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Duke Map/Mod of the Month Club - November 2022  "Jason Bredhauer and Jonathon Fowler present..."

User is offline   FistMarine 

#1

What's this thing?
We play through a set of maps/mods during the month, and use this thread to discuss it as we're still all fresh with our comments/opinions/feelings about the maps.

What's the purpose?
Basically, there are 4 purposes:
  • Showcasing some of the older mods/maps to wider public - they definitely deserve the attention!
  • Getting more people to actually enjoy and appreciate the user content - because let's be honest, over the past 26 years this was really what kept Duke alive after all.
  • ...and while we're at it - keeping Duke alive by still enjoying it, as there's no new games in the franchise on the horizon (and let's be honest, they wouldn't be as good as some of this stuff!).
  • Having a more structured discussion on maps than what's going in "Last map you played" thread - which is great, but it's basically a monologue most of the time.

Can I join?

Sure, as long as you find some spare time during the month to play the stuff that's on the table!

Why a month?
Because people have lives, jobs or other stuff to do (like mapping). For smaller maps, this could be shorter time - it's all up to debate in the future!

What port should I use? Are mods allowed? Where to get the maps?
It's entirely up to you how you play the game, so you can use whatever port or mod allowed - it would be cool to state in your posts what you're using too, as there might be some slight differences between the ports! As for the maps, they should be always linked within the first post.

How should I play the maps or post about them?
Again, it's up to you. You can finish them all in one go or play them one by one whenever you feel like. On Doom forums, there's a rule that you should keep the pace by not posting about a map that has a higher number than the day of the month, so e.g. on 6th you shouldn't post about map 7 etc. I think that might be a good practice if there's a large interest in this, but first let's see how active the thread is for a start - so if there's nothing going on, feel free to post about whatever map you want to.

Previous editions:


For this month, JJ Duke Nukem 3D has been chosen! If you aren't familiar with JJDuke, the TC was released in November 1998 and it was made by the two Js: Jason Bredhauer and Jonathon Fowler, the latter whom may sound familiar to you. If yes, it's because he made the JFDuke3D source port after all!

JJ Duke Nukem 3D spans 18 levels across 3 episodes and it is made for Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition v1.5 (though a compatibility option exists for v1.4). The levels themselves are inspired by the original four classic episodes. There are also some minor changes to the damage of certain weapons, the ammo amounts, the pickup messages and even two new enemies included (not spoiling them yet). And finally, the mod even goes a step ahead to include a launcher, three new demos and more!

Don't be disappointed by the earlier levels in terms of length and quality. The main highlight of the pack is the THIRD episode!

Download the original version of the mod at the following links:
Gamers.org
Dukeworld

Just note that the jjd101a.zip is the main package to download (includes all the mod's necessary files), while jj101a-101b.zip and jj101a-101c.zip are the patches. Make sure you read this carefully! The ONLY patch you need to install is the jj101a-101c.zip file, which contains the following maps fixed: JJE1L2, JJE1L3 and JJE2L3. JJE2L3 was the only map fixed in jj101a-101b.zip file and it's included in jj101a-101c.zip file as well. Therefore, all you need to download are these two files: jjd101a.zip and jj101a-101c.zip.

To install the mod, make a copy of your DUKE3D folder (version 1.5), rename it to JJDUKE and paste the contents of the zip files into your JJDUKE directory. The mod even comes with its own demos and launcher. To watch the new demos, delete the old DEMO (.DMO) files from your JJDUKE directory, so the new ones will play. Unfortunately, one or two of them will desync, depending on whether you installed the patches or not. The first demo will always work fine and it ends with the player killing himself with the devastator while fighting a Commander. The second demo desyncs after a while and the player shoots randomly at walls (then the demo ends abruptly with the player kicking walls), while the third (in the unpatched release), the player will get killed by the forcefield (maybe that's when the player realized the forcefield is bugged in the original release?) but with the patch applied, the player gets killed by the aliens at the beginning of the level.

The 5 parts (jjd101_1.zip to jjd101_5.zip) are the original install files that DO NOT WORK on the 64-bit systems, so I couldn't test the installer unfortunately (and still no luck with recovering my data from the dead hard disk just yet!).

If you are playing in a source port, then it is strongly recommended to grab the Addon Compilation Version instead! It comes with the patch installed, files are all regrouped into a single grp file and even contains further fixes.

Have fun!
4

User is offline   NNC 

#2

I still don't understand what's the exact point of the second episode. It starts with a meh space level, then another space level, which was quite decentish, then you would expect the episode is going to be a full fledged space adventure. The third level is also space, but it ends abruptly after like 1 minute? And the fourth level is a boss level back in LA. What were they thinking?
2

#3

View PostFistMarine, on 01 November 2022 - 08:11 AM, said:

The 5 parts (jjd101_1.zip to jjd101_5.zip) are the original install files that DO NOT WORK on the 64-bit systems, so I couldn't test the installer unfortunately (and still no luck with recovering my data from the dead hard disk just yet!).

Is the dead hard disk related to not working with 64-bit?
2

User is online   Quacken 

#4

Duke time! Let's waste no time and get right into it, starting with Episode 1: The Exorcism. I'm not gonna mention the map authors this time around, because they stay consistent: According to the text file, Jonathon Fowler made all of Episode 1, and Jason Bredhauer made all of Episode 2 and 3.

Disturbance

Disturbance is vintage, blocky and some damn honest work. I'm playing on software rendering now so this map's difficulty got increased quite a bit - which is to say, this map is still light on kills and is unlikely to even drop you below 50 health. I only found the Medkit when I was hunting for the last three kills and I can say I didn't even need it. The only thing that will give you trouble in this map is trying to find what happens when you hit the switch in the blue key room. Go to the furthest point you can after hitting it and there will be a new passageway there. I think this map suffers from an overabundance of invisible walls. This map is essentially just a line with very small forks in the road, and Fowler doesn't like you having much fun exploring. You can't make a leap over the caution tape barricade, nor can you head in front of the train or even leap over the rail when the map gives you a clearing for it. The latter two could have easily hid this map's two secrets. Still though, Disturbance makes a good first impression. It's charming, modest and quite fun to romp around in.

7/10.
2

User is offline   FistMarine 

#5

View Postlllllllllllllll, on 01 November 2022 - 07:52 PM, said:

Is the dead hard disk related to not working with 64-bit?

I don't think so. On my previous hard disk, I had Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit installed and I could run certain older applications and install/setup executables out of the box, though not all of them worked that way (some still required using DOSBox). On my current hard disk (which I got when the repair tech shop guy fixed my computer the next day after my computer stopped booting), I use Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, as that tech guy recommended to me to use a 64-bit OS. I'm still hoping to recover my data from that dead hard disk with help of one of my friends, he told me last time that he can try fixing my hard disk and there are big chances to recover my data.

Anyway, when I try to run install.exe (after extracting those 5 zip files mentioned above) on my current 64-bit OS, it gives me the following error:

Quote

The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.

I tried to unpack the files manually (I'm talking about those rar files inside the zip files) with 7-Zip but I'm getting errors about the CRC of files, so maybe the files weren't fully extracted. It appears that the contents of the extracted files are mostly identical to the archive jjd101a.zip. Interestingly, the extracted JJREADME.TXT file (from those 5 zip files) mentions a JJD100.EXE file existing, which is the original installation setup and the initial release of the mod but the file was probably lost in time (googling the file doesn't give any helpful results). Either that or it is actually install.exe (it was probably renamed in 1.01 release to not confuse people or something like that). So, it's best to ignore those 5 files and just use jjd101a.zip and jj101a-101c.zip to play the mod, as I specified in the first post.

On topic: I haven't played JJDuke before and this will be the first time I'm playing the TC. :)
1

User is offline   Forge 

  • Speaker of the Outhouse

#6

View PostFistMarine, on 02 November 2022 - 04:50 AM, said:

I'm still hoping to recover my data from that dead hard disk

all you need is one of these:
SATA to USB Cable - USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter - External Converter for SSD/HDD Data Transfer
(prices vary, but start around $10 usd, if you plan to use it a lot, best to buy one that is both 2.5 & 3.5 with an included external power supply)
Posted Image

This post has been edited by Forge: 02 November 2022 - 08:32 AM

4

User is online   Quacken 

#7

Next map of Episode 1!

Rush Hour

Rush Hour is definitely rough around the edges. Fowler tries a variety of different locations in this Doom Engine lookalike city map but is unable to settle on one, and as a result this map feels empty and directionless. The Shop-N-Bag is a big grey warehouse that doesn't have much to do inside it, and the bath house has an underwater vent system and like eight monsters inside. The cinema and office complex have the most to do inside them, but I think settling on either of these two would have made for a stronger map. Fowler attempts to utilise his 117 monsters to his advantage by throwing bigger groups at you, but you're always getting the jump on them instead of the other way around, and all it takes to win is to throw in a moderately well aimed Pipe Bomb. Rush Hour's barrenness, lack of polish, use of Taking the Death Toll for music and a slumbering pace are not lost on me at all. I think it's really boring to look at, and I think it's also really boring to play.

3.5/10.

This post has been edited by Quacken: 02 November 2022 - 09:10 PM

2

User is offline   LakiSoft 

#8

View PostQuacken, on 02 November 2022 - 09:10 PM, said:

Next map of Episode 1!

Rush Hour

Rush Hour is definitely rough around the edges. Fowler tries a variety of different locations in this Doom Engine lookalike city map but is unable to settle on one, and as a result this map feels empty and directionless. The Shop-N-Bag is a big grey warehouse that doesn't have much to do inside it, and the bath house has an underwater vent system and like eight monsters inside. The cinema and office complex have the most to do inside them, but I think settling on either of these two would have made for a stronger map. Fowler attempts to utilise his 117 monsters to his advantage by throwing bigger groups at you, but you're always getting the jump on them instead of the other way around, and all it takes to win is to throw in a moderately well aimed Pipe Bomb. Rush Hour's barrenness, lack of polish, use of Taking the Death Toll for music and a slumbering pace are not lost on me at all. I think it's really boring to look at, and I think it's also really boring to play.

3.5/10.


Hey @Quacken, since you already completed the second level Rush Hour, could you please help and tell what to do? I am stuck at cinema\theater like place behind the "wall scene" i see there is red keycard switch but i dunno where to find red key card. I went upsides room where is to two toilers and one locked door and still no result? All help would be appreciated, thanks.

I have already completed first level Disturbance, but i will post my thoughts of it after i beat level 2, but i need your help. Thanks.
1

User is offline   Aleks 

#9

View PostLakiSoft, on 03 November 2022 - 08:50 AM, said:

I am stuck at cinema\theater like place behind the "wall scene" i see there is red keycard switch but i dunno where to find red key card. I went upsides room where is to two toilers and one locked door and still no result? All help would be appreciated, thanks.

The red card can be found in the blue keycard building, I think you can open the door to the room that contains it with a switch behind the switch with green battlelord head on it.

Anyway, started playing this and finished 2 first levels. The design is kind of "good in 1996" so far, but the gameplay is really mediocre. Mostly pig cops and troopers to shoot at, for some reason the weapons are buffed making them a lot more powerful and allowing ridiculous amounts of ammo to stack (shotgun can one-shot a pig cop from close to mid range and packs 100 shells) so everything feels like cannon fodder. The first level is plagued with darkness and invisible walls and really just a long outside corridor with some bad guys to shoot along the way. The 2nd one is better with a bunch of puzzles and more locations inside the town, although the navigation is kinda confusing. There's one 4-switch puzzle which is really a 5-switch puzzle, but the last switch is located in a completely different and unrelated location (one of the registers at the supermarket) and if you press it before, you can't normally unlock the combination (has to be off). I liked the turkey puzzle, it's not too often that the targets are used in these older maps and the following room was quite OK with a monster pit being ready to blow with some pipe bombs. The cars on the street look OK as well. The sewer secret place was terrible as flying back out of it was a pain in the ass due to super narrow hole and annoying structure that keeps "dropping" you. There also seems to be a new item that gives you night vision, jetpack, steroids and probably also medkit.

To conclude, not much to write home about so far.

This post has been edited by Aleks: 03 November 2022 - 01:22 PM

2

User is online   Quacken 

#10

View PostLakiSoft, on 03 November 2022 - 08:50 AM, said:

Hey @Quacken, since you already completed the second level Rush Hour, could you please help and tell what to do? I am stuck at cinema\theater like place behind the "wall scene" i see there is red keycard switch but i dunno where to find red key card. I went upsides room where is to two toilers and one locked door and still no result? All help would be appreciated, thanks.

I have already completed first level Disturbance, but i will post my thoughts of it after i beat level 2, but i need your help. Thanks.


To elaborate on what Aleks said, the red key is behind a fake wall, which is the large painting in one of the rooms in the office building. To open up the fake wall it seems like you need to hit the switch that's behind the Battlelord.
2

User is online   Quacken 

#11

We're back with JJ Duke. Next map is:

Backstreets

God, we're really slipping in quality here. Backstreets is a curved line that is neither charming, fun to play or any good to look at. Despite being three maps in, Fowler insists that chucking sixty Troopers and Pig Cops at you and calling it a day is a good idea, and when I've done this formula three times it's become really stale. I didn't realise how much weaker the Pig Cops are like Aleks said until I played this map and one-tapped a Cop up close with the Shotgun. These rooms are small, yet Fowler asks you to look for hidden switches twice to proceed, which ends up making you feel like a total idiot. I'm not even ashamed to state I DNCLIPPED through a bookcase to find the switch that removed a blockade to an emergency tape lift. Backstreets was a dated map before it was even released. It is a complete waste of your time, and you should only complete it unless you want to do it for the sake of completion.

1.5/10.
3

User is offline   Aleks 

#12

Finished the first episode and it doesn't really get much better. As Quacken mentioned, Backstreets is a dark sneaky snake of a level with lots of enemies thrown at you and some really bad design on the streets. I kinda did like the massive fight in the crappy strip club though, as it was funny to destroy all the chairs and enemies. Also Quacken was right, it's not the weapons that are more powerful, but reduced amount of health of the enemies for some stupid reason, which makes them complete pushovers. The 4th level has probably the best slightly less offending design and takes place in some industrial plant, but despite being a 5 minute linear romp, still manages to get confusing at one point. Then the 5th level is a bad reimagination of The Abyss, where we learn that the Battlelord can also be a pushover. All in all, this episode wasn't really worth much attention, but luckily completing all of the 5 maps took maybe 40 minutes or so.
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User is online   Quacken 

#13

Let's finish up Episode 1 of JJ Duke. Can these last two maps salvage my experience? Well...

Industrialization

Well, I was hoping that I would be correct. Industrialization is a concrete box with 43 monsters, looks like nothing at all, and contains literally no weapons other than the Shotgun. If you asked me to describe what Duke 3D for asylum patients was like, then I'd point you squarely to this map. I don't even know what else to tell you! This map is so short, simple and boring that I can just bring up those first three points to give you an indication of what you're up against. We've officially moved out of the "dated but charming" territory to the "dated and incompetent" territory. Don't bother with this map.

1.5/10.

Showdown

This is as much of a "showdown" as Stadium was. Showdown tasks you with trying to survive being ganked by an army of 11 monsters first, and then going down a hole to fight a Battlelord. As soon as you pick up the Duke Super PackTM, head back to the previous room and plug rockets down the corridor. If you angle yourself right, the Battlelord will get stuck, bringing a painful end to a painful first episode.

2/10.
2

User is offline   Aleks 

#14

Started the 2nd episode. The first 2 levels do look better than anything we've seen in the 1st one (although let's be honest, they're very much inspired by Lunar Apocalypse to the point of a bunch of areas/sections looking like just copied and slightly revamped from the original...), but the gameplay is pretty much sticking enforcers/turrets/sentry drones into super tight corridors in a way annoying enough to make the combat suck. The 2nd level is the longest and probably best looking from the pack so far, but suffers horribly due to these issues, and if that's not enough, there's plenty of fires/gas leaks that are bound to hurt a lot while squeezing through some too tiny cracks and vents. Also one room seems to randomly kill/squeeze me and send the body flying into the void of space, I've had it happen 3 times only in this one room while approaching different sectors in it (the room with 2 new beasts where we open the room with Battlelord and acid tanks). Oh, there's also a secret exit that leads nowhere and start off the game from the intro screen. Still, it has some nice ideas and places that look decent, it just doesn't look all too cohesive at all in most places. The progression and interconnections of the layout are definitely the strengths of these 2 levels though and a large step up from the linearity of the entire 1st episode.
2

User is online   Quacken 

#15

Let's start on Episode 2! I'll do these two at a time now because I'm really not expecting these maps to take a lot of time to beat, and they don't really have much substance. Anyway:

Polaris Outpost

Polaris Outpost is a stroll through a series of space locations from better maps in Lunar Apocalypse. The opener rips off E2L6, there's an outdoor chicken wire section like in E2L4, and there's a room with spinning turbines also from E2L4 that's more cramped and much more likely to make you nervous of a fear of being crushed. What this map gives to me as a first impression of Jason Bredhauer is he apparently likes to substitute his own flawed ideas by just copying from Lunar Apocalypse. Bredhauer's combat in this map is a marginal upgrade on Fowler's combat, throwing in dumb pop-up Enforcers and Sentry Drones interspersed with the usual peanut gallery I guess it's not awful, but Polaris Outpost is a really lousy first map that was sorely needed for some original ideas.

3/10.

Solar Flare

Solar Flare is what happens when you take a good idea and just make it a lesser version of what it was originally. I enjoy playing Solar Flare, with its greater attention to detail, use of Gut Wrencher for music, having more kills on average and being the longest map in the set so far, but at the end of the day this is just a worse version of Warp Factor. It's less linear, but there's not really a lot of things to do in each section, and some of them like the dark room with the red key feel like they're just there to waste time. Protector Drones are in this map, but Bredhauer doesn't use their abilities very well, leading to them oftentimes just being bullet sponges. There's even a Battlelord here, but unlike in Warp Factor it's randomly placed in a toxic plant and can be easily taken care of with the Shrinker. There's even a high speed train like in Warp Factor, but the other location you go to just... exists. The location you arrive at is not connected to anything else so it feels very random. This map is also a minefield of gas leaks and fire that will constantly chip at your health, often leading to you picking up health while already being at 97 HP. Solar Flare does a worse job at emulating a great map from Lunar Apocalypse.I should give it a bit of a higher rating, but I'm not going to on the basis of it being wholly unoriginal.

5/10.
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User is offline   Aleks 

#16

Finished the 2nd episode, which didn't take much. The 3rd level, Lunar Eclipse, is a crappy Dark Side "inspired" 3 minutes walk without much going on - it really is over before you know what's going on. I suppose there's some backstory for this level and the whole episode/mod, but this one is as far from selling it as possible. All that matter, in the next map we're back on Earth where Duke's skycar is, as always, crashed by aliens just low enough so he manages to jettison himself from the cockpit and safely land. Anyway, this is by far the best level in the TC so far. There's some sense of urgency as we visit a park with Duke's statue and then a fire station (I have to admit this level probably does a better job at selling this location than Fahrenheit). The combat inside is quite cramped with a lot of pointless auto-close swing doors (that also kinda bug out due to wrong placement of pivot SE I guess), but still probably the funniest so far. Then we fight an unexpected Overlord who spawns on the main street just like that. The fight itself is not challenging at all, but the set up was pretty good actually - we can also visit an optional blue key location for extra missiles/resupply. The boss himself gets stuck on various things, which was expected, but I guess with only arrow movement back in the day it could have felt more claustrophobic with the big guy blocking the way out of the firestation. The level of details is good here, the shadows look nice and it seems a lot more time was spent on designing this one than - probably - the previous 8 levels in this thing.

Let's hope the 3rd episode follows this kind of progress.
3

User is offline   NNC 

#17

Actually yes. E2L4 is where this game really starts.
2

User is online   Quacken 

#18

Let's finish up Episode 2 and get on to Episode 3, where I'm told the good stuff actually shows up. Let's go:

Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse is short, pointless and much more tedious than it needs to be. Do you want to awkwardly shoot down 32 monsters in steel corridors and segments copied from E2L7 and E2L8? Now do you want to do most of that with a Pistol and no ammo for it, as well as a Shrinker? Do you also want to stare at a Battlelord locked up like a zoo animal that's also impossible to kill? This map is silly. Don't play it.

1.5/10.

Back in a Hurry

Well shoot me in the back of the head and call me Harry, because Back in a Hurry is the first map since E1L1 that has had actual effort put into it. Back in a Hurry is short, focused and fun. I have to agree with Aleks that this map does a way better job of representing what a fire station would actually look like than Fahrenheit, but everything is still a little too dark and boxy for me. The pinup model in the crew quarters and the bar in the rec room give this place an unexpected amount of character. The combat is still pretty standard, but I do appreciate Bredhauer is willing to use Commanders against you now, and the Overlord blocking your way outside the fire station actually killed me from being trampled to death. Of course, I got him next time. Circle strafe around the big frog's rockets and clog his throat with your own explosives. Back in a Hurry is an unexpected success in a weary world. It's creative, fun and fast-paced, making it a clear standout of the set.

8/10.
2

User is offline   Aleks 

#19

View PostQuacken, on 08 November 2022 - 01:59 AM, said:

Do you also want to stare at a Battlelord locked up like a zoo animal that's also impossible to kill?

It's possible to kill it using explosives when you're not pistol-starting :P

Anyway, played some maps from E3. They're much longer, so I guess they deserve proper individual paragraphs.

Home Sweet Home is a Duke-Burger wannabe level, which does a proper job, but doesn't seem overwhelmingly original. However, there's a bowling alley (something Dan asked about on Discord few days ago - it's a pretty good bowling alley, too), which is more creative than the restaurant itself. Despite being heavily based on E4L2, the restaurant is kinda monotonic, which makes the navigation around it crappy. Also there's a lot of going back and forth between the restaurant and bowling alley involved when collecting the keycards. One of the secret places requires using a new beast to shrink you. There's also the secret exit in another secret place, so make sure you don't miss it, as it leads to...

Adult Entertainment - as you can expect, this is the 7495th re-imagination of XXX Stacy, doing a very good job at it as well, with more originality and creativity around. To be honest, I think I liked this level the most so far from all of the 3 episodes. I don't know if it's using the version that came with Addon Compilation, some censorship issue or just the authors missing all the art files, but there's been a lot of HOM stuff which I can only guess were some porn posters. There's again quite much going back and forth, and same as with previous level, this is only merely annoying as the way is always pretty clear.

Mob Mentality is dark as all hell, which is both good and bad. Combat and navigation, especially just after reaching the main street, are quite hurt due to this, but then it also gives the map quite unique aesthetics, at least compared to the original levels. There's a bunch of classic locations and quite a huge gap between the ones that are well-designed and others with ordinary 1996 user map look. A lot of the stuff in this map and the episode in general seems pretty rushed, like there's missing lightswitch SEs leaving ugly dark spots at the ceilings/floors or misaligned/lazy textures. The map plays fine though, and at least doesn't suffer that much from the narrow corridors problem that plagues the more indoor-oriented levels.

Hollywood Carnage, an obvious nod to you know which level, just without any charm involving its title, starts off in sewers - and for about a half of the level, you might think that Hollywood is really all about them. There's some clever stuff, especially the layout seems to be nicely thought-out. The street part is a mixed bag - the cinema is pretty OK, but the demolition site seems blocky and lazy. There's also a random post office box on the street that for some reason expands all the way up to the sky. The combat is good - the darkness outside once again makes it a bit more challenging, especially with the first commander. There's also some tanks in super tight areas towards the end. This map has 7 secret places, probably the most so far in the episode, but they all seemed to be quite logical to find.

This post has been edited by Aleks: 08 November 2022 - 09:22 AM

2

User is offline   LakiSoft 

#20

View PostQuacken, on 03 November 2022 - 04:39 PM, said:

To elaborate on what Aleks said, the red key is behind a fake wall, which is the large painting in one of the rooms in the office building. To open up the fake wall it seems like you need to hit the switch that's behind the Battlelord.


@Aleks and @Quacken, thanks for the tip guys.

While i did already found myself that switch behind Battlelord's face, i didn't know it actually unlocks that Potrayt\Painting which contains red keycard. I originally thought instead that what it does is opening that second room in cinema (the one that contains red key switch behind the curtain)

Again thanks, without you guys i would probably be forced to cheat, but thanks to your help i have completed this level fair and square. :D

Now my thoughts of first two levels of JJ Duke's Episode 1.

Disturbance

This is solid first introduction level to this thing. It's not overdetailed, but it has enough details to be considered a "classic" In my view. Sure, it do look like "cheap" copy of some 3D Realms levels and it more resembles the quality of 1996 User maps, but then again i liked it just that way. To be honest, even nowadays, my own mapping skills are probably around the maximum at the quality of this level can offer. So yeah it reminded i should go back to mapping again. :D

JJ Duke Episode 1 Level 1 - Disturbance Gameplay video: https://files.fm/f/5g78wn6b2


Rush Hour

*Insert Jackie Chan reference here :D *

Despite of sharing same name of that Chan's movie franchise, the level went so slowly to me. I got confused at many times (one of stuff i already explained and asked for help already, you guys did help, so thanks again) I think some important items (like that red keycard to mention again) shouldn't be scattered around invisible walls, fake walls and secret places. The quality of overall architecture of level was solid enough. It's okay map, just if excluded all the confusing mess, it would be even more fun and great stuff to check out from time to the time. :)

JJ Duke Episode 2 Level 2 - Rush Hour GamePlay video: https://files.fm/f/qru5xju3b
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User is online   Quacken 

#21

We're on Episode 3 now! What will Jason Bredhauer provide for us in L.A. Carnage?

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home is an E4L2 ripoff that is simultaneously more cramped in some areas, and weird and open in others. Overall it's just a pretty average opener. The 123 monsters in this map never really pose much of a threat as you can get an early Shotgun and Chaingun to mow most of them down, and if you do some sleuthing you'll also be able to get an RPG to blow up the Commanders. Once you get the RPG, it's four more minutes of time you have to waste before you're done. The bowling alley is pretty cool from an aesthetics standpoint, but it's also really dark, boxy and just not that much fun to run around in. Home Sweet Home is better than mostly anything you'll find in Episodes 1 and 2, but it is wholly unimpressive otherwise.

4/10.

Mob Mentality

Mob Mentality is dark as all hell, but it still manages to be one of the better maps in this set so far. The outdoor scramble in the streets would be a lot more fun if I could actually see what I was doing and didn't need Night Vision to see the hitscanners firing at my head, which Bredhauer hid behind a random speaker. A lot of locations in this map feel very Duke adjacent, but they feel very slapdash. There's an E3L6 revolving door that leads to a pornographic book store and a private theater, which is... sure. The 3D Realms building also reminds me a lot of something I'd see in E3L5. It plays pretty well for the most part at least. I didn't have a good spot to mention them in Home Sweet Home's review, but a Proto Pig Cop Tank shows up in this map like they do in the end of the previous one. They... exist? They're essentially just really big melee units that are slow and don't have enough health. Not very threatening at the moment... while Mob Mentality isn't a very coherent map at all, its greater emphasis on tight setpieces and challenging moment to moment action make it pretty okay.

6/10.
2

User is offline   NNC 

#22

I think the secret level is my favourite one in this episode. Yes, XXX Stacy remake, but probably the best of all. I have fond memories of that map, just like of E2L4. Mob Mentality is also a pretty nice one (although it looks amateurish at places). It has the classic Hollywood Holocaust feel that was pretty rare back then.
3

User is offline   Aleks 

#23

Two more levels finished.

Motel Mayhem is, well, definitely inspired by Hotel Hell. It's a decent city map with quite a lot to explore. One thing that's kinda annoying and seems to be a pattern in all of Bredhauer's maps is going literally back and forth between one keycard/keylock to another, and this one isn't any different in this aspect. There's more hotel rooms than in the original, which is definitely a good addition. The combat seems mostly good, the level is probably the most challenging in the mod yet (btw, no idea if it's just a feeling or did they modify something, but the enforcer's attacks seem to take away a lot more health than usually - or maybe it's just the abundance of this particular enemies in the 3rd episode levels).

Nightmare Junction comes next and it was probably the best level yet, despite being quite restricted due to taking place in a subway for the most part. Despite being completely dark, the tunnels are smoother to traverse than in Rabi Transit and generally the level feels more complete than its original counterpart. The problem with going back and forth is probably even more prominent, as it's going between the stations really. There's also a keycard hidden inside a trash can, so it might be a bit unintuitive for some players. There's one particularly cool fight on a two-storey parking lot with tanks and commanders (and bugged SOS that looks funny). The dark atmosphere fits to the level (and there's Gotham playing!), the navigation is well-thought as different stations/areas usually use different palettes for the tiles on their walls. There's more than 100 enemies, but the level goes quite smooth and doesn't drag at all, which I imagine is quite difficult to get right with this theme.

This post has been edited by Aleks: 11 November 2022 - 06:25 AM

3

User is online   Quacken 

#24

What do you get when you cross a tired me with a map set I don't like? You get someone who was pretty bored while playing these maps.

Hollywood Carnage

I gotta say, for a map that claims to be set in Hollywood, it sure was very topical of Jason Bredhauer to set half of this map in a disgusting sewer, and the other half in a cinema that's too over-sized, blatantly steals from Hollywood Holocaust's cinema signage, and isn't even half as fun to walk around in as that map's cinema. Jokes aside, Hollywood Carnage is a boring slog through some admittedly detailed setpieces. The cinema is the best part of this map by far, but a lot of areas like the bathrooms and the Tit Raider screening don't really do much except to hide kills and maybe some ammo. You're hardly rewarded for coming to these locations, which makes them feel really unnecessary. The sewers are cramped, stupid and too dark, and even the Battlelord that tries to defend the cinema entrance once you find the yellow key is easily stuck behind a signpost. Hollywood Carnage is another extremely average map in Bredhauer's lineup, and my patience with him grew thin at the start of Episode 3.

4.5/10.

Motel Mayhem

Another map, another ripped off concept that's taken way too far. You think Jason Bredhauer ever stopped and realised why there weren't that many rooms in Hotel Hell? Motel Mayhem is an over-scaled and under-populated wasteland that looks pretty good, but gets squandered by its non-existent fights. Motel Mayhem is even larger than Hotel Hell was, which is ironic in the fact that a motel is meant to be a smaller version of a hotel, and also annoying in the fact that it pisses me off. There are just too many locations in this map, there's a kitchen, a pool area that uses the exact same textures as the one in E3L8, about eight rooms and a laundry chute. This would be great if these areas actually connected well and played decently, but they just aren't. They're all on the same height level, and they're all strangely dark for what they're trying to be. The open nature of this map often means that Enforcers and Troopers get lost in the halls once they teleport in, and the Sharks have their tails poking out of their enclosure. How was that mistake not noticed? And god, Lord of L.A. really grates on your ears after twelve minutes. The fact this map ends with you hitting a switch in a toilet cubicle is the perfect analogy for this map. It's simultaneously dreadfully boring and overwhelming at the same time, has no fights to speak of, and is generally just not a fun map to play. This is fifteen minutes of my life I'm not getting back.

2/10.
2

User is offline   Aleks 

#25

View PostQuacken, on 12 November 2022 - 04:44 AM, said:

And god, Lord of L.A. really grates on your ears after twelve minutes.

Oh, personally I could listen to this one over and over again :D

Anyway, finished the episode, here are the comments about the last 3 maps:

Shop-N-Die, despite the title sounding very similar to Shop-N-Bag, is nothing like it. It's safe to say this was probably my favourite level of the pack, despite one really annoying bit in the progression, but we'll get to that later. The map takes place in a mall that gradually opens up as you input keycards, complete with 2 storey-parking. There's various shops, from bookstore through bank outlet, casual grocery market, RTV shop, post office to a sushi place. The place is dark and looks kinda like you're breaking there during the nighttime, also because of how the storefronts are closed at first. The grocery market does look kinda like E4L3, but it's only a small part of the map, all the other shops are quite original and creative, RTV one mostly, but I also really liked the sushi joint. The combat is neat, maybe not too challenging - there don't seem to be any pig cops, but the place is crawing with enforcers and commanders hiding in the dark and waiting to blast you, there's also quite a number of protector drones. Now for the negatives - finding the blue keycard is completely unintuitional due to how the level progresses, you start with a yellow key which unlocks a large part of the mall (including the part with blue key door), there's a number of shops to visit, but blue key is nowhere to be found - turns out you have to get back to the vents where you initially went for yellow key, because some other corridor there opens. Ah well, other than that, the map plays smoothly, the secrets distribution is creative and not too cryptic and the design looks good.

Rumble in the Tunnel doesn't take place all that much inside a tunnel - there's a police station loosely based on Pigsty and only later do we enter the sewers, once again. The design here is probably most detailed and creative in the whole pack, especially stuff like half-afloat van in the sewers or the room with 2 protector drones and flashing lights work well. There's also a neat battlelord encounter because of how aggressive it can get. On the other hand, this map is even more walking back and forth than usual, often without much combat going on in the meantime. Police station is quite cramped and narrow, perfect to clear with the shotgun (especially considering how fast the pig cops/enforcers can die here). It's a decentish level, but gets a bit tedious after a while.

Duke vs Badass is the final level that takes place at a stadium, obviously. It's much more detailed, with proper stands and a locker room, than the original Stadium, it's also a design very similar to one I've already seen in a couple of different maps/mods, but perhaps this one was first. Besides the Cycloid, there's a whole army of commanders and troopers/captains waiting with him, led by a small Battlelord. This makes the fight quite fun and pretty challenging, not really because of the Battlelord, but by all the flying enemies getting in your way and blocking your rockets. The best way to complete this one for me was to first clear all the small stuff, then the Battlelord and finally the boss, there's an abundance of jetpacks to use, so it shouldn't be a problem. The level nicely closes the 3rd episode of the mod, which was definitely the highlight for me.

Final conclusion: If the whole mod was like the final episode, it would have been much better. The authors should have really concentrated in making less levels, but of higher quality - instead we got a bunch of half-assed levels, then a huge increase in quality, but less creativity/originality, also it's sad to say, but even the 3rd episode is full of bugs and glitches that would be easy to fix by some simple beta-tests.

This post has been edited by Aleks: 12 November 2022 - 09:29 AM

2

User is offline   NNC 

#26

Well, maybe my memories of this set are somewhat filtered by nostalgia glasses. Back then when I played this, I was impressed by the SW ambient sounds, the overall urban darkness in the levels, and generally it was one of my earlier decent levelpacks. I haven't replayed anything during this stint of the thread, so all my comments are coming from the sheer nostalgia. But IIRC even from memory, the levels that remained with me were E2L4 (the fire station level), E3 secret, Mob Mentality (that Hollywood Holocaust type level) and Nightmare Junction. These four should have been formed into a small episode, and that's it.
2

User is online   Quacken 

#27

I'm back to Duke again, but this time it's the early afternoon and I'm refreshed. Let's go:

Nightmare Junction

Nightmare Junction is an unexpected success story. While it's clearly just a riff on Rabid Transit, there's actually enough here to make this map feel distinct from E3L6 to make it feel like an inspiration and not like a blatant copy. It's definitely more involved than that map for sure. Bredhauer's map is surprisingly fun to navigate and explore as opposed to Motel Mayhem, with there being plenty of height variation, lighting variation and much more monster variety. There is still an issue of areas just existing and not really providing anything of reward, but at least they look sharp and contain plenty of flesh in small spaces for you to blow up with Pipe Bombs. The combat is pretty meek otherwise even despite nearly having double as many monsters as E3L6. Even with more Pig Cop Tanks and Protector Drones, you have plenty of cover and Chaingun ammo to skirt past every fight without taking too much damage. Nightmare Junction is concise, streamlined, and fun to navigate and look at. It's a pretty solid map!

7.5/10.

Shop-N-Die

Shop-N-Die is a pretty bland map. The darkness in this map feels very mute and not very well tuned unlike Nightmare Junction, and Bredhauer doesn't really bother with shading all that much. A lot of the locations in this map feel very outplace for a shopping mall. A grocery store, sushi restaurant and a technology centre all make sense, but I've never seen a post office or a tax office in a mall before, and I've also never seen a shopping mall that has more underground parking than places to spend your money at. This map is flat, overly spacious and boxy, and its progression can get quite cryptic. I wouldn't be able to tell you how to get to the blue key if I tried. You get to it from the backroom behind the sushi restaurant, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get under one of the entrances without just DNCLIPPING through it. The combat in this map is a small step above Nightmare Junction, but I wouldn't call it difficult by any stretch. Enforcers are everywhere in this map, and I would have actually preferred for their health to be reduced as they get really irritating. It seems like Bredhauer decides on a whim whether he wants to spam Pig Cops or Enforcers for the map he's working on. Shop-N-Die is definitely not the worst map in Episode 3, but I think it's not that much fun to play. With greater attention to lighting and height variation, we could have had another winner here.

6/10.
2

User is online   Quacken 

#28

My goodness, we're already at my last post! Let's see if we can end out strong.

Rumble in The Tunnel

Rumble in The Tunnel is inoffensive and actually pretty fun. Although being half comprised of an uninspired Pigsty knockoff and the other half being another sewer, it's by no means an assault on my senses like Motel Mayhem was. Rumble in The Tunnel doesn't really excel at one particular thing, rather it does enough things pretty decently for me to not actively dislike it. It can occasionally get really dark though which drags down whole sections, such as the second tunnel and its accompanying underwater section, and I think the whole police station feels pretty confusing and easy to get lost in. I reckon it should have just been cut altogether to focus on the abandoned tunnels. Bredhauer's combat continues to be the same charade of 100 HP hitscanners, but I appreciate he's much more willing to use other monsters such as Octabrains, Commanders, Tanks and even a really easy Battlelord to kill. Rumble in The Tunnel is decent, simple fun that managed to keep me entertained for its entire run time, which I think is an accomplishment for this map set.

6.5/10.

Duke VS Badass

Well, it's sure better than Stadium. JJ Duke's victory lap pits you against your old friend the Cycloid Emperor and his band of misfits. You get a Shrinker in this map, so immediately rush the Battlelord, stomp it out with the Shrinker, and then run circles around Cyclie until his rocket burst attack kills everything else for you. Once you've hit 24 kills, take out the Devastator and finish the job. Not much else to say here.

5/10.

Adult Entertainment

Much like Rumble in The Tunnel, Adult Entertainment is another map that's decent, but isn't really anything more to say about. The progression can get quite a bit confusing as you need to run around a recording studio constantly retracing your steps, and there's two points where you really have to use your eyes. There's a breakable door that will get you outside the bar, and you'll need to peek through a wall of boxes to find some conveniently placed fire hydrants. Bredhauer takes some cheap shots on you with Commanders around corners, which is always a mean trick when it happens, but apart from that this map is pretty easy and tends to blend together a lot. I don't dislike Adult Entertainment, but I'm not going to recommend it to you.

5.5/10.

Closing Thoughts

So: JJ Duke 3D is the most uninspired map set I have ever played. While Jonathon Fowler and Jason Bredhauer's maps are often quite decent or at the very least inoffensive, I feel that there's a palpable sag in both the energy of myself, and the soul of this map set whenever I sat down to play it. It's definitely better than something like The Lost Duke Episodes, but I would argue TLDE had a lot more passion and soul behind it, between its unique concepts and custom music. Fowler and Bredhauer attempted to supplement their own mapping inexperience by trying to copy from Allen Blum and Levelord, and it is almost frustratingly obvious that that's the case. Whole sections of these maps are nearly copy-pasted from maps in Lunar Apocalypse, Shrapnel City and The Birth, the ones that only copied themes don't do anything to justify their existence such as with new twists on the formula or adding a greater challenge, and even some original sections like sewer entrances sometimes get copy-pasted within their own maps! The number one thing I can't accept when reviewing something is when something is just blatant plagiarism instead of simply being inspired. JJ Duke 3D is a perfectly decent expansion on themes in commercial Duke 3D at best, and miserable and depressing at worst. My final rating for JJ Duke 3D is a 4/10.

This post has been edited by Quacken: 14 November 2022 - 02:19 AM

2

User is offline   LakiSoft 

#29

Done JJ Duke's Exorcism's Level 3 - Backsteets.

BackStreets

I would agree with everyone else that is suckiest level in entire JJ Duke mappack. Most annoying things is how much i wasted time to find hidden switch that spawn blue keycard out of nowhere, while at later part i wasted even more time at what i actually supposed to do that adult shop room. Only funny thing of this level was that author's joke "Jason has no balls XD" at the adult store. While most detailed part of was that club (which @Aleks already mentioned it is crappy but it's best part of such a sucky level) And when i eventually backtracked and found that mini inside room unlocked which contained the switch that opened last room's door, and when i reached there, i originally thought it was dead end and that level is unfinished. No matter how i felt down in that fucking urban "abyss" i would call it, due being deep as fuck, i didn't noticed (due the way how it's placed, but then again maybe it's just me being dumb) there was an part of "abyss" street that was actually bigger height than the actual "abyss" part. I somehow finally manged to jump in there and then found my way to some kind of sewers which ended the level. Man, i really appreciate the effort of author Fowler, but this level is indeed suckiest thing i ever played in entire duke3d user map history. i mean everything could be fine and tolerable, but abyss in street? WTF was that shit anyway? :blink: <_< :rolleyes: :)

Hope remaining levels would be not so boring. :P

JJ Duke Episode 1 Level 3 Backstreets Gameplay video: https://files.fm/f/5pgmysbhc
1

User is offline   FistMarine 

#30

Hey everyone! Thanks for the participation this month and sorry for my absence. I've been very busy with various things (my birthday is also coming in about a week) and I just got to play JJDuke earlier this week. I've finished E1 and E2 recently and this post will only cover these two episodes for now, as they are pretty short.

To respond a few comments:

@Forge: Thanks for the suggestion! I will see what I can do these days, as it looks like the situation is worse than I thought and I don't even know if I can get to recover my data after all. I will be sure to buy the Cable and try this method, before sending my hard disk to a professional tech repair shop. If my friend doesn't manage to recover the data until the end of the year.

@The Watchtower: Don't worry for not revisiting the mod for the club, I hope my screenshots will be enough to refresh your memory regarding how these levels looked. :)

@LakiSoft: Nice videos my friend!

And as both Aleks and Quacken noticed, some enemies are dying quicker. In reality, the pistol is slightly stronger (and in turn the mighty foot is slightly weaker?) and most enemies were made slightly weaker (pig cops have now 75 hp for example). The pistol is certainly much stronger than before and I don't think pig cops do more damage than usual but the enforcers and mini battlelords definitely do more damage than usual (9 damage instead of 5). So be careful when fighting them in E2 and E3! Not to mention, the bosses are slightly weaker too. Battlelord has 3000 hp, Overlord has 3500 hp and Cycloid has 4000 hp. In original Duke3D, they all have 4500 hp each.

Oh and yes, I forgot to mention (I didn't know until I started playing the mod), there is a new Super Duke Pack item. It gives Health, Armor, Steroids, Jetpack and Night Vision Goggles. It's usually found inside secrets (so far I only found it in the levels from first episode and last E2 map, probably appears again in E3), so be sure to explore!

Also from what Aleks said, it appears that the Addon Compilation version had missing art files. NightFright must have fixed this in the meantime (alongside including some missing sounds). Sorry to hear that the addon compilation version had missing content!

Anyway, I have played the mod in Duke3D v1.5 in DOSBox 0.74-3 (with the 101c patch installed, which contains all 3 patched maps), on CGS skill, while going for all kills and secrets.

Before I begin the review, here are a couple screenshots to represent the mod:
Attached Image: JJDUKE_1.pngAttached Image: JJDUKE_2.png
Attached Image: JJDUKE_3.pngAttached Image: JJDUKE_4.png

As you can see, there's a new intro with the authors' names, a new logo (replacing the ATOMIC logo), 3 new demos (JJE3L6, JJE1L1, JJE2L3), new item and enemy (the second enemy I mentioned isn't really an enemy, while the other appears exclusively in E3), new art, new messages (secret place, mighty foot) and other stuff. The mod seems pretty promising with the features. What about the levels? It's time to review them, though since I don't like repeating what others have said, I will be short and mostly point out secret areas and stuff like that.

THE EXORCISM

Disturbance

An interesting opener that sets the mood for the episode, which is quite L.A. Meltdown inspired. You will fight mostly troopers and pig cops. I thought the map was ok overall but also a bit dark at times. Yeah I know, I keep forgetting to bump up the brightness but I also want to see how it feels to play on the default settings. :P

It's not difficult and indeed I never fell below 55% health. Enemies aren't difficult to kill and with the stronger pistol, you can mow down groups of troopers and even pig cops without much effort. As for other points of interest and secret areas, there's quite a few hidden items that are required to get the secrets.

First, there is a hidden RPG (go upstairs in the dark room inside the first building, then open up the small window) which is required for the first secret area where there is a crack surrounded by trees. It is difficult to spot and not sure how to describe but this secret holds a few goodies.

Second, there is a hidden jetpack behind a pole, near where you would find the Atomic Health (the only one in the level) in the parking lot. Then use it to fly through the windows (near the arrows sign). The secret contains the Super Duke Pack.

I couldn't figure out how to access the other side of the train that had medkits in it but it's not that big of a deal, since there was enough health in this level and I finished with 150 health (and full armor). I assumed that this is where you would start the next level but turns out, next level starts outside of train.

Overall, pretty decent opener.
Attached Image: JJE1L1_3.pngAttached Image: JJE1L1_4.png

Rush Hour

I found Laki's reference to the Rush Hour movie funny, because that said movie actually showed up on my TV not too long ago. :P

Anyway, I thought this was an interesting level overall. It has a few inspirations behind it (most notably the Shop-N-Bag, the pirates from Babe Land, the cinema from Hollywood Holocaust and the sewer section from Red Light District).

Don't forget to find the hidden switch behind the Battlelord monitor. You can also find a few other small switches hidden behind a desk and similar places, so keep your eyes open for these sneaky switches. :)

There is the shooting gallery from Babe Land that is required to open a door inside the cinema. I think the solution was the first and last target. You are given two pistols for this and with the increased ammo capacity, you shouldn't worry about running out of ammo.

There are four secrets to find:
-Inside the shopping store, near the aquarium, you can find two shopping carts and two trash containers. Jump through the fake wall to collect an Atomic Health.
-In the center of the map, blow up the hole to access the sewers. There is a Super Duke Pack, as well as a trooper and octabrain.
-Inside the cinema, go through the curtains on the right side to collect Armor and NVG
-In the back of the room with the pirates, use the jetpack to collect shotgun ammo and chaingun ammo.

I don't really have much else to say about the level. It was ok.
Attached Image: JJE1L2_2.pngAttached Image: JJE1L2_6.png

Backstreets

The level was dark and kinda forgettable, to be honest, though I liked some areas like the strip club that had a dozen of strippers and there were enemies hidden behind chairs ready to ambush you. I also recognized a few areas before, despite not playing JJDuke before. And the same was true for some levels from 1999 TC. It appears that the unfinished Duke's Revenge TC (from 2002, I think) stole some parts of maps from both 1999 TC and JJDuke. At least that's the impression I got.

Anyway, when comes to the map, it seems dark at times and there's a few hidden switches that can be annoying. For instance, there is one I just happened to find by accident, which was hidden behind the broken mirror. The second screenshot should help expose its location, so other players don't need to cheat if they get stuck. That said switch opens a locked door in the entrance of the building, which holds a switch that opens a bookcase in the bookstore, which contains another switch that will lower that barricade in front of the elevator.

Then after taking out the pig cops and collecting an atomic health, you must do a long jump (or use the jetpack if you've found it in previous levels or picked up the Super Duke Pack item) to reach the building, which contains another jetpack. Then drop down in the sewers to reach the exit.

Before doing all that, make sure to collect everything (a hidden atomic health is found inside fire near beginning of level). Once again there's four secrets to find:
-At the very beginning, jump through the window in front of you to collect Armor and two pistol clips.
-At the next intersection, near the club, look for some hidden stairs. Jump on them, then jump at the window in left. You will access Chaingun, Armor and even some hidden Steroids behind the TV.
-Before entering Dukai Sushi, jump on that ledge and then through one of the windows to access a few extra monsters, a captured babe and a few supplies.
-After exiting Dukai Sushi, use the jetpack to collect a Super Duke Pack.

What about the next level?
Attached Image: JJE1L3_2.pngAttached Image: JJE1L3_3.png

Industrialisation (aka Industrialization)

Another somewhat forgettable map, this one takes place in a factory. It is shorter and provides a minimal challenge. I don't think there is much to describe about this level, so instead let's talk about the two secrets you can find (as well as a hidden non-secret atomic health)

-Near the beginning, use the jetpack to reach and collect Portable Medkit.
-In the control room (with troopers and pig cops, as well as a switch and monitor), press on the Whiteboard to reveal Super Duke Pack.

Bonus: There is a hidden atomic health. It is located below one of those crushers (near where you need to use keycards to unlock doors). Be careful when grabbing it!

A small tip: when you reach the helicopter at end, you will see two pig cops standing on an ending sector. You probably end up touching the sector by accident and finish the level before killing them. It is recommended to save and try killing them quickly with your shotgun. If they run towards you, you can probably just toss a pipebomb and take them out. This also makes their encounter pointless because they might as well not even exist. They should have been encountered BEFORE reaching the ending sector!

If this level disappointed you, then hopefully the finale doesn't disappoint!
Attached Image: JJE1L4_3.pngAttached Image: JJE1L4_5.png

Show Down (aka Showdown)

Well, that was shorter than expected. Kill the troopers and pig cops in the starting area, grab the RPG + ammo and drop down. Grab the supplies and prepare for the Battlelord boss! You don't need to fight him on his own room (which contains TWO armor pickups and even a Super Duke Pack), you can backtrack to the previous room and fight him behind the door. He won't be able to fit through, so you can kill him with ease by just standing and unloading RPG on him. And since the boss has lowered health, your RPG should put him down after about 20-25 rockets.

Overall, this wasn't anything special and E1 overall was somewhat short and slightly disappointing at times. It starts promising and declines in quality as you progress. The maps weren't necessary bad but they were somewhat short and a bit underdetailed compared to what you can find in the original Duke3D. I didn't mind playing the maps, they are nice old school styled design and far better than the typical mod quality released in the 90s. But by today's standards, they don't match up the quality. Let's move on to Episode 2!
Attached Image: JJE1L5_1.pngAttached Image: JJE1L5_2.png

THE INVASION

Polaris Outpost

This is an interesting somewhat short opener that is basically the authors' answer to Spaceport with a couple copy-pasted ideas from other Duke3D levels, most notably E2L3, E2L4 and E2L6.

You will notice that the enforcers deal more damage this time around, so this makes them bastards that can really put you in trouble. When you first start, after clearing the first few troopers and the first two enforcers, you might want to look up for the only armor pickup AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! It is located on one of the elevator paths you (each leads to an enforcer but only one of the paths contain the armor). So if you first took the other side like I did, then be sure to check the other side as well to get the armor.

After that, you will need to solve a few puzzles and to be careful to not get crushed by those turbines (inspired by those from E2L4, except much smaller).

When getting to the vents near the end, BE SURE TO COLLECT EVERYTHING as you can no longer backtrack once you get the bathroom! The vent is too narrow to go back. I was lucky to have backup saves because I forgot to blow up the crack for third secret and I could no longer go back. No, I won't use the noclip cheat for a reason as trivial as this, especially since I save often. I prefer to not cheat at all.

Anyway, once you are ready, kick the slimers in vent, kill the aliens in the bathroom, grab the NVG near the mirror, then prepare to drop down (the second point of no return) where you fight the Octabrain and exit the level.

Secrets:
-Near the supplies room, where you fight a bunch of troopers, press on one of the panels to reveal a Portable Medkit.
-Near where you need to insert the yellow card, press on the different looking panel to reveal RPG + ammo.
-Near the vent at end, look up for hidden pipebombs behind the crates. Blow up the crack to reveal a slimer, RPG ammo and Devastator!

Overall, I thought the level was ok.
Attached Image: JJE2L1_2.pngAttached Image: JJE2L1_3.png

Solar Flare

Another interesting map and probably the biggest space level of the pack. There are various interesting things about this level and it's even harder than the rest. I actually died 3 times in it. First two times because in the area with the pistons, you only need to check the middle one (contains yellow card and you can jump out of it). I tried to see what was behind the other two (chaingun ammo and atomic health) and once I grabbed the said item, I couldn't jump back and was promptly squished. And my third death was from the Mini Battlelord, which was a real bastard. His chaingun shredded me to bits, despite having about 130 health. And yeah the screen shake effect you encounter in various Duke3D mods is back. When your health gets lower than 25%, then the screen will shake upon getting hit.

Anyway, the level is fairly generous with resources to make up for increased difficulty. You will come across two portable medkits, three armor pickups, a bunch of atomic healths and the usual health pickups are plentiful in the level, though as Quacken said, some health packs will get wasted upon going through the vents. You will take damage from fire and steam that will cause you to accidentally grab health at 97-99 health, which is annoying.

Most enemies you encounter are the usual E2 enemies but you also get to encounter ONE pig cop (maybe placed by mistake?) and a couple protector drones later in the map. It's fine to encounter some protectors but feels a bit strange because if the episode was trying to recapture the original E2 feeling, then the authors didn't get the enemy placement quite right. Which is strange because in E1, they only used the "shareware" content.

There is a secret nuke button in this level (mentioned by Aleks, see below for secret areas location) but unfortunately, due to E2 being unfinished, it causes game to exit upon trying to load an UNDEFINED map. And it's not only that but there is some really interesting trivia about E2, which I will post later at end of E2 review. The said secret nuke button is found inside a secret place, which reminds me, there are five secrets to find:

-In the broken room (with lots of fire and steam), blow up the crack to reveal Devastator + ammo.
-Near the first secret, jump through the broken computers to grab pipebombs
-Inside the big vents, at one point after progressing through the map, a RPG will be revealed in a compartment
-In the dark red room with the protector drones and a switch puzzle, jump through the nearby monitor to collect freezer ammo. Go further to collect two atomic healths in front of the SECRET NUKE BUTTON! Unfortunately, there is no secret level in this episode, so using this exit causes game to exit because the map isn't found. Just use the normal exit to progress through the map.
-In the following room after using the blue card, jump through the sign to collect Armor and Laser Trip Bomb.

Overall, it was okay. But then the next level...
Attached Image: JJE2L2_4.pngAttached Image: JJE2L2_7.png

Lunar Eclipse

Why? This level is shorter than it should have been. It really seems like the authors have run out of ideas at this point (or they were trying to finish E2 the latest). The map will probably take you 5 minutes to complete. Most enemies you encounter are troopers, enforcers, sentry drones and one Mini Battlelord at very end.

The level seems to be inspired by Dark Side but is nowhere near as good as its inspiration. Dark Side was the longest level in the original Duke3D 1.3D and it was an epic adventure. This one comes as a short disappointing level that shouldn't give you much trouble, although I wasn't able to avoid a lot of damage taken at times, so despite starting with 200 health, I didn't get to finish with more than 100 health due to lack of atomic health in this level, though at least there was an armor pickup to replace my damaged armor. Yes, the enforcers are still bastards and even those troopers managed to get a few good shots, with some deciding to play dead and deal 1-2 surprise shots. Oh well. :P

The mini battlelord at end isn't too bad, you can just kill him with the RPG. And that's it. And of course, there are NO secrets to find at all! Just grab all the stuff you need before exiting.

Fun fact: The original version of the map had a forcefield that prevented the player from progressing! If you didn't install the patches and you watched the intro demos, you would notice the player runs into a forcefield until dies. If you didn't watch the demo and found out yourself, you were quite in a shock! But if you installed the patches (101b fixed this and is also included in 101c), you don't have to worry!

Hopefully the next level doesn't disappoint!
Attached Image: JJE2L3_2.pngAttached Image: JJE2L3_3.png

Undefined (aka Back in a Hurry)

As I was saying, E2 is quite unfinished because of various reasons and it seems in the original version of the addon, the level doesn't have a proper name (same applies to E3 secret level). Instead, the level is called UNDEFINED. And that's not all! The map even has a game breaking bug that happened to me. The Overlord is supposed to spawn upon entering the Briefing room (which contains a couple pig cops and an RPG), which also causes a bunch of troopers to spawn nearby. There is a mirror that can cause the boss (and even the player) to warp into it and gets stuck. If the boss hasn't showed up, then it is clear he disappeared and got warped into the mirror. The same can happen to you if you get unlucky, which means you must load the last saved game or restart the level.

In my case, I had the misfortune of the Overlord disappearing and after wandering around for 10-15 minutes of nothing happening (even explored the optional goodies room you can access with the blue card), I then looked up Mapster and realized what happened. I had to replay the level from the previous level's save because my saves on current level were fucked.

As for the level, it was great, it presents a good challenge and it's certainly one of the best maps of the entire TC. But at same time, it's a shame the experience is ruined by various stupid bugs and lack of playtesting. As if it wasn't enough, when I got to fight and kill the Overlord (who happened to even disappear once in front of my eyes), I realized I had missed two enemies somewhere (must have gotten stuck inside the mirror). I was almost certain I would get 100% everything in each level but this level proved me wrong. Maybe this level could have done without the mirrors, just saying. :P

As for the secrets, there are four to find:

-Near the two firetrucks, jump on the crates. Push the crate to reveal a Jetpack.
-Inside the bathroom, push the buttons that start the shower (the first ones you come across in the left side), you will open a nearby room containing a few troopers and Portable Medkit.
-Secrets #3 and #4 can be found in the room with the three lockers. Push the third locker to lower the other two. The lowered lockers contain Atomic Health and Shrinker Ammo.

Bonus: When stepping into the Briefing room, you will cause a few troopers to spawn inside the building and the Overlord boss to spawn outside the building. Open one of the doors to find a hidden room containing a blue card, as well as 2x Boots and 2x NVGs. After getting the blue card, either drop down the pole or go downstairs as usual.

Avoid the Overlord (if he hasn't shown up, then he most likely disappeared, if this happened, load the save or restart the level), go to the other building, kill a red trooper and insert the blue card. Inside, you can find various goodies: Devastator and lots of ammo for both RPG + Dev, as well as 2x Atomic Health and a Super Duke Pack!
If the Overlord has shown up near you, don't worry, he can't fit through, so you can kill him with the Devastator with ease, he won't attack. You also get 25 Dev ammo per pickup, so this assures you have 99 ammo!

Overall, great ending to the somewhat unfinished episode. I only wish this level didn't have bugs in it because it kinda ruined the experience and what would have been a competent and excellent finale.
Attached Image: JJE2L5_3.pngAttached Image: JJE2L5_7.png

Undefined (JJE2L7)

A short unfinished and untextured space map. Use DNSCOTTY206 to access it. I accidentally typed DNSCOTTY207 and it caused the game to exit upon warping to a non-existent map. Yeah, I know, the map order in E2 is just weird (see below).

Anyway, the map is empty. You can even walk in the space but if you go through the windows, you die! The map may have been been removed from the compilation version. I only had to mention it exists because it was included in the original release of the mod, despite not accessible by normal means. I only found its existence when looking in the Mapster.

Attached Image: JJE2L7.png

Trivia: the maps in E2 are JJE2L1, JJE2L2, JJE2L3, JJE2L5 and JJE2L7. The first three are the space maps. There is a clear progression between them. Then you reach JJE2L5, which is the city map where you fight Overlord. There is no JJE2L4 and was probably cut for whatever reason, which is why there is a secret nuke button found earlier and the progression from JJE2L3 to JJE2L5 doesn't make much sense.

And then this suggests another planned JJE2L6 map, with JJE2L7 being the unfinished and untextured space map you can only access it with cheats.

Currently, I reached Episode 3 and its review will be posted next week, around 23-25th when I also get to post the nominations for next month. Hopefully I get to finish the third episode in time. :)

Have a nice weekend!

This post has been edited by FistMarine: 18 November 2022 - 10:30 AM

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