Review by DrCrypt

I really liked this level, and therefore, won't have a lot to say about it. :) Seriously, though, a really nice level in a decrepit base overflowing with slime way. There are a lot of things I really enjoyed about it, which I'll cover. First off, the base is huge and sprawling: all paths more or less lead to the same place, so it is linear, but seems to give the impression that it isn't. On the other hand, it is so big that I found myself getting lost quite a few times: in the level's favor, most rooms you go into you are entering for a reason... it is only after you've done what you have to do in these rooms that the level starts seeming labyrinthian. The monster flow was average at first, with a nice trickle of imps, cacos, demons, and barons for me to shotgun. Then, you get to an outside area about halfway through the level, and the entire complex -fills up- with a couple hundred creatures, making for some nice, frantic gun battles. Overall, the level seems just rippling with enemies. The ammunition is about just right and, given the hugeness of the complex, I found the end of the level quite frantic as I ran around looking for the way out while dodging the hordes of monsters that had suddenly teleported into the rooms I had only minutes before left vacant. Another trick that frustrated me, but I rather liked, was that, at the beginning of the level, you see the red key. Later on, in a different room, you find a switch and a little cubby with a red key and a forcefield around it. You flip the switch, thinking the force field will lower, but it stays up. This puzzled me for awhile, until I realized that the author must have used the extra key and forcefield to tip the player off as to what that switch does, so I went back and got the key at the beginning of the level that was lower. This is very smart: if you are going to put a switch in your level that does something on the opposite side of the map, do something like this.

Architecture wise, the level is pretty sound. I think that this is supposed to be some sort of abandoned nukage base, and that's what it looks like, with the rivers of slime running through the complex and the moss on the walls. It also uses some of BOOM's effects for water and, in one case, a pool of blood for you to dive into (gotta love those pools of blood). There are some problems, however. For one thing, in a couple of cases, I found misaligned textures, or a section of wall with a texture that was completely different than the ones surrounding it, and jarringly so. The author writes in the text file:

DCK screwed the textures up but I painstakingly changed them back. I may have missed one or two, but I suspect that they would be very difficult to spot.

They really aren't that hard to spot and, giving the hugeness of this level, I can't really blame the guy for not spotting them, but I'm still going to have to dock. Another thing, which doesn't effect gameplay but looks rather sloppy on automap, is that for some reason, the author uses a silent teleport in a hallway for absolutely no reason. I don't like this: it confuses me on the automap and looks pretty sloppy.

This is a nice level and you all need to go download it now, as you go to the post-office and mail me a check encompassing the entirety of your savings accounts, as well as, if you are females, obscene photographs of yourself. Go get it.