Okay since I guess there was already a 25th anniversary (and no I am not getting the new re-release with the new engine) of this game and I happened to play through some stuff I neglected to play properly before, I wanted to talk about the less known Quake addons (that will most likely not get recognition by bethesda/zenimax etc just like they probably will never add PG and HP to the list of official addons for Doom II, despite their high quality, which is better usually than these quake addons).
I will post below my short reviews of each of the pack I recently completed playing.
Number One (that's terror)
-------------------
Virtus Pack review.
Its been a while since I reviewed any Quake pack. I finished abyss of pandemonium after a long break earlier this year and I found myself wondering if there were any packs i didn't finish playing. Well yes, the commercial TCs or partial conversions like Malice, Shrak and SoA, but that's for another time. I did finish xmen and ended up removing it after raging in my review few years ago. I'd like to see that game as separate entry and not mix in with the Quake stuff honestly. I mean technically it was good, but the gameplay was terrible especially in singleplayer and its really bad they used the clones for repetitivness, the multiplayer was good apparently because you could play as all the different xmen yourself. Not in SP. God why...well because they did the shitty thing with the clones.
Okay well...there are other packs i didn't finish before and that I finished playing now and also one that I wasn't fully aware of. The pack in question is Virtus, that came as a bonus with the deathmatch maker editing program for Quake, this was a commercial release approved by id software. The maps are entirely just extras that you can use to modify or learn from, so you'd expect just some shitty example maps right? Wrong.
It feels like instead that this was going to be an expansion pack that for some reason got turned down and ended up released as a bonus for this.
Some of the maps are seriously less finished than others or have mistakes like a moving platform intersecting the base platform and other such nonsensical mistakes. Several of the maps are either called üntitled" or have the map title blank, which happened also to one particular qzone map.
But thankfuly the end credits reveal all map names in order so you will get to know that the missing map names are Underground Testing Station and
Subway Station.
The first level being awesome while the second is one suffering from bugs and obvious unfinished design mistakes that it comes off as possibly the worst level of the pack.
This is not very long pack on its own and is mentioned as being a "demo".
One wonders how great the full expansion would have been if they got to make it.
This is one of few packs that doesn't replace start.bsp which is good. But it doesn't modify the progs entry so you need to launch the game with +map vstart.
Basically this pack has two episodes selectable and a final map. The second episode is really short with only three maps while the first has five of them.
Its pretty classic stuff you select your difficulty (including the hidden nightmare) and episode.
The maps difficulty is well balanced and sometimes a little on the easy side. Sometimes there could have been a little more ambient sounds and some of the map secret areas are unmarked as such. There are no new weapons or monsters except for the final boss and its a good one, he doesn't replace any existing boss so that's good too.
Now lets talk about the maps, the first episode is called military base because primarily that's what the maps theme is about. But don't worry, you don't fight only the grunts and enforcers and dogs, you fight a lot of other monsters, it kind of reminds of the first expansion pack in this sense. Some of the maps don't look as good like the max security prison could use some polish, and I imagine players will be confused by this map however I found the ideas challenging. Best maps are indeed the blank one Underground Tesing Station and in its interactivity kind of reminds of Quake 2. It was very reminiscent of the Quake 2 levels with the monorail. The final map is challenging but also provides helpful secrets.
The second episode is overall worse and first map is not blank but outright üntitled"and its a buggy mess of a map with misplaced moving platform that's supposed to somehow give a replacement for train? The empty square rooms elsewhere don't help this map at all. The second episode uses new textures more heavily than the first and there are really really good dkies used in this pack thorought. Those got to be the best quake skies i've seen on the plain engine.
Basically you start with the train station, end up on the "streets" and finish up in an office complex building and parking lots. Kind of like when Doom2 took to earth and cities and it also wasn't very convincing then (but that's only on the mapper, for example the xmen tc had some better urban maps and so did batman doom, some awesome city maps were there).
But it can be excused for lack of time etc.
Then you enter the final map after completing all this. And boy what a treat. This has to be one of the best final maps ever for any quake pack and in my opinion easily surpasses the original.
Final Confrontation is a master piece and the eery red sky is a win.
You don't just fight the final boss, no. You have to unlock multiple doors and go through series of challenges before you do. Those kind of boss maps are the best. The layout is fairly simple yet great. Floating platforms that aren't your standard squares are for the best.
The actual final boss fight is a little bit reminiscent of chthon, but you fight using your weapons only. The boss is some kind of a hell worm creature that must be somehow related to chthon (or was it cthon, i don't recall).
He attacks basically the same way but he has multiple spots in the arena where he can appear making the fight unpredictable unlike the C guy.
There is practically no story as the end text gives you some text about this demo and the credits list. But its good.
I wish that "zenimax" and co have done something like this instead of that overblown 25th anniversary pack that obviously reuses chthon as the final boss. This works pretty well and the model doesn't look embarassing at all compared to the original monsters.
So there you go. Pretty short and sweet pack. 7/10
----------------------------
Review of the conversion of the sega saturn bonus maps:
Eh, well apart from few bugs that I noticed they are alright. Finally
able to play these maps without any console or emulation whatsoever.
The watery grave map in particular is great and is reminescent of a certain quake 2 map but I like this better honestly.
Overall 9/10
------------------
Ah, Q!Zone.
I played this a bit ages ago but didn't get to really get much further.
Now I played the entire pack on hard mode. It didn't receive any patch and it should have. Because there was an instance of where Vore and Gold Rune key were at one spot in the Hard difficulty and the Key got destroyed thanks to that or the difficulty flags were not checked correctly.
That and the final map of episode 2 could not be completed reasonably after not having enough health left from last map. Those are the only two instances where I had to absolutely cheat. To make matters worse all the powerups were gone from that map while the first recorded demo trolls you with the powersups in the deathmatch mode. This is the same map, the difference is no powerups and hordes of monsters.
So...after describing the two bugs/oversights that forced me to cheat on two spots, let's get to descriving this. I mentioned qzone briefly when talking about virtus. Yes a map here also has blank title and unlike with virtus we never really get to know its intended title!
Well...enough talk and let's examine this.
What the heck is Q!Zone? Its a continuation in tradition of wizardworks releasing those "zone"addons for like every fps out there. D!Zone for doom was just a selected shovelware pack, while H Zone for Heretic and Duke Zone had actual exclusive levels and some of them were good afaik.
Now QZone has no shovelware content whatsoever from what I could see, however its episodes leave a lot to be desired and this might be the worst original "zone" content there.
In fact the map quality in this is so random and disjointed that the closest thing it reminds me of is Doom II. Yes. That game might be popular but the singleplayer rather sucked with all the random maps and gimmick levels.
This is the same story, gimmick levels all over the place, mostly DM maps (ironic since there's a DM Map episode that can also be played in SP except the final map has no ending).
Honestly if this was a little more polished this could have been very close to "what if" scenario with Quake 2. If Id Software had repeated the same steps as from Spear of Destiny and Doom 2. This is a very good approximation.
On the first sight you will hate some of it. But it isn't so bad once you realize you basically play an wquivalent of Doom II here.
There are new models in here and their quality isn't too great, but they are better than Shrak's for example. Those models were both intentionally and unintentionally terrible and disgusting. This is a different story, the models are of lower quality than Quake but they are not outright terrible, they are just meh and weird. I wanted to compare this pack maybe to Quake 2 Juggernaut but maybe that slot is better reserved for Shrak, so no, this is different...
Sometimes its hard to compare all these releases because some of them sit somewhere in the middle.
But yea, don't forget that wizardworks was a sub division of GTi, so in theory these are basically discount bin addons, no more or less valid than all that official stuff made canonical. In theory but still, the current maintainers shouldn't have a say whats canonical official or not. This was an approved addon and you can't change that.
I am not going to however review something like Q2 addon. Not Quake 2, but Q2 for Quake. It is not shovelware but I heard there are just too many maps that are basically copy and paste and there's no ending to them at all and you play them separately. Thanks, but no. And the approval status of that one is disputed as well and had nothing to do with wizardworks or any of those companies. So Q2 I will definitely give a miss. I have to set some limits here.
So, we mentioned new models...well
there's a weapon replacement for the nailgun. I have no clue why replacement if there are new monsters without them replacing old ones, but okay whatever.
It replaces nailgun but is supposed to be called the slicer. Its something like the razorjack in Unreal. Fires shurikens. Pretty neat even if a bit ugly.
Now there are no new items or powerups. Yes, forget about all that. Forget about multitools and international peacekeepers. You will only get GUTS.
Couldn't resist making a malkavian mod reference yet again....
So...yes there are three episodes and one fourth dm one that can be played in SP except there's no ending.
Honestly you could throw out all the DM and gimmick stuff and you'd end up with a decent pack that would be like episode and half long at best.
The last to final E2 map was also pretty irritating as the gimmick doesn't work always that well and you have to do trial and error. Basically it is using the wind pipe "zones" in a very peculiar manner and the entire level is above lava pool. Its basically just floating platforms in the air connected in strange ways with those "wind tunnels". Good luck figuring it out and most of the time you end up falling and dealing ton of damage to yourse;f. Which is critical in next level.
Okay that's most of the garbage out, but apart from some lazy design there are some enjoyable levels and moments of ingenuity.
As for monsters, well...there's this green dude that is like a zombie and he flails his arms around and his eyes shine in the dark and he comes in two variants or three if you count the sitting chair ones...that appear on an airplane level in the dm episode.
Basically his sounds are annoying but the other variant fires something even more annoying. He carries a gun with him and he can shoot this other new enemy from it. Yes, from a gun he shoots/spawns enemies. They are flubber like creatures and its like a combination of a spawn and a zombie. But without eyes or anything. It sounds like something out of synreal. Very disturbing. But it can get used to after a while.
Next there are enemies partially based on grunts and using their sounds primarily too. Except they are headless enemies. It makes me wonder if the serious sam enemies got inspired by this. There are like three variants and i couldn't tell difference between two of them honestly, but one of the variants can sometimes fire a spread of three projectile fire. Again, similar stuff happens in Serious Sam. So I wonder if there's any correlation there.
Next up we have...umm yea those boss enemies, multiple of them act as a final boss while you encounter a single one before at one point.
It looks like kind of like an alien (xenomorph) egg, with legs and it lays dormant until you awake it or piss it off. Then it starts walking around but its invulnerable until its attacking and spitting stuff and opening its "hatch". This is fucking weird. I never expected that. You need to kill four of those as the final boss of episode 3...
Oh and I forgot to mention. There is an enhancement to the thunderbolt. It now fires bolts that reflect off walls so you will have easier time dealing with enemies around the corner. So apart from shurikens that is your best bet.
So yea...this is so random like Doom II for Quake except slightly worse.
5.5/10
--------------
That's it, the three reviews for now...quite long if I want to keep it to a single post.
Sometimes I wonder if there shouldn't be an addon called "That's terror"
And when you select the episodes it would tell you "You enter the realm of terror. Terror of Terror Awaits you."
Episode 1: That's Terror
Trent "Terror" Reznor being the final boss of it all...
Also sorry for the typos and stuff, I wrote the reviews separately into text files that I wrote on a broken keyboard and I was pretty tired.
For direct access use https://forums.oldunreal.com
It's been quite a while since oldunreal had an overhaul, but we are moving to another server which require some updates and changes. The biggest change is the migration of our old reliable YaBB forum to phpBB. This system expects you to login with your username and old password known from YaBB.
If you experience any problems there is also the usual "password forgotten" function. Don't forget to clear your browser cache!
If you have any further concerns feel free to contact me: Smirftsch@oldunreal.com
It's been quite a while since oldunreal had an overhaul, but we are moving to another server which require some updates and changes. The biggest change is the migration of our old reliable YaBB forum to phpBB. This system expects you to login with your username and old password known from YaBB.
If you experience any problems there is also the usual "password forgotten" function. Don't forget to clear your browser cache!
If you have any further concerns feel free to contact me: Smirftsch@oldunreal.com
This Quake Stuff
This section is intended for non-Unreal posts. Forum rules apply.
- Leo T_C_K
- OldUnreal Member
- Posts: 3660
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:24 pm
Re: This Quake Stuff
I still managed to write this before "shit started to hit the fan again", now I'm postin it here. Warning, this review was written across multiple days and is very long and half-satirical at times. Some of the content may offend. This might be my last message if I'm forced out on the street again thanks to my "great mom".
Aftershock for Quake
Aftershock for Quake
► Show Spoiler
Aftershock for Quake
This is the last of those compilations that I am doing and the only reason is that this has levels sorted in an episodic format, even though some of them were released separately too. This was done by head games and pubished by gti (or cdr? this says cdr but some sources said gti, so whatever), and the plan was even for larger original addon too apparently. I am not doing dark hour apart from "q2" either because those levels are not joined as episodes and because its more or less standard shovelware apart from changing textures. Even though they made up story for it I really don't want to cover it.
Okay so while the only episode here in aftershock that has any actual story is episode 3, we start with episode 1 and I have to wonder...did they accidentaly swap level 1 with 2 or what??! Level 1 is utterly unfair because you start with single shotgun and against enemies like tons of ogres. You'll run out of ammo fast, the only way to survive on hard is to go get the grenadelauncher quickly in the ogre hallways.
"Pure Sheer Fucking Hubris"
This level is known separately with just standard quake textures too, while this one sports a new look. But its pain in the ass, its really sadistic as the first level, there is a nice boat but it starts looping once you activate it and the first time i wanted to go back the boat was gone so fast that i ended up dead in the lava!
Fuckin'Raw!
The level's ending is entirely disappointing as it just ends in blackness in empty room.
Unfair
is weak word for this mess.
Second level starts with you being stuck kind of...until you step somewhere and you realize that this is some kind of ship underwater. Hmm, how did I get here? Dunno....
So yea the room starts filling up with water and honestly this is the first time I see this in plain quake so that's good even though im sure it just uses some plain trick like for example "Xerania" for Unreal did with the player being placed in a big mover at one point that actually submerges. But I don't know much about plain Quake modding capabilities honestly, I'm still more of an outsider to this.
But the enemies here are mostly the plain grunts. Weak enemies. I really can't help but be amazed at the logic of putting sadistic unfair level as the first and then have an easier level as the second!
Who the fuck thought of this? Also I realized that the "Aftershock deluxe" is a ripoff that nobody warned me about. It should be called Aftershock Lite and not deluxe! Its the same loose levels that you get in most plain editions of aftershock! And apparently unlike qzone there were updated releases, there was a toolbox with lots of example mods taken from the internet and more....it was a huge multi package deal, one of them probably not released, but goddamnit its still not nice to be so shoddy and to be tricked. Yes there were apparently some updated/different versions too. But you couldn't download it as a patch so who the fuck cares, why would you buy the same thing again just to get an update? RIPOFFs. I can't be arsed to keep track of all this different stuff but looking at archive.org it seems that these guys have all kind of different versions there so good luck sorting it out and what is duplicate or not...
Oh and btw, unlike Q!Zone or Virtus this has no original content apart from textures, no new weapons, not even a new boss. So its more like the Machine Games modern stuff..hmmmm...MAKES YOU THINK
The second level is called Darmack btw. Yes, Darmack. DAR MACK.
Like Daring Carmack? What's next? Karmack? Karmatic Carmack?
Yea...that's some karma right there...that's karma if you ever bothered to buy this pos. As for the re-releases and how poorly done they are sometimes, I heard that there is almost 700 MB of uncompressed data for the "Dimension of the Machine" episode that I haven't even tried. If someone packs it and uploads it separately, I might give it a try or to make it compatible by changing the progs with older Quake stuff...because its just heresy in my opinion. Oh look, its because of the fans again who complained upon dopa release that they got arcane dimension now for the anniversary made by fans which showcases how far you can push the engine with sourceports11!! etcetera
So of course the new expansion is an answer to that mentality. I wish that mentality never existed in the first place because now that new thing is "canon" despite none of the original developers coming back...unlike the hated by many 20th anniversary world tour duke nukem 3d episode called Alien World Order. Why do people bitch so much about new content, especially if that content happens to be compatible with pld stuff even? I mean it, I tried it and there's no problem you just have to watch out to not copy over the microphone graphic for the voiced commentary feature which will not work outside of that edition...but its...like...
my god...Randy Pitchford is A SAVIOR!!!!!! YES!! AAAAAAAAAA.
He got probably many of the original 3drealms/apogee people out of depts by getting the Duke stuff over, yes they never released Duke Enormous Tool afaik and made some shitty decisions, yes...but he's still a savior..compared to all this.
Yes, I will make a new Unreal pack in cooperation with few dudes called "QUACK QUACK" that will feature RANDY PITCHFORK THE SAVIOR as the main hero....just you wait....just you wait....
YOU ENTER THE REALM OF TERROR TERROR OF TERROR AWAITS YOU.
Now to get back to topic I could mention that one of the episodes is actually called "Dark Terror" here in aftershock. Hmm. That's Terror. Number three...That's *GETS AFTERSHOCKED*
OH GOD NO WHY. Time to play this shit again.
So we continue our journey in DRAMAck. Oh god, its only second level and this review is longer already than the other ones from last time? Yea well, I suppose there wasn't this much to complain at the time or I didn't feel like it.
I thought this level was on the easy side but i'm being proven wrong by the last part of the level, well at least there is a secret with thunderbolt here that will help you, but I never like being attacked from multiple sides while I'm on a thin wooden plank or something. So yea the rather innovative level start devolves into MORE OF THE SAME as last map.
Monsters 22/27
well they're nowhere to be found not even in their spamboxes spawnboxes lol.
And unlike qzone you don't get some enemy spawning the other...so what is even going on here?
*puts on AVGN impression*
WHAT WERE THEY THINKIN!?
Next level: Dagger. More like DRAGger, right? Because this is dragging on...
This is the level which manages to showcase fiends as complete retards. Bravo CDR/headgames.
And then there's a moment of genuine trolling. You think you're doomed, you activate a trap and then before being crushed the game teleports you close to the silver key.
BRAVO NOLAN I MEAN CDR.
Final level of E1 is called Fire Scirocco.
It features another troll moment. This time it has a looping lift going seemingly between three floors. Yea great you think. Except you take it to the third floor and get crushed...BRANO VOLAN
Then the level asks you at one point "You must make a leap of faith".
After what I've seen?
No I'm not doing it.
NO GOD........ NO GOD PLEASE NO.... NO
Thankfuly nothing much happened its just a stupid "puzzle" that you have to do some useless backtracking for.
You get back to the intreduction map and then you...select episode 2 or whatever. And this is starting to get into the boring drivel territory now.
I'll let you know if something interesting happens.
*few hours later*
Umm...just a message "Doors opens elsewhere...get crackin"
Crackin... yea right.
A rook to king's bishop level..another troll thing...i try to get an armor and it teleports me back.
Entering JONLEVEL is the first good level in episode 2. Yes despite the name.
DESCENT is level name that gets reused twice per this episode.
And episode3, this is the one that is entirely original and new and..it was made by a single guy? And he edited the other levels from other authors into the previous episodes and had 1 1/2 months for everything?
Okay now I get the state of this pack, I really do. He said he wants to make a sequel to Descent Into Horror...did he get time to release that separately? Dunno....
Suddenly there's a separate story for each map....
bUT THAT DOES IMPROVE THE EXP..
dammit capps
the experience? No....no it doesn't at all. And I'm going mad seriously mad from all the stress I have IRL and now I'm expected to go through this drivel too? Yes these maps have some more attention to detail but c'mon those ghetto jumps are annoying to require. Why did he have to do it? I guess he felt guilty and explained some of the stuff in a text file but why god why?
The map pulls on you that you have to swim a long way without the suit so you end up nearly drowning, yes there's health soon after but its not very nice. And if you end up falling back in water...GOOD LUCK.
Also....where is the gold key and why can't I lower those bars at the enviro suit? Where's the trigger?
Yes...WHERES THE TRUGGUR WHERE IUS ITTTTTT!!!!!! WHERE"S THE TRIGGURRRRRRRRRRRR.
Ask Bane.
After interrogating him in my head I found some trigger, a slab of concrete that you have to shoot...and it tells you you hear grating of metal or something. No I didn't hear it! And what does it open? Those bars back there with the suit? How could anyone hear it on such a distance??!
Ah yes indeed, that's what its fooooooor...whoa! So you go back to the sewers and find out that the sewer bars also opened (did he hear that too? DAMN) And you take a loong shit dive down. Shit because its the sewers. Is civvie11 going to add this to his sewer count if he gets to do play this?
That guy has sometimes to me weird tastes but some stuff he just nails right there.
And how do you get out? Hold on...you fall down you get the gold key kill the fishes and you have to do it in the time before your suit runs out AND then swim up the SHITFALL, yes you have to SWIM IT ALL THE WAY UP!>>
Are you kidding me!?
*BIG LIPPED SEWER ALIGATOR MOMENT, OF COURSE, SPARTAAA, KHAAAAN, ITS OVER 9000, FUCKIN'RAW!*
This is turning up the sewers tropes up to 11. UP TO CIVVIE 11
AHAHAHAHHA HAHAHAHA THE MADNESS HAHAHAHA
Where's the last secret, should I care? Oh well I know where I haven't look thoroughly...yup all the way up there.
Okay...so yea you drop down the water use those railings because why not and you head for the gold key door and it tells you "end tunnel..." because as always in this pack it ends in pure darkness. Oh gee couldn't you have told me that in episode 1 too perhaps? That the levels end that way? Now I'm expecting it...*facepalms*
So why...why do I have to suffer like this...next level Ascent. After two Descents in E2.
Great. *WHAT IS LOVE*
I'm expecting those three stooges to pop up right now!
I can't stand it anymore! THE BEEPING AND FLASHING ND BLEEPING AND...*STATIC*
Apparently the mapper here hit the limits and its seen, the map sometimes crashes too at that damn elevator so better kill those knights fast.
The next map is called the river and so far is the best the pack has to offer even if its the first finished map for this episode. Its kind of strange and ugly at parts, but this is I believe what Hellscrag called conceptual grandness. I don't like using that term but this certainly has depth in the concept although poorer in execution. But really enjoyable map otherwise. I wish more were like this, if they were this would have been a decent addon!
Next level Red Room.
Greg MacMartin is the main guy behind this stuff anyway. I bet the adress
cl662@freenet.carleton.ca doesn't work anymore. He certainly has some talent, its just I don't think those publishers had the best influence on him.
This is another great level by him I have to recommend it.
Okay why now that its almost over there are good levels? Why all that unnecesary shit before that only pisses one off? Its beyong words really.
The Guardians is the final level apart from DM levels. This level was supposed to use cthon(but didn't because apparently cthon sucks outside of e1l7) and it is supposed to be followed by the sequel episode which the guy wanted to release for free. Did he? I have no idea.
Sorry Greg, I know you did your best trying to glue this monstrosity together, but I have to give it a 4.5/10 in the end. For all the frustration and madness it gave me earlier. Some of the later levels could easily be 7/10 or so but the whole overall experience is abysmal.
This is the last of those compilations that I am doing and the only reason is that this has levels sorted in an episodic format, even though some of them were released separately too. This was done by head games and pubished by gti (or cdr? this says cdr but some sources said gti, so whatever), and the plan was even for larger original addon too apparently. I am not doing dark hour apart from "q2" either because those levels are not joined as episodes and because its more or less standard shovelware apart from changing textures. Even though they made up story for it I really don't want to cover it.
Okay so while the only episode here in aftershock that has any actual story is episode 3, we start with episode 1 and I have to wonder...did they accidentaly swap level 1 with 2 or what??! Level 1 is utterly unfair because you start with single shotgun and against enemies like tons of ogres. You'll run out of ammo fast, the only way to survive on hard is to go get the grenadelauncher quickly in the ogre hallways.
"Pure Sheer Fucking Hubris"
This level is known separately with just standard quake textures too, while this one sports a new look. But its pain in the ass, its really sadistic as the first level, there is a nice boat but it starts looping once you activate it and the first time i wanted to go back the boat was gone so fast that i ended up dead in the lava!
Fuckin'Raw!
The level's ending is entirely disappointing as it just ends in blackness in empty room.
Unfair
is weak word for this mess.
Second level starts with you being stuck kind of...until you step somewhere and you realize that this is some kind of ship underwater. Hmm, how did I get here? Dunno....
So yea the room starts filling up with water and honestly this is the first time I see this in plain quake so that's good even though im sure it just uses some plain trick like for example "Xerania" for Unreal did with the player being placed in a big mover at one point that actually submerges. But I don't know much about plain Quake modding capabilities honestly, I'm still more of an outsider to this.
But the enemies here are mostly the plain grunts. Weak enemies. I really can't help but be amazed at the logic of putting sadistic unfair level as the first and then have an easier level as the second!
Who the fuck thought of this? Also I realized that the "Aftershock deluxe" is a ripoff that nobody warned me about. It should be called Aftershock Lite and not deluxe! Its the same loose levels that you get in most plain editions of aftershock! And apparently unlike qzone there were updated releases, there was a toolbox with lots of example mods taken from the internet and more....it was a huge multi package deal, one of them probably not released, but goddamnit its still not nice to be so shoddy and to be tricked. Yes there were apparently some updated/different versions too. But you couldn't download it as a patch so who the fuck cares, why would you buy the same thing again just to get an update? RIPOFFs. I can't be arsed to keep track of all this different stuff but looking at archive.org it seems that these guys have all kind of different versions there so good luck sorting it out and what is duplicate or not...
Oh and btw, unlike Q!Zone or Virtus this has no original content apart from textures, no new weapons, not even a new boss. So its more like the Machine Games modern stuff..hmmmm...MAKES YOU THINK
The second level is called Darmack btw. Yes, Darmack. DAR MACK.
Like Daring Carmack? What's next? Karmack? Karmatic Carmack?
Yea...that's some karma right there...that's karma if you ever bothered to buy this pos. As for the re-releases and how poorly done they are sometimes, I heard that there is almost 700 MB of uncompressed data for the "Dimension of the Machine" episode that I haven't even tried. If someone packs it and uploads it separately, I might give it a try or to make it compatible by changing the progs with older Quake stuff...because its just heresy in my opinion. Oh look, its because of the fans again who complained upon dopa release that they got arcane dimension now for the anniversary made by fans which showcases how far you can push the engine with sourceports11!! etcetera
So of course the new expansion is an answer to that mentality. I wish that mentality never existed in the first place because now that new thing is "canon" despite none of the original developers coming back...unlike the hated by many 20th anniversary world tour duke nukem 3d episode called Alien World Order. Why do people bitch so much about new content, especially if that content happens to be compatible with pld stuff even? I mean it, I tried it and there's no problem you just have to watch out to not copy over the microphone graphic for the voiced commentary feature which will not work outside of that edition...but its...like...
my god...Randy Pitchford is A SAVIOR!!!!!! YES!! AAAAAAAAAA.
He got probably many of the original 3drealms/apogee people out of depts by getting the Duke stuff over, yes they never released Duke Enormous Tool afaik and made some shitty decisions, yes...but he's still a savior..compared to all this.
Yes, I will make a new Unreal pack in cooperation with few dudes called "QUACK QUACK" that will feature RANDY PITCHFORK THE SAVIOR as the main hero....just you wait....just you wait....
YOU ENTER THE REALM OF TERROR TERROR OF TERROR AWAITS YOU.
Now to get back to topic I could mention that one of the episodes is actually called "Dark Terror" here in aftershock. Hmm. That's Terror. Number three...That's *GETS AFTERSHOCKED*
OH GOD NO WHY. Time to play this shit again.
So we continue our journey in DRAMAck. Oh god, its only second level and this review is longer already than the other ones from last time? Yea well, I suppose there wasn't this much to complain at the time or I didn't feel like it.
I thought this level was on the easy side but i'm being proven wrong by the last part of the level, well at least there is a secret with thunderbolt here that will help you, but I never like being attacked from multiple sides while I'm on a thin wooden plank or something. So yea the rather innovative level start devolves into MORE OF THE SAME as last map.
Monsters 22/27
well they're nowhere to be found not even in their spamboxes spawnboxes lol.
And unlike qzone you don't get some enemy spawning the other...so what is even going on here?
*puts on AVGN impression*
WHAT WERE THEY THINKIN!?
Next level: Dagger. More like DRAGger, right? Because this is dragging on...
This is the level which manages to showcase fiends as complete retards. Bravo CDR/headgames.
And then there's a moment of genuine trolling. You think you're doomed, you activate a trap and then before being crushed the game teleports you close to the silver key.
BRAVO NOLAN I MEAN CDR.
Final level of E1 is called Fire Scirocco.
It features another troll moment. This time it has a looping lift going seemingly between three floors. Yea great you think. Except you take it to the third floor and get crushed...BRANO VOLAN
Then the level asks you at one point "You must make a leap of faith".
After what I've seen?
No I'm not doing it.
NO GOD........ NO GOD PLEASE NO.... NO
Thankfuly nothing much happened its just a stupid "puzzle" that you have to do some useless backtracking for.
You get back to the intreduction map and then you...select episode 2 or whatever. And this is starting to get into the boring drivel territory now.
I'll let you know if something interesting happens.
*few hours later*
Umm...just a message "Doors opens elsewhere...get crackin"
Crackin... yea right.
A rook to king's bishop level..another troll thing...i try to get an armor and it teleports me back.
Entering JONLEVEL is the first good level in episode 2. Yes despite the name.
DESCENT is level name that gets reused twice per this episode.
And episode3, this is the one that is entirely original and new and..it was made by a single guy? And he edited the other levels from other authors into the previous episodes and had 1 1/2 months for everything?
Okay now I get the state of this pack, I really do. He said he wants to make a sequel to Descent Into Horror...did he get time to release that separately? Dunno....
Suddenly there's a separate story for each map....
bUT THAT DOES IMPROVE THE EXP..
dammit capps
the experience? No....no it doesn't at all. And I'm going mad seriously mad from all the stress I have IRL and now I'm expected to go through this drivel too? Yes these maps have some more attention to detail but c'mon those ghetto jumps are annoying to require. Why did he have to do it? I guess he felt guilty and explained some of the stuff in a text file but why god why?
The map pulls on you that you have to swim a long way without the suit so you end up nearly drowning, yes there's health soon after but its not very nice. And if you end up falling back in water...GOOD LUCK.
Also....where is the gold key and why can't I lower those bars at the enviro suit? Where's the trigger?
Yes...WHERES THE TRUGGUR WHERE IUS ITTTTTT!!!!!! WHERE"S THE TRIGGURRRRRRRRRRRR.
Ask Bane.
After interrogating him in my head I found some trigger, a slab of concrete that you have to shoot...and it tells you you hear grating of metal or something. No I didn't hear it! And what does it open? Those bars back there with the suit? How could anyone hear it on such a distance??!
Ah yes indeed, that's what its fooooooor...whoa! So you go back to the sewers and find out that the sewer bars also opened (did he hear that too? DAMN) And you take a loong shit dive down. Shit because its the sewers. Is civvie11 going to add this to his sewer count if he gets to do play this?
That guy has sometimes to me weird tastes but some stuff he just nails right there.
And how do you get out? Hold on...you fall down you get the gold key kill the fishes and you have to do it in the time before your suit runs out AND then swim up the SHITFALL, yes you have to SWIM IT ALL THE WAY UP!>>
Are you kidding me!?
*BIG LIPPED SEWER ALIGATOR MOMENT, OF COURSE, SPARTAAA, KHAAAAN, ITS OVER 9000, FUCKIN'RAW!*
This is turning up the sewers tropes up to 11. UP TO CIVVIE 11
AHAHAHAHHA HAHAHAHA THE MADNESS HAHAHAHA
Where's the last secret, should I care? Oh well I know where I haven't look thoroughly...yup all the way up there.
Okay...so yea you drop down the water use those railings because why not and you head for the gold key door and it tells you "end tunnel..." because as always in this pack it ends in pure darkness. Oh gee couldn't you have told me that in episode 1 too perhaps? That the levels end that way? Now I'm expecting it...*facepalms*
So why...why do I have to suffer like this...next level Ascent. After two Descents in E2.
Great. *WHAT IS LOVE*
I'm expecting those three stooges to pop up right now!
I can't stand it anymore! THE BEEPING AND FLASHING ND BLEEPING AND...*STATIC*
Apparently the mapper here hit the limits and its seen, the map sometimes crashes too at that damn elevator so better kill those knights fast.
The next map is called the river and so far is the best the pack has to offer even if its the first finished map for this episode. Its kind of strange and ugly at parts, but this is I believe what Hellscrag called conceptual grandness. I don't like using that term but this certainly has depth in the concept although poorer in execution. But really enjoyable map otherwise. I wish more were like this, if they were this would have been a decent addon!
Next level Red Room.
Greg MacMartin is the main guy behind this stuff anyway. I bet the adress
cl662@freenet.carleton.ca doesn't work anymore. He certainly has some talent, its just I don't think those publishers had the best influence on him.
This is another great level by him I have to recommend it.
Okay why now that its almost over there are good levels? Why all that unnecesary shit before that only pisses one off? Its beyong words really.
The Guardians is the final level apart from DM levels. This level was supposed to use cthon(but didn't because apparently cthon sucks outside of e1l7) and it is supposed to be followed by the sequel episode which the guy wanted to release for free. Did he? I have no idea.
Sorry Greg, I know you did your best trying to glue this monstrosity together, but I have to give it a 4.5/10 in the end. For all the frustration and madness it gave me earlier. Some of the later levels could easily be 7/10 or so but the whole overall experience is abysmal.
Jump to
- General Category
- ↳ Unreal General Forum
- ↳ Unreal 227
- ↳ Unreal Mods
- ↳ Serpentine-Board
- ↳ Real-CTF Board
- ↳ Infiltration-Board
- ↳ Unreal4everBoard
- UnrealTournament
- ↳ UnrealTournament General Forum
- ↳ UnrealTournament Mods
- ↳ ChaosUT-Board
- ↳ Infiltration-Board for UnrealTournament
- ↳ Thievery for UT
- Unreal II
- ↳ Unreal2 General Forum
- ↳ U2XMP-Board
- Other Unreal Engine Games
- ↳ Unreal Engine 1 and 2
- ↳ Dr. Brain: Action Reaction
- ↳ Clive Barker's Undying
- ↳ Deep Space Nine: The Fallen
- ↳ Deus Ex
- ↳ Disney's Brother Bear
- ↳ Harry Potter Series
- ↳ The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard
- ↳ Mobile Forces
- ↳ Nerf Arena Blast
- ↳ Rune
- ↳ Unrealty
- ↳ The Wheel of Time
- ↳ X-COM: Enforcer
- Editing, scripting, modelling and mapping
- ↳ Modelling
- ↳ UScript Board
- ↳ C++ Native Mods for UE1
- ↳ UnrealEd 2.x, the Unreal 227 editors
- ↳ UnrealEd, the editor for Unreal up to version 226
- ↳ Unreal Projects
- ↳ UnrealEd 2, the editor for UnrealTournament
- ↳ Usermaps
- Independent
- ↳ OpenGL & D3D for Unreal & UnrealTournament
- ↳ Hardware & Drivers
- ↳ Linux-Board
- ↳ ALAudio (OpenAL), FMOD (FMOD3 and FMOD Ex) or other new audio renderer for UEngine 1 Games
- ↳ High-Res Textures for Unreal & UnrealTournament
- ↳ Unreal Music
- HyperCoop.tk
- ↳ Hyper's Unreal hideout
- Anything else
- ↳ Anything else ?
- Archive
- ↳ Archived Topics
- ↳ Report Bugs in Unreal 226 versions