[FistMarine]

Alright, time to write about the maps I played so far. I started playing them yesterday and hope to finish them all before the end of the year.
All maps are made for Atomic Edition, so I will play them in Duke3D v1.5 in DOSBox, on CGS skill.
I downloaded the maps from the two original links that were posted earlier:
http://www.cerovsky.net/duke/index.htm
http://www.artpeter....uke/DukeMap.php
And put them up in 4 different folders (all copies of the main ATOMIC folder): CEROVSKY (all maps by Lukas Cerovsky), KUCERA (all maps by Peter Kucera, including the Penthouse Paradise art file required by the maps Boyard and XXX), RK (only the map Reichskanzlei, which contains a few sounds and a modified USER.CON) and HIGHWAY (Lost Highway episode). This ensures there are no conflicts created between the maps. Aleks suggested me to also combine CEROVSKY and KUCERA folders into one but I decided to have them arranged separately like that.
I remember playing a few of these maps many years ago, I think either in EDuke32 or Megaton. This time I will do ALL of them, with the vanilla executable for an extra challenge!

I will be making 4 large posts for this month: this one being first half of Kucera maps, then the second half of Kucera maps, then the Cerovsky maps and then the Lost Highway episode. I will also vote for the next month's event (choices will be revealed later by Aleks).
Additionally, I will also correctly arrange the screenshots to be shown after each map rather than all dumped at the end of the post. This will make my post less spammy and more interesting to read and to view the screenshots, with around 3 shown per each map.

Anyway, let's begin with the reviews!

Vesmir

An interesting Space themed DM map, with parts inspired by Spaceport and even It's Impossible. The map actually contains 5 secret places, so this gives you a reason to explore the map and find all stuff before getting bored (there is no exit). The secrets contain the following:
1) RPG and Portable Medkit (near beginning, press on a computer panel to access a small room)
2) Atomic Health and Devastator Ammo (this area can be reached just by jumping, it's near those large rooms with windows)
3) Jetpack inside vent (also leads into Secret 4)
4) Armor, Medkit, Devastator (a blue room, Devastator found behind that window)
5) Shrinker/Expander (and other goodies), accessible inside the vent near where Freezethrower is found, when inside vent, press on the nearby wall
Worth taking a look.


Skola

What do we have here? A school themed map of course! And it is fairly challenging, especially at beginning. With a bit of luck, I made it without dying.
The beginning was really tough with pretty much no enemy dropping anything until a pig cop dropped a shotgun containing a single shell and then another one dropping another shotgun containing 3 shells. Had to kick two pig cops around the vending machines. Managed to survive with 26 health. The armor I picked up earlier from the locker REALLY HELPED and it was more than enough for the rest of the map as well.
After I got into the bathroom to get my health back by using and drinking from the toilet (and grabbing the chaingun at same time), the map not only started giving just enough ammo to get through every encounter but also most enemies now started dropping stuff!
Once again there's 5 secrets to find, some helped a bit with taking a small look on mapster and others finding in regular play. One secret even contains the blue card, an item necessary for progression, which feels a bit weird to be honest.
All weapons are available except for RPG and Devastator. However you will not miss them much because the Shrinker is excellent against commanders and there's no Mini Battlelords or other bosses present in this map, while the first 3 guns will be enough for the majority of the opposition in the map.
Even the trip mine got one use: to blow up a crack in one of the classrooms by placing it so that I have enough distance to trigger the laser without hurting myself. This is one of the few smart uses of the trip mines. The other use was probably meant for those beginning pig cops but it was too risky to deal with low health, so I actually ended up kicking them around corners instead of bothering with trip mines.
Also as mentioned earlier, the armor managed to last until the end when not only I stumbled upon a new armor vest but also a pig cop dropped one in last room, giving me 75 extra armor points, although I had reached the exit, so the extra armor I got went unused. I did pick it up before the exit (after taking the screenshot) just to have 100 armor.
Overall, I found this map decent and I find school maps interesting but I think the beginning could have been better balanced. And some rooms looked a bit bland.




Sicilie

A rather short map that gets a bit confusing near end.
As for the beginning, it starts with having to blow up a crack with the trip mine but this time you have less room to do it. I was lucky to not take any damage. There is a large medkit given just in case but if you don't need it, you can't come back here anyway.
The rest for the map is fine. A little challenging at times due to fighting many pig cops. I was lucky to get some shotguns dropped by pig cops and even an used armor that gave me 50 points (at the cost of taking a full blast to the face that did 49 damage). The health is easily recovered with the two fountains of water available. A full armor is also provided on the top of firetruck, which helped for the last part of the map.
I got stuck at two points near the end after using the yellow key. I had to look in Mapster to figure out what to do next. You have to press on the cash counter to temporary raise the window in the next room, while the exit is unlocked by finding a hidden switch ABOVE the pool table. I actually checked and played with the pool table and knew there was a hidden switch somewhere. Even then I managed to miss that switch somehow, so I had to look in Mapster again to see what to do next.
There are 3 secrets to find this time around and they aren't even secrets. One is near the GUILTY sign (2 pistol ammo clips) which is easily reached by jumping on top of burning barrel (if you destroy it, you can still jump on the door nearby, from the top of mail box). The other 2 secrets are part of progression, it seems. One is in room after you use blue key and the other is located in the club near end of level.
Overall, it was a bit better than Skola, although a bit too short. However, having many short and sweet maps to complete is much appreciated, considering there are 30 maps to finish this month! Onto the next map, I guess.




Banka

As the map title suggests, this map takes place in a bank. Although the bank is only half of the map, it ends up going towards a pool and then it ends abruptly (just after you pick up an atomic health)
This was a pretty challenging map, the commander at the beginning, why is he here...when all you have is a pistol? Yes I killed the troopers and pig cop (which dropped a shotgun with 1 ammo) but even then that didn't help much until I found that secret at beginning which gave me shotgun ammo and even a chaingun! Good thing I checked mapster before I began the map, read more below.
So I killed the commander with just about 2 extra shots but not without taking another rocket in the face that removed the 30 health I just picked up in the secret place.
Oh and before I forget, the other secret found is the safe containing the red card (why is that even counting as a secret place?), which is easy to miss, so make sure you jump into that sector to register the secret. As mentioned earlier, I found both secrets with the help of Mapster and it greatly helped because there is no way back once you enter inside the safe, because 1) the bars close behind you and 2) when you end up falling in water, another point of no return.
The health is overall scarce and until end where there is finally a toilet you can drink from (the hydrant at beginning is already broken, which means no water spawned) you will have to rely on limited medkits, which only start appearing more often, halfway in the map. There is a portable medkit given before you enter the safe (just before dropping in the water).
The armor vest is right inside the bank near beginning, so make sure you pick it up as early as you can, well provided you get past those problematic aliens at beginning. The armor should last until end, though I got another used armor from a pig cop.
Overall, another interesting short map. Just wish it didn't end up abruptly (and then sent to Hollywood Holocaust, due to ending in a sector rather than the nuke button) and health was a bit more common.




Doly

This map begins inside a plane. Make sure you get the secret right behind you when you start the map (contains an atomic health). There's 4 other secrets to find later, each 2 of them being in same place.
The only problem I had with this map was that one of the secrets early on required jumping on that palm tree but since it must have been shot earlier (either by a trooper laser or the commander's rocket), I couldn't reach that secret anymore and decided to just restart the map altogether. I didn't bother with luring a trooper from far away (from the mines section) to jump on him while flying, as he probably wouldn't even cross the sector. I just decided to restart the map for the better, with this occasion getting an used armor from a pig cop that gave me 75 armor points, preparing me well for later.
There is an explosion trap in the mines section that I managed to reduce some of damage by stepping back when the explosions happened.
I found the RPG underwater in a corner, it was pretty well hidden. You can find the rest weapons normally in the map, with the exception of Shrinker which is nowhere to be found.
Ammo and resources were distributed fairly, though halfway in map (after the underwater sections) I started running out of shotgun and chaingun ammo. The scuba gear also ran out and made it to the surface in time. I have spent exploring the underwater parts quite a bit to make sure no enemy gets away and collect everything, including two secrets that are found in an underwater vent (which contains the Devastator).
I liked the part at end which is inspired by Dread October from Duke It Out In D.C. What I found interesting and rather unique was when you kick that last button, it automatically ends the level. I have never seen this feature before in Duke3D with kicking/activating something and causing the level to end immediately. I always thought this stuff could be easily replicated in Shadow Warrior but not the original Duke3D. Quite neat!
As with the previous map, you get sent to Hollywood Holocaust upon finishing it, due to how the map ended.
Overall, yet another interesting map that turned out to be slightly longer than the previous maps, though also more adventurous.




Southpark

Another short DM map. There is a hidden teleporter that leads to the lighthouse which contains a few goodies.
When I read the title, I thought this map was inspired or at least contained references to South Park. So I got a bit disappointed by the map not containing any references to the TV show. However, there's a few Duke3D TCs that use custom art and referencing South Park at times (such as the 1999/2000 TC), so if you expected the map having such references, then I suggest to look elsewhere.
Overall, it's a decent DM map and worth taking a look. As with Vesmir, there is no exit to be found, so just explore it for 5 minutes to collect all the stuff and that's it. Otherwise, there isn't much to talk about this map.


Boyard

I have mixed feelings about this map. I liked some of the puzzles and challenges presented. Turns out you need to press on that yellow gong (?) to open one of the doors and begin the challenge, then complete each room's challenge until unlocking the next one and so on, until getting the blue and red cards respectively.
There was a math puzzle that I completed by taking a look at Aleks' answer in the spoiler (and same applies to the map's end puzzle). Just didn't feel like doing the normal way, so I went to the answer immediately. I still ended up taking a look once or twice in Mapster at certain times when I wasn't sure where to go or what to do but despite that, it wasn't as confusing as I thought and I didn't hate it as much as I thought I will. Still an annoying map, nonetheless.
There are 3 secrets to find, which should be found during regular play.
Died 3 times in this map, first time by jumping out of the boat while it was stationary (after I killed the first few enemies and saved, went back around the boat and somehow I got instantly killed when I jumped on it, no idea what happened), died another time at part I had to go along ledge and fell into electrical floor without way to get out, then third (and final) death was at trip mines part.
Also as already mentioned before, this map (as well as XXX) requires the Penthouse Paradise art file to be installed to get the full experience. The file can be placed into your folder and it will NOT conflict with the rest Kucera maps thankfully, as the art won't overwrite any of the regular Duke3D art files. In this map, there is a woman in the red key room that is present if you have the art file installed, otherwise she won't be present here. The penthouse art file in my opinion is really ugly and clashes with the rest of the Duke3D art, so they look out of place or it's as if they were taken out of a mediocre late 90s Duke3D TC. I still recommend playing with the art file for the full experience. Other than this map and XXX, rest maps don't require the TILES014.ART file.
Overall, this map is only worth checking out as a curiosity or if you are a fan of puzzles. But if you don't like puzzles, then I suggest skipping this one.




Risk

A rather short map, inspired by Movie Set. It only contains 25 enemies and 2 secrets (should be easy to find) and that's pretty much it.
Short and sweet map, I liked this one. Wish I played it yesterday if I knew how short it was (taking me less than 8 minutes to finish it) but I guess that Boyard map really exhausted me, I guess.




So far the selection of maps has been really promising and most of maps have been short and fun to play through. Outside of secrets that can become inaccessible later if you don't know their location (or just strangely marked secrets in some maps), some hidden switches required for progression, keycards placed inside secret places or the beginning of some maps being difficult due to scarce resources, these maps have a really clean design. Definitely worth checking out, all of them except Boyard which is only worth if you like puzzles. And the DM maps only worth checking if you like exploring DM maps or play them with bots or something.
I will continue playing the next half of Kucera's maps and continue writing reviews.

[FistMarine]

Vlak

This map reminds me of Blood E1M3. It wasn't too bad outside of that bullshit part at the beginning which spawns a fucking Mini Battlelord in your face (why?), that is just cheap as hell. Although the first time he fell off the train, but I decided to reload the save and try killing him. I died about 5 or so times (other deaths were from getting out of train) and eventually managed to finish him off with the remaining pistol ammo. No, the 5 RPG rockets you get (if you manage to access that secret containing the RPG and atomic health) aren't enough to finish him off, you need about 20 more pistol bullets to kill this son of a bitch!
And to get inside that place, you need to shoot the canisters through that tiny hole that you open in the ground. The first guess was shrinking myself to enter in this place but there was no way to shrink myself, so after figuring the way to get there and getting the much needed RPG and atomic health (and killing those octabrains) and killing the Mini Battlelord, the map gets MUCH better.
After you get past this bullshit part with low health and collect those two pistol ammo clips, you have to get past some troopers and a pig cop. The pig cop thankfully dropped the shotgun and I saved but then I managed to even get killed by a fucking red trooper since I only had 12 health at that time. I was getting a bit frustrated I admit but after reloading the save and trying again, I found the much needed toilet.
Anyway, smash that toilet to recover Duke's health to 100% and begin proceeding through this map. You will eventually find a shotgun, a large medkit, an armor in a locker and so on. The rest of the map flows nicely, though I wonder why does that place holding the blue card count as a secret? The last secret is a chaingun hidden in a crate, right before exit if you are wondering where it is.
I liked the part where the red card was hidden inside that vending machine that provided steroids as well. Was pretty clever how it was done and it put a smile to my face, to make me forget all that bullshit that happened earlier.
Oh and if that wasn't enough, there is a commander in the darkness right at end that almost killed me (took 2 rockets to the face) and managed to kill him in time and recover my health. And then found the hidden secret chaingun as well, though it didn't get any use. Wish the chaingun was given a bit earlier..
To add further confusion, blowing up the crack and then going through it, abruptly ends the map. I guess Duke jumps out of the train or something.
Overall, a map that looked good but got ruined by that bullshit mini battlelord at the beginning. Whatever good that happened after that, didn't make me forget that unfair beginning. It sucks that the author didn't think to balance the map better. Maybe the next map will be better...




Aliens

I found this map a bit annoying and confusing at times. I ended up walking in circles until I found that blue card on top of locker. After that, progression was a bit more clear.
There was that part halfway with many eggs that felt satisfying to kick or destroy with the chaingun, although at one point I got scared when I got shrunk by the protector drone while I was busy dealing with the eggs, I just didn't expect that, though I made it out alive when I returned to normal size. The drone ended up in the purple lava, so then I killed him. Though I decided to reload save to do without shrinking, I felt like I could clean this room better.
I died twice at the reactor part because first it blew up in my face (I wonder why did I kick it in first place?) and second time, I should have gotten out of room before trying to blow it up.
Found 5/7 secrets initially, missed the two atomic health secrets, one of them requiring to shoot a switch with the pistol and then ride the elevator back up and get into teleporter fast before it closes. Quite clever way to access this secret, I admit! And it took me a while to figure out how to get it even when looking at mapster.
When you teleport inside spaceship at end, note that there is no way to backtrack, so always keep a handy backup save if you want to backtrack.
There is indeed a place you can get softlocked if you drop down from the vent (after you ride the elevator and get Night Vision Goggles) and you haven't deactivated the forcefield to get into that big elevator (near the room with the 2 elevators mentioned earlier) and then you can continue the map normally if this happens. As always, keep a backup save just in case, so you can prevent situations like these from happening.
The map had some parts inspired by Lunar Reactor (mostly the rooms towards end) and Dark Side (the water compartments, one of which held an octabrain). I suppose the red/blue corridors were also slightly inspired by Warp Factor (at least the red corridor).
Otherwise, this map wasn't too bad when comes to balance (although ammo was still slightly scarce at beginning, also Shrinker was absent). Definitely better than Boyard but I think it was just overall ok. I had a better time with the city maps.




Letiste

An interesting map that takes place at the airport. This one felt like it gave a bit more supplies compared to other maps but ammo still felt a bit scarce at beginning, despite the fact it gives you shotgun almost immediately.
I liked the puzzle involving having to direct the automatic shooter's rockets to blow up the crack needed for progression. After that you won't have to deal with that trap anymore, just close the window and as precaution, the toilet door as well.
Found a secret originally which contained the Freezethrower (no idea how I unlocked it). Some secrets required the jetpack to access them, the jetpack being hidden in another secret. Oh and a secret near end that contained Shrinker and two atomic health, which required you to shoot a button on ceiling and rush to the secret.
Overall, fun map. I think I may have played this map before (as was the case with Sicilie and Banka), as it felt quite familiar.




XXX

And now for something that some people have waited for! The map that is seemingly inspired by XXX-Stacy (though mostly the beginning part) and a bit of Raw Meat thrown in as well (the rooms containing those Penthouse ladies, reminded me of that beginning part of the raw meat, well minus the ladies of course). Possibly inspired by Penthouse Paradise as well.
Gameplay. Ammo was a bit scarce at beginning, health was also scarce at beginning (the Portable Medkit saved my ass from the pig cops) until getting a secret armor vest and reaching the bathroom, then health, armor and ammo wasn't much of an issue anymore.
Found 5/7 secrets initially, missed the shrinking secrets (sewers containing Shrinker and the actual secret that required shrinking, which rewarded you with a devastator, atomic health, shotgun ammo and some eggs/slimers, also a shrink ray shooter to get out of the room), then after finishing the map, I went back to find the secrets mentioned earlier. Apparently you were meant to blow up that box (inside the entrance, at beginning of map) to get into the sewers and collect the Shrinker. This is easy to miss, so note the fact that certain Duke3d maps/mods have boxes/walls that required to be blown up (not marked by crack or anything) in order to access the secret in question.
A mini battlelord (that is probably supposed to serve as the boss of the map, as in original Penthouse Paradise map) spawned almost in my face in the office. What's up with spawning mini battlelords in your face as of lately? That is so cheap! At least this time I didn't die. But it certainly wasn't pleasant to take forced damage and then use the RPG around corners, seriously I wish I had gotten the Shrinker and Devastator earlier! Also the Freezer seemed to be absent. Lots of maps seem to exclude at least one weapon.
Overall, this map wasn't too bad. I liked it better than Aliens and Vlak, to be honest. Hopefully the remaining maps will continue to deliver. And yes there is a DM version of this map as well (see below).





Petrin

Ah, I remember playing this one as well in the past! I kept trying to remember the name of this map and couldn't find it anymore. The part where I had to drop down the crack in that tower was interesting (and the part I remembered the most from past), same with getting up in the tower to get the red card. I initially thought I got stuck but instead it seems you can jump out of that hole barely, so thankfully you weren't required to get the jetpack (it's not available in this map). Just keep tapping the jump button and you should be fine.
I found 2/4 secrets initially (pipebombs behind babe poster and the hidden vent in museum), the other two took a while to figure out.
The Mini Battlelord fight at end isn't as frustrating as in previous cases but still annoying, I just ran in circles in that place and killed him with shotgun. I didn't get the RPG secret earlier and felt like the author expected you to use the RPG (considering the ammo given in the room). There is also a puzzle involving shooting switches to unlock the exit. Additionally, be careful with the last elevator. When I first stumbled upon the mini battlelord and went back, I tried to trick the elevator by walking back while it was going up (trying to lure the mini battlelord into elevator and drag him down in the entrance of museum) but that caused me to get softlocked since the elevator couldn't be lowered anymore. Time to reload the save and try again!
Oh and this must be mentioned: the survival in this map depends of whether you get used armors from pig cops (like it happened to me) or find the two rather well hidden non-secret armor vests. Otherwise you will have to be careful when taking damage. I only found those 2 armors after I already finished the map. The two used armors that provided 75 points lasted until the end of map (or rather the first one, I got the second used armor just as I finished the map and went back for missing secrets and killed last 5 or so enemies remaining), as I finished with 92 armor points. Just an extra tip for those who are going to play the map, the actual armor pickups in map are found at the entrance of that mirrors room (look for a glass to smash, the armor is inside) and in the museum, on the couch (in the left of entrance), press on the wall and you should find it.
Definitely worth checking out.





XXXMatch

The DM version of XXX! Or so I thought? It seems to be almost identical to the actual XXX map, as I haven't noticed a single difference between the original and this one. Monster and item placement seemed identical. So I just played through the same map again. I guess the Deathmatch only items might be the only difference between this and the original map. Moving on to the next map...




Stadion

Nice DM map inspired by Stadium. Except this time you can explore a few buildings as well. It also contains 5 secret areas waiting to be found! Definitely worth taking a look, just to find the 5 secrets and grab everything.


Reichskanzlei

Possibly the best map of the entire Kucera series, this was a long, challenging and fun map. I think I remember playing this one in the past as well.
I must mention that The Watchtower is right, this map requires the TILES014.ART file installed as well, otherwise you will get some missing textures. I noticed some stairs were untextured, then I immediately saved, exited, copied the ART file from KUCERA folder into RK and then when I started the game and loaded save, the problem was gone. You can take a look at the two comparison pictures I took (the first two of the map), I just find weird it hasn't been specified before but I remember the version I played many years ago must have been a grp repack, possibly found at Duke Repository (it wasn't the addon compilation btw). So whoever packed the files into GRP must have also included the art files. I don't know if the rest of the map had any textures used from Penthouse Paradise but to me after seeing those untextured stairs, it was obvious that I needed the ART installed here as well and had this map not contained the custom sounds and USER.CON file, I would have added it into the main KUCERA folder with the rest maps.
Speaking of USER.CON file, as a bit of trivia, it seems to be based on the Lost Highway USER.CON file, with E2 episode name and the E2 level names are the same as those from Lost Highway, plus the User Map in E1L8 slot is changed to the actual map name, as well as the user map song is changed to streets.mid rather than dethtoll.mid (that way I also get to listen to something else than dethtoll.mid)
Gameplay wise, the health, armor and ammo are distributed in generous amounts, at least after clearing first few rooms. I got once again lucky with a pig cop dropping used armor, so I didn't have to grab new armor for a while. There are few points I got stuck and needed to consult mapster, such as finding a hidden button that lowers a shelf that leads to where you would get blue key, in a room guarded by a bunch of enemies. I found the shrinker puzzle interesting, though a bit annoying to get to because you needed to time so you jump in same moment the shrink ray shooter fires the projectile, then shrink and run to the hole. This took a few tries because even when I jumped in the correct time, the shrink projectile wouldn't shrink Duke, interestingly. And yes I jumped from the middle box near to box where the shrink ray projectile hits. It's easier said than done but eventually you will make it.
There are also more enemies used this time around. Some maps earlier contained a single protector drone at various points. This one contains a couple of them fought at one point and even a pig cop tank spawned (after getting the blue card). The previous maps could have benefited from using more Atomic monsters, considering that all these maps are made for Atomic Edition in first place.
Died 3 times right at end at the Mini Battlelord (first death caused by accidentally pressing capslock that minimized DOSBox and then of course I died, blame the crappy laptop controls as I wanted to press LEFT SHIFT button to run). Fuck that bullshit mini battlelord spawned right in your face, I'm sick of this bullshit already with spawning mini bosses right in your face! Ruined what was an otherwise excellent map (not that it was perfect but it was the best of Kucera maps so far and was really enjoying my time). Why did the author have to resort with these cheap tricks? I have rarely encountered Duke3d maps that spawned mini bosses in your face and now it seems at least 4-5 maps by same author had this problem. Why? It doesn't add anything to the gameplay! It just frustrates the player!
But no, the biggest problem about the last room is the fact that you can't backtrack and if you step back as soon as you enter in the room, you can potentially softlock yourself with doors closing in on you and not open them again (just like with last elevator from Petrin and few earlier maps). I feel like you should have been able to backtrack in first place. Ah well, the softlock happened once (as was the case with previous maps) and it's not something you can't fix with loading an earlier save. If you were playing these maps without saves, then good luck in not getting softlocked or getting cheaply killed!
Found 5/7 secrets initially, loaded an earlier save just to be able to backtrack, find rest secrets (they were around where you would find the final red card, both were found near each other), collect all goodies before entering the last room, finish the map with all kills/secrets, just in time before 1 hour in-game time passed.
The devastator is strangely absent from this map, unless I have missed it somewhere. Would have helped with that damn Mini Battlelord in last room!
Other than that bullshit ending, the map is excellent and definitely worth checking out. If you are going to play any of Kucera's maps, make it this one! It's absolutely worth it!








I will be checking Cerovsky's maps soon. Then once I finish all of them, I will make the next post and then play the Lost Highway episode and after doing that and writing the post (hopefully before the end of year), I will also vote for next month/year's choice and we will see what happens after.

[Aleks]

Two final entries from me, then I can finally move to the Lost Highway episode. This month has indeed been quite (too) busy, but then most maps were pretty short.

Hasit

Played this one and now I know what's all the fuss about and why all the mixed opinions on it. However, I'd go with ck3D on this one, I really liked it. "Hasit" apparently means "to extinguish" or more precisely, "to be extinguishing" as in imperfective aspect, in Czech and it doesn't take much time to find out why the name. It took me a few tries to get out of the burning building (or rather to figure out what am I supposed to do there without dying) at the start, but the most cryptic parts to me was the "invisible ladder" you were supposed to climb up without any damn clues or hints (after the shrinking puzzles). Also I'm not sure if I missed the hint for 9-button combination towards the end, but I did check that in Mapster anyway. As for combat, I was lucky enough to get a shotgun from the first pig cop, the next area had quite some ammo laying around, so I didn't find it that difficult. There's been some dickish monster placement maybe, the commander in the dance hall was quite awkward, but on the other hand made the design of it serve an actual purpose. Also the commander in destroyed building where you have to climb random tin ledges was pretty annoying. And of course the boss fight with 5-10 RPG rockets was... tedious, no idea if there was something in the room behind him, but the big guy could be easily trapped in the door, just finishing him off with chaingun, shotgun and pipebombs took a bit. Other than that, the ideas in this map were pretty great. I really liked the supermarket section (besides the 9 button puzzle), calling for a fire truck and it arriving was genuinely great idea, also when I first checked screenshots on CGS I thought the map uses custom textures due to one particular screen - turned out some wall details were made using firetruck texture in a way I've never seen before, really love that one Other puzzles were pretty clear, despite being quite difficult to figure out sometimes, but to the point of still being entertaining. Also my other complaint is about how cramped some of the areas in this map can feel. Overall, one of the stronger maps this month IMO, but it's definitely one where "acquired taste" is a must

Reichskanzlei

Design wise it's the best Kucera map, also it's by far the longest one. The fact it was made in 2003 kinda explains it. Besides the general architecture of the building, great shading and the layout throughout, there's also some really neat small texture choices here and there. The combat is quite interesting and "just right" in terms of the challenge (although the mini Battlelord spawning 5 metres from you is a dick move), there's plenty of weapons around and some nicely hidden secrets. Now for the bad part - this one is even more confusing than Hasit. Some of the stuff required for progression is hidden better than the secret places (vent opening that's hidden behind an opened door and requires the player to actually close them to notice after checking few other possible paths), super-small button in the corner of a cupboard that reveals more buttons (I literally checked everything in that room, only to spot this little bastard later on in Mapster). There's also quite tricky puzzles where you have to time your jump perfectly to get hit by a shrinker which functions on a very short distance. It would probably my favourite map of Kucera, as it sells the weird theme of aliens establishing their base in a nazi HQ pretty well (reminds me a bit of Capitol Punishment), but the obscurity lowers the score a bit - still one of the better maps this month though.

Now as usually, the ranking of the maps, separate for both authors:

Kucera:

• Petrin
• Reichskanzlei
• Doly
• Aliens
• Letiste
• XXX
• Vlak
• Banka
• Risk
• Sicilie
• Skola
• Boyard

Cerovsky:

• Bitva
• Metro
• Hasit
• Palace Charitas
• Being 747
• Divadlo

And finally - if anyone is still reading up until this point - voting for next month. I guess I'll throw the usual LRWB and something else for a change, if you have any idea, then just add it to the list.

Voting for January 2022:

• Last Reaction and Waterbases
• Maps by Alejandro Glavic +
• Christmas themed maps, because of course we can't get enough of Coca-Cola ads and Christmas trees every-fucking-where being thrown at us since at least early November

[LakiSoft]

Voting for January 2022:

Last Reaction and Waterbases
Maps by Alejandro Glavic +
Christmas themed maps +,

Christmas themed maps because some of us Ortodox Christian Slavs celebrate Christmas on 7th January. And i am pretty sure i am not the only one here.

[NNC]

Reichskanzlei is awesome. Honestly, if you want to play one Kucera map, play that one (and be sure to remove those pigcop replacement sounds). The jetpack use and the shrinker puzzle are notorious middle finger showing areas, but the rest are great. If you want to play two Kucera maps, go with either Petrin or Doly. The rest of his stuff (not counting Lost Highway) are not very good.

Divadlo is great, just those things in the map. It looks so attractive, I wish Levelord created such a good looking theatre for World Tour. I still want to play Hasit, but has no much free time to do it.

PS: +1 for Last Reaction and Water Bases and -1 for Christmas theme.

[FistMarine]

Bitva

Quite an annoying map at times (the beginning and the ending were the most annoying). The beginning has two RPG shooters (one of which you can disable, thankfully) while you are busy fighting with a few enemies. My first death was near beginning when I went to hide into that house that got destroyed by the RPG missile just as soon as I tried running away. Some parts of the ground can also be destroyed by the rockets, so be careful.
Died 4-5 times overall, most of deaths happened near end with the battlelord boss (where he clipped through that fucking closing door and decimated me with his big-ass chaingun) and before that, I died one more time at the buttons puzzle where pressing the right one in upper corner activates the ceiling to crush you.
My favorite part of the map was halfway with the crane. I always get impressed when I see cranes being used and carry objects on the conveyor belt. Not sure why but to me it ends up being the most memorable part. Also liked that red card inside the vending machine, similar to the Vlak map from Kucera.
I finished the map with one enemy missing initially (no idea where that enemy was) but then came with the idea to activate that ceiling trap with the pistol from far away, so the ceiling squishes the pig cop corpse and I get an extra kill to make up for that missing kill earlier. Still no idea where those enemies disappeared, considered I might have killed a few slimer eggs that helped offset the kill count.
There's 5 secrets which I found with help of Mapster. And as mentioned earlier, you fight the Battlelord boss at end, which isn't difficult to take him from the open ended area (especially if you use the jetpack) but if you stand too much behind the door, he will come and either run you over or insta-kill you with his chaingun!
Overall, the map was alright for the most part and I won't be too harsh on it. But I wish some parts were better balanced. At least supplies were plentiful provided, so I don't have anything to complain about weapons and ammo provided. OK maybe I wish there were more armor vests available, I think there was only one hidden in a trash can (and maybe dropped by pig cops) and that's pretty much it.





Palace Charitas

Short map ruined by lack of supplies early on (this includes inventory items, armor and ammo, health can at least be recovered by drinking lots of water). A fire hydrant is provided at start and will greatly help you to get your health back. But will it be worth the effort to stand there waiting minutes for your health to be restored every time you get low on health? Or would you rather save scum until you win?
I admit I had to replay this map after I finished it first time, because a fucking enemy disappeared out of map and had 49/50 kills, while the enemy was nowhere to be found even searching the map multiple times. I suspect that was a red pig cop that I had to run away to restore health (after I just unlocked the central area of the map) and when I came back, he was gone. It was exactly what I thought but I didn't think he disappeared at that time and continued the game anyway.
Replaying the map made the map go faster with 10 minutes but I also died 2-3 times this time around (compared to somehow making it out alive in first attempt).
Another annoying thing is there is no chaingun pickup in this map and as with armor, you have to rely on pig cops and enforcers to drop them for you. Unfortunately, they didn't this time around, so that left me taking full damage from attacks and unable to use the chaingun ammo I had collected.
No wait, I just looked in mapster and saw a chaingun in the same room you find the Laser Trip Bomb required for progression. The chaingun is inside a non-secret place and easy to miss. Ugh, I hate when the necessary items/weapons are hidden away. I would have rather preferred if extra ammo was hidden away. That really sucks because the early chaingun would have made a huge difference and balance things in my favor, at least a bit.
There's 6 secrets to find, of which I only found half initially.
Overall, a nice map that was ruined by the stupid balance. It's quite disappointing because the map otherwise looked good.




Boeing 747

Nice map taking place inside a plane, that seemed just right balanced. Wasn't too difficult overall. I got an used armor from a pig cop (which provided 50 points), so that helped a bit at times, not to mention the toilets scattered around, allowing for a health refill. The map wasn't too confusing to navigate, so progression went mostly smooth. There's 4 secrets to find and I again found half initially, went for the other half later after I reached exit. I also find interesting like with one of Kucera's maps reviewed earlier, pressing on the end switch ends the level immediately (and then you get sent to Hollywood Holocaust).
Other than being a bit cramped at times, I enjoyed my time with this one.





Metro

And now for the subway styled map! It was a bit confusing with one location hidden in a corner of the subway tracks (which contained a card needed for progression) and the armor was given near end which didn't get much use (just absorbed one attack from a pig cop and that was it) but otherwise, I had some fun with this map.
There's 2 secrets to find, one of which is found right at beginning (jump through one of the windows, notice the burning barrel near the secret area) and another is found halfway through map. Don't exactly remember where but I think it contained the RPG.
There's also a shrinker puzzle near end of map which seemed interesting at first because I was wondering what was that puzzle for as I wasn't seeing any hole in ground, then it took me a minute to realize that I needed to destroy a crack in the door and then get shrunk to run through the tiny opening in the door to unlock another door outside (leading to exit), then return to previous room the same way I came in.
Additionally, some monsters were squished by the trains but thankfully the slimer eggs helped offset the amount of kills, so I didn't have any missing enemies at end of map. As someone who is a completionist, I care about getting all kills and secrets in every map I play nowadays, to get the full experience of the map.
Overall, decent map that can get annoying when comes to having to wait for trains to come and then ride them or you can just jump/run while on the tracks and reach the destination faster without having to wait for trains (that way you also get a hidden Freezethrower along the way). Just make sure to look for incoming trains.




Divadlo

Good map taking place in a theatre. Played great for the most part and I enjoyed the looks!
As has been mentioned earlier, to avoid getting stuck, you must kill the lady wearing red that will drop the blue card (and spawn a few pig cops) in order to progress in the level!
The only few deaths I suffered were in that room with those bullshit explosions caused by pressing on the vending machine (although funnily enough, this time I didn't have problem with the Mini Battlelord spawned in your face in that room). First time I heard the warning sound after randomly pressing stuff and tried to run away but getting through vent quickly is a pain in the ass and that costed me a few deaths. And no, standing in the same room crouched behind the desk still won't do you any good. What you are supposed to do is running through that vent quickly and waiting in the other room for explosions to finish. You will get locked inside with no way out, so go back to the room with the vending machine and you will see the red card has been revealed! Grab it, return to previous room and you must get out through the window (which counts as a secret place too) and eventually you will get back to where you were earlier, after getting through a few more extra areas (and don't forget to also grab that atomic health on ledge just after you get out of the window). Also note that there is no way back once you reach the end, so before dropping down from the vent, explore the map and have a backup save!
The ending was also slightly confusing with that big boss door. It would only open sometimes if you were very close to it. Additionally, the multi-switch only works if you kick it. Once you do that, go to the opened corner, swim, kill the Octabrains and slimers/slimer eggs (and those captured babes), shoot the switch, repeat 4 times to unlock the exit.
There's 6 secrets to find and I found them with help of Mapster or else I wouldn't have found most of them. Note that there is a secret (near where that red lady is found) that requires jumping to reach. The way I reached this secret was by tapping jump button and sometimes Duke made it inside the secret, otherwise just keep trying until you make in. There is no jetpack available in this map, so you have to reach that secret the hard way.
Overall, I liked it for the most part.






Divadlo (DM)

As with the DM version of XXX, this is almost identical to the actual Divadlo map. Except that some areas are removed (such as that underwater part), as well as the keycards (and who needs them anyway? in DM mode you always spawn with the keycards) and doors requiring them. Unfortunately this causes one of the doors to not be able to open it anymore and thus one room and secret place becomes inaccessible. The said room is the infamous room with the mini battlelord and those explosions.
The exit room is also removed (everything after the vent part), so there is no way to finish this map (or rather this version of the actual map).
Otherwise, most of the map plays almost the same, just you are given much more supplies this time around, including the Shrinker (while the Freezethrower is behind that locked door with the Mini Battlelord, inaccessible).
If you have already finished Divadlo, then I see no reason to play the DM version unless you are a completionist like me and want to play through everything. I suggest to skip this (and DM version of XXX if I haven't specified before) if you just want to play the main maps. Otherwise, it's worth taking a look, maybe even with cheats.




Hasit

Another map that felt more annoying than it should have been. The map begins with you trapped in a burning apartment/house and you have to get out of here safely. You will have to find a trip mine in the kitchen, then place it on bathroom and then you should be able to make it out of the apartment, then press on the fire button to call for the firetruck that crashes into the building and then you should make it out of this building (though you still need to return a bit later in order to place the blue card).
I died a few times early on (and few more times later) due to putting the trip mine in the wrong place (didn't notice the crack immediately and I put it on the front door instead) or simply taking too much damage from the fire. There is at least a toilet you can use and then smash to refill health but that takes a long time and it doesn't help you have to go through fire anyway.
Then once you make it out of the building, you will have to deal with a bunch of pig cops and I believe a pig tank that can be destroyed with the self-destruct button. All that left me with just 13 health and I didn't go back to drink water from the burning house, so I continued with this low amount of health for a while. There was no armor pickup either (only one armor contained in a secret place at much later time) and no pig cop dropped any used armor for me.
I died a few more times from those bullshit mines surrounding the early secret area that rewarded me with pipebombs once I made in the house safely. The mines can be shot with pistol at least, then once done, you will get rewarded with the pipebombs as mentioned earlier. And I believe 30 shotgun shells (!!!) that may have also been hidden in a corner around the same area.
Once you make it later, you will eventually find a much needed portable medkit (that got used quickly) and more places to drink water from.
There is a hidden switch (took a bit to find it) you have to shoot to get access to the blue card, which you use when you return to the beginning of map.
Once you make it to the construction site, you will eventually have to activate the shrink ray and then enter a small hole (make sure you shoot the canisters first), then proceed with some really annoying and frustrating parts involving jumping/climbing on a building (?), then jumping on some wooden beams and also avoiding a few trip mines (I died a few more times in this part, though at least the commander wasn't too bad with the chaingun I got earlier from an enforcer). All that to get the red card that unlocks the supermarket, which is IMO, the highlight of the map and worth suffering early on just to reach this part.
Once you get into supermarket, you will eventually reach a point of no return (at least temporary, the forcefields can be disabled later and then you can backtrack if you desire) because of that one way door and then you will have to find a yellow card that unlocks the room containing the Battlelord boss!
Before that, there are a few more obstacles, such as having to shoot one of the 2 buttons to activate the elevator to go down in the club, then a switch puzzle that I also had to look into mapster to see solution (solution in the spoiler)

Spoiler

X is the answer. Or more clearly, the odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

I took a bit of damage in the part with enemies blending with the smoke and almost died when the Mini Battlelord spawned (I was at 60 or so health left at that time), survived with 4 HP.
There's 4 secrets in total and they should be easy to find.
Once I got the yellow card, I knew I had to go back where I came and then use the card and find out there is a Battlelord waiting for me. I thought it takes too long to peek around corners, so I went inside the room and managed to find a safe spot where you can kill him, by sitting on top of crates. He won't reach you there. Plus the RPG does more damage if you aim for the boss' head. Unfortunately this costed me another death because the RPG, despite hitting 1-2 meters away in the Boss' head, the explosion still managed to reach me and kill me. Once you run out of rockets, just switch to your other weapons and he should go down.







Overall, Cerovsky's maps have been just as good and as clean as Kucera maps. The duo knew to make maps look and play great for the MOST PART!
I was considering to write all the negatives/rant of some of more obvious problems in the maps so far but I rather save that for the last post, which is where I will be playing Lost Highway episode and I'm hoping it is really good, to make up for the weaker maps so far that were ruined by poor balance or whatever!
I will not vote just yet since I'm still undecided (and might as well nominate JJ Duke Nukem 3D, though I doubt it's gonna win) because all suggestions have a vote each and I technically could suggest/vote for JJ Duke Nukem 3D, then waiting for another member to make the decisive vote.

I will now focus on the Lost Highway episode and I am praying it is good and also hope it will not suffer from some/most of the problems that plagued half of Cerovsky and Kucera maps. I really hope Lost Highway will be a worthy episode to play! Even if some maps will be annoying to play, I'm sure the episode overall will still play much better than most of the individual user maps, especially when you get to carry the arsenal from the previous map (that assuming there isn't any map that resets the inventory or at most 1-2 maps like that).

[Merlijn]

Quote

As for combat, I was lucky enough to get a shotgun from the first pig cop, the next area had quite some ammo laying around, so I didn't find it that difficult.

This kinda illustrates my point though, you need to be lucky enough for one of the pig cops to drop a shotgun otherwise you're pretty much fucked (unless you somehow get through the barrage of pig cops AND manage to find the shotgun that's awkwardly hidden behind a painting that doesn't always open properly - I only saw that it was there after checking mapster). Sorry, I'm still really salty about it

Quote

I'm sure the episode overall will still play much better than most of the individual user maps, especially when you get to carry the arsenal from the previous map (that assuming there isn't any map that resets the inventory or at most 1-2 maps like that).

Don't worry, the episode lets you carry over your weapons unless you decide to pistol start each map (I would strongly advice against that though )

I played through Reichskanzlei and thought it was one of the stronger maps this month, design is clean and combat felt a lot more polished and balanced (except for that battlelord at the end, that's just BS).
Interestingly enough I didn't mind the puzzles too much with this one, it kinda fit the theme of these secret evil organisations inside the Reichskanzlei building (especially the hidden war room with the blue keycard).
Also nice to see more protector drones showing up. Overall I quite enjoyed this one.

Last Reaction and Waterbases +
Maps by Alejandro Glavic + +
Christmas themed maps +

[Aleks]

Played Lost Highway, which was probably the highlight of this month's entries for me.

First thing to note: the 3rd level is broken just before the exit in the original release (and apparently this is not an EDuke thing, as both Mikko and Puritan mention it in their reviews), but this was fixed in EDuke32 Addon Compilation, so I'd recommend to play this version. While I can turn a blind eye on a lot of potential softlock situations or ways to cheap through something that might happen at random or depending on player's actions, leaving a hard showstopper by the authors like that really feels kind of lazy and leaves a bad impression - all it really required was to run a single damn playthrough through the entire episode to identify then fix it. Ah well...

Now besides almost every swing door aligning out of their parent sector on opening and looking weird and few puzzles that feel quite obscure, the episode is really neat, both in terms of design and gameplay. No wonder The Watchtower likes it, it's probably as close to classic Build aesthetics, while also selling a very strong sense of location and theme. There's also plenty of gimmicks and clever use of effects that feel quite ingenuine for a 1999 release. Now a quick level by level write-up:

Highway Problem
The first level is really short, with just about 25 enemies, taking place on the highway entrance. The design is clean, with a highlight being a really nicely done truck. The resources do feel quite scarce at the beginning even if you find the secret places, so it has to be undertaken quite carefully here.

Stinking Motel
This one starts with a neat road trip sequence, as we travel through the highway in our rustled bus up to a motel. The place is quite small, but the puzzles feel nice and don't take long to figure. The design is a bit less memorable than in the first map and rough around the edges. The map ends in a truck full of chickens, which reminded me of Breaking Bad along with all the scenery around.

Toxic Gas
In terms of design, this is definitely one of my 2 favourite maps from this episode. The gas station seems very realistic, of course in the world of "Build Engine Aesthetics" - especially the distributors part looks cool. There's also a nice car chase going around the perimeter of the map. However, the sewer part feels like a wasted potential. Leaving aside the showstopper and the fact it's all really dark, it seems the puzzle at the end were supposed to be much more elaborate (there's 2 additional parts of machinery and some hints handed out on a screen), also there seems to be a possibility to softlock when jumping into the slime if one hasn't activated the 2 switches/combinations before. The whirlpool is pretty cool though and actually works, so that's a plus.

Dark Tunnel
As the title suggests, there's not really much to this one - the least memorable map of the pack.

Jde o Hovno
This is a secret level that is based around a really well made cable car sequence, which looks especially impressive when looked at from a distance. There's also a nice sector based Duke monument. Other than that, the design here is quite blocky, but the cable car makes it a worthwhile experience in the end.

Bloody Mountains
The best level of the pack, both in terms of gameplay and design. I imagine it took a lot of planning to make a large and open level like that that still has pretty clear navigation and logical layout. The dam itself is super impressive, looks much better than e.g. Damned Dam one. There's also a cool quarry mine towards the end with a working drill and a transport trolley that rides around on an arch passageway above the rocks near the dam. And of course the broken/tipped over and half submerged train, which is another really well designed part. The map is much larger than other levels in the episode (roughly the size of 3 previous levels). The jetpacks are distributed quite generously throughout the level, which is a smart move considering the size (and verticality) of the level. Now the stuff I wasn't too fond of: the underwater puzzles are quite confusing - first to realise you have to swim into a small hole after moving the gear, then to realise that blowing a crack there opens something in the other end of the map. Also the labrenthine part in the rocks where the blue key is located feels like quite a redundant length-padding, this could have been easily cut out.

Devil Visit
Final level takes us to a power plant, but I wouldn't say it's a disappointment. The map is quite well designed and sells the theme, there's also a large excavator (?) thing constantly digging the ground to increase the length of the highway. The final battle wasn't too challenging maybe, but a little tricky, as the area where we fight the boss is quite confined - but there's jetpack, plenty of supplies and some room for cover.

[FistMarine]

Quote

Don't worry, the episode lets you carry over your weapons unless you decide to pistol start each map (I would strongly advice against that though )

Thanks for the advice. I played the episode continuous except on the beginning of Level 4 which I pistol started because of the ending of Level 3 (see below). Otherwise, the maps carry all the arsenal/inventory from the previous map!

Anyway, I finished Lost Highway episode two days ago, sorry for taking a bit longer to write the post but anyway I'm trying my best to finish before the end of year (and also to finish other playthroughs I've been having as of lately with Doom/Duke/Quake related stuff), which means this time around I succeeded in finishing all maps before the end of month/year (30 maps in fact! though about 5 of them were DM maps). I will give my conclusion to not only Lost Highway but ALSO all the month's entries and I hope I don't sound annoyed/nitpicking at times but I try to be as fair as possible to review the maps, pointing out every good and bad thing about them.
I played the original release in DOSBox and that unfortunately suffered from the bug Aleks mentioned above. This is an actual map bug that affected even the original DOS version. This was fixed in NightFright's Addon Compilation version, so do yourself a favor and play that updated/fixed version instead!
The whole episode is very nice and while borrows a few parts of levels from the original game (such as from classic episodes and even Duke It Out In DC), the design is very clean at times, almost like a lost addon or something.
Unfortunately, it's not perfect and you will see why!

Highway Problem
Short and easy map (even features a functional crane carrying a few barrels) featuring less than 25 enemies.
You will notice that the balance has been reworked a little bit and you shouldn't have trouble with the supplies this time around. There are a couple secret areas as well (each level has a few secret areas, be sure to find them all!). The map ends inside a bus.
A promising start to the episode!




Stinking Motel
The map begins with Duke driving the bus from the end of first level until reaching the motel. After that you have to clean the motel until reaching the back of a truck where Duke will end up being driven to another place.
The ONLY problem I had with this map was a secret (RPG + Atomic Health) that becomes inaccessible later if you break both fans inside the vent. You will not have anything to jump to and reach that secret. This happened to me once and I had to restart the map when I reached the end and I couldn't figure out the last secret, then I was pissed off when I found out what I had to do. There is no jetpack available (YET) and I didn't want to cheat, so I ended up replaying (this isn't the only map I had to replay, though) the map, luckily is short but still 20-30 minutes wasted for nothing. If you see the two screens don't really match the stats, is because of the fact I replayed the map when I took the second and third screens.
Other than that, fine map. I can't be too harsh about it because it was quite fun.




Toxic Gas
Not going to repeat what Aleks said, I will just say it was a nice map (especially the Gas station and those cars driving on the highway in the background) ruined by that showstopper bug at end. The only way I was able to continue was typing DNKROZ to give myself a jetpack and fly to the top to be able to finish level (which is how I took the last shot), even then Duke would still glitch/teleport with jetpack on, though eventually you will be able to fly/swim until the hole and then eventually reach the exit. This part at end ruined the map for me (if the jetpack was given until that point, at least it could be used to get past that glitched part, even if it took several attempts). Not to mention the slightly confusing beginning that took a while to figure out how to enter inside the place (and that dark room near end with sewers, had to look in Mapster a few times because even with NVG, I couldn't see shit in that room), though I will let that slide and only point the negative being just the showstopper. Shame because the maps themselves are really good and classic style, sadly it's not the last issue I have with these maps and you will see shortly. Also because of that cheat used, I decided to force a pistol start on the next map (DUKE3D.EXE /V2 /L4 /S3).




Dark Tunnel
I think this map was fine (though a bit painful to pistol start, thankfully the beginning wasn't too bad and water fountain really helped at a later time) but the problem I had with (which required a slightly earlier save) is once you drop down the vent, there is no way back. As mentioned, I loaded save because I missed a locker secret containing shotgun shells. This makes me wish it was possible to backtrack. There is another point later with no return, that is if you manage to find the secret exit. But at that time I had found everything, so I don't have an issue with very last part.
Just a small hint to find secret exit: Don't go forward to get that shrinker ammo (there is NO Shrinker in the whole episode!) which leads to an ending sector, instead destroy the nearby crack and you will drop down with few more enemies and get the secret nuke button.




Jde o Hovno
Nice secret map. Some parts were fairly impressive, like the cable car part, as Aleks already mentioned.
The only time I died was when I went the other way (after I loaded save because I didn't check that area) and although I had grabbed the atomic health on those small pillars, I jumped further and there was no way back except drop down in pit and die. It really makes me wish I had a jetpack but thankfully after loading save, I just grabbed the atomic health and went back to where I was.
There will be a small point of no return, so grab everything around that area with cable car.
Other than that, not much to say about it. I highly recommend to do this secret map, so DON'T miss it!






Bloody Mountains
The biggest map in the pack! Again I won't repeat what has been said other than it was a very impressive map but also a bit annoying at times. At least I managed to do it without dying!
However what I didn't expect and slightly ruined the map for me was the fact at a later point where you get into those caves (also that delayed explosion nearly killed me the first time, surviving with just 11 health), once you activate that weird-ass device and collect the hidden blue card and atomic health, there is NO WAY BACK! And while the map was very generous with jetpacks and supplies, I made the mistake to not grab that secret jetpack because I still had around 80% jetpack fuel and I didn't feel the need to grab other two spare jetpacks. Yes I checked every map for secret areas in Mapster before I played (as I did in rest maps) but I completely forgot about that one secret and once I reached the end and then found out there is no way to go back, I was really pissed wasting an hour for that and yes both saves on this level were overwritten after that part! And those invisible walls preventing me were backtracking were annoying as well (though understandable because otherwise players could skip whole map with jetpack). Luckily after restarting the map from end of secret map save, the second time the map took me less than 40 minutes instead of around 50. But still there was no need to replay this map just because of that missed secret. And no I didn't want to use any cheats (only at end of level 3 I used just to finish the map and take screenshot, otherwise I pretty much almost never use cheats), I just prefer a clean playthrough. Which is also why I pistol started from map 4, so I don't have cheats "used" in the save file.
Also as with second map, some later screenshots won't match the stats in previous shots, because of reasons mentioned above.
Overall, a very impressive map but also really annoying at times! Sometimes I even got a bit softlocked when I fall into some places and I didn't get the jetpack yet (at least on second playthrough), having to use a few more save slots than usual (talking about some parts near beginning) and then load the game when I got stuck. Such a shame that the experience was once again ruined, even if a little bit. Let's hope the boss map doesn't disappoint!







Devil Visit
The final map! It was good, I wasn't disappointed (at least not much). It's a boss fight against the Battlelord (it appears the mappers really liked the Battlelord boss!). Died once at the crushers part, other than that, I don't have much to say about this map. It was fine.
Oh and another flaw: the last secret area which is around the boss area (the crack can be blown up from that area) is unreachable even with jetpack due to invisible walls prevent you to escape that area for obvious reasons. That appears to be a small credits room. Why that counts as a secret, I don't know. Shame that the episode had to end like that, after everything I went through.
And to add insult to injury, the whole episode replaces E2 for whatever reason (with most of maps sharing same songs as the selection in original Lunar Apocalypse, although at least level 5 had a new song used) which not only means the level end background being replaced with the lunar one but also the ending cutscene being wrong. I kill the Battlelord but then shows the Overlord cutscene?
I know that there was probably a reason why E2 was the episode chosen to be replaced but I think E1 would have been better replaced, considering it ends with Battlelord boss. Unless there is that 7-level limitation of the first episode in original game/executable but even then the episode had exactly 7 maps in total, so I don't know what was exactly wrong or what prevented the authors from replacing E1.





Overall, Lost Highway was an excellent episode that was somewhat ruined by some really fatal flaws, especially the level 3 showstopper but also those various little issues that add up and drag down the experience a bit. It's a shame because this episode was really good and I enjoyed it much more than most individual maps I played (from both Cerovsky and Kucera).

The month's entries overall were good but man, some maps were so flawed that I need to be a bit harsh IMO and I will write all the problems/flaws I noticed with these maps (and the episode had a few issues as well) that I must share, because I haven't been annoyed/frustrated at playing Duke3d maps since a while ago:

-Some maps suffered from being badly balanced (very little health/armor/ammo provided), with Charitas being the most obvious example of a map stupidly balanced for no particular reason. Though most (if not all?) maps had water fountains to make sure you never run out of health!
-Some essential resources for the survival (armor, chaingun, etc), were hidden in either secret or non-secret places, which means you have to depend on either finding that secret place or hope you get lucky with the pig cops/enforcers dropping the stuff for you, giving you a much better survival chance
-Some maps felt a bit cramped (not really annoying but if you bumped into an enemy, chances are the enemy would hit you almost instantly and dealing a lot of damage)
-Shotgun wasn't always provided when having to fight against many pig cops early on, suggesting one of them should drop one for you, especially since you are sometimes given plenty of shotgun shells early on, though from what I noticed, you are also given a ton of pistol ammo that implies you should spend it on fighting pig cops and enforcers. The problem is that they take around 15-20 bullets to die and fighting them at close distances is not recommended, so if you can, try getting a distance and snipe them from far away to minimize damage, since the pistol is excellent against sniping enemies from long range, saving you resources for later.
-Mini Battlelord spawned in your face (a couple of maps suffered by this bullshit)
-Some parts felt a bit dark (although the mappers have given NVG for these situations, so you can see enemies at least, shame that the NVG run quickly out of battery, so I can't keep them on for a long time)
-Pointless secrets (might as well not even be marked as secrets) or secrets impossible to reach later (few maps suffer by this and due to checking Mapster, I didn't have much of a problem with this, at least not until Lost Highway)
-Hidden switches necessary for progression (or just generally having to progress through unusual ways), which seem to be common in a few maps
-Game breaking bugs (Lost Highway, level 3, how wasn't this noticed before?)

I am still not decided what to vote for but it appears that Alejandro's maps will win next month's choice! And as it has been mentioned before, I will be the new host starting with January! And I think Alejandro's maps (including ADG Episode) will be a great introduction to not only 2022 but also the first time I will be hosting!

[NNC]

Actually if you cast an english translator on the Cerovsky site, the level 3 bug was documented there, just the authors didn't know what to do with it.

"The episode has two bugs (both unfortunately in my maps). The first manifests itself when emerging from the sewer above the pump, the second is manifested by an engine error when drawing a large area of the dam and its surroundings. Eliminating this error would essentially mean redoing the entire map."