Ksp1 'Libris Vertiginis' is
a Q1SP that to the best of my knowledge came
out of nowhere, along with the announcement
of a larger project, from new Q1SP mapper Kell.
The map uses almost exclusively custom textures,
mostly id ones much modified, and thus attains
a very 'Quakey' feel.
I would say that the theme
here is very distinct, very cool, and fits very
well into Quake. However I do have a couple
gripes. The palette of colour the level has
gives it a feel vaguely remniscent of Hexen
II, and the modified terracotta textures also
make it seem somewhat over-refined for the 'Elder
World' theme it otherwise carries. All in all,
though a very cool theme, whose execution as
far as lighting, texturing, and architecture
goes is nearly flawless.
The 'Quake-iness' of the theme
is added to by two really excellent sections.
First, there is a wall-spike trap (ala e1m7)
- big cheesy traps like that are trademarks
of Quake. Second, there is a library area that
seemingly looms out of the void, with mobile
platforms (ala 'Satan's Dark Delight') which
just goes right off of the scale for coolness.
Some really excellent use of things we haven't
been seeing much of lately - platforms and traps
- and plus the void-library as well as some
other interesting things like jump pads - make
this a very impressive level.
Gameplay is good throughout,
reasonably tough, yet you probably won't die
often unless you do something stupid. Medieval
enemies are complemented by the Cthulu monsters
like Shamblers and Vores which provide for some
harder competition. The map's climax is certainly
the library area. The map's end, in a series
of sewer tunnels, is actually quite a let-down.
For me it was kind of annoying trying to find
my way around underwater, probably this won't
be so for most people as I was playing in software
and suffered from what I call 'un-lag' - that
is, especially underwater, things will jump
around. Still though, even if you do find the
button right off the bat and make it to the
end of the map, there should have been something
better than a few cramped tunnels, an underwater
button and a grate down to nothing. What would
have been much better is if the black underwater
tunnel had teleported the player to a climatic
end area (like in The Shadow Over Innsmouth).
Overall, a very good map with
a somewhat bad finish, though I'm sure this
won't matter as much with other maps following
on this in the finished product. As a standalone
map, though, I would have expected a far better
finish. But as it is, Ksp1 is still a good map.
