Quadruple Threat (QTHREAT.WAD)

QUADRUPLE THREAT
by Eric "The Green Herring" Baker,
Jon "40oz" Vail,
"Super" Jamie Bainbridge,
and Joonas "Jodwin" Aijala

Don't touch that dial! Yes, this level has four authors. Quadruple Threat was an exercise in collaborative speedmapping, which is to say that each contributor made a section of the map in roughly 100 minutes, after which the pieces were sown together. Some of these Doomworld Forum superstars may look familiar to you. The Green Herring is of course none other than the current curator of the Community Chest series. 40oz and Super Jamie published UAC Ultra. Jodwin I know as the creator of Jade Earth, yet another highly-regarded map that I haven't played. Together, they've made this map, which is half marble fortress and half built into the earth. There's no story, just around 300 demons to kill.

Super Jamie authored the central station. It's a decent little hub that's a bit nasty to start with some overlooking commandos and demons on the ground but one berserk pack and some careful footwork later and you have the pick of which section you'd like to tackle first. You can carry your good fortune over into the eastern section (courtesy of 40oz), an overgrown porch with some barred-up imps. There's plenty of ammo to be had and, more importantly, plenty of imps and demons to berserk punch, so you can get your Tyson on. The Hell knights come as a bit of a surprise at this point, but they're easily manhandled. It's a nice warm-up for the rest of the level...

Jodwin's section, to the northwest, is the least forgiving of the elements. It has traps and tons of monsters. Don't let that opening hallway lull you into disregard; once you reach the courtyard, it's go time. The arch-vile in the tower is the least of your worries. You'll have to battle a pack of demons, imps, revenants, and Hell knights; a swarm of cacodemons plus pain elementals; best two arch-viles and a revenant in a room with scanty cover, so you're almost constantly blinded by fire; and then tackle a Cyberdemon once the red key has been lowered within your reach. And that's all with some pretty limited firepower. Not ammo-wise, just I think the shotgun, chaingun, and maybe the SSG. I don't remember since I think you can do each of these levels in your own order.

Baker's earthy area to the south appears to be founded on projectile Hell. Sure, there are a ton of imps and demons stomping around the ground, but the true threat lurks in the peanut gallery with imps and Hell knights firing down from the ring in the first half and then a massive loop of shotgun guys for the second. They're dangerous in the dark, which is probably what you'll see when you make it to the latter half and its combat shotgun. I brought one over from one of the previous areas, so I was doing decent enough, but tackling it first might make for some tedium. Once you thin out all those cacodemons in the top and claw your way into the pit with all the shotgun guys dead, well, by then you're pretty much done. Good luck.

Quadruple Threat is a cool collab from some speedmappers that makes for a large level with some challenges and a lot of monsters to kill. I wouldn't mind seeing more stuff like this in the future, really. Maybe with a polishing phase as well... Thanks, dudes, and I hope you put out some more maps in the future!

DANCER, SINGER, WRITER, ACTOR