UnrealSP.orgUSP-08, "Nd'defel's Defeat" by Zynthetic
Story
You emerge from Shia’dorle Refuge to the welcome outdoors again. It is night, with lightning flashing in the sky and the sad strains of Spire.umx beginning. After saving a poor Nali from almost certain death at the hands of one of the “sky demons”, the Nali rewards you with a short trip to a small cellar wherein a cupboard reveals invaluable supplies for your safe journey. Time to move on and continue to seek a way off the hostile planet. Along the way you’ll be ambushed by more of those nasty Skaarj, visit some Nali huts to pick up additional supplies, enjoy the mood of the nighttime setting, two-step with an ornery Titan in a large cave and eventually find and deploy a lever enabling you to progress to the next level. In addition you’ll experience, in the form of messages, the despair of the Nali, the unlucky bemoaning of a few humans and mention of a mysterious and magical artifact.
Creatures and Items
Weapons acquired: Weapons aquired: Automag, Stinger, ASMD, Flak Cannon, Eightball.
Enemies encountered: Tentacle, Skaarj, Brute, Titan.
Architecture
We have a combination of outdoor and indoor environments, exhibiting basic but sound construction technique. The first area contains a nicely built wooden stall, fencing and small cellar. The one sore spot here is what could pass for a “wheelchair accessible ramp” at the bottom of the slope to ground level at the maps beginning-not good.. Outdoor areas are generally done nicely; a narrow canyon leading to another open area, which then leads to a cave, exhibits nicely sloping, believable terrain…nothing complex…but it works. One bad aspect is the cliff tops. They’re flat..absolutely flat. It’s not so noticeable when walking at ground level, but emerging at the lever “balcony” it’s a little funky looking. Also, some unusual transitions occur. Upon entering the tunnels leading to the Titan cave, one goes from a torch lit “Nali” environment to a hi-tech light fixture with light box motif, back to an ancient torch lit cavern, then jump down to another tunnel with, you guessed it, the fixtures with lightbox motif again. While the these fixtures actually look nice, it just doesn’t seem to make sense.
Score: 6½
Texturing
In harmony with the setting a variety of applicable texture sets are utilized, including Ancient, GenEarth, NaliCast, ShaneChurch, Mine, GenIn and others. One minor misalignment was observed in the ceiling wood texture of the second Nali hut encountered before the cave area. Otherwise texture application is sound and makes sense for the settings.
Score: 7
Lighting
This aspect is achieved through the use of light actors for the outdoor areas and a combination of zone light in conjunction with light actors for the interior/tunnel sections, hence the level is zoned appropriately. Lighting is generally good and shows intelligent use of proper sourcing. The flashing lightning for the skybox greatly adds to the atmosphere as one progresses into the level.
Score: 7
Sound
As previously mentioned, the primary track Spire.umx fits the level well, reflecting the appropriate mood for the setting. A combination of Ambient and Dynamic Ambient Sound actors are used nicely so as to give the outside area life and their variety is appealing. Further on, silence used in conjunction with other ambient sounds build tension for a tense moment to come, accompanied by the fitting Guardian.umx.
Score: 7
Technical Execution
Scripted events are used which keep the level interesting. At the beginning we have our grateful Nali rewarding us with supplies, immediately followed by an ambush. As you progress you effect other changes, but they are not extensive. Pathnodes, alarm points, Make NaliFriendly actor, triggers, music events, special events, and a secret in a tunnel…they’re all here folks. In addition, there is some strange business with “bananas” going on..go figure! On the minus side, it would have been interesting after deploying the “balcony” lever to have spawned some more enemies in the previous areas of the map. I know I (and probably many others) couldn’t resist jumping down and backtracking to the start in search of missed, or at the time unusable supplies.
Score: 7
Gameplay
This aspect progresses nicely, until the very end as mentioned, and difficulty levels are well done as they are for all the pack. The fights are fair and balanced and their settings are fun..open outside areas, narrow canyons, a large foggy arena and tunnels. The map is modest in size yet involving in its’ combats, translator messages and general atmosphere.
Score: 6½
Overall Effect
While good overall, one can see the rapid advances zynthetic has made as a mapper, which were evident in the previous Usp-07 but not quite the same level here.
Map Score: 7