File:E3M5 - The Guardians

Description
We make it to the final level of the Single Player campaign. Surprisingly, this is also the shortest, possibly being even smaller than Introduction. Go up a ramp, kill Enemies, proceed up ramp to hole, and go in hole.

This level is pretty disappointing, being extremely anti-climatic and not feeling like a proper ending (basically, what Gregory A. Macmartin said in his blurb describes the lacking nature of this level). The geometry, though very minimal, is attractive enough. This probably would have been better as an introduction to the sequel (is there a sequel? he stated he would possibly make one, but I am not sure if it ever saw fruition). It is extremely easy (I show this off by getting injured a lot with little to no risk, I didn't really care about my Health or Armor due to it being the final level) and has a nice little attractive entrance. It basically is a massive cliffhanger for a sequel that possibly does not exist...

I don't really get the purpose of the secret room or the powerups beside the Pit due to so little opposition existing beyond the ramp. You can't take the Ring of Shadows with you, nor would any of the other stuff be useful as the last part of an Episode under normal circumstances. I guess it is as useful as the Quad Damage of Shub-Niggurath's Pit, it is just a Secret for the completionist to have something a bit more substantial (which I can appreciate, even if the Secret is a bit obvious and basically is required to return to the bridge if you leave the platform).

Similar to the last level, there is no difference between the Singleplayer and Multiplayer versions beyond spawn locations. As usual, they are squished together, this level basically has half the spawn locations on one platform. Combine that with all the weapons being in a Secret room and you can see how this level isn't exactly made for Deathmatch.

Overall, this level is a lot like Descent to the Underworld for Q2. It is an attractive opener that leaves the taste in your mouth for more (which neither really delivers) while being generally easy and short enough to not be very substantial. Short can be good if it is challenging or interesting, such as with Chthon (which was the original plan for this level, as McMartin failed to get Chthon to work properly due to the trigger being hardcoded it could possibly be part of the reason why it suffers so much). We get "guardians" in the form of Death Knights and Vores, the former of which is nothing special (due to being used in previous levels in this Episode) while the latter is easy dispatched due to all the light fixtures being able to hinder their attacks. The Deathmatch quality has tapered off, going from being levels I wouldn't recommend just due to linearity to levels I wouldn't recommend due to having absolutely no changes from the Singleplayer versions and being extremely condensed. Come here to sightsee a bridge.