Vectra, the Last Mystery (VECTRA.WAD)

VECTRA
THE LAST MYSTERY
by Paul Corfiatis

Paul has a listing of pretty much all of his PWADs on his homepage, www.paulcorfiatis.com, including the jokewads he has just about disowned. Vectra is not among them, and after playing it, I can see why. 1999 was a pretty busy year for Paul, kicking out The Twilight Zone II: Final Dreams as well as releasing Death Tormention and its sequel, plus a bunch of other little scraps. Vectra is... a MAP01 replacement for Doom II. While I suspected that PC_WOLF's sky was Star Wars-related, there is no question about this one's, since it's spelled out in a comparatively extensive backstory.

Vectra is set 2000 years in Doom's future, specifically from the death of the last known demon in our universe. On that day, in Cloud City, "a DNA formed a Boss Brain". Oh yeah, Star Wars x Doom, baby. You've got to confront the newest nexus of Hell deep in the heart of Cloud City, also the location of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader's climactic showdown in The Empire Strikes Back... which happened 2045 years before your own battle with the beast in Bespin. That's a lot of floating dates, but Paul does give us one anchor. The platform you're fighting on is called Vectra, it was installed in 2759 AD, and it powers Cloud City.

The playing area IS a platform, and the sky sort of invokes the interior of a cavernous technological marvel, though I'd think it were a bit darker on the inside. The four weapons are in the center along with some ammo. Stepping on the weapon pedestals lowers the door in its corresponding corner, ushering a Hell knight into the field. There's one HK-666 and two Commander Keens ("electronic dolls") in each corner shack, for a grand total of twelve monsters. Slaying the Blazes opens up the central pillar, revealing Romero's head. It's also a boss shooter, but due to the vagaries of the design, you might end up "behind" it allowing for a surprise attack. The fact that it's completely exposed will make for a very punctuated finale. Here's a challenge: get the demons to finish it off themselves! It might be harder than you think.

That's it. Paul mixed George Lucas's beloved franchise and Doom on several other occasions, most notably in his Doomed Space Wars. There's nothing bad about Vectra, but I wouldn't recommend this unless you are just desperate to play any SW-related Doom stuff. It's right up there with Jim Flynn's Surrounded! as far as tiny concept pieces go.

WHAT'S YOUR VECTRA, D_VICTOR?