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The first Quake II project from renowned Quake level designer Neil Manke. It's been a long time coming but, as usual with Neil's work, it's worth the wait as his originality shines through.
Soldier of Fortune - Mission 2 sets you down by helicopter in an Arctic wasteland, enclosed on all sides by perilous mountain ranges. Immediately you realise that this isn't your ordinary base-style Quake II map. The fighting takes place entirely outdoors across frozen outcrops, gulleys and underwater caverns. Not only has Neil produced an exceptional new skymap, he's also produced new textures throughout for snow and moss covered rock faces which look tremendous and fit the theme perfectly. The level displays some nice (and evil!) touches like the helicopter blades that you can lure your prey into and the half-submerged mini-submarine guarded by a gun turret that insists on tracking you wherever you go! If anything, the only things that look a little odd in the map are the monsters, whose dirty, grimy personas somehow look a little out of place in this brightly lit snowscene.
Neil can't be commended highly enough for taking the time to create something truly unique with such high build quality that also plays so well.
Yet another unit, 3 maps this time (Prisoner Outpost, The Execution Facility and Hangar Installation), from Australia's Marty Howe. If the Unreal team had Marty on their books, they would have had the game out 2 years ago and about 5 mission packs by now :)
Waiting to Die dumps you aboard a Strogg prison ship where you await your inevitable execution. Your mission is "to escape the Prison ship, gain a Security Pass from the Execution Facility and steal
a Strogg Ship docked in a Hangar Installation. All this in time for lunch." Sounds like a fair deal to me! In Marty's inimitable style, completing this outing won't be easy. The prison ship, complete with fabulous cell areas, control decks (where you can sit in the driving seat :) and stylized windows (see pic) also plays host to well placed bands of Strogg infantry - well placed to take your head off! Make it to the execution facility and you need to take an underground trip (which confused me at first) to the hangar installation - a squadron of docked Strogg fighters and their airmen await your arrival.
Waiting to Die is great fun to play and is filled with the usual detail touches (Carmack's photo?) that we've come to expect from Marty's work. It did, however, frustrate the hell out of me in places, wondering (and wandering!) where to go next. There are an awful lot of areas in the map where cramped, confined spaces hang up the player badly and more room is needed, a few texture misalignments and unlit surfaces. Not the best of Marty's QII output, but very enjoyable all the same.
I know I've said this a few times before, but here we go again - The Powersphere Quest is the best set of maps I have yet had the pleasure to play, *including* the id maps. No exaggeration - a simple fact. All this from a level set that started life as a co-op project, from an author who has kept quiet on the editing scene (to my knowledge) until now... Too good to be true? I think not. Read on...
The Powersphere Quest consists of five breathtaking maps, each with its own unique style, each hard as rock and each that'll leave your eyes bulging out of their sockets in disbelief. The storyline is brief but solid - your goal is to seek out a Strogg power sphere of untold strength hidden in the bowels of an alien city, accessible through a series of underground caves. Here's a short rundown of the maps: Techno City is a base-style fortress on a grand scale, boasting enormous computer units, warehouse areas and masses of crossover. Hell Canyon is reminiscent of id's Outlands map - a sprawling labyrinth of underground tunnels on a multitude of levels with a large river running throughout, each level accessible by a series of ladders - never before have you seen such believeable rock formations using the Quake engine and when you reach your goal, the green bridge (pictured), you'll have seen one of the best pieces of architecture too. The Crossover is an industrial/tech city featuring a fabulous water-tube walkway, leading to The Palace, fashioned after Makron's Palace in QII but, dare I say it, even more beautiful and awe inspiring. The last map, The End, sees you find the object of your desire, the Powersphere itself. Each of the maps is populated by an almost overwhelming stock of monsters - Hell Canyon, for example, sees you battling five (yes five!) end level flying boss-type things (a technical term :) Surprisingly (assuming you play it on Skill 0) the fighting, although always fast, furious and brutal, is always fair and, most importantly, always beatable - just! My health was almost permanently on around 5! The sheer size of the maps should also be mentioned, each taking a hell of a long time to complete and each incredibly complex without being frustrating. Many times I felt as though I was completely lost, only to stumble on an area I hadn't seen before.
I did not witness a single flaw, a single texture misalignment or a single poorly lit area in any of the maps. In fact, I think it would be almost impossible to improve the work in any way, shape or form. Although the download is nearly 5 meg, this set of levels will last you a good many hours - more if you forget to constantly reach for the save button. I can't recommend The Powersphere Quest to you too highly - it doesn't (yet) get any better than this and if Cedar (presuming he wants to work in the industry) isn't hired on the strength of this work, there ain't no justice. Perfection in a .zip file - the bar has been raised...
Nice to see some proper units appearing - this one is by Australia's finest, Marty Howe - a three map blast consisting of Heroic Bloodshed, The Arsenal (dodgy title, under the circumstances ;) and Aftermath. Marty's trademark ramshackle style is in evidence all through these maps and it's great to see.
You have been smuggled into Strogg Territory in a handy storage container, retrofitted with a super shotgun. After infiltrating the Strogg base and reprogramming the defence computer, you turn their missiles onto their own Comm Center, leaving a trail of destruction in your wake. Hop on the Logistical Train, rendezvous with your drop ship and Bob's your uncle. If only life were that simple... The first map places you at ground level outside an enormous base that towers into the sky. Progress is made vertically, featuring Marty's unique monster placement that ensures you're almost always under fire. Fighting areas are in the most part cramped, dark and gloomy, with great use of ambient sounds and tripwire explosions adding tremendously to the atmosphere. Each of the three maps are ripe for serious exploration in the many dark nooks and crannies that litter the levels, usually with a nasty surprise lying in wait! I particularly liked the chemical laboratory areas complete with lab tables littered with paperwork(!) and patrolled by gangs of Brains. The third map of the series, Aftermath, is a joy to behold - a ruined base complex that turns Quake II into a platform game as you hop across broken walkways and up abandoned lift shafts while dodging pot shots from Tanks as the base explodes around your ears - totally immersive.
I do have a few complaints about the map, notably the lighting, which is in the most part erratic - many brush faces (backs of doors, lift tops) are almost totally black, which spoils the unit's effect somewhat. These niggles aside, this is a really playable set of levels that should keep you going for a long time.
Hmmm... Iikka's a pro now - Ion Storm and all that jazz. Should I be reviewing a 'pro' map here? Hell yea :) Iikka has been brewing this map for many months now and I guess it was starting to smell bad festering away in the cupboard so he's decided to polish it up and kick it out into the world.
Leftovers... is exactly what we've come to expect from Iikka - a precision, high quality map that's a blast to play through and a pleasure to photograph! It's a small map and could be described as half a dozen beautiful set piece action areas separated by a few corridors :) Your goal is to rendezvous with your rescue ship on the planet surface, but as usual in these scenarios, things don't exactly go according to plan. One of the best 'set pieces', as I've described them, is when you run out to the launch site only to see your ride leaving without you. Panic turns to relief because as soon as the ship enters Strogg airspace it's pursued and shot down by three Strogg fighters burning serious nitro! Throughout the map, exquisite details really do make a big difference, elevating the level above the competition - some highlights include the rotating curved lift doors at the start of the map, the blue key area lift shaft mechanism and the crane that removes the cockpit cover to provide your escape route. The map also has a great exit sequence that I won't spoil by describing here.
Leftovers... is not a groundbreaking map by any means and doesn't touch the standards of some of Iikka's Quake 1 maps, but even a less than stunning map from this author is reason to celebrate. Mighty fine stuff :)
Jonas is an experienced author from Quake 1 days, producing the long running Sadlark series of maps. Angron Installation is his first foray into Quake II editing and it's a highly original and very playable piece of work.
Storyline is thus: "An ancient installation has been retrofitted and made operational. In doing so the Warlord Angron hopes to gain power and command". Your mission (although I know it's hard to believe) is to destroy the installation, with particular emphasis on a large missile silo located within. One thing that sets apart this two map pack from the majority of other recent maps is its originality. When Jonas says "ancient installation", he means it. The standard base architecture is there, but it's been clothed in a fabulous blend of stone, rock and metal textures that gel perfectly. In addition to this, in keeping with the storyline, hi-tech units are placed throughout the level which provide access to new areas once power cubes have been found and utilised. The installation itself is a maze-like environment, so leave yourself a paper-chase style littering of corpses so you can find your way around :) Lighting is suitably gloomy and as most of the areas are reasonably cramped, fighting is up close, personal and frequent. If one criticism could be made, it's that there is, imho, far too much health littered around the level and finishing on 100% is a breeze (ok, 2 criticisms - there's some HOM at the missile silo).
This is another fine map and a great example of high build quality coupled with design originality. Very nice!
Blood Red Sunset
by YooShin Yang |