The DWmegawad Club plays: #1 Kill & Number One Kill TNG

[Azure_Horror]

Due to my main PC getting messed up, I am a bit late...

 

#1 kill: I played maps 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9. Normal maps felt most memorable for their choice of decor:Ggreen Marble combined with tasteful additions of other visual themes. Usually, the dedicated green marble maps use the marble almost exclusively. Not the case with #1 kill! I also really don't like the flashing light room from map 2. Made me dizzy...

 

As for the secret map 9 - it is a really good map, IMO. Felt like a advanced re-interpriation of Doom 2 The Citadel (map 19). The spider mastermind appearence is very on point, because she is pretty scary without the SSG, BFG, or Plasma at hand. The player can either flip the exit switch and GTFO, or grab the final key, which unloxks the plasma rifle. Semi-optional final boss is a very rare concept in doom maps, and here it is done pretty brilliantly!

 

#1 kill New Gen

Maps 01 and 02

Dunno, what to say. Maps are decent and use a lot of shotgunners to spice things up. Yet nothing felt particularrly memorable.

MAp 01 has a spicy archvile-infested secret subsection, but I prefer Plutonia Experiment take on early arcvile appearence.

 

Map 03

Again, not a super-memorable level, but this one felt much more special. To me, it resembles like a crossover between early maps from Alien Vendetta and TNT:Evilution. Evilution soundtrack and its genre of hitscan-happy gameplay is combined with some refined gameplay & "just right" map size from AV. Nothing too fancy, but all things feel right at home.

 

Map 04

I like: early reveal of the exit, silly exploration-happy map layout, pain elementals, initial hitscanner brawl.

I don't particularly like: big crowds of pinkies, a combo of easy-to-miss SSG and obligatory baron encouners.

Outdoor section reminds about both Running Late 2 map 08 and some levels from Resurgence.

Overall, this is the first map from the megaWAD to leave a strong impression on me. I quite like this one, despite some grindy sections being present!

[Veeda Vidlak]

Bah, brutal end to the week. I’ll try to catch up a bit before the Superbowl. Also, reading some of the comments on TNG was intimidating but I’ll continue with my personal rules (pistol start, two playthroughs, UV with all kills, saveless) for as long as I’m able to.

 

Map01 “Entryway”

 

Upon loading, er, Entryway we are immediately presented with a familiar face. The split liftdoor from E2M1! Fortunately, we don’t repeat the marble hell techfusion. Instead, we get… Brown brick and stone. Honestly though, I like it, it looks like classic 90s Doom II and the overcast sky is atmospheric. Anyway, combatwise, the opening area with the pool has your basic shotgunners and imps along with a pair of revenants trying to gank you from behind barred windows. I’d take these guys out immediately, their homing projectiles like to sneak up on you at random moments.

 

The red key area to the west has some fodder enemies and a pain elemental I rushed in to kill after clearing out the initial imps. There’s also a switch that opens a secret you will want for the optional “section” this level has. The red door to the east opens the path to the exit (where the revs are) and three hell-knights port in (one at a time), giving you some more shotgun practice. At least they aren’t barons. If you haven’t killed the revenants, you’ll do so now and don’t forget to grab that secret megaarmor and soulsphere. Our opening act concludes with another split door and a bunch of shotgunners, leading you to the exit switch.

 

Or does it?

 

While you can absolutely leave now and go to map02, you’ve probably noticed there are over 100 monsters left, even with all three secrets (which are all found in one area. I see we’re still doing that). Investigate the ending rooms and you’ll find a weird series of lowering walls leading to a mancubus, an SSG, and a teleporter to…

 

Entryway part 2: Electric Boogaloo

 

Upon taking the (one way) teleporter you arrive in a room with a rocket launcher, shells, another SSG, and a berserk pack. Before continuing I’ll just say that even without the other comments, it is quite obvious this was intended to be a separate map that ended up getting glued to the first one for some reason. It’s gameplay certainly gives a pointed warning to players the otherwise tepid opening doesn’t, so maybe that’s part of it.

 

Alright, while the secret Entryway also opens into a large room with a (blood) pool, Jefferson doesn’t play gentle this time. The initial mancubi are whatever, but the lowering walls revealing a PE with support followed by an arch-vile entrenched in pinkies (and more gasbags coming behind you) should send the message loud and clear. Mr. Hyde is here, and you had better be ready for fights that are pretty darn advanced for 1997. Case in point, the third “wave” of enemies here puts substantial pressure on the player to down the vile before the PEs and cacos complicate the encounter. My blind playthrough I took a ton of damage (wiped out my soulsphere and megaarmor from earlier) and my second I chose to use my (very limited) supply of rockets to destroy the pinkies and archie ASAP. Got me to respect this wad’s combat real quick.

 

The level absolutely does not let up from here and after some shotgunners I came upon a pillared room with a vile and two barons encased in invisible walls. Using see-through barriers to telegraph future adversaries hadn’t caught on yet in the 90s, so it’s neat to see it here. It’s done pretty well actually, giving a “when do they get released?” paranoia that isn’t relieved at the first switch. Continuing up the stairs, there are some rather aggravating shotgun guys and a sequence that ends with a switch that actually does release the earlier enemies. Deal with them to obtain the blue key and proceed to the final part of the map.

 

My blind run I received a nasty shock upon opening fire on the hitscanners behind the blue door. There were howls all around, hell-knights teleporting in, and an arch-vile making his way from the left. Upon getting attacked by what was clearly a second vile I backed down the stairs in a bit of a panic and moved to the west, trying to split the attacking squadron in two using the upper level. This strategy… worked.  Three hell-knights and an arch-vile made it down the stairs and I was able to pick off this isolated group using the pillars for cover. The remaining vile and his knights were then manageable enough to win the attrition battle.

 

I gotta admit, even with the clumsy transition between “levels” this was a heartening start. The two nasty, well-designed fights in the secret second part are like a bucket of ice water to the face. Now I REALLY want to see what’s coming later.

[brick]

Finally caught up.

 

GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

 

TNG MAP01 - “Entryway”
The txt mentions that the difficulty on HNTR is like Doom I on UV. This of course only applies to the main part of the map. It's definitely what I expected after playing #1Kill Extra, it's an extension of the combat balancing from that map, more refined and more interesting than the E2 portion of #1Kill. The architecture has also seen improvements and continues the trend set by E2M8 and E3M1, with good use of elevation, varied lighting without resorting to the blinding strobes of early E2, and some pretty tasteful texture usages. The map is quick-playing, but reaching the exit and realizing half the enemies are alive is suspicious. The secret door isn't hinted at in any way I could tell, but it does show up on the automap in a pretty clever way. I liked the frozen mancubus, getting the SSG was sweet, and beyond him is an exit-looking teleporter that takes us to the secret map-within-map. All bets are off here, there are some great-looking rooms (the Star Trek symbol was fitting considering the wad name) and much tougher combat. I loved that first archvile, knowing it's there and awake and not knowing at what point it'll get unleashed and start resurrecting everyone. I thought the entire map's concept was unique and found both sections to be very fun. A promising start for sure!

 

TNG MAP02 - “The Abandoned Mines”
This definitely has Underhalls vibes, though the texturing makes it look more like the titular Mines. The Underhalls homage with the red key building is a very nice example of how to do those, instantly recognizable but some things work differently for some surprise. Combat is still fun even though it's leaning a bit into hitscan hell, compared to the previous map it's a bit easier than the secret section but a bit more challenging than the base part. I'm impressed with how well balanced HNTR has been so far, it's not hugely difficult but it's definitely a big step up compared to the iwads.

 

TNG MAP03 - “Space Port”

Small map but packed with enemies. The hall that runs all around the central courtyard has windows that open to it everywhere, and it's easy to catch a stray bullet, though there's also a bit of cover that encourages moving carefully. The knights that unleash when picking the blue key aren't too bad, and HNTR even gives an invulnerability to deal with them. The red key ambush by comparison is trickier, the open windows make the PE more dangerous. Oddly, the Supercharge is in an untagged secret that is well hinted, but the actual official secrets are completely unmarked (though finding one makes it trivial to get the others).

 

TNG MAP04 - “Country Side”

This one expands the connectivity that was introduced in the previous map and makes great use of windows, it's fun sniping things that you can't reach yet. The large area outside gave me a bit of trouble at first, the combination of cacos, revenant and PE in an open space requires some are to not be overwhelmed by lost souls. I'm also starting to notice just how fluid the progression is, there were a few times when it wasn't immediately obvious what a switch does, but the layout directs you to pass by the affected area almost organically, so it's hard to get truly stumped. The exit is in plain sight early on, but trying to got here triggers a surprise and locks it away, requiring getting all 3 keys to unlock it again. Another very enjoyable map. I think there's a potential softlock there though, because of the exit room architecture there are 3 W1 lines to close off the exit, but the switch that reopens it is S1, and I think it's possible to re-trigger one of the W1 after pressing the switch, making the level impossible to finish.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 04: Country Side

 

So here we are, infiltrating something like a desert mansion with an owner that appears to be an utterly uncultured tit because this guy is completely deprived of any visual sense or aesthetic tastefulness. Unlike Map 03 however, I doubt very much that this was made first. Because despite a layout that could best be described as wrap-around, the action is probably the best polished of any so far in the wad. The start is probably not quite as hot as door-camping is a more reliable way to dispose of enemies largely coming in from the sides, though since there's chaingunners among them, it'll be hard not to lose at least some health.

 

Anyways, we'll probably spot the exit switch sitting some distance off to the right, however, its easy enough to guess that approaching it is a bad idea. Although continuous players can probably approach and survive, being trapped otherwise with limited resources will probably cause to end up as a collection of hamburger meat. Therefore, we head to the left, enter a door into a central courtyard, single-shotgun a Revenant, along with a Cacodemon or two, then kill some not terribly threatening hitscanners before dodging through another series of hallways because of a Revenant in another direction to end up in a massive and outdoor courtyard we're somehow supposed to believe gives the map its name. Is the military outpost in the middle a staple of whatever country this takes place in? Probably, but at any rate, we swiftly find that we really should have gone the other way and grabbed the SS first. Because firstly, there are chaingunners at all the (three) high spots in this area, probably about 5 Revenants, the same number of Cacodemons and THREE Pain Elementals, a pair of them sort of hanging out and another one of them hanging out somewhere. It was a miracle I survived all of this, particularly when the pinkie closet opened up when you pick up the yellow key in the tower is opened. At a certain point, we just ended up leaving because we saw something that made us think we were coming back....which was sort of true!

 

Heading through the hallway we skipped earlier, we fight a Revenant, along with a Cacodemon or two, an Imp and that's basically it because at the end, we pick up a Super Shotgun and blue key whilst completely missing the secret here (room inspired a bit by something from Mt. Pain or Memento Mori perhaps) containing a Megasphere and a rocket launcher in a side room, the collection of the former leading to an ambush by a few Cacos and a Pain Elemental. We only head back here while completing the map.

 

After this, the only place to go is where the Supercharge and exit switch are, but at this point, we have the resources to handle everything and perhaps its a blessing in disguise we didn't have the RL at this point because things get quite tight and there's at least 4 chaingunners.

 

Anyways, the stairs here head down to a slime pool with....more chaingunners and a Pain Elemental, along with some other junk I believe included shotgunners. The hallway at the end leads through 2 key doors before hitting the wall against a 3rd. So you remember the skull switch sitting across from the tower with the yellow key? I must not have pressed or noticed the lift located here earlier, because that's where the red key is, along with 2 Barons that are as likely as not to chew our face off with 3 seconds.

 

But no matter, red key acquired, head to the end, hit the switch blocking the exit switch, then head off for some secrets that we completely missed. The pink wall near the blue key was easy enough, but getting up to the panels in the hall on the way to the yellow key involve the pushing of a random wall that lowers down and allows us to pick up the goodies above and across from us, thanks to a teleport. This is the sort of secret that generally doesn't exist in modern maps!

 

We definitely got a little lucky with the infighting because several of the Cacodemons in the courtyard thusly were felled by a single Revenant they didn't even seem to have hit. I think the grindiness could've actually been far worst considering. I can't say it's better than 3 though. I'm probably more nostalgic for um "More" than "Blood Jungle" though.

lmd_#1killltng04.zip

Edited February 13, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map02 “The Abandoned Mines”

 

Going avant-garde with the level names I see.

 

Here we have a more ordinary map 2 that plays as a progression of the non-secret part of map 1. The enemies are basic, the textures brown, and the difficulty low. We start out in an underground cavern populated by ye olde hitscanner party. Depending on rng you can take quite a lot of damage here, but the easiest soulsphere secret in the world is right around the corner so you should be fine. Also, there is a cage with two revenants here. Kill them and worry about ammo later, you do not want to try to shake missiles in cramped quarters with no armor.

 

The next section involves a watery tunnel that leads to the red key area and has two paths to the right. I highly recommend going down the lift first, you’ll find a small group of enemies guarding an SSG here (ammo shouldn’t be a problem past this point). With your new equipment, go to the second path for a booby-trapped blue armor. I like this setup, you can get in real trouble here if you only have the single shotgun. After this, we find the red key in an adorable little keep surrounded by a creek. There are an obnoxious number of shotgunners here, but the area is trivial to clear with how sturdy you are. Taking the red key gives you cacos & co. to fight and as long as you don’t get stuck in the creek its easy pickings. Following this is a tunnel with the blue key and the most-telegraphed ambush in the world, which can be escaped by moving around and strafing over the key towards the entrance (fire right before the door in case something ports in front of you).

 

We conclude by teleporting back at the beginning, where we can now enter the techbase, kill two awkward cacos, grab the last one two secrets, and exit. I like how this level has a natural feeling ending, implying your trying to infiltrate (or perhaps escape from) a base via the mines connected to it. I’ll also take this opportunity to point out that this level looks quite nice, with caves that remind me of Alien Vendetta and Kama Sutra’s map05. Of course, neither of those Wads existed when this map was made, so kudos for the positive association.

 

A satisfying map 2 that reminds me of Underhalls a little (but how does it play pacifist?). The polite and docile ambushes show Dr. Jekyll is back in control for now, but that’s fine. I have no real complaints.

 

Map03 “Space Port”

 

This map has a great start. Right as you open the door you’re under heavy fire from enemies outside the window you’d best take cover from. It turns out they’re in a courtyard you need to break into and moving around the perimeter pits you against lots of imps and hitscan. I actually thought there was a mastermind in the center for the longest time, not realizing the withering hitscan damage was only the chaingunners. I was actually disappointed to find that out. It makes this part much simpler to navigate, as you can just take out the hitscanners and not worry too much about maneuvering.

 

Save the berserk at the start for health (you won’t need it for combat, there’s plenty of ammo) and make your way to the other side of the building. Along the way go get the SSG from a side area and hit the switch that opens up the courtyard where you’ll find the blue key. Grabbing it spawns in a bunch of hell-knights backed by a few chaingunners in the corner. This fight feels hell-revealedish, forcing you to chew through unwarranted amounts of toothless meat with only the SSG. You also have more lame secret hiding in this area. The back wall of each of the four little tunnels to the east opens for an item, together accounting for every secret in the map (just have all the back walls open into a single area, its fine to make a level with just one secret).

 

The second half of the map isn’t bad but fails to recapture the energy of the first minute. After traversing a metal corridor you come upon a small outpost that guards the red key. This part plays out very similarly to the red key section in the last map, in both design and gameplay. The main difference is the key ambush is a bit tougher. There are three pain elementals among the attackers though you can minimize the threat by spinning around and eliminating two of them with rockets immediately.

 

Your work is done after this, though we are treated to another appearance of the split door, now a gargoyle face clad in dapper metal (Jefferson really likes this effect). Overall, another solid outing, though one that feels like it had a missed opportunity. I really do think a mastermind would work well in the center of the first area, forcing the player to dash between the windows under threat from an enemy they can’t pick off. You could even make it possible to trigger the hell knights with her still around (that would be fun). Past that, the red key section is perfectly fine, and of appropriate difficulty for the map number. I also like how this level (and the last one) play quickly, sub five minutes at a good pace.

 

On to map 4.

[dististik]

Whew am I late. Various things happened that made me fall a bit more behind than I initially anticipated but while everyone else is out watching sports ball here in the states I decided to play Doom instead. Honestly, probably just as good. Since #1 Kill didn't have anything I couldn't fairly easily handle after PWADs like Ancient Aliens, Alien Vendetta, Aliens TC and last year's DWMWC Micro-Slaughter playthrough I initially considered doing everything saveless and recording demos of my blind playthroughs along the way and then map01 introduced it's third and fourth archviles to me and I quickly changed my mind. Before I get too ahead of myself, like with the first entry in this series I'll be playing on Woof! (10.5.1), pistol start, -complevel 2, and at least giving a good shot at getting all the kills and secrets. Anyway, onto my thoughts on the maps!

 

MAP01 - Entryway

 

This is honestly already a fair bit better than #1 Kill, I won't lie. While I admittedly have finished neither Final Doom IWADs I feel like Angelo was at least a little inspired by Plutonia with this entry. Most of the early combat leans really heavy on the pump action shotgun but thanks to the expanded cast of monsters the wad spares no time introducing you to, it's already a good bit more engaging. Don't take the exit as soon as you can, instead wall hump a bit to the west and meet a whole 100 more enemies -- I'm genuinely surprised none of the sectors over here were tagged as secret. I saw a few others here call the second half of this level the first secret level or MAP01A, and with how much of a drastic departure from the first half is I don't blame them.

 

Much more liberal use of dangerous foes here, four whole archviles to keep you on your toes, and the beginning of what I later noticed to be a particular fondness Angelo has for the pain elemental. Coincidentally, this map taught me that ghost monsters show up translucent in Woof! and that has nothing to do with me not realizing where the last two viles were while door fighting a little too much why would you think that?

 

Big fan of the fangs this one had on it, even if a lot of it was still shotgun combat the SSG like I previously assumed that alone speeds things up a lot improving the feel of the maps. After reaching the second exit I had hoped that Angelo continued having this fondness for beefier boys.

 

MAP02 - The Abandoned Mines

 

This marks the first time in one of Angelo's maps I've ever had to consciously look down and notice "Oh hey my ammo's getting a little low". Combat is a bit cheesable this time around and I was a little disappointed Angelo didn't continue to have a more liberal approach to vile placement but I suppose it set my expectations to not be seeing any martians for a bit longer early on. The map is still significantly meaner than a lot of #1 Kill so it was engaging but I was able to evade death a bit easier than I'd like.

 

The visuals are also a nice improvement, I see the theme of Angelo's skills improving across every map in one department or another is staying with us and I for one am glad.

 

MAP03 - Space Port

 

I know in the current year of our lord "Smells Like Burning Corpse" has been used in several laps of to hell and back but its still a good song, dammit. This map has our first chaingunners and boy does Angelo know how to use them. I may have just missed it but I don't recall #1 Kill's maps having the same fondness for hitscanners as I've started to see on display with The Next Generation and honestly? Running between cover from the arachnos outside while trying to wipe out the heavy weapons dudes as soon as I could was pretty engaging in a good way. Ended up saving the berserk for a bit longer since the first couple of rooms on pistol start don't play around and I could definitely use the health top-off. The proceeding hell knight ambush has reinforced my belief that it will never not be fun to punch nobles to death, nevermind a whole gang of them.

 

Aside from the midi I feel like Angelo has taken some of the better possible inspirations from TNT with bigger open areas starting to become more common here. I'm honestly surprised the supercharge here isn't flagged as a secret but that meant I didn't have to scratch my head figuring out how to reach it so I'm not complaining.

 

MAP04 - Country Side

 

Speaking of TNT midis and big open spaces, "More" is thankfully one of the tracks from Final Doom that I'm quite fond of. Stumbled into the trap at the exit switch first and oof ow my bones, I can only bait pinky attacks so well for so long. This set me on a bit of a path to be on the lookout for health and ammo early on; thankfully the rooms after the first weren't too bad. Angelo's pain elemental love interest became especially aware to me here between the cacos and pain elementals in the huge outdoor area and the red key ambush. The latter was one of those things you see coming but I didn't quite realize how unafraid our mapper was of plopping down three meatballs in a room with you stuck in the middle. On continuous playthroughs I'm sure I'd have more than enough rockets to make quick work of the fight but with only 5 to my name I had to be a bit more creative; stand out fight of the wad so far.

 

Results tallies:

 

Spoiler

 

[Book Lord]

MAP 05 – Radioactive Substa(n)ce Control

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves

 

Even if I remember disliking Radioactive Substa(n)ce Control on my first playthrough, I entertained myself quite a bit during the second run. The pistol start was hectic, regardless of the secret ammo stash behind the starting point; there were too many enemies to keep at bay with a measly pistol, so I must lure former humans out of the guard post to grab their weapons. Chaingunners were hiding behind a screen rebuilt from The Focus, and the secret access to it was similar too. The SSG and a Combat Armour were munificently gifted in the next chamber, where a Revenant was dancing among Imps and Sergeants. Chaingunners were shooting through the grate midtexture from a dark chamber, the next step of the journey.

Spoiler

Time to grab a Radiation Suit and dive into acid slime, keeping an eye on the Pain Elementals and on the faraway hitscanners: they could be harmful while swimming in the dimly lit reservoir. The cages contained switches that must be pressed, opening an additional flooded section with the BK and, of course, more enemies. Climbing on higher ground removed the pressure of the damaging floor but put me in the line of sight of Revenants and hitscanners in the upper control room. The blue door took me to a Tenements-esque maze of interlocked doors on corrosive nukage. I found the puzzle straightforward, if a bit aggravating, and the shielding suits given on UV were just right for the task.

Spoiler

The RK area consisted of several rooms and closets around a toxic waste pool. The bridge connecting the two sides lowered at Doomguys passage, cutting off retreat options, and forcing me to manage the crossfire and two waves of flying monsters in a confined space. The first wave of Cacodemons almost cornered me, but I escaped by the skin of my teeth. The Megasphere ledge could be reached by normal running, but for the lazy players there was a secret passage requiring the RK.

Spoiler

Backtracking to the red door at full stats was not a problem with the complimentary radsuit. Time for the reckoning with those Revenants and Chaingunners in the laboratory upstairs, which were in good company with the other critters hiding in the shadows of the nearby tech room. The lighting here was completely unrealistic, though functional for the gameplay, and the rocket launcher was placed exactly where it might cause an accidental self-rocketing. The YK was in a cubicle behind a steel bar, working like a door in contrast to the previous ones. I retraced my steps to the yellow switch and there was nothing that could stop me from leaving, except a freshly revealed teleporter in a suspect place I checked in vain at the beginning. It contained the last Cacodemon and a Soul Sphere, good for continuous players. The first #1killtng map that I reevaluated on my non-blind playthrough, Radioactive Substa(n)ce Control played nicely around the damaging floor trope and carried on the good streak of harsh though balanced combat setups.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Book Lord
corrected word order :)

[Roofi]

Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 05 "Radioactive Substance Control"

 

 

I feel a bit disappointed to not be the first person to spot the typo in the title heh. Anyway, this map really annoyed me during my first playthrough and tad less when I recorded my video. The reasons are simple to guess : overpresence of hitscanners especially chaingunners , a rough start where getting a new weapon is itself a hard task, some extremly dark areas filled with toxic slimes or the dumb part after you opened the blue keyed door where you have to repeatedly cross tight corridors in order to open a serie of doors.

 

As the previous map, "RSC" proposed a harder experience than most of the levels coming from the iwads but not for the good reasons. All the level design elements I mentioned above result to an unpleasant visit. I think the red key's trap involving several cacodemons was my favourite fight in that map. 

 

About the aesthetics, I think the visuals got weaker than the previous maps I played. I'm not a huge fan of the wide use of greenish textures, especially tek and startan ones which look rubbish when misaligned. Also, those textures don't highlight the grey sky concerning the outdoors areas  contrary to the beige ones.

 

This level does have its strengths in terms of monster placement but it doesn't really suit my tastes.

 

Grade : C+

 

 

 

 

Also check out , the videos of the two previous maps :

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP05: Radioactive Substance Control

 

There is a question I'm always having with 90's maps: was this a well thought encounter, or a poor map ballance. MAP05, unlike previous levels, doesn't give the player any weapons at the start (though there is a plenty of ammo in a triple secret behind the starting location) and opens up to a small courtyard with a cacodemon, some imps and hitscanner inside a nearby structure. This segment is a breeze with guns from previous maps, but for pistol-starter, it was a fun challenge. I fired at the posessed soldiers while avoiding projectile tossers and then, when everything inside was dead, I grabbed their guns to finish the rest off. 

 

The map is a somewhat linear key hunt, with blue being the first one. To find it, the player has to deal with a dark room filled with nukage, while fighting against sniping chaingunners and ambushes involving cacodemons and pain elementals. I don't like this part, but luckily it's easy to cheese: chaingunners can be killed through the grate in one of previous rooms, while the flying foes can be lured to a nearby corridor and eliminated one by one. Red key path leads through Tenements-inspired maze to a platform above damaging floor. An ambush involving cacodemons is deadly, it's very cramped and it's easy to get overwhelmed. With a red key, the hardest is over. All there's left it to return to the beginning, clear the rest of enemies overlooking the dark room, get the yellow key and leave the level.

 

A toxic techbase was a welcomed change of scenery and some of the fights are somewhat tricky. Definitely an improvement over MAP04.

[dististik]

A quick clarification before today's post, I talked about a red key ambush I really liked yesterday and accidentally attributed it to map04 instead of map03, where it actually takes place; only later realized I made the mistake when I was in bed reading posts from others I had missed when I fell behind. Oops.

 

MAP05 - Radioactive Substace [sic] Control

 

Haha wow I am not a fan of this one. I think one of my biggest mapping pet peeves is putting snipers, especially hitscan snipers, up far above where I can see which means their existance is essentially just a health tax whenever you dare to pass through their domain. Thankfully Angelo lets me actually go up to their level and kill them eventually but I can't say I'm a fan of being forced to take damage. Also, I dunno man it may just be me but I don't think the solution to you giving the player too much ammo was to suddenly starve them. I was able to bait a lot of the hitscanners into killing each other and I still ran out multiple times. And another thing! I wasn't a fan of fighting in low light levels in #1 Kill and I for one am shocked I'm not a fan of it here either!

 

When going for the blue door it took me way too long to realize how you were supposed to reveal the blue key and since I was so low on ammo I had to kind of leave the pain elementals and the revenant to their devices, which eventually lead to them filling the lost soul limit all on their own (not a day goes by that I'm not glad I don't play UV-Max in GZDoom anymore). I ended up getting irritatingly perferrated with bullets in the red key... puzzle...? room from even more chaingunners which lead to me hiding out in the room with the first switch for both ambushes with cacos, able to super shotgun them from safety. I accidentally grabbed the megasphere here the unintended way first by jumping across the short gap only to realize that the pathway to the megasphere was marked on my automap with the red key door and that sector was also a secret.

 

After that I retraced my steps back to the red door, weaving through the 21 lost souls to kill their creators and the revenant who probably provoked them into existing then leaving them yet again to their own devices. Can't say I was a fan of the chaingunners in yet even more low light levels shooting me before I could even notice them but by now I had so much health and armor that at least it was a more minor annoyance this time. Grab the yellow key, the last wholly unneccessary secret for pistol starters, and finally get to leave. You could not pay me to play this level again.

 

Oh that's a good sign...

 

[Azure_Horror]

#1 kill New Gen

Map 05

 

Ok, this is a very good synthesis of Doom 1 and Doom 2 IWADs. Doom 1 crunchy lowtiers and evocative locations are nicely balanced with doom 2 expanded monster roster and more frentic approach to combat. I also like generous hand-outs of strong defensive items. Again, very doom 1 trait, and it allows for pretty agressive gameplay. The map has a very good balance of hitscanners and projectile demons, something that even modern gameplay-focused maps occasionally get a bit wrong. I think, I much prefer #1 kill NG map 05 hitscan salad to the hitscan set ups from map 06 of Ancient Aliens. Of course, the AA map 06 has other good traits, but still.

In short, I think this is a lovely level.

 

Some random thoughts:

- The pistol start is quite cruel, but it is very easy to make the hitscanners infight there. I replayed that part quite a few times to be sure. So obtaining a proper weapon is easier than it looks.

- Cacos seem to be amazing in this map, even on flat ground. Usually cacos feel either too beefy to have fun fights, or not powerful enough to really threaten the player. This makes many cacodemon fights a bit boring. But here the cacos feel just right. They use theit beefeness to corner the player, but their relatively merciful damage allows for agressive and messy close combat counterplay. Hell Nobles, Revs or imps would not be able to peform in a same way here.

- Hitscan snipers are quite nasty, but they felt less oppressive than I feared at first. Blue armor and ample chaingun ammo do help a lot.

- The Red Key Nukage arena reminded me of Taras Nabad from Doom Eternal. Yes, really. Why Doom Eternal of all things? I have absolutely no idea! Yet the impression was there for some reason...

- Groups of pain elementals in expansive dark rooms make for pretty memorable and unusual fights. They are not immediately threatenning, but they are still high-priority targets. And it is hard to spot them in the darkness... So an angry meatball can remain unaccounted for quite some time, while quitely flooding the area with additional flaming skulls.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 05: Radioactive Substace Control

 

So know a map that takes a step backward in certain ways? Because the cramped corridors and less pressuring combat still qualify. Using E1M3's music makes some sense, with lots of dark areas and lots of sludge. Hey, did you know that the doors behind the start count as secrets? Yeah, the secrets are lazy, like the Focus homage I somehow failed to spot despite glancing right at a texture I knew to be oddball.

 

Combat is not too bad, and actually feels fair for the most part, despite there managing to be a shocking amount of hitscanners in what's entirely an indoor map. The little bit near the red key is quite nasty though. We're fighting off several Cacodemons, along with a Pain Elemental or two with some shockingly low health. Although come to think of it, they were probably a larger threat in the darkened area with the blue key door because of the low chance that we'll see them coming.

 

One thing we did not like was the idiot puzzle for the place heading to the red key where we walk back and forth between various hallways and hit the ends in order to trigger an end in the other hallway to open up. Really gets stupid after a while.

 

Here is a map that doesn't really play to #1Kill's strengths so much. The maz-y design was fine, but didn't benefit much of anything if the numerous misalignments were anything to speak of. The Doom 1 tech visuals are competently done but there aren't any custom textures, with the only decently-detailed area being the little counter toward the exit door.

lmd_#1killtng05.zip

Edited February 13, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Ralgor]

MAP05 - "Radioactive Substance Control"
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and secrets

 

This map has one spicy start. It took me a few tries to get past the opening room, and then a couple more just to get past the radioactive substance storage room. Angelo doesn't give the player a weapon at the start, instead you have to take one from one of the zombies in the first building. Unfortunately you have a cacodemon and two imps blocking your path.

 

Once you get to the big open room with the radioactive substance, you're going to have to deal with pain elementals and chaingunners. The whole area is very dark, so you'll probably not see the danger your first time here. The best way I found was to not die here is to kill the chaingunners in the western tower first from the previous room, then lure the cacodemons and pain elementals to you. Don't try to fight them in the sludge since you'll get sniped by multiple other chaingunners. After the flyers are down, now you can grab a radiation suit and take out the chaingunners in the next tower. There will still be more hitscanners above the room to the south. With some patience, it's possible to eliminate everything and make the room safe.

 

After all that it's just a matter of flipping switches and dealing with some more flyers. The revenant that's released with the blue key is almost a let-down after everything you had to kill to get here. The rest of the level isn't nearly as difficult. All of my deaths were before the blue key.

 

I'm not a fan of the weird little maze where you have to constantly backtrack. This part felt familiar, but I didn't realize where it had come from until much later. I still made a few wrong turns while trying to unlock the path forward. It just goes on for too long, and it should end with an easy path to the next room that doesn't require you to traverse part of the maze again.

 

The rocket launcher in the dark surprised me. I mildly face-rocketed myself since I didn't realize I had picked it up. Oops. Luckily I had enough health that it didn't matter.

 

This map is really nothing special. The beginning is pretty hectic, but the rest is easily manageable. The map forces you to backtrack too much.

 

Grade: C

 

I posted a demo you can watch if you really want to see me fumble through the level, with bad aiming, even worse dodging, and unnecessary backtracking. This is the first demo I've recorded in a very long time, and I think I got a bit more impatient than I usually am. I'm mostly posting it as an experiment.

 

ralgor_#1killtng05.zip

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map04 “Country Side”

 

We notch the difficulty up in this baddie laden compound, which has the feel of a remote military installation in an autocratic third world country. This is also the point I determined Angelo really likes his pain elementals, which are now making regular appearances in multiples.

 

We begin in our stock opening room with an SSG rudely placed behind bars, just out of reach. My blind run was quite arduous because I went to every other part of the level before I got to it, and I’d recommend not doing that. Anyway, we open the door to fight the latest instance of ye olde hitscanner party and…. YOW, THAT’S A LOT OF ENEMIES! Play to get someone’s chaingun here or you might run out of shells and drown in a deluge of pinkies, chaingunners, and imps. After that we have a split path and I’d advise taking your gaze off that tantalizing soulsphere until you have the SSG (or at least armor). Approaching it triggers a lock-in fight against some former humans and a large clutch of pinkies with very limited maneuvering room. This fight can be done with a moderately stocked chaingun so actually hold on this fight is super cheeseable if you just beeline for the stairs in the corner and camp the top, which the pinkies can’t cross. Still, you can’t go any further without the keys so only do this if you want the powerup.

 

Going left takes us to the rest of the level, which puts the player under a fair amount of pressure for most of their stay. Wherever you go there will be revenants, chaingunners, or pain elementals harassing you from all over the place. The door leading south should be your first move as it gets you an SSG and a secret megasphere, but the open layout leaves you vulnerable to hits from everything in the titular countryside, as well as cacos in the odd lava courtyard in the center. Said courtyard houses the megasphere which isn’t too hard to find, but triggers more gasbags. Don’t practice your pointe technique trying to dodge everything on this tiny platform, you’ll feel foolish upon discovering you just jump off to teleport back. Trust me on this.

 

Now with a super boomstick (and some rockets) head north to reach the barren outer area. I like the design here, the spartan detailing with the outer wall and the barred windows really brings a sense of bleakness and militancy that cements the vibes the level is giving to me. There is a small outpost (another theme I’m noticing) housing the yellow key, which unleashes another pinky ambush (you have the SSG right?). You also have I think three pain elementals among the enemies here, which sucked to kill with crappy weapons during my blind run. Much better with the SSG during my second.

 

To finish, you have this lift which leads to a darkened room behind the red door we saw earlier, containing the red key, revenants, and a pair of barons. This encounter is incredibly awkward, and your options are to either lure enemies down the lift one at a time, or just ride up there and hope you don’t get clobbered before you can nab the key and open the door. If you can sneak past them this is a great use of your rockets but still, my pick for weakest part of the level. Now with all three keys go deal with the pinky ambush (if needed), head down the stairs, and clear out the mess. Three key doors and four chain chumps later and you’re done.

 

Country Side is a good map. It’s got a properly presented theme, a busy start, good enemy placement and ambushes, and rewards route planning. My immediate reaction was to call it the best map so far but after some thought I think it has enough weaknesses to make it close. The lame red key fight, the pointless enemies in the toxic pool, and the potential for a lousy blind experience. Regardless, I liked playing it and playing it again and I’ll tentatively hold that its improvements elevate it a bit above what we’ve seen so far.

 

Edit: You can beat this level in under fifteen seconds if you sneak along the shadows before the exit switch and trigger only the walls opening up (which happens just before the trigger that blocks the exit). With some pinky luck you can then move around the exit trigger and hit it to leave. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[brick]

GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

 

TNG MAP05 - “Radioactive Substance Control”
That line about difficulty being on the level of Doom I UV? Yeah, no. I felt an uptick in difficulty here, made worse by the map living up to its name. Or maybe it's more about how out of control the radioactivity gets. A substantial section is spent on green damaging floor (the full 20% of course, which means the occasional leaks even through the radsuit), initially with cacos and PEs flying over and hitscans whittling health from above. I didn't mind this section too much actually, even though it took a big chunk of health away. But the following part borrows the dead end backtracking from the end of Doom II MAP17, except now it's on damaging floor, and there are only 2 radsuits to deal with the entire puzzle. It's annoying and boring, and it goes on for too long. Once past this bit I felt the rest of the map was ok, though also not terribly memorable.

 

TNG MAP06 - “Central Command”
Oh boy, 229 monsters on HNTR... Despite the abundance of hitscans I actually enjoyed this map. There's a lot of health to compensate for all the shotgun and chaingun cheap shots, and it's always fun mowing down hordes with the SSG. It gets even more fun with the plasma rifle, which makes its first appearance after going through an optional warehouse and some switches. There are many cells, most of them in secrets, to keep it fed and active. Speaking of secrets, it took me a while to understand how those lift secrets worked, and a couple of them never activated for some reason, though the rewards there are nice. The map felt much more puzzle-heavy than any before, with a lot of switches to press, though once again everything is laid out logically and I didn't get stuck. This UAC techbase is expansive, with lots of sections with varied textures and combat setups. A few moments that stood out: raising the bridge over the slime pit in the NW and then finding the 2 switches elsewhere in the west side to reach the blue key; the compblue/tekwall maze in the SE, which reminded me of a combination of E1M7 and the maze from E1M2, with hitscans shooting from above through the narrow opening at their floor height; the red key hall in the NE with the baron and a succession of ambushes, and some neat secrets. I think the only annoying part is finding the exit, as after getting the red key there's no indication that something has opened in the blue maze, and I only found it because I was backtracking thinking I had seen a red door near the beginning (I don't think there's one) and passed by the newly-opened passage. Still, I enjoyed the map a lot, and I'm liking the variety in map types.

[Book Lord]

MAP 06 – Central Command

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves

 

Choosing Into the Beast’s Belly as a soundtrack could only mean that Angelo Jefferson had some big epic adventure in store for this slot. Central Command was a huge UAC complex populated by 444 enemies on UV: the player was dropped out of a large lobby that displayed an unusual, and not very appealing, juxtaposition of GRAY1 walls and marble flats, soon fading into 50 shades of grey. The pistol start required caution with the hitscanners, but if you camp the starting room for too long you will be surprised by Cacodemons floating through the windows. In 1997 not every mapper understood the potential of flyers; quite the opposite, this author used them to spice up every major encounter.

Spoiler

Clearing the surrounding halls and gathering a basic arsenal was straightforward, if a bit grindy as usual. During exploration, the player might notice that reinforcements materialised unexpectedly in the corridors, descending with lifts from dark cubicles. There were 6 of such “enemy dispensers” around the map, the two in the later computer station block working much better than the early four, where monsters often got stuck. These eccentric hideouts were secret sectors with ammo to collect, but they could be accessed only if the monsters cooperated and lowered the lift for you. If all monsters had been killed, there was no way to score the secrets.

Spoiler

The layout allowed for more freedom of exploration, without causing confusion in return. Firstly, I recommend visiting the crate warehouse to the east, where lots of ammo and an essential plasma rifle could be collected. The dimly lit northern chamber led to the SSG and to the YK in quick succession. I liked the custom levers with lights changing from green to red, which I pressed without caring for the effect (some triggered only lights and aesthetic changes). As it quickly became clear, the theme of Central Command was the switch hunt. The area beyond yellow doors contained two labs with mysterious buttons that the player must activate to find the BK. This eventually happened after conquering the large nukage chamber: it was the hairiest moment of the map, thanks to the deviously placed Revenants, hitscanners, Pinkies and flying monsters, all cooperating efficiently for Doomguy’s downfall. Coming with a loaded plasma gun could make the difference between life and death.

Spoiler

The blue door was far, and the monster count showed there was still a lot of opposition to plough through. The blue computer hallway was a colossal homage to Computer Station, and I enjoyed every bit of it, from the hitscanners in the shielded upper floor to the monsters emerging without warning from the dispensers. Still, when I reached the RK trapped room I was a bit exhausted by the non-stop inflow of enemies. It seemed to never come to an end, and when I was through the innumerable closets that sprang open on the way to said key, being momentarily lost was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

I backtracked to the blue hallway and a hissing Cacodemon drew my attention to the newly exposed red door: the exit was right there. Some Commandos made one last attempt to murder me, but I was determined to finish the map. The author overdid closets ambushes in Central Command and seemed to pursue the player’s exhaustion for no reason. If it ended after the computer hallway, this could have been a great level despite some technical fuzziness and a few slapdash texture choices. Since MAP06 is the longest in store in The Next Generation, I am inclined to forgive Angelo’s blood lust and rampaging encounter design. Still, this is not a map I look forward to replaying at any time.

[Helm]

MAP 05

I really didn't have a good time with this one. Dark spaces with hurtfloor is a valid way to create stressful scenarios for doom but my real life is difficult enough, including dark spaces and hurtfloor, so I don't need to spend my free time in a 0 brightness room with nukage on the floor where reventants and chaingunners and pain elementals have their way with me... Here's footage anyway to show me giving it a proper try, but you will feel the despondent dejection when I hit the floor. I might have another go offline and then I'll check out 06 to see how it'll develop. I'll read up to see how calmer marines dealt with this one, quite curious.

edit: 

And here's MAP 06

Got a scummy exit on this one at least, but my run through this set is deteriorating badly. I think this wasn't meant to be played from pistol start. Not to say that it's impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but you'd have to know where everything is and expedite getting the RL and plasma and all the other secrets. Just going in pistol starting, blind, and saving, this is the worst combo you could do because you'll be committing down stupid paths and gathering many deaths to figure out what the linear path the mapper had in mind actually is. Maps like these are best played is in the editor beforehand, however I have no ambition to route it and learn it perfectly, so the end vibe is more 'oh... look at all these monsters I don't have the ammo for, time to run away! I sure wish I was playing continuous! Time to berserk 4 chaingunners in a small room, oh boy!'. Stuff like that.

I totally prefer the ultra linear combat challenge stuff from this author than any attempt at a sprawling, open level. My will to live was sapped, didn't even go for 100% kills, after I stumbled onto the exit, I savescummed to hit that switch and out of sight, out of mind. I sincerely do hope we make another turn towards challenge encounters and fun flowy incedental combat and not this dour dungeon mastering we've been getting for the last couple of maps. footage

Edited February 14, 2023 by Helm

[Book Lord]

3 hours ago, Helm said:

Got a scummy exit on this one at least, but my run through this set is deteriorating badly. I think this wasn't meant to be played from pistol start. Not to say that it's impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but you'd have to know where everything is and expedite getting the RL and plasma and all the other secrets. Just going in pistol starting, blind, and saving, this is the worst combo you could do because you'll be committing down stupid paths and gathering many deaths to figure out what the linear path the mapper had in mind actually is.

 

You have been warned that UV pistol start might not grant the best first experience with The Next Generation. Some half-forgotten foreknowledge helped me in many situations, though I do not think that MAP06 had such an intended optimal path that you must follow in order to succeed or have a better time. Well, maybe the plasma rifle is better found before venturing to the west, especially into the nukage room, or else you'll be forced to camp the double fast door, which is a chore. Sometimes I wanted a free rein on firepower, but I rarely found myself ammo starved on these maps. I am no ammo waster though, and I even switch from SSG to shotgun if I can save 1 shell. The same could be said for health, which is notably lower on UV than on easier settings, but I found it adequate.

 

MAP07-08 will not encourage your pistol start endeavours, since they are way harder than what you have experienced on MAP05-06. MAP07 in particular put me in real trouble, even with foreknowledge, and counts as one of the hardest in the set on pistol start. The following maps are worth seeing though, especially the 09-16 streak, and it would be a shame to skip them because you've been soured by tough pistol starts. The negative influence of the 1st approach pistol start can be spotted even on @kmxexii review of the megaWAD. I think Jefferson contemplated PS since every map contained weapons and resources to reliably kill every monster, but I suppose he did not consider it as the standard approach to his map set, especially when going blind.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Book Lord

[Doomy__Doom]

#1kill TNG, UV, pistol-start

 

MAP01

An interesting choice of a massive optional section also acting as a difficulty spike right off the bat. I definitely didn't expect mostly sensible Vile encounters in a map 01 from '97. Still going to ding some points away for being too stingy with rockets - once you navigate past the hell nobles and single out the viles, you're standing by the Megaspehere and your options are "go back and SSG for days" or "move on". The author was clearly learning new things though, so I'm interested enough to see where this goes.

MAP02

The rev cage that you don't have ammo to deal with makes me curious as to how cognizant the author was of the deadzone mechanic at the time. Blocking decorations are used in horrible places a few times though, including one near the aforementioned cage.
I forgot to press the obvious wall that housed the supercharge, so my experience was a lot more health starved than it should have been. And the level still bears the mark of "shells are the only weapon/ammo type that exists". No, I'm not counting ammo-less RL you get at the literal end of the level. This had better improve fast.

MAP03

Alright, we're getting somewhere. This is more plutonia-mean with open area snipers and a mean shotgunner closet at point blank. Chaingun finally lets the player move fluidly and continuosly, although I'm once again asking for missile support - otherwise tossing 4 PEs in an open space makes the winning move be "just run away lmao".

MAP04

That's mean in a different way alright. Didn't lure a chaingunner close right off the bat? Good luck. And of course the exit fakeout - I reckon the most gigachad move is to survive it by diving into the other room immediately and forcing Lost Soul limit via PEs to make the outer area deeper ahead so much easier. A level clearly meant to just run through as much as possible, since you just don't get anything resembling an adequate arsenal. So far I'm getting signs that "go fast, skip stuff if possible" is da wae.

MAP05

I enjoyed the layout and idea of pressuring the player to keep going while the radsuits last. A broken record I might be, but this time not only RL is late and lacking - I used it up on clearing Lost Souls by windows that consumed near enough everything in the dark toxic pool, whereas an ideal place would be the cacohordes around RK - the "ammo for MP-only weapon" trope is back.

 

MAP06

I guess this is what we'd call a magnum opus nowadays? A massive sprawling base where much of the middle corridors looks the same and your enjoyment is heavily contingent on whether you find and decide that you're equipped to clear the storage area, as that's where you can get a berserk, tons of spare ammo/shell boxes and a nice stash of plasma to carry you through the map.

I found the storage area, but that happened before SSG, so I figured "no way I can clear that" after a PE greeting. I proceeded to get YK and after that went for BK... and that's when I ran out of ammo. Maybe, just maybe, hear me out - I know it's a radical idea, but give out the freaking RL before spitting a PE/Caco wave in open space at the player. Sure I used Rev snipers across the toxic pit to fill in the blanks, but ugh.

At that point I went backtracking to see where I could've missed so much ammo and, well, arrived at the forgotten depot. The rest became comically easy due to plasma overload. And I guess there's a small blooper in the form of cage-grabbable RK. Speaking of red, the red door is barely noticeable. I would've wasted a ton of time had I not been backtracking with automap open.

[Ralgor]

MAP06 - "Central Command"
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and "100%" secrets (see below)

Deaths: 5

 

Finally, a truly non-linear level. This is a sprawling base with multiple rooms with their own style and combat. This is generally the kind of map I prefer.

 

You start outside, in line of sight of some of the guards in their post. As soon as you retaliate everything in the lobby will come for you. Cacodemons can fly through the windows to try to pin you, but attempting to penetrate into the building will leave you open to hitscanner fire. It's a fun little fight where you have to balance cautiousness and aggression. I did die here a few times when I got that balance wrong.

 

Once you have the lobby cleared out, you now have access to the entire complex, minus some high security areas. I went go for the backpack first, and then the SSG. Doing this is fairly straightforward. If I survived the lobby, then I was sure to get the SSG as well. The yellow key is only a short way from there too.

 

After that, I would recommend entering the warehouse to retrieve the plasma rifle. The warehouse has the map's only accessible secret with more ammo for the plasma rifle.

 

You'll need it for the nukage area behind the yellow key door, which can be a tricky fight in itself due to the rapidly closing double doors. It's very easy to try to move forward, only to get blocked in the front by a monster and in the back by the door. You're better off trying to drag monsters into the hallway. Don't try to fight in between the doors. If you have the plasma rifle you can let loose to kill everything quickly, especially when the small cloud of cacodemons and pain elementals get released when you hit the switches in this room. The placement of those flyers has a tendency to cause the elementals to spawn copious lost souls when left alone.

This room stopped my first three attempts right here, since I hadn't gotten the plasma rifle then. I was also trying to fight near the double doors, which kept frustrating my dodging. I didn't find the rest of the level to be very difficult, as this room and the opening were the only two spots in the map to cause me to die.

 

Anyway, you then grab the blue key and head to the southeast to a server room. There's a megasphere here with surprisingly few guards in the upper area. There are several switches in that upper area you have to flip to move to the next room.

 

Then you arrive at a new room filled with nukage. This area has a high monster density. Everything you do will open a room stuffed full of monsters. Interestingly, the red key is in a different spot depending on the difficulty level. Unfortunately, on UV you can just grab it through the bars, making it easier to get on UV than any other difficulty. I'm pretty sure that's not intentional.

 

There's also a room up above on the right side of the room with some hitscanners and a revenant. The revenant is useless, but you can pick them all off from below using a chaingun. You'll need to do this in several other places throughout the level where monsters get "stuck" in a closet and won't exit.

 

Once you get the key, you can head to a new room that opens up in the server room and exit the level.

 

Ok, now for the bad part. This level has severe technical shortcomings. The least of which are the numerous HOMs and slime trails throughout the level. I have no idea what happened here, but I suspect the nodes are broken in some way.

 

There's also one room where the monsters can't see you despite standing right in front of them. That makes it easy to pick them off. (Is this a reject bug?)

 

There's also a few closets with monsters in them that seem to be broken somehow. They get stuck and never exit. Luckily there's a small gap you can shoot them through. I had to do this on three of the five closets.

 

All of those closets are also secrets. The aforementioned three closets have a teleporter line that on UV prevents you from accessing these secrets at all. It's simply impossible. The other two aren't much better. As soon as you fire a shot in the server room, monsters will start pouring out of their holes. One of which is on the opposite side of the room. Once all of the monsters exit, you no longer can access the secrets. This is an absolutely terrible design. It will take at least a little luck to enter any of them at all. The cacodemons poured out of the closest closet so fast that I don't think I would have been able to get to it in time even had I known there was a secret there. It's probably doable, but you have to enter the room already knowing about the secret and prioritizing it. The other one is so far away that you'd have to rush to it to have any shot at entering it. As far as I'm concerned this map has only a single valid secret for blind playthroughs.

 

While there are parts of this level I really enjoyed, especially the sprawling non-linear layout, the technical issues pretty well ruined my enjoyment. I love secret hunting, so finding out that I needn't have bothered is really a bummer. I hate giving this such a low grade, but I didn't feel good at all about this map when I hit the exit switch.

 

Grade: D

 

The following demo is from my 6th attempt, and only grabs a single secret. Three are inaccessible on UV (I attempted them on earlier attempts), and another two would be a real challenge to get I'm afraid.

ralgor_#1killtng06.zip

 

[Roofi]

Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 06 "Central Command"

 

 

Now we're talking ! This massive and complex building will probably take you at least 30 minutes to complete. Lots of paths packed with monsters to take. Lots of opportunities but also risks of running out of ammo. This level doesn't lack resources but most of them are concentrated in the warehouse built with beige bricks.

 

I didn't realise how tough Kill next generation was on pistol start compared to continuous. As the previous level, several monsters protect the starting point and the numerous chaingunners as well as pain elementals force the player to advance with caution.

 

The TNT's soundtrack has the gift to convert a regular journey in a tech base into a heroic adventure. There was a satisfying feeling to clean each room and progressing further in this concrete grey building. Getting the blue key was the most tedious part during my first playthrough because I didn't understand the puzzle with the switches.

 

Also, this map has some dangerous traps one's sleeves, so obtain the plasma gun as soon as possible and keep it in your hands. 

 

Central Command is my favourite map in the Doom 2's opus for now. It's a way more ambitious map compared to the previous ones.

 

Grade : A-

 

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP06: Central Command

 

Angelo Jefferson goes full TNT. From large scale, through its music choice to hitscan-heavy combat, Central Command is clearly inspired by Final Doom. It's the largest map we've seen in the trilogy so far, but I'd say it trips under its own weight.

 

As usual in this wad, the difficulty is front-loaded. With just a shotgun, you have to clear a large hall inhabited by cacodemon, imps and hitscanners, but after that, it gets much easier, but also much more boring. A lot of time is wasted on traversing through the same silver corridors, where chaingunners awaits you behind every corner. It's not all incidental encounters, though. The crate maze is one of the best looking areas in the wad so far, plus it leads to the plasma rifle. The map is generous with cells, so dispatching bulky groups of mid-tier monsters (especially cacodemons, which this map seems to be in love with) is a non-issue. I also like the blue computer room and the red key area, which opens up as revealing new waves of enemies.

 

I think the technical aspects need polishing up, as there are a lot of misaligned texures and an ugly HOM in the yellow key room. Also, 5 out of 6 secrets are in monster closets that can only be opened from the inside. If you kill the enemies without entering, the secrets become inaccessible. I'm glad this one concept didn't stick.

 

Overall, large expansive maps doesn't seem to be TNG's strongest suit. 

[Andromeda]

3 hours ago, Ralgor said:

MAP06 - "Central Command"

 

Then you arrive at a new room filled with nukage. Interestingly, the red key is in a different spot depending on the difficulty level.

 

There's also a room up above on the right side of the room with some hitscanners and a revenant. The revenant is useless, but you can pick them all off from below using a chaingun.

You can actually access this closet through an unmarked lift.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Andromeda

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 06: Central Command

 

I don't want to talk about this map. Why? Because it's white, white EVERYWHERE, except when there's slime. I suppose it's easy to see why this title was pilfered because this is as aggressively abstract as anything from Doom. The Computer Station homage past the blue door, the little crate area in the east, and a certain room in the north with a strong use of shadows is not going to change that.

 

Combat is more consistent and has a far greater degree of flow than the last map, although the occasions when you enter small rooms to dispose of obligatory bad guys seems a touch pointless. Per something Book Lord said, I made a firm intention to avoid the west, only going there when a plasma rifle was acquired after entering a vined-walled and (city building?) courtyard in the far east, along with an SS from another door. Otherwise, camping would probably have been forced by the time we reach the pit area with several Pain Elementals and Cacodemons with a Revenant or two, along with some chaingunners and shotgunners in the foreground. We have to jump into the slime though, though not after scouring the map for medkits. Good thing too, because this is a double-teethed trap in the side room! make sure to grab the rad sitting in a closet behind our field of vision, hit a switch to deal with the enemies there, head to the end of the closet to be completely taken by surprise by yet another trap, causing a retreat when everything was killed, even though it meant we missed a hallway behind it.

 

The Computer Station homage proved to be really annoying in large part because they were firing at us with hardly any room for the bullets. Thankfully, there was a Megasphere at the top here which refreshed us quite well indeed.

 

The only other area of note was the hallway with non-damaging slime at both sides of which initial opposition was taken care of with a plasma rifle, but as it turned out, two more waves of enemies were unleashed into this room and the biggest killer here was, naturally, the chaingunners. 

 

The exit was very awkward place. After heading even farther east past the point of the last main fight, a switch is hit, necessitating a backtrack to the blue room, where a closet had opened with a red-key door leading to a teleporter and a darkened room which contained a few chaingunners to chew through the rest of our ragged armor.

 

This is better than Map 05, but there's something to be said about these sorts of maps not necessarily playing the best when they are in tight corridors. Not to say there isn't good room variance. But at a certain point, you have to ask yourself how much of this is really worth it. The fight in the non-hurting slime might have been the best but close quarters combined with small pillars add a certain amount of awkwardness. to it. Not to mention, some careless with corridor direction led to some annoying misalignments in the corners of the central hallways, and probably a few other places too. And thanks to Ralgor for reminding me of the texture bleed. It gets especially hideous near the yellow key, where the nearby window is even a HOM (yuck)

 

PS: I'd spent far too long to bother seeing if any of the secrets had opened up when the exit was made accessible. oh and also, most of the 'secrets' it could be argued were found weren't even tagged as such.

 

lmd_#1killtng06.zip

Edited February 14, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map05 “Radioactive Substace (sic) Control”

 

This one was a mixed bag, and our latest example of a map that benefits from a second playthrough. TNG’s fifth outing throws a twist into the encounters from the prior maps by giving us a more daunting series of challenges. Hitscanners hidden behind level textures, poor handling of the electric bill, and nukage mazes.

 

The level gets off to a good start (and gives us three ammo secrets). After leaving the first room you must get a weapon from some hitscanners through a window while avoiding imps and a caco. Charging in has its risks, as a trio of chaingunners will unload on you from an on/off window a la The Focus. It’s a neat setup and a fresh spin on the “group of hitscanners” opening we’ve been inundated with this month. Getting a foothold isn’t trivial either, as the critical blue armor room nearby is well guarded, and you need to clear both it and the distant chaingunners to recover health. Don’t forget the copy pasted The Focus secret before continuing.

 

Next, we have the infamous low-light nukage room, which was awful to play blind. It’s a large chamber slathered in 20% damaging floor with two small strips you need to take lifts to and hit switches to proceed. There are chaingunners everywhere, on the strips, behind windows, up top in a control room, and all of them are cloaked by bars. Oh, and there’s revenants sniping at you… and pain elementals you can’t see until your eating skulls… and you don’t have enough radsuits to stay here long or figure out the procedure for continuing.

 

Boy did I hate this place my first playthough. It’s a whole plethora of meanness that in hindsight I still think is a bit excessive. Besides the obvious there’s all sorts of little things. One of the strips is very close to the control room, and if the revs don’t like you its nigh impossible to avoid a cheap hit even with deft movement. It’s very hard to see where enemies are attacking from, meaning you often won’t be fighting back until your shot in the face or surrounded by lost souls. I should also mention the random hits from the hurt floor… I kept thinking the leaky suit damage was a hitscanner I needed to take cover from. I was lucky as shit not to die here, but that was just bait because the next area is a boorish slime maze in which you have to walk to the ends, hear a door open, then walk back and figure out which tunnel got longer. I wasn’t in the mood for this and unsurprisingly I died to nukage poisoning while wandering around trying to find the correct route.

 

After making my way back (and almost getting killed in the nukage disco hall again) I went through this part without any trouble. Dying actually probably helped, because without the pressure of a first try victory I was more clear headed. Regardless, we now come upon a small outdoor area with a bridge leading to a platform with the star trek symbol. I like this part. You have a sequence of switches needed to get the red key and reraise the bridge to leave. The first caco ambush can pressure you (just run through the door) and the initial enemies can be dangerous with the limited maneuvering room. There’s also a megasphere, which can be strafed to with ease, but you will want to get it the “intended” way if you want maxkills.

 

The rest of the level is… kind of whatever to be honest. With the mega there’s no danger anymore and you just need to enter the control room from earlier to get the yellow key. I will say the rocket launcher placement is rather trollish… every time I come here, I move to kill the chaingunner behind the bars and end up just standing there switching to it as he unloads on me with gusto. There’s also one final annoyance before we leave, which is a secret soulsphere (with a caco) that I think is unlocked by crossing the yellow bars. That would have been nice for the blue key area, not so much now with everything dead and a mostly intact megasphere.

 

Playing a second time provided a smoother experience. The start remains tough and might be the best in the wad so far, with how well-calibrated the resources and monster placement are. Knowing the operations of the dark nukage room removes (most) of the frustration, but not the danger. That area continues to give me trouble and while not the type of nastiness I like, it probably plays as Angelo intended. My opinions on the rest of the level went mostly unchanged, the red key area is fun and the nukage maze is stupid. I’ll also take this time to comment that this map’s aesthetics seem weaker than the preceding ones. Everything looks generic and this level lacks the sense of place Country Side had that made its austere appearance work.

 

This is a style of map I tend to dislike and Radioactive Substa(n)ce Control doesn’t really improve my opinion. It’s pretty vexing to play blind and there are way too many moments of random irritation. Still, it’s not bad, rather different than the first four maps, with Angelo continuing to experiment and delivering a product rougher around the edges. The blue key nukage chamber isn’t modern kosher, but this level needs it, as without that encounter the entire runtime past about 30 seconds would be a middling, mazy slog. There’s also perspective to consider. Last months map05 was Elixir… I shouldn't complain too much about this one.

[Book Lord]

MAP 07 – Gateway to Hell

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves

 

I remember being enthusiastic about this slaughter version of Dead Simple during my continuous playthrough, whereas pistol starting changed things quite a bit for the worse. I still enjoyed the compulsory sprint forward while a Pain Elemental and a Cacodemon tossed their projectiles at me; after evading them, I picked up the SSG behind the switch and retaliated. The following setup had a big problem on pistol start: I lacked the resources to kill the Mancubi on pillars, totalling 12 with the reinforcements that warped in. Angelo apparently wanted the player to press the switches and play cat and mouse with the fatsos one at a time, a dangerous game facilitated by picking up the Berserk pack, as it caused the damaging blood floor to disappear.

Spoiler

Gateway to Hell had nothing to do with the IWAD map it seemed to imitate. The author was ostensibly not aware of special Tags 666 and 667, as they were not implemented in the progression. The player was not supposed to kill the Mancubi to advance, even though it might be inevitable since he must enter every pillar to reach the next progression switch, and to collect essential items. The revealed horde of Arachnotrons, Revenants and former humans was an appalling sight, but infighting played in my favour and the encounter turned into a glorious massacre.

Spoiler

The 20% floor damage was extreme and greatly reduced my health on the way to the switches. Then came the final wave of 5 Arch-Viles to crush my last hopes: three of them arrived from the furthest side of the courtyard and raised an army in a matter of seconds, the others emerged from the left corner to ambush me when I tried to get out. The cover from Arch-Vile attacks was inadequate, and I found no reliable strategy except hiding in the switch hole; from there, I discharged a stream of plasma and rockets on the advancing hellspawn. It took me an embarrassing number of attempts to get through, many ending with the very last monster killing me or leaving me with insufficient health to cross the blood. The level was almost over by then, and if the gateway was representative of Angelo’s idea of hell, the player should be legitimately worried about the next maps. A rough slaughter, difficult on pistol start and a bit unfair in its presentation, it was short enough to counterbalance MAP06 and malicious to the point of being still memorable.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Book Lord

[Helm]

MAP07

I think I may have a different experience to most on this map as in my case when I picked up the berserk only half the side of the kill floors raised and until the end of the run I couldn't find a way to raise the other side, the final exit room perennially out of reach. I may be missing something.

I can run the map again to see if the floors raise properly this time in the case of user error, but that 20% damaging floor that should have been a 5% floor I think makes this an uninviting one to retry even if I figure out I had to press an extra switch at the end. Not to mention the mandatory mancubus grind. There's an exciting bit where the arena is reused with 5 viles or so getting thrown at your plasma stream which is quite heavy duty for 1997, any way you cut it. On the difficulty level this was fun to play but that hurtfloor and the way the respawning mancs can get stuck at the edge of their too small platforms... some stuff could have been ironed out is the feeling.

The fundamentals of the encounters are fun and there is a principled brain putting it all together. Their idea of 90s doom hardcore-ness involves the player taking mandatory damage -- on top of tough enemy encounters. Over the years people found ways to make the enemy encounters so much more spicy that a constant current of permeating hurtfloor stress isn't hugely on the menu anymore (though there are so many niche wads if you want 20% going all the time I'm sure there's many options for your fetish). A continuous player coming in stacked would have a huge margin of error with the hurtfloors, it would probably trivialize all the desperation that's cool about something like this. But it is not built for a blind pistol player, either, as there is huge damage margins banking on experimentation with switches literally under the gun. I can observe how resource gathering becomes a different priority when you walk to damage to get shit, under duress, I'm not knocking it. Just not hugely my idea of fun in this context. 

Still this is in principle a good map and a good challenge and notable for 1997, surely. foot
 

[Roofi]

Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 07 "Gateway to Hell"

 

 

Well, every Doom II megawad must have its Dead Simple kind of map I guess... and that one was rude and irksome. As other players, I had no problem beating this map on continuous but it was an other story on pistol-start. However, contrary to what you might expect, it was easy to deal against the 5 arch-viles by camping in the starting room thanks to all the ammo you get after unlocking the upper room and killing so much zombies. I want even to say that the combat against the arch-viles was the entertenaing part of the map.

 

I had no pleasure killing the mancubus with my SSG and my fists (You can get the other weapons but they're not really useful due to the lack of ammo). The mandatory damaging blood can go to hell as well. I am glad, nevertheless, that they weren't arachnotrons, because punching monsters would have been impossible in that case.

 

"Gateway to Hell" displeased me but I'm not a fan of Dead Simples tribute in general.

 

Grade : C-

 

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP07: Gateway to Hell

 

OK, this is a weird one. I assumed since this is MAP07 and there are mancubi around, you have to kill them to proceed. Pistol-starters are given only a double-barrel, but the enemies are standing on platforms above lava. It was a tedious and awkward task with a gun not fit for this job, but something wasn't right - the lift gradually rose and flipping one of the switches turned off the hurt floors. Thanks @Book Lord for explaining how this works. It was brutal playing blind, but if you know the trick to remove the lava, this opener shouldn't be that bad - just run around and fire.

 

It however, gets much better moving onward. Ride the lift, press the switch and the map opens up. I like this giant ambush, throwing most of map's enemies at once - mostly hitscanners, but also revenants and arachnotrons, perfect for some mindless fun. After two caco-guarded switches, the map pulls a rug from under your feet and throws 5 archviles into a field of corpses: 2 next to you (which should be blown off ASAP) and 3 on the other side of the arena, ressurecting everything they stumble upon. 

 

It's a great fight, bringing back the challenge of MAP01's secret part, and breaking the formula of the last couple of levels. I originally wanted to say that without the mancubi part, this was my favourite map so far, but with a knowledge of how it works I'd say it deserves this distinction.

[Ralgor]

MAP07 - "Gateway to Hell"

dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills (map has no secrets)
Deaths: 7*

 

This map is very short, but it packs a punch. You start out in a long hallway with nothing but your pistol. All you have to do is charge the pain elemental and cacodemon that will attempt to block your path, slip past them, and then grab the SSG and plenty of ammo on the other side.

 

Hitting the switch at the end of the hallway will open up the walls, revealing a lake of blood with six lower-able pillars topped by mancubuses. On top of each pillar is a goodie. You'll find a megasphere, rocket launcher, plasma rifle, chaingun, chainsaw, and berserk pack. You don't have enough ammo to kill everything, so you'll need to prioritize. Each mancubus has a backup that will warp in once you kill him, so if you want to grab the goodie after killing one you have to be quick about it.

 

Walking across five of the six platforms will raise a lift in the east. You only need four of them to be able to reach the switch at the top. The fifth platform with the berserk pack instead raises the floor underneath the boiling blood. This gives you a floor to properly fight on. I didn't know this until my last attempt... after I had already killed everything and was desperately trying to collect the berserk pack for health. (I was at 5% health on a 20% damaging floor. If it ticked I was dead.)

 

Once you hit the switch in the east, twin walls lower releasing a new horde of monsters. There is a mix of hitscanners with some mid-tier monsters, and they will chip your health down fast. Infighting is beneficial here. I retreated to the starting room and unleashed a stream of plasma through the door to quickly kill everything.

 

The next fight releases five arch-viles into the bloody mess you just created. You better have enough plasma left over to kill most of them, or things will get out of hand very quickly. I'm pretty sure I got lucky here. I noticed the first two arch-viles and was able to kill them pretty quickly, but one of the other three zapped me. They seemed to mostly just resurrect the weaker monsters.

 

While this is in the dead simple slot and is designed in a somewhat similar manner, it doesn't use the special tags that Dead Simple does. This is actually quite refreshing. This map was a challenge to get through in a single segment, but since it was short I didn't mind. I really like how the map opens up as you progress through it. The hardest part was the initial mancubus fight, but I enjoyed trying to figure out how to beat it.

 

Grade: B

 

*So it turns out the attempts counter in dsda-doom is reset if you exit out. I sometimes do that if I need to take a break or get frustrated. In this case though I'm pretty sure of the death counter, but in the future I think I'm going to keep track separately.,

 

MAP07 - 6:46.94 (6:46)  K: 88/88  I: 2/2  S: 0/0 

ralgor_#1killtng07.zip