Adamantine Cruelty

Content - Quake - Quake Levels - Quake Single Player

Author: Vondur | Rating: 7.80 | Download: ac.zip

Vondur is one of the best modern mappers in the quake community and one of my favorites as well. Adamantine cruelty is a singleplayer quake level that deserves a place in your quake collection.

Adamantine Cruelty takes place in what appears to be an ancient sewer/aqueduct system. Constructed of large, cylindrical, waterlogged tunnels which run horizontally and even larger vertical tunnels ringed with spiraling staircases. The textures used are stock quake, but they do work quite well. Mottled gray-green brick and corroded metal textures give an appropriately man made and aged appearance that help establish a dark mood for the map. Water fills many of the tunnels about halfway up, so you will be doing a fair amount of swimming. The architectural design is pleasantly different. Vondur tried to make a map that was as minimally blocky as possible and he really succeeded, with very few straight lines being used in the map. On the negative side, the map’s large size and the length of time needed to complete it causes the design to become a bit repetitive as you near the end. Adamantine cruelty could have benefited from a bit more variation in structural design and texturing.

The map’s progression is more complex than it superficially appears. While overtly following the standard silver key, gold key, find the exit route, there is a semi-hidden objective the player must accomplish in order to get the good ending. It involves triggering the opening of a door in the level that grants access to a strogg outpost secreted within the level. I won’t say how you do it, but its somewhat obscure, takes multiple steps and you’ll probably miss it on your first playthrough. This may annoy some players, but it gives the level an unusually high amount of replay value.

The level’s difficulty on normal is a little high, but still fair. There are a lot of tough fights with ogres and deathknights, with some ghosts, fiends and a vore or two thrown in for good measure. While there is only one major large group fight in the level, the cylindrical passageways (both the horizontal and vertical ones) restrict movement enough to intensify combat. Ammo and health supplied are sufficient, with most of the fighting done with your double-barreled shotgun and nailgun.

Adamantine Cruelty is a singleplayer level that I strongly recommend. With its original curved architecture and hidden mission objectives, it is an excellent experience.

- Marius