The Lava Reef
by Fernando Marquez
(426) views since Dec 2018
Released: 2004-12-29
Mode: SP, DM, COOP
Difficulty Settings: Yes
Featuring: 1.3
Sound/music: Music
New Art: No
New Cons: No
Score: 87
Review by Forge on March 11-2012
A series of caves, tunnels, and caverns interspersed with earth base, alien infested, and alien base areas.
The first portion of the map takes place inside the caves and tunnels with caverns full of lava pools. The texturing looks a bit sloppy and the weak shading doesn't help much.
The layout does loop back unto itself at a few junctions in an interesting manner, and there are several locations where some interactivity with the local structures adds some entertainment to the spelunking.
The edf base style is rather short and also loops back on itself with some minor backtracking afterwards.
Parts of the alien base look a bit familiar and uninspired. If you've played the original episode you'll see what I mean and I'll leave it at that. Funnily enough, this is pretty much the only location with strong shading and uses lighting effects.
Game play is a key card search.
You start out barely armed and already encounter a few tough baddies. With no health and no ammunition it's tough to get ahead unless you find a few of the secret areas.
Once this initial challenge is surmounted, the combat takes a back seat because health, weapons, and ammunition are lying everywhere and practically unavoidable.
The path is linear and there are a few view screens to show you where you need to go in the instances of backtracking.
Alien encounters are pretty much all lined up in a row and of the walk forward and shoot variety which is caused by a large portion of the game taking place in narrow tunnels.
Texturing/Lighting-Shading: 8/10
Sprite Work/Detailing: 8/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Architecture: 18/20
Layout: 19/20
Gameplay/Design: 26/30
Score: 87
Screenshots
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