MAP38: Tricks and Traps (PlayStation Doom)

MAP38: Tricks and Traps is the thirty-eighth level of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Doom, and the eighth level of the Doom II episode. It is based on the original MAP08: Tricks and Traps, with modifications made to adapt the map to the consoles' limitations. The author of the original map is Sandy Petersen.

Essentials
You begin in an octagonal room surrounded by eight doors, but only three of them need to be used to finish the level. The other five are optional but lead to a number of useful items, as well as all the secrets.

Go through the south door (straight ahead of you at the start) to find a room containing a cyberdemon and several barons of Hell. Do not fire your weapons yet - wait for the cyberdemon to start firing rockets at you, as it will hit the barons and cause infighting. Once the cyberdemon or all the barons are dead, clear out the remaining enemies (use the invulnerability and soulsphere pickups in the room to help you) and grab the yellow skull key behind the cyberdemon, then hit the gargoyle switch here to open the door out of the room. (A baron may also have teleported out of the room while trying to climb the steps; it may open the door for you or be waiting for you when you leave.)

Back in the starting room, go through the north-western door flanked by yellow skull bars and follow the path round to find a red skull key - as you go through the room, the floor in front of the entrance will fall away to sludge, which is inescapable if you fall into it. When you take the red key, several platforms in the room will lower to release many imps into the room, plus two Hell knights on Ultra Violence skill level. Quickly head to the north-east corner of the room to find another invulnerability powerup and use it to kill all the enemies safely, then press the gargoyle switch in the north-west corner to raise the floor at the entrance again.

Return to the entrance room and head through the west door flanked by red skull bars. You need to run along the platforms here to the exit, but they will fall away to inescapable sludge when stepped on so you only have one chance to make it. When you reach the exit door, go through it and press the switch in the final room to finish the level.

Other points of interest
The north door from the starting room leads to a large hallway that appears to contain only a single imp. Attacking the imp will also alert up to eight cacodemons that emerge from the holes in the walls. Behind the red pillars at the north end of this hall you will find a plasma gun and an energy cell pack, along with a switch used to open the way to secrets #2 and #3.
 * The entrance to this hall also has two concealed teleporters, used primarily for multiplayer. The east pad is revealed when a player moves through the red skull key room, and allows others players to teleport directly to that room if the floor has fallen away to sludge. The west pad is revealed when a player crosses the platforms to the entrance door, and allows other players to teleport directly to the exit room once the platforms have been lowered.

The north-western door from the starting room leads to a large hall that has a rocket launcher and two boxes of rockets at the north end, and two ledges with many imps at the south end. When you approach the weapon, the entrance door will shut and stairs will rise in the hall allowing the imps to step off the ledges. The west ledge has a switch that opens one of the doors blocking secrets #2 and #3, while the east ledge has a switch that opens the entrance door again.

The east door from the starting room leads to a chamber with two teleporters, which are used to enter a "monitor hall" in the south-east of the level. This hall contains secrets #4-7.

The south-east door from the starting hall leads to a room with two floors, containing many imps. Once the imps are alerted, those on the lower floor will move towards you; any that reach the wall of the upper floor will be teleported to the room entrance to try and flank you. Once all the enemies are dead, drop to the lower level to find two boxes of shotgun shells and a switch that re-opens the entrance door.

Secrets

 * 1) Behind the southwestern door in the starting room, there is a long hallway with a chainsaw at the end (on Hurt Me Plenty or Ultra Violence). When the weapon is picked up, a secret room opens directly in front of it, holding ammunition, armor and either a cacodemon or a baron. (sector 10) Notice that once the monster crosses the adjacent doorway, it will be teleported to the door behind you at the opposite end of the hallway, and needs to be confronted.
 * 2) To access this secret, you need to press two switches - one at the end of the cacodemon hallway behind the northern door in the starting area, and the other on the western ledge in the north-eastern hall. These switches will open two doors at the northern end of that hall. Behind the doors you will find a staircase leading up to a diamond-shaped room. (sector 34)
 * 3) From secret #2, go through this room to a branching area containing five backpacks and a soulsphere. When you enter the branched area, the walls of the diamond-shaped room will open to release a number of imps. After dealing with these enemies, shoot the eastern wall with a hitscan weapon to reveal an alcove with a BFG9000. (sector 37)
 * 4) The small room east of the starting room has a lion-faced wall and a teleporter on either side. Shoot the gargoyle face to access a third teleporter that takes you to a secret platform in the monitor hall. (sector 40) The platform holds four medikits and a box of bullets.
 * 5) Near the center of the monitor hall, there is a pillar with two gargoyle faces. Shoot the northern face of the pillar to open an alcove at the southern end of the room. (sector 106) It holds a stack of ammunition.
 * 6) Like secret #5, shoot the southern face of the pillar to open an alcove at the northern end of the room containing a chaingun. (sector 108) Be careful, as shooting the faces will also open overhead rooms with imps and cacodemons.
 * 7) In the monitor hall, drop down into the sludge pit and open the red wall at its northern end to access a system of slime tunnels. (sector 116) There is a radiation shielding suit ahead. Get the partial invisibility powerup and the ammunition in these tunnels and return to the monitor hall via a teleporter.

Comparison of versions
Several differences exist in this level compared to the PC version.

Room design

 * All switches use a gargoyle face on metal wall texture.
 * The ceiling light above the soulsphere in the cyberdemon chamber is removed. The lights themselves are changed to red dots (named on PC).
 * The skin pillars in the chamber accessed from the north door in the starting room no longer scroll, and are changed to a red rock texture.
 * The wall hiding secret #3 uses a distinctive STAR texture instead of a demonic face.
 * The satyr faces in the northern-most room (containing the backpacks) are replaced with metal supports. Gargoyle faces remain as they are used as switch textures.
 * An exit sign is added to the room containing the exit switch.

Monster placement

 * Monster variety in this level is significantly reduced due to the presence of the cyberdemon. All demons, spectres, shotgun guys and pain elementals in the level are replaced with imps, and lost souls are replaced with cacodemons.
 * The number of monsters that ambush you on passing through secret #2 is reduced - 11 instead of 24 on Ultra Violence, 9 instead of 16 on Hurt Me Plenty, and 4 instead of 8 on I am a Wimp or Not Too Rough.
 * The number of barons of Hell in the cyberdemon's chamber is reduced from 17 to 11.
 * The two barons that appear in the red skull key room on Ultra Violence are replaced with Hell knights.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains six spawn points:
 * 1) facing north. (thing 2)
 * 2) facing north-east. (thing 173)
 * 3) facing south-east. (thing 174)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 175)
 * 5) facing south. (thing 176)
 * 6) facing east. (thing 177)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: