Hells Kitchen

Never stand under roosting Cacodemons.

Back when I was a kid, my first encounter with the lost soul just about traumatized me. Seeing those scary flaming hate-filled skulls for the first time in that pitch black tunnel in Doom 2 Map 05, and then when they attacked, I had to look away and cancel the game. I literally couldn't sleep because I thought they were going to appear outside my bedroom window at night. My parents told me "you are not playing that game ever again"! I didn't touch Doom 2 for a long time after that, because I was afraid of seeing the bastards again. Ofcourse, these days, they are merely the annoying mosquitoes of hell. But, the lost soul is still an undeniably creepy looking creature.

I'm on Map29. It's been a fun outing, and if you like to "kill the bastards", this is it. The formula became somewhat predictable in the middle of the WAD, but the hell episode really changed things. My first deaths were early on in the hell episode I believe. Perhaps it's the demons luring Doomguy into a false sense of security, sacrificing many of their own in the process, then really pulling out he stops in avenging their fallen. By Map 29 they've well and truly succeeded. My 1st death on Map 29 was from a freaking Zombieman, after taking down basically all the heavyweights with the BFG, lol. Encountering the unexpected, the creative monster placement and map layouts, Wads with this kind of gameplay are whats is worthy of a Cacoward. It's one of those wads that you just want to keep playing, because it's fun. Sure, it somewhat gets predictable near the middle, but even then, the gameplay somehow feels fresh, there is always an unexpected surprise or two, and there is a lot of variety in monster placement. Sometimes you pick up a key and get an almighty ambush, other times not, or even just going near a key or switch, or even walking through a door will have unexpected results. Even discovering the well stocked secrets without even knowing how you did it. I like that. Keeps one on their toes and keeps the wad from getting boring. This guy knows how to use Arachnotrons and Pain Elementals! I like the short maps, keeps it from becoming boring, and keeps the player engaged. Looking forward to Map 30, I know I am not going to get out alive! Pcorf's wads have always jived with me, and this is no exception. Hopefully there'll be a Whispers of Satan 2!

Oh yeah, bullshit like Scythe Map28 has no place in Doom. Not sure how anyone could even think that is acceptable in anything that is not a jokewad.

GZDoom, mouselook, continuous, UV Map01 Nice lookout to the central water area from the hallway. Bit of hitscan fuckery to distract you from the demon/spectre while you only have the pistol, particularly that bastard shotgunner in the tower. Main thing here is not to get cornered by the semi-invisible pig and his mate. Solid level overall with a bit of action. 2/2 secrets. Map02 Now we find ourselves in a canyon/crevice, and what's this? Everyone's favourite instagib bastard already making an appearance, conveniently placed about 100000m above you where you cannot see his homing rocket making a beeline for your ass. Blue key area was a tad intense with a couple of hell knights and some imps in that tiny area. And geez, we've already got an archvile, complete with some imps and pinkies to cock block you, ensuring best possible chance of fried doom guy. The platforming to the top was kindly inoffensive and I liked the walkway with the guard rail. 0/1 secrets. Map03 Mother fucker teleporting hell knights! Almost ruined my day and in my panic kept pressing the wrong button and was wondering why the fuck am I not moving?! A techbase with lots of close quarters action and traps, feat. chaingunners. The one at the start didn't get me as the sound of his closet opening was not timed exactly with the door, tipping me off. It was clear with each key, with the way the key rooms were set up, the atmosphere, that shit was gonna go down....! The exit was an anticlimax admittedly, considering the events of the level thus far. Just a couple of dudes and a unthreatening hell knight. Still, fun blood pumping level. Bonus points for those poor imps who had no choice but to commit suicide. 2/2 secrets.

Depends on how they are used. If there is fair warning and are easy to navigate, or as a method of killing monsters, then fine. If there is no warning, such as enter hallway, lol u ded, or if they're part of some pain in the ass puzzle, then that is automatic IDCLIP for me.

Played through the first 3 maps of E2. Wow, that was an episode opener that won't be forgotten in a hurry! Things get intense in this episode so far, and I like how there is more to monster placement than simply being infront of you. There were some "oh shit" moments here and there. Not to mention, it looks great and has some cool secrets and puzzles. This is going to be a sensational Ultimate Doom wad I think. Most tend to be cautious with monsters and gameplay, not here though!

Played through E1. Lots of fun, really enjoyed it. Lots of bad guys to kill with a good amount of barrel fragging and exploration to be had while maintaining the legendary E1 ethos. Loved how the secrets varied from easy to hard as fuck, complete with the teasers that were legendary to the original mapset, with some of them here harking back to the legendary secret chains of E1M3, and better yet, some of the secrets here took the experience further and created a full on extra challenge and adventure. The only disappointment was the secret level, it did not do anything special or unique as compared to the existing maps, and architecturally it was bland compared to the rest of the episode, like an afterthought slap-dashed onto the mapset with a 1st grader's glue stick. Admittedly, I was also slightly disappointed not being able to access that grand outdoor area in E1M7, with some epic secret item and showdown for the reward. But overall, a mad fun and architecturally fantastic E1 episode that captures the charm and everything good about the original E1, complete with some references to the original maps here and there, while creating it's own unique adventure. Looking forward to playing E2

E2M5 Damn, falling behind here. A compact and fun map. Visually very nice with the vines, which also work to make the monsters more dangerous. Nice interconnected design which allows critters to sneak up on you from any direction at the the start, and it is densely packed enough to make it fun. Secret exit comes up very easy again, infact I accidentally ran into the teleporter so had to reload the map as I wanted to see the whole thing. Visually, architecturally and gameplay-wise this fit like a glove. E2M9 I'm liking the idea to have reboots of Doom 2 maps for the secrets. We start off facing a Cyberdemon! After clearing the zombies along the rim I had some success in goading the cacodemons from the plasma rifle area and baron from the blue door into engaging the cyber. They must've succeeded in taking a fair chunk out of him, as he went down faster than expected from my plasma streams. All in all a pleasant trip down memory lane. E2M6 A nice marble and wood castle/temple with a moat. Decent amount of action with a couple of good opportunities to coax barons and cacodemons in the marble centrepiece for a good BFG shot or two, taking out some lesser foes with it. Sniping that cluster of imps with the rocket launcher from the baron platform was a highlight :) Layout again was good, giving an impression of variety, creating gameplay while at the same time easy to navigate.

E2M4 This map feels more like the original E2 with the textures and IWAD references. The yellow key area reminded me of "Spawning Vats" and we have a sequence from "The Factory" for the red key. The map's centrepiece is the outdoors area, very tempting to use the rocket launcher but the souls make it risky. Fun bit of run n gun, with a variety of opposition surrounding the area, and demons/spectres ready to block your escape to the exit platform. The blue armour secret is great for us continuous players, but completely worthless if you're pistol starting. Those blue dots with their compulsory 15% damage can get fucked royally up the ass, I kid you not went from 124% health down to the 50's. There doesn't appear to be a rad suit anywhere. Health again is plentiful plus the blue armour so recovery was effortless, so it's not as bad as it seems. Fun map all in all.

E2M1 We start off with a short, but sharp outing. Right off the bat we are presented with a caco's ass with only a pistol on hand. Shall I fight, or run? I chose to run into the red key room and wrestle a shotgun from a sergeant and quickly grab some shells, while the imps and demons got into a hustle. Successfully goaded the caco into a squirmish with some of those imps while I made my way to the chaingun, where another gang of imps got into it with the souls, saving me some precious ammo. Despite the low body count of 32, the small footprint works to create that is more hectic than most of the maps in E1. The secret eluded me. An agreeable starter. E2M2 Now this was pretty fun. Full on hitscanner assault at the crate repository at the start. Thank god for that berserk! The map mostly consists of wide curvy outdoor corridors, but this is done in a good way, with a decent outdoor setting and glimpses into other parts of the map. The outdoors allows souls and cacos to sneak up from above, which has happened here. Gameplay is good fun with plenty of barrels placed...shall I say... very conveniently :D Plus we have rockets and a rocket launcher to go to town on the clumps of demons, imps and supporting cacos with. I take the yellow key room is a reference to Doom 2's MAP13 yellow key room with a similar lift and items placed on adjacent platforms. The green armour and medikit platforms are a pain in the ass to get to as the jump off that fast lift pretty much has to be timed perfectly. Curiously enough, the green armour is a secret but the medikit is not. All in all, good fun. E2M3 Nice little indoor outdoor setting here. Loved the start with that platoon of imps in the fenced-off exit area. Copped a few hits from them while I cleared out the surrounds, after which I proceeded to unload some rockets on the brown bastards. Highlight was the yellow key fight with the invuln, truly satisfying unloading the rocket launcher. Was left with 3 cacos, a few imps and a baron after all was said and done. Two cacos went down simultaneously with one shell :D I agree that there is probably too much health, there's plenty of packs lying around so maybe the soulsphere was overkill. I left with 196%. Again a solid piece of Doom fun and the gameplay is definitely ramping up from E1.

E1M6 We have our first cacos of the wad here, but they are not really threatening, rather more of an offsider for the imps. Basically it's an installation built into the side of a cavern or crater, or whatever you want to call it. Gameplay still not that threatening with most of the combat consisting of imps and demons infront of you. Like E1M5 this didn't quite jive with me. E1M7 Now this is more like it, both in gameplay and architecturally. Visually its a nice mix of E1 and E2. This map is so much more varied and dynamic than E1M5 and E1M6. Highest monster count so far and it feels like it, with better monster placement. There's what appears to be a big mandatory damage sector, but thinking there must be a radsuit somewhere I went exploring. Good decision, found one in the blue key area, with some imp reinforcements to hold you back. I liked that bit of interconnectivity in the whole blue key section. Upon reaching the outdoor area we are greeted with pretty much the biggest assault of the wad thus far. We have imps, souls and zombies at all angles, windows and height variation all containing snipers. Good opportunity for rockets with splenderous gibbage to be had out there. The blue armour secret is not really a secret, considering it is in plain view and you can just run straight to it. Probably my favourite of the wad thus far. E1M8 We reach the lair of the big badasses, and we have the marble temple and demonic architecture to match. The gloomy E1M8 music, the underground marble temple, demonic textures, the browns, and the ambient lighting all work to create a heavy, hellish atmosphere. The finale itself was, IMO, better than many E1M8's I've played. It starts of just like the original E1M8, only to have more barons teleport in and cacos sneak in form behind the wall behind you after a little delay, which is a nice touch IMO - creating a moment of "oh shit". The caco reinforcements work to create an actual sense of urgency, and in the enclosed area it is not hard to get cornered. I ran out of rockets and plasma even though I came in well stocked. So yeah, this is a very good effort at for the final map. All in all a fun, if fairly easy, E1 replacement. Favourite map was E1M7. Least favourites were E1M5 and E1M6, they just lacked the gameplay and architecture of the other maps. E1M5 had a couple of good ideas and made good use of lighting, but the layout and architecture were lacking (and I still don't know how I released the red key), while E1M6 was better in layout and visually but monster placement/gameplay was anemic. And respect is due for the author for a finale that is something more than 2-4 barons in a giant monotone outdoor area :)

E1M9 A take on Doom 2's MAP20. Doing things in a certain order will minimise damage suffered, otherwise you'll have to time your ride up the lift perfectly to avoid being splattered. A pretty nice idea for a secret level, referencing the IWAD while being something that's actually different to the main mapset. Those 2 barons are worthless - well they were useful to take a few HP off the cyber. It was the pair of shotgunners at the end that caught me off guard. E1M4 A short E1 techbase which appears to be in some type of underground waste facility. Pretty simple gameplay again, but did get surprised by demons on a couple occasions. Best part was the barrel/demon combo after flipping the switch in the underground area, just strolled past with the plasma rifle and watched the gibs fly! There is also some use of darkness to make the spectres more menacing. Liked the architecture, but the wood did look out of place. Starting to wish for a bit more meat... E1M5 This map uses the darkness and environment to make the low body count more threatening. The nukage tunnels gave me a bit of trouble, not so much the monsters as I had the plasma, but finding the route of progression. Found one switch which released a secret, but it was clear I was not done here. With the rad suits running out, I did eventually release the red key, don't know how, all I remember is humping a lamp... I liked the usage of brown in the 3rd wing, helping to camouflage the imps in the darkness. What I did not like though was the "hidden" switches required to exit each area. Wasn't really engaged with this one, not really my kind of setup.

E1M2 Another pocket-sized offering. Again we have plenty of windows to snipe baddies and barrels through and a view of the green armour secret. That's one of my favourite E1 tropes, the teaser secrets that just encourage you to explore, and the reward feels all the more greater. I came in at 200% health so was hesitant to pick up the berserk, but seeing as the threat is pretty low at this point, save for a couple of plinks by shotgunners outside the window at the start, I decided to grab it anyway to splatter those demons and save me some shells. Hell, was great fun to splatter most of the imp population aswell. E1M3 Bigger and more varied architecture await us at our arrival here. The centrepiece is the outdoor barrel/sludge courtyard, with a great viewing/sniping platform/balcony with a switch that releases a number of demons. With the ketchup gore and the numerous barrels, what followed was some gratuitous satisfaction :D A couple of good sniping moments, namely the shotgunner overlooking the yellow key from the start, and those dudes way down at the red key from the aforementioned platform. There is quite a bit of sludge, sort of reminiscent of the secrets in E1M7, including what appear to be mandatory damage sectors at first (i.e. the red door), but the single rad suit and taking the correct path (lucky), I avoided damage. I found the secret exit well before the real exit, and yeah that's an odd choice of texture for the exit switch. Just looks crap. Body count is higher, but it seemed to feel sparse in some places. There is more than adequate health, I believe I counted no less than 3 medikits on the short run from the courtyard to the secret exit. Found all secrets, but the rocket launcher one eluded me for a good while. After much wall humping, I got the light bulb above my head... "let's look around this corner..." Liked this map architecturally, and some good gameplay moments, but I feel it could've used more opposition.

I've played the first release of this , and I found it to be an enjoyable wad. A real accomplishment for 9 days work! While it may seem easy at first, it does amp up ;) I won't spoil anything though.