The outdoor bit was nice.

And it`s got quite a bit of exploration.

I think it sets things up really well for Quake. 

anything that comes in a download called 'oldones.zip' belongs on *my* hard drive.

there's some neat pieces of design here actually - the use of the floor-grill texture angeld at 45* for the first iris door I really liked. and the underwater sections were intersesting - the first rotfish made me jump...I'm such a wimp really.

well, that was my first hit of Quake for the day :) 

for giving us some news other than LvL updating again! 

heheh 

and my reviews are posted:

http://www.planetquake.com/underworld/index.html 

Wow, that was fast. 

Wow, that was fast.

keeps me busy. ;) 

Ummm.

Isn`t anyone searching around and finding interesting mapping news?? 

Shambler is back. 

what do you think u doing eh ?
spoilers galore reviews

dont go into details about innovations and all the custom (mod) stuff

dont describe surprizes plotted by mappers

never describe ending battles/situations
NEVER 

don`t mention the name of the map either, and for gods sake dont include any screenshots! 

and FFS don't provide a download link :P 

lol. 

I dont really understand what made you upset?

Maybe you could give a specific example from the review? 

from different reviews

"Once the doors are unlocked, there is a small neat little final ambush at the end, before the final exit is reached."
Isnt that a surprise plotted by the mapper ? And u just spoil it

"Two fiends block your way to the exit, but one unfortunately gets trapped on a rockface, which makes the already easy challenge, even simpler."


"The final battle is against a custom dragon, but this is made considerably easier by a pentagram of protection..."


Consider this like you`v told how the movie ends in your review. It partly ruins the interst if you already know what happens in the finale. And as a mapper I would`nt like all my original ideas and surprises to be told to a player before he start a game.

Review doesnt need to describe the entire map to the end, nor its point to give feedback to a mapper.
You read game and movie reviews ?

ps

Maybe some folks here dont care cause they get to play the maps before the reviews are written.

sorry for clumsy engrish - I`m half asleep, hope its clear what mean 

Speeds is right - the point of a review is to analyse a piece of work to help people decide if they want the whole thing, not laying out the entire experience - saying things like 'this unexpected thing happens at that point' is not really on. Movie reviewers would get their knuckles rapped for doing that. 

Movies cost money to see, you read a review to see if it's worth that money. Even though downloading the map takes a whole meg of bandwidth, I think anyone who reads the review before playing the map is just silly. 

doh
Maybe you dont have many quake1 maps now, but when alot of levels get released you need to know which of them are worth checking. Look at LvL 

Look at LvL

Precisely. 

point taken.

I will try not to give any spoliers in future. 

I read the review because I couldnt play it at the time. By the time I play it I will have forgotten anything specific, including the spoilers repeated in this thread ;) .

And time for a round of downloadings it is. 

Speedy: I agree.

underworldfan: Thanks. 

I do look at lvl. Religiously. I just skim to get a sense of whether the level is worth the download, and if it is I play it and then look back at the review to see how my own impressions compare. I do the same thing with uwf's review. 

I do look at lvl. Religiously. I just skim to get a sense of whether the level is worth the download, and if it is I play it and then look back at the review to see how my own impressions compare. I do the same thing with uwf's review. 

I have over 650 SPQ1 zip files in my collection - some of which are multi-map episodes (perhaps I"ve played as many SPQ1"s as Shambler - I"ve been downloading since editing for Quake began.) I relied on review sites (Matt Sefton, Quake Map Hotel, Only the Best (cough) Quake Levels, Talon"s Strike, Crash, Ethereal Hell, TSQLR and others I"ve forgot) to screen maps to see if they were worth the download. This was far better then randomly grabbing stuff from CDROM.com, playing it and then seeing how my impressions compared to the reviewer"s (although I like to reread reviews after I"ve played to compare notes.) The volume of maps produced now is only a trickle but nonetheless, I still like to get a sense from the community on the general quality of the map. For that reason, I"d hate to see surprises given away. A good review will set the stage (metal, medieval, tech, custom etc.) and tell you how good that stage is and some strengths and weaknesses but it won"t reveal surprises or secrets that belong between the mapper and player only. I love suspense and surprises in well designed levels.