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MundyC - I.M. MeenTC (2020)

 

Developer: MundyC / Simon & Schuster Interactive
Console: DOOM Engine
Game Release Date: 2020-12-02

There are a few video game villains that genuinely anger me. Most I get they're evil and we need to stop them but very few actually cause me to seethe. In this game Ignatius Meen from the game I.M. Meen is one of them. Just so arrogant and annoying. I went out of my way to play this game just to beat him to a pulp. And I intend to play another version of the game just to do it again! 

I have a list of games that I find too difficult to run. They require lots of configuration and specific settings to be able to run. Despite my want to play it I.M. Meen was on that list. Thankfully in 2020, DOOM modder, MundyC created a total conversion of the game that runs on GZDoom. I am big on definitive versions of games to play, wanting to play the best version if available. But between the Total Conversion and the MS-DOS version I am hard pressed to say which is better. MeenTC has much better controls, HD graphics, and scalable difficulty. The MS-DOS version has different controls, neat UI and most of all the entire grammar section that the game was made for. 

The grammar section includes a ton of lore from the game's mythos about the labyrinth, who Meen is and how it constructed the labyrinth. I tried to run the MS-DOS version years ago but gave up after numerous issues trying to get it to run. I will eventually give the MS-DOS version another chance, possibly on a FreeDOS VM but until then I will stick to other stuff. Although if MeenTC ever gets updated to somehow include the grammar version I will 100% argue that is the definitive version people should play. For the focus of post blog I will be focusing exclusively on the DOOM version. There are gameplay quirks in this version that are not in the MS-DOS version. They are not 1:1 the same. 

I.M. MeenTC is a first-person dungeon crawling game where you take the role of a child who got sucked into Meen's labyrinth. He doesn't like smart kids and you pissed him off enough to seal you in the labyrinth. While waiting you are freed by Gnorris, servant of Meen and allowed to traverse the labyrinth, free kids and take down Meen. All the while he continues to taunt you and send waves of enemies after you an occasionally bosses. Armed with just your fists and tools you find around the labyrinth you free all the kids which gets you the exit key and then you complete the level. It's basically the same as the original version though that one has a paragraph with bad grammar you have to fix when you free a kid. 

The levels are not that confusing but to get all the kids the game relies heavily on secrets with level exits and kids being hidden behind them. Fortunately nearly all of the secrets are pretty obvious from Xs painted on walls to walls with windows so you know the fake door is nearby. Of all the boomer shooters I have played this one had the easiest secrets to find. Out of the 35 levels there was only one level I had to consult a walkthrough for (somewhere in the middle of the game). This version also features a bonus level from Chill Manor which is one of the best levels in the game. On my playthrough I had no idea such as level was in but damn it was good. All the levels in the game are claustrophobic mazes with low ceilings and tight passages. Even the garden levels felt closed in and tight. Having a level from Chill Manor that open was a breath of fresh air. I had no issues with the level designs. It was always cool to see how the finished map looked in the automap. 

The game was pretty good, although later on it sort of became an excuse to listen to music as I got tired of the ingame songs. This is not a game you should play in one go. I played it across many sessions maybe doing a level or 2 and stopping for the day. I think the grammar sections would have helped a bit with the pacing. 

All in all it is a fantastic remake and if the guy does Chill Manor I will 100% be playing that otherwise I will stick to see what he does next. I will play Chill Manor probably next year but it will be the MS-DOS version. I like history so it shouldn't be that hard. 

The music of the game is fine. It's pretty chill dungeon synth. However, isn't that many tracks and the total 7 hour run it took me to beat the game I did get bored of the music. So I supplemented my own. When I do the MS-DOS version post I will include the soundtrack then. There are some games I tune out the soundtrack. At around the same time as Meen there was another game I was playing that I listened to albums to. So between this one and the other game (not mentioning because it is currently in my top 3 GOTY) the albums all overlapped. Here are a few of the albums that defined the game for me. 

Odessa Kane - Expoz the Matrix

Odessa Kane is a member of Red Lotus Klan and a rapper whose album I have been waiting on for a long time. Produced by Scvtterbrvin (who appeared in a previous post here), Odessa Kane uses his aggressive delivery with Scvtterbrvin's dusty and west coast-flavoured beats into this awesome hardcore hip hop album. Odessa Kane keeps the energy alone without any features (aside from the closer). The game matched up with the albums hard lyrics and flows as you run around the maze slaying mythical creatures. Red Candles and the Intro are highlights for me. 

Playa Rob - Gangsta Music

Playa Rob is someone I have been aware of for a long time but never checked out his stuff. Back then I didn't care much for the Memphis sound. I just didn't get it. Plus trying to figure out what was even original music was a challenge. Playa Rob, Krucifix Klan and Evil Pimp re-use a lot of their songs on streaming services so it's hard to say who has made what track. Regardless this (possibly unofficial) album has a heavy and apocalyptic atmosphere featuring more hi-fi beats than typically heard in Memphis rap. This album is a little heavy for this game but still fit when it came to the dark dungeons the kid has to progress through. Slangin' Rocks and So Screwed Up are highlights for me. 

JamesPHoney - Hugely Overrated by a Tiny Few

I've heard of him before but it wasn't until I heard his rapid verse on Views From the Psychedelik Deathcab (appearing earlier on this blog) that I knew I would have to check out his stuff at a later point. This appears to be his definitive album and the most accessible. JamesPHoney is a strange rapper, utiziling folktronica samples and a unique rap style featuring introspective and very abstract lyrics. When it came to the garden levels this fit well. The folksy and dreamy indietronica beats fit over the light blue sky and huge bushes of the garden levels. The garden levels in particular play slightly slower than the others featuring slow moving enemies and wider open expanses. JamesPHoney's rapping fit too, rapping fast at points and very claustrophobic like he's trying to jam as many lyrics as he can in the album. 

There were other albums like Vakill - God's Gun and A-God the Old Soul x Jack the Rich - Water for Shadows that I listened to but both of those really just had a standout track or two. Not on the same level as the 3 above. 

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