Review: The Odyssey

The Odyssey is a very atmospheric little pack. The story started out average, making you a prisoner who had escaped the wreckage of Vortex Rikers to live peacefully among the Nali Race for a while. You then wake up one morning to find the Nali Leader gone… The feeling I got when starting off in the Nali Village in level 1 had that unreal magic too it. All the bird and outdoor sounds fit perfectly, and when the music started up it got even better. As soon as I picked up the CAR rifle, I was thinking "ooooooh yeah!". I did enjoy the RTNP weapons a lot. Nothing beats pelting bad guys with a barrage of bullets mixed with the blast from the 2nd mode of fire. Deadly combo... As I progressed in this level, a storm came in which I felt was a nice touch. There were many caves that were put together very well. At one point, there is a green lit cave with water that reminded me a little of Hellscrag’s water cave built at the end of the 3rd map of Déjà vu, which is a good thing. The map ends with a wicked entrance to a temple. I liked the temple door used from Old_FX.utx. Very nice stuff for level 1...

Level 2 wasn't quite as magical for me at the beginning, but the nice looking holes in the roofs throughout the temples that had rain coming through added a little to the atmosphere. The first part of level 2 got a little repetitive for me, with the same pattern to getting through each room. One door was always locked and you had to figure out how to open it. The tentacles also drove me nuts, being on the roof in groups of 2 or 3 in every room. Level 2 picked up however, once I got to some lava caves and the music changed (I’m not sure which track it was, but I really liked it). The rest of this level was very fun, and I enjoyed a fight with 2 Titans at the end. It was a little easy launching grenades with the RTNP grenade launcher down the stairs and into the arena however.

The start of level 3 had some of the same magic that level 1 had. The music choice was very wise here. There was a cool fight with some pack hunters outside, and a nice big gorge with a bridge going over it. I did find a way to get down to the bottom of the gorge without using the bridge by doing some rock climbing. Don’t worry though, I loaded my game after that and went the proper way. There was some nice usage of the SGTech textures in the end parts of level 3. Some of the rooms were Magnificent. The color choices in this level were superb, especially with the vivid blue sky in contrast with the SGTech colors. One thing that I found odd was that I was suddenly fighting Mercs in a base that had been presumably run by Skaarj until that point. The game even tells you “why am I suddenly fighting Mercs?”. The ending of the 3rd map was a downer for me; right about the time I started swimming in shark-infested waters. I never was a fan of swimming in massive rooms trying to find a tiny door that leads out. I ended up drowning a few times from exploring too much. When I found the final room, a warlord attacked me, and all I had were 10 flak shells, 2 sniper shots, and the Dispersion Pistol. I was on Unreal skill and didn't have any problems with ammunition until this point. I did manage to take down the Warlord with the DP after a few tries, but my final struggle was very long and drawn out, as you would imagine. On a humorous note, if you stand below where the Warlord lands when he falls through the window, he will bounce off your head and fly back up to the skybox where he will get stuck. Anyway, after killing the warlord, I proceeded to see the "to be continued?" ending. I was hoping the map pack would show the lost Nali leader, or at least explain why you were suddenly fighting the Mercs in a Skaarj base. Oh well... Level 3 was enjoyable for the most part.

Overall, this is a great little map pack that I enjoyed playing and would recommend to anyone looking for a little fun. It had its magical moments, and I did enjoy the RTNP weapons. The ending disappointed me, but the rest of the map pack was definitely above average. I look forward to your next work Sarevok.