Continuing the Mel Soaring series, The Savage
Sanguine is Kona's second Quake SP level, the
first being The Alkado Adventure, which I haven't
played. According to Kona himself, this level
is a huge improvement over his previous effort.
Of course, Kona has released 2 Q2SP levels and
2 HLSP levels since The Alkado Adventure and
the experience shows. This level was released
back in 1999, a new one, by Q1SP standards.
Starting in a small outdoor area, you are immediately
given some weapons and ammo. From there you'll
progress to a waste plant, textured in a combination
of orange, red, gray and black. Kona sticks
to the theme extremely well, though the area
for the final combat is a refreshing change.
Although the textures have been used in some
Q1DM levels, they are used for the first time
in a Q1SP level. The use of orange and red seemed
sometimes a bit excessive but, other than that,
texturing was good. The architecture has solid
structures throughout the level. Nitpicking,
the staircases could've been done better at
times. Good looks, thanks to the fresh textures
as well as good architecture. The layout is
somewhat linear, though you'll be given route
choices a few times. Backtracking can become
a problem at times, as the layout can be fairly
confusing. There are 2 different levels, though
not a lot of vertical fighting. Lighting wasn't
anything special - for the most part it's bland
although some shadows give a contrast to most
of the bigger rooms. There are 3 secrets; I
accidentally uncovered 2 of them and I'm still
trying to figure out how to access the third.
Having playing this back when it was originally
released, I seem to remember that there were
more enemies than now. There's 90 in Hard and
only 10 less in Normal, bringing the monster
count down to 80. The monsters are mostly medieval,
though a few Enforcers are mixed in. These could've
been left out, as they don't really fit in.
Strangely though, one new enemy seemed to fit
in better than the Enforcers, despite its base
feeling. Kona has used the Snakeman to spice
things up. This dreaded thing shoots nails at
you at an alarming rate and needs about the
same amount of punishment as an Ogre. The monster
selection goes from Knights, Hellknights, Ogres
and Fiends for most of the level to a nice ending
with even more Fiends and Snakemen with a few
Shamblers. Monsters usually attack in small
groups, though some solitary Ogres and Snakemen
are thrown in. The rooms are very spacious,
making dodging most attacks easy. Corridors,
on the other hand, are pretty tight and can
be problematic. There's loads of ammo, with
less grenades but more shells and nails. The
difficulty wasn't startling and I made it through
most of the areas without even getting a sweat
on. Snakemen were fairly tricky though, care
is needed to handle them.
The level is not without its flaws though.
Due to its layout, it can run a little slow
on older machines and software Quake has greyflash.
Even GLQuake has some HOM at one point. Also,
more clip brushes would've been nice, especially
when fighting in those narrow corridors. There
were a few construction errors as well, a weird
door, having trouble with a nearby wall, and
a point where a patch of orange was in the floor.
The doors themselves damage you, this might
come as a nasty surprise. Also, the final secret
has a Grenade Launcher, even though you've acquired
one before.
Nevertheless, the level is worth downloading,
it provides you with 20 minutes of fun, gunning
down monster after monster with the SNG. It
may not be as excellent as Kona's later levels,
but it's definitely good.
