Review by Colin Phipps

There was this strange film I saw once. It followed a sports team, the important thing for my discussion here being the sport they played. The arena was a circular sloped track, rather like a cycling pursuit track, and the game consisted of two teams fighting over posession of a ball while doing ciruits of this track at some speed (by fighting I'm talking two teams of players in body armour, helmets, typical American sport). I don't remember the name of the film offhand, and I assume (hope?) the sport was made up...

Anyway, Canal Run is sort of like that. The marine is set down in this network of "canals" full of fast flowing water, which carries you along at speed. Actually, I rather think it should be called "aquifer run" - at least in England, the canals are static waterways, since the general idea of using them for trade wouldn't really work if they flowed so fast that they could only be travelled one way. Then again, they wouldn't be a circular route either - realism isn't this level's strong point. Anyway, where was I. Yes, you're in this network of waterways, and overlooking it are some cyberdemons. And in the canals themselves are barons. The objective is to grab the weapons and stuff floating in the water, kill the barons, and then you can exit.

The problem with this level is the player is carried around the canals so fast, it's damn hard for the monsters to actually hit you. Once you figure out the one trick to the level for outmaneovering the barons, they get all the flak from the cybs and get killed off fairly quickly. Meanwhile the cyberdemons stand no chance of hitting you provided you don't hang around or fight the flow, and the barons are unlikely to harm you much once you have the tactics right.

Architecturally this level has nothing - just canals with gratings either side. There is a good new sky, and some boring new music. It's a short level, and racing around the canals is fun for a while, but it gets dull quickly.