Black Fortress

Some of Udderdude's recent maps have come in for a little criticism, not for being bad maps, but for having some features that spoil the fun a bit: too many stealth monsters, or too many ambushes with monsters teleporting in behind the player, etc. Still he keeps supplying solid maps for us to play, and on the whole they are pretty good. They do have difficulty settings implemented, and are survivable on UV if you keep your wits about you.

Anyway, his map this week should certainly appeal to those who liked his earlier offerings, and many of those who didn't too. You need to deal with quite a large number of monsters using small weapons, and there are some tight areas, but the gameplay on UV is enjoyable and quite fair - I made it through without savegames at my first attempt, though my time did officially suck. The design is a bit repetitive/symmetrical, but not to the extent that it should offend anyone.

This is a Zdoom map, so some comments about settings are in order. In your compatibility settings you need to have "Actors are infinitely tall = no", since otherwise your path is blocked at one point. I particularly mention this because in a previous map by Udderdude (parareb.wad) you could easily get stuck in at least one situation if you didn't have actors infinitely tall. Jumping is not needed (and presumably not meant to be used). Zdoom map authors really should state these things in their text-files, since there seems to be no real consensus on what players should assume in default of this advice being given.

Anyway, let's call this the wad of the week runner-up.




INDIRIZZO