Doom Map Talk #13:Central Processing, Computer Station, Phobos Anomaly
1The final part of Episode 1 is our first glimpse into the true power of Hell as we progress to the boss map, and the 3 maps all build up in a few ways that gives the unease feeling of.. *We're here alone, on Phobos, But hell is just getting started*.
"Central Processing" is a beast, It has the most monsters of any level in the original Doom or in Ultimate Doom on Ultra Violence with 177 monsters, The whole map is a odd mashup of techbase and labs along with a pretty hectic computer room of spectres, hitscanners and imps, The ammo placement is good though the red key room is a big example for me of a Romero trap, This room is lined with barrels and all the tech walls open to reveal monsters.
Like Command Control, Looking for secrets is mandatory if you aren't keep about punching enemies without berserk, The rocket launcher secret is one of the secrets I was never aware of until many years when I was researching it, The rocket launcher is a big help with the enemies who are released by trap walls, Most of Central Processing's monsters are the hitscanners and gunnng them mother fuckers down to "On the Hunt", the track for the level is a thrill.
"Computer Station" is almost like Command Control but expanded out and, like Central Processing, The enemies rush in as soon as you start firing and there's a big emphasis on trap walls here as Computer Station is loaded again with hitscanners, and imps with pinkies spread out in between, and this is the map I'll admit that I can't figure out for the life of me to find a way to reach secrets like outside the final area to the exit or the soulsphere in the poison outpost. What Computer Station also has is a track that's almost as dark as Suspense, which is named "Demons on the Prey", This track builds the anticipation to reach the final map of Episode 1.
That map? Is "Phobos Anomaly", We've made it to the deep heart of the remains of the UAC base and lab on Phobos, and the air is tense.. all with the help of a track named "Sign of Evil", One of 3 tracks in Ultimate Doom which are my personal favorites, Sign of Evil in question I know of because of a band named King Crimson who's song "Starless" is the inspiration for Sign of Evil.
I remember my first time in this level.. when I was just two years old, I was held by my Mother not really "playing" but watching but this level seemed to be interesting and I always had that image in my head of the pinkies that are in the shotgun and chaingun room after you clear the pinkies surrounded by explosive barrels, then we ride a elevator and see two closed "caskets" in the ruined lab.. It's here the boss is revealed, "The Bruiser Brothers" and the monster that I hate more than the other ones of Ultimate Doom or any of the new monsters in Doom II or the IWADs, The Baron of Hell.
These pinky looking hellish ram fuckers are the tankiest monster in the game aside from the Boss monsters of Episode 2, 3, and Ultimate Doom's 4rth episode, They have 1000 hit points and their plasma fireballs/claw attacks HURT a lot, Both of these guys introduce you to the savagery and evilness that awaits...in Episode 2, The Shores of Hell.
In between the series' that I work on, I do practice on levels with pistol starts in between, though for this episode and later episodes of IWAD levels I'll be carrying over weapons from a previous level aside from when I start an episode or warp to the next map with the console, So here I have the rocket launcher which melts these pricks and leads to the exit, but on Ultra Violence the spectres making using it dangerous and without a rocket launcher, RNG is a coin toss with the shotgun and chaingun.
The beauty of Doom to me is the memories I carry of how the levels flow, the music that plays, the sounds we remember well, and our friends who we blew away in deathmatch and also at speedrunning, Doom is special to me like Duke 3d and other games because.. It was among my first games like Super Mario World, Episode 2 will begin to be tackled in Doom Map Talk #14.
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