Level Archive G-I
If Strogg's Garage was the first high quality, playable QII single play map, then Gib me Liberty... by Ed Cope, author of many great Quake levels and also some of the Malice maps, must qualify as the first very high quality map with a decent storyline and a believeable environment! Ok, so it's your typical "free the prisoners, shut down the generator, escape through the sewers" affair, but Scope has executed the map with such skill and precision that you are sucked right in to his world.
As Jeff Yost pointed out on Ramshackle, it's a lot harder to describe Quake II's texture sets as they aren't any where near as defined as in Quake (base, wizard, metal, etc). Ed has used a combination of various sets to dress his environment well, with metal/industrial jail cell areas leading to hi-tech control room environments, as seen in the screenshots. The use of the coloured 'electrical' textures is particularly effective, with corridors given washes of blue and red light and the use of glass floor panels to view areas below (in particular the torture chambers, with a great laser execution device) adds an extra dimension to the map. All the Quake II engine tricks are here also, but it's Ed's use of ambient sounds that really makes the map, as Strogg fighters scream overhead at regular intervals. The map is populated by patrolling Guards, Enforcers and Beserkers, with Brains controlling most of the control rooms. Weapons and ammo are well balanced but care should still be taken not to waste any shots.
All in all, Ed should be congratulated for producing such a highly polished, fun to play map so early in the QII editing game. We have a lot to live up to...
This small but perfectly formed level by an author I'm not familiar with took me very much by surprise. Hideout is a fabulous example of the level designer's craft - buildings are solid, believable and suitably alien, texture choice and alignment is almost perfect and lighting is imaginative and controlled - in fact, for some reason this map emits a 'warm glow' (maybe I've been working too hard :) If there is one criticism of the map, it's that it suffers from 'monster syndrome' - throw *every* monster you can find into the level and see what sticks! The high quality of the architecture and lighting made me fight my way through with frequent saves, but a bit of refinement in the adversary department would have helped!
Hideout shows fine examples of triggered events which build suspense - the earthquake that precedes the Tank Commanders and the ceiling lasers that signal the arrival of the mutants to name but two - and some good secret areas. I particularly like the way YooShin has allowed us a perfect panoramic view over the Strogg homeland. A very impressive level.
The term "id-quality level" has been used many times on review pages and 9 times out of 10 bears little relation to the truth. Not this time. Incarceration *is* a truly id-quality level that will leave your jaw on the floor.
Set on the Strogg Incarceration Vessel - a giant floating prison ship - your task is to escape from your jail cell, disable the security field generator that protects the far reaches of the ship and ultimately override and destroy the reactor safety system. Greg has carried off the total environment so well that each section of the map is totally convincing. Huge docking areas look out into space, corridors are suitably angular and hi-tech, crawlspaces grubby and claustrophobic. And it's a tough map... many areas are protected by Gladiators and you have little time to think before the telltale blue shaft of light pierces your skull :) Each area is built with total precision - a particular favourite section of mine was the shutting down of the security field generator - switch covers rotate to reveal shutdown buttons, laser covers lower and finally the system shuts down with a suitably industrial groan.
There are no criticisms at all I can level at this map. It's size is perfect, it is puzzling without being frustrating and the gameplay is superb. Maybe a little dark in places, but hey, that's what gamma is for :) Enjoy the hell out of it!
I.S.E. is my first single player level for Quake II. You have been dropped into an isolated Strogg military installation. Intel reports that a deep mine facility is located in this area, with a large entrance hatch just waiting to be opened and prepared for a USMC air strike. You should be able to make your escape through the main Strogg mine shaft. Off you go then...
I had a lot of fun building the level and it was a good learning introduction to the differences between Classic Quake and Quake II editing, of which there are many. The framerate will probably suffer on lesser machines as the r_speeds are quite high in some areas - sorry :( I.S.E. was built entirely with Robert Duffy's superb QE4 Radiant editor, which I heartily recommend. More screenshots can be found on the Matt's Levels page. Enjoy the level - knock yourself out!
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