Forum thread for tsoa
84a262cd840e957add537853551d4fdf565ebba7584cc23a94634f2616cafea9
overall_rating
2.238095238095238
9
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This was… strange to play. To say the least.
There weapon system is weird and hard to understand, and the hud is almost illegible with the horrible font and lack of any icons. The levels are incredibly blocky and basic, the enemies confusing to fight… I could go on.
For me the strangest part was the sound; plenty of entities play no sound, some play standard Quake sounds and… well, I swear I was hearing some old Windows 9x sounds, seemingly at random…
Worth playing, if only because it’s so weird. Certainly not worth trying to enjoy.
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Unregistered user “Greenwood” posted:
Someone spent a lot of time on this, but unfortunately it is boring. Worth downloading maybe to grab a few textures that could possibly be applied to a future map.
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Good looking start map. Not too long, just a difficulty and player skin selection.
start.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/tyUX7H8aQlE
Short outdoor area, a few canyons with a couple of crates scattered around.
grounds.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/Or_ZCU9xY6g
Very average map. Looks ok, but gameplay is very dull and easy.
One of the secrets is a regular wall, one of the keys is out in the open, while another is somewhat hidden.
It will be over in a flash, anyway.
gate.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/aHCMmLKNBlk
Very short, simple map. There is no real challenge here. Unless you're talking about the secret, that is just another wall. So you would have to be a psychic to find it.
storage.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/NIl9RyRiiK8
Map feels like a short fetch quest. Not much going on, besides going for the button that opens the next door.
Everything looks the same, very bland.
basement.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/jo980zJbKp8
Small guardhouse in the middle of a square room. You go up, open a door and leave.
Looks ok, visually. Very low enemy count, no challenge.
guardhou.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/LBC-VMw7NW8
Very similar to the previous map. A small tower placed in the middle of a square room. Go up, open a door, leave.
Most of the enemies seem to do nothing at all.
minenter.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/Z7lFIypv0Tw
A few hexagonal tunnels, with a couple of bigger rooms scattered around. Follows the same pattern as some other maps in the pak. Start at point A, go to point B, press button, go back to point A so you can press a button to further open the path at point B. Which is fine, but coupled with the extremely low amount of enemies and low danger, it just ends up being boring.
Visually a bit dull, doesn't really look like a mine.
mine.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/vKCVxQdolHc
A room with two floors and a water tank in the middle. You go for a swim, press a button and leave.
The fish death sound was certainly a choice. It sounds like someone dropped a metal bar on the floor.
pressure.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/OKekoob9yR8
A slightly longer map. Although, the whole initial section seems to be made in order to stretch it considerably. You'll press a button, go up a lift, then press another button, go down, repeat.
physical.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/Pge6dhEZ_rI
A room with four enemies. One of which will start shooting rockets at your face immediately after spawn.
It's a detailed room, but it will be over under 30 seconds.
vat.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/48oo0MZWqHk
Yet another single room. This time, it's filled with enemies that target you right after you spawn. Multiple explosives shot at you, immediately, including a helicopter that can seemingly kill you with one hit.
Not super challenging, but the shift in difficulty is odd.
missile.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/cjQK2YHXi1s
A longer map, this time. With multiple rooms, instead of a single one. Visually looks ok, but not great.
Gameplay isn't very engaging though.
research.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/h9tMOG5pJiA
One of the larger maps but, still, medium sized. It's pretty dull though.
lobby.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/QkUZIQvXpXM
Probably one of the most interesting maps in the pak. Geometry is interesting, an outdoor area, with trees, waterfalls and buildings to explore. Difficulty wise, it makes a big jump, as you start surrounded by multiple rocket launching enemies that can wipe you out in one to two hits.
There are two Gold Keys on the map, one of them hidden inside a normal looking tree. However, you can skip it entirely if you use a High Jump onto the balcony with the second Gold Key.
cascade.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/CO_8j9rDkyc
It's an empty room, with a sword. You pick it up and it's over.
round.bsp - Link to Nightmare 100% walkthrough: https://youtu.be/0PWON6ybbI4
Multiple different types of jumps. Normal, high, long, dive roll. You can mostly stay on normal and high, to reach pickups. But dive roll is pretty nice to move around quickly. Reminds me of Unreal Tournament dodges.
Player has a flashlight which is handy in some spots, but not super useful, as the maps aren't particularly dark.
There is also a crouch function, but it's completely irrelevant and of no use at all.
HUD is a mess, a bunch of colored squares, hardly any icons or text. Difficult to understand what weapons or keys you have.
Weapons are complex. There are three separate rates of fire and you can use one or up to four ammo types simultaneously. There's hardly any incentive for doing that as the default rate and single ammo works just fine.
Health pickups are inconsistent. Normally, they only allow you to have up to 100hp. But, sometimes, you will be able to go up to 150hp or 250hp.
Shooting is awkward, enemies go up when hit. So you'll have to keep tracking them when firing.
Enemy projectiles are very difficult to see and dodge. It's not usually a problem, unless they're firing rockets.
Grunt-like enemies seem to have an issue when shooting. They will block their own shots, making them effectively useless and no danger at all.
Doors, lifts and other moving things are mostly completely silent. Pain sound effect sounds like a bell? Very out of theme.
Bodies stay on the ground and have collisions, can be dragged when walking over them. Keep making your movement harder.
Maps are pretty simple and short, everything's very easy. Very low enemy counts. Some secrets are regular walls with no distinguishing features.
Overall, there are many changes in this pak. From all new textures, all new enemies, gameplay mechanics like jumps, flashlight, crouch and weapon systems. But it all falls kind of flat, as the map design is poor. Very simple, very small maps that don't seem to make full use of the new features. Almost none of the maps have actual secrets. It's just not that fun. Tempted to go for a 2, but will give a 3 out 5 for effort.