[FistMarine]

Double Post! Reviewing the Mission themed maps: Mission1, Mission2, Mi2l5.

THE MISSION

A short two-level episode that is labeled as a DEMO, which is why it feels unfinished at times. Despite what Quacken said, there are some things to clarify about the mod, such as the levels themselves actually having some names instead of just being known as Mission 1 and Mission 2.

To play the mod as intended, you need to rename miuser.con to user.con. Backup your existing USER.CON file before doing that or better yet, just make a copy of your DUKE3D atomic directory in advance, paste the mod's contents into the new/renamed directory (MI1DEMO in this case) and replace the USER.CON file with the renamed file.

The new user.con file will make a couple changes to the gameplay, such as letting you play the mini episode as an E1 replacement, as well as change the strength of some enemies and weapons. For those curious, here are the episode/level names, as well as the overall changes:

Quote

Episode 1 is called THE MISSION
mission1.map is called TO THE PAST
mission2.map is called FIRST CONTACT
mission3.map is called KILL THE ALIEN BASTARDS
mission4.map is called BACK TO THE FUTURE
mission5.map is called CARMEN LAND
mission6.map is called COMPLEX

Notes:
-Only first two maps exist. When finishing second level, the game will quit with message saying mission3.map was not found.
-Pistol and Chaingun do more damage per hit. The former deals 20 dmg instead of 6, while the latter deals 12 dmg instead of 9. As a result of the pistol's increased strength, the hitscanners (except pig cops) become a LOT deadlier. However, only two Mini Battlelords are encountered at end of first level, so you don't have to worry too much about deadlier hitscanners, as the enforcers and pig cop tanks are completely absent from the episode.
-Assault Troopers now have 50 health, while Pig Cops now have 400 health! This makes Pig Cops a LOT stronger, as you need to spend FIVE shells or THREE rockets to kill one. The Pistol also becomes a lot more useful to take down even some of the stronger enemies.
-Trip Mines have their laser invisible, unless you have the NVGs turned on, in which case the laser will be visible. So be careful with the Tripmine traps near the end of first level and inside a secret place in second level!
-The new values for weapons/enemies make the gameplay a little bit closer to Redneck Rampage's type of balance. I don't think there were any other changes besides the ones mentioned above.

To The Past

First map has a bad start because you get ambushed right away by THREE Protector Drones! You may not realize immediately that your pistol's damage is upgraded to about three times more than usual, so you can actually kill the aliens instead of running away from them.

Of course, I was left with low health afterwards and then while fighting the hordes of troopers, I was down to just 3 HP. It's only a miracle I managed to survive and get some armor, then some health pack and finally a much needed Portable Medkit!

It's a good thing I left the bathroom with the two Pig Cops for later because this was the moment I realized the Pig Cops have an ABSURD amount of health when they took five shotgun blasts to die. Yes, as I said above, the Pig Cops have 4x times as much health. Why? I don't understand why Turpuli thought this is a good idea, as they are now stronger than the Assault Commanders. And they appear quite frequently too.

The Bathroom appears to have missing textures, despite the new art file being correctly installed. But this was the only place in the mod where I noticed missing textures. Oh yeah and inside the headquarters, where you get Blue key and find a secret place, I decided to take advantage of the door and squish the Pig Cops. This way some tedium will be eliminated.

Be careful with the ambushes lurking in the tunnel. You've got a bunch of Invisible Tripmines, so use the Devastator to detonate them. And then there are also TWO Mini Battlelords just before you pick up the Atomic Health in front of the exit sector. I was lucky I spotted them in advance, then I carefully shrunk both of them before stepping on them. It is recommended to fire around corners and shrink unaware mini bosses by aiming at their feet. If done correctly, it will save you a lot of trouble. Otherwise, if you haven't spotted them, with the increased pistol damage that also affects most hitscanners, most likely it would have resulted in an instant death.

Killing those pig cops on the towers was difficult, as the autoaim wasn't always helpful but if you go secret hunting, there is an easier way to kill/reach them. Speaking of which, there are five secrets, some being found at relatively short distances from another:

1) Inside the headquarters, where you find the Blue Card, press on the panel in left side of the room. Inside, you can find Chaingun, Expander ammo, Large Medkit.
2) On the roof, before you go to collect the Yellow Card, there is a window you can jump through. You can find a room that contains a box of Pipebombs, Devastator ammo and Freezethrower.
3) Behind the clock tower, you can find two pistol clips and a large medkit. Open the door to find Small Medkit, Shotgun and a box of Pipebombs.
4) Go to the left side of the canyon (located near the blue access switch that lowers the barrier in front of the tunnel leading to the end), then find a portion of the wall you can open. Inside, you can find: Chaingun, RPG, Devastator ammo and Portable Medkit.
5) Inside the tunnel at the end of the level, just when entering it and destroying tripmines, look for a small space you can enter on the right side. This leads to where one of the Pig Cops is situated on the tower, which makes killing them much easier. You can also find Atomic Health, Armor, Devastator ammo and a RPG.

In the end, this map was quite amateurish and suffers from a bunch of issues. Maybe the next one will be better?


First Contact

Second map is both better and worse. There are some interesting fights in some places but the only enemies you face are the Troopers, Pig Cops and Protectors. And honestly, there are some boring fights that are dragged due to the increased health of the pig cops or just rooms randomly filled with enemies.

Unfortunately, I died once in the area where you get Yellow card and get ambushed by THREE Protectors. I got shrunk and quickly ran to the elevator, then just before it reaches the bottom floor, a protector clipped through and squashed me. Speaking of which, just like with previous map, I decided to take advantage of some doors to squish Protectors, which eliminated some tedium.

Besides the bland design, I have indeed noticed that in his early maps, Turpuli preferred to place directly the weapon pickups instead of ammo pickups. This isn't necessary a bad thing because in most cases, the ammo and weapon pickups provide the same amount of ammo, the only exceptions being Pistol and Shrinker whose ammo pickups will provide less than the weapon pickup does (Expander is not counted because you can only collect ammo for it, it's not a separate weapon pickup), whereas the Pipebombs and Tripmines don't count because they are only "weapon pickup" and the former has two pickups (HEAVYBOMB and HBOMBAMMO) that give different "ammo" amounts.

Secrets:
1) After dealing with the Protector Drones on the roof with those fans, there is a slope you can walk on. Go up and jump through the window. You will access a room containing 2x Chainguns, Armor and Steroids.
2) After dealing with the Protector Drones on the ground, go near the slope and you will find a window you can open. You will find two piles of shit but then go further until you will approach the secret room guarded by THREE Pig Cops. Be careful at the invisible tripmines. I recommend just waiting for the Pig Cop to come closer while getting a safe distance from explosions, he will detonate the tripmines and possibly die in the process. Then take out the two remaining pig cops yourself and get rewarded with 2x Chainguns, 2x Boxes of Pipebombs, Atomic Health and Armor.
3) After using the Yellow Card and arriving in some corridors filled with troopers, there is a control room where you activate a switch. Press on the left monitor to temporary open a wall in the outside corridor. Inside, you can collect 2x Devastators.

Overall, this map was also quite amateurish. Design is nothing special, combat is repetitive (though I enjoyed taking on the hordes of protector drones with the RPG) and the map ends abruptly after going through the door in the room filled with weapons.

Conclusion to The Mission DEMO: this mini-mod was nothing special. To me it felt just like another one of those mediocre Duke3d TCs from the 90s.


Mission 2: The Rescue

I don't think this user map is related to The Mission Demo reviewed above. I think it was meant to be part of another episode/TC known as Mission 2, which could have been the sequel to the first Mission Demo/TC. The text files don't seem to include any useful information other than being the fifth level of Mission 2 (hence the filename of the map), so this is all we can speculate at the moment.

The level seems like a major improvement compared to the author's previous works. I'm not counting Invaders here, as that one was released afterwards, I just needed to find a good pair to review that map in the previous post.

I died twice in the infamous room that contains the Red key, after you drop down the vent. One time I got cornered by the protectors, the other time I got shrunk while surrounded by a couple monsters. Seriously though, this section is brutal, simply because you've got many Commanders, Protectors, Troopers, Pig Cops and Enforcers, all stuffed into this tiny room. You can even take rockets to the face through the gate and if the rocket hits a nearby enemy, the rocket's damage is doubled, so you will take even more damage.

And as if there wasn't enough suffering, right when I cleared this room and I was about to save, Duke3D crashed with a weird granular error. Luckily, my saves were fine, so I just had to redo this room. The map is not quite over afterwards, because you need to go back to climb the stairs, use the red card and get ready for two Commanders waiting you in a tiny room alongside a Pig Cop, FOUR turrets and FOUR switches (just activate them all to progress).

Then at the very end, you will have to fight FOUR Enforcers in a tiny room in front of the exit, which doesn't sound that bad, at least compared to the earlier brutal room. You can do it the hard way by just holding the Chaingun fire button until they die (you will be left with about 60 HP left) or you can use the Shrinker (if you still have ammo left) and shrink all four of them with a single blast! However you need to aim well while crouching, then step on them, save (in case you aren't sure if you got everything) and then exit.

Here is a small tip: If you found yourself at the top of the staircase without the red card and need to go back to get it, I found that falling on the stairs will NOT hurt Duke if he lands on them, only if he lands on the hard surface. I still recommend slowly descending on the stairs to minimize the falling damage.

Secrets:
1) Near the beginning, when arriving in the parking lot filled with aliens, push on the EXOTICA poster to reveal Steroids.
2) When reaching the streets, climb on the ledge near the stairs and jump through the windows to collect Shrinker, as well as 2x ammo for Shrinker and Expander.
3) Inside the bar, break all those bottles and open a door that leads to the secret room containing 2x pistol ammo and a RPG.
4) Inside the infamous room filled with monsters and the Red Card, jump on the COLA vending machine to reveal 2x RPG ammo. Be careful to not get stuck inside!

Hint: Inside the Duke Burger restaurant, you can find a Dukemeal box that spawns an Atomic Health. This is the only atomic health you can find in the entire map.

In the end, this was actually a decent map that shows some promise and I find it a large improvement over the author's earliest works. Some interiors were nicely done as well. Unfortunately, the parts towards the end dragged down the experience, especially the one random crash. That's why I recommend playing with saves, so you don't lose too much progress because of a random death or crash towards the end.

[FistMarine]

Triple Post! It's time for the long awaited conclusion to this month's edition, as well as overall thoughts. Unfortunately, I still haven't done Extermination yet (and I am aware of the fact it was released on a special day) but I will compensate with a review of some optional maps.

Maps reviewed: Zerodm, nukeshop, s-a, EsArea54.

Note: Neither of the Deathmatch maps have any exit. Only worth checking out just to run around the maps for a couple minutes.

ZeroHour Dukematch

An open-ended Dukematch map for Duke3D 1.3D. There is not much to say about this map but I can't imagine it would be too fun in DM, unless there are many players.

NukeShop

A Dukematch map for Duke3D 1.5, inspired by E4L3: Shop-N-Bag from the original game. Despite being a DM map, there is actually one secret you can find by climbing inside a vent, you should find a RPG and a Tripbomb (weapon).

Skyscraper Assault

Although the map design was quite nice (beginning is very E1L1 bathroom inspired, though the oversized bathroom reminded me more of the one from ARSP1), I must say the gameplay was really annoying in this one, as I kept getting hit by the enemies, running low on health (I was down to 9 HP from one pig cop but the Medkit saved the day) and I'm not ashamed to admit I had to resort to drinking water a bunch of times, because I must have consumed nearly every health pickup out there.

I really could have used some Armor in the first half of the map but the armor is not available until much later. I appreciate the fact that there's sources of water since the very beginning, so the map's difficulty can be softened by just backtracking to refill your health, if you found yourself low on health at times or if the enemies are giving you a hard time, especially those pig cops waiting to ambush you around the corner.

Remember that after you use the THREE cards and fall down the elevator shaft, there is no way back, so make sure to find all the secrets in advance. Afterwards, prepare for the ending featuring a Mini Battlelord and TWO Pig Cop Tanks! Look for the RPG and Devastator hidden in the vent, as they will be great help in winning this battle. The Portable Medkit from the secret place should also greatly help here, unless you wasted it earlier like I did. Not all the hope is lost because there is an Atomic Health somewhere nearby.

Secrets:
1) Inside the room 2911 where you find the Blue Card, press on the monitor to reveal the nearby shelf containing Shrinker + Expander ammo.
2) On the staircase, there is a Fire Extinguisher placed on the wall. Blow it up to access a Portable Medkit.
3) After you use the three Access Cards and before jumping the elevator shaft, blow up the gate and enter the vent to collect an Armor.

Overall, I found this map okay, though somewhat annoying due to aggressive enemies, confusing progression, lack of armor until much later and a point of no return.


Escape From Area 54

An impressive recreation map of the Surface Tension chapter from Half Life. I finally got into Half Life series earlier this year (I have the Platinum Collection CDs and beat Half-Life, Opposing Force and Blue Shift on Normal difficulty) and was quite surprised at Turpuli managing to recreate a Half Life map into BUILD Engine.

Sure, there's a bunch of random bullshit instant deaths caused by explosions (and a misaligned water sector late in the map that also killed me once or twice) and the health is quite scarce into the beginning (health becomes more plentiful later, the armor is also given halfway through) but once you get past these parts, you will be given plenty of supplies that the map becomes much better balanced and also more action packed with the occasional tough enemies encountered.

Oh and despite the text file claiming to not try to get all kills on skill 3, it is in fact possible to get all kills on Come Get Some skill even with the scarce ammo in the beginning. It's only the health and armor that seems to be a problem at that point but you don't have to worry much if you are saving the game often.

With that said, the map is packed with plenty of surprises, including some tough fights towards the end with monsters stuffed into tiny rooms. That's where the Portable Medkit will come handy. I also recommend saving often, as there's some places you can get quickly killed.

Since this map is linear, you are encouraged to explore and find the secrets as soon as they are available, as you can't go back to some of the earlier points in the map.

Secrets:
1) After escaping the room filled with explosives near beginning, you will arrive outside and fight a couple enemies. Collect a Pipebomb and blow up the cracked door. Go upstairs to collect Shotgun ammo.
2) After getting past the minefield, there is a breakable gate where you must drop down. Before doing that, look at the windows where an Enforcer is shooting. Jump through the windows to collect Large Medkit and Shotgun ammo.
3) After dropping down the vent and landing on top of an atomic health, in the following sewer section, destroy all barrels and find the hidden Protective Boots.
4) Inside the underwater tunnel with the Octabrains, find a spot to resurface into the secret room. Inside, you can find Shotgun ammo and Night Vision Goggles.
5) When collecting a Portable Medkit inside the vent and arriving in a small office room, remember this secret is inspired from Skyscraper Assault. Press on the monitor to reveal the shelf which now contains Freezethrower + ammo.

Hints to solve the multi switch puzzles towards the end:
1) 11100 (puzzle after the alien section)
2) 011100 (underwater puzzle)

Overall, this map may not have aged well after all these years but after getting past the annoying beginning with the tripmines and landmines, the map starts to truly shine. I recommend checking it out once just to see what's this about and compare with the original Half Life map.


Overall Thoughts

Despite not managing to finish absolutely everything and not reviewing all maps of this month, I had a great time revisiting the maps by Jason and Kevin after all these years, as well as playing Juha's maps for the first time in my life. Not all the maps were flawless but there was definitely a lot of fun to be had.

I somewhat regret this month turned out overwhelming, as when I made the nomination previously, I wasn't aware that Kuffi and Turpuli have made more than 10 maps each, seeing as some of their releases weren't even available on some websites. Some were available with Wayback Machine, others could only be found on Scent 88 and others could be found on DukeWorld and various review sites. I had to spend a couple hours researching and looking for the missing maps, all while deciding if I should keep only two of the authors and breaking my promise or just go on with all three as promised, then finally making the topic on the 1st December. I also regret not playing the Extermination map. Judging from Quacken's review, the map sounds very epic and it's probably one of the ck3D's favorite maps hinted earlier in the previous page as well. Unfortunately, the time is unforgiving, so I will have to save that map for another time.

Conclusion to Jason Bredhauer's maps and almost the whole Duke is 007 TC: Pretty good with some issues, including the lack of polish in certain places. Although I preferred more Ballroom and Passenger Jet, I also appreciate the creativity behind Underwater Sub Base. The other Base themed maps are also worth checking out once but be prepared to endure some rough parts. If you are going to choose just one map to play, then please play Passenger Jet. It is the most polished out of the Duke is 007 maps.

Conclusion to Kevin Cools' maps: Pretty solid set of maps with the only common criticism being some annoying bits and lack of armor in some maps. A bit disappointing that that the Christmas maps ended up being the most miserable with plenty of annoyances and confusing progression. But despite the nitpicks, all of Kuffi's maps are worth checking out, if not for the design alone.

Conclusion to Juha Laaksonen's maps: A lesser known author that made some decent maps, some not-so great maps and a few epic maps as well. I believe that Extermination is a really good map but I have yet to play it, maybe it even ends up being the main highlight of the month. Until then, I think Invaders was the author's best map so far, despite not getting any points for originality, it was also the most polished and straightforward one of the bunch, feeling like a lost classic/gem from the early 2000s. I wouldn't have minded if Turpuli decided to make more classic maps, as long as they turned out to be good.

Thank you everybody for participating so far! Without you guys, we wouldn't even be here in first place. I will continue hosting this event throughout 2024. Let me know if there are any objections.

See you on the upcoming first 2024 Edition of the Map/Mod of the Month Club! Featuring the maps/mods by Alex Pistol! Have a nice weekend and happy holidays with your family!

[Quacken]

Reviewing the rest of the maps at once? Who do you think I am?

Christmas 2001
Kevin "Kuffi" Cools

Spoiler

This map's okay but it's very claustrophobic and doesn't feel at all like a Christmas map. Nuclear Winter assets be damned I guess. After needing to look at FistMarine's review to know to push the boxes at the start, Christmas 2001 is basically just blah corridor shooting the entire way through, with only three weapons to use. The perpetual darkness makes using the Pistol and Chaingun in the mountaintops eye straining, and the hitscanners hard to see and react to. Something that bothers me is if you jump off of the bridge, you can't go back up and have to take the long way around. That long way around is obstructed by the only notable fight in the map, this intersection with eight Turrets and a Commander. It's very difficult to not take damage here owing to the fact that you have no space to breathe. The only other noteworthy thing in this map is the fireworks show at the end that tries to kill you. I don't think Kuffi playtested this map while standing against the glass. Christmas 2001 is a nice gesture, but the map is very average.

5/10.

Retrospective (The new one, I don't want to play the same map twice)
Cools, Laaksonen

Spoiler

The only collaboration in this bunch of maps, at least to my knowledge. Although it doesn't really feel like a collaboration. Laaksonen did the unceremonious Shop-n-Bag immitation (figures), but Cools basically throws Laaksonen's work in the trash to do his own map, with both sections having three keys for a total of six. The results of both are pretty boring. Cools' sections are again claustrophobic and generic looking, though there are some details I like such as the doors to the arcade having a reflective window on them. I found another broken door - Yellow Door 2 seems like it's meant to open when you use the Yellow Key on it, but it doesn't work. I had to DNCLIP through it and take two attempts to kill the hitscanners on the other side. I'm also inclined to believe Laaksonen consoled on the second Red Key room as it's an underwater switch hunt with the only place for air being where you came from. Retrospective is a generic city map with only a few knick knacks on offer.

4.5/10.

Christmas 2002
Kevin "Kuffi" Cools

Spoiler

If Christmas 2001 is so good, then why isn't there a Christmas 2001 2? This map is yet another snowy base that is not Christmas-themed. I made this map more intimidating by picking a more menacing MIDI this time around. This map is still very dark, but unlike the previous Christmas map this kind of works in its favour. Kuffi uses coloured lights quite well in this map - a little too well I would say, because he often hides crucial items such as the RPG and the Keys in them. The combat is again not very interesting, but at least Kuffi experiments more with Commanders, and the final fight is two cheesable Battlelords. I happen to kind of like Christmas 2002. It's definitely not a Christmas map, but it happens to be a decent standalone map.

6/10.

Freedom
Kevin "Kuffi" Cools

Spoiler

I think it may be partially attributed to the MIDI I selected, but I really like this map. I don't really know why either, but I think it's a combination of the visuals and its satisfying progression. This map has tight corridors, but they're not suffocatingly tight, and Kuffi rewards you for using your intuition. You have to duck into the fireplace to find a vent to crawl through, and I think this is the first map that actually uses the "UP" on the UP crate texture. You look up at that spot and you see a grate you can break. Besides those things, the map loops on itself pretty well and only really has minor issues surrounding the two lifts near the nightclub. You can't go up to the upper level if the lift is raised, even if you've already made it to the upper level. The only fight worth mentioning is the Battlelord at the end, which is a bit of a mean trick. There's no good cover here and it's easy for the Battlelord to corner you. Freedom is a genuinely good map that's not too long and has some clever progression.

8.5/10.

Kut World
Kevin "Kuffi" Cools

Spoiler

Kuffi's final map in his group is Kut World, an OTEX lookalike-heavy techbase that doesn't really run for too long. This is a fun map and all, but it's worse than Freedom. I don't like the big underwater tunnel in the middle of the map. I didn't even notice where the Scuba Gear was until I had swam back and forth to clear everything while taking damage from drowning. At least the sudden light change is pretty cool. There's a lot of open areas in this map to allow for freedom of movement, but they're not too open so that the hitscanners aren't obnoxious. I would have preferred a little more enemy variety here, because Commanders are usually best in these kinds of environments and I don't remember there being too many in this map. Though he mainly owes it to William Gee for supplying the textures, Kut World is a nice looking romp that flows well and delivers a pleasant experience.

7/10.

Closing Thoughts

Okay, I'm finally done. And to be honest, this took a lot out of me. Although there were a few pretty good maps here, I was honestly kind of just dreading most of it. My stance on Jason Bredhauer only worsened after playing Duke is 007, and while some of Laaksonen's maps were good for the time (and Extermination was genuinely good), the rest of their catalogue was horrible. And I got off easy. I didn't play the Mission maps with the patch that quadruples the health of the Pig Cops because I didn't even know that was a thing you could do. Kevin Cools had by far the highest level of quality, with all of his maps being, at their worst, just average. I only just barely got this out in time and I had to marathon all of Cools' maps to do it, which has left me high and dry. Overall, I can respect the intent behind quite a lot of these maps, but I didn't personally enjoy many of them.

[ck3D]

Extermination and (KuFFi's repertoire, but mostly) Freedom were the two main classics I had in mind earlier, glad to read you could enjoy those. I remember on AMC KuFFi used to pull all kinds of pranks. Once claimed/had everyone believe that off pure memory he could recite and detail every tilenum in the tileset. Not that anyone would have put the possibility past him, which is what would make it. I'm mentioning this because I feel like the killer fireworks at the end of that Christmas map play on that very same chord. Freedom hit a very sweet spot back when it released, everybody liked that map, and Extermination has influenced my own mapping quite a bit.

[Merlijn]

Happy new year!

Kuffi's work was some of the first user content I've played, so I decided to revisit some of his maps for nostalgia's sake.

Secret base

This must be one of the first user maps I downloaded. For an early map it's very solid and there's a good eye for detail and world-building. Some nice nods to the spy theme, my favorite being the portrait with 'spy eyes'. It's definitely rough around the edges, most notable is a door with an 'out of order' sign that can be opened (leaving the sign floating in mid air) and a train ride that leads to a flat concrete wall.
Also a lot of scenery disappearing behind invisible sky walls. The sewer pipe can squish you.

But overall it plays quite smoothly and traversing the base is fun. Solid map.

OHTLD 01

Very much a typical early 00's map, it's a detailled looking city with a lot of cramped areas and locations that are only a few rooms deep (which was due to the limitations back then). Design is solid throughout with nice useage of textures, sprites and well done shadows. I wasn't too thrilled about the hot start, at the end I was lucky that one of the pig cops dropped a shotgun. The start is really the only challenging part, once you aquire your weapons it's a breeze. Quacken mentioned that the map is broken - this is not the case but there are 2 instances of bad signposting which ruin the momentum. One is a switch that will disappear behind a sliding door, so you have to close the door again to find it. Would be fine for a secret, but the switch is essential for progression. The 2nd one is a switch and the camera pointing to the wrong door - you'd think the switch would unlock the door shown on camera, but it actually unlocks another door (to be fair it's the same building).

Side note: as ck3d mentioned, Kuffi loved pranks. This was not limited to the forums. In this one there's a restaurant called 'het debiele restaurant' which google translates to 'the moronic restaurant' (since they can't use the R word ). He told me people asked him about the meaning of the name and he would tell them it's a Greek restaurant.

Freedom

This is easily the best of the 3, and an essential 00 map IMO. The design is flawless here, especially textures and lightning are very well done. Favorite areas are the blue colored bar and the outdoor section. Gameplay and progression is fun, the way you traverse through the map is always interesting. Great usage of multiple layers and verticality. Really feels like your traveling through 3D space. My only minor gripe is the miniboss at the end, feels like it was quickly thrown in there to have an 'end of level' fight. This one is highly recommended.

[Aleks]

Quote

This is the only DUKE IS 007 TC map made by Kevin Cools. It was actually released between Underwater Sub Base and Passenger Jet. And since both of those maps feature a regular Nuke Button, there is the possibility this may have been a secret map to be found as a secret exit in one of those maps.

I don't think this level would have been intended as a secret level in the 007 TC, the "secret" is just part of the level name here as, well, the TC refers to spies and counterintelligence all along

 Merlijn, on 01 January 2024 - 05:52 AM, said:

Secret base

This must be one of the first user maps I downloaded. For an early map it's very solid and there's a good eye for detail and world-building.

Curiously, while definitely not among the first maps that I've ever downloaded as I've been through a lot of mostly shovelware quality maps (as well as some really great maps that for some reason aren't mentioned too much these days) before I even turned 10, I distinctly remember this one to be one of the first maps done by someone from the "AMC guys", IIRC I even joined the forums in the first place to, among other things, inquire why the hell this map kept crashing for me

Anyway, played Extermination last night and for some bizarre reason, it seems that I've never played it before, despite it being released during my peak activity on AMC...

And it was a great map indeed! In particular, I especially liked two things about it: (1) how interconnected and looped around this level was, despite going in a pretty straightforward and super linear, sequenced way, all the little holes showing other parts of the level made it seem much bigger and was just using the best level design practices and (2) quite unusual idea to use the enforcers at the beginning as a kind of natural obstacle for the player. I suppose you can dive in there from the window into the courtyard full of these guys and maybe even survive, probably skipping part of the map, but you kinda instinctively feel you should avoid this place without proper weapons, so you go around. And it's a nice trip - the design is very classic, but with much clever ideas, like the flooded elevator at the beginning that allows for accommodating 2 floors on top of one another. I like the part where you first traverse the street and see all the windows and balconies to your left, then hop up and make your way back through them with a little platforming. Then there's a sewer part that's just short enough to let you enjoy it. The map makes excellent use of verticality, without forcing the player to look 90 degree up, but providing a lot of little bridges and stuff above your head or traversing parts of the map in Z-direction for a change in pace. Finally, there's the mission part at the end, where instead of dealing with the enforcers by ourselves, we launch a surprise airstrike that blows most of them to pieces. Finally, Turpuli decided to end the map with a real bang - we get an enormous cave full of monsters that equals a pretty challenging and super fun fight, coupled with a boss which we have to kill on scraps of the ammo left after all the meat before. Or we can just skip this entirely and plant a bomb in the central column, then go back to a freshly revealed nukebutton - simple, but effective!

Rating: 92/100