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

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 15: Crowded House by NeedHealth

105% kills, 88% items, 100% secrets 

Time: 17:09

 

Crowded House was my favorite Ray Mohawk 2 entry since my first playthrough, and it was even more fun this time! Despite being on the longer side of this wad's levels, with the only longer one so far being 9, every single encounter was so much fun to complete even if you get the cell cannon and flamethrower pretty late. Not only did mowing down hordes of fodder and groups of mid-tiers with only the blaster and shotguns feel great, but the 2 biggest gib-fests of the map (the one after pressing the switch with the soulsphere in front of it and the one inside of the building with the yellow key) were some of the most satisfying ones I know of in Doom. There's so much to like in Crowded House, the music choice was perfect as always and made the map even more relaxing, the visuals are nice despite their vanillaness and the gameplay is almost peak Doom fun.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 15

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

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP15 - “Crowded House” by NeedHealth

 

Well this hands you the blaster right at the start.... what follows is complete and utter carnage. 

The one gripe about this map is the monotonous thematic for a good part of the map, so I was glad for the outdoor section of the map where the exit was, in a way it is a shame this area is only a small(ish) part of the map because it looks really neat.

The combat has no real issues, the cybers are a nasty surprise, but you can literally avoid them and kill them at your own leisure later on. By the way I really like the transition of this area to create a bridge to get from one upper ledge to the other. There are some rooms in this map that must have taken NeedHealth quite some time to make sure that the monsters didn't stick to each other....

On one hand, this isn't the greatest dooming experience in the world, however, it certainly captures Ray Mohawk in his finest, most bad-ass fashion. For that, it certainly deserves to take its perch at the top of the pile for this wad so far.

[Dersulbob]

(GZDoom 4.8.2, Seeking Validation, continuous, saves allowed)

 

MAP09 - Temple del Sol

 

This map was big, wide open, enjoyable and pretty difficult at points. I struggled with the opening area in particular, died a few times there before remembering I have a plasma cannon that could deal with it all pretty easily.

 

I enjoyed having such a large secret in the north of the map and the teleporter ambush was again fun to blast through.

 

I haven't read through the posts here so I'm interested to see how others dealt with the Spiderdemon room and the huge ambush. I tried to deal with it using the Berserk knife but didn't have enough time on the invincibility, so I ended up going with the plasma cannon on my second attempt and picked stragglers off with the knife.

 

Grade - A-

 

MAP10 -  Kalua Atoll

 

Really fun map serving as the introductions to the flamethrower. This thing is crazy powerful, it dealt with the Cyberdemon in seconds!

 

This really was a power fantasy level, watching everything simply melt before you. Caco-cloud went down easily, Cyberdemon went down easily, Arch-Viles, Barons, it was easy to be honest, but very enjoyable.

 

The visuals were brilliant, it was a bit annoying to have invisible walls in the beach area but not too bad.

 

Grade - A-

 

MAP11 - Vacation Gone Wrong

 

A less enjoyable one for me. There doesn't really seem to be any link between the various areas, there aren't really any memorable fights here and I can't really recall any visually striking area, with the exception of the final area which looked pretty cool.

 

Grade - C-

[Rujasu]

MAP15: Crowded House

Success: Yes

 

Other commitments made me skip a map, but this was a pleasant romp to return to. Lots of holding the fire button down, mostly in tight quarters but a couple of more open spots with a revenant and pain elemental swarm and stuff. Plenty of health and ammo around to not need to worry about either along the fairly long playtime of the map. Like has already been said in an above post, it's not the greatest Doom map of all time, but it is a good Ray Mohawk map.

[Doomy__Doom]

Map 15 - Crowded House

 

Quite crowded indeed. A romp through some rocky temple thing, occasionally intermittent with watery areas, heavily populated by fodder to chew through. Unlike map 12, the creator here understood that scattering healing inbetween fights is a must - you will take that chip damage here and there.

 

The map makes an odd choice of teasing you with a flamethrower pickup that wouldn't happen until you make your way through ~600 enemies, or 3/4 of the killcount. Personally - I'm 100% good with it. In fact, I haven't used that weapon at all during the level. No reason to rob yourself of vision, when Blaster ammo is readily available. It just does "spam choke" gameplay way better for me - if I wanted to be constantly robbed of vision I'd pick some red screen gaming-enabled wad.

 

The only area I felt was a bit lacking in healing department was the massive water area fight with cell cannon pickup. Tucking in a few medkits and maybe a spare green armor around some oddball corners would make up for random ducked-out-into-infighting-fireball damage, plus presence of ? amount of hitscanners and roaming PEs has potential to turn low-hp situations into pretty unpleasant business where crossing the area in search of heals gets to be equally lethal to staying in place and relying on pain chance and gun quality.

Then again, it's probably contigent on my playstyle - for areas like these I like to run out and try to navigate the chaos as opposed to slowly and methodically clearing stuff out in order.

[KickAss]

map13 - "Terraced Estate of Terror" by Gokuma (-warp 13), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), UV (-skill 4), pistol start

•   Kill   100%
•   Item  28%
•   Scrt   50%

time 18:57

 

 

I really don't like this when you are forced to drop from a building to continue, here from start. You have to found only the red key card which is located in the north-eastern middle of the map. It is a bit tricky to get but you'll get the point (You get on top of the pedastal from the balustrade...). From the area behind the red door you have to drop on top of the docks on the left side to get to the exit in the north-west. If you missed you have to go the whole way around again but that is not a bad habbit imho. If you have missed the docks and have to go the whole way again take care of the enemys on the ship you'll find on your way if you haven't taken them out already.

 

[Monsieur E]

Map15- Crowded House by NeedHealth 
100% kills

I don't have a whole lot to say, this level is just a lot of plain fun. Lots of traps sprinkled around and unlike some other levels, there's ample health (contrary to what the author's name would imply) going around which increases your margin of error. The map isn't a walk in the park though despite the abundant health and ammo supply, there are vicious traps sprinked everywhere and despite the powertrip, it's easy to get trashed if you're being careless. I appreciate the progression since the level generally pushes you forward in the right direction and I especially appreciate the wraping back of the level to the opening area where you can easily access the yellow door. If there's one negative I have with the level, visually it doesn't really live up to the most of the previous levels and didn't really feel like a real place in a way the other levels tried to be. However, considering the true star here is the combat, I don't mind it a whole lot. Excellent stuff all around. 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 15: Crowded House

by @NeedHealth

 

The moment you start hearing an REM recorded in theoir most, uh, shining period, I hoped the map would match in quality. And despite the monotonous color palette, that's exactly what it does! A linear and largely romp-filled, you can blow your way through most opposition for the most part. I did have to rewind in a few locations: (read, the outdoor courtyard after eating my own explosive plasma against a Lost Soul swarm, a trap toward the end filled with cloaked Duke Nukems and Hula Imps). The claustrophobic Revenant trap (the same room you encounter trash enemies and some dukes of hell) was one I ironically survived. NeedHealth's Arch-vile placement occurred in strangely lots of places I'd really hope not to meet them. There were still 2 enemies left alive after finishing, and the ironic part is I could've probably got under 24 minutes in this 800-pound gorilla map if I'd been more willing to rush. A Cyberdemon pair somewhat randomly appears and I ended up wondering through much of the area before finding a switch in a nook hiding at least one of them. It's not my favorite (09 and 13 fit those spots comfortably) but it's on par with some others at least.

lmd_mohawk2_15.zip

[Capellan]

 

 

Despite what it says at the end of the video, there will be no further entries from me this month. 

 

Spoiler

I was actually enjoying map17 much more than 16, but then I went through the yellow door.  That's not an encounter I can be bothered to grind my way through.

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: Vacation Gone Wrong by Hitboi

100% kills, 3/5 secrets

 

This one is pretty meh, as it's basically a series of small rooms (often filled to the brim with enemies, creating a fish-in-a-barrel effect) one after another connected by doors or teleports. It's pretty much a standard Doom base too, lacking any of the tropical theme. Weaponry is pretty much limited to the pistol and shotgun, which feels like a bit of a step backwards after just having been introduced to the flamethrower last map. All in all a pretty forgettable map.

 

MAP12: Beautiful Clean Coal by Doomkid

100% kills, 4/5 secrets

 

I gotta point out, I really love the effect of seeing the title card "beautiful clean coal" followed by the opening shot of an orange apocalyptic sky over heavy industry. Ecological terror is an under-explored Doom theme!

 

I had this one pegged as a Doomkid map fairly early, though not quite sure why - maybe it's the ease at which indoor and outdoor spaces are combined here. It becomes very obvious later one with all the monster teleport shenanigans. Either way, after a sedate start it's a pretty steady stream of enemies as first you'll quest down one path for the red key, then down another one for the blue. Another thing Doomkid seems to like is using a large variety of monsters together, but I think here it kinda contributes to the combat feeling a bit same-y throughout without many of the encounters sticking out. What did kinda strike me is the amount of enemies that get teleported, often to the starting area by the fountain. Not really sure this was successful, as more often it just felt like clean-up duty later on. It's also not great placement for them, as a lot of them get stuck in longer, easily abusable corridors such as behind the red key door on the way back, or in the thin building hallways near the start. This map also introduces the BFG but I barely used it - not sure how strong it is compared to the regular one, whereas the strength of the rest of the new weaponry is much more apparent.

 

Overall I liked the looks but the combat itself didn't do much for me.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Magnusblitz

[Roofi]

Map 16 "Pier Pressure"

 

 

At the first second, you can see the imposing pier and hear the highly rythmical electro music from Cool Spot. You instantly realise things get really serious, and Ray's cozy vacation on tropical islands has become a real action movie where aliens have taken over the cities. Map 16 is maybe the longest map in the whole, not because of the exploration this but rather because of the strong opposition.

 

The settings in this map are impressive. The pier and the other buildings truely highlight the tall and menacing architecture. Noiser managed to make a large map without breaking the vanilla limits. The first area acts like a playground where you can explore the surroundings as you desire, but enemies also attack you from all sides. The level gets a lot more linear once you reach the pontoon via the teleporter.

 

 I can't talk about this map without mentioning THE special effect, which maybe represents one of the most memorable event in the whole megawad. I talk of course about the moment when you press the switch in order to destroy the ship. Damn, I never seen something like that in vanilla Doom and DOSBOX really suffered at this point haha. It was slowing down and I even wondered if it was going to crash, but in the end it was really worth it. I also like the "floating" pontoon made with invisible sectors.

 

About the combats, Noiser extensively used tougher monsters. Prepare to kill several cyberdemons and Spider Masterminds, arch-viles, armies of mancubus, pain elementals and revenants... Fortunately you start to have a lot of ammo once you reach the pontoon since Noiser placed a lot of shell boxes in order to endlessly spam with the auto-shotgun (I exagerate).

 

There is a specific fight in this map where you fight two cyberdemons with the invisibility sphere. Indeed, Noiser overlaid an invisibility sphere on a megasphere. At first sight, I thought this trap was going to be unfair but I had a lot of fun at the end and I found it not that hard. It feels like an arcade game but we're from Ikaruga's difficulty fortunately.

 

I admit I found the first area boring because ammo wasn't so abundant contrary to the enemies and killing them took quite a long time. The game started to be really fun once I reached the parking lots.

 

To conclude, I think it's one of the most remarkable maps in the set and I won't be surprised if it becomes the favourite map of some players. For my part, I really love the visual settings and the special effects. In terms of gameplay, sometimes I liked it, sometimes less. I don't think I could play this map as much as the 06, 09, 10 or 15. Anyway, it contains a lot of ideas which truely demonstrate the creativity of its author.

 

Grade : A-

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Roofi

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 16: Pier Pressure by Noiser

101% kills, 82% items, 100% secrets 

Time: 16:45

 

Pier Pressure is a really fun map, but I am still a bit split as I want it to be one of my 3 favorites of Mohawk 2, but I just can't love it as much as 15, 1 or 10 for example. Let's talk about the positives first:

First, the starting city area is a lot of fun to run around in and features a very cool, but also incredibly impressive sequence in which you destroy the anchored boat to get the yellow key. Second, the final area features the first real BFG fest of the wad and is overall a ton of fun given it's openness and the sheer quantity of baddies here who want to stop your bloodbath, but just serve as fodder for the super-weapon.

However, Pier Pressure is flawed, with my first issue being that the level as a whole features too many unreachable enemies which can be painful to kill, especially the mancubi and arachnotrons. Also, I ain't a fan of the second area as it is not only the worst offender at putting too many unreachable enemies, but it also contains one of my least favorite encounters in the entire wad : the cyber invisibility fight (even if it's still better than the one in Scythe map 27). Finally, the last area hides too many enemies, this time behind missable triggers (For example: 3 chaingunners appearing when you grab a megaarmor) and slows down to become a boring switch-hunt after almost everyone is killed.

Overall, I can't say that I didn't have a great time with Pier Pressure, but it's issues sadly prevent it from being one of my favorite maps of the megawad.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 15

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 16

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

Like:

Map 13

Map 11

Dislike:

Map 14

 

 

[Garlichead]

MAP16 - “Pier Pressure” by Noiser 89 Kills / 63 Items / 0 Secrets
16:32

Another arena map similar to 4 or 12. You encounter hordes of enemies in three interconnected arenas.  There is a Pier in which you destroy a ship, another section in which you fight some cyberdemons and the last section with some masterminds and a central building. Each one gets progressively more slaughterlike.

One of the highlights is the nasty trap on the pier on the second arena. The player is force to take an invisibility sphere to progress releasing two cyber demons, the erratic shooting pattern makes it super difficult to dodge, very nasty encounter. 

I appreciate that the maps feels very thrilling from start to end, but man what a hard map this is.

[RED77]

2x1 Today. I was not at home yesterday.

MAP15 - “Crowded House” by NeedHealth

Big boy here, it's not a bad map, but it's boring. The problem is I don't think it has enough variety for its length. after a while, it feels all the same.
The best part it's the fake door, that got me.
★★★☆☆

 

 

MAP16 - “Pier Pressure” by Noiser

This is a 3 arena slaughter map. It has a lot of very clever positioning of the monsters to keep you moving.
The fight with the two cybers with the invisibility was evil, but brilliant.
That said. I do not like Slaughter maps, at all. but this is one of the best I've played.

★★★★☆

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 16 - Pier Pressure

by Thales @Noiser Lari

 

The only experience I have with Noiser maps was the nasty lil' square of his in Angry Quilt 2, utilizing verticality and monster density in a challenging manner that was nevetheless quite rewarding due to the supplies and weapon there, though you may know him better for "Doom 4 Vanilla." But anyways, this map keeps the difficulty train going (thanks to a midi composed by BGM god Tommy Tallarico!) this map's basically separated into three different areas. The first takes place in the titular pier, (that's not a good bad pun) with probably the most unfriendly start so far. Every single starting weapon that's not the basic shotgun is in a location where you've got a decent chance at the very least of being into a pile of well-done meat by the Revenants and Mancubi hanging around nearby. Which really sucks, because the auto shotgun is one of the best ways to counter the threats arrayed against your person ("best" being a relative term of course). There's also an Arch-vile hanging around the crates near the auto shotgun but after a couple of tries, they went down quickly enough under sustained fire.

 

To move on, press the TNT switch which wrecks the ship here and also seems to open up a teleporter out here. Here, the nasty enemy placement really starts to ram itself home. Obviously, you should target the Arch-vile first, but eventually, you're going to have to prioritize who you choose to strike next. The Cyberdemon seems tempting, but the murder of Revenants and packs of Arachnotrons will almost certainly make short work of us (as happened a few times). We end up killing the trash around here before going after the heavies. There are some Mancubi on top of a nearby building too, but they aren't of significant consequence.

 

 

But they prove more of a threat in the final arena, which seems to be the edge of the city, mostly due to greater numbers. But they can be more safely ignored than most of the enemies; Slyor, Hula Imps, Revenants, and most significantly, Spider Masterminds. Many of them will probably die from infighting other enemies, but the fact remains it's not wise to remain here, not when we can be harried by Arch-viles, so we'll head up the closest flight of stairs, die to a murder of Revenants because we didn't want to use the BFG 9.5K right away, try the Mancubi path, die, then try the Revenant path and succeed.

 

This area is actually quite interesting. It's close-quarters indoors with healthy amounts of Pain Elementals and Cacodemons to fill up space here. This is also where you can find the red skull switch, which we completely skip over in favor of heading into the warehouse building with the Spider Mastermind which easily dies in 1 hit. The Invulnerbility here isn't even necessary! The placement of the Slyor in the windows was quite bad, as only your cell charger can semi-reliably strike them.

 

At a certain point, a teleporter in the lava will take you to a blue area which spawns a fair amount of Arch-viles easily destroyed with the BFG 9.5K (except for 1, that was...surprisingly persistent. We then find a dock with two Cyberdemons that kill us once or twice because we're not especially good with these guys but we can now get the final key!

 

After pushing all three of the switches, we can finally enter the exit and spawn 3 Arch-viles and Cyberdemons each! We have plenty of cell ammo, although we picked up a cell charger from this location earlier that made dispatching some Caco stragglers much easier. Actually, it was probably the last arch-vile here that was the biggest pain to kill.

 

Good map? Oh yeah. Maybe it's just lacking a little tiny something. More likely, the unreachable enemies are a touch annoying. It's not really something that mappers should generally overdo. It worked with the Mancubi, but let's just say that was not the case when other ones (Arachnotrons mainly) showed up. We're getting to the section with almost all of the very best maps though, so it'll only get better from here. Nice....

lmd_mohawk2_16.zip

[cannonball]

MAP16 - “Pier Pressure” by Noiser

 

Well this sure is something. A real grab bag of opinions on this one....

First off and unfortunately it is the start that is by far the most aggravating part of the map. The mass of revenants patrol the perimeter of the map to the point where engagement is a real nightmare. This is made worse by the fact that the cell cannon is likely to be the final weapon you pick up... much...much later.

Grinding through to the "TNT" switch is where the map starts giving out the rewards, firstly the really cool sequence that sinks the ship and gives you the yellow key. At this point you can finally leave (Once clearing the archviles of course). The following set up allows you time to take everything in before you start firing, then it is a case of killing the archviles and creating a relatively safe spot to use to control the madness that follows. The mandatory blur sphere did make my eyes roll.... but it actually works for the fight, I think the projectiles the cyber uses really helps here. This was probably one of my favourite points of the map.

After this you get to the final area and you get the BFG. Nothing but a power trip from here to the exit.

I went back to the start once the final area was cleared and finished the annoying revenants off.

Overall, this one can give a bad first impression, but push through this and you are rewarded with the most fun this wad has offered so far.

[Rujasu]

MAP16: Pier Pressure

Success: No

 

A three-part arena fight. I was a little starved on ammo in the first one with my amazing aim, but the payoff with the ship was really nice. Very clever use of the invisibility sphere in Arena 2, was a cool little fight. Didn't have time to figure out the last section, but I was a little out of my depth with the sheer volume of enemies. Unlike the first two, that one has no room to just run around and get a feel of the space, and even if there was it's partially covered in lava pits anyway. I'm fine with the style of gameplay offered, though, it's just my own lack of time hindering me.

[Doomy__Doom]

Map 16 - Pier Pressure

 

Now we're talking. The start is littered with snipers and roaming mid-tiers, plus a roaming vile. 2 very quick deaths to said Vile since he just decided to be and attack in a way that left me with no options to not take a zap into a wall. On the 3rd try I singled out the sole roaming chaingunner spotted during the 2nd attempt and got him good, after which I instantly stumbled into the flamethrower/bk boat teleporter. Spending some quality time offshore, more infighting took care of things on the mainland a bit.

From there the 1st area is relatively easy, just don't stop as you driveby stun remaining arachnos and revs swimming around the fence.

 

2nd area is uncharacteristic for RMII so far - it's a set piece that lets you study the area and composition Ribbiks-style (i.e. staring at lots of demon asses in dead silence). It's not even remotely as difficult though - rush Viles with flamethrower for max dps, then run around in circles holding autoshotgun down to permastun all arachnotrons since you get more or less infinite shells. Cyber is contained by the bridge, Revs have a hard time attacking in general and they are elevated with plenty of room to make O's of Desctruction and U's of Evasion. Mancs might occasionally hit you but eh, plenty of room.

The RK set piece was something I noped out of by means of cheesing the linedef trigger - sorry, not going to play along the blur sphere vs Cybers on steroids, those kinds of sets can go blur themselves. It's much more sensible to just stunlock 1 Cyber and slowly tap-dodge the other, changing direction every now and then. I'll take that 200/200 to the next area, tyvm.

 

3rd area is a mix of open and indoors, large crowded area to do some navigation slaughter. The BFG can be used clean up some space, but ultimately there's always going to be something to contend with as you run around thinning out opposition. I dig these kinds of areas, where overall awareness of many things is needed to keep you healthy but there is some distance to gain and not be threatened by everything at once. The layout is weird, vertical, with one-way paths and takes away simple movement patterns for a decent enough chunk of time.

The only sour spot is the final absolutely random Caco wave. Maybe I was supposed to trigger it earlier somehow, but appearing at the same timing with final Cybers/Viles on the far far away end of the area from the exit switch is just a waste of time cleaning with 0 pressure or point.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Doomy__Doom

[Roofi]

Map 17 : Poster Boy of Mayhem

 

 

"Poster Boy of Mayhem" (Funny name !) is first playable collab map in the set. Rd brought her help on map 19 too. The architecture and the layout instantly tells me it's an Aurelius map , so I suppose rd mainly contributed to the combat design. Indeed, map 17 was also the first map in the set to be a real pain in the ass to record a deathless playthrough to.

 

If I could simply describe this level, it would be a kind of combat-puzzle map because secrets tend to be a lot more vital than in the other maps in order to properly survive the last ribbiksy fight. Moreover, the title lies on the gimmick with the posters. I don't want to spoil it because I really loved it. It encourages the player to check each corner of the map. The good player will of course be rewarded but also severely penalised if he doesn't take the time to look for the secrets, especially the invulnerability one which I found almost indispensable to survive the last trap without pulling my hair out. Curiosity is key , I warn you.

 

This map is hard and to be frank I didn't really want to have such difficult levels in wads like this. The last close-quarter combat, involving several arch-viles and cyberdemons represents one of the hardest part in the whole megawad. This fight was one of the reason I prefer the blaster over the flame-thrower because the spitting flames hide the cyber's projectiles so that it became extremly hazardous to use that weapon.

 

Fortunately the other encounters prove to be a lot more manageable but you still have to deal with low ammo, tight space and a high-number of effective arch-viles or revenants. At this time, it became really tough to improvise and I recommand to play with saves or on lower difficulty if you want to enjoy this level.

 

I love the layout of this map. Everything feels so imbricated and interconnected. I really like how the rectangular room with its 6 pillars serves twice for instance. Moreover, aesthetics stand out, Aurelius and Rd managed to make an industrial site worth visiting and even oddly cute in company with the Athtletic theme from Super Mario World. I had  a of lot of fun finding the secrets too. Just a fun fact :

Spoiler

In my video, I activated the secret with the shootable fan while killing the revenant located on the left pillar in the central corridor.

 

Even if I found this level too nasty for this kind of project, I found the execution brilliant. Map 17 was for me the second hardest map to complete , juste behind map 18 which went overboard with the cybers. I don't think it's the kind of map I want to replay but it left good memories.

 

About the following map, I think people will find map 19 harder but not for me.

 

Grade : B+

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Roofi

[baja blast rd.]

3 hours ago, Roofi said:

The architecture and the layout instantly tells me it's an Aurelius map , so I suppose rd mainly contributed to the combat design.

 

I'm happy my structural design blended in that well then. ;) 

 

(People always tend to guess really clear cut divisions of labor and make "I saw this type of thing in this other map so..."-type comparisons. But collabing can be a really intermixed thing when it comes to ideas and design, the process working in "layers" rather than individual parts or components, and mappers can sort of emulate each other without too much trouble. So I don't think a lot in either of these can be described with "this person did this, and this person did that.")

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 17: Poster Boy of Mayhem by Aurelius and rd

120% kills, 98% items, 100% secrets 

Time: 12:36

 

When I first played Poster Boy of Mayhem, I remember thinking that despite it's scary first shot, it couldn't be that hard given that it is in a Doomkid CP and that the Athletic Theme from Super Mario World was playing, and then it proceeded to kick my ass for over half an hour of real time. This is the meanest and hardest map in the entire wad : the fights are nasty, ammo is scarcer than in the rest of Mohawk 2 and good movement is an absolute necessity to make it out alive. Right from the start, you are sandwiched (on your left and right) by revs with their back turned and need to get past them while grabbing weapons. Then, you must kill a lot of imps, grab the cell cannon and annhilate the arch-viles coming to resurrect everything you've killed while being attacked by the revs from the beginning. Later, rd and Aurelius don't get more merciful with arch-viles, constantly spawning them on top of corpses or in the middle of fights. In fact, martians are actually the 3rd most used enemy in the map, only behind skeletons and imps. Despite it's cruelty, I remember loving this level at first as it has a nicely interconnected layout and contains some really fun encounters like the first one in the eastern area with the pillars and rocky floor or the revenant horde backed up by teleporting imps and an arch-vile in the soulsphere area.

 

However, I find that Poster Boy gets overly cruel in 2 instances :

1- The secret fight only gives 1 rad suit and makes you fight wave after wave of goons over damaging slime and exiting it requires cutting through a ton of archies in a 64-unit wide corridor. On top of that, taking too much time will obviously get you killed by the slime, but you also need to use the knife for the yellow bastards as you won't have enough ammo for your guns outside of the cell cannon, but using it in this area is a death sentence.

2- I mentioned that I liked the rocky floor area, but the final fight reuses it, gives you a flamethrower and spawns 4 cybers and 6 archies, one enemy after the other. That said, the limited space, reduced visibility because of the flames and annoying pillars (they maximize splash damage on top of limiting movement) make the blue cows an absolute pain in the ass to negotiate (even if there's a secret invuln).

Despite these moments of excessive meanness, Poster Boy of Mayhem is overall a really fun experience for me, even if I feel like some people will really dislike it.

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 15

Map 1

Map 10

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 12

Map 16

Map 17

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

Like:

Map 13

Map 11

Dislike:

Map 14

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by tonytheparrot

[Garlichead]

MAP17 - “Poster Boy of Mayhem” by Aurelius & rd 104 Kills / 72 Items / 75 Secrets

A tricky arena map, that throws you between big fights at a frantic pace. Most of the fights are manageable on "having fun", with the exception of the battle for the red key in which the mappers force you to fight around 4 cyberdemons while revenants and archviles enter the arena through some column elevators. Very cool setup as you play whack a mole with the incoming demons while dodging the cyber missiles.

I had a laugh with the ending room poster.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Garlichead

[KickAss]

map14 - "Lose Yourself to Dance" by Sluggard (-warp 14), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), HNTR (-skill 2), pistol start

•   Kill   100%
•   Item  92%
•   Scrt   50%

time 13:17

 

 

Another level that is really hard to beat. I' ve noticed no big difference between -skill 3 and 4 but there is one bleached
Cyberdemon less every time you reduce the skill level in the northern westend. The Arch viles in the south-west kept burning
me away. On -skill 2 it is a simple walk through imho and I've found no fast pathes through the enemys on the higher skill
levels. I got really frustrated on this one.

 

[KickAss]

map15 - "Crowded House" by NeedHealth (-warp 15), GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), HMP (-skill 3), pistol start

•   Kill   100%
•   Item  80%
•   Scrt     0%

time 32:02

 

 

What a journey through a crowded house. It feels a bit wired but you are guided a long your way through this map from the beginning to the end. The paths are clear and easy to follow. You have to get only the yellow key which you can see from the start to finish this level. Opponents are more than enough even on -skill 3 but you'll find a way to take them out. Have fun and enjoy!

 

[RED77]

MAP17 - “Poster Boy of Mayhem” by Aurelius & rd

 

Yeah... no.

This map is a grind fest.
I give 1-star intead of 0 because is full of personality, especially the secret fight.
but it's the only map I've IIDQD so far.
 

★☆☆☆☆
 

[Silhouette 03]

Map16: Pier Pressure- Noiser

 

This map may have rubbed me the wrong way. I found myself frustrated more than anything else. I understand the challenge of these fights, but that doesn't mean that they are fun. The red key fight was a prime example. Having to fight your own reflexes and muscle memory because of the partial invisibility is not by any means fun.

 

I can't quite put my finger on why I don't like this one, besides some of the fights being a bit frustrating. I'm fond of the architecture, the setting is really nice and it is nicely detailed, It's just the fights that I personally find frustrating. Again, it's by no means a bad map. It's just personal taste.

 

kills: 96%

Secrets: 100% 

[TheShep]

So, I forgot to save MAP09's playthrough of RM2 as a highlight, so I'll have to go back and play that (if it matters).

 

Anyway, below is maps 10-17 of RM2.

 

 

click the twitch logo to view

[NiGHTS108]

MAP14: Lose Yourself To Dance

By Sluggard

Kills: 87%

Items: 10%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 4:33

 

Lose Yourself To Dance is a weird one, I don't think it's awful or anything, but at the same time it's a pretty weak link in an otherwise consistently strong wad. It's quite simple to be honest, 3 paths lead to 3 keys to open the exit. The yellow key path is one of the more direct ones and also my favourite. I do really dig these tanned temple textures, so simply having them in a level will automatically make me like the visuals more. I know some people may not be into the platforming, and this level does have a big offender in it, but I do like the course to get to the key itself, even if you can walk in a straight line to get there too. Sadly I'm not into the other paths as much... The red key path is honestly kinda awkward, I'm not wild about this strange dark area or the weird room with all the ramps and water. Just pads out time pretty much. I do like how it concludes though, with a Cell Cannon shootout. Some alright Arch-Vile usage here. The blue key is pretty much only notable for the platforming section followed by really really awkward Cyber antics, sadly probably the worst singular moment in the megawad. I wouldn't even say I dislike Lose Yourself To Dance, but "weak link" is probably the best way to describe it.

 

Grade: C+

Difficulty: C+

 

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP17 - “Poster Boy of Mayhem” by Aurelius & rd

 

Just a note before I actually review this, I managed to soft lock myself in the start area when I went back to look for secrets by somehow raising the waterfall that you lower at the start of the map.

This was hard, but well calibrated. Every fight has a clear strategy to beat it and for the most part the solution comes quite quickly. The carnage well accompanied by the midi. There is almost a Benny hill vibe to some of this, which is a welcome change to the last hard as nails map. In the end the succeeds in capturing that Ray Mohawk theme in a way no other map does, and for that the map deserves the highest praise. It is brutal, but this is Ray Mohawk and he kicks ass quicker no other... well except Rudy perhaps. The highlight for me was probably the red key fight, you really need to be on it to extinguish each monster before the next one can unleash pain, this is the best example of a well calibrated fight.

The secret fight, I was going to call BS on the archvile corridor.... but then I used the knife.... I left with 1% health and felt rather silly.... and softlocked myself again :P

 

Overall this is an intricate and punishing map, but offers great rewards. Shame about the softlock issue but I suspect that if I found the secrets when I was supposed to, then this would not have happened.

Edited August 23, 2022 by cannonball

[Monsieur E]

Map16- Pier Pressure 
98% kills (four revenants and three chaingunners in teleport closets, dunno what's their trigger, I missed the invulnerability secret)

The lower enemy count does not indicate an easier time, this level packs a lot of punch.

The first area is an enjoyable scramble for survival and is highlighted by the doomcute settings, my favorite being the sinking of the ship. However, this really did not need all those enemies beyond the arena, especially the revenants since if you try to run and gun through the gap next to the mountains, you'll be blown up by the rockets forcing you to rely on picking them apart more methodically. Not too much of an issue though, the main arena more than make up for it.

The second one is probably my least favorite, there's a whole lot of open space here making dodging projectiles easy and you have enough ammo to completely trash the opposition. I actually dig the weird invisibility-cyberdemon encounter, it's kind of like a weird projectile hell setup although it's not really too difficult. You can stun the cyberdemons pretty easily with your chaingun and they go down fairly quickly. But I liked it as a gimmick.

The third one, an abandoned city inhabited by the residents of hell, is the most fleshed out. Now that you have all three keys, it's time to go hunting for the three corresponding switches to open the gate and leave. There are some pretty blunt crowds of enemies present, most prominently the large revenant crowd right infront of your antidote to this infestation, the BFG. You will have a sufficient supply of ammo throughout this entire segment but careless play will lay you to the ground, it's a fun challenge. The cell cannon was a strange decision, located steps away from the exit which is guarded by two archviles and three cybers, I didn't find much use for it (I used my chaingun to clear out the four slyors, did waste a bunch of bullets but eh, not like I was lacking them).

All around, Pier Pressure is an excellent level which I thoroughly enjoyed.