Blake Stone: Ammunition and Weapon Storage

E1M7:
I like that title. It makes me think this is going to be a nice and straight-foward level. Three locked wrong ends. Nice Tons of options here. My only real option takes me to a ton of scientists, most of which are friendly. And a yellow key card. I haven't even seen the door yet. Once I pass through a pair of one-way doors it becomes apparent why. A trick. There's a locked door and a one-way door inside here. More hallways, turrets and our friendly neighbor informants. The dumb ones.

So I take the one-way door, I can enter the locked one later. There are two hallways, effectively the same. Each contains scientists, turrets and a few big boys at the end. With little in the way of health and half of the scientists being friendlies, its designed to screw you over somehow. Enemy and scientist placement is just so tight here.

Right, locked door. Turrets. Sure are a lot of turrets here. A neutron disruptor guarded by a few drones. Then there's the big attraction, a huge area full of turrets. Its so overwhelming they even stuffed them into the secret area. This is actually a fairly fun little encounter. They're even becoming generous with health again.

Inside another secret, the final hidden switch area. Its a bit lame, just a ton of gold, and another group of monsters hidden behind a one-way door. Not even any secrets inside here. Oh, well. Back on the normal path, there's a corner with a single scientist for some reason.

Oh, the red key already? I am over halfway done...Just some monsters, no evil scientists this time. However, there is a actually locked off area. Something I think is the first time this game did that. With that out of the way, there's a split pathway, one leading back to the start, and one leading to more treasure.

Soon enough, the floor's secrets are finished with a series of 4 barriered rooms. Two with Star Troopers, two with just gold. If I didn't have a PDU, this would be a problem, but I do, so it isn't. The levers don't precisely mesh with how they should be, not sure if that's supposed to be a trick or not. They're more secrets inside one of the rooms, but they're just gold.

The last leg of the level just contains a bunch of Star Troopers trying to hide in little alcoves. Nothing too troublesome, despite the low ammo I have at this point. I missed a single scientist, but I quickly remedy that issue.

E1M8:
Not this music again. Who did this music anyway? What second-rate Bobby Prince did this? It is Bobby Prince? What a shame, because this level has a nice visual theme going on here. A nice cafeteria opening the level up. A single guard and two informants. After dealing with the guard and checking for secrets I have three options available to me.

Oh, I see I picked the bad door. I don't know what kind of security office this is, but the layout here is freaking weird. It amounts to a series of hallways with weird corners. Its looks like a racetrack someone designed while on coke. This is further enhanced by most of the level's secrets being a series of hidden rooms.

Eventually, I make my way to this section in the western half of the level. Its open season, but its not like the rest of the level wasn't open season either. That's the yellow key, the door is on the other side of the level. Here there's another one of the barrier and switch are in different locations. This one's just in the general area, but it did trip me up for a second.

The locked section starts off as more of the same, weird, strange hallways. Offices my butt. The usual mixture of guards, drones and turrets. Its got some plasma things nothing to worry about. At first, then I push a wall and out come the fun brigade. With turrets. Something that can be learned here, just because you can make something harder doesn't mean you should. I feel like the plasma generators clash with the more cautious playstyle of Blake Stone rather than work with it.
With that out of the way, I have 92% and two floors left to go. I can tell you right now those two levels are going to have more of me mentioning how fun these plasma generators are.

This Session: 1 hour

Total Time: 9.5 hours

Blake Stone: Controlled Pod Hatchery

E1M5:
The music on this level is annoying. Its the menu theme with some weird thing going on. Eugh. Right outside the elevator are a couple of guards, psh, no problem. Three doors. One of which has danger in front of it. You know, I don't ever pay any attention to those things. I'm going through it.

The pod hatchery of the level name is here. Featuring six scientists, three friendly captain obviouses and three people who think getting blood from a stone is a good joke. The hatchery itself is not as deadly as the scientists make it out to be. Shoot a pod with the auto-charger, if it awakens, PDU, otherwise, next pod.

I'm managing to sneak up on a lot of evil scientists this level. I get the impression that this is a tourist destination for some reason. And visiting hours for some reason. What exactly is up with this place? There's a locked door here and I don't have the key so its time to go secret hunting.

An ordinary treasure room reveals something interesting, a fiver food token. Since its hidden here, it must be a treasure as good as gold. These food machines too. The switch will do...something. I'll know later when there's a mysterious hole in the floor. This music track is hot garbage. I just can't take it.

Man, every level is just stuffed with secrets. Another one, this time filled with money and turrets, a theme that repeats itself on this level. I am eventually dropped in another non-secret part of the level, north of the starting point. There's even a Slow-Fire Protector out and about...for some reason.

A cafeteria and a giant turret-infested hallway are the exits from this area. More turrets, and Goldfire appears for some reason. Enough ammo to kill a plasma generator for a minute at least. From here, even more secrets, including one long and obnoxious corridor for some reason.

Then, I strike paydirt. An open barrier, and nary a switch to be seen. At first I think this my work on the previous map, but no, that's just the earlier switch. Turrets...fine more turrets. Then, something horrible happens. Two one-way doors, making a complete circuit at least. But the area behind those doors has a plasma generator. I could tell as soon as I opened the door. Ammo, health, treasure. Too much treasure for this kind of area.

Getting treasure when whenever you stop killing plasma things they get cheap shots on you. And let me remind you, they hit like a truck. So, I'm trying to run around these guys, while also looking for secrets. Because there's a huge, huge area left wide open, and I trust Jim and Mike to screw me over as hard as they can here. I eventually complete the area. Hopefully I didn't miss anything.

The locked area is...easy. Too easy. A few guards, more turrets, piece of cake at this point. Full enemy completion. Must be a single gold bar around here somewhere...somewhere...no...Fortunately, it is only in the bricked area. Crisis averted. Gees, 70% done. Must either be a lot of informants or very few informants on the later levels.

E1M6:
Hmm, 33% floor complete. Must be a lot of informants...or that's just the standard amount. Stepping out of the elevator reveals a yellow keycard and a pipcture of Goldfire. I question these design choices. Two doors too, yellow locked door and wrong end of a one-way door. Why would you do this?

Locked door, just some canned mutants and a turret. Two doors, oh, but one of them isn't a real option! It just leads to a computer room with no secrets. New first, beating Half-Life to the illusion of choice!

Another hallway, no doubt my choices are meaningless here too. South is a cafeteria full of way too many aliens and exploding drones for my tastes. Only its a pod area. The pods are surrounded by exploding drones. There are scientists here, ergo there are informants. All of them, which means I have to herd them away from the deadly pods and explosives. This costs me quite a bit of health and ammo. Would you know it, but every food dispenser on the level is broken?

Ah...a crate filled hallway. And the good Dr. Goldfire pops in again. Well placed PDU attacks get me by. I'm checking my map at this point, one of the doors is locked. Oh, well, there's ammo over there. Its the level exit card. Now by my reckoning this is a quarter of the way through the level, possibly less-so. Oh, and sandwiches, finally. No working machines.

The hallway past the red key proves to be a nightmare. Hordes of guards and a lucky PDU shot against a scientist. Still no working food machine. I go south, glad to see we're back to having options. These rooms contain treasure, enemies and a working food machine! Weird place for a cafeteria, but whatever.

In a secret here, the barrier that was unlocked on level 4. Which is lame. I say with no exaggeration that with a ton of non-exploding crates and some very low scattered gold bars this doesn't feel like that big a deal.
Back up north it continues in a weird snaking hallway. The hallways themselves are normal, they just snake weirdly.

A pathway north takes me to room with a convenient chokepoint. Haha, no Sword of the Samurai-style smarts for you. This area is actually clever, when those guys approach, you imagine its safe, but its not. If there are informants around, they're hiding out next to turrets, and even still, more guards lie in wait.

One of the secrets up here is interesting, on one side, the switch, but no way to reach the treasure, on the other, a barrier but no switch. There's more, there are two one-way doors, but they don't have another end. You wait for the enemies to come out of them, then shoot them in the doorway. Hidden inside are more secrets. Very clever.

The rest of the level is very eh, more guards, typical of the level's previous encounters, but at least I leave with full health and ammo. More importantly, not having to run around again finding more secrets. 77% completion. Automatically having 33% complete out of every level really takes the fun out of finishing a level sometimes.

This Session: 1 hour

Total Time: 8.5 hours

Blake Stone: Alien Canister Storage

E1M4:
Staring off, I get some scientists, thankfully, the hostile and the friendly one aren't slobbering all over each other. Three doors, one locked, one the wrong way of a one-way door, and the door I'll be opening. It...just has a key. Okay...locked door opens...to two plasma generators, followed by a room full of guards. By the way, the plasma things can open doors. Two doors from here, taking the western route.

West is incredibly fun, monsters co-mingling with informants. A level specifically designed to screw me over if I get the wrong roll of the dice! Goldfire pops up, and a turret is hiding behind an informant. Monsters in canisters...oh. I am so happy! There's not going to be a single level of this that doesn't involve a bunch of nincompoop informants, are there? I go down it...and oh, that was a mistake. Well, I guess I'm going to go past the two plasma generators again.

More turrets, still no secrets. A few more doors...and back at the start. Oh, and the plasma things are at the start. And the informant just walked into the generator room. I'm running out of ammo and patience. Not necessarily for the game, just with the bad slice of luck I've gotten. I die trying to get across. And my save is before I entered the one-way door. Sometimes things are nice.

The northern choice of area is very tense. Two turrets, bunch of aliens, and all the food machines are out of order. No secrets here either, what am I missing? There are two choices of door, south and west. I pick south and my choice was wise, I sneak up behind a rifle security guard and no scientists in sight. As soon as I think this and start blasting away an informant is caught in the splash damage of the PDU. Such fragile people. After a few tries I get by without killing them. The corridor eventually ends, and I start checking for secrets. Before realizing that the western door is the inside wall taken care of. Its got gold, body armor guards, ammo.

The end of the corridor is another crate area. It would be just as intense as the last one if having turrets didn't take the edge off somewhat. Informants or not, I'm less prone to killing them if I'm forced to use the double-barrel rifle. They tell me there's a secret in here. Random or not? Makes sense since its a crate area. So I find a secret, another one within. Inside this one are switches, but no obvious barrier. They're for another floor, no doubt they'll take me to the secret level. Well, there has to be something on the western half of this wall...

Oh...secret level now. I'll get to that in a moment. Hmm, I picked up the level exit badge somewhere. Still, for my sanity's sake, I'm going to hold off on switching for a moment.

Past the normal door are a series of short hallway rooms. A monster here, a monster there. A few scientists, thankfully none of the informants are hiding in-between soldiers. This is followed up by the longest corridor ever. Full of enough monsters to necessitate going back for ammo. This at least eventually takes me to the starting area, or rather the one-way door to the starting area. At which point, I'm sort of stuck.

On the southern end of the level there's a long secret tunnel. This room contains three enemies, a scientist, and two rifle guards. Naturally, this playthrough has the scientist as an informant. In the tunnel. A winding tunnel. Which involves a lot of waiting. Now let's test out that secret level.

E1MS* - Security Training Arenas
The map helpfully reveals two things, there are two arenas...how I know this, I don't know, and there are no informants. My PDU is almost full, no friendlies, you know what that means? Time to let loose.

I head for Arena B first, dunno why. There's the two best weapons and full ammo given. Somebody drop some medikits in the arena and this level will be heaven. Not even the best security guard can sour my mood. Money too, a ton, right out in the open, and I'm nowhere close to getting 0%. Oh, joy!

The level is set up like a target range, except you can die if you aren't careful. Ammo and medikits litter the floor and soon enough laser rifle guards and Star Troopers...wait...that's a riff off Stormtrooper, isn't it? Anyway, dying might happen a few times, there are guards behind the solid barriers. But its not a bad death, its just a fun death, if that makes sense in this game. There's one way into the center area, all the other barriers are activated elsewhere.

Curiously, there's a secret passage into the other half of the level. I may have screwed things up by doing this. The other half is held by alien guards. This is considerably easier to deal with, as half the aliens can't sneak attack you. Blasting them all in the center arena is just an amazing experience. After some secret hunting, and then trying to figure out where the last item of treasure is, I eventually finish this secret level. I definitely don't have good things to say about the grabbing distance. Screwed me over multiple times.

E1M4 (Again):
Now, on the other side of the secret level teleporter is a pair of plasma thing generators. This is only an optional area if you don't want to get 100% completion, since they hold vital gold. They've got ammo, but they spawn so fast its effectively a drain. I eventually reach the exit corridor, taking out two turrets along the way. Now I have almost all the points and the enemies killed. Now, since I know this can't be my plasma buddies, I missed a secret with a couple of enemies inside. I prepare to enter the first plasma generator of this level, and firing off some PDU shots inside I kill an informant. Thanks, buddy.
So I find the final secret area, I know its the final because, hell, when it comes to these plasma generator levels, I'm not taking any chances. I figure out where the last enemy is as soon as I approach him. He's in a canister, right next to a friendly scientist. I take my enjoyment of victory proudly, and go back to the level elevator only to discover that I missed a gold bar or something. I figure I missed something by a generator, a place I'm not inclined to stick around. I'm at 62%, which, all things considered, isn't too far off from the truth.

This Session: 2.5 hours

Total Time: 7.5 hours

*I could call it 11, but it doesn't technically have a floor...does that make it the basement?

Blake Stone: Mutant Holding Chambers

E1M3:
Five doors. One locked, another the wrong end of a one-way door, and three mystery doors. The scientist is an informant, hopefully he won't walk all the way into a firefight. My choice of door leads me to a sewer-ish looking place, I think these are intended to be vaults. Its got regular guards, and doors that are rigged up to open when I walk past them. They contain turrets. I think that's a first too.

A secret from a computer room in this area leads to two body armor guards. After dealing with them, I come to the realization that this is a maze. Most of this floor holds a maze, full of treasure and quite a few plasma spheres. This proves more difficult to breech than it sounds, for I keep getting killed by the guards after I think they're dead. Their tactics are more effective than I credit them for, or by the spheres. And whenever I run off, the nearby cafeteria, the other open door, is a tricky mess of guards, oh, and Goldfire pops up in there.

I won't bore you with the details of the maze, suffice to say its quite long and contains a lot of plasma spheres. The idea is to shoot them with the PDU, with any other weapon you probably won't hit them in time. Nearly drains my ammo, takes most of the complimentary medipacks, but I make it to the maze's treasure room...containing a less powerful weapon. Nobody is going to make it that far without this stupid thing. Fortunately, in a secret in the cafeteria, the PDU exists. Not sure how you'd keep pistol starting these maps, but whatever.

The continuation of the non-secret portion of this map is not any less fraught with danger. Straight away there's a one-way door, naturally, no point in walking around normally. The low ammo supply I have because of the maze is not very helpful. Guards are no problem, but aliens are, and I pass by several Goldfire portraits nervously. Getting very low on ammo.

The real fun starts when I reach the plasma spawners. These spawn the big, ranged plasma entities. The kind from the first level that shoot many little projectiles. They're not the toughest enemy, but because of their relative place on the totem pole, they're the most evil. Although any monster that just pops up would probably obtain that moniker. The key I need is in the realm of these fun fellows.

I duck and weave out of there, and manage to not grab the key. Okay, find, I'll just stock up on ammo and health in these hallways. Just some guards and pod people...a lot of portraits here. Eh....Why did they have to have treasure in here? Quick dash through, good thing the PDU doesn't harm me.

The final leg of the level isn't that bad. Some turrets, some guards, and more annoying informants that get in the way. At least they aren't harmed by electrical barriers. What, is Stone the only one not wearing rubber clothing? Whatever.

Before I end this, let's show you the final treasure item. Money bags and gold bars are obvious, but these Xylan Orbs are a strange thing. For a good chunk of time I've just thought of them as fantasy thing. Looking them up...they're actually a very common biopolymer. In plants. These are the most valuable things in the game. Made from something far more common than plants. Or am I supposed to believe the process of turning it into an orb is difficult? Whatever, I'm sure I'm thinking about this more than JAM did.

This Session: 1.5 hours

Total Time: 5 hours