The DWmegawad Club plays: I C H I N I C H I

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP21 thoughts, comments and spoilers below:

 

Spoiler

This map was created pretty quickly one afternoon and the gameplay is nothing too taxing if you hide in the right places. 
 

There isn’t too much to say about this one as hardly anything changed throughout the maps creative life, although I do like the visuals of the main battle arena with the larger switches and corrupted texturing. 

 

[Celestin]

MAP21: Brisk

 

The title doesn't lie, this is a quick map, but full of action. Unlike other maps here, this one feels more arena-centric, rather than a crawl through a techbase or a demonic stronghold. It's a nice change of pace, as I prefer when wads combine those two styles of gameplay. 

 

Like I've said, the main portion of the map consists of a chamber filled with blood and guts. Here, you fight several waves of monsters, mostly using a rocket launcher. Bigger groups of monsters make the map more entertaining, though it's still far from challenging.

[UUN4]

Catching up once again.

 

MAP16: Tortured

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | No saves
K: 100% | I: 100% | S: 50%
If you didn't see the chaingunners up top at the start, they'll probably end your run early especially when paired with the arachnotrons that can now see you if you press the switch in the middle of the starting room. Other than that, getting the SSG at the start and the RL later on helped make things feel a bit less tense, although that doesn't include being a tad short on ammo near the start of the map. The secret supercharge at the start of the map also helps boost confidence (although I ended up kinda wasting it later on). I think the scariest part of the map is the collective of monsters that teleport into the outdoor area right after getting the red key; trying to use the rocket launcher to kill enemies was precarious due to the fear of rockets hitting the ground and damaging you instead, but I don't think that happened to me in particular. Letting the monsters infight a little bit definitely helped though. Also, I liked the ability to choose your path when you start making your way towards the yellow key, but since I cleared both paths to help with fighting the arachnotrons at the start (and they were immediately-available-and-killable monsters) it felt a little moot. Fun map though.

 

MAP17: Map UAC

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | No saves
K: 100% | I: 100% | S: 100%
The building being divided into two sections that you can still shoot between via windows and such was pretty neat. I managed to find the rocket launcher early on which definitely helped with the various mid-tier enemies thrown at you. Besides that, I liked how this map kind of teases you with pickups. For example, I was wondering how I'd access the blue key, but the window opening that would lead into it after pressing the corresponding switch was neat (and the door you open to go into the building being in front of said window was nice); earlier on in the map, I saw the megasphere and started being wary of any potential teleporters, so hitting a switch and finding its teleporter after hearing its corresponding door open was satisfying. Also, after seeing the seemingly unreachable rad suit in the room after the (sadly dreaded) crushers, I was wondering how to reach it and also saw the switch outside the window of the same room, equally wondering how to press said switch; I forgot you could shoot switches so I didn't get the rad suit until after I finished the map. I was expecting an arch-vile jumpscare after seeing the arch-vile head earlier, but I still got spooked when he suddenly appeared after grabbing the blue key. At this point, I had long since learned to expect a circular blue teleporter for my exit, so reaching the "exit door" made me feel a bit uneasy; however, the aforementioned RL from earlier made the ensuing fight kinda trivial. One other visual detail that stuck out was the spinning pedestal holding the red key; it looked neat.

 

MAP18: Creep

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | Saves not needed
K: 97% | I: 96% | S: 93%
The Icon of Sin music paired with the dark dingy environment set a relatively unsettling tone for this level, and appropriately so; most of the level has you fighting in kinda-small rooms and hallways, which I thought I normally wouldn't like to much, but I still kind of ended up liking the level. The RL hallway felt pretty strange since it was so long, but then I saw the incoming plasma projectiles before quickly running back the way I came for cover; the suden-archvile later on also put me off, and I definitely wasted a handful of rockets on these two sections. Finding and getting the yellow key was satisfying once I saw the switch I had to shoot, and it solved the screaming revenant problem throughout the map. The three staggered key doors at the end of the map rustled my jimmies a bit, so I saved just in case before hearing the cry of a cyberdemon; I ended up using most of my ammo (for all of my weapons) on him, but it wasn't anything too crazy like the MAP32 cyberdemon.

 

Will probably update this post if I play any more levels today; if not, I'll just make another post tomorrow. On a tangentially related note, MtPain27 just posted a Dean of Doom episode on I C H I N I C H I, which is cool to see!

Edited November 22, 2023 by UUN4

[Pechudin]

MAP20: C+ (UV, PS, Saveless; Deaths: 1)

It's a nice little (well, actually quite large for an one-day endavour) map with two ways to tackle it, one objectively superior to the other since the SSG can be obtained early on. The Cyberdemon was an afterthought since there really is not much space for it to snipe at the player. I let the two queens bicker among themselves, helping the loosing one when it got stunlocked by the other one.

 

MAP21: Brisk (UV, PS, Saveless)

A bit tight on the ammo, this wood, blood, flesh and metal fortress revolves around the layered setpiece fight that does not waste the player's time, which I do appreciate. As an aside, it's nice I can take this mapset at my pace, knocking out several maps no matter how little free time I've got. Solid.

[jmac]

Congrats to TheMightyWhoosh for getting this wad featured on Dean of Doom. I'm going to hold off on watching the video until I'm done playing through it for myself.

 

Map 21: Brisk

I'd let my guard down because of the relatively low difficulty of the wad, and because of that, this map kicked my teeth in on the first attempt. Aside from map 32, this is probably the most difficult so far. The layout is short and simple, mostly just a central arena and an encircling hallway, but the texture work is great. This is an awesome-looking gore map. The fights were a lot of fun, and felt more threatening than most of what the wad has offered up to this point. This is among my favourites in the set so far.

Edited November 22, 2023 by jmac

[brick]

MAP20 - “C Plus”
I think this one gave me the most trouble with combat so far. Right away there's a Cyberdemon above, and while hiding from him is initially easy, there are several spots later in the map that are exposed to his fire without it being immediately obvious, he works well to put some pressure without being too aggravating. The keys are all next to each other separated by fences, there's a nice sense of progression every time I found myself back in that hall with one more key under my belt. I think I took the most damage in that central staircase area, partly because of the mancubus hitting me from above when I couldn't yet reach him, and partly from eating a Cyberdemon rocket near the blue door when I thought I was safe. Finally murdering the Cyberdemon after getting the red key was very satisfying, and the change to the starting area that gives access to the last room looks pretty cool. The finale is a fight against two Spiders, it's not the most exciting but getting them to infight is fun and that large hall looks nice.

 

MAP21 - “Brisk”
Once again the title fits, the map is short and indeed brisk. It's another one where we press a succession of switches, each peeling off another layer and unleashing another wave of enemies. Almost all the fighting occurs in that central arena downstairs, which has more striking texturing and those jagged edges that I'm starting to love so much.

[Celestin]

MAP22: Embedded

The map's visuals - a desolate outpost hiding a fiery cavern - is a memorable sight. As for combat, for what it aims for, it's not bad, but there's just one fight that sticks with me on a mechanical level: an archvile in a cage with several imps in a moat below that act as an invisible meatshields.
 

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP22 thoughts, comments and spoilers below:
 

Spoiler

I remember this map coming together pretty quickly. What took the most time was deciding on which rocky textures to use and where. I reckon the white for the exterior and red for the interior were the right decisions. 
 

I had a similar setup in MAP28 (Knock Knock) of KINDa, where the Cacos would become alerted to your presence and would float over the rocky terrain towards you - I loved that visual so much that I used it again for this map.

 

The exit area was semi-inspired by Plutonia MAP25 (Temple of Darkness). 

 

[espilka]

MAP22 Embedded - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous)

 

Love the Inferno visuals, the outside areas and grotto (which holds an unofficial secret, i consider it, the door isn't easy to notice, particularly, as there were a couple of similar doors earlier in the map which aren't meant to be opened) are fantastically grafted, and the complex architecture nicely amalgamated with the outside, for second time (first was Himitsu) is very similar to Deadwing's creations with it's highly intricate routings.  Another good opportunity to use the Blursphere properly in the final ambush against the Chaingunners and Arachnotrons, ha-ha!  But also enjoyed the Manx & hitscanners outside, as well as the Cacodemon ambush at the re-used starting area.  Died a couple of times in the BK (?) ambush, and after playing to the end, did a second run which was deathless.  One of the Top-3!  (If this is a bit short, it's because am quite under the weather.)

Edited November 22, 2023 by espilka

[Pechudin]

MAP22: Embedded (UV, PS, Saveless; Deaths: 1)

Died once to a Fattie

Got lazy with dodging sideways

Not much after that

 

The asthetics of the map are very agreeable, kinda feels like an 2002 ADO map but transported into Doom 2 for some reason. I liked the opening with the Cacos converging to what they think is a tasty morsel. if only you could not kill them and they followed you around while you had to evade them ... now that's an idea for a map. The fights are a pretty standard affair, a bit easy for this late into the WAD but demand at least a bit of attention. The Archvile could ahve been a threat if it could follow the Demons as I had not a lot of rockets at that point. The end was dissapointing, the wall came down and I was expecting a Cyberdemon in a contained area - finally, some challenge - but a couple of Arachnotrons and some Chaingunners - with a Blursphere to boot - are not that, chief.

 

This wad is turning out to be pretty unremarkable thus far; I suppose one has to factor into the 24-h constraint which is far more I could say about my mapping output atleast.

[Celestin]

MAP23: Tech Gone Naughty

 

When dobu gabu maru mentioned "short, fierce, limit-removing speedmaps", this is more or less what I've been expecting. Tech Gone Naughty (an obvious reference to Romero's Tech Gone Bad) is a straight line, where you battle a cast of mostly hitscanners on your way to the red key at the end. When you pick it up, four archviles teleport behind you and start reviving dead monsters. I know it's likely a conscious decision, but I wish Ichinichi would use archviles more. Whoosh seem to keep them separated from monsters, so the challenge comes mostly from breaking their line of sight. Not in MAP23, though, here, they are moved to already-cleared rooms, so the task is to rush them with a BFG (provided right next to the red key) and eliminate them ASAP, before too many monsters get resurrected and block the relatively narrow path. It's no surprise I find this approach more entertaining.

 

The ending pulls a rug from under you - so far, every map ended with a circular teleport pad, but stepping onto one here releases yet another archvile. I like this map a lot, from TNT MAP01 midi that pushes you to action, through detailed techbase with engaging combat - this is probably my favourite map of the wad so far.

[cannonball]

I thought I would take a break from the map editor and give this a spin. I was rather lukewarm with kinda so it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

 

MAP01 - “Hello”

A competently put together map with a mix of brick and more inferno styled offerings. The map is easy but there are a couple of moments to keep you on your toes. Oddly the switch to access the blue armour felt more secret worthy than the secret itself. A solid enough start to the wad.

 

MAP02 - “Industry”

Not so much of a fan of this one, it’s fine but I must confess I got a lot of joy out of using the bersrk where here of course I was putting the shotgun through its paces. The yellow key trap did catch me off guard in a way as I focused on the baron, however the other monsters ended infighting far too quickly to bother me.

 

MAP03 - “Foundations”

I am even more neutral about this one, at least Map02 had a more open layout that felt reasonable to run around in whilst this map is a lot more corridor heavy. The blue key is a good laugh but otherwise a pretty forgettable level.

 

MAP04 - “The Archives”

The finale of this one looks the part but lacks the killer edge. Unfortunately the rest of the map encourages the skipping of fights due to being a little too stingy on rockets and places the SSG in a rather inconvenient position. Another rather neutral feeling map.

 

MAP05 - “Metallic”

Some more engaging combat in this one, offset by the slightly wonky progression using teleporters. We also have an interesting double secret that requires the blue key that you can easily grab but have nowhere obvious to use it.

 

MAP06 - “The Host”

I kind of like the free-form nature of this one, the red rock and tech fuse quite nicely and you get quite a nice runaround at the start to instigate some infighting. However you do have to finish off the cyber eventually which means either rocket tag or a slow SSG workout. I guess this probably gives off some nice nostalgic vibes.

 

MAP07 - “Bay 7”

Whilst some elements are a little on the nose, I actually found this to be the most entertaining level so far. The Mastermind again needs to send her complaints to Satan for that appalling placement and inevitable death via infighting, but the double archvile and some quick to mow down fodder make for a brisk and fun map.

[espilka]

MAP23 Tech Gone Naughty - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous)

 

Literally a linear techbase traversed from one end to another, to collect a key, and back again.  EZPZ.  Couple of hitscanners along the way.  Ok.  Maybe a Manx and some Cacodemons.  Fine.  And the peeping skull is hanging out with a Chaingunner.  What??  Oh, and there's a few Arch-Viles on the way back t bring everyone back to life.  Sure..  The exit has a few enemies, but once you're there it's naturally done!  Great!

 

The danger here is from the hitscanners, especially Chaingunners, but there's also a couple of other small ambushes on the way (as well as some very scary crushers.)  There's quite a bit of action along the way, and certainly attention is needed (it'd not be hard to have an accident, or to get scammed), but the first real scare comes when grabbing the RK from the middle of the room in which Arch-Viles then appear to surround you from behind opening walls and teleport quickly away to different parts of the base.  On my first UV run i died, but can't remember right now on what, on the way back, but using a combination of rockets and the Plasma Rifle it usually results in victory (did not die on my maiden HMP run.)

 

The ending, though!  It never occurred to me Mr. Whoosh would do such a thing, breaking the sanctity of the holy blue exit pad.  It got me - didn't die, but that's not always the point.  And for what?  An Arachnotron and a garden variety switch.  The area is pretty enough, but... not even an exit pad.  :D  There's also a secret Megasphere somewhere.  Anyway, it's a very good map - not my favourite, but having played it four times it's never dull, and obviously doesn't take itself too seriously (though you'd not know it from couple of the ambush-traps.)  Never having played it's inspiration, i don't know what references, if any, the map has to Romero's Tech Gone Bad.

Edited November 23, 2023 by espilka

[UUN4]

Finally caught up to today's map.

 

MAP19: The Big Sad

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | No saves
K: 101% | I: 100% | S: 100%
Sign of Evil definitely fits the map title. On top of that, the initial ambiguity on where to go definitely had me on edge, going back and forth between nearly dying and perfectly fine; it didn't help that I was within the sight lines of several faraway monsters at once. While not even the SSG was able to quell my worries due to me using a lot of shell ammo, the rocket launcher helped me deal with the onlooking monsters and put me at ease. I didn't get the secret supercharge, cell ammo, and BFG until after most of the monsters were dead, and I feel like they would've gotten rid of my dread while traversing the level.

 

MAP20: C Plus

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | Saves not needed
K: 96% | I: 86% | S: 33%
Well we start off staring down a Cyberdemon; luckily, he's confined to his small space so he can't chase you, but he can still take potshots if you're not careful. Other than that, it was pretty straightforward where to go despite you going every which way around the map. After killing the cyberdemon with a load of cells, being able to finally press the high-up switch teased at the start of the map was satisfying. The level opening up to a hellscape with two spider masterminds after pressing said switch was also pretty satisfying, but the ensuing fight was made a tad anticlimactic with the necessary blursphere (necessary because I imagine you'd get quickly gunned down otherwise). Also, something is tormenting the protagonist going by the text intermission.

 

MAP21: Brisk

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | Saves not needed
K: 106% | I: 64% | S: 66%
Facing the Spider fits the map title. Giving you two initial paths to take is neat, and I ended up taking the one with the SSG first. After getting past the initial section, you press a series of wall switches to welcome waves of enemies into the level. While I was tight on ammo for a good part of the map, the level kept me afloat enough; I was even given a megaarmor and supercharge for my trouble. Pressing one of the wall switches caused (what I correctly assumed to be) revenants to teleport in, which made me go look for them and caused me to go to the now raised start of the level, which was neat; the final wall switch pitting you against an archvile and fodder in a seemingly small room is also a nice touch (although it never hit me that I could just try running out of the room to maybe make the level easier, but that might've let the archvile pull some shenanigans).

 

MAP22: Embedded

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | No saves
K: 103% | I: 84% | S: 50%
The hot start against a chaingunner and a horde of cacodemons put me on my toes and also sets the tone for the map; I definitely had a fair share of deaths here. I needed to use the rocket launcher in close quarters to quickly get rid of mid-tier enemies like mancubi and hell knights (particularly at the start); I also had to use the rocket launcher to funnel and kill the starting caco horde. I found the hallway to the blue key particularly tight on ammo and difficult to trudge through, even with the secret megaarmor. The rest of the map wasn't as difficult, but still a challenge. Shooting enemies on the rocky terrain was neat (the plasma gun especially helps), although the textures made it a tad difficult to distinguish where the enemies are; I also initially confused the two separate outdoor areas as one singular area. The other two notable fights were the hoisted archivile surrounded by imps (which I tried to rocket down but just ended up using some plasma instead) and the final fight versus arachnotrons and a crowd of chaingunners made slightly easier with the blursphere. The map was probably a bit of a wake-up call for me.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by UUN4

[brick]

MAP22 - “Embedded”
Another hot start, this time with a squad of cacos flying into view. There's a nice contrast in map architecture between the base corridors in the centre, the rocky rugged landscape outside, and the reddish caverns in the SE. The various bits are well interconnected and going all the way around the rocks to finally reach the yellow key is satisfying. I was not surprised when picking it up triggered a teleport ambush, but it still gave rise to some frantic moments, especially since that PE can do serious damage if not dealt with quickly. Getting the chaingunners and arachnotrons to infight at the end while dodging their fire with the blur sphere was another fun moment.

 

MAP23 - “Tech Gone Naughty”
I chuckled at the reference in the title. Then the map did get naughty when it unceremoniously tried to crush me when I blindly went for the BFG (my fault for not watching out for traps!). The map itself is one mostly-straight and not-too-long string that we cross all the way from one end to the other for the red key. The multi-archvile trigger when we pick it up is a nasty surprise, as each teleports to a different section of the string and they basically start reviving everyone, while I run back in sheer panic trying to get them before they cause too much damage. Having made it all the way back I go through the red door and one final archvile, which is so easy to dispatch with the BFG compared to how much the previous ones can cause trouble. Loved the map.

[cannonball]

MAP08 - “Bliss”

A fairly inoffensive map to play that is easy on the eyes. The layout could have been a bit more conductive rather than having the perimeter and a lack of getting across each side aside from that one corridor through the middle. In the end this one is pretty middle of the road, lifted somewhat by the nice visuals.

 

MAP09 - “Pinnacle Olive”

I’m not sure whether I am blind or not, but I didn’t find a rocket launcher to go with the 30+ rockets I picked up during the map. Some of the encounter designs are pretty poor, the red key being the shining example given you can leave freely and not bother with the cacos/lost souls. The switch that unlocks the blue key is okay I guess.

 

MAP10 - “Ed”

A mixed bag of a map, the start made me smile, even more so when grabbing the BFG secret. The rest of the map however has some questionable decisions, not least the use of a sky texture as a wall. Overall the map never exceeds the fun seen at the start, despite loading you with ample supplies and a gotcha megasphere.

 

MAP11 - “Team Rocket”

This felt a little too much like a re-hash of map06 in terms of the cyberdemon boss map. Though I will admit this was a little more fun to play, on the other hand this also felt a little more flawed in its design. Not too bad.

[espilka]

MAP24 Epping - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous)

 

Epping Forest, where the Tudors went a-hunting... is that Henry VIII guarding the exit or just a resemblance?  Also worthy of question is whose grave is that, and who is rising up from there?  Does our friend have something to do with it?  Seems plenty of murders have taken place here, even since the Tudors!  We however are more interested in being able now to Doom there.  Anyways... this is in essence a very classical map but in fact i don't find any direct equivalence to its aesthetics or amalgamation of structures with the natural environs.

 

Actually i think in some ways the map is quite Plutonian in design - the compact nature, structure and canyon somehow invoking the Well of Souls.  The combat is entirely incidental ie. classic, and there's one official secret which took me too long (on my blind HMP run) to find, though i think the trigger is cleverly hidden in plain sight.  The grave is a very cool unofficial secret, and it made me happy to have decided to uncover the one last enemy :D  Took me a few minutes, but it's one of the nicest moments in the whole set - to be reunited with our friend, death.  Yeah, one of my Top-3.

Edited November 23, 2023 by espilka

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP23 thoughts, comments and spoilers below:

 

Spoiler

Yeah! I’m chuffed with this one. One of the few maps that I nailed both the aesthetics and gameplay. 
 

Heavily inspired by TNT MAP09 with added Archie action to spice things up! There is something very satisfying about mowing down hitscanners in a hectic tech base with ‘Sadistic’ ringing in your ears. 
 

I just had to get in a fake exit at some point and for that, I refuse to apologise ;-) 

 

[UUN4]

MAP23: Tech Gone Naughty

UV | Pistol start | No saves

K: 137% | I: 100% | S: 100%

This map is pretty straightforward if a bit challenging; go down the straight techbase pathway and kill enemies on the way. The very first ambush is a bit scary having only a pistol and a backpack to deal with an oncoming chaingunner and some zombiemen, but scooting past them for the chainsaw helps a little bit before the chaingun and later SSG take the reins; combat was pretty fun if a bit standard, but it was definitely propped up by the TNT music. At the end of the hallway is the red key surrounded by four arch-viles that teleport back into the level to revive all the monsters you killed, and this definitely put me on my toes a little bit, but nothing too crazy. The most memorable part of the level is - as mentioned by other people - the fake exit, and unlike previous fake exits where it's always an exit sign with some different teleport pad that eventually led into the sacred blue teleporter as the actual exit, the blue teleporter itself is the fake exit that triggers an arch-vile ambush before you make your way to the actual exit switch guarded by an arachnotron.

[_goofyguy]

MAP17 - Map UAC

I really like the layout of this map. Something about the confusing paths and ability to clear out enemies you can't even access, and strafejumping to get to the blue keycard only to be jumped by an archvile at the end makes me really enjoy this map. One of my new favourites.

MAP18 - Creep

Forget what I said, THIS is one of my new favourites.

This map goes for a very spooky dark atmosphere. It's hard to see anything, though i saw the messages written in blood very clearly. I'll admit it i got a little stuck near the start where you have to shoot the button to progress, it took a little while to find that out. The level is fun as hell. A hidden spider at the end of a long dark tunnel, desperately trying to find shadow pinkies, its all fun and games up to the final battle with a cyberdemon.

MAP19 - The Big Sad

Not much to say here. Lotsa monsters, some sniper mancubi. Decent, but not one of my favourites.

MAP20 - C Plus

cyberdemon jumpscare

I love this really confusing layout. Half the time I didn't know where I was going at all, but I had a damn fun time. Nice visuals, nice final battle(s), yet another one of my new favourites.

MAP21 - Brisk

I think we're on a good level streak here, this one is also fantastic. You face waves of mobs by pressing the scary skull walls that reveal themselves to you with each new phase. Uses the soundtrack from the original final level of DOOM too, awesome.

MAP22 - Embedded
Maybe the title is because there's some infectious stuff embedded into some lab? 
Either way, there's a media res start thanks to a cacophany of cacodemons flying in to take you down. The rest of the level does seem to focus on teleporter ambushes and monsters invading sections you thought you had previously cleared.

[Celestin]

MAP24: Epping

 

I appreciate the interconnected nature of the map, though the overall progression is linear. It's more a matter of picking up your own way to approach the map, giving the player more opportunities to experiment. A high number of chaingunners is what you'll need to look out for the most, because the cyberdemon is as useless as always, it's easy to just spray plasma until he's dead. One fight nearly killed me, I'm talking about a lock-in trap with revenants and chaingunners. There's very little space to move around and I was down to 3%, before somehow making out alive. The lonely grave with a revenant raising out was a fun gag, I can't deny that.

[UUN4]

MAP24: Epping

UV | Pistol start | No saves

K: 100% | I: 85% | S: 100%

This admittedly wasn't as fun as the previous map, but I still enjoyed it; the SSG and chaingun helped move things along. I naturally stumbled upon the berserk secret which was neat, although the additional backpack ended up being more useful than the aformentioned berserk. For the red key fight, I ended up forgetting about my plasma gun and used my SSG and got through with only a few scratches; I might've just gotten lucky. The biggest fear I had was hearing the cyberdemon cry and seeing him have a large view of the outside area, which always keeps me cautious even though it isn't that scary in retrospect. Telefragging the cyberdemon after the revenant grave was a big "sigh of relief" moment for me though, and it let me go wild with the plasma on the few remaining enemies in the map.

Edited November 24, 2023 by UUN4

[Pechudin]

MAP23: Tech gone naughty (UV, PS, Saveless)

There and back again - a simple premise. Go forward, mow down some hitscanners (the start is aprticularly hairy with the Chaingunners) and activate two switches, which spawns 4 Archviles. This sounds scary but there is a looooooooooooooong way to the start, and you get the BFG. It's okay.

 

MAP24: Epping (UV, PS, Saveless)

The aesthetics are probably the best thus far, and agreeable mix of brick, dirt and green foliage. I liked the "trench run" you can do to evade the Cyberdemon, but I had enough ammo to kill it from distance. The room before the exit with the Chaingunners and the Revenants was probably the best in the map, had to search for the plasma ammo while avoiding getting sandwiched (got lucky with some infighting). Nice.

[Azure_Horror]

Map 01 - Hello

I love how this map puts the chainsaw into the limelight: even with the berserk at hand, the saw is still a more optimal way to dispose off lonely cacodemons, or disarming a single chaingunner.

In general, weapon choice felt very fun: for the most part, it is Tyson + Chaingun. The pump-action shotgun appears late, and the SSG is absent entirely. The enemies are on the smaller side, but there are still some bigger demons here and there. All in all, this leads to a novel combat loop. Add to that whimsy looping layout – and you get a masterpiece of map 01! (in my book, at least)

 

Map 02 - Industry

Start leaves a lasting impression, thank to all those shotgunners… And in general, the map packs more punch than map 01. But it is still not a hard map. I really like, how Industry teaches the player to explore:

- there is a lot of space for movement and enemy avoidance.

- But the best gun, the SSG, is placed a bit off the bitten path.

The implied lesson may be read as “don’t fear to explore and avoid less scary monsters, whenever you can! This approach is the best way to get powerful arsenal and conquer all the challenges!” 

 

Map 03 - Foundations

For some reason, this map gave me strong Doom 1 the way ID did vibes. Cool! All in all, this miniature level offers a fine mix of exploration and combat. The big chaingunner+invuln brawl brought to memory that one room from 180 minutes pour vivre map 16! (That said, Ichinichi fight is mostly power-fantasy spectacle. The 180mpv battle is really scary ordeal, however.)

Overall, Foundations was a nice map. Map 02 felt a bit more striking, but map 03 is much more likeable, to me at least.

 

Map 04 - The Archives

On a first glance, this is not a showstopper. Explore, fight, win, enjoy nice textures, don’t worry too much.

However, I really in awe of the overall feel of this map. To me personally, The Archives feel like an adaptation of Going Down Demonology level for Doom 1 IWAD episode 1. I like Doom 1 E1, I like Going Down, and I like wacky mapping ideas, and so I like The Archives too!

 

Map 05 - Metallic

Another map, where the overall artistic scheme really impressed me. This time, the level is built around juxtaposing TNT-Evilution style of metallic levels with red-hot hellish sections. The serrated borders between the different visual themes and the weird progression create a cool feeling of “colliding realities”, IMO. The combat is also quite engaging.

 

Map 06 - The Host

Small and short level, but huge spaces. Despite this, the map did not feel empty at all. This is what strikes me the most about The Host! In addition, the artistic direction gives strong Scythe Episode 3 vibes, while the difficulty is fairly decent for a non-extreme map 06. Another unusual and interesting map.

 

Map 07 - Bay 7

I’ve got a really good chuckle from the whole “How to ignore map 07 gimmick, while technically still using map 07 gimmick” design idea. And I also quite enjoyed both the double archvile and the spider mastermind fights. Nice map.

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP24 thoughts, comments and spoilers below: 

 

Spoiler

I started off mapping the initial opening space and the texturing was geared towards the Tekwall theme - the Zimmer textures came later on as the map expanded. 
 

The Cybie was a deliberate placement that would initially cause alarm but could very much be cheesed. Actually, have you all noticed that pretty much all the Cybies can be cheesed? This comes down to my own gameplay being rather weak, so I’ve had to ensure I can beat the bosses in my own maps. 
 

The map was another inspired by the latter section of Plutonia. 

 

[Pechudin]

16 minutes ago, TheMightyWhoosh said:

This comes down to my own gameplay being rather weak, so I’ve had to ensure I can beat the bosses in my own maps

 

It's important to make maps you enjoy, that is understandable.

[cannonball]

MAP12 - “Eetoem”

The chaingunners near the start are rather obnoxiously placed and getting started and finding decent weapons is by far the trickiest part of the map. It is very rare for a BFG to feel like a rather pointless excursion but here it kind of does because the weapons really isn’t needed, that includes the blue key fight. The map is a little too convoluted in terms of the progression too, relying a little too much on teleporters to aid your progress where a more fluid layout would have been better.

 

MAP13 - “Dirty Laundry”

I have always had a soft spot for sewer maps, though this doesn’t really add much to the formula. There are a couple of tense moments, for example teleporting back to the blue key room on low health and being face with some chaingunners for instance. The sewer corridors add very little to the proceedings other that getting you from point A, to point B, with very little gameplay value.

 

MAP14 - “Around She Goes”

A very short map, and actually the early stages offer a little more than the standard proceedings in terms of having monsters funnel in from multiple directions. The Masterind fight is a bit of a dud though but overall I won’t mark that down too much. Overall a pretty fun map.

 

MAP15 - “Diamond Mines”

This one is pretty good clean fun, you have to search for all of your weapons but the combination of the open layout and reasonable opposition result in a fun experience. The secret exit is obtained by revisiting some of the IWads more infamous monsterless elements (TNT Map29/30 and the E2M3 section). Again a pretty decent map.

 

MAP31 - “Boom!”

I think this is an acceptable level of gimmicky, zany texturing that looks really nice coupled with explosions and gameplay that goes at a decent pace. Good job on this one.

 

MAP32 - “Himitsu”

A little derivative for my liking, the layout at the start isn’t too bad but the SSG is a little too tucked out of the way. I appreciate that a little effort was made to make the doomguy vs cyber look half decent. This is definitely the weaker of the secret maps.

Edited November 24, 2023 by cannonball

[Celestin]

MAP25: Putrid

 

A slime processing plant with tight layout and tight combat. The compact nature of the map does a great job of raising the tension, especially since the one weapon you've got the most ammo for is a rocket launcher. The appearance of a spiderdemon by the blue key took me by surprise, as she has you in her sights as you try to escape (though her AI was on my side). I didn't kill her outright, which might not have been the best idea - once you reach the exit room, a wall lowers to give her a clear shot. Especially deadly when this room also containst chaingunners and an archvile.

 

I like the look of the map, with a heavy use of concrete and black panels, coupled with tech and nukage. Solid map overall.

[espilka]

MAP25 Putrid - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous)

 

Very interesting layout, which after two runs i still haven't managed to wrap my mind around.  It is an xtremely complex techbase with an outside area, and a small tunnel system, with a visual theme reminding me of KINDa's nuclear facility (can't remember the title, but the one with the cool radiation section).  The action throughout is quite tough, but without particular ambushes.  One of my favourite secrets of the whole megawad is here, the Soulsphere at the end of a tunnel of sludge opening which is dickish and clever (even the readily available radsuit is easy to miss!)

 

i never noticed before there's a strong interlap between the styles of Mr. Whoosh and Deadwing, as this is already (i think) the third map the layout of which to my mind could be the latter's.  IIRC, the author has elsewhere stated this was inspired by E2 and though the correspondence seems very abstract, there's definitely nothing else one could point at.  The environmental complexity brings its own flavour to the combat here, and i like this map a lot.  And now there are only very tough maps to go...

Edited November 24, 2023 by espilka

[_goofyguy]

MAP23 - Tech Gone Naughty

Fast pace action in cramped corridors. Hitscanners are way more present here, and once you reach the end, archviles spawn in key areas and revive monsters you had killed, and you have to make your way back to the exit. Terrific concept, well executed. Love it.

MAP24 - Epping 

Weird title.

Lots of graveyard decor here, very nice. There's even a dug grave big enough for the cyberdemon that you can telefrag if you time it right. Pretty decent level, feels similar to Plutonia.