Zerstörer - Testament of the Destroyer

Content - Quake - Quake Conversions - Quake Partial Conversions

Author: Nihilism Unlimited | Rating: 10.00 | Download: zerstorerGL.zip

Here comes the darkest, scariest episode to ever grace a hard drive. Zerstorer is 8 levels of pure and genuinely creepy atmosphere, great looking maps and gameplay. A very good story is written here, even though it somewhat borrows from Tool’s ” Bottom “, read it before you start playing. I suggest starting the download as soon as possible, you can read the review as it’s downloading.

So, started downloading yet? Good, good, I assure you, this will not disappoint. Zerstorer has, besides 8 almost perfect levels, thrown in a couple of new things for your enjoyment. There are 5 new weapons, as follows:

• A chainsaw - which is the best chainsaw mod available for Quake.
• Riot Controller - which is a rapid fire shotgun, truly great and makes the double barreled shotgun look silly.
• Chaingun - replaces nailgun, pretty much the same thing, but more damaging and a new model and sound, pretty good.
• Chain Lightning Gun - very cool weapon, it’s in essence, a double lightning gun, dishes out a lot of damage, but you only get it for one level.
• Screw Cannon - interesting, a sort of plasma gun, but you get it at the end of the last level, with not much time to play with it

There are also 4 new monsters, as follows :

• Star Ogre - For some reason, Ogres got a hold of a bunch of Chinese stars and decided to throw them at you. Not very hard.
• Mega Enforcer - Very cool enemy, a re-skinned Enforcer that shoots plasma and homing projectiles, and has an impenetrable shield around him, which only lowers itself occasionally.
• Nemesant - The scary monster. A floating, chanting demon with some very devastating attacks. Has a creepy whispering noise that is good at freaking you out in dark places. He kills you with very effective attacks that look very cool, an eyeball that homes in on you, and one where the air around you starts to turn to fire, then explodes.
• The Destroyer - you’ll see.

Along with the very high quality additions mentioned above, added extras are great blood and meat textures, flight artifact, very well done cutscenes, and more.

All levels are very high quality, and I will give an overview of them all. Skill setting are in effect, as there is a start map. Originally, the single player maps were not vis’ed to support transparent water in GLQuake, well nolonger. Zoop has re-vis’ed the single player maps in this episode to support transparent water so feel free to set your water alpha to 0.4.

zer1m1 - Shipping Complex : 42 monsters, 2 secrets
A very fine beginning level, reminiscent of e1m1 (the slipgate complex) because of it’s small size, low difficulty, but I like this better. It’s an industrial map, done with bronze metal, gray stone under a blood red sky. Here you fight just base enemies, but the introduction of the chainsaw makes things interesting. It’s over fairly quick, with a very cool exit that doesn’t look so safe to jump in. This map leads into a good cutscene map, that sets the stage nicely.

zer1m2 - Cutscene: 0 monsters, 0 secrets
All though this isn’t a playable level, the cutscene is one of the best ever seen in a Quake conversion. Just watch and you’ll see what we mean.

zer1m3 - Among the Dead: 104 monsters, 5 secrets
The first scary level, taking place in a very dark and disorienting cemetery. Progression is great, running around the outside cemetery, then through crypts, and finally underground. Introduces the riot controller shotgun, and the Chinese star Ogres and Nemesants. The cemetery is great, using many Zombies coming at you from all directions, and waking up after you accomplish a goal. Also introduced in this level are monster statues, falling rain and breakable architecture, which is nice. Very high challenge, with a nasty and disorienting finale.

zer1m4 - Organ Grinder: 74 monsters, 0 secrets
In my opinion the weakest level, but still good. It’s a metal level, with a seemingly random underground terra-cotta section. The natural underground looks great. This level introduces the chaingun, gibbable Rotfish, and the very cool Mega Enforcer. Not a very high challenge, besides the Mega Enforcers, kinda anti-climatic.

zer1m5 - Blutsturz: 81 monsters, 2 secrets
Excellent level, done in a green wood and stone style, with a lot of blood. The level starts off with an excellent trap. Very cool twisting caverns of gray stone also. This level has two great traps, the second one requires a bit of thought though. The chain lightning gun makes an appearance, use it while you have it. Some very hectic fighting here, don’t be shy with dishing out the heavier ammo. A lot of swimming in this level, the Rotfish are in their element. Ogre barrages are everywhere, be on the lookout. A very cool effect is at the end, you’ll know it when you see it, but it will not please you too much…

zer1m6 - True Love Waits: 88 monsters, 2 secrets
Another excellent level, starting out in a great looking canyon, then into a green stone and wood temple. Your goal here is to grab the sanguinoch artifact deep within the temple, and bring it back to the start. Very atmospheric, as on your descent into the temple, there are no enemies. But once you grab the blood cube, all hell breaks loose. The sanguinoch is very neat, you will like it. Hard level, with a appropriate ending made a little too easy with the Quad Damage.

zer1m7 - Bunker: 121 monsters, 6 secrets
The highlight of the pack, a dark brown base built into gray stone, featuring some of the best outdoor areas I have ever seen. The outdoor areas boast some very impressive structures jutting out from the stone. Great layout, many things to do to get that pesky gold keycard, original means of getting around, very satisfying. Combat is for the most part against base enemies, but do not take it lightly, this is some tough combat, especially from the Mega Enforcers. Not really a hard ending, but after what you’ve been through, it’s not badly missed.

zerend - The Destroyer: 0 monsters, 0 secrets
The most atmospheric level EVER. Made almost completely of blood and meat, very nice, with sounds to freak you out. Very small, leading to the encounter with the demon that has tormented you all through these levels. Very satisfying ending that I’ll leave you to experience. Quite a different take on endings than most episodes.

This is the most high quality episode released before 2001, get it, now!

- Edgecrusher