Vigil's first Q2SP, and it's a very good debut
map.
It uses only Quake2 textures,
so you may be thinking another unoriginal base.
Actually you would be somewhat right, it takes
place in an underground base. But it's bursting
with details even in places you won't bother
looking. Angles and buttresses have been used
everywhere and add make good contrasts against
the dark lighting. Huge caves and underground
caverns have been carved out with lava at the
bottom, creating a very atmospheric environment.
It really feel like your trapped underground.
However, with level being very linear, I do
think some of the good designs could have been
used from different angles. With you returning
to a previous cavern from a different level.
There were a few times where you get to backtrack,
but basically there's only one way to go.
Gameplay was good, though not
fantastic. I did beta test that level, and the
first half seemed very easy. Now in the final
it is done right a good amount of low to medium
strength enemies positioned very well to trap
you. The second half of the map was basically
exactly the same, with some larger monsters
coming out to play. One of my original main
concerns was ammo - and with seven beta testers,
I thought this problem would have been addressed.
But it was not, and ammo is very low during
the entire map. Only once was a brought to using
the blaster just briefly, but your often forced
to use a particular weapon because it's the
only one with ammo! So this does make the map
a little harder, especially when in the middle
of a fire-fight the player runs out and very
slowly switches to the next weapon. There was
enough health to keep you going though, and
with caution there should be enough ammo.
Overall a great looking map that is a good
challenge, it just doesn't last long enough!
