NDCP maps 21 - 25

[FATAL]

Map 21- 13th Cross.
I am afraid that this map is not up to the standards in the pack: blocky, with some annoying moments, a weird layout and not a lot of special things (except for some warm moments straight from Doom´s Episode 1 and other that vaguely reminds to VRack2) to be found. Some author´s trademarks are here and grant some satisfaction in the experience (like a lot of secrets or the mandatory final battle in an open area) but, overall, this map is pretty aged and doesn´t live up to the maps that can be enjoyable today.

First thing you´ll notice will be the overall blocky look. There´s nothing wrong for me with blocky maps but sometimes the square shapes are too evident due to faults in design and a curve or two can´t help the overall feeling. The blocky look depicts a layout and architecture that doesn´t have many gameplay highlights (some window here, the trademark entrance door that hides a secret...) but has some flaws like crates you can´t hide behind (it´s awful to get nailed by a chaingunner while you think you´re hidden), not a lot of cover when you need it the most and a couple of situations where you´re in a bottle neck with a lot of strong enemies outside that just keep growing larger in number.

These gameplay problems aren´t supported by great item placement (not a lot of health, many secrets that are almost needed to get through the map) or clever monster positioning: some monsters will teleport in, some others will come from behind walls and, finally, there are monsters lurking around that don´t really pose a threat (sometimes alone, sometimes a couple of them). And let´s not forget about crazy ambushes with crusher traps: be ready and look at the automap frequently if you don´t want to get caught!... So, well, in terms of battles there´s not a lot to offer but also there isn´t clever puzzling or layout, instead, the map is rather ackward. If you like the kind of map where new paths open and close in certain places when you hit some switch you could like this one but, in the end, the map is pretty straight forward to get through. I would have appreciated more monsters appearing when backtracking or a little more open-ended environment...

But, anyway and again, the look doesn´t really help this map. Sometimes it can look a little like "Rise of the Triad", sometimes the strange color combinations will drive you crazy and most of the time there is an overall lack of polishment and design details that makes this map look aged. In a sense, it plays aged too so I can´t recommend this map for today´s standards.


Map 22- Caverns of despair.
First, my apologies to the author as I had to cheat in this map and that will probably screw the demo I recorded. But please, don´t think that I use to cheat or something, it´s just that I was near the end when I fell into an exitless pit. The cause of it was an Arch-Vile blowing me and making me jump high above the railings and something makes me think that the author fully intended this effect (there´s no other way to access the pit and yet the pit does damage). So, well, sorry but my reviewing time is quite limited and I didn´t want to play the whole map again.

Not that I didn´t like it (on the contrary) but I am in a hurry to complete all these reviews and release them. But let´s get with this map, shall we?. Caverns of Despair is a great map. And I am trying to talk in absolute terms here. It´s both simple and complex, has an engaging gameplay and it warmfully reminds the original Doom maps tough looks much more clever. You know that feel you get when you start something (a movie, a game...) and you say "I think I´m gonna like this"?. Well, that´s the feeling I had when I started this map. Starting from a narrow cavern, the player soon gets to make his way into a building where he´s shown a classical three-locked-doors crossroads. Ultimately, this makes the map very linear but during your adventures during the first two sections you´ll do a lot of backtracking and rediscovering of the places so it ends up being well planned and doesn´t feel like a tube from the beginning to the end.

During each one of the sections the theme is outlined between rock, marble and tech, as if there was some kind of cavern and temples where investigations are going on. That way you´ll be seeing pillars, computers, windows, metal structures and passageways constructed in a way that actually make some sense. Everything is clearly outlined and depicted and with focus in creating nice layouts rather than details. Maybe that´s why it reminds to the original Doom maps. You´ll come with some nice computers a classic drain or stylish columns but during most of your run the details will be in the shapes and not in additions. Certainly, this map shows that a map looks good when it looks balanced and this, certainly, helps the gameplay a lot.

It´s not only that you´ll be focused in smashing down your enemies, but also the looks and design of the map hide some clever twists to the gameplay. New areas that open out and completely change the conception of the place, easy but welcome puzzles, great usage of height changes... The look and gameplay seem to be very related to the layout. But, what about the battles?. Well, when first the map started I liked it but, as seen in my first demo, I lost faith completely very soon. Anyway, during a second play I realized where my mistake was and started to enjoy the map again until the first large trap (predictable at least). But it´s not that bad, really: when you go through this ambush early in the map the gameplay starts to adquire a fresh and quick flow. Enemies come and go in small waves and there´s room for both cramped and free battles without losing the rythm (new areas appearing help refilling the map with monsters) and you´ll be engaged into battle and completely inmersed with a couple exceptions (two arch viles in a room are a couple of exceptions, aren´t they?). Anyway, regarding combat this map is really fun and balanced. Maybe (with a couple of exceptions again) it´s a little on the easy side as there´s plenty of health and enemies die easily but I prefer maps that are playable in this way that maps demanding me to save with each bullet shot.

So, if I had to say something that caught my attention on this wad it would be the playability: the map flows, the battles work and secrets are findable if you pay close attention to your automap (maybe that´s why I found it a little easy?). This and the "original doom" feeling (with notable differences, but it´s a feeling we´re talking about here) make this map really enjoyable. Don´t forget about the cohesive layout and looks, but pay attention to your gaming experience since you´re gonna have some fun when going through this. And I´m not being positive ´cos I feel guilty of cheating.


Map 23- Elemental.
From an author that I never heard of (Steven Melenchuk "Grunt") comes this level that had me puzzled for a long time until I finally figured it out. I have to be completely honest with this so first of it all: I´ll say that I was tempted to just skip this level during the first plays. It really seemed a lot out of place visually speaking and the monster placement and seemingly random layout weren´t making it for me... Add to this layout a strange switch hunting system that had me roaming the map without a clue of where to go next and you get my first impression.

I was wrong. Okay, the layout still seems random and the monster placement isn´t the best I´ve seen around but the whole point of this map is around it being pretty cohesive around an underlying concept it´s name can only give a clue about. This concept embraces the whole layout and switch hunting from beginning to end (and that´s a fairly large amount of time, trust me) and makes the map itself very fun to play... But that´s only if you get it.

What if you don´t?... Well, you´ll get a lot of random puzzles and massive battles and odd item placement (really odd in number and type... Also neccesary in a sense) as you roam from one point to another, looking at the automap to check if something happened and playing close attention to your ears in case you can spot something happening somewhere.

That´s in case you don´t get it. In case you do you´ll get hints to the switch huntings, expected battles and an increasing feeling of drawing closer to the end of the map that is finally satisfying. Unfortunately the visuals of the map don´t vary whether you catch the drift of this map or not: visuals are pretty bland, with strange lighting effect and a sometimes amateurish feel to them. Some of the visuals help (and are key) to enhance the concept of the map but don´t expect anything particularly pretty here.

So, what happens when you finally finish the map?. Either you feel like an hero for enduring a nonsensical long map from the beginning to the end or this feeling of drawing closer and closer finally calms down to a satisfying ending in the status screen, leaving you with the sensation of having finished a nice and long puzzle. Either way I don´t think I´ll be wanting to play this map again as I know what its about so there´s not a lot of replayability here. Anyway, I´d recommend giving it a couple of plays. In case you still don´t get it just forget about it.


Map 24- La Casa del diablo.
I´m pretty sure this is one of the thoughest maps on the lot. At least, when played in Ultra Violence it provides a frustrating half our of fun that can be equally rewarding or punishing. Now, right after playing it, I have this sensation that the author, Rex, hasn´t put as much effort in making the map fair for the player than he has in the map´s planning, architecture or theme: due to its infernal difficulty level the devil, as the map´s title suggest, could perfecly live here.

So, the map puts you in a fun situation right after it starts: surrounded by monsters you´re afraid of making any sound but little by little you clear this first room and start exploring. You enter somewhere, you kill a batch of monsters and smile. You enter somewhere else, you start killing some monsters, you die. And that´s only the first couple of plays. After that you manage to kill some more monsters, you run out of ammo and then you die again. You can also enter a new room and die again. Sometimes even some monsters teleport right in front of you and you die. You can even teleport yourself in front of the monsters and die. Isn´t this irritating?.

Anyway, it´s such a shame: the map is set up in a manner that is fun to navigate and explore. It´s relatively long and you´ll constantly be discovering new areas and connections among them... Sadly there´s never enough ammo to get through you enemies: sometimes you will be collecting shotguns and everything is fine. The next minute you´re punching some revenant and running around like crazy trying to dodge everyone´s shots. As said, I´m not sure if the author put enough time in making the map fair for the player as most of the time it´s more frustrating than just dificult.

Okay, okay, maybe in some other difficulty setting the map works but I´m sure that most players won´t get through this map without saving and loading each time they enter a room. Again, it is such a shame: I could have really liked this map if it wasn´t for the many cheap moments: for example, architecture is nice, functional and never overdetailed, lighting is very atmospheric, secrets are cleverly hidden and some battles are really well planned, and there are really good moments (right at the end of the map, when it all feels like a frantic search for spare ammo so you can take good care of the final monster... You´re forced to backtrack, look for secrets and hunt for everything you left behind - tough I think one secret can´t be reached)but, even if they´re good enough to patch the bad ones they can´t outnumber the many times you´ll load or restart your game trying to memorize the enemy placement, where the author set the weapons and what´s the best path to follow without dying.

You see, such a shame as the map really starts out nice and outlines great ideas and layouts. I´d recommend to play this in difficulty settings other than Ultra Violence. Maybe it works there?. Don´t know as I don´t feel like playing it again. Why don´t dropping some line about it in the forums?.


Map 25- Bitter Harvest.
Again, Mixed feelings in this map crafted by different authors (due to some project circumstances): It seems that Blackfyre got this map nuked wasn´t unable to finish it again on time so Doom_Dude had something like 38 hours to finish it. How did it come out?. Well, this map has many great moments and some trademark architecture elements with a distinct sense of style but also has a tendence to bring the player to the limits of available ammunition and health -that´s good for me- and to the very edge of his patience regarding the combination of lighting and some puzzle.

First reaction?. "Where did all lights go?". The map begins in a near pitch black environment that has you fighting a little battle for as many tries as it takes you to figure out what´s the right way to go... Far from being frustrating I found it fun enough to keep me playing: no matter if you die in this battle as you can try again in matter of seconds and hunting large monsters in this candle-lit room is satisfying enough.

The dark, moody atmosphere continues and replicates itself in the next section of the map that features a classic "locked doors crossroad" situation that will have you looking for keys to advance: the section is short and packed with intense (and somewhat unfair) battles in the dark. It also features two of the largest flaws in the map: first is an unlucky management of impassable lines that has players stuck while looking at those enormous projectiles homing right to them. Second is one of the most annoying switch huntings -in the part where you obtain the blue key- that I´ve lately played. Not only their placement is annoying but the darkness around doesn´t make them funnier to look for.

Right after this moment the map switches authors and it shows it. The architecture becomes somewhat different with rounder edges and lighter rooms but, sadly, the problems won´t stop. In the very first battle you enter it is possible to experiment problems with some blocking decorations. That shouldn´t be much of a deal except for the fact that those decorations are hanging high above your head where you can´t see them. Anyway, if you can overlook that problem -something very easy, as the battle lasts little- the map seems to get much better. There are not complex puzzles or unexpected twists but everything flows swiftly from battle to battle in a very pleasant and simple environment. The flow will be ocasionally affected by limit situations in with your health and ammo are so low that you´ll be tempted to start over again but, far from disliking them, I happened to aprecciate a certain sense of balance in ammo placement and monster choosing so these battles against hordes of Barons are welcome.

The very final battle and puzzle of the map is the one that will take ammo economy to its limits: considering the ammo given, the ammo remaining from previous battles and the kind of foes to beat I feared that I couldn´t kill everything and have still ammo left for completing the puzzle... Looking for secrets in the area didn´t help - I don´t think that looking for secrets did help during the whole map: I only found one by sheer luck and couldn´t get it again in the next play - so bear in mind that this could be the most interesting part of the map regarding ammo conservation.

In the end. 20 minutes after the beginning of the map the player founds himself in front of the exit and though the map won´t be remembered as something brilliant I´d say that it came out nice enough for its circumstances. A sligthly better than your regular filler map.