The author of Mel Soaring was certainly quick
with this sequal, but perhaps a little too quick
and that shows in the final product.
I had the benefit of betatesting for Shaun,
but unfortunately, only my most superficial
advice was looked into. Nonetheless, that was
enough to solve some major texture misalignments
and the first thing you'll notice with Mel Soaring
2: Star Rancor is the colorful, unique and very
neat design. Like me, you'll probably feel out
of place at the beginning with the funky lighting,
but also like me, it'll probably grow on you...
or maybe it's just the fact that Shaun picks
up the eye-candy towards the end; either way
is good.
The problem with Mel Soaring 2: Star Rancor
was that the story and the theme the author
chose were not very compatible with the final
product, as a result this felt awkward as in
Mel Soaring for Quake2. The story is great and
it attempts to link Quake2 to Half-Life, and
I actually paid attention to the frequent text
displays during the level that shows conversations
between you and your iron-maiden girfriend back
on Stroggos. Say whuh? Yeah, it's all very interesting,
but that just makes you wish that the levels
themselves were better developed.
My main gripe was with the outdoor asteroid
setting; I talked to Shaun about this, it's
just not convincing enough! It feels more like
a space platform, ala Yuri Davidov's Space Odyssey
series (which we're all hoping he continues
for the sake of Quake2), only a lot more uninspired.
Although Mel Soaring 2: Star Rancor's consistently
great r_speeds might have been somewhat sacrificed,
I still feel that would've been worth it if
it meant more elaboration on the currently banal
outdoor areas. It's a shame cause the interior
of the Xen temple is done so well.
Xen temple? That doesn't exactly roll off the
tongue as well as Strogg temple does it? As
I've said, Mel Soaring 2: Star Rancor scores
high for originality. You are not in your typical
Xen setting here, but it seems nobody these
days would want many levels dedicated to your
typical Xen world. The visuals used by Shaun,
however, aren't exactly unpresidented as many
areas look vaguely familiar to Neil Manke's
USS Darkstar. Although the two standards are
obviously very different, it's still not a bad
thing.
Also like in USS Darkstar, the only bad guys
you get to fight here are Xenoids; although
dead human grunts often make appearances to
justify the item placement. I felt that there
was somewhat of a alien slave overload when
it comes to Mel Soaring 2: Star Rancor and I
think I've been zapped one too many times to
consider this fact not annoying. Aside from
your overzealous slaves, the alien grunt often
pesters you with their many appearances. All
in all, this is a fiendishly hard but well-balanced
addon, but unforunately, the fights aren't the
best or the most varied.
Unlike the former Mel Soaring, this sequal
was fairly linear as well. All in all you have
a map that plays somewhat awkwardly and also
feels a bit uninspired. But don't let that stop
you from downloading this, the visuals were
great and the last fight was just brutal!
