10eecb5caf0ebb7dada338bce2f31a7af3cf52ceb5f15ee406d9a78991552da7
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.quaddicted.com/db/canonical/10eecb5caf0ebb7dada338bce2f31a7af3cf52ceb5f15ee406d9a78991552da7
10eecb5caf0ebb7dada338bce2f31a7af3cf52ceb5f15ee406d9a78991552da7
overall_rating
4.666666666666667
3
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.quaddicted.com/db/canonical/10eecb5caf0ebb7dada338bce2f31a7af3cf52ceb5f15ee406d9a78991552da7
Simply fantastic 
. Really great work… every author made a great job in this pack. Quake at bests!!! Five stars - no doubt 
Awesome! Like a breath of fresh air actually.
Still waiting for other two episodes of Dwell… Still hoping. But that’s another story.
A banger set of maps. I absolutely loved every single one
Really good map pack, played the entire thing on co-op mode and it worked 100% perfectly. Great job guys – looking forward to the community making a Christmas Jam this year!!!
This is excellent.
In all community project there is quality fluctuations. In this specific project, the absolutely lowest quality map is still par with, and in areas better, than the original ID maps.
I don’t know how people do this. Most old games just fade away and disappear, but Quake is different, The maps are growing stronger and better, the game engines are under constant development, the community is as strong as ever, with new players an mappers all the time…
So the bad news for this jam is that the hub world is one of those bland ones where the entrances are indistinguishable from each other, and it’s hard to know which ones you have used before.
But the good news is that the entrances are helpfully numbered — so I will just go through them all in numeric order.
But the other bad news is that the appearance of the entrances doesn’t change once their maps have been solved — a helpful cue that I’ve seen in some other hub maps. That would have been a nice QOL improvement.
Oh well — on to the actual maps!
#1 The Restless Mills (mc_rj4_alexunder) is a decent start, though perhaps a bit pedestrian. The toughest part is right at the start, where you can easily run out of ammo before you’re properly up and running. If you find the (easy) first quad secret, that gives you enough ammo to get into the bulk of the map. 79/79 kills and 3/3 secrets!
#1 Magma Fondue (mc_rj4_caffeinefreak) is enjoyably difficult, with a fair few combats that leave you little opportunity to retreat but still allow some creativity. It’s perhaps a little arbitrary — there are rather too many instances where monsters appear behind you for my taste — but it all seems to fit well with the theme. I did think spawning in a vore when you’re trapped on a moving platform was especially mean. I finished with all 72 kills, but missed one of the four secrets.
#3 Tormented Souls (mc_rj4_colossus) is a relatively straightforward journey through another lava-rich environment, which is generous enough to let you play with the SNG and rocket launcher early enough in the map for them to be some use. Unusually, I not only got all 55 kills, but also all 3 secrets.
#4 Dark hallways of Niz, pt.1 (mc_rj4_dh1) is competent, but doesn’t have much about it that will linger long in the memory. It doesn’t get much gameplay value from its geography, not really re-using earlier areas. Sorry. 52/52 kills, 2/3 secrets.
#5 Dark hallways of Niz, pt.2 (mc_rj4_dh2) is a step up from its predecessor, which in light of part 2 might be better seen as a prologue. Some interesting places to discover, and multiple horde combats, in which infighting thins out the ranks in a satisfying way. Still a bit too much reliance of monsters teleporting in for my tastes. Good overall. 98/98 kills, 3/5 secrets.
#6 American's Basement (mc_rj4_doritos420) is short and sweet, with a nicely judged blend of exploratory combat and staged fights. There’s not much to it, but what’s there is good. 41/41 kills and 1/1 secrets.
#7 Delirium Sinistratum (mc_rj4_grue)may be my favourite of these maps so far. It shares lots of qualities with what’s gone before: weird irrational architecture with lava everywhere, arbitrary progression. But somehow it all ties together, and ends up feeling like a puzzle box, in a good way. 50/50 kills, 5/5 secrets.
#8 Unseen Eyes (mc_rj4_icoshee) is one of the more memorable of the maps in the pack, largely because of the stark choice you have to make between the rocket launcher and the SNG. I made the wrong choice for the final bunfight, and it took me quite a few tries to get through it without blowing myself up. Nice. 92/94 kills and 0/2 secrets.
#9 They Might Bait The Pentagram (mc_rj4_iyago) is more compact than most of these maps, but makes up for it with distinctive elaborate brushwork and a succession of brutal ambushes. Memorable and enjoyable. I finished with all 53 kills and neither of the two secrets, but I did find the dopefish easter-egg.
#10 Crosses by Kaz115 (mc_rj4_kaz115) is simple enough but satisfying. The most memorable part is a maze full of (initially unkillable) zombies which you have to run past to find the elevator that takes you to the grenade launcher. I got all 46 kills and two of the three secrets.
#11 Deja Voodoo (mc_rj4_kdmg) is hard to find something to say about that I’ve not already said about the preceding maps. It’s another nicely constructed small-scale metal map with, once more, some nicely judged combats that allow some creativity in how they’re approached. I got all 43 kills but missed one of the three secrets.
#12 Punctum Ferventis (mc_rj4_ketri) is one of the more distinctive maps in this pack, a series of metal walkways over lava in which various areas are effectively reused for multiple combats approached from different directions. Good stuff. I somehow missed two of the 57 kills, and got two of four secrets.