The DWmegawad Club plays: Scythe 2

[joe-ilya]

MAP12
A messy linear map with no fun at all, the first four encounters were good but the rest are shit, if you want to kill everything you'll have to shoot revenants and mancubuses with your pistol, the best part of this map is the texturing.

But do you know when it's fun? When you rush everything. Because then you'll keep your BFG ammo and mow down the hordes that get in your way. Try to stay somewhere too long and you're fucked.

[mouldy]

Map12 - “Battlegrounds”

Weird pistol start this one, spending most of the map with just shotgun and BFG, and not much ammo for either. If I hadn't got the secret rocket launcher I'd have been in trouble, as it was I had to finish the cyber off with pistol. Still a manageble challenge though.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP11: I like this one. The lower tier units are utilized well and its fun to fight through a challenging techbase. Good interconnectivity, good surprises, fun SG-centered action. The AV makes me a little sad though—putting an SSG in his hideout would incentivize the player to play around with him some more, but as it stands all you have to do is go back to the blue door and play peekashoot.

MAP12: And I didn’t care for this one. Combat was real sloggy and the SSG was sorely missed. Giving the player the BFG early is a neat idea but once you run out of cell the gameplay suffers greatly (like with that unnecessary mass of pinkies at the top of the stairs).

[Magnusblitz]

MAP12: Battlegrounds
100% kills, 1/1 secret

Yeah, this is a bit of a weird one, that doesn't seem like the pieces were quite assembled well. The BFG and cyberdemon battle is near the start of the map, but the rest of the map is just straight shotgunning (and a bit of rocket launcher, albeit in a secret). This map really needed a chaingun or at least another shell box, I was quite annoyed at being forced to pistol the imps behind the blue door when I was sitting on a BFG with 200 cells and an empty shotgun. The middle portion is also a rather uninspired string of rooms with the enemies always in a group in front of the player, no flanking or anything really interesting, just a bit of a slog with the single shotgun. I did like the twist back to the early part of the map, with lots of repopulation, but it feels like Scythe 2 is still playing with the kid gloves on, filling the level with mostly lower-tier enemies like imps, zombies and demons... I think there's one revenant and one hell knight in the repopulation group? It's map 12, throw some meat at me, make me use that BFG or something!

[Budoka]

The Ancient Egypt setting is a little overused in fiction, but in this case the nighttime atmoshpere (a holdover from EP.1 no doubt) and Erik Alm's sense of map building really make it shine. In fact, it looks better than EP.1, as much a this fact hurts me.

MAP06 - Temple Entryway: First death. A nice intro level, though but manageable. That straferun puzzle is a change of pace.

MAP07 - Temple of Isis: Another unnecessary Dead Simple rip-off, and you all know how much I hate those. Even so, the intro fight is pretty good, the architecture is gorgeous, the music kicks ass, and there's something to be said for having to do the actual Dead Simple fight without a Plasma Gun. I thought I would have to torch this map, but at the end of the day it's passable.

MAP08 - Graverobbers: Second death. Pistol starting made ammo management in this first adventure-sized challenge complicated, especially since this map is a step up in difficulty. Even so, this is my favourite level yet. Good optional Cyberdemon fight, but the Berserk is useless once you can finally reach it.

MAP09 - Valley of the Queen: Died again. Interesting progression in this mostly outdoor level, which is something of a breather despite the slaughter wave. Had to punch out those last two Hell Knights, I'm slowly getting used to it.

MAP10 - Pharaoh's Tomb: Three attempts in, I haven't even reached the infafmous BFG boss encounter. Is this my first roadblock ? I don't blame Erik though, every fight in this map is great. There are quite a few at that, a nice change from the bare-bones flavor of "Halls of Anguish". I like the room by room progression, it makes it feel like you're infiltrating some kind of hidden fortress.

An excellent second chapter overall, full of interesting combat scenarios and quite the visual treat.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP12 Battlegrounds

hmm, my memory failed me here. I don't remember much of this map apart from maybe there being a cyber in it on higher difficulties, as well as that one teleporter ambush. it's alright though, I got through it pretty fine.

MAP13 Mining Project

ah, I like this one a lot! very fun, especially against the big-tier monsters where you can hit them with rockets. liked the teleporter ambush. I even scored a three-rocket archvile kill at the end.

[cannonball]

Map13 - “Mining Project”
Really cool map which pretty much turns into a bloodbath once you lower the blue key and grab the BFG. Again the design is pretty simple but the gameplay and visuals are fantastic.

[joe-ilya]

MAP13
Mehhhhhhh, the quiet gameplay is terrible, it really screams for an SSG, Erik Alm plz. Same with the slaughter gameplay. SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG please!

[scifista42]

Map13 - “Mining Project”

Awesome visuals, simply enjoyable gameplay, overally good. The available weapons sufficed well for me, I don't mind being restricted from optimal weapon choice sometimes, and I still had a variety of options to handle the fights. The slaughterish part was easy, the final Archvile showdown too, anyway it was the main distinctive feature of the map. I liked the megaarmor secret, it was obscured in plain sight and required a bit of unconventional "backtracking".

[AD_79]

joe-ilya said:

MAP13
Mehhhhhhh, the quiet gameplay is terrible, it really screams for an SSG, Erik Alm plz. Same with the slaughter gameplay. SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG SSG please!

Just a reminder that a map can be good without having an SSG. Learn to enjoy using other weapons!

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP13: Mining Project

This seems to carry on the looping/repeating theme from the previous level, with the player constantly brought back to the same central area to fight new waves of enemies... but the 'loops' are shorter, the main arena dominates the level more heavily, and it just doesn't do as much for me. I think it would improve my enjoyment of this map in particular if it could be reworked into a less linear layout, but I'm not sure precisely how you'd do that, since as it stands, it's pretty big on each 'loop' being opened up in order.

[joe-ilya]

AD_79 said:

Just a reminder that a map can be good without having an SSG. Learn to enjoy using other weapons!

I can't have fun shotgunning revenants, large hordes of imps, mancubuses and an arch-vile, it's too tedious, the weapon doesn't have to be an SSG, it could be a plasma gun and more rockets, heck, I'd even appreciate a berserk pack.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP13: Mining Project
100% kills, 1/1 secret

Feels a lot like a second draft of the last map, and much improved to boot - the central area is made larger (so it actually feels like an arena) and the hallways surrounding it are pruned back to a perfunctory amount (just enough to create the 'step A, item B, door C' steps needed to proceed). In the last map, the center area was a big failure, as the player could easily plink at the mancubi in the pit below safely (just shooting their heads), here, we finally get a nice rip-roaring battle for the blue key (even if the BFG helps make it pretty easy). Probably could've used a few more Arch-Viles at the end though, 2 aren't enough to really get the corpses going again.

While I agree that having to use the single shotgun on the Doom 2 bestiary can be a slog, I disagree with Joe here that it's a problem in this map. There's a perfectly fine rocket launcher and plenty of rockets available, use that.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP14: The Haunted Mines

I can't say this one really did a lot for me. Too many revenants in close quarters for my tastes, without (until rather later in the level) the weapons to make such repeated encounters fun, and it's really easy to break the intended progression of the map right from the start.

[scifista42]

Map14 - “The Haunted Mines”

Oh good, a skeleton centric map! Fighting them repeatedly was no problem, I liked it. I consider Revenant screams obnoxious when overexposed, but apparently I don't dislike them as much as I thought. The enemy count was much lower than it felt like, definitely a result of mid-tier enemies used as common ones. Maybe I subconsciously count enemy health instead of their bodies when judging density of challenge? Anyway, it wasn't just Revenants, the situations were actually varied, although mostly resolvable via camping / peek-style-shooting. Map looked excellent. Progression wasn't principially different from the past maps: Mandatory straightforward path while revisiting areas in a compact + seemingly interconnected layout. Nice music. All in all, good stuff as usual, only nothing mind-blowing, shocking or awe-inspiring, besides the usual clean visuals and gameplay. I wish to be truly surprised sometimes, but Scythe 2 won't give me this comfort in its finest, I suppose.

[mouldy]

Map13 - “Mining Project”

A respectable level of carnage in this one. It is kind of funny to be having bfg battles and still no sign of SSG or chaingun. Without the ammo starvation of the previous map the difficulty has dropped a touch, but its more fun as well, especially the showdown with the revs and caco swarm, there's enough space to dive in blasting without worrying too much about getting hit.

Map14 - “The Haunted Mines”

Wow this has a lot more revenants than I remembered. Seems like there is a skeleton lurking around every corner, in fact for the first half of the map there is almost nothing but revs. For anyone who doesn't like revs its pretty easy to skip pretty much all of this map via the lift down to the bfg/blue key which can be pressed from the top. I have to wonder if that is intentional given how weird it is to have a switch and a gap there anyway. You still have an archvile to deal with, and a Cyber guarding the exit who you can probably just run past. But I decided instead to play the rest of the map because thats what I'm here for. Thing is I had used up all my ammo killing the cyber so had an interesting time dashing past all the revenants until I got to the plasma rifle. The most memorable part for me is storming the central base, which is quite well defended. Naughty trap on the bridge too.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP14 The Haunted Mines

okay here's the first map that was pretty tough for me on pistol start, first, that pain elemental at the exit was a dickhead for shooting lost souls at me THROUGH THE BARS. I didn't even know that was possible. second, ya got revenants, and there's quite a lot of them. I forgot where the SSG was and then had to punch a few of them until I found it. I liked the apparent continiuity of being on the same elevator as the end of the last level, and the mineshaft is pretty cool in design. that room across the water with many enemies in it was a standout, and it was fun shooting rockets (it's even better when the revenants in cages got destroyed by barrels inside of their cages!) everywhere.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP14: The Haunted Mines
99% kills, 2/3 secrets

The first half of this map is definitely SSGing Revenants: The Map as that's all you'll be doing - turn a corner, buckshot a skeleton, rinse, repeat. Thankfully the second half of the map opens up the bestiary a bit, though cracking the 'citadel' took a little bit of work since there weren't enough rockets and it's not really workable to SSG enemies at that range. I did like the sudden Arch-Vile at the blue key, wasn't expecting him, though the cyberdemon at the end felt very superfluous (and he didn't seem to like the floor design as he spent more time walking in place than shooting). While Scythe 2 has been pretty well-detailed all-around, I felt like this map did a better job than most on that front... so it's a shame the music is so ill-fitting for a map called "haunted mines" and featuring lots of dark, underground tunnels, as the soundtrack feels like a sci-fi theme song, very heroic.

[Cynical]

Just dropping in to post that whenever I think of replaying Scythe 2, map 14 is always the map that gets me to reconsider. Endless winding narrow hallways where you fight Revenants 1 or 2 at a time.... *vomit*.

Do yourself a favor and learn the speedrun option to skip about 80% of the level.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP13: A decent romp that’s more threatening than how it first appears. There’s plenty of ammo and despite the lack of the SSG again, the RL more than makes up for it. The big rev & caco horde is easily kited and the AV exit was so obviously telegraphed that I saved 160 BFG ammo to plow through it. Somewhat simple but a decent change of pace.

MAP14: Oooh, some spooky mines. I finally get my precious SSG back but it comes at the cost of revenants the fiend du jour for this map. And while tangoing with them in tight corridors is tricky enough, it’s the push to get into the central building that’s the hardest part of the wad thus far. Perched revs from afar and chaingunners on all sides essentially spell your doom, and it took me a lot of saves just to make it through this bad boy. Pretty relentless.

[Demon of the Well]

Someday I'll catch up. Someday....

Map 11 -- UAC Base X - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Right, my memory of this third episode of the game is actually quite foggy, beyond that it generally features an industrial base/toxin refinery setting. I suppose this lack of clarity in itself suggests something about how I feel it stacks up against the other episodes, but one thing at a time, I suppose....

Base X is a little bit strange as an episode opener, as it's a bit too large/long to have that distinctive 'Alm-map 01' flavor ala 'Castle Entryway' in this WAD or 'The Furnace' in CChest 2 or the like, and doesn't have the markedly conceptual flavor to its gameplay that most of Scythe II's other episode openers do. There does seem to be something of a subtler concept at work in that the map uses a number of KDiTD-like tropes, a handful of which might even be specific references (e.g. the darkened upstairs corridor with flickering fluorescents and a block of imps en route to the rocket launcher), but it's largely functional analogs and vague allusions rather than stuff we could easily point to as direct homages. As another example, the first secret is an outdoor yard with a blue armor vest sitting in a pool of toxin, visible to the player early on from within the main base through a window. A short time later, it's accessed via a hidden passage behind a secret door off of one of the main corridors. Kind of sounds familiar, right? There are a number of bits like that here, shuffled around and casually juxtaposed with one another, with enough similarity to classic tropes to make them recognizable, yet also with just enough aesthetic deviation to compel one to consider the notion that maybe the similarities are just coincidental. And maybe they are! The uncertainty's half the fun, really. There's nothing in here so iconic that it would be unarguably a reference--no dark, blinking blue-carpeted computer-maze, etc.--but given the map's name and the similarities I seemed to keep noticing 'out of the corner of my eye' so to speak, it seems tough to believe that it's all purely coincidental.

The playfulness in the reference department is probably the most interesting thing about the map, the actual gameplay is rather milquetoast (which one could perhaps cheekily argue is also some kind of meta-reference, but I'm not willing to go that far myself), mostly shotgunning small groups of light enemies in very straightforward skirmishes. There are opportunities for some satisfying barrel usage at a handful of points, and the map does trot out some heavier enemies near its conclusion, but to me these almost feel more shoehorned in than anything, especially the revenant twins, who can be triggered from more than one point but only really make sense as an encounter for the player who goes into the little ground-level cubby to pick up the stimpack and 4 shells or whatever it is, kind of a disproportionate booby trap for the booty on offer, really. I do like the pain elemental hanging out in the loading dock, though, the absence of either a chaingun or a rocket launcher at that point makes handling him a little less rote than it would normally be--I chainsawed him, myself, rather satisfying.

Map 12 -- Battlegrounds - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Ah, yes, I remember this one now. Looks like it hasn't fared too well, from the comments. Not hard to understand why, played conventionally/casually it has a somewhat odd herky-jerky pace with swatches of 'themed' combat (the late transition into Tyson scenarios is particularly odd in that regard), and its unusual ammo balance means that some fights can turn into weird slow-balled shotgun-grinds, or, perhaps, equally weird ridiculous BFG overkill scenes unless the carefully rationed ammo is used 'just so.' Similarly, many fights beg or even demand that the leisure player handle them by camping a threshold, firing through a doorway while large (and largely ineffectual) throngs of monsters funnel through them; a number of areas (the large outdoor yard, the berserk pack overlook, etc.) have their monsters staged in such a way that unless you enter the area at full throttle, they will become active and essentially crowd you out of a bold entrance in a heartbeat, leaving you little recourse BUT to camp, even if that's not your usual inclination. By contrast, a couple of scenarios feature monsters so hamstrung by the terrain that the only feasible way they could constitute a threat is if the player were to willingly fling himself into their waiting arms. The mancubus pit, which several clubbers have commented on, is an example of this. In a word, then, the action is rather 'ungainly.'

Or so it would seem. Truth is, the unconventional ammo balance and starkly regimented yet oddly hamfisted monster placement are a carefully staged playing field for speedy UVMax play; if resources are utilized intelligently, weapons brought to bear cleverly, and rooms are breached and attacked without an iota of hesitation, the seemingly 'awkward' encounters tend to evaporate in the blink of an eye, all those big beefy monster blocks or slow-phasing teleporter waves wiped out in a hail of pinpoint-accurate rocket-fire or deftly timed and angled BFG salvos (if you play conservatively, notice that you tend to find you have a bunch of unused cells at the end, because there are very few encounters that you really "need" the BFG for). Even the apparent 'berserk tunnel' isn't really supposed to be fisted through; with an eye towards optimization, it's handled in an entirely different way. Watching a skilled runner speed through this is like poetry in motion, and that is pretty much its sole reason for being, in a way that doesn't really apply to other maps we've seen thus far.

I'm not really a fan of it myself, as it doesn't suit my style either--I'm an aggressive player, but also not a particularly elegant or disciplined one--but I can appreciate there's a place for it, nonetheless. Look at it this way: if map 28 in the original Scythe gave you the shudders, you can take comfort in knowing that there's nothing like that in Scythe II, rather just fairly minor speed-taxes like this one. ;)

[cannonball]

Map14 - “The Haunted Mines”
This certainly plays different to the previous couple of maps with the combat being more low key on numbers, but this shouldn't allow you to think that this will be an easy ride.
We also see the SSG, chaingun and plasma gun brought to the fray which again changes the pace. The map revolves a lot around revenants which I guess is the gimmick Alm was going for by the name. So a lot of heavy ssg work on the spooky skeletons is the name of the day, as you progress though you get a greater mix of monsters populating the areas, most notably the room beyond the red door which was a large clusterfuck of a room which killed me several times.
I must say that I didn't enjoy this map as much compared to the previous 2 as the gameplay felt more grindy in nature.

Going back to those, I didn't have any ammo problems on either map, though 12 I did get the rocket launcher secret, though there are no excuses for complaints on 13 in my opinion as frankly there were more than enough rockets to go around along with the BFG.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 13 -- Mining Project - 106 % Kills / 100% Secrets
I forgot to comment on it in the map 11/12 post, but another little quirk of this particular episode is the way the individual locations where the levels take place are linked in presentation, e.g. the exit room of one map will also be the start room of the next, creating the impression that the episode is all set in one large complex rather than in a series of discrete bases, OG Doom intermission-screen style (incidentally, while the Doom-abstractness may not make it entirely clear, that thing you're standing on when you flip the exit switch to this map is supposed to be an elevator shaft sunken into the ground). IIRC, none of the other episodes really do this with any kind of consistency (arguably the valley/tomb transition of maps 09/10, and maybe the first couple in the 'garden temple' episode?), and so one can only surmise why it's the case here. Perhaps Erik felt it would lend a little extra personality to what is arguably the most thematically/aesthetically 'orthodox' of the game's episodes; perhaps it's not supposed to compensate for anything, but was simply a passing fancy. While it's been in effect since the previous map, the transition to the E2 sky, the dusk-orange Ultimate Doom E4 classic that has seen so much usage over the years, is quite a bit more pronounced here given the dominance of the wide open yard, and adds a perhaps slightly disproportionate amount of flavor to what is aesthetically a rather simplistic offering (relatively speaking, of course). If the theme of orange, green, tan composite, and metal trim isn't reminding you strongly of another mid-game 'industrial' episode in a certain new WAD with strongly-themed episodes, well....I don't know what to say. Keep your eyes out for this stuff as we get deeper into the game, I think you'll find that you don't have to look far to see the stylistic influence (aesthetically and otherwise) Scythe II has had on a good many notable WADs which came after, including some we've played in DWMC fairly recently.

Anyway, the action in this level's again quite straightforward, almost elementary, really, and so there's not a whole lot to say about it. The large open yard hosts the lion's share of the fighting, and precisely because it is so large, the ball is essentially always in the player's court, even with the large horde of mid-tier beasties that emerges to protect the blue keycard in play. The arch-viles revealed in the distance at the level's conclusion might be problematic for very hesitant (or inattentive) players, but for the most part, players of any stripe or inclination should be able to make headway here, given the generous ammo supply, the spacious playing field, the easily exploitable tempers of the hellspawn, and the generally toothless incidental skirmishes in the few small side areas. It's all palatable enough, certainly, but doesn't exactly leave one out of breath. Scythe II's really not that old a WAD, of course, but I wonder if one might be able to claim that this map "hasn't aged well...." Played bit-by-bit it's pretty easy, the most entertaining way to do it (IMO) is again to rush through it and turn as much of the opposition lose at once as possible, in this case best achieved by flipping the two face-switches on the overlook, quickly getting the BFG, and then circling around the upper area to reintroduce yourself to the fray via the leap to the combat armor secret, before blitzing the blue-locked yard and turning lose the final bit of opposition via the yellow-key interlock. Yeah, that old chestnut. Better a simple map subsidize it than not, I suppose, and this one certainly does, at least.

[cannonball]

Map15 - “End of the Line”
Another tough map, a lot of areas killed me pretty efficiently, mainly due to the poor luck regarding RNG and revenant rockets. There are some tough traps in this one, some large ambushes of weaklings and the yellow key trap which unleashes a nasty combo. The final fight on the surface actually wasn't that hard with the BFG and a few cell packs in tow. Again the visuals were very nice.
The secret exit switch is rather crudely hidden, pretty much a case of you either know where it is or not rather than actually being able to spot a visible clue.

Spoiler

In retrospect the secret switch actually lowers into the ground when you approach the yellow key which is interesting, especially as there is a skip to get the yellow key right from the start.

Map31 - “Secret”
A quick and simple deathmatch like arena where you face off against some plasma dicks, whilst there can be many complaints about the monster, the map itself isn't too hard and is the length means that you won't likely get too frustrated by this one. The secret exit is on a timer and as such I didn't make it.

[joe-ilya]

MAP14
Hmph, I only killed 10% of the enemies and won, that cyberdemon at the exit was hilarious.

MAP15
This was claustrophobic as shit, I still had fun playing through this, I just don't like the final trap, once you're dead you have to start all over again and I won't do it.

And you know what? This isn't my favorite episode, I dislike this one a lot, my actual favorite episode is MAP16-MAP20.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP15 End of the Line

continuation of the previous map again, and this one to me is slightly easier, until that ending party with mancubi and revenants. pretty rough combat there. I like how you can skip the death exit by romping to the secret one.

MAP31 Secret

To take the supersecret exit, you must obtain all three keys and then get to the alternative exit area (sector 8) in the northwestern part of the map. However, this must be done within 11-12 seconds and requires extreme agility, otherwise the secret exit will seal itself off and you will be forced to take the normal exit to MAP16.

I can't do it. between the annoyingly fast and overpowering red marines and getting three keys for three switches and hitting the door, I can't do it. skipping MAP32.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP15: End of the Line

And so the industrial/techbase episode draws to a close. I don't feel that this episode was as strong overall as the first two; maybe it's just that the more familiar theme doesn't do as much as the castle and Egyptian themes to detract from the layout and gameplay shortcomings. I've mentioned already that MAP13 felt like a further iteration of MAP12, refining it in a way that didn't really click for me; here, MAP15 feels like it plays too close to MAP14, with a steady progression through a series of rather tightly orchestrated combats.

I'm not sure whether the layout here, with lots of windows, openings, and other 'sneak peeks' into areas you can't yet access, goes some way towards mitigating the linear gameplay or instead exacerbates it - the existence of areas beyond the rather tightly controlled path you're on is made plain but constantly dangled just out of reach. The pacing is a bit uncomfortable - I found myself getting into a "do the thing, kill the monsters, repeat," cycle and aching for opportunities for fast and free gameplay that never really came.

The closing moments of the level are really nicely done, with the gloomy and oppressive technological underground giving way to lighter passages and open skies but at the same time hurling you into a brutal mancubus/revenant crossfire. I kept thinking I'd missed an invulnerability sphere, but as it turns out there are enough supplies available to keep you on your feet. Another stand-out moment for me was the room just past the blue key, with its sequential switches and monster waves; the soulsphere placement there was just perfect, giving relief at exactly the right moment after the exhausting western sector of the map.

[mouldy]

Map15 - “End of the Line”

Well, today I finally discovered why I can never find the secret exit on this map, as I was dicking about trying to grab the yellow key at the start with a running strafe jump and managed to do it. Smuggly thinking I had managed to break the map, I then discovered this was intentional, as there is a switch which will only appear if you grab the key early. But I played the rest of the map anyway. This map holds a special place in my memory as it relentelssly kicked my arse back in the day, especially that final room which seemed nigh-on impossible. Today I find the same traps reasonably survivable, but I discovered why that final room was always such a bastard, because where I would usually use up my bfg ammo on the cyber I decided to take him out with SSG instead. Which let me rip through that final room with relative ease. This is clearly a signal that the mapper expects from now on that you do your homework on his maps.

Map31 - “Secret”

hmm, not sure how i'm meant to get to the super secret map from this. Seems like there is some kind of timed lock on the exit door, but even running straight to all 3 keys in god mode I can't get it to open. Guess I'll forget about playing map32, not sure that I ever have.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP15: The two chaingunners at the start of the map sure made it pretty tough to get some good footing early on. Despite this being a kind of map I’d usually enjoy, I must’ve been in a weird mood or something because I couldn’t really get into it all that much. It was well designed but there was a lot of combat that was frustrating me so I didn’t have that much fun. Maybe it’ll hold up better on a replay some day.

MAP31: God damn this plasma marine is a real tricky dick. The only time he stops jittering around is to fire plasma at an ungodly speed. One alone is bad enough but there’s no way I can get through fighting two without saving. Honestly hoping I don’t have to see too much more of him.

MAP32: Cute map. Gets a little batty but it’s still pretty fun overall and not too hard (thanks to the BFG). Not much to add other than that.

EDIT: Forgot to mention since I see a lot of people posting that they didn't make it to MAP32 that I almost never find any of the secret exits (I don't actively hunt out secrets either unless I really like the map). I usually just IDCLEV to 31 and 32 since I pistol start everything.

[mouldy]

my policy on secret maps is if I can't get to them even when I know how to then the author really doesn't want me playing them.