Dwell sure is something different.
Some of you may remember Nike, for Quake and
Quake2. Brenda had put alot of work into that
to create some very realistic (actually based
on real places) bases. Unfortunetely, gameplay
let it down. But then again, gameplay was not
what Nike was made for.
Now, a long time since Nike was released, comes
Brenda's next project and it's not more realistic
bases. Indeed it is based around realism, but
this time you get to trek through the caves
underneath the Black Mesa area and try to break
in.
You start off at some house
before going down to the basement and entering
the caves for the next 4-5 maps. At times I
thought they were very nicely done, and it is
obvious Brenda has put some time into creating
them as terrain is quite hard to do. The only
downside was the darkness, although it does
add to the atmosphere and make it more spooky.
There is one section where you try to dodge
barnacles but it is pitch black so you need
to be very careful and use your flashlight.
It was good the first time, but I came across
the same a puzzle a few different times and
it started to get annoying. Other than that
the fighting in the caves consisted of headcrabs,
houndeyes, some zombies and a few alien grunts
(which are very annoying when you don't have
enough ammo to kill them). For the last level
you make your way to the sewers and then out
below some highway to find some human grunts
standed around fires getting warm. This area
I very much liked as it was quite unique running
underneath a highway.
Overall, since Brenda was going
for something realistic and unique, I think
she succeeded quite nicely. The caves create
a very good atmosphere, and I would love to
see more of the highway section. But gameplay
isn't so strong. For 5 of the 6 levels you only
have the pistol to take on headcrabs and houndeyes
- not much action there. Otherwise quite an
interesting set of levels and definitely alot
better than Nike. I sure hope there is a Dwell2
where you return to the caves.
