14th of September 2024

Showdown | Single/Multi | Author: Kennardion | Download

The Review: Showdown is the author's first published map and it's been under construction on and off since 2018. Duke shoots down an alien mothership, then gets shot down himself. What follows is a rather lengthy (took me almost 30 minutes) adventure through a series of caves, mines and some sort of a facility. The map's design is kinda all over the place owing to its lengthy development cycle. One room could be fullbright with oversized objects, misaligned textures (particularly floor textures are often at a weird diagonal angle) and lack of trimming while the next might be well up to modern standards with good, strong lighting and some nice details here and there. Some noteworthy (i.e., being highlighted in their environments) objects look downright amateurish. Despite this, the overall look of almost every area is at least decent, so this is a case where the author has somehow managed to nail the "big picture", but if you were to take it all apart and go through every detail one by one, you'd find plenty to criticize.
Showdown is one of those maps that stand out with their "sense of adventure" or whatever. Rather than playing it safe you're treated to multiple different locations, so the going never really gets dull as there's always a new environment around the corner. The map is expansive and occasionally interconnected, but you won't find yourself bouncing cluelessly around the place; the map is ultimately pretty linear, and it never really feels like you have to put in tedious backtracking. I don't know if it's by design or accident, but I liked the author's way of guiding you toward the next segment. Combat is pretty fun too; you're often forced to switch between weapons, and enemy placement is both fun and fair. Secrets are rather prominent here, including an early opportunity to get yourself a shotgun and a freezethrower. The place is pretty silent though, as there's a notable dearth of ambient sounds.
The quality of Showdown may be a bit all over the place especially when it comes to the design of its minutiae, but I still often found myself enjoying the map's visuals, as if the author has a knack for how to make things visually interesting. Morever, the map's layout, thematic variety and combat make for a nice, pleasant sense of adventure.

Rating: 87