[FistMarine]

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 27 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 2023 Editions

Spoiler

May 2023 - Maps by Maarten van Oostrum + Maps by Merlijn van Oostrum
April 2023 - Redneck Rampage
March 2023 - Metropolitan Mayhem
February 2023 - WGRealms + WGSpace Episode + Maps by William Gee
January 2023 - Future + Fight the Future + Duke Tournament + MSSP Episode + The Brave New World + Maps by Mikko Sandt

Previous 2022 Editions

Spoiler

December 2022 - Countdown to Christmas + Duke: Nuclear Winter + Duke's Snowy Adventure II: Stolen Weapons + The Christmas Project + Xmas 1997
November 2022 - JJ Duke Nukem 3D
October 2022 - Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition + Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour
September 2022 - Secrets of the Acropolis + Twin Dragon
August 2022 - The Lost Duke Episodes
July 2022 - Community Build Project Series
June 2022 - Maps by Billy Boy + Maps by Bob Masters
May 2022 - Duke It Out In D.C. + Duke Caribbean: Life's A Beach + Penthouse Paradise
April 2022 - Duke Nukem 3D
March 2022 - Last Reaction & Water Bases + Chimera
February 2022 - DaikariN + Operation Blitzkrieg
January 2022 - ADG Episode + Maps by Alejandro Glavic

Previous 2021 Editions

Spoiler

December 2021 - Lost Highway + Maps by Lukas Cerovsky + Maps by Peter Kucera
November 2021 - Maps by Various Authors
October 2021 - Maps by Taivo Maripuu
September 2021 - Duke Hard
August 2021 - Maps by Geoffrey van Dijk (FakirBaba) + Maps by Rob Wijkstra (Highwire)
July 2021 - Maps by Maarten Pinxten
June 2021 - Roch Series

For this month, The Gate, a famous Total Conversion for Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, has been chosen!

The Gate was created by BDP Team and released on 30th April 1997, shortly after Redneck Rampage was released. It contains 24 new maps, split across 4 episodes, with the only secret level being found in the fourth episode.

The Gate not only includes new maps but also a new soundtrack, new sound effects, new textures, new enemies, a new weapon and so on.

Due to its popularity, the TC received an unofficial sequel known as The Return, created by Dark Flame Conversions and was released on 7th February 1998. However, this month we are focusing only on The Gate, due to the TC being already quite large. You may also recognize some of the mappers that worked on The Gate, who will go on to work on other Build Engine related stuff and even commercial/professional works in the video game industry. This will be further discussed throughout the topic.

Download The Gate at the following links:

Gamers.org
Dukeworld

Additionally, The Gate is included in the EDuke32 Addon Compilation and has received further bug fixes, including fixing a game breaking bug involving the final boss, where stepping on the acid will drain the boots that are used as a special script to make the boss function properly.

As such, if you are playing in a source port, it is strongly recommend to use the EDuke32 Addon Compilation version to get the best experience and hopefully not deal with any game breaking bug.

I only provided the original release for historical purposes and those interested in playing the TC in DOS. I wasn't able to find the original installer archive, if such thing existed (like Secrets of the Acropolis had both an installer and a zipped archive). If it did, then it must have been lost in time, so the only version provided is the zipped release.

Have fun!

[NNC]

One technical thing I never liked in this (otherwise wonderful) MotM series is that thread titles never show the actual maps/mods to be played, and honestly, it's very hard to find it in the ocean of the OP description as well. Can an admin retrospectively add the actual mods to the thread titles, and we follow the suit in the upcoming threads? And maybe it should be highlighted in the OP description more as well?

[Aleks]

FistMarine, on 01 June 2023 - 03:40 AM, said:

Additionally, The Gate is included in the EDuke32 Addon Compilation and has received further bug fixes, including fixing a game breaking bug involving the final boss, where stepping on the acid will drain the boots that are used as a special script to make the boss function properly.

As such, if you are playing in a source port, it is strongly recommend to use the EDuke32 Addon Compilation version to get the best experience and hopefully not deal with any game breaking bug.

I don't think the bug with the boss ever triggered for me while playing the mod, either back in the original DOS Duke game or in EDuke32 a few years ago. However, there is one spot that might not work as intended, it is located in E1L6: Subarctica. At the beginning of the level, you are to swim underwater, then emerge from a tiny hole - in the EDuke32 version from a few years ago I played this under last time, this spot was bugged and impossible to emerge (I think the SE7 locations and sectors sizes were slighlty different and not matching). Tested this just now under Rednukem and works fine though, so this is the port I will be using to play the TC and I can recommend it I guess.

[Quacken]

Hello! I'm back and I keep on throwing myself at this game.

Los Angeles
Shane Paluski

The Gate leaves a decently strong impression with this map. With a custom HUD, an upbeat custom MIDI that'll keep you going and two new monster types, there's as much to like about Los Angeles' presentation and visuals just as much as there is to dislike about the combat and pacing. This map is very vertical, which I kind of like. I haven't really played a Jetpack centric map in a little while, so it was good fun getting to use it again. Map author Shane Paluski put plenty of secrets in high places in this map, so even if you're just randomly using the Jetpack for whatever reason there's always a new place to discover, whether it be finding an early Chaingun, an RPG or more health and ammo, or even the red key switch. I also like that a good majority of the buildings in the city area can be entered. Even if there's not really anything of note, I like the extra effort put in to provide something to do in each building. This does have the side effect of having a lot of bloated and optional content within the map though. I have less nice things to say about the combat though.

There's two new monsters which are introduced in this map, and I couldn't find a name for them in the text file so I'm going to call them Hunters and Baubles. Baubles are just Sentry Drones with less health. Hunters come in six different varieties and are all pretty busted. Their attack can either be a Trooper projectile, a Shotgun, a Chaingun stream, a Battlelord mine, a Shrinker round or a rocket, all with no wind-up before their attack. That wouldn't be so bad, but Hunters also have a dash which increases their movement speed briefly, and they can also sidestep projectiles. They also can't really be stun-locked with the Chaingun, which overall makes them a huge pain to deal with. Especially in this map when most of them blend into the map's general darkness and they come three at a time. They have inconsistent health but their sprites aren't different at all. The hitscan and Trooper varieties die to one clean rocket, but the Rocket Hunter needs two rockets, which makes them specifically much more stressful. Rockets or the Shrinker are your best counter to them. One nice thing is that all of the Hunter variants can drop either the ammo type they use or their weapon, which means you can get an RPG or a Shrinker much earlier. They're a good idea in theory, but I like Duke Caribbean's Sea Monsters more. Los Angeles is coated in clunky 90s charm, and I can put aside my dislike of the Hunters and chalk it down to me not having enough experience fighting them yet.

7/10.

[Aleks]

Started replaying The Gate for the umpteenth time. The first thing I would advise everyone to do is to read the story - it's a complex mix of various sci-fi from the 80s/90s, from Star Trek through Stargate to Blade Runner (yeah, the Tanheuser Gate), with some levels, in particular, being literal recreations of sci-fi locations (Martian Red Light District is closely inspired on Total Recall, the original with Arnie of course). The story is dense, dark, ambitious and probably a lot more than you would expect from a 90s FPS where there's really not that much room for any in-game narrative. Besides the story and synopsis of the whole mod (with the latter getting all wrong the number of the episodes), each level also gets its own paragraph and the authors are mentioned. Another very strong aspect of this mod is music, which is just perfect - I'll risk the statement that the theme music playing in the main menu is simply the best custom piece of music designed specifically for a Duke 3D user mod. Let's start with Los Angeles by Shane Paluski.

The steady downpour of acid rain has subsided. Cool concrete and damp asphalt smells drift up from the streets to fill your senses and remind you that life after the aliens is not so different anyhow. These thoughts pass through your head as you make your way to the seedy night spot called "The Snake Pit" ; a second home of sorts for you. Something beside the down draft from the overhead addtech blimp ruffles the hair on your neck and brings back, fleetingly, the memories of your war against the aliens. The sting to your right shoulder shocks you into realization that in fact you are being targeted. From the smoldering red of the optical sensors down to the offworld steel of the creatures gauntlets it would appear that the war you had thought you won was just beginning . . . From the city streets to the lower sewer system, Duke must make his way to the entrance of a secret, underground, research center. A center where, not only the aliens have taken refuge, but where they intend on keeping it FULLY functional! But why? Enter the office of Dr. Frederick Tanheuser and find out the truth........Dark doorway finishes the level. Sign above desk to left of doorway is covered with blood that has been used to write "They Live!" . . .

I remember first playing this TC back in the very early 2000s and this level was considered as one of the highlights. A Polish website dedicated to Duke wrote, probably after some magazine, that it is directly based on a part of real-life Los Angeles, down to the correct map. I doubt whether it is true or to what extent and from today's perspective, the level is kind of a mixed bag. It's notably huge and open for a 90s map, with the design being kinda all over the place. Being the only level credited to Shane Paluski, who seemed to be busier with CON work than level design, it seems to be also quite amateurish with its design, but very ambitious with scale and grandeur, the layout is also something to look at. There are extreme heights and lots of vertical fighting done very nicely, you can get jetpacks in more than one spot - including one available basically right at the start. The new enemies also make the entrance - there're the weird suicide drone balls that could be creations of Doctor Proton, organtics that aren't too much of a threat and predators, which are aplenty in this map. These guys are fast and agile, will dodge your attacks/go invisible for a short period of time and use different weapons (which you can't tell by their look), from shotgun and chaingun, through expander and shrinker to RPG and mortars. It also seems that their hitpoints are different and correlated with their weapons, at least the guys with RPG seem to die easier. Needless to say, they certainly make the combat a lot more interesting. Here they are used particularly well - there's a shrinker mofo behind some boxes in a dark storage room, RPG and mortar ones occupy the rooftops of the buildings to carpet-bomb the shit out of you, RPG ones can be found in narrow alleys and shotgun/chaingun ones are up for close combat in the sewers. There is only a single red keycard in this map, so pretty much the only mandatory locations are the office of the late Dr. Tanheuser where you find the keycard (and fight waves of enemies, which is pretty challenging) and the underground alien hideout accessible from the sewers, where you access the deeper alien facilities. However, there's also plenty to explore in the city, with a large number of optional locations, including two optional battlelord ambushes. It's a good idea to gear up with weapons and ammo here, pretty much everything can be found here, besides the new gun (CD thrower). The detail mostly consists of plain 2D sprites with various art styles scattered around walls, there's also one building solely dedicated to the marketing of the TC itself. There is a thunderstorm going on in the city, making the streets relatively dangerous even without any monsters and adding a lot to the atmosphere. Towards the end, there's some seemingly random stuff, like the final room from Overlord almost copy-pasted 1:1 or weird dead-end corridors. While the design in this map is a mixed bag (still fairly good for a 1996/1997 level), the gameplay certainly makes up for it, offering interesting combat and plenty of exploration. In the end, I still consider this level to be a strong opener to the mod, despite its shortcomings.

Rating: 7.5/10


EDIT: Just read Quacken's reply and seems we have completely different views of this map, but agree it's quite good in the end

[Radar]

Does anyone know of a non-commentary playthrough of the whole TC on Youtube? I wasn't able to find one so I'm considering recording it.

EDIT:

Also, just to confirm, there is only 1 secret level in the entire TC?

[Ninety-Six]

I'm surprised to see positive reviews on the first level. I seem to recall that level being one a lot of people hated.

Not myself, though. I always thought it was a pretty neat level, with a cool aesthetic. The only part I didn't like was the ending section.

Also, really good music. Same can be said for the whole mod (IIRC the music was done by the same person who did Caribbean), but the one for the first level is one of my top favorites.

Radar, on 02 June 2023 - 07:51 AM, said:

Also, just to confirm, there is only 1 secret level in the entire TC?

Yes.

[Quacken]

Already stuck on E1M2, which isn't a good sign - for anyone who's playing that map, could I be directed in where the yellow key is? Or at least what all the buttons and cash registers that tell me things are unlocking do? I've been at this map for like 30 minutes in total and I feel like I've exhausted all the walkable space in the map.

[Aleks]

Quacken, on 02 June 2023 - 07:59 PM, said:

Already stuck on E1M2, which isn't a good sign - for anyone who's playing that map, could I be directed in where the yellow key is? Or at least what all the buttons and cash registers that tell me things are unlocking do? I've been at this map for like 30 minutes in total and I feel like I've exhausted all the walkable space in the map.

Spoiler

It's in the cinema, in the small room behind the screen after going up and traversing the catwalk (the room has a Byte-Nyte poster and some BDP graphics). There is a switch hidden behind a destructible trashbag that will open up the locker near the cocooned lady.

Played the 2nd level, Undercity Research Facility. It was authored by Jeff Heath, who seems to have been mostly BDP's graphics artist and it's the only level in the TC he's credited for. I remembered this one as being one of the weaker levels in the whole TC, so was quite pleasantly surprised it's actually not so bad. The main problem is the level being pretty much all over the place - you start in a kind of mall with completely clashing new art, then head through the sewers and into a research facility that ends with our first Tanheuser gate, a small one for local, Earth-to-Earth purposes. There's a total of 13 secret places which leaves room for exploration, once again many locations are optional (particularly in the first, city section) and so it might be quite confusing. The level design here is a really mixed bag - some locations look pretty original and have good layout (I like the design on the small stormy outside area, the cinema is simple but quite creative with the Egyptian theme, the place with pig cops that has a window to the underwater basin is also a nice trick and the ending(s) is pretty well-designed too), while others are kinda amateurish and lacking. The gameplay is easier than in the first level - there's a lot less predators and their locations make it easier to fight them. There's a jumping and diving battlelord encounter which is fun and challenging encounter, the ending with predators emerging from the portals is also nice. However, the most challenging area is the outside one - not for the enemies, but because you are bound to be hit by the numerous lightings that will deal heavy damage, although there're like 3 atomic healths around. There's some scale problems too - some rooms are huge and empty, while others (some corridors in particular) are cramped and leave no room for dodging. There's also a variation on the carbonite freezing chamber, complete with a Han Solo monument - you can get the CD thrower here, just watch out not to step into the central circle, which will pretty much fuck you up with CD shooters. There are two possible endings in this map - regular one and one from a secret place, but they will both lead you to the same, regular 3rd level. This final part probably sells the map's theme and its placing within the storyline the best.

Rating: 6/10

[Quacken]

Back again. My thanks to Aleks for alerting me about the yellow key. It was behind the one trashbag I hadn't actually destroyed in frustration, which is always lovely.

Undercity Research Facility
Jeff Heath

Despite an interesting premise, Jeff Heath's obtuse level design makes Undercity Research Facility frustrating. The opening room sure has a lot of texture vomit. I love choppy 90's textures as much as the next guy but this map's mall feels like it's trying too hard. With all this Microsoft Word Wordart everywhere it makes the textures in this map that existed in the Atomic Edition the ones that stick out, except for the other way around. At least the research facility shows some restraint and goes easy on the new textures. This map's progression really bugs me. The yellow key situation is already known about, requiring you to destroy three garbage bags to find a small switch which opens the cabinet next to it, but there's like four other switches that simply don't do anything. There's three switches in the mall that claim to "unlock" things, but as far as I can tell they don't actually do anything or contribute to the map layout. Making a switch set to unlock a random door that's halfway across the entire map which is required for progression is one thing, but wasting my time by telling me that three different secrets unlock when I press on random switches and not giving a hint of any kind is barely shy of being worse.

Over in the research facility you can flip a switch to cause some explosions in the water. Is this where the red key is? Do you use the so-called "Perimeter Defence" switch to blow up a wall in the rocks to find the red key? No, you need to go outside and find a random hole in the wall, where a Trooper is camping out. That switch did literally nothing as far as I can tell, and it wasn't even good theatrics. I never thought that lightning in Duke 3D can take off more of your health than a Battlelord can in a minute, but putting about four thousand lightning objects in a rocky field with no flat ground and three Octabrains will do it. Now that we're talking about the combat, it's also pretty frustrating. There's only one Rocket Hunter but he's standing behind the door to the cinema, so he can bite me. The Battlelord that's underwater is a pain in the ass to kill even if you found a Devastator, and the two Hunters in a chamber lined with an electric floor caused me to go down to about 7 health. Undercity Research Facility is a real piece of work that I grew to dislike.

3/10.

[Aleks]

The 3rd level is Aztech by Nick Parde, who will contribute another level in the 4th episode, but is definitely not among my favourite level designers of this mod. The level takes place, who would have thought, in a jungle that's housing some alien structures. There's one part of this map I actually like - it's the "maze" with some puzzles that have to be solved to obtain the red keycard. The throneroom is also pretty good for the challenging fight with tank and two predators who are introduced pretty dynamically through a blown up wall. Unfortunately, this is the type of level where some heavy losses of health are mandatory, but also almost immediately mitigated with an abundance of atomic healths. I don't like these types of levels at all, because that type of gameplay is pretty mundane - there's a few interesting fights here still, but there's also plenty of sentry drones in your face or turrets in incredibly dark rooms or above fast conveyor belts/waterfalls. The level design itself has its lows and highs, again the maze is pretty nicely lit and shaded, but there's a lot of fairly amateurish stuff thrown in as well. Overall, this ends up as a rather mediocre level, worse than I remembered it to be.

Rating: 6/10

[Radar]

My playthrough of episode 1 is up.

[Quacken]

Hello again! Also, I might have to use that Episode 1 playthrough if I get stuck on the next map or the one after that.

Aztech
Nick Parde

Oh goody, Nick Parde is back! And he brings with him a real stinker. I too enjoy the combination of cramped and flat boxes, resource starvation and bullshit gotcha traps that encompassed Warehouse Madness, and the total darkness and clumsy water sections of Hades' Passage. After enduring the Slip n' Slide of Despair where you're forced to jump in defiance of the current to kill the Turrets if you want 100% completion, Aztech devolves into a pretty amateurish stumbling in dark ruins that are more located in a desert than a jungle. This map introduces the new weapon in a non-secret, the CD Launcher. The CD Launcher is an alternate Freezethrower that actually kills the things you shoot it at in addition to being much stronger, so it's a straight upgrade. It also defies the laws of gravity by being a flat object that rebounds off of ceilings. This map is also really ugly, by the way. I've never seen a hallway with its floor texture being entirely the green teleporter, and now I never want to see a room like that again. The optional fight with a Protector, a Sentry, a Hunter and a Pig Cop is entirely one texture, and the "throne room" looks like someone vomited all over it. The MIDI isn't even particularly good either, it sounds kind of silly and rough around the edges. Aztech is neither Aztec nor Tech, it is a greatly unimpressive map that can't rely on its rough hewn textures to save itself.

2/10.

[Aleks]

Quacken, on 05 June 2023 - 01:24 AM, said:

This map introduces the new weapon in a non-secret, the CD Launcher. The CD Launcher is an alternate Freezethrower that actually kills the things you shoot it at in addition to being much stronger, so it's a straight upgrade. It also defies the laws of gravity by being a flat object that rebounds off of ceilings.

The Han Solo carbonite chamber in level 2 also was a non-secret, just an optional area with the weapon itself being kinda hidden on a ledge. Another thing worth noting, it seems that killing at least certain enemies with CD thrower won't add kills to the counter (happened to me with a fat commander), not sure how consistent it is or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

Anyway, a double update from me. The next two maps are relatively much shorter, both taking about 10-15 minutes.

Yukon Duke by Tyler Matthews is probably my favourite map in the 1st episode. It's by no means spectacular, but very original and atmospheric with its cosy pine forest and great musical choice. The outside part, consisting of a river, waterfall, some trees, wooden bridge and a cottage is much smaller than I remembered (love the SOS layout of the cottage nicely incorporate into the rock though!) and feels like a small Lego vignette. We proceed into a mine that turns out to be alien's tech center with another portal. The enemies are used quite cleverly, there's pretty much only enforcers, troopers, protector drones and predators, with occassional octabrains. Some predator challenges outside can be quite challenging due to height differences. There's also an environmental danger in form of some spinning walls that will crush you to death if you're not fast enough within the alien hi-tech part. The 3 secrets are quite easy to find. The map finishes with a nice fight. Tyler Matthews is definitely a more skilled mapper than the previous guys, even if this one doesn't particularly shine, it's difficult to nitpick on something in particular here and the chilling atmosphere makes it a stand-out.

Rating: 7.5/10

Antarctica by Paul "Talon" Jury. This one was better than I remembered, although Paul's level design feels hasty and lazy sometimes, might be partially because of being the coordinator of the whole BDP project. The map goes for "The Thing" vibe and there's some nice ideas like the layout of the base (although I can tell no planning was done and there are... discontinuities between some areas, like a ramp that only matches half the height of adjacent wall). The interiors are cramped which I'll leniently consider a design choice for adding a claustrophobic atmosphere rather than a flaw. The lights and shadows are super detailed, with plenty of gradient shading details everywhere (which clash like hell with the resulting misaligned wall textures) and a lot of nicely done dynamic shadows from e.g. opening doors. The gameplay is pretty simple and straightforward, there's soem room for exploration, but nothing too large. The enemies are again mostly enforcers, troopers and predators, used quite sparsely too. You can cheese the final fight by killing the 3 enforcers and predator with explosives through the forcefield while underwater. This map also introduce the scuba tank refillers, which are brilliant little devices that I think should be more often used in underwater maps (e.g. BobSP 4). Some of the super long tunnels, like at the beginning of the map, feel just unnecessary though. Still, it's definitely not a bad map that was quite entertaining to play.

Rating: 7/10

[Quacken]

Hello again. I'll do a double feature today to make up for my lack of productivity.

Yukon Duke
Tyler Matthews

Set in a mountain range and a bunch of assorted locations, Yukon Duke is a pretty simple map that doesn't have too much going on under the hood. I have to say, I'm starting to like Hunters less and less. They have far too much health and they're too agile and have too much of a janky hitbox to stunlock with the Chaingun or to hit with the RPG, CD Launcher or Shrinker, so the best weapon to use against them is probably the Shotgun of all things. Even the Shotgun Hunters have about three times as much health as a Pig Cop. It's even worse in this map because the Hunters in the opening field can get half-submerged in water, which makes them a total pain. Aside from the other Hunter near the red door that I want to tear the head off of, there's not too much else to talk about. I like the log cabin but I feel like it's a little drab in its lighting, and the map loses me after the blue key as it devolves into another research base. Yukon Duke leaves a pretty unimpressionable mark.

5/10.

Antarctica
Paul "Talon" Jury

Woof. Antarctica takes you from the mountains to the manging cold. I think the snow texture from Nuclear Winter was actually better than this one here, which is saying something. Aside from the snow, this map is a crowded iron sarcophagus that doesn't really have a good MIDI and consequently isn't very fun. The real challenge of this map isn't the low monster count, it's actually navigating the doors that swing open and block your path. I spent 8 more minutes on this map than I wanted to because one of the doors blocked my view of where the blue door was, and I was struggling on where to find it. I had to use Radar's video to find the blue door, so my thanks to them for that. I don't really like the final section either. The map just kind of ends without any kind of good build-up. There's only a few Enforcers and Hunters that are off to the side. You could just run for the exit teleporter if you wanted to and there's not much that could stop you. I suppose Aztech is more amateurish, but this doesn't make Antarctica much better.

2.5/10.

[Aleks]

Also a double feature from me.

Subarctica is a bit better than Antarctica and another map by Paul Jury - so it's lazy around the edges (also for some reason there's HOM on some walls/ceilings, but I'd blame it on the graphics artist more than the level designer), but the shading work is impressive (notice the gradient shading of the poles holding candles right after entering the ancient part). The level is fairly straightforward, but I still managed to miss one spot and break the progression, could still come back to it towards the end, also I'm not entirely sure what some switches did (one in the large room with the Cycloid monument just opened a small gap in one of the walls, but there was no shrinker or anything to enter it). The final fight with the battlelord is fairly easy, I like the use of the giant pyramid in the center that makes it a bit more interesting due to slopes and also the fact that you can deactivate a forcefield around it. It's best to just tackle it with jetpack+devastator, which has more ammo capacity than normally. This level is also a nice teaser of what's to come regarding the alien structures. The music is fitting with the atmosphere, being kinda epic, ominous and full of tension.

Rating: 7/10

This wraps up the first episode - now let's move to Tourist Trap, starting with the ominous Bermuda Triangle (btw, although the cutscene at the end of They Live with battlelord isn't changed from LA Meltdown, there is a slightly different end screen where Duke sees he is being sent to Bermuda Triangle - including a small anecdote from his past life...).

This level is credited to Tyler Matthews and Paul Jury, and judging by their earlier work, you can see which parts are made by whom. There's less than 50 enemies and you can gear up quite early, also the secret places are generous with stuff like shrinker and atomic healths. The map consists of a lighthouse where you start, a hotel, two beach houses (of which one is particularly nicely detailed with the roof windows), 2 boats alongside a pier and some cliffs. The underwater part is pretty empty, besides some sharks to kill there's not much going on. If approaching the hotel first, two predators - with shotgun and RPG - will rush at you, making a pretty interesting fight for a start. The rest of the map is easier, as there's less narrow corridors and more open places or stuff to take cover with. Besides some neat shadows and the fact that both boats are accessible, there's the innovation in the form of more "dynamic" waterfall - notice how the wall is moving around, probably with the inclusiong of a rotating sector somewhere, but it works more realistic than your straight wall of water. On the other hand, the gameplay is quite lacking in the dynamic aspect, with there being very few respawning monsters. The music kinda makes up for it though, once again being one of the highlights of the level. The simplicity in this level works just well enough.

Rating: 7.5/10

Quote

They have far too much health and they're too agile and have too much of a janky hitbox to stunlock with the Chaingun or to hit with the RPG, CD Launcher or Shrinker, so the best weapon to use against them is probably the Shotgun of all things.

Try pipebombs, they can work wonders on these guys

[Quacken]

Back with the finale to Episode 1. I think I'll start doing these maps two at a time now after this, seeing as I only have about four or five lines worth of stuff to say about them.

Subarctica
Paul "Talon" Jury

For a name like that, would you think you're in some arctic caves for your routine fight with the Battlelord? Nope, you're back in Egypt. Get real. I get what Subarctica is trying to do but in practice it's pretty boring. After stepping out of a submarine that has magically shrinked in size, you go on a walkabout of sorts. It's alright I guess, but Paul Jury's muddy texturing, jagged edges and the fact he put a damn Sentry Drone as the first monster you see spoils it. It's a shame too, because this is my second favourite MIDI of Episode 1. It's threatening and foreboding, and it partially reminds me of the MIDI from Caribbean MAP07. If only it went to a better map... anyway. There sure are a lot of HOMs in this map, huh? I counted three of them but there was probably a fourth I missed. This map's action is pretty weak also. Each room is far too big for the amount of monsters you actually need to fight against. The staircase room has like four Enforcers and nothing else in it, which seems like a big waste of space. Even the token Battlelord fight is really clunky. He can climb up ramps in illogical ways just the same way you can, so what you're basically doing in this fight is camping the pyramid and getting shots in with the Devastator. Subarctica feels like a limp gut punch and a missed opportunity.

4/10.

[Aleks]

Finished two more maps and they're the 2 best ones so far.

Himalayan Hell by Jonathan Cacy is one of the two or three (along Ryan Icenberg's The Hive and maybe also Lower Planes) maps from The Gate that were also released as standalone levels, perhaps as the trailers for the episode. Even the premise for this level is pretty epic - you are, obviously, at Mount Everest, but as a twist, you start at the peak and descend down, finding a buddhist temple that is used by aliens. The beginning might be a bit confusing, as there's seemingly nowhere to go - until you start falling. The first part, descending along the ledges is pretty nicely done - there's only "snow" assault troopers as a nuisance, but the destruction of the ledges is quite spectacular and dynamic. Then there's some alien mumbo-jumbo required to get the first keycard, before finally getting to the temple. There's some puzzles at the start, in vein of Indiana Jones - then a neat fight with battlelord and some predators. The temple itself has some nice verticality and even spritework bridges, its design and layout are much better than in Subarctica, not to mention the way it's populated with enemies that makes it entertaining all around. The level is pretty short, but it's one of the most memorable in the whole TC, sporting an exotic and distinct theme, having a nice mix between creative puzzles and fairly challenging fights - but it's still not the best Cacy has to offer us!

Rating: 8.5/10

Lower Planes by Ryan Icenberg might not be as memorable and standing out as its predecessor, but in the strictly technical level design terms, this is probably the most competent work so far. The level starts strong with an underground volcano we have to access, full of long, contrast shadows and flickering lights (in general, this level definitely requires an epilepsy warning). Pig Cops make a comeback for the first time since Aztech, there's also quite a bunch of nasty predators. The combat in general is pretty dynamic, but not too demanding. This level takes place at an "emergency escape route" used by the Overlords, meaning it's a high-security facility located underground. The layout is pretty symmetric and using a lot of SOS and generally good level design practices, such as windows "teasing" the player with the areas he will visit later. There're a total of 6 secret places, but they're all fairy easy to find, the ammo is generally plentiful here, even for more exotic guns like CD thrower or expander. The last part makes a good use of verticality, my only complaint about this level would be the infinite mortar/octablast shooters that are turned on towards the end and just keep playing in the background. I've always viewed this level as more of a filler, but after re-playing it, I see mostly positive stuff about it.

Rating: 8/10

[Quacken]

I'm onto Episode 2, Tourist Trap. What will things be like in this episode?

Bermuda Triangle
Matthews, Jury

Can they stop giving Paul Jury map slots, please? I've had enough. Well, thankfully after E2M5 he is nowhere to be found. Bermuda Triangle is much less obtuse than Tyler and Paul's previous offerings, but it's kind of over before you know it. I like the look of the beach houses in this map, I like the MIDI (even though I think it should have been given to a later map because it doesn't fit the setting at all) and I also like the sign near one of the mountain condos, but that's kind of it. Uhh... the Pipe Bombs are really good against Hunters like Aleks suggested? Like it's actually perfect for them, because it one shots them despite the fact that five Shotgun blasts don't. I'm just rambling. Bermuda Triangle is over in 5 minutes and doesn't leave a real impression.

4/10.

Himalayan Hell
Johnathan Cacy

Here we go. Himalayan Hell might be tough to look at, but it's one of the better maps in The Gate so far. I actually kind of like this map's visuals. Johnathan Cacy really likes dark and flat boxes, but he uses the Lunar Apocalypse moon textures more organically than Paul Jury did with his Antarctica maps, and there's a new skybox with a flat white sky and some nice mountains. It's a pretty janky skybox though, there's a lot of spots where you can see it tile. I like the plane a lot though. It's pretty interesting storytelling, and I wish that there was a little more too it then it just being used as a segway into the temple. The temple is pretty cool too. I like the golden Buddha statues, and I also like the random mermaid statue in the middle of the bridge. I think it's a mermaid statue anyway. The MIDI is definitely my favourite part of the map though. The calming MIDI helps soothe my agitation and calms me down, and thankfully there's only two Rocket Hunters which I guess don't piss me off. Himalayan Hell isn't winning a beauty contest, but its unique atmosphere and visuals make it score highly on the list.

6.5/10.

[Aleks]

Final Entry by Tyler Matthews is another very short map set around a launching facility where they send the ships from Earth to Mars. It's basically a futuristic airport, although quite small in size - though I like the details such as having a chapel inside and, the best looking part of the map, the starships docked outside the windows. The gameplay isn't too though - I was only surprised by an expander predator respawning when returning down a flight of spiral stairs, which was quite unexpected. The map offers some nice shading details and finishes in a surprisingly competent sequence of Duke's flight to Mars starting, with ongoing earthquakes and the windows slowly uncovering the passing stars and Earth (which has a bugged texture, but that might be specifics of using Rednukem).

Rating: 7/10

Welcome Mat is the final level of E2 and the last one in the TC made by Paul Jury. It definitely looks better than his two previous maps, but has some super confusing progression around tiny corridors and vents that I kinda hated. The Mars base looks good (especially the main lobby in semi-round shape with large windows showing the barren landscapes of the red planet), the final fight with Overlord can be easily cheesed from the higher ledge when we start the encounter, so just for the sake of a challenge it's nice to drop down and take him one on one (I also mostly used the CD thrower, but despite the abundance of ammo, it wasn't enough to kill him, so had to use a couple of RPG shots to finish the job). The confusing progression isn't made any clearer by the fact you go pass the red key door around the beginning and then kinda forget about it. The gameplay feels a bit static too. I have some respect for this map due to the general competent look of the star base that doesn't venture into the generic corridor-room with monitors-corridor pattern, the fact that large part of progression is done in some cryptic maze is also quite a fit due to how they are constructed, but the confusing nature of this map takes its score down.

Rating: 7/10

[FistMarine]

Hi everyone. Thank you for the replies so far.

@The Watchtower: Thanks for the suggestion! I was thinking at that before, although I don't want to spoil the map/mod being played until the topic is visited. Usually I add a title that may suggest (or even outright say) what's being played but in this month's case, I added the "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!" title that appears at The Gate splash screen. I will consider adding a couple more interesting titles in the future map/mod events.

@Aleks: Thanks for the heads up! Although I'm playing the mod in DOSBox, so the E1L6 glitch didn't happen to me, I just swim through the left side of the crack and Duke was able to fit through just fine. As for the final boss glitch I mentioned, I haven't played the mod before (yes, this is the first time I'm playing it) but I have seen videos on YouTube about five years ago, as there is a playthrough someone did back then. I think the bug happened in that guy's playthrough and I know NightFright mentioned the bug before in the Addon Compilation readme text but for a while, it wasn't known what exactly causes the bug until it was fixed much later in the compilation version. Hopefully it won't happen during our playthroughs. Also I don't know if the Addon Compilation version works in RedNukem but it's definitely a good idea to use this port instead of EDuke32 if you are playing the ORIGINAL version of the mod I linked in the OP. Although I stick to DOSBox since source ports didn't exist when The Gate was released.

@Radar: Fantastic playthrough man! You beat the whole thing without dying and without saving? Congratulations! Although you didn't go for 100% everything but still, this was very impressive! I noticed two interesting things: EDuke32 doesn't show the level name at the start in your video and in third level, when you got the blue card, various goodies spawned in those nearby rooms but to me, there weren't any goodies spawned for some reason.

Without further ado, here is a review of the first episode. But first, a short introduction/presentation I forgot to add in the opening post:

Presentation


The Gate is an ambitious TC, probably one of the most ambitious ones from the 90s. Besides everything I've mentioned above, it also includes THREE new gameplay demos, although they require to be renamed to watch them (bdemo1.dmo to demo1.dmo for example). Be sure to delete the original demos to allow the new demos to play. For some reason, the batch files don't rename the demo files as intended if you are using DOSBox. They get temporary renamed to demo1-3 if you click on the batch file but since I'm not running an old OS, then they get reverted to normal and I can't check the intended behavior. Kinda strange how DOSBox handles this. It might also have to do with the original demos being deleted and the batch file expects them? Either way, after you manually renamed them, you will not have to worry again. It was a minor nitpick that I had to point out.

The new demos are gameplays of the following levels: E1L1, E3L1 and E4L1. The player is doing okay in the first demo but in the second and third demo, seems like playing poorly on purpose, so that he dies some time early on. It is unknown at what difficulty they are recorded, though judging by the amount of enemies encountered in the first level, might be at "Let's Rock" skill.

In the first demo, the player drops off the building, shows off a few secret areas and after a while of kicking ass, he gets killed by a RPG Predator inside the building containing the Red Card.
In the second demo, the player seems to waste the Jetpack fuel flying through lava caves and after a couple fights, he eventually gets killed by a trooper.
In the third demo, the E4 cinematic intro is shown, then the player seems to wander around the starting area killing a few enemies, goes for a swim and eventually dies from drowning in acid.

There is also a new HUD graphic, which is...eh, it could have been better. I would have preferred if they just recolored the original Duke3D HUD instead of making a messy graphic out of it. I mean the recolored boxes/labels like "HEALTH", "ARMOR", etc look nice but the background looks ugly.

The new soundtrack is very nice. Probably the mod's main highlight and coming close to commercial quality. It rivals the soundtrack from The Lost Duke Episodes.

Since the levels are very long and packed with secrets (there are about 10 or so secrets in many maps), I will NOT be writing a walkthrough or a secrets guide this time around! Instead, here are some general hints, tips and tricks for your journey:
-As stated in the opening post, some levels are pretty long and may take you an hour or so to complete, especially if you are going for 100% everything and searching for everything
-Likewise, some levels are pretty difficult, filled with death traps and plenty of enemies ready to ambush you and take you down from 100 or more health to 0 immediately.
-Due to the mod's high difficulty, I highly recommend casual players to play on Let's Rock, to compensate for the increased difficulty (Piece of Cake has a few less enemies but not by much, so there isn't much of the reason to play on the easiest skill in this mod). Playing on Let's Rock means that you will face less enemies but this will not solve the maps' confusing nature, the death traps, the amount of damage the player receives and other things. This shouldn't discourage you but the first level may not give you a good impression on Come Get Some skill, so if it's your very first playthrough, you should try an easier skill first to see if you can make it through. If it's still too hard, then try different strategies, finding secrets, etc.
-To make up for the increased difficulty, some maps are packed with plenty of secrets (including unofficial ones), many of which contain Portable Medkits. Some maps are also generous with armor pickups or contain water fountains in them, so you don't end up in impossible scenarios, hopefully. Not all the maps are balanced the same, though. Some maps lack fountains and/or armor pickups.
-The view shakes when you get to around 25% or less health, like it does in various other Duke3D mods. This makes it difficult to evade or to counterattack the enemy.
-The new Predator-like enemies are commonly encountered enemies in most levels. They are fast and strong, use a variety of weapons at you (lasers, shotgun, chaingun, RPG, Shrinker, etc), and speaking of the Shrinker variants, unlike the Protector Drones, they CAN step on you if you get shrunk and they get very close to you!
-Some enemies' health was increased. The Pig Cop has now 150 HP!
-Some weapons are given increased ammo amounts. Chaingun's max ammo is now 400 (ammo pickups are also changed to give 100 ammo, though the weapon pickup still gives 50), Expander's max ammo is now 75 and the Devastator's max ammo is now 200!
-There is a glitch with the Atomic Health. The MAXPLAYERATOMICHEALTH was changed from 200 to 300, which causes the side effect where you can pick them up at 200 health and get no health benefit, thus wasting them for nothing. It is recommended to collect them carefully!
-Duke swears a little bit more often than usual because SWEARFREQUENCY was changed from 100 to 120. Various messages were also changed.
-Expander weapon pickups are also available for extra variety.
-It is recommended to grab as many supplies as possible before finishing up a level. Ending the level with as much health, armor, ammo and inventory will greatly help with the next levels' balance. It should make the mod's difficulty much more tolerable, in case there is a difficult level later on.
-Save often and use multiple save slots, preferably one backup save per each level and about two saves in the current level, in case you screw up something. You will thank me later!

Before I start reviewing, I will say I wasn't in a good mood when writing these days and didn't have a good time playing some of these levels (most notably, the first and fourth). I apologize if my review is rushed (I just realized now I didn't add the author's name) and sounds a bit negative at times. Enjoy!

THEY LIVE

Los Angeles
by Shane Paluski

This is not a good start. I respect people's opinion but to me this wasn't a good first level. It is too hard and too long for being the very first level in the mod! It seems to focus a lot on verticality, which isn't a bad thing, as the original E1L1: Hollywood Holocaust proved to be one of the best starting levels of all time in history of FPS games. Unfortunately, The Gate's starting level is a flawed map and not very well balanced. The pig cops' health was also increased to 150 for some bullshit reason, as if 100 health wasn't enough already. Maybe they should have also increased Duke's starting health to 150 while they were at it, to make up for that and the fact Atomic Health maximum was changed to 300 but doesn't work properly because it is hardcoded to only give twice as much as the player's base health!

I won't go into details how much I suffered in this level, as I had apparently missed an early Armor and Chaingun, meaning I had to spend first half with limited health and ammo, while constantly retreating to drink from the water fountains. Things started getting better when I was better stocked with resources but still got killed by some ambushes, getting overwhelmed, etc.

There are plenty of strong enemies in just this level alone, including those new Predator-like enemies, who can wield most of the player's weapons and even fire stuff like lasers and mortars. And if that wasn't enough, there are even Mini Battlelords to be found at certain points but while I didn't mind the last ones at the end of the level, I have a problem with the one hidden in the club and another one hidden behind an unofficial secret containing two Atomic Healths! Although it's not a crime to include the Mini Battlelord in the first level of the episode (E5 from World Tour did that and was perfectly fine), I feel like they shouldn't have introduced most of the enemies right at beginning but whatever, it was their decision.

On top of that, the level is just needlessly confusing. You have to find a Red Card inside a building somewhere and insert it somewhere else to unlock the way to the exit. This wouldn't be a problem if the level was a lot smaller and easier to navigate, especially when you take into account all the optional areas. Then there is a point of no return later on when you get to the area with Devastator in middle guarded by two Mini Battlelords. Luckily, I had a few backup saves, so I was able to figure out a way to bypass this permanently locking door, then later backtrack for missing secrets. Just use the Jetpack to fly over the trigger. Then you can backtrack the same way, assuming you don't run out of fuel or something. It's only the sector near the door you have to avoid, the rest area you can walk without worrying about that door closing.

There are 9 secrets to find. I won't be listing them, as there are even unofficial ones and it would take me all day to try describing them.

It also took me a lot to realize that this map had lots of Portable Medkits found inside the secrets, so if I had found those secrets earlier, I wouldn't have to spend half of the time drinking water to refill my health. But either way, I appreciate there are the water fountains, so I don't end up in an unwinnable situation with 1 hp or whatever.

Overall, despite the pretentious design and being a "good" map overall, I had a miserable time in it, dying about 15-20 times in total, as it was poorly balanced for being the FIRST level and also took me more than an hour (and half) to complete it with all secrets found! If this was a level later in the episode, I wouldn't have minded this at all and the high difficulty would have been justified! I hope the next level is better and shorter.


Undercity Research Facility
by Jeff Heath

An improvement to the first map but still not perfect. Balance is better and progression is more clear.

Something I forgot to mention earlier is how the new textures CLASH with the original Duke3D art style, as Quacken has mentioned earlier. It's not that the new textures are bad but more like they don't fit alongside the Duke3D ones.

I like that you can consume Popcorn and get 25 HP by pressing the USE button. This is a clever idea that is well implemented and I am giving them some credit for trying out new things. Oh yeah and the trash bags (probably from Redneck Rampage) can be destroyed by just kicking them. Make sure to smash them, as you may find hidden buttons or passages behind them!

There are 13 secrets to find! Not going to list them, however I can mention that there is an alternate exit in this map, located in one of the harder to find secrets, which will still send you to the next level. So if you thought you found a super duper secret level, you are sadly mistaken!

Also the lightning strikes are annoying and seem to do far more damage than usual, like from 100 hp, you can get taken to 20 or so in just a second. Luckily, health pickups are plentiful and even when I found myself low on health a couple times, I went to the nearest water fountain to restore the health. Sure it was painful to sit there for minutes drinking water but like in the first level, I had no choice when I was very low on health and the medkit fully used, although I like the fact this time around I survived many ambushes with 5-10 hp instead of dying and having to savescum to overcome the challenge.

What I didn't like in this level was that weird trap in that optional area towards the end, where you step into that circular sector and some bullshit trap activates that shoots CD projectiles at you that kills you quickly. That destroyed me a couple times because I was confused at what happened and if I was supposed to trigger the trap in first place or not. I didn't figure out it was an automatic shooter until after five minutes of constant failing and I had to go elsewhere to find the Red Card I was missing at the time.

Overall, I liked this level better than the first level when comes to the gameplay. Design wise, it's still "good" but some of the new textures and the annoying gameplay are dragging the map's quality down.


Aztech
by Nick Parde

It's important to note that this map has NO ARMOR at all, besides whatever Pig Cops will drop to you if you are lucky. I got lucky and got 2-3 used armor pickups, so I wasn't completely screwed in the next level. Because we all know how painful is when you have no armor at all and suffer heavy damage from powerful enemies.

On the bright side, the level is much easier and shorter, the balance feels better and once again I'm lucky I survived many deadly ambushes with low health. Yes, there are plenty of enemies and ambushes but nothing truly frustrating to make you rip your hair out like was the case with the first level. Interestingly, I didn't have much of a problem with the trip mines trap at the end.

I also liked that the shrinking puzzles are introduced. There is a point where you are required to shrink a few times to escape a room you get locked in, then shortly after in another room, you have to AVOID the shrink ray projectiles when you go to collect the Red Card but then be careful at the spawning enemies! It's not as bad as it sounds but I recommend saving anyway, just in case something goes wrong.

The only problem was finishing the map with a nearly used Medkit, as I didn't realize there was only one extra present in the map and had to use them to save myself from dying, as the health pickups weren't as common in this map. But on the bright side, I ended up again with 200 hp and 100 armor at the end. Also there are five secrets to find.

Oh and you can backtrack to earlier parts of the level (in case you want to find secrets or whatever) but ONLY if you bring in your Jetpack from the previous level! Also in the last area before the exit, some enemies (such as the protector drone) have the tendency to fall in the pit (the enemies don't take falling damage unless they are almost dead), so you need the jetpack to survive the fall and get back up if you want to get 100% kills.

Overall, this level was okay, nothing special and in terms of design, wasn't as good as the first two. But gameplay wise, it was a bit tamer than the previous two maps. What about the next map?


Yukon Duke
by Tyler Matthews

This level is easier to navigate and the design reminds me very much of the Secrets of the Acropolis episode. Which means, this could have been a nice Duke level if it weren't for those fucking shotgunners that killed me so many damn times and had to keep retrying to kill them with only 30-50 hp left. Yeah, it's so fun to get killed in two hits while they dodge the attacks and fight back with rapid firing shotguns that deal lots of damage, as if they were a Pig Cop on steroids or whatever! It really was getting on my nerves after the 10th death or so. I was also losing my mind in the last room after what felt like 10 more attempts, especially after a protector shrunk me and the predator came in a timely manner to step on me.

And no, the level wasn't that generous with health packs either. Sure, there's two Portable Medkits and two Atomic Healths to be found in the entire level if you look carefully but the regular health pickups provided aren't enough to compensate for taking a lot of damage, like being given 10-30 hp after losing 50 or more in a single room and I was sick of hearing Duke's "Ooh, I needed that!" after the 5th time or so, when grabbing a health pack at less than 25 hp. Yes of course I fucking needed that!

On the other hand, there's lots of armor pickups for some reason, which won't help much when you are constantly getting low on health, made worse by the flawed armor system in Duke3D where the armor won't save you from fatal shots (e.g. you will still get one shot by a pig cop if less than 50 health, regardless of how much armor you have). Not sure if it's just me but the balance in this mod is all over the place and the difficulty is inconsistent. I also wish the only toilet in this level was usable, even if they went for the realistic toilet design, Duke can't use that toilet, which means no way to recover the lost health.

Quote

Try pipebombs, they can work wonders on these guys

Tried that a few times and still got massacred, probably because those guys were half-submerged into water and maybe the explosions didn't affect them. I blame the fact I only had about 50 or so health left and no medkit left in the inventory at that time, so it was extremely difficult to kill two of these guys in the open ended area at the start. This was a few minutes after I started the level if you are wondering, despite starting it with 200 hp and 100 armor, I got shot a lot by those guys and that's why I struggled so much. I have to ask myself how the hell am I losing so much health sometimes but then I remembered I'm playing the DOS version keyboard only, so I have a much harder time to dodge the enemy attacks. Or I was just unlucky in some levels and enemies were very accurate.

Anyway, there are THREE secrets to find and should be easy to find for the most part. There's also a few unofficial ones, like an Armor pickup inside the bathtub, which also spawns an enforcer nearby.

In the end, this is a good and challenging level that got ruined by those predators, which is a shame, as it would have been the mod's highlight so far. I really think those Shotgun predators are overpowered and should have had their health reduced. Or maybe the designers should have used the weaker variants more often, like the ones firing lasers at you, which are nowhere near as bad. Seriously, the overuse of the Shotgun Predators in some levels is almost as bad as most level designers in Redneck Rampage that abused the default powerful blue Vixen variant instead of using the weaker green ones more often. But then again, that one can be blamed on the poor design choices of RR by making the default pal variant the stronger one instead of the weakest one. In The Gate's case, they should have simply used other weaker variants more often. Or reduced the health of the Shotgun Predator.

For those curious, here are the stats of the Predators (yes, they are in fact called Predators!) taken from BDP.CON file inside thegate.grp file

Quote

/* Start Of Predator Code */
/* ---------------------- */

/* Spritepal Info
0 = Firelaser
9 = Heatseeker
10 = Railgun
11 = Expander
12 = Super Railgun
13 = Shotgun
14 = Morter
15 = RPG
16 = Shrinker
-------------- */

define PRED1STRENGTH 100
define PRED2STRENGTH 200
define PRED3STRENGTH 250
define PRED4STRENGTH 400
define PRED5STRENGTH 250
define PRED6STRENGTH 400
define PRED7STRENGTH 350
define PRED8STRENGTH 200
define PRED9STRENGTH 600

I'm guessing the Shotgun variant is the one with 400 HP. That's stronger than a Commander. They should have made all the variants have between 150-300 HP at most. Like between the Sentry Drone and Protector Drone in terms of strength, then things would have been a bit more fair.

Back to the actual map. Thankfully, I finished the level with everything at full (Scuba Gear at 95%), so maybe the next level will end up a better experience?


Antarctica
by Paul "Talon" Jury

A much shorter and easier map. This level lacks armor pickups and unlike the third level, there aren't any pig cops to help with the drops. If playing continuously, you should have full armor from the previous level but on the bright side, it's not a very difficult level, so I can forgive the lack of armor, plus there's a few fountains/toilets you can use. The predators appear a few times towards the end but they aren't the dangerous variants that cause trouble. One of them even somehow squished themselves inside the wall for some reason, as soon as they saw me. That was funny. It happened with the one near those explosive canisters.

As for the map, it is not as impressive as some earlier maps and feels cramped at times but I didn't find it too bad. I also like those containers found underwater. They aren't mines or anything dangerous as they initially seem but instead they seem to refill your Scuba Gear's oxygen to maximum upon pressing USE button near them! I think this can be done as many times as you want. A clever idea that I would like to see one day on water themed maps where you spend a lot of time underwater. Something like BobSP4, which had tons of Scuba Gears placed to make up for long underwater trips. Yes, I know, Aleks already mentioned all this but I had to repeat because this is a great idea that should be used in heavy underwater themed levels!

There are NO secrets to find but instead, you should find a few unofficial ones where you can find a Jetpack or Atomic Health or other goodies. Much like the previous map, there's only two Atomic Healths to be found, so be sure to explore if you want to get your health to 200 to prepare for the final level.

BTW a small advice when encountering those Organic Turrets, they don't seem to attack often (if at all), so just kick them to death. They are difficult to hit with your hitscan weapons, most likely because of autoaim trying to hit them but instead hitting the ground. Or you can use explosives, I guess. I think you also encounter those flying spheres in some places (if not, they were in the first level) but they don't seem to be interested in attacking me, although the autoaim doesn't function on them, so just manually aim at them.

Not much else to say. This map was okay.


Subarctica
by Paul "Talon" Jury

The final level of the first episode is...eh, could have been better. Just like the previous level made by the exact same author, the armor is completely absent but once again, isn't mandatory to survive, since the level is pretty generous with health, as there's a couple Atomic Healths to be found and even a few toilets/fountains you can use. Most of the enemies encountered are just the usual Duke3D aliens, I don't think there is a predator to be found in this map, so you won't have your day ruined or whatever.

My main issue is the fact there are plenty of HOMs in this map, showing this map's lack of polish. No seriously, how did this shit get unnoticed back in the day? Did people even play through this level or they just quickly checked with cheats to see if the main things are working? Or maybe it was rushed to meet the mod's deadline? At least the level is possible to finish from start to finish but I also noticed an ambush failed to properly activate later on. The ambush is located in an area with a Cycloid statue, where you will find a vital switch. When you jump on that sector to collect the RPG ammo, a touchplate activates that reveals a switch and fails to properly activate an ambush with a Protector Drone. On top of that, there is a HOM here as well on that small "hole". At least that stuck protector doesn't prevent getting 100% kills, from what I can tell from the end of level stats. Most likely the slimer eggs helped with inflating the kill count.

Anyway, once you are done with finding switches and opening various doors, unlocking a teleporter and so on, eventually you will get the doors open that lead to the Battlelord boss in front of the pyramid! Make sure to save and have 200 health before facing him to stand a chance, then use the Devastator to kill him. You should have 200 ammo already. Jetpack may also help with navigating and dodging his mines. There is a switch that disables the forcefield around the pyramid. Kill the Battlelord and watch the same E1 cutscene with Duke executing the Battlelord. There is a new ending screen at least, even if based on the original E1 ending, which looks nice, so there's that at least.

There is only ONE secret to find. It's a small cave containing a Protector, a few slimer eggs and if you fly with the jetpack, you will access a hidden compartment containing the CD Thrower and ammo for it. However, the ceiling shows a big HOM. I still don't know how they missed these HOMs, as they can be easily noticed.

Overall, this was an average level and the Egyptian textures didn't convince me too much with this level. The HOMs just dragged the map's quality down, making it feel like a random amateurish Duke3d map you downloaded back then.



In the end, the first episode was a bit of a mixed bag. The easier levels are forgettable and don't put much pressure on the player, though they are still okay at the end of the day, whereas the frustrating levels (E1L1 and E1L4) are actually the best designed ones, as these levels feel more polished and sticking out more compared to the rest levels, even though their balance isn't that great. The rest levels were just okay, I didn't mind playing them. I also don't think there were truly bad levels so far but from what I can tell, many levels lacked polish and they felt a bit underwhelming at times, plus their design wasn't anything special. I still give them credit for trying and for being ambitious, as there weren't many Duke3D mods/TCs being released at that time with the same quality as this mod. Let's hope the quality improves further in the following episodes.

Have a nice weekend!

[Radar]

FistMarine, on 09 June 2023 - 11:22 AM, said:

@Radar: Fantastic playthrough man! You beat the whole thing without dying and without saving? Congratulations! Although you didn't go for 100% everything but still, this was very impressive! I noticed two interesting things: EDuke32 doesn't show the level name at the start in your video and in third level, when you got the blue card, various goodies spawned in those nearby rooms but to me, there weren't any goodies spawned for some reason.

Nah, I stop and start recording at exact save points, that's why you don't see me dying or saving. I've gotten pretty good at it and some cuts are unnoticeable to me even. I disable the level name text so that I can record seamlessly from save points. You can do that in any mod by adding the following code to a CON file:

onevent EVENT_SETDEFAULTS
	setuserdef[].show_level_text 0
endevent

Episode 2 video is up:

[ck3D]

^ Was 11:50 first try, though? Asking the real questions around here.

[Radar]

lol, no. You can even sort of tell because I take out the shrinker long before I reach the battlelord, because I knew one was in the next area.

[Aleks]

FistMarine, on 09 June 2023 - 11:22 AM, said:

@Aleks: Thanks for the heads up! Although I'm playing the mod in DOSBox, so the E1L6 glitch didn't happen to me, I just swim through the left side of the crack and Duke was able to fit through just fine. As for the final boss glitch I mentioned, I haven't played the mod before (yes, this is the first time I'm playing it) but I have seen videos on YouTube about five years ago, as there is a playthrough someone did back then. I think the bug happened in that guy's playthrough and I know NightFright mentioned the bug before in the Addon Compilation readme text but for a while, it wasn't known what exactly causes the bug until it was fixed much later in the compilation version. Hopefully it won't happen during our playthroughs. Also I don't know if the Addon Compilation version works in RedNukem but it's definitely a good idea to use this port instead of EDuke32 if you are playing the ORIGINAL version of the mod I linked in the OP. Although I stick to DOSBox since source ports didn't exist when The Gate was released.

It's not the crack that can be blocked, but the small sector where you submerge from the water there - the SE7 linking the underwater and water surface sectors doesn't work in EDuke32. BTW, I'm playing a version of the mod from 2005 (Modified for JFDuke3d by ProAsm - December 2005), didn't really notice that earlier Probably just some minor fixes though. The bug in the last level never happened to me either back in the DOS days or when replaying under EDuke32, so I think it's really rare to happen. Last level should definitely be played with multiple saves though, as the final boss can make things really difficult for you by following you into one of the teleporters.

Quote

For those curious, here are the stats of the Predators (yes, they are in fact called Predators!) taken from BDP.CON file inside thegate.grp file

Yes, they're also called Predators in the story that's written inside the text file. I wonder what's railgun/super railgun on the list - I'm pretty sure I've encountered a predator shooting a chaingun, could it be this? Anyway, I really like the predators and how fast, agile and aggressive they can be, also the fact you never know which kind you are facing at the moment before they attack you is an extra challenge. Though I agree they might be introduced a little too early inside the first level - although this one is really quite a showcase, so probably that's why it's the first level.

Quote

My main issue is the fact there are plenty of HOMs in this map, showing this map's lack of polish. No seriously, how did this shit get unnoticed back in the day? Did people even play through this level or they just quickly checked with cheats to see if the main things are working? Or maybe it was rushed to meet the mod's deadline? At least the level is possible to finish from start to finish but I also noticed an ambush failed to properly activate later on. The ambush is located in an area with a Cycloid statue, where you will find a vital switch. When you jump on that sector to collect the RPG ammo, a touchplate activates that reveals a switch and fails to properly activate an ambush with a Protector Drone. On top of that, there is a HOM here as well on that small "hole". At least that stuck protector doesn't prevent getting 100% kills, from what I can tell from the end of level stats. Most likely the slimer eggs helped with inflating the kill count.

I'd gamble there was some texture used that got scrapped from the mod at the last moment, maybe even for e.g. copyright issues or a fear thereof. Wouldn't blame it on the mapper and perhaps not even on the testers.

ck3D, on 09 June 2023 - 02:16 PM, said:

^ Was 11:50 first try, though? Asking the real questions around here.

You get the hints for both of these puzzles in a room right before them, so it's not that difficult - unless you mean how fast he acted on the battlelord.

[Quacken]

Hello again! I'm going to finish Episode 2 with this post.

Lower Planes
Ryan Isenberg

Lower Planes is certainly an interesting map but it feels by the numbers. Ryan Isenberg's lighting is quite good, which is on brand for his body of work, but this isn't really an engaging location. The subterranean volcano you can climb around on and shoot monsters at is about the peak of creativity here. This map seems oddly symmetrical and copy-pasted, which makes me feel as if it was rushed out. Despite this, it's still one of the better maps so far. The MIDI is quite solid and fits the action of the map, and Isenberg only put Firelaser Predators in this map, which only need two Shotgun meatshots to kill. My main issue with the map is this random Battlelord bomb dispenser that constantly spits out landmines in the room as you solve a switch sequence. Not only you can hit the switches from either side, but you also can't concentrate with bombs being thrown into the room you're in. Lower Planes is a fine enough map, but it definitely feels rushed.

6/10.

Final Entry
Tyler Matthews

Final Entry is a pretty good map. Tyler Matthews uncharacteristically demonstrates some great lighting in this map, he uses shading really well and there's a good mix of light and dark areas. He also goes easy on Predators, which is nice. There's only one Rocket Predator in this map and you get Pipe Bombs before it, so it's not too difficult to kill. Aside from this though, Final Entry is a pretty standard space map. It feels pretty jarring to go from the portal you stepped in from Lower Planes to end up in a space station. This whole episode's progression has been pretty loopy. We went from the Bahamas to Mt. Everest to a volcano to this, and you take a rocket to get to the next map. The rocket sequence is cool but looks pretty janky. The skybox spins around you which really just makes it look like you're in a fast carousel. I'm playing on Eduke and not Rednukem, and the sky texture is glitched here too. Final Entry is nice-looking but ultimately pretty forgettable.

5.5/10.

Welcome Mat
Paul "Talon" Jury

Welcome Mat may be Paul Jury's "best" map, but it's not really by much. This Mars base has a pretty impressive view of the surface and it might not have any Predators, but it's as obtuse as Antarctica is. There's a lot of vents and ebony halls in this map that are about as small as a biscuit tin, and you need to explore all of it in order to be as well equipped as you can. The switch sequence after the blue door is dumb. I don't really see why a four-pronged switch needs to be here when you set the switch state to 4 to open the doors on both sides and none of the other states do anything useful. I found the Red Key, but I don't know where the hell the red door is. I ended up DNCLIPPING past the window that opens and into the office to open the door which leads to the Overlord. The Overlord fight is also silly. You get a bunch of CDs but I didn't find a CD Launcher anywhere, so after using all of my explosives I found out that the Chaingun straight up solos the Overlord. The doubled clip size that the Chaingun has really came in handy here as it allowed me to stun lock it for double the time. Welcome Mat is a very average map and a mediocre conclusion to a very mediocre episode.

4/10.

[ck3D]

Aleks, on 10 June 2023 - 04:39 AM, said:

You get the hints for both of these puzzles in a room right before them, so it's not that difficult - unless you mean how fast he acted on the battlelord.

I saw the hints in the video but couldn't process how cryptic they were fast enough. So when Radar eventually ran into the big fault to leap over felt like there still was something to solve about that part but no, 'guess I'll strafe jump' (and it worked). Soon enough Radar will be scripting TAS!

Maybe there's something to be said about such 'invisible' puzzles/gaps/pathways in level design, when done well I think they're actually really cool, and it generally feels very Sandy Petersen-esque and I can dig the Sandy style. Base game maybe lacks an item that would allow you to reveal them (think Lens of Truth in Zelda), something DukePlus added by tweaking the NVG's IIRC which was super neat. But it's probably possible to build such a mechanic as part of the level itself relying on classic Build tricks, e.g.. activation of dynamic lights or something.

[quakis]

I've never played The Gate before, but to be fair I can say the same for many classics and older campaigns out there despite all these years with Duke3D. Have been in the mood for something a little more old school so gave the first episode a session today using the EAC version. Was considering trying the original release as it was using Rednukem but the improvements made to the final boss amongst other fixes sounded far more tempting overall. Settled on CGS difficulty intending to dial back if things felt too unbalanced, but didn't have to in the end even with so many close calls and on low health. Here's some brief, unedited thoughts for each level.

LOS ANGELES by Shane Paluski
It's a fairly long level considering its open nature and many interiors to explore, so I'm glad the new music here is catchy to keep the tone more upbeat. I wouldn't call it the strongest opener to a release, especially since toward the end we're knee deep in sewage which isn't the most engaging of locales to rummage through here. The new enemy type adds a nice degree of unpredictability, both to their behaviour and weapon of choice, not clear until the fight starts. That one with a shrink ray hiding inside a storage room caught me the first time. The battle for a red key within the East Town Towers was a pretty fun yet hectic fight, died plenty of times here due to explosions from various sources including my own hands. Some of these guys can take too many hits for my liking but they're not a terrible addition amongst the roster, keeps me on my toes.



UNDERCITY RESEARCH FACILITY by Jeff Heath
Was worried the sewage theme would continue but soon switches over to an underground shopping mall, a nice bit of fun checking out the different places and really liked how that theatre looked. After getting past the yellow key door I feel this level becomes a nuisance to play, progression isn't as clear as it should be, keycards are hidden in arbitrary ways just to pad out the length to look for them and interactable "doors" which didn't seem like they would be anything of note halting my steps for a while near the end. The whole process felt a bit of a mess and something tells me everything is packed a little too tightly. There's a promising level underneath all of it and I liked the concept of those artificial environments, I just wish this level could breath properly with better indication what is intended from the player and an expansion on its good ideas.



AZTECH by Nick Parde
The level as a whole feels like a lot of nonsense especially toward the end. I liked the shrink-ray section, to navigate, escape and avoid - it's a nice combination of the same mechanic for a little contained area. After that however I didn't enjoy much of the level, but it doesn't help I found myself at very low health for long stretches up against hitscanners, Sentry Drones and occasionally those Predators around every corner. All that did was force me to creep forward slowly but even that can be luck of the draw. I call bullshit on that lonesome drone during the final river ride though, I zipped round that corner to find it exploding in my face. Didn't survive and had to replay an annoying portion again.



YUKON DUKE by Tyler Matthews
I really love the visuals here the moment we load in, strong lighting during day time and natural terrain set apart from canyons, done primarily with vanilla textures and some custom trees to embellish it all. Two distinct paths were a nice addition. Travelling down the ravine is a quick route but very dangerous, while the upper path is slower but with good cover and other goodies to grab. Too bad you need to take the upper path anyway to grab a blue key. This level is brought down significantly though because someone probably forgot to tell the mapper that shotgun-only versions of the new enemy are not fun to fight against over and over again. They can take you from 100 to 0 in no time, they shoot several times between stun phases when attacked using a chaingun and take too many hits to down just one of them. There's too much congestion here of this Predator type for my tastes, some laser or rocket types would have worked nicely in the large open spaces.



ANTARCTICA by Paul "Talon" Jury
I enjoyed this one quite a bit though a little tight in places, it was just simple fun to explore the base and make way toward the sub. Nothing in particular took me out of the experience and the action was mostly tame. Nice attention to detail with the stuck closet door and note beside it, which I assume was originally a bugged out door later turned into a feature. Level progression is still an oddball though. We track down a blue key card to unlock a door that contains an out of place button, itself unlocking another room containing a yellow key. There's not much of an area beyond the blue door either, just another case of padding out length it seems.



SUBARCTICA by Paul "Talon" Jury
Honestly there's another decent level underneath this one but it's a bit of a mess in many ways, gameplay leans more toward a maze-like button hunt and there's a serious lack of polish for design, mostly its texturing and HOMs. There's not too much I have to say about this one though, nothing in particular stands out at its core besides the broad strokes having an appealing look, especially beyond one of the portals. The finale is a very simple and safe level, with an incredibly easy boss fight at the end because of the pyramid forcefield protecting you from all incoming attacks.



Impressions so far? It's a solid enough of a start to keep on playing further. Progression tends to feel off one moment and other times padded out with their use of keycards. There's also a lack of polish in many places. Episode 1 is a rough first impression but it still kept me engaged for a single sitting and enjoyed a large chunk of my time despite some of the nuisances involved. LEVEL4 is the prettiest and probably my favourite looking one, with LEVEL5 being the most fun and chill (pun intended) to play through. New enemy and its many variations work well to add some spice and unpredictable action toward combat, but their shotgun versions can degrade into a terrible experience when used far too often. I'm hoping to see improvements going into the second episode.

[Quacken]

Hello! Back with more reviews. On to Episode Three now!

HOSPITALity
Demian "Wolfgang" Holmberg, Preston "Sluggboy" Packard

I don't really know why HOSPITAL was written in all capitals. Really, I don't, because this map is basically just Lower Planes 2. Hospitality is a boring red cave that really likes to throw long hallways at you to pad out its runtime. There's two sides to this map: Caves with no texture variation, heavy abuse of damaging floors and not enough health to compensate for it, and a watermelon green alien techbase that's about as much fun to look at as it is to run around in. This would have been a fun map to zoom around in with Steroids, but you don't get any in this map, which makes me sad. The one nice thing I can say about this map is I think the MIDI is one of the better ones in The Gate. I just wish it was on a map that didn't send me to sleep.

3/10.

Martian Red Light District
Johnathan "Lizard King" Cacy

Phew! Right as it looked like The Gate was going to slip into mediocre hell, Johnathan Cacy manages to save the day. Martian Red Light District is a good map that finally exercises the creativity that was lost back in Aztech. There hasn't been a map in quite a while that actually used a good majority of The Gate's custom textures, and they feel right at home here. This map also randomly introduces Scorpion Tanks in addition to the Organtics, Baubles and Predators. They contribute to the map having a pretty frustrating start, forcing you to rely on utilising cover to not get hailed by bullets. You can't get behind the tanks to blow them up because they both strafe and face you at all times. Some areas definitely felt like they got a little too much attention though. The strip club looks really busy, but the palm reader's office next to it has barely anything going on. There's only really one attraction in Venusville which is the restaurant, and the only thing you get out of going there is a CD Thrower you probably don't even need. The movie theatre looks nice, but the bar looks kind of flat by comparison. The progression is also a little cryptic. You need to open a poster in the strip club to find the red key, and you need to open the backside of a column to find the yellow key in the weird concrete hall. That yellow key is basically just there to force a fight with a Battlelord, who gets easily trounced by the Shrinker. Martian Red Light District can feel a little open and empty at times, but its creativity, great MIDI, visuals and its use of its custom textures puts it to the top of the list.

8/10.

[quakis]

Continuing my thoughts with Episode 2: Tourist Trap

BERMUDA TRIANGLE by Tyler Matthews And Paul "Talon" Jury
A much better opening level simply because it's focused on one specific theme and locale, a sunny hotel along the coastline somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle. Reminds me of Caribbean's first level. Additional places for flavour also include a lighthouse, some boats and small residences on the cliff side. The hotel itself has upper and lower portions. I found it all a more memorable and consistent level that re-orientates players into a sense or normality before hitting them with that underground portal leading to our next location. I don't have much else to comment on besides it's an enjoyable level without too many annoyances, their Predator usage is tame and some keycard hunting could be trimmed down one key.




HIMALAYAN HELL by Jonathan "Lizard King" Cacy
Honestly I got worried this was going to become a trial and error test of patience, with the non-solid floors and instant dropping cliff edges plunging you to the depths. Was much easier walking and letting each quake play out to see what solid ground remains. There's a section within the caves that shows some absolutely egregious textures I've highlighted in the second screenshot, would have taken no more than 5 minutes of cleanup to remove those fullbright pixels. The airplane crash is a nice touch to break up the scenery and I didn't mind the "tests" either, had a good guess what they were going for and makes a lot of sense afterwards. The second half is a more traditional section with keycard hunting, but takes place within a unique looking temple, a theme that doesn't quite hit its full potential here. The new art can work well here, some even look quite nice and reminded me a little of Tomb Raider, but they're also very unpolished and not used too well in places. Inconsistent lighting also throws me off, its a mostly bright area casting shadows down hallways yet places that should also be dark have one note lighting without any sources. Edit: Forgot to mention that one of the keycards is hidden behind a fake wall, I only found it by accident to see if there were any secrets, funny the things older releases got away with.




LOWER PLANES by Ryan Isenberg
One of the stranger levels within this episode starting off with a dark underground cavern leading to some volcanic hotspot, dropping down into it's gaping maw and finding yourself in another portion of the caves that have been converted into some kind of base. It's a level that loops around on itself a few times, first to open up the forcefields and again to reach the next portal. On a first playthrough it seemed a lot more was involved for players to get to the end but turns out on taking a second look that it's much more simplistic overall. I'm honestly not sure what to think of this one and need more time to stew on thoughts, but I'm leaning on it being a weaker entry that involves too much symmetrical design and layout making for a more boring, predictable experience.




FINAL ENTRY by Tyler Matthews
Another level focused on a single location this time a launch base for departures to a Mars colony seen in the next level. I'm actually glad they've been keeping this consistency across the second episode, the first suffered a lot by delving too much into messy territory and at least so far even the stranger locales make more sense for navigation and goals. As for the experience it involves a thorough search for two key cards, since even after unlocking the departure gates using one there's another still unaccounted for. To be fair though there's not much reason for it, the blue key unlocks an elevator leading to a switch to open up the second barrier. Was the first barrier not enough? If there was a more involved location down there to get the second barrier unlocked I wouldn't have mind it so much. The end sequence is another nice touch but too bad the sky bugged out so the effect is lost.




WELCOME MAT by Paul "Talon" Jury
I really liked this one even though the gameplay isn't anything surprisingly special, reminds me a little of Jury's "Antacrtica" level for its focus on exploration and optional side rooms. There's something about the whole theme and style it's all built with that shows a lot of promise, especially some of the living quarters. Each is a unique little space, shaped different from the last with altering heights. I think that tan coloured carpet across large portions of the level helps tie the texture scheme together, but the apartments with blue carpet do look nice as well. The large semi-circle room overlooking Mars surface to watch incoming shuttles is another nice looking area too with a central hologram showing the planet and its satelites. I did get lost looking for the red key door though, not sure if that was on me though because it's tucked away in an earlier, indistinctive part of the level. The vent/maintenance shaft areas were not my favourite though, an awkward tight maze necessary for progression. Ends on another easy Boss fight, I don't believe the guy shot a single rocket to be honest.




Overall thoughts?
The second episode is a big step forward. Level themes are more consistent by leaning into them rather than derive into nonsense, its clearer what we're looking as and where we're expected to go. This works in tandem with its narrative driven by the gameplay and progression. Also helps that these five levels were shorter and snappier, they get right to the point and end with a tease for the next excursion. Personal preference speaking, this would have made for a better first impression to get the ball rolling compared to the previous episode.