The DWmegawad Club plays: Ray Mohawk 1 & 2 (It's Our Tenth Anniversary!)

[Capellan]

 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP13: Terraced Estate Of Terror

By Gokuma

Kills: 87%

Items: 10%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 4:33

 

Terraced Estate Of Terror may just be the most relaxed map in Ray Mohawk 2 honestly, but I do like it quite a bit. I was surprised to see a BFG again so quickly after MAP12, but you won't be needing it much here outside of three Bleached Cyberdemons guarding the red key. That's by far the hardest part of this map though, the rest is pretty breezy thanks to your lineup of all-star weapons. I do enjoy the open space of this map, and details like the second pirate ship of this wad and the area where you walk up to the titular terror terrace looks really vibrant and nice. That's honestly all I have to say, if Ray Mohawk 2 wants to try easier maps I think I'd prefer something like this.

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: D

 

 

[tonytheparrot]

(Played from a pistol-start on Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 13: Terraced Estate of Terror by Mike "Gokuma" Fredericks

100% kills, items and secrets 

Time: 7:10

 

Terraced Estate of Terror is much easier, shorter and less populated than last map, with it's only challenging and memorable moment being the red key part in which you need to dodge projectiles fired by 3 cybers while trying to get inside of their building to grab the BFG and nuke them. Outside of that and the doomcute pier, tables and boat, I don't remember much about this one but again, I still can't say that I didn't have fun.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

Like:

Map 13

Map 11

 

[RED77]

MAP13 - “Terraced Estate of Terror” by Gokuma

Big, open, empty.
weird progression and the secret I find was not worth it. 

not for me.

★☆☆☆☆

[Silhouette 03]

Map12: Beautiful Clean Coal - Doomkid

 

Doomkid's third map for the project is probably one of the best ones so far, next to Map09. Set around a small, corrupted town, the fights are challenging, fast and, most importantly, fun. The fight after the red key door is a standout fight, effectively locking you in as you have to deal with a spider demon as well as an assortment of other enemies. 

 

You'll also be given the BFG here 90002, which sports a new sprite, though I'm not sure if it does more damage than it's vanilla counterpart. Picking up the BFG triggers another fun fight, where you have to juggle dealing with the cyber on one side and enemies teleporting in on the other.

 

It's detailed nicely too. It feels a lot less abstract than it really is, especially in the first half of the map. I really, really enjoyed this one.

 

The midi is a banger, too.

 

Kills: 100%

Secrets: 60%

 

Map13: Terraced Estate Of Terror- Gokuma

 

A bit of a weird one, with some weird progression. It's significantly shorter than the previous map, as well as easier. The only encounter that was really any challenge was the three cybers.

 

Finding the exit was probably the toughest part, since the path up to the exit is not clearly marked. I'm not all that fond of unclear progression.

 

There's not all that much to talk about, but it's probably one of the weaker maps in the set.

 

kills: 98%

Secrets: 50%   

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP13 - “Terraced Estate of Terror” by Gokuma

 

This is a strange map to play, The entire lower section is free to move through and kill as much as you can, this includes the area where the exit is. Only the monsters perched up high will be left because you won't have the weapons for them yet. The real progression involves going from a slightly obscured cave entrance and working through to the centre of the map with the 3 cybers. The cybers frankly offer limited pressure and the method of killing them is a bit of a joke (The position of the BFG is the perfect place to stand because the cybers couldn't hit me, but I could hit them. Once dispatched the only issue was the nobles by the exit, and in the off chance of a bit of panic, you can jump to the lower areas.

This map is full of nice details, including another pirate ship, but overall this map felt rather under developed where the gameplay was a little lacking in terms of overall execution.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 13: Terraced Estate of Terror

by Michael "Gokuma" Fredericks.

 

40oz lickspittle Gokuma somehow scored himself a slot on the project which he then proceeded to give a clumsy onomatopoeiactic name and for someone who rarely maps, it's actually pretty good! The high and rocky island cliffs are like something out of Nemesis from Alien Vendetta but far easier to navigate. Although I didn't submit the demo, because I completely missed the red key for 6 minutes and getting killed by a sneak Arch-vile from a million miles away didn't exactly help matters either.

 

But on my second try, I spotted a little hole where you're attacked by an invincible Arachnotron gauntlet and you discover an auto-shotgun not too far in, along with an easy-to-spot secret with an invisibility. Though when you emerge from this cave, you're attacked by three Cyberdemons that you probably heard earlier. At a certain point, you'll likely find the cell cannon which you can then use to make waste of the Cybers' substantial bodyguard then pick up the nearby BFG and presumably blow then away. Although it seems like you're as likely to be shot at the precise location of it as anything. On one of the mafia tables sits the red key. This opens a door nearby with a mass of Mancubi you may have seen firing at you if you've already been to the docks (an incredibly nasty place btw, with the barrels not necessarily doing much for you when there's Revs and a Pain Elemental that will probably put an end to slower players), then fight an Arch-vile or two before teleporting to a series of rocks you then climb to reach the exit shrine that has one of those silly exit signs for some reason.

 

Judging this is a little strange because it doesn't really feel too much like a Ray Mohawk map, with threats less dependent on enemu numbers (outside certain locations) and more about enemy placement that's not quite as clever as it wants to be. It's better than 11, you've gotta admit.

[Doomy__Doom]

Catch-up time.

 

Map 08 - Chocolate Island

 

More like "who needs accessible health and armor, have 3 roam-enabled Viles behind your back for daring to look for a gun" island. Or "Get swarmed by revenants if your reaction time to the trap isn't instant" island. Baron/HK setpiece was probably the only thing I genuinely enjoyed here. Please don't hide health/armor in obscure places if you plan on dropping this much threat this fast. I don't mind and to a degree enjoy single-mistake gameplay for setpieces, but for explorative parts it just sucks.

 

Map 09 - Temple Del Sol

 

Huge, pretty and confusing. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I exited randomly. It didn't look like an exit, alright?

On the positive side it has quite mean exploration placements and Vile usage, on the negative - what is progression, what is a secret, what is both is hard to tell. More than one place had me spend some time just figuring what to do.

The favourite combat trick here seems to be "teleport stuff behind your back, add Viles to taste". Both big fights give an open invuln, which inevitably means point blank plasmauncher rampage.

Apparently I missed like 100 monsters and 5 secrets, and I'm not going back to find'em. This was exhausting and I was autopiloting by the end.

 

Map 10 - Kalua Atoll

 

I played this map when it was in beta, so I know the deal - flamethrower go brrrrr. The hardest parts are probably the first trap (you might just back away straight into mancs/pyros and die instantly) and the imp/vile wave, since you won't have enough hp to make up for terrible visibility brought by your own weapon. I remember this map being more ammo-tight though.

 

Map 11 - Vacation gone wrong

 

Literally me rn. Yeah, getting teleported into being surrounded by flamethrower enemies and then some with near enough no healing in sight until you beat 2 fights would do that to a vacation. Cue fun and interactive gameplay of quickly flipping a green tekbase door open/close so that the blaster room clears itself while I sit on 41/0.

[Roofi]

Map 13 : Terraced Estate of Terror

 

 

Terraced Estate of Terror, despite its terrifying name, felt like a really reposing map between map 12 and map 14 which were considerably harder. The small group of cybers located at the top of the mansion are the main opposition you will encounter in this level but they are easy to kill from below. It was more time-consuming that hard.

 

Map 13 has far from having the best visuals considering the squarish layout and the primitive detailing but I really enjoy the settings : the boat, the dock and the mansion with its ascending gardens which make feel in vacation. The part with the gardens with their stairs remind me of Hell Revealed map 13. but instead of going down, you go up.

 

Gameplay-wise, I don't have a lot to say. This map doesn't contain any elaborated trap or monster placement. Gokuma gifts you with a BFG for killing the cyberdemons whereas most of the following monsters are too weak to make the BFG9002 vital. Some secrets involve shooting at walls but I involuntarily found them while killing enemies with my shotgun.

 

As map 11, Map 13 was not really memorable map but I easily enjoyed it.

 

Grade : B

 

 

 

[Monsieur E]

Map12- Beautiful Clean Coal by Doomkid 
100% kills

Now that's quite an oxymoronic title! The mood of the set has gotten gloomier with the evening sky and the combat has picked up pace too. Offering sharp and blunt encounters, tossing in a couple of cyberdemons and healthy dose of archviles; this level sets the stage for an excellent experience. Unfortunately, I found this level felt more annoying than challenging primarily because I felt that (although it might be poor play on my part) there was a shortage of health which does not bode well in a level which has quite a liberal usage of hitscanners including spider-masterminds. Oh and on top of that, this level also keeps damaging floors around particularly in the dark cave. I don't like the weird teleportation but it's fine I guess, not too annoying. I really liked the visuals and the combat was still enjoyable but unfortunately, a couple of flaws prevented this one from fully fulfilling its true potential in my eyes. 

Map13- Terraced Estate of Terror by Gokuma 
99% kills, left one monster alive somewhere

This is a weird map, nothing here stood out except the obscure progression and the trio of cyberdemons. For the latter, I only picked up the BFG after I dealt with the trio but doing it with just the cell cannon wasn't that bad. Infact, I quite enjoyed it. The visuals look cool, I like the boat, resort (?), pier and the natural scenery. Oh and the exit teleporter structure looked neat too although it did look out of place. But largely, this was a mediocre outing, on par with Map07 in my opinion. 

[Capellan]

 

[Garlichead]

MAP13 - “Terraced Estate of Terror” by Gokuma 106 Kills / 28 Items / 50 Secrets
12:08

Short easy map set on abandoned beach mansion.

Worked as an stress relief after the last map.

Had a really nice section in which you explore a garden while being nuked by three cyberdemons. Eventually you can BFGing them till death.

The outside are has some docks, and the pirate ship from map 06.

Had a lot of fun on this one.

[Roofi]

Map 14 : Lose Yourself to Dance"

 

 

 

Three keys, three challenges to accomplish in the order you want. This is the gimmick of map 13 and I will be totally honest : I didn't like this level.

 

About the good things, "Lose yourself to dance" features quite a lot of exploration and freedom of movement, which are my favourite aspects from this level. You can go through a water cannal, a kind of hostel with its copy-pasted bedrooms and an egyptian temple. The visual was tolerable. It's far from being hideous, but the architecture remains rather bland because of the many rectangular rooms and corridors.

 

About the combats, it goes from meh to frustrating. Map 14 contains one of my least favourite traps in the whole megawad which was the chasm-like area involving the three cyberdemons.  I found no other way to survive properly than to jump into the slime that inflicts -20 damage in order to miraculously find the radsuit and the blue armour. This trap seems rather BS if you try to kill the cybies while staying on the platforming considering how fast they projectile are.  I decidely to replay it off-video, the combat is far from being impossible without the radsuit but it's still an undesired difficulty spike.

 

The others challenges weren't that bad but it was far from being a pleasure. I had some fun killing the viles in the water cannal but what about the few pinkies in the totally unlit part ? Boring. The egyptian temple presents some pure platforming sections too (and the cyber's area has a long catwalk before). I don't share the same fondness for platforming but sluggard has put teleporters in the pits at least if you fall.

 

sluggard's map doesn't have a lot of ammo too so even if you can choose your path, you have to methodically use your ammo in order to not get screwed in an another part, especially the cybies's one. Also, the soulsphere and blue's armor are extremly useful yet easy to find.

 

Finally, Map 14 was the first map where my game crashed because of VPO. Indeed, there is a blatant VPO at the entrance of the blue key's arena (watch my video as an exemple) . If you stop at the door and decide to look at the surroundings before entering, boom crash. The best way to avoid the crash consists to look at the walls while penetrating the arena. The cyberdemon section was not only the most difficult but also holds the record for the most HOMs appearing on screen. However HOMS don't make the game crash so I could tolerate them.

 

So, I didn't enjoy playing this map but I don't want to say it's bad. For me , it should have been a secret of a bonus level , something like that.

 

Grade : D+

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Roofi

[KickAss]

map09 - "Temple del Sol" by Moustachio (-warp 9), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), HMP (-skill 3), pistol start

•   Kill    94%
•   Item 79%
•   Scrt  70%

time 29:52

 

 

The second bigger map in Ray Mohawk 2. I have found no way to beat this map in -skill 4 UV because of massive control lacks. I don't know why
it plays realy well on -skill 3 HMP. The only anoying thing imho is you can't go back from the last room (area...) in front of the exit.

 

 

[KickAss]

map10 - "Kalua Atoll" by DFF (-warp 10), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), HMP (-skill 3), pistol start

•   Kill  100%
•   Item 97%
•   Scrt  50%

time 10:02

 

 

This easy map offers the new flame thrower which looks realy oldschool but it works effective against all opponents
you'll find in this level. You walk in a "straight line" from the start to the exit with lots of slaughtering on
your way. Nothing special.

 

 

[KickAss]

map11 - "Vacation Gone Wrong" by HitBoi (-warp 11), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), HMP (-skill 3), pistol start

•   Kill   100%
•   Item 100%
•   Scrt   80%

time 9:42

 

 

Easy and simple map with short connections.

 

 

[tonytheparrot]

(Played from a pistol-start on Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 14: Lose Yourself to Dance by sluggard

105% kills, 98% items, 100% secrets 

Time: 10:30

 

NO RAY!!!! You were doing so well!! Let's get this out of the way already, Lose Yourself To Dance is my least favorite Ray Mohawk 2 map. Despite liking the progression due to it's non-linear nature, which is pretty rare in this wad, I find the combat here to be simply weak, here's what I think about each path in my order of completion:

-Blue: nice doomcute in the hotel, but the combat is much less fast-paced and fun than it may initially seem, especially in the arena.

-Yellow: the combat is fine, but the platforming section feels out of place

-Red: starts okay, but I dislike the pitch black part with spectres (just spam them with the flamethrower or auto-shotty) and especially the final fight. About this final fight, not only do you have to get through a ledge walking section with 2 pain elementals before reaching it, but right after you pass that section, Sluggard takes you to the afformentioned final area, which is small, over lava, has some missing parts, is a pain to get back on and thinks that it's a great idea to make 4 cybers raise out of the floor on all sides (thank god you get the BFG).

While I had less trouble this time around, this room is still my least favorite one in Ray Mohawk 2 and concluded the map on a really sour note.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

Like:

Map 13

Map 11

Dislike:

Map 14

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by tonytheparrot

[cannonball]

MAP14 - “Lose Yourself to Dance” by sluggard

 

This one started quite well, unfortunately at the end of all three key adventures came some quite horrific gameplay.

The blue key - This was mostly fine, except for the blue key room, the way the monsters rise out of the ground looks very jarring, this could have easily been handled another way. The combat was generally alright I guess once it gets going, but still this was horrid to watch unfold.

The red key - The dark cave isn't hard because this is a case of pointing the shotgun at the following torch and just keep firing. The following catwalk is fine, but the pain elemental placement??? Following that is the cyber extravaganza, which kind of sucks unfortunately and requires finding a radsuit to utilise the slime pit. Probably my least favourite section.

The yellow key - Another platforming section, this one contains some nasty monster closets in the middle of said platforming. The archvile can also catch you out. 

 

In the end none of the wings were overly fun to play, then after that you are required to backtrack to the start or eventually the exit switch. Again this is a lot of dead time in some instances. 

I think this has more substance than Map11 for example, but my goodness this is a very flawed map with some very dubious design decisions. As Roofi mentioned, there are some Vanilla compatibility issues, overall this really needed some more TLC to sort some fundamental problems.

[Garlichead]

MAP14 - “Lose Yourself to Dance” by sluggard 113 Kills / 98 Items / 100 Secrets
16:57

Exploratory level set on mutant infested hotel. You need to complete a series of challenges to receive of the required keys. Each challenge combine fighting with occasionally platforming and some tricky sections.

The blue key fight is weird, enemies come up from the floor on slow moving elevators which makes your movement all wonky. 

Overall an ok map, the trial concept is cool, but the encounters are more frustatin than anything else. 

Disclaimer, map 12 and 14 have been a complete pain. I have decided to lower the skill level to 3. Following @Azure_Horror recommendation. I will pistol start map 15 on "Having Fun".

 

I was recently having lots of issues with e4m3 of *2002 a Dooms Odyssey*, which is hard for very different reasons than this wad, enemies are not that numerous, but fights take place on awkward places and traps tend to place you between small corridors and hp heavy enemies. On this wad the difficulty comes mostly due to the huge amount of projectiles and the letality of the custom enemies. It is interesting how such different designs can lead to similar hard experiences. 

[Silhouette 03]

Map14- Lose Yourself To Dance- Sluggard

 

For those wondering, a quick cursory glance at the text file will tell you that the map's name comes from a Daft Punk song.

 

Back to the map, this is a really spicy one. A lot of the fights are challenging, but are mostly fair. The fight where you'll be primarily using the flamethrower against the archvile is a standout, though this does present a challange regarding the weapon. Due to the projectiles being so similar to the archvile flames, it is difficult to see whether the archvile has started his attack. This adds an unintentional layer of challenge to the fight.

 

The thing I most like about this map is how nicely detailed it is, especially the doomcute. Doomcute beds, chairs and cupboards add some really cool detailing to the map.

 

I say mostly fair, as the red key fight is my biggest criticism. Despite having the BFG 90002, The fight still feels frustrating. I can't really pinpoint why. It could be the little space to strafe, or the bleached cybers attacks being even more deadly and harder to dodge than their vanilla version. It's just a really unenjoyable fight,

 

I could instantly tell that it was a Sluggard map, as from the opening area, you could see a texture of their profile pic from Cyberpunk 2077.

 

Kills: 98%

Secrets: 0%

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 14 - Lose Yourself to Dance

by @snapshot or sluggard

 

The Daft Punk midi is the best part of the map.

 

Ok maybe not, but this incredibly hot 'n spicy map isn't quite as fun as the above would leave you to believe. I chose not to take the YK path after a bit because the two Arch-viles that kept teleporting out of nowhere roasted me alive within maybe a few seconds of their appearance. And truth is that they still killed me every time because hiding here is very hard. But the Revenants and Slyor are nothing compared to them. If I'd been more willing to cheese, maybe it would not have been as much trouble. The platforming bit was not so difficult and the monster closets failed to throw me off.

 

The rest is more manageable however, apart from the bit where you have to BFG 4 Cyberdemons and realize the rad suit in the slime actually has some purpose. I did it without, but that was mainly because I've almost accepted I can't really fight them to save my life.

 

I actually do like the layout very much, even though I'm not really certain why there's an Indiana Jones-like temple nearby and the caged area with the cyberdemons makes literally NO sense in the context of the rest of the map. Maybe we're close to some mountains here, but there's still quite literally no place for that.

lmd_mohawk2_14.zip

[RED77]

MAP14 - “Lose Yourself to Dance” by sluggard

This map was a lot of fun, especially because is one of the least linear maps on the wad so far. Very early on you gain access to all three key areas.
some of the platforming it's a bit awkward. but cool stuff anyway.

★★★★☆

[Doomy__Doom]

Map 12 - Beautiful Clean Coal

I... don't like this map. It's a horrible combo of tripping on decorations, insufficient healing and a couple clue-free secrets - invuln+supercharge that lower upon tripping some random lines deep into the level, while you don't even get a backtracking teleporter.

 

Fighting high-threat enemies like Revs/Cybers in those decoraion-filled areas is horrible, tossing the enemies behind your back is used way too much, including Viles undoing all your hard work from really far away. Speaking of Viles - that's quite a lot of Viles in wide open areas.
The flamethrower anti-shined for me as well, making seeing projectiles impossible which is not a great idea when you're in an open area against many high-damagers and Rev homers.

 

Overall, I don't feel like the level was properly playtested without secrets - it's once again a "make next to no mistakes" deal, but the map tries really hard to force you into one. It feels like a map that should be fun with Ray's arsenal, but it devolved into a low hp death loop (the fact that I got megaarmor secret just before being forced into cave megasphere as my only form of healing didn't help). Maybe tagging only 9 out of 34 medkits for UV is ever so slightly excessively mean?..

On replay with foreknowledge it's not that bad - knowing where exactly to invest secrets and to ditch the flamethrower makes it passable.

 

Map 13 - Terraced Estate Of Terror

Hot start 64 from a caco - nice! Then I ran a lot around the water, until a lot of things died but no visible progress was achieved. Then I found my way to the estate of terror, which mostly involved awkward stair combat vs 3 cybers. And then you loop around the back with a BFG, climb some rocks and the map just kind of... ends?

 

By this point I can clearly say I don't like the cyber changes. It's an enemy with a lot of muscle memory accumulated, and all of it now only serves as a deadly trap. The big difference between Rayber and a Teal - the latter does not touch how rockets work, so movement patterns and danger assessment developed over years still apply, no matter how complicated the layout. I don't think I will be able to adjust my subconscious to properly work with Raybers before the wad's over.

 

Map 14 - Lose Yourself To The Dance

Non-linear key hunt with variety in areas of a polarizing kind.

 

YK is some sniper revs and floor viles into a bit of platforming. You're supposed to do it with stops in the middle getting you fried, I spent a few moments learning to do them in one go instead (very aggressive mouse turns and momentum correction). Cleaning platforming gallery was awkward as I ran out of bullets.

 

RK has a straightforward flamethrower section into awkward chasm ledge (tm) into 4 cybers BFG fight. I remember there being only one in beta. 4 is not reasonable, with fast rockets you're borderline guaranteed to die if you try to do it straight. You're supposed to drop into a hidden pit with berserk, radsuit and blue armor and use slime ground. Why berserk and not a soulsphere? Why of course to autoswitch you from BFG. At least I got no other reasons for it.

 

BK fight I actually ran out of ammo somehow. Nasty viles, hard to hide being forced out by revs. 2 blue faces though, so I'd put it at "better than map 12".

[Monsieur E]

Map14- Lose Yourself To The Dance by sluggard
100% kills

Alright, the club seems to be quite polarized over this map. I personally liked it. I think of all of the maps so far, this was the most "experimental" and gimmicky. I liked the experimental bits of the map but I can imagine on replay I wouldn't be as fond of them. Furthermore, I was playing with saves and thus something like the cyberdemon quartet which would've been awful for the saveless player, was not really too much of a bother for me. I appreciated a lot of the doomcute too, however I was somewhat disappointed the bedrooms looked exactly the same to each other except they were rotated around, minor complaint though. The few proper setpieces are alright, nothing too special, the level utilizes a plentiful amount of archviles (eighteen to be exact, one more than the previous two levels combined) but a lot of them just spawn in corridors where you can hide around the corner and roast them with your flamethrower. The ones in the Egyptian and marble arenas can be dubious but considering you probably have plentiful cell ammo, they're not much of a threat. Anyways, the level overall is fine, I liked it more than Map13 but I can see why others don't enjoy it quite as much.

[finnks13]

Found it quite tough to write about these two maps, that's why they're both late!

 

MAP13 - Terraced Estate of Terror by Gokuma:

7:36/2 Deaths
Not got much to say about this one, I like that you can basically traverse the whole level right at the start by running through the sea, but the progression itself is quite hidden and you can only escape the sea in one specific spot which is a shame since I was expecting a fun, open sandbox when the map is actually very linear in how you have to tackle it. The only fight of note is a triple cyberdemon ambush on the balcony of the estate, which is a bit of a pain (I didn't realise that you could just hide behind the table you get the BFG on!) I remember liking the dock area on my first playthrough, but because I cleared it right at the start this time, it fell a bit flat since it seems like this area should be home to a massive set-piece fight that never materialises.

 

I like the pirate ship though, so that's something.

 

MAP14 - Lose Yourself to Dance by sluggard: 

12:00/8 Deaths
Didn't really care for this map, I appreciate the attempts at making gimmicky fights using the resources but they're not executed terribly well and combine to make a rather frustrating experience. After clearing the beach the map starts on and the two revenant owned bars, you have the choice of three areas to go to which must all be cleared to complete the level. I went to the blue key area first, which takes you through a hotel - with completely unoccupied rooms :( - and to a marble temple which was a bit of a surprise to discover. The enemies here raise very slowly from the ground which looks really bloody weird, but the fight itself is decent. The archviles that spawn into the hotel corridor after you pick up the blue key are a pain to deal with since there's no cover here beyond running back into the teleporter - which I wasn't aware of at first.

 

The yellow key area is probably my favourite of the three, it starts off pretty slow and the combat's not great but the platforming section is pretty inoffensive and it's visually my favourite section. The red key area is the most expansive of the three, and easily the worst, there's a dark maze that seems to exclusively be there to waste your time as the only threat there are spectres that come at you one-by-one. What follows is a short tightrope walking section that's not fun and a fight against four cyberdemons at close range with walls all around you that is the reason I quit my first playthrough of Ray Mohawk 2. I didn't know there was a radsuit here, and I suppose that would make it a bit more palatable but I don't understand why you'd make such a cramped fight with the changes to the cyber's attack - it's not fun to dodge the attack and die anyway because the arena's too small and this problem is only made worse when there's six explosions at a time instead of one.

[Capellan]

 

[Roofi]

Map 15 - Crowded House

 

 

This map is definitely the most crowded with its 800 monsters if we don't count the bonus maps but it doesn't take place in a house at all but rather in a huge and intricate seaside fortress. As map 06 and map 09, map figures among the longest and adventurous maps so prepare to take at least 25-30 minutes to beat that one.

 

I love "Crowded House". Even with its slaughterish aspect, it still feels like a peaceful stroll under the sunset thanks to the midi rendition of R.E.M - Shiny Happy People and the moderate use of tough monsters. Indeed, you will kill a lot of imps and only two cyberdemons for instance. Also despite its complex layout, Crowded House prove to be linear and most of the gameplay consist to advance and killing everything on your path. Don't expect elaborated and nasty traps as we witnessed in Map 14.

 

Contrary to the other exploration-oriented levels such as map 06 and map 09, I think aesthetics don't really represent the main point of interest of this map. As I said above, Needhealth loved the beige brick textures and decided to use them almost everywhere. This level doesn't look bad at all, the bricks really fit with the orange sunset sky but it doesn't have specific memorable location , except the beach part at the northern part of the map.

 

However, map 15's combat scenarios figure among the best at highlighting the power of Ray's weapons, considering you've a lot of ammo so you don't need to be frugal and the many opportunites to take cover always encourage you to never leave your comfort zone.

 

"Crowded House" is definitely one of the highest points of the sunset episode and the whole megawad in general.

 

Grade : A

 

 

 

[Garlichead]

MAP15 - “Crowded House” by NeedHealth 100 Kills / 90 Items / 0 Secrets
24:44

Pistol starting this map on difficulty 3. 

This is an strange map to review. It is paced like an adventure map but it is very lineal and focus on action.

Map felt very easy for the most part, with good amounts of ammo to make your chaingun shine. The map relies on hordes of chain gunners, plus some heavies every now and then. I really enjoyed the fight with the Cyber Demons as it forced to hail them outside to fight more easily.

Weakest map for me so far.

[KickAss]

map12 - "Beautiful Clean Coal" by Doomkid (-warp 12), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), HNTR (-skill 2), pistol start

•   Kill    98%
•   Item 56%
•   Scrt  60%

time 17:30

 

 

This level was really hard to beat. It was very difficult to take control of this map. You have to go for the red key first and then for
the blue key to exit this level. The switch that opens the blue door to the exit is in the building in the eastern south of this level.

 

 

[Silhouette 03]

Map15: Crowded House- NeedHealth

 

I really like the very abstract theme of this map. It's hard to point out it's exact visual theme, which makes it stand out, if compared to the other maps in this set. It's something new and fresh, though that doesn't mean that themes used in the preceding maps are by any means repetitive or dull.

 

There's very little else to talk about. I enjoyed my time with it. Combat generally feels good and encounters are fast and fun. Just a really solid map.

 

kills: 99%
Secrets: 0%