Space Station

Author(s): John Sekeres

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There's quite a bit for you to do according to that briefing, which is a great thing in contrast with a lot of the simple 'get the plans and return to the ship' levels that are available. And the author does a reasonable job in executing the level. You'll find that the level has a good feel of being an actual station in space, with other ships hovering outside and lots of nice open windows that let you gaze at the various exteriors. The exterior shots are especially nice since the author has given the station some good texturing to make it appear large and rugged, having withstood years of service; at least that's the impression I got. The architecture is nice here, with good texture placement overall; only a few places have some problems, and these will most likely go unnoticed. Texturing is good in most places, very nice in others, and crummy in yet other places. Some areas combine textures that look clean and high-tech with ones that look rugged and dirty; not a very good combination. But I think that most of the problems will be missed while you make your run though the level. One thing that really should have been fixed was some texture problems on all of the elevators. It's a simple thing that could have been repaired quickly, and with it sitting there blatantly it stops the otherwise fluid pace of the level. The setup of the station and what you get to move through keeps your mind off it while moving from place to place though. Good architecture makes this level interesting. There are also enough enemies to keep your trigger finger moving, and enough weapons to make it fun without making it a slaughter. To begin a running theme, little things are what hurt this level the most. Things like having the Crow get left behind to be wasted in the coming Rebel attack; that always irks me, when a simple VUE of the ship leaving would have solved the problem. Other things like the sewage plummeting off into space and suddenly disapearing as it hit the bottom of the sector; that shouldn't have been left visible. I also hate that alternate rifle and wish it had been left out. Then there's the established monotony of what you have to solve: hit the switch that activates the door, run to one area to find the key, then repeat the process again. And lastly, it would have been nice to have accomplished the goals at different stages throughout the level, rather than all at once at the end. And perhaps have the Rebels begin their attack once the shields are down to add a little urgency to your flight.

This is a fairly good level, and I think most would enjoy it. Little things build up though, and after a while the level loses much of its initial potential. Doing the same thing over and over kills the idea. But the author still manages to make it fun to play.

Level(s) replaced:	SECBASE
Difficulty Settings:	No

New BMs:	Yes
New FMEs:	Yes
New WAXs:	Yes
New 3DOs:	Yes
New VOCs:	Yes
New GMDs:	No
New LFDs:	No
New VUEs:	No

Base:	New level from scratch
Editor(s) used:	WDFUSE 2.00
Known Bugs:	Lots of stitching problems and there's one part where the height of the floor isn't set properly for a bridge so it feels like you're walking through it. Nothing serious, just annoying.
Download Space Station (spacstat.zip, 171k)

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To offer comments and suggestions please email Matt H.
These pages originally created and maintained by Geoffrey Elliott, c. 1997.
Last Updated February 13, 2004