"j" reviews

author: Steve Fukuda. (yes, i almost typed "Funkadooda"... thanks, Blue :) as you might have guessed from the file size, this is a very small level... in fact, it consists of but one room with two gunners and the super shotgun. the clean architecture and moody colored lighting make me eager to play the level that grows from this seed room.

author: Russell Hayward. the introductory F1 to this level is far too long; words overlap the edges of the graphic, and many are truncated, making comprehension challenging. this level is a very large one, overall-area wise -- you'll do a lot of exploring and poking around to find everything, and this exploration is fun because most areas are distinctive enough to prevent disorientation. also, it has one of the largest indoor areas i've yet seen, but due to the spartan structuring, the entire area runs well. most of the level has an aesthetic appeal because of its Doom-like simplicity; stark and sort of bare, but easy on the eye, and i liked it, personally. the level is semi-linear, giving you plenty of opportunity to explore between required items. pacing is somewhat odd, however; some areas give pitched battles, but others are strangely empty, and the weapons provided at intervals don't necessarily follow a progression i could understand... for instance, you get the railgun approximately halfway through the level, but you only get the small machine gun very close to the exit. in addition, monster groupings sometimes don't make much sense. this level has been built very well and populated adequately, and it's a lot of fun to wander around and check stuff out. a good effort; with a bit tighter construction, more concise F1s, and perhaps more "logical" weapon and monster placement, this one would have been a winner.

author: Russell Hayward. this level starts off with a decent F1, but there's a misspelling -- it's "here", not "hear". no CD track has been specified. the colored lighting has been done adequately, though there are many places where it leaks through solid walls. there is little mood lighting as well; this level is almost completely uniformly bright. the monster placement is good, but some of the groupings are a bit strange. plenty of error messages appear when the level first loads, including a lack of spawn function for the hover, gladiator, and makron. when you finish the level, it loops to itself the first time through, and a few monsters appear that weren't there before. the basic stuff in this level was done pretty well; now all this author needs is a theme (and to get rid of the technical flaws).

author: Kurt Kowitz. the introductory F1, like all of the F1s in this level, is clear, concise, and has an easily-identifiable goal. the architecture in this level, aside from having a few areas that are strongly reminiscent of id's work, is clean, well-textured, and memorable, and has playing areas that come in a variety of sizes, from the narrow and constricted to some fairly large areas to run around in. the flow is linear, but not extremely so, and you'll need to explore some side areas to not only get more stuff but also to complete certain tasks. the pacing is most excellent; you get the weapons you need just about when you need them, enough ammo has been provided to get the job done, and the health, though a bit on the light side, should be enough for you to prevent dying. well, that is, if you play cautiously; to my chagrin, i found that an aggressive player (such as myself) has a really bad tendency to die... and die... and die. this level is easily the most "fairly" difficult level i've yet played; the monster mix is tough, but not that tough (with the exception of the area down the right door behind the red key door), and with a bit of intelligence and caution, you should be able to survive the first time through. all the weapons (except the BFG and, oddly enough, the small machinegun) are present, and ammo is pretty evenly distributed among them; there are a lot of bullets, actually, but since the only gun you've got that uses them is the chaingun, that's understandable. structures in this level tend toward the unornamented, but since the author has used texturing so well, you don't really notice. same goes for the colored lighting, really -- each area blends well into the next, and there was one very nice use of colored lighting to mark the keyed doors. despite the size of the playing areas, and the quantity of monsters, this level ran acceptably quickly throughout. only one nitpick from me, really: all of the elevators were very slow, and they didn't have a logical support method. nevertheless, this is one tough and fun level, and comes highly recommended.

"l" reviews