LTH's latest features a somewhat
nonlinear design and very curvy architecture.
The unlikely texturing at first appears very
strange - as a mapper I consider what he used
for the floor to be for platform-tops only,
and what he used for the walls to be 'decal'
only - that is, for small decorative bits only.
This really is a strange combination that I
never could have imagined, however, after getting
used to it it is not that bad. The theme is
spiced up a bit by inset gargoyles and Runic
lights, and the architecture as I said is quite
impressive.
Gameplay is very interesting.
Make sure you have played the previous LTH maps
immediately prior or just give yourself the
appropriate weapons (which I did). There are
quite a few monsters, it's interesting when
you decide to run away from one horde, only
to run into another, and basically have monsters
chasing you all over the map. There is a lot
of ammunition as well, however, do not be too
trigger happy on the first half of the map because
you will need to be conservative and leave some
ammunition to pick up either when you retread
old ground, or just when you need some to face
the final enemies. Personally I blasted everything
that moved and even a few things that didn't
and ran sorely out of ammunition near the end.
I axe-killed several Hell-knights until I got
to the control room, where I picked up ammunition,
killed the guard Hell Knights, and again ran
out, forced to leave the level with a HellKnight,
two vores, and a Shambler behind. Speaking of
leaving the level, the map has a very cool exit,
I'll let you find out what it is for yourself.
Exodus' theme is more of a
novelty than a groundbreaking or outstanding
theme; it is original but I doubt we will see
something like this again. However, the map
offers fast-paced action and an interesting
design, plus leaps and bounds forward in architectural
quality from all previous LTH maps.
