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Article: Cube; Death Illustrated [partial conversion] Overview. Posted: 26th January 2003.

This partial conversion for Cube is available to download from the official Death Illustrated (DI) homepage which can be found here.
Alternative Download Link: here: [di_05_full.exe]

note: I decided to place this article here as an overview of the Death Illustrated mod as a whole , rather than simply doing individual map reviews. I am going to give rough scores for each of the single player maps/episodes, but this article should NOT be perceived as a full and proper map review.

Death Illustrated is the first proper partial conversion for Cube. That is, it feature new models, sounds, graphics and maps. It does not qualify as a total conversion as it still uses many of Cube weapons, monsters and gameplay mechanics. Death illustrated seems to be promoted as primarily a Deathmatch mod, yet it has a significant Single player component, in the form of 17 new SP levels, which is what i am going to look at here.
I will also update this article as and when significant new Single player features are added or changed in future versions of Death Illustrated.

Frontend and overall presentation
An excellent frontend (above) immediately creates a strong atmosphere and puts some commercial games to shame with its high attention to detail, beautiful layout and simple yet easy to navigate interface. This is undoubtedly a strong point of the conversion.

Gameplay & Architecture/Style.
Gameplay is fundamentally unchanged from Cube. There are some new monsters (see below) but these are mainly just new models, rather than completely new monster types with new behavior/AI/weapons. The weapons are the same as cube, although they do have new sound effects. However the overall atmosphere is *significantly* different mainly due to the fact all of the maps are Black & white only, as opposed to Cube's bright and colorful maps.

The official description from the mods makers themselves is a "3 dimensional comic book world", so that should give a good idea of the general feel/theme of this partial conversion. Many of the maps feature pictured of monsters faces and so-on, usually in the form of highly-detailed sketches and drawings that hang like pictures on the walls. It should also be noted that this mod is still in development and will likely evolve more in the future, (as noted at the offical homepage), to incorporate a variety of styles; e.g. science-fiction, horror, military etc.

Whether you enjoy this monochrome presentation is largely a matter of personal taste, personally i found that on the plus side it created a very distinct atmosphere (how many FPS do you know which are only Black & White?). On the other side of the coin, the lack of color and constant black/white/grey maps can become somewhat samey and uniform/boring after extended play. Overall though i have to say the Black & white only decision is a brave one and *does* create a unique atmosphere.

New Single Player Maps
Currently there are the following 4 SP episodes/maps included with DI:

ST [8 maps] by Sirlivealot
A large and very well built SP campaign, featuring a wide range of architecture including huge castles and lots of good detailing, its clear a lot of work has been put into this SP episode. Gameplay is likewise well thought-out and tough, overall a big challenge. Like most of the DI SP maps there seems to be a lot more keys/triggers/exploration through the maps than in a typical cube SP map, giving the mod more of an exploration and adventure feel to it overall.[17/20]

Brimstone Chronicles (parts 1-7)[7 maps] by Pushplay
Another large and solid SP campaign, about the same size overall as ST. Gameplay is again tough although there seemed to be less variety in architecture and enemies that in ST. [17/20]

The old psychiatrist club[1 map] by Pushplay
A big sprawling map, this also features tough gameplay, and lots of map exploration. [17/20]

Korners Revenge[1 map] by Pushplay
A smaller map, which is correspondingly somewhat easier than the the other maps here. [15/20]

New Monsters
The 3 new models i noticed were the spider, a tall enemy similar to the slith, and a huge awesome new model for the Bauul monster. All of these new monsters were very well drawn and modelled, the spiders have good sound effects and were quite scary/atmospheric. In addition to these new model some of the other cube mosters have been modified, HellKinghts are much quicker and smaller, and better for it, in my opinion, there are also mini-bauuls, big ogres and so on.
Overall the new monster models and sounds were well done.

Conclusion
A well presented, atmospheric and very pretty Cube mod, with many large well built maps, death illustrated is a high quality and well implemented attempt at providing a new twist to the cube experience. It perhaps might benefit from more variety in the form of new weapons, monsters and other features, and the black & white presentation may not be to everyones personal taste. Further development of this project will no doubt refine the conversion even more and will be reflected by updates to this page.

Overall score: 17/20

Comments or Questions on this article? Let me know! Email me.