Game 12: The Catacomb Abyss

Name:The Catacomb Abyss
Number:12
Year:1992
Publisher:Softdisk Publishing
Developer:Gamer's Edge*
Genre:FPS
Difficulty:2/10
Time:Under 2 Hours

It could just be nostalga talking, but I still like this game. Most fantasy games tend to be Doom with wands. The gameplay in this hasn't really been copied by anyone else. As a sequel to Catacomb 3D, its ironed out most of the big faults. Judging by the end, not all of those were intentional.
This isn't the last we'll see of Big Jim and Mike. To immident interest of myself, they were the programers of Blake Stone. Big Jim would go on to do something for Duke Nukem and Mike would end up going on to iD Software. Current iD Software. I wonder if this came up in the interview?
Almost all of the same criticisms and advantages apply to this as they did to the game this is based off of. Its basically the same game except better. One thing to note is that there are two sequels. They're just the usual shareware games, first episode free, rest paid. I feel like the only reason why people call them different games is because no one played them until they were seperate.
Despite this Abyss is cleverer with its level design. Encounters in most single plane shooters are solely what you find in room. Abyss can have something sneak up on you without you knowing it even exists. The high points of the game are where this can actually happen. Around a third of the campaign involves this, which is good, it sticks to its strengths without overwhelming its strengths. Unfortunately, some of those times it sticks to its weaknesses. I don't mind spamming attacks against a boss, but when your normal enemies take around 4 zappers to kill, you probably shouldn't fill the levels with them. I guess you could call it balanced around the extreme amount of items, but I wouldn't. Because its not. This won't blow your mind if you don't like games like Wolfenstein though, and I'd wager that's most people.

Weapons:
Weapons from Catacomb 3D are mostly unaltered, with the exception of the removal of charged shots. Thanks guys. 2/10

Enemies:
The enemy selection has been greatly improved from Catacomb 3D. The undead are the real standout, but mages also provide some variety to encounters. We're starting to get to Doom levels of enemy variety, but not enough that you could release a 1 Monster levelset. 5/10

Non-Enemies:
0/10

Levels:
A lot of time and effort went into these levels. This is a graveyard, this is a mauseleum, this is a sewer. I hate the sewer. The level descriptions just make each level easy to navigate and just more interesting than the comparable Wolfenstein levels. With some annoying exceptions, especially the secret levels, of which I don't even feel like bothering telling you about, they're just that lame. 8/10

Player Agency:
Same as before, now with quick turning. 5/10

Interactivity:
Same as before. 1/10

Atmosphere:
Funny, removing the music and adding more room descriptions makes the atmosphere so much better. Its very tense at times when it really isn't. 5/10

Graphics:
Despite reusing a lot of assets, the new assets don't really clash and generally feel like they belong. The most out of places ones are the trolls/demons, and Nemesis himself. Those were around since the beginning. 5/10

Story:
Oh, nice, you screw up what little story you had. 0/10

Sound/Music:
No music this time, which is actually a boon. Not much sound, but I feel like the footsteps are a nice touch. 3/10

That brings us to 34. More than the Wolf series. Unsurprising. If you're interested in a good flat plane shooter this is much more fun as an overall package than Wolfenstein. Unfortunately nobody ever seemed to make levels for ol' Catacomb Abyss, so this could very well be the last we see of it.

*Which, for my own selfish desires, will not be in the labels for this game, because they're literally just Softdisk's developing division.

Catacomb Abyss: Nemesis

You know what? I've milked this one out long enough.

Battleground of the Titans:
Starts off with a scroll: "The key to your salvation lies in the grips of death." Thanks, minion of Nemesis, for that helpful information. What this means is that the key to the level exit is behind a crapton of trolls and demons. Central area, or the way out, has a little treasure and two demons and two trolls. On the west side, demons, east, trolls. This is the only level that I can see the demons on the mini-map. I can see them without feeling like I'm looking at Stygian Blue. They got like ten of them, it slows down DOSBox at base speed. This is about the only time the hourglass is useful, and that's only because the hordes are absolutely surrounded with treasure. You can destroy the key, too, if you aren't careful.

The Coven of Mages:
Hmm, portals, is there anything this game can't do? I guess the included tax software is a little out of date. This is another one of the levels with the Satanic images. This one's a bit goofier, having a bright blue painting every other wall tends to do that. We also get the final new enemy, the Eyeball, or the Evil Eye. They're basically tougher mages with weaker attacks.
The level itself is divided in six areas. The first, of course, being the starting area in which you can go through five portals.
1)Citadel of the Mages is a room divided into two with a bunch of little side corridors. It also has a scroll: "The Evil Nemesis lies beyond the tangled web of the Mages." I am not responsible for that capitalization. Some treasure and a wise little first encounter with the Evil Eye.
2)Subwall passages is exactly what you think it is, a series of passages filled with treasure and enemies. Not any breakable walls, just a weird L-like shaped area.
3)Antechamber before the Altar starts off with you getting mobbed by mages, no doubt in an event that will cause you to destroy some of the nearby treasure. There's a locked door here and I don't have any keys.
4)The Room of Walls, a weird hallway with a series of walls. Its not a maze, its just weird. Will this wall have treasure or enemies? Both? That would be a question if the enemies didn't all awake when you entered the room.
5)The Long Passages of Discipline. Its a long passageway, its got a key and a hallway you enter in the middle. This would be annoying in Doom. At one end is the key and at the other an Evil Eye hiding behind a chest. Did I mention they can shoot from behind chests? There are torches on the wall here and they have the purple wall textures.
Back at the Antechamber, I reach Decision Point. A big chunk of Nemesis portraits that I'm sure don't explode or anything. The decision is about which wall you explode first. The smaller ones, with less treasure, or the big one, which you will absolutely destroy the treasure in. The big one also leads to the Altar of the All-Seeing Eye, which has an eyes in front of it.
The level exit is proceeded by a bunch of walls with the exploding wall texture. They don't explode, they just look like it.

The Inner Sanctum:
You know that one maze section where you have to get out of a gradually bigger square? That's the intro to this level. Except this level has the red demons. They're just like the previous ones, except they eat more punishment. Around five zappers. Abyss missed an opportunity to have more diverse enemy packs, and this does show. Well, not here, there's some more mysteriously appearing skeletons. This level wouldn't be bad if it weren't for explosions. That must be why I like death metal so much. There's also a hourglass hidden behind some demons, like I'm going to be using that. There's really clever encounter here where someone you don't expect shows up.

The Haunt of Nemesis:
This one starts off with a grand, epic room. There are two exits out of this room. One, with fifty mages in it, and another, with fifty red demons in it. There are more behind some chests on either side. Those wear down your supplies, so if you used up all your zappers on the previous level, you're screwed. I didn't, I only used like fifty. Exterminators are also very in-demand. And Nemesis just shows up behind a breakable wall. He takes twelve zappers. Twelve. I thought it was a fake at first, it was so surprising.

The Passage to the Surface:
This level is basically just an interactive credits sequence. Interactive isn't the right word, its just something you walk through. The cheats are also here, and no, I'm not telling them to you, if you're that lazy cheat elsewhere. You do need the level select cheat to reach the secret levels. Will I tell you about those?

Secret Levels:
No.
They're really lame. They take everything that was good about the game and remove it.

Now, its time to stop stalling and talk about what I really think.

Catacomb Abyss: Welcome to Hell

The title might be a spoiler, but how are you going to talk about trolls when there's a portal to Hell near your town? Come to think of it, that's basically Waterdeep in Forgotten Realms. What would possibly possess someone to live near unending terror? Are there really that many cute little bistros there?

Have you gotten that this is the Lair of Trolls yet? I suppose I could complain about the troll statues here, but this was supposedly contructed by Nemesis's minions, not some random trolls cave. There's blood on the walls too. Little treasures behind the entrance.

The area takes a hard right to the first enemy. A bunch of orcs. Eh, I'm not going to complain too much, the trolls eat damage like it was breakfast.

Here we go, first troll just saunters towards me. Like the water trolls, they aren't stopped when in their pain animation. Being that they're the same genus, if not general species, I don't know if that's a shock. The hallway the orcs were in is called "Byway of Brutality", and we're now entering the level of the game that is just covered in blood. I guess that's something Catacomb can say it did first. Hell, Doom doesn't really have mysterious bloodstains all over the walls, you know why they're all there. Quarrels between minions or outside victims?
Behind these bloodied walls are chests, which at this point are starting to be useless to me. You can't get anymore than 99 of an item and unlike some games, items are always consumed when you touch them.

A troll tries to sneak up on me. If only I had more zappers than I knew what to do with. One and a few more shots and they'll go down. The room he was guarding? Some more blood splatters on the wall, but this time they're clever. Instead of just blowing up all the same colored bricks in the group, they only blow up two. Amazing! These "Secret Passages" lead to a room with another troll in it. I'm sorry, they're still "Secret Passages".

"The Gallery of Horror", you need more than statues of trolls for that to be true, game. Those troll statues lead to a dead end covered in blood. That's actually a very disturbing idea, and if this were more high-res this would be really freaky. Well, until you advance and discover it to be "Entry to the Troll's Keep". Full of items in front of trolls, including a key. The room is even more full of blood on the inside. The key turns out to be useful ten seconds later, when I find a door.

"Torture Chamber of the Trolls" has two trolls, more magic and a hourglass. The hourglass is quite frankly, completely useless throughout the game. It stops time for 99 seconds*, allowing you to fire a bunch of magick missiles at once. It stops the magick missiles at some limit or another. In order for it to be useful, you'd need to fight several enemies without any other attack items. You'd need to find a level pack that has that kind of limitation put into it. I want to point out that there are no such level packs. You'd have to be really clever and like this game for that to work. Three trolls versus 96 zappers in an open room. There are three hourglasses in this room.
After the slaughter, I discover that naturally, the door to the next level is locked. I know where it'll be. Back to the start, to an area filled with more blood. "Eastern Caverns". Which implies that there are other caverns, despite the only other area involving secret passages. I swear this game's level design is better than I'm making it sound.

An orc just pops out while a troll I can't have possibly seen revs himself up. I take them out. Check around, hey another troll on the other side.

Crap, I really awoke some beasts here. Hey, they're guarding a scroll. I wonder what it says? There are also some hourglasses in "Treasure Room of the Trolls", but they're behind the beasties, so who cares?

Now, this I buy someone in this game wrote. Some orc with a bigger ego than talent thinks he's being clever here. Its not a very effective taunt. Even if you went straight here you'd still be past half the level's trolls. Not a lot of trolls on this level all about trolls. How droll. There's no key in here, nor is there in a hidden treasure room a little ways back. A passageway leads off from the right of the entrance here. Well, a passageway with a door. As I walk down it, I notice a troll activated himself behind me. Not actually behind me.

This is on the other side of the wall at the end of the passage. Quality work, Jim and Mike.

GEE, I WONDER WHERE I SHOULD GO NOW?

Okay, half the trolls is unfair, more like 1/3. Oh, this is it for the level?

Are the walls supposed to be living or are the walls supposed to be burning things? The green blood is also a question I have. The game calls them "The Fire Breathing Walls of Hell", which doesn't uncomplicate things any.

Check out that deep dark blue on the radar. Talk about a raw deal. Demons take about three zappers or a lot more use of the Ctrl key than you probably ever wanted. I wonder how many children back in the day got in trouble with their parents for hammering the Ctrl key so much. This is probably a good time for me to hammer the right Ctrl key for a change. There's about three paths open to me here, I pick one completely at random.

"The Way to Certain Peril", which is certainly true. Demons sneaking up on you is certainly nasty. After I take him down, using a couple of exterminators for a change, I suspect the walls won't break. None of the walls here burst upon getting hit. Does that mean they're not exploding walls?

No. Oh...three sacks of meat that deal 15% damage at once. How troublesome this would be without a full inventory of cures. Next door? Another demon. Ah, this is why the troll lair had barely any trolls. Because its lame shooting at a single opponent over and over again for 6 minutes. Another demon pops up behind him. Its not really difficult or terrifying, just annoying. I'm sorry, the demons in the "A secret cave". With an hourglass hidden behind a chest hidden behind a wall.

Okay, an hourglass that has a chance of being useful depending on how you look at the room. This level sure blows, now all the encounters are similar to the ones in the earlier levels, except this time the walls are ugly and everything takes thirty shots to kill.

What?

Yeah, this level sure feels like a death march. Wow, I'm using the special weapons in every encounter and I still haven't hit below eighty. Let's change that, Nemesis isn't going to take 90 zappers to kill.

I should still keep around...like fifty. That's thirty of them I can use against these guys. The end of this passage leads me to two more green stains on the walls (that are doors) and a demon who thinks he's clever trying to sneak up on me.

Four at once. I'm pretty sure I could be surrounded by these guys and I still would barely be able to see them on the radar. I'm not color blind, but this game is making me wish I was. A dozen or so exterminators later and all my effort was for naught at this moment. This way leads to the next level and I have no key.

So, I wander around for a while and eventually hit these guys. They're not very troublesome. There's a few passageways out of this area, as everything is apparently "Death March Way", so kidding its a death march if its everywhere. First I want to check out this explodable wall.

More demons, and is that a key I see? No, its even more demons. Fortunately, there is some treasure. I need it after using fifty zappers and exterminators. More exploration.

I don't know if this was in the original sprite or not, but that's an extremely large nostril. After this, more fighting in a room called "The Demon's Haunt". As opposed to the other players demons just happen to be in?

Hidden treasure room, hidden demon room. Call it whatever you want. The real good news is that there's a key in here. Do I have enough? Can I make it back to the level exit?

I think I have a bigger question. When will this game be fun again? Find out next time when I ask another rhetorical question.

*Not really seconds. They're faster. The game makes sound effects about time starting again at 15.

Catacomb Abyss: Sewers

Previously, I left off at a well at the end of the two undead-infested levels. I have to wonder about the design of this game for a section. Okay, this is just something Nemesis's minions have built yes? So therefore the two preceding levels must have been unfinished levels, presumably the skeletons are the workers. This makes more sense in Den of Zombies, but presumably nothing much has been built in the Subterranean Vault. This would explain why I'm forced to go through the sewers here.

I didn't get a shot of the entrance, but it was a solid square covering the immanent area. The area after this is a wide area surrounded by walls with the odd water vent. One of the area descriptions helpfully tells me I should try to find the blue gem in the region.

The water bubbles, are of course not actually water bubbles. They are signs a troll is there. I remember this causing me much anxiety as a youth. If you don't blast him down right away, he'll hide under the water again. This is slightly easier to deal with than the regular monsters, who don't pop out. I wonder if this is specifically associated with the water ground type or if you can have these guys over anything. There are two little vent corners in this room, each holding another one.

Right up against the breakable wall, I don't know whether to praise that or complain. After that, a room with a quasi-trap. A troll in front of a chest. I lose the chest. I carefully make my way through the "Aqueduct Northern Channels" making sure to eliminate each troll as I find them.

A grouping of them hiding inside some kind of treasure room proves to be more time-consuming than challenging.

This trick is then followed up again with the same trick. If this level had more substance to it, I wouldn't need to mention it with a picture. Not the best level I feel. Very confusing.

But when you get down to it, having a blue gem protected by a pack of trolls makes sense. I can now see all my enemies. All the enemies so far. And there's a troll out there somewhere. I activated him and never saw him. After I take care of him, I find another treasure room. Somehow I manage to slip all the way to the southern channels. I can't help feel that so far every single encounter has been the same. This seems to be the extent of the area I'm able to access from this side of the start. I go over to the other vent out of the opening area, fight another troll right against it.

A single troll all by his lonesome. A strange choice in this level. His nearest friend several seconds away. In fact, these aqueducts are far more lively than the other ones. A treasure room here, with the chests blocking off a troll. A treasure room there, with the chests blocking off a troll. After this, I figure I've cleaned this section out and must have missed something on the other side. I'm wrong and waste my own time.

Coming back and doing a careful investigation reveals another vent. Hiding a troll who's trying to be sneaky, hiding behind the wall. I'm too smart for that. Another one tries this trick, this time in front of a chest as if that wasn't clever enough.

Hmm, this looks like an exit. I don't see any monsters. No monsters.

Orc mines. So full of orcs the first thing you see is a skeleton walking out of the wall.

That really changes my opinion of this level. Why stop here? Why not throw a couple dozen trolls at me? A few demons. And a hundred necromancers for support? And make the whole floor lava!

"Don't miss the green gem in this region" and pretend you didn't see this graphical error. I guess I expect this kind of level design from an modder. I guess that's true in spirit in this case. Pair of exploding wall skeletons cover the way out.

An orc to the west and an orc hiding behind chests hiding behind exploding walls.

While I am grateful for the info, I have to ask myself, who is writing this? This is right behind the orc hiding behind the chests! Why would the orc write that? How did anyone get in here? Do orcs pull the same move as the skeletons, but they just don't show it in-game? Were there recent collapses in the mine? A kind orc waits for me to finish asking these questions before attacking me. The west area leads out, to the clue as mentioned here. The east area leads further into the mines.

Another second, another orc. They're nice, not very troublesome enemies, capable of doing damage that, in another game, would be the low end. The passage breaks off into two areas here. One north and one south. Both are covered by exploding skeletons. I go south. Its very densely made. Its very quickly makes a sharp turn and goes east, where two orcs wait. Here, there are two passages north, one of which leads to a room just full of skeletons in the wall.

Wall skeleton room turns out to lead to another secret treasure room. I'm sorry, "Hidden storage", where four orcs have packed themselves into a room. The eastern of the two passages is a long winding one with two obvious exploding walls.

The first of these appears to lead into a room made with solid stone walls. A horde of orcs are inside here, and while they have me distracted, a skeleton and another orc pop up from further down the passage.

The inside of the solid stone room has the final, green gem. I back off as to not accidentally destroy it. The orcs don't take the bait so I advance a little to get a clear shot at them without harming the gem. You have to line up your shots carefully sometimes.

The end of the previous passage leads to a "Large vaulted room". Two chests apparently make a vault. Naturally, two skeletons appear here, eager to ruin my day. The area is otherwise clear. A passage out of here, labeled "Mine shaft passages", actually looks the part...as far as a room with no supports can look. From here, are two more exploding walls.

The southern one, reveals a key and two orcs. "Hidden storage", not exactly hidden if its necessary to win, is it? The northern one, reveals a slightly larger chamber with a key in it, also called "Hidden storage". Uh-huh. This one instead has a couple of skeletons and a wall that looks like it should explode, but doesn't.

Back to the first north/south split. The northern half has a horde of orcs. Another pair of passages reveal themselves after that. This level sure has a lot of splits.

Another key already? The western split has this key, some treasure and some orcs. I've hit 99 zappers, so I can't collect anymore without using one. I suppose that's the big flaw with this game, its easy to get a lot of supplies because you aren't going to be using them against most enemies. Key word, most.
Meanwhile, the eastern side of the split has a orc and more treasure. I carefully try to take care of him but end up destroying a chest anyway. That'll ruin my high score. There aren't any secret passages in either of these two areas, which is bad because I suspect I need more than 3 keys. So, for some time I try futilely to find another key. Maybe I'm wrong, let's see that exit area.

More skeletons in the walls. You'd think there would be some orcs or trolls in the passage out, but no dice. The passageway to the next level is just a non-stop barrage of skeletons. Sure, after the second key, there's some orcs, but its a surprisingly orc-light orc level.

Wait a minute, if the trolls are next, what are the blue things I've been fighting called? Water trolls? Water troll. Next, another FPS first. Although in this case it'll be the second.