Precipice Continuum

Content - Quake - Quake Levels - Quake Single Player

Author: Tim Elek | Rating: 8.00 | Download: precipice_continuum.zip

About three years ago, an author by the name of Matt Sefton came out with a base-style map called “Jawbreaker”. It was one of the few Quake maps at the time that featured support for transparent water; and its traps and large monster melees hearkened back to the days of Doom. A user could quickly find himself overwhelmed by the Grunts, Enforcers, and dogs that lay in wait around nearly every corner. It still stands as one of the most intense single-player levels ever.

Fast forward to today. What Jawbreaker did for base-style levels, Precipice Continuum (a telling but rather odd name) does for outdoor ones. In fact I could almost call this “Jaw-buster”. The map is not really functional in an architectural sense (although it has some awesome-looking Roman-style design); it just serves as a backdrop for the gauntlet of monsters the player must fight through. Yes, there are over 100 monsters on this level even on Normal. There are a few Scrags and Ogres here and there, but the majority of the monsters are the really tough ones found later on in the regular game: Vores, Shamblers, Fiends, and Barons. Even just a few of these guys can quickly do you in, but in this map you could literally end up fighting a dozen of them at once. Courage must be your sword, grasshopper.

It’s hard to know how to play this map. Ammo is abundant here, but health is very scarce. Prudence would dictate carefully picking your engagements and fighting from long range, but it robs you of the certain evil smile you get whenever you can get the monsters into each other’s line of fire. And with so many of them on this map, it’s not that hard to do. But if you want to actually make it to the end of this level, I recommend prudence over charging blindly ahead. Unless of course, you’re in GOD mode…

As the name of the level suggests, there are plenty of precipices that you must fight on, in, and under. It makes the level very interesting, but very hair-raising. If you are high up, you need to always be mindful of a potential nasty fall; but when you are at ground level, the creatures up high can rain a ton of bad news down on your head. This level seems to delight in making you feel pretty much screwed no matter where you are.

As you can tell, I spent a lot more time talking about the gameplay than about the design. The layout of the map is pleasing to the eye, and crafted so to make the combat all the more difficult. There are some new textures in use here and as I mentioned it tends to make one think of ancient Roman or Greek ruins. You can take some really cool screenshots with this map. But also as mentioned, the architecture is designed for heightening the intensity of combat, not functionality, so you will notice that the map is very linear, with very few shortcuts. It’s all about busting your jaw.

Overall, I’d say the map is worth getting. It’s the kind of level that you bring up and marvel at what can still be done with the Quake engine, but when it comes to actual gameplay, only masochists need apply. Recommended, with provision.

- Zoopster

Screenshots