I probably played this in the early 2000s, but that’s so long ago that I would count my recent Nightmare playthrough as a kindof first playthrough.
I think it still holds up very well, even in a post-AD (etc) world; sure, the detailing and architecture are simplistic in comparison, but the gameplay and encounter design are indeed airtight and the exploratory, somewhat non-linear level design and progression (especially in the second level) is really engaging.
Sadly, the third level doesn’t quite reach the same heights as the first two. The layout isn’t quite as compelling, for one, but I think it’s just that the bright, over-large areas (like that courtyard) really show the map’s age. The first two maps’ dark, dank texturing and theme hold up a lot better than the third’s brightly lit gothic castle with Y2K detail levels. Still enjoyable, though.
A series of fleshy, floating islands followed by a large structure with difficulty holes. Looks good, has custom textures, lighting is a bit flat though. Has all the difficulty selections.
czg07.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/-f0MHVtLFO8
A somewhat open ended big tech base map. Lots of Quake 2 textures. The first playthrough made me feel constantly lost. But after a few runs, going for 100%, it does have quite a nice flow throughout the map. Not a lot of enemy variety, as per usual tech base.
czg07a.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/G8oLco2IJcE
A mix of tech base with caves and rocky outdoor areas. It has both wide open spaces and smaller rooms to fight on. Like the previous map, it can also get slightly confusing for the player to know where to go.
czg07b.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/GY6451V4BVo
Massive Quake 3 style castle, in a fairly long map. Geometry is pretty good, but I'm not too fond of Quake 3 style ported back to Quake. Particularly the textures. The castle courtyard appears pretty barren.
Gameplay is fine, but gets pretty monotonous for Shotgun starts. You'll be using it a lot, since the only weapon available in the map is a Rocket Launcher. The chapel fight feels kind of unfair.
czg07c.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/wHAM3xJ9ARM
Overall, good, competently designed maps. Sadly, ended up not enjoying them as much as I was hoping for.
Gameplay on all maps leans a bit towards open ended, which is not really my cup of tea. Might make you run around in circles in some spots.
Visually, makes extensive use of Quake 2 and 3 textures, which is something I'm also not super fond of. Especially the latter. There is also something about the maps' lighting that I dislike. Not really sure what it is, but it makes it feel somewhat flat.
Regardless, I'm sure these are just personal preference nitpicks that won't affect the majority of people.
Man, this is really great. Feels like a step up above anything else was doing in Quake mapping up to that point.
First map: There's a few branching paths here and there, but overall the map is still fairly guided. There's a loop in this level every player will end up doing once or twice, but strategic re-spawning of enemies means that you don't feel like you're lost or pointlessly retracing your steps. It's the intro "tech base" map of the set but still feels consistently engaging despite being made up almost entirely of 230-ish grunts, enforcers, and dogs. The scenario variety is great and everything suits the limited enemy selection for map 1.
Second Map: Little bit more open-ended feeling I think. I ended up getting stuck in a room for a few minutes due to some messiness involving a sliver of geometry along a wall that's hard to notice. I also hate secrets that are time-gated, one of which unfortunately locks away the RL on this map. Overall more imperfect than the first map, but it still weaves the player through the level in a really fun way.
Don't have much to add for map 3, its more of the same excellent progression seen in the first two. Not sure why, but that central courtyard has stayed in my mind so many years after first playing this as iconic. It's the part of this map set I remembered most vividly.
To me this feels like the jumping off point for quake mapping that eventually led to the massive hour-long maps seen later in stuff like Arcane Dimensions (which isn't necessarily everyone's preference, but I think anyone will still enjoy this one).