Review: DM-Q1DM4

Map for Unreal Tournament by Thunder and Peeter

April 4, 2000 -- Review by A.T. Hun

Like a lot of online gamers, I cut my deathmatch teeth on Quake 1. That's part of the reason that there are an amazing number of QuakeWorld servers still running out there. Quake 1 deathmatch is simply an awful lot of fun. It's fast-paced and exciting. One of the maps that The Master, Eeyore, and I played on more than any other, is Q1DM4--"The Bad Place". I was thrilled when I perused Nali City and found that someone had converted this map for Unreal Tournament! I downloaded it. I like it. Here's my review.

I think the reason why I enjoy Q1DM4 so much is because it is so small and so fast. There's no time just to stand around and admire your navel. Keep moving, or be dead. One of my complaints with UT is that sometimes it seems like I can stand around and have a ham sandwich in the middle of a deathmatch. It doesn't seem to have the speed of Quake 1 or Quake III Arena for that matter.

This map changes all that. It is very small, but it doesn't have the narrow, restrictive hallways that plague many a UT deathmatch map. You have to keep moving, or you will be fragbait. For those of you unfamiliar with this map, there are really three levels. The top level doesn't have much for weapons, but a room up there has body armor, the shield belt, and a rocket launcher. Plan on stopping here often. The middle level has the majority of the weapons and even the damage amplifier. The bottom level is two rooms with catwalks over pools of lava. Here you can find another rocket launcher and my personal favorite UT item, the big keg o' health.

The bots can play this level very well. Even on relatively stupid AI levels, they can still dish out some pain. I played with four "Skilled" bots and found myself down by 12 very quickly (of course, I came back to win by four). The readme recommends 2-6 players. Six is an absolute maximum. This level would work nicely for 1v1 as well.

This level is very faithful to the original. One difference is that they changed the general color scheme from blue to brown. I'm not sure what influenced that decision, but it is a minor thing. It also seems to me that the lava takes a lot longer to kill you in this level than in Quake 1, but that may either be a result of my fading memory or that's just the way UT's lava is.

UT "purists" may loathe the idea of using a Quake map in UT. Of course, I think UT players hating Quake just because it is Quake is just about as stupid as the reverse. Simply put, if you don't play this map just because it is too Quake-like you are really missing out. For UT fans who still hold a soft spot in their hearts for the original Quake, this is a no-brainer. Download it. Now.

I give this map a 9 out of 10. I deducted one point for changing the color scheme and because, well, it's not an "original" idea. Am I picking nits? You bet I am. The amazing thing is that this is their first map! Having fiddled with mapmaking just a bit myself, my hat's off to these two guys. Hopefully this map is a sign of good things to come from them.

You can download this map from Nali City.