There are some great small
maps in this pack, although with a contest which
limits the amount of brushes used, you would
think some mappers would try to play around
with the lighting to improve their levels. Instead
you get either far too dark (Gilt) or too bright
(Fingers). Otherwise there were some great maps
here. I do think a lot more could have been
done though within the brush limit.
Ouverture by Gilt
As I was playing it I felt a little surprised
that this was the winning map (even having not
played any of the others yet!). It's quite difficult,
with a rather weak ending. However it is a very
tough map and one of the hardest in the pack.
But don't expect to be able to see the architecture
or the enemy, this level is so damn dark. It
has some nice large architecture, a floating
set of platforms surrounded by sky and blackness
below. Good gameplay, unique architecture, but
just a few simple things let it down a bit.
Maybe it is just my light settings, but this
alone drags it from the top podium for me.
Valley of the Kings
by Fingers
We go to opposite extremes here, with a full
bright level! This is more to fit the theme
of the temple styled map, which is much more
Quakey. This is more like what I was expecting,
with large angled brushes to make walls. A nice
outdoor section even with a bridge, which probably
would have wasted a number of brushes. Overall,
nothing spectacular or unique like the winner,
but still a little different from the typical
Quake level. Simple, small but good.
Stamppot by Zippie
As soon as I spawned into this one it was apparent
that it was damn good. With some good angles,
fresh textures and nicely coloured lighting.
Once you get up to the top level and see the
wacky architecture it's even better! It just
could have done with some better lighting to
show it off more. Also the gameplay was very
weak, with only a dozen monsters. It seems Zippie
skipped this part a little, with the big finale
being a single Scrag blocking your exit. More
effort on gameplay and lighting would make this
a winner.
Sector 98 by Jaj
Rubicon is an easy texture set to do plain levels
with few brushes in, because many of the textures
seem to be large player sized walls. Therefore
Jaj was able to make a fairly large map built
of quite big rooms at that, each with a second
level. Lighting was a bit brighter than what
you would expect in a Rubicon textured map,
with architecture fairly plain. Gameplay was
okay, with the final battle being the only challenge.
The rest was just Enforcers, Grunts and Dogs
- easy! If the rest were done like the finale,
it would have been a great challenging map.
Minimal Devastation
by DaMaul
Something a little different from DaMaul, rather
than a map with brushes used sparingly to get
something big, it's just one large arena with
monsters that spawn in, and brushes used almost
like a normal map to create some great architecture
and details. It is certainly one of the best,
despite this lack of creative use of brushes
to get a bigger map. Gameplay was great, except
for the end where you need to kill Tanktitty,
but it's takes so bloody long to get to each
button. Lighting was great this time round!
100 Hours Till Dawn
by Xenon
Great title, and great map. Done in Quake3 textures
like Insomnia, this map has some nice solid
architecture in what is pretty much one large
area with a couple levels and paths stretching
out from the sides. Gameplay is particularly
tough, but this time you get plenty of ammo
to deal with it. Just the lighting which lets
it down, as some of the architecture can't be
seen well with the shadows.
Scragbait's Drop In
Center by Scragbait
It has nice atmosphere, though fairly boxy and
plain architecture. Once you get out of the
cube your in and find a blood red cave it's
a little better. The gameplay was fun and tough,
but there really wasn't that much through put
in - it's your typical drop the player in a
room with plenty of baddies. Just a slaughter.
Abject Abscess by Palldjon
A great use of brushes here where you start
out in some corridors, and at the end of the
map return to this area to find a huge brush
removed and it's now all one room. This room
is done in ikbase, while the rest of the map
is temple, which didn't seem very consistent.
Also there was an underwater section, which
made up much of the map, where far too many
Zombie's had been put. Palldjon also made the
start map, which looks quite good.
Fat 100 by Fat Controller
Descent looking, though not brilliant, doesn't
make much use of simplifying brushes, nor using
any great detail like DaMaul's map. Just a small
typical Quake map, without any final battle.
Perwinkle Paranoia
by Edgecrusher
It looks like the idea here was to recreate
Doom2, without any effort put into looks. However,
nearing the end I didn't stand much chance of
completing it properly with the ammo I had,
so I was forced to sprint to the exit. As for
visuals, does one texture throughout the entire
map give you an idea? The rooms are huge, each
with one brush walls of ikblue and a few flame
torches.
Diez Equis by Fern
This is like Fatty's map, but has alot more
detail. I wouldn't be surprised if it had been
yanked out of an upcoming full Q1SP from Fern.
Looks great, but not much too it. Gameplay is
good too, but would have been much better if
it wasn't so cramped.
Medieval Minimilism
I probably would have put this in the top 10,
as it has quite a nice atmosphere, and a neat
vertical layout. Gameplay could have done with
some more work, with only a dozen monsters sparsely
thrown in.
Cliffside Carnage &
Shadows by KillazOnTheRun
A promising idea, you start on a cliff on a
sunny day and make your way into the small fort.
Quite a short level though.
As for Shadows, I don't really think this should
have been entered, as it's too hard and is just
two long rooms.
