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bb80595c90b64c7c0cf04f6272d509ccbb699774bb05af8f25630554e1f69e50
overall_rating
4.134586466165413
38
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based quake
based mappers
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Ambulatory Remix (rj7_chrisholden) is big and beautiful, but sadly it’s also the one thing no Quake map can be: boring. All that wide open space, but it’s so symmetrical and so predictable. I think basing it on an existing old map was a mistake: I know Chris Holden can do much, much better.
The Lost Koohoo Temple (rj7_eduardosanchezbarrios) is nice while it lasts, but it’s over quite quickly and doesn’t quite seem to get into its stride. The last bit is fun with the quad, though!
Endbringer (rj7_entsoy) is … hard to evaluate. It has good atmosphere, but a lot of empty spaces. Towards the end it loads you up weaponry, armour and health, then tells you “It is waiting for you”, then … it ends. I walked through the door that I assumed would lead to a climactic encounted, only to find I’d finished the level with only 33/55 kills. Since there are no secrets, I can’t imagine where the other 22 monsters could be.
… Oh, unless they were zombies that autodestructed when I killed the four vores in the deep-underground section. But usually you still get the kills when monsters autodestruct (e.g. at the end of Episode 1 when you kill Chthon), so I don’t know what’s going on here.
Anyway – it was a very anticlimactic end.
Koochie Koohoo (rj7_greenwood) is satisfying to discover, though it’s a shame that the whole ground-level swamp area that you begin in is basically useless. (Yes, I know about the secret, but that doesn’t count for much). The verticality is fun, and the progression mostly feels pretty intuitive – though right at the end, when it told me “The exit is available” it took me ages to find. Probably my own fault. My biggest real complaint is how strongly it relies on spawning new enemies in when you reach certain places. Good fun, though.
I am stuck on Knarled Fantasm (rj7_ish). Having made it through the ludicrous opening with huge amounts of save-scumming, I am in the big open area with the silver pillar and the three gold locks. I have opened two of those locks, but can’t find the third gold key. When I touch the center pylon it tells me “you touch the center pylon” (wow!), but … what actually changes as a result?
I gave up on solving Knarled Fantasm (rj7_ish) “legitimately” and grenade-jumped up onto the low platform that overlooks the first open area of the game. From there, I explored along the corridor and up the staircase, and eventually cleared everything out and found the final gold key. With that done, is was relatively simple, having saved up the pent, to win the final big combat with the classic pent+quad combo.
All in all, I found this map unsatisfactory, despite all the good ideas it contains. The opening was not hard in a grimy satisfying way, but in a tedious save-scumming hard-work way that left me feeling the author hates the player. From there, the difficulty was pretty well judged to be really hard but not unfairly so, and it was satisfying to make my way through several demanding areas with low health and ammo. But then it all fell apart again with the failure to progress. Nearly really good; actually not very good at all.
Much of what I wrote above about Ish’s map also applies to Beneath the Stones of the Fallen Sun (rj7_iyago). Great atomosphere and lots of ideas, but too many places where the difficult is simply unfair rather than challenging. I fought my way through to the end more out of obligation then enjoyment.
The Close and Holy Darkness (rj7_radiatoryang) may be the first map in this jam that I have enjoyed from start to finish, my only real quibble being that the ending is a bit anticlimactic if you’ve saved the quad. Lots of exploration, and a pervasive feeling of place, and an unusual use of sunniness in the Koohoo theme. I missed two secrets and two kills. but was delighted to find the rocket launcher (alas, too late to be very useful).
Confirmaton for the underworld (rj7_rickyt23) is very much cup of tea: an exploration of a big environment where much of the combat happens in open areas rather that (as happens too often in some of the other maps in this jam) in cramped corridors. I cruised through it enjoying every moment, but perhaps feeling it was a bit too easy, maybe a touch underpopulated. Definitely one of my top two in this jam so far, though.
Lost in Time (rj7_scythe) is the very definition of short and sweet. It’s a really nice level, there’s just nowhere near enough of it.
Last a definitely not least – most, in fact – we come to Ancient Trenches of Vellamo (rj7_zigi), a big sprawling temple with a good blend of exploration and combat set pieces. It’s nice that, on the whole, the levels have got better as I’ve moved through this pack in alphabetical order of author 
Really good stuff here, and even if I felt maybe the underwater section was pushed a bit too far, the bottom line is that felt really pleased with myself for coming through it.
Only 199 of 227 kills, and just 3 of 9 secrets. Fine: it gives me something to come back to.
In summary, a pack with the high quality maps, but also too many that seem to hate the player. I like games to be fun.
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