3 map Q1SP pack with excellent,
highly original textures and architecture
Kona's latest project is a decidedly ambitious
one. 2 medium sized maps + 1 smaller arena map
comprise this pak. There are tons of new monsters
and weapons to go alongside the maps as well,
however, not all of them are pulled off well.
The brushwork in these maps are top-notch.
A good adherence to the theme and amazing looking
architecture. It appears to be a blend between
q3a gothic and some other source, of which I'm
not familiar. The outdoor areas are also well
rendered. Good looking rock formations, and
nice textures (unreal rock there) go well together.
Gameplay is quite good, and with the plethora
of new monsters, quite refreshing. Gang attacks
are present, but gameplay is focused more on
a few powerful monsters than on many weaker
ones. Progression is handled well, and is never
too hard or too easy. There were a few times
when I had trouble figuring out where to go.
For example, one message informed me that a
secret passageway had been opened, but I had
no idea where it was, and had to spend a little
while searching for it, which took away from
the atmosphere a bit.
Speaking of atmosphere, this map reeks of it.
Custom ambient sounds are present everywhere and
the adherence to the theme helps quite a bit.
Unfortunately, there are a few times when the
atmosphere was broken. The new monsters, while
being new and providing variety, are not all of
the same quality. The Baron is present, and rocks
as always, along with reskinned Knights, Hell
Knights and modified ogres, but there is also
another monster, a jumping chick with Major(?)
sounds (from q3a) who looks, quite honestly, ugly
as hell, with an equally bad skin to match. The
baby fiend is another example of an atmosphere
reducing monster. It provides a challenge by being
hard to see and hit, but it is skinned in green
and purple(!). The author would have been better
just leaving it with the stock fiend skin. As
it is, it looks unnatural and ridiculous. Add
to the fact that Quake's palette does not include
very many good greens, and the texture set along
with the colored monsters look more teal than
anything else and very faded.
Some really cool modified monster are present
here, and are of the type I've never seen before.
There is a 'queen' fiend, which is basically
an upscaled fiend with a shield. It's quite
imposing, and although it's lost it's ability
to jump, is still quite dangerous, because of
it's protection. A reskinned shambler is present
as well, this sucker is great. It's got an Arch-Vile
type attack, and is a fun guy to battle. The
flying 'wizard' type monster looks great. I'm
pretty sure I've seen him before, Nehahra, I
think, but he looks great as ever and fits in
well with the surroundings. I won't talk much
about the boss monster, but it looks properly
evil, and is a real tough fight.
There are also some new weapons, a flame launcher,
a freeze gun, the Positron Beam and a lightning
gun flamethrower. Quite honestly, I was disappointed
in all of them. The flame launcher is absolutely
pointless. It serves no purpose, since it's ammo
is of a different type, and doesn't seem easy
to come by. The freeze gun is more of a novelty
than anything else, since it can't actually kill
a monster. It will only immobilize it for a short
period of time. You MUST shoot it with something
else, otherwise it will revive and go after you
again. At least if there were extra skins for
each of the monsters when it was frozen, it could
have *looked* cool.
The Positron Beam was a big disappointment.
I remember the Positron Beam as a mass-destruction
weapon, which could gib tons of monsters with
no effort at all. I envisioned a room clearer.
Unfortunately, this iteration of the Positron
Beam has been thoroughly weakened, and actually
does less damage than a grenade, while still
using 1 rocket (rocket?!). The final new weapon,
the Flame Thrower is basically the lightning
gun with reskinned lightning, and the explosion
sprite spawned at the lightning endpoint. It
has the ability to set monster on fire. I only
used it at the end when I had to. It doesn't
really look like a flamethrower, and does the
exact same thing the lightning gun does.
What I see here is an amazing map pack with
some cool stuff and a bunch of useless things
as well. Honestly, I loved this pak. It's an
amazing experience, with lots of challenging
fights, and some good scares. Don't let my negative
comments deter you from enjoying this. Just
remember, just because it's new, doesn't mean
it's good. It has to actually serve a purpose.
Underworldfan's note: Good 3 map pack with
superb and original architecture. The Textures
are also incredible. Download this immediately.
