Actually
when you think of it, Subversion is merely a collection of scrapped levels.
Levels Pablo some time a long the way in their production felt did not fit
in with a project as No Hope For Life. Ok, so they may not be perfect or
masterpieces, however after having played this small collection of wads,
you would be wondering how amazingly good his finished levels might be!
The first thing you will
notice is the high dedication to detail these levels display. Pablo
has not left a wall or floor untouched and if it was not for the
relatively small size of the rooms, you would probably have been
forced to play with a sourceport. There is a lot of nice computer
stations, air vents, windows and crates filling out every available
wall and floor space. Now this might just add that little extra
something to the looks and a wee bit to the atmosphere, but generally
does nothing for the gaming experience. Sometimes a small crate might
just get in your way in a narrow hallway rather than help you with any
form of cover from an angry Cacodemon's fireballs. However, it should
also be mentioned that once in awhile Pablo really surprices the
player with those crates. No, you'll just have to find out for
yourself. It involves both a secret exit and some monsters, that is
all I can say. The biggest flaw in my opinion is the layout of the
levels. I noticed how hard it was for me when I was to select three
screenshots of the many I had taken. Only in a couple of situations
was I 100% sure that I hadn't picked three from the same level. It is
because they look so much alike with their monotonous selection of
hallways and corridors and off course textures. It is basically what
they all consist of, only occasionally interrupted by a big room or
the like. Diversity is not the strength of these levels, it can get a
little repetitive. Only the latter of the levels are are distinctively
different in their texture and flat choice.
On the gameplay side, you
will face your 'broad' selection of Ult. Doom monsters, with an
overweight to Imps and sergeants. To fight them off, you have your
trusty shotgun and at times your chaingun. The rocket launcher and
plasma riffle is there too, but the shotgun is one you'll be using the
most. The ammo balance is really good and the item placement is
logical; you always know where to look and find some health or armor.
One of the clear signs of this being a Pablo Dictter map is the fact
that where the average designer places Cacodemons in small packs in
larger areas where they are hard to fight as they scatter out and sort
of attack the player from multiple angles, Pablo has always had a
tendency to place them alone in narrow hallways where they use more
time navigating around rather than shooting. So in a lot of cases we
have our more or less boring situation where the Cacos are merely
canon fodder and time consuming.
Subversion is definitly
worth a download and there is plenty of fun in its 5 levels. It is
just no classic.
Score:
66%
