MAP30: Icon of Sin (Doom II)

MAP30: Icon of Sin is the thirtieth and final map of Doom II. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and uses the music track "Opening To Hell".

After completing MAP30, the cast of game characters is shown.

Walkthrough
Pick up the weapons and powerups and go through the teleporter (A). You will find yourself on some large "steps" (B). Each step acts as an elevator which can be activated by pressing on the Demon face on its side. Get to the top step and press the button. A small platform in the blood pool at the bottom of the steps will rise up (C).

When the platform has finished raising, press on its side. The platform will lower down to the floor (an elevator). Stand on the platform and select the rocket launcher (D). Turn to face the large Demon-face wall (which is not seldom called the Icon of Sin by fans, as the name of the level may be taken as an attribute or title of the boss). The platform will raise; slightly before the elevator reaches the top, launch a rocket toward the exposed brain. If timed correctly, the rocket will enter the brain (E) and an echoing pain sound will be heard. This takes practice to time correctly. (It is best to fire as the tip of the rocket launcher touches the demon's chin.) 3 direct hits are necessary to defeat the Demon. When defeated, the Demon face will explode and the level will exit.

Dodging the horde of monsters spawned by the boss is a challenge, and often one must lure a group of monsters away from the platform before jumping on it again, or kill them with the BFG. Two radiation suits are located on the mantel below the boss, which are recommended to prevent the toxic mud down around the platform from harming you beyond what the monsters do. Monster infighting will occur and help to limit how dense the horde becomes.

Secrets
There are no official secrets in this level. Using the idclip cheat code to pass into the head of the final boss reveals the violently severed head of John Romero, impaled on a spike. This is unreachable by normal means and does not register as a secret, but can be considered an easter egg. Shooting it also ends the level.

A side note to this Romero-on-a-stick, when you enter the main battlefield the player is greeted with some backwards sounding dialogue. If recorded and played backwards (making it the 'correct' playback) it is really saying "To win the game you must kill me, John Romero."

Bugs

 * Due to a mapping error, the rightmost part of the final boss head textures is slightly disjointed. This can best be seen on its right horn, which is clearly separated from the rest of the head.

Records
The Compet-N records for the map are:

Trivia
This level features John Romero's head on a spike as the hidden Boss brain. When the final boss wakes up, it plays the message "To win the game you must kill me, John Romero", reversed.