EDuke32 Addon Compilation

Started by Arghantyl, 23 January 2015, 02:32:54

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Arghantyl

NightFright has pulled together a huge pack of addons for Duke Nukem 3D.
It can be found Here.

In this thread you can read reviews for this addon written by Arghantyl.
Enjoy!


***

I' ve recently played the pack of add-ons available on Duke4. I ve decided to  review the 5 more original and interesting mods.

1)Age of evil TC by Benjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw

Age of evil is a total conversion mod where you incarnate Chris Quinn,an english novelist,in  a world assaulted by armies of zombies.
It features two new horror comedy themed episodes and whole sets of weapons,music and monsters as well.

The level design is clearly from custom maps back in 1998 : basic shading and special effects with a total absence of sprite work.
The game play is good tough and owns some good firefights,humor is omnipresent.

The first episode just lacks of enemy diversity and the gas cans in the forest could have been more visible ( check screenshots).
The final bosses are particularly disappointing for my taste and some squishing sectors could have been easily avoided.

For resuming it,you will spent nice hours completing good levels and kill funny monsters in the name of the coolest character ever for DN3D mods.

I rate it 4/5.
Another day,another challenge.

Arghantyl

#1
2)Borg Nukem by Kef Nukem

Borg Nukem is a standalone TC featuring the theme of the popular Star Trek series owning new arts,sounds ,musics,enemies and 2 single player episodes.

The levels are pretty impressive most of the time even for our actual standards and are aesthetically a hit.
All the new codes are pretty well done,the new weaponry is very impressive and enemies are good even if their graphics are average.
The new musics are awesome and add a lot to your experience of gaming.

But the whole will not totally refresh your experience from classic duking.
You will still keep on shottie and blast few monsters in some tight corridors.
The gameplay of level relies heavily on hitting switchs to unlock a room to discover another switch which makes levels particularly redundant and boring.
They  lack obviously of ambient sounds too.

I rate it 3,5/5.

3)Duke it's Zero Hour by  Zero Hour Software

ZeroHour is a mod owning 11 levels and new enemies which was meant to be a commercial add-on and a whole team has worked on it during one year.

It's certainly one of the best Duke3D mod.
All the enemies have been replaced and their IAs are just brilliant.
Levels are pleasant and have a good flow,focus having be made to provide good firefights to player.

But sprite work is totally absent and there 's few bugs which are certainly involved to 1.5 version or Eduke32.
Despite that,there's no reason to do not give it a try and enjoy it.

I rate it 4,5/5
Another day,another challenge.

Arghantyl

#2
4)Chimera mod by George W. Bernard

Compiled in a single one grp,Chimera owns 3 whole episodes with new enemies,bosses,art and sounds.

Certainly one of the more filling mod ever.
Adds to his big lifetime a great diversity of levels and a good amount of variations for your well known alien friends and you have something to feed multiple late nights.
The few new enemies are cool even if their palette of colors hurts a bit the eyes and are not suited with other enemies.
The new models for weapons are very well made.

But level design suffers sometimes from some great flaws.
If the first episode,Water base, is very well made in all aspects but Last Reaction has pretty basic construction and the passwords made of switches are terrible.
Chimera owns a good quality overall but the overuse of shading which constrain to do not see two meters further is very boring when your searching your way or just fighting.
I had even to cheat multiple times because it s even unbearable when the level is mazy,i feel that like a waste because this episode could have been really good.

Even if the second and the third episode were just fun-killers,i rate it 4/5 for only Water Base.

5)Secrets of Acropolis by Level Infinity

Certainly another commercial add on released as freeware for an unknown reason.
The defunct Level Infinity company is more famous to have worked on the expansion of Shadow Warrior : Twin Dragon.

Duke has to travel 1500 years in the Antic greek city,Athens,in a package of 7 maps to clean up alien scum and save the world (again).

This mod has certainly the golden palm for the best aesthetic work.
The sprites and the new textures added to a correct shading and architectures makes outstanding results.
The whole sets of screenshots are only from the first map.

But the whole seems incomplete.
Enemies does not have a single variation from the original game despite having sometimes different palettes.
The Pigcop from L.A looks just dumb in this environment.
Sometimes the switches and cracks are just too well hidden and would have been better for secret places and not as main way.
The password made of 6 switchs in the secret level,each of them separated of 3 meters in sub maritime area is just insanely stupid.

I rate it 4/5.
Another day,another challenge.

MSandt

Chimera was released with its two preceding episodes but "Chimera TC" really refers only to the eponymous, unfinished episode. The first two episodes are known as "Last Reaction & Water Bases" (LR&WB) TC. Chimera TC itself is incomplete. Just saying this because I think the two TCs should be judged separately.

I should give SOTA another try one day. I remember being somewhat impressed by its architecture but getting stuck because of the layout & unfair puzzles.
"Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential." -Howard Roark

Arghantyl

Quote from: MSandt on  24 January 2015, 00:18:02
Chimera was released with its two preceding episodes but "Chimera TC" really refers only to the eponymous, unfinished episode. The first two episodes are known as "Last Reaction & Water Bases" (LR&WB) TC. Chimera TC itself is incomplete. Just saying this because I think the two TCs should be judged separately.

I should give SOTA another try one day. I remember being somewhat impressed by its architecture but getting stuck because of the layout & unfair puzzles.

Yes i  know because i ve read it on your website  ;D
But here i m judging technically each grp file,no matter of release dates.
It would be something like  WT:4,5/5,LR:3/5,Chimera:2/5

And for sota ,it s exactly what i wanted to mean.Maps got terrible flows and puzzles were horrible.But take a
look at screenshots to see how amazing the art  work was done.

Also i m thinking soon to review another series of mods,but this time those which were mostly disappointing for me.







Another day,another challenge.