Time to write the review for Operation Blitzkrieg. I played the classic version (from Fileplanet) in JFDuke3D (October 2005 build), as well as the other two versions in EDuke32 r5498 (the latest 2015 EDuke32 build) on CGS skill and got 100% everything. I haven't found a single difference between the versions, in terms of level design and item/enemy placement (sometimes I had an extra enemy or two caused by slimer eggs or pig cop tanks spawning the enemy in question). Screenshots are from all 3 versions. The Polymer edition adds polymer lights in the maps, as well as new sky textures which are pretty nice! Especially the sky textures from levels 4 and 5!
I feel like the EDuke32 version would have worked on the Episode 5 slot, considering EDuke32 supports more episodes and the maps are also already named E5M1-E5M5. In fact, when the episode got initially repacked by Danukem, it was on slot 5 but then later moved back to E2 slot (after people pointed out the change), despite the fact you fight the Alien Queen at the end of episode and not the Overlord! Yes, I remember lurking on the forums back then and I got to download and play the version with the episode on 5th slot (probably the first playthrough of the episode I've done back then), which made me happy I got to download it in time before the episode was restored to E2 slot. If anyone is wondering, no, I no longer have that version saved anywhere and it's not like it changed much, other than the intermission screen and maybe a different selection of songs.
While it is incredibly easy to change the episode slot, level name and stuff like that, I would have preferred the original author to do that, so that it feels like an "official" change rather than modifying stuff myself.
Now, after reading Ninety-Six's post (when it was originally posted, half of message I'm writing now is a whole week after I already played/finished the episode!), I got a bit discouraged and expected this episode to be really difficult, at least on CGS skill. When I played and finished the episode back then, I played it on LR and didn't find it difficult at all, maybe slightly challenging at times. This time I did on CGS and got 100% everything. Turns out, the episode was slightly harder but still, nowhere near as difficult as Ninety-Six implied. Secrets were mostly found with help of Mapster (obviously, you can't expect me to search for hours for the secrets I missed!) and many of them offer substantial rewards, so there is no reason to miss most of them. They should give you the much needed supplies to finish the entire episode. On top of that, ALL 5 levels offer water fountains to refill your health, so you are never in a hopeless situation with low health, although you should still carefully manage your ammo! And the 5th level, has only a room containing a water fountain (broken toilet) to refill health, so you shouldn't always rely on drinking water to refill health, except rarely.
Anyway, yeah, I didn't find the episode as difficult. Sure, I found a few points annoying with explosions in your face (like in last 3 maps) or monsters suddenly spawned in your face (or worse, in your back!) when doing something. But remember that even the original Duke3D levels spawned enemies occasionally (sometimes in your face, though very rarely), as well as the explosions in your face. It was rare to happen but it definitely happened. I agree that a FEW parts were kinda bullshit and they were nothing more than cheap tricks to surprise or even kill an unprepared player (thankfully wasn't my case but there were a few parts I had to use the medkit to heal the damage I received).
And then there is a secret that can only be reached if you let yourself shrunk from a protector drone, which is at the end of second map (more on that below). I had to spoil this part, to help other completionists out there! You don't want to lock yourself out of getting 100%! As always, save often and use several save slots! Preferably have a backup save made at end of each level and you should be fine! Now time to write about the maps:
Nut Case
An interesting opening map, which starts you already under thunderstorm (like in original E4L1), so don't stay around at the start too much! Be sure to grab the nearby RPG secret by jumping through the window. I recommend saving the RPG for later when you encounter the Pig Cop Tanks (though you can also use the self-destruct button on their backs but here, the safer approach is spending some rockets for them). Destroy those turrets, be sure to grab the nearby pistol pickup (near the blue key door) and then prepare to kill a couple enemies with the pistol early on. And hope that the pig cop drops a shotgun for you!
Something to note regarding explosions in the episode is that many explosions happen by just blowing up the fire extinguisher. To have an easier time, whenever you see one, just blow it up, so later you don't get surprised by an enemy blow it up for you. It happened to me once in second level (in one of EDuke32 playthroughs) but thankfully wasn't much of an issue because I had extra health (though it sucked losing most of the extra health early on).
The map has a couple tricks, such as enemies spawning when collecting a card, as well as enemy placement in general being quite tricky at times. When facing rooms that feature multiple enemies in it, example newbeasts (aka Protector Drones), it's best to pick them off one by one instead of entering the room and facing all of them at the same time. In general you are better off fighting while taking cover around a corner of the wall, so you are not fully exposed to the enemy fire. This strategy (something I've been doing a lot of as of lately, even in other games/mods, such as many Doom wads) can save you precious health and armor that you may need later on when it's time for unavoidable damage. At least the maps are generous with including water fountains, so you will not have trouble with running out of health. Even then, ammo, armor and health management is still very important!
With that said, the map early on does have scarce supplies and that's why you want an early armor/shotgun from a pig cop. Although the resources are given relatively early, you have to guess the correct path, so you don't end up going the wrong path and fighting more enemies without having armor, shotgun and chaingun. Once again you may be lucky with pig cops and enforcers dropping these essentials for you, that is at least a minute or so before the time you finally acquire the weapons in question (and if you get an used armor early on, then save the actual armor pick up for the end of map).
The level design is decent, not much to complain about. I only wish there was a bit more verticality, maybe slightly better balance and that's all I can find to nitpick at this map.
There are 6 secrets to find and some of them are easy to find, with others being trickier. Some contain the atomic health, which shouldn't be missed! At least if you manage to survive with just 100 health the entire time and save these atomic health pickups for the end of map, you should have a much easier time throughout the episode. That is as long as you repeat the step with saving certain goodies for the end of map and not grab them blindly early on! Though in general, it's better to grab the atomic health if you don't have any extra health, so that you will not get surprise killed by an explosion or an ambush or something.
Not a bad starting map! The Polymer sky texture (as part of Polymer edition) is fairly cool, as you will see in some screenshots (I took screenshots of all 3 versions).
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Warehouse
This map starts you on the roof of a house and you have to blow up a crack to access a Shrinker in the bathroom (and kill some troopers while you are it, also the pig cop waiting below the building). You should already guess what you need to do next but BEFORE doing that, first open that big door, kill the two enforcers from below the door (you should be able to kill them by just shooting in their feet while crouched), then shrink yourself and wait until you return to normal size.
While the design is a bit bland at times, the map overall is alright, I again wish there was more verticality to it. I liked that there are shrinking puzzles involved (and it's not the only map with shrinking involved), at beginning and at end! As I mentioned above, at the end of the map, you need to save one protector drone and allow yourself to get shrunk and enter that vent (though first destroy its grate, to enter it) to access the 5th secret. Most of the time the drone wouldn't cooperate, so this took me a few attempts to pull it right, otherwise I just killed the drone, then loaded save and try again.
Even on my first playthrough, I remember I noticed this small vent but I never bothered shrinking because of the risks involved, so that's where saving comes handy. Make a backup save before you kill the last protector drone. Once successful in accessing the vent, wait until you return to normal size (you will not die if you stand in the place with enough room to contain Duke in a crouched position, see screenshot where I stayed exactly) and grab the atomic health as a reward! Go back, kill the drone, collect other goodies you saved and then prepare for the next map!
The only thing I found annoying are those monsters that spawn as soon as you unlock a door with your card! Example two protectors spawned behind you while you use the red card! And the drones that spawn when you use the yellow card (just before the final room)! This is something that happens often in the episode.
Also the fact on one of EDuke32 runs, one trooper decided to blow up that fire extinguisher near me (after shrinking myself to get below the door at start) and cost me all the extra health! This is why I mentioned earlier to blow up the fire extinguishers in advance, so monsters won't blow them up when you least expect!
Oh yeah and something very shitty happened in one of EDuke32 playthroughs. After I used the blue card and entered the next room, I somehow warped into a mirror and got stuck. I had to load the saved game and replay 1-2 minutes (good thing I save often!). I have no idea how this happened but I guess the mirror sector overlapped with the sector I was standing or something similar. I couldn't replicate this glitch after, so thankfully it rarely happens. This stuff happened even in the original game, example in E4L2: Duke-Burger, there was a rare time I would get warped into a mirror. If anyone knows a better explanation, please let me know! For now I recommend saving often to avoid shit like this happening.
Overall, the map wasn't bad, just could have been much better, in terms of design and maybe balance (and fixing those various annoyances). Did I mention that the Devastator, while available in the map (on top of crates before the final room), is marked as a multiplayer-only item? Meaning in SP, you don't get the DEVASTATOR until a secret in next map (and normally in levels 4 and 5). Shame the map is plagued by so many annoyances, let's hope the next map will be better!
Pork Roll
The interesting thing about this map are the secrets. 4/5 secrets contain a button that when all pressed, will unlock the 5th secret (Devastator, Medkit and other goodies) which is located at the beginning of the map. Once you unlock the secret, go back to the beginning, destroy the tripmines carefully, then collect the reward (and also fight a spawned Mini Battlelord waiting you outside).
There is also a switch puzzle in the offices, the solution is 2/4 switches are correct, press them in the diagonal, the first room in right (guarded by an assault captain) and second room in left (guarded by an assault trooper, where you can also find the RPG secret behind the picture). These two rooms have the switches you have to press to advance the map. Then later after you get the jetpack, fly through the vent on the ceiling of the central room.
The only annoying thing at this map is the explosion towards end that nearly killed me. I had 35% health left (and almost 50 armor) and got saved by the portable medkit. If I didn't have some extra health and a lot of armor earlier, I don't think I would have survived the explosion, even though I backed off in last second and remembered something about an explosion trap at end of one of maps! I learnt my lesson and then in subsequent playthroughs, I stepped off in time, which avoided a lot of damage.
Other than that, I don't have much else to say other than, once again, the map could have used more verticality. The map was alright and while I didn't mind the puzzles, some people may get stuck at that particular puzzle, so I made sure to explain the correct combination. Rarely user maps have button combinations scattered around the place...
Motel Mayhem
As with the second map, at beginning you have to shrink yourself to access the next room. To do so, go to the bathroom, kill a few troopers, grab the shrinker, continue with the vents, kill an enforcer and activate a switch. Then go back to where you started, move that furniture, shrink yourself and run through the tiny vent (make sure the troopers inside that room didn't see you! one of them saw me in one of eduke32 playthroughs somehow, so I loaded the save when this happened, so I wouldn't risk an unfair death, even if I went back to starting room). Stand behind couch until you return to normal size and then...well, you should figure out the rest yourself.
The only problem I had with the map is towards end where you place that red card to open the garage door, first it spawns two pig cops behind you (which I forgot about that during one of eduke32 playthroughs, so I almost died and had to use medkit), second there is a Mini Battlelord behind that door and if you don't kill him before door shuts, you will have to endure some damage while you open the door because he will attack as soon as he is near you. If that happens, make sure you step back as fast as you can, to minimize the damage taken, then finish him off. There is also that nearby room that contains the first non-secret devastator and an explosion in your face at the same time.
These cheap tricks are what drag down the episode for me and while I don't think these constant ambushes and explosions kill the episode entirely for me, they do drag down the experience quite a bit. I wouldn't have minded if it happened once in a while. But seeing this happen in every level, sometimes multiple times in same level, gets old fast.
There's 5 secrets once again to find and I believe one (where you find the yellow card, just after the Mini Battlelord mentioned earlier) can be accessed both by jumping on trash cans or just using the jetpack to fly here directly. It is up to you to decide how to reach it. I mention this in case you destroyed the trash cans, though you should still have jetpack fuel from the previous maps. One of the other secrets (an atomic health in a vent) also requires the jetpack, I think.
Again, there isn't much else to say. It was fine, perhaps the best map in the episode so far. Some rooms were competently designed enough. Again I will point the lack of verticality that plagued the episode (alongside the cheap explosions/spawns). Let's move on to the last map before the conclusion of the episode!
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Metropocalypse
Not too bad of a final map. There are some tough fights, some involving Mini Battlelords in cramped spaces (like the one in the office and the other at the ground floor level) and then there's a few cheap explosions in your face, as expected. And of course a couple spawns behind your back (when placing the last blue card) because why not? In that case was an enforcer and a pig cop in a crouched position, both of which can take down half of your health if you aren't prepared.
There's two atomic health secrets to be found, one is behind a picture (in the room with the vent leading down to ground floor level), other is in the ground floor mentioned (where you encounter many enemies and Mini Battlelord), fly through the wall to reach it, near where the vent is positioned.
The final battle against the Alien Queen is interesting. You just kill the 3 commanders guarding her, then kill her and the spawned protector drones. If you have enough ammo, you should also kill the protectors she spawns and then finish her off. I recommend getting closer (but not too close!) to the Alien Queen to make sure the attacks hit her, as she has a habit of dodging rockets.
On my first revisited playthrough (in JFDuke3D), I missed an enemy somewhere and had to use cheats (DNKROZ & DNCLIP) to find it. Turns out it was a slimer in a vent somewhere (no idea how it survived earlier). After loading an earlier save (but not before quitting the game to reset the cheats), killing that slimer and redoing the Queen battle, I completed the episode 100%. Then I decided to redo the episode quickly, by doing the two EDuke32 playthroughs/versions, which were done much quicker, as I memorized most enemy placements and secrets. I took a bunch of screenshots from these versions as well, to go alongside the regular classic JFDuke3D pictures (although I only have a single JFDuke3D picture per each level, rest are EDuke32 pictures). I personally think the Polymer edition is interesting enough to warrant an extra playthrough, to compare with the regular edition.
Now if only the original unreleased version of OPBLITZ (from 2003-2004, with DM maps) was still available somewhere, I'm sure it would have been interesting enough to check it out, as there would be various differences.
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Overall,
Operation Blitzkrieg is a pretty good classic episode that is somewhat dragged down by some odd design choices, such as the following:
-there doesn't seem to be much height variation (aka verticality) in the maps, making the maps feel a lot more cramped than they should be
-there are a couple cheap ambushes that can surprise the player, such as enemies spawned BEHIND you as soon as you activate a card or enter a room (if this happens, try to listen carefully to enemies suddenly spawning or to look at the level stats if you have them enabled and notice the total amount of monsters has suddenly increased)
-there are a few times where explosions happen in your face (in most cases, fire hydrants cause these explosions and if you see one in advance, try shooting it, so you don't have an enemy accidentally hitting it)
-there are a couple times where monsters are "stuffed" into a small room, which may seem overwhelming if you engage monsters directly without taking cover, therefore it is better to not rush into a room and try taking enemies from behind cover, one by one. Example the rooms that feature multiple protectors (like the last parts of first two levels, also the warehouse in level 2 that had plenty of them placed close one to another), it's best to not be seen by all of them at same time, just kill them one by one and you should be fine.
If this episode was longer (7-8 maps would have been the perfect length) and the maps were slightly better balanced and designed, I'm sure the episode would have been more well known and better received. I feel like it would have been a very nice E4 replacement.
I wasn't disappointed much compared to some people but there is always room for improvement. I was also lucky I never died once, as if I did, I'm sure I would have complained more about a particular part. However I still did my best to be fair and to nitpick all the negatives without repeating myself (at least not too much). Other than what was said previously, the episode nailed the classic Duke (The Birth) feeling for me and I enjoyed my time revisiting the episode (all 3 versions), even with all its faults.
On 25th, I will do the nominations and voting for the next month, as well as my final/overall thoughts of this month and perhaps, uploading a couple of screenshots of Daikarin (original version from MSDN) being played in DOSBox. Hopefully the next month's choices will be a bit more interesting.
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