Disclaimer

  I not only authored this level but humbly offer my own review of it as well.
I realize the many qualifications of creating an excellent product & sincerely
hold confidence that I can accurately judge & present a fair & unbiased review.
I strive to critique my own effort, while retaining cognizance of the necessary
accountability to the stringent-standards of the overall mapping-community.


Architectural Design

  The construction attributes of this level is of some variety. We have a single
outdoor atrium with a lookout-tower integrated high on one side. From this atrium,
access to other areas spider outward. There is a wonderful room full of ramps &
walkways & although it seems a bit tight, some of my best work can be seen in
there. Aesthetically, NoHope appears as a refreshing change from the
convoluted-layout in today's most popular maps.

  I certainly favored room to move around whilst fighting with his open-air
design. However, the most impractical spaces within certainly must be the long
hallways one must navigate around the perimeter. It is also worth mentioning that
even though the atrium is not rectangular, most of the other rooms or halls still
are to some extent. The detail-level is moderate but additional architecture would
have enhanced the look & feel immensly.


Atmosphere & Lighting

  I has went to some length to include ambience into his level. Most of the
sounds are appropriate & relevant but a few of the flybys are definately overused.
Every major area indeed sounds unique though & helps to create proper immersion.
In the lower levels, the sounds are very subtle & blend rather nicely in these
remote-areas. The virtual-aspect was hindered the most by the lack of a strong,
consistent theme throughout. There is a rotating-tunnel off the atrium which can
induce feelings of vertigo. Some people interpret it as a gimmick while others
relish in its hypnotic qualities.

  A custom-skybox was used from Primordial Soup & it is very, very sweet. Too bad
that its inclusion blows the level up to almost 2mb. Another thing that I did
was to rename the original skybox filenames to his own. Bad move soldier, even
though proper-credit was given in the readme.

  Lighting was adequate & there didn't seem to be any spots that were too dark. The
red colored-lighting is quite intense in two of the rooms though. A mild-tinting
of red would have looked much better indeed. The lights used inside the rotating-
tunnel were a bit out of alignment. That's what I get for using a prefab & not
fixing it up correctly. There also is a fluorescent-flicker just down the main
hallway from the atrium. I don't think this is necessarily detrimental for gameplay,
but am not sure so I err with the side of doubt. It does however increases realism to
some extent.



Style & Textures

  Different texture-sets appear across the entire level. This seems rather
unconventional, yet is a welcome change of pace from levels with nothing but drab,
brown concrete set in waste. Fortunately, the gray masonry-brick prevails as the
main construction material used to build the station. Metal-supports help hold up
the heavy, gray walls. In the lower-hallway, one finds the standard base-textures.

  Realistically though, you'll see that the lava within the level is contained by
concrete which in reality should fair better than any other material. It so happens
that the lava-room is vented through the ceiling & this adds another subtle yet
realistic feature. Additionally, in the coolant-room for the rotating-tunnel, the
texture of choice is thick, rusted, metallic-panels. This room is also vented which
is a nice touch.

  The most obvious thing that stands out though is my painstaking detail,
which there isn't necessarily alot but there only exists a few tiles on the
flight-deck that were off by only a single-unit. Some city-textures can be quite
challenging to line-up perfectly so a good job there.


Weapons, Ammo, & Items

  Almost a full-complement of weapons are available within NoHope. The only one
that thankfully does not make a showing is the dreaded BFG. Weapon-placement
throughout the level is very good. There is a weapon & various ammunition
scattered about & near every spawn-point. Armor seems a bit high but most is
obtained only by rocket-jumping. The heavy armor is counter-balanced by the fact
that two railguns are available. This is a reasonable compromise & helps to
increase the player-load that the level can support. One thing that I like is
all the items seem haphazardly thrown about or left behind. They sit at slightly
different angles in relation to each other almost like they are in disarray.

  The Mega-Health placement not very easy to reach during the heat of battle in the
atrium where most battles take place. It is fairly-high up on a secondary ledge &
requires at least two successive rocket-jumps to net. A hook-mod really enhances
gameplay but certainly is not necessary. The Quad-damage is much easier to obtain
& lies in the coolant water under the foot-bridge once you've gone through the
rotating-tunnel. A biosuit is provided to ease the pain but sometimes when I'm near
100 health, I find myself quickly taking the dip even when the suit has not yet
spawned again. In straight-DM, it is advisable to RJ up to the Body Armor before
grabbing the Quad for obvious reasons. A single power-shield exists with cells to
each side up in the "IOI" room & too often the key to controlling the game rests
with the shield.


Balance & Gameplay

  Gameplay can be slow as it takes close to 8+ players to really shine, but we've had
some hard-fighting with only 5. The most influential aspect of the level seems to
emanate from its expansiveness. The layout is so large in breadth, that it may take
a while to hunt each other down with under the recommended-load. Connectivity is
decent considering all the space in which to combat. There are no dead-ends & all
areas sport two or more entrances or egresses. An interesting water-pipe runs from
the lava-room to directly under the atrium which is a decent route as there exists
some Combat Armor halfway down the pipe.

  Luckily there are three plats to speed access to key areas. Their operational-speed
is a bit faster than normal which helps too. The teleporter located up in the ammo-
room behind the integrated guard-tower is a one-way ticket to the flight-deck
directly across the level. The other teleporters are placed down in the little room
in the bowels of the level & in the ramp-room respectively. These two work in
tandem with each other providing two-way travel. Interestingly enough, when you
enter or emerge from the first of the two with a weapon in your hand, a small
earthquake is caused. This effect is short in duration & rather mild but does
tend to throw-off other's aim, especially when they're toting the railgun.

  The gravity is set at 600 which is under the default of 800. The product of this
is that grabbing the railgun in the lava-room takes a bit of backpedaling in
mid-air to avoid the fiery-soup. One can even jump on the few crates in the level
when necessary. The premise is you are on some deserted asteroid, hence the
lower-gravity. Ironically though, the asteroid on which the outpost was
constructed has just enough gravity to capture & hold a breathable-atmosphere.


Technical & Presentation

  R_speeds average around 750+ in the atrium & 500 in the other areas of the map.
This is too high for comfort to most people. Unfortunately, the level was released
without the proper implementation of hint-brushes. Clip-brushes are strategically
placed however & there are absolutely no places which you can hangup on.

  There are no console-errors upon loading. On the other hand, there exists a nasty
HOM-effect in the short-hall leading to the Quad-room as viewed from the room
containing the hyperblaster. The documentation provided is top-notch work. All
relevant information is included & contains no typographical errors.


Conclusion

  NoHope is a level best run during lan-parties due to the higher r_speeds. It was
in development sporadically for almost a year but even though the layout is a little
too open, I obviously took his time in precisely wielding the editor. His
potential stands above your average 1st-level release by the majority of other
authors. I hope that you'll look forward to my next level: Millenium. Perhaps it
shall make a more valiant of a showing... B-