This is the continuation of the Mel Soaring
series, and it was first intended for Half-Life,
but was then converted to Quake 2. Therefore
a few errors show up when you load the map,
but gameplay will not be affected. Here's the
story: you're on an planet where Strogg have
built a palace to store the remains of their
dead leaders. You're about to make your way
into the very heart of the palace to place an
explosive device right next to the Makron God
tomb, set it off and quickly escape before the
blast.
I had great fun playing this map, mainly because
the textures and sounds made it feel like a
very different Q2 experience, at least for me.
And the fact that the map was first designed
with HL in mind, caused lots of areas to become
just a bit larger than they normally would have
been if the design had been made directly for
Q2. There's pretty good vertical design in quite
a few places, and the see-through "bars"
that you sometimes walk on looked very cool
and made the map seem very unlike Q2. Perhaps
greater attention to detail would have been
even better, but the textures that are used
make the map look quite good still.
When you are playing on "hard" skill
setting you're facing 131 Strogg. A pretty large
number for one map, and yet they seem to be
very widely scattered around; it never feels
like they are trampeling each other in order
to kill you. It will however not be very difficult
overcoming the opposition, weapons and ammo
is generously distributed. At one point I had
two gunners dropping a chain gun each right
in front of me, that seemed like overkill; and
it would have been more appropriate if they
had dropped a couple of grenades or a grenade
launcher. A mistake I've made myself in my first
Q2 map; monsters carry different weapons, therefore
make it look real when they drop things. For
instance a gladiator should drop slugs, a guard
should drop bullets.
Gameflow is good, and finding your way around
the map will not be any problem. The enemies
are evenly placed, and as it should, resistance
gets heavier towards the end. The only thing
that sticks in your mind when the mission is
over is the very abrupt ending. You'll get a
text message to get out, and while in the middle
of backtracking towards the start of the map,
the loading sign suddenly appears, with no hint
that you're done with your task. A door with
an exit sign, or a timer counting down, anything
would have been better than the way the ending
is now.
A good map with great architecture, and the
new sounds and textures suits the story perfectly.
A great effort from a good mapper. Get it!
