first things first, the maps just work. and not like how Todd Howard means it but it just works in general. i never seen through the map or fell through it or seen a missing texture or something overlapping. it was a great experience.
there has been much said about the maps but i'll just focus on the secret level.
the way you get there is by a chip in one of the levels. something about a temporal anomaly. if you played it then you know what i'm talking about. if you haven't i'm not spoiling anything.
i was certain by the way the room is set up where you can find the chip that it was supposed to be a switch puzzle. a certain order to flip the switches and the way becomes clear. its not, in the end you just flip one hidden switch. the others don't matter. it was... unexpected. but serviceable. kinda a letdown in my mind.
the second part is to find a slot to put the chip in of course. i figured out that it wasn't on the level that you get the chip from as i looked everywhere for the hidden switch. (which turned out to not be all that hidden) i was surprised that this 'temporal signature' stuff doesnt get mentioned ever again. i dont know what that was about. and really the only way i found out that i could even get to where i needed to go was that i got blown up one time and flew out the window. normally when you jump out a window you die when you hit the bottom (suffocation) not here though. i cant imagine how i would have found the chip slot.... i cant say that i agree with how hidden it is. again, why didn't the creator put in another hint like with the chip?
anyways, the secret level itself. a nice, very nice, doom 2016 like level. looks like an 8 on its side from the top. some elevation and plenty of spaces to hide. you get loaded with ammo for all your guns. plenty of fodder enemies to use the rocket launcher on. it was very enjoyable to blow my way through everything.
TLDR to get to the secret level is hard and inconsistent (introducing a temporal signature gimmick for a hint but then not following through with it) but the secret level itself was awesome.
here i was, all excited to play this new and amazing looking marathon conversion. installed it just the way it told me to by dragging a executable into the folder. but since the folder doesn't have a scenario the game goes into the ''select a scenario screen''. i cant find one as apotheosis doesn't come with which aleph one recognizes as a legitimate one.
it just ends with ''please be sure the files Map, Images and Sounds are correctly installed and try again.''
long story short, the file is incomplete.
but hey; the screenshots look dope. so there's something :D
thx for creating this but i dont have the knowledge to get it to work.
i dont know where to place the .lua file and thus cant give it a good review...
what would be nice is to have it have a little ''starters'' guide in the next version.
i fully agree with all the other 2 reviews, but id like to add some critisism as well.
the map objectives are unclear especially in the first map. but after some time you get to know what to do. in essence its just VISIT everywhere. not KILL everything.
i did like the inclusion of the cheat room. minor texture mistake, in the cheat room there is a 3x recharger but its a 2x recharger with the wrong color.
the ambushes wre unfair, especially in the last map (third map) but i geuss thats what an ambush is supposed to do. but at leasst the ambushes in the third map werend at all predictable.
also i liked the terminals in the third map, realy made it like there was once live in the city.
P.S. if you use the cheat room to get the assault rifle and you use the HD HUD you will get an eror message at the top left of the screen saying invalid ammo type.
other than that the lack of a story was a little off putting for me but if you dont care about that you will most likely like this.
the 3 maps will take about 2 to 3 hours depending on your dificulty and if you use the cheat room or not.
first of all, i agree with mopypoppy. but i expand on it. the story is interesting and is the only thing that will keep poeple playing this conversion.
the creator choose to make his maps in a way that new area's opens up to the player is by way of presure plate. now you wont be told that so you will be running around all the time thinking you were stuck.
also in some levels you have access to all the area's in the map but if you go from area 1 to, lets say area 3 without visiting area 2, you will be stuck without going back to area 1. so safe every start of a level and use a seperate safe to proceed in the levels after that. or you will have to start all over again.
also because of some unknown reason some doorways apear to be open but are unpassible. i suspect a editing fault. and on that note; allthough i cant remember what level it was, but it was on only one of the levels. the enemy firghters instead of teleporting in mid air they just float there.
and then the biggest mistake this scenario has EXTREMELY bad pasing with dificulty spikes throughout. it starts out fine. good level disgn and the first 5 or so levels are pretty straight forward. but around the middle of the scenario you will encounter a level in wich you are confronted with infinetly spawning suicide enemy's. in the level itself there is even a terminal in wich you are told by a editors note that you shouldnt shoot in a section of the map, so not to proc anything or you will die. (hence the miltyple safes)
so in sumary: you will run around for at least 10 to 20 minutes on many maps trying to figure out what to do. there are points in maps wich sole purpose are to trap you and make you stuck (restart will be needed). and the game is suffering from bad editing.
also the eniding is extremely anti-climatic.
but good story overall.
this scenario will take you between 6 and 10 hours depending on you dificulty level.
EDIT: use your map, it contains many written clues on what to do.
realy enjoyable, realy nice scenario and good placement of the terminals.
not too easy because of the lack of shield rechargers.
also realy good that you wont get transporter ganked because of teleporting enemy's. realy enyojed it.
P.S. if you run any plugins at all the game will work but some things will be inviseble. (like the underwater gun if hd textures is on)