Gibtropolis

Magnificent map!
SiN level design mixed with AD monsters.

In the time since I did my review, I've played the entire map 2 more times (yes, I'm a little hooked on this level) and have discovered a ton of new strategies/alternative paths/tricks. It is a very re-playable and frankly adrenaline level, but in a pleasant way (not like those maps that now seem to be so popular, where you have 600 enemies all attacking you at the same time and not a damn corner to protect you). It is really a map designed to continuously and cyclically alternate moments of action followed by moments of calm very much in the classic vein of Duke Nukem or Hal-Life and I already have put it permanently on my personal list of "my 20 best maps for Quake 1 of all time". I would love to be able to play more maps of this style, but given the immense work required to make it, I doubt that its author, gw_x9, or other mappers, will be very willing to do something similar soon. So, God willing, I think I will replay this map on more than one occasion in the future.

This map was a pleasant surprise. Had a lot of fun playing this map even though I don't normally like city/duke style levels in Quake.
This is one of the very few exceptions. Great gameplay and combat encounters,

Yyyesss, that's it.

In the beginning I thought this would be too hard for me, the unexperienced player, even on skill 0.
But it's one of these maps which work better if the right way is known.
The second attempt was much better.

Thanx that this isn't linear. It's so interesting, the first time it was difficult to find the points for the runes.
It seems to be so real, the bar, the restroom, the streets and grids and elevators ... it's so much fun to jump around the roofs, to explore.

And, an extra point:
this soundtrack is metal as f..k, it drives me forward, on and on, and it fits so good with this small city of horror.

A matter of taste:
not the first map which makes me wonder whether it's logical that all these zombies mess around in this highly technical environment.
But, fighting on and on, there's no time for silly questions

Secrets 5/8, that's good with me.

It's a gas, this map.
I miss nothing with it.

Fun from start to finish. I almost wanted more when the final fight was finished!

Probably the path to the "bar key" should be more obvious

After your release of awesome Duke Nukem Quake map I was afraid you won't release anything more. And here it is! (Btw. Muty made a nice speedrun of DNQ map.)

I feel bad not liking this map, because the aesthetic and setup are great and I hope you do more. I would however highly encourage you to release a variation of this map that just deletes all the zombies (or like half of them and the sword nerds). I'd replay that in a heartbeat.

I spent 10-20 minutes just not finding an explosive weapon, ran into the big bar fight on the roof, and just ran out of patience for constantly getting hit by zombie gibs and hearing zombie moans.

The idea of zombies being an actual threat is unique, but I ultimately did not find it fun to play. And it pains me because the rest that I've seen so far is great.

Incredible feat, challenges both the player's ability to make smart combat decisions as well as quite literally break through the environment Red Faction style to reach their next destination. The signposting is there, possibly at times bare bones, it is not always clear what the next location the player is supposed to go to, leading to some backtracks, but at the end of the day the place is confined and lit well. Duke Nukem meets Half-Life as previously mentioned is quite apt for this. Looking for more non linear adventures such as this that utilise space well. In some aspects it's "vania-y", I'd say more imm-simmy, like we even have a "0451" joke if the inspiration wasn't obvious. The jump boots are the more obvious "vania" + exploration tool as a lot of the map can be skipped or be ripped wide open by sequence breaking, or hell, cheesed, not killing absolutely everyone you meet on sight again is "immsimmy" and finding shortcuts (all of this is told in the tutorial but the map is so lengthy sometimes it can be forgotten). I found 5/8 secrets, it almost felt that some of these were necessary in order to progress but the runes I think don't trigger any events (I think the earliest rune can be achieved with a pentagram as opposed to the lava powerup that's to be achieved with the jump boots). I'm always 50/50 on maps having enemies respawning/repopulating an area, it both kind of helps to figure out that you are going on the right path/you did something so it's not just a cyberpunk liminal landscape, but it can also feel tedious. I guess here to keep the pressure up since the map is quite dense it makes sense. A very good (and long!!!) adventure, hoping to see more AD breakable goodness.

Excellent. A really good level, with a great knowledge of the current editing programs and a total use of the possibilities they offer.

An intense combat very old style Duke Nukem and with some (delicious) touches of logical puzzles Half-Life 1 style.

The only two points I don't like are:

1 - It's too aggressive even on the easy level. There is enough ammo, but there is a lack of more first aid kits and more armor, and the player should be provided with the most powerful weapons earlier and more easily in the level (then you can ration the ammo if you want to make it more difficult).

2 - The path and the order in which the player must perform the actions, is confusing, unintuitive and complicates a lot the development of the game during the second half of it (the textual help on screen, help, but are not enough). Maybe you should expand the readme.txt and add the background and the necessary indications.

The idea that the path is not linear and that the scenarios are reused again and again for different reasons and with different results, and that the same scenario accumulates damage, is well resolved and works great.

On the other hand, some bobby traps are really perverse and abusive (yes designer, don't act surprised, you already know what they are ;-)
At the very least, you could provide plenty of first aid kits and armor in the vicinity.

For the rest, as already said, the level is really very good, one of the best I've seen in recent months and I don't even want to think about the immense amount of work it must have cost the author to do it. Only the architecture, lighting and decoration alone require more than a week of full time work. That's not counting with the choreography of the fights (here the author has not simply put a lot of enemies in each corner, but on the contrary, everything is very well measured and timed) and all the orchestration of the triggers.

In short: an excellent level but with a few adjustments, it would be almost perfect and that in its development reminds you of the old and mythical FPS of the golden age of the beginning of this century. If you are a Quake fan you MUST PLAY IT....

I'll give this map four stars. A lot of work has been done. But when running it on the "QSS" engine, there are trigger errors. The weapon hangs above the signs and does not fall. The architecture of the level is complex and it is unclear how to physically get to some of the upper runes.