Operation Nervous Breakdown V1.1

Initial Comments

To borrow (and slightly modify) a phase from Krusty the Clown, "I coulda pulled a better level outta my a-..HEY KIDS!"

I hate to say it, I really do. Maybe I have been exposed to far too many excellent levels while in the Katarns, or maybe I've been corrupted by more recent games, but in my true honest opinion, this level is poor. Don't get me wrong, the idea is first class, but Japh (the author) really hasn't been too sucessful in implementing it. The whole level has a feel that it was created by someone who wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, because he had to go do something else, even though it took 7 months to make.

Level Design

The level itself was put together amazingly, but unfortunately suffered from being incredibly boring. Due to Dark Forces' inability to save, I was forced to play the beginning of the level 3 times, and I almost couldn't because I knew how yawn-inducing it would be. Walking down 6 floors with only Stormtroopers to shoot is incredibly dull.

The start was far from original, just appearing on the doorstep with no guards and just grey ugly walls. Inside, having to go into lots of rooms, many of which where pointless. The "Door Locked! Probably nothing interesting" text began to wear thin after the 14th door, and I found myself asking "Why did you put it in then??"

Level Dynamics

The distribution of health and shield powerups was stupid. Even on hard, my shield strength never dropped below 170 before I was able to find anther powerup. I found myself just flushing out rooms, searching around for keys among loads of fakes that lined the walls of some rooms (That really annoyed me) and the inability to pick up many items just added to frustration. Even when I found a key, it was in the most stupid of places, not down a corridor guarded by hundreds of Double Hard Bast@rd's. No! On a dining table! Where else would you keep a key to the Imperials' Store of VX Nerve Gas?

Level Experience

Personally, I didn't think this level stood out. An excellent idea was laid to waste by poor design and arrangment. Less ammo and powerups and maybe more enemies would have had me trying to be cautious with shots, but level really was just a spray-fest. No skill required whatsoever. When you see what can be done with the DF Engine, you can understand why this level was such a failure. Play this level only if the next best way you can think of to do on a sunday afternoon is digging the "crud" out from beneath your toenails :)

Score

Design Score: 4
Dynamics Score: 5
Experience Score: 4

Total Score: 43%