The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 in City Only [vote now]

[Insaneprophet]

Map 06: Somewhere In Time by latenightperson

 

Another solid and fun downtown area that feels a little more run down and slummy despite being the location of a mall with a park across the street. Time has not been nice to this neighborhood and since the demons have taken up residence property values have plummited. This map really reminded me of something but I cant quite put my finger on it, possibly reminicent of some of the mid Doom2 gameplay and layout even though the texturing is different.. I dont know and it doesnt really matter. I ran through on continuous before downloading RC6 finally and pistol starting, it plays out entirely different when your not fully stocked with ammo. For a good portion of the level conservation is key and any infighting you can stir up will make some of the encounters alot more bereable. Secrets are mostly easily found except for the very last one that I really liked having to figure out as its fairly convoluted, and dont ask me about the blue armor, me and it are still butting heads. Anywho, Ive yet to be disappointed by these city maps and I already know Im headed into a good stretch of futuristic stuff, see ya tomorrow. 😝

[Celestin]

MAP06: Somewhere in time by LateNightPerson

 

The second episode is set in a futuristic city, manifesting in more tech textures and night sky. It's much smaller than the previous map and therefore feels more focused - the buildings are located around a single intersection, it's compact enough to not feel overwhelming and large enough to not feel cramped. Unlike the other maps so far, Somewhere in time is linear with its progression. The blue key comes first, accessible from the bar near the start. It opens a number of doors around the place (including a super shotgun secret) and the Egyptian-themed restaurant. Here you can find the yellow key, which in turn opens a BFG secret and the mall with the red key. 

 

Up to this point, the combat was a mix of street cleaning, small ambushes and occasional bigger fights between buildings. In the mall, the map unleashes a cyberdemon-lead assault that can mostly be dealt with infighting. All there's left to do is to eliminate the final obstacle, a group of mid-tiers standing on what I assume to be monorail station. If you have cells to quickly kill the archvile and a pain elemental, it should be fine. I like this one a lot, probably more than any other map outside of the first one, thanks to its concise nature and solid combat.

[Novaseer]

MAP06 "Somewhere in Time" by LateNightPerson (98% K, 84% I, 66% S, 20:43, saves)

 

I think there's a timed secret in here, and I think a few of the teleporters failed, so no max this time around.

 

I'm not a fan of this map. Compared to a lot of E1 and the rest of E2, the visuals seem pretty spartan, there's some very awkward progression choices, some enemies seem to exist just to annoy you (looking at you, corner-camping archvile by the red door and the Hell Revealed ass barons by the SSG) and you need to know where the weapons are to be able to even play the game. (Easy as they may be, why are the SSG and BFG in secret areas?)

 

The entire map is deceptively linear, as no matter what you're going to have to go through the main path in the same order, and all your weapons are going to be along said main path or unlocked by it. The aforementioned timed/locked secret bugs me (and no, I wasn't a fan of when John Romero did it, either.)

 

Also, the MIDI doesn't loop properly.

 

That being said, community project. In a grab-bag of 36 maps you're bound to have one or two that rub you the wrong way.

[cannonball]

MAP06 - "Somewhere in time" by LateNightPerson

 

The combat in this one is a little on the sloppy side, as such you easily get yourself killed in the various archvile and chaingunner teleport ambushes the street, especially if you get caught out in the open. On the flip side the final fight is entirely cheesable thanks to the lifts you can ride down once the ambush is triggered and you can then use the BFG obtained from a side area (Yellow key required). The visuals despite the textscreen are quite similar to the first five maps with brick dominating, however this map is an anomaly for this set, indeed things will change from here on out.

It's not a bad map, but you can easily end up having a bad time if you get unlucky and unfortunately many of the fights don't hit the spot.

[Celestin]

MAP07: Darkweb by cannonball

 

I haven't checked who made this map before playing, but seeing the intermission screen made everything clear. Unlike the previous maps, Darkweb deemphasises the environment and exploration and instead focuses on combat, creating several setpiece fights connected by groups of imps and zombies to kill. The design is more abstract and utilitarian, with silver techbases being the most prominent element. This might be seen as disappointing in a megawad like this, but it does wonders to Darkweb's pacing. 

 

After grabbing a plasma rifle, dispatching the monsters near the start and obtaining an optional super shotgun (guarded by a cramped fight with spectres and revenants), you are prepared for the red key fight, a dark arena with arachnotrons and an archvile. Then comes the red key fight, which throws two archviles in front of you, while a crowd of cacodemons appears behind your back. The standout part is the finale, which unleashes a horde of revenants several pain elementals mixed with them, teleports arachnotrons around the place and unveils a mastermind blocking the exit. It can get crowded, but a plasma rifle managed to clear the place enough to let me run around, steadily taking down the foes. 

 

I think it says a lot about me when my favourite map so far is the most conventional one, but I really enjoyed the brisk pacing and energetic combat.

[Insaneprophet]

Map 07: Darkweb by cannonball

 

A small futuristic setting, this map takes you into a few of the buildings surrounding a central plaza that acts as the arena where the final setpiece takes place. With a very modern design philosophy it sports mostly spicy combat with a couple of lock in fights and traps all in an overall interconnected layout that while fun and interesting feels almost like its over too quickly to leave a lasting impression and really make a name for itself to stand out from the crowd. I loved playing it and have run it maybe 4 or 5 times so I dont really want this to come across as too negative but I do want to say that maps like this dont really feel like they have an identity to me, like with a few texture changes it could be dropped into a ton of other newer mapsets and you wouldnt even notice. It could easilly fit right in as another techbase in btsx or maybe go into any of the episodes of eviternity, or a ton of other modern megawads. Now that IS some high class company so again, Im not saying there is anything bad or wrong here, just that there is something I cant quite describe properly that I wish had been added that would have made me feel more strongly about this one. Still, a great little map and fun as hell play, doing its part to turn this into what may just be my favorite megawad to date. 😝

[Novaseer]

Updated to RC6.

 

MAP07 "Darkweb" by cannonball (100% K/S, 76% I, 12:27)

 

I like this one. It breaks the city level paradigm a little by being a generally linear set of combat setpieces, but unlike MAP06 it makes no attempt to hide it. Also, I enjoy said combat setpieces this time around, no doubt because cannonball is generous with rockets and cells, and doesn't hide vital weapons in easy to miss areas.

 

The blue key fight is my favourite - the lights short out as an archvile and several arachnotrons flood the arena, forcing you to take out the medicine man quick and then carve yourself a route out without being blocked by the chunky spiders. Speaking of spiders, cannonball is certainly no arachnophobe - arachnotrons feature quite prominently, and there's even a spider mastermind in the final fight.

 

Didn't actually need any saves this time around - which isn't to say that it's too easy, just that I played pretty well today.

[cannonball]

MAP07 - "Darkweb" by cannonball

*Authors notes*

Well this was the second of the two maps I made and my main priority was essentially "Map07 - should be quite short and have enough zing to the combat", on one hand I was clearly in isolation on the whole early maps should be fairly short mindset, on the other hand for those playing multiple maps on the bounces then a map that takes 10 minutes to finish is going to be a welcome reprieve, it also allows for the set pieces to be a little sharper because again the map is shorter and thus deaths will be less annoying to take.

So the major reason I wanted to take part in this project was to make maps in a theme that I often ignore like the plague, well except for Switcheroom 2 but there the layouts were already in place so that doesn't count. Honestly in hindsight I don't think I really did my own confidence in making city maps any favours and in this one in particular I struggled to get the map out on time. The only thing which works in my favour is that other aspects of mapping I am much better at, in particular crafting out decent combat and this essentially is what I leaned on heavily here. The plasma gun at the start was very deliberate, again I wanted the map to play swiftly and the SSG essentially was the "Look optional area" line I needed....

Blue key - I don't know why I decided on a lights-out style fight, they aren't the type of fight I tend to do, but actually I think this turned out okay, not only that but just playing now I completely screwed up the fight and triggered the fight by accident and as such had no cells, but managed to distract and essentially kill the archvile by utilising the spiders. I guess this fight has a bit of flexibility in it.

Red Key - Not much to say about this one, archviles are always fun, again there is enough slack to play this however you like, but you do need to put everything down to get the key.

End fight - It took a couple of attempts to place the Mastermind in a position I was happy with, the exit room was on the same level as the fight initially but placing the Mastermind out of punching/snagging reach was definitely the right call, the mastermind was initially on the ground level where the arachnotrons now teleport in, then in the exit building but neither worked. There is plenty of ammo and a megasphere but I actually found this to be the most difficulty fight, so  I guess this in now pitched correctly.

 

As for the name - Well I wanted a sort of city-backstreet kind of locale, so a mix of tech and more grungy textures was the plan, there was also the intent to use spiders in a more numerous amount compared to normal to fit with the name but no 667 tag shenanigans this time. In the end I like how the map plays but I can definitely see the where the complaints come from, luckily I do have a couple of weeks to add stuff to this (Decorations and more city-esque details) and perhaps a couple more optional areas.

[Celestin]

MAP08: Crypto Crash by LVENdead

 

Damn, the pacing here is brutal. The moment you enter the map, you are under attack and running in any direction triggers new monsters. The plasma rifle is in front of you, the SSG in a room to the right, protected by a close-quarters fight with revenants and cacodemons. Now you can tackle the map's main objective: finding the red and yellow keys. The red one isn't that far from the SSG trap, placed on a terrace of some futuristic skyscraper. Picking it up triggers another cramped fight, where imps keep teleporting in. The red key can be accessed through a nightclub, this place gets filled with zombies, only to drop a pair of archviles near the start when you grab the key.

 

Now you can make your way though a silver halls whose purpose I can't guess, dealing with incidental fights here. This builds up to a grand finale - a bridge of zombies with mastermind turrets, followed by a suffocating slaughter around a fountain. Tear through everything with plasma, watch out for a cyberdemon and don't bother with masterminds, you'll telefrag them later. That was a great and tense fight to end a map.

 

The visual aspect is interesting to say the least. Richly detailed, a lot of colourful lights, mostly silver and gray textures. To be fair, you won't be doing the sightseeing much, as the enemies will push you forward. That is, until it's time to find the secret exit. You need the blue key, which is lowered after finding three secret switches. The red and yellow ones are close to the corresponding keys, but the blue switch took me a while. It's close to the secret exit, opened by a faraway shootable button. Anyway, with the blue key you can leave the aesthetics you're familiar with and enter a mess of random textures that might be reference to something I don't know about. The actual secret exit, a retextured nightclub is fucking atrocious, hard to look at and why is there some guy's face on the wall? The less time I spent here the better. Aside from this, I like this one a lot, it's near constant and exciting action with some standout moments.

 

MAP32: Obama Hamburger 2 by Ludi and myolden

 

So apparently this is a sequel to MAP08 from Squonker 3, which is funny, because I see no resemblence. The original Obama Hamburger seems to be an old-school slaughter map with unusual, but coherent visuals that just happened to have a word salad name. This, on the other hand, is a shitpost.

 

Now, to be honest, it's hardly the worst-looking map as the text screen might imply. If you change the green sky into something normal and remove the signs and posters (most of which are jokes), the map wouldn't look out of place in Episode 1. Definitely seems more coherent than the assault on your eyes of previous map's secret exit. I'm not a fan of the humour here (a crucified minion? Seriously?), but I'd overlook it if I enjoyed the map. I didn't. The main inspiration behind Obama Hamburger 2 seem to be City in the Clouds from Hell Revealed, meaning all the guns are hidden and fiercely protected and if you're pistol-starting, you'll be running madly with your handgun, triggering more and more monsters and constantly getting fired upon by a pair of masterminds. To make things worse, health and armor is in short supply, this all makes it a pretty unpleasent map to walk in blind.

 

Probably the worst encounter is the rocket launcher trap, which is set in a tight crate yard, where the map spawns in-your-face archvile and pinkies. I strongly recommend getting the BFG early, it's in a FIREBLU maze that turns into a mancubi-filled arena. It's probably the easiest gun to obtain, as you can just circle-strafe around the crowd. The rest isn't that bad, I actually enjoyed the red key rocket spam against a revenant horde that gush out of a costume store (the photos of masks that are used as the textures inside - not so much) or a church fight against zombies and a pair of archvile clerics. Also, the map ends with you interacting with a toilet, so yeah, nothing more to add.

 

I guess it's one of those maps that gets better when replayed, but I don't feel like I want to return here.

[cannonball]

MAP08 - "Crypto Crash" by LVENdead

 

Full of colour and hands you the plasma gun straight away, this map pushes you through it at quite a rate of knots, despite the higher monster count, the map isn't too difficult with the exception of the final room, well the yellow key teleport ambush has a double archvile that can zap you if you cannot find cover but I had found the secret rocket launcher at this point. 

The final room is where most of my deaths came, and is also the only part I have a complaint for, the pain elementals or specifically the lost souls that come from them kept snagging me and resulted in me eating rockets from the cyber, this fight is already quite messy and the fact that those lost souls can can everywhere is a real pain on what is a generally fun and frenetic final fight. 

Overall this one manages to still feel city-like, despite the more colourful tech base appearance and on the whole plays really well. I found two of the secrets required to get the secret exit easily and the one I missed was right near the start, and blue key door. This was probably one of the highlights so far.

 

MAP32 - Obama Hamburger 2" by Ludi, myolden

This map really has an order of operations to it, clearly the weapon of choice is the rocket launcher, but of course the weapon is covered by a troll-tier trap, so go and find the BFG, yes for a large proportion of the map my weapon choices were a pistol, or the BFG :)

The Mastermind placement is evil, if you do what I did and hit the switch to allow access to the red key, then you will have dozens of revenants rushing around the streets causing untold mayhem, fair to say that the majority of this map was not pleasant, however once you have the rocket launcher (One BFG shot should be enough to make this area safe), then strangely enough the map eases off, the red key is just the revenants, the yellow church sequence is fine once the sniping revenants is cleared and the blue key office is a complete non-event to the point where it feels like it was from another map (The room is essentially harmless). The ending, well there isn't much to say is there.

This map clearly wants to be fail-worthy, but perseverance and a little bit of foreknowledge can greatly relieve the stress levels, and despite reaching rage inducing levels of frustration at time, this was more fun to play than the first secret map, it has a strange personality and becomes much more accessible once you know where the chess pieces are. Overall no classic, but no dud either.

[Spectre01]

MAP03 - "Waffle Town" by Amiga Angel, taviow

 

A major step up in size from the first two maps, this is an interesting level with a mix of cool stuff and some really questionable design decisions.

 

The scale is certainly impressive, though it would probably look better with taller buildings like in map02. The ones here are only about four stories tall, which makes the overall size less imposing. I really like the micro-detailing, from the tanks and other vehicles in the streets to the various Doomcute apartments. The computer room with the keyboards lighting up is especially neat. The indoor setpiece fights are also fun, with my favourite being the volleyball stadium with the lowering Imps and Revenants. 

 

I do have some major criticism. The map is way too bright outdoors and it looks like you're playing with permanent Light Amp Goggles. The fullbright looks awful since there is no contrast or any distance-based diminishing lighting. Bright outdoor maps can work, like Valiant's Moon episode which had an outdoor brightness of 240, but that was contrasted by 128 directional shadows. This map being 256 everywhere just makes it look unfinished. I suggest changing it to 192 or lower and with more sector variation, i.e. darker under the trees.

 

There are also some unusually bland looking buildings and monotextured outdoor areas that look unfinished. I realize that the linedef count is already straining performance but several areas could use more attention. This nukage on the border also doesn't look quite right.

 

MAP31 - "Traces to Nowhere" by Captain Murphy

 

An obvious remake of Suburbs that's even more basic in the visual department and feels smaller in scale. Rather than having one massive (by '94 standards) fight after grabbing the key, this map spreads out the teleport traps and ends up being less memorable. It's alright as an homage in the secret slot.

Edited April 8, 2024 by Spectre01

[Novaseer]

MAP08 "Crypto Crash" by LVENdead (100% K/S, 65% I, 24:07, saves)

 

Man, was I looking forward to this one.

 

The best looking map of the set yet, with fast-paced combat to match. Any map that hands me a plasma gun right off the buzzer has a friend in me, and Crypto Crash is no exception.

 

You can tackle the red and yellow keys in any order, but you need both to initiate the final fight. I tend to go for red first, purely because I route towards the SSG first and when in Rome, might as well. Said red key is guarded by a surprisingly deadly trap where a mancubi and several dozen imps spill into a small circular arena - I tackled this one by using my secret rocket launcher to carve a path, then SSG circle-strafing the rest.

 

The yellow key's not as lethal - a club floor that fills with teleporting hitscanners - but it's made up for by the nearby non-secret rocket launcher fight, where a series of catwalks gradually floods with pinkies, hell knights and cacodemons. I'm surprised I took as little damage as I did in 

 

The final fight, though? Whoo, boy. Six Spider Masterminds act as turrets as you plow a load of rockets through a bridge of zombiemen (which reminded me of Eviternity II MAP32 the first time I played the map), before you run into a particularly hectic arena with barons, cacos, pain elementals, revenants, and a cyberdemon - the latter of which you should never lose track of, or else.

 

After pressing four switches in sequence, you telefrag all six SMMs and are free to leave. As for the secret exit, you'll need to find the three other secrets, press the switches within them, grab the blue skull key and go into an absolutely fucked up version of the club floor in the yellow key route.

 

Also, LVENdead's bespoke MIDI fuckin' slaps.

 

MAP32 "Obama Hamburger 2" by Ludi and myolden (100% K/S, 83% I, 18:14, A LOT of saves)

 

I will preface this by saying that I know absolute fuck-all about Cruelty Squad, so I'm not 'in' on whatever joke is being told here.

 

If the joke was the obtuse lines, then fair enough. If the joke was the JPEGged-to-fuck textures that make it look like my dsda-doom has GZDoom texture filtering on, placed in the weirdest ways imaginable, then fair enough. But if the joke was the deliberately dickish monster placement and resource starvation then I ain't laughin'.

 

I can safely say today is the first time I've killed a Mancubus with a pistol. Spider Masterminds in obtuse turret positions where the only viable way to kill them is to peekaboo with the SSG for a minute straight, even the basic shotgun being hidden right at the back of the map like a sacred relic, that one church fight based around pews that the Archviles can see over but you can't...

 

All being said, this map actively doesn't want me to play it again, so I will gladly oblige.

Edited April 8, 2024 by Novaseer

[Insaneprophet]

Map 08: Crypto Crash by lvndead

 

TRON the Movie the Doom Game.. or.. Laser Disco Roller Derby. This science fiction setting has us exploring the catwalks and skyways between rooftop and pentouse locations. Sightseeing isnt really an option though because the congesting mobs of demons are decidedly unfriendly to tourists and make traveling a nightmare. There is alot to like about this level and having played every map by LVNDead Ive ever been able to find I may not hesitate in saying it just might be his best yet. There is almost no breathing room with steady streams of enemies thrown at you, wether preplaced as turrets and pedestrians or spilling out of traps between every larger fight. The arenas are equally visually active as they are physically combative with the finale attempting to take your breath away both figuratively and literally. I was really feeling this one, but, I can agree with others that either Im missing out on something about the secret exit or it really is just lazy, ugly looking and confusing. I rather liked all the work put into finding it and couldnt have asked for better secrets but...  Oh well though, something as insignificant as that isnt gunna be able to take anything away from the rest of this A+ level. 😝

 

Edit- I forgot to mention 2 things, there was one giant hom or missing texture in the secret exit, in the outside eating terrace that has teleporters for a floor, and what is up with finishing the map 100% kills and secrets but missing 69 items? 138/207?

Edited April 9, 2024 by Insaneprophet

[cannonball]

MAP09 - "A City Now" by realjohnmadden

 

I am really not sure of how to feel about this one, the map is often empty and devoid of anything interesting at times. Sometimes very bare but sometimes you have random doomcute, random scrolling conveyors, random crushers, half of the monsters you will only find in a specific secret where their only purpose is to be crushed for your own amusement, the visual theme is futuristic tech except for when it isn't (The one random cavern area), there is only one fight of note and that is the red key, the rest are extremely easy or make no real sense (The three key switch unleashes a mob of flyers into a huge area that are a real pain to deal with, as such I decided to duck into one of the buildings and hoped they clumped together when I returned).

In short this is clearly the work of someone who is early on their mapping journey and giving advice on improving this map could take a while so I happy to accept that this is a bit of an oddball, a curiosity that isn't overly offensive to the eyes or offers anything too annoying to the player, the red key fight is kind of fun, though I had to lean on the berserk a bit to conserve ammo through here (Not an issue with a lot of zombiemen/imps/pinkies that line themselves up nicely.

Edited April 9, 2024 by cannonball

[Insaneprophet]

Map 32: Obama Hamburger 2 by ludi & myolden

 

I also beat my head against this one quite a bit and was not enjoying myself so with the power of modern technology and an aim to have fun, I loaded up a save file to play through continuously, fully stocked from the last lvl. I have beat it both ways now, pistol start and continuous, and can difinatively say that I dont like it one bit, in any way from pistol, but find myself actually having a good time with weapons. Personally I dont dig on joke maps and prefer a more immersive serious tone so all of the coustom textures dont do a thing for me and they take points away from the map but putting all of that aside, the layout and killing are all quite well done and would make a good standard level if everything else was changed completely. Its obvious why its a secret but I would suggest anyone not wanting to bounce off of this one to not stick to the 100% pistol start mindset that we all kinda have taken to. Besides all that, after ignoring everything but what I have an eye for, I still found a good city map in there for me to like. 😝

[Celestin]

MAP09: A City Now by realjohnmadden

 

Changed the wad to RC6 from this point onward.

 

I like the general idea behind this map, the use of skybox as a floor makes it looks like the city was built on an asteroid. However, A City Now feels very rough. There's a lot of space, but monster population is on a lower scale (don't look at the kill count, it's very misleading - the half of 390 monsters are revenants that only exists to be crushed for a gag). I was expecting a massive fight by the end, but no - a handful of cacodemons, some revenants and that's it. The most combat-heavy part is the red key section, especially a bunch of mid-tier demons by the end.

 

I didn't enjoyed A City Now that much, it's very gray, looks basic and feels sluggish to play.
 

[Novaseer]

MAP09 "A City Now?" by realjohnmadden (100% K, 90% I, 83% S, 30:25)

The fact that a map this sparse can take this long to even attempt to max speaks volumes.

 

I'll try to keep my whining to a dull roar as it's obvious this is newbie work, but... this map is not good. Enemies are sparse and often pointless - a revenant and cyberdemon in the RK area are paralysed, the 200 revenant crusher secret isn't particularly amusing (and I say this as the first mapper in the team to implement the joke), and the ending sequence is 10 arbitrary switches longer than it actually needs to be.

 

Visuals are... well, 90s. Big, blocky buildings drawn along the grid, a lot of fairly monotonous texturing, and with the level of sector detail I wouldn't be surprised if it could run in vanilla if you stripped the silent teleporters and conveyors.

 

Speaking of silent teleporters, realjohnmadden loves those bloody things. I almost have to ask if they just don't want to operate in the Doom engine - the incessant room-over-room combined with the Duke 3D music makes me think they prefer Build.

 

Not even iddt helped me find how to get on that conveyor secret, so I'm guessing you either need clairvoyance or it's entirely unattainable.

 

The one thing A City Now? has going for it is it's a fairly light undertaking sandwiched between two intense and fairly lengthy slaughter-lite undertakings - and even then, CBM City did it better.

 

P.S. Speaking of CBM City, the title's rubbing me the wrong way again. What do you mean "a city now"? We've had nothing but cities for 11 maps! That's the entire point of the WAD!

[Insaneprophet]

Map 09: A City Now by realjohnmadden

 

I will be the outlier here and cut this map a bit more slack. It is a bit messy but I wouldnt go so far as to call it sloppy as I can tell that a lot of work went into its creation and I can appreciate that. I agree that it feels a bit 90s but I can get down with that, I am from then, and I feel that in a megawad such as this there is room for as many differing styles as we can get. I also give this map points for creating what to me was a forboding atmosphere with its sparce population and odd transitions and themes. On the flip side of the coin though I will be the one to note, in case the author wants to make some fixes before the next RC, that texture missallignments are all about. Some of the more noticable ones are in the underground area, the building with the giant baron throne, where the back room connects to the rest of the area the walls are mismatched all over the place. The back of said throne is off as well, oh and the blue key closet is whack. I would imagine that the stuck cyber and revenant may be on purpose but the room with 2 revenants running around firing at you up on blocks with their heads INSIDE the ceiling really should be adjusted. In the end, I didnt love this level but I did not hate it either. With a few minor fixes I could be perfectly content, I already have played this one like 5 or 6 times and still have a warm heart. 😝

Edited April 9, 2024 by Insaneprophet

[cannonball]

MAP10 - "Upon the Brink of Trancendence" by muumi

 

You could say "It's a Muumi map" and that would be sufficient to tell you exactly what is going to occur here...

Never have such contrasting colours looked so good together, a generally blue thematic is interrupted with red and gold in  way very few have handled before, it is truly a sight to behold, the vast expanse of cold brick and tech, this is by far the most striking and most beautiful map encountered so far. The combat is solid, most of the traps are more cinematic than hard, but will keep the player engaged from start to finish. The yellow key will take the longest to find, but once the first key is obtained, the the rest of the progression flows very well. The moment when you can reach the exit area is a real moment when you know that you are going into the central portion of the map and that things are going to go down big time. The final fight isn't hard and arguably the BFG makes it an easy victory if you can get to the archviles before they cause a nuisance. The map is arguably over-stocked, I found zero secrets but left with almost full ammo for everything and 200% health/armour. 

That said this is a special moment in the wad and for me the first big highlight of the set, but as the first line says, it isn't a surprise given the author.

[Insaneprophet]

Map 10: Upon The Brink Of Trancendance by muumi

 

This is an absolute masterpiece! Goes directly in my list of all time favorite maps! The blue and gold color scheme is beautiful, the layout is amazing and well thought out, utilizing verticallity, non linearity and foreshadowing, the combat is energetic while leaving equal opportunity for both constant pressure for aggresive play or down time for exploration and the secrets are plentiful, non intuative yet straight forward. Any map that contains this much adventure and can combine polar opposite ideals in every mechanic will at no time become boring or monotonous. In fact I really cant wait to play this one again... I look forward to when I have played this one hundred times. 😝

[Celestin]

MAP10: Upon the Brink of Trancendence by muumi

 

Exactly a year ago I first experienced muumi's maps through their submission to PUSS IX and has since become one of the mappers whose works I look out for. 

 

I feel like muumi stretched the definition of a city here, as Upon the Brink of Trancendence is an abstract, alien place of a huge scale, plastered in blue and orange. Yes, it's mostly a voidscape map, but I can't dislike a level looking this good. Besides, the design philosophy that myolden is pushing the contributors towards is still here - a lot of ground to cover with monsters waiting behind every corner and optional fights that seem to give a copy of a plasma rifle. 

 

The map starts slow, supplying small groups of monsters to kill as you look for guns. The balance of incidental and arena combat works great here, giving you time to catch a breath between bigger fights. That being said, I was lucky with secrets here, as I've found a BFG quite early on and it carried me through the map. Cells are in a large supplies and muumi likes to surprise you with archviles or stage some cramped fights (like the room with monsters coming out of the walls). MAP10 concludes with a battle in a circular arena below a flying saucer, where monsters teleport in - if you make laps around the place, hunt archvile and make the monsters infight, you should make it without issues and leave the map onboard a flying sauces. A lot like in PUSS IX, come to think about it.

 

It's a lenghty map, but it never felt like it padded its runtime, it doesn't look much like a city, but the striking visuals make it stand apart from the rest of the wad. I greatly enjoyed this one, it's beautiful level with entertaining action and it's what I'm looking in Doom.

[Novaseer]

MAP10 "Upon the Brink of Transcendence" by muumi (100% K/S, 89% I, 45:53, saves)

 

For the record, this map is shorter than The Nuclear Power Plant, I'm just an idiot and couldn't find the secrets.

 

God damn, is this a good one. Visuals are top-notch (though @Celestin does raise a good point about it not much resembling a typical city), and it has the combat to match - even if once you have the secret BFG the fights lose quite a bit of their bite due to the abundance of cells.

 

muumi loves their Arch-Viles, though, that much is apparent. And whilst the map is indeed very long, there generally isn't any overlong cleanup that pads the runtime (well, I spent like 5 minutes SSGing Lost Souls in the YK arena but I'm going to chalk that up to being my own damn fault), and there's enough challenge to be stimulating without being overwhelming (even though I'm going to chalk my deaths up to my unfamiliar hotel setup because I don't want to acknowledge my skill issue)

 

Personally, I think Crypto Crash scratches my Doom funnybone more in the 'best map of the episode' department, but Upon the Brink of Transcendence is no doubt a highlight of the megaWAD and muumi absolutely has every right to be proud of their work.

 

P.S. Really? AD_79 of all people made a MIDI that has a loop error? Or is dsda-doom acting up somehow?

[cannonball]

MAP11 - "Sons of Belial" by myolden

 

The opening map to the ancient city episode is a short and moderately difficult map, full of little ambushes and a three key hunt that allows the player to run around swiftly. All of the weapons are covered by traps, so obviously getting armed is probably going to be one of the hardest parts of this map. The end fight is a little bit awkward because you probably want the cyber to be alive to distract other high priority enemies here (notably the archvile). 

This is a good map, a welcome short map after the large and stunning Future city closer. Also it appears that virtually every fight in this map comes with a side of meatballs.... Or meat shields in a few of them.

Edited April 11, 2024 by cannonball

[Insaneprophet]

Map 11: Sons Of Belial by myolden

 

Just myolden doin what myolden does. The episode opens in a small necropolis housing temples of the damned and tombs of the dead, fight your way out and try not to join them. This is a Nostalgia sized Egypt map with everything you would expect from its author. The pyramids, layout and texture work make it feel like a real place and the combat is tight and trap heavy. My only gripe is that I wish it were larger, I could happily spend half a day exploring a world like this. 😝

[Celestin]

MAP11: Sons of Belial by myolden

 

The third chapter, "Egyptian City", opens with a compact map that has probably more bite than anything in the previous two episodes. Sons of Belial is a small hub by a pyramid with two objectives: finding three keys that unlock the exit and obtaining a plasma rifle which can be used to eliminate the cyberdemon blocking your way out. The keys can be picked up in any order you want, each has a super shotgun nearby and is guarded by a rather cramped ambush. The plasma rifle fight is especially nasty, an L-shaped pit that teleports hitscanners on one side while unleashing a pain elemental and a revenant on the other. Mind you, you only get the gun after surviving several seconds in this mess.

 

The ending is the aforementioned cyberdemon and a mix of mid-tier monsters as a final obstacle. Being an Epic 2 fan, Egyptian levels are something I'm interested in here and this is an intriguing start to a chapter - a distinct visuals and concise size make it a winner for me.

[Novaseer]

MAP11 "Sons of Belial" by myolden (100% K/I/S, 9:39, saves)

 

A pretty standard opening level, all things considered. Short by D2ICO standards, there's a few buildings that have keys and SSGs that you can tackle in any order, with one of those exit blocking cyberdemons that I complained about in Nostalgia waiting at the end once you have all three - though as a one-off it feels far less egregious. Combat can be pretty tricky, but I managed to stir up a surprising amount of infights to keep the demons off of myself.

 

Overall, Sons of Belial is rather inoffensive. It fulfils its map slot competently, has serviceable gameplay, and I feel sets a better tone for the episode than MAP06 did - which is unsurprising, considering myolden was the one to pick the themes in the first place.

 

I do have one criticism, though, and it's that the MIDI absolutely does not fit the level. I brought this up during testing and I'll say it again. The current piece, whilst perfectly fine in its own right, just feels off in an Egyptian city - I think it's the synths that are making it scream techbase or Episode 1 to me.

 

I've half a mind to see if I could make my own substitute - if myolden's OK with it, that is.

[cannonball]

MAP12 - "Princes of Wadi" by Sikreci

 

A slower paced map on the whole and the first I believe in the whole set that do not even have the rocket launcher and plasma gun in open play (The rocket launcher is in a secret). As such the SSG is your workhorse here, luckily on the whole the opposition will not be too grindy, that said the blue key trap will absolutely zing you, especially if you go for the SSG before triggering this because an archvile (From the three in the SSG room) will teleport into one of the closets and make this trap significantly harder, I believe similar happens with the yellow key room too. This creates a rather interesting little map, plenty of optional key switches to find for extra routing idea and supplies. It adds a layer of mysteriousness to the locale that I actually quite like.

Overall, a slow burner but a fitting one for the episode, the combat is obviously not the highlight but actually this wouldn't have been pitched too badly if it wasn't for other maps offering significantly harder maps than you would expect in E1 and E2. Overall this is a solid map.

[Insaneprophet]

Map 12: Princes Of Wadi by sikreci

 

We find ourselves in a small village outside of the necropolis from the last map, possibly the home to the builders of the tombs and pyramids. The architects and masons were a devious people though as their town is a puzzling labyrinth reminiscent of something from Eternal Doom in progression if not smaller in scale and certianly, probably even more so, fondly reminds one of a map from either Epic wads. Difficulty is not high but the combat will keep you engaged throughout and every new switch, path or secret feels rewarding, creating a constant interest to see what comes next. In all, a really well crafted prequal to what does come next. 😝

[Celestin]

MAP12: Princes of Wadi by Sikreci

 

I guess the titular princes are the tree archviles that scatter throughtout the map once you get close to the switch that unlocks the exit. 

 

As for the map, Princes of Wadi is a tightly-wound, intersecting level that unlocks additional paths the more keys you've collected - the non-linear nature of the map is a major selling point here. The encounter are on a cramped side and I didn't get the rocket launcher until the very end, so trying to attack archviles that are mixed into crowds of pinkies was somewhat of a challenge. By contrast, when the exit opened, I could just fire rockets into a crowd on the other end of a corridor. I think it's a fine way to release the tension of fighting in narrow streets and small arenas. 

 

Once again, I like the compact nature of the map and the routing freedom it provides. Another good map in the wad.

[Celestin]

MAP13: City of the Dying Sun by Death Bear

 

Get ready for another hour-long adventure. City of the Dying Sun isn't the largest map by the virtue of its monster count, but there's a lot of ground to cover and the fights can get quite deadly. Even the opening can kill you quickly, with a three-way squeeze of revenants, shotgunners and imps, while you only have a shotgun. However, if you commit to exploring the map, you can circle around the place, find a rocket launcher and attack the welcoming commitee from behind. With this done, you have a huge map to explore to find three keys that create a bridge to the exit.

 

The three main fights around the keys are impressive and challenging arenas. Maybe except for the red key, that one finishes by itself if you manage to get everything to infight. The yellow one starts with a satisfying rocket barrage against pinkies, only to lock you in a room with a flock of cacodemons that make it hard to even move around. If you manage to survive long enough, you can run away, but beware of a pair of archviles and cyberdemons. The blue key is the most spectacular one, once again you spend a while stacking corpses on your way to the temple that holds the key, only to spawn a number of archviles and other monsters. Good thing this place gives you a BFG, otherwise it would have been the toughest fight of the wad yet. All those fights are nicely connected by smaller encounters - mostly corridor shooting and spamming rockets, which provide enough entertainment between the setpiece fights. The final obstacle is a single cyberdemon on a bridge, but at this point he's hardly a threat.

 

As for the secret exit, I've found it quite early while exploring the perimeter of the map, but I think it's only available when you get all keys. Combat-wise, there's nothing special here and I think Bear lets you chill a bit after the regular part of the map. You might have noticed a flying saucer above the map - that's the secret exit. Egypt and aliens is a mix that brings Epic 2 to mind, but also PUSS IX to some extend and I don't mind that.

 

Also, I think I finally get the reason behind my general dislike for city maps. They are flat. It's hard to make a convincing street when your engine doesn't support slopes and even though there are ways to make the map more appealing, it doesn't change the fact that large city levels will look like there's a floor of a single height and everything grows out of it. This is why I appreciate maps such as City of the Dying Sun, as the cliffs, plateaus and corridors add a lot of height variation. It's an obvious high point of D2ICO and the best map of the Egyptian episode yet.

 

MAP33: Wanted in 12 Systems by Death Bear

 

Death Bear follows his Egyptian epic with a short extraterrestial techbase. It feels like a homage to PUSS IX, with bright colours paired to silver walls and the shooting stars skybox that I loved when playing through Mapping at Warpspeed a year ago. The map itself, though, is rather unremarkable. It has a simple, corridor-heavy layout and the cast features mostly imps, zombies and pinkies. 

 

The ending is the only part where I died, as the saucer's launchpad is a stage of a teleport trap by an archvile-lead group of monsters, with two more viles appearing by the end. The only cover is on the edges of the place, so avoiding the archviles' attacks was very hard. After several deaths I just cheesed it, running back to the base and waiting for the monsters to follow me.

 

Compared to the other secret levels, this is the best one yet, but feels underwhelming. I guess MAP13 was where the energy went.