In the time that Kona has mapped for Q1, he's
built up quite a legacy of quality SP maps.
It would be an understatement to say that Carved
in Flesh continues that legacy. It's far and
away his most stunning release in his entire
body of work! More than a must-play, it's at
once an instant Kona classic, and not only that,
one of the best Q1SP releases, ever. It's not
very often the Q1SP community receives maps
that just plain sparkle and announce themselves
in style as if they were on a red carpet, but
Carved in Flesh does exactly that!
Indeed, this time out Kona's produced a unit
that could be called a limelight stealer making
the loudest fashion statement possible. It comes
packed with a bold and brilliant new texture
fusion that may literally cause your jaw to
drop and hang open! The green stone is instantly
captivating and makes you want to take a closer
look. Go ahead and soak it all in, you'll notice
these textures include cracks, marks, and faceted
lines to fool the eye and make everything look
real. And where this green stone meets the other
visual components is just as handily pulled
off. Running green and red trim lines accentuate
separation between texture sets. The interlocking
with the brown-brick walls and granite faces
make the wooden doors look heavy even. Combination
textures collate to form ornate "artwork"
over wall areas. And smaller individual texture
plates like windows, crosses, and pseudo-lights
are applied liberally everywhere to provide
a genuine "detailed" look.
And it really, really, really works. The textures
do such an excellent job of covering everything
up, they almost hide the actual architectural
detail. Not that anything would need to be hidden
here though, because Kona's complexity has been
taken to new levels that surpass anything and
everything he's done before. There are floor/ground
impressions, "curbs" underscoring
wall-floor grids, angled support beams, angled
wall faces, curved pillars and supports, and
slanted-off edging. The level of attention to
detail is simply unprecedented, astounding,
and mind-boggling! Not one corner or face has
been overlooked. Even the rock faces are angled
off to give them the right raggedy look. Level
design like this is simply masterful.
Not everything is quite perfect, however. For
this map pack, Kona's thrown in a myriad of
custom monsters, a few of which are culled from
other Q1SP maps, or other games completely,
like Quake II. The Baron enemies return but
the real meat is the cast of modified Q1 monsters
with increased attack methods (like modified
Fiends, Shamblers, Ogres, and Death Knights),
and a few completely new ones. Not all of these
mesh with the overall color scheme, and some
of them could've been more visually distinct.
And the three new custom weapons (a flame launcher,
ice gun, and positron beam) are mostly useless,
they require too much time to use in a game
driven by action where the enemies are coming
fast and furiously. They're good fallback if
you run out of ammo for the standard weapons,
but only then.
Not
that you'll run out, but it's a good idea to
keep an eye on the counters when the ammo/monster
ratio is actually kinda tight. 63 enemies on
the first map, 71 on the second, and 26 on the
third, on Hard. And the lot of them demand lightning-quick
movements and shots, especially since some of
them can jump, and others have incredibly swift
attacks, like one of the modified Fiends. Lots
of varied combats result that follow more of
a "break/action/cut" formula than
a continuous one, to provide an extremely satisfying
play. When you run into a monster, usually more
and more will quickly get added into the mix,
and then the action will break, only to follow
up with another attack (either solo or by a
gang). This may frustrate less skilled players,
but it's a great way to do it because escalating
fights are always exciting, and the custom monsters
are great fun to go up against. The tougher
ones only add to the thrill of the challenge
regardless of which skill setting you choose,
making sure that even Easy isn't a total walk
in the park.
But what really sets apart Carved in Flesh
from Kona's previous maps though, is the sheer
epic scope. There are real set-pieces here,
and every one of them is not only set in an
appropriately sized space, they also feature
solid, very challenging wave-attacks or multi-way
fights. The multi-way fights are more prolific
and staged very well, and the wave-attacks...are
pure self-indulgence for circle-strafing elites.
Of course you can't have epic without visuals
to match, and Kona's brushwork more than lives
up to the job. Major, major props to Kona for
pulling off this absolutely stunning achievement.
It's the landmark of his portfolio of SP maps
by far including his final release Autumn Haunting!
Carved in Flesh is carved in well-deserving
Ten Four Gold!