Review by Colin Phipps

The Helios Project - Stage Beta, aka Helios 2, is a sequence of 3 levels for Boom. The levels are well linked, both by the plot, and by overlaps between the levels themselves. This is the sequel to Helios, but the atmosphere is much gloomer than its predecessor - you descend into the sewage system, become trapped and have to fight your way through the evil base. The dark rusting underground base feel reminded me of The Crusher (Doom 2 MAP06).

Mostly the opposition consists of revenants, barons and cacodemon, with some other types thrown in from time to time. There are fairly few traps; instead the fights rely on the the placement of the heavyweight monsters to do damage. On to the levels then:

• You start entering the main shaft of the sewage system; this is a nice little fight, with a mix of chaingunners and cacodemons and the far side making things tricky but giving you the change to set them fighting each other. There are some more tricky fights further in; one in particular I found annoying, with a baron behind a half lowered door - low enough that you can't see him preparing to shoot, but not low enough to block his shots - ouch! A good wet and gloomy atmosphere around the sewage area.

• The second level overlaps with the first level somewhat - as is explained by the between-level screen, an earthquake has occured, so you go back into the base to find it severely damaged - there are nice touches like individual fallen roof tiles that make this effect work well.

  Most of the action is in one large acid hall; there are quite a few revenants and mancubi firing from the far side, although you can get them fighting each other to cut down the work. You basically work your way around the outside clearing the ledges and buildings - apart from the main hall it's dull super-shotgun work.

• The rusty base style continues - parts of this level reminded me of The Darkening episode 2, with the shallow stairways and very metal theme. But what it has in architecture it lacks in gameplay; apart from the very first fight, which has some chaingunners thrown in to good effect, the rest of the level has just a few barons, cacodemons and such scattered around; rarely more than two monsters at once makes for pretty easy double shotgun work.

I have to admit I've never been a fan of these Doom 2 levels which just scatter a few clusters of heavyweight monsters around. The middle level has some good tactical fights early on, and there are some tricky fights at the first level, but mostly it's just steady double shotgun work. The rusty base theme holds well, and the earthquake struck base at the middle level is very well done. Not really my cup of tea though.