The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia

[DFF]

I second the idea of the Rudy series, gives me an excuse to play the first and try another month of doom.
+++Rowdy Rudy's Revenge! & Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday! & Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP!

[Spectre01]

MAP25 - "The Temple of Darkness" by Milo Casali

 

The most overtly Hellish map yet, with outdoor sections dominated by red textures and flats. The opener is a bit douchey, as you are surrounded by at least 14 Shotgunners on the ledges above, several of which activate right away. I prefer rushing the Chaingunner for his weapon, which makes the rest of the hitscanners easy pickings as I head for the SSG. There's also a nice backpack and plenty of ammo to collect above the spawn.

 

I found the green room you teleport into surprisingly challenging. It's a cramped location for dealing with 6 Hell Knights and a Baron, as well as 4 Chaingunners in closets to the sides. Rather easy to get cut off by the Knights if not played aggressively. As long as you don't step too far off the teleport destination, you can kill the Baron with rockets before the 6 HKs rise up. Killing at least 2 of those with rockets makes it much easier to move around and clean the rest up with the SSG. Also, there is barely any health and no armour, which can make the next teleport even worse.

 

Arriving in the main temple greets you with a pair of Revenants in front, hitscanners behind, and more behind caged midtextures. The small transition area with the Berserk, leading to the outdoors pictured above, functions as a refuge from which you can safely handle the situation. The metal boat containing a switch and some Sergeants is rather amusing. The final trap at the Red Key is also noteworthy as you're plunged into the lava and have to scramble to find a Radsuit. Teleporting out of there greets you with more Chaingunners shooting you in the back. Brutal map for one that doesn't use any Viles.

[Spectre01]

MAP26 - "Bunker" by Dario Casali

 

Map title matches the theme. As it states, it's an underground bunker surrounded by a network of water tunnels. It's a pretty big map, and I spent over 30 minutes trying to find everything but ended up missing one secret. Looking at Doom Builder showed it as being some cells in a closet. What makes this map interesting is how enemies teleport in to repopulate parts of the map while you're not necessarily there. There is also some optional content since you only need to open one set of bars to access the exit. Also, I'm happy the Red Key crushers were the fast versions since I got clipped by one.

[T-Rex]

It's on to the final stretch of the game, and the homages are back too!

 

Map27: Anti-Christ (Milo Casali)

101% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 09:41

 

Hey, the classic Doom music is back! For the final stretch of Plutonia, Milo has taken the wheel with his own take on The Living End, and it's bigger and much better designed than Dario's The Final Frontier. However, while Dario follows more closely to the original Doom 2 Map29, having a linear progression all the way, Milo does something much more different, this time having a more non-linear layout, though there is still a set path to take to reach the end. It would seem that Hell Revealed's legendary Post Mortem would take after Anti-Christ, despite both being inspired by The Living End. In fact, the map has some wooden columns in some places and a fenced arena, much like Post Mortem. The map is slightly easier than The Final Frontier as you don't have to worry about a cyberdemon firing his rockets at you, though there's a spider mastermind at the very end of the map, and the last one too. That said, it still has some nasty and dangerous parts you have to be wary of. It makes use of the arch-vile resurrecting a sniper chaingunner again like in The Twilight, only this time, there's no viable way to kill the arch-vile, so the chaingunner will keep being brought back to life. I hear you can actually kill the vile through rocket splash damage every time to shoot one at the chaingunner, but it's not really worth wasting all your rockets as you'll be needing them, so don't even bother. It's an instant hot start for the map as the enemies are ready to kill you, including a chaingunner to your right and far behind you some revenants and hell knights that you'll be facing later on. Reaching for the soul sphere opens doors around it holding pain elementals. You need to take on of the  opened doors to some stairs leading down to a teleporter where you'll enter the caged area with the chaingunner (releasing arachnotrons) and a switch opening the middle door  leading to the yellow key and a teleporter to the next part. The yellow key is booby trapped as heading to it opens a wall revealing chaingunners and grabbing it opens another wall holding a chaingunner, which killing it will alert some hidden cacodemons and a pain elemental. Check the mancubus ledge for a secret wall taking you to a platform with an invulnerability, and race for the teleporter to the next area so you can hurry to the yellow key door, go in and race on which will cause the hell knights and revenants attacking you early to spawn in, and you can BFG as many of them before the invulnerability wears out. Next, you'll be doing some teleport jumping and hitting a switch to raise a ledge up to the ending, and then you'll be teleported to the fenced arena holding the blue key, which grabbing it will unleash a big fight involving chaingunners, revenants, and hell knights (including mancubi on the harder difficulties) spawning into the arena. Finally, you'll be back in the path to the yellow key where a wall is opened with barons and pain elementals. The final fight has you dealing with two sniper revenants, arachnotrons and the mommy spider herself. I save the second invulnerability (obtained by jumping to your left from the start onto a platform holding some goodies) for that fight. Tough map, but one of the really good Plutonia maps, and far better than The Final Frontier.

 

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Map28: The Sewers (attributed to Dario Casali)

100% kills, 97% items, 100% secrets

Time: 17:57

 

This is without a doubt the second-largest map in Plutonia. Considered a map by Dario, but I wouldn't say so, it really looks more like a Milo map, for reasons I'll be getting to as I go through the level. It's a huge, sprawling map, and don't step in the sludge as it is toxic. You can only get 97% items because there are two computer map power-ups, meaning once you pick one, you can't pick up the other. There's a library accessed by an elevator in the sewer hub that makes me think of Doom 2's Map27: Monster Condo and there are some rectangular walls that lower, akin to Memento Mori's Map30: Viper, which is one of the reasons why I feel that this is by Milo and not Dario. You have to find a switch that will free you from the library as progressing forward traps you inside. Some slaughterish fights pop up here and there, like the hitting the switch in the library that lower walls releasing a bunch of monsters. The southeast corner of the map where you locate the red key also houses a nasty trap where obtaining it opens walls releasing a lot of mancubi. Then there's hitting the switch inside the red key door in the circular area which opens the way to the western section of the sewers, but be ready for a massive slaughter as so many monsters pout in the pool, which includings imps, pinkies, hell knights, revenants and mancubi. A very dangerous part, and the revenants deal massive amounts of damage more than the mancubi. Fortunately, you can getting them all to infight and waste them with the BFG, which you can also get in the yellow key door. Although the map makes use of a trick where stepping on the platform in that other red key door room causes an elevator where a voodoo doll lowers causing it and you to get the BFG, which is used in TNT Map18: Mill, that's not enough to make it Dario's work. Once you defeat all the spawning monsters, you can head for the western sewers, where you'll see a plasma gun, a bunch of medikits and some radiation suits inside flashing indentions. This gives me vibes of Ultimate Doom's E3M7: Gate to Limbo, since you have all these radiation suits which you'll need to wade through the harmful liquid pools, and there's a good amount of barons to contend with, so this map could have been inspiration to Hell Revealed's Map16: The Path. Speaking of Hell Revealed, considering how this is a sewer map, there's no doubt that it also serves as inspiration for the sequel's Map22: Sewer Slaughter, though then again, that map was originally intended to be for Plutonia 2 back in its early development. Make use of the radiation suits wisely, and keep track of its time duration so you can hurry back for the next one before they wear out. Find the switch the proceed further south where you'll see some hell knights and arachnotrons, and eventually you'll find the blue key in the middle of a circular pit which makes me think of the ammo pit from, yet again Memento Mori's Viper, making this even more of a Milo map. Watch out when you grab the blue key as you'll be in for another slaughter ambush as monsters will spawn all around the pit, amounting to shotgunners, imps, and hell knights. Thankfully, no revenants, so this is somewhat of a more manageable fight, albeit a still tricky one, and if you find yourself hurting, keep in minds that there's a megasphere and some cell ammo behind the switch that frees you from being trapped in the pit. Returning to the circular area and head north to the final switch, and if you can BFG the arch-vile just in time as the pillar he's on lowers, you can instantly kill him before he teleports all around until he's on the middle pillar where you'll be forced to kill him with no way to take cover from his flame attack. Mind the revenants that show up in the indentions around the area, and you're done. Another very difficult map, with instances of slaughter in some parts, but I find it quite enjoyable. So yeah, it would seem that Milo has taken a few of Dario's ideas like the voodoo doll trick and the deep water effects, considering both brothers used the invisible platforms in some of their respected maps.

 

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Two more levels done, and we're almost at the end! I'm very excited to tackle Map29, which is both the largest and the hardest (excluding the secret levels) map in Plutonia. Hoo-boy, Plutonia is going to go out with a bang! See you in final two maps, everyone!

Edited May 4, 2021 by T-Rex

[Spectre01]

MAP27 - "Anti-Christ" by Milo Casali

 

This map is a hard pass from me. Navigating it with teleporters is more annoying that in The Final Frontier, since it almost always manages to spit you out into a gangbang (usually involving at least one Chaingunner). There are 2 Invuls that can be used to nullify difficult sections of your choice, though pistol starters will want to drop down and grab the first one + BFG right away for the Soulsphere fight. If you know where the turret enemies are and which spots give you cover, it's not that hard of a map, especially once you delete the Chaingunners by sniping them back. There is one idiot that will keep getting revived, but assuming you don't stand near him, he won't cause much more than chip damage. Having a BFG with plenty of cells makes dealing with the mid-tiers traps of Hell Knights and Revenants rather easy. You can either wait for them to spawn and fire two good shots or make them infight and come back later for cleanup.

 

On the visual front, it just lacks the sense of scale and memorable visual landmarks which The Living End had. And the teleporters make the progression feel less organic since you end up warping between platforms the majority of the time. I don't know, I've never been a huge fan of these types of maps.

[Starduster]

Been really busy with life, and I am trying to catch up lol. Hoping to have everything posted tomorrow.

[Pseudonaut]

Map28: UV-Max in 8:54
I think it's one of Plutonia's easier levels if your route is good. It's all SSG/rocket fodder until you get the yellow key, which allows you to grab the BFG. From there, it's all BFG fodder. The two biggest fights both spawn in many tough enemies in a circular area, but the threat is nullified by the BFG (one of these fights is cramped, but there's a megasphere nearby). The archvile in the yellow key area is easily trapped in its spawn location, and the one at the exit will probably zap the unprepared at least once, but is easy to deal with otherwise. It's actually a pretty fun map, but I wish it didn't take so long for some of the enemies to spawn in. I wouldn't have needed to revisit the blue key area in that case.

 

 

pl28stuff.zip

[Shepardus]

MAP28 - The Sewers

UV Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

I keep forgetting that this map exists and is part of Plutonia. Aside from the big teleport fights and the voodoo doll triggered BFG, I have difficulty identifying anything Plutonia-esque about the level. The teleport fights aren't even hard compared to pretty much everything Plutonia has already thrown at you - you can simply run in circles around the first fight letting everything infight, and use BFG for the second fight. The arch-vile in the final room is cool, but I always expect there to be a lot more in that room. The biggest danger in this map is taking things in the wrong order; if you go down the red key path to the southeast first, you'll end up in the awkward position of having a bunch of rockets but no rocket launcher. This level feels out of place in a map slot this late, or even in Plutonia at all; maybe it'd be more at home in TNT...

 

Co-op/solo-net doesn't add anything except apparently a few extra boxes of rockets. I couldn't tell you where they are, I only know this from the Doom Wiki's tables. There's already a ton of rocket ammo in the map so it's not like you're in danger of running out either way. At least with a second player (or dying + respawning in solo-net) you can grab both computer area maps, if item percentage is a thing you care about; it's otherwise not possible to get 100% items in this map, at least with vanilla behavior, since both map powerups count toward the item percentage but you can only grab one.

[Horus]

MAP25 - "The Temple of Darkness" by Milo Casali

 

I would describe this map as oppressive. Oppressive to the player in terms of its structure and how many ‘fuck you’ moments it has, especially if you’re pistol starting.

 

The intro of the MIDI does a great job of conveying the danger you are in right from the start, presented with a bunch of shotgunners and nothing but your pistol. A speedy dash is required to not meet a quick end.

 

The hell noble room is annoying, not for the six hell knights, but for the baron that spawns behind you. Then later on in the map you are presented with teleports with which you are annihilated by hitscanners as soon as you walk through it – I thought I had savelocked myself for a moment. And the classic hitscanners behind fake walls, a TNT favourite.

 

Aesthetically this level is okay, a clear deep red hellish theme, but occasional random use of other textures that don’t really make sense, such as the techbase room the other side of the BK switch, or the use of jungle-like textures. Overall, worst map so far, and I suspect it will stay that way except for Map 30. The MIDI is excellent, but it can't save the map.

 

Level rankings:

Spoiler

MAP15 - "The Twilight" by Milo Casali
MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali
MAP23 - "Tombstone" by Milo Casali
MAP05 - "Ghost Town" by Milo Casali
MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali
MAP07 - "Caughtyard" by Dario Casali
MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali
MAP01 - "Congo" by Milo Casali
MAP22 - "Impossible Mission" by Dario Casali
MAP19 - "NME" by Milo Casali
MAP24 - "The Final Frontier" by Dario Casali
MAP12 - "Speed" by Milo Casali
MAP13 - "The Crypt" by Milo Casali
MAP02 - "Well of Souls" by Dario Casali
MAP17 - "Compound" by Dario Casali
MAP18 - "Neurosphere" by Milo Casali
MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali
MAP06 - "Baron's Lair" by Dario Casali
MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali
MAP11 - "Hunted" by Dario Casali
MAP21 - "Slayer" by Milo Casali
MAP16 - "The Omen" by Milo Casali
MAP14 - "Genesis" by Dario Casali
MAP31 - "Cyberden" by Dario Casali
MAP20 - "The Death Domain" by Dario Casali
MAP25 - "The Temple of Darkness" by Milo Casali

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by Horus

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP26 - "Bunker" - Dario Casali  (98%K/100%I/25%S) - 8 deaths:

Another classic map, but shorter than I remembered it to be, luckly, as I have not too much time to play. There goes your "Base-Infiltration" map, you'll need to get into the bunker by getting into the canals, which is the best part of the level, managing to find a way to get inside this structure, I also like you can do an entire lap around this facility. The start may be hard for a pistol start, but the map is just there. Again, I remember this map longer and with more things, but falls pretty basic in terms of gameplay already, for a Plutonia map. Also, getting two keys here is not required, as you can exit the map with only one of both keys, another trend within Dario's maps, rendering more exploration a little more pointless, so the main idea of the map, being somewhat open as it is, becomes nerfed. The end is just one of the biggest revenant ambushes in the entire game, feels like water at this point, everything gets filled with enemies, if the game was newer I guess the entire complex would flood with actual water aside from enemies. That would be a cool setup, yet impossible for the Doom engine to manage.

MAP27 - "Anti-Christ" - Milo Casali  (97%K/87%I/33%S) - 8 deaths:

After a bad rendition of The Living End, we have a better one thanks to Milo, with Anti-Christ, although a even more punishing one. The start itself is the biggest pain, and I could not take it from a pistol start, even though there are many resourses as always with Milo maps. The fight with knights and pain elementals hurts my little sanity left. The rest of the map is just casual Plutonia difficulty, with many packed fights just as the one from the start. Many secrets out there, that probably involves swimming into the blood pits, thing that I did not do as my patience today is little to none. At the end there is an F tier Mastermind, it presents no threat, it should have been at the middle of the map, but no, it's guarding the exit in an awkward spot, and you can peak-a-boo her easily even with a chaingun, from behind that small ledge near the end. Fine map, although, yet again, I remembered this bigger and better. Still better than MAP24 and a good map.

Deaths: 216 (UV Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

 

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP23
MAP22

MAP18
MAP12
MAP14
MAP17
MAP11
MAP04
MAP01
MAP27

MAP19

MAP10
MAP03
MAP26
MAP09
MAP07
MAP05
MAP02
MAP13
MAP06
MAP24
MAP08
MAP21
MAP20
MAP16
MAP25

 

No patience to play MAP28 yet.

[kalaeth]

I'm once again asking you to read my ramblings,

MAP 28 : A lone shotgunner is down bellow, imps in windows too. I can go down, but there's a door here.. Two maps? Oh, look there's a secret wall in the stairs? I'll go there first. Invis, rockets, now back to that door.. Some sort of sewer and then a lift that leads me to what appears to be the inside of a house, deep underground. A banner hides a room full of plasma guns and SSGs, always a good sign is it not? A switch opens a wall and a pinkie and a HK come out, another switch waits for me, a passage into a library and another switch : imps, pinkies, the yellow key, one more switch : AV. Another switch : another switch : passage back. A manc hides behind a bookshelf, with a blue armor as a gift. I go back to the sewers, enter a side room with a chaingunner and HKs, only thing of worth there was a RL that I already have, the yellow door has a teleport, but first let's go down the stairs, for another blue armor, and then back to the yellow room : not a teleport, a BFG. Now.. There's this arena like room in the sewers, I'll go there, discover both doors are locked, enter the wooden tunnel, grab a rad suit, kill chaingunners, press buttons, kill HKS, spiders, mancs, grab a red key, kill the new mancs, go back, teleport back up, on to the arena, open the red door, press switch and grab soulsphere, unleash plasma upon the denziens of hell. And rockets. Enter a tunnel, grab a suit, into the sludge, kill a Baron, press a switch, get a blue armor as reward, go to the next Baron, press a switch, get a back pack, next, third switch has no prize, another baron, another switch, HKs and spiders far away. I go back for another suit, mancs have appeared, kill them, move, kill the last spider, enter the blue key room and it's a trap, the door is closing...Grabbing the key, shotgunners, HKS, imps, death.

 Grabbing the key again. Death. I need a different approach.. Ah, there's a megasphere and cells behind the exit switch, grabbing those the fight becomes easier. Went back for the secret soulsphere, it was just a hot to the wall, not a hidden switch!  Now. back to the arena, the other exit has a blue door, that leads to a lift that leads onto a big room, with a teleporting AV. I managed to kill him before he did me too much damage, the four revenants either. Correction, 6 revs. I'm missing one secret and I think I know where, so I move back to grab it, and then, the exit! 

I missed three enemies, somehow, so it's 2 deaths, 26m50s, 97% K, 100% I/S.

[Silhouette 03]

Map 28: Habitat 2.0  The sewers, UV, continuous

 It seems We've arrived at Plutonia's worst map.

 

The sewers is what I consider to be plutonia's worst map. It has all the hallmarks of a sewer level. Bland layout, average gameplay and boring texture use. Still better than habitat(anything is better than habitat.... MY FIRST MAP is better than habitat, which is the ultimate insult... to my first map). The traps aren't really that good either. The trap in the pool with the switch that opens the two tunnels is pathetic, simply waiting for monsters to  teleport and circle strafing until you feel nauseous. The pain sectors are annoying, too( I will not rant... I will not rant....). The only fun trap is the teleporting arch-vile trap in the exit room. Momento mori 2 did sewers right.... I'd really rather play that than this map. 

 

Have people started voting yet? In that case +++Plutonia 3:going to surface( @Doomkid said it was amazing!)

 

Silhouette's stats( I'm currently in the process of getting my name changed..... I don't really have much going on right now)

Kills:99%

Deaths: 1

Secrets:50%

Noticed that almost every Doom IWAD has a sewer level now: YES

Regret that I wasn't here to tear Habitat a new one: 100%

 

  

     

[Walter confetti]

MAP28: I remember that this map wasn't really at high standards, but now after replaying it is not that bad! It's a level sets in this gigantic sewer system with toxic shit and nukage in one room, that also contains a MAP27 library like room with switches that opens new part of the library and a secret room beyond a library... ok? Why this place is down in a sewer system is really unknown for me... this means that culture is shit? What is the meaning of this room? Over this, there's also a prison-like place and a useless room locked by the yellow key. The new texture patches are not bad and the monsters fight is good. Nothing exceptional but it's well balanced.  Another ok filler map like MAP25, but without the abstract layout of MAP25.

[purist]

22. Impossible Mission (Dario Casali)

 

A more appropiate title would be Improbable Mission given the stark contrast in style this map has to the majority of Plutonia. The other obvious outlier is to the arena/setpiece formula is Hunted but in that case it there was a clear concept and the level still had the Casali's wicked sense of fun albeit perhaps tame by modern standards. This was I imagine is a cakewalk in continuous play as the only real challenge from pistol start was the uneven distribution of ammo and even that is only a factor if you are unfamiliar with the map and take the more barren route like I did. I took the blue key and went through the blue door before finding the rocket launcher or SSG so had the plasma rifle and shotgun with very little ammo and then found myself in an unwinnable situation after dodging the mancubi, hitting the switch near the chaingunners then finding both exits back out of the area each blocked by a mancubus with only my fists to handle them with.

 

That was my only death in the map as the next time I ignored the blue doors until I went through the maze area for the yellow key and found myself tripping over boxes of shells. Ammo was not really a concern for much of the map afterwards until I used all if it barring a few bullets clearing the arch vile and horde if barons guarding the red key, which I could have ignored had I had the presence of mind to grab the red key before jumping off. I lucked into the teleport secret near that same area so that did not prove an issue. This felt more like a more standard classic Doom PWAD rather than a Plutonia style one, the chaingunners emerging from the skin textures and the mixing of arch viles and barons were Casali calling cards but unlike many of the other maps this was a battle of attrition rather than a series of ambushes each designed kill outright. Also, progression relied more on switches (often without immediately obvious outcomes) and backtracking than your common-or-garden Plutonia map.

 

There were a couple of nice fights - the yellow key was probably the highlight but the mancubus fight after the blue door was also tense on my second playthrough as I went into it on low enough health that I would likely be killed by one fireball. Still, there was not quite enough for a purist point. It quite honestly outstayed it's welcome with me and was a litte ugly looking to boot.

 

23. Tombstone (Milo Casali)

 

First of all I was disappointed that this map didn't have a graveyard or wild west theme. After calling Impossible Mission an stylistic outlier in Plutonia we visit it's sister map here in Tombstone. I liked this one a little better and I did not run into the same ammo difficulties (on the contrary we start with a BFG and SSG and I found myself overstocked on plasma despite indulging myself in a few unnecessary BFG shots when I didn't feel like dealing with a pain elemental) but there was a similar piece-meal feel to the action with the notable exception the wild trap guarding the switch that leads you to the red key. Another similarity is the key and switch hunt progression and similar feeling of searching the map for the next step, often backtracking, occasionally with a few surpise revenants released to keep your eyes sharp. Maybe I took a route but the mapflow just didn't feel very intuitive, multiple doors or switches per key led me to reaching an objective but running into a dead end.

 

The aforementioned trap leading to the red key is likely to spell death for first time players as there is no nearby cover to defend against the twin arch viles so when you reload you will run like hell to the alley leading into the area and from there it is simple. Despite this cheesiness of the trap it was probably the part I enjoyed the most, probably because it reminded me I am playing Plutonia. Having held out on Dario I will play fair and not award a purist point for Milo's effort either. Both maps suffer from the same issues and this one had inconsistent damaging sectors for blood as a final insult. Not awful, but not good either.

[Spectre01]

MAP28 - "The Sewers" by Dario Casali

 

Quite possible the largest and most detailed of Plutonia's maps so far. The Sewers are so complex to navigate, you are given 2 Computer Area Maps at the same time! This map goes hard on the "everything is a trap" theme and has 2 major slaughter-ish arena-style fights. The main thing to accomplish from a pistol start perspective is to go for the Yellow Key and return to the starting area for that invisible BFG. This makes the rest of the map quite easy, as tends to be the case when an IWAD map gives you plenty of cells. I did get zapped by the teleporting Vile in the exit area, who refused to die.

 

Normally I'm not a fan of sewer levels, but this one's got a nice sense of scale and good detailing for its time. That rhombus-shaped hallway, pictured in the centre above, appears in many iconic wads, such as AV. The shape itself remains a common method of adding detail to walls etc. to this day. Cool map, no complaints.

[Spectre01]

MAP29 - "Odyssey of Noises" by Milo Casali

What's that? A sandbox-ish city map? That's usually enough to sell me!

 

I have said several times before that Plutonia's map29 is my favourite IWAD map and that's still the case today. Whereas Doom 2's city maps were often a mishmash of abstract themes and could only loosely be described as urban, Milo realizes a convincing city map using Plutonia's signature brown brick motif. Furthermore, there are cobblestone streets, grass, trees, and fencing used in a convincing manner. Buildings have columns in front of them and all that good stuff, while still taking place in Hell, as evident by the massive red crater, occupied by the Cyberdemon.

 

The gameplay is what you'd expect from this type of map, similar to the outdoors of Doom 2's Downtown with plenty of turrets and window snipers. It's quite a bit tighter, and the Cyberdemon adds an extra dynamic layer as he threatens you from multiple angles. There are plenty of Chaingunners around the map, but they are only as difficult as you want to make them and can be dispatched safely the majority of the time. Same with the Cyber, if he's being too bothersome, you can hose him down as soon as you collect around 200 plasma. It definitely feels more laid back as the traps are not nearly as harsh as in some previous maps. Not to mention all the space you have at your disposal.

 

Progression can get a bit tricky, and I found myself consulting the automap frequently on my journey. I think it's worthwhile to explore everywhere outdoors before tackling the buildings, as that helps you find areas of interest that become accessible later. Presentation and atmosphere is this map's strongest aspect, and for '96, this is pretty damn good.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Spectre01

[Spectre01]

MAP30 - "The Gateway of Hell" by Milo Casali

Gonna get this out of the way a bit early.

 

A typical IoS where you ride a lift and time your rockets. There is a small amount of buildup leading up to The Gatekeeper fight, including 2 Barons "guarding" the BFG. I am not sure why they exist, as they are stuck in their alcoves and don't threaten the player in any way. The Icon fight is made more hectic by the location being much smaller, as well as having additional turret Mancs, 'Trons, and a Cyberdemon blocking the boss. His placement beyond the pit containing the lift makes him tricky to simply 2-shot. Also, I feel as though timing rockets while riding the lift is harder as you can't see the boss brain while the lift takes you out of the pit. Better than Doom 2's map30, but still not great.

 

Final Thoughts

Plutonia remains as the most professional and consistent IWAD. Also the best one to pistol start, though still not perfect. Having 2 bros make it kept the gameplay and visuals cohesive throughout, perhaps to the slight detriment of variety and experimentation seen in Doom 2, and especially TNT.  It's also impressive how it was made in only 4 months.

 

Cool maps(top 5): 12, 23, 28, 29, 32

Less cool(bottom 5): 03, 07, 10, 18, 30

 

Overall rating: 4/5

[T-Rex]

Might as well take on the penultimate map now cause I really want to play through it and I have so much to say about it. Are we ready? Of course we are! Here we go!

 

Map29: Odyssey of Noises (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 19:42

 

So this is it, the largest and hardest non-secret map in Plutonia, and it really delivers! When many say how this is a classic and the most memorable map in the entire megawad, they weren't joking! Inspired by Doom 2's Map13: Downtown with a bit of Map15: Industrial Zone, this is one massive hellish city level, and coupled that with Ultimate Doom's music track for E1M1, "At Doom's Gate," makes it an awesome experience! The map heavily relies on exploration, but there are so many enemies to kill, and you need to be careful because so many of them are stationed as snipers where if you're not paying attention they can do a great deal of damage. There are a wide variety of snipers, monsters of all kind placed on windows, ledges, and cages, including shotgunners, imps, arachnotrons, revenants, mancubi, and even arch-viles. Don't get too preoccupied with just one side of snipers, because there's always other enemies ready to blindside you, not only other snipers, but also enemies patrolling the streets. Traps are everywhere, and they always spring whenever you do something, like collecting the rocket launcher in one building will cause a group of pinkies to spawn in, entering the red key building will unleash some pinkies and revenants coming from all the way back to the starting point, and hitting the blue key switches unleashes a cloud of cacodemons and pain elementals, so there are many harrowing moments from start to finish. One of the most iconic features of this map is the large red crater to the south, where right in the middle is the cyberdemon who will always keep you on the move whenever you're within his view. Fortunately, on the lower difficulties, in his place are just regular enemies (on Hurt Me Plenty is an arachotron) that can be easily disposed of without too much of a hassle, but even so, you have to stay on guard as you still have more snipers around the area. At first playing through the level, I thought including those distant mancubi and imps was impossible until I found that by standing on the ledge before the stairs to the red key building and also the soul sphere slab inside the central building guarded by sniper revenants outside and chaingunners inside, you can take out those distant enemies and achieve getting all the kills, though I know that on Ultra Violence you can try getting some of those enemy projectiles to hit the cyberdemon and he can do the work for you with ease. Make your way to the red key building, but be quick as chaingunners will appear in the cages, but when you open the door, you are greeted with more chaingunners, and then when you collect the red key, watch out as a wall is opened to reveal an arch-vile who can wreak havoc on you immediately. Next you'll be doing a bunch of going up buildings and jumping between rooftops to track down the yellow key. There's a nifty megasphere that requires some a devious running or straferun jump to get on the ledge where it sits. Search for the switch guarded by revenants to open the yellow bars where behind it is the blue key and a bunch of rockets, and finally locate the blue key switches to open a door and raise bridges in the southwest building where you'll find an exit teleporter that is unlike any other, but don't expect it to be an easy reach, for inside are the last few arch-viles, and to reach the exit, you have to hop over rock pillars that sink to the harmful blood below (ala the end of Doom 2's Map08: Tricks and Traps). This is the biggest and most complex map I've ever played, and first time playing I got so lost that I had no idea where to go which resulted in me taking up to almost an hour to complete the map. Even to this day, it's easy to get lost, so you'll find yourself consulting your automap to get your bearings. As for the enemy opposition you'll be facing, they will provide quite an unnerving challenge, and many of them are very sneaky since they can attack you from every which way as they'll be all over the map and coming from all directions. The visuals are absolutely stunning and it almost felt like an actual city much more than Downtown. That being said, Odyssey of Noises is a ballbusting tour de force as you'll find yourself constantly moving, fighting and shooting down snipers as you try your best to survive the clusterfuck that stands between you and the final level. It's an intense, atmospheric, grandeur and experimental piece of work that is so fitting to be at the tail end of Plutonia and it really makes Milo Casali worth making a comeback as a Doom mapper. I can imagine that if he were to stay, he would create maps much bigger, better and more challenging than anything we've seen in Plutonia.

 

Difficulty: 9/10

 

Man, that is quite a lot to say, but it really is a testament to how unique and brilliant Odyssey of Noises is. Going to rest up now that we're done, and all that's left is the final map of Plutonia, which means the game is almost finished! See you guys then!

Edited May 4, 2021 by T-Rex

[golbeeze]

+++Rowdy Rudy's Revenge! & Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP! & (possibly as bonus/optional maps) Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday!

[Starduster]

Day 28 ~ Maps 18-27 ~ DSDA Doom/PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5 ~ NM100s ~ Pistol start ~ Midi pack

 

I think I’m getting a little tired of UV-Max, plus I’m lazy (MULTIPLE maps behind). So the focus will be on the Nightmare! runs.

Demos: pl 18-28.zip

 

MAP18 - Neurosphere

Deaths: 2 - Easy. Take the megasphere secret and archvile jump to the exit.

 

MAP19 - NME

Deaths: 3 - NME. En - e - me. Enemy. It is embarrassing to admit but I didn’t realize that up until recently. Don’t shoot before teleporting into the outside area unless you want the map to be flooded with revenants and crap. I use a glide to skip the map. Don’t even think about doing it normally, that would be HELL.

 

MAP20 - The Death Domain 

Deaths: 45 - Nice little map. I use a pacifist strategy/cool cheese for the baron teleporter section. It prevents the revenants from flooding the path to the key (they don’t wake up until you shoot) and also keeps an extra archvile out of your hair.

 

MAP21 - Slayer

Deaths: 0 - Only took one attempt :)

 

MAP22 - Impossible Mission

Deaths: 121 - We have come to one of the most difficult stretches of maps in Plutonia nightmare. Can’t quit now, after map25 comes the promised land! I use a linedef skip to avoid the trap at the blue key which features some really nasty barons and an archvile. Sounds great, right? Well, you miss out on a supercharge. Also I had a ridiculous close call at the end. Make sure to practice this one a lot.

 

MAP23 - Tombstone

Deaths: 169 - Anyone who has seen nightmare runs of this wad knows about Tombstone. It is a huge, chaotic back-tracking fest where nearly every single monster on the map has a decent chance at killing you. After finishing 22 and looking at this map I got pretty discouraged, took a decent break. Seeing JCD finish the d2all on this category motivated me to get back at it though :).

 

MAP24 - The Final Frontier

Deaths: 25 - So much fun! I loved playing this map. There is a linedef skip that I use to avoid waking up the cyberdemon. He introduces a lot of RNG into the run, but it is doable without the skip as well. In fact, I even recorded a challenge run of it that skips the start megasphere and doesn’t use the linedef skip.

 

MAP25 - The Temple of Darkness

Deaths: 157 - This one is ridiculous on a pistol-start. Avoiding damage for the first part of the map is all up to your luck. Shotgunners suck, literally the most annoying demon in the game. Now pray that you finish this segment with some HP to spare because the next one can kill you instantly. I use a glide to skip the part where all the hell knights raise out of the ground. Yeah, now I have to somehow survive some stupid luck-based sections, tag the secret, and then rocket jump. It absolutely sucked to grind but I may never experience what I did after exiting the map again :D.

 

MAP26 - Bunker

Deaths: 15 - Pain elemental secret was tagged in this demo. Otherwise the map is pretty uneventful.

 

MAP27 - Anti-Christ

Deaths: 19 - I always said this map was the epitome of chaingunner traps in Plutonia Easy enough once you have the route down. The jump to the second invulnerability can be tricky with everything going on, just gotta pray for that one.

 

MAP28 - The Sewers

Deaths: 7 - Another really uneventful map. My first exit had 75% secrets because I forgot the invisibility one, oops. To keep everything from teleporting in for those two main traps, make sure to avoid firing after taking the red key, and after that, only fire when you are in the deep slime.

 

I hold the NM100s record for MAP27 in 52 seconds as of writing this :) here it is → https://dsdarchive.com/wads/plutonia?level=Map+27

[head_cannon]

(Crispy Doom, UV, Pistol Start, No Saves)

hc_plu17.zip

MAP17 - Compound

 

You infiltrate this base via its sewer system; the first order of business is to try to steal the suit & weapon from the Imps guarding the back entrance. From the moment your boots touch the ooze to the moment you've finally conquered the central courtyard, that opening action scene has a compelling urgency to it - the need to take cover in this gunfight contrasted with the need to push forward due to the RadSuit's limited duration.

 

This level is divided between the western red-key dungeon and the eastern yellow-key dungeon. Both have the same basic structure: incidental combat along a short, winding path guarded by low-tier & then mid-tier resistance, and a treasure room which contains a bigger battle. The architecture & texturing are really solid here; I particularly like the use of windows and how the machinery rising out of the sludge pools sells the location as some kind of pumping station.

 

The "teleporting Hell Noble" trick is used again in the red-key dungeon and, while I like the execution better than the one from Onslaught, it can still be frustrating to get stuck against a torch and get instantly wrecked. At least it happens near the beginning of the map, so it's no trouble to reroll if I get unlucky.

There's a drastic difference in the experience of a player who doesn't collect the red-key dungeon's secret vs a player that does. It's not just the pile of ammo (which elevates the Rocket Launcher from a tool of Arch-Vile assassination into the solution to every problem), it's the way that you can pick off a couple of gunners through the windows from outside before actually using the key and entering the structure. Taking the blind leap up the staircase is aggravating when that welcoming committee is ready to shoot you in the back, and it's nice being able to ambush the ambushers.

 

The altar at the far end of the yellow-key complex contains the final battle, and will start summoning demons in once you intrude. It's a little dicey to try to push through the Imps blocking your escape, but once you've gotten free of that crowd, there's plenty of cover and space to battle the horde.

 

While the yellow-key structure looks cool and fits the setting, it is a little weird how those infinitely-tall barrels affect the jump to collect the key. I guess the idea is that if a player is so dedicated to going fast that they don't want to stop and detonate the barrels first, they will then have to be a little bit more precise in their parkour as a tradeoff.

 

The pressure added by the ticking clock of the RadSuit timer gives the opening sequence the right intensity to make At Doom's Gate feel at home as a BGM, but the midi's a little less appropriate when backtracking in silence trying to figure out the map progression. Oh, the key goals are clear enough, but the map often makes you look for where the corresponding door is. It's a little obtuse (and trekking aimlessly back & forth over damaging ooze never feels good), but thankfully the level is so small that it doesn't take long to figure it out.

Edited January 29, 2021 by head_cannon

[Shepardus]

MAP29 - Odyssey of Noises

UV Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

Like the previous map, this map doesn't feel all that Plutonia-ish to me, with it being so spread out. It does have some vicious setups here and there, but overall still isn't much challenge. I think it's got more going for it than MAP28, though, and it's better than Doom II's Downtown as well (at least less annoying to play). Most of my time in this map was spent wandering around trying to figure out where to go. This is one of the few maps where the exit isn't one of those black devices; when I was playing through Plutonia a while back (before this month) I accidentally exited before killing all the monsters.

 

Solo-net adds two arch-viles (I'm not sure where), a spiderdemon sitting in the pit around the cyberdemon's island, and an additional cyberdemon roaming the streets near the starting location. None of these are much challenge, especially since there's a BFG added in an alleyway. Apparently there's several extra megaspheres too, which I didn't know while playing the map but may have contributed to my impressions of this map being easy.

[Devalaous]

\

 

Finished the megawad 3 hours early (its 9:12 pm on the 29th), as I have places to be early tomorrow on the 30th and probably wont be back in time to play the 30th map on the last days

 

Map 26 is one of my favourites of the wad, reminds me of TNT stuff with an underground bunker that you have to break into and clear out. The broken secret registered fine for me, is this one of the things that GZDoom automatically picks up and fixes, like it does with Thy Flesh Consumed?

 

Map 27 can go fuck itself. The infinite chaingunner that doesn't have the courtesy of becoming vulnerable like Map 15's ones is a huge flaw, you should never lock people out of 100% stats. Otherwise this level is the final example of Plutonia's brutality, culminated into one mean death trap. Should have been Map 29.

 

Map 28 is...weird. Its so overstocked with guns and items, not to mention the two computer maps, makes me think it was a coop level repurposed for Plutonia. A refurbished Memento Mori level maybe? That megawad is all about coop I hear. Very toothless level too, I rocketed almost everything and still came out with 100% ammo, 200% health and armour. But its fun at least.

 

Map 29 is great. A big long exploratory city level, one of my favourite types of map! Its like they borrowed from Jim Flynn a little. Challenge wise its a piece of cake, just...long, as you need to clear out all those windows of chaingunners, snipe the revenants in the towers, etc.

 

Map 30 makes up for the ugly mess that was Icon of Sin. I would replace IoS with this level in a heartbeat. The item accidentally left in the deathmatch section does not spawn in GZDoom thankfully, not that it would have mattered; I'd just idclip over to it. Leaving things broken is a console thing; here on PC we have tools to overcome most user errors in games *cough Bethesda games*

 

Found a hilarious way to clear the final room; if I didnt fire a shot, the Gatekeepr wouldnt wake up. So all those preplaced enemies minus the cyberdemon were cleared out by the cyb for me, then I two-shotted him before the first spawn cube even fired xD Made the 6 or so rockets I needed to shoot into his head a lot less stressful.

 

_________________

 

Overall, Plutonia is nowhere near the pain and suffering it used to be, while it still kills me a lot, its a fun sort of pain mostly, and ive grown skilled enough to blow through it quickly if I need to. Probably wont play it again unless my PS3 gets repaired; I still need the last trophy for beating Plutonia there someday. Aside from that, I think this IWAD is done to death for me. I need to actually play Plutonia 2 someday afterall.

[Pseudonaut]

Map29: UV-Max in 12:30
The longest map in Plutonia, with combat involving a wide variety enemies stationed in windows, balconies, or other elevated firing positions. Almost all of it is accessible from the start, so the player can explore the map in just about any order he or she pleases. A few parts stand out: the rocket launcher is available immediately, but grabbing it will trigger a potentially deadly ambush with pinkies. It's best dealt with by running out of the room with the SSG ready to remove anything that gets in your way. It didn't occur to me while playing, but it would be safer if I had switched to a weapon other than the SSG beforehand. Then, when I pick up the rocket launcher, I can press '3' at the right time and autoswitch will take out the SSG instead of the RL. Some of the perched enemies are particularly difficult to reach for 100% kills, most notably a couple of distant imps and at least 3 distant mancubi. Getting them to infight with the cyberdemon isn't reliable, but using the rocket launcher from a good firing position (that soulsphere room with the barons) works pretty well. I'm sure it's harder with the low resolution present in vanilla, but I don't feel too bad about using a modern port here; putting enemies that far away is kinda bullshit.

 

 

pl29stuff.zip

[kalaeth]

and now for my daily dose of punish...plutonia.

 

MAP 29 : There's a free backpack, boxes of rockets, and not a single enemy already shooting at me at the start... This can't be good. Outside a chaingunner was patrolling the building in front, so I kill him and step into the empty streets. Some imps on windows use me for target practice so I how them the proper way of doing it. As I move deeper into the city, more and more enemies are trying to snipe at me from atop, so I change to the rocket launcher and reply in kind. A pair of HKs are the first enemies I see on the street. By now, with 34 dead mosnters I was already running out of rockets, so I went back to start to grab some more. Running out of rockets once more I decided it was about time I entered a building, so I pick one at random and it's one where mancs are snipping at me from way too far away, so I end up falling into the lava, teleporting out of it and into another building. This one has no doors, just a pair of stairs, leading to two windowed rooms from where I kill a rev, grab ammo and health and then it's back to the streets. Next door a rocket launcher has pinkies as a trap. Tons of them. I SSG them, grab more health and enter a building with chaingunners on a ledge, and die.

 Second go, from after the pinkies, I know there are chaingunners and I have enough rockets so I kill them all, grab health and open the door, two barons guarding a soulsphere and lots of rockets. This is actually a good vantage point from where to snipe the mancs and revs from before, so I do it - until I blow myself with a rocket.

 Third go, from after the chaingunners : this time I manage to kill the barons without suffering damage only to get a rev ball to the back immediately after. How ever, I do a much better job as as sniper and remove both mancs and a rev with almost no damage suffered. With the buildings around the lake of blood cleared, I move. And I get it by something. Only after do I realize it must have been the now loose revenant that kills me.

 Fourth go, from after the sniping : RevenantS, plural. No match for my plasma gun. So, back to the lake of blood and the building with the red key, a pair of chaingunners was too slow to damage me as I entered the building, the same thing can't be said of the AV, but still not fast enough to kill me. On my way to where some red bars used to block my path I enter a building with black banners next to the walls and nearly die after missing a SSG shot to a chaingunner, but I survived. Pass the former red bars and some parkour into the next door building, where the yellow key waits. I triggered the trap before grabbing the key and so a caco got a shot on my back, but still alive, I change to the plasma gun and kill them. A megasphere, much desired, is right there, if I can manage to "jump" towards it.. After two near misses I do it! Now full, I move towards the yellow door, where a pair of revs guard a switch, and then I walk around trying to find the next step.. Ah! found, and the blue key as well. I also know where to go now : time for more parkour! I reach the blue door, kill the baron, kill the cacos, press the switches, kill more cacos, and it's down the street to that new building. An AV guards the place, or three. I kill them and I could leave, but I'm missing a secret.. And it's crappy secret, but I can't complain, at least it's done.

 So 3 deaths, 100% everything, 29 min 55 seconds.

And then there was one...

 

(uff, this survived the great doomworld blank of 2021, it went down as I pressed post..)

[Horus]

MAP26 - "Bunker" by Dario Casali

 

The MIDI for this map is really catchy. I finished the map shortly after work yesterday, and for the rest of the evening I had the tune in my head.

It’s also a map I had a lot of fun with overall, although the opening sections were a bit underwhelming with the boring long water moat, and it’s a bit confusing to navigate towards the end.

 

Otherwise though, the battles in the centre of the bunker are all enjoyable and well balanced, and aesthetically this map is more cohesive than the last map. This map is unique in Plutonia in the sense that you have two keys but only one is required to exit. I found getting the blue key a lot more intuitive than the red key, nonetheless I did both for completion’s sake. Also of note is this level’s comparative non-linearity. Good stuff, back on track after the previous map’s shocker.

 

Level rankings:

Spoiler

MAP15 - "The Twilight" by Milo Casali
MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali
MAP23 - "Tombstone" by Milo Casali
MAP05 - "Ghost Town" by Milo Casali
MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali
MAP07 - "Caughtyard" by Dario Casali
MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali
MAP01 - "Congo" by Milo Casali
MAP26 - "Bunker" by Dario Casali
MAP22 - "Impossible Mission" by Dario Casali
MAP19 - "NME" by Milo Casali
MAP24 - "The Final Frontier" by Dario Casali
MAP12 - "Speed" by Milo Casali
MAP13 - "The Crypt" by Milo Casali
MAP02 - "Well of Souls" by Dario Casali
MAP17 - "Compound" by Dario Casali
MAP18 - "Neurosphere" by Milo Casali
MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali
MAP06 - "Baron's Lair" by Dario Casali
MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali
MAP11 - "Hunted" by Dario Casali
MAP21 - "Slayer" by Milo Casali
MAP16 - "The Omen" by Milo Casali
MAP14 - "Genesis" by Dario Casali
MAP31 - "Cyberden" by Dario Casali
MAP20 - "The Death Domain" by Dario Casali
MAP25 - "The Temple of Darkness" by Milo Casali

 

[Silhouette 03]

Map 29: Odyssey of noises UV, continuous

The penultimate map of plutonia is a city map... that doesn't suck!?

 

Plutonia having a city map as it's penultimate map came as a huge surprise. What's even more of a surprise is that the map(WARNING: BRACE FOR UNPOPULAR OPINION!) is really good. The combat is fun and the layout is good, even though I got lost and had to use the Doomwiki's walkthrough. The map itself is abstract but serves a purpose and doesn't try to look too realistic at the expense of gameplay. While I hated Doom 2's city levels(love you, Sandy!) I really enjoyed this one.

 

The traps are really good too. The chaingunner traps are back and in full force, with at least two in each alcove. The cyberdemon in the centre of the map was annoying but taking him out with the surplus cells in the map was...fun. Can we appreciate for a second that you're giving surplus rockets in this map, allowing you to eliminate enemies in higher alcoves with ease? You can basically main the rocket launcher.

I discovered a bug(?), where a part of the gate surrounding the cyberdemon and the blood lake didn't have the impassible tag on. Just wondering if anyone noticed.

 

It's time to face the gatekeeper*cocks shotgun*

      

Silhouette's stats:

Kills:97%

Secrets:100%

Deaths:4

Ready to face the world's most menacing wall texture: Yes

Locked and/or loaded: Hell Yeah!

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Silhou3tte

[SiFi270]

+++ Rowdy Rudy's Revenge, Rowdy Rudy II: Powertrip, Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP28 - "The Sewers" - Dario Casali (?) (100%K/94%I/50%S) - 5 deaths:

Finally, your mandatory sewer level.
This is the definition of a TNT map, long, empty ass corridors, innecesarily big rooms, texturing and amateur mapping mistakes such as placing two computer maps at the same place, making 100% Items impossible (Vanilla ports). Yes, this is possibly what Ty Halderman refered to when talking about big Casali maps rejected from TNT. Still, this was not as big as TNT MAP20, or MAP17, or many other big maps. It could have been worked pretty well in TNT, but here, feels totally out of place, also, it does not feel like a Milo map, again, not pointing out yet again why not, as it's pretty obvious by far. Not a bad map, but yet again, it's your average TNT map, and not only that, but it also feels less difficult and out of position in comparison to other Plutonia maps.
Journeys are pretty long just to do one task and most travels are extended even more by making you fight the big chunguses of Doom's bestiary, like mancubi or several barons/knights. Map may be difficult if you take the wrong path, as there are certain paths with certain guns right from the start, and the best is to stack all your inventory before taking any paths in-depth.
The stacked plasma rifle and SSG room seemed kinda like  a "hey guys this is my first amazing Doom map!!" moment. Yet the BFG grab was clever, though I did not get it, as I forgot, but Dario/Milo was already aware of how voodoo dolls work. I always hated than you can spawn in voodoo dolls while playing some online source-ports. 
Most fights consist on big hellspawns in big arenas, one of the most interesting this of this map. The ending area is lack-luster, as you have to fight a teleporting arch-vile, that can be easily killed, after that, there are some revenants, but you may expect something even better considering how big this area is. Sadly, a wasted oportunity.

MAP29 - "Odyssey of Noises" - Milo Casali  (98%K/100%I/100%S) - 3 deaths:

The city map that Doom II deserved, but sadly never had, amazing city map from Milo, possibly one of the best vanilla cities out there. I can't even believe how was it possible to make back in the day, you know, with the Doom engine limitations, absolutely long distances from one point to another, many buildings full of life, nice "old-school" details, and great atmosphere. The only weird thing is that the last two maps are in a city, and this feels weird in terms of progression, maybe cities in hell are a thing?. Map sure is big, but one problem is that once you kill everyone in the streets, and you feel like a mad civilian hunter, the map will feel empty right before getting the yellow/blue skull keys, sure, some enemies will spawn in the streets after you complete some tasks, but other than that, nothing more, and the map was not hard at all, having all my deaths trying to fight against the Cyberdemon. The city feels marvelous, but some sacrifices were clearly made, like placing less enemies or items just not to cause a save-game data overflow, and that's why the map may fall empty.
The ending feels kinda like a letdown to me, the last building is just a race to th e exit with falling pillars, and some arch-viles, but they can be ignored or killed easily without you taking any damage.
This is the only map that presents a different exit rather than the Plutonia portal. This one is a portal aswell, but a different one, kind of implying that this is our final journey.
Great map by 1996's  standards, the best Vanilla Doom city, in par or higher than Memento Mori's MAP28, but more detailed. As a Plutonia map, feels empty and not as hard, but a good work of art and a nice MAP29 before the final battle.

Deaths: 224 (UV Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

 

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP23
MAP22

MAP18
MAP12
MAP14
MAP29
MAP17
MAP11
MAP04
MAP01
MAP27

MAP19

MAP10
MAP03
MAP26
MAP09
MAP07
MAP05
MAP02
MAP13
MAP06
MAP28
MAP24
MAP08
MAP21
MAP20
MAP16
MAP25

 

Still amused you'll never get a VPO in MAP29, I can't understand how Milo pulled out this.

[T-Rex]

At last we reach the finale of Plutonia. Time to put an end to the Gatekeeper once and for all!

 

Map30: The Gateway of Hell (Milo Casali)

136% kills, 25% items, 0% secrets

Time: 02:28

 

The final map is here! While TNT Evilution had an original idea going in which you run through a normal level before reaching the Icon of Sin arena, Plutonia makes use of the standard Map30 formula but with a twist. It may not be as crazy as Hell Revealed's finale (as the final boss shoots one spawn cube and not four at once, though on co-op it shoots two), but it is pretty challenging in its own way. First off, you collect all the weapons and also the BFG which is guarded by a pair of barons. Step into the portal and you'll teleport to another area, but watch out as you'll be tangling with two arch-viles. Do not attempt to BFG them both at the same time as they can simultaneously attack, causing you to lose significant health and armour. Instead, kill them one at a time using the structures they emerge from as cover. Before you go up the top of the stairs, eliminate the chaingunners and then head on for the wall to lower revealing a big arena with revenants, mancubi, arachnotrons, lost souls and even a cyberdemon guarding the Gatekeeper. The revenants and arachnotrons are the biggest threat so take them out first while being mindful of the cyberdemon. You can get the cyberdemon to launch his rockets into where the mancubi are so they can infight, and you can BFG him while he's distracted with the fatties. Once the cyberdemon is dead, be quick to set up the elevator and lower it to jump on board and time the rockets to waste the Romero head inside. It takes no more than 3 shots, but I managed to get 2 shots to destroy the Gatekeeper. And that's the end, a much better Icon of Sin map than what we got in Doom 2, but tough as nails. You can't get all the items since some of them are in a separate deathmatch-only area, and yeah, there are no secrets in this map.

 

Difficulry: 8/10

 

Now that we're done with Plutonia, we're done with classic Doom in its entirety, and I can give my final thoughts on the map, my overall rating score, and which maps I found to be toughest.

 

First time players who never experienced insanely difficult maps will no doubt find Plutonia to be both oppressive and punishing, but luckily, like with Hell Revealed, that's what the difficulty settings are for. Although I'm Too Young to Die and Hey Not Too Rough are still relentless, dare I say moreso than HR since I find the first two difficulties on that wad to play more or less like Doom 2 on Ultra-Violence, it's still somewhat accessible for the newcomers. Hurt Me Plenty, the difficulty which I played on and always will, gives a stiff challenge and also maximum fun at the same time. Then we have Ultra-Violence which only the best players can stomach. That being said, Go 2 It will still be the most formidable map for anyone and a fun, frantic slaughterfest for the veterans as all difficulty settings are the same with the monsters. I dare to say this, but I honestly find Plutonia and Hell Revealed to be equally difficult, because with this mapset, many of the combat scenarios are set in cramped, claustrophobic areas and the compactness of most of these maps make the battles feel like as if you're fending off against a vast horde of monsters even though the majority of the Plutonia maps have a monster count that's below 100, and only a handful are within that range, with a few like Go 2 It having well over 200 monsters, whereas with Hell Revealed, while many of the maps have a higher body count, a lot of the areas you fight the monsters in are large, wide open battlefields and the terrain provided allows you to be able to take cover for a period of time as you plan your strategy to either fight or flee the opposition until you are better equipped, so if anything, Hell Revealed gives you a lot of leeway to deal with the big fights, unlike Plutonia where you are forced to fight tough enemies in constrained places and quickly or else you'll die.

 

That said, between the Final Doom wads, even though I prefer TNT Evilution for its more amicable gameplay, I will not deny that Plutonia is much more well-crafted in design and gameplay that is both original and revolutionary for its time. The vivid, consistent theme along with its unprecedented difficulty gives a very arcade-like feel to it. The Casali brothers were the pioneers of the gut punch, mean-spirited, crazy-difficult Doom levels that make them forerunners of Yonatan Donner, Haggay Niv (Hell Revealed), Anders Johnsen (and his team with Alien Vendetta), Erik Alm (his early maps between 2001 and 2003 leading up to Scythe), and Gusta and Method (Kama Sutra). Plutonia was clearly a huge influence on their output, and their respected wads would have been greatly different had it not been for Dario and Milo's trailblazing. However, Plutonia is by no means a perfect wad, and of course, there's no such thing as one, as heck, even Alien Vendetta, which I regard as the best megawad I ever played, has its share of flaws. While I praise Plutonia for its consistent theme, there are times where it appears too samey like the abundance of brown in many of the maps, though this is kinda something that Quake is notorious for. Some of the homage maps are either way too similar or nowhere near as good as its original inspirations, like The Final Frontier lacked the charm of The Living End while having almost a way too similar progression and Slayer was basically a scaled down Circle of Death. Worst map for me has to be Hunted. I give Dario the benefit of the doubt for attempting a brand new concept of a maze full of arch-viles you have to navigate through but that's as far as I will go as aside from its ugly layout, the delivery was just too clunky and primitive, and that's saying something given that he pumped out a lot of maps that for the most part were given so much love and effort. A shame that Hunted and The Final Frontier were not those kind of maps. Bunker was also another stinker on his part, though I find it somewhat more pleasing to look at, if barely. So now, I'll be listing which maps I consider to be the 5 hardest of Plutonia, from least difficult to most difficult.

 

#5 - Map24: The Final Frontier

#4 - Map19: NME

#3 - Map31: Cyberden

#2 - Map29: Odyssey of Noises

#1 - Map32: Go 2 It

 

And as for my thoughts on who's my favourite of the Casali brothers. Well, I think Milo has to be the best mapper of the two. Don't get me wrong, I think Dario's a great mapper in his own right, in fact a lot of his design sensibilities make me think of John Romero in his usage of textures and geometry, but I've always enjoyed the mapping style of Tom Hall (my favourite of the former id crew) that I can't pass up maps by anyone who imitates his style, and Milo happens to be one of those authors. From the circular rooms to the curved corridors and the kind of connectivity that Tom Hall used greatly when he designed maps for the Doom alphas that would later be spiffed up by Sandy Petersen and John Romero for the final releases, you can see and feel the influences of Tom Hall as you play through Milo's maps. With that said, there's one more thing to cover before I conclude with my final scoring. The actual level design information. As many of us felt, the author credits given by Doom wiki and sources were clearly inaccurate since it's been established that both Dario and Milo designed half of the levels each for Plutonia, and since there's 32 levels altogether, it could mean that they've designed 16 levels individually, and since we have a clear understanding on who designed which map (Dario uses John Romero-style geometry and texture selection along with using certain traps that are meant to confound the player, like the noble teleporter trap seen in TNT Map 32 and Plutonia Maps 11, 13, 17 and 20, and Milo sticks to Tom Hall-isms and uses much more diabolical traps that instantly kill unsuspecting players including fiendish placement of cyberdemons and arch-viles, and for texture usage, he seems somewhat fond of using green marble ceiling with brown floor combinations seen in maps like Abattoire, NME, Slayer and The Sewers), here's who I believed designed which of the maps.

 

Dario Casali - 02, 04, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 31

Milo Casali - 01, 03, 05, 09, 12, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32

 

Speaking of the maps, there's a lot of headscratching and wondering on which of the Plutonia maps are most likely the TNT rejects. Since it was revealed long ago that they submitted 8 maps (4 by Dario and 4 by Milo) for TNT and 4 of them were rejected, with 3 maps by Dario and 1 by Milo being accepted for the megawad, I have a feeling that Impossible Mission was the only map by Dario that was rejected as it's the only map by him that could come off as too difficult, and as for Milo, somehow I feel that Abattoire (even if it was originally Butcher.wad, whose to say he wouldn't consider including it to TNT if he added it for Plutonia?), Tombstone (since Impossible Mission was Knee-Deep inspired while Tombstone is The Shores of Hell inspired) and The Sewers were his.

 

Okay, for the final score, I give Plutonia an 8/10. Yes, it's slightly lower than the score I gave Hell Revealed, but still, it's a notch above my final score given to TNT. Most of the levels were compact, but action-packed and they constantly try to find ways to punish you. However, if you're prepared and know the ins and outs of the levels well with a sense of foreknowledge of what's coming up and when to use the right weapons, then it shouldn't be too much of an overwhelming challenge. Always know that there's no shame in playing the lower difficulties to have a less stressful time before deeming it impossible. Pound for pound, Plutonia stands out as being the pinnacle of difficulty in all of the wads developed and/or published by id Software. The first episode introduces you to the knockabout gameplay style, the second episode picks up the pace and showcases much more beautifully-designed levels, and as for the third episode, aside from it being homage central, it really delivers the worst, and by worst, I mean that they will constantly kick your ass as every single one really mean business and will take no prisoners. Having been well-received, like I mentioned above, Plutonia influenced future wads with the likes of Hell Revealed, Alien Vendetta, Scythe and Kama Sutra, and even spawned two unofficial sequels, both having their own stories taking place after the game, and while both Plutonia 2 and Plutonia Revisited are huge improvements in gameplay and design from its predecessor, I prefer the former over the latter, though I do enjoy PRCP as well.

 

Phew! That was one hell of a journey, but it was so satisfying to be done with classic Doom in its entirety, though there's always more custom Doom wads to play so while it's over for the classic Doom games released by id, it's not over completely as we still have plenty of wads and megawads of the past, present and future to play through. I look forward to playing another megawad the DWMC might try if it's one I'd be interested in. Hope you all enjoyed Plutonia, and I'll see you all again next time!

Edited January 31, 2021 by T-Rex