[ 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
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