Just finished rabbit's maps, which I saved for last, and boy, was this an absolute joy to play. The bonk hammer has a great learning curve and quite a lot of depth as far as movement mechanics go.
Everything else was top notch around it: the maps, the new weapon models (pure eye candy) and the armory unlock system.
This and Re:Mobilize are total game changers for how Quake can be played.
Thanks to everyone involved! You are awesome, each and everyone.
I don't even know how to express the quality of this release. It is both, very good map pack with quality designed maps and an amazing movement enhancing mod. Tons of speedrun replayability.
Special mention and thanks for all the custom models by Kebby. Such an amazing work and just for a jam like this.
SZE's map was really well designed and Rabbit's maps took the movement aspects to the maximum level.
Thanks for everyone involved, this was a blast to play.
As a former trickjumper/defragger I love Bonk Jam! The way you have to traverse obstacles vertically and horizontally is so much fun with the hammer mechanic. Btw as a musician I chose the guitar and I love it so much. Big kudos for this unique experience!
It's perfect! Definitely my favourite release of the year, not just among mods, but all video games! I don't think I'll ever be able to play Quake without the hammer, one of the best melee weapons in all shooters, period.
11/10! Well done!
I must admit: i dislike bunnyhopping maps. That probably dates back to my early days of physical education in the school.
In spite of that - and my rather poor ability to grasp the mechanics of the Bonk hammer - i have been able to play the maps, by looking at the source code and the use of rocket jumping, noclipping and sometimes plain ol' cheating!
And i am very impressed. The new game mechanics are well thought-over and can be quite useful. It is neither too meek nor too much over-the-top. I guess we'll see more maps with this tool.
And the maps... Community map collections always range from the ...well, basic... to the absolutely sublime, but the quality of this collection is very much in the high end!
Very well done everybody! It has been a joy - thanks for Your efforts, and thanks for sharing!
Made an account just to say how much I've enjoyed this. This is the most successful gameplay modification I've seen, and the addition of verticality to the maps clearly opened up more opportunities and variations for level designs while not taking away any essential quake flavor. I'm just echoing what others have been saying, which is that I hope these charged melee weapons end up appearing in future projects as well. (Just a thought about a way to integrate it: maybe the hammer can be slightly less powerful, but still offer some platforming opportunities, and the balance can be shifted slightly more evenly between ranged weapons and the melee ones.)
There's a lot of love put into this pack. The mod itself is extremely polished and adds a new dimension to Quake's gameplay, with loads of creative cosmetic variations on the weapon; some of them complete with unique sounds, charge indicators, and other effects to make them feel special. The custom enemies included complement the increased player power nicely, with the gaunt serving as a reminder to use the rest of your arsenal, and the brute as a defensive powerhouse that works both as a melee-range challenge and ranged support from high perches.
The levels use the mod to an impressive extent, realising much of the potential of the hammer for both combat and platforming. Personal highlights for me were nickster's map and both of rabbit's. I was also impressed by Spootnik's, Makkon's, and sze's, but there's so much to love beyond those! I'm looking forward to seeing speedrunners tackle these, especailly those by 4LT and rabbit.
I consider the addition of the bonk hammer an important milestone in the history of Quake. And don't be fooled by the name: there are serious challenges in this jam. Platforming and jump puzzles is now 200% more fun (and sometimes it will kick your ass) just as meelee combat which is now your primary option (in some maps you gotta be resourceful with ammo). I wonder how we are supposed to play Quake now on without the bonking. Five stars!
Much like with Remobilize this radically changes how Quake is played (every encounter also seems super unique and never quite plays out the same which is to praise) and every map here is successful in having the new weapon, the hammer, be impactful and necessary to get the grasp of to varying degrees. If like me you like spelunking and occasionally sneaking around like in Tomb Raider & Thief or anything adjacent, say an immersivesim, you'll feel at home (at least, mentally, you still need to get used to how the hammer works). Sometimes a bit of Metroid can be felt, possible sequence breaking etc, and at least 2 maps have a Sokoban feel. I enjoyed the difficulty a lot of the maps provided, both in terms of combat setups and platforming, and sometimes both at the same time. It's very ambitious and given the 2-3 (?) weeks maps were made in, it's honestly quite impressive as a whole pack. Some maps seem to be scaled down in difficulty but not all, and I'm mentioning this as it is a harder pack and quite unique in the way you're asked to traverse and fight. I've had a few hiccups along the quite long 10-15 hour playtime, either due to less than stellar footwork & resource management (and sometimes aiming/misjudging the hammer range), and in some rarer cases, actually being being lost/puzzled or the classic "knowing what to do but executing it is hard as nails", but it was fun to overcome. Also before I forget, great job on so many different hammer models, sound effects, etc, they're VERY charming, and can either help or hinder your gameplay lol. I never left a review for main Remobilize page and since this sparked a similar feel I want to go over the maps (based on the 1.0 version):
bonk_test: A very fun and helpful tutorial that a lot of maps iterated on, it's still mind boggling how many different scenarios can be made with the hammer in mind. I would say this is "required reading" so to say, I don't know if I could have handled the pack without it. The knockback mechanic is super underrated imo.
start: Cozy runic-y tutorial-y mini adventure, not quite sure if the silver key is a red herring though.
bonk_4lt: Beautiful Void Knave with tense combat, platforming and fun branching pathways, either for secrets or progression. Quite tough Brute and Vore encounters even with cover. I love the optional death pit challenge.
bonk_cc: Took me a fair bit to realise how to start the map, one of the rarer cases of required multiple dashes in a row. Good mix of tight indoors and more open outdoors. Fun storytelling too.
bonk_chadquad: Builds upon the QBJ2 map if I'm not mistaken but way more pleasant. Not a fan of the button design but once it's figured out by the player it's fun to hunt for them, same goes for the timed doors. The final "room" took me a while to understand simply because of the formatting of the sequence messages. There are like what,
4 squares you need to "assemble" through button presses
, it's not too chaotic combat wise on the outside, the real meat is indoors, so you can take your time to analyse, but really the progresion messages threw me off, either say "7 more to go" or "X colour quadrant completed", not "1 more to go" and doing that 4 times. Hunting for the keys was fine, the windows do aid in communicating that there are wings/aisles to go into, but it's big.
bonk_chuma: Playful Tech-y Koohoo, the spirit of the first room was kept through the duration of the whole map.
bonk_indigo: Some fun encounter ideas amid the simple shapes. I liked the "u-turn jump", though it was quite tight.
bonk_iyago: Great moody atmosphere as always and the first map I ran into that featured prominent water. The hammer's dash does get a bit hampered by it, however jumping as long as you are within distance of "propelling" yourself you is fine. A fun, tight challenge with a neat progression.
bonk_makkon: Stellar serene vibe, I wanted to climb on top of all the towers but sometimes curiosity is best kept in line, you can get soft locked on top of some of the towers. It was very fun to ascend in this, and some of the encounters were downright brutal. One of the few maps that can be slightly sequence broken.
bonk_milestone: Great story telling, both in text and environment. A good mood with combat varying from fun to overcome to sometimes annoying. Fun shapes to traverse, cool progression, though some of the flavour text acting as aids sometimes was easy to forget about (mostly the buttons "powering" up something), hard to say how to improve on this, though the map is not too bad about being lost in. Very playful too. Maybe one of the few people that liked
taking the vores out sneakily one by one after trying to rambo past them.
.
bonk_nickster: Very good looking, loved the lights blinking in the distance in tandem with the fog. Loved the player agency behind being able to open and close some of the doors, I don't think it was too puzzling giving the player this freedom and I'd love to see more releases doing it. Traversal was great, combat at times was on the ludicrous side but still fun.
bonk_pinchy: A lot of fun bombastic setpieces! Very ambitious and quite varied, both in the encounters department and traversal department. Also on the tougher side, really challenged the player on their movement and hammer use.
bonk_rabbit: Very old school platformer vibes taken up to 11 with a very cozy vibe.
bonk_rabbit2: I assume people that like jump maps will feel at home here, for me it was one of the few times I have actually completed one of these, 90% legitimately, 10% using forbidden quicksaving techniques. It seems you don't need to be totally diligent with where you jump from (though sometimes you do), more of a matter of making sure to aim your hammer well, strike at the right time, and then applying "basic" bunnyhopping principles. Fun to overcome but it's super hard. It tests a lot of the mechanics though which I enjoyed, it was great figuring out what to do in 5 hours.
bonk_roj: Very cute swampy terracota with fun jumps and with some more comfortable combat. I liked the progression and some of the secrets. One of the more balanced maps in the pack.
bonk_shades: Very tricksy and downright rude lol. It is very bitesized though so the pressure doesn't last long, quite fun. Features a nice WIP eldritch texture wad.
bonk_simonn: Super surprised to see a map based on the Hammerites from Thief 1 (at least I assume 1, references the Trickster). Very well arted with cool jumps. The ambience chosen is a bit ear piecing and this comes from someone that loves Thief ambience. Also one trial is definitely a lot easier than the other in terms of starting it wthout resources.
bonk_spoot: Jumpy dungeon crawl-y vibe with really fun layered combat encounters. In a way similar to rabbit's first but more approachable and letting the player shoot a bit more. A lot of fun setpieces and a great layout.
bonk_sze: I think this is my favourite from this pack, and features the "Sokoban" style I mentioned in the intro (the other map being Nickster's). Combat is quite nasty and tight, but the platforming and methodology behind it is stellar. It can feel puzzly. One section is a bit tight platforming wise towards the end but it's very fun. If the Sokoban/Chip's Challenge analogy is not clear I do mean the blocks you push to help you elsewhere.
The timed door and smushers+whack a shambler/vore were great too.
bonk_thatspacepirate: A very goofy dog centric map that ends up being quite challenging. I love the comedic tone in this. Not all dog based encounters thankfully.
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