Underworldfan's Single Player Map Reviews

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PlanetQuake

Fiendfear: "the emotion felt when playing a good Q1SP map"

FAQ & LINKS. [last updated july 2006]

F.A.Q.

Who runs this site and writes the reviews?
It is me, underworldfan! i am a thirty-something male living in the USA. I am very gratefully assisted in map-reviewing tasks by the excellent reviews of elite Quake mapper Tronyn.

How can i easily find and download the very best Quake 1 SP maps and episodes?
Look at the following pages on my site:
For 1996-2002: Quake 1 Single Player Hall of Fame
For 2003-present: Quake 1 Single Player Hall of Fame 2

What Games do you review at this site, why are there no Quake 2 or Quake 3 Reviews?
I only review QUAKE 1 and CUBE maps. I decided to review CUBE SP maps, as there are currently no proper CUBE SP review sites that i am aware of. I will also update my QUAKE 1 reviews as regularly as possible.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I decided to stop reviewing Cube Maps as of September 2003. The current Cube map reviews will remain at this site as an archive. See my news update on 6th September 2003, for the full details.

Quake 2 is not as exciting to me as Quake 1, although its still a very good FPS, and i love the engine. In my opinion, the gameplay is slightly repetitive and significantly slower when compared to Quake 1. Quake 3 is a brilliant deathmatch game and a superb engine as well, there are many good quake 3 websites, the best is LvL. In general however, DeathMatch does not interest me as much as Single Player gameplay. I would also like to state for the record that i think Half-Life/Counterstrike are hugely overrated games.

What is QUAKE 1?
QUAKE 1 is the best game ever =).
A slightly less biased answer would also mention that Quake 1 is a First-Person Shooter (FPS), which was released in 1996, by the awesome game developers ID software, headed by lead programmer and game engine genius John Carmack.

What is CUBE?
CUBE is First-Person Shoot-em-up (FPS). It is Free, and available for download from the offical homepage. It is a brilliant achievement in terms of programming and a huge testament to the skills of its author, Wouter van Oortmerssen, also known as "Aardappel". The official homepage of CUBE is here.

How do you load an SP map in Quake and/or Cube?
In Quake, unzip the file you downloaded and place the *.bsp into your /quake/id1/maps directory. Then Start Quake as normal, hit ~ to bring down the console and type "map bspname" (without the quotes).
In Cube, unzip the file you downloaded and place the *.cgz into your /cube/packages/base directory. Then Start Cube as normal, hit ~ to bring down the console and type "mode -2" (sets it to SP mode), and then "map cgzname" (again, without the quotes).
This is just a quick guide: consult the official documentation for both games and/or the authors readme that comes with the file for full details and also for dealing with more complex files like PAKS, etc.

Why do you score the reviews out of 20? How do you arrive at the scores?
In my opinion, there are two basic elements to any FPS map, one element is GAMEPLAY, the other is ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN. For these two elements i mark each out of 10, hence the total score is out of 2*10 = 20. If a map gets 19/20 or above it is a truly exceptional map and gets a gold medal of recommendation, denoted by the following symbol:

Here is an approximate breakdown of what the scores mean:
awful/poor: 1-10
ok/average: 11-14
good: 15-16
very good: 17
excellent: 18
exceptional: 19
perfect: 20

ALL maps reviewed on this site are worth playing - if a map is really bad i will not review it; Basically i will review *most* maps, i am not going to be as strict as say, Shambler was. If the map is really bad, i will probably not review it. But i will at least play and look at all levels sent to me, and offer constructive improvements and suggestions, if i dont feel the map is good enough to be reviewed.

How do i submit a level to you for review?
Either
1.Upload the file to a website you have access to and email me the URL(link) OR
2.Email the file to the email address above.
ALL levels should include a text file outlining level information.

What is the link between Quake and Cube? Why these two games?
There is no "official" link, but in fact games both feature fast, exciting gameplay where hordes of monsters attack you from all directions and your reflexes and aiming skills are continually being tested. In truth, the CUBE single-player game play experience resembles the original DOOM most closely, whereas Quake 1 is *slightly* more complex in terms of gameplay (but not much!). The Games are "closely related" in their outlook on what makes a good FPS, exemplified by the offical storyline for CUBE "You kill stuff, The End". =)
This approach is in deliberate and direct contrast to many of the more "realistic" and slower paced, strategic FPS games available today such as Half-Life, Counterstrike (etc).

Will you be doing reviews of older, allready released maps?
As far as CUBE Single Player is concerned, i believe i am the first website to offer detailed reviews of CUBE levels, therefore my aim is to review *every* (subject to the criteria for "quality of reviewed maps", see the "submit maps" page) CUBE SP map.
As for QUAKE 1 Single Player (Q1SP) levels, there have been far too many (who knows how many alltogether!) Q1SP levels made in the past 6 years since Quake 1's release for me to attempt to review them all. Check the links section on the FAQ page for other Q1SP review sites for these older (but often very cool) maps.
I will add here, however, that on RARE occasions, i MAY review some of my personal OLDER Q1SP favorite levels and episodes, just for my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours too). =)

What if i disagree with your review of a map or anything else you said? Or i have suggestions for improving your site?
Please Contact me via email.

FAQ & LINKS. [last updated july 2006]

Recommended LINKS - QUAKE websites.

Recommended LINKS - CUBE/SAUERBRATEN websites.

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