The first Terrere map from Wim Vanrie took place in a sort of fort - this one is set in a kind of demonic castle/dungeon. The first map had a brick/iron/rusted metal/rock theme, whereas here, the dungeon is built of grey rock, and has icky snake-like material on the ground!
Most of the level is dark. There is a super shotgun in the starting area itself, just behind the impaled guy. You might not notice this because monsters start coming at you right from the start. You can see some stairs in this castle - and lots of lamps, etc. You have to activate two switches to bring down the pillar where the yellow key is kept. Once you get that, you get to go outside where you get the blue key. This will allow you to lift up some bars that were earlier blocking your way. The exit is now on the same path. But, as I said, this level is dark, and there's lots of detail, so look carefully and don't miss the exit!
This is one of the most beautifully constructed, atmospheric levels I've played. It uses the sky from Episode 4 of The Ultimate Doom, which gives it a look somewhat similar to Richard Wiles' Crusades levels (Spooky01). There is lots of detail, with iron/rusted metal beams lining the walls, platforms with lamps, etc. Blood flows on the ground, and the main pathway is made with the snake stuff. The outside area also has a bloodfall. It is meant to be dark and spooky, but because of this I had to increase the gamma correction to be able to play it. Otherwise, you might miss doors and other objects (weapons/ammo). Anyway, it does give the level a more grim atmosphere. There are two secrets in this level. One of them (a backpack of ammo) is easy to find, it is not actually hidden in any room, you just have to go a bit out of your way to get it. But the second one - a switch that will lower a pillar with a supercharge, is very ingeniously done. You have to activate it while you have the chance to do so (you will know what I mean when you find this secret).
The difficulty settings are implemented very well. Skill 1 is easy to play. Skill 4 is very difficult, it's for experienced Doomers. The architecture is great. It's not all that big a level, and things are always interesting. Some of the areas in this level use one feature that you don't see often in a lot of other levels - bars trapping you in a room, opening 30 seconds later (remember the original Doom's E1M6?). I wish the level would have been a bit brighter... but then that would probably spoil the feel. But it did look very nice even when I increased the brightness.
Another outstanding thing in this level is the music - an original song composed by Miguel Moura. This really enhances the feel of the level. For me, it had more of a moody, sad feel than a spooky one, but anyway, it's great and you will definitely want to hear it!
Out of the all of Wim Vanrie's levels I've played, this is definitely the best. Because of it's detail, you cannot use doom2.exe, but Boom and such ports work fine. I'd also recommend you use a hi-res port like ZDoom or Legacy, because the level looks better. And play it with the lights out.
The music used in the level was composed by Miguel Moura specially for this map. The title of the song is Dark Reign.
Dark Fate 2 is a singleplayer level for Doom II, replacing MAP01. It's a small-sized hellish level — and there's a walkthrough video as well.
27-year old Taurean (birthday 15-May-82), Assistant Manager - HR at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd in Hyderabad, India. Previously, did Post Graduate Diploma in Management from T A Pai Management Institute (2003-05) and before that, Computer Science Engineering from Sree Nidhi Institute of Science and Technology (1999-2003).
Email: karthik82 -AT- gmail -DOT- com
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