The DWmegawad Club plays: Community Chest

[Silhouette 03]

Map16: Infliction of hate-Andy Leaver

These names are really metal.

 

Leaver ramps up the difficulty with his second offering. This immediately becomes evident in the maps opening fight, which has you taking on several hell knights, at least one baron, a mancubus, some pinkies and some imps. Some infighting is necessary for the two main fights: The starting fight and the fight in the red brick area. The red brick area is also a pretty intense. I'm not sure if it was the author's intention that the player should rely so heavily on infighting, though. Similar to Leaver's previous map, this map is very short and to the point. The fights themselves are fun, though I have doubts on the ammo distribution in the map.

 

I can't tell if ammo was intentionally made relatively scarce or not. Only the Author himself would know, I guess.

Kills:100%

Secrets: 0% 

[kalaeth]

MAP17 - Infliction of Hate :

(more metal album title names! This one is clearly thrash metal)

We start inside a small room with a couple satanic things around us and a big techbase-like door ahead and bars on the side to cheese the first fight of the map if we are so inclined. Grabbing the shotgun outside throws a caco to my face, while more imps keep showing up. This small outside area has a red door for the exit and a blue one but the path intended is a small side tunnel with stairs leading down. Some boxes have been deposited here and are guarded by a pair of hell knights. On top of one of those boxes, a megasphere. On top of another, the red key. The blue key is there, up for grabs, so I run to it. Releasing a revenant on my back, because I decided the trap would likely come from the front. Shows what I know. With no visible means of reaching the megasphere I move towards the blue door, where more HKs and a choir of chaingunners far away greet me. I repay their kindness in rockets, and then climb some steps only to find a pair of bared teleports. Down, across the blood into a tunnel filled with lost souls leading to the chaingunners platform and a door. Imps in a lava room, pinkies in a corridor, a rad suit and a run in the lava to find a blue armor and a invis sphere. More imps, a teleport : I am now inside the bars, and from there I jump into the other 'port, leading, as suspected, to the red key. Grab it, jump downm grab the megasphere, outside, the exit. But! I am missing a secret.. Ah, a backpack at start, now I can leave.

 

K/I/S : 100% / 66% / 100%

time : 8:28 / 6:47:08

deaths : 0 / 29

 

Another small level, under 10 minutes. Again, not much to say about it.

 

edit : I swear I hadn't seen the post by Silent Wolf about the name being metal before posting. It must be a case of metalhead-heads think alike?

Edited March 17, 2022 by kalaeth

[Silhouette 03]

  On 3/17/2022 at 2:24 PM, kalaeth said:

It must be a case of metalhead-heads think alike?

Expand  

I'm not a metalhead. I'm just really good at identifying when a title is metal. It's a gift... and a curse ;)

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 17: Infliction of Hate by Andy Leaver

Music: "This One's for Daisy" by STILES from Mid: The Way Id Did

Played from pistol start with the Doomguy class from Final Doomer.

 

I go back and forth on this map soooo much. Sometimes I want to say its better than Outer Base, other times I think it must be hardly better than something like Map 20. Sometimes, you don't want to play a Malcolm Sailor map, yah know? And it teeters on the edge of feeling grindy in spots. Most of the time, it goes over like a good cheese paired with with a shot or two of some delicious fruity wine.

 

Anyway, in the very first room, I'd hit the panel of the left to get a hidden backpack, which marks the second Andy leaver map with a secret in the first room. Leave this room to get into the thick of it! A Baron, some Hell Knights, Demons, Imps, and a Mancubi at the far end near the exit all inhabit this courtyard, and it's just the right shape that they'll start tearing each other to pieces within probably 90 seconds of spotting you. Some Cacos will also be released when you pick up the shotgun sitting to the left of the entrance.

 

Pistol starters will probably want to leave at a certain point for the shadowed hallway on the left or stay around to probably suffer a death or two. Picking the former though brought me  to a storage room stuffed with chaingunners which necessitated some corner shooting. There are also two Mancubi you'll probably want to invest the time to kill to pick up the chaingun in their closet. It'll give you more options to fight off the Revenant trap at the end of the hallway with the Super Shotgun. I don't know about you, but there's no chance I'm going to be taking out three revenants with a Super shotgun, no matter how narrow the hallway happens to be.

 

The red key must have been here because I then used it to open a door which led to an open and reddish industrial sort of area containing a rather massive and distracting collection of gauntlets. Target the Imps on the stairs and the chaingunners on the other end of this room that are quite hard to hit from where you enter might eat you alive if you don't immediately head up the stairwell where the Imps are at. Fire at the chaingunners and you'll probably be set on fire by the Mancubi as if though you're Ricky Bobby or something. Things will probably be at least somewhat easier if you grab the berserk pack behind and to the right of the entrance, though probably not until you've killed the most threatening enemies. Not to mention the Lost Souls that filter out of the far corridor on the right might eat your face off.

 

Behind the door at the far end is a linear but beautiful hellish cave. Go forward for a little bit and pick up the rad suit. With it, I was able to head thorough the lava behind and too my left, where I was able to fight off an Imp mob and find myself confronted with a sole Imp straggler guarding some megarmour you'll really want. Especially since there are more Imps along with a pair of Revenants at the far end. Not really feeling in a completist mood, I took the teleporter here, had a Revenant and a pinkie follow me, but due to some oddly-placed teleport lines, felt a certain amount of dizziness as I ended up in an alcove with the blue key. I failed to acquire the seemingly superflous Megasphere though, but then, the jump did seem a little more difficult than you might expect.

 

I'm not sure what it means that I was able to write so much about a short map like this. Probably nothing beyond Andy has a certain gift for injecting character into his maps other than some mediocrity like Timelessness

[finnks13]

MAP17 - Infliction of Hate by Andy Leaver:
My favourite map for a while, Andy Leaver's second map is another short, action-packed series of fights which ended up taking me around 7 minutes to complete. I appreciate that Leaver's two maps don't go on for longer than they should, they ended when they should have, and didn't have anything in them to artificially extend the level and waste my time. I liked the opening fight the best, being limited to just the shotgun against a surprisingly large group of high-HP monsters forced me to play creatively, carefully weaving through them to encourage infighting between the mancubi and others. The big shootout in the red brick building was also fun, though there are a few too many barons - maybe more hell knights or revenants would have worked a bit better. I think Map16 looks a bit better than this map, the red bricks are pretty ugly when applied over such a large area. Had a good time here though.

 

Rankings:

  Reveal hidden contents

Really Liked: MAP02, MAP07, MAP17
Liked: MAP04, MAP09, MAP13, MAP14, MAP31, MAP16
The Boring Zone: MAP03, MAP11, MAP15, MAP32
Didn't Like: MAP01, MAP05, MAP08, MAP12
Really Didn't Like: MAP06, MAP10

 

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 17: Infliction Of Hate - Andy Leaver

100% kills and secrets

Time: 7:53

 

It wouldn't be a Community Chest without an Andy Leaver map in slot 17. This being the first CC, this wasn't something that was an established thing, but now you know. Like the previous map, this one is pretty short, but now we're in a more hellish environment. If you're playing continuous, you can take out most of the enemies in the first major room from the safety of the starting room just by shooting through the small gates on the sides of the door. The enemy density in these rooms are pretty thick, and there's usually a few mid-tiers sprinkled in for an added threat. The room behind the blue door kind of seems like it's just a random assortment of enemies in a giant red room. Though you can cause some nice infighting if you head in and alert the barons hiding behind a corner. Going through the lava around here is optional, but you do find a mega armor. Don't really need it as you can jump to a mega sphere from the red key. Also, the mega sphere is pointless for pistol starters, since everything is dead at this point. I'm happy with it tho! Nice breezy map.

[PeceMan]

Let me take a look at the secret levels:

 

Level 31, Mt. Chaos

 

    This one was ok, I guess

 

    Aesthetics were on the lower end of basically ok, the same goes for the gameplay.

 

    I don't have much more to say about it.

 

 

 

Level 32, The Citadel
    
    Hmm, this one was also ok
    
    I feel like the two secret levels are, in a way, kinda similar:

• They're both aesthetically ok (not exactly great, but not lacking in any way either)
• They're both fun (I mean, I can't speak for everyone else, but I had fun playing them), 
• Well, at least kinda fun (I did have fun with them, but not as much as I had with other levels, these ones are more of a 7/10 kinda deal)
• They both attempt to push architecture (neither of them was really that great at creating believable buildings, but they definitely made strides in that direction),
• Both levels had some slaughter elements, but never went full slaughter

 

I wouldn't mind playing through either of the secret levels again, but I wouldn't do it without a reason to do so.

 

 

 

Ps. having said that they are similar, I actually liked The Citadel a bit better than Mt. Chaos

[brick]

MAP16: Methods of Fear

This is a strange map. The 4 teleport setup makes it seem like it'll be a large complex map, but it's actually quite breezy. I kept pressing switches without really knowing what they're doing until I stumbled into the red key. Later while outside I didn't even realize I was activating the map exit until I had done so. I'm not sure what to think of the map, the whole experience is almost dream-like (it probably doesn't help that I've been a bit ill the past couple of days).

 

MAP17: Infliction of Hate

Another breezy map. The choice of texture themes for each section is... interesting. You go from storage area to blood chamber to the core of a hellish volcano very quickly. I don't have a lot to say about both maps but I liked them.

[Book Lord]

MAP 18 – Sudden Death by Rex Claussen @ReX

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The dark, narrow, and somewhat boring sewer at the start did not reveal anything about what lay ahead. The same could be said for Sudden Death, a title that foreshadowed deadly traps and extreme aggression, which never came. Rex Claussen contributed only this map to Community Chest, but what a hidden gem we have here. As I left the sewer and proceeded along the linear path, I started noticing that the detail, the architecture, the texturing, and the lighting were on a totally different level than what I had seen so far in the megaWAD.

  Reveal hidden contents

The author editing career dates back to 1999; he received a Cacoward in 2004 for Phobos Revisited, and another in 2008 as a member of Team TNT for Eternal Doom IV. I am not surprised of his success, if his production shared the same sophistication of this wonderful tech-base. There were so many good-looking places, amazing texture combinations, well-calculated proportions, that I was watching everything in awe, asking myself how such a visually stunning level could end up in the middle of a megaWAD with far less polished content. This is part of the charm of the Community Chest series, I guess.

  Reveal hidden contents

When I reached the huge courtyard with the wind rose at the centre, I had already collected the BK in the previous area, so I must only open the corresponding doors. Two Hell Knights were trapped by monster blocking lines behind the doors, while a herd of Pinkies teleported in the courtyard. The ambush scheme was repeated for each one of the three locked doors, with different monsters. The blue area was dedicated to nukage treatment, in an old-fashioned industrial facility reproduced with striking accuracy. The double archway was imposing, and the geometrical shapes of the various pools and tanks were just beautiful.

  Reveal hidden contents

The same eye-candy could be witnessed in the yellow door area, featuring a little bit of abstruse progression through many computer rooms, ending with the RK pickup. Behind the red door, an enormous and dim basement was used for a three Revenant ambush, followed by the final showdown with a flock of Lost Souls and a Spider Mastermind in an outdoor area, featuring another 3D bridge. The boss was confined in a tiny living space by a blocking line, a cruel destiny shared with many other enemies in Sudden Death. While this level was a visual masterpiece for its time, its gameplay felt understated, ineffectual, and exceedingly gentle. The monster density was on par with a Doom II level, but its large rooms were much richer in detail. My conclusion was that a great layout was wasted to host dull and unthreatening combat; a shame considering the potential of this amazing map. Easy as it was, it still gets a place among the excellent entries of Community Chest.

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Book Lord

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP17: "Infliction of Hate" by Andy Leaver

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

The second consecutive Andy Leaver map brings a hellish theme to the table, with lots of demon face textures and bloody ground, and some lava caverns as well. It also tends more towards the smaller side of the coin with its room design apart from one notable exception, so overall quite different from his previous work from a design standpoint. Where things remain similar is the fairly short length, nice to have two shorter maps in a row this time.

 

The combat in this one is also on the easier side, but requires more thought than the previous map. Pistol starters will have little choice but to get some infighting going in the first room of this one, a cramped area with lots of mid-tier enemies. Luckily though doing so was relatively simple and pretty fun to do as well. There's also a very open room I alluded too that works similarly and has quite a lot of mancubi, eager to setup another infight-fest. I'm usually pretty bad at infighting and have mixed impressions of maps that rely a lot on it, but it generally felt pretty intuitive and nice in this map so I can't complain.

 

This was quite a solid map. Nice and short and gives a feeling of being hectic despite not being as challenging as it looks. One of the better maps so far.

[RHhe82]

MAP18: Sudden Death. DSDA v0.24, HMP-PS, 170/170 kills, 6/6 secrets. Completion time: 33:43.

 

While the sewer area that starts the level sets the expectations low, I kinda enjoyed Sudden Death. I guess it's a bit passionless, like areas are just put there, and encounters are not very memorable. On the other hand, some of the set pieces are gorgeous, like the star pattern, the archways near one of the outdoor areas. Sudden Death is, without a doubt, a decent map that just lacks something.

 

Unfortunately it doesn't lack the final area with the easily cheesable spider mastermind and wonky 3D floors, which made me facerocket myself once. Luckily didn't die there, and as a matter of fact, I beat the level saveless/reloadless/rewindless even.
 

Edited March 18, 2022 by RHhe82

[finnks13]

MAP18 - Sudden Death by Rex Claussen:
This map was very relaxing, from the chill music (I'm using the MIDtwiD2 midi pack, but Waiting for Romero to Play would have worked equally well for this) to the not-particularly threatening combat, this map was the sort of map that I could replay to chill out for 20 minutes. It's not very hard, and the spider mastermind duel at the end is pretty dull, but I thought that overall, the combat in this map was pretty fun. There's a decent amount of traps, but you're always very well supplied so they're never an issue and the few challenging moments are pretty well telegraphed.

 

I think this map's layout was pretty good, I didn't get lost at all and I liked that each section had a different theme that worked with the techbase-y map as a whole (even if some of the themes are more interesting than others). I really liked the compass on the floor of the main room, it looked cool. I think this map could have given out the rocket launcher a bit earlier, maybe in the yellow-key locked doors in that section, but this isn't a deal breaker.

 

Rankings:

  Reveal hidden contents

Really Liked: MAP02, MAP07, MAP17
Liked: MAP04, MAP09, MAP13, MAP14, MAP31, MAP16, MAP18
The Boring Zone: MAP03, MAP11, MAP15, MAP32
Didn't Like: MAP01, MAP05, MAP08, MAP12
Really Didn't Like: MAP06, MAP10

 

[kalaeth]

  On 3/17/2022 at 2:54 PM, Silent Wolf said:

I'm not a metalhead. I'm just really good at identifying when a title is metal. It's a gift... and a curse ;)

Expand  

 

Fair. As you can guess, no offense meant. I bet we'll have a few more metal map names along the wad. I could go check but I like to discover the maps on the day I play them. That being said, today's map names not one but 16 metal bands! None particularly known, and most have already broken up or changed name, but still. (Out of curiosity, it seems Infliction of Hate is still up for grabs if anyone wants it!)

 

MAP18 - Sudden Death :

We are in the sewers. A secret green armor, a few imps and zombiemen and we reach the stairs. Up we go and it's a techbase little room. After the door it's a coverd yard and a jump into water, a short trek and we reach a entry into the base it self. As soon as we step into it imps and zombiemen get released to apply some pressure. Inside there's a lift and a free blue key? Yup, free. Lift, a big room with a small room inside where the chaingun waits. Despite the obvious trap I go for the chaingun I did not need, and then down the stairs, and into another sewer? A couple of pinkies and we are back into the building, a secret chainsaw in display. Oh, a hidden shootable button opens the chainsaw, and then.. Two doors that appear to lead the same way.. They do. A big room open to the sky with a big compass rose on the floor.Blue to the left, red to the front and yellow to the right. I have but one key, so no process of decision needed. The two HKs don't really surprise me but the pinkies do! In the worst possible way : showing up in front of me while I shoot a rocket. There's some ammo and two caches of stuff behind yellow key bars and a small door leading the way. Another chaingun and a chaingunner too! It's a big vat of sludge! Now.. Small door or big door up the stairs? Small. Another vat of sludge, and a ledge around the room. At the end, a secret invisibility and then I go down, up a lift, grab the yellow key,small door outside and it connects to the big door I didn't cross through. Outside, the SSG for pistol-starters comes with 2 cacos, 2 pinkies and at least 3 lost skulls. Nothing more to do outside, go back, refuel at the ammo health and armor cache, main room. Yellow now. Mancs ahead, cacos behind. This time it's rockets and I think a invincibility inside the red key guarded cache. Lift down. Another SSG, in case you missed the other one, a spider. Up ahead, the RL, and a choice. I go.. Left. And regret it as soon as I see a PE. Kill, lift, room behind the lift, up. ledge. Repeat. Computer room,small corridor, trap, big room from the start of the section, but from above. Stairs down, opening up most bars. Now I guess I have to repeat on the other side to lower the remaining bars and the red key. Up, and eventually computer room, corridor with a lift trap hidding another secret green armor, switch to lower some bars and the first rev of the level. Bars down, I can go to the other upper ledge, fall down at the end, switch, red key, back. Grab the invincibility, red switch, two AVs and some spiders. Refuel teh rockets and now pick a side. It appears to be indifferent so I just go down one of them. But before! A secret bluesphere for the final fight. Biig room with lots of pillars for me to shoot rockets at inconveniently? Let's hit the switch and find out. First switch : one rev, two pinkies. Easy. Second and third switch only open the door outside. A few lost skulls and the prettiest part of the level so far! Stairs, cross the bridge, switch, a SMM! If I didn't have a BFG this would be a better fight but as is.. I have work to do. Oh no, I'm missing 2 enemies! IDDT tells me it's a pair of pinkies in two different spots, damn. done, exit!

 

K/I/S : 100% / 100% / 100%

time : 30:15 / 7:17:24

deaths : 0 / 29

 

Nice level, I liked it. I will be back either monday or sunday. Until then, DooM on! 

 

[Yumheart]

Map18 "Sudden Death" by Rex Claussen

I seem to be alone with this, but I really disliked this map. It's a bit similar to Kaiser's submissions, but felt even more drawn out for some reason, maybe I played it on a bad day. The combat is sleep-inducing and tedious, mostly of incidental nature, but featuring some "big" ambushes, all of which maintain an infuriatingly low threat level. That first fight in the main hub with the trapped HKs and Pinkies is such a drag, even if you find the secret chainsaw, as you're not even given an SSG until later. After that, the map turns into a formless smudge of nothingness. I skipped a few monsters by grabbing the RK through the bars, because of how bored I was.
The finale is representative of the map as a whole: A single, useless, trapped (?!?!) SMM, who you can kill by just standing back and spamming rockets, or pique-a-buh shooting, if that sounds more exiting.

The visuals are nice and clearly the author's focus, some cool curved bows, directional shading, creative use of floor textures - but the map isn't fun to play, at least not for me. Obviously, I don't wanna call this map bad, because it's definitely competent and a lot of people seem to enjoy it, but, aside from Map01 & Map06, this is my least favorite in the set so far.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 18: Sudden Death by ReX Claussen

Music: "Fire Hive" by Jimmy from Plutonia Midi Pack

Played from pistol start with Doomguy class from Final Doomer

 

ReX Claussen (an alias or not?) is a mapper's mapper: the kind of person who's shown a strong dedication to his craft ever since his days as a teenager messing around with what seemed to have been the earliest Doom editing tools before releasing a total of 5 completed maps in 1998. The only one I've played, Decimate, is quite rough around the edges but is shockingly strong in both its construction and progression. "Sudden Death" is certainly a good deal easier than that incredibly punishing map, but honestly? I just think Rex learned to make less punishing maps (and in any case, a secret fight in his secret New Doom Community Project map is just one reason of many why that's not the case).

 

Despite the metaphorical name, the premise is fairly easy to interpret as you infiltrating a UAC office complex through some sewers to presumably gather information and some plans. The star effect on the floor is genuinely cool and provides a good backdrop. And like most ReX Claussen maps, most secrets are incredibly difficult to find. For instance, the chainsaw secret is located behind some bars and you're unlikely to see the switch that opens it right away because it's located in a nook you won't see as you exit the sewers. Nice teleport trap when you pick the chainsaw up.

 

The combat is in fact, quite sleepy. While I did end up retreating from the first pinkie teleport trap since I was pistol-starting and found the prospect of chainsawing them tedious and quite dangerous, there wasn't anything especially challenging. That doesn't mean that the enemy placement isn't on point and you'd better not be sleeping when the Archanotrons or chaingunners come calling, lest you want to suffer a cheap death from something weaker.

 

The final battle outside is probably just mildly disappointing. The Lost Souls are a pain and challenge to deal with, to be certain with how they whittled my health down by probably half. The Mastermind is quite hapless on the other hand, but I think that was fully intended. Sometimes, you just wanna take your rage out, you know? A Cyberdemon would've felt out of place in this map, you've got to admit.

 

In the end, I think @MtPain27 gave the best summary of this map as a grower at its heart that's not really meant to provide balls to the wall action apart from some incredibly controlled conditions. Of course, much of the modicum of challenge it contains is due to pistol-starting and maybe more skill at finding secrets than me. :p) Find the right music however, and this goes down like a fine wine.

Edited March 18, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Silhouette 03]

Map18: Sudden Death-Rex Claussen

Death that is sudden.

 

We're presented here with a small sewer system ( that at first tricked me into thinking that this was some sort of sewer map) which leads into a large techbase which finally leads into an area with some small buildings/structures. An interesting blend of different themes that somehow fit together quite nicely. The first thing you'll probably notice is the lighting in the map. The lighting is arguably the best part about the map. The lighting works really well when it comes to creating mood and atmosphere. The map would be a lot less remarkable if it weren't for the lighting. It plays well, too. It's not too challenging, but the fights themselves are enjoyable. The Spider demon at the end I ended up running past. I didn't have anything stronger than a rocket launcher and it is too repetitive to shoot rocket after rocket in the demons face. Good map overall.

 

Sometimes you just want a map you can blast though. This is one of those maps.

 

Kills: 94%

Secrets: 33%

[PeceMan]

Level 18, Sudden Death

 

    This one is another level that has been longer than I would've liked. But among all the levels which were longer than I would've wanted them

    to be, this one is my favourite so far.

 

    While other maps were "aesthetically ok", this one was "aesthetically good". Well decorated, but never cluttered. Varied, but not unfocused.

 

    Aesthetics were not just "good", they were "consistently good", which is very important.

 

    Gameplay was also pretty solid. Nothing was either overwhelming or underwhelming. All rooms had some enemies, to keep the player

    entertained, but key fights were clearly distinct.

 

    All in all, this one was one of the best maps so far, in my opinion.

Edited March 18, 2022 by PeceMan

[PeceMan]

I love this. I'm gonna start doing this.

  On 3/17/2022 at 3:20 PM, finnks13 said:

Rankings:

  Reveal hidden contents

Really Liked: MAP02, MAP07, MAP17
Liked: MAP04, MAP09, MAP13, MAP14, MAP31, MAP16
The Boring Zone: MAP03, MAP11, MAP15, MAP32
Didn't Like: MAP01, MAP05, MAP08, MAP12
Really Didn't Like: MAP06, MAP10

Expand  

 

 

Rankings:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

Maps I Really Liked:        
            02 Nullth Precinct; 18 Sudden Death

 

Maps I Liked:            
            04 Outer Base; 05 The Forgotten Prison; 07 The Boardwalk; 08 Battery; 10 Termination Center; 11 Mandrel; 14 Substation

 

Maps I found ok:        
            01 Pistol Panic; 03 Ground Floor; 09 Flow; 13 Another Dead Hero; 15 Infernal Reaches; 16 Methods of Fear; 17 Inflictions of Hate;

            32 The Citadel

 

Maps I disliked:        
            12 No Tomorrow; 31 Mt. Chaos

 

Maps I really didn't like:    
            06 Goin' Down

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by PeceMan

[Poncho1]

Map17: Infliction of Hate

Author: Andy Leaver

 

Another quickie from Leaver. It turns out that he made every single Map17 of the Community Chest series, which is somewhat fascinating. Being a continuous run, the map is incredibly easy, but the fights still find a way to be potentially dangerous: the first area is a rather cramped affair and Imps, Mancubi and the like. You only get the regular Shotgun, so Pistol-starters should have a lot of fun getting the gang to infight. Past that is a small crate/storage zone which houses the Blue Key. Returning to the hub, the next area is the east, which is actually two main sections: a large blood pit where infighting is *really* encouraged (and fun to watch), and after that Hell breaching into the real world. Take a teleporter, get the Red Key from the crate area, grab the Megasphere and leave. Once again, Leaver makes concise use of enemies and secrets, never going overboard or extending the map's welcome, nor does it get very difficult, as mentioned before. The Hell section has lava, sure, but there's a rad suit, a Mega Armour, and the enemies are mostly Imps, Hell Knights and Revenants. Besides the big blood-floored infight room, nothing stands much of a threat in this map. One other issue for me is the lack of thematic consistency: it starts in a ruins of some sort, them you're off getting a key in a little crate area, then there's a blood room straight out of a Petersen map, and then it's time for Hell? Not really following, if I'm honest. The map's fun and Leaver, with only two maps, ends up being the best mapper of the WAD, though with a few small blemishes. I preferred Map16.

 

Map18: Sudden Death

Author: Rex Claussen

 

A very precisely-paced level with secrets and enemies alike scattered around, almost haphazardly. It's clear that the author spent a lot of time constructing this, and there are lots of nice areas and detailing, not just the texturework or sectors, but also with regards to lighting. At times, it builds up a nice atmosphere. However, if someone had told me this was a Kaiser map, I would've believed them. The combat is just utterly lacking, none more so than the final Spider Mastermind who can be cheesed even if you're Pistol-starting, since she can't escape from the sector she occupies. The most interesting scenarios for me were the different pairs of enemies behind the keyed doors; the Mancubi and Arch-viles woke me up, and the large (by comparison) teleport ambush upon unleashing the Arch-viles brought a little life into the map, but that was about it. As stated, I like the design: slime vats, arcs, techbased corridors, and even the opening in a sewer-esque tunnel area are all neatly detailed. As a mood-piece, I suppose it achieves its desire, but for me Doom should be a balance between chills and thrills. This once opts strictly for the former.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Wow I missed a lot. Sorry everyone. Here's a big wall of text to compensate:

 

Map15: Internal Reaches

Played continuous in PrBoom+ in Ultra Violence 

 

@Kaiser's second map of the wad, Internal Reaches takes the formula of Map10 and improves it ten - fold. The layout is slick and interesting, the fights are balanced well, with incidental combat inbetween the large ambushes. The ambushes and traps are the most interesting and fun part of the level; they'll definitely keep you on your toes. Overall, a lot of fun. I forgot the secret exit this time, so I pistol started the next two by warping. 

 

Map31:Mt Chaos

It's like Mt. Erebus 2. Very fun, open ended combat, wacky visuals, full of FIREBLU, lava, and wood all lead to an interesting secret map that feels like it's in it's proper place. I have literally no proof, but like two years ago when I first played this map, I made it to the raised area without taking a single point of damage. Again, call BS, it's totally fair, but that fun memory elevates the map in my eyes. Good, clean fun.

 

Map32: The Citadel

Another @Searcher map, Gene Bird returns with a simple level. I don't dislike it, but I don't love it. Surprisingly, I don't have much to say.

 

Map16: Methods of Fear

Here is the first @Aleaver level of the wad and it's a strong one. Mr. Leaver is one of my favorite early 2000s mappers, so I'm biased, but I think the combat here is electric. Big fights, fun ambushes, great use of space, and quality visuals definitely leave Methods of Fear as a standout mid - wad romp. Like with some of the earlier maps, this one and the next feel very connected. The concept of breaking out of a facility to escape is also very interesting.

 

Map17: Infliction of Hate

Another quality level. This one has great Hell areas built into a man - made facility. The combat is still just as tight and fun, which leaves Map16 and 17 as some of my favorites. Not much else to say, just a great, memorable level.

 

Map18: Sudden Death

Sudden Death is a quiet, dark level. It features some more excellent architecture, it combats even Use's maps. The same can be said about it's texture usage. Not too say this level is only pretty, the spectre fight in the sewers, imp trap at the chaingun, Archvile ambush at the star room, etc. are all very much stand outs. My favorite part is the end, a tasteful 3D bridge will lead you to the Spider Mastermind, leading to one final effort before leaving. Excellent work, @ReX.

 

All right, all caught up. I have been playing ahead, just haven't written down everything.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 18: Sudden Death - Rex Claussen

99% kills and 66% secrets

Time: 22:59

 

This map is probably the best looking map so far. There's a lot of very nice detailing and lighting throughout. The one room right after the opening sewer has some really good lighting in it that might be the best in the WAD so far. I like the use of computer terminals, sewage containers, floors, and just general design of this map. It looks very good. The 3D bridge at the end is the only thing that doesn't really look that good, but that's ok. The main hub for the key doors is big and spacious, and the emblem on the floor in the middle is a nice decorative touch. You get the 3 biggest fights of the map here each time you open a key door. You get 2 enemies behind the doors (hell knights, mancubi, archies), and a wave of others in the center of the room (pinkies, cacos, arachnotrons). Shoutout to one of the archies behind the red door opening the secret soulsphere for me. Most of the rest of the map only has small teleporter ambushes whenever they happen. A small imp one appears when you find the switch opening the chainsaw secret, for example. It's mostly nice incidental combat, with no real danger to it. The surprise imp dip was a scare, but nothing worrying. Ammo balance was good throughout. This was a really solid map; one of my favs in the WAD so far. Pretty fun, and incredibly good looking for early 00s.

[Book Lord]

MAP 19 – Monster Mansion by Gene Bird @Searcher

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The Doom Grandpa returned for a delightful Wolfenstein 3D session with hundreds of enemies and some height variation. Monster Mansion was no bad map at all, a cheerful carnage fuelled with infighting, rockets, and mighty SSG blasts. Its progression followed a predictable scheme and felt just a little overstretched for the scope, with roughly one third of the content belonging to the filler or hard labour categories. The rest was surprisingly entertaining, unassuming but visually acceptable, with a few aces up the sleeve that I was not expecting.

  Reveal hidden contents

I assumed a MYHOUSE.WAD clone here, but the level slightly reminded me of a manor only in the intermediate section. The first part was a frontal assault against assorted mobs of hellspawn in various abstract environments, loosely identified as a garden by the entrance, a small patio, and a library. The side areas were a round trip to operate some switches, face a lot of monsters warping in, then collect the RSK and the YSK at the nukage area. Pistol starters should not worry, as they will gather all weapons except the BFG in this streak; monster infighting will help if ammo was not enough.

  Reveal hidden contents

Behind the yellow door lay the titular Monster Mansion, made of several rooms that must be unlocked and visited in succession. The gameplay might not be the most exciting, but the Doomcute little objects and furniture got frequent smiles out of me. The way out of the mansion featured the illusion of a door that swung open, an engine trick that I first saw in Requiem MAP03; Keränen’s rendition was more credible, but seeing it here was astounding and totally unanticipated. The outer courtyard and my high stats incited me to play carelessly, so I took significant damage when I released too many monsters at once. The area included a few confusing teleports lines that placed hitscanners in the right position to riddle me with bullets, while I was handling bigger foes at ground level.

 

The last sections were the weakest, consisting in mining tunnels stuffed with opposition, mostly heading straight for my double-barrel, and occasionally trying to teleport behind me. This was overlong, and the level would have benefited from a shorter or totally absent BSK segment. Gene Bird stayed true to his trademark rudimentary design but dared to include Doomcute creations and some tricks that I found compelling. This can deliver good fun if not protracted indefinitely, as the author risked sometimes with his rambling monster placement.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP18: Sudden Death

By Rex Claussen

Kills: 92%

Items: 33%

Secrets: 16%

Time: 16:32

 

A solemn and TNT-esque tech base adventure, Sudden Death really is not as tense as the name implies, it's a dreamy techbase full of eye-candy lighting moments and architectural setpieces, especially the hub with the star on the floor, from there you'll uncover the two wings of the base and engage a Spider Mastermind miniboss, this map has a very distinct sleepy yet alert aura which I think is boosted by Bucket's MIDI, but Waiting For Romero To Play gets the job done, no wonder Rex Claussen was a member of TeamTNT, this map isn't perfect but I can 100% imagine this in TNT's second third

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: C

 

 

11 days left.

Edited March 18, 2022 by NiGHTS108

[brick]

MAP18: Sudden Death

As others have already mentioned, this level is absolutely gorgeous (not surprising considering its author). I started admiring the beautiful room designs as soon as I was out of the starting sewers; by the time I got to the arches I was completely mesmerized, and then the compass rose is simply jaw-dropping. There are more wonders to behold, the map doesn't let up until the very end. The sector lighting is fantastic throughout, my favourite being the strobe light in an early room, but there's a lot of more subtle care put into other rooms that really add to the atmosphere if you don't consciously notice the lights. I'm not always a big fan of overdetailing, but Claussen strikes the perfect balances and makes everything look lovingly detailed without going too overboard. The gameplay is good, though it overdoes it a bit with the surprise-teleports. The boss at the end was a bit of a letdown, the space doesn't make for a very interesting fight. I haven't played his other wads in some time but I think Claussen's other maps have more interesting combat (that said, this was relatively early in his prolific mapping career). It's a great map overall though, with some very memorable setpieces.

[RHhe82]

MAP19: Monster Mansion. DSDA v0.24, HMP-PS, 230/230 kills, 3/3 secrets. Completion time 18:12.

 

Far better than MAP32, but I don't know if it's better or worse than MAP07. The third Gene Bird offering is inoffensive. There is apparently a softlock you can lead yourself into, so there's that. The opening room is nice, even if the rest of the level is mostly square corridors and rooms and mindless groups of enemies you can dispatch with SSG. I used rocket launcher a couple of times against hordes that included revenants.

 

To summarize, I didn't exactly enjoy Monster Mansion, but I didn't hate it either. Gene Bird is generous with resources, which is for the best, because scarcity is a challenge best served in beautiful, well thought-out map instead of 90s wads made with stone age tools (not that I have any idea what sort of editor GB used).

 

One last thing: I really liked the doom-cutesy stuff on display here and there.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 19: Monster Mansion - Gene Bird

100% kills and secrets

Time: 19:35

 

Another linear affair from Gene Bird, that is the epitome of "Rectangular room with random assortment of enemies in it." Book Lord's comparison to Wolf3D is pretty apt here, even if the map isn't as maze-like as that game's maps. I did appreciate the small elements of Doomcute throughout, tho those beds looked really uncomfortable. 2/10, would not sleep on again. Despite the inherent basicness of the combat, it's at least fun to blast them with the SSG, and odds are infighting will happen whether you try to initiate it or not. Grabbing the first 2 keys pretty much have you doing the same thing. Clear out rooms, grab key, re-clear out rooms, take out mini-horde that has now appeared on the other side of room with both key doors. Grabbing the blue key at least opens up some closets on the way out of the tunnel with it. The secrets are kinda weird. The teleporters to the 2 are the weird parts, and aren't that hard to find, tho it's easy to overlook the secret toward the beginning of the map. In terms of Gene's other maps so far, I'm not sure if this is better or worse than Map 32, but I still prefer his first map overall. It gets the job done, but like I said last time, I wouldn't want a whole megaWAD of maps like this that are too linear and too basic combat-wise.

[DavitW]

MAP18: Sudden Death

I must have played this map at some point considering I vividly remember the opening sewer part of the level and the compass area towards the middle, I just have no idea when or where. Most of the map is built around the aforementioned compass area, get the key, open the locked doors, get the key in that area and go back to do it all again. Each door comes with its own ambush that spawns a large number of monsters in the middle of the arena starting with pinkies. You could just run past them and let them infight later considering the block monster lines at the doors, but I ain't no bitch and took them all on with the chainsaw. The final outdoor area has what must have been 2003's second favorite thing behind Nu-metal, 3D bridges. I can only assume all the lost souls flying around here make it even more broken than usual, which usually isn't that big of a deal. but when you're trying to fight a Spider Mastermind with the rocket launcher it can quickly become a problem.

 

MAP19: Monster Mansion

A fine map brought to us by Gene Bird. First impressions were that this was going to be another long corridor and boxy room affair, but the rooms and environments turned out to be much much varied this time around making for an enjoyable experience. The only problem I had was the area where you get the rocket launcher might just be the easiest softlock in history, though that's more to do with an apparent lack of playtesting and quality control by whoever led the project than anything else. I thought this one was genuinely enjoyable, it feels like it had heart and soul put into it so I liked it.

cc18.zip

cc19.zip

[NiGHTS108]

MAP19: Monster Mansion

By Gene Bird

Kills: 97%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 66%

Time: 12:28

 

What starts off seeming like another flat, boring, 20 minutes of super-shotgunning actually surpasses its first impressions here! Well, by a bit... The start is still boring and you can still get stuck in the rocket launcher pit, but really, it gets better from there, the titular Monster Apartment Building has a fresh load of 1990's doomcute, the desk, candle and paper is especially pretty! Also beyond that the end-game ambush that blasts from both sides and teleports a Hell Knight in behind you is Gene Bird's best combat setpiece ever, the rest is still starchy SSG work but hey, it's definitely better than The Citadel

 

Grade: C

Difficulty: C

 

 

10 days left.

[Jaccident]

I'm afraid I've gotten a little behind on this mapset, I had 14 hours of exams last week and got on so badly with the map I'm about to talk about that I couldn't quite force myself through it with everything else going on. I'l probably do the rest of the maps in another post once I've finished all of them, but I feel like I need to get this one out of the way.

 

Map 13: Another Dead Hero

I thoroughly dislike this map. I don't think I've played another map that just feels this... malicious. From the moment you start the map, there are projectiles flying at you from all over the map, and that tends to be a running theme. I'm fighting one part of the map, and then some chaingunner that can see through a tiny slit in the geometry kindly decides to relieve me of half of my health. I never feel like I am in a position to properly fight any of the enemies, thanks to the lack of cover and enemy placement that means I have no chance of dodging every projectile, alongside the odd ammo balancing that means I always have plasma ammo, but rarely anything else. There are some memorable fights, especially with archviles, but I can't say that I properly enjoyed any of them, as even when they were clearly well put together, I couldn't get past the feelingt I was just phoning it in so I could get back to being lost. The map is absurdly confusing in its layout, with it taking me several hours to complete over the course of a week, mostly because I had no clue where to go next. I will say that I love the way this map looks, it is very good looking, and I may steal those amazing hexagonal lifts for my own maps. Still, this map is far from fun, and if I were playing this casually I would probably have stopped here. On to more enjoyable maps, hopefully!

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 19: Monster Mansion by Gene Bird

Music: "Lost in Place" by Lippeth from Plutonia Midi Pack

Played pistol-start with Whitemare class from Final Doomer

 

A map that Todd Howard would say 'just works,' Monster Mansion brings on the brown and a boring symmetrical layout with copy-pasted hallwaysthat could easily turn out badly. Which makes it quite surprising that it doesn't. I guess you could say how the combat just doesn't feel very calibrated with its vast amounts of weak enemies. But as a simple run and gun map, it's not really boring and knows how to keep the player filled with interest. Such as with the various large ambushes triggered in the central courtyard after you've explored the wings on either side. You can spark plenty of infighting here, although perhaps that wasn't intended. It's almost like Gene Bird was one of the few particpants in the project who was cognizant of the reality that most people would rather not spend all their time shotgunning barons (unlike a certain ex-Freedoom composer).

 

Still, I really like how Gene injects little bits of interesting detail throughout, such as the lawn just past the starting location, along with the many bits of library and office Doomcute sprinkled throughout the map. There are once again, silly teleport secrets that are very easy to stumble into, along with an overly dark ending tunnel that still arguably contains the best combat in the map, partly from an HK which decides to teleport behind you. You're provided with plenty of rockets though. Just make sure you can use them intelligently and you're golden.

 

Despite how I'm going to rate this, there's actually little reason to call Boardwalk better since this map has more action. But that titular setpiece manages to be one of the best setups in this megawad so far, so I can't do anything else.

Edited March 19, 2022 by LadyMistDragon