The DWmegawad Club plays: Operation: BIOWAR & Equinox

[E.M.]

MAP07: Apparatus

DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start

 

Visually, this map is hideous, but the gameplay is quite fun. I enjoyed the beginning where you gun down hitscanners, head down into a dungeon area, and blast specters with the SSG. I did not like the overabundance of pain elementals, though. To make things less painful (heh) for myself, I make them all infight with the spidermom. Luckily, the level gives you a BFG, which makes the later fights much easier. The revenant gang can be quite difficult without it. I make sure to save two BFG shots for the barons at the exit. This map is short and thrilling, and I enjoyed it despite its flaws. It also features one of my favorite songs from Memento Mori, so that's a plus.

[Devalaous]

I was distracted by certain addicting games with no respect for player time, so I forgot to post about the other two levels I previously completed. I was so distracted I didn't even get much of my hand therapy done >_>

 

Map 5 was the first proper-length level and I was taken by surprise by it, I got complaints about the loud soundtrack and shooting because I was just doing a quick level before bed, only for it to be a long level. I enjoyed the more-normal length of the level, albeit playing with stress as a certain someone in my house goes apeshit berserk if noise carries on too long.

 

Map 6 confused me, the 'ambient sound' hacks just don't do it for me, I just hear random deathscreams and crunchy low quality explosions. if they coincided with sector magic where its clear ive blown things up, sure, but when walking into rooms, its just 'what'. The progression on this was a bit confusing from what I remember

 

Map 7 I completed just now, so its actually fresh in my memory. Rude start with chaingunners shooting me in the back, thaknfully thers a LOT of medikits in the starting room. Expected the usual Map 7 treatment, not a single mancubus or arachnotron to be found. The pain elemental swarm caught me by surprise, had to fight off 25 or so lost souls while hearing a Mastermind wake up and nervously expecting a chaingun in the back again. The BFG placed right in front of it made the one/two hit charge viable, so down it went in seconds. The double archvile caught me off guard, managed to get out of that flawless with an angry baron chasing me. The revenant attack was, as usual, the most lethal thing going on. Two barons at the exit was a joke. Brightmaps really make that nukage texture replacement glow like crazy btw.

[Blast_Brothers]

MAP04: The Arrival

The first secret raises many questions. Does that armor belong to our protagonist? Is this his personal hangar? And if so, what compelled him to install crate lifts in it? Is this the sci-fi equivalent to a gun safe?

 

And why are the lights on the back of his car so bright that they damage you if you stand too close to them? Seems like a road safety violation.

 

Something about labeling live imps "biohazards" feels redundant. Isn't that kind of obvious, based on the fact that they're demons trying to kill you?

 

Anyway, this map feels like the set's combat starts to feel like more than set dressing. Will that trend continue? We'll see!

 

MAP05: Skybase

Maybe it's just me, but this place seems awfully heavy (i.e. full of concrete and stucco) for a supposed skybase. Maybe this blue stuff has antigravity properties. Maybe it's not actually floating and is just on a high mountain. Whatever.

 

The map is good. Nice to finally see a Revenant or two.

 

MAP06: Last Call

 

How many maps in this set are going to be named after beginnings or endings?

 

This one gave me flashbacks to early Going Down maps, with its tight spaces and comic sequence of unfolding switches and passageways. This is one of those where everything you do feels like a secret, which only makes the actual secrets more fun to find. It also provides the best justification yet for the sound replacements - gaggles of imps have never sounded more threatening. This might also be the best-detailed map so far, as well.

 

MAP07: Apparatus

The end of the last map suggested a change of scenery was coming, but I didn't think the biggest change would be in the combat department. Pain Elementals? A swarm of Revenants? Archviles?!?! Finally! This map really makes you appreciate how Doom 2's enemies are much better at providing interesting combat through their presence alone.

 

Also lol spider mastermind

[RHhe82]

MAP07: Apparatus. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 47/47, S: 3/3, I: 2/2. Comp. time 7:06

 

Bonus points for not being a simple Dead Simple! In fact, there are no mancubi or arachnotrons around. The map itself is on the simple side again. Difficulty-wise it's a small bump; I even had to reload a save once when the big spidey wouldn't die of single BFG blast, and I met my fate on 4% health and a face-on with a lost soul that took interest in me.

 

There was also a surprising amount of pain elementals at play, although we are given plenty of supplies, even on pistol start. The encounter with two archviles seemed dangerous, but only because I didn't realize I could hide behind IoS Cube terminal, d'oh.

[Crusader No Regret]

(downloads file)  While doing an unrecorded practice attempt, I died on the first map.  Wasn't kidding about it being scary and dangerous.

 

Biowar map 3

 

  Another quick one to run through.  Chaingun obtained here and there's a secret megaarmor.  Still got to be wary if entering at low health as the health is still limited and there are well placed hitscanners to whittle away your limited durability.  The last room can be a bit dicey with chaingunners (or was it just chaingunner singular) and pretty much nil for cover.  Small bit of good news, ending the map at low health isn't a big deal as the next one starts on top of a berserk.  I save the megaarmor secret until the end to go into the next one with 200 armor.

 

map 4

 

A bit of a breather in ironman context with starting on top of a berserk and a secret SSG to snag.  I still try to be cautious and avoid damage to keep the blue armor intact longer.  Really isn't any reason to stick around to fight cacodemons in the reactor chamber.  Hitting switches there while they're still in the ground can save a few seconds.

[Pseudonaut]

Map07: Apparatus
I'm glad to see tough monsters finally thrown into the mix. You're also handed a BFG and with few shots, enough to kill plenty, but not enough to spam. There are a couple of opportunities to let monsters bunch up for efficient mass murder with just a few shots, which is cool. Unfortunately, the room full of spectres is just awful. Oh well.
 

 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP07: Apparatus

By Chris Harbin

Kills: 100%

Items: 50%

Secrets: 66%
Time: 4:16

 

Despite its meek monster count, Apparatus actually is probably the most thrilling map so far, not that that's a particularly high bar in this wad. I mean, I certainly wasn't expecting a Spider Mastermind boss battle, even if you do get a BFG and a bunch of cells which does somewhat neuter it a little bit. Weirdly, for a symmetrical MAP07 in the 90's, this map has nothing to do with Mancubi or Arachnotrons. I was going to say this map reminded me a bit of Onslaught from Plutonia, it does certainly bring back the Plutonia-ish aesthetic we saw back in MAP03 at large, though really only the first 15 seconds are kind of like Onslaught, the rest of the map just happens to carry the Plutonia look. I was also impressed by the amount of Doom II monsters there are, there's . . . I believe 4 Pain Elementals, then TWO whole Arch-Viles, then another 4 Revenants. That Arch-Vile fight can get a little bit messy because of the flashing lights and if you open the secret that removes two pillars from the fight. Really wish the flashing lights weren't here to be honest. Apparatus isn't the hardest map in the world by any stretch of the definition, but honestly, after 6 maps, I appreciate the gesture. Some might criticise the lack of cute details we saw back in MAP04, but it turns out when it comes down to the wire, I think Chris Harbin is at least slightly better at combat than this wad's opening lets on.

 

Grade: B

Difficulty: C

Edited June 7 by NiGHTS108

[Horus]

23 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

Map 06: Last Call

 

Was also hampered by the stupid blue key, in the compendium it sits atop a pedestal that makes it a real bitch to bump and grab. Unless Im missing something and I dont think I am, the damn key needs to be lower, could only get it with an akward strafe run through the door at the perfectly worst angle and even then only suceeded twice out of the five times I played this map. I call "bad game design" 😝

 

This piqued my curiosity since once I (finally) located where the blue key was, I just bumped straight into it and picked it up instantly without issue. The pillar that the blue key sits on is 56 pixels high, which is the same height as Doomguy. 

 

It seems to be a source port thing because on DSDA you can just grab it without problem, but on GZDoom you can't and need to strafe run into it as you did. I assume you played on GZDoom? Curious though as I wasn't aware GZDoom did anything differently with regards to player height / height at which you can pick up items.

 

MAP07 - “Apparatus” by Chris Harbin

 

The symmetrical opening teases a Dead Simple clone, and yet to its credit that isn’t what transpires. Instead of mancubi, we are rather greeted by a bunch of hitscanners, with automatic weapon switching causing me to make a bit more of a meal out of it than I otherwise would.

 

Now whilst I praised the map for not being a Dead Simple clone, I don’t praise it for the symmetry which is prevalent throughout the map, not just in terms of geometry but also in terms of monster placement, leading to an element of predictability.

 

Later on, we see the mapset’s first boss monster so far, the spider mastermind. This is what I remembered of when I played this map on Ironeagle – rushing it with the BFG and barely living to tell the tale. But I did live then and I did live again now, even if I somehow didn’t manage to kill it with my 2 BFG shots!

 

One other moment that stuck in my mind if the two archviles that pop-up when you grab the yellow key, which are actually quite challenging to deal with due to the lack of easily accessible cover (and the fact that I didn't have any BFG left). EDIT: I didn’t realise you could hide behind the terminal either!

 

Overall, despite the symmetry I still enjoyed the map. I think I was just in an easily pleased mood when I played this one!

Edited June 7 by Horus

[Insaneprophet]

4 minutes ago, Horus said:

 

This piqued my curiosity since once I (finally) located where the blue key was, I just bumped straight into it and picked it up instantly without issue. The pillar that the blue key sits on is 56 pixels high, which is the same height as Doomguy. 

 

It seems to be a source port thing because on DSDA you can just grab it without problem, but on GZDoom you can't and need to strafe run into it as you did. I assume you played on GZDoom? Curious though as I wasn't aware GZDoom did anything differently with regards to player height / height at which you can pick up items.

I am playing not only on lzdoom but also through the "compendium" wad. While it very well may be a source port issue, I kinda figured it was a wad thing. Im fairly certian that alot of things were remade to get everything working in compendium and Im sure small mistakes and differences made it through. The lighting for one seems completely different for me than what everyone else seems to describe... but maybe Im just dumb and its only a setting thing.

The world may never know.

[Insaneprophet]

Map 07: Apparatus

 

This one was definately more interesting on first play than on third or forth play. The opening trap catches you by surprise, the pain elementals (6 of em in compendium) are an unexpected mess, couldnt of seen a spidermama coming even if she is just showing up for show and the viles can quickly turn into a bitch to deal with. By the time youve run this a few times though it really just becomes a basic map with very little that makes it stand out in my eyes. Still, Ive got no complaints, ever level is competant and Ive played much much worse. 😀

[Celestin]

@Insaneprophet did you set the compatibility to vanilla? I remember I've had maps in Compendium breaking completely due to compatibility issues.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 07: Apparatus

by Chris Harbin

Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start

 

Not really certain what's going on here. I rather like to imagine the title is some oblique reference to the German electronic musical act Apparat. But anyway, here's something quite similar in form to a Memento Mori map, all dungeon brick and stone with some outdoor areas in the center and "Hidden Anger" pumping through the speakers in a most satisfying manner. The most notable bit here is naturally the Pain Elemental conflagration spreading out from the Mastermind in the main courtyard when the yellow key is acquired. There's not really tons of spare ammo outside secrets though so be careful where it's used. In addition to a Revenant murder that attacks when the exit's opened, there's also 2 Barons guarding the exit itself. The hardest one so far.

 

 

 

 

[apichatpong]

Biowar Map 07 : Apparatus

UVmax

 

So, this is not dead simple... but it's some anti-version of it. You almost face every kind of monsters from Doom except for mancubus and arachnotron.

Did I die there ? Affirmatif (no comment).

You quickly get this one is tougher than first 6 maps, the big bunch of pain elementals with their buddies chaingunners (faced with 4 rockets, ssg and chaingun not fully loaded) were lethal for me.

After that, apart from a try to hide from archviles behind a not high enough obstacle that ended badly, it's more predictable although ammo-killing.

The challenge was welcomed but felt a bit messy and I have mixed feelings on this map. I have to say that giving you ammo just to let you meet ten spectres...in order to kill your ammo... is not the kind of move I prefer (but it's the game... and also just me not liking harassing bunches of spectres/demons)(to be precise, I might like huge bunches of pinkies (when well equiped) but this one is annoying and of a mediocre size).

Yeah, toughest map so far, with some good parts, but not my favorite.

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 07 : Apparatus

 

 

I have the regret to say that Apparatus is a poor map 07 while it seems to not be an unpopular opinion. Actually, the combats turned fine and I'm glad its author didn't follow the overused Mancs+Arachno formula. I love killing small groups of pain elementals with my SSG in vanilla Doom because they become quickly harmless due to the 20 lost souls limits. The Mastermind serve no other purpose than demonstrating how powerful the BFG is. Killing a Spider Moma with one BFG-shot is always a reliable source of satisfaction.

 

The main reason I don't like this map is its progression, which is both simplistic and unnecessarily complex. This map suffers of unnecessary steps that actually aggravate the experience for no real justification. For exemple, At the northern part of the map, you have to press specific switches in order to lower the cobblestone walls. The southern part of the map forces you take damaging floor that still hurt you when the radsuit is equipped.

 

Moreover, the map itself is nothing to write home about. It may even be the ugliest of the wad at this point. To be honest, Doom map 07 isn't much prettier, but its concept is so simply executed and brief that I could tolerate its modesty more. "Apparatus" plays like a mediocre filler to me.

 

Grade : C- (8/20)

 

 

 

[veevil]

Operation: Biowar
MAP07: Apparatus
(UV, pistol start, K: 100% / S: 100%, DSDA-Doom, complevel 2)

 

The good news: it's a MAP07 that's not a Dead Simple clone and you finally get a good amount of health items in this map. The bad news: resistance has ramped up significantly. Not only is there a big spider, but a cloud of pain elementals, and a pair of arch-viles to boot. Those last ones served me my first death of the run - as it happens, those hanging pillar things don't cover you at all from archie zaps since their bottoms are missing. The PE herd would come off pretty rude too, if it wasn't for the BFG sitting out in the open right past them. You'll probably want to find the well telegraphed secret in the same room, though, if you want to have enough cells to comfortably deal with everything.

 

The map is mostly flat and very drab to look at, almost completely wallpapered with the standard Doom II gray stone texture. The 20 damage superslime in the tunnel feels like overkill, especially since it can leak through your radical suit if you get unlucky. Also, why do the lights in the whole tunnel have to be flashing? At least you can avoid a migraine by grabbing a pair of goggles in the previously mentioned secret.

[Zerofuchs]

Map06: Last Call

Some nice visuals slightly marred by a few awkward doors, more maze shooter than 05, although it's not difficult to navigate there are multiple corridor fights and bottleneck battles. Quite stingy on health with lots of hit scanners but you do get multiple green armours to soak some plink damage. Plasma gun is nice for the crowd of lost souls in the room right next door and rapidly clear out the shotgunner crowd at the end. What mid tier enemies there are... are zero threat, couple overgrown imps and tomatoes, and all of one revenant who barely has room to swing an elbow. Focus on the hitscanners. Backpack at the end of the map is kinda superfluous for pistol starters.

Difficulty is fairly low but, like a lite E4M1, incaution will wear you down. Maybe a D+ on the Dean's Difficulty scale.

Map07: Apparatus
Galactus is that you?

 

Music is quite fun, letting the pain elemental crew get out of hand is not... much more generous than Map06 when it comes to health. In any case, almost every encounter is extremely easy to skip if you don't want to deal with it. Except maybe the specter room.

[General Roasterock]

Map 07: Apparatus

 

  Now this feels like it belongs in the time period. It has needless symmetry, incredibly dark damaging rivers, no use of the Dead Simple triggers, and is profoundly green and mossy. Frankly this map has nothing going for it up until the final thirty seconds where it lets you powertrip against a Mastermind and her pitiful pack of Revenants. I really have no idea where I’m transitioning to because the intermission text wasn’t even replaced, so I’ve already washed my hands of it.

[Celestin]

MAP08: Biolabs

 

I see this as a cross between The Arrival and Skybase - a key hunt through a dilapidated techbase. It's a mixed bag, starting with dark corridors with this cool pattern on the floor, but then Biolabs makes you kill cacodemons and a baron with a shotgun (I quickly ran out of cells for an early plasma rifle). Once you find a super shotgun in a nigh-unmissable secret, the combat becomes enjoyable. 

 

I like the visual storytelling, such as more autopsy rooms, cacodemon cages and pinky pen. They do a decent job selling the idea this is a research lab that tries to study demons.
 

[E.M.]

MAP02: Biolabs

DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start

 

The beginning area looks really cool with its dark lighting and blue textures. I also like how it gives you a plasma gun right at the start. When I reach the balcony area, I just run past everything and make them all infight. It's kind of a dick move to teleport the player in front of a pair of pinkies in a tiny room. Things got a lot smoother after I got the SSG. The room with the pinkies in the pit was a real drag. It reminded me of MAP21 from Community Chest 2. I enjoyed the yellow key fight, though. I can kill most of them with the rockets I was given shortly beforehand. The ending, on the other hand, was a real letdown. It's obvious padding. You kill a baron, hit a switch, kill two specters, hit a switch, kill a specter and two pinkies, take a teleporter, and finally hit the exit switch. Absolute nonsense. Worst of all is that one of the secrets is unobtainable because it's only 8 map units wide and it's right in front of a teleport linedef. It has the exact same problem as that one secret in Doom 2's MAP15.

Edited June 8 by E.M.

[DavitW]

The year is 1999. In some ways the world is completely different and in others it's remarkably similar. As far as I'm concerned, it was so long ago it might as well have been a different life. The only thing I can remember about the year is my brothers parrot destroying out brand new copy of Twisted Metal 4. Don't worry, we got another one. Another copy of Twisted Metal 4, that is. Not another parrot.

 

MAP01: The End
You'll have to get a lot of mileage out of your pistol on this one. You'll also have to do some secret hunting if you want to get your hands on a shotgun. Other than that, not much too say. It's basically three rooms and two hallways. Trying my best not to overanalyze the fact this is from 1999 and just enjoy it for what it is instead.

 

MAP02: Terror Core
Already one of those maps where you have to travel down three separate branching paths to collect all three keys to open the exit. I typically enjoy maps like this. Gives a bit of replay value and opens up some more strategy on how you handle the level. Although this map's so short there's not much strategy to be had. The rooms are cramped enough where's there's a bit of danger at least. Especially when they drop two chaingunners on you with no cover to be had. Hope you didn't miss that secret at the beginning! Nice of them to put a secret down there and not a lava pit instead.

 

MAP03: Onslaught
You have a shotgun, a chaingun, a linear path, and a number of demons to slaughter. It doesn't get much simpler than this. All secrets can also easily be found along the way. One of the new sounds in this mod sounds like a demon biting you in the back and it's already freaked me out about five times by this point.

bio1-3.zip

Edited June 8 by DavitW

[RHhe82]

MAP08: Biolabs. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 80/80, S: 2/3, I: 26/26. Comp. time 12:57

 

We're back to solid maps. This time I did feel a bit pain from pistol starting: map had me single barrel shotgunning some barons, cacos and hell knights before supplying me with an SSG. I guess that's on me, but what's not on me that one of the secrets is tagged to a sector so narrow you can never trigger it :( (not without some doomgod-special trickery that's beyond me.) Boo.

 

Some small touches I appreciate: in one of the corridors, you interrupt a pinky eating a marine corpse :P Details like that really work in favour of this sort of sets, where I feel mappers want to put emphasis on the story and adventure.
 

[Plerb]

Forgot to play this yesterday, whoops.

 

Biowar MAP07 (UV, continuous, saves):

It's not horrible but it doesn't have what I liked the most about some of the earlier maps.

 

MAP08:

The corridors from the start are simple but look cool. The red key trap is very clever and I'll have to steal that concept sometime. Overall this might be my favorite map so far.

Edited June 8 by Plerb

[veevil]

Operation: Biowar
MAP08: Biolabs
(UV, pistol start, K: 100% / S: 66%, DSDA-Doom, complevel 2)

 

If I would've had to guess a map name likely to appear in this wad before playing it, "Biolabs" would've been a top candidate. Just going by the name, y'know.

 

I appreciated many of the aesthetic choices here, especially when compared to the previous map. the cross-shaped starting room with the cool lighting, the eastern "rooftop" section, the bloodstained wooden pit you get sent into by a trap teleporter. The "ventilation duct" you have to enter to get a key in the northern section is pretty neat as well, for a map of this vintage. The map doesn't try very hard to render any believable space matching the name, though. I suppose that northern section with the penned monsters is supposed to be it, but it's very sparsely decorated compared to some other maps in the same set. The level of verisimilitude (my ten-dollar word for today) seems to be fairly inconsistent across the whole set.

 

In terms of play, the map is nothing to write home about. The only thing that stuck to my mind is that I got the plasma gun immediately but the SSG fairly late - should've saved that plasma for the rooftop baron, plinking those guys with the single shotty is rarely fun. The map's third secret seems to be unattainable, a classic "secret sector too close to the teleporter" mapping blunder.

[Horus]

MAP08 - “Biolabs” by Chris Harbin

Not sure if it was just me but the MIDI on this one was barely audible / silent for me for most of the time, which is a shame.
 

Anyway, this is another quick map where it didn’t feel like there was an awful lot to do – a fairly meaty one if you take the approach of killing everything as soon as you see it, albeit not so much if you hold fire until you get a better weapon.
 

Even so, it feels like the combat is ordinary, by-the-numbers at best. In terms of secrets, this map is pretty odd because it has two secrets that are basically not secrets because they are just monster closets, one hiding an SSG and the other hiding an item I forget. Whilst the other secret that’s actually a hidden secret (by virtue of requiring wall-humping) can’t be triggered due to the way it’s set up – even if you still get the reward, which is a soulsphere.

Thematically it’s mostly on point and I do think the custom textures add character here to what is otherwise a bland-looking map. I think my easily pleased mood expired by this point (I did play it the day after map 7 to be fair) and it’s my probably my least favourite map so far.

 

Edited June 8 by Horus

[Pseudonaut]

Map08: Biolabs
A fairly run-of-the-mill level in the vein of map05, but even easier. There's even a lonely mancubus in a spacious room guarding a switch needed for progression, while the player has a plasma gun... am I playing on "Hey, not too rough" by mistake? You've got to feel bad for fatso in this case. Oh, and one of the secrets cannot be tagged, as far as I know.
 

 

[Devalaous]

Map 8, Biolabs, surprisingly kicked my butt compared to  the other maps so far, spent a lot of the map in critical health from the sheer amount of tougher enemies present. The teleport trap after the red key was unexpected yet also expected. I died in an embarrassing way, the jump to the blue key, I got stopped by infinitely tall monsters, fell to the floor, then the imp in the biohazard containment killed me. Killed by an immobile grunt enemy! Sure I had the BFG and a full stock of plasma coming into the map, but I generally conserve that kind of thing

 

The ending room was neat, big outdoors bit in a cage.

 

Had to rush to get this map done today, been stuck doing No Man's Sky's 13th Expedition most of the day.

[Spectre01]

MAP07 - “Apparatus” by Chris Harbin

 

Hey, not bad! The layout is dead simple, flat, and visually unappealing, but there are some interesting gameplay surprises. The three Pain Elementals on both sides were most unexpected, though their ambush flag makes it so you don't have to alert all of them at once. Grabbing the BFG makes the Mastermind trivial, and you need it out for the following trap with the two caged Viles. Nice to hear that classic Memento Mori midi too.

[Somniac]

MAP07 - Apparatus

 

 

 

Gets points for not being a Dead Simple remake and for featuring 0 Arachnos or Mancubus, and for the MM tune. This was another frustrating map for me that took a few attempts to get right, and by the time this playthrough was done I was sufficiently salty about it to go and punch out the remaining PEs and Lost Souls, which was quite cathartic. Eh, I was tired and the PE fight was just obnoxious.

 

MAP08 - Biolabs

 

 

 

I liked this one more, and I'm also a bit more "with it" today. Had I not saved some plasma and had to shotgun the Baron I would probably have been a bit peeved, but whatever. I kept thinking those blue laser bars would be glideable, but I don't really know how to do it. I liked the gloomy atmosphere in this map complimented by the MIDI. The ending was a little strange but it was cool to get an outside perspective of the building you've just blasted your way through.

[General Roasterock]

Map 08: Biolabs

 

  The benefit of calling Doom a horror game is that it allows for authors to really dig into the scenarios they want to present. They can go beyond making a handful of brown and gray shooting galleries, and put together real scenes of grotesque venture. From what little story we get in Biowar, it’s enough to put together an explicit, extensive gene splicing supercenter that continues to engineer and iterate on demons. The entire building glows with rancid energy of multiple colors, the demons are engrained enough in the functionality to have diagrams and studies on their operating tables, larger creatures are trapped in pits and behind cages, everything reeks of enslavement and death. The ambushes are all meant to overwhelm, such as the Pinky jump after the Red Key and the Knights guarding the laser control. My favorite moment in the map goes against all that though, as you take the Rocket Launcher from the holding pen of a Mancubus after being drip fed so many individual rockets to stockpile, and overwhelm yourself with catharsis as it mulches a wave of Imps and Cacodemons that arrive to answer you.

  It definitely helps that the music stays out of the way for the most part, with very few plucks and strings to keep the tone together. It sounds like something I’d expect Snaxolotl to produce, but a good 20 years before any of those tracks would come to light. I’m even happy with getting a look at the outside of the building. Even with it being as bland and one note as it is, just the size of it is enough to suggest something about the operations the UAC are conducting in this timeline. I kind of love this map, I love its contribution to the emotional aspects of Doom mapping, and I love that it suffers none in completing its goals. It’s brilliant.

[Li'l devil]

Level 7: Apparatus

 

I didn't see any apparatus. This map has one of my fav Klem tracks, but at the start this track is completely drowned out by all these loud custom monster growls. Honestly, I'm getting really tired of this dog-like growling, it's so loud and annoying. This level looks like a dungeon, which is very different from the previous levels. As for gameplay... 6 pain elementals at once!? Come on. And then there's this moment where you grab a key, and if you don't immediately run back, you get killed by 2 arch-viles because there's no cover. Grade: F, difficulty: X-.

 

Level 8: Biolabs

 

Really almost nothing to say here. It's a decent lab level. It has gameplay and combat, and some keycard hunting. Actually, the music is once again unfitting, IMO. It'd fit much better in a Hell level or "Hell of Earth" type level.

Edited June 8 by Li'l devil