east20y

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By Warren Marshall 3/28/98

DOWNLOAD NOW 2MB zip

"The escape-from-prison scenario is kind of old I know, but remember I started this thing a few months ago when it wasn't. :) Basically, you start off in your cell and a freak explosion frees you. From there, the computer will tell you what to do next." ~Taskmaster (Warren Marshall)

Well the ol' Taskmaster himself has taken time out from his busy and successful webmastering duties at Multiplayer Quake to deliver a multilevel Quake2 single player adventure.

Four levels comprise The Bad Seed and they are:
1) Prisoner Containment - The Prison 2)Information Center - The Computer Lab 3)Downunder - The Sewers (no slam intended on our Australian friends I am sure) 4) Main Gate - ...ahem, well the main gate of the prison natch'.

Warren has enabled the connectivity found in the original hub design. What you do in one level affects another level. This connectivity helps to strengthen the impression of real life tasks and purpose.

The escape from prison theme may now be a bit overdone, but it serves to set the mood and purpose of your mission here adequately. Architecture is well done also, particularly the prison area and the sewers. One area that seemed a bit odd was the small tunnel in a crate/box that leads from the prison containment area to the information center. I suppose this could have been some sort of ventilation duct...but it looked like it had a permanent crate/box opening. Overall though the architecture was refreshing especially where it broke from the usual, traditional base theme. Lighting was also appropriately constrained and consistent.

Gameplay was well done. There are plenty of excellent combat situations which evolve as a part of the natural flow of events. Guards (and others) on patrol, surprised Strogg attending to consoles, and Strogg attempting to stop your progress.

| Packed with great gameplay the four levels offer an extensive gaming experience.
| Odd out of place connecting tunnel seems contrived.
| Good use of opponents, clear objective, clean design and fun quick moving gameplay.

If you look closely you can see one of your comrades getting forced "high diving board lessons".

Ye old mutant on patrol.

A nice change of pace in architecture from the usual base theme, reminiscent of Quake1?

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