I don't know when exactly this
map was created, but on Shambler's it's classified
as an old level, so I'll take his word for it.
What we have here is a hell of an old level
that I somehow managed to miss up until now.
Mars1 is plagued by none of the usual 'old level
problems' - overlarge areas, bad texture handling,
lack of detail - it has much more in common
with newer maps, including good texture usage,
detailing, use of 'new' elements such as space
ships and rocket sequences, it actually has
an interconnective layout, and hey, it's even
actually hard, too! (on hard).
Mars1 uses the Scourge of Armagon
mission pack though not to its full extent -
basically, only the laser gun, a few centroids
and the earthquake effect is used. Which is
fine, these things complement the map well.
The theme is an idbase/hipnotic one, and while
not overly ambitious, it is carried well throughout
and even the small corridors and outdoor halls
look nice. Most of the rooms, though, do look
quite a bit similar, with the exception of several
rooms and halls which have slime in the bottom
(some of these you raise bridges out of, a nice
touch). However there are two setpieces later
in the map, one is a rocket launch silo (damned
cool, you actually get to launch it too - I
travelled by this outside before realising what
it was supposed to be from within), and a spaceship
hangar at the end. Now these aren't so complex
or amazing as those seen in recent sci-fi maps
- say Colony, OUM4, or Elek's defunct Technophobia
- but for the time they must have been impressive,
and they're still cool today.
The gameplay is actually pretty
tough on the harder skills, due to sparse health
and not-sparse enforcers. Additionally you aren't
given every gun on the planet - once in a while
you get a new one, though ammo is also sparse
so you can't shoot at everything or you'll find
yourself axing. Overall the situation is tight.
At one point, you have to travel down an elevator
with an Ogre, a Shambler, a couple of Fiends
and a Centroid for companions. They don't all
arrive at once, but you don't get crap for supplies
before going down there, and with my 40 health
and little ammo, if I hadn't started a big infight
I would have been toast. Additionally there
are some other challenging combats, like when
four Ogres hop across a slime room and land
right beside you. Over all though, when I died
it was because of the enforcers. There are many
of them in this map, easily more common than
grunts, and they *will* get you. A particularly..
fun.. setup involved some enforcers sniping
out of pipes while I tried to take out another
group across a bridge. Overall this is a tough,
tight little map with some cool touches, a good
layout, and overall well worth playing.
