Celestin

MAP25: Castle of the Hell Knights by Antoni Chan The title is misleading - I expected yet another stronghold with higher than average number of hell nobles, instead I got a trip through the intestines of an Icon of Sin. Not that I'm disappointed, I've always appreciated when mappers remember that Doom 2's final boss was supposed to be a living creature. After dispatching the initial opposition, you enter the monster's guts, where you can kill enemies outright or (which I find more enjoyable) use the crushers to do the job for you. There's no cheesing the final fight, with a bleachers of hell knights (here they are) and two cyberdemons plus mancubi firing at you from behind. I'd say the most entertaining way to deal with this is to flip a switch on the top level, adding cacodemons, arachnotrons and a mastermind to the party - most will tear themselves apart, the rest can be finished off with a plasma rifle. Overall, another breezy map, though not without an edge. I know there were some high-profile wads released this month, but one, most of the community has already thrown themselves to play them, so fewer people would join, two, pleasure delayed is a pleasure doubled. In a true hipster fashion, I'd vote for something completely different: +++ Sepia - a 34-map MBF-21 megawad made by Petyan with several guest mappers, based around the usage of colour brown. +++ The 10x10 Project + What Lies Beneath + Pagodia - three separate episodes that are being voted on for a while now. I think it would be an interesting and diverse set. +++ Good Morning Phobos - a 33-map Boom-compatible megawad by sincity2100. Another set of maps that is often voted for, I had fun playing it on HMP and I'd like to see how UV holds up.

MAP25-MAP30 MAP25: Feeder's Digest by LunchLunch MAP26: Beyond Life by DFF MAP27: Last Ruin by Muuni MAP28: Void Hydroproccessing II by Rivi the Warlock MAP29: World's End by 7Soul MAP30: An Eye for an Eye by ViolentBeetle Conclusions Skulltiverse is a megawad that was on my backburner for a while, so I'm glad I finally got around to play it. I don't think I had this much fun playing Doom for a while, it is a very varied set, both in terms of visual and gameplay style. I mentioned there's a number of maps that rely on "let's lock the player in an arena and flood it with imps" trick, but at the same time, there's also room for grand slaugher, adventure maps and several gimmick levels to break the monotony. Ironic when the bulk of the maps boils down to getting the blue skull and returning to the start. Despite this, the wad displays a consistent quality, which I attribute to both the talent of individual contributors and project leader's vision. I could nit-pick about individual maps (and I did that in my write-ups), but as for the wad as a whole, I don't see any obvious flaws with the project. It has a good difficulty curve, steadily escalating until you reach MAP28, which will test your skill (I don't know how it plays on lower difficulties, but on UV it's brutal). This is something I greatly appreciate, since I took a break from modern wads and wanted to acclimate back to their challenge level. Also, most maps are on the shorter end, with only a handful exceeding 20 minutes of in-game time. This, combined with diversity of map, pushes you forward, always curious what the next map is going to be. In the end, this is a great megawad and I strongly recommend it to any fan of community works. Top 5 maps (haven't brought it up for a while, but there are so many great levels in Skulltiverse that deserve recognition): MAP15: A Crack in the Skull by El Inferno MAP26: Beyond Life by DFF MAP28: Void Hydroproccessing II by Rivi the Warlock MAP14: Sanctuary of Horae by Shawny MAP25: Feeder's Digest by LunchLunch

MAP24: Burnt Guts by Slava Pestov It's good to play such a brisk map after Steve Duff's double feature. Burnt Guts has took me 10 minutes to complete, combining open fields populated by hitscanners and pinkies with several bigger fights. I really like the pacing and compact nature of this map, it's constant action with little dead time. Two setpiece fights are all good. The blue key in the FIREBLU cavern is loaded with monsters and rockets, with two archviles spawning if you try to grab the key. Another one is the yellow key teleport ambush that hands you a plasma rifle to deal with it. I was about to complain about the baron turrets, but there's a secret that crushes them. It's a kind gesture that I doubt existed in the original. Overall, I enjoyed this as a breather after two previous maps.

I struggle to imagine how a single map can ruin a whole wad. The only thing I can think of is a truly awful MAP01 that makes you drop the entire set, but I don't think it's what OP means (even so, I can't think of such wad). As for the opposite, well, I think Community Chest 2 is only worth playing for The Mucus Flow, as the rest is average at best and dated at worst. That's still not redeeming, more like having one standout map in a whole set.

MAP19-MAP24 MAP19: The Crucible by LordEntr0py MAP20: Cybertemple of Cyberdoom by ViolentBeetle MAP21: Fallen Dimension by Shawny MAP22: Yuggoth by Rune MAP23: Scream Bloody Gore by myolden MAP24: Pustule by Moustachio

MAP23: Ancalagon by Steve Duff There's a lot of Nova Akropola's DNA here, with a crawl through a large demonic stronghold concluded by a huge arena battle. Once again, the feature fight is great (assuming you find a secret BFG and bother to get a backpack), with a ton of monsters lead by a cyberdemon. Another thing of note is the red key. You have a rather small and constricted room with weak monsters, only to reveal three archviles that are happy to bring dead monsters back to life. The rest leaves little impression, aside from a rather restrictive health pickups. I have two issues with Ancalagon. One, its pacing. It's a long, mostly slow map that only heats up at the very end. Nova Akropola and Port Fury were also like this, by contrast, Dead Radio and Infestation have more than one setpiece fights. Second problem has less to do with the map and more with the wad in general. I'm talking about the placement, putting two large and very similiar maps in terms of gameplay style felt exhausting.

MAP22: Nova Akropola by Steve Duff A fellow Laibach fan, I guess? Nova Akropola reminds me of Port Fury in a way there's one slaughter fight that the map builds up to. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. After dealing with some rooms by the start, you reach an entrance to an underground marble structure of sort. The place is large, but rather sparsely populated. The goal here is to find one of two keys that unlock the way to the central building. The red key is in the east, it also contains a BFG guarded by a horde of imps (there are also some Nazis here, whose presence in Duff's map is something I don't really understand). The yellow key can be found in the western part of the map, and the fight here was the toughest of the map. Two archviles teleports to balconies with revenants and imps appear around the house with the key. I don't know if it was the right strategy, but my instinct told me to stay inside and try to fit rockets through windows. Autoaim screwed me here a lot, I died a number of times by blowing myself up when something coused my rockets to veer straight into a wall. As I've said earlier, this all builds up to a climactic battle for the blue key, a monster-dense fight in a limited space. Use your BFG well and you'll make it. I like this fight a lot, but, like with Port Fury, the rest of the map doesn't come close to this level of fun.

MAP15-MAP18 MAP15: A Crack in the Skull by El Inferno MAP31: Sanity Control by MAN_WITH_GUN MAP32: The Penthouse by Shawny MAP16: Hell or High Water by ViolentBeetle MAP17: Marble Madness by Weird Sandwich MAP18: Symmetry Bad by Nimiauredhel

MAP21: The Prison by Rob Berkowitz If I'm not mistaken, this is the third time this year, when DMWC breaks out of jail (see also Fragport and Solar Struggle). The 21st slot, early parts with berserk and little ammo made me believe it's going to be a tyson map. Nah, after a bit of pinky punchout and gunning down an archvile under cyberdemon fire it hands you enough ammo to deal with everything comfortably. I won't complain, as resource-starved MAP21 is one of those mapping tropes that everyone expects in a megawad and with the map's name, MAP20's ending the opening shot, I was sure it would go in this direction, so, like with MAP32, I'm glad it subverted my expectations. I also like the streamlined approach to cyberdemon sentries that appear early on - both of them get crushed once you move past the early rooms. The best part is the corridor with crushers that is loaded with rockets and enemies to blow. Round two releases cacodemons and reveals two alcoves of archviles, but I've found a spot to just whip out a rocket launcher and safely eliminate whatever was heading my way.

MAP20: Teleporter Central by Antoni Chen The map is a six-way hub with a 7th exit blocked by triple-locked doors. I found the progression to be initially confusing a bit, as teleporters on each wall lead to different places and you need to move between one and another. The blue key section is a cramped catwalk with enemies in a slime below you, followed by pinkie+mancubus combo. It's the weakest part of the map, aside from killing lost sould in the hub. The rest is much better. The yellow key part is a teleporting flood of monsters around a temple, it's a quick and deadly fight that luckily equips you properly. The red key path is my favourite, it starts with a ton of zombies to kill, followed by a part where you are jumping from platform to platform, only to walls open up, revealing a staggering amount of imps all around you - the best idea is to jump into their balcony and go wild with plasma. The map ends in a room with constantly moving columns and four archviles - skillsaw's fans will recognise this setup immediately. This is followed by E1M8-style death exit, bringing the end to the Earth chapter. It's a strong note to end on.

MAP19: Port Fury by Steve Duff Dead Radio is followed by another map with a ton of monsters. I wasn't grabbed initially, as it starts with a lot of incidental combat. Also, the aesthetic side is all over the place, going from techbase to caves to tan brick structures. Then you try opening a door, only to drop down into a gigantic fight in the harbour, complete with a doomcute freighter. The biggest threat are two archviles that like to stay in the crowd, on the other hand, there's nigh-infinite supply of ammo, several supercharges and ton of room to move around. It's a great setpiece and the most entertaining part of the map. Sadly, the rest can't match its excitement. The warehouse, aside from another use of Nazis in Duff's map, is forgettale, the cacodemon clouds that appear afterwards feel grindy even with a BFG (I'd personally add something to spice this one up) and the rest is once again, incidental. Still, I had fun with the port massacre and the new midi has this sailing vibe that fits here well.

MAP18: Dead Radio by Steve Duff Another large map that leans towards slaughter. Compared to MAP15, Dead Radio is much harder. It's rather slow at first, taking out small groups of monsters or rooms with fodder enemies. That is, until you reach the nukage pool with the blue key. The place gets overrun with imps, hell knights, revenants and two cyberdemons, creating a massive opportunity for infighting. It's the very moment where Dead Radio stops messing around. Get used to this, because it's not getting easier. Unlocking the red key brings you back to one of previous rooms, this time with another horde that include two archvile (the boss monsters can be ignored, you can telefragged them with a secret). As for the multistage battle in a slime tank for the yellow key, I think I'd enjoyed this more with one additional radsuit. Or the point was to trigger all the available monsters ASAP instead of killing them piecemeal and I was just too slow. I like the new midi, it reminds me of ROTT a bit. I like this map, with the only complaint being its heavy use of gray textures - a lot of maps in ROC uses them as well, so it kinda blends together.

MAP08-MAP14 MAP08: Corruption Complex by Late Night Person MAP09: Electric Red by myolden MAP10: Terminal Decay by LordEntr0py MAP11: Cold Blood by ViolentBeetle MAP12: Ruins by Juza MAP13: Necropolis by myolden MAP14: Sanctuary of Horae by Shawny

Doom RPG on my old Sony Ericsson K800i. Yeah, I'm a hipster.

MAP17: No Escape by Antoni Chan This felt very rough, so I had to check out the original. Turns out, No Escape used to be even more square, ugly and featured some questionable ideas. The map is a key hunt branching off a central hub. Aside from the obligatory hitscan barrage, there's this dark corridor where you have to run or get blasted by archviles (the original used chaingunners instead, so I see this as a massive improvement), which leads to a dark cavern. This and the three cyberdemons that you need to fight by the exit are the most memorable moments of No Escape. I appreciate what the remastered version added, it's definitely has a better lighting and more interesting encounters, but you can only do so much with a given source material.