FifthElephant made a patch for this, for those interested: http://www.quaketastic.com/files/singleplayer/maps/chotexpatch.zip

I enjoyed Lilac Lunacy (ctj_greenwood) without being particularly aware of any lilac. It's nicely balanced with decent combats, though marred by an arbitrary progression that doesn't make much sense as a journey through a real place. But worst is a bug related to the silver key that made it impossible for me to legitimatelt get through the SK door, and so robbed me of what would have been an enjoyable fiend ambush. I noclipped and notargetted my way past this bit and came back later to take out the fiends.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

Menth Erdis (ctj_ish) is clever, but I didn't enjoy it at all — no part of it. A lot of that is because it's so difficult, but the thing is there are many different kinds of difficulty, and this map hits all the wrong points for me (I realise others' tastes may differ). It's difficult because of the difficulty breathing, in the early stages. It's difficult because of sudden deaths out of nowhere, as with the circular saw. It's difficult because of how it is to find your way underwater. It's difficult because of swarming by lots of tiny, hard-to-hit monsters. It's difficult because there's no nearly enough ammo. It's difficult because of ambushes in pitch darkness with no room to manoeuvre. And, finally, it's difficult because of a poorly queued puzzle right at the end.

I did beat it, but only by cheating in giving myself more ammo (give s 100). And by the end, I was feeling relieved that it was over, rather than pleased with myself.

All of which is a shame, because the map scores highly on architecture and atmosphere (apart from the brief non-sequitur above-water part). But everything about the game play is the opposite of what I enjoy.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

And Castle Illbedamned (ctj_chrisholden) goes to the other extreme, being very generous with the ammo and health, and being scrupulously fair throughout — even warning that pickup up the Axe Of Shadows will wake the zombies, as though we hadn't guessed. But it works well anyway for two reasons: the nice use of architecture, returning to the central area several times from different directions; and the escalation in monster difficulty, concluding with a properly different final combat. Very nice.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

I enjoyed Retribution Revisited (ctj_juz2) for its entremely satisfying, chunky combats and for its sense of exploration, but I found the ending a bit anticlimactic, especially as I finished with so many kills unkilled (presumably hidden in secrets) that I felt sure the teleporter that turned out to be the exit was going to take me to an end-game area. Lots of fun, though.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

The opening of Dense Durance (ctj_omni) is interestingly different with only the grenade launcher provided, and a sequence of combats that are tricky to pull off without the usual low-end weapons — for example, some high-up snipers who are hard to hit with grenades. But once the shotgun is discovered — although it's a relief to find it — things get more standard and correspondingly less exciting. The ending seems particularly silly: on entering the final area, you are presented with a rocket launcher and invited to use it to kill three shamblers. Hmm.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

I found Mauvestone Aqueduct (ctj_pinchy) a bit unsatisfying. It stars very difficult, but with a kind of difficulty I don't much enjoy: ammo scarcity. Then the middle is much easier, before a climactic battle that is not actually all that hard so long as you keep moving. But the most frustrating part is that I grabbed the quad (the only secret) just before the final battle, only to find the monsters warping in rrreeeaaalllyyy slowly so that it had worn off before I could use it on more then two or three of them. Is there anything more irritating than a wasted quad?

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

The Great Annanias (ctj_poolboyq) is in many ways unsophisticated — long, empty passages with minimal texturing, but I really enjoyed it. Can't explain why, but something about it was just deeply satisfying. The three hoard combats were all fun in different ways, and the corridor stuff in between was enjoyable too.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

Chones (ctj_quasiotter) is a small void map with no monsters, just a complex jumping puzzle. It may be good of its kind, but it's just not my thing. Pass.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

Finally, Again and Again and Again (ctj_blaze) is a neat example of how to re-use a piece of map geography multiple times but with different combat challenges each time. Unfortunately, none of the combat setups are particularly interesting or difficult, and nearly all of them fall to careful sniping. So it's better as a tech demo than as a game.

All in all, I rate this pack as good but not great, with Retribution Revisited (ctj_juz2) the best of the bunch.

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

@MikeTaylor:

Yeah, you must've hugged the walls & rubbed against the always opened doors in the prior doorway. They can "eat" your silver key, since they are also set as "silver key required" (an accidental result of copying and pasting). It's too bad that none of my beta testers noticed that, however, they all went through them :)

In hindsight, I should've skipped the attention to detail and merely had an archway, sans any door bits. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it otherwise!

[This comment had to be restored. See this thread for context. This means that there might be problems with its formatting or content missing. The information if the user posted while being logged in was not restored. -Spirit]

If anyone was confused with Mike's review conclusion, stating that Juzley's map was the best one (and he wasn't involved), then you're not alone.

He included Juzley's standalone map as somehow being part of this pack. It doesn't use Chotex textures at all; however, it is a nice map!

Oops! Sorry abaut that, not sure what happened there!