The DWmegawad Club plays: Fragport

[Celestin]

MAP12: City Sewer

 

As the intermission text implies, we should head for the nearby sewer entrence. What follows is an open-ended hunt for 3 keys in a level that seems to lift certain setpieces straight from Plutonia's MAP28 (like the circular room with monsters teleporting from the centre). Copy the masters until you become a master yourself, I guess.

 

The blue key path is the best, where you have to first clear the drainage room, then survive a mancubus ambush. I first tried to camp in the room with the key, but I was killed by no-clipping projectiles. In the second attempt I rushed out and took the enemies out with rockets. 

The nukage tanks section with the green key was more tedious than challenging, as the enemies here are stationary and you will waste time falling down and riding back up. As for the red key, the combat here is nothing special (just 2 revenants followed by 3 mancubi), but remember the second red key from MAP11? Yeah, that's the same place. Nice detail.

 

I think it's rather unremarkable map. Nothing fundamentally wrong, just feel too derivative.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map11 “Military Bunker”

 

Well here’s a map with a lot of character. We need to infiltrate an underground bunker to disable the artillery guns overlooking the starting beach of the next map. There are elements to dislike but unlike our last outing, this one is actually interesting.

 

The start exemplifies the classic struggle of storytelling vs gameplay. These dark tunnels play well with the wad’s focus on realism but are a drag to explore in practice. I don’t really mind; they aren’t that much of a time sink. Coming out of the tunnels into the bunker proper, we have a number of shotgunners, a red key on a pillar, and some numbers on the wall linked to the four redoubts with the cannons we need to decommission. There are several places to explore but routing is important, my blind run I ended up having to hold off like ten revenants with the chaingun and single shotty which was not the best first impression.

 

So guns, we need ones that are bigger, badder, and worse for our hearing than the peashooters found in the tunnels. Right as we come out drop into the little hub in front of you and turn right to reach a room with an SSG on a platform. A hallway to the west then leads to a RL and some chaingunners that are annoying if fought from the other side. With these we can handle the ambushes triggered by entering the shelters housing the coastal batteries. Clear out the main facility, which has a very nice interconnect layout, decent secrets, and reasonable combat. Beware the ordinance training area as it spawns a pack of revenants and hell nobles upon entry.

 

With the four guns disabled the red key becomes available and we can proceed into the abandoned tunnels. Head down there and… uh. This area is… something. The effectively invisible specters dealt with almost entirely using audio input. The lost souls rising out of their beds and workstations, heads aglow against the stone. The stale passageways and living quarters cloaked in darkness, fleetingly illuminated from your duels with the forgotten inhabitants. It’s a memorable piece of gameplay-focused storytelling, uncomfortable, eerie, and honestly kind of poignant.

 

After getting the green key (which can take a while, the progression down there isn’t fluent), head to its door to have a nice slaughterfight in a large auditorium like enclosure. Use the blue key found there to head towards the exit, stopping for a brief but tense pillar scuffle with a pair of viles in a cramped room (unless you cheese it from the entrance).

 

I like this map a lot, and consider it the high point of Fragport so far. Everything from the setting, to the atmosphere, to the way your objective is conveyed and played out... It has some unnecessarily convoluted progression but it’s issues feel so minor in comparison to the narrative strength. Like Ironclad before it, Military Bunker is a banner map, epitomizing the "show don't tell" level design that characterizes this megawad.

 

Fast Monsters: Pretty tough, it’s really easy to get attritioned out. On top of that, the abandoned tunnels are extremely dangerous, the darkness makes projectiles harrowing to dodge and the turbo specters will tear you apart in the blink of an eye.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 11: Military Bunker

 

The maze at the beginning was really bad. Thankfully, things improve greatly. The little green fort area with the Barons and Hell Knights seemed stupid on pistol start....and honestly it still is! Carve a path, head to the last switch opening the chamber which lowers the red key, then shoot probably two of those Barons then escape intact.

 

The next area is an overly dark area that thankfully wasn't too hard, thanks to enemies mostly being Imps and Spectres and in any case, we finally get our hands on some weapons and enough ammo to handle pretty much everything. Unfortunately, this came after expending basically every spare shotgun shell on two large groups of Revenants and there appears to be little ammo in secrets, relatively speaking. 

 

In any case, the rest was smooth sailing. The staired and open room with the blue key at the bottom did not conform to Stephen Clark's usual sense of place. When compared to the darkened storage rooms from whence can be found the green key or even the outside stations which grant access to the red key, they made little sense.

 

What did have some place was the final room with the two Arch-viles amidst the incredibly tasteful strobe lights! Contrary to Book Lord, I thought this was concise, if slightly dickish way to end the map, although we ended being dropped to 1 percent health and the last pop-up Arch-vile ran towards the exit, forcing us to rocket them to death before leaving. Kreator's best song is as good a complement as any for probably the best map since 06 or 07. Although one may not want to pistol-start because Stephen Clark throws mobs of Revenants with little regard for such a playstyle

lmd_fragport11.zip

Edited March 12, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Book Lord]

MAP 12 – City Sewers

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

I think you can make a sewer-themed level without 60% of the floor being covered by damaging sludge. It should also be possible to come up with something that is not 60% inspired or downright copied from MAP28 of The Plutonia Experiment, but apparently Stephen Clark wanted to pay a big tribute to that level. I felt the hurting maze at the beginning to be quite harrowing for a pistol starter, forced to chainsaw Demons and even a Pain Elemental while managing the Radiation Suits, but after collecting the weapons lost in its dead ends, City Sewers revealed itself as a more forgiving level, pitting the player against mountains of HPs that were easy but not quick to dispatch. 26 Mancubi made up for one fourth of the monster quota, and by the end of the map I was fed up with their lumbering presence.

Spoiler

After a circle-strafe exercise against warping monsters in an octagonal room, the Ultimate Doomer sent Jody Russell on the nth iteration of the triple key search, such a recurrent theme in Fragport that I assume it will stay with us until MAP30. Attentive players might have noticed a RK in an unreachable room at the end of MAP11; the author rewarded good memory and spatial awareness by placing the entrance to that room in a position that might be overlooked while exploring the tunnels. The other keys were more ordinarily placed in two sections named ‘Tanks’ and ‘Drainage’. The first one was a large chamber with five sewage cisterns, connected by little channels. The surrounding pits contained ammo and health, and the ‘Control’ room offered a GK complete with a telegraphed Arch-Vile. I did not expect Hell Knights to replace the fallen Cacodemons though, but they were not more entertaining to kill than the static Mancubi that steadily appeared from lowering pillars in the tunnels.

Spoiler

The ‘Drainage’ wing had a few setups that felt ripped off from The Sewers, even though I did not mind them, except the Mancubi spam at the BK. Making the Arachnotron infight was fun, but I could not see the way to reach the Soul Sphere. The only secret I found was a useless Blur Sphere, which was in a small compartment that opened randomly, requiring to prick up your ears. By now, I am fully aware of Clark’s calling cards and habits, and I am starting to feel a certain repetitiveness. Even though I liked the ‘Tanks’ portion, the rest of City Sewers was either plagiarised or too long for its own good. I hope the variety of themes, suggested by the next maps’ titles, will bring a breath of fresh air.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 11: Military Bunker

Kills and secrets: 100%

Time: 18:48

 

We go from a Base to a Bunker. This map takes a decent amount of inspiration from Plutonia map 26 (also a Bunker), but there's enough changes to it to not feel like a straight ripoff. In order to grab the red key, you need to hit the 4 switches by the bunker's defense systems. Idk if we're turning them off or on, but the demons don't like whatever we're doing, since each one opens a closet with a bunch of baddies. Exploring the bunker grounds shows you the control room and the training grounds, where a big noble/rev fight happens. This is a fight with a lot of cover, so you may want to use some plasma if you have it other than rockets. Or use infighting. The red key allows access into the abandoned tunnels, which isn't very abandoned. Using GZDoom, I've got some nice lighting effects going off of projectiles, and seeing that light cut through the dark tunnels is pretty cool. Without them, you're left to fight a bunch of baddies in the dark, but the only threats in this case are the spectres, since you can't see them. No matter what the sourceport, seeing the lost souls rise from the beds and chairs in these deserted rooms is pretty atmospheric. Make sure to explore this whole area for a plasma and backpack. The green key grants access to an amphitheater-style room that is another infight party. The blue key door has you fight 2 archies in a strobe lit room, which locks you in for a couple of minutes before the exit opens. One last pop-up archie is all that stands before you and the beach. Also, you can spot the red key for the next map here, which is a nice touch! Overall, one of the strongest levels so far. There's a nice amount of detail and unique rooms in the bunker, and the fights, while standard, are strong. Idk why the one doorway with the rainbow lights is a damaging floor tho. It's been like that for as long as I remember to, so it's not just a this release thing.

 

Map 12: City Sewers

Kills and secrets: 100%

Time: 13:38

Deaths: 1

 

We're now on the outskirts of the city of Fragport, but we still have to make our way in somehow. Looks like this sewer will have to do. Cue sewer count from Civvie's vids. Like the previous map, this one takes a lot of inspiration from a similarly named map from Plutonia. Honestly, this map stands out more to me than the Plutonia original. At least, some of the main areas of this blend in with the Plutonia map for me. Mainly the blue key area. I keep thinking that's from Plutonia, but nope, it's from Fragport. Odd. This map is kinda nonlinear here, but there's only really 3 areas, and you need to go into each to find a key. First is the sewer maze. The waste is damaging, but there's little ledges around you can stand on just in case any rad suits you're using run out. There's a lot more rad suits here than map 10, and they're spread out a bit. Shooting alerts all the all the pinkies in the maze, so you can again stay in one spot and SSG them in the face as they find you. The red key in this maze is kinda tucked away, but as I mentioned above, you spotted it at the end of the previous map, so picking it up here is a very cool touch of continuity. The dual revs that show up when you get it aren't. The green key tank area is pretty simple, tho the archie that teleports in when you grab the key is very inconsiderate. The blue key is manc city, and the caged ones rocked me to my death surprisingly. The ones that show up after you grab the key are easy to take pot shots at. Overall, this is a pretty solid map. I approve. 

[Ralgor]

MAP12 - “City Sewers”
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and secrets

This is exactly what we needed: an entire maze-like sewer level with damaging floors. I'm joking, of course. The level is surprisingly long, while not actually being that exciting. Most of the anxiety from the level is from wondering if I'm going to run out of radiation suits too early and end up dying from the sewer toxins, not the combat.  Health is not super plentiful. If you take too much damage from the floor you'll eventually have a bad end. Luckily you can navigate most of the sewers by sticking to the walls.

You do get plenty of ammo at least. Although there's only one good combat set-piece in the level. There's an octagonal room that sinks toward the center. A bunch of monsters will teleport in... but then start to fight each other rather than you. It's somewhat amusing but I never felt threatened by it.

There are a lot of instances of enemies stuck on a little platform waiting for you to shoot them from across the room while they can't do much of anything. This happens pretty often and honestly removes any threat from half of the encounters.

I do like how this level uses the inaccessible room from the previous map. I really like it when wads tie their levels together that way. That said, this level is actually rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise compared to the last map. The cannons used to point north, but here they point west. I'm not sure why.

There's just not much to say about this level. It's easy, uninteresting, and boring.

Grade: D

 

MAP12 - 21:54.54 (21:54)  K: 101/101  I: 2/2  S: 3/3

ralgor_fragport12.zip

[brick]

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

 

MAP11 - “Military Bunker”
Scratch my previous post, this map is even more obnoxious. First there is the annoying maze that I want to call pointless, except it is required because most of the weapons are here, but navigating it is so boring since there are no enemies and nothing to see. Progression is weird and I didn't understand how it works; pressing the switches in the 4 northern alcoves didn't seem to do anything, I couldn't figure out how to get the red key, but at some point a niche opened near it with a switch to get to it (reading Book Lord's post made me realize this might be my fault, I failed to make the connection with the numbers). The following tunnels are so dark you can barely see anything, all the fighting down there is a chore. The only positive is that the BFG finally makes an appearance. The fight in the training area also annoyed me, I kept bumping into things and eating revenant rockets, though the concept of a realistic course like this is pretty cool. The big southern room was shockingly ugly, I think it's meant to represent a lecture hall or something, but it's so incredibly barebone, especially compared to some of the lovely vanilla detailing elsewhere in the wad. The archvile ambush in the room with the flashing lights is a fun tense moment, but trying to squint through the flashes to find what to do next, only for the door to finally open on its own, was yet another annoyance. Even the secrets were a letdown, I don't know what opens them but they're just completely unremarkable bits of ammo sitting in the corner of a room and are incredibly easy to miss. I really didn't like this one.

 

MAP12 - “City Sewers”
Yay, more damaging floors to fight through and backtrack over. There's a reason sewer levels are often disparaged in so many game genres. As with MAP10 I didn't like juggling the radsuits, some of the passages thankfully have a narrow ledge, but using it is only practical after enemies are dead. Some of the sections look interesting, like the northern hall with the vats, but exploring it was also a bit tedious since you have to drop down and get back up several times (turns out it doesn't matter, there's nothing of great use down there). The red key was a nice touch, it was visible from the end of the previous map and finally accessible quite a bit into this one. I had written more initially but somehow lost the rest of my text, in any case I didn't hate the map but didn't find it very memorable either.

[Roofi]

Map 12 "City Sewers"

 

 

Every town needs its sewers and of course, as all videogame heroes, you'll explore them. Sewers-themed map have the reputation to show the lack of inspiration of level designers  and it's the case here. The first challenge of this map consists to a simple orthogonal labyrinth filled with some monsters and specifically pinkies. The mapper encourage you to save the radsuits for later by implementing small ledges to protect your feet. The first section is monotone and unexceptional, as real sewers. However, it seems that the author got inspired by some sections from Plutonia map' 28, a sewer-themed map I really like. The large circular green armor' room with the teleporting enemies was one of the most amusing moments because I always enjoy watching a lot of mid-tiers infghting while I merry-go-round. The path leading to the blue key, located later in the map, also reminds me of Plutonia map 28.

 

The second section (after the green armor) was more captivating since The Ultimate Doomer managed to add his trademark doom cute for a such generic theme. The silver tanks add of a bit of personnality of that map. Moreover I was surprised I didn't get a VPO on that map because the tank sections's were so detailed that a lot of hideous HOMS appeared on my screen. About the green section, falling in each pit in order to find out each time what present I would get was also part of the fun I had on this map.

 

Overall, City Sewers is far from occupying the top of the podium but I find it much more interesting than other weak maps I have played in this map such as map 08 or map 10. I didn't expect an equivalent of "Toxic Touch" from Alien Vendetta anyway.

 

Grade : B-

 

 

 

[DFF]

Map12: City Sewers - UV, FDWL, Continuous

K: 103 | I: 100 | S: 100

 

I honestly was about ready to just write this off as a generic, bland, and shitty sewer (pun intended) but once again the little charming elements that is Fragport's pseudo realism and connectivity slightly redeemed this map. I also feel like the maps are becoming a bit more interesting in terms of designs and ideas, hopefully following the growth of Stephen Clark's mapping skills. Thankfully a lot of the damageable floors that populate the map are avoidable by ledges around the walls or the plentiful radsuits, turning what could have been an agonizing map into something that more encouraged quick combat and a sense of urgency, even if not the case. Combat felt generic for the WAD (the toilet superspawner like plutonia i found rather lame but whatevs) but following the drainage pipes and having a true non-linear structure helps the map fell enjoyable to explore. Additionally having the red key be the odd leftover key we say in the previous map behind the 'out of order' door was a fun connectivity design, appreciated for that alone.

 

One last note, i've come realize that one thing Stephen likes in Fragport is what i'd call 'dressing tunnels', which we've seen in many of the previous maps. These usually long mazes or tunnels filled with nothing or spacing out combat do feel rather unnecessary and I think for the most part they are unneeded. However one thing they do accomplish i feel is creating a cheap sense of larger scale than the maps really are, spacing out rooms and networks to create a larger idea of area than there really is. I may be wrong and ultimately are not super enjoyable, but i can appreciate the attempt. This was a map that i ended up appreciating more than i thought, but is still a plutonia-esque outtake.


Rankings:

Spoiler

Map11

Map01

Map06
Map05

Map03

Map08

Map10

Map09

Map12
Map02

Map07

Map04

 

[Azure_Horror]

pistol start, UV, dsda-doom, - complevel 2, time rewinds, optional mods

 

Map 01

Playthrough 1, no mods:

The immediately reminds me of Doom Negative One. About map 19, to be exact. It also started the player in the prison, with evil hitscanners and some revs mid-tier monsters lurking around the place. But beyond the map start, similarities dissapear end:

- map 19 of doom -1 gives berserk and SSG extremely fast, and uses lots of doomcute to hide high-damage monsters in unsusual corners. And after escaping the cell block itself, the player is free to explore a wast countryside akin to a Lost Civilization level.

- by contrast map 01 of fragport starts the player with chainsaw, and places SSG very late on the map. And all the action opens into a relatively normal fortress courtyard. The player lacks firepower to play ballsy, and the safest approach is to corner camp at every opportunity. Not the most fun gameplay, given that the opposition consists of pretty beefy monsters (casuse you get no SSG, remember). The visuals are rather bland too, and the Doomcute is minimal. Seriously, maps 28 and 29 of Plutonia experiment look much more lived in!

 

BTW, Rocked Launcher with Unreal Tournament Flack Cannon sounds feels extremely cursed... At the very least, the Ultimate Doomer could have used the alt-fire instead...

 

Playthrough 2, Bourgeois Guns mod:

With significantly buffed chainsaw, the map becomes much more fun. Bourgeois Guns saw is strong enough to kill even an archvile or a hell knight, so the whole map becomes a grand chainsaw playground! Other weapons add some variance too.

 

In the end, I say the following:

-Map 01 suffers a lot from weak weapons, which lead to grindy and boring gameplay.

-So far, I don't see any grand adventure design here. I was promised an adventure WAD. Were is it? Alien Vendetta, Scythe 2, even Plutonia - all those mapsets had a much more appropriate adventure map 01.

 

 

Map 02

Playthrough with no mods:

Those convoluted underground tunnels once again remind me of Doom Negative One. That WAD has quite a lot of different maps with similar theme. And, once again, Doom -1 blows Fragport out of the water with superior weapon variety and much more memorable monster set ups.

 

To be fair, fragport map 02 has at least one interesting trick up its sleeve: those relatively narrow mineshafts are perfect for berserk-ing Revenants and for fighting Archviles in casual ways... But beyong that, map once again does not feel that special. Add to that lots of semi-gotcha ambushes and far-off placement of strong weapons - and the fun adventure once again fails to occure. I managed to find the SSG early - so I had relatively fun time. But this was a pure dumb luck on my part. By contrast, I almost missed the berserk and didn't find the rocket launcher at all!

 

 

Map 03

Playthrough with 2018 Struggle Weapon Pack:

Gotta say, powerful chainsaw and chaingun replacements are real life savers for the Fragport mapset. They more than compencate for rather crumblesome Grenade Launcher from Struggle.

 

As for the map itself...

This level finally includes a memorable, adventurous moment! Around the middle of the playthrough, the mines begin to flood with water. With water level rising, old paths close, and new paths open! This all looks pretty cool! But not as cool as the water level trickery from map 01 of Running Late 2, or the finale of The Mucus Flow... And the gameplay is rather bland doom comfort food at its best, and a pretty bad case of Doom discomfort food at its worst. I want to thank God for guiding me towards the SSG immediately, and thank @antares031 for his amazing weapon pack. Otherwise, this map could have been unbearable... Cool flooding effect, tho, I geniumly liked it.

 

Ok, I do not know how far would I go this during this month. On one hand, the weapon mods make the WAD pretty bearable so far, and some parts, like punching revs on map 02, or the flood on map 03 mange to stand out. On the other hand, the map designs feel rather lacking in many crucial aspects. I swear, some locations from old Might and Magic 6,7,8 RPGs have more exciting level design than this! And those games are not designed to be shooters!

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 12: City Sewers

 

Mike Muir's funk-side project was always one of those enjoyable while its on, kind of forgettable otherwise projects. On the other hand, it boosts the already incredibly impressive combat, boosted by the presence of plenty of rockets to take out all or most of the mid-tiers. Like maybe a sewer map is a little ill-advised (see Map 06 of Revolution! for a lively interpretation visually at least) but the references to the titular TNT outtake reused for Plutonia  aren't too bad, despite the essentially comparable difficulty. I don't really feel like rehashing it too much. Mazes really stink, but shotgunning Revenants here is actually fun. There was some trouble in the room with the first Arachnotron and cages Mancubi because the latter was unexpectedly in two-pairs. Our only actual death came near the green key when the nearby Arch-vile showed up after the milling of the two Revenants and kept resurrecting stuff before overwhelming us. Not much else to say of note, though. Some TUD trademarks are still present in combat framing, but it actually works out well here. 

 

In any case, drop back between the tanks if y'all are looking for extra ammo and health

 

 

lmd_fragport12.zip

Edited March 13, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Azure_Horror]

pistol start, UV, dsda-doom, - complevel 2, time rewinds, optional mods

 

Map 04

2 Playthroughs, forgot, which mods did I choose...

 

Seems that quite a few club members disliked this map...

 

Me? I quite like it! The map definitely could have used a bit more visual diversity, especially in the canyon area. But other than that - the level is quite nice!

 

Different enemies + wide open area = lots of different approaches to fights. All the guns are provided quite early, so for once there is no "single shotgun vs caco-noble-mancs" type of nonsense. And even Ye Old Boring Spider Mastermind managed to be quite fun, thanks for two minor details. First, the 3 little spiders seem to be be very infight-prone, allowing for additional DPS against their big Auntie. Second, the small stone ruins are very plesantly spaced, and ducking into cover repeatedly is fun, for once.

 

My only serious complaint: running through the canyon takes too long, IMHO. And the canyon is overall boring, so there is no sight-seeing either. Backtracking teleporter would be very nice here... But this is a minor complaint. And the huge scale of the rocky canyon walls does look quite majestic, even if the walls themselves are as nondescript as they get.

 

So yeah, this is a level that I quite like, despite its relative simplicity in both visual and encounter designs.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Azure_Horror

[Book Lord]

MAP 13 - Pipe Factory

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

A compact level featuring an open layout, refraining from obnoxious mazes and cramped corridors, and finally releasing proper monster hordes was exactly what Fragport needed. Pipe Factory was simply detailed but conveyed the right sense of place: from the very first sight, the level resembled an industrial facility, with zombies operating numerical control machines in a pipe foundry, soon to be subverted by a crazy crossfire. The number of Mancubi and Arachnotrons seemed overwhelming for a pistol starter, but it was easy and very fun to instigate infighting. The nearby ‘Raw Materials’ warehouse contained all the necessary weapons, and the switch above ‘Machine 1’ opened a secret stash of goodies. Picking up the RK in the ‘Control Room’ released more enemies in the factory, reiterating the fun of the opening fight.

Spoiler

The Spider Mastermind patrolling the courtyard was a bit annoying, but with foreknowledge I would have left her alive. The red door building contained a somewhat unclear ‘Big Hole’ (a dump?), where the GK was collected without much effort. The herd of Pinkies materialising outside counted as an early warning, together with the apparently excessive power-ups granted after killing the Arch-Viles at the main gate. The ‘Piping Warehouse’ hosted monsters in ambush stance, but it was the last BK pickup that unleashed the first threatening horde seen in the megaWAD. Arch-Viles in the open, mixed with Revenants and other baddies, gave me a hard time, alleviated only by the generous goodies. To the inside, a swarm of flyers was spawned to frustrate any attempt at running for the blue door.

Spoiler

The only downside I found in Pipe Factory was the use of pre-placed Arch-Viles, which was also a concern in previous maps. I cannot see the point of ambushing the player with non-threatening healers on the way to the exit, but frustrating speed runners must have been a top priority 20 years ago. The one guarding the BK was predictable, and the duo at the gate could have been substituted by other monsters. I had a good time with this map, and I hope that Fragport features more uncomplicated scenarios like this one.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Book Lord

[Azure_Horror]

pistol start, UV, dsda-doom, - complevel 2, time rewinds, optional mods

 

Fragport

map 05 (Bourgeois Guns mod, but it didn't help much...)

 

The level is a salad of streets and buildings. Powerful weapons are stashed away at the start. Monster closets occasionally flood the streets with enemies. In many ways, this map resembles Plutonia’s Odyssey of Noises. Sadly, Fragport map 05 is not half as good as the Plutonia map29.

Despite compact layout, the navigation is confusing. Different buildings look the same from the outside. Big waves of midtiers are not fun to fight without proper guns. And the proper guns are hidden (except for Rocket Launcher, but it is very inconvenient in the narrow streets). And even when SSG is found – all the fights encourage corner camping in the most obvious spots, and discourage more bold forms of action!

 

The boat with an archvile in the end is cute though. It reminds me of @mouldy's Overboard!

 

 

Map 06 (Bourgeois Guns mod)

Speaking of Overboard… Let’s take our boat into the ocean and board a demon-infested vessel! Sounds very Overboard-like, not gonna lie.

 

The visuals and the layout are really impressive and very evocative. Sadly the combat sinks the whole thing (pun intended).

 

Even with modified guns, the fights felt boring and grindy. And that’s with the super-chainsaw, which is perfect for narrow corridors also kills hell nobles with ease weapons with ease, giving me an easy access to all the power weapons!

 

So yeah. It would be a really impressive level, if not for the combat. Seems like it would be best to play it with -no monsters… Not a good sign.

 

 

Map 07 (2018 Struggle weapon pack)

Overboard mini-adventure continues! But if the Overboard doomguy was running out of fuel for his motorboat, the Fragport doomguy runs out of the boats themselves… BTW, the boat-guarding archvile from map 05 is back, so let's rejoice!

 

As for the map itself… I am not very impressed with the gameplay. The combat and the exploration feel at odds here, and distract from one another. This is bad for such genre of maps. Community Chest 2 Sodding Death (map 32) and Death Mountain (map 23) are much better combat-adventure-exploration maps, IMHO.

 

 

Map 08 (2018 Struggle weapon pack)

One more map, one more boat lost…

The starting visuals are very imposing and majestic, but the gameplay in the narrow canyons is very non-descript. So yeah, it is best to admire the opening shot, grab some resources, climb up the mountain, and type idclev09. In the end, there is nothing to see beyond the opening area.

 

 

Map 09 (2018 Struggle weapon pack)

What is this map design? Why everything is square all of the sudden?

Oh, it is a Sonic 3D blast reference! Okay then…

 

Sadly, those of us who didn’t play the relevant Sonic 3D blast will find dull combat and nothing else. The map includes unpleasant healing placement, hidden power-weapons, and fat damaging enemies in all the worst places… This is an opposite of high-speed arcadey gameplay, which map09 tries to reference!

 

Seriously, the dissonance between layout and the monster placement is unbearable. Beefy monsters on crucial crossroads encourage slow, methodical clearing. Have fun with using single shotty against mancs, hell nobles and arachnos! Slowly and methodically grind everything down… IMO, Doom 2 Tricks and Traps or Plutonia Experiment Twilight look like far superior Sonic 3D blast references than map 09 of Fraport! At the very least, those two maps are full of various power-ups and give adequte wepons in the timely manner...

 

Seems like I was wrong about map 08. In place of idclev09 it is better to type idclev10 instead.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Azure_Horror

[Celestin]

MAP13: Pipe Factory

 

Set in and around Fragport Pipes Ltd. plant, MAP13 is all about large-scale fights that begs to start some infighting. Scored by Alice Cooper's "Poison", this is pure rock'n'roll. Don't camp in the starting area, instead run around the factory floor, distract the enemies, find better guns and grab the red key from a control room above to release more monsters. Once everything here is dead, head outside and ignore the mastermind patrolling the premises. Instead, go to a building labelled "Big Hole" and find the green key. This will release a horde of pinkies that can fight the spiderdemon. In my case, she got stuck and was bitten to death. 

 

The next part involves searching a warehouse for the blue key and killing everything that stands in player's way. Be careful, once you pick up the key, the outside area is flooded with a ton of monsters, including 2 archviles. Again, infighting seems to be the best strategy. The ending consists of fighting 2 pop-up archviles with no cover, but that's a minor nitpick in an otherwise fine map. It's one of the best in Fragport so far.

[Roofi]

Map 13 : Pipe Factory

 

 

We continue our industrial journey before reaching the core of the city and whereas the stacked pipes and raw materials bring a pleasant feeling of opulence, ammo stinginess partly constitutes the identity of this map (if you don't find any secret at least as me). Simplistic is how I could descriibe the combat design in this map and Fragport  since each key makes a flock of ennemies teleport without the care to optimize their efficiency. You have so much space that you can take the advantage by letting the monsters infighting from a long distance.

 

Overall, combats in this map are fun and if you already know the map, I think a good strategy would be to grab the keys as quick as possible in order to create a massive party with  with the stray mastermind fighting  against with the whole crowd. If you don't adopt no specific strategy nor find any secret, you're likely to struggle killing the last popping viles. I ended this map with 3 poor cells in my pocket lol.

 

However, as I mentioned just above, I loved the sense of detail and the clean texture usage about the raw materials. I elect the blue key's room as my favourite because just seeing all those pipes pyramid stacking make me feel cozy.

 

Also, as usual, the midi from the pack I use matches so well with the pack. The ominous ambiant track really enhanced my experience.

 

Grade : A-

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Roofi

[Ralgor]

MAP13 - “Pipe Factory”
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and secrets

And now we've come up out of the sewer into a pipe factory. It's not your standard pipe factory either, since this one seems to use molten metal for some reason. The factory itself has a few storerooms with weapons and a control center. The factory floor is filled with demon-spawn, giving you a hard time the instant you enter. This map gives no quarter if you're starting from a pistol. You have to run around to induce infighting, and rush for the storeroom to grab your weapons. You can chainsaw the initial chaingunners to grab a chaingun though.

Outside are a few buildings. Arch-viles serve as security guards at the gate entrance protecting a combat armor and soul sphere. There's a storage shed containing completed pipes, and another building of unknown use labeled "Big Hole". There's also a useless spider mastermind here. Using the secret invisibility, you can run into that run down building in the center and grab the key without engaging her. That will cause a bunch of demons to spawn, who are capable of killing the spider without your help. It's somewhat amusing.

Besides the hot start, the only notable fight is the one that happens after you grab the blue key. Both the factory and the yard are flooded with more demons, along with a couple arch-viles. Luckily the buildings serve as great cover while taking care of the arch-viles, who will run out ahead of their little army. This is a pretty fun fight.

There's not a lot to this map, but it also doesn't overstay its welcome, or have any weird design elements. The hot start and key fights are entertaining, and once that's over you're done with the map. The map is also mostly convincing as being some sort of factory for pipes.

Grade: B

MAP13 - 14:27.89 (14:27)  K: 105/105  I: 2/2  S: 3/3

ralgor_fragport13.zip

[DFF]

Map13: Pipe Factory - UV, FDWL, Continuous

K: 100 | I: 100 | S: 100

 

I have a lot better memories from the city maps of Fragport than some of the earlier ones, and so far the map quality is definitely improving. Pipe factory is resplendent (relatively) in fun doomcute details that make the factory come alive. Several storerooms with raw materials and completed product, machines that are mid pipe-formation, and metal vats that serve as good monster cover. A funny thing about Fragport is that many of the real-world locations seem rather unmolested by demonic influence, almost suggesting that the demons invaded and just chose to repurpose and take control of Fragport's infrastructure for their own means. A slightly goofier take on hell invasion but one that i gladly accept for the theme of the WAD

 

The initial factory floor scuffle is decently setup with lots of goodies spread throughout hidey holes, encouraging active moment by the player to clear the building. The outside of Fragport Pipe is more of the barren desert we are stationed in, but the sub buildings make decent use of the space. Spider momma returns with much more freedom, but is still a pushover due to the buildings (admittedly the blursphere secret proved actually useful in making this even easier to deal with, props for somewhat useful usage of the item). I got a giggle from the "big Hole' room since it seems the proprietors decided it was wise to mine minerals on top of their building site, and then cover said mining hole inside a building. I felt this room was a bit underutilized, as having a monster closet trap inside the hole could have made for a slightly tricky and interesting fight on unfavorable ground. 

 

The pipe storage room was very creative use of textures and was a nice addition. Grabbing the blue key also treats us to the courtyard and the main factory filling with baddies, a setup and roster list that is starting to feel more like rather competent monster placement. Mancubi and revenants protect arch-viles in a very open space, meaning the player either bunkers down in the pipe shed or runs outside using the larger buildings to whittle down foes until the arch-viles are vulnerable enough to takedown without getting zapped. The interior of the plant also populates with a mixed cloud of caco's and pain elementals, making the courtyard fight trickier if you are slow and they manage to leak outside. All in all steps in the right direction as far as i care. Unfortunately the map ends with some characteristically dickish arch-viles but at this point its expected from Fragport and accepted.

 

Overall pipe factory like the previous maps definitely feels like steps up in map quality, and I found this one enjoyable for both design and combat improvement reasons, as well as the doomcute realism. I like this more than map11 mainly due to being a bit more concise and open.


Rankings:

Spoiler

Map13

Map11

Map01

Map06
Map05

Map03

Map08

Map10

Map09

Map12
Map02

Map07

Map04

 

[Azure_Horror]

pistol start, UV, dsda-doom, - complevel 2, time rewinds, optional mods

 

I decided to play without mods for some time, to get more authentic experience. Previous few maps weren't fixed by the mods anyway...

 

Map 10 (No Mod)

 

Cons:

- Blue key is broken on -complevel 2.

- In general, ammo on a pistol start often gets extremely low. Missing shots is not an option.

- Secret plasma feels almost mandatory: without it, the ammo becomes extremely low near the end of the playthrough, and Hell Knights down a narrow stairway may prove impossible to defeat.

- Not enough Rad Suits for comfortable exploration.

 

Pros:

- Good placement of cacodemons in the hallways. This encourages the player to use the chainsaw more often, even with the secret berserk at hand! I am so happy that the saw got its time the limelight!

- Again, the saw proves very useful in the SSG storage room. One of the rare situations, where sawing a revenant is efficient!

- The map manages to naturally push the players toward the necessary guns. Without the proper weapons, the doomguy gets encouraged to try some other paths at the start. And they have guns.

- All the important secrets are signposted pretty well. It does not erase the obligatory plasma blunder, but it makes much less annoying.

- Overall, this map manages to organically combine ideas from Doom1 E1, Doom 1 E2 and Doom 2: Hell on Earth. Nice map start, with good proportion of low-tiers and mid-tiers is the most notable success here.

 

Personally, I like that map. But I fully admit that I am a big fan of Doom 1 re-interpretations. I also love when niche weapons (like the chainsaw, of the single shotty) can successfully compete with their stronger bretheren. So, this map hits a sweet spot for me.

 

 

Map 11 (No Mod)

I am torn about this map. On one hand, it does manage to combine lots of fun-to-explore environments into one coherent whole. Dark section in particular feels surprisingly nice to play, despite all the specters. The level also provides a time in limelight for all the weapons, including the chainsaw.

 

On the other hand, there is a very real possibility of missing both the SSG and the Rocket Launcher, which leads to extremely grindy fights down the line. And even for properly armed player, some encounters manage to feel a bit grindy! (Like the baron ambush, or the rev crowd on the way to the red key)

 

With a bit more care, this level could have been perfect. As it stands now, it has a few notable flaws. It still includes has some very nice parts, however.

 

 

Map 12 (No mod)

A little digression first: Before discussing Fragport map 12, I must say something about Plutonia Experiment map 28. Despite being yet another sewer, it manages to be very evocative. Secret sewer base of nefarious demon cultists – that’s the vibe I am getting from Plutonia map 28! It is hard to top such a setting! And that level also leads into Odyssey of Noises. Progression from a sewer into a city feels very natural, and it also makes map 28 much more appropriate for the Hell episode.

 

Now, I am ready to discuss Fragport map 12. Sadly, it is much less evocative than Plutonia map 28. There are no cool sector drainage pipes to traverse, and no secret libraries to explore. Thus Fragport map 12 feels like a pretty generic sewer level. And deliberate references to Plutonia map 28 do not help. Of course, such sections have some memorable gameplay. But they also showcase, how generic map 12 feels compared to its Plutonia counterpart...

 

 

Map 13 (No mod)

We finally reach a level with some bombastic combat setpieces! It feels nice to fight some pretty hardcore fights, especially after a series of much less combat focused maps!

 

That said, the map does not include any really standout fights, IMO. And the map setting feels rather generic too: yet another industrial techbase, without much notable doomcute either… So I don’t know, how to describe this map properly… For a Fragport map, it does include quite lot of good action. But there are much better action maps out there. So, in the grand scheme of things? this map does not feel particularly notable… But, to be fair, it does not outstay its welcome either. A solid, well-rounded level all around, but not a must play by any means.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 13: Pipe Factory

 

Well, I guess a power ballad that happens to be one of Alice Cooper's crappiest songs is suited as anything to finally entering a big city. Although the place we chose to exit the sewer appears to be right below an industrial area, and more proof this really wasn't intended to be played from pistol start, mostly because of rather tight ammo.

 

At the same time, it's sort of neat to see this attempt at taking an actual vanilla Doom II texture, then building a fairly plausible location around it. I can't really speak to pipes being created necessarily, but if they're made anywhere, it's the massive 'factory' we start out in. They're certainly laying here more than basically anywhere else. There's also a few chaingunner clerks manning some computers in the back with a shotgun inexplicably just sitting to the side. There are also Mancubi and Arachnotrons hanging nearby in a rather tight space. It's probably best to duck into those little rooms you're familiar with if you've worked in a factory or just the back of some retail store which contain most other weapons besides the plasma rifle. That way, it'll be possible to counter the ire workers who're looking to turn the rather brutish intruder into a finely-ground bloody paste. Although as we head toward the exit, it might be wiser to leave a few of them alive. See, once we shoot the chaingunners in the upstairs office and collect the red key sitting around them, more enemies will spawn there where we just came from and perhaps we want a few of the other ones alive for infighting purposes. If you find the shootable switch secret, then there's less need to bother with that. 

 

But the issue is the concept is slightly weaker than average and the map is only slightly above-average as a result. The chaingunners inside the "Pit" building (honestly seems a little pointless) are annoying but not too bad and the plasma rifle is sitting on a little mount in this pit, along with the green key. There are a fair few options from this point, although it might be wiser to take care of the outside enemies first. Like the Spider Mastermind that's just sitting in the middle so helpless-like. This will be much easier if we've spotted the easy to spot hidden compartment with the Blursphere. Spend more time trying to provoke infighting than we did. The Arch-viles at the gate are quite a nice touch but inexplicably, someone burned the switch here, so we won't be getting out that way. There is a Soulsphere in one of these booths though so we're advised not to miss it because there are still some nasty ambushes. There are also plenty of rocket boxes scattered throughout the whole yard here. It's in the middle of this we enter the storage building where we engage in some desultory combat involving an Arch-vile at the end, get the last key, then fight off a massive ambush involving two Arch-viles with a rather limited amount of ammo, several Mancubi and three Barons of Hell along with two Pain Elementals and maybe a few Cacodemons too. It was the search for health that eventually led us to a floor-plate secret, but honestly...

 

We set to wander around a bit before returning to the starting warehouse, finding a door we'd forgotten about earlier, opening it, dispatching an Arch-vile on the rooftops someways off from with plasma because we had only two rockets left, finding nothing at the end we needed, leaping to a gap on our right and dealing with one more pop-up Arch-vile before exiting into Fragport's mean streets. Not much happening here and the ending Arch-vile usage was almost cartoonishly uninspired but this is still better than most of the early maps.

lmd_fragport13.zip

Edited March 13, 2023 by LadyMistDragon
minor grammatical syntax issue near beginning

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 13: Pipe Factory

Kills and secrets: 100%

Time: 11:51

 

Like DFF said, I have better memories of the city maps than anything else, so we're getting closer to them. We emerge from the sewer into a pipe factory. We've got a good detail of Doomcute here, from the giant vats on the factory, the the pipe storage area behind the green door. While this factory has a good amount of detail, the outside is pretty barren, and one building just houses a giant hole. Guess they need that dirt to make pipes? Idk. The fights here are some of the most intense in the WAD so far. Each key starts a big teleport ambush, with the red key being in the main factory floor, the green key being a pinky ambush outside, and the blue key bringing out a big group of heavies + 2 archies outside, with cacos and pain elementals coming outside from the factory floor. The final ambush is actually kind of tough, since you want to take out the archies first, but there's not a ton of cover. There is a factory sign nearby that works for that tho. Other than that, that's all there is to this one. Pretty small map with only a few main areas. Kinda reminds me of the first map a bit. This one is better in the combat department compared to the others, but I do prefer some of the other maps that offer a bit more in terms of areas to explore.

[Book Lord]

MAP 14 – Urban Wasteland

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Urban Wasteland carried on the combat formula established with MAP13, consisting of monster groups appearing from closets or teleporting at every progression step. The scenario was a single town district that contained blocky buildings and large piles of rubble, patrolled by hellspawn. Critical weapons could be found in the recesses of the central tower, and ammo was scattered everywhere for a rather straightforward pistol start. Once all hitscanners and snipers had been eliminated, the search for the 3 keys began as usual.

Spoiler

I had a moderately good time with the ambushes, risking only once to die because I took a clipping Mancubus fireball in the face. I groaned at the Arch-Vile closing in at the RK, then I failed to trigger the Revenant closet when picking up the GK, so I must look in the editor what went wrong. The BK granted access to the central building, an abstract construction with bare walls and no other purpose except wasting my time with a lift that took ages. Most secrets of the map were hidden in the side tunnels, and the progression switch that opened the exit unleashed an Arch-Vile on the battlefield outside. The sound of resurrected corpses while I was waiting for the elevator was disheartening, but in the end the healer did not raise as many as I feared. Urban Wasteland was a compact and simple sandbox level, still entertaining but visually too modest to leave a strong impression.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map12 “City Sewers”

 

RL is to the northwest. Plasma is to the northeast. Chaingun is smack dab in the middle. SSG is down south. All of these are in the nukage tunnel maze that forms the left half of the map. I’m saying this right now because playing blind I had to kill every single mancubi in the blue key section with the single shotgun and chaingun and it is my sacred duty to save as many as I can from such a grisly fate.

 

Anyway, I hope you’re ready for the latest edition of superfuntime nukage mazes, this time with 100% more Plutonia plagiarism. We start on a deserted beach with sewage runoff coming out of nearby tunnels. If you check the automaps of each level, you can see the gun batteries in Military Bunker are pointing at the opening beach in this one, which gets a point for nice continuity. My appreciation quickly turned to dismay as I entered the outchannel and saw a radsuit sitting at a junction of what is an obvious sewage maze. It’s not the absolute worst because of the ledges you can safely walk on, but it’s still a nukage maze. I’d also like to point out that this is the third map in a row where the major weapons are scattered haphazardly throughout the playing area. I must be either really unlucky, or really bad at weapon placement context clues, because I cannot for the life of me find decent guns until late in the level playing blind.

 

To leave the city sewers, we must find all three keys, which can be done in any order. Because this is a nonlinear map, routing is important, not just because of weapons but because of radsuits. Unlike the maze, accessing the key areas requires mandatory nukage dips, and the green and red key treks are especially bad for your health without them. There is also a large circular room with a bunch of teleporting mid-tiers that is a near duplicate of a fight in Plutonia’s Sewers. It isn’t hard, but you’ll want to deal with these guys before key hunting as the room has armor and a ton of ammunition.

 

The blue key arena is also exactly like Plutonia’s Sewers (mancubi ambush) and the red key is whatever. The green key, however, is interesting. Getting to it takes us through a room with a number of raised channels, which are easy to fall from. Falling isn’t harmful (and there’s ammo down there), but getting back up can leave you vulnerable. There are five vats containing stationary cacodemons (and later hell knights) that harass you and the revenants around the corner punish stumbling with their fists. Watch out for the vile ambush and once you have all three keys deal with some mancubi and leave.

 

This level is… mediocre. The maze ledges probably kept me from hating it, but nothing jumped out either. There’s some nice doomcute around the green key, some nice continuity, and then lots and lots of brown. The combat was decent but way too similar to Plutonia map28, borrowing a bit too much from there. I also agree with DFF’s observation on dressing tunnels” and hope they aren’t as common going forward (though I’m not counting on it).

 

Fast Monsters: I decided instead of a couple of unhelpful sentences to actually download DSDA Doom and make a recording. Notes

-          Don’t fire until you have the SSG. I died quite a bit before figuring that out.

-          I look like an idiot at switches/doors because I’ve used the E key for years and DSDA puts the use key at spacebar.

-          I’ve never recorded a demo before, if this is unreadable or something my apologies

fragport12_lmp.zip

[brick]

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

 

MAP13 - “Pipe Factory”
After a streak of maps that I wasn't overly fond of, I was happy to find myself enjoying this one. Getting out of the sewers and having outdoors and open spaces, as well as heaps of doomcute, may have contributed to this positive feeling. The factory looks great, the alphabet texture labels everything, there are large halls and so many contraptions and of course pipes connecting everything, the control room overlooking the main floor. Even the monster placement made me smile, such as the archviles guarding the main gate and frying all unwelcome visitors. The Spider outside went down with a well-placed BFG, but the ambush teleporting in revenants and nobles later one was chaotically fun. There's a lot of back and forth between the buildings but the backtracking is over short distances and ends up helping establish the factory as a realistic place. I'm not entirely sold on Alice Cooper's Poison as the soundtrack (it would've fit a sewer level!) but I liked both the visuals and gameplay, and thoroughly enjoyed the map.

 

MAP14 - “Urban Wasteland”
We finally reach the city of Fragport proper, and it has seen better days. This is almost like a smaller version of Downtown, where we go poking into buildings looking for the keys. That part was actually fun, though it got predictable with the exact same dual-ambush every time, both a monster closet and teleports into the central area. The last key gets us into the central building, which is so incredibly boring. There's one central shaft with a lift and 8 passages at various heights, and of course we have to explore every single one (most have nothing, some have secrets) to find the switch. I couldn't really tell at a glance what the switch had done, until finally finding that tiny side passage that got revealed, leading into the exit. I liked some of the ideas, but there's also too much repetition.

[Devalaous]

Map 12 was pretty awkward, you can avoid most of the nukage poop by hugging the walls, handy for when one of the suits runs out. Yeah I'd die slowly if I had to stand in a river of poop unprotected too. Combat is getting very ho-hum and predictable now, I guess its to be expected from one-man megawads. You get comfortable with the same traps and keep using the same setups over and over. I didn't even flinch at the big brawl with the armour pit, just did the usual and circled around and around till one or two was left. The bit with the cacoturrets was different, what with the items in the drops, and how hell knights replace them on the way back. The mancubus ambush nearly killed me.

Map 13 was a neat little 'sense of place' type of map, got the majority of monsters to infight to death. The mastermind was taken down just as easily as the one in Map 4; use the invis sphere in a secret and an SSG, circle around her, and you'll likely kill her without her getting single shot off. Shout out to yet another square pressure pad secret. The road outside the facility is kind of neat, but as always, it makes me wish Stephen put in some detailing in the out of bounds areas, like some rocks and a tree or two.

 

Map 14 is small arena sort of map, a tiny Downtown. Everytime I killed the hordes in the outdoors main area, they got re-established with a monster closet opening up or some monsters teleporting in. Got another ghost monster here, a revenant :(

So far the city levels are a step down in the fun, as I expected. So much brown.

[Azure_Horror]

Pistol start, UV, dsda-doom, - complevel 2, time rewinds, optional mods

 

MAP 14 – Urban Wasteland

(No Mod)

 

This map is composed from a few very basic shapes with little detailing. Despite that, it manages to invoke a notable sense of place: as the name suggests, this is a devastated section of a city. Moreover, despite simplistic and basic geometry, the level feels very intuitive to navigate. In those two aspects, this map really impressed me!

 

For the most of my playthrough, the gameplay was very engaging. Everything feels like a playgound of sorts: you have all sorts of monsters and all sorts of resources scattered around. There is always a few ways to approach a situation. And up to the blue door the action felt both diverse and intense. But after unlocking the blue building, I was annoyed rather than entertained. The lift in the center wastes a lot of time, the progression is badly singposted, and, worst of all, an archvile appears in the outside area, where it proceeds to ressurect everything in its path! The resulting mess is not harder than the rest of the map, but it feels really annoying to experience especially with the blue door being extremely narrow. Dear mapmakers, please avoid wasting my time, when an archvile roams free around the corpses! This feels both boring and cheap!

 

Conclusion: if the exit switch would be right behind the blue door, I would be singing praise to this level! As it stands right now - it starts very fun, but the ending muddles the whole experience quite significantly, IMO... On top of that, there is nothing truly unique about the level, so the weak ending leaves a stronger mark than it could have...

[Ralgor]

MAP14 - “Urban Wasteland”
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and secrets

Now we seem to find ourselves in some sort of waste collection area. Piles of unidentifiable waste of different colors are all over the central area. A haphazardly shaped building sits in the center. When you first enter there's only light resistance. Things escalate as you collect keys. Each key will open some closets that repopulate the area.

Unfortunately you eventually end up in the central structure. There is one of those multi-floor lifts here. It's annoying trying to get to each of the hallways that radiate from the lift to kill everything. The whole thing seems kind of pointless. While inside you will release an arch-vile back into the outside area. It will inevitably resurrect a few monsters, and you'll find yourself somewhat low on ammo by this point. If you know which way not to go you could pick up more cells from the secrets inside here before releasing him.

There isn't a lot to talk about with this level. The setting is pretty neat, and a couple of the fights are entertaining. I could do without the lift though, and honestly the entire central building is boring. The ambushes are pretty predictable too, but the area we fight them in is well designed, so they end up being pretty fun.

Grade: C

 

I'm still using the original version of the wad. Since I started with it I'm going to stick with it, even though it was by accident. So far I don't think my experience has been any different than anyone else's.

MAP14 - 16:32.09 (16:32)  K: 108/108  I: 4/4  S: 4/4

ralgor_fragport14.zip

[Roofi]

Map 14 : Urban Wasteland

 

 

Urban Wasteland follows the same recipe than Pipe Factory with horde of monsters appearing each time you obtain a key, but this time you navigate among the square of a town which seems deserted by humans. As the previous map, the most patient players will be rewarded because instead of directly fighting the enemies, there are some opportunities to take cover in order to let the monsters infighting and save previous ammo for the few viles. I specifically think about the small local concealing the green key which gives a strong advantage against the teleporting foes thanks to its unopenable door and wide fenester.

 

Now, about the theme, I think Urban Wastelands has a lot less charming areas whereas I appreciate the Fragport's trademark barren theme with its ominipresent brown. Maybe not everyone noticed this, but Fragport uses the same brown sky for the whole megawad. I feel like exploring an usual place for a Doom wad such as city located in New Mexico or an other country characterized by a desertic climate.

 

While I enjoyed the hectic battlezone, the multi-floored central lift was both pointless and annoying.

 

Grade : B

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Roofi

[Ralgor]

I think I managed to solve a little mystery of how I ended up with the wrong version of fragport. You see, I downloaded it a little over a year ago, and ended up with the old version. I didn't know there was an update at the time, and I just assumed that since I downloaded it in 2022, I would have the latest version.

 

But I probably got to it from the "List of notable WADs" page on the fandom wiki, which still links to the old version on idgames. But the file has since been removed. I assume it still existed at the time, because I pretty well always download wads from idgames (or the forum, when appropriate).

 

Since all of my demos require it, should I try to just post the zip file to this thread? The permissions lists that redistributing it is allowed, but it might be frowned upon. I'm not sure. I also haven't been able to find it anywhere on the internet. This is a little sad, because it had a couple of enhanced versions of a couple levels that are better than what's in the updated version.

 

Edit: Nevermind, I found a copy here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/mega/fragport.html

 

This seems to be the original release.

 

Edit 2: Nevermind again. That turns out to be an even OLDER version than I have.

 

Edit 3: It's a little frustrating that the previous version has seemingly dropped off of the face of the internet. It's actually kind of impressive.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Ralgor

[Celestin]

MAP14: Urban Wasteland

 

The way out of the factory leads to a city square populated by mid-tier demons. The buildings around the plaza hold 3 keys that need to be grabbed in order, with each one picked flooding the arena with more monsters. With the last, blue one, in hand, you have to visit the tower in the centre and find a switch that opens the exit. Be careful with the blue key and the exit switch, they both spawn an archvile in the central plaza.

 

There isn't much to talk about here, MAP14 feels like a filler with tedious combat and bland visuals.