Review: Xidia Gold

The original review, based on the old review schema:

Let me start off by saying if you haven't played Xida Gold then get your download started now. Xidia Gold is by far the best SP mod I have played to date.The architecture is simply amazing, you'll be in awe gazing at some of the rooms and corridors. No square rooms here, the architecture consists of curves, trims, winding pipes and corridors, a lot of connectivity and contrast. The attention to detail is also top notch, the maps consist of blinking lights, some breakage,cracks, drips, water trinkling, and the sounds to go with it. Most of the maps are set in a hi-tech/sci-fi environment using Richrig, SGtech, and some custom textures. Team Phalanx also added some new stuff to the original Xidia which makes going through it again a new experience. For starters they added a new hud, a tweaked CAR rifle and Spinners from RTNP, the only other significant change I noticed was they changed a boss fight in the Dead Mines. Xidia Gold now spans over 17 maps, 9 maps make up the first episode titled: The Incident (which is the original Xidia) with the other 8 maps making up the second episode titled: The Escape which is a whole a new adventure that ties in to the first episode. In the first episode you play Jones sent in to investigate a power outage only to find out everybody is dead except you. The second episode you play Spencer trying to get off planet Xidia, along the way you meet a strange, mysterious guy named Cray.

The lighting in these maps is simply beatiful, most maps consist of the blue/orange contrast with the occasional white or red lights. While the lighting was great I did find it a little on the dark side, had my brightness at level 10 and still had to use the flashlight, but the dark mood made for good atmosphere. The atmosphere and suspense in Xidia is killer due to the great use of sounds. You'll hear an assortment of screams, growls, drips, and buzzing lights, I found the atmosphere even better in some areas where no music was used just sound effects. Lot of life and actions make up the map, ranging from explosions and earthquakes to enemies bursting out of walls or dropping from the ceilings. Most of the time the enemies get the jump on you, never run into a room of hallway or you'll die quickly. Xidia feels more like a movie than a game at times, there's definitely an Aliens feel to these maps which I enjoyed. Many triggered sequences and cut scenes also helped add to the story and mood, plus voice acting was included. I found the acting decent for some amateur actors, not great by any standards, but it was tolerable unlike ONP. What did feel a little strange was Cray's english accent, didn't seem to fit into the game and he was a little hard to understand. One of my favorite parts about Xidia were the boss fights, they were well balanced, thought out and creative. Another creative feature in Xidia is backtracking through old maps you completed before, now rooms and doors that weren't opened the first time around are now open with new surprises.

Now it's time for the bad. What really frustrated me about Xidia was the difficulty level, I found some parts very frustrating and a bit unfair. Two of the hardest characters in the game are the Praetorian Skaarj and Skaarj Harvester, one fight with the them can wipe you out at full health and armor. I found it unfair and a little cheap to have one jump out in front or behind you, if you weren't prepared you're as good as dead. Some fights were so tough I would save after fighting just one of them, you almost had to play for about 5-10 min. and learn the whereabouts of the enemies, get killed, then fight them over so you were prepared and could pick your best weapon for that situation. I had to of died over 30 times in Xidia and I consider myself a seasoned Unreal veteran, I enjoy a good challenge, but some parts were ridiculous, I probably died over 30 times and that's just on on the medium difficulty setting. Another thing is the poly count can get high, as high as 800 polys in one view, you definitely need a high end rig for Xidia. Lastly time for the nitpicky things, why did you change the weapon numbers, quite annoying. What's up with the zooming in and out when your health is below 20, that gave me a headache. Why couldn't I move while shooting the minigun?, I believe that was intended for weapon balance, but to counter its power you should give out less ammo. Finally as you would expect with any maps of these size there's the occasional BSP hole, texture misalignment, and brush misalignment, nothing major though.

The bottom line is Xidia is in my opinion the best SP mod to date, they set a new standard for quality. What I really enjoyed about the pack besides the high quality is the originality and innovation with their maps, they tried new things and took Unreal to new heights. I would of found this SP mod much more enjoyable if the difficulty would of been balanced more and would of rated it higher.