[ Reviewed by: Morgan ] - [ Date: Sunday,
16th July, 2000 ]
Perhaps the fact that I haven't played
Quake II in a while gave this map an advantage
but I absolutely loved it. It was a little
brief and perhaps a little easy even on
Hard - I played through in about 10 minutes
without dying - but it was a gem all the
same. Aside from the couple of minor points
that Jay picked out, it was a great looking
map, and the "new" textures gave
it a fresh look that really lifted it. Though
the path you have to follow is, indeed,
somewhat linear, it's very pleasingly structured,
with you looping round on yourself numerous
times. There is, perhaps, a little too much
scope for falling down and having to retrace
your steps for quite a distance but it still
a very elegant design. It was also a bit
of a shame that the two maps couldn't be
compiled into one - as explained in the
text file - because that would have driven
the pace even higher than it is already
but, other than that, there's very little
wrong here.
[ Reviewed by: Jay ] - [ Date: Monday,
3rd April, 2000 ]
This is an updated version of the original
review, changed after errors in the original
review were pointed out to me. Even if you
think you recognize the next paragraph,
but have not seen this sentence before,
please read the whole review from scratch.
It's been said before, but that hasn't
stopped me yet - new single-player Quake
2 maps are few and far between these days,
but when they do come, they're far superior
to the average a year or two ago. The mediocre
authors have either become very good by
now, or they've moved on to other games,
and authors that consistenly have produced
good SPQ2 maps (which pretty well describes
Kona) still return to SPQ2 now and then,
fortunately for us SPQ2 fanatics. When last
we saw Mel (in Q2, that is), he was on his
third battle, but only second against the
Strogg. We SPQ2 bigots are fortunate that
Kona decided that Mel's latest adventure
would pit him (and us) against the Strogg
once more.
The story is short and sweet, and sets
the stage nicely, but you would be able
to get along quite nicely without it. This
is one of those "...move in whatever
direction currently is open, and blow away
anything that moves..." kind of experiences.
The Baddies have occupied an ancient castle
- an environment which afficionados of Classic
Quake know and love - and are threatening
Mel in his seclusion, and Mel being a killer
simply has to deal with this intolerable
situation. The F1 computer says it all -
"Annihilate all enemies". Simple.
Well, not really simple at that. The objective
is not all that intellectually challenging,
granted, but Kona is not about to let us
off lightly. I was gibs within a couple
of minutes of starting the map - death is
Nature's way of telling us we were a wee
tad hasty, there. Kona does not throw dozens
of enemies at Mel the way we saw Mark Shan
do recently in Magic Lamber Forever, but
with between 122 and 156 Strogg (depending
on skill level; I faced 141 of them), this
means that the groups of two to five Strogg,
and sometimes a couple more, occur more
frequently throughout the map. If one compares
the 141 enemies of both maps of Mel Soaring
5 to the similar number in the first level
of Magic Lamber Forever, the smaller groups
of enemies means more groups, and thus more
combat opportunities. When approaching a
door, it is a really safe bet that something
nasty will be found on the other side, just
waiting to eat your face. Ammo is plentiful,
and Mel starts out with blaster, shotgun,
and a pocket-full of grenades, and quickly
acquires the DBS and machine gun. This is
not a gift from Kona, but merely necessary
for survival. While not stingy with ammo,
Kona keeps you on a fairly strict diet of
health, much more so in the beginning than
the end. Not an impossible exercise by any
means, but no cakewalk, either.
One interesting aspect which I only discovered
on replaying the map, but could have figured
out on the first pass through - it is possible
to double back and get a different shooting
angle on discovered enemies. This is a nifty
aspect of the layout, and helps alleviate
the otherwise very linear feel to the map.
I mentioned the castle earlier. While Quake
fans will recognize the visual look and
feel of textures, particularly in the early
going, the shapes are not tye typical human
rectangular rooms with a roof and occasionally
a circular stairs. Rigby Castle has plenty
of curves and odd turnings. Though the action
takes place on three levels (including subterranean
- that's underground to a Marine), all except
the below-ground area is open to the stars,
of which there are lots. I enjoyed the visuals,
since Kona put in plenty of variation so
that it was not all the same mottled brown
stone. The sky visible most places is gorgeous,
and includes a moon with patterns of light
and dark that my mind kept trying to force
into the Man In The Moon - but Kona avoided
that trap and used a different picture,
or at least sufficiently befuddled my mind
that the pattern never did fit the familiar.
There are some visual anomalies which players
who like to explore and look around a lot
(as opposed to those who want to see how
quickly they can get through) will find.
These turn out to be inherent in the Quake
2 engine - one of the errors I made in the
original draft of this review was attributing
them to design under Kona's control, which
was unfair, though due to ignorance on my
part.
When all is said and done, I think I'll
end up putting the Mel Soaring 5 starter
icon into my Good folder, where it is among
the very best of that particular folder.
Though one can double back some, I am not
sure I could play it a third time and still
feel it was a different game each time,
at least not within the next six months
or so. Maybe if it had been a tad longer,
I would decide otherwise, but replayability
is probably my main judgment criterion.
I suspect that other folks who focus more
on outstanding graphics would rate this
one Superb, because the visuals are among
the best I've seen, and it was tremendous
fun while it lasted. However one calls it,
though, Good or Superb, it is definitely
one that you must not miss if you like SPQ2
at all. Go get it now, play it, and give
Kona your opinion - feedback is the only
payment authors like him who provide us
the free maps ever get for their labors.
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