The Abandoned Mines II (AMINESII.WAD)

THE ABANDONED MINES II

by Kim Bach aka "Torn"

Kim Bach is another one of those ancillary Doom community figures who made a lot of contributions to group projects without ever really enjoying a substantial single release. His submissions include multiple iterations of the 32in24 series as well as 1 Monster and Mock 2. Torn's most high-profile contributions are probably Scythe's MAP31 ("I Dunno Torn") and, most recently, Back to Saturn X Episode One's MAP02 ("Postal Blowfish", alongside Sarah Mancuso / Esselfortium). His passion project appeared to be the prospective Flashback megaWAD, which had him rubbing elbows with Erik Alm, Esa Repo, and - again - Esselfortium. His 2002 /idgames debut, however, is The Abandoned Mines II, a MAP26 replacement for Doom II that was a submission to the then burgeoning Freedoom project. This level was still present all the way up until Freedoom's v0.12.0 release in 2019 (!!!).

AMINESII doesn't have any sort of a framing narrative but you wouldn't expect one given that it was a submission to a project that basically aimed to serve as an alternative to requiring Doom II. There was no way of knowing what levels would come before or after. If they were to be cut from the same pattern as Bach's submission then they would have all been remixes of the IWAD, meaning that it would more or less tell the same general story. Of course, such a production would have probably been stepping a bit too much on id's toes, which would be one reason why this admittedly excellent extract was officially replaced in 2019. If you want something then, uh, just pretend that this is a SCENE MISSING from the original campaign, maybe right after "The Abandoned Mines".

While AMINESII borrows quite a bit of its aesthetic from its numeric predecessor, it would be more accurate to think of it as part of a genre of levels that is informed by Doom II's MAP26. With a few recognizable thematic echoes, of course. The core of the level - a nexus of passages that is adjacent to damage floor pools - can be popularly glimpsed in Plutonia's MAP04 ("Caged") as well as its MAP15 ("The Twilight") but each work spins off a different experience from the central motif. The Abandoned Mines II declines to drop the intersection at the center of the layout; it is perched at the east edge of the level so that there are only two hazardous pools to contend with. Each passage also offers considerably less player exposure as the barred windows are smaller, offering only glimpses into said pools. Whether this is more or less beneficial to players is a matter of the individuals' psychology and if they can be lulled into a false sense of security. The cacodemons in the larger cavern are both numerous and belligerent and cluster around each window like the Three Stooges in an attempt to get a ball lightning in.

The stories of the two levels - by which I mean what players experience over their courses - are quite different as well. Romero's map uses the intersecting caged walkways to link up isolated cavern-like scenes that the player visits, triggering surprises like a funhouse. For instance, the immediately accessible eastern door accesses a winding walkway that leads across a deep, vast pit. Bach in contrast is committed to giving the level more of a sense of it being a "mine". You arrive from a scene-setting tunnel and catch a glimpse of a rocky outdoor area from the raised bridge that you use to access the underground portion. From this area you can access long, wide tunnel passages that link back to the exterior section glimpsed from the opening. This is of course a Romero-like trait in how the player is shown tantalizing glimpses of areas before they are visited and very much in keeping with the spirit of "The Abandoned Mines".

On its face, AMINESII feels like it's more interconnected with itself because it generally lacks annexes that are connected to the main playing area in the same fashion as Romero's east, west, and (secret) south wings. When you take Kim's mine tunnels back to the west you can see the walkway you entered through and link it together in your mental map. What John's MAP26 does have is a dazzling array of sector machinery and teleporters that lead you on a puzzle-box like romp through the level's inner workings in search of not-quite-secrets. Bach's Mines pay slight homage to this element with a UAC logo wall that can be opened to access the cacodemon cavity but the journey of discovery goes no further than a tucked-away teleporter.

As far as combat goes, Bach is a much kinder author, in spite of using some 80 more monsters on Ultra-Violence. The worst this level gets is the long staircase that runs from the mid-east to northeast edge of the map, mostly because the revenants that you fight on it are super awkward. They juke back and forth at each elevation as if they can't decide whether or not they want to fight and then seem to explode forward when you least expect it. Otherwise, the vast majority of the level consists of feel-good super shotgun blasting through hordes of Doom II trash monsters. The hordes lurking behind each door make for shell fodder while still requiring you to think and dodge the survivors. The northern tunnel in particular has a huge mess of imps, demons, and spectres. The cacodemons are obnoxious but they don't find their way into the main playing area in the same way that they do in "The Abandoned Mines". As far as my standout encounter goes, there is a lot of chaos when you first ride the southern elevator up to the cargo platform, which I appreciate.

I took the liberty of Romero's MAP26 to compare the combat stylings and found them to be very different. "The Abandoned Mines" feels like a proper hornets' nest style level where you regret poking your head in any given direction. The caged walkways leave you feeling exposed and the side-areas aren't any safer as they leverage damage floors and flying monsters to leave the player at a distinct disadvantage. It's generally argued that the player character's biggest advantage in Doom is speed and, well, it's difficult to properly utilize it given your limited, safe movement space. AMINESII is accommodating in comparison and lacks any damage floors that you are truly forced to contend with. One you pretty much skip across and the other is both secret and has an obvious enviro suit to utilize.

The only place where I see Bach offering more challenge to the player is in that its ammo is kind of tight, so you can't afford to waste too many shots. It feels like a more modern take on classic gameplay a la Memfis where, during the early game, it pays to know roughly how many shotgun or SSG blasts it should have taken to kill a monster. That would naturally be your prompt to whip out the chaingun and chip it the rest of the way dead. Given the cramped confines of the map, it's kind of dangerous to try to provoke monsters into infighting. When it happens, though, it definitely helps. Health on the other hand feels plentiful, and while also I saw a lot of it during my playthrough of Romero's MAP26 I found myself wanting it and for it much quicker and more often.

The Abandoned Mines II is a pretty cool Doom II-style level that borrows from Romero to create its own sort of thing. If you're into kickass id-styled works then you'd do well to give this one a try. I would have loved to see Bach follow up on this with more maps that tried to better resemble their slot names while still looking and feeling recognizably descended from Doom II. I shouldn't be but was surprised to see the depth at hand in the original MAP26. I hope that this does not come across as belittling Kim's work through direct comparison; I feel as though it has more than justified its own existence in difference to "The Abandoned Mines".

NOTHING'S RIGHT, I'M TORN