Review: Mercurius

This is a tricky one as at first I was honestly unsure whether or not the map even fits the review criteria... but upon careful consideration, I've decided that it is the case. Wherein lies the problem then? Surely, when you download Mercurius you immediately notice that it has an MH prefix and UnrealArchive categorized it as a Monster Hunt map. Let me assure you it is not one (it doesn't even require the Monster Hunt gametype in the first place) but there is a good reason for the prefix. Back in 2008 onwards, a clan known by the name of Snipers' Paradise have issued a series of conversions of Monster Hunt maps from Unreal Tournament to Unreal 227, complete with overpowered enemies, funky custom weapons and all that. Basically, if you see an MH-[SP] map, it is one of those conversions and they are also present on coop servers, in a truly huge batch. Thus, if you encounter those on SP or NewbiesPlayground (NP) coop servers, this is by design.

History lesson being behind us now, let's have a look at the first (and thus far only) MH-[NP] map, Mercurius by Nikola -(DOG)- Genyo, a Monster-Hunt-inspired arcade extravaganza that premiered in August 2020. This is a first-of-its-kind effort by the Czech mapper extraordinaire - and with that fact come certain risks of potential mistakes, some of which were indeed made. First off - there is no story at all. Nothing at all. Our nameless adventurer player character pops up in a Skytown-like place full of portals without any reason given, aside from the obvious "kill 'em all". Even some actual MH maps had more story than that, delivered by on-screen messages or the release notes, or objectives, or a combination of all three. Not the case here. The story is about as complex as in her original work that is Wasserburg Eusebius, that is to say - there's none.

Gameplay-wise, the level is a stark departure from what came before. There is absolutely no hope for any sort of TiT: Medieval's boredom, as the areas are filled to the brim with entire armies of enemies, going by the hundreds, befitting the Monster Hunt inspiration for the map. And by hundreds, I don't mean this as an exaggeration. To help the player to cope with that, there are two funky guns provided, the red "tech 9" and the green "sweet 'n' sour". There's also a single-shot big eightball, but I am wondering if it has any proper effect so it might've bugged out. The red and green guns are all the player needs and for the most part, there's enough ammunition to dispose of regular enemies. Gameplay resembles something akin to Contra, basically anything that gets into the player's crosshairs and isn't a boss monster, dies almost immediately and is immediately blown into gibs. Skaarj Praetorians (the famed Red Boys from Xidia), custom superpowered tentacles, regular Krall, firebomb-spitting Slith... if it moves, it dies. Pure arcade romp that, had it been perfected, would bring a smile to my face.

However, there are certain issues with this approach as it was implemented. Firstly, the tentacles. The orange and gray ones are cleverly put in spots where they remain invisible while at the same time bombarding the player with a real rain of destruction. The player must pass this through learning by dying. Upon learning their locations, these can be picked off but the distaste remains.

At a later spot in the level, a new breed of purple Krall appear. Not only they are superpowered enough to chuck the player across the entire room with a single blow, they are also devilishly fast which makes players waste ammo needlessly trying to hurt them. And ammo cannot be wasted due to the last issue: the bullet-spongey bosses. There are a grand total of three boss encounters, with the first two being a royal pain below one's back and the third one being full-blown insanity. The first encounter is against a custom class of titan that takes an absurd amount of punishment to go down (there is a risk of ammo depletion for both guns, requiring the player to backtrack to fetch the ammo left behind), the second fight is against a red panzer-slith that has the same issue and the third...

I gave up in terms of beating this legitimately.

There were around 10-11 custom titans at the very end of the level. All bullet sponges to the max. I believe I had to use the allammo code 5 to 6 times in order to blow them apart as I had little luck causing infighting, so I was stuck there circle-strafing and picking off these monstrosities through death by a thousand cuts until they fell. One of them wasn't even mandatory to unlock the exit but I stayed behind and ripped it apart simply out of spite. There just isn't enough ammunition in the final arena to finish this fight legitimately in my opinion. The player must risk an arm and a leg to cause infighting, then hide in either of the two towers present on the arena and pray this is enough.

Visually, the level is an impressive spectacle, marrying skytown-like theme from TiT: Medieval and the starting area of Vodojem with medieval libraries and other areas inspired by Nikola's later works and ShaneChurch aesthetic that brings Unreal Tournament's DM-Gothic to mind. The architecture looks beautiful and fairly detailed, but this time there really isn't a proper sense of place. It's just a generic dungeon that's supposed to be the place of the greatest carnage known to man. And it works in what it has set out to do. As for the sounds, there's next to nothing when the carnage ends and the battle fog falls down - only a joyful music giving the level further arcade vibes. Another thing worth mentioning is that there are next to no bugs present, at least I haven't noticed any. That's always a plus.