Castled

"Grisly Manifest" takes place inside a huge gothic castle clad in blue and brown brick walls with a murky purple sky looming overhead. The setting is nice and original due to the blue scheme used on the build work and [Kona] 's own distinguishable "big" build style. The surroundings look good but are not particulary detailed, most of the looks come from clever texture usage and nice use of trim and texture combinations. The best looking areas are later in the map when yo enter soom cool looking courtyards with some nice angled walls. Lighting was a let down with most of the map looking a little washed out and some places had no visible light source although appeared very bright.

 

Grisly...

The first thing I must say here is that "grisly Manifest" is one hell of a HARD map. Health is a little thin and big bad and enhanced moinsters come flying at you (sometimes literally) thick and fast. Let me explain... The map uses a lot of custom monsters, all of them are great, you will face Centroids from mission Pack 1, A custom snakeman monster (also used in Egyptian Myth) , The simply brilliant Axemen and some beefed up knights and Hell knights with new attacks. The Ogres have been "upgraded" as well and now leap at you from where-ever they may be, even if you are above them they will jump up to where you are! Combat is very hard with monsters using lots of nails (Even the Ogres..) which can be very evil if you get trapped... Un-experienced players may be put off by the sheer difficulty of this map...

 

Manifest a maze

The layout is very good in "Grisly Manifest" and although the map makes you belive that it is huge, it actually is only of a medium size. The super connected atriums and hallways are to blame with most areas having more than one floor and multiple exits / enterances as well. This is all well and good but can be a little frustrating if you get lost. On my first place is didn't get lost because the map does lead you around very nicely...

 

The evil Queen

Weapon and item placement is good overall although the lack of health is quite disturbing as your never sure when you will see more of it :) Ammo is quite abundent although in some areas it seems very thin until you explore around a little and find some more... Just watch out for those Axemen if you do :)

 

Rumble in the castle

"Grisly manifest" has a suitable hard ending for a very hard map. Load up on ammo, bury your fear and wade in :) If your good you may even survive...

 

Nice layout and cool new monsters. But the difficulty WILL put off some people, I advide to play on a lower skill level if you don't think your up to it...

 

Build Quality = 79%
Playability = 78%
Layout and connectivity = 85%
Weapons and Ammo = 80%
Ending = 74%
Overall Score = 81%