This is the worst imaginable living hell recreated in a map form, playing it is the most hideous experience I have ever suffered in my life (which I consequently may have to end soon), it is less a map and more of a shameless and infitely cruel torture device, the torment inflicted by the horror of playing it goes beyond even loathing, it eradicates all postive thoughts out of one's sullied mind and leaves a gaping chasm of cruelty and suffering. Words may exist to describe how much I loathe it but they probably have to be invented ex nihilo. 

it rocks basically. It's got great detailing throughout, nice lighting, some hardcore secrets and slightly easy gameplay, but it makes me wet myself with joy! 

Cheers to czg and Shambler for their honesty.

Starbuck, on the other hand, is on my fecal roster of persons who cannot properly critique a map. 

you rock!
rock i say!
hug! 

played on skill 1, got on secret and 92 kills. a bit easy for me, so i should probably have tried hard.

the last battle wasn't very hard at all, since all the monsters were stuck on the stair case which hugs the wall, and couldn't get me...

i don't really get why some dudes are saying this is the worst map ever... joke? *shrug* it's pretty good, and has nice curves and details such as fancy lift tubes and stuff.

enough ammo, but i was wondering if you'd put in any weapons before i got the nailgun -- there's like a 1 - 2 minute part at the start with just a shotgun.

the slanted crate room looked cool, so did the last arena, and the small outdoor bit near the beginning.

all in all, a really good map! 

and I haven't even played it yet... 

ill give you a proper critique once ive actually downloaded the map! 

As will I 

i just hate the fact that speedys name is plastered all over it 

I hate joo too 

Well I guess I can say it's been worth the wait -- I enjoyed the deep dark goodness of the map, and was impressed with the number of different themes you worked into the architecture. I especially dug the variety of lifts, they all had that heavy cast-iron feel to em that properly suits the sound effects ;) I dunno tho, but it seemed sorta short to me (not that I'm complaining -- after the entire town of Enforcer, Illinois and their pet shambler took their shots at me at the end, I was kinda happy to leave). 

you can skip the entire silver key area (which is one of the best areas, so you'd miss out really) with a simple little pair of slope jumps...(no grenades)

...sorry I didn't catch that in beta testing...

...then you get to run past the shambler.. because THERE NO BARS TO STOP YOU!!

mwahaha... 

We know. 

it's like a small version of spogsp1 for q1. Excellent work looks wise, speedy's tex set looks like a cross between ikbase and idbase. but they're too clean for the look this map is going for IMHO.

Gameplay wise, it really is too easy but I had fun regardless. 

Thanks to all for their comments. Keep them coming.

blackpope: Yes, I'm aware. :) You apparently didn't catch the OGJ --> slope jump to the GL, nor the GL jump to the exit, either. I should be honest and say that I planned a few of those, but some of them came about on their own.

nitin: Some people have said it's too hard, and some say it's too easy. I liken it a bit to when half the people said that RPGSP1 was too hard, and half said it was perfect. *shrug* At least no one has complained about ammo yet.

/me watches as Shambler gets smart and rants about not having enough ammo 

I liked the design of the end arena too, excellent brushwork. BTW, you like having end arenas dont you? 

I'm not so sure that I have a particular infatuation with end arenas, but they provide simple and convenient methods for a finale. If I had allotted more time and done more planning then I probably would have made something that seemed less like an arena and fit in better with the rest of the map (I.E. the room would have had a theme). 

Ok, RPG. Here's my comments:

First, structure.
I liked the overall look. It wasn't squarish or blocky; instead everything was rounded off with triangular or hexagontal shapes. It gave me a much better impression of what a base would look like. It's not a fancy research facility with square hallways and pretty doors meant for scientists, but a structure built for structural integrity and pure functionality, with a little artistic license. :)
The texture set was pretty standard base and was used very well. I'm not one to nit-pick on misaligned textures - I didn't even notice any. Everything from the texturing of the walls and other solids, to the design on the buttons & plats and curious shape and placement of doors (I'm thinking of the indented cicular area that seemed suspicious, like it may open, but I wasn't sure) was quite well-done in my opinion.
In a nutshell: This map's architecture was neat and I liked it. So sue me.

Second is gameplay. Not being very good at single player (rationing health and ammo and not respawning the way you do in deathmatch isn't as easy as just killing, dying, and coming back alive with a vengence in deathmatch), and not being very good at deathmatch (I do fine against bots and most humans, but I always seem to meet a player who wipes the floor with me and spends weeks chewing me out for my obvious inferiority and worthlessness), I'm probably not one to say if the map was too hard or too easy. I found myself dying a lot, but that's not much coming from someone who has yet to beat Quake's full single player without cheats (note that I did not use any cheats). Thank heaven for quicksave. :)
I did like the enemy positions. The walls were placed well, so that the ogres always seemed to bounce a grenade perfectly into me as if guided, and the combination of grunts & enforcers with ogres in this environment was killer. I found it difficult to rely on monster in-fighting compared to previous maps I've played. The occasional demon was easy, but I found myself running like a coward when shamblers appeared. Thank heaven for walls. :)

I didn't find a single secret. I had the hint at one by some pipes I thought looked climbable, and I got all the items I could see throughout the map; but beyond that, not even a clue. This isn't surprising though. I spent most of my time fighting for my worthless life.

I did not find many areas to be too dark, and those that were too dark to see were not inhibitive to gameplay (they weren't places I had to fight in or navigate through). Well-done on that.

I finished the map in 20 minutes, minus the time spent dead and restarting from the last save, which was anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes ago. :)

I don't like the shotgun personally, but I found it useful enough. I don't like struggling to ration ammo in the nailgun for fear of being left with only the shotgun, but some people like this challenge so it's not my place to say anything. I am glad I never ran out of shells and had to resort to the axe - that would have been annoying.

This map was overall an enjoyable experience. I understand I will be flamed mercilously for having anything good to say about it (I wrote this when shambler and others were exclusively ragging on it), but I stand by my opinion. ;) 

It's brilliant. Dito for Shambler's mini-review. 

Thanks for that bit (err well it was more than a "bit" really). Nice to hear some detailed comments. I hope you realize that czg and Shambler weren't the slightest bit serious.

Underworldfan: I dunno if you'll put this in your review queue atomatically, but if not, would you be so kind as to review this map for your site? 

/me watches as Shambler gets smart and rants about not having enough ammo

I didn't have any problem with ammo. But ammo is of little use when I am firmly DEAD.

Nitin what skill were you playing on??

Actually, it's irrelevant. On Hard, this is harder than 90% of other good Quake maps on Hard. Fact. If someone finds it too easy on Hard, then they will find 90% of good Quake maps VERY too easy on Hard. 

BTW I am not making any judgement on the map's quality by reference to it's difficulty in that statement. That's a whole different issue (for which you should refer to my first post). 

About the gameplay. I think the reason that it's either seen as too easy or too hard is that the map is made up of a few key battles and a whole bunch of easy BS. When you're at the end of the circular tunnel and you come across the two ogres, you have to exit the tunnel because you won't be able to dodge grenades in there. That's one of the key battles. Another one is the first shambler. He's right out in the open, and either you know how to deal with that and he's easy or you don't and he's hard. The second shambler is in a reasonably open area and is the same deal. Also the first teleporting fiend is a problem. The first time you release him your back turned to him because you're facing the button. He pops in too close to expect the player to react to the sound cue fast enough.

The arcitecture in general is quite good.

In the final area I found myself running up and down the stairs killing sequences of appearing baddies. That got pretty repetitive and I didn't feel like I was getting any where. I think it might have been more satisfying if the arcitecture of the room changed with each kill. It would create the impression of something meaningful happening and that there was real progression. The walls dropping to release more baddies is actually rather subtle and I didn't even notice it until I had cleaned the room out because I was too busy doing said cleaning. 

You're welcome.

I honestly didn't know if shamb and czg were joking. Through hard experience I've learned to take people on the internet at face value until I know better. ;p 

maybe this will entertain you a little : http://www.planetquake.com/speedy/could_speedy.dz

Super map. To me, normal lacked action, but hard was just the ticket.
Great detailing and lighting.
On the downside some lifts were not convinient - you`ll see in the demo.