Alright people, it's basically the same thing like my previous thread on Plutonia:https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/98456-your-thoughts-on-plutonia/?page=1
Having just finished TNT Evilutiontoday (same settings, UV max difficulty, blind playthrough) I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. What you liked, what you did not, your favorite maps, memorable/fun moments, secrets, tips, and so on.
First things first, although I did not truly enjoy Plutonia due to its difficulty, I'mactually preferring it over TNT. Surprising? Well, for me, kinda. Since TNT is easier I expected to enjoy it more than Plutonia, but that didn't really happen. There are multiple reasons for this. First of all, is the highly inconsistent level of quality of the maps. Some of the maps such as Prison, Hangar, Power Control, Processing Area are pretty well designed and beautiful, or at the very least interesting, however later on some ugly and (or, in some cases) confusing maps show up, such as Crater which is probably the ugliest and least interesting map out of all. Others such as Steel Works had some interesting design choices for reaching the keys. Other levels were a bit confusing, not in the sense that themaps as a whole felt as such, but apparently by not needing to locate and pick up all the required keys to complete the level. The map that comes to mind here is none other than Deepest Reaches. I find this to be one of the best looking maps in TNT, but something just did not make sense in this map, that being the fact that you don't have to pick up the red skull. That was something I totally didn't see coming, I reached the end of the level only to realize I never found the area which required the red skull, nor did I even manage to find a way to pick it up.
Maps such as Mill were rather unique in their way, but very obscure and highly cryptic in terms of design. By this I refer to the room where the exit is located. I almost never guessed I had to shoot a more or less hidden (and that in plain sight, go figure) switch which triggers the final battle, one that was underwhelming. Challenging at first, but I could simply get inside the tower and shoot the Cyberdemon from there without taking or risking any damage after the front was clear.
Overall, TNT was not challenging. There were some Plutonia-esque maps such as Mountain of Pain which is probably the most challenging in the entire wad, but beside it, the levels were easy, and this time around, thankfully, no overused hitscan enemies. The ending level, Last Call, is a mixed bag. The little puzzle at the start was something I loved, despite being pretty easy, but later on it goes downhill. Aside from the room where the Icon of Sin was located in, most battles are very easy and there's a ton of items to pick up on the way. In fact, every area with major battles provides a significant amount of power ups, ammo, and so on, but despite this, they are just not a real challenge. For instance, in the room with the Cyberdemon I simply stayed next to the pillar on which the key was located and spammed the BFG into him (apparently he couldn't land a single hit on me, which was disappointing). It feels like the map tries to tell you (or mock you, depending on how you look at it) that "Hey, there's some challenges here and there on your way, but that's not the point of this map at all". The final battle can also be exploited since there are 2 teleporters which can be used whenever you want, let some of the enemies that spawn kill each other, and jump back in. In a sense, it's good that the battledoesn'tdrag onunnecessarilyby waiting for the platform (stair in this case) to come down, get on it, then go up, and repeat the steps 3 times like in the other Doom games and Plutonia.
Something that lacked in Plutonia was custom music. This was corrected here for the most part by adding some pretty good and fitting new music, but sadly not all levels feature new tracks. In a couple oflevels Doom 2's music plays. A real issue? Not necessarily, but since the majority of the maps feature new soundtrack created specifically for TNT,an extra effort could've been made to feature new music in all maps.
All things considered, TNT is a mixed bag. There is some good stuff in it, no doubt about that, but it fails to be a memorable,enjoyable, fun, and satisfying experience. I didn't even mention my favorite map, well, that's simply because I just don't have one. In the other Doom games there was always something that really stood out from the crowd, or all maps as a whole if not, but the quality is so inconsistent here I can't pick a favorite.
Edited by Agent6
