Doom Tourism: Valiant MAP05 - Aggrovator

Simple Syrup

           Hey it's ya boy paymentplan back again for some more Doom action in Valiant by the illustrious skillsaw. The map this week is called Aggrovator, and it occupies the MAP05 slot. What's in store for me this time? 

Song: Core.midi by Stewboy

       In Doom 2, MAP05 was The Waste Tunnels, by American McGee. It's kind of a quirky map, with elevators and claustrophobic tunnels. By comparison, Aggrovator is a fast playing somewhat sandboxy fare. Though you might not know that by the opening shot.

       Hmm, pretty bland. Just some armor and stim packs in a tight enclosure. Something else The Waste Tunnels did was introduce the hell knight enemy. Let's see if skillsaw follows that precedent. 

       If the map had spawned me right here, I would have liked it a bit more. This is a much more interesting open to a map. It gives you threats to engage with, forcing you out of your little hidey hole. 

       I'm usually a pretty cautious doomer, so I ran forward to get the shotgun and then fell back to deal with some of the imps. I get pretty nervous when I get overwhelmed with enemies, so I like to take it slow. It isn't always the best approach, but it's what I'm comfortable with.

       To the left and right are these little alleys with demons and stuff, naturally. Skillsaw directs the player down these with some tantalizing armor bonuses. This map is pretty much wide open, with a few raised sections, giving the player room to maneuver. It's a much different map than The Waste Tunnels, but I kind of expected that, to be honest.

       Here's one of those raised sections. Revenants and chaingunners. They keep the pressure up, forcing me to either kill them or run to find bigger weapons. 

       I opted for the latter and headed all the way down the left path. Despite its simple appearance, I can always spot the super shotgun. It's the Doom 2 workhorse weapon and I feel naked without it. 

       I like that skillsaw included this little bunker thing with the super shotgun and chaingun. It gives the map some nice asymmetry. It's not particularly well guarded, so a person with a little more gumption than I could rush out here for the big guns right out of the gate. I'm still a little put off by the oppressive gray textures. Hopefully there'll be a bit more color in the next episode. 

       Around the corner from the super shotgun bunker is an enclosed area blocked off by red key doors. One of the reasons to include key doors is to get the player to explore. Once a player finds a locked door, finding the key becomes a top priority. This isn't a new concept, but it can be misused. 

      And here is the key. It's on the exact opposite side of the map as the area with the super shotgun. This has ambush written all over it. I'll come back for this in a minute.

       I worked my way back through the middle of the map, clearing out some demons as I went. I'm guessing I'll end up in those raised sections at some point. In that second screenshot you can see an area with crates, as well as a little nook with a plasma rifle. Seems like a good time to head over there. 

       It's guarded by a revenant! These enemies are simultaneous my most and least favorite. Aesthetically I think they're really cool. Their sounds are awesome, especially their death sound. But I hate them because they punch me and it hurts. 

       Spoils of war! The crate area has a berserk pack AND a rocket launcher. I wasn't able to figure out how to get to the plasma rifle right away...

       This place also has what I'm assuming is the exit door. Requires all three keys. This area over here is probably the nicest looking. Looks kind of like a receiving area for all these crates. The different textures on the floor also work. Prevents visual fatigue from seeing the same texture over and over again.

       After that bit of exploring, grabbing the red key was the only option left. This is obviously going to trigger an ambush. But what kind of monsters will I face?

       The answer is demons and one revenant. This is a really well designed little encounter. Grabbing the red key makes a wall pop up behind the player, so you can't just abscond to safety. Demons are a terror in close quarters, especially if there are enough to surround the player. This is the case here. I had a bit of trouble with this trap, but I eventually evaded becoming demon food.

       Here's the switch that gives me my freedom. As tedious as they can be sometimes, traps are a very important part of Doom gameplay. Bad traps can force the player to save and reload way too much. Good traps are just challenging enough. Traps are good ways to get the player to use some resources. Maybe by taking too much damage or by using more ammo. They force the player to stop and fight.

       Red key means red door time. This little bunker has a couple of shotgunners, green armor, and a switch. Very rudimentary, but I'm sure the switch will open up new options of exploration.

       There, raised the platforms between the raised areas. The platforms are also elevators! I can finally run around up there with those imps. 

       Here's the middle raised area. It has some rockets and some plasma cells up on a pillar. I like that the floor is grassy here. Skillsaw does some good stuff with lighting and shadows, something that the Doom engine isn't really good with. Anyways, it's time to find those two remaining keys. 

       This is one of the two areas connected by those platforms I raised. The caution line texture indicates some crushers! You can see it in the second screenshot as well. The ceiling lowers, squashing anything unfortunate enough to be below it. Crushers are kind of mean, in my opinion, and don't add a ton. Just gotta run through when the crusher is raised. They can become interesting if there are monsters to slay while also being wary of being crushed... 

       Ah! The yellow key is back here. It was a good choice to put the yellow key in front of a blue background. Makes sure the player spots it. 

       As per usual, picking up the key provokes some monsters to come my way. Nothing a few rockets can't solve. Only one key left to find! 

       There's a sneaky shootable switch up here that lowers the plasma cells. I never grabbed the plasma rifle, so they're basically useless. But hey, now I have them.

       This has gotta be the blue key room. An arch vile by itself doesn't pose much of a threat. Especially with walls to duck behind. 

       Picking up the blue key caused some floating goobers to teleport in. I really enjoy these buggers. Smaller, weaker, floating enemies. They pack a pretty mean punch with their plasma blasts!

       Having grabbed all the keys, I started towards the exit. I became determined to get that plasma rifle, and lo and behold, I found it! But, I killed all the monsters already... So it's still useless, even though I found the ammo for it too! Oh well. Let's get out of here.

       What a fun map! Since it was mostly open it had a good, frenetic pace to it. The chaos was punctuated by the short indoor areas, so there was a nice rise and fall to the action. Really though, this was a fairly straightforward map. I found it slightly easier than the last two maps. 

       So how does it stack up to the Doom 2 MAP05? I don't hold a ton of nostalgia for Doom 2's levels, and The Waste Tunnels is one of those ones that I had to look up to remember. It's not a stellar map. Aggrovator looks better and plays better. Granted, there's been 20+ years of game design evolution to draw from for current map makers. It's no surprise that a modern map would completely show up a map from two decades ago.

       Aggrovator didn't end up introducing a new monster though... It'll have to wait til next time, when I head to MAP06: Engineering Disaster!

       Bonus: If you prefer videos, check out Rayziik's YouTube channel. He's posted UV-Max speedruns of the first 12 maps of Valiant. Embedded below is his run of MAP05.