[oasiz]

Haha no worries. My play style is more on the "gotta go fast" side most of the time. I can understand your point of view perfectly on his.

[Cage]

You also skipped my battlelords fight! If I could use monster kill triggers, you wouldn't be able to

[RichardStorm]

This is an awesome work, I just finished it on Let's Rock, and I'm going to do it again on Come Get Some. Lev 14 was pretty hard and i got stuck there for a long while (then i cheated to find "that" goddamn area) ; have a travel through various mappers' styles is a nice thing to me, too.

[Daedolon]

RichardStorm, on 26 June 2014 - 04:32 PM, said:

Lev 14 was pretty hard and i got stuck there for a long while

I guess the reason it's it's hard is why it's one of the later levels.

Spoiler

Getting stuck in it, however... How I see it myself is that all of the main areas besides the vents are locked out once you enter the map. I thought it would give players the idea to explore the vents before jumping down (to a place you can't jump back up to after you've dropped down). There's a sector puddle of blood at the very first intersection to notify the player about routes.

Spoiler

The original game used this effect as well. I've used it in my map a multiple of times; bloody always handprints trigger something and blood pouring down somewhere usually means something (there's a lot of blood all around to give you hint on the initial direction).

The vent doors were also clearly marked with a letter (plus all the mandatory switches are marked very clearly by letters).

Like MetHy said, I think it's a matter of just taking the two seconds to look around how to progress (and for stuff like ammo and items), no map in the episode is essentially too hard to get stuck in. I also think it's because people have gotten so used to the retail maps of Duke3D, they always breeze through them, knowing the position of each item and enemy, then applying that same mentality of playing into new maps they have never played and end getting stuck in.

Unless it's something else, I don't really know then.

[Forge]

it might have to do with layout.

you have to figure almost every map prior to those last couple are pretty linear or have less convoluted paths. The last couple of maps are more open and require some backtracking and re-exploring previously visited locations.

[RichardStorm]

I just didn't notice the button "up there" to open the room for code 1 and 2.

[MetHy]

RichardStorm, on 27 June 2014 - 12:18 AM, said:

I just didn't notice the button "up there" to open the room for code 1 and 2.

That's map15 then, Sinister's and not Daedolon's

[RichardStorm]

Oops. Yes, lv 15.

[MetHy]

Anyway at least that means the map order seems to work. Thanks to Sinister for help on that.

[Micky C]

So I finally finished it. Wow talk about a lot of turrets in Mister Sinister's map. Several of those turrets should be taken out in the lower difficulty settings IMO, it's called Piece of Cake for a reason. Otherwise the level had quite a good layout and some really nice detailing. Also got into the secret level (had to google the answer, I mean come on I'm not a nerd ) (well I am but I don't usually pay attention to those things). The secret level had some fresh, original ideas going for it. Some of those cars were also pretty sleek and sexy as well. And of course the big finale was pretty epic as well, very dynamic with lots of stuff going on. It's about as good a final map as we could have hoped for. Although after seeing Davox's bike map for the DNF 2013 mod I'd have liked to see what he could have cooked up. Also, teleporter pad on the roof that summons the Cycloid Emperor? Original idea

Found another small problem, there was text on the back of my car that's all messed up now, I'm guessing when the height was adjusted. I also could have sworn I had handles on the doors and other small details (but I'm not sure).

Btw, why is my name on the "special thanks" list?
Is it the elevator door? (which you don't really see open )

[RichardStorm]

As for reaching secret level, i just shot every button till i heard the activation "bleep" . I also noticed a flat "buggy" sprite on the right column, 1-4-7. Dunno what you intended do to with it.

[MetHy]

Mickey C, on 27 June 2014 - 04:42 AM, said:

So I finally finished it. Wow talk about a lot of turrets in Mister Sinister's map. Several of those turrets should be taken out in the lower difficulty settings IMO, it's called Piece of Cake for a reason. Otherwise the level had quite a good layout and some really nice detailing. Also got into the secret level (had to google the answer, I mean come on I'm not a nerd ) (well I am but I don't usually pay attention to those things). The secret level had some fresh, original ideas going for it. Some of those cars were also pretty sleek and sexy as well. And of course the big finale was pretty epic as well, very dynamic with lots of stuff going on. It's about as good a final map as we could have hoped for. Although after seeing Davox's bike map for the DNF 2013 mod I'd have liked to see what he could have cooked up. Also, teleporter pad on the roof that summons the Cycloid Emperor? Original idea

Found another small problem, there was text on the back of my car that's all messed up now, I'm guessing when the height was adjusted. I also could have sworn I had handles on the doors and other small details (but I'm not sure).

Btw, why is my name on the "special thanks" list?
Is it the elevator door? (which you don't really see open )

Sorry about the sprite handles for the car but, I had tons of issues with those cars. Between copy-pasting and/or changing sector height and/or turning them around so they face a different angle as well as moving the cars around, that makes a lot of potential possibitlies for sprites fucking up. For your car I also had to resize it because it was on a way bigger scale compared to all the other cars, which doesn't help. I did spend an INSANE AMOUNT OF TIME comparing the cars in the map with the orignal files given to me to make sure everything is alright, but I seemed to have missed a few sprites (and not just on yours); I also spent a lot of time the cars would look as good as possible including changing shading so they fit perfectly in the map.
As for the text written on the car; it was all messed up due to the height change and since I thought it was just an egocentric "I MADE THIS CAR ALSO CHECK THAT OTHER MAP I MADE" - type of msg I figured it wasn't too important as far as the car is concerned and rather than putting all the text back together so it's readable (all the sprites were on top of each others), I deleted them and used that time to try and make sure important details about the cars were alright. (seems i missed a few sprites though)

if you tell me what's wrong exactly i can fix it for the patch

As for the special thanks; I think it's because of the tutorial you wrote for replacing the .anm videos. For the elevator I did credit you in the readme of the parking map (oh yeah that door was reused in sinister's map too but i totally forgot about mentionning you made it sorry; i'll fix that in the patch as well). initially that was why i put you in the special thanks, however I'm not sure though because in the end I didn't make the video conversions to .anm and it's Daedolon who did it; and I don't think he used your tutorial (not sure); so if he didn't your name was left for nothing so let's count that as the door.

[Micky C]

I didn't write any tutorial for anm
Not that I mind having my name on the special thanks

And it's not that egocentric to have small, barely visible text making people aware that I have other maps/projects out there should people choose to play them is it (I'd expected the average player not to notice it anyway)? I wouldn't have minded much if the message was deleted but yeah they're all jumbled up at the top of the sector. It'd probably be easier for me to fix it myself within the map and send that in. Gimme a week or so when I have some spare time.

[MetHy]

I'm pretty sure i deleted them?

edit : hmm okay some of them are still here. They're barely noticeable in game though. Nobody noticed it including me. I'll fix that in the patch. Also, the msg recommends WGRealms2, AMC TC, etc which I did recommend in the .txt to people looking for more DN3D action.
If you want I can add a note in the txt saying that your car comes from the beach cbp too.
Also I noticed that the back texture of your car (below the trunk) has the 32bit alignment glitch (that's among the kind of shit i had to handle with those cars; i fixed tons of those on PLENTY of cars) so it'll be fixed in v1.1 too.

Edit 2 : so yeah anyway my reason to delete it is because it appeared all fucked up due to moving the car around, thought it was no big deal to delete it and not worth the effort to make it look right again, and also thought that it was out of place and that the map would be a mess if everybody had put a several sentences msg on each car. Plus there is already the name of each mapper with or on each map.

Mickey C, on 27 June 2014 - 04:42 AM, said:

Although after seeing Davox's bike map for the DNF 2013 mod I'd have liked to see what he could have cooked up.

So do I. Even though I didn't like that map gameplay wise it looked great as far as rooftop maps are concerned.

Quote

Also, teleporter pad on the roof that summons the Cycloid Emperor? Original idea

I didn't even remember that. I don't think I even beat that map and saw that Cycloid emperor due to performance issues at the time; I should try it again on my new computer.

Also, the idea of using texture #3375 for the "teleporter light" coming out of the spaceship came from Loke using that texture in Apprehension Arizona (I asked him and credited him in the txt) but then I noticed it was also used in a similar way as my rooftop in the "DNF 2013 DLC". It's very common that things were done before without the mapper knowing about it.

BTW in the Lobby map I made a small joke out of people spending that much effort saying others maps used the same tiny-details-ideas as their previously released maps.

Edit#9784357823 :

Mickey C, on 27 June 2014 - 04:42 AM, said:

Also got into the secret level (had to google the answer, I mean come on I'm not a nerd ) (well I am but I don't usually pay attention to those things)

For the answer, they talk about it ALL THE TIME in the movie so if you know it you'd know. Plus one can easily google it (the question was wrote in a way that if you google it you'll find the answer even if you don't know what the question is talking about).
Anyway the question used to be different, and better imo; but the answer is ambiguous :

Spoiler

it used to be "# of nakatomi plaza terrorists open the elevator" except that there are actually 2 answers to that : the movie advertises 12, except it actually is 13; so google gives both answers. I think it's because there is ONE terrorist which you barely even see in the movie for a few seconds and which John MacLane doesn't even kill and we don't know his fate at the end of the movie. So we had to come up with another question

[Hendricks266]

MetHy, on 27 June 2014 - 05:20 AM, said:

As for the special thanks; I think it's because of the tutorial you wrote for replacing the .anm videos. [...] initially that was why i put you in the special thanks, however I'm not sure though because in the end I didn't make the video conversions to .anm and it's Daedolon who did it; and I don't think he used your tutorial (not sure)

This tutorial?

[MetHy]

Oh I meant this
http://forums.duke4....eos-with-sound/

(But in the end like I said we didn't use this; and turns out it's actually not even a tutorial to replace anm by anm, I didn't even read it completely)

Turns out it wasn't Micky C who wrote this but The Commander. I've been mixing up both of them forever; dunno why sorry....

I guess we can keep Mickey C in the special thanks for the elevator and its door (the doors were used twice) cause it made me save a lot of time (turning the doors of the template into actually working ones isn't THAT simple). Kind of a shame the players can't see the doors open/close though (except maybe from the viewscreen camera in the parking map when pressing the button?) because he did a good job with them; unless they play in coop.

So it turns out there were a few details about the episode that eluded me in the end or that I fucked up (and quite a lot regarding Micky C sorry man ). Everything reported will be fixed in version 1.1 though.
Even though I checked everything thoroughly I knew I'd fuck something up though. This thing was huge.

I'm going to start working on v1.1 fixes Sunday I guess. I'll contact the mappers concerned when there are 'serious' issues like squishes in random places for instance.

[Micky C]

Yeah that car texture was an absolute bitch to allign. I had to pretty much do it by hand since the automatic texture allignment tool always messed it up.

I was also pretty damn proud of that sliding door, it is a shame that you don't open it standing directly in front.

When you do make the fixes, remember, it's "Micky C" !

[MetHy]

Yeah don't worry, I wrote that down in the file I'm using to keep track of needed fixes.

As for the door yeah I agree, but in both cases where it was used I think it makes more sense the way it is rather than giving a keycard or something; which would also make things needlessly more complicated.

[Micky C]

Wrote a review for the mod at moddb. Instead of talking about anything specific, it's more about the general points of why people should play it. I was wondering if I should have mentioned I was one of the developers and hence may be biased, I decided against it since I played it for the first time when it was released, just like everyone else, and was genuinely impressed. (And I meant to say "area", not "error" in the review. Mental slip).

http://www.moddb.com...ke-hard/reviews

[Paul B]

Micky C, on 28 June 2014 - 01:41 AM, said:

Wrote a review for the mod at moddb. Instead of talking about anything specific, it's more about the general points of why people should play it. I was wondering if I should have mentioned I was one of the developers and hence may be biased, I decided against it since I played it for the first time when it was released, just like everyone else, and was genuinely impressed. (And I meant to say "area", not "error" in the review. Mental slip).

http://www.moddb.com...ke-hard/reviews

can you make the episode rating system open to the public without having to sign up to the site?

[Lunick]

Paul B, on 28 June 2014 - 02:00 AM, said:

can you make the episode rating system open to the public without having to sign up to the site?

Not how ModDb works unfortunately.

[ck3D]

MetHy, on 26 June 2014 - 06:16 AM, said:

http://www.doomworld...261#post1281261

i find it great that even people from other gaming communities are giving this a try (and even going as far as giving feedback).

'Map 9 had specially impressive layout once everything was unlocked. However, I had often felt confused while playing, because there were switches unlocking a random distant part of the map, which was unobvious (I call this "unintuitive") - but not so bad actually, I was able to navigate there eventually. As a result, I've noticed that the progression was actually consequent in a predetermined way, not nonlinear. But it was an enjoyable map anyway, very easy too.'

the confusing gameplay is something people constantly report about most of my maps and judging from this comment and the video that was posted earlier by oasiz (only watched the section where he goes through my own map in his playthrough because i still haven't found the time to play the episode yet myself, thus i didn't want to spoil anything for myself beforehand), i guess i felt victim to these tendencies again this time too. that being said, and just like in most of my maps, there are hints as to which button unlocks what - they are just more subtle than, say, a blatant security view screen or some of the other, more common in-your-face stuff. therefore in order to notice them you have to have a certain slower, more laid-back and attentive playing style in order to actually look at and consider the details in the map as opposed to the more wide-spreads tactics in doom-likes (i.e.. just running and jumping everywhere from enemy to enemy and expecting the layout to be so minimalistic and purely functional that the next corridor always should just reveal itself to you as you go - as opposed to having to take the time to pause and think a little in order to find your own way through the level). in a lot of my maps it can be design elements such as wiring coming out of the switch that you have to follow in order to find the corresponding door or triggered effect, or suggested back stories that only make sense if you take the time to consider everything in the room. which is the case here in the kitchen of the sushi bar, with the messages on the walls and chained employees suggesting that they are being exploited in terms of working hours (a mindless little stab at how important work is in traditional Japanese culture and how much space it takes in modern capitalism in general - Duke has always been about pushing the extremes and poking some fun at certain social traits and i personally like to carry on the tradition), the several cups of coffee laying around on the floor and how it says 'supplies' on the switch just above (with brown fluid dripping from it) should just hint to how it is the coffee lounge that gets unlocked from that point on. the coffee lounge is one of the three main locations of the map, too, so even for someone who would not notice the type of details and back stories i like to implement in my levels, it really shouldn't be that hard to second guess.

i agree on calling it 'unintuitive' though, the word sounds about right (especially if you are used to the free-flowing level layout types of modern games) seeing as you actually have to stop and ponder for a while. but it is how i like to make things.

overall i am pretty happy with my contribution to this pack. part of me wishes that i could have figured out a stronger central theme and that i had spent more time on the detailing in certain areas, as well as on implementing some never-before-seen effects i had in mind, but the outcome isn't too bad and is fairly representative of my style, i guess. i am fairly happy with my car for the secret map, too.

looking forward to having the time to play the full thing so much ! in the meantime i keep going back to this thread to check the reception, i am happy that it is still possible to have a 5-page (and still ongoing) thread for a Duke 3D release in 2014

[Jblade]

just so you know your level had the twin peaks theme going through my head all day at work after I finished the map pack (I also can't get the girl from Ipanema out of my head either, thanks Taivo!)

[MetHy]

Nice reviews guys! Including Mikko
Edit : although Mikko didn't unlock the Randomizer and map select because he used a cheat (dnshowmap). I'll put a note in the readme saying that using any cheat will make you have to start the whole episode over in order to unlock them; even if you load a previous save after using the said cheat.

ck3D, on 28 June 2014 - 05:08 AM, said:

i agree on calling it 'unintuitive' though, the word sounds about right (especially if you are used to the free-flowing level layout types of modern games) seeing as you actually have to stop and ponder for a while. but it is how i like to make things.

I wouldn't worry about it. That same person used the same word "unintuitive" to qualify the location of the keycards in the Lobby map ; while to be honest, I tried to make sure the player would check the area of the first "hidden" key (the blue one) by adding an enemy and a health pack just nearby; the 2nd one is in a locker which i thought everyone would check instantly, and for the 3rd one (in the laundry) I spawned a Commander just near it and it's located in the only lit area of the room (and using light to show important things has been something very common in modern games). It's really funny because I thought I did everything I could in all of those 3 maps to help the player understand what to do or where to go without straight out giving the answer...
So really, except by putting the keys in plain sight in the middle of the room, I really don't know how else I'm supposed to "help" the player.

But then again I think it's simply a game difference. Putting the keys in plain sight IS very common in Doom because there is not much you can do in Doom in terms of 'hiding' items or puzzles. In Doom the key is a reward for killing the monsters in the room; or for killing the monsters spawning as soon as you grab the key. While in Duke, the monsters are in the way and the player has to kill them so then he can be left alone to figure out what to do to get the key (or to progress). It's part of how are those games, which is why I think a Doom player may find it unintuitive while we may find Doom less interesting in that regard.

Again, I don't think anything in the episode is harder to figure out than in the original game; semi-'hidden' keys and button hunt has always been common in Duke; and in this episode there isn't that much of that and plenty has been done to help the player figure out what he has to do when that was thought necessary.

Now though, thinking back of it, the blue keycardslot in your Anarchy City 2 or the switches in Anorack City, THAT may be a little unintuitive (though I don't mind it, it's a style I can enjoy; not to mention that making the player have to look everywhere also makes him realize all the cool little details and jokes you put in your maps); but nothing in Commercial Break compares to that.

[Paul B]

Mikko said:

But the layout with its two-floor design comes off as cheating which puts a bit of a negative spin on the map.

It's not called cheating when I asked for permission before making the second floor. I had the green light so I went ahead since I was running a bit out of room and i didn't want to compromise the user map by making it feel too narrorow in some places. I wouldn't consider it a second floor entirely but more of a half floor balcony. Since the two floors fit within the same ceiling space as the showcase area.

[Gambini]

Wow, I´m impressed by the quality of the maps. Just finished Bits and felt like posting my impressions before my cache is full and the first maps become blurry in my mind. This is of much higher quality than what i actually thought It´d be.

The first map (lobby) is the best so far, clever layout, very solid texturing and a mix of original ideas with some recognizable inspirations but very well executed. Only a bit scarse of weapons at the very beginning, then very generous near the end, which was a waste considering I ended it with a full freezer, a full shrinker and a devastator.. all going to waste since they can´t be carried to the next level. The perfect excuse for this is that Duke is lazy and doesnt want to drag all that ballast through the stairs

The second map (exclusive bathroom) is as good design-wise and plenty of neat and original ideas too, but it´s quite difficult and confusing. For the hell of me I couldn´t find the yellow key and just when I was completely ready to give up, i cheated to get it and then unlocked the rest of the level (i found the other cards, despite not being able to pick them up, since i cheated). A battlelord and many commanders made things frustrating as there was barely any room to give them fight.

The third map (construction zone) is a little bit less ambitious, yet impressive and solid as the rest. Simpler layout but plenty of commanders and unfair explosions. This one was the one with I sweared more, full of unfair explosions followd by commander respawns in your face, in tiny areas.

The fourth map (Bits) is maybe the most generic to this point, but it has a much more encouraging set of puzzles and a nice twist. With the first map, the only two that are challenging yet fair (although Commanders were part of the starring again).

I´m gonna likely play a couple more of maps tonight, not sure if i´ll have time to finish the episode though. But it was quite a nice surprise to see how good this ended up being. Haven´t seen so much quality put togheter since that awesome mod DNF2013? And the intro animation, music and menu background gives additional value too.

[High Treason]

@Paul B; I never gave much thought about the extra space that was taken up, some levels have an underwater area, thus they built down, you just built up instead. By that point it's a little refreshing to see something at a different height anyway.

On that note, I don't really think I took liberties with the rules either. I asked Methy about my concept before I had even built a single sector, originally the library was planned to be twice the size (one full floor normal, one full floor otherworld) but out of respect of said rules I cut both sides down to half a floor each*.Granted there are a couple of small areas off the edge of the map but if these had proven unacceptable I am sure Methy would have said so right away and asked me to rip them out, I actually was breaking the rules at one point by not implementing certain things that were required (only because I forgot) and Methy told me to fix it. At the end of the day, the project leader gave the OK on both of these, if you didn't think outside the box and question how far you could take your concept, that's your own issue - nah, I'm just messing with you, whilst I don't agree 100% that's kind of the point of a review, it's an opinion and it would be boring if they were all the same, it's a good review. Just felt I may as well justify myself here.

* That also proved to be a good thing when the workstation died off and I had to do most of the remaining editing in a slide-show, that FPS counter was red all the time, not good.

[MetHy]

I think the extra space is High Treason's or Paul B's map is good because it breaks the monotony. I tried to make both mappers restrict that extra use as much as possible without it hindering the ideas behind their maps.
For Paul B I think there was a confusion because I mentioned SoS was allowed when I was first talking about the rules of the episode; what I had in mind was X-axis SoS though, like in Geoffrey's DmDUCTS (X-axis SoS is very underused in maps), not Y-axis SoS.
However, X-axis SoS can give you as much extra space as the Y-axis; so whatever, and for what it's worth I did mentioning slightly changing the size of the floor was allowed as long as it's not really noticeable; and to me HT's map didn't feel like it was that much bigger, maybe because the idea behind the otherworld's parts is that they are not realisticly supposed to be there. But then again; had he used X axis SoS instead of teleporting it wouldn't have broken the rules and the result would have been just the same (just with tons of SoS glitches making the player teleport from layer to layer!)

Gambini, on 28 June 2014 - 03:13 PM, said:

The perfect excuse for this is that Duke is lazy and doesnt want to drag all that ballast through the stairs

The second map (exclusive bathroom) is as good design-wise and plenty of neat and original ideas too, but it´s quite difficult and confusing. For the hell of me I couldn´t find the yellow key and just when I was completely ready to give up, i cheated to get it and then unlocked the rest of the level (i found the other cards, despite not being able to pick them up, since i cheated). A battlelord and many commanders made things frustrating as there was barely any room to give them fight.

Lol. As for Steambull's map, did you not see the crack or did you run out of pipebombs?

Spoiler

I think you should give the map a 2nd chance.

[Gambini]

I tried to blow that hole three times and it didn´t work. I assumed then the crack was merely decorative, which was going to be a complaint if it wasnt because after so much wandering around, i forgot.

[Merlijn]

Finished the episode today on 'come get some'! Unfortunately, I used "dnshowmap" at one point so I didn't unlock anything. Oh well, it's a good excuse to play it again!

I'll just echo what everyone has been saying: it's a high quality episode which exceeded my expectations by far. Some maps are more memorable then others, but I think it's safe to say that every mapper involved did a damn fine job. Also, the little extra's tie the whole thing together quite nicely.

Now, here's a small review for every map, because it's fun to do:

Spoiler

1. Lobby
Great way to start the episode, I think it's one of the best entries actually. Solid gameplay, a nice twist at the end, great eye for detail and layout. The traffic outside was a nice touch.

2. Executive
This one succeeded in making the floor feel bigger then it actually is, I didn't expect it to be so long. Very nice looking level, the laser beams of death were a cool addition. The map is pretty hard, since you have to fight commanders and a battle lord in tight spaces. I died once, but kicked their asses the second time.

3. Construction deconstruction.
One of my favorites, I really liked the design and the combat scenario's. Being able to blow up almost everything added a lot of fun, I loved it when the ceiling suddenly collapsed during the battlelord fight.

4. Bits
This one is a bit (lol) more generic, it's typical Mikko all the way. Best part was blowing up the CPU, you can't have an episode based on die hard without blowing up at least one floor. Also the first map in the episode which forces you to walk over a ledge, really liked that.

5. Abstratech
This map is one of the weirder ones, the previous ones were all pretty 'realistic' while this one is abstract and completely puzzle based. Stuff like this gives the episode it's charm and makes sure it doesn't get too boring or repetitive. I love the creative way of using moving sectors here, for some reason it's not used very often. Just shows how much you still can do with such an old editor when you're creative enough.

6. CEO Bathhouse
The shortest map I think? The floor is basically one big room, which made it more surprising for me how some mappers were able to cram so many rooms into the area. The bathhouse is very well designed, short but fun level.

7.Storage Wars
Now that's a lot crates! This one turns the floor into one big warehouse, layout is quite good and I also liked how you could step outside to attack the aliens from different directions. Not the most memorable map of the pack, but it still flows nicely. Only thing I didn't like is having to back track the exact same path back to the beginning.

8. Eat The Rich
Not sure why Forge is always so negative about his own work, this one stood out immediately thanks to great design, clever puzzles and use of weaponry. One of my favorites, I just love mansion/penthouse styles maps. Only combat scenario I didn't like were the 3 commanders in the dining room. I managed to quickly take them out with the shrinker, but not before getting hit twice (there's little room here to avoid the rockets).

9. Commercial Break
I don't want to repeat myself too much, but this is another great entry. Didn't have trouble navigating at all, I missed the subtle hints but there aren't that many closed doors anyway. The level managed to build a nice atmosphere, which is a welcome break from all the action. Another battle lord shows up, but there's enough room to fight and outsmart him (lured him to one side of the building, then grabbed the freezer and took him out from a distance).

10. Cinematic Lounge
I didn't really like the look of this level, too many wonky colors. The first fight was a bit too much as well, having to shoot through so many lizzies gets boring fast. The level picks up after that, having to use the ledge to reach the back of the building was clever. The newbeast fight was fun too, had fun blasting them with the expander.

11. Flesh
Strange theme, it's an apartment floor with creepy basements and a torture room? Level looks good though, I think the map would have been better with less monsters and more atmosphere but it's still solid.

12. Poormann's Library
Wow, this map has some very nasty surprises in store! Loved the weird dimension, as a fan of horror maps I was very pleased. The echoing sounds became too much for my boxes to handle though. The sound got distorted and ugly at some points, I don't know if anyone else had experienced this?

13. Showcase
This one 'cheats' by turning it into 2 floors. I'm not complaining though, it adds some variety to the episode and allows for some nice vertical movement. Another great map, well designed and has interesting gameplay. There's a lot of room for exploration, which I find impressive given the restricted nature of this episode.

14. Legal Joint
Another one to add to the growing 'favorites' collection, I just think the layout is incredibly clever here. Great classic styled level with a vent system and good eye for detail. I think this one will have great replay value.

15. Power Out
I think turrets are by far the most annoying 'enemies' in the game, so having so many of them in such tight spaces took this level down a notch for me. Very challenging level, in the end I managed to finish it without dying (I killed all the piggy tanks by pressing their nuke button, that's always a blast ).

16. Rooftop
Great way to finish the episode. After moving through all those floors, it feels very rewarding to finally reach the roof. Good boss fight with plenty of room to maneuver and plenty of obstacles to hide behind. Gameplay was good, it was challenging but it didn't overdo it. Nice ambience with all the signs of devastation around you. Loved the outro movie and that credits song haha.

17. Parking
I'm getting tired of typing at this point. Let's just say it's rewarding to find this level (and to finally fix that damn elevator!). Loved Duke's groan when he realized he was back at floor 0.