Speed of Doom (SODFINAL.WAD)

No one really knows what contemporary mapsets will enter the "canon" of Doom, but I think you could make a strong argument that Speed of Doom has been strongly woven into the rich tapestry of user-created content. I've seen at least a handful of authors citing it as an influence on their own works and plenty of players, especially in the slaughter crowd, have espoused their love of Josh "Joshy" Sealy and partner in crime Darkwave0000. It is a super-hard megaWAD for Boom compatible ports, released in 2010 after a development cycle of "speedmapping" that gave way to a year of production. That's still faster than many of the high-profile megaWADs being released today, and most of those are team projects!

The story is as dumb as they come, of course. You wake up inside a cavern with a headache, having heard suspicious noises inside and gone to investigate with some of your fellow space marines. Unsurprisingly, there's foul play afoot, and the demons have unleashed some kind of superweapon that has coated the planet in an unwholesome green, causing everything to mutate into Hellspawn while reinforcements arrive, unhindered by any opposition... except for you. It's only a matter of time before Hell inflicts Earth with this colour out of space, so you set out to head this invasion off before it touches down, fighting from the planet you're on into the very depths of Hell.

So, yes. Speed of Doom is Hard. It's kind of like The Plutonia Experiment on steroids after taking an eight ball, though there are several missing links between there and here, like Hell Revealed, Alien Vendetta and Scythe 2. A few of these levels are full-on slaughter, none more so than MAP28 ("Twilight Massacre"), and nasty traps are dime-a-dozen. UV will not be kind to first time players, but to be honest, the FDA crowd is rarely if ever the target audience of maps like these. If you're looking for a challenge, you may have bitten off more than you can chew! If not, you might want to dial the difficulty down. I managed to make it through with a lot of deaths, of course, and on a few occasions I was so overwhelmed with threats that I could hardly figure out the first few steps, but I managed to make it through with a LOT of perseverance.

That's a poor picture of gameplay, though. Joshy and Darkwave have their own peculiar styles, and the entire megaWAD is a sort of back-and-forth as they switch off every other level. Joshy's maps tend toward smaller adventures, but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Sealy is exacting when it comes to monster placement and you may find escaping the opening room one of the hardest fights in any of his offerings. His MAP21 is something of an outlier, a survival-style Tyson map where you'll want to berserk punch anything you can lay your grubby fists on. To me, he's the trappier of the two authors, a fan of sudden monster reveals and claustrophobic carnage, with MAP23 ("Poison Ivy II") and MAP29 ("The Ruins of Kalnik") working at peak agitation.

Darkwave plays with higher bodycounts and has a greater eye for scenic backdrops. Not that Joshy isn't as great at scenery, mind you, but Darkwave has these gorgeous landscapes stuffed into the walls and you only get to step foot on a few of them but they give the image of depth, which helps when you're chewing through as many enemies as he tends to cram into a level. Infighting is your friend, and higher-tier weapons even moreso. I also like how secret-rich his maps are, with some of those secrets being fairly large areas themselves. Those weapon shrines really help to build atmosphere. There's usually a lot of room to move in, too, so you can get your swerve on while dodging fireballs from every which way.

As I've hinted, Speed of Doom is just a beautiful megaWAD. The new resources don't exactly break new ground but they set a definite aesthetic for the work, and that aesthetic is GREEN. It's in keeping with the story, though I think that the story is more in keeping with the textures, if you know what I mean. Darkwave is the showstealer when it comes to eye-fetching scenery, but Joshy excels at clean and interesting architecture, and there is no level here that I'd call ugly besides perhaps the primitive-looking "Pyramid of Death", not that you'll really find enough time to stand still. It's not like appearances are the main attraction of Speed of Doom, anyway. Another great bonus - Speed of Doom has a fantastic soundtrack, featuring original compositions from Stuart "stewboy" Rynn, James "Jimmy" Paddock, and even a few from Darkwave, plus selections from other games, Doom, and Heretic.

SOD is an absolute blast. It will set you to killing demons and challenge you every step of the way and look beautiful all the while. It's easy to see why it's such a highly regarded mapset, to some the most modern equivalent of Alien Vendetta. You should at least give it a try, unless you're some kind of goon who refuses to play Boom-compatible PWADs for whatever reason. Just try it on one of the more efficient source ports in the larger levels, like "Twilight Massacre", as it slowed my ZDoom down depending on where and what I was facing. Just, download Speed of Doom.

SPEED OF DOOM
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
and "Darkwave0000"

First Blood	MAP01
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A nice, introductory techbase map. You can either stick with the shotgun and pistol for safe kills or go with the throat with the berserk pack and speed up at the expense of your personal space. The color green is already a strong motif. The fights aren't all that memorable besides the cacodemon trio which sticks out in my mind for sheer health factor. Oh, and perhaps that wave of spectres near the end.

MAP02	Mysterious Cove
by "Darkwave0000"
	More color green in this mix of caverns and underground techbase. The setting is a fair bit more complex than the previous level, featuring a four-floor elevator, jumping between heights, and a crate area. Well, maybe not the last one. Darkwave is quick to start throwing dirty traps at the player; that early arachnotron behind me almost killed me outright. The crate room's ambush is mostly about lack of movement. I liked the rocket launcher secret area, which feels a bit like sending the big guns after an advanced player.

Constrained Base	MAP03
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Another small tech map built into some rocky mountains. As noted by the name, it favors a lot of cramped, claustrophobic gameplay. The early chainsaw should help the demons and spectres from feeling too much like ammo sponges. Joshy deigns to keep the SSG out of your fingers, presumably because it's so well-suited toward this style of gameplay. Instead, you'll be gritting your teeth as you grind down some tougher monsters with your shotgun, attempting to halt their inexorable advance. No fight stands out to me but that first staircase is a pretty dangerous choke point, followed by an up-close track (that you just knew was coming).

MAP04	Sedgemire
by "Darkwave0000"
	A gorgeous hybrid of techbase, cavern, and sewer. The level has a nice braid as you criss-cross the sewer piping that runs through it and see some wonderful vistas. The largest cavern has a nice fight to go with it that doesn't monopolize the visuals, though you can indeed trudge around in it (perhaps finding a super-secret section of the level that houses a rocket launcher much in the same vein as MAP02). Lots of imp slaughter going around; I like the fights and the choreography of the barrel / imp battle is pretty cool. The first slaughter takes the cake, though, as far as how many distractions you'll have to weigh.

Cliffside Siege	MAP05
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A neat level where the action takes place around a venomous chasm parting two sections of a techbase. There's an early Spiderdemon that can chip away at you if you hang out in the open too long, but he's quickly finished off with a telefrag. The center island is the most dangerous segment as it has a broad variety of encounters that leave you exposed, like some commando spawns, a wave of cacodemons, or the revenants / pain elemental / arch-vile / mancubi you have to plow through on your way to the yellow key.

MAP06	Dreamscape
by "Darkwave0000"
	More gorgeous underground caverns mixed with tech. The defining feature of this level is an enormous toxic chasm that splits the two major sections of the level. It comes with a few neat fights; the first one is the obvious blue key grab, which works via sheer volume of enemies, plus some spoiler revenants on the east side that are liable to sideswipe you if you're not aware. The other ambush is less intense but the arachnotron snipers make moving slightly tricky but for the dividing wall. I love the clever secrets, like the BFG trap and that backpack grab. The BFG fight isn't too bad, but you might want to conserve the ammo for the debut of the monster you've been waiting for... Great stuff.

Simple Prison-Yard	MAP07
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Short, cool, bloody level. A lot of chaingunners to start with and then it swings on over to a claustrophobic clearing of the yard starting with some very hectic mancubi followed by, of course, some arachnotrons, which kind of broke on my end as one of the devils wouldn't teleport until I went and peeked into his closet. No motivation to head north, I guess. The MAP07 regulars are the showstealers, though the Cyberdemon is a nice spoiler to keep people from camping out in the outdoor section.

MAP08	Frenetic
by "Darkwave0000"
	A simpler Darkwave level, based around some kind of caged storage area. it's got a variety of hazards that will require some management and dodging from the player, like shotgun guys on crates, mancubi in towers, and a huge horde of imps. There's a pretty low-key crate area to the east that gets points with some claustrophobic gameplay. The arachnotrons that close the map out are a bit trickier due to the limited weaponry, especially vs. the Spiderdemon, but if you use your rockets and SSG wisely the bit of cover you have should be more than enough.

Depredation	MAP09
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
This careful arrangement of corridors feels almost Plutonic in its execution. There's very little breathing room as you inch forward, with bits like the SSG grab feeling pretty tricky. I somehow managed to miss the plasma rifle, tucked away as it was in a tiny side room. I initially wondered what that pack of zombimen was about but it's a pretty effective delay tactic, and backed with an arch-vile - not immediately dangerous but still some cause for concern.

MAP10	Vile Pain
by "Darkwave0000"
	Borrowing a page from "Hunted", kind of, in that initial show of arch-viles. There's a twist, though - another row of monsters to look forward to as you stomp through Darkwave's gorgeous mix of ruins, this one pain elementals. Those aren't the only monsters you'll fight, but they are the showcase of this level, popping up where they're not wanted. Another great feature of the map is how Darkwave knocks some of the walls down as you progress, opening up the level and giving it a vastly different feel with but a few simple transformations. Lots of great rocket launcher use here, and a classic rocket punch segment in the final room. Go hog-wild!

Transcension	MAP11
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Another vaguely Plutonia-ish map that's structured around the combat between the sections of the ruins in the yard. There's a sluice running through it but it's not much of an obstacle. I'd be more concerned about the mancubi looking across from the patio or all those imp fireballs getting slung around. As you make your way around the outer edge, Joshy dumps a bunch of spoiler monsters into the center square, which will do a pretty good job of distracting you, though it's nothing as dire as, say, a friendly arch-vile or two.

MAP12	The Meat Grinder
by "Darkwave0000"
	Darkwave kicks the new episode off with this dark, bloody masterpiece. Presentation as always is top-notch and I love the little teleport tunnels and appreciate the more intricate secrets. The opening towers aren't exactly packed with monsters, but you'll find plenty of baddies baying for your blood as you explore the cramped northern area. The southwestern section is more a pair of ambushes, one claustrophobic and the other crusherific. Once you've bested the former, you've passed through the last encounter with any teeth. The crusher fight is fun and can be manipulated greatly to your advantage. The finale is just demons and arachnotrons, and with plenty of cover, so it's surprising in its ease.

Lucifer's Tears	MAP13
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A nice blood and brick level from the Joshinator. There's a lot of neat features like that soul sphere pillar - really that entire courtyard is pretty cool - plus the red key room. It actually feels pretty tame, compared to some of the maps that have gone before. Joshy is reliant on hitscanners to do a lot of his dirty work, like the bunch of sergeants he dumps on you after you grab the red key and that you'll have to fight through. The yellow key obstacle course is a much more worthy challenge, and it's followed up by an ambush in the blood trench that you'll want to have your rifle ready for.

MAP14	Sledge
by "Darkwave0000"
	This is more or less what I expected when I loaded up Speed of Doom. "Sledge" is a mixture of huge tricksy bloody caverns and tech areas that mark the important segments of the level, like the bridge that leads over to the exit or the areas that house the keys. There are some huge ambushes to be had; grabbing one of the keys (I did the west side first) unleashes Hell, making for a very difficult fight to some safety. Take your time or you'll scare up a bunch of arch-viles. The eastern section has some sneaky monster placement, particularly with the pain elementals, so have fun rooting it out. Darkwave finishes things off with some more rocket punching but with some handy assistance. Love the BFG tree; it comes with a pretty ingenious spectre fight to boot.

Descent to Core	MAP15
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A tech map with a cool gimmick. The outer yard that surrounds the central compound is riddled with arachnotrons and installed enemies that will slay you dead, like the revenants in the center cage or the Spiderdemon toward the back (and, later, something else...). Once you pick a safe zone and start clearing it's not that bad but the monster combos makes areas like the southeast zone a pain to clear. The descent into the gray water at the end is a neat effect and gives you the last hint to the (obvious) secret exit key, but your resource is both lethal and limited.

MAP31	101001010
by "Darkwave0000"
	A very fun level that's made of tech, but the architecture resembles something more fantastic. It's also got a strong blue theme which helps contrast between the black and gray tech stuff and bright red sky. It's a full-on slaughter level with tons of multi-faceted fights. That huge Cyberdemon / revenant clusterfuck toward the end sticks out in my mind but the visuals for that revenant pillar room opposing the arachno ledge are pretty cool and the south/eastern outdoor section rules as far as giving you plenty of different enemies to play with. The secret exit requires some hunting, but once you know what you're looking for only a few of the triggers should be hard to locate. Great stuff.

The Pyramid of Death	MAP32
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Heh heh heh, what a mess. The description plugging open-air slaughters of yore is apt, but there's something about "Pyramid" that makes it so much more nasty. I think it's the completely unforgiving monster layout compounded by the lack of any safe space given how open it is. Just clearing your way through one of those opening megaspheres is a giant step, one of many you'll have to take. Eventually you get sealed up into the murder yard to the north, which requires the utmost care let you get chainsmoked into oblivion by the island of arch-viles, all the while a huge cloud of cacodemons and pain elementals is closing in behind you. By the time you get shit sorted out, you've got to deal with the aerials, and you still have to put your keys to use to prompt the finale, which isn't as hard as what you had to go through but highlights once again the exposure you've had to endure. Diabolical.

MAP16	The Core
by "Darkwave0000"
	A badass invasion style level deep in the underground. After a short intro you're triggering hordes of increasing severity, starting with imps and demons and ending with Cyberdemons, arachnotrons and mancubi. There's more than enough room to let infighting do most of your work, though maybe not for that first wave. There's also plenty of ammo, even considering the pain elementals that pop up in the third wave. The destruction of the core itself is a pretty cool moment and I loved that arcade-like elevator fight at the end. Very fun!

The Shrine	MAP17
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Small, frantic level with an off-kilter layout in the relatively unexplored ruins theme. It's in a punchy Plutonia style with some impressive teleport ambushes and annoying details like that "Omen"-ish commando theatre that can chip away at you if you're not careful. There are plenty of rad suits to travel back and forth while you battle revenants, Hell knights, mancubi, and cacodemons in the main area. The offshoots aren't nearly as tough since there's plenty of cover and the rocket launcher room has a few alcoves to duck into for safe slaughter.

MAP18	Silent Hour
by "Darkwave0000"
	There's nothing silent about this fairly large level, a mixture of brick and base and Plutonia overgrowth. It's got a large outdoor yard overlooked by some mancubi and a Cyberdemon and a tricksy bunker full of crate rooms you won't want to just waltz past. Poking forward is generally the best way to get more monsters on your ass, though there aren't as many as I would have thought in those huge blood pools to the south. The level is dense with secrets, like those two bunker rooms you can't initially get in to, or the chain that lets you purge that rogue's gallery. There's nothing quite as hectic as the opening, but once you've experienced it, you'll be forever wary.

Impure Serenity	MAP19
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A compact and treacherous overgrown tech ruin hybrid from Joshy. The fighting is claustrophobic and there are a lot of windows that give you a view to kill - as well as your enemies. Revenant rockets may not be the #1 killer, but if you aren't careful, one of the other enemies will sneak up on you. Breaking into that lower trench is a pain without the rocket launcher; the SSG just isn't as dependable down that sluice. The Cyberdemon showdown is kind of awkward, especially with those vines masking his firing pattern, but it's a good test of your nerves.

MAP20	The Path to Hell
by "Darkwave0000"
	Some incredible visuals, here. The path to Hell has a giant gate that's sealed by three keys. You've got to fight your way to each one, though as is the standard, even getting to the keys is a pain. The blue and yellow keys - found in some cool red rock and poison caverns - can't be backed out of once you start them and they're tricky with the entrenched foes. I like the nukage falls, myself, but to each their own. Half of the enemies are composed of Hell nobles you have to BFG down in the final leg. You can't just circle strafe, so crowd management skills are a plus, especially with the Cyberdemons stomping around. Favorite moment, when everything goes to shit after grabbing the rocket launcher. Awesome map.

Resurrection	MAP21
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
The first step in may eventually look familiar - it's strongly based on the layout of E1M1 - but the level is unlike any that has come before. There's a bit of misdirection with all the weapons you grab in the beginning, but you should really be punching and sawing through anything that you can get reliably in melee range. Grabbing secrets helps, and by the time I was done - after doing way more melee than I'm comfortable with - I had fifty shells left over, so if you have the luxury of planning you can decide when and where you want to burn your ammo when not on arachnotrons and mancubi. For first time players, though, this is an absolute crawl, with encounters like the double arch-viles near the beginning feeling like forever. It feels good to reach that exit room, though.

MAP22	Dead Echo
by "Darkwave0000"
	A badass marble fortress floating in the red void. While it has a few thick ambushes, it's more hardass than slaughter, with enemies deployed in compromising locations and punishments rendered for every inch of ground you wrestle from the forces of Hell. There are three weapons available via switch, for instance, and every one of them comes with a horde of monsters, some nastier than others. Thankfully, there's plenty of cover to dodge arch-vile fire, and you can do a lot of great work with infighting in the more open sections. The area around the red key is probably the nastiest due to how trappy it is and how claustrophobic the fighting can get, especially with your limited armaments (shotgun, SSG, and chaingun).

Poison Ivy II	MAP23
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Uhhh, yeah. This is a very hard 200+ monsters to kill. Enemies appear to occupy nearly every square foot of this Hellishly overgrown fortress; figuring out just where to start - and how to get there without dying - is a complete bear. Of course, all the good guns are guarded by the Cyberdemon on the ground, and the windows are perfectly arranged so that pretty much anything can get a cheapshot in if you sit still too long. Arch-vile jumpers can grab a megasphere in two steps if they're ballsy enough, but you might want to have thinned most of the initial opposition out, first. It's an incredibly exacting layout that requires some careful infighting orchestration. I died a lot. Turning the final Cyberdemon on the gatecrashers in the exit was delicious.

MAP24	Hell's Honeycomb
by "Darkwave0000"
	Darkwave has fun with hexagons. It makes for interesting topography, if not the most convincing with the textures given. There aren't a huge amount of monsters to be found in the caverns compared to the more typical-looking areas, though after you wake up the first few arch-viles you'll tread a bit carefully as the unusual layout makes evasion slightly more nuanced. Of all the fights, the only one that really sticks with me is the blue key grab, a simple yet effective trickle of imps interspersed with a couple of arch-viles that keeps drawing you in because that HAS to be all of them, right?

Death's Nocturne	MAP25
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A short, superdemanding little outlet of Hell. Surviving the initial wave of zombies and Hell knights is tricky enough, but the action doesn't truly start until you exit the gates into the nasty cavern exterior, which is primed for player exposure, especially in sneaky places like the Spiderdemon sniper at the end of the first alcove. I survived an arch-vile blast into the BFG area, bypassing the library and leaving me a little surprised, but I went back to clear it. It's got a great moment with a metric ton of cacodemons and pain elementals where you can just about get away with some indiscriminate rocket fire. Nice trick with the teleporting arch-viles near the end.

MAP26	Blessed Hellscape
by "Darkwave0000"
	Enormous, gorgeous, and difficult, a slaughtermap through and through. Every time you poke your nose into a new area it comes with an organized wave of enemies, starting with the opening, where some careful dodging gives way to panic when you're assaulted by a huge blob of revenants that requires a little more work than usual. A lot of the fights can be hamstrung by infighting, like the BFG battle, but the finale requires some work or you're likely to run out of movement space with all those lost souls flying in the air that you can't see. At the end, you'll probably be slaying a mass of Cyberdemons with some careful circle-strafing. I felt pretty good once it was all said and done. The arch-viles come as a surprise, but they're much less dangerous than they look, unless you're trying to speed your way through...

Hais Temple	MAP27
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
A gorgeous, difficult Hell temple. After your usual claustrophobic Joshy start you move into the atrium, which has an absolute Hell of a crossfire whose individual elements are difficult to eliminate. The west and east annexes have some tricky scenarios, with a hair of platforming to be found to the west. Getting around through that ledge of Hell knights with the Cyberdemon looking at you is slightly tricky and the spectres guarding the Cyber below are especially devious. The eastern area is less insane, just full of arachnotrons. All of my love for that central room, such a pain in the ass.

MAP28	Twilight Massacre
by "Darkwave0000"
	Darkwave wanted to make a map balanced entirely around the BFG, and that basis is kind of liberating. "Twilight Massacre" is an excellent put up or shut up counterexample for slaughter naysayers who think that it's all about brainlessly spamming the BFG. There's nothing brainless about orchestrating your way through these immense, monster-filled landscapes. Yeah, you have a ton of BFG cells - and are in no danger of running out - but if you can't figure out where and when to move while you're firing out your volleys of death, you're going to go from zero to meat and all the megaspheres in the world won't help you. Of all the battles fought, the most ridiculous to me was the enormous pincer attack to the northwest, where two caves full of enemies open up... with layers of pain elementals toward the back. The body count practically explodes with the births and deaths of lost souls like some kind of Hellish puppy mill. The atmosphere and visuals of this level are superb; I hope you can find some time to appreciate them between all the demonslaying.

The Ruins of Kalnik	MAP29
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
Uh, well, the penultimate level is of course one of the nastiest. It's pure Joshy in that it's unrelenting from the first few steps you take, and for awhile, I had no idea where to go, not realizing there was a staircase up to the lava fall and into the central ruins, which upon access raises a very handy bridge. Part of this is just due to the duress you're placed under. Each key you grab can be used to activate the central ruins pillars in a neat effect. Each key also comes with a terrifying ambush or series of fights. Unlocking the red, for instance, involves a Cyberdemon surrounded by a pack of viles followed by a metric ton of revenants boiling out of two little caverns. Never mind the blue key and its four Cyberdemons in a relatively small courtyard...

MAP30	Darkness Without End
by "Darkwave0000"
	A super-smart and easily survivable survival slaughter. Don't panic! Most of the initial 2,000 monsters will take themselves out as long as you're willing to bait them into doing your dirty work. Of course, there's a bunch of bastards that are going to follow, but they're the least of your concern next to the bunch of Cyberdemons stomping around. That's what the invul is there for, once they've done most of their work. Then you can hide out or merrily fire away while you wait for the end. Very fun.

BONUS LEVEL

Descent to Nowhere	MAP33
by Josh "Joshy" Sealy
The outtake level is a simple superfun Joshy level that frontloads with a claustrophobic techbase that links into a Hell Revealed MAP31 homage (well, at least, that's the elevator fight that comes to my mind). The techbase portion is brutal with moments like the bricked-up cage by the plasma rifle and oodles of teleport ambushes sure to send you packing. You can grab a BFG with a vile jump; I didn't immediately make the connection and did the rest of the map, including the final journey, with the plasma rifle. I suppose you can keep the Cyberdemon alive until the end for some added firepower but I was way more comfortable hosing everything with plasma and the occasional rockets until the end.

FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF FIGHT