Review by MRCK on 21st May 2011

A medium-sized, mission-based industrial map set on a fictionary island a couple miles off the coast of California. Unexpectedly, it has been taken over by aliens and Duke is sent there to see what they are up to in fear that they might throw some sort of surprise birthday party to which he wouldn't be invited - the typical kind of behavior to expect those sneaky, friendly little fellows.

The map is basically the result of the merging of several maps started by Abandon Master Sr., Ryan 'Quakis' Rouse quite a few years ago, that would have been left to drown in the ocean of oblivion and despair his hard drive really is, if it weren't for the near-divine intervention of Golden Boy Lifeguard Mikko Sandt who saved the world once again by collecting the individual pieces and putting them together in the most coherent of all fashions, without even needing to resort to the generous help of a potential duct-tape sponsor. Eventually you get this miraculous user map that's assured to be about just as entertaining as the review you are reading right now.

Design-wise, this level is successful, Quakis' abilities when it comes to fancy detailing and spritework are not to be proven anymore, and while it is commonly known that Mikko, on the other hand, totally blows it as a mapper and will never release anything close to being as good as legendary masterpieces such as Dukecide, MSSP8 or Brave New World (then again, who could ?), he barely touched the map just enough to have his name associated to it so don't worry - it's all good. You will get to explore well-decorated hallways, more well-decorated hallways, even more well-decorated hallways and, in between two well-decorated hallways, the occasional outdoor area with realistic-looking cliffs, sprite structures of all kinds, and buildings full of more well-decorated hallways (and did I mention all the well-decorated hallways ?). Sarcasm and caustic humor being complete strangers to Duke Nukem 3D, I will fix this sentence before I even type it out and just say that all jokes aside, everything is solid and consistent as far as architecture, texturing, lighting, spritework and overall design is concerned, as a player you even experience a sense of progression as you advance further and further and discover new locations that all stand out as specific, so in the end it never gets repetitive, the outdoor structures look particularly rewarding once you reach them and the hallways are, for the most part, well-decorated.

Gameplay-wise this map is just as consistent, the layout is very well thought-out, and even though there is maybe a billion of different rooms sharing a rather similar style you never get lost and end up finding your way really smoothly, at least I know I did, maybe because I am a superman, or maybe because the storyline was well implemented and it has always been made clear what switch unlocked what door and where to go next. I myself happen to lean more toward the first suggestion, but being the most modest person in the world that I truely am I will give it up to the mappers and concede that they have done a great work as far as they layout and the progression of the map goes.

The ammo / monster / iteam ratio is perfect, with a nice originality toward the beginning of the map with the early introduction of the freezethrower as the first weapon you will get to get your sweaty manly hands on, which is a rather fresh idea that not only works very well but also allows me to make cleverish puns. As far as the health supplies go, you are supplied with just enough to get by, it does work very well and if you suck then you die - natural selection at its best, and may whoever may complain about it feel free to shoot themselves in the big toe, for a now completely random instance. The firefights are entertaining, with clever use of monster respawns, some classic yet still well-played scripted sequences and effects notably toward the end, and the last battle is no less than plain fun.

A great, classic industrial / canyon-themed map with solid design and gameplay. Not the most ambitious crazy map of death you will ever get your hands on, but it has everything you should know and love by now if you have stuck with Duke Nukem 3D for all these years. Take a gander !

Rating : 93

Review by Forge on May 21'st 2011

A medium sized map with Hi-tech indoor locations and island styled outdoor areas. You start off on a dock in front of a base, styled after what an evil scientist would build inside an island volcano, with the objective of making your way through the compound to take out a reactor and lower the alien's defenses; all the while killing everything that gets in your way. A-typical of most maps, the player starts off with a freezer and collects the basic weapons later on in the map, which is rather interesting since those weapons beyond the RPG usually get ignored. The premise of the map is mainly a key card hunt and to throw a few switches. The layout of the base isn't the standard moving from point to point. There are a few rooms acting as mini-hubs from which corridors spike out that require the player to explore in order to discover how to unlock that area and progress further into the base. Each region of the map has it's own unique design to keep the scenery fresh and interesting; such as a garage, a science lab, a few control rooms with their own individual characteristics, a neat "splash mountain river ride" down a sewer, just to list a few. Stout architectural design and trimwork coupled with strong contrasts in the lighting/shading give the indoor areas a dim steel and concrete fortification atmosphere with a few allowed glimpses outside to relieve the claustrophobia . The outdoor areas are adorned with heavy sprite work and expand on the impression of a complete base with background depth and the sensation of knowing more is just around the corner that can't be reached. The aliens are disseminated throughout the stronghold and increase in diversity and strength the farther the player advances into the map; keeping the action going at a constant pace. There's plenty of ammunition to handle the buggers, but keep on eye on your health. There may be points when you're getting low, but it's likely there's going to be some around just when you need it. It's a fun and great looking map that's worth the 20 minutes to run through.

Score: 94

Gameplay Type: SP
Requires: Duke Nukem 3D v1.4+ and JonoF/EDuke32
Filesize: 2.22 MB
Level includes: new music, multiple difficulty settings

Download: Done & Dusted (1058)

Know of any other maps from this author? Let us know

Mapping template:

This level is neither made nor supported by the ill-fated 3DRealms

Date started: 7th of May 2011
Date released: 21st of May 2011

!!EDuke32 REQUIRED (the map exceeds the old limits)!!
!!HRP NOT SUPPORTED. INTENDED FOR 8BIT SOFTWARE MODE!!
======================================================================

Title                 : Done & Dusted

Author                : Ryan "quakis" Rouse & Mikko Sandt

Web Page              : http://taw.duke4.net & http://msdn.duke4.net 
  

Misc. Author Info     : quakis resides in England and runs a site dedicated to
reviewing
			maps and mods across various games.

			Mikko Sandt is a distinguished mapper currently residing in Finland.
                     

Other Levels          : Tons. Check our websites.


Plot                  : A race of aliens known as The Assault have invaded a human
facility located
                        on an island sixty miles off the coast of California. The
facility personnel
                        have presumably been killed, but it's not known for sure. The
loss of this
		        facility is a major setback to research into alien physiology as the
facility
			contains several important Protector Drone samples and gigabytes of research
                        data. For these reasons the facility itself cannot be bombed:
The samples
                        and the data must be recovered, assuming they haven't been
destroyed by the
                        invaders. It is for this reason that you are sent to
investigate the facility,
			to gather intel for our strike forces that'll take over the mission once your
			job is done.

                        Your mission is as follows:
                        1) Investigate the facility, keeping an eye on potential
human survivors,
                           preserved research data and Protector Drone samples. It is
not, however,
                           up to you to recover any of these.
			2) Blow up the primary reactor. This should considerably lower their defense
			   capabilities, paving the way for our strike forces
                        3) Once done, establish contact with the strike forces who
will then proceed
			   to take over the mission
                        4) Escape via the northern waterway leading to the sea


Level Info  	      : Mikko Sandt: About five years ago I received a bunch of old map
scraps from quakis
			who's a bit infamous for starting many projects without ever actually finishing
them.
			Many of the scraps consisted of only a few corridors and/or rooms but they shared
a 
			common hi-tech theme. Having missed the 12th MSDN anniversary update, I decided to
make
			up for it by doing something with these scraps, which I had kept in mind over the
years. 
			(I had previously finished two usermaps that had been worked on by someone else
but never 
			finished.) I recovered the scraps from my old computer and went through them
several times 
			to see what would be the best way to tie them together. In the end, seven scraps
ended up 
			in the final map. After this merger (which involved a bit of copypasting,
flipping, 
			raising/lowering floors/ceilings and filling in some blanks) and after
implementing gameplay 
			dynamics (keys, buttons and monsters) I sent the map to quakis who held it for a
week 
			during which he modernized and streamlined the map's more than 5-year-old
architecture.

			quakis: I never expected these map sections to be used and once I took the map off
Mikko's
			hands, I gave myself only a week to edit the map as much as I could. The layout
and basic
			gameplay was there, but I thought it felt a bit lifeless and generic to play
through. Over
			that week I worked on redesigning many locations and some areas were completely
remade. The
			gameplay also became more refined, adding in that needed bit of life and little
effects here
			and there. The map as a whole is considerably different from the version Mikko had
sent and
			I felt pleased with the work I managed in a week.
			
Credits To 	      : Gambini for thorough beta testing and suggestions, AMC forums,
DNR, The Community,
                        Duke4.net, Planetduke, Fileplanet, Kimmo Nikkanen for the
Finnish Build guide,
			Ryan Lennox for the Infosuite, 3DRealms, Ken Silverman, TerminX and you.
		
			"To the people I forgot, you weren't on my mind for some reason and you
			 probably don't deserve any thanks anyway." -Eminem 
			                
======================================================================

* Play Information *

Episode and Level #    : Usermap
Single Player          : Yes
DukeMatch 2-8 Player   : No
Cooperative 2-8 Player : No
Difficulty Settings    : Yes; Let's Rock and Come Get Some
Plutonium Pak/Atomic   : Yes
Port                   : EDuke32 (http://www.eduke32.com)
Music                  : Gotham, from the Roland SC-55 Music Packs
			 (http://sc55.duke4.net/)

=====================================================================

* Construction *

Base                   : Seven map scraps each of which was made from scratch
Level Editor(s) Used   : Mapster32
Construction Time      : While the scraps were built prior to 2007, work on this
merger began on the 7th of May 2011.
			 That gives a construction time of two weeks.
Known Bugs/Problems    : Some minor 

=====================================================================

*Important Information*

			
Important Notes        : The map has been designed and intended for software mode.
The HRP isn't
			 supported for this map.

			 Don't steal our work. Feel free to distribute the map and make money with it 
                         but make sure everyone knows this is our work and keep the
zip structure intact.



Visit: 
http://taw.duke4.net
http://msdn.duke4.net
http://www.amcwebforums.com
http://www.dukerepository.com
http://www.duke4.net