File:DMAS12 - Gibblet Pie

Description
Thankfully we have made it past the series of levels made by the last developer. Of course, now we have entered a level where the word "giblet" is misspelled. Sometimes it feels like we can't win!

This level is an arena, a two-story room with a bunch of stuff thrown about to keep the action heated. As usual, I am not a big fan of this style of map, mainly as it can't hold my interest in exploration terms. It also doesn't help that most weapons are thrown in corners and that the map is somewhat on the darker side, making it easy to miss certain weapons.

The problem with this style of map in Quake is that the game was not designed for said levels. Every DM level in vanilla Quake had corridors of some sort to condense the action and to allow for a broader range of weapons to be useful. There is little long range weaponry in Quake, making most weapons pretty undesirable. Picking up a Double-Barrelled Shotgun will be useless most of the time, as will a Super Nailgun due to the slow speed of the projectiles and even the Thunderbolt due to the limited distance. In a map designed as this one is, there is little to compete with the Rocket Launcher. It especially doesn't help when there are no Armor pickups.

Three of the sides have ways leading to the second floor, while the fourth leads to the exit, meaning interconnectivity is pretty decent. One Rocket Launcher is on the first floor in a corner not far from the ramps, while the other is in a dark corner between the Elevators on the second floor. This means Rocket Launchers are on opposite sides of the map, which means this level can be useful for tourneys if both people focus on getting Rocket Launchers. Of course, most Rockets are on the second floor, meaning the player on the lower floor might have a disadvantage.

The middle of the map has a Quad Damage, making it a hotly contested location (plus it is the middle of the map, which means it naturally is a place of conflict). The second powerup, the Pentagram of Protection, is located on the second floor on a side not far from the ramps. This is interesting as it means the player on the lower floor can rush up and get the Pentagram, giving him a great benefit even though he has less Rockets.

The level designer made a great choice in terms of designing the exit. To get to the exit, the player must push a Button to unlock a Door, which will only lower for a few seconds. The player can then proceed down a short corridor to get to the exit. The need to press the Button means that the Door won't be opening constantly during heated combat, while the short corridor prevents players from being thrust (as much at least) into the end Teleporter. I definitely appreciate the level designer's work here, even Gregory A. Macmartin would tend to put things in a manner that might cause people to be flung into the End Tunnel. A timed locked door definitely prevents accidental blundering into the exit, plus the length is just about right to prevent further blundering while not being too large to be spacious.

The Water in the middle of the map is pretty imbalanced on the other hand, having all three weapons on the same side while being pretty empty on the other side. Once again, almost everything beyond the Rocket Launcher is basically pointless in this map anyway, but it does make one side of the Water appear rather devoid of content.

Basically, this is a level that might be good as a tourney map. We get two Rocket Launchers, basically the only useful weapon here, on opposite sides of the map. Most other desirables are pretty evenly balanced, while undesirables aren't as balanced. It is rather unlikely that you will blunder into the exit, making this less frustrating to use a Rocket Launcher. Basically, all signs point to this being a decent Rocket Launcher tourney map as long as you avoid virtually every other pickup, using it only as a backup of some sort until you get a Rocket Launcher.