Colony

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Author: Glassman | Rating: 9.40 | Download: gmsp1.zip

Colony is possibly the biggest Quake map this reviewer has ever played. With many large, open areas, lots of slime and some water areas, as well as a lot of enemies, you must have a pretty good system to play this level. In fact, I recommend a Pentium III 500MHz and a solid OpenGL card with substantial framebuffer and texture memory available (or dual Voodoo2’s) to run it at acceptable speeds, as we have it posted here. Many thanks to Glassman for recompiling this massive level to support GLQuake’s transparent water (we tried it ourselves, but Quake kept crashing). The original, non-VIS’ed version is available on his website here or from the File Planet link, just in case you have trouble running our version. On with the review!

Wow, where to start? The design of the level is nearly epic in its scale and complexity. Just about every trick that a Quake level designer has at his disposal is in this map somewhere. There are numerous fine examples of custom entities in this level as well. Here are but a few:

• Grunts with increased armor and nonstandard weapons (Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers, and Nailguns)
• “Mega” Enforcers with gray skins and additional armor
• Enemies strafe while firing

The player will spend a good deal of time in this level, and careful assessment is required as you get to each new corner. QuickSave is highly recommended on this map, because you will routinely run into Grunts with heavy weapons, usually with Enforcers and Vores as backup. In addition, there is a lot of “z-axis” fighting (in other words, enemies above and below you), so the player must decide when to engage enemies from a safe distance (usually more costly in terms of ammo), and when to avoid their fire and engage them at closer range.

Speaking of which, you will find yourself running low on ammo in many areas of this map. But there are ammo boxes that seem to have been placed at “just the right spot” after major engagements, so you should have enough to perservere, if you are prudent.

As you approach the end of the map, the combat gets positively insane. I won’t spoil it for you, but there is a new enemy to fight, as well as a pretty big onslaught of “boss” monsters that must be defeated before the exit teleport will open. In addition it’s a low-gravity level as well. Use cover and try to draw them into each other’s line of fire whenever possible, and you may make it out alive. Luckily there is plenty of ammo in this “arena”, so don’t be shy about letting loose with everything you have.

To sum up, this is a huge level that requires a massive system to run properly, but it features incredible design, steep difficulty, and enough modifications to serve as the perfect example of just what can be done with Quake C in level design. We think you will enjoy it. Highly recommended.

- Zoop