MAP32: Hectic (Doom 64)

MAP32: Hectic is the 32nd level of Doom 64 and is considered to be the most difficult. From a chronological standpoint, this is where the player first comes across Hell Knights and Arachnotrons. The BGM is the soundtrack "Spaces Between", which is also heard in MAP04: Holding Area. The main reason for going through this stage is to unlock the "Features" menu.

Start Level Message
Congratulations! You found...

HECTIC

Only the best will reap its rewards.

Walkthrough
This walkthrough will provide guidance on using the alternate exit in this level. The normal exit can be activated simply at the start of the level, but using this alternate exit will enable the "Features" menu option. All items in the beginning room are booby trapped. Some traps can be overcome (see the Items section) with varying degrees of difficulty, but failure will lead to death.

Upon collecting the red key, you are instantly teleported into a booby trap being faced with three Arachnotrons. There is a Rocket Launcher on your left in the corner and a somewhat limited supply of rockets, which can kill the Arachnotrons quickly, but be mindful of the crammed space as it's easy to take self-inflicted splash damage and worse, the Arachnotrons can corner you. After all three Arachnotrons are killed, spots in the room emit square lights to act as safe zones and a heads-up that a crusher will activate and try to, you guessed it. Crush you. You can always avoid the crusher by taking the platform that lowered where the red key was lying on, which lifts you back up to the starting room.

Head over to the area where the blue key is next, after picking up the Berserk powerup in the middle of the columns surrounded by lava. Once the blue key is picked up, the door you entered from is locked and four Hell Knights (Two on each side) are revealed and the lava lowers which turns into an inescapable death trap. The Rocket Launcher is a necessity to kill the Hell Knights, but it's kickback (Or a Hell Knight's fireball) can push you into the lava below. The small enclosure where you pick up the blue key activates a crusher as well to prevent cheesing the booby trap. After the Hell Knights are killed, you can exit the blue key room.

Finally, (For the usual key order recommendation), the yellow key room, looks like a cakewalk, but upon taking a foot on the platform in front of you, all the platforms begin shifting up and down. Stepping on a different platform causes darts to fire from the walls in all directions. In a way, this is technically the easiest key to get of the three since you can swiftly run into the room to snag the key via strafe-running which lets you get past being stopped by the shifting platforms, but this is the riskier method of the two. The alternate approach is by being patient, waiting for the platforms to provide cover from the darts and making moves accordingly. After all three keys are obtained, you can open the "hard exit" to unlock the "Features" menu in options.

Enemies
There are only seven enemies in this map (four Hell Knights and three Arachnotrons). You must kill them all to reach the hard exit.

Items

 * The Soulsphere in the starting room is possible to obtain, but requires frame-perfect movement by very gently tapping/tilting the movement keys/analog stick to avoid an inescapable crusher.
 * The crusher that protects the green armor is not triggered if entering from the east side. To get the armor, move around to the back of the crusher from the east, then slowly walk in and then walk back out to the east side. If any of the other sides are crossed, the crusher will activate, and you will be killed.
 * Alternatively, you can use the strafe-running technique to grab the green armor and avoid the crusher that way. Though, this method isn't practical compared to the first.
 * Another method to get the security (green) armor: First, get some good distance, then face the armor from any direction and run (DO NOT slow down). If done correctly, you should now have the security armor.
 * The Megaarmor. On the one hand, it is unobtainable. As upon touching it, the camera zooms out behind the player's perspective and the player is subsequently gibbed after several seconds. On the other hand, you can get it without dying. Firstly, you should get the Soulsphere successfully without getting into the trap. Getting the Soulsphere activates the crushers. Secondly, while the crushers are working, you could get the Megaarmor successfully without dying. But, after getting it, you won't be able to exit this level by using alternate exit. Anyway, you could exit the level by using normal exit. But you shouldn't stay here for too long. When the crushers stop working, the player will automatically be teleported into the Megaarmor room and get stuck there without an opportunity to leave this room anymore, but the player will still be alive.

Secrets

 * There are no secrets in this map. Even if you head for the easy exit as soon as you enter the map, you'll still get a 100% for secrets on the completion screen. However, the main goal of the map is to try collecting all three keys to unlock the hard exit, which upon interacting, grants access to the "Features" menu in the options.

Bugs & Glitches

 * Taking the Soulsphere temporarily disables the crusher in the Hell Knight booby trap; If the player takes the soulsphere, without getting trapped, then they can grab the blue key safely. The trap activates once the soulsphere crusher has stopped, since the key was taken.