27/06/2004 @21:37:23 ^23:08:54

have nice dreams

remember you're better than lots of people

BYE, EVERYBODY!

Following a week of coding people's exam results onto the system - don't get me started on how dumb SITS is for that one - I had my last day of work in the academic office on Friday. I hoped to get out unscathed but I was dragged into a little room and presented with a card and some chocolates and a voucher and there was cake and everyone was really nice and sorry to see you go and and and

I realise I sound ungrateful, it was really nice of them, but, oh god I was so embarrassed

Anyway later on I went to another barbecue in Leamington. For some reason - possibly due to feeling exhaused before I went, I don't know - I couldn't really get into it and wasn't in the best mood ever. On the other hand, I managed not to totally embarrass myself like last time.

polygon base

polygon base is a single map for Doom 2. It claims to be "totally non-linear" and although I don't think it's quite up to such a claim, it still remains one of finest examples of exploratory Doom maps I've seen.

It comprises a sprawling techbase of considerable size. Sometimes it's a little bare on detail and the texturing is boring but the architecture is fantastic. High ceiling, enormous rooms, lots of secret passages, windows everywhere... You can almost always glimpse a new area long before you access it, and as such the map draws you in.

Despite having well over 300 monsters, resistance is fairly low, the monsters are all spread out pretty thinly and are mostly the weakest types of zombie and imp. This is probably a good thing as there's nothing worse than trying to find your way round a complex map only to keep dying all the time; however, since it is so easy, it reduces the replay value.

There is one obvious complaint in that there are probably about fifteen or twenty secret areas. This would be fantastic, if they were all actually marked as such, but only three of them are. This annoys me. At least there is a computer map available, if you are lucky enough to find it, so you can find all these places even tough they're not proper secrets.

The low resistance and architectural style - along with the super shotgun being very well hidden - gives it the feel of a Doom map converted to Doom 2. Comparisons are inevitably drawn with the definitive UAC Experiment, of which it falls short in quality, but it's still one of the best of these types of map that I have played. Recommended.