Vondur, known for his Q1SP
map Solarfall and his work on Nehahra, has released
his second stand-alone map, and it's a pretty
damn good one.
A short, strange and slightly
cheesy (unless I'm really missing something,
it seems like the names and titles are just
words made-up) story introduces the set, which
consists of a small start map, an arena, and
of course the massive castle level itself (though
it isn't really a castle). Now, on to the looks
and atmosphere: Heretic II textures from the
'Andoria' and 'Swamp' sets have been used extensively,
with the odd normal Quake texture and some miscellaneaous
other stuff thrown in here and there (I think
I even saw something from Daikatana E3). The
Swamp theme dominates and is done well; the
map is dark, grimy, and moist. A new looping
sound, an effective sky texture, and the overall
suitability of texture choice contribute well
to the atmosphere. The lighting is also very
good overall, though in a few places it was
ridiculously bright near the *night* sky - which
would never cast that much light and unfortunately
did detract from the atmosphere, though it was
the only detraction I can think of.
Gameplay is original and very
good. The map houses over 100 monsters, but
it's so huge that that really isn't that many.
This map has the most exploratory feel of any
Q1SP I've played. It connects quite well, but
sometimes there is a choice of routes, items
are out of the way, and in general it's not
the 'you must go here - now that you've pressed
this button' straightforward gameplay style
of many maps. There are large stretches of the
map without even any combat, which is a cool
thing to have - every inch of the level isn't
teeming with monsters, nor should it be to suit
the atmosphere created. Items are fair and I
didn't run into any frustrating areas on hard
skill level, so gameplay-wise just about everything
is fine. The final fight with Ragoonshinah (see
what I mean about made-up words?) is quite entertaining
- one mistake and you're toast.
All in all, this is a very
atmospheric map and about the only thing I could
find wrong with it is the too-bright lighting
in several areas that looked out of place. Other
than that, this level is a definate winner.
