Blind Alley R., "Monster Mansion" (BNDALYR.WAD)

BLIND ALLEY R.

MONSTER MANSION

by Gene Bird

It's been something of a comfort playing the levels of the Blind Alley series. To phrase something 40oz once said (concerning ...And the Bloodshed Began), sometimes you forget what sort of a demon murder machine Doomguy is. The current trend of encounter design involves escalating difficulty by exerting pressure on the player in new and exciting ways. Gene Bird is from an older school of thought, though. Monster Mansion has the alpha-numeric designator "R" which, if "E" is to be believed, pegs it as MAP27 of an episode that continued to grow in spite of the author's humble intentions. Many of its levels were individually polished and released over 2002-2003 as well as featuring as significant minorities of Community Chest I & II (and a few yet remain...). This one straddled both years, being finished / uploaded in 2002 and officially interred in 2003. Like the previous instances, it's a MAP01 replacement.

Blind Alley attempts to portray an invasion. Demons have invaded your hometown and you, the hero, set out to put an end to the horror. You could be a post-Hell on Earth Doomguy or just an ordinary guy; Bird isn't specific about the matter. Whatever the case, Gene's abstract level design does give way to urban mundanities here and there. Boardwalk, for instance, has the titular construct as well as something approaching a library. The opening area of Nukage has the makings of a picnic park / campground before entering a sprawling sewage system. There is indeed something of a mansion, here, sporting eight bedrooms... two of which sport coffins. Hey, what gives? No one said anything about vampires!

This level bears no intentional similarity to Jim Flynn's map of the same name from Eternal Doom nor "Monster Condo" whose slot it occupies. The biggest positive about GB's simple hub and spoke layout is that you are never in any danger of getting lost. The stringy arrangement rarely affords you more than one path forward, the sole exception being a large outdoor area to the north where you can explore a tiny bit before getting back on the rail. There is a strong potential of getting soft-locked, though. The western annex of the red / yellow key hub ends in a shallow pit surrounded by a railing. If you jump into the depression before hitting the switch next to the hole in the fence then you are screwed. The only way out is via a lift that is only raised by a button in one of three alcoves that open when you hit the gargoyle on the outer tier.

It's too bad since the resulting fight is probably the most complex setup of the whole PWAD. Shotgun guys and imps teleport onto both the ground floor and balcony, making for a relatively intense encounter. Monsters warping to places where you must backtrack is a common feature of Gene's work; it just comes together really well in this particular instance. The other meaty encounters take place in the outdoor area, though a single mancubus on high or potentially as many as two arachnotrons on the low ground isn't exactly breaking the bank. The yard offers you more room to maneuver and projectiles to dodge for just a tad more engagement.

Gene's typical fare is exemplified in the rest of the map. Open a door and what you see is largely what you get apart from the obligatory monsters that are tucked into corners. The mixed monster packs are just as capable of distracting themselves as they are falling prey to your super shotgun as they file into fatal funnels. You will get the chaingun, plasma rifle, and rocket launcher, but the SSG is just so freakin' comfy - not to downplay the RL's ability to room clear. Difficulty is largely a matter of attrition based on what level of danger you allow yourself to be exposed to. Risking damage to maximize the uptime on shell blasts is what drives your health down.

As you meticulously pick your way through the Mansion grounds you'll see a plethora of DoomCute detailing. The overhead awning at the start immediately stands out, as does the palatial garden / foyer. BNDALYR has its own small library wing with a similar desk / computer setup as Boardwalk. The bedrooms have a handful of little furnishings including a table sporting a pencil and notebook / journal. If you're looking for a toilet, though, then you'll have to settle for something that looks like a piss trough toward the level's end. On the surprising side of things, I've seen plenty of sector beds and Gene has hit upon a unique (to me) texture scheme to get across the linens.

Props being more notable than the rooms that contain them typically sounds the death knell for the average Doomer's interest. Bird has some architectural oddities that keep it from feeling completely flat, however. The viny red / yellow key intersection is a solid design, with or without the wooden boxes. A tiny bit of window dressing could have made it pop. There's also the aforementioned western annex. Its opposite in the eastern library is probably my favorite room of the bunch with its split ceiling, rounded cross corners, and dastardly false columns that obscure the nature of the teleporter ambush. The northern yard can't help but be interesting with the snaggletooth structure housing the waterfall / fountain thing and eastern pavilion.

The one thing that has thus far typified Bird's Blind Alley design is its stringy layout. The level is almost entirely devoid of visually interesting interconnections. The sole exceptions are the buildings in the outdoor area - which is almost cheating - and a fakeout door in the bedroom / elevator complex that momentarily pops open a window into a lower elevation. It's also interesting to note how the general size of the playing spaces appears to change methodically and drastically from large to small, then huge and then cramped as you progress through the map. The mines at the level's end resultingly feature the most claustrophobic combat scenarios and several attempts to cut off your retreat.

I can see why people are less than enthused at seeing this level as Community Chest's MAP19 but this sentiment is dismissive of the motivations that led to the creation of the first CCHEST. It will not hold up to spelunking thrill-seekers much as Alden Bates's "The Mansion" left me cold back when I first played Memento Mori. At nearly ten years since, however, I've learned to appreciate these moments of levity when I find them as the current trend in difficulty races to find bold, new ways of applying a boot to your throat. I don't know exactly where Spirit World - Headquarters will take me but I'll be there for the journey.

BIG MACMANSION WITH EXTRA CHEESE