Brumal Quest marks Kona's 15th in his long
line-up of SP maps for Quake 1 and 2, but this
one separates itself from the rest of the pack
with its theme - snowy medieval. An intriguing
style indeed, and it works great, but it would've
gone better with darker ambient lighting.
Layout is reminiscent of Satyr - routing begins
at the outermost rim, flowing inwards, crisscrossing
at points, but generally upwards to teleport
to the second map. The second map is a one-two
punch - enter a fortress, then exit and leave
(entry and exit both meet with opposition as
expected). Architecture is excellent, and complex
at that - lots of attention to detail. The proof
is in the wall and floor-ceiling designs sprinkled
around, as well as in the varied textures. Surprisingly
consistent with each other considering how many
there are, so layers don't appear odd as they
might in other styles. Mostly wood and stone
variants that at first seem to provide a completely
new style, but on closer examination is somewhat
medieval.
Variation continues in the gameplay, which
likes to have the upper edge - many enemies
spawn in after a button push or after key targets
are eliminated. And the enemies themselves are
a varied lot with their new snowy skins (one
exception: shambler), plus a breed of modified
"fiends" (gremlins?) without the normal
rapaciousness. Unfortunately this breed doesn't
seem to have any combat strengths - or if it
does, it's not appropriately used. There's a
bit more faulty enemy placement with a few shamblers
and certain ogres, but overall combat strives
for fairness. Health is quite competitive compared
to the amount of fighting, but ammo tends to
be more generous. Combat is definitely challenging
but not quite intriguing - there's lack of progression,
and no one particular fight stands out. No set-pieces
except in the second map. And a rather rude
closing battle - it opens you up to attack from
multiple angles way too abruptly without a good
aversion method.
The combat isn't all that compelling and the
ambient lighting a bit bright for Quakey purposes
(at least on idgamma/GLQuake), but Brumal Quest
packs good, tough action into some highly impressive,
snowy architecture. Very nice overall.
