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| Rudy
Jurjako is in no way famous for level designing. Well, at least not
compared to his remarkable doom playing skills. So when I unzipped
his new Boom only wad, Call of Ktulu, I was unsure what to expect.
Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. This level reminds me of the Kboom series, except instead of a base theme there is a 'marble castle and the surrounding caves and mountains.' Initially you must jump off a ledge and grab the essential Single Barrel. This is where the wad becomes interesting. To open the front door of the castle you must dive into the moat and sneak in. The undernukage, combined with a reddish tranmap, is pulled off perfectly, reinforcing that Boom is still the best port available. The other areas of the wad are equally impressive and well thought out, but I won't spoil them for you. Rest assured, there are no boring bits in this wad, and the mood and atmosphere is surperb. You really get the feeling your running around a real castle, blasting demons as you go. You can see from the screenshots that the texture work is near perfect. There are large areas that only contain the ashwall texture, yet, it doesn't detract from the level at all. There are some new borrowed textures, including that great Ultimate Doom sky, and a 3D bridge rail from Requiem. Yes, this level does have 3D bridges which add a lot to the realism. If Rudy Jurjako is one of the best doomers in the world, won't his level be near impossible? That's what I wondered, but Rudy has designed his level for all types of Doomers (as all level designers should). On skill 1, Call of Ktulu is nice and relaxing. You can stroll through the level admiring the architecture and texture work. Crank it up to skill 3, and particularly 4, and you'll be constantly looking over your shoulder, if you last long enough that is. Where an imp had once been, there was a revenant etc. I can clearly remember one hazardous area, involving some small dark corridors, and a revenant behind every corner. That was after a free running archvile, that was near impossible to beat. The secret was to run back into the castle and keep sniping him. I am sure Rudy would just run up close with the Double Barrel, but it just wouldn't work for me :-( Ammo and Weapons were also well integrated. On the easier levels, there was an abundance of shells, bullets and rockets. In fact, it was not uncommon to exit the level with 20 or so rockets left. Of course, on the harder levels ammo must be conserved at all times i.e. no double barrel for imps! You might even find yourself having to 'go beserk' later on in the level. There were always a few stimpacks lieing around, just in case you aren't as good at Rudy. Despite Rudy's perfect playing skills, he made ONE tiny mistake. One teleporter flat wasn't aligned properley. Well, at least the teleporter still teleported, so it wasn't the end of the world. Also, there was no Plasma Gun or BFG. Although, I might simply not have found it, as I did miss the one and only secret. Speaking of secrets, Rudy places the Double Barrel in a highly original fashion, so watch for that. All I want now is a demo of Rudy finishing his own level on UV. I'd really like to see someone finish the final battle of UV? Can you... |
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Architecture: 9/10
Texture: 9/10
Design: 10/10
Monsters: 10/10
Weapons: 9/10
Health: 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10
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