Thrustpeak

Time to catch up. UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP12: Ruins Ammo was pretty tight here, and the chaingun was nowhere to be found. I wasn't really a fan of the archvile teleporting away to the other side of the map to start resurrecting things, and just kind of groaned every time the sides got repopulated with enemies to snipe at me. Not the worst map, but it's tough when it has to be compared to the stellar last few maps. MAP13: Necropolis It had a similar feel to Myolden's other map in the 9th slot, and I think I prefer that over this. However, this was still a fantastic map that I enjoyed playing. Myolden is a mapper I should keep tabs on. MAP14: Sanctuary of Horae It felt like the stream of enemies was never ending here. I wanted to kill all of them but I was down to around 10% HP and had no idea how to get the soul sphere so I decided to just grab the blue key and duck out. Still a fun map though.

I really dug this month's run-down desert techbase theme. The whole thing was a blast to play through, but I think MAP10 was my favorite of the bunch. Here is a playlist of my casual UV-max playthrough. I time stamped all the secrets in case anyone else playing struggles to find some. Though, none were that hard to find outside maybe some on MAP09.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP 11: Cold Blood Another solid map from the project lead in a new snowy locale. Despite my 2 self inflicted rocket deaths this felt a bit easier than the 2 maps that preceded it. A+ for the big setpiece fight in the central area where the once snowy surface melts away revealing a bloodsoaked battlefield and hordes of demons to contend with. ViolentBeetle really seems to excel at maps that are fun to play, and—with that understanding of what makes an enjoyable experience—the project seems like it was in capable hands. This wad has been on quite the hot streak with hit after hit from maps 9-11, and I hope it continues.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP10: Terminal Decay While the last map had a plutonia-like feel to it this map felt like it came more from the school of TNT, and I dig it. It did a fantastic job at building tension. The sounds of archviles and revenants lurking as you wander through the dark to a somber midi creates a tense atmosphere as the encounters—starting off small and unthreatening—slowly getting meaner and meaner. It felt like something I should have continually gotten lost in, but somehow that was never the case except for one brief instance. It was all very well executed. It stands out for being such a unique experience compared to what has preceded it, and it has me looking forward to LordEntr0py's next map in the 19th slot.

It feels like there have been tons of great custom monsters already that have identified and filled some holes in the Doom 2 roster. Barons feel unnecessary with Hell Knights existing. So, I think something where the threat is derived from a dangerous attack rather than a bullet spongy health pool really adds something like seen in Valiant with it's Pyro Knight's. On the subject of Valiant, I also love the suicide bombers. They bring something to the table that none of the other monsters in the roster do. A high priority threat that rushes you and you have to be careful about how you take them out or you'll blow yourself up. You can even take some other enemies with them if you blow them up in a good spot. Lastly, it feels like there isn't a truly dangerous pure melee threat. Pinkies are more a threat by blocking your path rather than their actual easily avoidable melee attack. So, I think the melee revenants like in Running Late 2 serve as a better melee attack threat. One thing that I would like to see more options for—that I can't think of many good examples—is bosses. The less icon of sin finales the better.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP09: Electric Red Wow, this map sure brings the pain. Cramped spaces, tons of rockets it feels too dangerous to use, and plenty of wicked traps sprung—this was the first map to kill me, and it did so multiple times. The brutal battle for the blue skull—dropped into a pit with revenants sniping as a pack of hell knights make maneuvering and rockets difficult—did me in twice. A fitting challenge to claim the exit key. Visually there was some cool stuff going on here. I really liked the bit at the blue keycard. This is probably one of the frontrunners for my favorites so far along with MAP05 and MAP07.

Same thing happened to me and landed me my first death in the wad.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP08: Corruption Complex Like map 2 was aptly named "Regular Base" it feels like this could have similarly been called "Regular Corrupted Base". There isn't much to comment on because it feels so basic. While not the worst map, it's not something that will stick in my memory for any reason—good or bad.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP07: Constant Companion Drawing obvious inspiration from Valiant's iconic MAP07, it puts it's own spin on it tasking us with keeping the arachnotron alive or suffering the consequences. At least, I assume that's the case since I didn't actually kill the arachnotron until I got the okay. Gather 3 keys while fighting through 3 separate arenas—making sure the teleporting arachnotron doesn't die to infighting—and finally see that familiar MAP07 sight of being caught in mancubus crossfire. Finish them off and it's finally okay to kill the arachnotron and head out. A well done Mancubian Candidate homage, and—while MAP05 is still my favorite visually—this was probably the most fun I've had yet.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP06: No OH&S Compliance Both combat and visuals left a lot to be desired when compared to the maps that precede it. The closest call I had was not from any combat, but from taking a dip into the damaging water with the only escape on the opposite end. The room full of pinkies and the unleashing of cacos felt like they could have been handled a bit better as both ended up as rather lame affairs with me hiding in a corner and punching from safety or shooting through a fence. Also—even though I was looking straight ahead after flipping the switch behind the yellow door—I did not notice the stairs raising as the gray steps blended together with the gray walls. Probably the weakest map yet, and feels like it needed some more work.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP05: Green Tech's Embrace Judging by the name, green was the theme, and it was utilized well like the previous maps dedication to blue and gray. Nukage scattered throughout, green tinged stone, green pulsing panels and tech all set against green skies with some browns and grays paired for good measure. I got the sense of being in some kind of ominous factory with all the explosive barrels and nukage pools being refuse from whatever is going on here. I dug the look of this map, and had fun playing it. However, none of the encounters really stuck out to me. There is no "that fight" to point to. Not to say that the combat was bad, but it just felt like it was lacking one big memorable brawl or unforgettable evil trap. Still it was overall an enjoyable experience, and probably my favorite looking map yet.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP04: Bilis A cool looking rocky base that kicks off with a pain elemental ahead to draw the attention as a chaingunner ambushes from behind. It felt like the map was assuming continuous players were entering topped off. Otherwise, it could make for a cheap feeling death. Speaking of cheap, while traversing the thin ledge I got stuck on infinitely tall pinkies and couldn't even fight back. Though, after losing my entire secret soulsphere's worth of health I finally squeezed past them and was able to hop down to kill them. The secret at the end of this path had a crusher to deal with the revenants, but I'm not sure why anyone would have left them alive to snipe freely in the first place. Maybe ammo is tight enough on pistol start to force it, but it felt like a secret that would have been far more rewarding at the beginning of the room. It kind of felt like I cheesed the 2 big fights—both red and yellow key—by just hopping into another room and fighting them through the grated wall. By the time I found the secret rocket launcher with the aid of the secret computer area map everything was already dead, but at least i'm playing continuous and can make use of it next map. This map almost felt like it was designed for a second playthrough. The revenant crusher and rocket launcher both feel like they only benefit those that already know of them.

UV | Continuous | dsda-doom MAP03: Get Rectangular MAP01 with it's chaingunners and abundance of revenants had led me to expect subsequent maps to follow suit, but both MAP02 and MAP03 have used both sparingly. Not to say there is no challenge. Putting you 1v1 against a hellknight in cramped quarters definitely felt dangerous, but it hasn't been anywhere near as difficult as I was expecting. I'm not sure if there was some way out to where those caco's visible through a window were (I found all secrets and it wasn't one of them), but had I not been backtracking for ammo I would have missed them entirely. A fun enough short map, but nothing in it to really make it stick in my memory. Plenty of hitscanners but not a chaingunner in sight

UV | Continuous | DSDA Doom MAP02: Regular Base Aptly named, and thus I don't really have much to comment on. Combat-wise and visually it's what you'd expect from a regular base map outside the fun little tricks like the super shotgun being snatched away or the blue skull being shot out where you have to intercept it on it's trajectory. If not for these little flairs it would be a fairly forgettable map.

I had the same thing happen to me with DSDA 0.19.7