"Grisly Manifest" takes place inside
a huge gothic castle clad in blue and brown
brick walls with a murky purple sky looming
overhead. The setting is nice and original due
to the blue scheme used on the build work and
[Kona] 's own distinguishable "big"
build style. The surroundings look good but
are not particulary detailed, most of the looks
come from clever texture usage and nice use
of trim and texture combinations. The best looking
areas are later in the map when yo enter soom
cool looking courtyards with some nice angled
walls. Lighting was a let down with most of
the map looking a little washed out and some
places had no visible light source although
appeared very bright.
Grisly...
The first thing I must say here is that "grisly
Manifest" is one hell of a HARD map. Health
is a little thin and big bad and enhanced moinsters
come flying at you (sometimes literally) thick
and fast. Let me explain... The map uses a lot
of custom monsters, all of them are great, you
will face Centroids from mission Pack 1, A custom
snakeman monster (also used in Egyptian Myth)
, The simply brilliant Axemen and some beefed
up knights and Hell knights with new attacks.
The Ogres have been "upgraded" as
well and now leap at you from where-ever they
may be, even if you are above them they will
jump up to where you are! Combat is very hard
with monsters using lots of nails (Even the
Ogres..) which can be very evil if you get trapped...
Un-experienced players may be put off by the
sheer difficulty of this map...
Manifest a maze
The layout is very good in "Grisly Manifest"
and although the map makes you belive that it
is huge, it actually is only of a medium size.
The super connected atriums and hallways are
to blame with most areas having more than one
floor and multiple exits / enterances as well.
This is all well and good but can be a little
frustrating if you get lost. On my first place
is didn't get lost because the map does lead
you around very nicely...
The evil Queen
Weapon and item placement is good overall although
the lack of health is quite disturbing as your
never sure when you will see more of it :) Ammo
is quite abundent although in some areas it
seems very thin until you explore around a little
and find some more... Just watch out for those
Axemen if you do :)
Rumble in the castle
"Grisly manifest" has a suitable
hard ending for a very hard map. Load up on
ammo, bury your fear and wade in :) If your
good you may even survive...
Round up
Nice layout and cool new monsters. But the
difficulty WILL put off some people, I advide
to play on a lower skill level if you don't
think your up to it...
Build Quality = 79%
Playability = 78%
Layout and connectivity = 85%
Weapons and Ammo = 80%
Ending = 74% Overall Score = 81%
