SITE NEWS. Cube Reviews come to an end.   posted: 01:00 6th September 2003

Regretfully, i have decided i will no longer be writing Cube Map reviews for this site. The current reviews will remain here as an archive. This is due to a number of reasons, the primary one being time constraints; writing map reviews for 2 games takes time that in the future i simply will not have.

I hope the Cube community continues to grow and flourish and i will still post at the The Official Cube Forums whenever i get the chance, i may even offer my opinion on the odd SP map from time to time. I enjoy Cube and the community Aardappel's generosity and skill has created. Long may it continue and i hope many more great Cube SP maps are created. Maybe someone else can open a cube SP review site to keep up to date.

QUAKE. nesp09 reviewed.   posted: 14:10 3rd September 2003

Review for the Q1SP map, nesp09: Dawn of eternity is posted. Its an Excellent gothic map, orginally released at Qexpo.

SITE NEWS. NEW Quake 1 Page.   posted: 17:30 1st September 2003

I have added a new Quake 1 page to the site. This page is accessible from map reviews/Quake 1 recommended map reviews or the "fast links" table. This is basically a large collection of recommended Q1SP maps from 1996 upto when this site started.

I wanted to present another page of download links, and possibly reviews in the future of more Q1SP maps in addition to the hall of Fame page. There have been so many excellent Quake 1 maps released over the past seven (!) years and i felt that the Hall of Fame page on its own wasn't covering enough maps, and i wanted visitors to this site to have the chance to play even more good maps. That's the whole point, highlighting the best maps for your playing enjoyment. =)

NEWS. Recently released QUAKE speedmap packs.   posted: 16:00 31st August 2003

I have just been playing through some recently released speedmap packs. For those of you that don't know, speedmaps are maps built in a short time period, usually around 100 minutes, i mentioned them previously in the update on the 14th August. They tend to be relatively small but often have lots of neat ideas and concepts in them. Anyway had some fun recently playing through speedmap packs 41-47. No reviews but i though the best ones were:

sm41_rpg
sm42_gibbie
sm42_speedy
sm44_ray
sm45_daz

Here are some screenshots of sm41_rpg [left] and sm45_daz [right]:

Also worthy of mention are sm47_Necros and sm47_starbuck, starbucks level looks very cool [obviously inspired by pushplay's coagula map] and Necros one is...unique. =)
You can download all the speedmap packs in the relevant threads of the news archive at Func_Msgboard.

QUAKE. Khanros Storage Facilty & Hyperevolt reviewed.   posted: 18:30 18th August 2003

As my grandfather used to say, "if you are on a roll, don't stop", well actually he never said that to me at all, but it seemed appropriate. Enough incoherent rambling from me, and on to yet more reviews! Another 2 Q1SP maps today; both quite small, but still worth a look, check out the reviews and download the maps.

QUAKE. HrimTurt & pdq1sp1 reviewed.   posted: 12:30 17th August 2003

Another update and the maps keep coming! 3 more base maps are reviewed right here. The first 2 maps are packaged together in Hrimfaxi's Turtle map pack, originally released at QExpo 2003. The 3rd is small base map by Pablo Dictter.

QUAKE. Carved in Flesh & Assault reviewed.   posted: 10:30 16th August 2003

I am presenting two more Q1SP reviews for you. Both reviews were written by Necros. I decided to get some assistance with some map reviewing, i have added some notes at the bottom of each review. Carved in Flesh is especially good. Thanx Necros for letting me use your reviews!

QUAKE. Coagula Contest 2 pack released.   posted: 10:15 14th August 2003

Well back from time off, and here is the Coagula Contest 2 pack for you. Go here for the full reviews, final results and download from Fileplanet.

In other news, a number of "speedmap" packs have been released recently in the Q1 community, speedmaps are maps built in 100 minutes or less, so they are usually much smaller and simpler than a "typical" Q1SP (if there is such a thing). I wont be doing reviews of these maps but they are definitely worth checking out and are fun to play. Here is the latest speedmap pack. Look around the same forum for more recently released packs. Also here is a link to a complete archive of speedmap packs from numbers 1-39. Some packs are SP, some are DM it usually says which is which. =)

UPDATE:
I have to mention these maps as well, i have just played through them and they are good fun. Over at the SDA [speed demos archive] they have reworked Single Player versions of Id's first five DeathMatch maps, now renamed dm1sp to dm5sp, and all five of them are a tough challenge, you should probably start off on medium skill. Go over to SDA to check out these maps now, or download them direct at this link: All 5 maps.

NEWS. Summer Break.   posted: 8:45 18th July 2003

I have been very busy the last few weeks in "real life" (TM). This will continue until around mid August, after which things should be a little less crowded. As a result, i have decided to take a short, summer break from this site. Dont worry, nothing is closing or being stoppped, it is merely a short summer vacation. Current maps outstanding for review are:

[1] I am waiting for necros' map to release the Coagula Contest 2 pack, then the pack will be released, judged and reviewed. There should be 6 maps in the final pack.

[2] I have a whole stack of Q1SP maps from Quake Expo 2003 to review, which will all be reviewed when i return:

[1] pushcoag: The Vertical Mile [coagula contest 2 map]
[2] Assault [6 map SP mod released by ELF]
[3] dstab1: Khanros Storage Facilty [1 map]
[4] hrimturt [2 turtlemaps from Hrimfaxi]
[5] flesh:Carved in Flesh [3 map Episode from Kona]
[6] discoag2: Usher recompiled [coagula contest 2 map]
[7] chain3:indigo [coagula contest 2 map]
[8] tyrcoag: Outside In [coagula contest 2 map]
[9] nesp09: Dawn of Eternity [1 map + 1 secret map]
[10]sm41. speedmapping pack 41. has 3 SP maps.

[3] Cube mods/maps outstanding:
Cube 101
Quad (mod by pushplay)

So when i return around mid-August all these will be reviewed! Have a happy summer everyone. This is underworldfan, signing off. (stolen from FrikaC at Quake Expo -> stolen from Ripley in Aliens).

NEWS. Quake Expo 2003 has started.   posted: 10.00 6th July 2003

Quake Expo 2003 has begun! Quake Expo is a Quake 1 only based "virtual exhibition", where everyone has their own booth and releases mods, maps and anything else related to Quake 1 during the 8 days it is open. I have a Booth and will be collecting and reviewing lots of Q1SP maps. I also hope to write a series of Articles on why Quake 1 is, in my opinion, one of the best computer/video games ever made.
Links:

Quake Expo 2003 Main website.
List of all Booths.
My Booth.

UPDATE: Added a "Fast Links" SideBar to this page, scroll down to see/use it, 07/07/2003.
UPDATE: Styx0r has sent in 7 times/demos for my DMSP2 page, he has taken first place in many of the maps, and shows in his demos a number of the tactics necessary for fast DMSP map completion. Namely:

[1]Use the axe to gib zombies/lesser monsters quickly.
[2]Well timed spawnfrags.
[3]Timely and effective use of a Quad, if available.
[4]Master the "hunt at the end for the 2 monsters left" tactic. =)

I guess we could call these *speedDMSP* demos. Maybe this will encourage some of the SDA crew too have a go at DMSP, i dunno. Anyway i will try to get some of the best times back. You will not defeat me for long, Mwuahahahahaha.

Check out the times and download the demos on the DMSP2 page. Especially look at the rcdm7 demo here, when Styx0r dies right at the end but still completes all the kills.
Note: I have/will only uploaded the best of these demos [and any others i get] to fileplanet, mainly because the gamespy upload connection is very slow on my (current) dial-up modem. 07/07/2003.