Blind Alley Q., "The Warf" (BNDALYQ.WAD)

BLIND ALLEY Q.

THE WARF

by Gene Bird

Gene's 2002-2003 run was fairly productive and made up a sizable minority of both Community Chest and CCHEST2. Part of the reason he was cranking them out so fast was because he had been working on a rainy-day megaWAD since 1998. He originally estimated a run of 7-10 levels though the final talley was a whopping 15. The Warf is situated as part Q of the Blind Alley series and originally occupied the MAP26 slot in the level order. The 2002 single release is a MAP01 replacement, though. Bird recommends running it in a source port - he was particularly fond of Legacy - but it's vanilla compatible.

BNDALY tells a familiar PWAD story though it never lets on as to whether you're post-reconstruction Doomguy or some other sap. The monsters invade your hometown regardless and you sally forth to root them out of every nook and cranny. The levels that I have played so far offer some tangential representations of real-world elements but they tend toward the abstract. The Warf might be the single worst one thus far in terms of having any relation to its name. I say this because you spend the entire level blasting through some sort of long dungeon thing only to get a glimpse of the titular structure by way of a window near the end. In fact, it's right before you take a teleporter to an isolated exit switch chamber.

Bird's level design is, as I saw in his previous three levels, weighted toward stringy networks of passages and rooms that are connected via a handful of hubs. It's closest to The Boardwalk insofar as how you start out in the first nexus and slowly tackle several side-paths before getting the yellow key and moving on to the rest of the map. He has some pretty cool architecture in the areas, though. The brick hook-shaped walkway south of the starting area has a great style and the southwestern leg has big, chunky furnishings. The colonnade room has something like a Hell Revealed scale about it and I love the tan stone that cuts into the, uh, cobblestone ceiling. The parts past the yellow key door - not so cool. I enjoyed the random teleport to the isolated nukage pool with the vined columns, though. It feels like the techbase equivalent of a secluded forest glade.

The combat is pure Gene, though. There is something refreshingly straightforward about blowing your way through 300-plus monsters while using a progressively unlocking toolkit, albeit weighted toward the super shotgun. It is also less trappy / kitted out with monster closets and even squeaks out a few classically interesting setups. The early ambush across the toxic ravine is one of my faves but I'm also partial to the previously-mentioned nukage pit teleporter annex. Bird probably could have thrown in a few more beefy monsters since the player has four columns for cover but the hitscanners already add a decent surprise element. The rest of the stuff leading up to the wharf / submarine tease isn't as thoughtful but the author is already free and loose with dishing out the stronger demons. I'd hate to ruin the easygoing slayer vibe.

I was sort of put off because this level barely features the thing that it's named for but I like seeing a trend toward more interesting architectural areas and combat setups. I dunno if the rest of the Blind Alley series will follow suit but this one was nice while it lasted.

QAPLA'