Review: Meatpak

Map Pack for Quake III Arena by Pete Parisi

March 31, 2000 -- Review by J

Well, spank my butt and call me Mandrill! Here is my first contribution to The Haus . . . my first review in what will hopefully be a long series of reviews. What I plan on doing is reviewing maps, mods, and mutators (three points for alliteration!) created by the community. We all expect add-ons created by the game companies to be worth the download, but stuff created by third-party developers are an unknown quantity. I am hoping that these reviews will help you decide what map, add-on, mod, etc. to download . . . saving you time and hard drive space! (Of course, my hard drive will very quickly fill up with garbage, which I'll promptly forget to delete, resulting in a gradual decline in system preformance, resulting in . . . okay, I'll shut up.)

I will only be reviewing stuff from Q3A and UT for the time being. If you have any suggestions, complaints, insults, etc., please send them all to: A.T. Hun, P.O. Box 1234, Pullmyfinger, PA, 54321.

The opinions expressed in this review do not represent the opinions of the administrators of The Haus. As a matter of fact, they may not even represent J's opinions. Who are you? How'd you get this number? Seventeen!

On with the shew . . .

The MeatPak is a series of Q3A DM levels created by Pete Parisi. It is composed of three relatively medium-sized maps: RedMeat, DarkMeat, and WhiteMeat.We'll just wade right in starting with . . .

DarkMeat:

Description: DarkMeat is probably the smallest of the three levels. It has a look similar to the Tier Six set of levels packaged with Q3A; namely, an open structure floating around in some sorta void, hence the name 'Dark' Meat. Though the readme file for the MeatPak states that all weapons are available, I have yet to find the BFG on this level. Liar.

All of the levels have the same basic structure: generally, a round floor plan with multiple levels. The first 'level' of DarkMeat is a trench encircling the platform the rocket launcher sits on. The trench contains a few bounce pads to the next level, which contains a yellow armor, ammo, and health powerups. The next level of this map consists of a number of towers situated around the map accessible by bounce pad. Some of these towers have upwards of three tiers. These towers also contain acceleration pads to zip you to other towers on the other side of the map post haste. The towers contain the red armor, lightning gun, rail gun and mega health powerup.

This map has a very interesting feature shared by one of the other levels in the MeatPak . . . a trap! On one of the towers is a blinking switch. When hit by gunfire, large sections of the rocket launcher platform drop away, revealing bottomless pits. Also, the portion of the platform directly beneath the rocket launcher drops away, revealing a bounce pad that will let you reach various powerups, including--but not limited to--the quad damage. However, the other pits on the platform can make this somewhat precarious if you don't judge your trajectory correctly.

Gameplay: Pete Parisi recommends 8-16 players for the MeatPak. With the DarkMeat level, it would be best to stay in the lower range. Being the smallest of the three levels, 16 or more players could conceivably clutter the map, turning it into one big, violent, gorefest. Hey, that actually sounds kind of fun. Also, if you notice some players constantly going for the rocket launcher, it's a simple matter to activate the trap, sending them cratering. Whoopee!

The readme states that bots don't play very well on the MeatPak levels. He wasn't lying. Virtually EVERY bot on this level would end up in the central trench, making them easy pickings for anyone on a tower with the rail gun or rocket launcher. However, this map is perfect for small multiplayer deathmatches with real people. There are good sniping points for the railgun and/or rocket launcher, but it's also relatively easy to pick snipers off from these points, so camping is not a problem. Overall, a good, small DM map, provided you're not using bots.

WhiteMeat:

Description: Again, this map follows the same basic structure of all the MeatPak levels, with a circular floor plan. The arena is colored primarily in whitish stone, hence 'WhiteMeat' and seems to be slightly larger in size than DarkMeat. The map consists of a large central 'pit' with sloped walls leading up to a thin ledge encircling the entire map. In the center is a three level structure containing armor, health, and the lightning gun. On one side of the map, the ledge leads to a small area containing some armor powerups and a raised platform where the railgun is located. On the other side of the map, the ledge leads to a room that contains the BFG. The room can also be accessed by a bridge from the central structure one level below.

In the center of the map is a high, narrow catwalk connected to the ledge by two thin ramps. The rocket launcher is on this catwalk, in the center. On the upper level of the central structure are acceleration pads. The pad facing the side of the map with the BFG will, if timed just right, boost you to a moving platform in the sky where the red armor and mega health powerup is located. The other acceleration pad will, again if timed just right, lead you to another moving platform with the quad damage. It can also boost you to the rail gun platform. Shotguns, plasma guns, and ammo are located along the ledges. Lastly, both ends of the map have pits that will kill you if you fall into them.

Gameplay: This is by far my favorite map in the Pak. However, the bots prove just as stupid in this map. They seem to spend the majority of the time cratering in the aforementioned pits--either from the acceleration pads or by simply walking into them. I find the BFG and rocket launcher placements odd; one would expect the BFG to be placed on the precarious catwalk and the rocket launcher in the more accessible room. If playing with bots (or unskilled players), it's a simple matter to get the BFG and camp in the room, waiting for some unsuspecting bot or player to go for the rocket launcher, as the rocket launcher catwalk is easily visible and highly snipable (is that a word? It is now) from the BFG room. I'm betting that if this were a DM map packaged with Q3A, the BFG would be either on the high catwalk, or even more likely, on one of the floating platforms.

This map should be fine from anywhere from 8 to 16 players, as stated in the readme. It's not too big so as to make a slow game with a few players and it's not too small that it would be overly crowded with 16 players. The acceleration pads could be tricky to use in a game with live players because if you're rushed by someone firing at you, into the pit you go. If you want the railgun but are wary of using the acceleration pad, it'd be safer to get the rocket launcher and rocket jump yourself onto the railgun platform. It's possible to snipe from the railgun platform, but it's also very easy for someone else to get up there and frag you as well, so there is no real advantage to be gained by sniping (unless you're playing with bots).

Again, I like this particular map a lot, and I have seen it on a few public servers. It's a good size--not too big, not too small--and the design is top notch. Also, the map is nice and bright . . . a nice break from the usual fare of dark browns and greys. My only issue with this map (besides the usual idiotic bots) is the placement of the BFG . . . I still think it's much too accessible. That isn't gonna stop me from using it, though!

RedMeat:

Description: This is the largest of the MeatPak maps. Like the other maps in the Pak, it has a round floor plan. The 'Red' in 'RedMeat' comes from the red fog in the lower levels . . . not to be confused with the stuff that'll kill ya in the regular Q3A maps. This map has some height, so I'll start from the bottom.

The lowest level is blanketed by a fairly thick red fog. The walls slope up a short way to a ledge surrounding the lower level. In the center of the floor is a structure that stretches up into the rest of the map. Around this structure are two bounce pads and two pits located alternately around the structure. The bounce pads boost you up a level and the pits will kill ya. The only weapons on the lowest level are some shotguns. There are also health powerups and ammo for the rocket launcher and lightning gun. You also see a billboard a ways up with the red armor, but that has to be accessed from above be dropping onto it.

The bounce pads and the lower level take you to an area in the central structure that contains the rocket launcher. You then take an acceleration pad to a ledge at the same height in the map. The ledge contains yellow armors and the mega health. It also contains the bounce pads that take you to the next level.

Here, on yet another ledge, you'll find lots of ammo for various weapons. There are also bridges to the central structure that lead to another yellow armor. In this room are two bounce pads that take you to the top of the central structure, where the BFG is located. Along the ledge are bounce pads that take you up to a catwalk encircling the arena. This catwalk is slightly higher than the top of the central structure as is very thin. It doesn't make that great of a sniping platform, unless you want to snipe people going for the BFG.

This is the other MeatPak map containing a trap. Along the central structure on the bottom level are four switches you activate by shooting them. There is also another switch on the side of the upper catwalk. These switches activate the same trap. When shot, the tiled floor under the BFG glows red. Stepping onto the tiles while they are glowing will frag ya . . . no ifs, ands, or buts. (butts? buttes?)

Gameplay: To start off, you may want to lower your video settings slightly if you have 'em cranked up. I have my frame rate capped at 35 fps, and I was losing up to 10 fps on this map. The bots are not quite as stupid on this map, though there is still a bit of cratering due to the height of the map. Bots tend to fight on the upper ledge or the lowest level. They almost never go into the central structure and I have yet to see one jump up to the catwalk.

With live players, I'd recommend sticking to the high end of Pete Parisi's suggest 8-16 player limit. The vertical size of this map would make a small game slow and boring, as you'd spend half your time bouncing around trying to find the other people. Definitely, no less than 8 players.

Until I was made aware of the trap, I was surprised at the easy accessibility of the BFG. It's not hard to get to at all. However, with the trap, getting to the BFG could be quite difficult . . . especially since someone could activate the trap from below with no warning.

Overall:

This is an excellent set of maps. I suggest anyone running a Q3A DM server to install these maps right away. If you're only running small games on your server, DarkMeat is the map you'll want to run, with the possibility of WhiteMeat as well. People running medium to large games will want to run WhiteMeat and RedMeat. And as I mentioned above, I've already seen public servers running WhiteMeat.

These maps were tailor made for multiplayer fragging. All three are fairly simple and well designed for online fragfests. I would not recommend these maps for single player action, as the bots perform poorly in all of them, especially Ranger. Expect to see 'Ranger cratered' popping up on your screen a LOT. With the added bonus of the traps on RedMeat and DarkMeat, playing these maps is even more fun. Not only can you pile up your frag count, you can take frags away from other players using the traps. Hit the switch . . . frag a friend!

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best), I'd rate: DarkMeat = 8.5, RedMeat = 8.5, WhiteMeat = 10, with the Pak as a whole rating a 9. However, this is just one gamer's opinion . . . but it is DEFINITELY worth your time to download and install this pack of maps to rate them yourself. I predict that they'll be showing up on a lot of public servers very soon. You can download this map pack at FilePlanet (6.5M).

Hey Pete, make some CTF maps!

Fragilicious!
J [the artist formerly known as 'Hey, can you help me get this marble out of my nose?']

** Props to A.T. Hun for pointing out the traps for me. I nearly overlooked a very important feature in two of the maps! Good thing he's there to catch my boo-boos.