Wouldn't rate it 5 but it is a good pack for the time.

It is an episode made with the last maps of the author, with minor fixes (haven't noticed a single one, but the file sizes have changed so ...), and only in case of v6.bsp (here s6.bsp) with actual changes. In this case the map has been reworked a lot, sealing many routes, and changing the progression from a open and free button hunting map to open the final barrier to a more linear and smaller map, still with several non linear parts and side areas but that plays completely different.

Also to note that the maps can be played as standalones given that as far as i remember all have the NG and plenty of ammo since the first room and shells and nails are the main ammo used, and that the first map is way harder than the second and last ones, and probably the hardest one with the previous to last.

4+ for it.

Maps feel aimless and purposeless.

A very strange, rough around the edges, but kind of cool series of maps.

The first couple of maps especially have somewhat open, nonlinear layouts for their size, but they can be kind of arbitrary and confusing to navigate. The "correct" route is never really signaled in any of them, so when you encounter a choice you might find a side room, or a detour that loops back around to a previous part of the map--or you could end up skipping an entire area and its monsters. After the third map you have to fight your way backwards through partially-flooded versions of the first two maps. There's little ammo on these levels (none on the last one that I could find). It's an interesting challenge, but very difficult if you're playing from shotgun start, and the flooding doesn't make them easier to navigate.

Combat is ok. It's not winning any awards for encounter design but it's good enough.

One thing I can say is it's never boring or uninteresting, in fact all the levels and different areas have unique features or designs. Not an essential 1997 release like Beyond Belief or Zerstörer but it has its merits.

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I like the idea of returning, in the later maps of this mini-episode, to the earlier maps under different conditions \u2014 flooded, blown up, etc. Unfortunately, the execution is off in almost every respect. Navigaton is confusing and aimless, combats vary wildly between trivially easy and impossible, and the reality of revisiting earlier maps is nowhere near as interesting as the idea of it. Still, it's 23 years old, so I don't want to be too harsh.

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Ahead of its time, but so full of basic problems that the idea is cooler than the experience. I happened to play this right after Sewer Jam 2, which has in-engine changing water levels, and it is strange to think that the whole episode could be one map in 2022.