One might argue whether "being impressed" means much in the context of seven-polygon levels. After all, they're bound to be relatively primitive, aren't they?
Yes and no. There's a difference between overcoming obstacles and stopping well short of them, and while these levels are probably at least as good as very early fan works for the first Marathon, what does that really say about them?
The good: given two skilled players, and a pact between them not to kill a newly-spawned player on sight, you can have fun here. Many of the levels places hold up under these two rules. In particular, The Alley Gorey, Lobes and Pfhishes, and The Bilateral Commission are the best for these types of games. Lobes and Pfhishes is the most varied and offers the best cover, while the other two can house frenetic games. Shading is paid due. CC has applied textures with admirable workmanship. Hamilton's Unfinished Cycle also features a nice trap where the invisibility powerup spawns, preventing players from following one another around for the kill.
But that's not enough. Even under the kindest circumstances, there will be frustrating games. In all levels, ammunition and weapons are sparse, meaning that more often than not you'll be on the giving or receiving end of a shotgun-vs.-pistol slaughter. Spawns will occur within sight of roaming enemies. Architecture is often boring, small, or, even more often, both. Without exception, maps have one or two separate levels. Often these are accessible by an easy-to-cover range of entrances, meaning the player on top tends to stay on top. Players don't have much choice when attempting to dodge enemy fire and often the first person to score a hit is the winner. This is a regression to the most boring aspects of early Marathon mapping, not the transcendence of self-imposed boundaries.
Yes, this review is about four years too late. I thought it would be good in any case to counter the positivism from other reviewers with something a bit more realistic.
Hi, I had the pleasure of playing this in a multiplayer environment with 4 players. A real blast. I really like how your weapons are demoted after each kill. Especially good of rme since I tend to get killed more by more experienced players. Gives me a chance to hang in there!
Good job!
What's most surprising about this great, simple-to-understand script is how well it handles in a two-player game. While you may get off to an early lead, the constant downgrading of your arsenal gives the other player an obvious advantage, and most games I've played using this script have ended up pretty close.
I imagine it works well with larger groups as well, though I haven't seen that yet. Good job!
Good maps are still being made. These put mine to shame, and remind me in many cases of Red Spectrum crossed with M2 and M1. Favorite: The Cylindrical. Great look, very vertical, and fun. Something I would have liked very much to play when I was more active.
Irons kindly didn't post how the game works. Basically it's an EMFH script where everyone starts with rockets, and after each kill you get demoted to a weaker weapon, and the winner is the first person to get a kill with fists.
A really fun script. Really interesting because it forces you into interesting weapon matchups that you don't see in normal play, and it's also a nice rubberbanding system to keep less-performing players in the game.
Really neat. I don't know why I didn't write this review earlier, I must have forgotten. This is the kind of stuff I've never seen in marathon and implementing it via the (limited) physics must've been quite a task. I highly recommend this for anyone that's looking for ideas for special/elite/boss units. 5/5 for creativity.
The physics are a perfect blend of the original Pathways physics with a little more of the fluid movement and agility of Marathon, making combat a lot more fun than it could be in Pathways, which felt sluggish. This allows the player to kill a lot more enemies, allowing the battles to be much larger.
The artwork, too, has been subtly shifted to the Marathon color palette in a way I appreciate.
The levels perfectly capture the Pathways structure and vibe.
I really liked this, great for its simplicity. I'm of half of a mind to create a bunch of Pathways style levels with this physics model.
The fact that the only person to finish your scenario frequently mentions that he cheated in order to get through the game should have been a HUGE clue to you that you needed to go back and redo some aspects of your design.
I only played through 1.25 of the levels before I quit.
Kudos for making a scenario at all; that's no small feat. Also, I liked your set pieces (such as the stasis pods, or whatever they were) which make it feel more like a "real" space we're playing in. Your terminals also looked really good.
This scenario is not difficult; it is a tedious waste of time. If it was difficult then I'd have to actually put effort into playing it.
Withholding save terminals (I didn't see any) does not make your scenario more difficult.
Starting the player at 1/4 health and withholding rechargers and canisters (I did not see any) does not make your scenario more difficult.
Giving the player an assault rifle but only two extra grenade packs (I didn't see any other ammo) does not make your game more difficult.
Hiding switches and doors that are mandatory to progress through a level does not make your game more difficult.
None of these things makes the game hard, it just makes the game arbitrarily unfair.
I quit after the third time I died (on Normal). Why would I waste time replaying everything from the start again? It's just switch hunting, backtracking, and the little combat that exists isn't fun.
Maybe the later levels are more fun and interesting, but you certainly don't seem to want me to get to them and find out.
This scenario is very hard and . . . well, that's it. There's nothing wrong with a hard scenario, so long as it is fun enough to keep the player interested despite many deaths and re-tries. A dull scenario is tolerable if you can breeze through it quickly. A dull hard scenario, though, is just no good at all.
Depriving the player of save terminals so that they have to redo a tedious switch hunt when they die - hard? Yes. Fun? Heck no. Fighting Devlins with fists or inadequate ammo - hard? Yes. Fun? Heck no. Frequently teleporting in enemies behind the player - hard? Yes. Fun? Heck no, at least in narrow corridors. (Take a look at TI for teleporting enemies behind the player done right - they are used to block escape routes, not as a "Surprise! Ya dead!" thing.) A vacuum level with inadequate air - hard? Heck yes. Fun? Very much heck no.
There is some good architecture here, and some of the combat is fun - hence the rating of two stars rather than one - but you have to wade through a lot of tedium and "do it again stupid" gameplay to get it.
I look forward to the new version. There is a lot of room for improvement here.
First level was too tedious, I wasn't having fun so I stopped playing.
Windbreaker is probably pretty tired of me pointing out tiny imperfections and issues that don't actually matter, but that's because there's nothing actually wrong with this stuff. Captain Confidence is a supremely good map and worth the price of admission on its own, but the rest of the pack is good too. The M1 and M2 maps mixed in are very nice too, and Windbreaker avoids the obvious trap of mixing them together with the Infinity textures, so good job dude. But mostly, the geometry and layouts are very competently done and are lacking in some of the minor annoyances that cropped up throughout Caustic Dystopia, and everyone should just download this pack because it's actually different from the usual stuff you see these days.
These maps maintain the high standard that Ryoko set for himself with his other successful mappacks. But what's more impressive is the fact that these maps all act as a cohesive set and have their own signature feel, different from Paradise Lost or Red Spectrum. And the Power Drive maps fit right in, as well.
My favorites are Gustav Garden, Rocket Rider and Das Jerk. Hollow Void is the standout dueling map here. Good job!
when it says "damager" its mostly referring to emotional damage.
the "Asphodel Meadows" level crashes the game on load for me, giving the following error -
/Users/ghs/aleph/trunk/PBProjects/../Source_Files/GameWorld/map_constructors.cpp:1132: Assertion failed: MapIndexList.size() <UINT16_MAX
I really like this game, and this level being missing disrupts the continuing. Hopefully someone can help!
I'm running on Mac OSX.
Great script for use with Weland But i can't figure out how to switch textures it says use mic button and weapons switch but it just makes it switch texture type.
I like that the very first screenshot has misaligned textures. That should really tell you everything.
Everything that Crater Creator posted previously sums this up perfectly. One thing I need to add is that textures that have solid black backgrounds are meant for transparent sides, not walls.
I don't think I can write a review that will do justice to my appreciation of the effort and care WB has put into this pack. While WB's previous packs have always shown a penchant for extreme detailing, these maps combine that intricacy with a new level creativity and grandness. The open spaces in this pack lend extremely well to net play.
I see a lot of as-of-yet untapped potential with the M2 and (especially) M1 texture sets, but this is far beyond an adequate proof of concept. Perhaps my only complaint is that in Captain Confidence, there were a few spots (narrow ledges or awkward details) where I felt as though the architecture could have been better tailored to the texture set chosen. Perhaps that was only a matter of personal taste, though.
gj dude
I played this the whole way through, and I would have to say beginning mapmakers should not study this as a good example. - -- You get stuck behind BoBs in narrow hallways all the time. - -- Monsters spawn on random polygons, including ones where they don't fit, instead of in thoughtfully crafted encounters. - -- Monster types are selected carelessly. Don't just throw in tiny BoBs because you think they're cool. - -- Height plays no role in gameplay. - -- Platform parameters are set poorly such that you have to wait for them. - ++ Mission parameters are functionally working, and are made clear in terminals. - ++ All green BoBs are assimilated, so at least I didn't have to get the BoBs mad at me. - -- Item placement is hit or miss. I get 2 shotguns but no shotgun ammo in the whole map. 4 invincibility powerups in a room is unnecessary. - -- Overuse of mission parameters. Not every level should require exploration. - -- Textures are misaligned, mismatched, or even missing. - -- The overall simplicity makes every level feel the same. How about a staircase? How about a high ceiling? How about a pillar to duck behind? How about a ledge? How about a window? - ++ Each level does have a story. There's a reason for your missions, and it's enough that I wanted to read what happened next. - -- Winning the game is impossible since the levels loop back on themselves. The player expects and deserves a resolution.
I always liked your map "Red Sauce on Pasta" and am glad that your other maps are seeing the light of day again. This is a strong set of maps, especially considering they were made eight or so years ago.
I particularly like "Battlemoose" and "The Foolish Biscuit"; both have a fast pace and plenty of ammo to keep the action going. "Battlemoose" takes a fairly straightforward, square design and makes it pretty unique through the use of tasteful architecture. If you ever decide to modify these, the only thing I'd say is to add more ammo to the last two maps. Other than that, great job eight years ago!
coming from a completely unbiased point of view, these are probably the best physics ever made. great for hours of multiplayer entertainment at your next 90's style LAN party.