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 Q1 SP views and articles: 28/07/01: Why Quake is still at the cutting edge of single player mapping. Introduction: Note: There are many other excellent maps that are definitely worth paying attention to - please try as many of them as you can.
Many players moved onto Quake 2 and then Q3A for their better technology and design opportunities. To them, CZG07 simply says: Why bother?. This series of 3 amazing maps shows that Quake can not only easily hold it`s own, but can easily outclass more recent games for design, architecture, and gameplay. Hugely complex levels packed full of superb curvey designs, stylishly decorated in Quake 2 and Q3A textures, provides the settting for gameplay that offers a brief nod to Doom. With an average 200 monsters each, these maps offer far more exciting gameplay than you could hope for, but with precisely balanced ammo and health, it`s remarkably fun and fair too.
Illhaven is one of the very best Unreal custom single player releases, particularly for it`s strong olde worlde medieval atmosphere, which Towne manages to capture very well. Sharing a similarly excellent town/village style, similarly attractive medieval buildings, and almost as much exploration and atmosphere, it`s a classy and convincingly designed map. Where Towne differs, is in the properly Quakey action it offers, with plenty of medieval monsters wanting your blood throughout the map. Right up the the hardcore finish, this blends Unreal quality design with Quake quality gameplay.
Even the most rabid Daikatana hateboy would admit there`s some impressive level design in the second and third episodes, and the complex blend of canyons and temples in Acropolis is a fine example of it. Equally, Precipice_Continuum is a fine example of Quake mapping, using a remarkably similar blend of canyons and temples. Lots of great designs including ruined and underwater temple sections, and a classic Unreal rock texture make this a very impressive map. The gameplay shines even more - loads of tough monsters, and loads of ammo and good weapons to deal with them, giving frantic and relentless fighting.
Unreal`s Chizra water temple maps certainly had a uniquely watery atmosphere, and although Koohoo is similarly moist setting, it takes on a darker, dirtier and spookier form that suits Quake perfectly. Designs vary from a rather splendid outdoor temple, to a complex series of walkways and waterways that`s very reminiscent of a latter section of Chizra itself, while textures are suitably dank and oppressive. Throw in plenty of exploration, and careful gameplay that relies more upon ambushes and malevolently lurking monsters than frantic action, and you get an atmospheric and original Quake experience.
The Reckoning as as well recieved a mission pack for Quake 2 as Scourge of Armagon was for Quake, with lots of good design leading towards the distinctive hi-tech, low-g Moon maps. Colony features equally good design in a lunar setting (albeit not a moon orbiting Stroggos), with some great hi-tech architecture and subtle similarities like the complex circular doors and even low gravity outdoor sections. Gameplay turns up the heat a notch or two compared to Quake 2: As The Reckoning got it`s challenge from Uber-Gladiators, this map get`s it`s challenge from Uber-Grunts, lots of them armed with a variety of weapons. Challenging stuff right up to a more Quakey and exciting finish.
Apparently Half-Life was quite popular as a single player game, and aside from the well integrated plot, the subtly realistic settings and challenging AI were definite attractions. While Nehahra can offer you equally challenging AI, this little map can offer a similar style which shows that Quake can do more realistic styles if you wish. Custom textures are used throughout, giving an unusually clean and bright through the quarried caverns and hi-tech warehouses. And if you found Half-Life`s Grunts too challenging, fear not, because this is a mellow jaunt, exploring various routes and blasting through base enemy at your leisure.
Remember everyone`s spooging over that screenshot showing the cable car in Return to Wolfenstein?? Believe me, Soulstice is even more spoogable, and what`s more you can play it right now. The second map in an add-on unit for Nehahra, it features some of the most exciting design ever seen in Quake: a series of rusty and arcane bridges, buildings and girders strung between mountain pinnacles, all above an ominous void. It even features a chairlift system at one point!! And while no-one knows what gameplay Return to Wolfenstein will bring, this map certainly brings a fine blend of Quake action with some excellent exploration finding many radically positioned secrets, giving some of the most out there manouvering you`d wish for.
KISS was a game that also explored a variety of styles, from lava-filled caverns, to gothic mansions, to, at the start of Episode 3, a series of city rooftops and walkways punctuated by lethal drops and chasms. CZG04 has the same disconcerting setting of interconnected buildings perched above the void, but twists the theme into a more original and interesting curvey medieval style, with plenty of solid and attractive architecture. This level eschews the precarious edge of void gameplay in KISS, in favour of more fun and frantic combats with plenty of monsters and plenty of ammo to kick their arses, so you can enjoy the level without as much fear of falling to a grisly end.  |
