part.

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Roofi

[galileo31dos01]

Map 08

 

Yea the floor is shells today. I bet if they were boxes of matches you'd have enough to burn an entire country (not giving ideas to anyone, please!). Makes me curious to know on what substance the mapper was when he processed in his mind "alright now I'm gonna plaster shells on everywhere I can and call it a day!". Has anyone attempted a no SG/SSG UV max yet? Obviating that it is doable, but the temptation, you know. Even j4rio knocked an imp with shotgun because of the auto-switch :P

 

Fun fact (to no one), I actually played Survive in Hell before HR2 and thus met the remix first which I really enjoyed, kinda like in childhood when I heard Britney Spears' cover of "Satisfaction" before the original and thought "wow this woman is a genius"... So the SiH map packs some additional (possibly teleporting) ambushes on each section, iirc pure revenant and hell knight spams. That or they could go out of the rooms, or was it both?. We should really play SiH someday, it's an interesting wad aside from the "too close to the original" homages. 

 

Anyways, every now and then I fancy maps that don't take themselves too seriously. Never seen another map act so unapologetic about free ammo lol. Of all the cramp fests HR2 has to offer, this one's so silly that if only it had pain elemental hordes outdoors it'd be complete. And I personally did't mind a second part almost identical to the first, as you get a BFG in the middle. That lack of armor at the start Roofi mentioned might be the downside if I get picky, because a couple heavy projectiles from the windows can just wreck your nape until you can grab the first soulsphere. No hitscanners however is a plus. As it's usual a freebie megasphere tones down the impact of potential high rolls in the second area and another secret one for continuous players at the end, that's quite the generosity there, but I like that you can feel encouraged to clear the bulls and fatsos at close range. The teleporting cyberdemon might insta-slap players who forgot the roar at the start. Remember that there'll be worse cases. 

 

According to Youtube this video has 0 views and 1 like. How's that possible though?

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by galileo31dos01

[tchkb]

MAP08 "Ballistics" (Sam Woodman)

First half of the map is a bit interesting – you have to use Plasma Gun with relatively limited ammo to mow down an army of Imps + one Mancubus to snatch Rocket Launcher on one side of the arena and its ammo on the other while under constant fire from a Rev squad from surrounding windows. Then you can go inside and blow them up along with some hell noble escort. Up to three more nobles teleport in after pressing the switch located there, but the teleport setup is a bit too slow for my liking – they’re usually delayed by a few seconds. Next up we have a bunch of indoor Imps (pretty boring to kill) + a group of Arachnotrons stuck in the middle of a small square (also pretty boring to kill). Taking the key they guard lets 2 Revs + AV teleport in – the latter is primed for reviving the spiders, so better keep distance or else you can blow yourself up on their huge hitboxes. All that’s left here is unlocking the second half of the map. Curiously, you get a Soulsphere right before taking BFG + Megasphere – I guess its sole purpose is being a backup in case you take a ton of damage and neither Megasphere nor the second Soulsphere is enough. Speaking of health – you get absolutely none up until this point, so everything above has to be done while taking less than 100 damage.

 

The second half is mostly a copy of the first half’s layout, except you do everything the other way around, plus you get BFG along with a practically unlimited stock of cells. The first switch is guarded by a considerable number of hell nobles. The small square is practically identical, except surrounding it is a horde of Chaingunners instead of Imps. And then, instead of a single Rev squad overseeing the main arena, you’ve got a huge horde of Hell Knights. Well, not so huge – 1000 cells or so are enough to melt them all when used efficiently. Overall the name of the game here is holding the fire button while moving just enough to avoid taking a bunch of HK projectiles at once. At the end you have a straightforward fight with a Cyberdemon in a moderately wide corridor. And a Megasphere secret that is completely useless except for continuous play (and even then you may end up not needing it).

 

Difficulty reduction on HNTR/HMP is adequate. The intro up until getting rid of Revs is the actual hard part. Everything else is just a matter of going as aggressively as your skill and your health allows. Not particularly deep gameplay, but still decent for the most part.

Personal rating: +3/5

[gaspe]

MAP08: Drowning in ammo, I could think that maybe that was done so you can play aggressively but if anything it gives a silly tone to the map. The challenge is made by the total lack of health and to get right the start. At midpoint you can find a megasphere and the BFG the second half of the map that is just the first part copied and with more monster but the abundance of cells allows you to spam the BFG. In the inner corridors the realistic lighting coming from the windows was nice.

[Arbys550]

Map08

This one wasn't very good in my opinion. Tough start, but the rest of the map was just camping enemies from a distance until you feel safe enough to enter a room. Also terribly placed ammo. Only fun parts were the archviles. Also lazy layout. And why is every map brown? This may be one of the worst looking wads of all time.

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

Map07: Not That Simple II

Map02: High Voltage

Map03: Shackled

Map01: Ignition

Map06: Revival

Map08: Ballistics

Map05: Insatanity

Map04: Reluctant Pain

 

[Snikle]

MAP08 - Ballistics

The two sections being so similar to each other (hell, almost identical) wasn’t something I was keen on. Usually when something like this is done the similarly layed-out areas have lots of visual differences, like the classic TNT Wormhole or that one level in Going Down. Ah well, they played differently enough for me to be mostly fine with it, although the arachnotron/AV corner was identical in both iterations, save for the “support” monsters behind the bars up top. Cyberass at the end was easy to kill between the barrage of HK infighting and BFG balls, of which there was no danger of me running out.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Snikle

[riderr3]

MAP07
Fun map. It begins as a compact version of Dead Simple, but as it turns out that this is only the beginning.

My tactics in the first location:
1) Shoot and run in circles at the edges without lowering the platforms
2) Leave only one mancubi, lower all platforms and pick up the remaining goodies
3) When the 'trons come out again take up a circular attack at the edges; same with cyberdemon

For the first time, for some reason, it turned out to me that after the trigger on arachnotrons, the step that rises to the lever rose even higher and I could not climb up; I think somewhere I've already seen this issue. The second try, everything was fine.

MAP08
I would say that here is where true HR2 begins.

It is not very clear how pistol-starters will have to go through this map, since there is a big shortage of health supplies in the first half of the map.

The two main locations are actually twins, but the funniest thing that occurred to me was the location of 4 plasmaguns on a pedestal, which immediately reminded me of Suburbs from Doom 2.

The appearance of cyberdemon also means immediate death for those who do not know that he will appear in your way. Depending on your luck, you can sneak past to the exit.

Edited April 8, 2020 by riderr3

[joe-ilya]

Playing all maps pistol start on Crispy, with hopefully little to no saves.

 

MAP01

I freaking love this opening map, it throws just about everything at you! You get weapons up to the plasma and get to fight AVs already.

Though IMO the ammo balance is way too tight and could've used a couple more rockets and shells, I had to heavily rely on the plasma secret to get past the viles.

The progression is godlike, any key and any door is accessible at any point and you only need one of each to beat the map, leaving for infinite ways to get around the map, it's so good.

4/5

 

MAP02

This is another highly enjoyable map, letting the player just blast his way through halls filled with zombies is so satisfying and fun, but I feel it's bogged down by some questionable enemy placement, the barons didn't serve a point and could've been replaced with hell knights or imps, but otherwise, a damn good map.

The soulsphere secret resembling the credits are in MAP01 from the first Hell Revealed was a really nice and subtle touch.

4/5

 

MAP03

This one is kind of whatever, too many barons and revenants to kill with the SSG, I wish the RL would be introduced earlier, and the final teleporter where you're pitted against three hell knights in one tiny room is such bullshit.

A very meh, sloggish map, didn't enjoy it.

1/5

 

MAP04

This is horrible, the beginning is way too hot of a start, 3 revs, and hitscanners in the open in various nooks, then you are forced to play cowardly by desperately running back for cover when picking up the blue key because two AVs completely surround the player with no chance for cover otherwise, leading to a tedious camp session with the SSG behind a cover. Then you build a fun little bridge with the two keys, but the red key is not always going to be grabbed and you'll have to retry the jump multiple times, behind the red door you are shoved into a tiny room with revenants, then a fake exit occurs where you're completely surrounded by chaingunners twice, that's grade A bullshit across the entire map, godamn.

1/5 Because it looks nice.

 

MAP05

This is also an atrocious map, there's absolutely no health beside a stimpack and a laughable line of health bonuses, yet you're forced to fight multiple chaingunners in enclosed traps with no cover nor armor, a lot of foreknowledge is required to beat this map, and even then you'll barely scrape by, I had to fight thought the entire map with just 15 HP just because of a bad start with the horrible shotgunners in your face at the start of the map, I was very lucky that time, hot damn.

1/5 because it looks nice.

 

MAP06

Despite not looking as good as the previous maps, it manages to be quite fun, as it doesn't throw barons for no reason and they're actually fun to fight in the cramped maze due to the pressure, the enemies are all quickly cleared, even the cyber was quite fun to fight on the catwalk, nice gameplay in here, though the location of the blue key is highly questionable, as it's hidden behind a random wall you have to hump, with no different texturing to tell it apart, that design heavily reminds me of early 90's maps where some mappers would forget to give the door a proper texture.

4/5 Because of that key.

 

MAP07

The first true slaughterfest, we finally get to kill hordes of mancs and arachs, revs, imps and hell knights with the big boy weapons and go to town, simplistic architecture creates for fun arenas for this kind of stuff, truly a blissful map of things to come.

What's funny is that there's two yellow keys for some reason, I think there was supposed some kind of a difficulty balance between the difficulty settings that was forgotten about.

5/5

 

MAP08

Another fantastic slaughterfest map, while it is copy pasted and looks very basic, it yet again, provides good fun for killing hordes of enemies just like MAP07 does.

I also appreciate the complex lighting effects that are done with the windows, a highly welcome touch.

5/5

Edited April 8, 2020 by joe-ilya

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP08 - Ballistics

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 2 pistol start, no saves

 

As mentioned there was a huge abundance of ammo, which I did not trust until the end.

Such an ammo loadout hints to a gigantic slaughter-like fight at the end which didn't end up coming.

 

The lack of health and ammo throughout much of the level also kept tensions up.

 

The music (on Windows synth in glboom at least) is very weird in parts

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by DuckReconMajor

[Andromeda]

MAP07: Not That Simple II (Hell Revealed II)

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

 

Just another Dead Simple clone, boring (not really, it's quite good actually)! Despite the name, this level has no similarities with Memento Mori's MAP07, its "Not That Simple" title comes from its combat rather than the puzzle nature of the "prequel". The beginning is the easiest part, though you want to be quick and lower every platform to grab the megasphere and the plasma gun to slay most of the mancubi, then finish off the rest with the rocket launcher. After this a lot of arachnotrons are revealed, try to go for the BFG9000 to open some space to use the RL again. The rest of the level is pretty easy as well if you take it slow, though make sure not to use the rocket launcher at point blank range like me, it hurts a lot. Not quite sure why there's two yellow keys or why the secrets are so easy to find, my only complaints about this level which is otherwise great. Shoutout to the MIDI as well, I'm not usually a fan of fast paced songs in Doom but this one is excellent.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

[Hard2Poop]

This old megawad is really comfy when playing with Chocolate or Crispy's 4:3 aspect ratio, with the map's custom HUD. As someone who hasn't played many WADs, I thought map 1 was really ugly, but I'm glad I stuck with HR2 because I'm having a lot of fun on later maps. I really like map 3 for example. It's definitely not a WAD to do a blind first-time playthrough with no mid-level saves, as some of the traps are guaranteed death if you don't know what's coming. Once you know the level, then you can go back and grind out your deathless runs. Grinding out deathless runs is one of the best ways to enjoy a level you like a lot!

Edited April 8, 2020 by Hard2Poop

[joe-ilya]

MAP09

The start is kind of fun for a few seconds while getting a foothold of one of the dead ends, but after those few seconds you just fire rockets effortlessly at dozens of spectres and imps, felt like a filler area, why not start the player at the meat of the map instead of wasting time on that area?

The castle defending is executed horribly, all you do is circle strafe aimlessly, hoping to not get hit by a rev missile or get stuck under the flying enemies, there's too little space to have any sort of strategy, and you're somehow expected to use rockets in that mess.

 

Awful map.

Here's to somebody to make a better version.

0/5

[Andromeda]

MAP08: Ballistics (Hell Revealed II)

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

 

Ugh, this level was a nightmare for an ammo conscious player like myself! The floor is littered with boxes of shotgun shells, or landmines from my point of view so I had to perform careful movements in order to not pick one up by accident, which still happened too often making me die a little inside each time. What's worse is you can remove every shell in the level and still have enough supplies to kill everything, which further emphasizes the poor ammo balance.

 

Health balance on the other hand is one of the very few positives about this level, though it's badly distributed - if the first supercharge was given at the beginning it'd be perfect. Other things I don't like are the bland look, the uninteresting symmetry, the excessive number of pointless hell knights on the second half of the level and the exit switch with a door texture. It's hard to find positives in this level, maybe the key pedestals and the fact that this is the first level so far that reminds me of Hell Revealed, at least in terms of meat density.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP08: Ballistics

Edited April 8, 2020 by Andromeda

[joe-ilya]

You'll be in a world of hurt if you can't stand getting too much ammo accidentally, HR2 is full of this kind of stuff.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP09: The Siege II

5:36 | 100% Kills | 83% Items | 100% Secrets

I'll give this one props for the main concept of being trapped in a box while a million baddies shoot in at you but it's really not very good otherwise. The intro section is mostly ho-hum; I passed on the megasphere because I picked up the soulsphere and blue armor after dealing with the mobs (easily dealt with using the carryover SSG.) The cage was frustrating to begin with; I kept being blindsided by revvie rockets constantly, and couldn't initially figure out how to access the spare megaspheres (the first time I tried pressing "use" it didn't take.) After a number of deaths, I played it safe(r), hiding in a corner to tease everyone out, luring incoming homing rockets into the pillars as needed. Then it was just a matter of dashing around the windows and spamming BFG. ... And then I had to wait a full minute and a half for the exit teleporter to finish lowering, and when it did, it disappeared into the floor texture. It also looked rather ridiculous on its way down, just this like 20-foot pillar of scrolling metal texture. Pretty poor execution here.

[Maggle]

Map08 Ballistics
100% Kills/Secrets
6 Deaths

 

Well, someone went "Ballistic" with copy-and-paste, at least...

 

It's the exact same on both sides, the only difference is what kinds of enemies you're fighting, what kind of ammo is littered all over the ground like candy wrappers, and the sequence of progression is slightly changed. The square room being copied twice isn't even that interesting, either. It's compact, sqaure, not much to look at, there's plasma rifles on pillars for some reason, and it leads to tedious, non-engaging combat. The starting area has an insane amount of imps, with a bunch of revenants running interference from the windows. You're supposed to fight passed all that to get the red key and go to the Arachno/Imp area, where you get the yellow key and an AV spawns. The only health you get in this level are a pair of Soulspheres and a Megasphere in the middle. The first one you have access to? The one behind the yellow door, after I did all that shit. That means ~100 enemies I have to fight all on one life bar (which, after the last map, was down to 56/42)! Are you for real? 

 

The shell boxes have been harped on enough, so I'll spare them the ire, but they're not the only thing in the player's way. The Megasphere in the middle is right in the way, and since I didn't want to waste the SoulSphere I just got, I had to carefully sidle passed it. There are Mancs to fight immediately around the corner, so I had to do the careful sidling while dodging fireballs. Needless to say, this was a pain in the ass, and another good reason that soulsphere should have been put somewhere else. 

 

The next L-shaped room is filled to the brim with HKs and Barons instead of revenants. When I say filled to the brim, I mean every single pixel is occupied by a HK or Baron. It takes forever. You could blast away with that BFG to your heart's content, and it will still take like ten minutes. What's the point? Is it hard? Is it creative? Is it fun? Is it a gritty, realistic depiction of warfare? Is it engaging in any way? The answer is no to all of these. It's just an undulating wall of flesh I gotta burn away to progress. Like a chore. I have to get it done, so it's out of my way, or else it will make the rest of my life a pain in the ass. Just gotta hope they die before my patience does! 

 

After that's over, a Cyberdemon just kinda appears at the end of the hallway, right in my face. If there's any enemy that shouldn't used like that, it's the Cyberdemon. Whatever. Just gotta kill him at the end of this hallway, with 50 health left and no armor. After getting rid of him, I get the Mega hidden behind the bookshelf and it's on to the next level.

 

This map is ass. 3/10.

 

Oh, boy! The next map....

Edited April 9, 2020 by Maggle

[AFallingObject]

MAP08: Ballistics (UV Continuous)

I think the author changed some of the health into shotgun shells in the first part.  Then I was drowning in everything in the second half.  I didn't see it as an elaborate gag, just bad map design.  I like the first explanation better since it gives the author the benefit of the doubt.  It's rare I get to go as crazy with the BFG as I did in the second half though.  A parting megasphere at the end after the rude cybie teleport is much appreciated.  That crossed the line between hard and just mean.  So-so on this overall.  It's still aesthetically a wad only the creators could love, I think.  Lots of floors are bugged in GLBoom+.  I might switch to software rendering to see if it helps.

100% Kills

100% Secrets

Time spent running around and save scumming with 3% health in the first half: priceless.

[Horus]

MAP09 - “The Siege II” by Jonas Feragen

 

Welcome to Hell Revealed! In the original, it was map 09 where I started to feel like we were getting an introduction to what the main body of the WAD is like, and I feel like this is the most HR-esque map yet.

 

The opening is extremely dull, I mean to the ‘my first five minutes with Doom Builder’ kind of dull, anyone can do better than that.

 

However, I enjoyed the next section far more. I mean if it was just the revenants at the cages then it would suck, but the cacodemons and pain elementals added a lot of spice to things, avoiding overly repetitive combat, and I did like the way that the health was planted on platforms that you could call down whenever you want, making health management a key strategy – you only really want those megaspheres when you are as close to 0% health as you dare risk.

[Snikle]

MAP09 - The Siege II

So that’s the level? I enjoyed the beginning part in the four hallways, but the cage part was pure tedium. Not really much for me to say here.

 

Looks like Horus enjoyed this more than me. I did kinda anticipate this one being divisive, so I'm interested in seeing some more thoughts on this...

[Roofi]

Map 09 - The Siege II

 

 

One of the most difficult levels of HR2 in my opinion.This map is more like modern hard levels where the player is locked in one place and gets attacked from all sides, as well as overuse of revenants to make difficulty at low cost.

I don't like the level, but I love the music. It's a shame because I loved The Siege in Hell Revealed 1 with its house. I would have preferred to have a map with lots of monsters but open.

 

Anyway this map is quite unforgettable by its concept.

 

 

[galileo31dos01]

Can't sleep

 

 

Map 09

 

Again, too silly to be offended, but at the same too much of a dull layout, particularly after looking at the image above I can see how there was almost no investment in presentation. There's a fine line between minimalism and laziness, and the start is the second imo. Then you teleport in a ring, you duel a skinny sorcerer for ten seconds, and the crowd goes nuts. They throw empty bottles to your fave, some with fine aiming. Later a bunch of drunk naked circles manage to jump inside and there's no referee to help you there. I hope my dumb metaphors are making sense because I literally never payed attention to a boxing fight in my life. 

 

So, back to the start, it's serviceable, there's little else to do other than pushing forward with rockets until you reach a dead end. Those spectres are quick, so time is key, but it's easy to do so. Very simple plan, as it's the arena once you get it: hug a corner, spam rockets to the revs, look out for homing missiles, change corner, spam plasma to fliers, change corner, lower mega, etc. Of course it demands a lot more attention to different things and quick decisions at the same time, so not everyone will enjoy that, but it remains simple in that when you figure the puzzle, you do in automatic, because there's no other way. I read that @Salt-Man Z had to wait for the lift in silence for over a minute, so maybe there is a BFG on HMP and lower?, or perhaps a bunch less enemies outside. On a pistol start on UV the exit reveal should coincide with the last monster killed if you've been very efficient with rockets, unlike me, so that could speak of an issue with the balance between difficult settings. I still feel the map plays quite okay overall, it definitely stands out in the concept alone imo.

 

Oh, the megaspheres are a highlight, why? A common thing in arena fights is you'd find the powerups on ground level, and added to the challenge within the fight itself, you have to avoid wasting them at inopportune times. I support the idea of placing the health/ammo on elevated platforms so they're not in the way. That's what I'd like to call "vending-machine placement ™" from now on. Someday when a certain upcoming project gets selected in this club you might remember this HR2 map, hopefully :p

 

 

 

[gaspe]

MAP09: You are trapped inside a cute little castle while you wait for the very long exit lift to lower. If you move from a cornern to another it's easy to avoid the revs missiles but some cacos and pain elementals can pass over your defense walls. I agree that the megaspheres on the pillars were a nice thing to do instead of putting them in the ground so you'll end up picking them when you don't need them. It could be more refined but the concept isn't bad, just too long.

 

1 hour ago, galileo31dos01 said:

On a pistol start on UV the exit reveal should coincide with the last monster killed if you've been very efficient with rockets, unlike me, so that could speak of an issue with the balance between difficult settings.

I'm doing Uv pistol starts too and I had to wait too in silence for a good minute. Looking at your video I guess that you wasted too much time with shooting only 1 rocket each time and using too much the PR against the revs. The PR is more good against the cacos and the pain elementals that breach into your safe area, otherwise the RL is the best weapon here (even to repel the flying monsters outside the walls) so you can use the splash damage as much as possible.

[Andromeda]

MAP09: The Siege II (Hell Revealed II)

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

 

Much like MAP30 of Doom II this is a level constructed entirely around a gameplay concept. While the concept is interesting it makes the level not very replayable, as soon as you know the drill it becomes routine. The first area is quite dull and can be bruteforced easily, though to minimize health loss it's best to conquer the east/west sides instead of the north/south ones since it's easier to slaughter the zombiemen quickly than the demons.

 

The second area is where the bulk of the level takes place and it might seem impossible at first, though it's easily solved by "corner abuse" - hugging a corner means you only have to worry about monsters attacking you from two directions instead of four. This "corner abuse" coupled with focusing on the cacodemons as they enter the safe zone makes the level trivial to beat, as you only need to dodge revenant missiles every once in a while. I like that the megaspheres can be collected as needed, thus preventing accidentally stepping on them. Unfortunately, while the level is fun the first time, knowing the strategy places it into the filler category. It does look good, though that's the only reason why I rank it higher than MAP08.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

Edited April 9, 2020 by Andromeda

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP09: The Siege II

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 2 pistol start, no saves

 

Interesting start, one that forces you to act quickly. 

It's pretty easy to get the hang of though and for me was only an issue the first couple times.

 

The 2nd part in the courtyard was quite the struggle for me.

Even corner camping didn't seem to save me much, and then the cacos flew over!

I also had no idea I could lower the platforms for the brownspheres.

I kept waiting for them to drop down on their own to nourish me, to no avail.

 

After a few tries I was able to put and end to the wave of demons, and I was left to sit patiently as the central pillar slowly came down.

At first I used this time to pour some bourbon, but in the end I got impatient and helped things along with prBoom+ 'speed up' feature.

 

Overall I quite enjoyed the trapped-in-place fight, dodging projectiles and trying to fire back. 

I also thought the field outside looked pleasant, even if plain.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[rehelekretep]

map07, map08, map09

a largely fun-free 3 maps for me.

map07 was acceptable, but i actually got the 'both remaining arachnotrons die concurrently so no raising step for you' bug and had to replay the first part.

map08 was reasonably enjoyable except i didnt really like the insta-spawn cyber even though i knew it was coming after hearing him clomp around outside

map09 my play was sloppy and i dont know if the complevel played against me in the box (no lost soul limit?) but i actually found leaving the revs etc to infight prevented the PEs/lost souls from swarming me as badly. i ended up leaving with monsters alive which seems to not be the experience of others. oh well.

Edited April 9, 2020 by rehelekretep

[Horus]

I do like that Roofi includes the automap in their reviews. In this case it demonstrates how crazily simplistic this map is lol

[joe-ilya]

MAP10

The start with the exit fakeout is cute, it could've honestly ended there and would've been much better, than with what happens next, which is killing mid-tier enemies in tiny little rooms.

Up until the next part it felt a lot like a map from 1024.wad with how unnecessarily tiny the areas are.

Then for whatever reason in areas that have more space, the mapper uses barons that don't add anything, mancs and arachnotrons would be better.

Then for whatever reason (again) it forces you to kill demons that are stuck, and then spawns a whole cyberdemon, that only leads to a lengthy camp session with rockets and SSG that you might not even have enough of, what's worse is that no more health is given after that megasphere trap, so if you got unlucky and got injured heavily in there, that's what you're going to have to go by for the rest of the map.

 

The progression is cute, I like how you revisit the fakeout exit as a hub and how small some of the areas are, but good grief, the Hell Revealed treatment does not go well with this kind of layout.

1/5

[Horus]

MAP10 - “Base Blaze” by Yashar Garibzadeh

 

Well the ammo restock of the last map certainly trivializes the start of this one on continuous. Like joe-ilya mentioned, the start is very 1024ish again, and teases a very early exit.

 

Later on though, the difficulty ramps up with a very obnoxious cyberdemon placement in a cramped space that I can’t say I approved of.

 

I mean the above aside this is an okay map, but so far taking the first 10 maps, I would say the original Hell Revealed is noticeably superior. Let’s see if this changes later on in the WAD.

[AFallingObject]

MAP09: The Siege II (UV Continuous)

I can't believe it.  I completed a map in HR2 without dying.  This may be tied with MAP06 for ugliest map of the WAD, but I had a good time BFG zerging everything.

100% Kills

100% Secrets

I AM IMMORTAL

 

MAP10: Base Blaze (UV Continuous)

Are you guys sure these maps aren't TNT castoffs?  Other than the rude cyberdemon, which cost me one death even though I knew it was coming, the map was easy.  He literally got me as I opened the door.  Other than that, it's starting to hurt to look at these levels.  Where are my thousands of screaming skeletons?  I bagged 300 or so on MAP09.  At least if I'm running from a million enemies I won't have time to look at the ugly levels as much.

100% Kills

100% Secrets

1 Death to BS cyberdemon

[Maggle]

Map09 The Siege II
100% Kills/Secrets
9 Deaths

 

       Here it is, the worst map in the WAD. The player starts in a cross-shaped room which contains a comical amount of powerups/armor, basically the polar opposite of the last map. Who puts a Megasphere, a Soulsphere, Berserk, and Mega Armor in a room full of spectres? How little faith must you have for the player, and how do you think I stand a chance against the rest of this map? Hell, how do you think I even got this far? 

 

       Taking the teleporter in this room leads to the real deal: A tiny, barely-there fort in the middle of a bland field with exactly 200 demons, most of them revenants, some chaingunners way in the distance (whoo.), and several flying enemies. You're supposed to defend yourself from the horde by blasting them repeatedly with the BFG and avoid taking as much damage as possible, (which isn't easy in the slightest, because you're given just barely enough space to move around) while Cacos and PEs periodically harass you from above. Helping you is a metric fuck-ton of Plasma ammo and four Megaspheres on raised pillars. Do this while waiting for the exit to lower (from space, I guess. It takes awhile.) and once it does, you win. Except doing all this successfully seems to amount to dumb luck, where skill takes little, if any, role whatsoever. I've had runs of this map where I trivialized it completely and barely took any damage, and runs where I die over and over. Obviously, this was the latter, but no matter if it goes well or terribly, I always end up killing everything way earlier than intended. I say this because I end up waiting for the exit to lower for a full minute, maybe more, and with nothing to kill I pretty much just stand around waiting for my ride. The exit takes way too long to open up.

 

      This map is really terrible. I have no idea how this even made it in, considering how little there is to it, and how poorly designed it is. This has to be the single worst map I've played that was part of a full megawad. Nothing compares. It's supposed to be a sequel to Map 21 from HR1, but that map at least had something to it. It had its tedious moments, but it also had that cool house area at the beginning, and a few interesting encounters. This, on the other hand, is just a cross leading into a box inside a bigger box. Filled with boxes! It looks and plays like something a child made! What happened here?!

 

      The only positives I can think of are that the music's kinda cool, and, more importantly, that it doesn't get any worse than this. That's it.

 

1/10.