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

[Dersulbob]

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

 

MAP04 - Little Oasis

 

I really enjoyed the compact feel of this map. It starts with a really nice "opening shot" with a number of hitscanners looking towards the Arch-Vile in his quarters. Is he their leader? Is he their prisoner? Is he an experiment gone wrong that they have to lock in a safe place for their own protection? Who knows!

 

I do find it a little strange to place the Arch-Vile in such a prominent place in the map but not have him able to attack - I note that this was intentional but unsure why.

 

I did find the rest of the map tough, particularly the narrow hallway after the opening area, which is filled with many enemies with hitscanners and several others hurting you through windows on either side. 

 

Didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two but still an enjoyable time.

 

Grade - B 

 

MAP05 - Big Room with Baddies

 

One of my favourites of the set. Right off the bat, I love the name, was nice to get a bit of forewarning about what to expect.

 

I don't remember many specifics about the map to be honest (played it a few days ago and did it in one attempt) but I recall it being a blast. It's not slaughter map but it really doesn't give you any chance to stop moving until they're all dead. To complete it without deaths felt like an achievement.

 

Not many visually distinctive points in this one but still is a nice looking map.

 

Grade - A-

 

MAP06 - The Maw of Industry 

 

I liked this map but not as much as the majority of maps in this set. 

 

The opening area housed a fair few enemies but nothing too challenging. Again I found that it was the hit scanners that were hurting me the most. The positioning of the Arch-Vile in the opening area made it fairly pointless, it didn't present any type of threat. 

 

The yellow and red key area was fine, other than the pop-up encounter in the red key room (I mentioned this last month, I can't explain why I find them more difficult to swallow than standards teleport ambushes but I just don't like them).

 

The circular room with the "exit door" was nicely done and felt like the climax of the level, particularly after the surprise group of enemies behind the door with some teleporting behind you. I thought it was clever to put that door on a switch, meaning that the Arch-Vile would have time to revive some fallen enemies whilst I turned back to press the switch.

 

The Cyberdemon section of this map felt very tacked on and I didn't enjoy it unfortunately. I couldn't be bothered to hang around and kill them after my invulnerability wore off and my plasma ran out so I just ran through the remainder of that room and exited through the titular Maw, grateful that I did not have to do an Icon of Sin battle.

 

I understand it's the last map and that mappers often feel the need to chuck a few Cyberdemons in to make the player to feel like they earned it, but I just don't find them any fun to fight, especially in groups of more than 2.

 

Grade - B-

 

Overall Thoughts 

 

This style of Doom is right up my street. Combat that is challenging but not soul-crushingly difficult, made more enjoyable with the massively beefed Berserk boost. Plenty of tongue-in-cheek moments and pop-culture references in the form of the midis and posters in that opening room.

 

The design of the maps was great for the most part, each map seemed to flow nicely from the last as Ray progresses towards his goal. I think Doomkid did a really great job in that respect.

 

My favourite maps were MAP01 and MAP05.

 

Overall Grade - B+

 

I am excited to play the sequel but fear that if it becomes as slaughtery as some have mentioned I'll struggle to make it through. Fingers crossed!

 

[Azure_Horror]

 

The brilliance of difficulty names in Ray Mohawk

 

In the 90-ties, developers often went creative for their difficulty names.

@Doomkid did the same for his 90-ties homage mapset.

 

But Doomkid went further than just creating some funny names. He accounted for psychology of videogame players to push them into more fun experience. The hardest difficulty setting is called "Seeking Validation!". This is a clear joke about the "Hardest Difficulty or Bust" people, which appear in every game with a difficulty setting. Other 3 difficulties imply some form of pleasant gameplay experience. But "Seeking Validation!" implies that the player voluntarily chose to face whatever nonsense the designer invented, because the player is "Tough Enough" (tm).

 

Compare too hypothetical scenarios

1) "I tried the mapset MoonDisgust on Doom Expert difficulty and got absolutely destroyed! Why did the author made such nonsense?"

2) "I tried the mapset MoonDisgust on Seeking Validation! difficulty and got absolutely destroyed! Why did the author made such nonsense?"

The 1st statement may warrant some discussion about the expected skills for a Doom Expert.

The 2nd statement sounds really silly. Dude, it is called Seeking Validation for a reason! Nobody promised anything pleasant, or even fair!

 

My fellow club memebers, I want to ask you for one thing.

Choose your difficulty wisely! The later levels of Ray Mohawk 2 would resemble some things from proverbial MoonDisgust, if you get my drift  ;-D. And don't be afraid to change the difficulty level, if the game stops being fun! Ray Mohawk 2 is pretty friendly to pistol starters. If you change the difficulty midway, you won't need to replay the whole WAD from the very start.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Azure_Horror
Rewrote 1 sentence; Also grammar.

[Gez]

That kind of makes me want to have a joke super-hard difficulty with a name like "Complete Bullshit".

 

"I tried the map on Complete Bullshit difficulty and you're ambushed right at the start by 12 cyberdemons! This is complete bullshit!"

"Well, yes. Exactly."

[Doomy__Doom]

2 hours ago, Gez said:

"I tried the map on Complete Bullshit difficulty and you're ambushed right at the start by 12 cyberdemons! This is complete bullshit!"

That one's called "NoMo" in Italo parlance :)

 

I'll try to play along RM2 I guess. 1 is a breezy experience, nothing like RM2. I've played a few select maps from beta versions, it was a struggle due to vast changes clashing with my regular sensibilities of how Doom works. Hopefully if I go in order, I'll do a better job of switching my brain.

 

Dsda-doom, pistol start, SV, no mid-combat saves/rewinds.

 

Map 01 - Back Ashore Level 1

 

Immediately starting on a silly sour note - this mapset only has MAPINFO, so dsda-doom shows level names from vanilla dehacked on automap.

 

Level 1 exists for a single purpose - to throw in your face that you need to forget most of your Doom sensibilities. Your pistol is an automatic shotgun, your shotgun is the SSG, berserk knife can oneshot a vile, and crowds are adjusted to match. You can tell by the fact that no many how midtiers are there you never really feel outgunned with "only" 1/2/3 - it's going to be a ride possibly not entirely unlike those supercharged arsenal mods for zdoom (not something I play much). And, knowing a few things that are ahead, you'd be wrong if you think that - there are some brutal setpieces in store to test your understanding of the arsenal and implications of what it means to have guns that souped up.

 

Also can we talk for a sec about how this whole "side weapons" thing is horrible, given there is no crosshair in vanilla dos exe this project targets?

 

EDIT: you know what, let's fix it. @Doomkid and anyone else willing to test it, here's a UMAPINFO lump for Ray Mohawk II (converted from MAPINFO). I did only a brief test that all map names, custom skies and intermissions show up corectly in dsda-doom correctly, this would still need a proper full run.

 

If you've never done any editing but want to give it a go - you'll need SLADE3 to open the wad, add a new lump named UMAPINFO and paste the contents of the spoiler. I'm not going to distribute an edited wad for obvious reasons.

Spoiler

map MAP01 {
	levelname = "Back Ashore!"
	next = "MAP02"
	skytexture = "SKY1"
	music = "D_RUNNIN"
	levelpic = "CWILV00"
}

map MAP02
{
	levelname = "Ossuary of the Hula Imps"
	next = "MAP03"
	skytexture = "SKY1"
	music = "D_STALKS"
	levelpic = "CWILV01"
}

map MAP03
{
	levelname = "Beachside Bookworms"
	next = "MAP04"
	skytexture = "SKY1"
	music = "D_COUNTD"
	levelpic = "CWILV02"
}

map MAP04
{
	levelname = "Surf's up in Nuketown"
	next = "MAP05"
	skytexture = "RSKY5"
	music = "D_BETWEE"
	levelpic = "CWILV03"
}

map MAP05
{
	levelname = "11 Holidays"
	nextlevel = "MAP06"
	skytexture = "RSKY5"
	music = "D_DOOM"
	levelpic = "CWILV04"
}

map MAP06
{
	levelname = "Hidden Ship in Pirate's Cove"
	next = "MAP07"
	skytexture = "RSKY6"
	music = "D_THE_DA"
	levelpic = "CWILV05"
	intermusic = "D_READ_M"
	interbackdrop = "SAN"
	intertext = "RAY SETS SAIL TOWARD THE CITY WHERE",
				"HE ONCE SERVED TIME. THE MEMORIES OF",
				"HIS OLD LIFE SEEM SO DISTANT NOW THAT",
				"HIS ''NEW NORMAL'' IS CONSTANT KILLING.",
				"",
				"SHORTLY AFTER, A NUKAGE-POWERED CRAFT",
				"APPEARS ABOVE AND ABDUCTS HIM.",
				"RAY STRANGLES THE POSSESSED PILOT AND",
				"JUMPS OUT JUST BEFORE IMPACT.",
				"",
				"HE FINDS HIMSELF IN AN OVERRUN FACTORY",
				"ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN. LOOKS LIKE",
				"THE REST OF THE TRIP WILL BE ON FOOT."
}

map MAP07
{
	levelname = "WARehouse"
	next = "MAP08"
	skytexture = "SKY1"
	music = "D_SHAWN"
	levelpic = "CWILV06"
}

map MAP08
{
	levelname = "Chocolate Island"
	next = "MAP09"
	skytexture = "SKY1"
	music = "D_DDTBLU"
	levelpic = "CWILV07"
}

map MAP09
{
	levelname = "Temple del Sol"
	next = "MAP10"
	skytexture = "RSKY5"
	music = "D_IN_CIT"
	levelpic = "CWILV08"
}

map MAP10
{
	levelname = "Kalua Atoll"
	next = "MAP11"
	skytexture = "RSKY5"
	music = "D_DEAD"
	levelpic = "CWILV09"
}

map MAP11
{
	levelname = "Vacation Gone Wrong"
	next = "MAP12"
	skytexture = "SKY1"
	music = "D_STLKS2"
	levelpic = "CWILV10"
	intermusic = "D_READ_M"
	interbackdrop = "SAN"
	intertext = "RAY STEPS INTO THE MAW OF THE BEAST AND",
				"EXPERIENCES VISIONS BEYOND HIS GRASP.",
				"",
				"HE FINALLY WAKES UP LYING ON THE DOCKS,",
				"HIS BROW DRENCHED WITH SWEAT. THE SUN IS",
				"SETTING, BUT THE HEAT IS OVERWHELMING.",
				"",
				"THIS ONCE PRETTY CITY WAS HARVESTED FOR",
				"ALL ITS NATURAL RESOURCES JUST BEFORE",
				"SOCIETY COLLAPSED. THE OLD MINES SERVE",
				"AS A BREEDING GROUNDS FOR THE MUTANTS,",
				"ALL VICTIMS OF THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF",
				"NUKAGE.",
				"RAY MUST FIGHT THROUGH THE BURNING",
				"HUMIDITY TO SAVE THE FEW REMAINING",
				"SURVIVORS. WITH LUCK, THEY MAY BE ABLE",
				"TO BUILD A NEW SOCIETY SOME DAY..."
}

map MAP12
{
	levelname = "Beautiful Clean Coal"
	next = "MAP13"
	skytexture = "SKY2"
	music = "D_THEDA2"
	levelpic = "CWILV11"
}

map MAP13
{
	levelname = "Terraced Estate of Terror"
	next = "MAP14"
	skytexture = "SKY2"
	music = "D_DOOM2"
	levelpic = "CWILV12"
}

map MAP14
{
	levelname = "Lose Yourself to Dance"
	next = "MAP15"
	skytexture = "RSKY8"
	music = "D_DDTBL2"
	levelpic = "CWILV13"
}

map MAP15
{
	levelname = "Crowded House"
	next = "MAP16"
	skytexture = "RSKY8"
	music = "D_RUNNI2"
	levelpic = "CWILV14"
}

map MAP16
{
	levelname = "Pier Pressure"
	next = "MAP17"
	skytexture = "SKY2"
	music = "D_DEAD2"
	levelpic = "CWILV15"
}

map MAP17
{
	levelname = "Poster Boy of Mayhem"
	next = "MAP18"
	skytexture = "RSKY7"
	music = "D_STLKS3"
	levelpic = "CWILV16"
}

map MAP18
{
	levelname = "Mall Rats"
	next = "MAP19"
	skytexture = "RSKY7"
	music = "D_ROMERO"
	levelpic = "CWILV17"
}

map MAP19
{
	levelname = "Arch-Visland"
	next = "MAP20"
	skytexture = "RSKY4"
	music = "D_SHAWN2"
	levelpic = "CWILV18"
}

map MAP20
{
	levelname = "Ray of Hope"
	skytexture = "RSKY4"
	music = "D_MESSAG"
	levelpic = "CWILV19"
	endgame = true
	interbackdrop = "SAN"
	intermusic = "D_READ_M"
	intertext = "RAY EXITS THE REAR-END OF THE HORRIBLE",
	"BEAST AS IT EXPLODES INTO GORY CHUNKS.",
	"",
	"HE RETURNS TO JAPAN. THE FEW SURVIVORS",
	"VIEW HIM AS A HERO AND SAVIOR.",
	"",
	"RAY'S FINAL MISSION IS TO HELP THE",
	"REMAINING POPULACE BUILD A NEW SOCIETY,",
	"ONE MUCH CLEANER AND MORE PEACEFUL",
	"THAN THE ONE HE GREW UP IN.",
	"",
	"",
	"THE END! CONGRATULATIONS!"
}

 

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Doomy__Doom

[Monsieur E]

Map06- The Maw of Industry
98% kills; left two of the cybers alive plus with one revenant in a secret cabinet I didn't find 

Ray's quest comes to an end with this level and it's been a fun adventure. On the level itself, it's fun but again, dunno if I played bad but I found health to be lacking here too. The fights carry more heavyweights in the ring here and to compensate, there seems to be a sufficient supply of rockets. I was able to trivialize the archvile room and it was a help in the green marble arena, which was probably my favorite in the level. It was pretty fun and provided sufficient ammunition. The final room was fine I guess, like I mentioned I ran out of ammo to kill the final two cybers but the arena itself was serviceable, honestly a downer from the marble room. The aesthetics here with the mix of hell and metallic tech setting was a tad strange but looked good, plus the huge nukage ocean just outside must remind Ray of his mission as it nears its end.
 

Final Thoughts on Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday 

It's an enjoyable set all around, I do have a few qualms with it, mainly the occasional health and ammo famine but it was fun. Regarding that, I was, as the difficulty menu puts it, "Seeking Validition" so perhaps I did bring it upon myself :P. I didn't like the focus on techbases and stuff towards the end (in terms of aesthetics) but combat wise I'd say it got better. The MIDI selection was fun throughout. Although, what exactly happened towards the end in terms of the story? Did hell invade after nukage fucked up the planet, is it a metaphor for the evil of the UAC, is the icon the CEO, who knows! I liked playing through this set and I'm curious to see what RM2 offers. Guess I'll find out later today.

Now, rather than doing a top 5 or whatever, I'll just rank the levels 

6) Map03
5) Map04
4) Map01
3) Map05
2) Map06
1) Map02- Quick but high intensity combat (special shoutout to that berserk), the river valley design and that excellent MIDI rendition makes this my favorite :)

 

[Garlichead]

I am playing Ray Mohawk 2 blind. I will be playing on Seeking Validation (but may downgrade if it gets too crazy, per @Azure_Horror recomendation). Something to note, i am currently on level 10 but i will be posting my early observations as per the club rules.

 

Also, i managed to configure Virtual Midi Synth with the SC55 sound font and connect it to my speakers. This improves the music to much greater level (track 7 was incredible)

 

MAP01 - “Back Ashore!” by Doomkid 97 Kills / 93 Items / 66 Secrets. 
15:51

First level and you are already facing 297 monsters. Many things have changed from the first episode to this one,  Doomkid is no longer the sole level designer, the amount of dehacked worked has increased a lot both with custom monster as with a new bunch of weapons to torture your enemies.

As you begin your journey on a beach resort of sorts, you will notice your improved handgun. Probably the most powerful ever on a well known mod. Most weapons have been modified and they allow you to deal huge amount of damaged to the hordes of enemies that are after your skin.

Shortly after starting you will encounter the first new enemies. Some of them are re skinned existing ones, such as the goat men, the hoola imps from the first episode, and revenants (with a new missile sprite), and there area a couple of new ones such as the flame thrower wielding alien soldiers.

The beach fortress in which the level starts, this will be a recurrent design on the wad.

I died a couple of times on this level. Since your firepower is greatly increased it is easy to get careless assuming you can overcome any enemy encounter. They still hit hard, and the number of projectiles can mess you up. Also, your new toys can run out of ammo if you are not careful, luckily you can get a berserk pack and heretic gloves (they replace the chainsaw) that let you one hit many of the roster. The new combat dynamics reminds me a bit of the shmups genre, in which your ship is very powerful but one bad hit can still kill you, positioning is key.

Overall this is a great opener. It shows up the new dynamics for the sequel and it gets your adrenaline pumping of what lies ahead.

[Rujasu]

MAP01: Back Ashore!

Success: No

 

Ray Mohawk 2 starts with the familiar theme of mowing down hordes of enemies with an even more OP pistol this time. The intensity has been cranked way up from RM1, which bodes ill or well depending on your own tastes, and there's also noticeably more dehacked stuff running around. This one also really made me wonder what even triggered that enemy wave repopulating the first area, but more things to shoot at isn't exactly a bad thing in Doom. I turned my brain off and ran into a dead end after the tunnel, so no map completion for me this time.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rujasu
Changed "map 1" to RM1

[LadyMistDragon]

(I was a little tired yesterday, so that's why there was no attempt to summarize anything. It was an awesome ending map though! Now, let's see what lies in store for us in Ray Mohawk 2!)

 

Map 01: Back Ashore

by @Doomkid

 

Right away, we realize at least one thing that will be in store for us besides TV music-sounding music that certainly sounds ripped from the 70s and 80s: the pistol! This baby's firepower is absolutely unreal! The design seems to draw inspiration from the Duke Nukem pistol but the sheer force exerted (aided by the beefier shot SFX) behind each shot is enough to give middleweight enemies pause on impact! The shotgun is also speeded up but it's a noticeably slower weapon than the pistol and burning through shells is quite easy to do here so you'll definitely want to lean on the pistol a fair bit; that is until you find the gauntlets! Blatantly ripped from Heretic but given a different visual animation and probably operating at 3 times the speed, this probably lacks the sheer force of the berserk-enhanced fists but makes up for it in speed. Speaking of, idk if there's a berserk pack here because I only found 2 secrets.

 

Anyways, after leaving the Doomcute wood dock with a playing card desk in the middle for some reason (um, aren't those normally indoors?) you enter into the port facilities and are greeted with a fury far more intense than that of the original Ray Mohawk. Some of that are the custom enemies. It's a little bit of a waste of time to break down all the hitscanners, but safe to say there's no chaingunner equivalent on this map. What you will find are the blue suits, the red suits, and this Duke Nukem look-alike wearing a yellow cape and seemingly replacing SS. They aren't necessarily so threatening, but their appearance immediately draws the eye. Not to mention, there are those beasties with that one variant that drops a bomb that goes off when they die that..might fulfill the same function (there are just so many new enemies here, it's kind of hard to keep track when there are some with the same function.

 

The best thing to do here is basically to keep running while firing. You'll eventually run into stronger weaponry because you might find this area starts to drain your patience as well as your ammo. Eventually you'll climb onto the second floor and find yourself forced to contend with recolored noble variants that mostly just annoy you at this stage. You'll want to pick up the armor and Supercharge obviously, because things will only get more difficult from here. At som,point, you'll come across rooms that also reference areas from the first map of Ray Mohawk. Although for some reason, you see the exact same poster of that same Morbid Angel album, as if Cannibal Corpse and Obituary weren't also putting out groundbreaking stuff at the same time, but I digress.

 

So we get the RK eventually, use it on an appropriate door and be greeted by a deadly and strategic cavalcade of Imps and Revenants in the center and hitscanners on the right that rip up our faces with their incessant fire. Forgetting we have the gauntlets, we take some unncessary damage. From here, we travel through a drain with some enemies that we don't necessarily notice (we're too used to fake-wall hitscanner bullshit to really notice) emerge into a massive flooded area with surrounding cliffs and stumble around confused for a bit before getting murdered by...hitscanners I believe. Rewinding here was probably unncessary, as this is the first map and the exit was just down in a cave somewhere, but I was sloppy and it only made sense.

 

I was a little surprised to see Doomkid had done this map as it's a good deal more ambitious than what I'm used to from him. I know he's not so confident in his design abilities so seeing something like this was quite a pleasant surprise. While fairly linear, it's definitely far more adventurous than what he's usually known for. Great start!

lmd_mohawk2_01.zip

[KickAss]

map01 - Back Ashore! - by Doomkid, GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), -skill 4 (UV), Pistol start

• Kill    95%
• Item  84%
• Scrt  33%

time 16:26

Simple map with wide open areas. I have played this map before with skill setting 3 so go for the shotgun guys at the very end on the left hand of the first wide open area when you enter there. You'll need the shotgun from one of them. Imho there where more monsters in skill 3 then in skill 4 on this map but this could be an illusion. You have to deal with an Arch-Vile and some Barons behind the first red-key-locked door but with a shotgun they are no problem and you can pass through a hallway on your right hand beyond the red door to the second wide open area which is also easy to clean out if you sneak careful in. There is a button on the right side that you have to push and the exit of this level in the left half of this area.

 

My vanilla run (-skill 3) is stuck at map12 - "Beautiful Clean Coal" by Doomkid at the moment. The bleached Cyberdemon in the left corner in the front of the entry way or hordes of monsters are keep killing me ... .

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by KickAss

[finnks13]

MAP06 - The Maw of Industry:

9:34/1 Death
Ray Mowhawk 1 ends with a longer, more challenging map - this is evident from the very beginning where a perched archvile watches over the courtyard where you'll battle a mass of zombies and imps. More than any other map in the set, finding secrets will make your life significantly easier here - there's a secret SSG and plasma gun right at the start and a secret BFG in the western section of the map. The visuals become a bit more demonic here, but a lot of the map is coated in dark metal which helps to make the atmosphere of the map more sinister (I mean, we've still got cheesy 80's rock MIDIs in the background and a lovely bright blue sky but that's not the point!)

 

After getting both keys, you'll emerge into a marble arena filled with a bunch of monsters on pedestals and your level, but it's not too challenging to rocket through if you're willing to be bold. Completing this will transport you to the final battle - four perched cyberdemons and a few other monsters ready to wreck your day. If you take the teleporter out of the room, you'll land on a non-secret secret invulnerability, which helps tremendously in taking the cybers out. There's not enough cells to kill all of them, so I had to chaingun a couple of the cyberdemons to death, but's not the end of the world. It's a fun finale, and the ending text is suitably dumb.

 

Overall Thoughts on Ray Mowhawk's Manic Monday:
I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, but this wad's fantastic. It's a bit one-note during the first three maps, since they play similarly to each other, but I still really liked these chaingun on zombie slaughters and the berserked knife is really fun to use. The pistol replacement didn't get much use from me outside of Map04, but it's a fun weapon to use against the enemies that generally pop up here. The tongue-in-cheek themeing and design of the mapset gave it a fun, laid-back feel and the low difficulty fit this. I think this would be an excellent set of maps for a newcomer to Doom to blast through, and I'd certainly recommend it to people.

 

Best Maps:

Map05 - Big Room with Baddies

Map06 - The Maw of Industry

 

~~

Might get around to starting Ray Mowhawk 2 tonight, guess you'll see me in a couple of hours if so :P

[Azure_Horror]

Ray Mohawk’s Manic Monday: What the heck happened?

 

On that fateful Monday, Ray Mohawk was not the only one, who had questions about UAC Nukage (tm) operation in the area. Especially after the UAC operation went completely out of control and unleashed Evil possessions and monster outbreaks.

 

General Kawasaki took charge of Military response to the sudden crisis. Soldiers under his command were tasked with evacuation of surviving civilians and stopping the ongoing outbreak. Evacuation was successful, given the circumstances. But the army had hard time reaching the heart of the outbreak.

Where the army failed, Ray Mohawk had succeeded. He was able to reach the heart of corrupted industrial complex and curtail the ongoing catastrophe. Thus, unwittingly, Ray completed the Military's mission. Gen. Kawasaki acknowledged Ray's heroic efforts and awarded him Medal of Courage.

 

One year later, Ray receives an official assignment. He is asked to return to his old homeland and reclaim it from the monsters, so that the evacuees can return. After a year of rigorous military training, Ray Mohawk is a literal one man army, able to use the most advanced and destructive weapons to their fullest potential. Now acting in a semi-official capacity, Ray goes on a new mission against the monsters who destroyed his homeland.

 

RAY MOHAWK 2: Ray Wreaks Havoc!

 

I will be playing the WAD on Seeking Validation. I beta-tetsted all of the hardest maps for this project.

I know, what nonsense to expect.

(Hint - there is some map 32 nonsense. No, Ray 2 doesn't have map 32. But it has a very particular map 32 nonsense. Stay tuned.)

 

 

MAP01 - “Back Ashore!” (by Doomkid)

Dsda-doom, SV-max, Pistol start.

 

Everyone, who played Ray Mohawk’s Manic Monday, appreciates the berserker knife, which can two-shot archviles.

But what if every single weapon was buffed just as much?

Welcome to Ray Mohawk 2, where the normal shotgun is more powerful than Doom2 SSG!

 

“Back Ashore!” is made to teach the player about the basic rules of the WAD.

- The weapons are super-strong.

- But defensive options are pretty much the same as in Doom2.

- Ray can defeat a horde of enemies rather quickly.

- That means that enemy hordes can appear pretty casually.

 

My playthroughs of “Back Ashore!” often look as follows:

Stage 1 – Woohoo, I am unstoppable!

Stage 2 – Ouch. Turns out, the damage can accumulate pretty quickly...

Stage 3 – I got the hand of this!

Stage 4 – Oh no, that's an archvile – never mind, he is dead already.

Stage 5 – Beating the rest of the map.

 

The first half of the map is pretty fun, not gonna lie. But I really love the gameplay after the red door part, especially the final showdown. It is very cool to see projectiles fly from every direction, while being able to shoot back. That said, shooting is not really necessary to beat the final arena. A fun exercise – get to the final battle with 200/200 and try to use electro gauntlets to kill as many demons as you can. It is surprisingly fun challenge, even with all the blockmap bugs and arachnotrons.

 

“Back Ashore!” is a fun introductory map. On its own, it not very special. But it is very good at establishing the gameplay basics for the WAD.

 

10 hours ago, Roofi said:

I honestly think this map was a bit too ambitious for its own good. I took at least 20 minutes to complete in my first try whereas the next map only last 5-10 minutes. Some areas were well designed like the dock where you begin or the large corridors full of imps but the pond near the end was dull. Lots of monsters are spread over the cliffs and killing them takes more time than it should in a first map.

To be fair, some maps 01 are pretty long. And the whole final cliff area can be beaten in less than 2 minutes.

 

But now when you mention it, I think it would have been good to split map 01 into two separate maps.

Map 1a - from the start to the red door.

Map 1b - from the red door to the end.

Those two halves have pretty distinct gameplay, and their physical separation could have neen done rather easily.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[Silhouette 03]

It's time for the sequel! This time, Ray must help the rebuilding of civilization and reclamation of cities by reclaiming Ray's home from the mutants and demonic forces. Let's wreak Havok!

 

Map01- Back Ashore!- GZDoom-Pistol starts- Seeking validation

Doomkid may have gone overboard with the arsenal and I love it.

 

A really, really promising opening that allows the player to come to grips with the arsenal, namely the pistol and shotgun ( I couldn't get to the chaingun replacement), both of which have new sprites. The pistol absolutely decimates monsters, as does the shotgun. Doomkid cleverly lets the player has the player use the pistol for a longer period of time, letting the player see the damage output and rely on it for the vast majority of the map, even after they acquire the shotgun.

 

You can also carry more ammo now, with the pistol and shotgun carry up to 150 bullets and shells. It may seem overpowered, but Doomkid manages to balance it out with some difficult encounters that demand the player make use of both weapons. It's very clever design.

 

I really liked this map. It's a great opening to what appears to be a promising new wad by Doomkid et al.

 

kills: 99%

Secrets: 100% 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Silent Wolf

[Alaxzandarz]

I'm playing on Seeking Validation with pistol starts on Crispy Doom.

 

Map 06: The Maw of Industry

 

Nice simple last map. The first secret is a bit overkill and the last fight feels hyperbolic compared to the rest of the wad. Otherwise it's the same stuff as the previous levels. I do wish it was a bit longer, it's on the shorter side of the set. The final fight does feel climatic and the ending sequence where you walk to IoS's mouth is nice.

 

I really like the set overall. It's short, punchy and can be played through in an hour. I feel this kind of sets are a bit underrated.

 

brb gonna go play the first map in the sequel

[tonytheparrot]

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

Map 1: Back Ashore! by Adam "Doomkid" Post

100% kills, 93% items, 100% secrets

Time: 9:32

 

Back Ashore! sees Ray coming back to his hometown, ready to restart the fight against the demons inhabiting it. This time however, he is much better equipped, arriving with his knife but also with a faster pistol that shoots 7 bullets at once. During the level, he will also be able to find a shotgun which shoots 20 pellets at a time and gauntlets that are 4 times faster than the vanilla chainsaw! Unfortunately for them, the enemies are not ready for the ass-kicking awaiting them, not even the upgraded caco (shoots baron projectiles) or the new sylor, (uses a flamethrower attack followed by 3 imp fireballs) stand a chance. About the level itself, it is one of my favorite megawad openers and probably my favorite one from Doomkid. Despite introducing everything you need to know about the wad and being generally very open, it contains pretty tough encounters for an opener such as the red key area with the snipers and big walls of meat. Also, the map is bursting with cute details such as the enemies playing cards, the presence of bedrooms, TVs or fridges inside of the buildings or the return of the posters (including the Zappa one of course!). The cherry on top is the midi, which is probably my favorite Zappa midi at the time I am writing this (even if it's been stuck inside my head for a week pls help). Back Ashore is such a good opener: it's a joy to play, it's pretty, it's cute, it introduces everything you need to know and it's midi is exciting.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 1

 

[Monsieur E]

Onto Ray Mohawk 2: Ray Wreaks Havoc! As last time, I'll be playing on UV (Seeking Validation), pistol starting, will be using saves and generally going for a 100% kills or close. This is my first time playing RM2. 

Map01- Back Ashore by Doom
100% kills

Doomkid hits homerun on Map01, despite being an opener, it is very engaging and has a bunch of enjoyable encounters. However, what truly brings this level up is our Mohawked hero's new arsenal. The pistol despite being a starter weapon is straight up great, it feels like an absolute joy to use. Likewise with the shotgun (which consumes two shells so do I call it the super shotgun or what :p), it is a machine that just kicks ass. The gauntlets are a great chainsaw replacement but I don't like using the chainsaw either way so eh, not my cup of tea. My biggest surprise was the berserk pack, it's extremely powerful and coupled with the faster knife, I was appreciative of its power; infact, I was pleasantly surprised that I could absolutely crush the archvile with it. All of this did make me think that the opposition might be a trivialized but no, the combat here was enjoyable but never a pushover, infact it got me a couple of times and I'd wager to say it was more difficult than some of RM1's maps. The visuals are great, it captures that cool tropical vibe again with the doomcute seaside locale although I have to say, the retextured hell nobles were an eyesore, maybe due to the contrast with the bright blue sky but I didn't like looking at them a whole lot. Besides that, this level was amazing and have raised my expectations suitably, excited to see what's in store. 

[cannonball]

MAP01 - “Back Ashore!” by Doomkid

 

Wow that is the most bad ass pistol I have ever seen brandished in Doom. 

This map is already bigger and badder than anything that came from RM1 - yet despite the changes from the solo effort, everything still felt well balanced with a mix of classic visuals, doomcute and some quite neat open areas. The introduction of the mid tiers helps a lot, they are obviously less irritating to kill with the pistol/shotgun because of the weapon upgrades, but of course they still carry far more powerful attacks than your fodder types. The only part I wasn't keen on were the monsters inside those circular waterfalls, they can be a little obnoxious. A small blip on what is a fine opener and is as good as the best maps from RM1.

[RED77]

MAP01 - “Back Ashore!” by Doomkid

Playing the other set of maps I felt a strange bit of familiarity but now I know why.
I played this sequel before. So, let's get to the business.

This map It's a very demanding first map.

Some new monsters are introduced and a pistol that's way better than the shotgun so far.
I like this one, but I'm afraid going forward that this maps will be way too difficult for me. I'll give my best try tho.
★★★★☆
 

[Alaxzandarz]

I played quite a bit of an older version of Ray Mohawk 2 and I have been meaning to replay the set and finish it for a long time. Super fun set for what maps I have played.

 

I'm playing on Seeking Validation with pistol starts on Crispy Doom.

 

Map 01: Back Ashore!

 

A fun map with quite a bit meat on it's bones. The start is very charming with the monsters being too focused on their card game to notice your presence. The pistol is a super fast shotgun, really fun to use to demolish weak enemies. The shotgun somehow feels less satisfying than the pistol, but is still nice. Berserk is again very strong. Tysoning maps in this set should be fun. The new fire bug enemy is a cool addition.

 

The map has quite a few distinct areas and there's a nice feeling of progression. The map throws many high tier enemies at you, which shows the power of the new weapons very well. The small appartements, with the posters and Doomcute interiors sorta grounds the maps and are really nice on their own. I like them a lot. The final fight is in a more open area and has more enemies, ends the level quite well. A truly fun map and a really good opening map.

[Magnusblitz]

Wasn't sure if I was gonna play in August but I'd be remiss if I missed the 10th anniversary! (Or Doomkid's 30th for that matter)

 

Ray Mohawk

MAP01: House by the Bay -- 100% kills, 2/3 secrets

MAP02: The Bridge -- 100% kills, 3/3 secrets

MAP03: We Love Pollution -- 100% kills, 1/2 secrets

MAP04: Little Oasis -- 100% kills, 2/2 secrets

MAP05: Big Room with Baddies -- 100% kills, 1/2 secrets

MAP06: The Maw of Industry -- 94% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

Just gonna be one review for the whole set, as it's a short one (blasted through it in 2 sittings) and the levels are somewhat similar (same author and all). Right off the bat, it's pretty clear this is not meant as a magnum opus, or to be taken seriously - just a fun little 90s-style mapset to blast through. At least, I think that's what the imps in hula skirts were trying to tell me.

 

And this WAD definitely feels very 1994, in several respects... the layout style, cheesy sprite replacements, Engrish-style ending text, Top 40 soundtrack, etc. The first map is a shore-side take on a city map, with the player able to roam freely between free-standing structures, while the rest are techbases (the last being a bit more hellish). The base game textures don't quite mesh for me with the sprite replacements, or how they're used (such as the marble in the first level), but I think that's also part of the 1994 aesthetic, making do with what you got.

 

I pistol-started (well, rifle-started) each map, and I will say that the start of map got a bit old. The rifle is certainly an improvement over the pistol, but the maps are VERY zombie-hitscanner heavy (there's even an SS replacement to round out the group) and plinking away at them got a bit rote after awhile. Once the chaingun on each map is found, things speed up a bit. Not much shotgun use, funny enough - the bullets are just so much more useful for taking out the hordes of low-hp enemies, and I actually ended up using the knife on the bigger enemies quite often, thanks to its speed/damage upgrade. Rooms are pretty big, so its a lot of room-clearing without much interest to the combat. The third map has a rocket launcher, which is fun to splatter the hordes with. There's only a handful of higher-tier monsters per map until the last one, so not much deviation here. Later on, Doomkid starts using the "monsters suddenly teleport behind you" gimmick, and it actually started being repeated a bit much for my taste, sapping it of its surprise. There is still occasionally some cheeky placement though - for example, upon opening the red door in MAP05, several chaingunners teleport right behind you, but one teleports onto the ledge above you far away, and you probably won't notice until he takes a few chunks out.

 

The final map ends on a quadruple cyberdemon encounter that plays quite strangely... thankfully, you can bumble your way into an invuln sphere, but even then, it doesn't last long enough to actually fight them. I eventually figured out the switches and ended up just high-tailing it, hence the lack of 100% kills (something it seems a LOT of others did too). The IoS was similarly confusing, but I was happy enough when the map ended. All in all somewhat of a bizarre ending to what had been a pretty standard, unassuming set until then.

 

Summing things up... its ok? Granted, it's not my preferred style - I can appreciate mid-90s stuff for what it is and forming the foundation for what we have today, but it's not something I typically enjoy actually playing. If you're just looking for something simple to blast through in an afternoon, though, that's what this mapset aims to do and I think succeeds (with the possible exception of the ending).

 

 

[Magnusblitz]

Ray Mohawk 2

 

MAP01: Back Ashore! by Doomkid

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

Holy hell, nearly 300 monsters on UV/"Seeking Validation"... but you'll kill 200 of them before you open up the red door, in the first major area. The souped-up arsenal really makes a difference here. Instead of a rifle replacement (aka a faster pistol), the pistol feels basically like the vanilla single shotgun, except faster too. You can easily use it to take out mid-tier enemies like cacos and hell knights. The shotgun is basically the super shotgun; the textfile says it fires 20 pellets instead of 7 but I'd say it feels a little weaker than the vanilla super shotty as I routinely needed 3 shots instead of 2 to kill revenants. Faster though too. Those two weapons alone making blasting through all the hellspawn quite fun, something much improved upon what I felt was a bit boring in the first WAD. The larger ammo amounts are also much welcomed, as this isn't the sort of gameplay that wants you scrounging for ammo. Monster-wise, there's also more sprite recolors, with lots of fun colors, and some new enemies, which I think actually helps make everything feel more cohesive as well.

 

As for the level itself, there's one big large area with about two-thirds of the monsters, followed by some apartment-busting, then another large area with plenty of snipers along the walls. Each area feels distinct and provides some variance in approach. I do think things peter out a bit near the end (as the far-off enemies aren't as easy to deal with these weapons), but it's a minor complaint. A good opener.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Magnusblitz

[Capellan]

 

[Roofi]

MAP02: Ossuary of the Hula Imps

 

 

"Ossuary of the Hula Imps" is the first map from the Ray Mohawk series which had not been created by Doomkid. MidnightMage makes us explore a strange egyptian ossuary among tropical islands. I suppose it had been constructed by aliens or demons.

 

Map 02 is a lot shorter and more compact than the first map but beware of the arch-viles sneaking in the darkness. They caused me some trouble the first time I played this map but you can trick them with stairs since they can't cross some of them. Also, RM2 is maybe the only wad where the pistol prove to be more useful than the shotgun. Actually, I use the simple shotgun for the weaker enemies. The pistol can easily stun arch-viles thanks to its strenght and its firerate. The exit was pretty brutal, it's the real difficulty spike of this map.

 

I really like the outdoor designs of this map but the interiors of the ossuary felt more bland due to the darkness and the few texture variety. In any case the music makes me feel good as usual. It turns the discovery of a gloomy monument into a magical moment.

 

Grade : B

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Roofi

[Dersulbob]

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

 

RAY MOHAWK 2 - Ray Wreaks Havoc

 

MAP01 - Back Ashore!

 

Back to the beach/island theme, which I'm a big fan of - hope it sticks as around a bit longer this time.

 

The map in general was fun, I like the open nature of it, lots of space to move around to dodge the several projectiles which may be flying at you at any one time, given the large number of enemies.

 

There are a lot of enemies in this one, including a new enemy, which I like, and some colour changes for existing enemies which I'm not a huge fan of. Whereas the Hula Imp is a tongue in cheek alteration which also adds to the island theme, the colour changes for the Baron and Hell Knights seem fairly pointless and I think they look a bit... I don't know, cheaper? It's only an aesthetic thing but I don't know, it irks me.

 

Also, whilst I am a fan of the new weapons, I am not a fan of them being re-positioned on the screen over to the right-hand side rather than being more central. I'm struggling to aim properly as a result, which will take a lot of getting used to.

 

I won't count that as an issue with this map though, it may result in an overall reduction in the final grade of the megaWAD if I can't get over it, but not for this map.

 

The design of this map is great, it feels a lot more intense than Ray Mohawk 1 already and I'm excited to see where it goes next.

 

Grade - B+

 

MAP02 - Ossuary of the Hula Imps

 

A bit different with an Egyptian ruin theme.

 

Again, lots of enemies but this time in a much more compact map. There's still a lot of room to move around in the main central courtyard area but things can get a bit cramped in the surrounding hallways. I struggled quite a bit just due to the sheer number of enemies (and this is only MAP02!)

 

No additional enemies or weapons in this one but I was able to make use of the Berserk pack in this level, which is just as fun to use in this megaWAD as it was in the last. I do think I'll need a weapon capable of wiping out more enemies at once though if this is how the set is going to continue.

 

The final room was a struggle, Berserk did the trick in the end but it took a couple of attempts to get through without dying.

 

Not quite as enjoyable as the first map, nor as visually distinctive, but still a solid level overall.

 

Grade - B

[Silhouette 03]

Map02- Ossuary of the hula imps-MidnightMage

 

Hula imps are now a thing, apparently.

 

There's a bit of a difficulty curve here, which is understandable, since the difficulty and maps need to accommodate the powerful arsenal at the player's disposal. The final red key door fight in particular is rather brutal, yet satisfying to overcome, since you'll be mostly using the pistol and shotgun.

 

I forgot to mention in my last post  about a new enemy and weapon. The gauntlets , which replace the chainsaw, are basically the gauntlets from Heretic, except faster and more lethal. They're also much more fun to use, since you can kill small hordes of low tier enemies without taking too much damage, if any at all. There's also a new enemy introduced in the preceding map that fires a flame projectile, then smaller projectiles.

 

 Similar to the previous map, I really like how open the layout is and allows for free-flowing player movement, and contributes nicely to the overall flow of the map. Another map That I really, really liked.

 

Kills: 98%

Secrets: 0%   

[finnks13]

It's time for Ray Mowhawk 2! I've played this fairly recently, so this isn't going to be first impressions. As with Ray Mowhawk 1, I'm playing using dsdadoom v0.24.3, on Seeking Validation from a pistol start.

 

MAP01 - Back Ashore! by Doomkid:

10:40/1 Death
There's a lot to go over here. The obvious change is the new aesthetic Ray Mowhawk 2 has. Rowdy Rudy has a plutonic look, Jamal Jones has the HD vanilla feel and Ray Mowhawk completes the Doomkid Cinematic Universe with this Freedoom style and I think this more scrappy, cartoony artstyle fits the character much better than the stock textures used in Ray Mowhawk 1. This map is set in a port, with Ray jumping off a ship, interrupting a poker game and going to decimate the demonic hordes.

 

The weapon selection in this wad is absolutely bananas. The pistol fires shotgun shots, and the single shotgun now functions as a pump-action SSG. To combat this absurdly overpowered arsenal, the quantity of enemies Ray Mowhawk 2 throws at you is pretty ridiculous from the beginning. It doesn't feel overwhelming (yet...) and more enemies are debuted in the opening map than in the first four maps of Ray Mowhawk 1. Doomkid keeps the ambushes fairly doable, but unlike MAP01 of Ray Mowhawk 1, it's not a complete cakewalk - you have to have your wits about you since there's some mean little traps in this level.

 

The one new enemy (I'm not counting the reskinned Wolfenstein SS) is the "Sylor" and it throws fire projectiles at you and takes 2 SSG shots to kill. It's a tough enemy to fight, but it's not used in a very mean way here. The hardest bit of the level is the ending when you emerge from a drain to a small bay with monsters perched up on the cliff surrounding you. The many arachnotrons on your level will block and pepper you with plasma fire, making this a tough section to clear. This map shows that Ray Mowhawk 2 is a different beast from it's predecessor, it's bigger, badder and meaner - the only thing that's disappointing is the intermission screen isn't as funny as last time, though Ringside is still pretty funny.

 

MAP02 - Ossuary of the Hula Imps by MidnightMage:

6:13/0 Deaths
An easier jaunt than the opener, Ossuary of the Hula Imps serves a good demonstration for just how many imps need to be thrown at the player to be even a small threat due to how OP the weapon arsenal is here. It's a little temple set in a series of caves that are filled to the brim with imps and zombies. The keys are trapped with some revenants and archviles that do a good job of resurrecting all the imps and starting a massive fight again (I ended the map with 135% kills cause I missed one of these guys!)

 

I have no idea how to get to the secret so I missed some monsters here, but I didn't really need whatever goodies were kept inside it as the map keeps you pretty well supplied on health and armour. The final battle against 8 revenants and 2 archviles is great fun to tackle with berserk which is just as ridiculous as in the first Ray Mowhawk. I don't like it quite as much as Map01, but it's still a fun map to play and the freeform layout makes replaying the map more interesting than normal.

[Garlichead]

MAP02 - “Ossuary of the Hula Imps” by MidnightMage 115 Kills / 91 Items / 0 Secrets. 
08:37

First map done by one of Doomkid collaborators.

This time we are liberating an Egyptian theme ruin next to the beach. I found this stage much easier that the first one.

The level your opposition consist mostly of imps, demons and low level hit-scanners letting you relax while destroying hundres of enemies.

On the second half of the map several monster closets open up to unleash some archviles to have fun with the freshly served corpses. I got really lucky as the medic got stuck trying to revive the same zombie over and over again.

Some of the new egiptian textures

There is a very nasty ambush near the end consisting of a buch of revenants and two archviles which forced me to retreat to heal while trying to ambush them on the ruins.

Pretty good action packed map!

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 02: Ossuary of the Hula Imps

by @MidnightMage

 

Starting next to a fountain area, it's easy to miss the gauntlets which are directly behind you. Not to worry, there's a berserk pack that's quite hard to miss inside this little Egyptian tomb that just happens to be adjacent to your hometown. Yeah, I don't get it either. So this is sort of an example of how remarkably different this is from vanilla Doom because I'd have never guessed this was a Midnight Mage map, beyond the Arch-vile usage maybe. Since there are many Imps and Cacodemons behind you, you probably won't want to stay around here long. Imps and hitscanners are surrounding you on both sides when you enter the temple, funneling you toward a shotgun straight ahead of you that unleashes some pinkies that the nearby berserk would better prepare you for. Talking too much here would be pointless. Just more monster hordes everywhere, though the flamethrowers guys behind the yellow door were a surprise not quite anticipated. The conflagration of Revenants and Arch-viles near the end proved to be as nasty as you'd expect but charging forward with the gauntlets while they were just bumbling around proved to be super-effective! The bit after the RK was probably the nastiest of the whole map to be honest. A troublesome Revenant made getting at the Arch-vile here more difficult than you might realize. Much remaining ammo ended up expended here, possibly more than should have been.

 

 

lmd_mohawk2_02.zip

[Rujasu]

MAP02: Ossuary of the Hula Imps

Success: Yes

 

A bit of an Egyptian theme here, and a guest author which is noticeable by the cacodemons apparently not being able to enter the map proper. I just ignored them after getting the shotgun sitting by the fence. Heavy use of surprise archvile entering the place you just painted red, but the "pistol" helps with them. The archvile in front of the red key door felt a little impotent because it refused to move much in contrast to the revenants, which also made the last one behind the door very superfluous. Nice map overall though.

[Doomy__Doom]

MAP02 - Ossuary of the Hula Imps

 

A relatively straightforward fodder-gunning affair with more and more walls opening up as you progress. If you didn't happen to hump a certain candelabra-marked wall, then at some point (upon obtaining RK I believe) it will lower, removing your one and only clue to obtain the secret and 3 final kills, as no sane person would go around humping random linedefs on ground level.

 

Combat-wise, it's not difficult, outside of mishandling the Rev/Vile horde at the end you'll be fine as long as you prioritize hitscanners. I had 2 green armors to spare before the red door. For now, no doubt due to enemy composition, I've found the not!pistol to be more useful as a default weapon to have out over the not!ssg.

 

Not sure what's the point of gauntlets at this stage between easy to obtain berserk, imp crowds and -cl2 chainsaw melee still being jank and forcing the player in weird positions/camera turns. Also not a massive fan of knife being unselectable if I have gauntlets but no berserk.

[KickAss]

(-warp 2)map02 - "Ossuary of the Hula Imps" by MidnightMage, GZDooM 4.7.1, doom2.wad (ver1.666), -skill 4 (UV), Pistol start

 

• Kill   98%
• Item 89%
• Scrt   0%

time 8:09

 

Get upstairs to the side of the red door and clean out all enemys. Get the red key and make your way straight to the exit. Have fun and enjoy!

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by KickAss