The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 Reloaded

[purist]

19

A couple of nice moments in this level are prefaced by grey corridor switch chases with piece-meal head-on encounters similar to the E1 levels. Some nice texturing apart there is not much of interest in this early section and it is becoming a trend in E2 that the author takes too long to get to the good bits. The good bits here being a cinematic rooftop firefight and a nicely placed vile at the end.

20

Two cybs in this one but both were made innocuous by the presence of invulnerabilities in HMP. The first one at least still works as another grand cinematic moment, a huge siege on the suspension bridge, and the player must work for his god sphere, running headlong at a squad of arachnatrons with no promise of salvation. The other, not so much - run one way for invincibility or take the other direction for a blur sphere. Outside of this another memorable moment was a tight revenant fight in an office and a multi directional fight near the blue key. The lead up action is again something of a non-event and it is disappointing the author did not make a great street fight throughout the city episode - but I preferred it to the previous level as at least there was a nice scale to the surroundings. A good level all in all, the worst moments being the toothless final fight and the reappearance of some needlessly tall lifts.

21

Early days I know but I think I will have a higher tolerance for the tendency for themes to be repeated as at least Hell has a lot of colour. Although progression remains switch heavy the traps and mapflow seem more varied this time and encounters carry a greater threat. Whether all this is benefits from a change of scenery and/or difficulty gradient perhaps remains to be seen but I'm enjoying it all the same. My favourite moment was running from the yellow key throne room, locking the revs and knights in and cheesing them through the barred windows. I also chuckled to myself at how spooked I was by 2 mancubi in the room with the E3M1/MAP12 style raising walkway - I moment of concentrated focus on a simple puzzle or a precarious walkway that seem to inspire this heightened tension from me. My nit pick is the cool idea to open a central area would have been executed better if there was more and/or wider entrances to give the monsters a better chance to filter out and flank the player.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP27: Phlegethon
99% kills, 2/4 secrets

As someone who has made a map named "Phlegethon" I'm quite disappointed (and surprised) that the author made such a blunder of naming - Phlegthon is the "river of fire" but there's not a spot of fire or lava in the whole dang level! Plenty of blood, but no fire...

Anyways, it's a cute little level, with lots of blind teleports and spots of progression that are easy to miss (such as the very innocuous lift to the yellow bars, which is hidden in a corner, shrouded in dim lighting and looks like it could just be a SUPPORT3 aesthetic texture). The cyberdemon battle is a bit limp, and the bite-size design of the level doesn't really give the monsters much chance to flank or threaten the player. There's really nothing to offend in this short level, but nothing memorable either.

[Sui Generis]

Demon of the Well said:

Eh, don't underestimate how droll and/or painful the Roulette-32 thing could turn out to be, especially if you also enact the obscurity stipulation. I've got some stamina (if I do say so), but I don't know if I have THAT much stamina. I think a better idea for a 'singles month' was the one where posters could each choose a small number of single maps to do over the course of the month. Folks who want to play random stuff off the archive could come up with their picks that way if so desired, and hopefully/presumably some others would pick stuff that they know/enjoy, such that there'd be a lower chance of going the whole month without hitting anything palatable ...

I may be misunderstanding you, but I assumed the point of the club was that everyone plays the same thing and experiences it collectively. If everyone goes off and does their own thing we lose that.

Perhaps a compromise is possible however; instead of a full roulette 32, perhaps some episodes/sub-32 map megawad might be played as normal, with a 'lucky-dip' of a few random wads being used to fill in the gaps. This would allow for some obscure and unknown levels to be experienced but also would mitigate against getting a month (entirely) full of crud.

Map26 - “Acheron”
This was a pretty solid map also. I feel that the layout is sufficiently different as to not be too reminiscent of the prior Map25; though there is a central courtyard, there are further mini hubs throughout and far less of the combat takes place in the big open area in the centre. The aesthetic is far less explicitly hell-like here, with tech elements mixed in with stone. I have to agree with TheOrganGrinder that the appearance is less well-realised than map25 however, and it feels like much more of the map takes place in enclosed spaces and corridors. The interconnectedness does have the advantage of allowing some roaming monsters to keep you on your guard, particularly in the earlier stages of the map as monsters aware being awakened and your area is less secure. I think the key quests are a bit more elaborate here, and as I've mentioned the map disguises the hub and key quest arrangement better. The gotcha moment is ok, but the fact that that switch near the teleport thereafter is repeatable is a potentially poor design choice in my opinion. If you hesitate going through the teleporter after pressing the switch and the door shuts, then an annoying backtrack (with some damage floor traversal to boot) is in order, although personally I didn't find that too bad. I only found two out of the four secrets here, though that was enough to see me finish on 200/200 (again.)

[Magnusblitz]

Sui Generis said:

I may be misunderstanding you, but I assumed the point of the club was that everyone plays the same thing and experiences it collectively. If everyone goes off and does their own thing we lose that.

I think he was saying people could pick like 3-5 maps, submit them into the pot, and that we'd all collectively play those maps.

[Capellan]

I'm probably going to take the month off to focus on finishing a couple of other projects, so I'm not voting. Just crossing my fingers that something I don't plan to play comes out the winner :)

[Demon of the Well]

^^Yes, that's more or less what I had in mind. It's an idea (not mine originally) that's been tossed around a few times in the past, but we've not quite gotten around to it as of yet.

Map 26 -- Acheron - 101% Kills / 75% Secrets
Ah, bit of a change of scenery here. Well, sort of. The texture scheme of brown composite and metal and beige masonry with bits of wood here and there is certainly a departure from the gothic GSTONE look of the past several maps (still a marble blood-sewer behind the scenes here, mind you). In combination with more of the directional/shadowed lighting of which the author is so fond, more than ever before the meat of the level has a pronounced Dr. Sleep vibe to it, in fact I wonder if that might have been an intentional allusion given the name ("Crossing Acheron" is one of the most renowned maps from Anderson's 'Inferno' series, although in terms of texture scheme this map really looks more like 'Nessus' or maybe 'Minos' Judgement', I suppose). It's clean and well-wrought, but as I remarked on the previous map, it doesn't really offer much scenery that's particularly striking on a purely aesthetic level, being comprised largely of practical corridors and modestly-sized chambers.

As has been remarked, like the previous map the progression here is arranged as a non-linear quest for 3 keys (and also weapons in technically optional side-areas), which again are used to remove a tri-color barricade blocking off a switch sealing the nearby exit. I would say that there is a somewhat less purely exploratory feel to the proceedings in this case, because each key is given its own small/largely self-contained quest rather than simply being found/taken on a one-room basis as in 'Hell's Gate', particularly pronounced with the climb to the blue key in the blood-sewer segment and the booby-trap/Gotcha! satellite area which allows access to the yellow key via a simple mini-puzzle.

The Gotcha! segment is naturally something specific that one is liable to remember about the level after it's over, but I reckon it's one of the least interesting bits as far as the action goes, and indeed most of the peripheral setpieces don't seem particularly noteworthy, perhaps excepting the revenant ambush near the skinning pool, where the plasma rifle can be had. I felt that the best aspect of the level was its hectic pistol-start, which can see you really scrambling for scraps of ammo all over the central 'acropolis' while waking up more and more of the locals at every turn. Unlike in the previous map, where the inner ward of the keep was an initial no-fly zone that you could escape and return to much more powerful at a later time, in this case there really is no getting away (at least not for very long) from most of the monsters lurking around in the spine of the level, as they are able to path through it largely unhindered, and sound leaking tends to see them approach en masse from distant parts of the compound as you thrash about in search of a foothold--indeed, if you're really spastic/noisy, you might even get some of the monsters from the peripheral areas trickling into the center, which can be quite the fracas. Once you do manage to gain that initial foothold it's a pretty gentle ride for most of the actual runtime, although ammo and healing items seem much more strictly rationed than in the previous map, and so you at least can't just plow through totally thoughtlessly. On this playthrough I ended up doing the yellow key area last and so spent the vast majority of the runtime without a rocket launcher, and so ended up relying on the plasma rifle quite a bit more than I have been as a generality while playing this, which was a pleasant little bit of variety.

[Havoc Crow]

MAP26: Acheron

Well holy crap. This was awesome.

This is a tough-as-nails level, where you need to be very careful, and take note of enemy placement during your every attempt (even on continuous play). The main hub can be especially treacherous, what with its tendency to suddenly fill with hitscanners out of unknown regions.

While hard, this map is immensely satisfying to dominate. You can never feel entirely safe, maybe until you grab the supercharge/megaarmor combo from the Gotcha! cyber/spider infighting arena.

It's tough to choose one good encounter from them all, because there are so many great fights in this map. The careful struggle against the hitscanner crowd near the red key room "gatehouse", the aforementioned Gotcha! reprise with no room to run (makes it REALLY tense as you wait for the winner to emerge), or the final surprise siege by two arch-viles and their resurrected squad.

Frankly, this is probably the best map in the set so far.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP27: Phlegethon

It's about at this point that it hit me just how much of a difference there is between the early, strongly representational base/city levels of this WAD and these later Hell levels which offer up more abstract environments. It's the latter which have allowed the author's more creative and devious side to truly come to the fore.

We're back to a more conventional key hunt here, although the layout does feature a central courtyard once again; here, though, it's little more than an opening vista and a space to pass through rather than the site of ferocious battles as in MAP25. Lots of different elevations, different environments scattered throughout the map, and different ways of getting from place to place that gradually open up as you progress through the match; the teleport that offers up a shortcut from the cyberdemon pit/yellow key in the extreme south of the map and the yellow bars in the northern area was a very nice touch indeed. I think the red key 'crypt' and the blood sewers sealed with the red bars area the parts of the map that will stay with me the longest visually.

Monster population is a bit lower here than in the previous two maps but it's all well-used, and the couple of arch-viles that pop up are nicely positioned to induce panic without having frustratingly ready access to big piles of high-tier monsters to resurrect.

[scifista42]

Map26 - “Acheron”

Pretty great! Despite the abundance of corridors, the map was exploratory and fun, thanks to the elaborate nonlinear layout, varied architecture, nice subtle details and pleasant looking texturing. I've found only 1 secret, the Megasphere one. I liked the triangular shaped crossing, simple yet cool. I also liked the final bridge area, where you could easily choose whether to go over the bridge or directly through the river, as it didn't matter much by itself, unless you were fighting monsters at that moment. I also liked the marble arches above entrances to some corridors / tunnels, and I liked how there were lost souls lurking behind corners in one room (they have no alert sound, so that they've surprised me well). The homage to D2 MAP20 was fine - by the way, Spiderdemon won. The only actually bad area was the teleport to a chaingunner trap after fighting 2 pain elementals and a mandatory crossing of lava. You were pretty much guaranteed to have less than 100% health, and the chaingunners would perforate you instantly - I've simply rushed forward to avoid them, and never returned to the area.

All in all, well done hellish map.

[cannonball]

Map25 - “Hell’s Gate”
Heh from the worst map of the set for me to the best in this, a really cool marble fortress with plenty of action here, the non-linearity is pretty good here too and to be honest I never got lost here. There were a few poor spots, the cyber fight for the yellow key is perhaps too designed for the secret on the top ledge, the torches really don't help there to be honest, also that final baron is a complete waste of space. Otherwise a great map.

Map26 - “Acheron”
Similar set up to the previous map, but I feel this map wasn't executed as well. The gameplay here felt very sloggy at times as health was scarce and there was a lot of meat between you and the decent weapons. This map also felt harder to navigate as the lack of large spacious areas meant this map felt more like a maze as opposed to the realism of the last map. There also felt like a lot of rehashing of previous stuff here, the gotcha part is a definite tribute but the whole blue key section is pretty much a repeat of an area from map21. A appreciate the effort here but I didn't enjoy this one to be honest.

Map27 - “Phlegethon”
This felt like a bit of a breather map after the last 2, playing pretty fairly overall, there were a few dud traps again, barons and the cyber were not used that effectively to be honest. The final area was nice.
Overall a decent map visually and gameplay wise, but nothing which will leave a lasting memory.

[Havoc Crow]

MAP27: Phlegethon

Another hell map revolving around collecting the three skull keys. The layout is somewhat nonlinear, which gives this map some good sense of place.

The initial combat seemed rather easy to me. On my first attempt, I was killed by the unexpected arch-vile at the end. On my second attempt I began to run short on health near the end (especially due to an unlucky rocket launcher misfire) but luckily there was a convenient secret nearby, and the final fight could be cheesed somewhat by luring revenants and others onto the lift.

I liked the visuals and the combat here; especially nice was the cyberdemon fight, where you attempt to sneak by him to the plasma rifle. All in all this is a solid map, even if not as excellent as the previous one.

[Steve D]

Ah, here I am, turning up like a bad penny to comment on the voting.

I honestly would prefer not to participate next month, but I have a feeling the pick will be Valiant, now that our sensei, The Almighty Dobu, has given it his imprimatur. I've already played the first 4 or 5 maps, and found them exceptionally enjoyable, as I posted in the Valiant thread. So consider this a vote for Valiant, and if said megawad is chosen, I'll try to drag my bruised and battered carcass through at least half of it. ;D

[yakfak]

yeah I know that says Map 9

as for D2RELOAD, I've recorded demos all the way to 20 and made a lot of failed attempts at 29 but the third episode repels me in a way I don't quite understand. bowing out for now, but I'll say that levels 9, 18 and 32 were fond memories!! the music plans got scaled back but I'm still planning on writing a song for each level in the first episode and have nine out of eleven done... should be done by the end of the month.

If Valiant is next month's wad then I'll probably play along silently... its speedier game-play doesn't quite suit me considering sometimes Barons still randomly kick my ass :D and I wouldn't want to mark down a great level set just because I'm not the best player.

[Capellan]

map28
You start under pressure here and that sense of menace continues quite strongly throughout almost all of the “marble castle” section of the map. eschdoom is a little fond of snipers on very high vantage points, which gets irritating rather than fun at times, but he’s got some very well structured encounters here. The use of mancs as meatshields for chaingunners is pretty nasty for instance, as you can easily be flayed while your shots simply won’t target the nasty red-clad jerks.

Unfortunately, after the oh-so-satisfying flood of demons behind the blue door (at least, they are satisfying if you have rockets to spare like I did), you get to the “Living End” part of the map and for my money, things go off the rails.

I can live with - though I don’t like it - the mandatory run through lava. There’s pretty obviously only one way to go there so it is not as much of a leap of faith as it might otherwise be. But the interminable waiting for floors to slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly rise is a real bore.

[Sui Generis]

TheOrganGrinder said:

MAP27: Phlegethon
It's about at this point that it hit me just how much of a difference there is between the early, strongly representational base/city levels of this WAD and these later Hell levels which offer up more abstract environments. It's the latter which have allowed the author's more creative and devious side to truly come to the fore.

I completely agree with this. The depictive realism led gameplay to be designed around scenery, as opposed to the abstract hell setting where the layout and architecture can be moulded to the gameplay.

Map27 - “Phlegethon”
What an excellent map this is! A good series of encounters in interesting and varied rooms and areas. There's good height and light variation and the corridors which I've so often complained about are here either banished, dimished or wrapped around some other area thus making them feel less noticeable. The level is basically linear, but it is interconnected so cleverly that it felt less so. Again, the texture theme has that curious mix of stone with tech elements which I'm not entirely sold on, but this is a minor nitpick in a level that otherwise ticks all the boxes for me. The ending area deserves special mention for being both a good looking area as well as a much more monster dense and threatening fight. Good climax to a good level. Of the four secrets I obtained all but the BFG one in the final area. I assume this required an AV jump. I'm going to have to start learning to leave them alive longer. The baron trap secret seems a bit overpowered for how simple it is to find, however.

EDIT: I have to concede that that cyb is pretty neutered. But hey, cybs are often shoehorned into basically showcase fights like that. I'm not inclined to hold it against the level.

[scifista42]

Map27 - “Phlegethon”

Monster count and map length were somewhat lower than in the previous map(s), and I think it actually helped to this map's goodness. Well made map, again. Incredibly clean looking, a beautiful middle ground between simplicity and complexity in detail, good coloring and architecture, interesting semilinear progression, and fun varied gameplay - I'd call the map "classic". These metal arches were awesome, IMO. I also liked this place, the hole looked nice and natural, but the wall was actually thick enough to hide an enemy in a corner alcove behind it, which I couldn't know until I've entered the room. This map was neither maximum challenging, nor too easy, and it was actually enjoyable a lot.

[Demon of the Well]

What's your take on map 24, yakfak?

Map 27 -- Phlegethon - 103% Kills / 100% Secrets
I'd say this is one of the better levels in the WAD's Hell episode, interesting to me because its combat is, with one possible exception, rather light, almost 'classic' in pitch. I would attribute the positive impression it left me with to the setting--it's easily the most aesthetically attractive Hell map to this point (although perhaps not the most atmospheric, in deference to map 24), and stands out in a variety of ways. The most key of these is that it seems to emphasize open spaces more than any previous Hell map; while much of the interstitial traversal features its share of corridor-type environments (wooden gantries, another short blood-sewer segment ala map 26, etc.), these wrap around or spill out into much airier spaces ala the starting area, the cyberdemon's well, or the grand marble forum containing the exit portal. One aspect that these areas all share in common is a much greater sense of vertical expanse than most of what the episode has fielded before, further emphasized by the way they are all open to the sky in some way; it's invigorating to feel like I'm breathing some 'fresh' air again, and the contrast in scale between these larger areas and the warrens of corridors connecting them heightens the sense of adventure and place. I want to emphasize the experiental influence of what are essentially cosmetic effects in this case: many of these 'open' areas either don't actually play as open as they look (ala the exit area, which is intentionally not entirely convenient to actually move around in) or don't make any real use of their space (ala the cyberdemon area, which could be half as wide and a third as tall without making any impact on the gameplay whatsoever), but they make a positive impression because they are striking, and they are striking because they seem so much more grand than most of the rest of Hell to this point, which has essentially seemed like one long musty labyrinth considering the largely uniform construction/layout styles of maps 21, 22, 23, and 26 (and 24, if you want to put an asterisk next to it).

Texturing is also noticeably more elaborate in this map relative to previous Hell maps. Whereas the others essentially all used one predominant material (most often green marble) for their main play areas (perhaps with a different material predominating in the odd side area), this features a much more even blend of a wider variety of textures and materials, including most of those that have predominated in previous Hell maps along with slight accents here and there from new stuff, like the bits of dark metal paneling and techlights in the main area. I think that using this wider palette of materials benefits Eschdoom's architectural style; using a very limited selection of textures per level can work exceedingly well with some styles (I would say that Vile Flesh, for example, derives a lot of its appeal and panache from its marriage of very simple texture/color schemes with Gwyn's airy architectural style), but since so much of D2Reload is wrought from very practical/understated spaces that don't often carry a lot of immediate impact via pure structure, the richer contrast in colors and locational theme eliding from the use of a wider texture selection adds much needed life and visual depth. In combination with the lighting effects (something the author consistently does well) and the somewhat uncharacteristic emphasis on larger open spaces, this all makes for a very good-looking map, and shows that Eschdoom can communicate a strong sense of place without relying on modeling that place on some known realistic structure.

As aforementioned, gameplay in this level is generally more straightforward in nature and more casual in pace than that of many of its predecessors, particularly without any of the "running start" elements that defined the action in maps 22, 25, 26, etc. or much of the initial resource austerity that shaped the action in maps 23, 24, 26, and so on. To call it 'classic' in aspect seems about right, although overall bodycount is still high enough to reflect the WAD's relatively recent year of birth. Most battles are frontal room-clearing affairs, and the majority of traps are quite predictable (or 'traditional', if you will), but it moves along fairly briskly given its lighter approach, and of course the moment-to-moment feel of the action certainly benefits from how enjoyable simply taking in the setting is in this case. The only segment I didn't really care for was the one involving the cyberdemon, because he's designed as a largely ineffectual turret (other than that mysterious zombieman, who I suspect is there chiefly for comic relief, his area contains no other monsters to complicate dodging his fire) and for all practical intents and purposes has to be removed by shooting him with the plasma rifle from afar with little risk to oneself, which isn't much fun. The fight in the exit forum, by contrast, is well laid out, with immaculate use of distant turrets and flying monsters (particularly the pain elemental) as harriers that greatly complicate the player's fight against the ground-bound foes given the layered terrain. This encounter stood out to me because it showcases Eschdoom's penchant for very tactical monster-placement, whereas a lot of the gameplay in the Hell episode prior to this seems like its character comes more from the way weapons/supplies are placed in the layouts, rather than from which monsters are used in a given location.

Oh, and random aside, I think that all of the secrets in this map are quite satisfying to locate, especially the BFG in the exit forum, very clever that one. Good map!

[Magnusblitz]

MAP28: The Underworld
91% kills, 3/4 secrets

Another castle map, though rather than the "make you way along the battlements outside a central courtyard" design, this one has you start outside at ground level and work your way up rising levels of battlements. I was going to complain about being wrongly named, again, but thankfully about 2/3rds through the level we descend into the titular underworld.

It plays pretty solidly - I did get a bit confused on where to go sometimes, though the one-key design is a breath of fresh air after lots of "gather all three" exits. I also got into the castle proper by running from the SSG outcropping, not sure if that was intended. Never did find the rocket launcher, so lots of RL ammo went wasted. The cyberdemon battle at the end is a bit disappointing (too easy to step on the exit teleporter, shades of IWAD MAP29) but it's a minor quibble. Lots of good use of monsters being released far away to hunt the player down as he conquers the castle.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP28 The Underworld

well not quite. I guess the architecture here could be decent enough despite the all-marbleness. the snipe-happy enemies (and I mean all of the ones that are at a distance from me) make things difficult on the outer portion. actually entering the sanctum gives us something cool with a number of rockets plus some demons running at me. after that is some Living-End-ness, with the rocky caverns, not to forget the cyberdemon (make that three on UV) guarding the exit. I don't like the monsters who teleport into the cavern when you land on the cyberdemon platform though. I had to go back through a teleporter in the lava to get rid of them. an okay map, can be fun to play with the openness, and even in the cavern areas it proves challenging. a bit much on the small monsters though.

[mouldy]

Map27 - “Phlegethon”

Chilled out map after the last couple, with an early soulsphere secret I was on 200 health for most of the adventure. It felt like the route and encounters were a bit more scripted and less unpredictable, I'm not complaining though. Things got a bit more hectic in the final room with the lost soul shitstorm and imp crossfire, good fun. Another cool hell map, it still feels weird how different these hell maps seem from the earthbound ones. Each map now feels like an enclosed entity rather than another step along the journey. Not a bad thing, but I do miss that continuity the earlier maps had.

[Surreily]

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this WAD. Not because of the WAD itself, but because of some stuff in real life taking up all my spare time. I've got to submit a 50-page paper by Friday and it's still not quite done. By the time it's all over, it'll already be the first week of May and the next DWMC thread will be going.

Anyways, I played up to MAP16 (including MAP31). I'm only going to give a general overview on what I thought about the first half of the WAD because, again, I am limited on free time.

My favorite of the maps was probably MAP15 - I liked the way the computers were used to open up the secret exit. It also played well (although a little easy given we are halfway into the WAD) and looked noticeably better than most of the previous maps.

My least favorite was MAP31 which was just Doom II's MAP01 with a bit more detail. The map was pathetically easy, and it had one of those 30 second doors (like Doom II's MAP27 secret) to access the super secret level with no indication that this was the case. No super secret level for me :(

Overall, I enjoyed the first half, and would probably enjoy the second half too if I had the time to play it. The maps do seem to show a progression of the author's mapping skills (especially when contrasted with MAP01's ugly texture usage). Looking forward to next month already!

[SyntherAugustus]

Yeah i don't think I'll be finishing on time either. I get home at night from work at 9pm and sleep around 10:30, and all I want to do during that time is play Elite: Dangerous.

Catch up time might happen on Thursday if I get the day off.

[Pirx]

map 22

a hellish map with mostly green marble walls, a bit tough start if you have only the shotgun, but again a secret nearby saves the day: the ssg and a blue armor. things went rather calm from here. i killed the 4-5 revenants emerging ftom the wooden "house" with the ssg, only to discover the bfg later. the map flows nicely and non-linear. the exit is actually a boat.


map 23

so your boat reaches the elysian plains where the souls of the brave go. actually the map resembles a cemetery where some crosses and grave stones are solid (made of sectors) and other, carrying inscriptions, are just flat images. again, the start can be rough when you run into a room full of imps and a revenant with only a shotgun. i camped a bit in the subterranean corridor with the switch and a baron until the mob outside started infighting, allowing me to leave and get the ssg. the map has mostly the green marbles wall and arches, open spaces connected by tight corridors.

the cyberdemon secret is accessed through a teleporter that opens when you press a wall switch in the lava area. i guessed that since players are less inclined to go into lava without a suit, so i'd place switches in such places too.

btw, dr2mus has better tracks around the map22-23 mark than oldmus.wad i had mostly used before. i kept starting a new map with one music wad, then with the other until deciding what track i prefer.


map 24

is that one of those theme maps... or did eschdoom run into a mapper's block? i guess the player goes through hell's bowels, literally. there's even a part with organic textures, but zero height variation or more pleasing shapes than one straight angled corridor after the other, in worst 1994 manner.

this being said, the archvile traps were nicely done: the one at the berserk pack has you cornered by pinkies, the next one keeps a wall of flesh in front of him in that tight corridor. getting to these traps however is a chore.


map 25

i found this one very enjoyable, for being non-linear and allowing several paths to explore the map, a large castle made of green marble. the cyberdemon that appears when you grab the rocket launcher was a nasty surprise, especially as i was unaware of the invulnerability nearby. i let him roam freely (he went out of his room, patrolling the inner castle wall), and, similar to mouldy's experience, the berserk pack saved me. again, there are some secrets that change your game a lot, like the soulsphere with an archvile or the soul+armor combo inside a marble tower. bfg ammo isn't handed out like candy, so it's best to double-tap the 2 cybers that appear and save some for the viles, especially the last one has to be taken out quickly, given the mob he can resurrect.


map 26

brown metal and brick base with pools of blood, a welcome change from the previous marble theme. charging headlong into the base hoping to find something doesn't end well, especially if you end up in the mancubus + revenant are with only a shotgun. the first minutes are a fight to get a bit of ammo, and the weapons are guarded, best example: the ssg, where you escape from a PE-infested lava pool only to be surrounded by chaingunners. so given these beginnings, i felt like a boss when i got the bfg and the megasphere (behind the ugly wound texture). which killed the last 2 archies swiftly (you can hear their laughter when you head for the triple key tower)

[cannonball]

Map28 - “The Underworld”
Again the difficulty seems to be a bit more on the relaxed side here despite the increased monster count. The selling point here is the atmosphere and the sense of place. This was again a visually pleasing map though it is only the latter stages which really give the maps name. Overall I really enjoyed this romp with Andy playing fair with the hitscanners so there are no real cheap deaths here. The final area I feel would need some refinement to actually challenge the player though.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP28: The Underworld

I didn't feel this level hit quite the same high notes as the previous few. The opening vista of a multi-tiered, ziggurat-like structure bristling with enemies was impressive, but once I got into actually playing my way through it, that part of the map felt like a less-impressive retread of ideas done better elsewhere in the WAD. Halfway through there's a sharp change from a classically Hellish castle to an underground cavern reminiscent of The Living End, with the player dancing around the perimeter of the cave while dodging cyberdemon bombardment. It didn't really click for me.

[Havoc Crow]

MAP28: The Underworld

Another very good and vicious level, though, as others noted, it's lower in difficulty: I completed it with no deaths, though I have to admit that I finally broke and saved the game twice (but never reloaded).

The first part is a somewhat expansive fortress with lots of nooks and crannies, while the second part - after the blue key door - is a good, dramatic build-up to the final excursion into a dark cavern where you have to play cat-and-mouse with three cyberdemons, with just enough cover and power-ups that a player might very well finish it successfully on the first try (especially if he finds the megasphere secret and spots the helpful invulnerability.)

Unfortunately, when I finally faced the three cyberdemons, I ended up accidentally wandering into the exit portal and finishing the level in an utter anticlimax. Very disappointing.

Anyway, this is easily one of the best maps in the set. It's got some excellent, memorable visuals, with about every location being utterly grand in scale--from the behemoth fortress to the colossal final cavern. The battles are not too unfair, but very satisfying, with one perilous moment being the sudden arch-vile sometime after the blue door.

[scifista42]

Map28 - “The Underworld”

As Cannonball said, atmosphere and sense of place were great in this map. I liked the multi-level aspect of the castle, and how flying enemies were put into work in there. The latter part was Romero-inspired with all the characteristic brown and gray colors, large spaces and (too) slow moving floors. Gameplay was OK for most of the part. Teleport ambushes were badly done, sometimes the monsters would fail to teleport and only try again after a long time. The final pile of Cyberdemons didn't please me, their number was too big and it was much easier to ignore them rather than fight. Avoiding rockets while waiting for a raising ledge was a little too prolonged pointless exercise, direct combat would have been better.

To sum up: Good map, shame for the few letdowns.

[mouldy]

Map28 - “The Underworld”

Quite an epic one. At least it probably took a lot longer for me because I was doing much fannying about, clearing all the snipers before going further into the castle. And looking for those juicy secrets. I ended up needing them all, not that it was massively difficult, but easy enough to let your guard down and then spring some surprise chaingunners behind you. And pockets of fresh enemies kept emerging from somewhere to keep me on my toes. The underground bit was cool, although I spent ages and loads of health trying to jump into an alcove that turned out to have nothing in it. Luckily the secret megasphere came soon after. I'm assuming you could just run to the exit and leave the cybers, I can't believe anyone would though, with a bfg and a free invul. Nice map.

[Capellan]

map29
Admirable as a technical achievement but I didn’t find it fun to play. Too many dead ends in caverns that all looked alike. Got stuck for an extended period with the yellow and blue keys because I couldn’t find where I was supposed to go. Got the almost as obtuse but at least it wasn’t a blind leap into lava exit almost straightaway after teleporting back with the red key, though.

[Degree23]

Seeing D2Reloaded was the choice of WAD this month reminded me I've had it for absolutely ages and never played it beyond the second map, so I played through up to Map 28 so far.

I don't think it started off terribly well, the first few levels were more a chore than fun and I think that's why I stopped playing it originally about 3 years ago. But the second half has been a lot better, though I felt the need to comment on today's map.

Map 28: Overall the castle section of the map works brilliantly as far as I'm concerned, though I do like a good castle map. The paths through the level provide some nice variety, and though I played UV continuously, it was still pretty challenging. I feel the end battle is better than it's getting credit for, mainly because I think only a couple of tweaks would have improved it a lot.

I think the idea of the slow rising ramps is that you're supposed to be under pressure from the incoming rockets, but in all cases there are more than enough obstacles to hide behind. If there were fewer, or if enemies had spawned behind you to force you to move around, it would have been more threatening. Indeed, an ambush spawns when you're most of the way towards the final teleporter but can be made to be largely ineffective. The teleport into the exit area can also be quite random depending on how much infighting is going on, and it's very easy to run over the exit as many have pointed out already. To make the Cyberdemons a threat, an exit that is only accessible once they're all dead, or certainly on a timer or something would have helped. Essentially you need something that stops you exiting immediately. I did like how it's not overly realistic to snipe them from the side of the area as it's quite far away. It would take too many rockets and the BFG would be very ineffective at such distance.

I thought it was a decent end to the map but it just lacked that certain something to make it amazing.