Book Lord Posted February 9, 2023 (edited) Number One Kill: The Next Generation MAP 01 – Entryway DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves Entryway, seriously? The few megaWADs that dared use this name for MAP01 were a re-imagining of the OG Doom II, something Number One Kill The Next Generation did not aspire to be. The author obviously did not rely on level names or on the visuals in the starting room to impress the new player, or he would have chosen something different from brown stone. In any case, the split-in-two door from Number One Kill was back to cheer everybody up, and to inaugurate the hostilities in a courtyard full of Imps and hitscanners. The opener was a shotgun affair like his Doom counterpart in the series, except that combat and aggression appeared immediately on a higher level. The Revenants in the sealed room could easily shoot a homing rocket that followed the player upstairs, and the Cacodemon & Pain Elemental entrance from the window in the western wing was a good ambush. The RSK was used to access the eastern chamber where some Hell Knights teleported in and could be ignored, if desired. The mysterious gargoyle switch opened a secret compartment leading to the western courtyard and to all secrets of the map. Once the Revenant chamber and the zombies behind the second split door lay dead, the map was over. Spoiler Wait a minute: 100% secrets, but only 42% kills? There must be something else left to uncover, even more hidden than secrets. The guiding principle of the megaWAD is #1: Kill, so I could not accept such a low performance in that department. Behind unmarked walls and transparent doors, I found ammo, the SSG, and a Mancubus guarding an alternative exit door, leading to a teleporter. The destination was packed with resources: a second SSG, a rocket launcher with adequate ammo, and a Berserk pack; things suddenly got interesting, and the absence of a return path was an ominous discovery. Spoiler The room beyond the door represented The Next Generation’s baptism of fire. Not only it introduced the Star Trek insignia, subtly hinted in the first episode and prominently featured in the sequel, but it put an unprecedented pressure on the player with groups of monsters organised in a lethal fashion. If the first wave could be countered by camping the door, the groups that were released after approaching the YSK pillar and then pressing the switch could not be taken lightly. The pulse-rate was kept high in the following marble colonnade, showing monsters behind crystal walls with a trick stolen from the Casali brothers. Spoiler The BSK was obtained after freeing the Arch-Vile and the Barons, that must be engaged in a battle between the columns. The area beyond the blue door was terribly punishing to the blind player: making any noise alerted a death squad composed by nine Hell Knights and two Arch-Viles, which were added to the existing monsters. They will likely overwhelm the player before he finds his bearings and realises how to reach the final prize, the Megasphere, or how to escape from the troublesome situation. Playing this encounter with foreknowledge was entertaining instead, as I already formed a strategy in my mind, and it was reliable. Entryway was like two maps in one: a quick and shotgun-heavy standard opener, and a hidden part aimed at maxers and continuous players, which was more attractive and challenging than the regular level. This duality might explain why Angelo Jefferson wrote that there were 23 new maps in this megaWAD, considering that he filled only 22 slots. Investing so much effort in an optional section is not something that happens nowadays, and this fact alone makes this MAP01 a memorable experience. Edited February 9, 2023 by Book Lord 8 Quote Share this post Link to post
brick Posted February 9, 2023 (edited) I've got some catching up to do. GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves. #1 Kill E2M6 The starting room symbols immediately reminded me of The Spirit World, so I didn't have much trouble finding both secrets. I might be in the minority but I liked the 3D maze, it's short, didn't overstay its welcome, and is actually quite easy to navigate. The part of it I didn't like was the caged walkways and being chipped away by all the zombies, I lost more health going through this part than all the previous maps combined. And yes, I too missed the backside switch, but recrossing the maze was painless since I had already explored it and cleared that final area (though the closets spiced it up a bit). The blue key right outside the door is pointless, but it didn't bother me so much. Getting the yellow key was straightforward, but the section behind the yellow door was more interesting. The lifts that drop down are another Doom II wink, this time The Waste Tunnels, and I admit the first took me by a surprise and I got scratched by one of the imps. The secret near there is too obvious but is nice to have. The path to the red key is easy, the ambushes on the way back were cramped but enjoyable. I like the series of fast-opening sensor doors on the way out. The exit room puzzled me a bit, I could see the enemies "take the exit" but I still got 100% kills, though it made sense once I looked in an editor. I thought it was a good level with a good mix of homages and creativity, and I enjoyed the maze and all the other gimmicks. #1 Kill E2M7 This is the longest and most involved level, with the largest number of enemies (almost 200 even on HNTR). It also continues the amalgamation of iwad homages, except there are so many here that I eventually lost count. Let's see if I can remember them all... the blood lake from Limbo, the series of crushers from Containment Area (and even the secret from the side of one of the crushers), the courtyard and caves behind a lift from Bloodfalls, zombies shooting at you from behind marbface then teleporting as in Hell Beneath, the hall of organic false walls from Spirit World, and I'm sure I forgot a couple more. Speaking of Bloodfalls homage, I liked the look of that Supercharge suspended high in the air, though oddly the S1 to bring it down didn't work reliably and made me wonder if there was something more complex to it. There's a light amp in the flashing maze, which lasted for almost all of it, but if this is only there on HNTR I can see how navigating this would become physically painful eventually. I liked the way most of the teleport ambushes let enemies trickle in, sometimes in different parts of the map, and I had to keep listening to make sure I wasn't suddenly ambushed by a half dozen imps that had managed to sneak behind me. I think this is the first BFG in the entire episode, finally, though by the time I got it there wasn't much left to use it against, but I guess it'll be a godsend in the next map. I liked this one, but I can see how elements would be annoying for some, especially magnified on UV. Edited February 9, 2023 by brick 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Helm Posted February 9, 2023 DSDA-Doom, pistol start, blind run w/saves, complevel 21KILL TNG MAP01 Wh.. what's going on? Why is there a whole separate level inside this level? We start of with more udoom feel, single barreling imps and demons until we hit the first elemental and immediately the map becomes more exciting, having to contain a PE while other stuff is going on. Usual 1kill symmetrical arena layout with two spokes off to get two keys and converge back at mid. I cheese some revenants thinking eh, why not, and then meet that aforementioned PE who is very rude and kills me. Actually replaying the early bits a bit faster already gives me hope that these maps are a bit more fun once you know them and you speed through a little bit. Second time around I don't cheese the revs and the PE eventually succumbs to the standard issue shotgun grind. I am looking at a PE and I long for an SSG. If one is allowed, so is the other. Pretty please, mapper. This place feels appropriately Doom II like, perhaps a bit of map 3, map 4. I like the grey skybox and the cobble texture on its own, making for these bunker/bullwark brutalist layouts that doom exceeds at. This is more spirited than the udoom stuff already, I think. Red door opens up to very dimly lit room and I'm like doubletapping F11 with extreme prejudice. No more lowlight eye trauma for this, too old, too annoyed. Hopefully the sequence is short. We get an actually cool trickle teleporter putting HK in a room slowly while you have to grind with the single barrel. Of course you could open the door and nope out of the tight encounter, but eh, that's 90s doom wads giving the player options, I guess! Way back with the red key releases those door revs I cheesed the first time around and my reticence to get off the stairs and just strafe them leads to a bit of awkwardness. Those boys not having had woken up early would have worked better, so they would activate as they see you come down the stairs, not already crowding them. Minor nitpicks, anyway, there's an elephant in the room. I found the exit with half kills so I'm thinking come on dude, what are we doing, this is map01. Curiously, the mapper hid a whole higher-tier difficulty map inside his map01 that I'll take it as one of these rare gimmicks I was requesting for days ago. I'll take it, it's challenging and odd and throws off preconceptions about the wad. Some technical confusion still seems to fuel some of these excursions from the norm, but nonetheless, the secret exit path through the level is quite more fun and explosive because first of all we take a trip outside for the sphere secret (always satisfying to step outside for a smoke in a doom wad) and more importantly, we get that SSG. Well, first we have to waste some ammo on a mancubus statue but whatever, eventually he animates and promptly dies. This leads outside to what looks like a second exit, which tripped me up for a while, but it was just a teleporter to even more of this secret route. After wall hugging the whole place, I finally take the plunge through the teleport pad. Odd and new idea to put a map in a map because you heard I like maps, but the run and gun pace of this opener is destroyed by searching for this obscure secret. Anyway, then we get to a Memento Mori pentagram room with some mancubus guards. Pleasing visual standpoint, probably meant to connote 'you're on a dangerous path now, friend'. What's even cooler with the pentagram room is that we have a cool arena transformation opening it up to serve as a new arena for viles and cacos and pain elementals and chaingunners and nobles and cacos, oh my. This is the hardest fight by this author so far, 1. because you didn't expect an archvile in map01 of this and neither did I, let's be real and 2. because you can get zapped out of the arena and softlock, which happened to me a few times. It's a shame because the outside would be viable as a chillout room if you get zapped, you can still kill floaters, deal with the PEs especially and if there was a teleport pad or something, go back in and clean up the vile's mess, but I don't think the mapper got zapped out of his own arena enough to notice the potential. Fun fight, cool arena space, love me some transformations and reinforcements. So we are cool with the idea that there's viles in here and move on equipped with foreknowledge to not waste our paltry rocket am.. lol of course I waste all my ammo on the mancubus squad they're just too inviting all lined up like that. Anyway, best fight in these maps, easily, so far and this new gun, this SSG, I don't know who came up with it but it's remarkably close to the gun I was describing that would be cool to have in this game. Turns out it really helps with everything, what a good, good, good gun. Anyway, the way I dealt with the vile was by funneling him to the prior room. Once more, doors in old wads are the strongest weapon. Some more switch flipping leads to a scrolling flesh room with bars so you cannot reach out and caress the slowly undulating flesh walls, I presume. There are some enemies in untextured invisible cages here that you get to flip active down the line, including archie number two, who isn't as threatening in this habitat. Still, setting up an encounter and unleashing it afterwards so the player has a chance to strategize is an advanced technique we haven't seen from this mapper thus far. Cool stuff. Even though I'm not commenting on layout a lot, for those who aren't playing but just reading it's fair to say the mapper is becoming, still, more and more adept with making convincing, standard issue doom (now doom II) spaces. There is still an over-reliance on symmetrical forms, cramped locations, and certainly a lot of 'funhouse dungeon' linear excursions from theme to theme without a lot of gradient between them. As in, this is the scrolling flesh hell room, this is the brick room, that's the wood room with some marble, but these themes do not talk to each other or create a diegetic reality, however they don't need to, the values of abstraction have been expounded upon many times. After the second vile and his noble friends, we get a third alien, and eventually a fourth, complicating cleanup and injecting some urgency in the SSG work. I liked it! Now I am hoping all the next maps are going to be like this. UVspeed route that's fairly reasonable and easy and then whole hidden second level of difficulty. But that's not a theme we're going to get, is it? It's more of an experiment. Couldn't get that unmarked secret mega, but then again I'll be pistol starting the doom II stuff, I do not think the continuous excursion was meaningful for the udoom portion. As long as we keep focusing on combat and layout challenges and not hurtfloor, crushers and weapon starvation, things are looking up. What a good game Doom II is. So hard to fuck it up.f. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Roofi Posted February 9, 2023 (edited) Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 01 "Entryway" I already understood that Angelo has a special thing for secret exit in non-secret maps but it culminated an another level here. It's not really a secret exit, but an ENTIRE new map can be reached via a tech door with its exit sign .... and a weird invisible wall keeping a mancubus. If you don't find the secret map in map 01, you'll just notice that Angelo didn't get rid of its shotgun addiction and Ultimate Doom's music , but it you're curious enough to find it, you'll awarded by a mighty SSG and .... other nasty monsters such as arch-viles. I suppose the author decided at the last minute to hide this section due to its quite high difficulty. Honestly, the few pain elemental spam their lost souls while most of the arch-viles can reach the corpses very quickly so that the combat can rapidly turn into an uncontrollable resurrection fest. You can have a RL too, but the three poor rockets don't help a lot. NB : I consider hiding monsters behind invisibles walls as an avant-garde trope for a 1997 wad. It's a gimmick that a lot of modern mappers like Ribbiks tend to do nowadays. Honestly, it's shame that the SSG's section is only available as a secret because it was by far the most impressive part of the level, both in terms of combats and aesthetics. The arena surrounding the yellow key is rad, it's maybe the most stunning area made by Angelo from what I played from him (I'm currently on map 08, on continuous). The non-secret area is not bad but I realized how dull it was once I completed the hidden segment. Overall, "Entryway" represents an another step up from Angelo and from what I discovered, the second opus seems to be well more worthy to play than its prequel ! NB2 : it's cool to have a new cloudy greyish sky too. Grade : B+ Edited February 9, 2023 by Roofi 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
Celestin Posted February 9, 2023 Woof!, -cl 2, UV, pistol start, blind, with saves MAP01: Entryway It's only the first map and I can already tell Number One Kill: The Next Generation is this month's star. Released only 2 months later, it shows improvements in every department. The visuals are giving me a strong Plutonia vibe, a welcomed change from somewhat messy texturing of the previous wad. As for the gameplay, it feels like two maps awkwardly merged together. The first part consists of fighting against crowds of low-tier mosters with a shotgun. Aside from a handful of Doom 2 foes (which, thanks to their lower health compared to barons, die a lot faster), the combat is not that far from Jefferson's previous levels, especially E3M1. You can easily reach the exit, but be warned, this is only the half of the map. This is where the second, optional part, comes in. It is somewhat convoluted to get to. You need to open an unmarked wall in the room leading to the exit, then shoot another random wall to reveal a mancubus guarding the secret exit (which takes you to another part of the level, rather than a separate map) and a super shotgun. Oh, how I've missed you. So, the optional part. Let's just say it is nothing like #1 Kill. First is the red key arena: while it starts with 3 mancubi and several shotgunners, the walls quickly drop to reveal cacodemons, pain elemental and more hitscanners. Press the button to lower the key and a monster closet throws an archvile behind a wall of pinkies. This single room killed me more times than the entire previous episode, but we're not done yet. Up next is a room full of marble columns, which itself isn't used much (just a bunch of trash enemies plus two barons and an archvile), but I found out it's useful to lure here the foes from the final section - bunch of hell knights, two archviles and company. Otherwise I'd had to deal with them on top of the stairs (while being attacked from three sides) or in a coverless courtyard (good luck with that). Beat this and you'd be teleported back to the exit room, where you can finally leave without a sense of leaving an unfinished business. The uptake in difficulty compared to Jefferson's previous wad is staggering, but it's also much, much more enjoyable to play. It's a decent start for a megawad and it already fixed most of the issues I've head with #1 Kill. 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
LadyMistDragon Posted February 9, 2023 (edited) (I'll be playing this with pistol-start, up to a point, but I don't know whether that'll be 10 or 12 quite yet, depending on when I find the BFG. Having read the ONEMANDOOM blog, I know things will eventually become quite unfair and the DSDA records for each individual maps only seem to go up to 09, so that probably signifies something. Map 01: Tel Basta It's not terribly difficult to see why Angelo didn't bother renaming this map, but it does feel like something of a forward base camp, if nothing else. At slightly below 80 enemies, this seems to be something closer to a traditional opening Doom map of 1997, albeit with a higher monster density and some tricky monster placements that are tricky to handle with a single shotgun. The one Pain Elemental in the main area feels a little random though and has less force than the average Pain Elemental in a Kaiser map. Not to say it isn't somewhat tricky, but the only hitscan threat comes from shotgunners which are admittedly still a fair threat at this stage, particularly when there's a lack of a chaingun. Nothing too bad, although you do have to climb up a central outpost to get a key. From this point, we see a Supercharge which marks the courtyard below can be entered. This is accomplished through an invisible door whose location can probably be surmises from the map's shape. There are some occasional trick enemies that seem to be hiding and the ever-present trademark of double-doors, but other than the Revenants, there aren't any serious threats..... ....or are there? Some pressing of a wall in the front room then leads to a wall that we're mysteriously expected to shoot (I'm going to hate the secret exit in 15, aren't I) to be immediately confronted by a Mancubus who will move over the shotgun in front of him, more likely than not. So why the fuck does it work. No matter, we hit the switch here and are transported to..... 1B: Temple of Set Yeah, it's time to assume this was supposed to be a hidden map. A Super Shotgun is located right at the beginning and the room we're in immediately leads into an open courtyard with some shotgun guys, some Mancubi in the middle and some Cacodemons and Pain Elementals which are hanging in the eves. The red floor pattern is quite nice. Although we get a rocket launcher directly before this, it's probably best to avoid using it on the Mancubi here, and probably is a better target for those meatballs and tomatoes that want to cook a nice dinner for themselves. Even then, probably best not to use all of them. (Anyways, they can be pushed far enough out of the playing field that killing them becomes a chore.). See, head to the other end to hit the switch and lower the pillar with the yellow key in the middle, then into the bargain are unleashed Pinkies and an Arch-vile! Yeah, Angelo isn't kidding around here. If you're lucky (we weren't) you'll have a few spare rockets which you can absolutely bet you should treasure. We should head to the left yk door first to pick up some supplies, then we can go the right, which eventually leads to some stairs leading to a series of marble columns with demon faces on them, some shotgunners, demons, and imps, and two Barons and an Arch-vile trapped by an invisible barrier. Well, it did take some effort to lower these, and grab the bk, but once we're done with that (without using rockets!) we then move up to the BK door. Upon it's opening, we are subjected to the nastiest ambush of the map! Shotgunners will fire from the slightly darkened hallways on the far sides, Hell Knights will constantly continue to pour in from in front and also behind! you. An Arch-vile also appears at some mysterious point, and it's here you'd be advised to fire your remaining rockets. Not like that'll make tons of difference when we're shotgunning something like 8 Hell Knights at least (Angelo seems to have taken to them rather quickly) but it's easy enough to punch them if bored. When done, head down to the left, pick up some stragglers, press on the lift that's also on your left to pick the Megasphere up, then enter the final hallway to punch out some shotgunners and take the teleporter out of here! It would be a waste of time to talk about Fal.....I mean Tel Basta, although the use of height is probably better than the original Entryway at least. Temple of Set, however, is an early showcase of what we'll be seeing much more in the wad: high-effort architecture, locations which aim to be iconic, and utterly ruthless enemy placement that remorselessly punishes careless use of your heavy weapons. Granted, things did seem fairly modest and especially in the open courtyard near the beginning, but Angelo is clearly getting much better at constricting player movement. Which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing right now, but well, give it some time... lmd_#1killtng01.zip Edited February 9, 2023 by LadyMistDragon silly typo 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Book Lord Posted February 9, 2023 (edited) MAP 02 – The Abandoned Mines DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves Angelo Jefferson surely did not feel ashamed to copy-paste names from the IWADs. The player start was deliberately directed in the wrong direction, facing a wall of earth instead of the guardhouse full of zombies to the left. Some shells and a shotgun were given after emerging from the winding tunnel and reaching the flooded area of The Abandoned Mines, a level that resembled the source of inspiration more than its namesake from Doom II. The author did not share the architectural subtleties of John Romero, but he still put up a good series of entertaining fights, forcing the player to be aggressive or quickly run out of ammo and health. Spoiler The Soul Sphere secret was so easy that I found it only at the end, forgetting to check the SUPPORT3 wall. I opened the passage to the west instead, alerting more enemies when I still had to take care of the Revenants. The rooms on the right-hand side were optional, but contained useful items (the SSG and a Combat Armour) protected by a nice assortments of critters. The RSK was on display on a building terrace that reminded me of many Doom II sights at the same time, whereas the mishmash of hellspawn that emerged from the walls, along with the metal screens rising to prevent a cowardly retreat, had more of a Plutonia vibe. Spoiler The same could be said for the BK set piece, a fun little trap in a claustrophobic hallway. I naturally tended to camp one of the two teleport destinations and kill the monsters as they appeared, even though this strategy ended up with a Cacodemon belching fire at my face. The last room on top of the elevator was more scary than dangerous, and the double secret on top granted a rocket launcher for continuous players. The Abandoned Mines was a short and decent map, offering genuine vintage entertainment. Edited February 9, 2023 by Book Lord 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
Helm Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) MAP02 This is a fun, fairly simple run and gun level with minor layout obstructions, pretty stacked with lots of demon to shotgun and eventually SSG. Cute underhalls shotgunner box building reprising some nostalgia for all of us. Trim, inoffensive, quick to blast through, had fun! This is I also think taking a little page from Plutonia, here and there. I wonder for how long things will stay this straightforward. footage Edited February 10, 2023 by Helm 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
dististik Posted February 10, 2023 E3M1 Accidentally slept in today so slipping one in before going to bed tonight. A very brisk opener that very quickly slows to a crawl, unfortunately. I think this map suffers from a lot from what a good number of Angelo's other maps suffer from which is that holding down the trigger with the shotgun out is your only option during an overwhelming majority of the combat, which is a shame too because frankly rocket spam would both have been more fun and seems like the map is asking for it. 135 monsters and a whole lot of them packed really close together in monster closet ambushes right after you can get the rocket launcher (which honestly it feels like it's best first used at the blue key button vs the trap tied to it since those pinkies close in faster than you'd think but that's not my main point here). But, instead of giving you ample rockets or even some bullets so you could at least chaingun through some fodder, the map gives you an olympic sized swimming pool of shells and little to nothing for slots 4 and 5. Additionally unlike the episode 2 maps, I can't really give this one even a little bit of a benefit of a doubt that it was made with continuous play in mind at least to some degree. What felt like a natural ramp up in mapping quality and awareness of the types of experiences being made throughout episode 2 kind of tripped a bit for me here. That said, as far as actual map aesthetics go, this one is pretty nice. While Angelo may have let me down in the combat department, visually this does feel like something made after the episode 2 set and it's pretty promising for what's to come. Final Thoughts As has been said a few other times before me, #1 Kill mostly feels like a drag to me because it's made for Doom 1. Even just the super shotgun would speed up combat significantly so I'm not standing there slowly strafing right and left while waiting for the baron in front of me to die and sure the maps could just give you more appropriate arms to deal with the doors with health, but giving the player a rocket launcher or a plasma gun when you want to create a certain type of encounter does alter the way you can build them in the future and that's something I have sympathy for, especially in the earlier years of Doom's life. When more properly mid-tier monsters who can take a rocket or two and keep dishing out hurt are available tools in Angelo's tool belt I have a bit of faith that combat will feel better paced and be a lot less monotonous. Tangentially I feel like it's worth mentioning that the more experienced I get with Doom the more I feel this way towards the Ultimate Doom IWAD as well. When I first got into the game shotgunning almost everything was engaging because of the cool asbtract spaces I was exploring but now it kind of puts me to sleep and on repeat playthroughs I've played with fast monsters to force me to pay attention (I've been considering giving Nightmare! a try next time I get the urge to play through Knee Deep in the Dead). Where this mapset shines in a unique way, however, is the clear evolution in a mapper's abilities being on display for everyone to see. I feel like each and every map was a very noticable step up from the previous (like I said with e2m8, putting e2m9 at the end) and that's something I don't see too much of usually since I end up sticking to popular PWADs friends recommend me a bit too much. Each map feels like a snapshot in time and that honestly made me look forward to each next map. Even if I ended up disliking what I played the next day, witnessing an author grow in real time is a uniquely interesting experience and in that way I think it's safe to say #1 Kill is greater than the sum of it's parts and ended up being something, as a whole experience, I enjoyed altogether. 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
FistMarine Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) Hi everyone! Hope I'm not late this time. I will try to participate, at least weekly, as this is a busy and short month. Number One Kill and Number One Extra are played in Ultimate Doom (1.9), while Number One The Next Generation is played in Doom 2 (1.9). Both cases in DOSBox 0.74-3, UV 100% everything, Continuous with saves. As an extra challenge only available when playing DOS and Chocolate, I'm playing keyboard only! All three wads also come with their recorded demos, so I watched all demos for both UD wads, while for TNG, I only watched a few demos because the wad includes NINE of them according to Doomwiki.org but only the first three are seen at the title screen in DOOM 2, so you must use parameters like -PLAYDEMO DEMO4 to watch the rest ones! From what I noticed, the player managed to complete the E2M2 demo (the fourth one) in Number One Kill but in rest ones I've watched, he died. I will watch The Next Generation demos later on, as I had stopped watching halfway the third demo. To clear any confusion mentioned earlier regarding compatibility, Number One Kill (including Extra) is made for ULTIMATE DOOM. There is no reason to use older Doom (registered) versions unless you are trying to play old 1994 wads in DOS, as chances are, they are broken in Ultimate Doom (even when playing in DOS). Examples of broken 1994 wads in Ultimate Doom include Aliens TC, Doomsday of UAC and Return to Phobos, as well as many others (especially if they come with recorded demos for early versions of Doom, which crash the game if sitting at the title screen too long). Yes, I had it happen to me that I couldn't finish them without cheats despite using UD in DOSBox. But thankfully, in Number One Kill's case, it was designed for latest versions of Doom (Ultimate) and Doom 2 (1.9). So everything works as intended. Oh and I like how Number One Kill is released EXACTLY two years after Ultimate Doom came out (Ultimate Doom files are dated 25/05/1995). Coincidence or not? Let's begin the review! Spoiler E2M1 Not too bad of a start. Although I admit it was kinda odd how EVERY zombie early on (both zombiemen and shotgun guys) dealt 15 damage, so I was down to 40% health after clearing first couple of rooms. Good thing I dodged a Caco fireball in time, even if I dodged into acid (though it didn't hurt me and don't want to find out how much damage that slime does). After getting some health and armor, the next couple of rooms didn't pose any threat at all, so I didn't take damage anymore. Finding the secrets was also a great help, as you get a Soulsphere and a Backpack. Not to mention the green armor that I got late in the map, so it didn't get any use in this level. Oh and I also liked that door splitting into two, though it seems you can only open it from one side when reaching the last room. Pretty okay opener overall. E2M2 Another okay map, though somewhat ruined by the very dark areas. I played on Gamma Correction Level 2 and it was still very dark at times. Apparently the Light Amp doesn't appear on UV and NM but finding the early Computer Area Map secret helped with navigation, as well as firing blindly with shotgun or holding the Chainsaw while monsters run into it! There is also a fight later on against two barons, they are guarding the Chaingun, Soulsphere and a few ammo boxes. If you have trouble completing/navigating this level, you can watch the included demo, as the author actually manages to complete the level, as I mentioned above. Other than that, the level was just ok. E2M3 Probably the best map so far, at least in terms of visuals. It is heavily influenced from original DOOM E1M3 from what I noticed. Especially the bridge area halfway in map and the big secret near the end of level. A note for completionists out there: If you plan to get 100% kills, inside the last secret that contains various powerups, there will be a few monsters way below you, that are seemingly impossible to kill. You can still kill them by firing rockets at walls and hope they die, as well as a bit of infighting, though the latter doesn't seem to work well and the cacodemons tend to sit at the bottom instead of flying up to you. To be able to get those kills, I highly recommend playing continuous. With the RL secret at the start and the backpacks collected so far, you should have exactly 10 ROCKETS! But even then you may be missing one or two kills, so you need to make one or two BACKUP SAVES before spending your rockets! I admit I used IDSPISPOPD just to see what monster I was missing because I had 98% kills and wanted to check. I quit the game to reset cheats, start it again, load an earlier save and kill the last Cacodemon with the last two rockets. I was close to do 100% without cheating but it was worth checking out where that stupid caco was positioned. As a side note, loading a saved game puts the monsters back to dormant state, so then I was able to tell the Caco was right on the right side! Leaving aside those tricky monsters to kill, the level was still okay, I especially liked some ambushes happening at some points. I also appreciate the author being generous with the armor/soulsphere because after you get through the first level, you should be well stocked on health and armor throughout the episode! With some maps containing multiple blue armors/soulspheres! E2M4 A decent map that got ruined by the stupid ending, in that some goodies (backpack and some health/armor bonuses) became inaccessible until I realized and the way to access the secret exit is dumb as hell! Since no one posted about E2M4 that day, I looked up on One Man Doom Blog (Doomed Wad Reviews) and saw mention how to get to the secret exit. It still took me about 10-15 minutes to realize and use IDSPISPOPD to explore a bit (also a separate exploration in ZDoom with cheats, which makes finding stuff easier). Also there is no armor in this map, though there is a Soulsphere secret early on that helps Pistol Starters and there are EIGHT BARONS that only appear on UV skill, FIVE of them are only found on the secret exit path. If you are going for a 100% completion on a continuous playthrough, please do yourself a favor and IGNORE THE SECRET EXIT! Kill all the enemies, grab everything, make a backup save and then go for the normal exit. After you finish the episode, load the E2M4 backup save and go for the secret exit to retain your arsenal until that point. This is how I did it and to me it made the most sense. I was also doing good on my first attempt at the level, as I had reached the exit with both health and armor at 179%. But then when I realized I overwrote most of my saves from the last parts of the level, where those hidden goodies became inaccessible behind that raised wall, I realized I have to replay the whole level, so I gave up for that day and decided to do the rest of episode in the next couple of days. Oh and putting the secret exit on a different level was stupid as hell, as you won't be able to get to all the levels in a single playthrough. Thanks Book Lord for the warning in advance, I appreciate it! :) After replaying the level and getting 100% everything, I still find the level okay overall but nothing special in the end and it's dragged down by those stupid decisions. E2M5 Another decent map that isn't too difficult overall. Reminds me of parts of DOOM E1M5 and E2M4. Make sure to activate the bridge leading to the red key, so if you are going for the super secret in the acid (recommended early for pistol starters, otherwise the continuous players want to grab these powerups at the end), you won't get softlocked. Thanks Doomwiki.org for the warning! I liked luring the barons into a crusher later on (the room itself remining me from Ultimate Doom E2M4), I caught three barons like that (and even one caco and one imp), saving me precious ammo. As it has been pointed out, the automap display was a bit weird, as it showed missing sectors or only parts of them. Not sure what was going on. I guess the author tried to hide some sectors from being displayed on the automap? Certain mappers do this and it's annoying but here it was just weird. Not that I needed the automap to navigate but still, I usually check the automap when going for secrets. Pretty alright map overall. E2M6 Quite a challenging map at times, though for different reasons. For one thing, there are some corridors with some lifts where you may end up right in front of an enemy, though this wasn't as much of an issue as most enemies didn't attack and they just sat there taking shotgun blasts to the face, I just found more annoying being forced to grab items I don't need. For another thing, there was an ambush later that spawned many cacos and lost souls that made me lose so much health and armor that I had around 90% remaining and that was starting the level with 200% both! This is what happens when you backtrack instead of taking the teleporter and end up with a surprise ambush waiting at the lifts! It makes me wish I could have saved those health bonuses in those corridors for later instead of being forced to grab them at 200% health. Oh well. And on top of that, when I returned to starting room to grab some ammo supplies, I had to be careful to avoid picking up the green armor, though I eventually grabbed it later when my current armor was less than 20% (saving the only blue one for the end). Another thing worth mentioning is the introduction of the SPIDER MASTERMIND! If you took the normal exit path. Though she is quite easy to take down, she appears upon grabbing the yellow skull key. Just watch for that trap with imps and shotgun guys, then dump about 200 cells on the Spider by standing behind those windows. You shouldn't have any problems with that. There are a few tricky ambushes later on but nothing too threatening, as thankfully you don't get to fight barons in those cramped corridors. The barons rarely appear and they mostly seem to appear on UV, though thankfully the ammo in general is plentiful. I recommend saving your rockets for those situations where an enemy seems to get stuck and is impossible to kill otherwise (see below). If you are going for 100% completion, especially for 100% kills and you only got about 98% kills, I must point out the following: -If the barons at the end of the level manage to teleport away, they get teleported to a separate sector and get crushed, as Andromeda pointed out earlier. -Unfortunately, just like in E2M3, there will be two Cacodemons that won't teleport (located in the X shaped red room after those annoying gray corridors), they will be stuck down there, difficult to take out. I recommend saving rockets especially for situations like these. They are quite difficult to see and even note when they die, due to lack of the level stats in original DOS version of Doom (Ultimate), so whenever I had to use IDDT or ISPISPOPD to check if they died, I went down there in lava, then I quit game to reset cheats (for one thing, the IDDT cheat remains in memory even after loading a save). This took me about 10 minutes, because first time I found out there was a second Cacodemon stuck down there when I finished level the second time with 99% kills. I still have no idea what's with the stuck enemies, do they fail to teleport? When I play custom wads, I occasionally come across a map where an enemy or two (or more) that failed to teleport from their closet, thus preventing 100% kills. I wonder why is this happening? Keep in mind that all original DOS versions of Doom games have no way in telling you in-game how many monsters you killed or how many items you got or whether you found a secret or if a map has any secrets or not at all. In the latter case, this is a problem for a map that lacks secrets, as you can't tell if you missed them or the map had none. This was actually a problem in a couple original DOOM 2 maps as well. To not make it longer, I will say it was an okay map but suffers from those annoyances. At least I managed to 100% every level so far, with E2M3 and E2M6 being most difficult to max, while E2M4 had some weird design choices. At least unlike E2M4, I didn't have to replay E2M3 and E2M6. Next map please! E2M7 It's impossible to describe this map in detail, so I will just say I had mixed feelings about this map. I will tell what I liked and what I didn't like. Inspired by an earlier post. Good stuff: -Ambushes at various points in the map, like when grabbing the skull keys -BFG is finally found in this map -Crushers (I didn't really mind them, though I can't say I like them in general, only if the monsters get crushed) -FOUR Blue Armors available (though two of them are enough, interesting to note that on UV, the green armor from easier skills is turned into a blue one on UV and NM) and THREE soulspheres present, so health and armor are more than enough -Many challenging fights -Many secrets were rewarding -One room that looks like a homage/reference to DOOM2 (MAP25: Bloodfalls), with that Soulsphere in middle requiring you to push the invisible pillar (I watched Roofi's video to see how to get it, as it didn't count as a secret) -Progression wasn't difficult to figure out -Vanilla Doom handled this level just fine, I could save game just fine and never had any crashes/freezes or whatever. Bad stuff: -Couldn't get 100% kills due to four monsters (a cacodemon, two imps and one shotgun guy or was it one imp and two shotgun guys?) not teleporting in the level, so I only got 98% kills for this level, completely killing my 100% run! Not helped that when loading a save in Vanilla, monsters go back to dormant state, even though I did this at end when I finished the level and found I still had to find one secret, grab an item and kill those unreachable enemies! -Level is damn long and contains nearly 400 monsters (according to the stats available on Doomwiki, I counted 390 monsters in total) -Some areas were too dark -Some monsters are hidden behind fake walls, giving them an advantage of shooting you first -Some monsters refused to teleport (see above) -Starting the level with shotgun guys firing at me, eventually bringing me down to around 150% health and armor or less and I just barely cleared the first room (now see why I like finishing levels in general with as much health/armor as possible, meaning 200% in best case? to compensate for shit like this) -Teleporting monsters near the end took minutes to teleport, so I had to walk around and notice monsters keep appearing -There was a room I couldn't access again later on (thankfully, I didn't get crushed by the surprise crusher, as I had the feeling that one was a crusher, also after clearing the room, there wasn't anything special left behind but still it made me worried I could have missed something) -TIME SUCKS (took me over an hour to complete the map, so I can't even tell what was the exact time) I didn't hate the map like some people did but it sure did exhaust me for that day, that I had to stop at E2M8. Let's hope the episode ends on a high note and at same time, the secret level (E2M9) and extra level (E3M1) end up on the positive note too! E2M8 Not bad for a finale! You are given EVERYTHING at the start (all weapons with tons of ammo boxes, soulsphere and blue armor) except for the BFG, though at least continuous players can use the BFG they found on E2M7. Bonus points for being able to come back to this room and grab the goodies if you need! It seems you can actually backtrack the whole map even from the portal at end, though I'd recommend grabbing everything before you enter the teleporter after using the red skull key switch to raise the platform. There are also multiple bosses to fight in this map. You get to fight TWO Cyberdemons (one early and one at the end) and ONE Spider Mastermind! And also five barons, though they can be taken out quicker with the big weapons now. The only weird things I found is that DOOM crashed once due to Visplane Overflow bullshit while fighting demons/spectres after getting the yellow skull key. It kinda scared me because I was so concentrated on shotgunning them that suddenly it crashed the game. Weird. Oh and the fight against final Cyberdemon (with extra lost souls and barons) was also weird because of those invisible pillars, though looking at the automap, you can see them and the arrow that points in the middle. Spamming the BFG is the best strategy, as you should have 600 cells. Sometimes the Cyber will get involved with the barons. I was lucky to not take direct rocket hits, maximum I took a bit of splash damage from invisible pillars. I had to replay the fight a few times just to kill everyone else and make a save before killing the Cyber. So that I get 100% everything. Speaking of which, since Vanilla Doom shows no intermission screen upon finishing ExM8 type of levels, I had to load the save separately in Crispy Doom. Then I looked at the level stats. 100% kills and secrets but only 95% items? Then I realized where the third Soulsphere was! Right in the final boss area in the corner where the Cell Packs were stored. I had to replay this battle so when I saved (on a different slot obviously) after killing the Cyber, I could rush to get that Soulsphere in time to have 100% completion! Decent final level. Definitely a great conclusion! But wait, we aren't done yet... E2M9 Due to vanilla Doom technical limitations, I had to load a backup save I had from end of E2M4 and go to the secret exit with the stuff I had acquired until that point. As for the level, it's pretty good, really feels like a real "Fortress of Mystery" instead of that original shitty E2M9 and wish the level containing secret exit was placed in the correct slot. It's a map that you must NOT MISS! It even contains a Spider Mastermind boss fight towards the end, which while not difficult to take down, was a bit awkward to do with just the Shotgun/Chaingun because I didn't feel like using rockets and at that point I hadn't found the Plasma Rifle (it was actually found in a secret area requiring the yellow skull key). Despite a few confusing parts (like a switch early on that temporary opened a nearby wall) and the zombies that could sometimes snipe you from miles away and killing the demons at the bottom to get 100% kills (I have no idea if the floor is damaging and if there is a way to get out of there if you fall down, I didn't want to test this out), this was a pretty good map overall that once again I wish it was part of the typical Doom Secret Level progression instead of deciding between doing/skipping E2M5 or E2M9. Now for the bonus E3M1 level! E3M1 This map is included separately in EX.WAD and even comes with a gameplay demo where the player dies. As for the map, it's quite good actually and quite challenging as well! Mostly because the player is just limited to 100% health maximum and the only armor (Blue) is given late into the map around the time you get the red key. In fact, I don't think I needed the armor at all, considering I finished the level with 100% health and 200% armor. The beginning is challenging due to limited resources and you must handle the monsters carefully, grab a shotgun dropped by a sergeant, grab the backpack and then move on while the Caco infights with the imps outside, as the ammo is tight early on. Once you get more weapons and get rid of the first baron and other nasties in the next rooms, things will get much easier. I was lucky I didn't die but my health had dropped at 44% at that point halfway, which made things tense. Afterwards, the map was a breeze, though the ammo became a problem again with having to punch about two demons with non-berserk fist after taking those two barons near the red key (I actually had about 3 shells and 20 bullets or so left but I was afraid to spend them in case I need them later) until I got a bunch of dropped shotguns and the blue armor. The last part isn't too bad, though you get a bunch more monsters to fight, half of them infighting each other. The exit trap was also nice, as soon as I pressed SPACE on the exit door and heard monsters, I backed up as quickly as I could, to get to a safe place in previous room. The exit room contains just a pinky demon. Due to no items or secrets present in the map (besides the Backpack that doesn't count as an item), vanilla Doom will display 0% items and secrets but at least you can get 100% kills. Yes I checked Doomwiki to see if there are any items and secrets and when I saw there aren't, I only cared about getting 100% kills in this level, which I did. I think I liked it a lot better than the original E3M1, though I think the armor should have been given a bit earlier, as it would be a greater help early on. Deaths so far: 0 Screenshots: Spoiler Overall Thoughts: Number One Kill was a mixed bag in my opinion. On one hand, I appreciate the author's creative output and the levels themselves feeling like decent/okay type of wads you could download back then, though I will say the later levels were much better designed. It didn't really amaze me and at various points (especially early on), I was sick of shotgunning barons (this was something that plagued Thy Flesh Consumed as well) or just wanting the level to end but at same time, in regards to shotgunning barons, I had to do this sacrifice so I save the rockets for those rare situations I had to kill an enemy out of reach or saving plasma for the bosses. Of course in levels like E2M6 and E2M7, I made more use of rockets and plasma but still, this has to be said. That and the fact the shotgun shells are so plentiful you can afford using the shotgun against nearly everything and still end up with lots of shells at the end. Oh yeah and I hate how there were a couple levels that had bugged teleporting enemies, so you couldn't fully 100% them. E2M7 was the level that killed my full 100% completion, as those four monsters refused to teleport and I only got 98% kills. Such a shame, I was very close to 100% every level. Other than that, I think the wad is worth checking out, just for the second half and the extra E3M1. I will start playing The Next Generation next week, hoping the maps and gameplay will improve further. So far I think the experience has been mostly okay. Have a nice weekend everyone! Edited February 10, 2023 by FistMarine 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
Monsieur E Posted February 10, 2023 Time for Number One Kill: The Next Generation. dsda 0.24.3, complevel-2, pistol starts, playing on uv alongside midtwid (while not the standard doom2 midis, they seem to all be iwad tracks either way)Map01: Entryway 170/188 kills, 0/3 secrets, 10:56 As mentioned previously by others, this map feels like two maps in one. The regular one which is completely unremarkable and feels like an extension of the first #1kill with its shotgun on mostly doom1 enemies action under a neat dusty sky. However, choose to locate a secret near the exit and a wall lowers revealing a mancubi guarding the supershotgun. For those who tread further, Entryway unsheathes its sword. Combat is nothing like the grind of #1Kill, it is a dangerous dance against enemies which close the space on you, chipping away your health while deadlier units, particularly archviles, wreck havoc if you were to concede your positions. Ammo and health are often placed further in, forcing you to make inroads in deadly positions to obtain them. I must confess I didn't really enjoy playing it so to speak, but I respect its boldness and decision to lay its cards down at first impression, further impressive that this was in 1997. Map02: The Abandoned Mines 139/139 kills, 3/3 secrets, 5:36 This was good clean fun, a mostly fast paced map taking place, as implied, in the abandoned mines with hints of Underhalls regarding the techbase at the start, the narrow corridors, and the red key building guarded by a battalion of shotgunners. There are some surprise encounters but nothing lethal, still pleasantly engaging. I did notice a bug in the blue skull key area with a pinky seemingly placed too close to a cacodemon causing both of them to be stuck. The ending secret offers a rocket launcher which is not much use to those of us pistol starting but I appreciate the consideration. 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
Roofi Posted February 10, 2023 Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 02 "The Abandoned Mines" I always find amusing when a map has "abandoned" in its title whereas it contains a lot of enemies in it. Anyway, I was a bit stupid in my playthrough because I totally missed the SSG , so I got stuck with my poor shotgun all along. However, the absence of SSG didn't prevent me from enjoying this map. It even made the nastiest traps more exciting to survive, especially the nasty red key's one with the cacodemons blocking your way. About the level itself, It has entertaining fast-paced action but it was more bland in the visual department compared to what I played before. Lot of crampy underdetailed tunnels and simplistic interconnectivity here. As a reference to the original "Underhall", I think I still prefer the Iwad's version. Grade : B 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
Celestin Posted February 10, 2023 MAP02: The Abandoned Mines #1 Kill frequently referenced the official wads and this trend is kept strong in its sequel. MAP02 could have kept the original name, because it's very clearly inspired by Underhalls. The most obvious part is an outpost surrounded by a moat, a setup directly lifted from MAP02. The opening arena is the hardest. This map is a true spawning ground for shotgunners and they can deal a surprising amount of damage. There's also a pair of caged revenants, but I'd say leave them for now: right behind a door there is a lift leading to a lower level with imps, a cacodemon and a SSG. The next room contains a megaarmor and a cool trap - try to exit and wall opens, revealing a group of imps. The aforementioned outpost is next and if you played Underhalls, you know exactly what to expect: a squad of shotgunners followed by an ambush. This fight is easy to deal with - just run back and funnel everything in a corridor. Your double-barrel shotgun will take care of them. There is another trap right after and it's equally easy to cheese: just run away and practice doorfighting. After that, the rest of the level is a formality. Continous players or secret hunters can look around the exit room for a wall with a different texture, where you'll find a rocket launcher. What surprised me the most about The Abandoned Mines was its sedate difficulty. It's nowhere near as hard as the secret part of MAP01, rather it feels like a natural escalation from its regular part. Still, killing groups of basic enemies with SSG never gets old. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Book Lord Posted February 11, 2023 MAP 03 – Space Port DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves With Space Port the author went in the opposite direction as compared to MAP02, a good sign that design variety had become one of his concerns. The narrow tunnels were replaced by two courtyards, the first one filled with hitscanners and a few Arachnotrons that swept the wide area. Pistol start demanded swift movements and use of cover; the available shotgun and Berserk pack were enough to break through the Imp closet ambush and the army of former humans. The SSG could be retrieved in a side room, as well as a switch allowing to enter the grassy ground. Spoiler The eight Hell Knights teleported and tried to surround the player picking up the BSK, but they were easily evaded thanks to mouse movement. Their closets contained the four secrets of the map, holding a Blue Armour and ammo boxes (including one for the rocket launcher), while the Chaingunner cage full of bonuses was accessed through a hidden pad in the METAL2 hallway, that did not count as a secret. To open the exit behind bars, I visited the north-western courtyard with a building at the centre. I engaged the Chaingunners in a sniping duel with the other bystanders as casualties, then I dealt with the wave of monsters released after pressing the switch. The Pain Elementals prompted a quick reaction and forced me to prioritise them, reaching for the upper ground as soon as possible. Combat worked like a charm here, giving strong Plutonia feelings. The fake switch before the exit used Jefferson’s copyrighted split door trick to reveal a monster closet, which was more a jump scare than a real danger. Space Port was another small hit in my book. Spoiler 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
LadyMistDragon Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) Map 02: The Abandoned Mines I see one review seeming to think this is like a bump in the road and all I can say is 'uh, no.' See, we're attacked from outside our little starting room almost immediately by several enemies including pinkies, shotgunners, and Imps. Leave this room if you must, but not too soon, because sitting some ways off to the right of the room's exit is a cage containing a pair of Revenants. Unfortunately, we must walk past these Revenants if we want to progress any further in this map. More specifically, we travel through a series of winding tunnels that gives this pilfered Doom II title its name, with a few under-detailed outdoor areas we won't discuss for now. But clearly, there was minimal regard given to that, other than the area surrounding the blue key building, which I suppose is just Angelo's idea of an 'early' map. "Blood Jungle" was a good choice for the custom midi in any case. But in any case, taking the curving tunnel near the Revenant cages leads to an easily-spotted secret door hiding a Supercharge opened by a nearby switch. This terminates in a small room with a Cacodemon and Super Shotgun that mercifully can be taken care of outside the cramped room. That's certainly not the case for the little room on the right down the mine tunnel a little way. Pick up the Mega Armor here, try to exit and immediately trigger monster closets to open in a semi-circular fashion, putting our newly-acquired SS to the test, but we weren't too badly here. This changes quite drastically by the time we arrive in an outdoor courtyard, with a fairly high central security building containing several shotgunners inside, in addition to the shotgunners outside, Cacodemons and Imps. It can be a fair trick to prioritize between the Cacodemons and shotgunners. At a certain point, we have to pick a direction and stick with it, making sure to target the shotgunners when we're close to the building. Entering the building to pick the red key up, surprise, reveals yet more tomatoes, eager to give us an electric bath, but they aren't such a huge threat. The real threat comes when we enter into another tunnel, pick up an extremely suspicious blue key and cause yet another closet to open up. The bars prove to be no barrier very quickly when they start teleporting out on both sides. We focus our fire here because we're all too aware a couple of stray shotgun blasts could put an end to us. Compounding the problem is that there's also a Cacodemon or two in this narrow tunnel! But after all that's over with, take the teleporter at the end which takes us back to the first red key we spotted, right next to the outpost where the blue key's required, possibly due to some vague attempt at a level transition. But before that, we exit outside to one final area with trees scattered along the edges, along with some enemies to punish anyone who attempts to run for the exit. This isn't over though. Press against a fairly distinctive wall on the left to enter another dirt tunnel with Imps that curves and slopes up, with a rocket launcher inexplicably at the end. Sooner or later, it's going to become clear pistol-starting these maps is just a bad idea. For now, this is a nice step up that's also surprisingly hesitant at unleashing chaingunners. Eventually, they're going to show up, and I'll curse the mapper, but for now, challenge is almost completely fair. Still have plenty of anticipation for what'll happen next, which is the hallmark of an early map which has done its job. lmd_#1killtng02.zip Edited February 11, 2023 by LadyMistDragon 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
Ralgor Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) MAP02 - "The Abandoned Mines" Hey, this map uses some custom music! I recognize the track, although I don't know what track it actually is. I am curious where it comes from... the doom wiki doesn't have it listed. This map is mostly boring. It has a couple of interesting moments, like the hot start and the blue key trap, but for the most part I barely remember my first blind run of this map and that was just a couple days ago. There's a massive amount of shotgun ammo in this map, to the point where killing the revenants from range with just the shotgun isn't going to hurt you. Pistol starting this map doesn't put you at any disadvantage that I can see. The most memorable thing about this map is how on my blind run I missed the SSG until I had killed everything else in the map. I was looking for the final monsters to kill when I dropped down the lift, killed everything... and then collected the SSG. I didn't fire it once. I felt pretty dumb for that. The rocket launcher in the final secret is useless for pistol starters, but I'm coming to expect that sort of thing. The consensus seems to be that this wad becomes unplayable at some point while pistol-starting. I'm going to try to get as far as I can before switching to continuous, even if in the end I have to go back a few levels to start my continuous run. I'm really hoping that won't be necessary. I had to play this map a second time of course, just to see if having the SSG at the appropriate time would help. It made the level easier and shorter, but not necessarily better. I didn't feel threatened at all on my second play-through. After playing the secret level in MAP01, I'm really hoping for something a bit meatier to come along soon. Grade: C Edit: It makes me feel better to know I wasn't the only one who missed the SSG. :D Edited February 11, 2023 by Ralgor 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Ralgor Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, Celestin said: What surprised me the most about The Abandoned Mines was its sedate difficulty. It's nowhere near as hard as the secret part of MAP01, rather it feels like a natural escalation from its regular part. Still, killing groups of basic enemies with SSG never gets old. I really think the secret level in MAP01 should be treated as essentially MAP33. You exit from MAP01 to it, and then exit back to MAP02. From that point of view the difficulty is out of the normal progression, and instead is more similar to the later levels. Of course I don't know that for a fact since I haven't played past MAP02 yet, but we will see... Edited February 11, 2023 by Ralgor 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
Book Lord Posted February 11, 2023 23 minutes ago, Ralgor said: Hey, this map uses some custom music! I recognize the track, although I don't know what track it actually is. I am curious where it comes from... the doom wiki doesn't have it listed. It is from TNT: Evilution. Final Doom soundtrack will be used throughout The Next Generation in a generally tasteful way. 20 minutes ago, Ralgor said: I really think the secret level in MAP01 should be treated as essentially MAP33. You exit from MAP01 to it, and then exit back to MAP02. From that point of view the difficulty is out of the normal progression, and instead is more similar to the later levels. This is a correct assumption. The hidden part of MAP01 was like a teaser trailer of the upcoming threats. 42 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said: Sooner or later, it's going to become clear pistol-starting these maps is just a bad idea. There are some problems, but I do not think it's a generally valid statement, since ammo and weapons are always present. Playing blind without saves, that's probably a bad idea. 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
brick Posted February 11, 2023 GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves. #1 Kill E2M8 The visuals and architecture are a remarkable improvement over the previous maps. The hall of marble pillars looks great, and there's some beautiful detailing in the ceilings, especially in the yellow key room, which also has some nice lighting. Combat has some well defined setpieces in each section, each encounter feels very different from the others. The hall of pillars has a lot of hitscans, the blue key has the teleporting barons, the yellow key has the big Spider and the caged monsters. Past the 2-key doors the dark corridors have a nifty effect with the fast-raising stairs and the lift-doors, they're repeated a few times but the section ends before they can get tiresome. The red key does not have the best progression, having to press a switch then double back, then cross a line and double back, get the key and double back... but everything is so close together that it's not a big problem. I really liked the variation on the Cyberdemon fight, the invisible walls add a twist and there are only a few of them, enough to add a bit of disorientation without being a major problem. What a great finale. #1 Kill Extra A couple of minutes in I had to go and check that I really had started on HNTR. There's a pretty big jump in difficulty, though I think that was exacerbated for me by losing all weapons, since I was playing continuous through E2. The fights are pretty fun though, and while I had to shotgun a few cacos before I found the chaingun and RL, I enjoyed the combat a lot. I liked the ambushes in the main room every time a key was used, and I liked that the enemies outside could be ignored early on to conserve ammo, as none were hitscans so it was just a matter of dodging projectiles. I admit the exit special took me by surprise. If this is indicative of the direction TNG is going for I think I'm going to enjoy the rest of the month even more. 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
Helm Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) MAP03 Map opens to a room with a big north window and a door fork west/east. The window is overlooking a chaingunner and arachnotron sniper courtyard. They are in cages so as not to infight, which makes them deadly at this range and obstruction. They are overwatching a smaller contingent of imps that are in your face as you open the door. That's how this one opens up, not very friendly. You're given berserk and a standard issue shotgun. Getting out of that room will involve health attrition to every blind player, I think. After getting some cover and clearing out the imps we find out it's a false fork and you can only go one way. The east door leads to a switch ambush where you get stuck in the 64 corridor of the switch getting pressured by an imp closet that opens behind you. That switch opens up the west door, which reveals hitscan and imp at long range, with the window with the sniping chaingunners and arachnotrons pinching you. I lost my first life here and frustrated, tried to start from the top and go fast, leading to more bad results, then I slowed it down a bit and made better progress. Third go, I dispatch the west door hitscan from a distance before rushing the corridor. At the end of that long stretch the corner turns to a few clumps of chaingunners at your peripheral which is I think probably the most dangerous place in the map, so I hang back at the corner and clean them up with cover. Had I rushed through the imp trap as I was intending on take 2, I would have those imps at my back as I slowly take out these chaingunners, so I surmise it's good to be cautious. More long range shotgunning of low tier as I cover the rightmost perimeter of the courtyard with the arachnos and chaingunners in cages, arranged so they won't infight. I decide to tackle one of the long range arachnos before cleaning up all the infantry in the perimeter, and that's a mistake that costs me some life as the heights of the windows in the courtyard as thus arranged so that the midtex bars hide the arachno volleys. This means there's good priority challenges in the map and making mistakes isn't instant death. Furthermore, there's enough chunky health pickups at the right times to spell out that the map has been tested by someone who understands the frustrations of turning a corner to 6 chaingunners and low tier change. This is a thing that's rarely implicitly mentioned in wad review: the feeling of camaraderie with the mapper when you realize they played their maps - for fun and sport - they did not just design them as an exercise in dungeon mastering. For all that hard work I get green armor (map balanced) and an SSG (map good) so here we go, checkmarked! The only further option for progress is to go through a side door at the end of the long horseshoe layout to find the symmetrical corridor+ambush switch, and this sort of symmetry works because it's not a mirrored spatial symmetry exactly, it's a layout symmetry concept. There was a west switch ambush so there is a right switch ambush. Like Vile Flesh. This time not imps but a couple of shotgunners. The switch finally opens up the cage courtyard I've been dealing with incrementally all this time, and I enter it as it is completely pacified. That's a good feeling and a valid way to experience the mapper's potential intents, here. One would be to speed through to get that rocket launcher in the courtyard and deal with the arachnos in there, basically infiltrating, another is to patiently kill everything beforehand and walk in a victor. Anyway, grabbing RL and blue key in the courtyard triggers an influx of hell knight teleports and transforms the arena to open up chaingunner cubbyholes, nothing too harsh though the green armor isn't enough for strolling around, one has to prioritize the chaingunners. Then we do a bit of hell revealed for the cleanup. In the corner there is a sphere and goodies in a room accessible by teleporter that I couldn't reach. What's quite humorous is that there are four short corridors near the secret space that acted as monster closets for the prior fight. All of their back walls drop and reveal the four marked secrets of the map, all of which are good and useful, but tantalizingly, none of them lead to the sphere secret that is unmarked. I suspect if I had spent more time there with those four corridors I'd have found the unmarked secret, but it's quite funny what the mapper did there, showing us the real goodies and putting all four less consequential but marked secrets next to it. This is the first bit of nuanced personality to the mapping choices here that do not pertain to combat. The other obvious way to access that secret would be the hell noble goat head door with all the candles in front of it, but I couldn't figure out how to make it open. But since I am on 80 kills out of 140something and just got a blue armor, I press on. Using the blue key on the earlier fork we make a transition to metal2 which I appreciate. The whole map texture style is conservative but robust and I think the mapper will keep it like this with nary a bit of doomcute or odd midtex construct or just weird zany sector stuff happening anywhere. Let's see if my prediction holds. The incidental combat in the metal2 corridor slows us down to note a red door and some drop bars protecting a switch against it. Further down the metal2 corridor we open to another arena with a central feature (a brick windowed cube house replete with caco) and a perimeter around it peppered with chaingunners ready to perforate me. That's where the blue armor has to help because I'm at 79 health. I guess I could wait at the opening of the arena and let things infight while they make their way slowly to the bottleneck but I already played udoom for a while this month, I want no more, so I go in and have a time... 38 health. This is fine, I say to myself and enter the brickhouse to deal with the cacos, who are spilling out of the windows appropriately as well. Inside the brick house is the red key, thoroughly exclaiming how linear this map is, with only overviews to areas you will reach later and illusions of choice. This is though a totally valid doom mapping style and one I enjoy much much more than some of the obtuse stuff we saw in #1KILL the udoom original. I just find it very funny that there have to be colored doors and keys when it could just as well have been a switch opening up the door, it's not like you have any choices. Yoinking the red key redistributes enemies in the same arena and does transformation to open up new spaces. The mapper has this trope down and I appreciate it every time, I can only hope as he grows with these contraptions they become more elaborate to look at and more tiered in terms of what they bring in to the same space and for more explicit purposes. The mapper is well on their way with this because they choose a sea of pinkies to flood the perimeter of the brick house while a few too many elementals make their slow, floaty appearance and also a few cacos to bodyblock your SSG shots meant for elementals. Cruel and devious and the kind of setup made by a mapper that *plays doom*, and doom II at that. Very happy to have reached this point of convergence, it spells great things for the future of the map set. This fight now becomes a LOS nightmare, and the interior space of the brickhouse is super crucial to defend... if you choose to stay inside the house, though. I quickly realize the odds and retreat back to a prior bottleneck to have stuff file in. The misadventures I have when I decide to relocate in a hectic fight like this sometimes are the best doom stories for me experientially but it's hard to give blow by blow description of the thought process. I think the point I want to make is whenever a map makes you come up with a plan that involves relocating the fight or your approach to it is probably a good map. If everything goes as planned it's satisfying in a power wash simulator kind of way, of course. There is a lot of lost souls as I'm running away to the metal2 corridor. I use the grass switch to get up to the perimeter and then promptly lower myself down by pressing the top grass switch that operates... the same elevator. That adds a bit of panic to my escape from the soul infested open air area. I drop to 15 health for a moment but the mapper puts 50 health in the back of an opened monster closet on the perimeter which once again reinforces 'he played this a lot' and reinforces 'check monster closets for good stuff' as a good trope to rely on. I am supposed to be saving as needed but my uvmax hidden desires are rising to the surface what with 100% secrets already in the pocket so I am quite elated at that chunk of health lying there at the most opportune spot. I feel all these things as three pain elementals are spawning little idiots, mind you, so good map. SSG ammo is a bit tight to sit at the metal2 corridor mouth and waste it on subpar lost soul combo shots, so I switch to the chain and deal with the souls in the way the mapper designed, as imps, cacos, pinkies and the elementals themselves file in from stage left to complicate the shooting gallery. I clean up with 50 health and half a blue armor and 6 enemies remaining. This is where if this were a modern set I could bet my ass those last 6 monsters were going to be a scene. That, or 6 zombies right by the exit switch, depending on humour. But for the vintage I got the sense the worst was behind me. The red door reveals a metal too crawl corridor with a chaingunner in front vision and a couple of imps behind him. As we inch further down the corridor we get a switch. Same like all the other ones that you flip and something opens up behind you in a closet on this map. The idea was reinforced, is all I'm saying. So I flip it and turn to face back and in my peripheral vision I note the wall the switch was on has opened up, it's one of those 1KILL double doors opening up half up half down and behind it is a chaingunner. It fucks me up, man, those double doors generally fuck me up and that they don't both close down correctly fucks me up. Anyway, all that to say I got scared and I got shot by the chaingunner a little bit, but in the end it was a conceptual mapping device that got (almost) me, not 6 archviles coming out of 6 monster closets all at once. This map isn't as explosive as the secret second part of map01, but all in all it's a consistently good map I had a lot of *experiences* in. Small, doom experiences, but definitely not just rote turn a corner and shoot a sarge with and a pinky with a shotgun 30 times like some of #1KILL was threatening to become. What's furthermore interesting to me is that I have had zero confusion (at least not bad confusion, I didn't get the sphere secret that would have made this much easier) about layout, flow and what to do next in the past 2 maps. The mapper is finally clearing out what concepts they are attracted to work from the chaff of concepts that are just fun to try out once and say you've done them. I am entertaining a pet theory that this mapper liked perimeter crawls anyway, but now that he's played doom II and he's seen the glory that is Underhalls, he's extrapolating from that idea of a central structure and a perimeter around it as sources of danger and map transformation, just how we all felt when we went into the house in underhalls, got the key and saw the pinkies and imps come out. He's gonna keep doing it.footage Edited February 11, 2023 by Helm 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Roofi Posted February 11, 2023 Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 03 "Space Port" That one has a rough start : some arachnotron and many chaingunners protect the surroundings whereas I still have no armor on my body. Moreover, the first area has many large windows which help the projectiles to reach you. Due to the more futuristic theme, the large dark outdoor area and of course the music, "Space Port" resembles more to a TNT Evilution map than the others. However, Angelo kept a clear and simple progression which is a plus. About the red key's part, the pain elementals can quickly overwhelm your safe zone but they can be cheesed if you camp near the entrance door (monsters cannot open fast-opening doors !). It's a well designed trap. Grade : B No video this time. I have some internet issues. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Celestin Posted February 11, 2023 MAP03: Space Port Space Port looks nothing like a cosmodrome. Instead, it feels like a cross between Dead Simple and Power Control from TNT. The first task is to clear the corridor around the central courtyard, which is considerably more challenging by the addition of chaingunners. They can easily snipe you from across the corridor and the map is filled with them. All the while you have to hide from the arachnotrons firing at you from outside. It's a tense segment and I like it a lot. Reaching the end rewards the player with a super shotgun and opened door to the courtyard. This is probably the weakest part of the level. Just hold down the fire button, run around the square, then grab the blue key and do the same with a group of hell knights that spawned. After this dip in quality, the map returns to form with the red key trap, throwing pain elementals and cacodemons at the player. It's an ok short map, where I like the steady escalation of threat and difficulty. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Monsieur E Posted February 11, 2023 Map03: Space Port 126/126 kills, 4/4 secrets, 6:43 Another mostly sedate map where you supershotgun the weak opposition away, the arachnotrons in the center work well as snipers to back them up I suppose. There's nothing much to say but it's not boring either, maybe excluding the part where you chow down the hellknight cluster. It's a modest but entertaining map. Also it doesn't really resemble a space port- It's a modest but fun map, honestly pretty respectable for the era and I hope this level of quality control stays consistent to the end. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
Ralgor Posted February 11, 2023 MAP03 - "Space Port" I have to admit, I'd rather listen to Final Doom music than the standard Doom 2 music. I'm glad that Angelo put some thought into the music for his levels. In this case, he's using the music from MAP02 from TNT. While there's no hot start here, the opening area is dangerous. The windows and open area allow hit-scanners to snipe you from far away. There are also multiple arachnotrons outside that can shoot at you through the window. The two on the ground are very hard to see through the window, but they have no problems shooting you. I thought I had been shot through a wall when they killed me the first time. It took me a few tries to clear a safe area, but I didn't have much to worry about for the rest of the level. I didn't bother saving during those early attempts, so my ultimate success was done in a single segment. While the opening fight was the hardest when pistol starting, the fight around the red key was the most interesting. Trying to avoid engaging too much with the fodder while taking out the pain elementals before they overwhelmed me made for a nice battle. The pinkies block your ability to maneuver along the perimeter. After a short-lived charge at the first elemental, I dropped back down to spend the right of the fight managing lines of sight while taking out the flyers. There are five secrets in this map, but only four of them are marked as such. The automap give away all of the secrets, and the secret teleporter is also marked by a texture. These secrets before the red key fight are a big reason why that fight isn't very difficult, even when pistol starting. It's possible to start that last big fight with 200 life and armor. The map itself is linear in progression, with limited backtracking. Reading some of the other write-ups for this map shows we all had very similar experiences. I do prefer a more non-linear map, even if it causes the map to be a little confusing. I can't imagine ever playing this map again, since my experience will be much the same as the first time I beat it. Visually, the map is competent for a 1997 map. There's minimal detailing and some texture misalignments. But the visuals of a map don't seriously impact my opinion for any map, even modern ones. I care much more about gameplay, and that at least is pretty solid here. Grade: C 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
LadyMistDragon Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) Map 03: Space Port Well, this actually turned out a fair bit more generic than I was expecting, but possibly still the hardest map so far, even possibly counting 1B. That's because, guess what, chaingunners make their first appearance in #1 Kill. Their fire from across the way, along with that of the Arachnotrons guarding the series of pens and closets in the center are easily the hugest killer. They were deadly enough in fact that I hardly noticed the fair amount of misalignments located what was a tragically-underdetailed map. Though I did spot something that might have been unique to this wad at the time: certain computer consoles being red-bordered and an unopening door with some torches blocking the way: a plan for someth But this is aesthetically a joke, with the Zimmern outdoor area later on not making lots of sense, so let's just talk about this map's flow! So there is one door to your left that's locked, necessitating us to go down a hallway with a switch at the end, causing a closet with Imps to open up that leave us with tragically little room to dodge. Worst news comes when we gaze upon the newly-opened doorway and find several hitscanners firing in our direction, chaingunners being among them. It can be very difficult to get out of this area with much more than 50 percent health. Be very careful to investigate the side closets because one of them contains a Super shotgun, which the lack of would probably have caused us to have a very bad time. It's only after this we enter the central courtyard, take care of the Arachnotrons, grab the blue key and unleash some hell knights, along with exposing us to more furious chaingunner fire. There's basically nothing else to do here but shotgun the lot and save our rockets. Believe it, it makes the next part that much easier if you do! Just make sure to check the little closets where the hell knight came from: there's ammo and also a Megaarmor. From here, we head behind the blue door and an utterly boring hallway of METAL that still manages to be compelling due to some chaingunners being stuck barely in your line of sight and a Cacodemon at the other end of the hallway. Thankfully, this is narrow enough so that we can dodge side-to-side. Unfortunately, we also missed a random different wall texture that opens the way to a teleport heading to the Supercharge we saw earlier in the central courtyard. It would make the next confrontation so much easier with more damage to take. Anyway, this next courtyard has chaingunners at the opposite end from the entrance that should be taken care of soon as possible, some Cacodemons whose ranks we also must thin, along with scattered groups of Imps and pinkies, along with some pinkies and spectres hanging in some dry moat. Doesn't matter, enter the building to slay the Cacodemons, then grab the red key.....then find two closets open up outside, one in front of the blue key and the other one just adjacent to the entrance. Perhaps we should've targeted the one closest to us first because there's a Pain Elemental, along with a Cacodemon that comes from that direction, as opposed to the Imps, Cacodemons, and pair of Pain Elementals that came from the other. We died twice here, and would certainly have died more if we hadn't gotten lucky because the window for dodging Lost Souls is very small and there were hardly enough rockets to go around that we (didn't) initially use. Following this is some more desultory nonsense with chaingunners and Imps (and a return of the split door trademark!) before the exit is unbarred that's not worth troubling anyone with. It's enough to say that this could be among the most fun but Hell Knight shotgunning in one location does drag it down and perhaps we should be looking more in the hallways like in old-school maps like this. Note: I've been made aware that demos will stop upon death, but on the other hand, the file size seems fairly large for a short map like this, so idk. lmd_#1killltng03.zip Edited February 11, 2023 by LadyMistDragon 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
Roofi Posted February 12, 2023 Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 04 "Country Side" I have a soft spot for this beige and spacious outpost which highlight the cloudy grey sky. The music "More" from TNT evilution, which is one of my favourite tracks from this IWAD, always fit for exploration-oriented adventurous map. Now I have to warn you about the increasing difficulty because "Country Side" features a really nasty trap at the beginning and a tight ammo balance during the whole map. The secrets will help you a lot , especially the megasphere's one which is counter-intuitive because you literrally have to jump in the lava pit in order to reach a teleportation line. (Doom games originally don't mark the teleportation lines on the automap as the more modern ports do.). If you decided to take the suspicious soulsphere and the few ammo packages, you have to be really quick or lucky because the pinkies are numerous enough to block and chew you in one instant. The rest of the level doesn't cause of a lot of trouble but the pain elementals might waste your ammo if you don't kill them in priority and if you don't play with the lost souls limit. Anyway, strolling among large grassy outdoors is an always refreshing experience and , as the previous level, it gives me strong TNT vibes besides the music. "Country Side" requires a bit of foreknowledge to be properly enjoyed in my opinion but it's a solid map with a tight balance. I advice to play this wad on continous first before attacking on pistol start. Kill next generation contains tough maps , even harder than some Hell Revealed's levels released in the same year which is considered as an icon of the old-school hardcore wads. Grade : B+ Still no video for now because of my limited internet connection. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post
Book Lord Posted February 12, 2023 MAP 04 – Country Side DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves The welcome committee was more than the given shotgun could chew, but infighting and ammo blitzes saved the day. The switch on the left should have written “TRAP” instead of “EXIT” above it; approaching the ammo and the Soul Sphere released a shocking amount of Demons backed up by hitscanners, with whom Doomguy has to dance for at least 30 seconds. In case he survived, the switch could not be pressed and killing the small army at the bottom of the staircase was out of question with the current weaponry, so it was advisable to explore the western part of the level instead. Spoiler The cloister and the northern room were straightforward and allowed me to gather some ammo for the most challenging part, which was the corridor running around a lava pit with windows on both sides. The openings allowed enemies to shoot at me from various angles, including Revenants, Imps, and hitscanners from the outside of the building. Cacodemons and Pain Elementals floated unexpectedly through the windows, but making a dash for the end was worth the risk, since it gave me the BK and the SSG. An unmarked though reasonable secret offered a Megasphere and the rocket launcher in quick succession, spewing another group of flying balls while I was still figuring out where I had been sent. Spoiler From here on, the difficulty went downhill. I reached the Country Side, i.e., the side of the building facing the country, and I conquered the outpost from which I had been attacked before. I found the YK inside, then I pressed a switch that raised the bars in front of a skull switch; it was an elevator to the room with the red door on the other side, containing a squad of Revenants and two Barons of Hell as guardians of the RK. Armed to the teeth, I triggered the exit trap and wiped out the miserable hellspawn on my path, meeting the three coloured doors in succession, and making the exit switch accessible again. The trap was the real exit, after all, and if you are 4shockblast you can even straferun to it in 3 seconds! A wrong turn at the start might sour the first attempt and there was a flagrant over-reliance on BROWN1 as a wall texture, but the architecture, progression, and encounter design were refreshing for a 1997 map. Kudos, Angelo! Spoiler 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
Helm Posted February 12, 2023 MAP04 This is a step up in chaingunner violence! That overpopulated pinky sphere ambush is quite the thing too. The theme here is ammo management as you cannot even get out of the first room on pistol start unless you snatch a few corpse weapons to push onwards. Tackling the series of traps and pain elemental filled areas requires dying a few times to figure out a good route, which I eventually did. Expediting getting the SSG will help with everything else. I'd rather not recount blow by blow what happened to me in this map as there are quite a few false starts before I make progress and ultimately though I got 100% kills and secrets and all the keys I couldn't find how to make the slab in front of the exit switch fall. So I am back in the land of confusion with Angelo, quitting a map I just maxed in front of the exit switch. That megasphere secret is quite cruel without the modern automap help and the series of teleporters on low ammo lead me to switch to the rocket launcher at very close quarters but I manage to practice trigger finger control and make it out of quite a hairy situation. The difficulty spike is not bad, I'm still enjoying myself a lot, actually more. I had very tight encounters though and many close calls and ammo starvation issues throughout even on this 'winning' run so I doubt I'll go in and redo this one once I see how that switch is lowered. I'll just catch a demo from somebody else to see what went wrong with my brain. footage in any case 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
Celestin Posted February 12, 2023 MAP04: Country Side (sic!) I didn't enjoy this one. MAP04 starts with camping by the door to clear out a welcoming commitee of imps, shotgunners and chaingunners, then presents itself as a more open map than the what came before. This is however an trick: ignore the exit sign on the right, as it opens a nasty ambush and go for the blue key first. It grants you with an SSG (and a rocket launcher in a nearby secret, but there isn't much ammo for it). You'll need to go through a corridor of hitscanners with additional enemies firing at you from the sides, but two barrels are helpful when dealing with the red and yellow key routes. To get there, you'll have to go through an outside area with cacodemons, revenants and pain elementals. Even with a large swath of land at you disposal, flying enemies can make dodging somewhat challenging. The yellow key opens up a pinky ambush (which is fine), while the red key is located in a dark, cramped room with pairs of revenants and barons (not cool). With a set of keys, you can return to the beginning area and turn right. Trying to press the exit switch locks the room and floods it with pinkies - I wouldn't try to clear them without a one-hit-kill power of the super shotgun. All that's left is a room with poison floor, cacodemons and pain elementals. It serves no purpose besides wasting the player's time. As I've said earlier, I'm not a fan of this one. Country Side, unlike previous maps, can get tight on ammo, especially at the end. I blame it on the pain elementals, there are only 6 of them, but they are placed in a way they are free to spawn tons of lost souls. The visuals feel generic, with an exception of the outside area. So far, it's my least favourite map of The Next Generation. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post
Ralgor Posted February 12, 2023 MAP04 - “Country Side”dsda-doom v0.25.6, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment, 100% kills and secrets This map doesn't have the hectic beginning of the last one, but manages to keep a higher and more consistent level of excitement throughout. The opening hitscanner ambush is pretty easily dispatched if you just hide behind the door. You probably won't be able to eliminate everything before you run out of ammo, but you should be able to kill enough of them that you can escape to the room beyond to get more ammo. The one big notable fight is the pinky swarm when you approach the exit for the first time. It's especially scary if you make the choice to go right instead of left, where the SSG is located. The exit is blocked off, the entrance closes behind you, and 18 pinkies come to try to chew your face off. If you don't have an SSG at this point, you're forced to try to constantly escape the horde while making space. The fight reminds me a lot of more modern wads. Ultimately this was the direction I went at first, so I'm not sure how differently the fight plays if you go get the blue key and SSG first. The lead up the blue key is pretty interesting too. You have to travel through a hallway with plenty of windows, where you'll be shot at from multiple directions. It's easy to lose a little bit of health here and there until you're in danger of dying. The megasphere secret can be deadly if you make the wrong decision. Walking into the teleporter in the lava teleports you onto the platform while also opening up a room with two cacodemons and an elemental. Trying to walk off the platform teleports you into that room. This means you have to hold your ground for a little bit for the flyers to leave their cubby-hole before you teleport in. When I did this I managed to mostly make the right decisions, but I still ended up with less health after finishing the secret than before I started it. Luckily I did this last so that didn't matter much. This map is less linear than the last one. At several points you get a choice of which path to take, and the map is easy enough that there really aren't any wrong choices. However, some choices are much easier than others. There is some backtracking in this map, but it's not enough to be annoying. I think this might be my second favorite map for the month so far. Grade: B 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
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