First off, let it be said that this map contains the best storyline in its readme file that I've ever seen for a UT map. Nicely done. An excerpt:

"After the failure of the UESC Mining Company's Tau Ceti expedition, the company was never able to recover and finally went insolvent a scant nine years later. At this time the Liandri Company was considered only a second tier competitor to the UESCMC and was not generally recognized as anything other than a regional industrial concern. However Liandri sensed opportunity in the demise of the UESCMC and snapped up as many of the liquidated assets as it could afford. The prescience of this move can hardly be debated considering Liandri's ascendance to the system-wide position of dominance that it holds today. Among the assets acquired by Liandri was the Grendel Station." There is more, but you'll have to browse the readme for it.



Second off, also let it be known that since this is a port from one of the Marathon level packs (part of the Frogblast The Ventcore project), the texture sets are going to look a little strange to most of you, but while they are consistent with the old fashioned Marathon theme, I think a conversion as opposed to a port would have been in better form. There are a few bugs, such as the irising portal flickers when opening, and sometimes gets stuck open. Other than that, it's not seriously bad, just weird looking when you're used to more detailed stuff. Still, all in all, as a UT map, I have to score the textures down, much as I'm an old skool Marathon fan. :-) The lighting itself is fairly flat as well, most of which comes through the open ceilings of the station, although there are a few nice touches scattered about, it could still do with a bit more flair overall. Scored down for that too.

The bots do well in this map, particularly at the higher levels, although they do (as also human players will) tend to bunch around the pool in the center. They don't go for the shield belt though, which is a shame.

Weapon placement is also a tad strange, for those of you who are used to the standard groupings of UT maps -- ammo caches are spread all around the map, but not necessarily near the weapons themselves.. you should be able to pick up few extra ammo packs before coming across a weapon, so as you collect, you'll be a little more charged up than normal. I personally feel this is a good thing, forcing players to range out more, rather than camp their favorite weapons and ammo caches.

The level itself is a strange mixture of curving corridors, arena space, and a few tricky bits like the portals. There is a siren that sounds off whenever anyone goes to grab the redeemer, which is a very nice touch. There's also a few trigger points that set off a static charge that runs around the north end of the map for some extra environmental ambience. The theme is pretty consistent, being a port of a Marathon map, and while you might not 'like' the texturing, per se, it does remain consistent throughout.

It does slow down a tiny bit in the arena section when you are facing south, but the occlusion of the central column serves to break that up a bit.. it's marginally high-poly, but not so bad that it's unplayable on a voodoo 3 3K system, so if you're up past that, you should be fine, there.

I played this one a lot against my clan-mates and a few other friends, as we were able to talk one of them into putting it on his map rotation, and I must say it's a hoot. :-) Complain all you want about the weird textures, or the ammo scattered around, this one's rather fun and we kept coming back to it.. Also fun was adding the Volatile Ammo mutator, since with the extra ammo packs cached around, simply moving can become hazardous to your health if someone spots you. :-)

All in all an enjoyable map if not a great one.

By the way, I like longer more descriptive reviews -- I used to hate one-to-two paragraph reviews of maps that I thought rated a better description, which is one reason I became a reviewer in the first place. I try and touch on each of the aspects that's important. However, I am NOT Deathlok, and the next one of you who likens me to him, is going to have to answer to me. 'Nuff said. :-)