The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 In Spain Only

MAP02 - “Salas de debajo” by Tarnsman

Another decent layout and another map that is neatly dressed. The biggest memory after playing this is two things, firstly that there isn't a lot of health in this map, the second is that there are a few locations that can seriously hurt the player without much chance of getting the first shot in. There are a couple of teleporters than lead straight into a mass of shotgunners and there is a lift that drops you into a pit of imps that can be technically avoided by triggering the lowering floor linedef and decided to drop into the neighbouring pit of water and taking them out with ease.

In the end this one could seem a little harsh and again you have just the shotgun for the most part to deal with everything. No power fantasy with the SSG this time. This is solid overall again.

MAP03: Las Vías del Tren

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

This is one deceptive, spicy habanero of a map! Alfonzo's simple yet highly effective use of hitscanners, pain sectors and monster closets lays a sudden and unexpected helping of Thy Flesh Consumed-esque cruelty that is meticulous and brilliant. My paranoia jumped to 11 and in my panic even managed to screw up my save file thanks to my inability to read Spanish and muscle memory failing me. This is probably my favourite map so far just because of how much personality the map has after the reserved start of the first two maps. Visually, the map is very brown like its predecessors, which I'm starting to think will be part of the running theme throughout, but the sudden rug pull of a difficulty spike really gave things a jolt of energy I felt was a little lacking at the beginning. Muchas gracias, Alfonzo!

In my first post I mentioned how much I liked the TITLEPIC, but I also love the title music that goes with it.

GZDoom, Doom strict compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

MAP02 - “Salas de debajo” by Tarnsman
I liked this one more than the first map. It's still a bit too brown but the Underhalls gimmick is done very well, I'm getting In Name Only vibes but in this case the map fits the title better than the iwad's did! I liked the little floor-level windows, they're set up so that you don't get murdered by hitscans you can't hit, but they can get a few shots in if you're not careful where you stand. Progression is pretty straightforward, the ambushes were not too surprising but still fun to deal with, nothing challenging yet but I'm a getting a little picante, I guess a hint of things to come. I couldn't map the music track to the iwad this time but it's still a fun listen, I'm digging the fiesta vibes.

MAP03 - “Las Vías del Tren” by Alfonzo, Tarnsman
Yep definitely getting picante now. I'm not a fan of the combat here though, the difficulty comes chiefly from being ambushed by a bunch of histcanners surrounding you on all sides at point blank range. Some of the setpieces that don't rely on this are fun though, the wall of spectres got me a bit panicky when they first appeared. The backpack and SSG were both welcome, though I have this terrible habit (just as in MAP01) of going the wrong way first, so I didn't get the SSG until much later. The vanilla detailing and lighting are very nice, and I think I'm getting used to the colour scheme, the browns were easier on my eyes this time and I think I'm starting to enjoy the desert-like aesthetic, takes me back to Andalucia. That moon sky is very lovely too.

MAP03: Las Vias del Tren. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 100/100 K, 1/1 S, 22/22 I. Comp. time 8:51

Another decent map filled with suddenly opening monster closets filled with hitscanners, imps and pinkies/spectres. I didn't have very clear memories of this one, just some rooms that could just as well have been in other maps. Some of the traps I didn't appreciate: while I survived it on the first try, I found the teleport into very cramped space with shot- and chaingunners distasteful. Luckily I had enough health to make it. On the other hand, I guess the maps are still short enough to warrant total restart if poop hits the fan.

MAP03 Las Vias del Tren - K: 100% / S: 100% (HMP, continuous)

First two deaths - but not by those repetitive ambushes (a couple less would be nice), but both by Spectres.  First when collecting the RL, got swamped by them and solved on second try by firing it fast enough.  Second just before the teleport being chewed up from behind when trying to get up the stairs but blocked by another - a rather nasty design using the damaging floor to good effect.  On HMP the teleport ambush was a bit ho-hum, which suited me well, as i had no bullets and had to rely on the Shotgun only.  Had had good amount of them before having to use all on eight or so Lost Souls early in the map.  Again, i missed the side-show of the SSG on first round (on MAP01 i missed the Shotgun-area until the end), so got it later when looking for the missing enemies.  And thankfully the Mega Armour wasn't that heavily guarded.  Unlike earlier, not much interconnectedness in this fairly linear design, only broken by the teleport and at one point a one-way only path.  Yet architecturally it's an engaging design.  Only secret, a backpack, seemed a bit pro forma, clearly the secrets aren't going to be the highlight of the set.

Was checking the monster counts on different difficulties on Doomwiki (for the first three maps), and yikes!, this one has 11 (!) more Chaingunners on UV than HMP (with only one more box of bullets, so i guess it's happy Chainsaw/punchout-time...)  Still, so far wish i had chosen UV instead, but am too afraid of the (not so distant) later maps.

Rankings:

MAP03: Las Vias del Tren

89K | 68I | 0S

Ramping up the difficulty by quite a bit, this map03 will test your knowledge of weapon swapping and ammo usage, as well as dealing with on-the-fly encounters with this map feeling like 1 big pop-up-book of monsters as each corner you turn opens up another monster closet. There is a rocket launcher in this map, but I feel as if it doesn’t really accomplish much, at least on HNTR. I found it useful in clearing out the spectre hoard that guarded it but not much beyond that. This is possibly the most derelict-feeling map yet, almost feeling like a slum with flaming barrels and what is either dirty sewer water or mud. The map’s tight, constricted feel adds to this as well, making every fight feel somewhat claustrophobic. This map was home to my first death, then second, then third… you get the idea. It’s a big jump up in skill requirement. There are a TON of hitscanners in here and most of them are bolstered by projectile-shooting backups that can really put a dent in your plans. The beginning is particularly red-hot, giving you a berserk followed by 2 chaingunners, but the best course of action is to circle back to the beginning and punch out the Sarges to get a shotgun, 9 times out of 10 you’ll just get mowed down by the Chainies without it. The rest of the map does gradually get easier, but you’ll still feel the pressure in this grimy corridorfest. Least favorite so far, but it’s still quality. 4.0 out of 5.

MAPRANKS:

Ok, let's go. How long can I go before dropping out?

MAP01: Entrada (UV, No Save; Deaths: 0)

The MIDI sounds something like Entryway but more spanish-y (at least from POV of someone who knows not much about Spain). The theme of Stucco, brick and water is presented which ... is that spanish? Dunno. It does give the map an earthly tone (come to think of it, add some sand and wind-swep open spaces and it could look like the mexican deserts).

The combat is melee-mostly. Even with my clumsiness with the Berserk, I managed to get through the map without dying. The Chaingun secret was not really telegraphed, just humped a nondescript wall, and I suppose it really only helps the continuous players. Not much else to say, a fine little opener.

MAP02: Salas de Debajo (UV, No Save; Deaths: 2)

"Rooms below" indeed. The map is roughly divided into two parts, one in the open air and one in the Underhalls below. While in the open part, there are places where opportunistic Shotgunners can chip you down while you are dealing with Demons and Imps. Both of my deaths came to attrittion, primarily because of these chip-damage shots (and one bomb, an egregious across-the-map 45-damage shot from one shotgunner) slowly whittling me down.

The way to make the latter part of the map less dangerous is to deal with these miscreants through the slits near the ground. This way you do not have to worry about them after stepping through the teleporters. I found the Soulsphere as well, which helped my successful run.

I've really missed this place. Let's see how long I last. ;)

Playing with GZDoom, Boom Strict, UV pistol starts and plenty of savescumming.

Map01: Entrada, by Tarnsman

Maxed, Zero Deaths

Right off the bat, I'll disagree with everyone who says this map is ugly. For one thing, I like brown, and for another, Tarns is an outstanding Doom architect. I really like the support beams at the start and the use of light and shadow. Everything is delightfully stark. Really loved the full-wall monster closet. Gee, where have I seen that before? ;) I'll be seeing it again in Map02.

It's worth noting the fun verticality in this map, and at the start, I thought the Imps above, seen against the dark sky, achieved a sense of mystery which I've only otherwise felt in the Amiga game Breathless, my favorite Doom-clone. BTW, I had no issue with the strafe-jump. Overall, a fairly relaxing opener.

Map02: Sala de Debajo, by Tarnsman

Maxed, 1 Death

The buckshot was flying in this one! Lovely hot start with shotgunners seemingly everywhere. I got flushed out of my safe spot, then sliced, diced, and left for dead within 30 seconds. :D Played more cautiously on my second go and still had trouble at the beginning. When I found a secret switch, which triggered even before the wall raised up, I had no idea what it did. Classic '90s design. I think it opened up the RL secret. Btw, secrets were easy to come by on this map, no need for all the sweaty wall-humping I did on the first. Literally everything I suspected would be a secret turned out to be exactly that.

This map has a really slick layout and a nice evocation of the Underhalls theme, but even with two full-wall monster closets, once you get past the opening, it's pretty easy except for the frequent chip-damage, and IMO the ending was a bit soft. Still, a nice, solid map.

Map03: Las Vías del Tren, by Alfonzo & Tarnsman

Maxed, 7 Deaths

Dat Yellow Key Trap! I went into it with 55 health and no armor. Shudders!!!!!!!

A linear map this time, dragging you through one sizzling trap after another. As in Doom 2, the Chaingunner makes his first, grim appearance, and you'll feel his presence. Combat is very well modulated in this little murder factory, and as a result, it's entertaining throughout. Once again, I enjoy the appearance, mudslide of brown and all. I think the essence of American McGee's style was captured well and given some nice visual enhancements in the bargain. 

I'm really liking these short, punchy maps and I appreciate the intensity dial-up here. After all, I like nothing better than dying my way to victory! :)

Map 03 : Las vías del tren

Hum , as a non-spanish , is "Las vías del tren" the correct term for "This is an unsollicited difficulty spike Amigo, now prepare to die!" or "I love chainies a bit too much, sorry" ? Because yes, this map will punish you quite a lot for a map of that slot and the yellow key's trap represents the cherry on the cake if you wasted too much health and armor in the previous fights. I like the more confined layout, which makes me feel like I'm venturing into dangerous back alleys at the middle of the night. And finally, I love the sandy texture so much, set off by these beautiful shadows, that I'd like to lie down on it to get some rest after all that intense shooting.

Overall, it's a cool map but the rather low error margin is probably the reason I still prefer map 02 for now.

Grade : B (13/20)

Map03 - “Las Vías del Tren” by Alfonzo, Tarnsman

Blind Play on continuous from map 01, replayed on a pistol start, UV

The Gantlet, Map 03 of Doom II: Hell on Earth introduces the chaingunners to monster roster. While not a part of Plutonia Experiment WAD, The Gantlet still teaches the player that the Chaingunner is the best (the worst?) gunner!

And “Las Vías del Tren”, a Spanish version of The Gantlet, does the same thing! The chaingunners are here, as well as lost souls, and the SSG.

That said, “Las Vías del Tren” felt like a suprisingly friendly map, despite its love for hitscan ambushes and damaging floors. There is a very convenient blue armor right near the start, and many of the scariest hitscanners are set up to infight among themseslves. The blue armor lasted till the very yellow door on my pistol-start playthrough, implying that I took around 450-500 damage in total. Not that big of a number, given the circumstances!

All in all, this is a very good early map:

- it beautifully highlights lost souls and monster infighting (both in the very first encounter).

- it introduces chaingunners, and combines them with shotgunners to expand on the fights from previous maps.

- it includes damaging floors in a non-annoying way.

- it delivers a nice power-fantasy encounter with the SSG room.

On the other hand, the monster setups continue being scary, and letting your guard down is very bad idea. On top of that, the map is quite beautiful, despite using the same brown-tan-beige color scheme, and it also has a very cozy interconnected geometry.

Summary: “Las Vías del Tren” is a really good map by any metrics I can imagine.

MAP03: Las Vias del Tren
It feels like about 90% of the encounters in this one are made up of monster closets packed tight with hitscanners. It got to the point where I was surprised when I flipped a switch or opened a door and there wasn't a trap. The rocket launcher here is probably best left alone unless going for 100%, as you'll need to deal with a spectre ambush and mandatory hurt floor in order to collect it. Speaking of, there's a whole lot of mandatory hurt floor you'll have to traverse. Something else I'm hoping doesn't become common place as this wad goes on. It doesn't necessarily make the map bad, but it does make it a pain in the ass. Not a bad map in the end, but not great either. After the SSG ambush it pretty much turns into trivial combat taking place in bland rooms without much rhyme or reason.

D2ISO03.zip

MAP03: Las vías del tren by Alfonzo and Tarnsman (as South American McGee)

Las vías del tren kicks up the difficulty by a notch. Chaingunners get an introduction here and together with their pals in black uniforms, they will ambush you constantly. Picking up an item, opening a door, almost everything here is booby-trapped. The yellow key is especially deadly, opening up monster closets all around you in a small room. The spectres that ambush you in a poisonous slime when you grab the rocket launcher - this one is just mean. Overall, good map.

MAP03: Las vias del tren (UV, No Save; Deaths: 0)

Reading the comments got me spooked, but it turns out this map suits my paranoid self quite well. A lot of hitscanner closets, but the amount of health is adequate to patch those bullet wounds. I skimmed the comments and unwittingly learned of the RL trap, so I waited until I got the SSG before picking it up, although I have to question its usefulness in such close quarters.

Google translate says the name is "The train tracks". No idea how the gantlet got truned into that but ok. I see no trains around.

19 minutes ago, Pechudin said:

Google translate says the name is "The train tracks". No idea how the gantlet got truned into that but ok. I see no trains around.

"Gauntlet track" is a railway term, referring to a section where two set of tracks overlap and only one can be used at a time (example).

Map 03: Las Vias del Tren

by South American McGee ( @Alfonzo and Tarnsman)

"South American Mc Gee's" debut map fails to stand out in lots of meaningful ways from the previous two installments. Although the gall of Trustworthy Software makes me chuckle. It wouldn't surprise me if "South American" actually hailed from China where the company is supposed to have been located but on the other hand, the only thing that stands out apart from having a few ambushes nastier than those of the previous map are the prolific amount of damage floors. Now the co-author credit here gets much trickier than you might expect because a) Alfonzo really tends to stick to vanilla limits where texturing's concerned and b) is possibly even heavier on the floor damaging than Tarnsman tends to be. The brown aesthetic continues, showing some locations not unlike those of a Mexican pueblo but the layout also takes a step up in complexity. Granted, it feels more like this is an excuse to pack in stupid monster closet traps around every corner but it hardly deviates from the prior two in that respect. 

However, there is a trap of around 20 Lost Souls that probably should be avoided until the nearby indooor room with the semi-hidden Super shotgun is found, with a rocket launcher seemingly placed to troll the shit out of us not long after that proves useful against small closets of hitscanners. We did not use too many rockets however. No matter, besides chaingunners and a stupidly large spectre ambush overlooked by a chaingunner in the Lost Soul area we managed to miss and thusly suffer a death from, there aren't any particularly strong monsters. The "Countdown to Death" remix helps round this one out. I guess South American is just more sadistic than we realized. Thankfully, the secret with the backpack is actually marked well when compared to the ones in the previous two.

PS: Couldn't really fit this in earlier but the google reveals the title as "train tracks" which barely even has a tenous connection to "gantlet." Literally, it would be like "tracks of the train" which makes this even odder.

MAP03 - Las Vias del Tren - Alfonzo & Tarnsman (As South American McGee) (100%K/I/S):

How poorly translated is the title? Awful. No, I don't buy that shady "Gantlet track" term. Gantlet was always a typo for Gauntlet, for me. In that case, you can translate it to "guante" ("gante" to drag the typo) or also "pozo" (well), which is more likely, then we have a problem as we have The Pit later, and both Pit or Gauntlet are translated into "Pozo". I don't think McGee had some train tracks in mind when building MAP03. Not only that but I don't see a single train track inside "Las Vias del Tren". Well, at least it's not like the french translation "Le Feu Norrie", which means "The Fire Fueled".

More brown, more metal, this one ramps up difficulty a lot because of samey, hitscan ambushes, every single task you do, a wall opens up and gives you a hitscan ambush, in terms of layout, this map is pretty much like playing every single map made by American McGee ever, or should I say, South-American McGee? Yes, it is a fine recreation of what an average McGee map can be, squarey, orthogonal, heavy use of the same textures and doors, in that sense, it is really well made, but I think I prefer more yesterday's map, too much chaingunners for me.


(UV - Playthrough/Crispy Doom)

Order of Preference:
 

11 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

Ramping up the difficulty by quite a bit, this map03 will test your knowledge of weapon swapping and ammo usage, as well as dealing with on-the-fly encounters

10 hours ago, Roofi said:

"This is an unsollicited difficulty spike Amigo, now prepare to die!"

3 hours ago, DJVCardMaster said:

this one ramps up difficulty a lot because of samey, hitscan ambushes

Oh, you sweet summer children, you ain't seen nothing yet! Just wait till Wednesday or Thursday...

4 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

However, there is a trap of around 20 Lost Souls that probably should be avoided until the nearby indooor room with the semi-hidden Super shotgun is found, with a rocket launcher seemingly placed to troll the shit out of us not long after that proves useful against small closets of hitscanners.

In my playthroughs, I felt the opposite... During my pistol start attempt I defeated both those encounters head-on - lost souls are always eager to infight, and specter ambush starts far enough away to catch 2-3 rockets. No SSG required for either fight!

MAP03 - “Las Vías del Tren” by Alfonzo, Tarnsman

This one felt a little too cheap in terms of ambushes, too many times you will get get chipped away and there isn't much in the closets to make up for the inevitable losses. As such most of this map was spent on low health, which made the experience not particularly enjoyable. The only part I liked was the lost soul parade and the rocket launcher trap which will catch out dawdlers but is trivial for those with quick wits.

The map is well presented and flows nicely, but ultimately too many hitscan traps that feel way worse than what McGee ever did.

MAP04 el Foco - K: 100% / S: 50% (HMP, continuous)

Tally: Deaths: 2 / Secrets missed: 1

This map looks like it's going to be trouble from the start, not because of fierce opposition (not a hot start, and enemies count only up to 37 on HMP), but the damaging floor without a radsuit in sight!  It just always goes like that.  And so it does here - the encounters all go well enough, the enemy count does not lie.  It's not meaningless but it's pleasant and not very dangerous - even the faraway hitscanners through windows were easily offed, just like the teleport-guarding Hell Knight and Cacodemon peaking from the window.  And, there was only ONE of those expected ambushes, near the start.  But how about that architecture?  This is pretty much a masterpiece - Romeroesque, or Montiesque, perhaps?

But eventually i get to the secrets... they are easily visible, but how to obtain them?  This occupied me for way too long, not much aided by the damaging floor which is an added time-pressure when one doesn't have radsuit - really just adds to frustration.  i employed some saves in the process, and my main suspect was the YK switch, which i thought would perhaps do something someplace also than just lower the exit lift.  No, it doesn't.  Nearly given up, i finally heard something open up, location of which was easy enough to guess, so obtained the RL.  There was a switch on the platform from which to jump to it, but i no longer had patience or willpower to start scouring for what it effected, as the obvious (or at least expected) had not occurred (lowering a suspect wall in the exit-area.)  So the Soulsphere eluded me :(  Even resorted to iddt at one point earlier, but it offered no help at all.  Also again, it's not like the RL was of much use except with the HK guarding the YK - and luckily i had a carryover.  Am interested in seeing from others' videos how to get to the Soulsphere.

Great music - loved the organ, reminding me strongly of the Doors.

(Not gonna count deaths incurred when just looking for secrets.)

Ranked maps:

MAP04: El Foco. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 43/43 K, 2/2 S, 25/25 I. Comp. time 10:44

This is the map I saw someone UV-MAXing when I found out this is a serious mapset and I should consider playing it. Ironically enough, El Foco may be least favourite of the set so far -- although that's not saying much. It's still a good map, it's just that the secrets feel a bit obtuse, and I still don't know what exactly revealed the teleport to the soul sphere. There is hurt floor everywhere: At least on this playthrough I could manage it, but my first playthrough (a year ago?) suffered a few restarts only because I wouldn't have enough health to survive the brown goo.

The combat also feels less fun. There are several cacodemons and hell knights in close quarters combat with a single barrel shotgun and a chaingun. Knowing the secrets would give an early-ish access to rocket launcher, though, which could help a bit in the yellow key room, but not against the brownukage pit hell knights.

And still, I do like the layout, I think the map looks good. Usually browniness is regarded a bad trait in Doom map - there were some maps last month where "brown" was not a compliment - but four maps in and I still think these maps look good.

GZDooM 4.10, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves.

Hello guys! I do not participate this month for some reasons because I am still totally fucked up from claustrophobia from the last month. I couldn't get it finished on UV Skill. Another reasons is I played DooM 2 In Spain Only a few month ago and the file was/is corrupted. What you guys are playing here looks completely different from what I've seen before in DooM 2 In Spain Only so I will keep my fingers away from that and I skip this month. I hope you guys have fun and enjoy the game anyway. Looking forward for the next month.

MAP04: El Foco

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

This map feels like a bit more of a puzzle than straightforward combat and I think a slightly more aggressive playstyle would benefit than my more typically cautious approach considering just how many pain sectors there are, so standing around for too long is discouraged. As far as a blind playthrough goes, I didn't die which is a plus in my book since Alfonzo seems hellbent on hurting you at every opportunity he can possibly muster, plus some weird issues with my mouse. Combat is somewhat subdued this time around as the boiling mud is your biggest foe here. I decided not to bother with the Soulsphere secret; I pushed my luck with what few radsuits are available on UV and decided not push it any further after using them all up, plus eating up pretty much all the available medkits. I'll take my 85% health and be grateful lol. The midi also complemented the sneaky, quirky atmosphere pretty well.

MAP04: El Foco 

100K | 80I | 0S

Finally, a breather!

El Foco is a nice change-up from the quickly building action of the first 3 maps, and it mostly hides its danger in more of the mud/dirty water we saw in MAP03, and only so many radsuits to go around. I didn’t find myself in too much danger, and the minimal monstercount makes it easy to deal with chance encounters with the odd caco or two. It seems that the griminess of the prior few maps is taking on an abstract feel, with the architecture of this being more rooted in Doom mapping than reality. Overall, yet again my least favorite, but it’s not that it’s bad - it just doesn’t have a lot going for it. 3.9 out of 5.

MAPRANKS:

map03: Las Vías del Tren

Aside from introducing the sand flat, this map is pretty boring-looking, which is less about color and more about all the low-ceilinged rectangles the layout is made of -- it's obviously a South American McGee map, so that is the point. The competent texturing can't really make that interesting, and it's not so much the orthogonality as it is the combo of that and the simple architecture. 

Staging of encounters -- how fights are introduced, how they look -- is technically a part of aesthetic craft and that's basically the main thing going on here. The fights look absurd, which is quite an achievement for there only being 112 enemies counting lost souls (which I am in this map at least because that's the coolest reveal). A lot off that is their audacity, the way they are revealed in seemingly overwhelming numbers, and the deliberate recurrence of the "row of enemies lowering" trap motif that 01 and 02 also did a bit. The layout is small enough for 112 enemies to feel like a lot. 

map04: El Foco

Alfonzo sometimes pulls out this architectural style that really does it for me, characterized by off-kilter, skewed-looking angles, my favorite of his being the Quake-like mini-city in Mayhem 2016 map02, which coincidentally turns out to involve Tarnsman. 

Under the hood, El Foco is a pretty laidback take on that style, where a few areas are skewed from what the orthogonal base shapes would be rather than a more thoroughly off-grid feeling where there's non-orthogonal constructs attached in wild ways to other non-orthogonal constructs. But even that is enough to give the aesthetic a distinct character, which is evident right from the opening view. Rather than being just for show, the shaping ties into the vibe of the map, which combines with the D2ISO aesthetic to pretty convincingly depict a rundown, ramshackle abandoned city mostly through shape alone. (It's not entirely shape -- some of the architecture seems messy, and there's also that beaten-up variant of the STUCCO texture as this opening theme cluster has been using.) I love the tacky hotel-looking wood and railings here. 

I'm a fan of how the RL secret isn't just for the RL but it's your exclusive way of getting to the highest plane of the map, and also establishes that the map has that extra higher plane. Good secrets often don't just provide you material benefit but help strengthen or add extra complexity to the theme in some way.

Also noting the use of the chandelier prop because I basically never find uses for it. Definitely fits the shitty motel chic of this map.

Map 04 -  “El Foco” by Alfonzo

Played Continuously from map 01, UV

There is one thing, where Doom 2: Hell on Earth is very hard to beat even to day - "All-directional" level geometry. With many Doom 2 IWAD levels,, it very hard to predict which way leads where - both vertically and horizontally. This leads to a unique sense of wonder: "Oh, that's how I get here!". With Doom 2, it goes far beyond the secrets, and also applies to normal level progression - and its a very cool thing.

“El Foco” has a single focus (pun intended) - this particular "All-directional" level geometry and a sense of wonder such design enables. Everything else stems from this root concept:

1) the unusual map progression and heavy emphasis on exploration thrive on such design scheme.

2) lots of nooks and crannies = many efficient positions for monsters = new gameplay elements for the pWAD.

3) the non-orthogonal lines in my design serve a greater purpose.

4) the secrets and non-secrets have a very blurry line between them - this is a very good trait for OldSchool-styled pWAD.

5) the damaging floors are a legit part of the challenge - optimizing traversal is an interesting and non-obvious task on a map like this.

Of course, the above traits have a darker side: the map can feel quite confusing, which is especially daunting with so many damaging floor. But Alfonzo accounted for this risk, and made “El Foco” into a small map with around 40 monsters on UV. Thanks to that, the map does not outstay its welcome, and feels quirky instead of tiresome!

Conclusion: so far, the maps in this WAD feel extremely well-crafted. Such degree of quality and attention to detail is rare even among the fellow cacoward winners! While Doom 2 in Spain Only is not exactly from my favorite Doom mapping genre, its mind-blowing quality keeps me really eager to see everything that the WAD has to offer.

MAP02 - “Salas de debajo” by Tarnsman

Sometimes, making good combat requires theoretical knowledge on monster roles enough to fill out several 8K word essays. Sometimes, it's as modest as realizing that shotgunning through severeal waves of imps and zombies is more than adequate. Thus, the map needs no bigger commitment than to keep knocking down the walls, and not flood it with 1 million pinkies, so Doom's inherently addictive combat feel can work its magic. So, basically Underhalls, but faster, leaner, and slightly meaner.

For such a flat level height wise, it still gets so much milleage out of angular walls (the haphazard shapes rd was talking about, perhaps) and lighitng & surface contrast:



The brown here, along with surfaces that mostly go with each other, is the harmonizing factor, along with the vast gray expanse that houses the striking moon and the framing mountains. I get that some are a bit allergic to maps that don't utilize Doom's saturated potential, but the game can also be a canvas for muted but rich displays of shapes (whether created by the architecture itself or by skillful high contrast lighting above) and texture. Similar idea.

MAP04 - El Foco - Alfonzo (As Sal Verde) (100%K/I/S):

How poorly translated is the title? It is a good translation, if you mean "focus" as a spotlight, and not "to focus". In that case, the correct translation would be "El Enfoque".

I can't recall any Shawn Green maps, so I can't say if this really looks like an actual Green map or not, regardless, it is a cool map, that works as a "breather" from the previous hitscan hell we survived yesterday. I like the Doom 2-esque layout, with non-orthogonal walls, corridors and other stuff. Previously, I quoted the word breather, as it still is quite hard to play, but considering how painful MAP03 was, I think it is somewhat of a breather. 
Interesting setting chosen by Alfonzo here, a city landscape with many new "city" looking textures apart from all that brown we have seen so far. What I don't like is obviously trying to traverse a map where floors damage you, so I will always complain about those even if you give me radsuits. Apart from the initial views, there isn't too much more to remember from this map.

(UV - Playthrough/Crispy Doom)

Order of Preference:

Remembering which maps Shawn Green made, I can safely say those are one of the most forgettable IWAD maps out there, so you can give me every single random 5-minute layout you have and disguise it as a Shawn Green map. Maybe that was intended for today's map, isn't it?

MAP04 -  “El Foco” by Alfonzo

Nicely dressed and the mass of damaging floors comes with a reasonable amount of recovery items. For the most part everything is placed well and cleverly, that said the hell knight trap didn't work for me, it is a little annoying to feel comfortable taking head on and it is too easy to escape. 

Solid, the map is well built and for the most part the combat moves along reasonably well.

Map 03:

The first of many Frankenstein maps that were cobbled together with parts of unfinished other maps. I think (I can't recall any other ones off the top of my head) this is the only one where the unfinished base was actually made for this project specifically. Alfonzo made the first few rooms of this map before abandoning it. I ended up taking some stuff from a D2TWID scrap I made and stitching it on to that and then filling in the bits that needed connecting. At one point I realized there were way too many consecutive "wall opens, hitscanners attack" ambushes and was going to cut some out but then decided to go the opposite direction and lean into it and more because that's the joy of making a D2ISO map.

While playing D2INO Alfonzo had lamented how the mappers didn't lean into alternative interpretation of the map names, bringing up the train tracks usage of gantlet, which is where the map name comes from. Of course many will point out that there is nothing in this map that has to do with train tracks and I will say that if you squint really, really, really hard, the first couple of rooms are kind of like a station entrance going down to a train platform.

Map 04:

Alfonzo's lone solo effort was the 2nd map ever made for the project. The map is intended to be near the epicenter of an earthquake, the logic chain being: The Focus -> the focal point -> the epicenter. This is why the map has such a skewed and dilapidated construction.

Map 04 : El Foco

Unfortunately, I will not be as enthusiastic as the other participants about this map. To start with the positive, I appreciate the twisted allure of the lao map materialized with its non-orthogonal layout. The emphasis on the tall architecture and the moody tone of the map makes me feel strolling among the back alleys of a town at night. The music creates a more relaxed, less upbeat atmosphere.

However, it doesn't played well. First of all, the damaging floor is a mistake in my opinion. Brown mud is nice to look at, why should it hurt me? Is it hot chocolate? Of course, map 04 from Doom 2 has damaging brown liquid but only in a small pool you can easily dodge. The damaging brown liquid used in a larger extent felt off to me and punish exploration. Also, combining this with a tad puzzley progression leads to a bit irritating experience. 

Grade : C  (10/20)