Underworldfan's Single Player Map Reviews

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## Reviews: 14th January 2005 [Reviewed by Tronyn]

SUMMARY
Game - QUAKE
Map - monfree: Project: MonsterFree
by - Pulsar
Download - monfree.zip
Overall Verdict - No monsters, but instead a trap laden, experimental level design.

FULL REVIEW:
Here's a really cool idea from Pulsar: A single player map that contains no monsters. A variety of traps are included, pretty much all the traps you'd find in regular Quake and a few more besides. The map is done up in the Rubicon texture set, a sort of tidy but grimy green/blue military base set. There aren't any really big areas, the map is indoors, but for what it is - tidy, well-made rooms and corridors - it looks good enough. Texturing is right on the mark, good use of the set. Lighting is well done, darkness used to show you where not to go and so forth.
The whole time I was playing I was thinking, "What is going to kill me, since monsters aren't." I was very suspicious, always eyeing the ceilings and so forth. I was overly paranoid, however, in that you're usually given fair warning before something nasty happens, though it is certainly possible to wear away at your health by playing sloppily. Slime was a good element for this map, as lava may have been too harsh. Good use of moving platforms, always forcing the player to make a jump to reach them, utilizing Quake's absurd physics.
I had a good time playing this map though it was fairly short, and what it really did was make me feel like a jackass for not incorporating many traps into any of my maps. Traps were one of the features that made Quake's original levels interesting, and too few custom levels have them (I was glad to see some in Coma). I can only think of how cool it would be if someone made a map like this, only larger/more complicated/more dangerous. As it is, it's a great illustration of an original concept, and definately worth a spin.

Overall Score: 15/20