The DWmegawad Club plays: STRAIN

[Demon of the Well]

Map 06 -- Launch Control - 93% Kills / 71% Secrets
Another interesting one, basically bets every last one of its chips on a couple of simple concepts-- a narrow winding web of corridors and highly symmetrical '4square' arena fights. Much like map 05 before it, it's really not much to look at--length after length of stifling grey cement maintenance tunnels with carefully measured steel braces, and the occasional larger junction room, almost unfailingly symmetrical, with steel-plated columns as their only features. While there is very little variety in the environment, little real flair in the architecture, and even less in the overall visual theme, the level does deserve some credit for its layout, which despite the simplicity of its constituent elements is really rather ingenious in its arrangement--there's quite a lot of what is essentially backtracking involved in the level progression, but the many winding tunnels have been fitted with cleverly-placed lift segments, telescoping/reversible staircases, unfolding chamber layers, and convenient 'porter booths that allow surprisingly smooth and efficient navigation of the map, provided you're able to intuit some rather vague directional cues at a couple of important junction points. Fascinating that despite the lack of any really notable visual landmarks and the starkly limited, rather sterile 'modular' architecture, there is a very strong sense of genuinely traveling in three spatial dimensions at play here (I remember being particularly impressed by the clever use of spatial adjacencies and height changes in the 'disengage the safety locks' sequence right before the last spate of combat), no easy feat in idtech1.

Gameplay consists of two things: corridor-cleaning and fighting bevies of monsters (mostly imps) that are stuffed into closets on the edges of many of the larger chambers. There is a very pronounced sense of symmetry to the things one sees and does during one's stay here, with the resemblance of the map's very first fight and very last fight being only the tip of the iceberg. The act of combat is almost entirely brainless for the expanse of the map, although this doesn't necessarily mean the map should be taken lightly as a threat; at the very first junction point in the progression, there's a choice between two paths without any kind of indication that one might be favorable to the other, and if you happen to pick the wrong one you will soon run entirely out of ammo and be quite literally unable to progress--not even because you'll be killed by a monster per se, but because you will be physically unable to squeeze by them while traversing the claustrophobic tunnel system! When this happened to me I was able to make it back to the start of the other path (which has a chainsaw, a backpack, the SSG, and a stock of ammo in addition to a secret berserk pack), but not before gentle-fisting my way through the closetful of 'pinkies' ('rojos?') near the blue door.

Assuming you are able to get tooled up in a timely fashion, though, the actual encounters offer very little stimulation, either because they are beyond elementary in nature (e.g. shotgunning lone imps one by one by one in the featureless tunnels) or are framed in a way to make them 100% predictable (e.g. the '4square' imp-closet sequences that open and close the level), or both, and unfortunately my strongest impression of a particular encounter is negative in tone, that being the somewhat obnoxiously cramped first battle chamber where the 'porter pads persistently troll both yourself and the imps alike. So, in that sense, the only things of real interest the map has to offer after its initial resource-gathering 'puzzle' are its interlocking structure and sense of progression. As I said, the way it's put together is deceptively clever, and for something as thematically abstract/minimalist as it is it does a surprisingly good job of making you feel like you're performing some kind of specific technical procedure via its spread of switch-hittery and key-gettery, and so again I did not actively resent my time with it, but again the choice to sacrifice all variety and liveliness of action upon the altar of Concept is not entirely in its favor.

Map 07 -- En Route - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Ah, I had little or no memory of this one before playing it, but I was pleased to see that it wasn't a Dead Simple map, +50 points there.

This level's selling point is that it's identifiably set in a small space cruiser of some description. From the visible wear and tear and grime on many of her components she doesn't exactly impress one as being daisy-fresh off the lot (and one can only surmise what sort of impact being manned by braindead corpses for ferrying carnivorous abominations from another dimension to and fro on their daily errands has on the depreciation factor!), but she gets the job done, apparently. From an interior perspective the theme is communicated fairly well without having to sacrifice too much in the way of playability/navigability for the sake of obstructive representational detail, achieved largely via room shapes and a careful sense of variation in scale between parts of the ship (although the bridge at least is very insistently The Bridge, courtesy of its twin command chairs and viewport). Both lighting and asset selection have been handled more or less tastefully, with features like dynamic lights (lots of blinking/glowing sectors in this case) or the custom midtex railings and grates in the computing/engineering areas lending the ship a sense of life and functionality. The view out into space (and at the rest of the craft) from the corridor connecting the command and practical areas struck me as more than a little half-assed, though, it's an illusion that doesn't hold up even if you glance at it while casually strolling by, let alone if you actually stop to look at it. Perhaps I'm being unfair--idtech1 and all--but I feel like a number of other WADs of a similar age as STRAIN (and some even older than it is) have handled this particular aesthetic idea in a much more elegant way.

Gameplay's really nothing to write home about, mostly basic roomclearing vs. mostly imps and zombies (I notice that STRAIN actually seems to use all three zombies in more or less equal measure, whereas it occurs to me that most mapsets will slant heavily towards one in preference to the other two), albeit largely in rooms that have at least some sense of shape/definition and height variation. Again, the ammo-free start state accounts for most of the zest, with the dropdown encounter for which the first keycard is bait being somewhat unexpectedly hefty for something so early in the map. The other feature that struck me was the decidedly cheeky nature of all those goodies you can see at the start but not actually access until quite a ways in, and only then if you find some secrets (incidentally, finding the secrets seems to really screw the item balance in this one, a factor presumably most noticeable to discerning continuous players), turns out this is far from the last time STRAIN is going to spitefully tease you with juicy goodies like this.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 08 -- Hangar - 99% Kills / 100% Secrets
Hello, 'Daro Station.' Seen better days, eh?

This one's a generously-portioned romp in both scope and scale, feels welcome after the short/simple map 07 and the unrelenting claustrophobia of map 06. It's sort of built like a traditional sand(y)box map--e.g. a number of large, discrete buildings housing a variety of self-contained concepts--although it doesn't quite play like one. The route is essentially prescribed early on (lots of doors seal off the different areas, and most of them are locked), but seems to open up a bit later on, particularly after acquiring the blue keycard from the strange closet-maze in the western sector. I say 'seems' because the route to the exit is pretty rigidly linear, all things considered (e.g. not much of the content is actually optional, and important objectives are generally sequentially gated via locked doors), but past a certain point you gain the ability to backtrack to previous areas more and more conveniently and also have the opportunity to explore ahead of your current destination a bit--even though you'll run up against a blockade soon enough, this relative freedom to move about the station at will, juxtaposed with the way your route is much more firmly dictated to you early on, sort of creates an illusion of nonlinearity, and of course sometimes an illusion can make all the difference. On that point, the other aspect that keeps this from feeling quite like a more traditional sandbox map is that a lot of the progression feels like it more often involves finding circuitous ways to break into key areas than it does actually doing things in said areas, so you still get the impression of having lots of destinations to choose from but unwittingly find yourself spending lots of your actual visit 'between' areas, if you know what I mean.

As far as combat/gameplay goes the station has been liberally showered with a noisome potpourri of mostly weak monsters, with the slow-glide security drones and doppelgangers really beginning to assert their presence more noticeably. The cherry-demons are also out in force in this one, and I believe it was here that I first started to really notice that their HP has been slightly augmented relative to that of standard pinkies (guess I was just assuming I was having a lot of shit RNG with them prior to this point, since I'd mostly used the basic shotgun and chainsaw against them until now). I categorically agree with most of the other posters that this was simply a bad decision on the STRAIN team's part, all this change does is essentially add empty runtime to the game while slightly diminishing the weaponfeel of tools like the SSG and rocket launcher (although these beefier swine are still quite satisfying to pummel with berserk fists, at least). While overall monster deployment is somewhat scattershot and occasionally irrational (e.g. the rojos that materialize on the twin landing pads en masse, but are not able to actually leave it thanks to some poorly-judged blocking lines) there are enough of the bastards, and the environment is varied enough, that the incidental combat is for the most part suitably entertaining--solid use of height variation, windows/vantage points, and an eye towards repopulating spent battlegrounds with new batches of enemies keeps things humming along throughout the duration. That there's no real ammo crunch to speak of this time (even from fist-start) is also refreshing in this case, makes it easier to sink your teeth into this relatively lengthy mission.

While the different buildings have noticeably different concepts to their use of combat--there's the disorienting welter of monster-closets and teleporters to the west (incidentally, I'm 99.9% certain the monsters I missed were in some out-of-the-way closet I failed to trigger in there, must be a royal pain in the ass for maxrunners, this map), the ledge-trap jamboree in the green substation, the maze + invasion scenario in the occult library (<-very metropolitan, Daro Station), etc.--at root most of them essentially boil down to simple corridor-shooting and roomclearing, and so use the same basic 'quantity compensation' strategy in enemy placement as map 03 from earlier. Again, since the vast majority of the monsters are smallfry who can be quickly dispatched, the end result is palatable enough, although it would have been nice to see a lot of the monster-blocking lines I kept running into periodically removed, most seem unnecessary.

From a construction standpoint the level is interesting enough, with different structural/layout concepts used to shape the different building interiors, and there are some little quirks here and there to add interest, ala the totally superfluous (to progression) ability to raise/lower the docking bay in the northern hangar or the similar interactivity with the twin landing pads to the south via the control booth. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, though, this map is certainly not pretty, definitely a posterchild for the jarring and uncharismatic mishmash of new textures with stock assets that I mentioned earlier on, and which characterizes a number of the maps in STRAIN. Many of the building interiors are themed coherently enough within their own boundaries (library, green substation, etc.), but the exterior areas look like something a kid might make by mixing pieces from 20 differently themed sets of Legos in a single creation in places, particularly pronounced in the northeastern quadrant--man, that rusty Hexen plate-metal. My eyes, my eyes. Incidentally, not a fault of this specific map per se, but I also really noticed here that STRAIN's E1 sky replacement leaves something to be desired, to put it lightly--of course the theme of brooding dark blue clouds has been used to great effect by PWADs past and present, but the STRAIN version is half comprised of a featureless black void which makes certain outdoor scenes appear borderline unfinished (as opposed to finished and taking place in a black void ;) ) where attention is called to it too easily.

[an_mutt]

Hey folks, I've been playing through Strain for the amusement of a few people:

Part 1 - Part 2

What starts off as a single-seg blind run quickly returns to save hogging nonsense when I run into the death trap that is Map 06. I'm enjoying myself, for sure, but there are a fair amount of questionable design decisions so far.

Maps played so far are 01-13.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP08: Nothing really wrong with this one. It’s quite a romp through different complexes, providing a lot of challenge thanks to the constant use of chaingunners from afar. It is a bit sloggy and the warp-ins are pretty slow (achingly at times), but it keeps things interesting unlike most of MAP07’s gameplay. I actually really liked the design of that big blue teleporter maze area… a really cool idea that I may have to steal myself.

MAP09: Another decent map. I found myself backtracking more than I would've liked, but I had completely missed that one damn switch that lowers the elevator. Red key fight was pretty fun and surprisingly dangerous thanks to the new Lost Souls. Other than that, not much else to mention.

[Sui Generis]

I've been busy over friday and saturday so I'm slightly behind. Still it's interesting to see other people's thoughts on Map 08 - I have a weaker impression and clearly got bogged down more.

MAP08 - "Hangar” by Rich Johnston
I'm quite hot and cold on this map. There were times when I would go from thinking the map was clever and that I liked it, to deciding it was too much of a slog, usually after having spent a bit too long looking round for the next place to go. The author of this map also created Nostromo's run (as yet unplayed by me) so seeing the different ideas employed by the author is interesting.

The map has several interesting areas, but several seemed marred by things I disliked. For example, I particularly liked the idea of the dark maze, but also found having to navigate it to cover all the opened areas and collect the items tedious. Then soon after came the soft teleporter maze. I partly liked the jarring effect of the monsters (particularly the super/speed imps) and myself being thrown around by them, but again it became a tedious automap watching memory exercise when I actually wanted to go a specific way. On more than one occasion, I became unsure of where to go (though at least one of those I blame myself as the opening was in hindsight quite obvious and nearby.) For example in the large floor lowering hanger section it did take a while to figure out what switches were doing what on which sectors. I respect that several of the authors of Strain did want their levels to be more puzzle-oriented, but I can't help but wish that this little kind of thing was a touch more obvious.

I'm kind of reluctant to dismiss these gripes as signs of weaker design though, as with extra patience they can all be dealt with. Part of me wonders if this set provides more of this and I criticise it, if I'm not simply being unfair by blaming a map for selling apples when I like oranges. I think in this instance I can draw a distinction between puzzles, or gameplay requiring 'figuring stuff out' that is good and bad. The good would be when there is a clever reason for something to be so, that is simply not immediately apparent, whereas the bad would be that something is a certain way just because that's how it was done and the switch/solution is merely obscure or arbitrarily placed. Whew, I think I just about justified my opinions on this level!

Anyway, looks are ok, I appreciate the good use of lighting. Action is fairly decent with a good balance between monsters already placed and more monsters being introduced as the player progresses. Overall I was both pleased that I finished this map, but also pleased that it finished.

TL;DR - longish map, some clever ideas, some a bit too tedious. Would benefit from better flow.

I think I will deal with Map 09 later tonight, together with Map 10.

gaspe said:

MAP08 - Hangar
...
Maybe you didn't noticed but it's introduced, very stealthy, another enemy: the BFG zombieman. It's like the classic zombieman but it shoots BFG blasts.

I also missed this.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP08: Hangar

This one doesn't do a lot for me. It's got interesting moments (especially the blue maze) but a lot of its individual elements don't hang together well, aren't especially interesting, or overstay their welcome. There are a lot of different textures on display here and some of the choices are pretty questionable; I don't know what the Hexen rusted steel in parts is all about, for example, and the various new green textures often feel garishly 8-bit. My overall impression was of a bumpy ride, an unfocused experience.

MAP09: Cargo Bay

Now that's much better, a tightly laid out techbase with a strong sense of place in the working spaces adjacent to the eponymous cargo bay. I think this is the point where it's starting to feel as though the revenant replacements are so much easier to deal with than their original counterparts: sure, they can fly, but they're also much slower, present much larger targets, and seem to be significantly squishier (maybe that's just a function of how much easier they are to hit). Revenants make me scramble and panic; these guys don't have nearly that much of a sense of threat to them.

The interconnected machine spaces to the north of the start room, and the east-west corridor along the northern edge of the playing area, are to me really good examples of how even a fantastical, impossible environment (I think we're at the moon base now?) can feel believable and solid in the Doom engine - at least as far as is necessary to have an enjoyable time blasting your way through them.

[Pinchy]

MAP01 - “Barracks” by Bill McClendon

Nice quick map 1 romp with decent secrets.

MAP02 - "Outskirts” by Bjorn Hermans

Looks more like a fort than some outskirts, had some neat progression to the middle here.

MAP03 - "Downtown” by Florian Helmberger

Felt like a nice cross between The Factory and Inmost Dens, silly secret with 32 stimpacks.

MAP04 - "Industrial Zone” by Adam Windsor

A really nice romp around a complex.

MAP05 - "Depot” by Jon Landis

A cool short and sweet "mini dead simple"

MAP06 - "Launch Control” by Jon Landis

Backtrack progession starts here, nice idea but not fond of the bumpy steps,

MAP07 - "En Route” by Anthony Czerwonka

The exit line broke for me, otherwise good.

MAP08 - "Hangar” by Rich Johnston

A big step up in size and complexity here, looping back each time a key is gained. Reasonable designs, but really not fond of the dark corridor area with the teleports.

MAP09 - "Cargo Bay” by Anthony Czerwonka

Really like the aesthetic and shape of the rooms, also backtrack progression heavy, effecting random things.

MAP10 - "Entryway” by Charlie Patterson

Nice "run into the depths" style area here with the invulnerability sphere. Managed to run under the bars and get permastuck and had to clip out. Seems inspired by the part in System Shock with the vines.

MAP11 - "Command Control” by Bill McClendon

Big and varied with long backtracking.

MAP12 - "Power Station” by Bill McClendon

Huge winding tunnels and a mish mash of themes that doesn't look like a power station, plays OK though. Contains barons.

MAP13 - “Ruins” by David Rotramel

Nice opening shot and first room, cool chains and a hell knight receptionist await you. Nice vista in the pocket cyber room. One of the best.

MAP14 - “Engineering” by David Graves, Anthony Czerwonka, Rich Johnston, and Arthur Chang

Tight spacing and lots of computer high detailing, good use of railings and pit designs, another good one.

MAP15 - "Subsidiary Power” by Chainsaw

Has a mount pain style tunnel romp but with actual monsters, looping and varied design. Backtracking is in, but cool use of "busted through" walls.

MAP31 - "Secret” by Jon Landis

Nice idea, not monster heavy so fits well, introduction to the toy gun.

MAP32 - "Super-Secret” by Holger Nathrath and Anthony Czerwonka

Not a long and tedious slaughter slog, so it's good and fun.

MAP16 - "Living Quarters” by Charlie Patterson and Eric Roberts

Nice clean designs, much simpler on the detailing and structures though.

MAP17 - "Promenade” by Holder Nathrath and Arthur Chang

A cool "corridor of challenges" map with nice music and a dead simple style area along the way.

MAP18 - "Relay Station” by David Rotramel

A fantastic dungeon style mix with cool designs. Tainted by a secret with mandatory archvile jump exit.

MAP19 - "Waste Processing” by Darrell Esau

A vicious nukage area trap for fun challenge but also that tedious tunnel run for boredom. like the way it used the outdoor area with the red key. Not so sure about having to use the metal poles in lava to find the key though.

MAP20 - "Reactor” by David Davidson

A nice refreshing hard and fast fight map.

MAP21 - "Maintenance” by Anthony Czerwonka and Arthur Chang

Puzzle heavy map that probably broke and so was skipped. Nice mandatory 20% damaging nukage with no medikits...

MAP22 - “Specimen Storage” by Anthony Czerwonka

Introduction to the "mobility scooter whine cannon" One tricky teleport puzzle that requires looking carefully, decent dungeon area and overlook to the lobby.

MAP23 - "Dispensary Alpha” by Anthony Czerwonka

Tough combat map with mega backtracking though an excellent looking central hub. Scumbag use of the demon lord here.

MAP24 - “Sub-Laboratory” by Anthony Czerwonka

Clever use of hitscanners to make them as annoying as possible, cool underhalls-esque run and not too long.

MAP25 - "Main Laboratory” by Arthur Chang

Amazing use of verticality and a hellish mount pain run to invulnerability sphere intensity. one of the best.

MAP26 - "Main Laboratory II” by Holger Nathrath, Charlie Patterson, and Eric Roberts

A change of pace here with short hard and fast map with high tier monsters, quite simple.

MAP27 - "Dispensary Beta” by Andy Badorek

A gigantic sprawling base that had me completely out of ammo at one point. A long and tough one that had me on edge. Unexpected exit. Has warning stipes.

MAP28 - “Unknown” by Bjorn Hermans

A nice idea to go into a mystery zone with bizarre architecture and design but...

...that progression... http://www.twitch.tv/pinchyskree/v/10264501

Good use of darkness.

MAP29 - "Self-Destruct” by Ron Allen

A complex map with much looping, backtracking and darkness. one big setpiece open room Pinchy style ';,,;' Shame I broke a lift here so had to clip to progress.

MAP30 - "Boss” by Jon Landis and Rich Johnston

An Icon of Sin mashup. Ended up running about for 5 minutes before noticing the floor moving up and down with romero head in the middle and taking it out fast. Nice shapes and detailing in the main structure.

Overall, generally good with some really nice parts here and there, tainted by handful of Fuck That Noise moments and a puzzle map.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pryQFMD23U&feature=youtu.be&t=34s

[Sui Generis]

Pinchy said:

[Reviews of all 32 levels]

You're only supposed to post level commentary up to the date of the month (ie. map 09, or Map 10 Australian time)...

[4shockblast]

Map 09: Kills: 100%, Items: 94%, Secrets: 100%, final time: 14:28 (0 deaths)

First map I managed to max on FDA, probably my least favorite map so far as I found the gameplay quite tedious. Most of the map I was just shoveling through enemies with an SSG and never felt really engaged (there was little challenge or exploration and few interesting encounters). Not much to say about the map because of that.

One point I also got pretty confused by the placement of the switches to lower the lift to the blue doors at the start, they are hard to see (the second blue door room that was apparently pointless added to the confusion as I expected it to have some teleport back in that room).

FDA here.

[Capellan]

Map10
This is another map where I find more to like on a return visit than I did on my original playthrough. I still think it is excessively corridor-esque, with two extended sequences of 128 wide linearity, but where early 20s Adam found the map's "keepaway" antics deeply irritating, my older and allegedly wiser self finds its dedication to the theme to be almost endearing. I also like the room with the "triple tier" lowering floors.

While I find more to like, however, this will never be a favourite map of mine. The fights are anemic (seriously, an Invuln for taking on a single baron?), with some wonky understanding of difficulty (that single baron becomes two HKs in HMP, which given you're in an enclosed space is actually a marginal increase in danger). It does also tend to overdo the same basic style of encounter in several sections. "Oh look, a closet has opened beside me ... again."

[Sui Generis]

MAP09 - "Cargo Bay” by Anthony Czerwonka
This is a much simpler level than the previous one. There aren't the same gameplay gimmicks and ideas as the previous map had, and it's overall much shorter also, but I probably appreciated it more. It's a nicely textured grey-ish techbase with a good variety of smaller and larger areas. Monster population is much smaller, but they are used pretty well again, with teleport-ins and the odd closet opening. I was expecting the two large freight doors in the eponymous cargo bay to open near the end and reveal a big wave/new monster, but this was not to be. On the contrary I think the level seemed almost a little underpopulated really. Similarly, perhaps some of the larger areas are a bit sparsely decorated, but then maybe that's appropriate for what is a fairly realism targeted map. As a side note I've got to say those holobots really do seem too tame with their snail-paced projectiles.

Not a bad map overall and a good change from the previous map. My mind wasn't blown but it was good enough.

MAP10 - "Entryway” by Charlie Patterson
The first map by the project leader, and I don't think it's an immensely strong map. It's initially a long interlinking corridor crawler, with a modest 3d element. It's surprisingly uncreative really. There's a somewhat more interesting sequence further on with the room with lowering walls adding more demons to the mix, although mainly because I was being stingy and trying to chainsaw the demons rather than two shot SSG them. There are some chaingunner pop-open closets too, but overall it's not a super amazing start to the map.

The remainder is more interesting. I was amused by the author's trolling with the rocket launcher, and there is the potential to lose a bit more health once a few super imps get firing. I died when in the baron corridors after the blue key is obtained because I didn't have the presence of mind to move past it into the spacious corridor. I think overall this map is still ok, because although it's not particularly impressive it does at least have a nice pace with a good stream of monster releases, yet it still doesn't go on too long. If you can't be great, at least be quick!

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP09: Cargo Bay
20:29 | 100% Kills | 94% Items | 100% Secrets

So that would explain why this map looked so familiar when I played Dystopia 3 a year or two ago. It's quite memorable, architecturally-speaking, especially the beginning imp shafts and the two large bay areas. It's not particularly memorable for any other reason, though. The texturing is gaudy (par for the course for STRAIN, to be honest) and though the gameplay isn't bad, it doesn't stand out. The big bland grey exterior shots are ugly, though. (On a related subject, I found a random shotgunner wandering around outside the red key arena: what the heck?) The single secret was cool, but I somehow overlooked the last item.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP10: Entryway

Yeez, IWAD level names for STRAIN maps aren't that creative aren't they? But this level is alright. by far the centralizing part of this one is that it trolls you several times from getting that shiny new rocket launcher. the beginning bit is all linear orthogonal hallways, with quite a lot of room to manuever. when you reach the outdoor courtyard, it trolls you one more time when you raise the steps to it by pitting you against a few mid-tier monsters where you could have easily used it! Clever, but annoying at about the third time. the author tries to also trap the player once he gets the blue key, but the bars that trap him can be opened with the key, so they aren't much trouble. the red key area was also a trap-filled environment. I found no use for the invulnerability on my setting, like literally, didn't fight anyone for the 30 seconds I had it. And then it all comes back to the beginning of the map, where the exit just so happens to be at! A gimmicky, trolly, trappy map that has its moments.

[vdgg]

MAP10. Oldschool design at its best. This is the turning point of the WAD for me - so far maps were OK, above average, below average, from now on up to map17 (excluding secret levels) I find 6 out of 8 excellent maps.

The beginning makes use of 3d intersections a la Moellers: with lifts or jumps over previously trodden paths, no bridges. I look at the automap and I'm impressed about how clear the design is: the detail is mimimal, but the corridors look good. At least in the oldschool way.

Then, there is that wonderful rocket launcher tease (or "trolling"). Too bad the mechanics is not "immune" to speedrunning tricks: Heretic (and I think Gusta before him, too lazy to check now) grabbed the RL at the first opportunity.

The room with lowering floors, already mentioned a few times, is just wonderful, even if not dangerous at all.

[Capellan]

vdgg said:

from now on up to map17 (excluding secret levels) I find 6 out of 8 excellent maps.

I foresee some differences of opinion in our future :)

[Magnusblitz]

MAP09: Cargo Bay
100% kills, 1/1 secret

Solid little techbase map here, complete with the requisitite STRAIN texture cacophony. It's got some nice little design points though, I like raising the imp pits at the start, the elevator looks cool and the eponymous cargo bay looks like a cargo bay, though the outside grey areas look pretty sparse, almost as if the author threw them in then forgot to dress them up or retexture them. Decent gameplay, nothing too challenging (I find the holobots quite easy to fight myself, as long as you're careful with the timing on the slow homing missiles), though the caco/rainbow soul horde at the end is surprisingly large. The key run near the end could potentially be a little obtuse (floor texture switches, no indication that something has lowered the red key) but I didn't have trouble with it.

[purist]

8

I wasn't overly keen on this one overall. Clumbsy execution and awkward mapflow reduce a level that could be described as flawed but interesting into something less so. A failed experiment I suppose. The outdoor zone at the start looked quite grand but was not fun to traverse. The only decent fight to use the space being the snipers at the very start. The wings comprise of a predominantly green area that was harmless but forgettable, a blue maze area that isn't actually all that bad until you get trapped by the teleporting squares and a dull peek a boo against some imps in a wooden building. Of these I think the blue area has the most potential as it at least has good atmosphere and the disorientation was good while you were fighting. It just needed a quicker way to get out once everything is dead. The crusher area was a nice idea too but either required too many switches to escape or did not provide the most obvious route out. I actually found a soul sphere before the solution. Lastly is a inept Chaingunner ambush that does themselves more damage than the player.

So some OK ideas, that could have been implemented better.


9

I'm stuck on this one. I have the blue key and have been in all the blue doors but they all lead to dead ends. Having read some of the previous notes I guess I have not pressed some terminals. I'll try again tomorrow. It's times like this that a source port feature showing trigger and target tags on the automap as a toggleable option/cheat would be a good thing :-)

[gaspe]

MAP10 - Entryway

Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 100%

Not so long, with many gimmicks to keep this interesting. I like the start session with those 3d-like elements. Most memorable moments are the rocket launcher teasing and the room with the lowering floors.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP09 cements my view that Adulusion knows what he's doing. Being recycled from another wad I haven't played aside, I liked it. It tended toward the easy side. In fact, I was wondering where the big battle would be before the cacos were let out at the end. It was pretty easy though. After I killed the lost souls, I got bored, noticed the switch, flipped it, and left the cacos alive. I just didn't feel like chewing through all of them. That's a pretty low threat level if you ask me, nothing like the end of map08. That had some teeth. To sum it up, it's a little easy, but plays well. I'm looking forward to playing more of this author's maps later this month.

Here's my FDA. I could've probably maxed it if I'd killed the cacos. The secret was useful, since it had the only armor in the level. http://www.mediafire.com/download/pajfmh8t6ecwq9a/strain_map09_complete_FDA.lmp

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP10: Entryway
16:51 | Kills: 99% | Items: 79% | Secrets: 50%

For being mostly narrow corridors, this was a pretty fun level. The rocket launcher trolling was fantastic. Not a huge fan of barons popping up in my face in tight quarters and no room to retreat, but that's what save games are for. (Of course, the first time they got me, I hadn't saved yet...) Couldn't figure out the last secret in the baron/caco area, which I assumed housed the badguy and items I was missing.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP10: Entryway

This is an entertainingly twisty little corridor-crawler with a strong sense of playfulness to it; whether the repeated bait-and-snatch games with the rocket launcher before the level finally relents and gives it up to you, or the "Nuh-uh!" moments with the tunnels leading from the outside area sealing as you approach, this is a map that deliberately messes with you in a fun way. There's a sense of dialogue between mapper and player, that the pieces in play are being deliberately manipulated to keep you on your toes and of being cheered on when you overcome the challenges so plaingly being set and reset in front of you.

It's pretty enough, with a less garish texture selection than some recent levels; it's utilitarian, does what it needs to without cluttering the environment with extraneous detail. About the only part that really stuck out as not working for me in visual terms was the network of ASHWALL corridors in the north-east of the map; they're too regular for the natural rock texture to really fit.

[Capellan]

Map11
Bill McClendon's map11 grew so large that it eventually broke the savegame buffer and had to be split in half. Which worked out quite well since the person was supposed to do map12 (me) flaked. I'll spoil things a little by saying that I consider this half to be much the stronger part of the map, even with the switch hunt for the blue key.

Other than the HK, the Arch-Vile is the only one of Doom 2's new monsters to make it into STRAIN and he has his first appearance here, in a nicely choreographed resurrectathon late in the map. The real new bestiary arrival though is the invisible holo-bot. It definitely presents a danger in this level, as it can be very hard to spot against the cement walls in the area most of them are found.

So the first of the two main sections of this map is the yellow key room, with its parkour antics. This was rather less common back in '97 than it has become in more recent years. I like this room a lot. I think the main grey textures all look good, and Bill's used other colours as highlights in a most effective fashion. Squeezing three of the level's five secrets into it might have been going a bit over the top, though.

The second main section is of course the blue key hunt, where you make a series of peregrinations around the central warehouse area in pursuit of all the necessary switches. I'm not really a fan of the red door wing of this undertaking, but I like all the other sections, and the way you keep stumbling across more and more areas to explore.

One of the best levels in the wad, for my money.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

I just got done with MAP10, and I like it, with reservations. The main issue I have is one that Salt-man mentioned: the barons after the red key. With ammo being so tight from a pistol start, you literally have to count every shot from the point you get the soul sphere, where you're usually close to max, on. Otherwise, you won't have enough shotgun shells to deal with the barons without killing yourself with the rocket launcher.

In terms of the author trolling you, I love it. I think that goes a long way toward redeeming the map even with the difficult ammo situation and the unfair baron fight. I'd also count giving the player invulnerability after the above section as another joke by the author.

The following demo is my fourth attempt at the level. I died after getting the red key in the first and second, then went at the map with saves so I could actually finish it for the unrecorded third. I'm amazed counting my shots/using melee to finish off the demons worked so well. Not picking up the box of shells before fighting the barons/cacos helped too. I wasted it on my first two attempts. http://www.mediafire.com/download/ejl0gm6hywnxi83/strain_map10.lmp

[4shockblast]

Map 10: Kills: 68%, Items: 4%, Secrets: 50%, final time: 7:37 (0 deaths)

Some fun gimmicks in this map, I liked the sort of trollish aspect of bars closing in front of you and being forced to go into new areas, also was fun to see linedefs sort of "changing" geometry of areas around you (like the lowering stairs before going outside). But I in turn trolled the mapper and first skipped the linedef that closes red key, so I got it early (I was afraid I'd get stuck but I guess not :D). Then, I skipped the linedef going to the red door, which apparently teleported me to the exit, and I ended up skipping half the map. :^)

FDA here.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Entryway
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Never understand why people would debase their map by sticking a bland IWAD name on it. Anyways, this is a pretty blocky and linear affair, but one that succeeds on dint of its endearingly trappish nature. The level feels as though it is always constantly in motion, whether it be doors opening, floors lowering (especially like that multi-level one right before the RL), or whatnot. And just when you think you have it figured out, it throws a curveball at you, changing up where the ambush comes from. There's also a fair amount of trickery with the Rocket Launcher, always keeping it juuust out of reach from the poor player.

Unfortunately, I'd say the map comes to somewhat of a grinding halt in the last (red key) section, as the player is forced to contend with a couple barons in close quarters and no ammo (I actually ran completely out right before the invuln sphere). The player is then suddenly provided with a couple of big powerups (soulsphere, rockets, invuln sphere!) but nothing to use it on, since it's just a couple barons in the area. This means that any threat comes from being unprepared for a baron in close range, and then immediately disappears if the player figures out what's going on. Also, the texture change (to the brown ashwall) and dull lighting really reveals the blocky nature of the map, heretofore it had been disguised and excused by dimmer lighting and computer textures. Other than the outside area (and light fixtures) I don't think there's any non-90 degree angles in the map.

[mouldy]

MAP09 - "Cargo Bay” by Anthony Czerwonka

Cool map, not massively challenging but sets the scene nicely and does the job. The switches in the yellow key room maybe weren't so obvious, I just happened to press them in the hopes of finding a secret. There was another mystery switch that gave access to the red key a couple of rooms away, obscure switchery seems to be a recurring theme in this wad. Or maybe its an old school type of thing, where maps in those days expected you to invest more time in figuring them out. Anyway, decent map.

MAP10 - "Entryway” by Charlie Patterson

This starts well with an entertainingly trappy corridor crawl, but starts to get a bit tedious when it hits that brown tunnel switch hunt. Its a trolly map, but not in a bad way, and I like the dynamic nature of all the moving stuff and surprise teleports. The progression gets a little bit hazy towards the end, even the map grows tired of itself eventually and just teleports you straight to the exit. Much quirk.

[vdgg]

4shockblast said:

Map 10: Kills: 68%, Items: 4%, Secrets: 50%, final time: 7:37 (0 deaths)
FDA here.

Nice, but once you had the red key you didn't need to skip another linedef (not sure if you realized that). The red closing bars can be opened like a door with the RK.

[4shockblast]

vdgg said:

Nice, but once you had the red key you didn't need to skip another linedef (not sure if you realized that). The red closing bars can be opened like a door with the RK.

Didn't realize, thanks. Doing tricks is just fun, once I found the skip I had to do it. :D

[gaspe]

MAP11 - Command Control

Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 100%

A really good map. The start with the 2 chaingunners in a open field was kinda cheap but 2 of the secrets give us the opportunity to kill the safely. Detail work is simple but very efficient as every area is interesting. The yellow key room has some good platforming moments. The main part of the map evolves around the storage in which the blue key is located, and pressing all the switches scattered in areas around the storage to get accees to the blue key. The freedom to choose what path to take is a really nice thing.
Here is introuced the invisible Holo-bot, idk if it was choosen due to dehacked limits on adding things, but I think that it was a weak choice to make an invisible variant of this monster in particular.
Notable is the first apparition of the Archvile which gives us a good surprise.

Capellan said:

Bill McClendon's map11 grew so large that it eventually broke the savegame buffer and had to be split in half.

Interesting to hear, now I understand many things of MAP12. If you remember some other things about the development please share them :)

[Sui Generis]

Some good commentary on the latter sections of map 10 in the reviews above - I agree that that map tailed off towards the end.

MAP11 - "Command Control” by Bill McClendon
This map is quite lengthy with a significant amount of exploration and well, wandering really. In keeping with Bill J McClendon's other maps (excepting map01), this is a bit slow-burning and seems to go on a long time. There's a lot of key quests, and the switches required to get the blue key form a particularly convoluted quest. Take this and the mostly low-level opposition (down in magnitude from the previous map) and the result is a meandering progression with a good deal of wandering, leaving me to wonder if the area I'm in is where I need to go or where I'll need to return to later. My other issue is that although Crash/McClendon does include some more notable areas to help with navigation, the connecting corridors are generally too nondescript for my liking. I used the automap a lot on this level.

On a more positive note, I do at least find that when McClendon makes a larger space, it is more defined and interesting. The blue key room is a good example, and the windows showing it from the earlier part of the map is good foreshadowing and interconnectivity. Perhaps my opinion will improve on replaying it, once I learn the map and the wander-ey aspect is diminished. I held a negative impression of the same author's map in Requiem (map05) but enjoyed it more on replaying with the club.

The stealth bot is introduced on this map and is used to particular effect in the blue key room where there are plenty of angles of attack. If you're not careful they can sneak up and rocket you. Only 60% secrets for me on this one. Not a bad map overall but the opposition could do with being stiffened from mostly hitscanners.