UnrealSP.orgUSP-14, "Fortress of K'etrith" by Maekh
Story
You leave the Skaarj mining facility, and behold an entrance to the the temple of Novana. A nice touch that links stories together. Other than that this is a “follow the trail of dead humans and find the exit” kind of map, and has no real subplot.
Creatures and Items
Weapons acquired: Automag, Stinger, ASMD, Flak cannon, Ges biorifle, Rifle, DP Powerup.
Enemies encountered: Manta, Tentacle, Krall, Skaarj, Behemoth.
Architecture
We are not sure what experience Maekh has prior to the Deja-Vu project, but in terms of architecture he seems to have been on a learning curve. Although most of his builds are basic, they seem better constructed near the end (from the fortress gates and out). Not only in terms of quality, but everything seems more coherent, and perhaps the later areas were better planned than the start. The outdoor terrain is not very smooth, but it provides a good framerate and looks every bit as convincing as the average maps in the Deja-Vu project. The architecture has some flaws, but not many.The lever controlling the main gates to the fortress gives you an easy climb on to the nearby roofs. This means that you have easy access to view areas that should have been off limits to the player (out of world) and this should have been corrected in some way. We experienced a couple of small hom effects, but nothing major.
Score: 7
Texturing
You’ll probably recognize textures from NaliCastle.utx, and SkyCity.utx in this map. Maekh has done an avarage job texturing his map. The stuff he has done looks good, apart from terrain, which at times seems terribly sloppy aligned. The fortress itself could have done with some more detail, and we are especially thinking about the areas separating walls from the ceiling, and trim around doors and arches. Other than that it all works well together, and the fortress itself is very convincingly done.
Score: 6
Lighting
Maekh has done a good job lighting the map. All lights seem to have appropriate radius and source, and it always feels right when shadows fall naturally on the terrain, and actually tells you where the sun is without you having to look for it. Not a very colourful map, but then again having a technicolour extravaganza in a classic map like this would look all wrong. The transition from the mine entrance to the first temple area could have been made smoother, but that is really not a big issue at all. Solid work, but not outstanding.
Score: 8
Sound
Maekh has chosen the epic Seti.umx as background music for his map, and has added lots of triggered one shot sounds and dynamic ambient sounds to create the atmosphere he wants. It is not a noisy map, but gives the surrounding landscape just what it needs to come alive. The light actors containing torch sounds could perhaps have a higher volume or larger radius since they are quite hard to hear. The first time I played through it, I thought that there were no torch sounds at all.
Score: 8
Technical Execution
Good job staging attacks, and letting the player interact with his surroundings. Not an extremely advanced map in terms of technical execution, but Maekh comes off as being skilled with the Unreal editor, and certainly knows how to create the effects he wants.
Score: 8
Gameplay
A fun and challenging map that provides an exiting journey and splendid fights. All of the staged attacks will have you on your toes, and even the most experienced fighter will have to call for back up if played on unreal difficulty. The map contains a good mix of fighting and exploration, all adding to a wonderful gaming adventure. Who knows, if you enter the battlefield as a ghost, you might even learn how to swear in Swedish!
Score: 9
Overall Effect
A keeper! What the map lacks in grand architecture and texturing is made up for with excellent gameplay. Any fan of classic Unreal levels is going to love this one. A memorable experience that also works well in coop.
Map Score: 7½