31th of December 2024
The Computer War 2024 | Single | Author: Aymeric "MRCK" Nocus | Download
The Review: Duke is playing Duke3D on his computer while suddenly his rig starts firing
laser blasts at him. You escape to the next room only to find out your fridge
and TV have also had it with you.
The Computer War 2024 is inspired by The Computer War, an old map from 1996 that I kinda recall playing (although I'm not
sure if it was "back in the day" or some years later). The idea is that some kind of a
supercomputer-powered AI
has taken over everything from ATMs to home appliances. It just so happens that this
concept works somewhat well in Duke3D thanks to the fact that you can make empty space
shoot projectiles at the player in Build. Then you can couple this with Sentry Drones and turrets
to have a credible AI assault force ready to go.
MRCK gets a lot of mileage out of this concept. You need to watch out for anything electronic
as they may turn into your enemy in a split second. It can be a bit frustrating in a few
spots where there isn't a lot of space to move around, so you'll probably often get hit before
you know what's happening. In other words, there's a bit of unfortunate trial and error involved.
The way you deal with these automatic shooters is by shooting a button or something to disable
them. It's never really too obscure, merely a matter of finding the right angle. Occasionally
you need to lure the shooters into blowing up wall cracks for you. Sentries and turrets naturally
fit in well and are fun to fight here with some clever positioning.
There are also some cool references, mostly to late '80s and early '90s computer stuff. The
very concept reminds of those silly '90s movies where some hacker could do pretty much anything with
a simple home computer (like hack into a private Pentagon network).
The going gets more interesting as you penetrate the headquarters of the company that built
the supercomputer. The "cpu core" or whatever is naturally behind layers of various obstacles and traps.
MRCK's wild and colorful visuals that occasionally feel a bit too wild and out of place in other maps fit
a lot better here in the bowels of the computer company. Unfortunately MRCK's spammy gameplay
gets a bit tiresome here, right around the final battle, as sensory overload becomes a bit of a problem with
a zillion drones coming at you from every direction. To be sure, there's plenty of space to take care of them from
a safe distance, but the sheer number of enemy drones just turned the affair into such tedium
that I simply ignored them and paid for the consequences later. Pro-tip: If a battle isn't challenging,
don't turn it into tedium simply by increasing the amount of enemies.
There's a new music track that's a midi rendition of a Kraftwerk (happened to see them live this summer) song; it's actually
a lot more tolerable and fitting than MRCK's usual music choices, so keep it on!
Conclusion: The Computer War 2024 is a refreshing reinterpretation and modernization of what some may call an old classic (which is worth taking a look at but design-wise not very good). MRCK's talents mostly shine here and work to the map's benefit, even if occasionally he slips to his bad habits.
Rating: 94
