[ Reviewed by: Jiang ] - [ Date: Wednesday, 6th October, 1999 ]

 

A mad hard level by someone with mad talents; but don't get all worked up yet, talent doesn't necessarily translate to an awesome level, as we see here, Mel Soaring still needs some tuning.

 

The visuals, and potential gameplay displayed here show that Shaun Ross will create some great maps in the future should he continue to edit, which I sincerely hope he will do. Mel Soaring is an extremely unique display that's hard to categorize under any genre of level; it's half base-style (a weird, but nice looking base at that), and half rocky outdoors. The connecting between the two types are fantastic, and the brightness level was done perfectly for atmosphere without being too dark. Mel Soaring quickly reminded me of a top-of-its-class level recently released, Small Pile of Gibs, but unfortunately all that's justified to be compared is the great mix of indoor/outdoor and the perfect brightness level.

 

Mel Soaring is far from being a flawless level; in its current form, it's a bit messy in fact. While the visuals were well-done in general, they formed no detectable theme. The design of the base quickly changed from almost temple-like textures, to the traditional crate-filled experience. I also felt the green lighting was a bit too strong in some areas, and some places had green lighting with no light sources to be seen! A lot of different textures were used, and as a result of these factors, Mel Soaring felt awkwardly eclectic. Nonetheless, I can't but help to gawk at some of the great, and very creative architecturing that's evident from the screenshots.

 

The fights and balancing in Mel Soaring is the same story as the visuals: great ideas implemented, but a tad messy. For one thing, I think the author would be better off if he made the current hard difficulty I played in as skill three. Mel Soaring requires mad skills, particularily with the hand grenades, and there was one point where I must've been forced to kill ten consecutive enemies with a single health left... of course, I had to save and load twenty times. If the fighting was fair and brutal, as it was on a couple of occasions, then I wouldn't be complaining so much; but on most occassions, the fighting was within small areas and with many bad guys that are very hard to fight in enclosed spaces, e.g. gunners, parasites.

Layout had its ups and downs as well. I liked the author's attempts at non-linear-ness, which were partially successful, but too much backtracking was required and the whole experience was a tad confusing. And a big opportunity Shaun missed is having an underwater aspect to the outdoor areas, as many great outdoor areas do; instead, he opted to make the water acid so watch out!

 

Having a mega background story to set things up is one thing, following that through with clear, and well-themed mission objectives is another. The F1's in here were mostly: find the blue key, or the commander's head etc. It had little to do with the great story the author set himself up with, and what I had to do wasn't clear enough so there was a bit of confusion.

 

Mel Soaring is not yet a level that achieves greatness, but with some more work, I feel the author could easily reach that standard. For the time being, I still recommend Mel Soaring as there can still be some great fun, and the end fight will bring nostalgia to all you Widening Gyre buffs out there