My map on hard/nightmare skill is for masochists. You have been warned.

Pack overall is amazing, mfx and sock's maps would be 5/5 on their own, and several others are up there as well. Highly recommended!

at last!

Scampie's map stood out for me with the way the monsters teleported into combat. Tronyn's architecture was stunning. as Scampie said, pack overall is amazing.

is there a way to increase view distance in requiem? the open view cut out at a certain distance and my framerate was pretty low, especially in Tronyn's map.

i switched over to quakespasm with neither issue.

I'm really proud to have my map alongside such epic maps. Really great pack guys, one of the best releases for quake since... well since map jam 1. Truly a good year for quake fans!

Daz has a great playthough with commentary - http://youtu.be/bIM2wtmY9R0

Orl has a great playthrough without commentary - http://youtu.be/oEFoR2z4yZc

Every map is astounding. I can't believe how many great maps have been released in the last two months. I especially enjoyed Cocerello's idiosyncratic mansion, where the player is simply presented with a (mostly) open space to wander with freedom (on skill 0 at least). I'd like to see more maps with this gameplay style.

Wauv - The standards are getting higher and higher! :)

All maps in this pack are awesome, well maybe except the one in upper left corner on the screenshot! Cocerellos i think? MFX´s brushwork is godlike to be honest. So is the map overall. What is a doener?

Socks and Scampies are also very well done. And Tronyns... Man you guys are geniuses! Quake is the game to make maps for these days it seems..

It is good to come back to playing Quake after 10 years and see such marvels freshly released into the community. The maps were deeply atmospheric, I especially liked the one with the snow temple and the floating city with a name referring to Celephais, but this is more a matter of a personal taste, all levels were extremely well done.

@Tom a döner is cheap german fast food.

After his superb moving scenery in the first Jam, I was deeply disappointed by Cocerello's map (the first one I've played). Heeding his warning above I played on Normal, but even having found all six secrets I exited having killed only 42/49 monsters. It's not necessary to go through the silver-key door at all (the first time I finished the level I did it by mistake, assuming I was going to be teleported to a new part of the level). It's annoying to have nothing but the single shotgun and the regular-ass nailgun for almost the entire level; I got the grenade launcher only after having killed everything I was to find. The architecture is impressive in scale, but bland and flatly lit. Finally, the gameplay involves too much press-the-button-then-run-around-trying-to-figure-out-what-changed.

All in all, I can only rate this map (in isolation) as 2*; which I feel bad about because I know he can do much, much better. Sorry, Cocerello!

MikeTaylor: No problem, no need to feel bad either. I agree with most parts of what you say. Only have to say is that all the buttons tell you what they are going to open and all doors tell you what opens them before and after you use them in a non obvious way, but the layout makes it so its probable that you find the buttons before you see what they open, reducing the usability of the information provided by the buttons and confusing the player. Overall, this map is geared towards those that love to explore, in an smallish way.

Thanks, Cocerello, that's a very gracious response.

I've now also played jam2_fifth, which I enjoyed more. For me, it suffered because I made a wrong 50-50 choice: from the first big courtyard, I took the left-hand exit, which leads to monsters, rather than the right-hand exit, which leads to ammo. As a result, I did a big early chunk of the map on almost no ammo, surviving only by provoking a lot of infighting, but was then glutted on ammo for the rest of the map. I think I would have found it much more balanced and enjoyable had I taken the right exit. Anyway, 4/5, including a mark for rather impressively including a more-or-less separate end-game area.

jam2_lunaran is my favourite so far, despite being quite a bit smaller than the other two maps. It has a nice oppressive sense of place, and the combats are judged very well. Five secrets in map this size is impressive: I got three (grenade launcher, health/rocket/cell stash and quad), though I didn't realise how to get the quad until after I'd finished the final battle. D'oh!

The other two secrets are tantalisingly visible: pentagram in a room surrounded by barred doors, and lightning gun in an area under a lava waterfall. I got the latter by what I assume is the "wrong" method: fall well, swim quickly, and lose most of your health. But I never found the right way (or any way at all to get the pentagram). Can anyone help?

Overall, a comfortable 4* for this map.

Loved jam2_mfx, which feels like a real explorable place and has plenty of atmosphere. I finished on Hard with 105/117 monsters -- I assume the other 12 are hidden in secrets which I didn't get, as I killed everything I saw.

I particularly enjoyed the transition from the palace into the unfinished building/wreckage area: the juxtaposition of these two very different but compatible areas is what lifts this above the realms of merely very good maps into the truly excellent.

But my favourite aspect of this map is the secrets (including the non-secret at the top of the arch in the start area). Rather then being of the common spot-the-button kind, they repay careful exploration, ambitious leaps and not taking anything for granted. I ended up with eight of them, but for one (the super nailgun) I rocket-jumped, which I don't think can be the right solution. Does anyone know the proper way to get it (and the associated quad)?

I rate this map 5*.

Mike

That knight is guarding a ledge. Be brave.

What have i done??!! Oh my god!! I´m so sorry, i suck at formatting everytime..

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screenshots/jam2mfx_hint.jpg

Here is the hint mike..

Can the above derping be deleted?

Muhahahhahhahhah!!

Heh, I was wondering when people would discover that. Keep images useful!

Nice to know you can do that, Mfx. It would be useful to have a list of what can be done with HTML in this comments, somewhere in the web. As far as i know there isn't. Maybe in the tricks and tips thread ... would be the best place.

There is a link right above the comment box. I am not sure images are good thing to allow though.

Ouch, yes, There it is. I relied on my memory but completely forgot of its existance. Thanks for pointing it out.

Thanks, mkx, for the secret hint, which is in fact at http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/jam2_mfx_hint.jpg (The underscores were interpreted as italics when you posted it before.) I've not yet gone back and looked for it but I will.

Mean time I played and completed jam2_scampie.bsp which, to be honest, disappointed me. It just felt like a sequence of big combats with little sense of exploration. I think this kind of map is some people's favourites, and good luck to them; it just didn't do it for me.

I very much enjoyed jam2_skacky.bsp, with its sense of vertical progression and its well-judged combats. The highlight for sheer fun was probably being given the grenade launcher just before being absolutely inundated with bad guys. Beautiful castle-hanging-in-the-sky setting, too.

Finally played Tronyn's map. The last one alphabetically, and very much the pick of the bunch -- a beautiful, vertiginous climb with perfectly balanced gameplay nd nicely judged weapons. Truly lovely to look at, truly brutal to play.

I finished with 196/197 kills (on hard) -- I wonder where the escaped monster was? Also, 7/9 secrets, most them quite satisfying.

Anyway, despite some disappointing levels it would be churlish in the extreme to give this pack less than the full five stars, so I will. But for my money, jam1 was more consistent.

Please a question:

I'd dlike to play all these recent mappacks on my beloved P2 400 (yes it's old I know but served me honestly for many years).. do ya think it's enough ?!?

Video of MFX' map. Others coming soon(tm)

Surprised only one other person mentioned skacky's map, which is my favorite of the four I've played so far. mfx's and Tronyn's maps are very good, though Tronyn's feels a bit easier than normal for him—I got through it without much trouble on hard, and I normally have trouble with Tronyn on easy! Both of them are very pretty and fun, if unpolished seeming. I played the reworked version of sock's map, which is great of course.

Based on just those four maps I've giving this a 5, but I plan to play them all once I give some other mapjams a try.

Scampie's map is awesome fun on skill 2. Most fights come in waves and they start out kind of slow, and by the big arena where you get the silver key they're coming at you really fast! Then a great change of pace as it starts to rely more on bigger monsters rather than hordes of smaller ones. All of these jam maps I've so far have been visually stunning but Scampie's seems to be particularly good from a gameplay standpoint. (I've been playing them all on skill 2 btw.)

Just to say I replayed MFX's map, and finally found the legitimate (non-rocket-jump) route to the super nailgun. Hurrah! (Still only on 8/10 secrets, though, and I have no idea where the last two might be.)

Packs like these are the reason why I always keep a copy of Quake installed and ready to use on my hard drive. You never know when gems like these see the light of day.

The oriental touch in these maps are a welcome change compared to the usual cave/dungeon/techbase settings. It's hard to pick a favorite here, simply impressive architecture - even in the maps that only take a few minutes to complete. Wished there was a coherent episode with levels showcasing the ikwhite theme. This is the modern face of Quake!

Not one FPS in the last 10 years had as beautiful and inspiring levels as this mappack. Overall quality is unbelievable, from socks rather small map to scampis hell of teleporting in monsters. Well done!

You guys rock!

This is probably the most impressive map jam to be released. Some the maps are incredible and beyond the scope of anything I could ever hope to accomplish.

MFX's entry has some of the most gorgeous brushwork I have ever seen in a Quake map...just insane!

Lunaran's map is one of the more original as he took the concept to a different creative level with sharp contrasting colors from the lava and the pure whiteness of the set.

Fifth's map also had a more open layout and was fun to play around in but the boss battle is where the originality really shined. Quite an inventive setup!

Cocerello's white mansion of doom was interesting in its use of difficulty and very muted visuals. It stands out with the utter quietness of the white halls.

Scampie may have contributed my favorite of the maps as IkBlue was utilized this time around. Great reuse of space!

As the pattern goes, I was floored by Skacky's offering. Loved the subtle colors used throughout and I am sucker when water is a major visual theme!

Sock wins for creativity and originality with the sealed off route type gameplay. Really haven't encountered something like that before!

Tronyn had the largest scope. How on Earth did you create a map of this size and detail in the jam's deadline? Just crazy skill.

5 Stars for the sum of its parts easily.

@mfx "a döner is cheap german fast food." I think you mean turkish... ;)

Awesome

Replayed MFX's glorious Doener mit Shambler und scharf, this time finishing on 103 of 107 kills (I accidentally played on Normal), and 8 of 10 (all obtained legitimately). What a great map this is: the conitruction area is just lovely, and feels so organically part of the larger area. Great, great work.

Im shocked of Tronyn. It is awesome, never saw so big exciting level. I want singleplayer of 30 sequenced maps like this!

Try out "Something Wicked This Way Comes", or filter by Tronyn on the maps database, he has lots :)

Some of these maps are so impressive that deserve a separate entry in this site to be able to rate each one by its own merit.

• MFX's "Shambler Kebab" one is a masterpiece. He knows how to make maps as much as the mind of the player. 5/5 and bonus points for the dozen scraggs appearing after grabbing the Rocket Launcher.

• Tronyn's "Koshta Belorn" map is just shocking awesome. Awsome as a frozen hell. Brilliant design and lots of fun for both strategical and tactical players. 5/5 and bonus points for allowing me to throw half a dozen spawns against the shambler.

• Sock's design (this one has its own entry here, 1000cuts1a.zip) is another improvement in multiple-choice maps, at this time in a very explicit way. I think it is not the best of Sock but still 5/5 because you can/must play it three times.

• Skaky map is the last 5/5 for that impressive architectural design, clever secrets and gameplay and you know, the bouncing shambler.

• Scampie's one is like a giant deathmatch arena with some corridors inbetween, but still a map worth to remark for that epic final and also that epic super-secret. 4/5 with penalty points for putting too many shamblers on the same room.

• The remaining three are not so remarcable but still worth to play for several reasons (3/5).

Blown away by Tronyns entry on this. I opened it up last night having never seen it before...color me impressed.

Very good maps. Only two duds in the batch.

Is Koshta Belorn (jam2_tronyn) supposed to have music? I get an error saying it wants a cdrip for track 1, which would be the data track, no?

Cocerello's map is the standout for me: I love its architecture and chiaroscuro lighting. I don't think I've seen another Quake map that looks anything like it.

That's not to say the other maps aren't impressive: they range from quite good to phenomenal. Mfx's may be the most accomplished technically, with great visuals. And I like the way Lunaran's map places an ikwhite building in a hellish underground setting. I wouldn't have expected that combination to work, but he turned it into something really atmospheric.

Some of the best quake maps i have ever played. Thank you so much.

This map pack is really a blast, part of my top 10 ever It's a must play

for me, top 3 maps by: Tronyn, Skacky, Scampie