Underworldfan's Single Player Map Reviews

Hosted by the
good folks at
PlanetQuake

## Reviews: 23rd October 2007 review 2 [Reviewed by Tronyn]

SUMMARY
Game: QUAKE
Map - 768_pack: Vertical Map Pack (4 map pack)
by: trinca/lurker/rudl/spirit.
organized by: Metlslime
Download: 768_pack.zip
Overall Verdict: 4 good maps of varying themes.

rules:
All entities/brushfaces inside 768x768 footprint
unlimited vertical size
No teleporting the player
Single-player
Playable in Quoth Mod
FULL REVIEW:
768_lurker: "Schismatic Ablation"
This is a fairly traditional medieval map for the first half, stacked canyons and stone rooms, but in the second half it becomes significantly weirder. You have pitch black rooms above the sky (space?) in some kind of void, with floating architecture. Enemies are traditional medieval: knights, Hellknights, ogres. It's not too difficult but if you get ahead of yourself you might die once or twice. There are some cool tricks in the map, the highlight of which is a section of moving stairs, kinda reminded me of Doom3 hell. Overall a fun blast with some interesting touches, generally interesting architecture and some cool details like wooden bridges.

768_rudl: "Tower of Droles"
This is my favorite map in the pack. It's a square tower, the upper floors taken up by medieval bookshelves and stainglass windows, a very Hexen II-feel. Droles are gonna cause you problems here, although this is probably the most open of the maps, it's still fairly cramped so you have to be careful. Looks cool throughout with some good textures including fiery windows and a good floor texture. A nice surprise comes halfway down (yes, you descend in this map, you don't go up) when the theme shifts to evil Quake machinery, which somehow fits perfectly with the medieval theme above, possibly due to a common color scheme, but probably also because Quake is naturally suited to mixing evil tech and foreboding medieval elements. Quoth enemies below as well are well used, mowing down enforcers is always fun.

768_spirit: "Transdimentional Clusterfuck"
This is an amusing map, really weird with arrows pointing in places and asymmetrical architecture, but dressed in clean Egyptian textures. Some wind tunnels and pillars of teleport-liquid give the name its "transdimensional" element. There is an asshole trap right at the start of the map, which is funny. It will get almost everyone on the first try. Lava and some weird jumping provide some unusual hazards. Monster count is pretty low but a couple gaunts while you're low on supplies might kill you. Just when you think you've got the map completed though, well, let's just say that that's when the "clusterfuck" part comes in and completes the title. A quirky, fun map.

768_trinca: "The Tower of Knowledge"
This is a moody, dark Quoth-textured map. There are some interesting touches here and there like tombs and fireplaces, giving it that Ye Olde Evil feel as some other Quoth maps have effectively done. Standard fare with bookcases and long creepy shadows provide the visuals. The map is fairly cramped, so the enemies get good odds at killing you - fiends, stronger Hellknights, and even vorelings and knights all present real danger here, particularly if you don't play cautiously. This is the hardest map in the pack, for sure. Sometimes helpful supplies (weapons, health) are just around the corner though, so you may need to rethink your approach. There are a couple sections where monsters spawn in, one depending on your stupidity (or colorblindness perhaps). Oh, that Trinca can be evil. A suitable finale will almost certainly kill you, or maybe I'm just a sucker for those Gaunts. Overall good Fodrian fun.
Overall Pack
I'm not sure it's appropriate to really rate these minimaps, so I'm just going to rate the overall pack. Each map is different from all of the others, and they are all enjoyable. They all have different themes and approaches, some have moving pieces and tricks, some you go up, others down, some focus on monsters, others navigation and traps. Overall, well worth getting, some good mappers here experimenting with a cool idea, and Quoth stuff is always welcome.

Overall Vertical Map Pack: 15.5/20