FULL REVIEW:
Its been a while, but Mike Woodham is back with a new map in the for my babies series of maps which he made a number of years ago for Q1SP. Like those previous maps the fundamental idea is parts of other unfinished map scraps use with permission of the original author [here primarily Tronyn's Roman wilderness of Pain parts are used], then built upon by Mike and made into a coherent whole.

This is challenging, clever map with a good interconnected layout. Architecture is nice, mixing an Egyptian style temple theme and texturing against an organic background of lava and natural rockface. The layout is not particularly large, but it plays bigger due to the clever interconnected pathway the player takes to find the blue/gold key progression in classic Q1SP style.

The lighting is quite gloomy in the dark shadowed interiors, small rooms and tight corridors, and then opens out in bright light in the larger more open areas. Build quality is decent and neat. There is a nice mix of arches, walkways, traps and spikes and so on which are well built and well proportioned.

Gameplay is challenging on hard, mainly due to the lack of weapons available. The start is hardish with only the DBL shotgun available against spawning ogres, fiends and even vores, and this tough beginning may put off some weaker players. Persevere though, and the player is rewarded with the super-nailgun, and the gameplay and the map opens out to reveal its good, well balanced gameplay.

Well balanced gameplay means the weapons/ammo/health balances against a diverse range of well positioned monsters, and that's exactly what happens in this map. There are several nasty attacks and surprises [2 shambler lurking in a dark corridor are particularly unwelcome]. Mixing exploration and fighting well, the player progresses to the final area/waves of monsters spawning attacking climax, which has a possibly too generous supply of ammo and health with it.

Overall this is a good map: whilst it does nothing especially original in gameplay terms, it still provides good flowing fighting set in an interesting map design.

Overall Score: 16/20