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A feature-filled mini-episode in an original
style, Necrobrood is almost as fun to play
as it is to look at. All the "humanoid"
monsters are reskinned, with the grunt, enforcer,
and knight looking great while the larger
monsters are just strange. There's lots of
new QC, all of it good, including jumping
monsters, rocket enforcers, shamblers with
a great secondary attack, and more. The nail
ogres in particular are a painful experience,
since they move very fast and seem intent
on jumping just to confuse the opponent. The
only outright bug is that teleporting monsters
remain insensible for a little under a second
after arriving. This is annoying and can cause
untimely deaths if you're standing on the
teleport destination.
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starts you off in prison on Quake's world,
a world which happens to be very green,
colorful, and full of rivets. The map is
dominated by modified Id metal textures,
but bears no resemblance to the Id metal
theme. In fact, it's one of the most successful
original themes I've seen in a long time.
The level of detail, mostly on a 32x32 or
higher scale, is considerable. Even less-detailed
rooms (like the first one) are still filled
with busy texturing. No complaints about
the electric/sky/lava lighting either. The
craftsmanship of the level is also impressive:
besides the abundance of riveted beams all
over the place, there are also many curves
and multiple angles that are unusual, if
not unprecedented. The "machinery"
of the prison is a great touch, though it
would have been even better if some of it
actually moved.
Bastille starts off quietly, but all hell
breaks loose once the monsters realize you
have. With mostly small groups of monsters
teleporting in, the unfortunate escapee
will soon learn to fear the one modification
I don't like: grunts that can aim (either
that or they have a wider spray of pellets.)
Staying on the move is no longer a good
defense so prepare to take noticeably more
damage than expected. There aren't many
trick situations other than simply facing
the modified monsters, which is challenge
enough. There are a few secrets, hard to
find and not very useful. They could have
contained health rather than unnecessary
weapons.
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ditches
the green scheme in favor of a more rusty
runic atmosphere, using more original E3
textures (or at least only marginally modified
ones.) There's only slightly less detailing
than the first map, again on a large grid.
It's more outdoors-oriented than Bastille,
with numerous open courtyards and eye-catching
building structures (both screenshots.)
The first room and the silver key area have
been over-lit in an attempt to create ominous
shadows - using an alternate fade distance
to get the same effect would have been better
(although the latter is a neat piece of
beamage in its own right. Sunlight is also
inconsistently used, but there's nothing
downright ugly about it. Aside from one
out-of-place bloodstained room, the map
is coherent and successful on par with the
first.
Combat is another story since it sometimes
strays from "challenging" territory
into "frustrating." At the beginning
of the map, you need to face several difficult
situations in quick succession before getting
to the health. There are also too many areas
(usually the courtyards) where a closing
door not only blocks off retreat, but usually
makes an attempt at running away result
in death. I can understand this is probably
done to force fighting into the courtyards,
which is a good idea, but there must be
more fair ways to do it. There are two secrets,
not quite enough to offset the above but
very helpful.
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blends the green and runic themes with worn
brick in two huge arenas. The building designs
are really inspiring and there's also a well-made
but really botched quake symbol. =) Again,
no complaints. The quality of architecture
throughout this entire episode is really well
sustained.
Combat-wise, the intensity is turned up
considerably with large ammo/armor caches
to complement the large gangs of monsters
teleporting in. The fighting is frantic
but rarely or never becomes as impossible
as the troublesome parts of Forsaken. As
for the finale itself, I'll only say that
it succeeds completely in adding a highly
appreciable new challenge to an old situation. |
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