KaiseR Land 01 | Single/DM | Author: KaiseR | Download 1.83Mt
Description: KaiseR's first (assumably) public release came to my attention as a surprise. The quality is high - not the kind you'd expect from a first release. The level is a hi-tech map which is located both above- & underwater.
Design: The level takes advantage of Jonof's skybox feature. There are two neat skyboxes to support the level's fantastic design (although it works well without them too). The skybox which is supposed to be an underwater world could look a bit more underwater - now it's a bit too skyish. Design is clean and well textured. Some rooms appear a bit too empty with little details but even so the texturing usually saves the day. The design reminded me of Dani J. Swanson (Fusion) & Daniel Aashage's (One2Zero) maps.
(skyboxes are to be placed in "textures" folder and the definition lines from "skyboxes - readme" are to be copied into your "duke3d.def" file)
Textures: Combinations are kept simple and very clean. There are hardly any altered palettes except for some nice colored lightning. Once again I have to mention One2Zero which shares some of the level's atmosphere. Skyboxes add a very nice touch.
Gameplay: This is where the level is very Quakish. Enemies attack in packs and there are many spawns. Enforcers are non-existant which is a great thing. This kind of a gameplay works in Quake but this is Duke and therefore the combats just end up being a bit boring and slow (Duke's gameplay is way slower than Quake's). The number of spawns should've been reduced - or as an alternative - some skill settings could have been implemented.
Innovations: Nothing majestic - feels fresh though.
Conclusion: Since the level is named with "01" I assume that more is on the way - I hope at least. KaiseR has shown his skills and at least I'm most impressed. Gameplay could be a bit more Dukish but that's up to one's taste.
Rating: 93
