By Juha
Koiste 10/6/98
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I don't
believe I played the original OSA by Juha but he has included a good story
with this one that fills you in well beforehand. The outdoors start area
was uninspired but certainly OK. It just never had an 'outdoors' feel.
Upon entering the Strogg Storage Area things took a turn for the more interesting
with the architecture being very nicely built and perfectly lit. Even the
simple areas were done with skill and the more complex areas had me looking
with some appreciation.
The
moving boxes are well done as are all the other warehouse 'systems' like
the cranes . The large crane is a particularly interesting structure and
was also useful for dispensing of a certain Strogg who was bugging me:]
For realism's sake, I would rather have liked to see the tank come through
the door rather than just materialize magically in thin air.
I found
the monster placement to be very good and not overdone. Juha uses only
a small selection of the Strogg bad guys but that is 'as it should be'
because it suits the map well. If I really had to criticize I would say
a couple Flyers added in the outdoor areas would have been a cool distraction
[maybe there are some in skill 2?]. Perhaps a Flyer to bug you when you
get to the top of the large crane structure and are otherwise concerned
with the Tank? Speaking of which, the battles with the 2 Tanks I found
particularly cool and challenging, each took me a couple tries yet
weren't aggravating. The first battle was especially cool, I was leaping
from box to box picking away at the Tank just below with my shotgun.. it
was a lot of fun! On my second run I fought him down below and that worked
nicely also. Juha has obviously put good thought into his monsters and
their surroundings as the important fight scenes were perfect combinations
of both.
Gameplay
balance was excellent for me in skill 0 and 1. [I didn't test skill 2 as
I am not a 2 player, too old and rickety I guess:] Combat was challenging
and took me a few tries, yet not to the point of frustration. I found the
item placement exactly fit my needs... but was rather 'contrived' in feel.
It was as if the Strogg knew I was coming and had thoughtfully set everything
out as and when I would need...mighty nice of 'em:] But perhaps in a small
map that is hard to avoid? The only real surplus of items I experienced
was at the end portal fight scene. I didn't need much of the items
there... but so what? |
"Even
the simple areas were done with skill and the more complex areas had me
looking with some appreciation..."
"The
large crane is a particularly interesting structure..."
"I
really liked the end portal... it wasn't extravagant yet rather neat in
implementation.."
My
advice to Juha [for what little it's worth] is to place your items as the
Strogg would place for their own use.. it would feel a bit more realistic,
and then to maybe place them a bit further along in the maps so that one
always seems just slightly behind the items they could use. That was more
evident in skill 0 though and who plays in skill 0 except me and grandmother?
I really
liked the end portal... it wasn't extravagant yet rather neat in implementation
and it certainly seemed like a portal to places unknown! Too bad the place
unknown was a very well known, Base1.
OSA2
is a small map but the download is correspondingly small ...I'd say if
you like your typical Q2 storage base type map with a few flares thrown
in then you will like this one and find it worthy of your attention. It
sports intriguing combat in well designed areas that lean to the small
side. But what the hell do I know? Take up any beefs about this review
with Igor who runs the Hotel and bushwhacked me into this review by his
incessant whining...geez!
Neil
Manke |