RHhe82

MAP04. Played on UV, continuous. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 370/370, S: 3/4, I: 109/110. Comp. time 28:37 Kill count rises, and most of it consists of fodder, which I'd love to mow down... if not for slight ammo starvation looming very near in the horizon despite continuous play. Another flaw: I found out only after passing point of no return that you can't backtrack for long, and that you can permanently lock yourself out of a secret that would have somewhat alleviated resource issue. I'm still not sure what the five switches in one room did. Other than that, I suppose MAP04 is a fine map. Linear, very silvery, and the end sequence is cool (for a moment there I thought my laptop was dying). I suppose that helped me dip the scales on positive after all. The cyberdemon fight with forced blur sphere is nothing to reminisce (surprisingly enough I never got splattered climbing up from the elevator into the arena), but I really like BPRD's sector work, the hole in the arena looks very good. I guess the thing is I'm just not that keen on some of B.P.R.D's design philosophies. Ample ammo, backtrackability and having no softlock situations are not exactly basic human rights -- but I hold those values in high regard. AFTERWARDS (day after first playthrough): I decided to replay the level, and I even tried to do a pistol start, since my continuous had already been overwritten on MAP06. The beginning was a little harder, but knowing a bit of the ambushes, I managed to complete the map with considerable ammo surplus, and suddenly I was feeling somewhat more chipper about the map. Also, I found out that DSDA-Doom does not record level completion time unless you pistol start (but it does record K/I/S). That's actually very fine and preferable to me, I just didn't realize until now. MAP04. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 370/370, S: 4/4, I: 110/110. Comp. time 28:02

Bragging rights, the true hardcore gamer mentality… I guess there is the excitement, which I also would enjoy, but I’m with you and others here: I don’t have the time to do attempts after attempts just to satisfy some outside standard. My frustration would very quickly outgrow any other positives gained from saveless play. (and as for Wolf3D - I played it to bits in 1992, but replays in the 2000s greatly depend on nostalgia and overlooking the shortcomings of the engine. No way in hell am I going to waste my time getting killed by fast, silent zombies).

MAP03. Played on UV, continuous. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 169/169, S: 2/2, I: 46/46. Comp. time 14:13 A proper map this time. A solid(ish) map I'd say, I really liked the linedef detail in places where the tech base is "broken" by some force of nature. The map isn't too hard -- but I have a feeling that pistol start would have been unkind experience. Which brings me to things I didn't like: the dark pinky maze. Not only I feel there I would have run out of shells there (and would have wished for a berserk or at very least a chainsaw, which you get only near the exit of the maze), I really don't like this sort of mazes in my Doom. I guess Ultimate Doom had some bearable mazes by today's standards, but this one was merely boring, designed to drain you of ammo, and running out of shells wouldn't have exactly improved my disposition. Not gonna try pistol start this one, at least not right now. Other than that, a solid map. The secret area entrance, especially the computer area map one, was a little random, but I'll accept it.

MAP02. Played on UV, continuous. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 27/27, S: 1/1, I: 5/5. Comp. time 1:53 Well. It's clearly an elementary hub level á la vanilla Doom (as opposed to Hexen where you would return to the exact same map, and not just one that looks like previously visited area), there is very little to do and explore. Even the secret just seems to be there for the sake of having at least one secret, which I understand was a thing in the olden times so as to not break the secret tally. As it is, the map is a bit underwhelming, but I guess that's by design. (I played this on pistol start, too. All kills, secrets and items, saveless (awww mah gaad) completion time 0:47)

Really? I could have sworn there was a BPRD map somewhere in CC1, but I could well have mistaken him for someone else. …. and now that I checked that map listing, yeah, I confused him with someone else, oops.

EQUINOX MAP01. Played on UV, continuous. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 105/105, S: 5/5, I: 22/23. Comp. time 10:48 I decided to play Equinox on continuous style rather than pistol starts, because I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to have bad time in the long run otherwise. I've seen Dean of Doom coverage, but I can't quite remember what was being said there, but I think I saw someone mention something about ammo scarcity on pistol starts. Anyway: Equinox 01 looks great, considering its texture usage is largely monotone silver metal. Areas inside the silver metal base are a bit more mundane, orthogonal corridors... For some reason you can switch off the lights for good part of the base. I don't know why would you do that, but I did. I also liked the rowing boat area, like the secret wall is hinted by footsteps in sand. Cool stuff. For whatever reason, I kept on thinking of slightly similar area in Dark Souls 2, a sort of "secret rowing boat", and I guess my brains were mushed by the heat wave here in Finland, but for a moment I thought interacting with the rowing boat would change Doomguy's gender as the Dark Souls boat did :P Anyway, I digress... Good start. Let it be noted that this is the first BPRD map I've ever played, but call me excited to give this one a go. Perhaps one day I'll attempt a certain infamous map in Community Chest 2...

Without spoiling too much, my reviews on upcoming days on Equinox will be that of first-timer's. How innocent I was. It took me June 1st til June 3rd to complete Biowar and write all my capsule reviews thus far. Equinox with less maps (some of them very short) took me from June 3rd till June 11th.

MAP17: Sacrilege. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 137/137, S: 2/2, I: 46/46. Comp. time 16:01 I feel this one continues in the same vein as the last map, Killing Fields, but is somewhat more fun -- although I didn't appreciate the platforming near the end as I didn't appreciate the SMM sitting somewhere you can't one- or two-shot her with BFG. Speaking of which, being able to two-shot cybers probably wasn't a thing in 1999, and it's a wonderful way to conserve ammo in these older wads (as, I think, is berserks, which modern player can easily use against hell nobles and revenants -- or was that a thing already in 1999? I know I didn't learn to appreciate berserk in that manner until early 2020s). Anyway, decent map that suffers a bit from TNTitis, namely for being too long for its own sake. * MAP18: Die Houseschrecke (sic?). Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 34/34, S: 1/1, I: 3/3. Comp. time 5:22 Eeech, the starting room makes me smell Icon of Sin, and what do you know, it is an IoS map... But, to my surprise, a rather pleasant one. Nothing to write home about, but a decent end to a mapset. I guess the one decent use of IoS is to make it some sort of area you have to survive long enough, but *NOT* do any stupid platforming (with enemies knocking you off) and precision-shooting the brain (having enemies cause constant face-rockets). Maybe this one was even a little bit too easy, but I'm not going to complain. * * * Thoughts on BIOWAR: Honestly, while Operation: BIOWAR won't land in my Desert Island wad folder nor give any reason to tweak my TOP Wads point allocation, and while the overall quality wasn't quite exactly A-tier, I liked it considerably more than I initially expected. BIOWAR presents 19 inoffensive, but mostly nice maps that are just a proper amount of difficult for someone who has only done original IWADs (not TFC or Plutonia, though).

MAP16: Killing Fields. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 177/177, S: 2/2, I: 48/51. Comp. time 21:44 I don't know if I was in sour mood or what, but this one was just tedious. It played like a mediocre TNT: Evilution map for me - far too long, with little charm. The most exciting piece here was the very beginning, when you get the red key. The rest was a bore, and the dunce cap goes to the IOS Cube wall maze, ugh.

MAP15: Heat. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 69/69, S: 2/2, I: 38/38. Comp. time 10:25 Yes, we have ventured far from tech bases now, to fiery cavern employing Heretic/Hexen textures. It's a solid map, that I'm finding it hard to write about, it's only real offense is to have highly damaging floor and only one radsuit, whereas low damaging floor without radsuits would have done just as well. (I feel like I'm just trying to find something bad to say; it's lava, I know, and it posed no problem... it was not a major offense). I'm not sure what opened the way to the secret map -- I suppose one of the switches I didn't know what they did, opened the way. Either that, or it was always there like a branching path. Actually, I don't know if there was a way to exit straight to MAP16, I never tried the exit line looking linedef just after the secret exit corridor entrance. * MAP31: Juggelo Funhouse. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 52/52, S: 1/1, I: 24/24. Comp. time 7:01 I suppose by 1999 standards this must have been a fun romp, but now peek-a-boo shooting a SMM is not my idea of fun (admittedly, though, it could much worse), and the map ends up being a bit dull. Although the teleport ambush at the red key was quite dangerous for what we've been accustomed to this month. For the final showdown with a cybie we are granted BFG and a few surprise revenants. I don't know how this must have felt like in 1999, but nowadays having the cybie-cyb do the infighting and the player consistently two-shotting a cyber makes this encounter not a big deal. I guess the map's okay. The midi is peculiar, the sugarplum fairy midi so sweetly reeks of 90s stock midis you received with your Soundblaster 16 package. (Although this one was a rock rendition of the said piece, right?). (Added upon posting: I've heard of Insane Clown Posse, but I'm not familiar with it and didn't make the connection - so it is possible I'm missing something that would have elevated the experience).

MAP14: Absolution. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 148/148, S: 3/3, I: 34/38. Comp. time 19:21 Absolution's a fine map. The enemy numbers are toned down, and it never feels like a chore (except possibly the marble arched hallway with cacodemons patrolling outside - but only if you stop there to take care of them with a shotgun - you'll be better equipped later). But it's also a little bit less exciting. The battle for red key is fun, I even died there once to a face-rocket against teleporting HK. Fine map. These maps are getting longer, no more 2 minute fares... And now that I remembered to think about it: pistol starting hasn't proven a bad choice -- whatever their design philosophy was, almost all the maps have so far given ample ammo to deal with whatever mappers have thrown against the player.

MAP13: UAC Prison. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 364/364, S: 2/2, I: 38/38. Comp. time 24:16 What in the world is that kill counter all of a sudden?! UAC Prison is easily the longest map so far. What we have here is a third decent map in a row, although I was hoping for excess á la Alien Vendetta's 'Suicidal Tendencies' instead of mowing down shotgunners and a handful of revenants locked behind bars. It's fun for a while, but runs the risk of becoming a chore. We stay on the winning side here; the only disappointment is that this could have been my favourite map if not for the prison part tedium and some slightly annoying back-tracking earlier in the map when you have to go back and forth places with the red key. I noticed the lady face in the "hub" area, which I understand is a H.R. Giger painting, which I know from a game of 90s I never played, but I always remember from the very first gaming magazine number that I bought (had my parents buy) for myself: The game Dark Seed was reviewed in that number, and the same lady face was in the cover of that magazine. Whatever that year was, 1992?

It was a different time - I liked Doom 2’s maps much better in 1995 than I do now — but I still remember being slightly disappointed. Doom 2 was good, it had new monsters (although I didn’t hell knights because they were reskins of barons… now I like hell knights better) and SSG, but maps were less exciting, midis weren’t as good. Still good, but no Doom 1. This gap between Doom/Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 has widened considerably in 30 years.

MAP12: Military Center. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 82/82, S: 2/2, I: 66/66. Comp. time 9:50 This is structurally like an immensely improved version of MAP02, Terror Core in that we take teleports to different locations to gain access to keys. Blue one is needed for the exit. While the visual outlook is not exactly up to modern standards, I feel that especially the outdoor area looks nice, and the rest looks okay for such an old wad. My only complaint here is that it took me a long time to realize where the keycards were. For a moment I thought the map had bugged out somehow. Good thing that I thought of going back... not remembering that even in MAP02 the keycards somehow appeared in previously visited room.

MAP11: Frozen Terror. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 65/65, S: 2/2, I: 62/62. Comp. time 9:24 Frozen Terror continues the theme of natural landscapes, although this time covered in ice. This one is remarkably better affair, though -- monster density is appropriate and the map equips the player -- especially if they find the secret plasma which I did, but saved cells for the "Descent" part of the map. Decent map! (... that I seem to have little to say about).