Forum thread for ctsj
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(Not a full review, just a comment) I was able to break ctsj_greenwood by telefragging one vore in the final room.
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Good collection of challenging maps. “Primordial” by JCR is the standout.
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Might have missed a few because I’d already played a few when I decided to write it up. Sorry for the ones I missed!
Lunaran’s map, can’t remeber the title. Short, simple, yet clever map design with this one. The central conceit made things way more unpredictable than I’d have expected with Quake’s primitive AI. I was repeatedly ambushed by monsters riding the ring up and down. Loved your stuff for years man!
Once more with feeling. Very unusual, I really loved the abstract design of this one, a distinct identity. Fun as well, very chaotic at times. I feel like the replay design could have been put to better use. Since the map layout was straightforward and mostly visible up front, you don’t benefit much from foreknowledge of the terrain.
Dies Irae. Its clean, grandiose architecture reminded me of once more with feeling despite the obvious persian theme. I toggled r_fullbright on and couldn’t believe how plain and flat the textures were - the lighting is doing great work here! I enjoyed it, although it was a bit on the easy side, a couple too many red armors IMO. The final arena with the quad was great fun, it amps the fight considerably, I’d love to see this unlimited quad + hordes mechanic used more often. The quad makes the vores spawning up high on the pillars fair and adds some depth to the fight in terms of target prioritisation. Great gameplay in this final area.
Sandworn Castle. Woah, this one brings the difficulty at the start. Thought it was great how you are quickly pushed out of the starting area in a search for ammo. The way I was kept moving constantly and hopping around between horizontal gaps reminded me a lot of the latest Dooms. Short and tight, fun little map. Groovy texture theme too.
Utopia. Good high-pressure start with the old monsters teleporting around trick, but the gameplay didn’t do it for me in this one. The encounter spaces were flatly open and basic and some fights I imagine almost impossible without secrets (thinking of multi-shambler and vore key arena, I found invuln first). Visually not bad at all though, an interesting sci-fi theme and some cool lighting effects through grating which I didn’t think was possible in Quake, new lighting compilers I guess.
Grisly Gallows. Wow, love this texture set and how well the architecture fits with it. Top notch construction as well, Nice attention to detail where the whole level is contained within a larger architectural area that is fully constructed even though you can’t ordinarily play it (I rocket jumped up out of one of the arenas) - it gives an extra sense of place. Multi-quad run at the end was fucking fantastic. Quad damage is one of the all time great game power-ups and damn does this level hit that home. Also very clever doing this at the end when the player knows the layout so can really enjoy the combat flow without worrying about where next. Also, how did you do this in 15 days?!?!
The Dismal Omelette. I liked this one too. The architecture and piled-over layout were both very cool. I like this unfussy, brutalist kind of aesthetic. Just the right amount of detail. Bit on the easy side though.
Primordial. Such Tomb Raider vibes from this one! Well served by what appears to be one of the most popular modern Quake tex sets by Makkon. I always enjoy the constrained non-linearity of these-goals-but-in-any-order map structures. Fun secrets in this one with some enjoyable platforming and an interesting layout. Unfortunately the combat isn’t much to write about, and far on the easy side for me. But with such good atmosphere and enjoyable exploration to be done, who cares?
The Great Sea Wept. Man, the quality of Quake mapping is so high these days. One stonker after another. Another nice multi-layered map flow with many new areas above old ones although the textures and lighting are a bit drab and monotone. The combat is excellent though - ammo was tight throughout and I really loved the dual stairway encounter near the start, multidirectional and challenging. No cheaparse vore swarms either, good fun.
Veiled Basin. A small map, got some fun and unusual secrets. It’s stingy with weapons which I liked, even with mostly mid-tier monsters in reasonably low numbers you feel the threat. Nice touch with the acknowledgement when you’ve grenade jumped to RL too. I like the economical way that the main area is re-used for a final run to the exit.
Sunscorched. Liked this one a lot. I’m a sucker for base maps and medium-granularity but geometrically interesting detail. I loved the repeated riveted panels with accordion style joints. Sun burn mechanic was fun luring enemies to their death during combat but I felt it was a bit underused overall. The gold key room at the end gave me the most trouble of any map in this pack, nice encounter! It was the bloody garden variety knights that kept getting me as well!
Blue Brawls. I liked the theme, but I hate wading through water so that’s one of the main memories, hahah. Had some good secrets though, and that was a great moment with the whole wall sliding over forcing you to dash into the bricky gap. The final encounter room was enjoyable and so well thought out with the opposite-side linked teleporters and the vores.
Pumps of Dagon. A little unpolished compared to the other maps tbh, especially the smaller areas could have done with some more detail. One gameplay choice I liked was that you’re given quite a lot of rocket ammo early on, but it’s balanced out by having so little space that you have to use it really carefully! Another thing was the choice of light colour for outdoors, it contrasted nicely with the indoor areas. Some cool secrets here. My favourite kind of church! I like how you threw a monster into the water at the start just to get it right out of the way at the start: don’t bother trying :). Because otherwise everyone does!
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