A large, convoluted level that puts a
different twist on a medieval theme by mixing
copious amounts of blue textures with the
normal brown/white style. It comes with
a backing story that follows on from Quake
itself. The map consists of many open and
fairly complex courtyards, and brief connecting
corridors. The layout sprawls over two tiers,
and is heavily interconnected, which is
only revealed when doors open to previous
areas as you progress. The architecture
is fairly good, but mostly rather arbitrary
- there's plenty of angles everywhere, and
good solid designs, but it has a random
feel with few structures standing out. Perhaps
the haphazard nature is intentional, but
it doesn't give a good sense of place. However,
there are some impressive collonades and
archways, particularly later in the map,
and the build quality is all good. More
set-pieces or focused designs would have
improved the looks.
Textures are also fairly good, providing
a consistent theme, with well used blue
trim later on, though the blue/brown mixture
might be a matter of taste. One of the rarely
used rock textures is particularly nice.
Lighting is fairly dark and gloomy, and
sometimes unsourced. Despite the connectivity,
there isn't much exploration, and 2 secrets
(number obscured by the map name), the one
I found was neat and useful. Gameplay is
tough, relentless, and sometimes longwinded
due to the amount of medium-tough monsters.
Custom monsters are prominent, including
Axemen, "Mordrigor" Deathknights
(see Mexx8 - LOTW review), Snakemen, Centroids,
and modified nailgun Ogres. You better like
nails as there's an awful lot thrown at
you from those last three monsters - the
Ogres also jump wildly which provides a
good, new, tactical challenge, and the Axemen
are as frantic as usual.
Monster placement, combined with the lighting,
makes it hard to avoid damage from the nail
monsters, so a lot of care should be taken.
Weapons and ammo are liberally supplied,
but health is very limited, especially in
the early-middle parts of the map, which
is likely to require a lot of quicksaving
for many players. More health here was needed
and would have given more enjoyable gameplay
all round. Later on supplies improve, as
does the balance, including a very fitting
ending, with an escalating series of heavy
monsters and several fun ambushes. Skill
settings are slightly effective. The challenging
gameplay means it's a map that's best to
play slowly and methodically.
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