Monster Hunter Ltd (Part 2) (MOHU2.WAD)

MONSTER HUNTER LTD
PART 2
by "Didy"

Didy published the first part of Monster Hunter Ltd in late March of 2014, and then after a grace period of about a month (maybe to make sure everything worked right since both maps were meant to be part of one great big level), he uploaded the inevitable Part 2. The first part detailed your actions as part of the company, Monster Hunter Ltd, which operates in a post-apocalyptic world where monsters now / still dominate the Earth. In the previous installment, you were tasked to retrieve a... highly valuable painting from what appeared to be an industrial complex. After returning home, you fall asleep, only to find that the demons have encroached in the morning, starting out with wrecking up your place. Being a Monster Hunter is never easy!

Part 1 was a pretty cool adventure map that was more or less site-based. The very end teased at a derelict urban landscape built in the style of the old world, and Part 2 delivers. It's still got that sense of journey and wonder, with a lot of great vistas of ruins and some neat special effects. The ladders are back, but you've also got stuff like careful Boom scripting resulting in walls collapsing due to explosions and dust devils of otherworldly origin that you'll want to steer clear from. One of the best subtle effects is that gorgeous dawn sky which gives a great touch to that initial immersion. The emphasis on ruined city streets means that Didy hasn't worked as many tiny details into this as Part 1, but the opening is a great callback. Try and spot all the demonic alterations to your apartment and the Monster Hunter Ltd office.

Where MOHU1 erred toward an atmospheric approach to monster placement, MOHU2's combat tips toward a much more demanding style. There's less health and armor to go around and in the first section it seems like enemies are hiding around every corner and behind walls, just waiting to pop out. You don't get much of a break until reach the sluice, which gives you some time to catch your breath, examine your surroundings, and kick a couple of asses. It doesn't kick back in until you make your way to the east side, grabbing the blue key. Stuff gets more claustrophobic and when you finally reach the northern yard, you're subject to some larger fights, particularly on the way to the red key which has a few big pitched battles. The last one has plenty of cover, though.

The progression is a bit more straightforward than Part 1. Some of that has to do with the fact that this is a less... "ornate" outing, and brightly lit, too. Getting each key might be a tad tricky, but each locked door clearly gates off your progression to the next section, with no real backtracking involved. I like that you start off exploring the area previously glimpsed at the tail end of the first map, complete with slain wild dogs, which is a nice combat. I was kind of expecting a finale or something with more closure than the actual end given how neatly MOHU1 tied things up (as long as you ignored the explosions ), but if that means that there's more Monster Hunter adventures in the future, I'm game! Really, I suppose it's more an added climax to Part 1.

Monster Hunter Ltd (Part 2) is part of a perfect pair. These two maps make a neat adventure that's a must-play for any Doom-lover and with some incredibly unique settings to boot. It's also really making me want to go back and check out Didy's back catalog, because if it's anything approaching the level of MOHU, I'm going to enjoy it.

MONSTER HUNTER BLUE

This post is part of a series on
Doomworld's 2014 Cacowards

The Top Ten	Best Multiplayer	Runners Up
Going Down	32in24-13	Bauhaus
The Adventures of Square	Push	Bloody Steel
Back to Saturn X: Episode 2	Rage CTF	Mayhem 2048
Plasmaplant	Best Gameplay Mod	Whitemare 2
Shadows of Chronos	DemonSteele	You Dig
Monster Hunter Ltd. 1/2	Mordeth Award	The Wailing Horde
Resurgence	Doom 2 in Name Only	Reconstruction/
Mayan Mishap	Mockaward	Decomposition
Urban Brawl: Dead of Winter	Brutalist Doom
Thy Flesh Turned Into a Draft Excluder	Mapper of the Year
	Joshy