The DWmegawad Club plays: Hell Revealed

[VGA]

joe-ilya said:

What's wrong with the resolution? It's the original doom resolution.

It's fine but if it was a lmp I could watch it at 1680x1050 which is my native resolution, heh :D

Loved your death exit lol

[ReFracture]

In map09 when you go down the stairs and find the barons and hellknights in the force field.. I shot the hell knights with the shotgun, opened the door, and got a baron to infight with an imp. The imp led the baron into the corner and I was able to just punch it nonstop until it died. It was glorious.

I like that map though I didn't have the patience to actually fight all those imps in the yellow key room. I walked past the key and came back to it after getting the red key.. I then grabbed the invuln, went back upstairs and punched out the revenants and archvile before the invuln expired.

It was amusing, wish I had a demo for it.

[joe-ilya]

10

Lame overdoored map, there are too many doors in the map but at least you don't have to open much to get towards the exit. There also a huge hedge maze, good thing you don't have to go through the whole thing to get the blue skull as there are lots of pathes.

Hooray for furniture, more furniture to come in next maps.

2/5

[Naan]

MAP07 - "Arachnophobia" by Haggay Niv - UVMax on first try

Yay MAP07 trick yay spider shaped map yay arachnotrons everywhere! Circling around, then cleaning the wings, then shoot off that spidermind before hitting the exit switch. And that's about it I guess.


MAP08 - "The Jail" by Haggay Niv - UVMax on first try

A lot like MAP05 and 06 fast action packed field, this time with lots of brown, a couple courtyards and many grids. Lots of optional rooms I enjoyed cleaning out and a bad non evidenced secret. Okayish map.

[Pirx]

ReFracture said:

I have taken screenshots for every slide in the pack:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/bch64h3cggd7m7r/hrinformationpack.zip

If anybody felt so inclined I think it would be neat to upload that somewhere permanent since the information pack available from idgames is only usable through cumbersome methods such as emulating an old OS.

thanks! the info pack was pretty nice for its time, with the music playing in the background. i forgot about trying to run it in dosbox...

[Pirx]

MAP08 - "The Jail" by Haggay Niv

a map that tries to represent a jail, on a pretty abstract level, meaning there's some grates with monsters behind, and the rest is mostly brown brick walls. the part with the imp jail and the demons in front of it on two balconies is pointless for the level progression, as there's not even a key to pick up or a switch to throw there. more, it consumes the ammo needed elsewhere, like for several barons. luring them into the crusher is a more economic solution, as well as just leaving the pinkies there.


MAP09 - "Knockout" by Yonatan Donner

liked this one much better, as i use berserk whenever i have the occasion, often on a mass of imps, like it's offered right at the start. and you'll have to punch everything if you play from scratch, as there's only a shotgun and a chaingun given much later. which is funny in the beginning, but turns into tedious shotgunning a mass of imps in the large yard when you come back there with the keys. should have been pumping rockets into them.

[T-Rex]

Hey, everyone, after nothing but chit chat in the first few days, I'm finally starting to take on Hell Revealed where I will give my thoughts on each map. I'll be playing this on the Hurt Me Plenty difficulty, since Ultra-Violence would be a bit of a bumpy ride, and even I find Plutonia to be quite sadistic on that difficulty. HMP, while it gives a challenge greater than other wads on UV, is at least manageable for casual Doomers. This is among one of the first megawads I've played as I mentioned many posts back. Now, time to give Hell Revealed justice, and I'm gonna start right from Map01, playing in vanilla and using the Plutonia IWAD.

Map01: Into the Gate (Yonatan Donner/Haggay Niv)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 03:05

A pretty good starter map to warm you up for what you'll be up against later in the wad. Cute little techbase in the Entryway style where as soon as you step up the platform, you face a group of shotgunners. Somehow, this reminds me of the starting area of Plutonia Map01 as you have shotgunners shooting down at you from above, though since zombiemen are on the lower difficulties, and there's a shotgun up ahead, I'd liken this more to the starting area of Memento Mori Map01. You can also get the rocket launcher, there's a cacodemon outside from the window at the right of the starting hall, and at the end area, you get your first ambush trap with a platoon of hitscanners, imps and the sleeping demons you may have noticed if you went about exploring. With that trap, I'd step on the teleporter to let the enemies start spawning in, then get out and fire at anyone coming from the area, and for the demons and imps, that's where the berserk pack which you'll find in the room with the switch comes in. Solid and fun starting map, also enjoyed Map01's pick of "Suck This" from Rise of the Triad, which coincidentally is the music for the E1A1 of Rise of the Triad: Dark War. Really fits the action in this map.

Map02: Gateway Lab (Yonatan Donner)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 03:38

I honestly don't hate this map. This is another nice techbase for me. Sure it may not seem as impressive as other maps made in the same timeline, but damn, so much fun and action, and you get your Super Shotgun here. Still mostly a bunch of little guys to mow down. The backtracking at the end isn't too horrible either. Rise of the Triad's "Where Iz It?" really helps get me energised with this map. And well, that's all there is to say about the map. While slightly larger than Map01, rightfully so, it's still pretty straightforward.

Map03: The Dumpster (Yonatan Donner)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 03:48

This map is a pretty claustrophobic one as it consists mainly of narrow hallways. Some may find it drab and uninteresting, but I actually like it. There's some attention to detail. Be sure to check the crate room first as it has a switch to gain access to the yellow key, but since I went for the lift first, it took me a little longer than usual. Ah, well, needed to pick up the ammo once I obtained the backpack. Anyway, it's another cute compact little techbase with more small monsters to gun down. Design is mostly boxy just like with Map02, but still nothing that is ugly. Easy and good stuff overall.

Map04: The Garden Terminal (Yonatan Donner/Haggay Niv)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 02:36

At last, we are in the great outdoors, and anyone who has played Jimmy's Jenesis megawad beforehand might find this map familiar. That's right, Map04 of Jenesis was inspired by this map. Anyway, two notable things about this map. One is that you begin to see the stylistic differences between Yonatan and Haggay. Yonatan's designs are actually more pleasing to the eye as seen in the first half, while Haggay's are not as impressive, but with a few neat bits here and there. Suffice it to say that if we are to compare them to the id crew, Yonatan would be the John Romero while Haggay is most definitely the Sandy Petersen. Second, this is where HR starts introducing the mid-tier enemies, with one caged Revenant, two Hell Knights, a Baron that you'll telefrag, and a Cacodemon at the exit. The theme of the garden section seems quite Plutonic in style, with the beige/brown bricks, stones, metal, and green grass, with indented water in the fountain for good measure. I think they could have picked a better Rise of the Triad track than one that loops over and over again, though.

Map05: Core Infection (Yonatan Donner)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 04:36

More dangerous enemies are being introduced in this map, including pain elementals, mancubi, an arachotron, and an archvile, and you get to fight barons here this time. This is a rather mazey map, but while it's still not visually appealing, it ain't ugly, that's for sure. The maps are starting to become a bit larger now. The maze layout can be confusing, but at least it's not annoying as Plutonia's Nap11, which honestly, I find to be a poorly executed concept, what with all those doors that open through crossing certain linedefs. The maps are starting to become a bit bigger, and the challenge is steadily rising. I also love the track used for this map, "Task Force." Definitely one of my favourites from Rise of the Triad.

Map06: The Round Crossroads (Yonatan Donner)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 06:03

This map is the marker where things are becoming more challenging. Now you have to deal with a couple of baron/hell knight squads and there's even more nasties roaming about. There's also a crusher which you'll have to bypass twice, one to reach the lift for the red key, and one for when you have the blue key to exit. You might even have to do it two more times if you're in need of shotgun ammo as one is revealed through a hidden room that opens when you enter where the revenant was. I like the circular room best as, just like with Map04, has the Plutonic style of texturing, and it kinda reminds me of Map01 of Plutonia, just that it has a building in the centre. Everything else has mostly squarish hallways, but nothing that is horrible to look at. You at least have monsters to blast away with your arsenal. I find it funny that if you play this with the Plutonia IWAD, the automap names it Baron's Lair since this map has several barons while the actual Baron's Lair has none, except for the cyberdemon guardian that is mentioned in the intermission text. But, oh well. Pretty neat and fun map, but again it indicates that HR's getting harder and it's only going to get worse from here. Still, the design aesthetics get better the further you go.

That's all for now. I'll get to the next few maps next time. So everyone at the DMWC, take care, and have fun. Keep moving, keep fighting, keep killing. Oh yes, keep living too.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 07 -- Arachnophobia - 100% Kills / No actual secrets
I won't be making an attempt to moderate the generally negative views expressed by the Club about this one, simply because this time I fully agree with them. This map sucks. A person of very charitable temperament might find some amusement in its full-bore commitment to its simple concept (e.g. a map shaped like a spider which is full of nothing but spiders), but in all honesty the idea of having maps shaped like things purely for its own sake was already rather quaint even in '97 (and there had already been maps shaped like spiders by that time, no less!)--you've got to deliver some gameplay too! Funny the comments about HR not being one big BFG-based circlestrafing exercise....it's very true, but I guess it's ironic that this map, moreso than any other in the set, really IS essentially nothing but a circlestrafing exercise, and a rather prolonged one to boot, given that (from pistol-start) your only weapon for 99% of the runtime is the supershotgun--RL placement is absolutely infuriating in this one, joke or no joke.

Now, in fairness, I reckon there's an argument to be made that the meat of the gameplay here--e.g. running laps in nigh total exposure in the central open area with plasma streams chasing you the whole way, gradually wearing down the 'trons one shotgun blast at a time--would've been received by the majority of the contemporary audience as something cutting-edge and highly challenging, but even by the time my mediocre self in '99 or '00 or whatever it was first played it, it was already old hat and rather rote, and felt like a marginal offering at best, between repetitiveness and symmetry. Bleh. Possibly the set's worst map, and possibly the one that has aged more poorly than any of the others.

Map 08 -- The Jail - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
.....there is also some part of me that wants to name this as a contender for worst map in the set, but in this case I'm probably not giving it enough credit. My beef here is how something like 75% of the monsters are (perhaps intuitively) trapped in cells or otherwise behind bars, which is something of a pet peeve of mine--there's just nothing satisfying about shooting caged/essentially helpless prey, y'know? Some minority of the scenarios using this placement style make a bit of gameplay sense (e.g. caged enemies positioned to broadside you while you try to clear a corridor), but for the most part what we see is indicative of the impracticalities of representationalism at best, and downright asinine at worst (e.g. the big two-level room, where packs of pinky demons bounce vapidly to and fro on the upper edges and accomplish precisely nothing other than occasionally absorbing fireballs tossed by the equally useless/pointless galley-banks of caged imps).

Through the years I've also seen lots of accusations of broken balance levied against this map, but on this point at least I find myself coming to its defense. If you play it totally straight (and with how static and unengaging the combat is it'd be hard to fault you for going on autopilot and doing so!) it's true that you might start experiencing ammo problems at some point. Not in such a way as to keep you from being able to exit the level, mind you--a disproportionate share of the monsters lack any ability to actually obstruct your path in any way, after all!--but more in the sense that going for maxkills might become unrealistic or impractical. Again, once you know the map and some of its quirky little features, this issue quickly dissipates; you can save more than a pocketful of shotshells early on by luring hell nobles and other tanky targets to the slow-crusher in the 'torture room' with all of the hanging bodies, for instance, and in these maps the timing of your supply windfalls can be deceptively important. Healing is also actually quite limited, giving the basic route a strong attrition flavor, but again, there are tricks designed in to the level to help you out, ala the secret passage into the chaingunner nest en route to the big two-level room, which gives you a favorable position from which to slaughter the nearby squadron of sergeants, who otherwise would form one half of the level's nastiest chokepoint (the zombies in the big L-cage to the south being the other half).

I suppose what I'm saying is that there really are sensible ideas here--perhaps in line with the map's slightly more 'realistic' aesthetic--and that alone lends me some hesitance in labeling it a total shitshow. On the aesthetic side, it's actually more thematically coherent than the past few maps, but also rather drab as a result, and the lack of any real 3D element other than that one silly room stings a bit after some of the other recent maps....call it a 'zero-sum' deal in the presentation department, I guess. Ultimately, I can see things here that someone might conceivably like, but for my part I find the gameplay here patently unlikable. Suffice to say I'd probably have skipped this one if we weren't doing a Club playthrough.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP07 Arachnophobia:

I said MAP05 was probably my least favorite map in the wad. Well I forgot about this one. I hate this map, it's got a cool spider shaped design but the map doesn't play that well cause it forces you to run in circles trying to pick off as many of those arachnobastards as you can. It gets really repetitive after you kill everything in the center as you rinse and repeat the same strategy for each leg of the spider. YAWN, I did manage to save plenty of rockets for a map coming up.

MAP08 The Jail:

This one is also kind of forgettable but has some pretty cool encounters I guess. The room with the pinkies on the ledge with imps behind bars is really underwhelming and stupid, as you can just run in and press the switch and run out, making it a chore to kill everything. There's some dumb hidden wall secrets that have no way of knowing of without humping the walls to find them. Eh it was ok next.

MAP09 Knockout:

The first actual difficult map in the set. I've been saving up as much ammo as I could up to this point because there is not much to go around here. This map requires some skilled punching with the occasional shotgun game play. Luckily they were generous enough to give quite a few health power ups. That Imp encounter, the first time I played this wad was insane because I didn't have enough ammo to take care of what was left after the invulnerability ran out. I like this map and think it's the best in the first 10.

MAP10 Chambers of War:

This one is kind of nice, some simplistic Doom furniture here but I actually enjoy Doom furniture so I don't really care. The layout of this map is pretty fun. The encounters with the Barons and Hellknights do get repetitive though. Not much else to say, you just go room to room and kill as much as you can. On to the difficulty spike. Fun Fun Fun!

[Budoka]

MAP10 : Chambers of War

VERY easy level but I enjoy it for it’s cozy atmosphere. It seems more visually inspired than most things before it despite the simplistic structures. The opposition is actually quite heavy, but you’re given so many resources to deal with it that it couldn’t matter less.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP10: Chambers of War

Less intense but more coherent than the preceding map, this one has you working your way through a demonic domicile from front to back, with all the expected house locations - bedroom, cellar, study, back yard - scaled up a little and given a mildly infernal twist. It doesn't hold much in the way of surprises, but the escalation of the final areas from a sombre hedge maze full of mournful spectres to a cacoswarm to an arch-vile plus retinue provided an enjoyable climax to the whole business. The player is free to roam the whole of the level right up until they hit the exit switch; I ended up saving the megasphere so that I could go until the next level at full health and armour.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP10 Chambers of War

this is the kind of mediocre level that I enjoy. Plays rather well, the ideas in it are quite funny at times. I don't know about anyone else, but that table is so cool. most of the hedge maze is useless though.

[gaspe]

MAP10 - Chambers of War

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

A house level, there's also some very simple forniture, and a hedge maze in the garden. Mostly we have an easy room after room gameplay, and we don't have to worry about the ammo like the previous map.

[antares031]

MAP11 - Underground Base
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 99/100/75

Okay, this level does not play around. If you play this level for a first time with pistol start, it is just a nightmare. Make sure to find a secret with a rocket launcher, or you will struggle with fists against barons, arch-viles, and even some cyberdemons. Yes, this wad finally decided to put some boss monsters in a single level. But keep calm and just provoke monster infighting. And yes, spider masterminds are useless against super shotgun thanks to the column as cover.

[scifista42]

MAP09 - "Knockout" by Yonatan Donner

Generic inefficient slaughter gameplay with too many monsters made too easy. The layout was also rather non-compact and random. Average visuals. The silver door to the whole red key section of the map were easy to be mistaken for being decorative-only, I missed them for the first time when I was in the area. The map's three secrets are actually just one secret consisting of three secret-flagged sectors. I haven't figured out how to get both Soulspheres in the red-key-switch room until I returned to continue play this wad the next day, and I haven't figured out how to reach the last enemy (a Spectre in a closet) until I examined the map in a map editor. At least the map's progression and playability were somewhat OK as opposed to obscure. Not a particularly good map, though.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP09: Knockout
100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Well, I'm always a sucker for berserk maps, and the start is fun here with lots of imps to punch. Also tons of health and a blue armor, I suppose punching was a lot more difficult back in the day without circle-strafing. I was disappointed when the map wanted me to fight 2 barons and 2 hell knights with the single shotty, but then I figured out I could abuse the small openings on the side and punch them safely. More punching up to the yellow key room which was fun too... just look at that gore! The invuln sphere is nice here to encourage getting in the thick of it, but it doesn't last long enough really, and as the screenshot shows unfortunately it just turned into door camping, which unfortunately is a problem lots of the map has, actually... its a lot of "open door, find a whole mess of enemies inside, camp said door."

After the yellow key section things take a nose dive, as it becomes a lot of weird lengthy corridors that feel very empty and don't have much in them (and as Scifista says, using the silver "lock" door makes it look decorative). Lack of details don't help either, as pretty much every room is just ceiling-wall-floor without any details such interesting wall notches or ceiling variation or... well, anything. So yeah, kinda a bland map, though I did enjoy the imp-punching by the yellow key.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Chambers of War
100% kills, 1/1 "secret"

Ye olde house level. Ammo is plentiful (including a buffet table of it), not much to say beyond that. Combat is cursory for the most part and there's too many barons, especially in large flat chambers that make them easy pickings. The hedge maze is pretty pointless and the exit is unmarked. Not terrible but easily forgettable.

[Lingyan203]

antares031 said:

MAP11 - Underground Base
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 99/100/75

Okay, this level does not play around. If you play this level for a first time with pistol start, it is just a nightmare. Make sure to find a secret with a rocket launcher, or you will struggle with fists against barons, arch-viles, and even some cyberdemons. Yes, this wad finally decided to put some boss monsters in a single level. But keep calm and just provoke monster infighting. And yes, spider masterminds are useless against super shotgun thanks to the column as cover.

Underground Base is where HR's real challenge begins. The previous maps were just a warm up to the real challenge. It's still one of my favourites back when I recorded/played this.

Actually, I've killed spider masterminds using the Super Shotgun. I don't understand why you think that antares031.

[antares031]

Lingyan203 said:

...Actually, I've killed spider masterminds using the Super Shotgun.

That's what I meant. I killed both spiderdemons with my SSG by hiding behind the column.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP10: Wow! An inoffensive map!!!!! While there’s nothing too special about this beige mansion, it sticks out like a sore thumb for being a “normal” level in the set, having a decent amount of enemies and appropriate ammo to dish out the pain with. The only iffy thing was the hedge maze, but other than that it’s an alright level. Certainly wouldn’t mind more of these maps.

[mouldy]

MAP10 - "Chambers of War" by Haggay Niv

This one takes basic orthogonality to almost DTS-T levels of blandness. I'm guessing the idea of setting it in a house took priority over any other concerns, like imagination and gameplay. Its just running around from square room to square room chewing through any monsters that happen to be in there. There is so much health I had trouble dropping below 100 hp. Its good to see the author has discovered hellknights are a thing though. The hedge maze is a hedge maze, luckily I remembered how to get straight to the blue key and out again before the cacos caused any trouble.

[Paul977]

HR is drying up my psychophysical resources..

MAP11: Underground Base

Diffucult level (much more then the previous ten) with good interconnections between the various areas and with some good architecture. I died the first time on the exit room.. On the second attempt I avoided wasting ammo in the giant room full of hell knights and Barons of hell. All in all it was a pretty fun level, my favourite of the first eleven.

[gaspe]

MAP11 - Underground Base

Kills: 87% | Items: 92% | Secrets: 75%

I took the route to the red key first and the level was quite tedious due to killing many mid tier monsters only with the SG. There's a secret plasmagun near the start but in all the mess I found it after I cleared the first areas, it was really helpful for the cyberdemons though. I remembered vaguely the wooden hall. In the room with the BFG when I saw that there wasn't anything I left that place. From there it was really easy as I was plenty of rockets and with more than 200 cells, so it was more like an exercise of spamming the hallways. By instinct I always choosed the fastest routes I guess and I remembered only vaguely the wooden hall.
It was quite good also visually.

[purist]

I've played E1 continuous on HMP with no saves and, after one false start where I got caught up in the MAP01 demon invasion, I avoided death until hitting a stalemate in the MAP11 bovine midbar maze where I ran out of ammo and chanced dashing through unsuccessfully.

I've not posted map by map comments as I've found if sometimes hinders me getting through the month but I have enjoyed reading the comments and agree with the consensus that these early warm up maps have a primitive orthanagonal style with clumsy monster application and bland visuals. I am planning on continuing though since those who have played before say the first episode is not representative of the strengths of the megawad.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 09 -- Knockout - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Probably the first really (in)famous map in the set, 'Knockout' is a densely-populated (the imp yard!) Tyson-style affair....sort of. There are actually many more bullets and shells than it may initially seem, but using them without a thought as they come will leave you having to dodge past/around monsters in inconvenient spots later on (which, granted, is not always too much a problem, given the relative spaciousness of even the sinewy corridors beyond the imp-yard), particularly if you spend a big chunk of the first windfall of shells plinking away at the hell nobles that turn up to scold you for nabbing the shotgun. This strategic element to ammo/weapon usage is an early showing of a gameplay theme that will recur in some of the set's later/more characteristic maps, perhaps, but serious resource management is at this point mainly the sole domain of those who doggedly insist on reaching maxkills (<-- Guilty!), whereas most normal/sane folks will probably just leave a goodly share of the monsters in the dust. Despite the simplicity of the fare here, there are a surprisingly large number of ways to approach things (again, usually hinging on how/when to use the available ammo), though of course having the smoothest/neatest playthrough is mainly for those favored with either detailed foreknowledge or unusual intuition.

If you take a methodical approach even a fist-heavy playthrough is not particularly taxing given the map's plentiful chokepoints, and I recall finding it to be much easier than I had heard it would be even back on my first playthrough (by that point I had already seen fist/chainsaw-based maps, and those with simply very very little ammo in them sans any particular gimmick), nevertheless it was quite a memorable experience at the time (no way I'd ever considered using mainly fisticuffs in a map with over 300 monsters in it prior to that point). Like several of these earlier levels, the layout and decor are both rather crass (i.e. the whole shebang north of the imp yard that eventually terminates in an RSK-get is a spaghetti-string of randomly-drawn corridors with a different texture painted on every segment), although once again quite clean by period standards in terms of concourse matters. Ultimately it's a map made by its concept rather than its setting or choreography; I suspect it's another example of something that simply cannot make the same impact on a modern audience that it would've on its contemporary audience (again, because player skillsets and habits have changed so much between then and now), but unlike some of its predecessors (looking at you, map 07) I feel there's still something charming about it, nostalgia or no.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: Underground Base
92% kills, 4/4 secrets

Hey look, non-orthagonal walls! Shame the author decided to dress so much of it in varying shades of brown, but I guess you can't have it all. At least there's some nice verticality in parts, and I really like the secrets here, as they all have clues of some sort.

The main thing people will probably notice is that this map is filled to the brim with meat... after grabbing the BFG I didn't bother sticking around to finish the cyberdemon or all the barons/revs on the ledge. Still plenty of monsters to carve through, as just getting to the red door is a bit of a task (especially if you haven't acquired the bigger weapons yet) and the rest of the map has more than its share of Arch-Viles and big fry. The maze at the end is a bit of an unfortunate ending, I feel. Still easily the best level of HR so far.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP11 Underground Base

Yeah, don't be seeing the sunlight around here. Where Hell Revealed really shows its teeth is debatable, but I like to think of this as the first hard level in the set. That second room I remember a caged arch-vile on ADHD there. Not to mention the wooden room with several of those guys on high towers, plus a cyberdemon, cacos, and nobles around. The towers I had to cross only to see another cyber on the other side. I think the worst part is that one hall with two lifts, several zombies and arch-viles there. Was it intended to strafejump? because I hate strafejumping.

the BFG room that follows is somewhat memorable. Dealing with ledge monsters, demons, revenants, and the cyber isn't too difficult in the open room. But those revenants don't seem to teleport into the right area. The blue key area's fine by me, the backtracking sure as hell ain't. The spiderdemon's room somewhere down that line is pretty bad, since the entrance is not something I see right away. Sometimes I just bolt for the next door, where the yellow key would be, but since that spiderdemon had a switch in his room, I often lose track of where that room is.

Probably my least favorite thing here out of everything is the ending room. Nobles in water pens, shooting fireballs while I fire back. Easily camped. If that weren't enough, having to hit a switch in the middle, manuever around the pens, and possibly get distracted by monsters inside the exit room while the door closes. Just no. So overall, Underground Base has it's definitive ups and downs, but provides a good challenge in the wad.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP11: Underground Base

Bigger and tougher than anything that's come before; I left this one without bothering to clear out the north-eastern room (demon/Baron of Hell party van) and from what others have said I missed out on a BFG by doing so. Ah well. Overall the level has the same somewhat disjointed atmosphere as MAP09, and aside from the early sewer loop the layout is effectively a branching tree. Heavy on the bottlenecks and camping opportunities.

[antares031]

MAP12 - Great Halls of Fire
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/66

Although this level has a non-linear layout to allow you exploring, you might want to choose the path wisely if you're playing with pistol start. Getting a SSG is normally a good start. Other than that, there's nothing much to say, except this level also has more boss monsters. So do not fight against them until you get proper weapons, such as BFG.

[scifista42]

MAP10 - "Chambers of War" by Haggay Niv

This map's design went well with the RoTT music, as it was very RoTT-esque. Orthogonality up to eleven, symmetry in a slightly lesser extent too. Combat was completely basic and not enough engaging for me. Abstract house theme was OK, and I even liked the hedge maze, not considering the monsters in the area. Unfortunately, that was the only substance of the map.