/vr/ - Retro Games

>>4289718
E2M7: Holy shit, a cohesive level that doesn't feel like a chore to play. That's something I haven't been able to say since E2M3. Like sure, the level's a bit too large for its own good, and there aren't really any standout encounters, and yes, questionable sector and texture choices abound, but this looks and feels pretty good. If I had to point at anything that gave the map its cohesiveness compared to previous levels, it's have to be the fact that this is mostly techbase in nature, rather than all the hell textures thrown into a blender. Like, moreso than any of the previous maps in the set, this feels like a Doom map, just because of that grounding in reality that so many previous Sarais maps have lacked. Another thing to help my mood is an early rocket launcher, which is good, since there were quite a handfull of Barons and Cacos that needed rocketing. There was also an early Cyberdemon at the end, but his back was turned, so I left the nerd be.

E2M8: Sarais' finale doesn't exactly break new ground, but it ultimately plays with the standard E2M8 type of level in interesting ways. One of those ways, as it happened, was to throw an E1M8 homage in there, because I guess Sarais isn't interested in doing a full E1 replacement anytime soon. The level really picks up once you reach the Tower of Babel stand-in, as you then proceed to scale the tower, with Sarais throwing a couple of curveballs at you before you finally reach the Cyber fight. Pretty alright way to end the WAD, I'd say.