[ Rating ]
Design = 9
Flow = 9
Balance = 7
Textures = 8
Overall = 9.4
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"The
minions of Quake have occupied a distant
planet..."
Colony is
possibly the biggest Quake map this
reviewer has ever played. With many
large, open areas, lots of slime and some
water areas, as well as a lot
of enemies, you must have a pretty good
system to play this level. In fact, I
recommend a Pentium III 500MHz and a
solid OpenGL card with substantial
framebuffer and texture memory available
(or dual Voodoo2's) to run it at
acceptable speeds, as we have it posted
here. Many thanks to Glassman for re-compiling
this massive level to support GLQuake's
transparent water (we tried it ourselves,
but Quake kept crashing). The original,
non-VIS'ed version is available on his
website here or from the File
Planet link, just in case you have
trouble running our version. On with the
review!
Wow, where
to start? The design of the level is
nearly epic in its scale and complexity.
Just about every trick that a Quake level
designer has at his disposal is in this
map somewhere. There are numerous fine
examples of custom entities in this level
as well. Here are but a few:
- Grunts
with increased armor and non-standard
weapons (Grenade Launchers,
Rocket Launchers, and Nailguns)
- "Mega"
Enforcers with gray skins and
additional armor
- Enemies
strafe while firing
[ top ]
The player
will spend a good deal of time in this
level, and careful assessment is required
as you get to each new corner. QuickSave
is highly recommended on this map,
because you will routinely run into
Grunts with heavy weapons, usually with
Enforcers and Vores as backup. In
addition, there is a lot of "z-axis"
fighting (in other words, enemies above
and below you), so the player must decide
when to engage enemies from a safe
distance (usually more costly in terms of
ammo), and when to avoid their fire and
engage them at closer range.
Speaking
of which, you will find yourself running
low on ammo in many areas of this map.
But there are ammo boxes that seem to
have been placed at "just the right
spot" after major engagements, so
you should have enough to perservere, if
you are prudent.
[ top ]
As you
approach the end of the map, the combat
gets positively insane. I won't spoil it
for you, but there is a new enemy to
fight, as well as a pretty big onslaught
of "boss" monsters that must be
defeated before the exit teleport will
open. In addition it's a low-gravity
level as well. Use cover and try to draw
them into each other's line of fire
whenever possible, and you may make it
out alive. Luckily there is plenty of
ammo in this "arena", so don't
be shy about letting loose with
everything you have.
To sum up,
this is a huge level that requires a
massive system to run properly, but it
features incredible design, steep
difficulty, and enough modifications to
serve as the perfect example of just what
can be done with Quake C in level design.
We think you will enjoy it. Highly
recommended.
Level
Created by: Glassman
Please
visit the authors site :
Maps by Glassman
Review by Zoopster
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like or hate this map? Let us know. ]
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