I think I'll be actually short with this one. This episode is damn great. On all fronts I feel it have been better than Episode 2. For the first time, I felt that this Episode was tailor made as if directly for me to be pleased.
The intro levels to the Cycloids' home planet, woah. I think the most that I got out of this mission was that tense feeling of dread I was feeling in the Mothership level of Ep2. Seeing the destruction the Beyonders did. Most queens dead. A fierce race on the verge of defeat, and maybe even extinction. I actually started to pity them. I almost didn't want to be here, they suffered enough. It's weird, but powerful.
Then, randomly, let's go the Egypt! Yay! Unlike the Hong Kong levels, I actually really damn enjoyed these! I'm a fan of Metroidvanias, and I'm a fan of of Powerslave as well, so this set of levels definitely were made for me. Not to mention the visual homeage to Serious Sam as well, especially with the Sanctuary levels (they are even named SS.map, lol) that made me expect Beheaded Kamikazes to pop up any minute, and the final level which was of course modeleted after the Great Pyramid level of SS: The First Encounter. At this point I realized the pattern: The episode name is based on the first set of "homage" levels, with ep2 being a homage to Shadow Warrior, and ep3 being a homage to Powerslave. (And a personal prediction: Heretic/Hexen for Ep4.)
The Egypt levels also structurally worked better than the Hong Kong levels, due to their interconnectedness, and the different artifacts made these levels being feeling a lot more diverse as well. I had great fun, I have to say. I also chosen to try out Snowfall for Egypt (because that's funny), and I think he was a cool addition to the game (my only problem was that his shield indicator overlaps the spirit and fire armor indicators).
Now if there's one MAJOR PROBLEM with the Egypt mission.... WHY ARE THERE CACTI IN EGYPT??? THERE ARE NO CACTUS IN AFRICA! IT'S A POPULAR MISINFORMATION SPREAD BY AMERICA! WHY NOBODY NOTICES THIS! WAKE UP SHEEPLE! WAKE UPdslgkjdsgldfygkjxfgy- <technical difficulties, please wait>
After Egypt, the team splits up again. I knew shit will hit the fan, so I decided to start with Zaxtor's level to just get done with it early. I won't mince words, it was awful, buggy, and it took me hours even with noclip. But I understand that it's a special kind of work made for people different from me. So I won't even take it as a negative point.
Now to Micky Begins! I have to say, while I was lost most of the time, and I never actually seen the final boss because it was killed by NPCs, I would say it was probably one of my favorite set of missions in this episode. It did remind me of the absolute diversity of Ep1 (more on that later, actually), but the most that got to me, was the first level. The actual first level. Remember, dear reader, who probably forgot what I wrote at the start due to my insane ramblings I've been writing at 2am without any sort of break or sense of thought? Well, for a flashback: "Good music with fitting visuals is the no-1 way for a trailer to get to me". Going through the base with just a pistol, actually hiding from the aliens, with that toned-down tense music. Going through a set of test labs inspired by Portal (WHAT), and then getting the SMART Suit. And a room of weapons. AND THAT MUSIC FROM THE TRAILER STARTS PLAYING. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
During work, I often talk about the psychological effect of music on players during gameplay, something I feel have been slowly getting lost in modern AAA games as they all go for a generic cinematic-like soundtrack that sounds so similar to each other. Me and my colleagues/friends often talk about some of the best musical moments in games, where the music fits perfectly a moment, or when the music dynamcally shifts during a changing scene, causing the player to feel a variety of changing emotions, sometimes going from tense to empoweringNOW WHO'S RUNNING FROM THE ALIENS NOW, MWAAHAHAAA, OH GOD I LOVE THIS MUSIC! Too bad it didn't play on the other levels of Micky Begins, but the 80s inspired soundtrack through it all was really pleasing.
With that done, I decided to quickly do Geoffrey's level, as it was time for him to finally get a level. Well...
[10:40 PM] Solais: I jacked in into a VR panel in an ancient alien supercomputer that looks like a pyramid hidden in the deep jungles of Africa, guarded by sentient gorillas that use guns, using two pieces of a magical tablet, which one of them was on an old river boat in the past. And now I'm playing a virtual tank game. While being a cyborg web developer from Mars.
[10:41 PM] Solais: Damn I love this mod.
And then I go to Mesopotamia and I'm suddenly in a never released sequel to Command and Conquer: Renegade, now set in the Tiberian Sun time period.
Well. This is what I meant that this episode was almost like tailor-made for me to love it. It's the same size of Episode 2, but somehow, with the insane diversity of Episode 1. It's almost perfect.
AND THEN... levels made by Snowfall. Not as... beautiful on a design scale as Zeta Base, but damn. Also suddenly playing as a Cultist, WHAT?? And the finale was really neat as well. Really feels like that the shit indeed have hit all those fans, all together, and it's time to do something. The stage is set. The actors took their place. It's time for the show to begin.
Remember when I said I'll be short with this one? Me neither.
Most Favorite Level: Woah, very difficult question, because all of them are great. Maybe Geoffrey's level.
Least Favorite Level: None, really. Besides the obvious, but that's disqualified.
Best Missed Opportunity: The Lost Tomb level ending with an insane chase sequence as you are a medieval knight, riding on a bike, with battle axe in hand. That would have been metal.