When I saw this post on QMAP,
I thought, same day as Nehahra? That's insane.
And as it turns out that the author, Than, probably
has gone off the deep end. Because he made a
map this good.
While bludgeoning my way through Nehahra (see
my comments) I decided I needed a break and
so decided to give this map a shot. Well! From
the start, this map is easily the highest quality
Q1SP map since Egyptian Myth. A lot of Q1SP
projects are using IKBase textures now (Nehahra
and OUM among them), and so I didn't know how
much more could be done with them. The Secret
Installation was the ultimate Q1SP IKBase map,
right? Wrong. The Final Threat is even better.
I was equally impressed with
the architecture, layouts, and lighting. The
architecture was round-angular, not in a cheesy
'no straight edges' style, but in a polygonal
Base style which, coupled with excellent use
of little spotlight lights, and unique visual
features (arching lights, steel crates, to name
a couple), make this map visually among the
best. The layout is the best I can remember,
with a continually spiralling upward feel to
it, so that you feel like you're always going
somewhere. Being in higher catwalks or rooms
in areas you've seen before adds to the map's
strong feel. It's so stacked up and interconnective
I believe the author when he said he took ages
to create it. And what about gameplay? The Final
Threat excels there as well. Base monsters make
for some good old Quake ass kicking, not too
easy nor hard, and items have been so well placed
that I have absolutely no complaints and would
not change a thing. The secrets are good, I
haven't found all of them yet though, adding
to the replay value. Towards the end, Chthonic
monsters such as Shamblers and Vores start making
appearances, making for a appropriately climatic
end battle. And once you get to the end, you're
at the start again. How about that?
Between playing the Final Threat
15 times and playing through all of Nehahra,
or any other recent Q1SP map 15 times, I'd choose
The Final Threat, 15 out of 15 times.
Review
by Tronyn
Tronyn's Score:
95
I finally disagree with Tronyn?
And the rest of the Quake community. Comments
on this map have been that it is the best Quake
level ever, and has the best architecture ever
seen. Personally I wouldn't go that far. Nevertheless,
everything was very well done, brilliant layout,
great architecture and lighting, fantastic gameplay,
it's only con was that there is nothing new
to be seen. An extremely good level.
