(I see that Grash’s map is referred to as Liquid Weave at its entrance in the hub map, but it’s not named within the map itself. Name your maps, people!)
ff4a1016f152ecaa2ab0007e164de4cb8fda4e60f36acd9bca16e6581a180f8c
overall_rating
4.304347826086956
24
Down the Drain (sj2_grue) has some good moments, but feels a little primitive in places, and suffers from several places where it becomes impossible to backtrack. As a result, having initially run through the area with all the shamblers, I found that when I later got the lightning gun there was no way to go back and mop them up. So I finished with 98 of the 108 kills (and missed the only secret) and a feeling of dissatisfaction.
Private Pyle (sj2_alexunder) is an interestingly mixed bag. I disliked the start, in which grunts and enforcers keep teleporting in around you, and it was difficult to find my way around. But as the map unfolded, the geography started to make more sense and there were some nice set pieces. In the end, it was pretty satisfying to clear the waves of enemies in the final room, and then go back and mop up the remaining kills. (I ended on 212/212, but only 9/13 secrets.)
Sewage Sprint (sj2_chrisholden) is short but fairly sweet, using its small but well-connected area to give a deathmatch-like experience. The “boss rush” was nice, especially as I stumbled on the freshly spawned quad pretty early in the process.
Transmigration of Souls (sj2_riktoi) is a satisfying exploration of a large and somewhat interconnected area, featuring some memorable set-pieces — not least, the part where you’re invited to run invisibly through a room full of shamblers. Nice progression, even though it’s a little confusing at times.
I’m back from the great migration hiatus! Unfortunately I’ve forgotten the details about several of the maps I’ve played in the mean time. On the positive side, all the maps in question are in this pack.
What I do remember about Sewermonium (sj2_wind_f) is that it felt like a pretty good 1990s map: crude by modern standards but fun to play through. Definitely over-lit, though.
Grand Sewer Cleanup Detail (sj2_zetabyt) is big and challenging. It opens with a big combat that I was pleased with myself for surviving, only to then find the quad that would have made it so much easier. Lots to expore, even if there is a certain saminess to some of the areas. Satisfying to complete.
Rancid Retrofit (sj2_recycledoj) is old-school, but none the worse for it. The blocky, overlit architecture should not distract from consistently enjoyable gameplay with a strong progression mechanism and even a little narrative. By no means the best of the maps in this pack, but the only one that I have (so far) played through twice.
I did not approach Farts of the Forgotten (sj2_jitspoe) with much optimism, given the juvenile title and the fact that I’d not heard of the mapper. Let that be a lesson to me, not to judge a book by its cover – or a Quake map by its title. This is a nice, wide open map with misty spaces that evoke something of a _Honey_ish atmosphere, and with progression that makes good use of the big spaces. The final combat is a bit bodged – to comes down to whether you can find enough ammo to take out a damage sponge from far away – but aside from that and a build bug in the water near the start, it’s really good.
Streetwise Tunnelrunner (sj2_pinchy) is a deeply satisfying map based much more on combat rather than exploration. Usually I am much more of an exploration fan, but in this case the combats are constructed to reward tactical sniping and a generally careful approach, rather than being either all about reflexes or easily solved by the running-around-the-outside-until-infighting-thins-the-ranks approach.
Starting below ground in a sewer complex basically all in one big complicated room, it progresses via tunnels to a giant bunfight in an ourdoor arena. Health and ammo balance is good: rarely over-generous, but not so stingy that the game becomes work.
My only real criticism would be that the ending is anticimactic: once you reach the gold-key door there is basically nothing to do but walk through the exit.
Fine work.
Finally, Twilight meridian (sj2_zbidou72) is probably the pick of this pack, and that’s really saying something. It’s one of those big, sprawling maps that makes great use of verticality and gives lots of ways to revisit areas from earlier. Spread across all those areas there are combats of many different kinds, and also some nice emergent story-telling.
I was pleased to finish with all 259 kills (on Hard), having thought I was going to have to settle for the frustration of 258 — I was so pleased to find the last zombie lurking in a cubby-hole round the back of a stairway. Also enjoyed finding 22 secrets from the amazing total of 31.
So much to love here.
All of which leaves me just delighted with this pack as a whole. I’m sure I need hardly say I’m awarding it the full five stars. One of the very best.