#1 2020-10-27 19:30:21

BlindChaos
Member

Great Sewer Levels

Love them or hate them, sewer levels are found in many great games. They can be the most awesome level ever or the crappiest level ever. When I play sewer levels I say to myself “Hey you're swimming in piss and poop,” to which I reply “No shit.”

I have played many great sewer levels for many of my favorite older and indie games and it looks like Quake is no different. Here is a run down for some of the best sewer levels that I have ever played with Quake sewer levels near the end.

1. Chex Quest: Surprisingly one of the best levels in the game was a green colored sewer level.
2. Doom Mods: Some of the best sewer levels that I have ever played were in Doom mods.
3. Heretic Mods: There was a sewer speed map pack found here, that was less sewer and more great Heretic maps with water on the floor.
4. Hexen Mods: Hexen itself had some very great sewer levels, but there wasn’t a whole lot that I remember from the community.
5. Zdoom Mods: Zdoom enabled modders to enhance their levels with underwater sequences which made sewer levels so much better. Underwater sequences, created by talented members of its community I think I like better than what I have played in Quake.
6. Serious Sam: One of the first games that I have ever played that had a sewer level.
7. Quake Mods: First I don’t find myself liking underwater sequences that much in Quake. I find myself liking underwater levels better in games like Quake 2, Heretic 2, and many great games using the Quake 3 engine much better. Here is what I have found already for Quake.

A. Underwater Jam: I liked Bloodshot’s map because of the underwater temple and mukOr’s map because it was a nice addition to Quake’s 3rd episode theme. These levels were not sewer enough for me though.
B. Sewer Jam: I only liked MortalMaxx’s level for the texture usage and Andrew Yoder’s map for the atmosphere.
C. Sm196 - Quick Honey: Andrew Yoder’s map here was gorgeous and is an example of how a sewer map should be for Quake. It had just the right amount of underwater sequences for how small it was. It mixed metal and brick textures together in the right way to create the best sewer look. It actually felt like you were in the sewer system. The greatest touch was the electricity bolts at the far end. This created a great touch of atmosphere. The only downside was that I wanted more. I hope that Andrew Yoder makes more maps like this in the future.
D. Round the U-Bend: Andrew ‘than’ Palmer made a great map when he crafted this. It is another example of how a sewer map should be. It felt like you were in the sewer because of its light use of underwater sequences, its ample use of pipes and large metal machinery. He should definitely make more maps like this in the future.
E. Geophobia: than made another great level when he crafted this map. This level is more of a small terracotta fortress than a sewer but I included it on the list because of it’s small sewer-like sequence. It doesn’t have that bad of underwater sequences either.

What’s with Andrew’s making great sewer levels for Quake anyways? What are your favorite sewer levels for Quake? Ones that are so great that I should definitely check out.

#2 2020-10-27 20:11:10

Gila
Member

Re: Great Sewer Levels

It's slightly off-topic, but one of the most memorable sewer levels for me ever is from Redneck Rampage, E1L6, called... "Sewers".

Yes, it's not from Quake, and it wasn't particularly great or anything, just memorable - how frustrating and confusing it was, it didn't have any keys (not that they would be of big help, since for some reason in RR all three keys look the same), and had only buttons and switches to look for to progress, especially that one that you have to shoot, but you can spot it only if you look in a direction at a certain place where you normally wouldn't look at at all, and it's near the ceiling as well.

#3 2020-10-27 21:09:20

Cocerello
Member

#4 2020-10-27 21:28:25

onetruepurple
Banned

Re: Great Sewer Levels

Most of https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/func_mapjam1.html

Ignore my map though, it's probably in the top 5 worst releases of the last decade.

#5 2020-10-27 22:35:04

--
Guest

Re: Great Sewer Levels

Adamantine Cruelty and Antediluvian are timeless

#6 2020-10-28 07:10:45

Lane Powell
Member

Re: Great Sewer Levels

https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/apsp2.html

Not technically a sewer level I guess but it makes great use of flooded sections.

Adamantine Cruelty is a classic. Play the original and then play the Arcane Dimensions version.

Last edited by Lane Powell (2020-10-28 07:13:42)

#7 2020-11-07 21:08:45

BlindChaos
Member

Re: Great Sewer Levels

Thank you Gila, Cocerello, OTP and Lane Powell for your replies.

Adamantine Cruelty; I remember playing this one a few months back with both the original and the Arcane Dimensions version. I prefer the AD version because it was more strait forward with less places to get lost and turned around in.

Antediluvian; I did play this map a few months back too when I was playing all the Quake metal maps. It is one of best E3 wind tunnel remakes that I have seen though.

Honey; I did also play this one a few months back when I also played through MapJam1. I never considered any of the Honey themed maps true sewer levels though. They are just maps with sewer areas. Honey as I imagine it, is a medieval town built upon a secret that lurks below. That secret is an ancient yet more advanced society that built large structures and harnessed plumbing technology thousands of years ago.

MapJam1; There is some good maps in this pack especially Scampie's, Skacky's, Sock's and Ionous's/MFX's maps. OTP's starts out okay but it gets too devastating as you continue to play it.

Requiem; I had the biggest Deja vu while playing these maps, it's like the author copied and pasted the best parts of Honey and called it his own map. The difficulty spike was so much greater in these maps compared to Honey too. I was about to pull out my hair with how frustrating I was when I played it. It did make me enjoy Honey so much more though.

Jump; By the same author as Requiem but this map is so much better. Still not a sewer map but I think it was a good addition to the Honey/MapJam1 theme.

Plumbers Don't Wear Ties; Though this map is good on brush work and detail I did not like it as much as I was hoping for these 2 reasons. 1. Some of the rooms were too small and claustrophobic. This made it hard to dodge enemy attacks quite often. 2. I got lost a lot and it wasn't pretty. Not having a clue of where to go, especially underwater, can be quite frustrating. It was a good map to play at least once though.

SM191; I forgot to mention Pinchy's map "The Hideout" in the opening post. I liked this map, even though it is tiny, for a few reasons. It actually looks like a sewer in the Quake universe, the secrets are one of the best highlights and going underwater is completely optional. The biggest downside it how short it is. I would like to see it turned into a full sized map.

#8 2020-11-07 21:31:00

onetruepurple
Banned

Re: Great Sewer Levels

Glad you enjoyed the recommendations. Sorry for the devastation (although you were warned).

I also can't believe I forgot to link this:

https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/dm456sp.html

One of my favorite negke maps, and a "spiritual successor" to Plumbers Don't Wear Ties although with softer gameplay.

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