18th of March 2023

WGCity 2 | Single | Author: William Gee | Download

The Review: The first WGCity map was released back in 2005 and was considered one of the best usermaps of its day. WGCity 2 seems a bit more restricted in scope; better design overall (duh!), but it's not quite as sprawling as the first part (which is good, as that means less time wasted on not knowing where to go, which is something I have less tolerance for these days). There are four main locations; a multi-storey hotel, a church sitting atop a hill, some kind of a military compound and a library. All this makes for a good selection of locations. I like the way you work your way through the hotel, starting from the bottom, then inching your way to the top while fighting monsters. It's pretty cramped, but combat never really gets out of hand. The military compound has a broken bridge and is surrounded by hills, which necessitates some platforming. It's all done rather well, involving little else but looking around to find a path, one of which leads to the church that you just know holds a secret or two behind its modest outward appearance - after all, it's not too far off from a downed alien craft. The city itself has a cool dynamic vibe to it; there's thunder, the area is surrounded by natural terrain, there are destroyed buildings and bridges around and signs of creeping alien infestation.
Combat is overall well balanced; you're encouraged to make the most out of your arsenal and have to keep those eyes open for health packs. Still, while the action starts off well (especially after having just played through Blast Radius), it ultimately degenerates into an all-too-predictable and somewhat annoying crapfest involving open areas and respawning Battlelords and Commanders that just reminds you of how limited combat in this game has always been. Otherwise the gameplay is fine; there's nothing too confusing, but you still have to look around for stuff and check your bearings every now and then. The map uses the E3L7 (fire station) track; a great choice, as it's one of the most underrated songs in the game and has a fantastic '90s city atmosphere.

Conclusion: A solid 30-minute long city map with a bunch of interesting locations each with its own distinct feel and gameplay style. Good design all-around with even a bit of TROR thrown in. Fun map for most of its duration, just too bad it didn't take a clairvoyant to see how it was going to end - with a bunch of Battlelord & Commander respawns.

Rating: 94