[RELEASE] Red 2 remake 2014

[Merlijn]

"As you stand inside the tunnel and catch a glimpse of the town lying ahead, the emergency door behind you closes again with a loud screech. Damn it. There's no way back now.

You'll soon notice that this town is dead: the alien forces have systematically whiped out everything human. No one can escape, all of the exits are blocked. You're trapped and the aliens know you're there. They will do anything to hunt you down.

There's only one way out, but it will lead you to even stranger, more dangerous paths..."


After releasing the red1 remake last year, it's now time for the second level to get a facelift.

But unlike red1, this isn't a completely new map. It's an updated and greatly improved version of the old level, so if you played the old one you'll definitely recognize the locations. I also have to give props to my brother Maarten, he also worked on this project and added some great stuff. Have fun!


CGS - review/download

[Puritan]

What a pleasant surprise.
Downloading.

[Forge]

if you've played the original version a hundred times like i have; this 'improved' version is still totally worth playing. A lot of the bugs and exploits are fixed, quite a few locations are the same, but the ambiance has improved, and the redesigned mine shaft and cavern sections are pretty neat.

i'm pressed for time, so maybe monday or tuesday. wednesday at the latest (hopefully)

[Micky C]

I think I've yet to actually finish any Red map. I remember possibly giving the original Red 1 and Red 2 a go a while ago but never completed them for whatever reason. Now that I've got a few months of holiday I guess I don't have an excuse not to play through the series.

[methy]

Who the fuck has a few MONTHS of holiday ? 

Sometimes I have a few months of unemployement...

[Micky C]

People who work pretty much non-stop for the rest of the year. Still, there'll be stuff occupying the holiday so I won't get to enjoy the full thing.

[MSandt]

Not the most important update ever but it's still a good map: http://msdn.duke4.net/hotred2remix.php

[Forge]

thunderstorms and a downpour this morning kept me inside for a little bit, so i 'found' time to review this.

[Merlijn]

Thanks for the reviews guys! I can see where you are coming from, it isn't a radical departure from the original map. As Mikko said, it was already a worthy map, so no need for big changes.

However, the original still looked sloppy and primitive compared to the other red maps (IMO). When revisiting this level, I discovered so many examples of sloppy texturing and misalignments. I'm glad I've fixed that.
About 95% of the map did receive some kind of treatment. Varying from simply better texturing and trimwork (the town hall) to a few complete revisions (the alien section above the supermarket for example - the original was blocky and ugly, now it looks delightfully creepy and organic).

@ Micky: this would indeed be a good opportunity to play the whole series. The quality of the maps is a lot more consistent now. As far as I'm concerned, this brings full closure to the series (no need to update the other maps, they're fine as they are).

[quakis]

I still haven't got around to your Red 1 Remake yet, though now with this release I'm considering going through the entire series in their top form and giving them each a proper review over at my site and replace these old crappy reviews written years ago. I'll stick that on my priority list once I've finished my Duke Hard review!

[MSandt]

So, had a dream about this map. I was playing it, with Merlijn watching behind me, and as I was going toward some corner, he was like "Don't go there, that's the new Red 3!" Then there was this mailbox with a letter inside; it was written kinda like those viewscreen messages in the real map(s) with names and all. Except, in this letter there were faces for each name too, and it turns out they were actually taken from IMDB, low-key actors or something; Merlijn had actually contracted them to have their faces appear in the map. So I said something like "Wouldn't it be cool if you brought these guys into the new version too?" Somehow this meant tracking down the actors and asking them to appear in the remake, so many years after the first version's release date. Anyway, we got some agency to track them down and this agency somehow understood our "Take care of the matter" instruction wrong, because they proceeded to attempt to murder one of the actors, who was in fact just receiving a Nobel Prize (not a coincidence; I had read something about the prize the preceding day). The dream ended with me trying to get there on time before they kill the guy.

Weird.

[Micky C]

Sounds like a good idea for a map/mod

[Forge]

LORCH 4

[Merlijn]

Nice! Maybe I should actually contact some actors for some voice acting.

I do have dreams about mapster from time to time, mostly about non-existing maps that would be completely impossible with this editor.

[Micky C]

Well I gave this one a shot too. Didn't like it as much as the first one. It felt more noobish. Everything was just a little bit messier, shading wasn't as good, gameplay flow wasn't as smooth (both in terms of layout/progression and logic), combat was generally more standard and predictable, atmosphere was more lacking. Then I opened up the original and that was even more noobish! I think the bigger problem with the original was crappy shading as far as I could tell from the quick look, compared to the updated version; the slightly better terrain and details are nice, but nothing to make it stand apart. Also had too much ammo compared to the previous map as well, although I did play on the easiest setting. There's nothing wrong with the map per se, it's just that everything feels just a little bit off in a way that's hard to describe, as is generally the case with beginner mappers two or three maps in. Of course it didn't help that I came fresh from the extremely high standard of the Red 1 remake.

I can see how the map would have been a bigger deal back in the day but unfortunately it only counts as an average/slightly above average map by today's standards. It's pretty obvious you've come a long way since then.