The DWmegawad Club plays: Slaughter Until Death & The Evil Unleashed & Obituary

[Tristan]

I hope DWMC doesn't lock itself into a niche thing where it's slaughterwad after slaughterwad every month.. it feels like there's a trend emerging, heading that way.

[rehelekretep]

Eris i like you bud but that's just incorrect, 2017's playthroughs so far:

 

TNT: Evilution

TNT: Revilution

No End in Sight

Speed of Doom

Urania

Newgothic Movement II & Deus Vult II

 

only one of those (NGMVMT2) could be determined as every map = slaughter.

SoD has some towards the mid/back half

DV2 has a 50/50 mix (from what ive seen so far)

NEIS had 1 or 2 maps like that

[Demtor]

MAP11 - “Incubator of Chaos” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Kind of a tricky little map with a few trouble spots that quickly get out of hand if you aren’t careful. I liked that you start off surrounded by shotgunners and an odd ceiling hole with zombies pot shotting at you. Mix in a couple green fire imps and rocket soldiers and now we’re talking! I keep hoping to see a meaner use of these enemies and it’s starting to creep in here.

 

Even the robot ninjas make their 3rd appearance but this time seemed to fit in much better then the last map. Here they try and ambush you in a dimly lit space while you mess around with switches and lifts for the BK at the end. Fun little ambush there with a Baron and spectres as well.

 

That AV with the zombie fodder in his windowed elevated hall looking toward the neat steps could really be a pain in the ass as well. Especially with lost souls and rev rockets flying at you. Not to mention the far of zombie rocket and CG hitscan if you aren’t careful.

 

The green exit sign is slightly hilarious. Reminds me of Portal. This was fun. Lots of shells and health to be found which was needed with all of the dangerous stuff being usually up close and personal.

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Demtor

[Demtor]

+++Moonblood

 

Played the first map. I dig it's style.

[dobu gabu maru]

6 hours ago, NuMetalManiak said:

And as I expected, my vote and my reason fall completely on deaf ears. I must have a perpetual partial invisibility on me.

If this remark is targeted at me, I want to clarify that I never include wads that get 1 vote in the count because then I'd have to pointlessly list out a bunch of other nominations that have no chance of winning. Steve D's vote wasn't included either.

 

6 hours ago, Eris Falling said:

I hope DWMC doesn't lock itself into a niche thing where it's slaughterwad after slaughterwad every month.. it feels like there's a trend emerging, heading that way.

Hey man, we gotta get through all the slaughterwads sometime! If the DWMC continues for long enough, all we'll have left is the niche stuff... and Doom 2 :P

[Grain of Salt]

DWMC voting is actually a tug of war between people who like slaughter and people who think the iwads are the pinnacle of mapping.

 

What began as a conflict over the monthly playing of a game escalated into a war which has decimated a million worlds. The slaughter and classic players have all but exhausted the resources of a galaxy in their struggle for dominion. Both sides now crippled beyond repair, the remnants of their armies continue to battle on ravaged planets, their hatred fueled by over four thousand years of total war. This is a fight to the death. For each side the only acceptable outcome is the complete elimination of the other.

 

:(

[Pirx]

playing through obtic, and i'm puzzled by this thing. the yellow key is somehow up in the air on map01 and i can't get it. using gzdoom. anyone had this?

 

well, i had some funny attempts at obtic. first, i forgot to remove smooth doom + droplets from the launcher. result: the super imps looked like regular imps int their idle and walking animation, and changed to knights in their attack frames. ok, i removed that mod. now they looked like regular imps but had a hell knight's health, which made the part at the yellow key unbearable. apparently it was caused by the caulkpc mod i also had loaded. ok, i threw everything out, loaded only obrtic.wad, obticwep.wad and obticwep.deh. and i'm still looking at that stupid key. not sure if i'll stick with obtic for the rest of the month or play the final version of tntr or whatever.

 

 

 

 

 

edit: should have read gaspe's comment. ok, it's bugged in gzdoom.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Pirx
rtfm

[Tristan]

@rehelekretep SoD and DV2 are WADs I associate with slaughter/ultra-difficult gameplay and the like, though I haven't seen either extensively beyond some multiplayer appearances so I'll admit my ignorance there.

Yeah, probably I'm hypersensitive to this, but although I personally have only contributed a few times to DWMC, it always struck me as being accessible to everyone which I thought was a great thing, I just wouldn't want to see that change :)

Edited July 26, 2017 by Eris Falling

[rehelekretep]

thats fair enough, but on the other hand stuff that is vanilla (in a pejorative sense) like TiC, is likely to put people off in a different sense.

i was quite tired of OBTIC by the end, and i havent even been interested enought to go back and watch the demos i recorded to comment on them in this thread.

i remember a similar lack of enthusiasm during the Urania month.

 

lots of people (including me) want to pick 'hard' wads, or 'slaughter' wads because they have genuinely interesting gameplay scenarios or architecture or both. from what ive seen of ESP it has a weird, austere, quirky beauty and i wanted to explore that with the group. im sure Moonblood will be fun though if that gets the most votes!

 

horses for courses and all that - i was just questioning your impression that the DWMC was suddenly going to slide into slaughter exclusive play :)

Edited July 26, 2017 by rehelekretep

[NuMetalManiak]

4 hours ago, dobu gabu maru said:

If this remark is targeted at me, I want to clarify that I never include wads that get 1 vote in the count because then I'd have to pointlessly list out a bunch of other nominations that have no chance of winning. Steve D's vote wasn't included either.

 

Hey man, we gotta get through all the slaughterwads sometime! If the DWMC continues for long enough, all we'll have left is the niche stuff... and Doom 2 :P

no the issue is that I don't like bandwagons anymore. especially the likebait that follows them. that remark was targeted against everyone in the bandwagons (ooooooooooooooooooohhhhh snap).

 

I should also put into question whether or not the MC would slide into slaughterfests a lot, and it stems from the same group of people who always vote for these same wads. Really predictable. Fight me. I prefer wads that start out small and then get big. I prefer to have mediocre maps mixed in with great ones. As for ESP, yes, it's crazy fun slaughter, with great music from Chrono Cross, Threads of Fate, Breath of Fire 3, etc., and MAP12 is awesome, but don't you dawgs get bored or something after going through several of the maps and finding the same style of combat (inb4 no + random reason) because I know I do.

[Deadwing]

It's hard to please everyone, so I don't see much problem in wanting to play a wad for a more specific target audicience (Moonblood is also restricted on this too). While I don't like slaughter stuff (bar very few exceptions), I think it's healthy to the DWMC try them out, as long as there's some variety, although this only depends of who is participating.

 

On other hand, I tried to play TiC series and I didn't find I was in the target audience :x

[baja blast rd.]

4 minutes ago, NuMetalManiak said:

I should also put into question whether or not the MC would slide into slaughterfests a lot, and it stems from the same group of people who always vote for these same wads. Really predictable. Fight me. 

A set of people who like a certain genre tend to vote for wads in that genre. Omg it must be a conspiracy!!!

[Nine Inch Heels]

15 minutes ago, NuMetalManiak said:

stuff about bandwagons and not liking slaughter for longer periods of time

Well if you don't like bandwagons then that's too bad, because, like or lump it, those are more or less always going to be a thing to some extent.

 

You know what? What you like is your business, and what others like is their decision/preference. And guess what? Most of the time "conventional" wads are being played here. A cursory glance at the OP dobu puts up is entirely sufficient to realize that.

 

That aside, I see no reason for you to complain at all, if I simply take a look how the votes are adding up at the moment, because as it would appear, ESP is not going to make it. So what exactly are you talking about here anyway?

 

Did you consider changing your username to NuMetalComplainiak yet? It sure looks like it would make a lot of sense from my point of view, because I see you do that quite a lot.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Nine Inch Heels

[rehelekretep]

'bandwagons', 'conspiracies'

what the hell are you talking about? 'omg some people want to play a wad that i dont want to!' boooohoooo.

isnt it funny how these 'bandwagoners' never complain or kick up a fuss in the other direction...

[NuMetalManiak]

1 hour ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Well if you don't like bandwagons then that's too bad, because, like or lump it, those are more or less always going to be a thing to some extent.

 

ok

1 hour ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

You know what? What you like is your business, and what others like is their decision/preference.

ok

1 hour ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Most of the time "conventional" wads are being played here. A cursory glance at the OP dobu puts up is entirely sufficient to realize that.

You wanna rustle conventionals?

 

1 hour ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

That aside, I see no reason for you to complain at all, if I simply take a look how the votes are adding up at the moment, because as it would appear, ESP is not going to make it. So what exactly are you talking about here anyway?

 

Did you consider changing your username to NuMetalComplainiak yet? It sure looks like it would make a lot of sense from my point of view, because I see you do that quite a lot.

 

31 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

'bandwagons', 'conspiracies'

what the hell are you talking about? 'omg some people want to play a wad that i dont want to!' boooohoooo.

isnt it funny how these 'bandwagoners' never complain or kick up a fuss in the other direction...

Not complaining, read my post again. I just wanted to have fun with the three of you that's all.

 

@Pirx, yeah I ran into that problem with the YK on GZDoom as well. I think if I had set the compatibility to Doom I think it would've been fine. Also DSDA download worked wonders with GZDoom but you probably figured it out.

[rehelekretep]

yeah youre not fun but whatever.

[bioshockfan90]

if there's one thing i've learned here is that people have different tastes and this club is run on voting. if more people vote for something that another type of players doesn't like, there's always next month to vote up what they want. in fact, I've been sitting out these last 2 months just for the sake of not having enough time and not being skilled enough to tackle these slaughter-y wads. that being said i'm not gonna call all slaughtermaps bad, I enjoy a lot of the semi-slaughter things going on in wads like Valiant and the secret map in BTSX E2 was great for me as well. I'm not really gonna complain if X wins or Y wins, the megawad club serves for people to get their feet wet in a new experience and to commentate on it with others. if anything, I'd take these more difficult months as a chance to get better at Doom and see what other people like about it, a... learning experience or something to that extent

[Nine Inch Heels]

19 minutes ago, NuMetalManiak said:

Not complaining, read my post again. I just wanted to have fun with the three of you that's all.

Okay, I would really like to adress this, and I'm sorry for this somewhat inconvenient further derail, but I simply can not help myself at the moment.

 

All it takes for me is having a look at the SoD-month and read your comments on map 31 and map 32 to get the impression that you like to moan a lot. Phrasing, and choice of words especially for these maps (but also quite a bit elsewhere) make it genuinely difficult for me personally to enjoy myself while reading these pages, or doing a write-up.

 

During the DVII/NG2 month, it's actually gotten irritating (for me personally) to a degree that I was contemplating if I was either going to put you on ignore for the remainder of the month, or stay away from the discussions as a whole. I chose to do the latter, fyi, because I think the ignore feature, even if used temporarily, is a last-resort.

 

If you simply wanted to have fun in a group with the rest of us, which wouldn't be a problem on my end if it wasn't for the previously mentioned "stylistic methods" you employ, I have to inform you that you're not actually making this easy for me (or others, as it would appear) to read.

 

What actually tipped me off to write this is the fact that rehelekretep, rdwpa, GoS and myself are all interchangeable with any other community member you can think of. That being said, if you're not going to have fun with us around, it will be somebody else. This is why I really do not understand that you (more or less directly) point your finger in our direction as if we were planning to overthrow Dobu (slight exaggeration), to then say something that is going in a completely different direction.

[Pirx]

whoa, the election gets heated. i'm more tempted by moonblood than by slumber, but i'll be away the last third of the month, so i'm not really sure on this.

 

 

meanwhile i had some time to revisit obtic. it's very fun in places and bad in others.

 

 

MAP01 - “Entrance” by Denis Möller

 

so i played this map up to the part with the yellow key that didn't work, for whatever reason. i didn't care about it, as it was at the map's end already. the map offers a brown world, with corridors built into rock. architecture-wise it's a noticeable progress since the earlier works of the duo, with height variation and alternating open / closed spaces. gameplay is also rougher, as shown by the caco trap and plenty of chaingunners. there's also the super imp and the rocket zombie (although the latter went mostly unnoticed as he didn't get time to use his rocket launcher). i like this "glass cannon" approach, makes fighting regular imps more interesting. the map doesn't have custom music unfortunately, so i loaded it with lorcan's tnt remix wad that happened to be in my zdl.

 

 

MAP02 - “The Cataract” by Thomas Möller

 

this one didn't leave much of an impression, apart from the eclectic texturing others have noticed. a lot of unneeded lost souls and pinkies, together with a berserk pack to kick their asses (literally, here. the kicking animation looks a bit amateurish though). a megasphere is hidden in the nukage, which acts as a bit of health tax, but there are also 2 soulspheres, and little opposition to challenge such a beefed-up player.

 

 

MAP03 - “Chambers of Confusion” by Thomas Möller

 

a doom2 techbase-something with occasional pools of blood and nukage. series of rooms connected by corridors, although with somewhat more complex shapes than in the sudtic days. i noticed how annoying tic's penchant for placing items right in the way is, so i have to pick up one shell box when i have 48 of them already! or is it just thomas who has this bad habit? monster placement leads often to door camping being the most effective tactics. the room with the steel blocks and the cacos behind bars is perhaps the most egregious example: i shot everything inside with door kung-fu, then the pinkies while not moving a step, and the cacos through the bars. lol. more interesting ambushes would have helped this map. at least, there are rocket zombies. i didn't even have to shoot them once - just show up and get below them, and they'll blow themselves up and everyone near them.

 

 

MAP04 - “The Church” by Denis Möller

 

where's the church? i expected to see at least something looking vaguely church-like. instead, one starts in a courtyard with chaingunners and rocket zombies,a  situation that needs lots of infighting for making a pistol start. then: too many pinkies. two rooms full of them with nothing in between. then the red key courtyard, where guess what teleports at you... pinkies. meh. i'm not sure about the rocket launcher here, i watched vdgg's demo and he just grabs it through the grates in prboom, but it didn't work for me in gzdoom, so i jumped at it, something i normally refrain from in vanilla maps. the 3 barons on the marble stairs were also like a door with too much health. ok map, but i found the combat lackluster.

 

btw, i managed to break the map here at the first attempt, not sure why the first stair didn't raise:

 

 

 

MAP05 - “The Hidden Below” by Thomas Möller

 

i could just quote capellan on this map, because my play went exactly the same way, i got the blue key first and wondered how to get the red one. lost my patience and jumped through the window (where the first baron appears), got the yellow key, only to notice that i need the red key in order to get back to the exit. pfft. nicely rounded shapes here, but too much of [i[]open door, shoot what is inside, move on [/i]. i find this kind of gameplay really tedious.

at least there was this marine whose gun didn't save him:

 

 

 

MAP06 - “Reactor” by Thomas Möller

 

reminds me of tnt's "stronghold" with its doom2 base texture work and mostly former human enemies. it's less fun than stronghold though. the opening alone. after i thought tic had given up their fixation for rising pillars, here it returns in full force. then the run through the damaging blood - just why pepper the area with health packs instead of giving a radsuit? add many cramped corridors and a confusing layout, such as the 3 way fork, or the pools where it's better not to pick up whatever there's in. 20 dmg, wtf. the map has its share of funny moments of slaughtering groups of zombies, if their rocket dudes don't blow up the squad altogether, but it should have focused on those encounters instead of corridor-cleaning.

 

MAP07 - “Slaughter Until Death” by Denis Möller

 

i expected more, especially as the map avoids the map07 trope and introduces a new enemy, a fast, cloaked cyborg. but what follows is a rinse, repeat gameplay of the worst kind. one doesn't even have to do more than stand and shoot at them, then flick the next switch. at least one can exit after cleaning only one such room. what a wasted opportunity.

 

 

MAP08 - “Observation Station” by Denis Möller

 

i really wanted to go to bed after that dumb map, but reading about 08 kept me playing. it certainly stands out, not just compared to the previous letdown. it's fun to play. difficult from pistol start because of those chaingunners everywhere. the yellow key shenanigans reminded me of that "donnybrook" map. the stairs to the storage room makes a good 3-dimensional impression. i'm impressed with the flamethrower, it does more damage than the plasma gun it replaces and melts everything away in seconds, like that archvile at the end, which is well used, with his pinkies as cover.

 

[Magnusblitz]

I count six maps left (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 31) and six days left so I'm gonna play 12, though I'm wondering if I'm one ahead because 31 is a secret map and supposed to be played same day as 15...?

 

MAP12: Biochemical Factory

91% kills, 2/6 secrets

 

Another one with all the hallmarks of a Thomas map so far - tiny techbase corridors with a few rooms with large height differences, a large helping of pinkie demons, and overuse of shotguns, shells and sergeants. On the other hand, rocket troopers blowing themselves up (or their buddies) will never cease being hilarious to me, so at least it has that going for it. But this map doesn't really have anything MAP09 or MAP11 didn't have, except maybe some scarier rocket trooper setups. Speaking of which, I'd say this map is the first one that had such a setup that felt potentially 'unfair' - the ones on the other side of the teleporter after the red door (since the pinkies will likely block your teleporter and from killing them before eating a rocket).

[Capellan]

2 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

I count six maps left (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 31) and six days left so I'm gonna play 12, though I'm wondering if I'm one ahead because 31 is a secret map and supposed to be played same day as 15...?

 

15 and 31 should be on the same day (the 30th)

Map12 is for the 27th. But it's been the 27th in my neck of the woods for nearly 17 hours now anyway so it didn't look early to me :)

[Capellan]

And speaking of map12 ...

 

OBTIC MAP12

Oh those fake exits.  Such japes.  Many lulz.

 

Now I’m not intrinsically opposed to the troll exit: I did it myself in STRAIN.  But I do think this map continues the game of keepaway long past the point where it’s in any way interesting.  The chain is also reliant on an S1 Lift, which seems a very bad idea.  If you happen to ride it back up, or are playing in a co-op game where the first person to go down there dies, then congratulations!  You cannot finish this map.

 

To me, the texturing here smacks of mapping fatigue.  Each subsection of the map tends to be dominated by a single texture, with only occasional inserts for variation.  Consider the mass of ickwall1, for instance.  Some of the textures chosen aren’t the best for tiling, either: Brown1 always looks a bit goofy to me when used for long stretches of wall.  There’s also some odd work on the windows in the ickwall section, with random bits of graybig being used for upper or lower textures.  That looks pretty crap, honestly.

 

Action-wise, I think the map’s more or less shot its bolt after you deal with the blue key trap.  There’s not much left that isn’t straight-ahead corridor clearing or pointless busy work (that demon trap.  So dull).  This is a shame, as the opening sequences of the map were quite fun, I thought.

 

I will give the map some points for having optional areas to clear out, which are completely skippable if you just want to get to the exit as fast as possible.  I just wish they were more interesting options.

[gaspe]

MAP12: It seems that Thomas Möller so far for all of his map used a layout that fits into a square and many places are just there to fill the blank spaces. In particular the south-eastern corner, I love when a completely indoor level gives you a view of the sky and the optional areas add a nice exploratory touch, but there you find a series of bland identical rooms. Even though the map is basically made up with lots of mono-textured areas. On the other hand the gameplay was pretty nice, though after the blue key the things tone down a bit. I really liked that you have a flamethrower from the start, it's a really fun weapon to use to deal with large group of monsters in such tight places.

[Paul977]

16 hours ago, Grain of Salt said:

DWMC voting is actually a tug of war between people who like slaughter and people who think the iwads are the pinnacle of mapping.

 

What began as a conflict over the monthly playing of a game escalated into a war which has decimated a million worlds. The slaughter and classic players have all but exhausted the resources of a galaxy in their struggle for dominion. Both sides now crippled beyond repair, the remnants of their armies continue to battle on ravaged planets, their hatred fueled by over four thousand years of total war. This is a fight to the death. For each side the only acceptable outcome is the complete elimination of the other.

 

:(

lol

[NuMetalManiak]

11 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Okay, I would really like to adress this, and I'm sorry for this somewhat inconvenient further derail, but I simply can not help myself at the moment.

 

All it takes for me is having a look at the SoD-month and read your comments on map 31 and map 32 to get the impression that you like to moan a lot. Phrasing, and choice of words especially for these maps (but also quite a bit elsewhere) make it genuinely difficult for me personally to enjoy myself while reading these pages, or doing a write-up.

 

During the DVII/NG2 month, it's actually gotten irritating (for me personally) to a degree that I was contemplating if I was either going to put you on ignore for the remainder of the month, or stay away from the discussions as a whole. I chose to do the latter, fyi, because I think the ignore feature, even if used temporarily, is a last-resort.

 

If you simply wanted to have fun in a group with the rest of us, which wouldn't be a problem on my end if it wasn't for the previously mentioned "stylistic methods" you employ, I have to inform you that you're not actually making this easy for me (or others, as it would appear) to read.

You forgot one very important detail that the megawad club states in every OP:

"This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind."

 

In other words, I'm speaking my mind about maps! I love doing this! Yes, I rant a lot, but so have a lot of people in the MC in the past, so I wasn't alone. Two of my favorite users on this site actually complain a lot about things, sometimes little things, sometimes gameplay, well so what? That's the point! Plus it would be boring as hell to not have people complain anyways. I suggest you do ignore me, actually, it would be better that way. At least I can resolve this conflict even though I started it.

 

Moving on, this argument is becoming noncey anyways.

 

MAP12 Biochemical Factory

 

A much more memorable level if it actually meant being a bit more annoying. Then again, a more annoying map can actually cure the boredom! Combat is fine as usual, it's those stupid bridges that lower when I step on them that bother me more. Quite a few nasty traps get sprung, again in close quarters and such, with one memorable one being in the southwest area with the pools. Look out for those rocket zombies now. The most fun part was that room with all the pinkies, so much fun to shoot them all, even though there could've been a much better execution of things, I always enjoy a pinky shootout.

[Demtor]

MAP12 - “Biochemical Factory” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Nice! Off to a good start! Gonna save that baby for later. Lots of cramped shit in this one with a few nasty up close ambushes where entire walls open up. Things were maybe a bit too tight at times? I mean... even the baron got stuck in the doorway. Same with this spectre. Poor fella.

 

I somehow missed the chainsaw for the massive demon ambush. Ended up quickly panic chaingunning a few of them down to reach the end of one of the dead end halls before unloading all of my shells on everyone else.

 

When rooms do open up some they look pretty great. Some interesting details given sparingly. Like the dead space marine in front of the key or even more subtle things like the blood flow showing outside the windows. A nice touch. During their Doom 1 stuff, that spot would’ve just been concrete floor and a blank box holing those cacs. Instead we got a nice visual next to the barrel rooms.

 

The use of the new hand railings should be mentioned as they show up a lot in this wad as well. They seem to fit in with all of the realism injected with the locations in nuke plants, reactors, military depots and such.

 

There were a number of times the rocket soldiers just destroyed themselves and everyone around them. Hahaha, they crack me up every time. Almost as much as the kamikaze self destructing guys from Valiant (Serious Sam style) who scream like hell and run at you before exploding and killing everyone. Good fun.

 

OMG that fake exit sequence. Rough stuff, damn. So glad I saved my flame thrower ammo for it. Nice try. Missed again, jerks! Tight map but well designed.

[Pirx]

7 hours ago, Demtor said:

Spoiler

 

MAP12 - “Biochemical Factory” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Nice! Off to a good start! Gonna save that baby for later. Lots of cramped shit in this one with a few nasty up close ambushes where entire walls open up. Things were maybe a bit too tight at times? I mean... even the baron got stuck in the doorway. Same with this spectre. Poor fella.

 

I somehow missed the chainsaw for the massive demon ambush. Ended up quickly panic chaingunning a few of them down to reach the end of one of the dead end halls before unloading all of my shells on everyone else.

 

When rooms do open up some they look pretty great. Some interesting details given sparingly. Like the dead space marine in front of the key or even more subtle things like the blood flow showing outside the windows. A nice touch. During their Doom 1 stuff, that spot would’ve just been concrete floor and a blank box holing those cacs. Instead we got a nice visual next to the barrel rooms.

 

The use of the new hand railings should be mentioned as they show up a lot in this wad as well. They seem to fit in with all of the realism injected with the locations in nuke plants, reactors, military depots and such.

 

There were a number of times the rocket soldiers just destroyed themselves and everyone around them. Hahaha, they crack me up every time. Almost as much as the kamikaze self destructing guys from Valiant (Serious Sam style) who scream like hell and run at you before exploding and killing everyone. Good fun.

 

OMG that fake exit sequence. Rough stuff, damn. So glad I saved my flame thrower ammo for it. Nice try. Missed again, jerks! Tight map but well designed.

 

 

 

they stopped making their own episodes by the time they got good.

[Magnusblitz]

8 hours ago, Demtor said:

There were a number of times the rocket soldiers just destroyed themselves and everyone around them. Hahaha, they crack me up every time. Almost as much as the kamikaze self destructing guys from Valiant (Serious Sam style) who scream like hell and run at you before exploding and killing everyone. Good fun.

I've been thinking the same thing a lot recently. I think the kamikazes from Valiant are probably the better monster overall (especially because you can blow them up yourself) but I feel like if I ever make a levelset with changed monsters it'll definitely have some sort of explosive zombie in it. They're just too fun.

[Pirx]

AP09 - “Nuclear Research Base” by Thomas Möller

 

a map that could have been a masterpiece with flying guts of zombie  crammed into tight spaces, like map17 from the japanese community project, had thomas not given in to his love for boxes and tight corridors. a whole net of them, mostly at right angles. this makes navigating the map a rather pedestrian affair. monsters are mostly right in front of the player, so there's little variation in gameplay, and in the worst case they catch all shells intended to blow up the barrels scattered all over the place. when they blow up, it's hilarity though, like in the u-shaped corridor with zombies (that happens to hide a megasphere too). accessing a pool of nukage through a double secret gets a bfg replacement. it's not as spectacular as the bfg, but it kills stuff with radiation. no, with a silly sound. the flamethrower remains my favorite though, as it seems to do about twice the damage of the plasma gun.

 

 

MAP10 - “The Stand” by Denis Möller

 

blatantly a hub map. 4 areas to enter, joined by crossing outdoor bridges. the wad's first cyb gets killed easily. lots of chaingunners, apparently an a map inspired by the inmost dens, judging by all the brown walls and battlements. and a bit by suburbs, i mean the part behind the yellow gate. looks good overall. some surprisingly heavy opposition here for the wad until now (the packs of revenants plus 2-3 archies), but i have the mighty thrower of flames. monsters often stand idle looking my way and notice me only as i approach. some more ambushes with hidden or teleporting enemies would have made gameplay more modern.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP13: Pandemonium II

95% kills, 3/6 secrets

 

Doesn't really live up to the name for me, not nearly as chaotic (in either layout or texturing scheme) as the original E3M3. I am happy that Thomas has apparently moved beyond making cramped-ass techbases - this uses the hellish textures (though more towards the GSTONE/wood end than fire and brimstone) and has more open areas. Gameplay is pretty boring though, especially the middle section that drags horribly with the long 64-wide hallways full of pinkie demons... even back in '94 I doubt that was all that interesting. There's a couple of nice-looking rooms like the caged fiery cross, or the cyberdemon tower, though.