Secret levels. Known for being bonus levels for additional challenges as well as offering lots of potential surprises or bonuses that players may want to experience. So in the course of Doom WADs, there's going to be at least one slot (E1M3, E2M5, E3M6, E4M2, MAP15, MAP31) that would have multiple exits. So what can we expect from this post? How about five notable secret exits where getting to them is hard as compared to five that were just too easy to find? Well here we go.
Hard to get: Industrial Zone (Doom II)
id Software was fairly mixed on their secret exits. The secret levels that were more or less fairly normal definitely didn't have a lot going for them for secret exits from the previous maps, but then they have special levels that they made, such as E3M10 of Wolfenstein 3D, in which they really wanted to immaculately hide them in things that would make player's heads turn. As I mentioned Wolfenstein, that's the secret level that is accessed from Industrial Zone, and they did hide it well. A big concept of this sandbox level will end up being backtracking. What's the deal with that switch above the moat? It opens a location with an invulnerability at the east end, and that opens the path to the secret exit, a location nowhere near it. The obtuse backtracking is what makes this one hard to get.
Too easy to find: The Twilight (Plutonia Experiment)
Of course I come up with another IWAD secret exit that was simply too easy. How to get to the secret exit? Simple, just open a wall near the normal exit teleporter and you're there. Easy peasy. This is a pattern on a majority of the secret exits that are far too easy. However, I should probably mention. MAP31: Cyberden does not have a normal exit, only a secret exit to the slaughterfest of Go 2 It. So you should probably prepare ahead of time if you think it's worth the trip.
Hard to get: Secret (STRAIN)
I've burned into my brain a lot of things involving secrets and exits, but one that always gets me is MAP31 of STRAIN. You need to hit practically every single secret in order to get to MAP32: Super Secret, but you also have to do things in a specific order in order to unlock the middle lift. It's not apparent at all just how you're supposed to do this without looking in an editor. Most players will just stumble around empty corridors for minutes until they see a change.
Too easy to find: Technology Base (Memento Mori)
The only hard thing about getting this secret exit is accessing the half of the map that is only available for co-op. Yes, it's possible and necessary for 100% runs of this map, but once you get that the secret exit is as simple as dropping onto a damaging floor and pressing on a recessed wall. For shame.
Hard to get: Fortuna Bridge and Forgotten Caverns (No End in Sight)
Episode 3 of No End in Sight does something unthinkable. It makes E3M9 more of a normal exit, while making the maps in E3M5 and E3M6 actual secret levels. The secret exits on E3M4: Fortuna Bridge, and E3M5: Forgotten Caverns, basically have you doing most of the legwork through the entire levels, thinking outside the box to get specific secrets that are absolutely necessary. The reward pays off in a rather brutal bonus level in E3M6: Anomaly Retribution.
Too easy to find: The Devil's Coterie (Memento Mori II)
I've known Adam Windsor's level style, and even in this rather big and memorable map from Memento Mori II there wasn't really much effort in hiding the secret exit. It's even worse considering just how it's really next to the normal exit, and all a player needs to do is just open the middle wall and there it is.
Hard to get: Mayhem Mansion (Reverie)
As I've probably said before, I love a level that has an exit available early. This one takes it for a spin by making a normal exit available right from the get go, but having the player work extremely hard just to find the secret exit, in an almost true Eternal Doom fashion. Of course Eternal Doom didn't necessarily have secret exits, so I won't count that, but this was definitely a big switch hunt and a key hunt for just one level exit.
Too easy to find: Bulls on Parade (Alien Vendetta)
It seems that the main trend with the easy secret exits comes from them being from older WADs. Alien Vendetta does the same thing Memento Mori II and Plutonia does, give the secret exit away right next to the normal exit. Granted, you backtrack through several areas just to get to the secret exit, but it's still far too easy.
Hard to get: Babylon's Chimera (Sunder)
This level is already hard enough. You have to go through all of it to reach the normal exit. But where could the secret exit even be? Oh wow, a tiny little button right at the normal exit. And then you must backtrack, find a new teleporter, then find the right spot that has a radiation suit, then run across the lava until you find the elusive secret exit. And of course, you can't escape from the lava once you fall in, so finding the right spot is a challenge in and of itself.
Too easy to find: Doorway to Quake (Requiem)
Ending this with Requiem, another classic. While one secret exit has an innovative way of reaching it via arch-vile jump, the actual secret level itself makes things simple in regards to its own secret exit, opening up yet another wall near the normal exit. Hey, it's at least a nice Quake tribute done well in Vanilla Doom.
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