25th of March 2023

WG Pandora by William Gee

This isn't so much a brand new episode than a somewhat random collection of William Gee's previously released usermaps. The episode includes WGCity, WGFang and Slick Willy, then two maps I didn't recognize, but apparently they're from the Attrition mode of Alien Armageddon. The maps are tied loosely together under a common "Pandora" theme that, from what I can tell, is some kind of a planet maybe? WGFang and Slick Willy I have played recently (twice) and thus kinda forced myself to play through them again. WGCity is still a good archetypal expansive city map - but it did kinda sour the mood that I spent 10 minutes wandering around because I had missed an invisible trigger. The two Attrition maps are Pandora and Emerald Abyss. Pandora's design is a bit "blocky" and outdoor visibility is way too low considering the skybox, but I did enjoy this blend of technology and nature in a sunny environment (again, aside from the unfittingly low visibility). Emerald Abyss is a short outdoor map culminating in a boss battle. The starry night sky makes for a nice backdrop to all the natural terrain, but otherwise it's a fairly standard map with okay gameplay and a rather boring boss battle (the arena looks nice though).
In addition to the maps, there's no extra content aside from some new textures and a few sprites (focusing mostly on terrain/outdoor assets and nice skyboxes).

Conclusion: Whether Pandora is worth your time depends on how familiar you're with the maps. If you haven't played the usermaps before, then this is a great introduction to them. If they're still fresh in your memory, you might still want to check out the Attrition maps that you probably haven't played. Honestly, the "Pandora" theme could have been better fleshed out to justify the bundling together of these maps that on the surface share nothing.

Score: No rating
Download: Download
Version: 1.4, 1.5
Author: William Gee