Review by Forge on 5th December 2008

Duke infiltrates an arctic secret base known as Area 69 by hiding himself in a crate. I wonder if he was shipped “bulk rate”? Duke must investigate what’s going on at the base then escape and report his findings back to EDF headquarters.

A large map with a fairly decent layout and design. The premise is of an arctic landscape with canyons, crevices, and ice lakes. Other than the few indoor base styled areas and some architectural structures; the entire map is white and light blue with minimal shading, sprite work, or detailing. Although that suits the theme, after awhile it becomes a bit redundant.

Game play is difficult at best. Unless you find a good portion of the secrets, Duke’s arsenal, health, and ammunition are severely limited. Even so, the enemies are stacked from one end of this map to the other in mass quantities and a large portion of these are some of the stronger variety of aliens such as commanders and octabrains. There are a few wide open outdoor areas, but a large portion of the fire fights with these tough enemy come in close quarters making progress that much more difficult. Save often, then save again for good measure, as there are a number of areas that serve no real purpose other than too accidentally wander into which depletes Duke’s precious health and ammo. The objective is to seek out and find all the buttons which activate the teleporter so Duke can make his escape. Expect to spend lots of time running from the aliens and have fun solving the multi-button puzzle towards the end which requires using up all your pistol ammunition.

For those that like exploring and the challenge of staying alive.

Texturing/Lighting-Shading: 7/10 Sprite Work/Detailing-Architecture: 8/10 Ambiance: 18/20 Layout: 18/20 Gameplay/Difficulty: 33/40 Overall: 84/100

*Not for use with Dukeplus, unless you really-really like pastels. The art files conflict.

Gameplay Type: Sp
Requires: Duke Nukem 3D v1.4+
Filesize: 4.72 MB
Level includes: new ART

Download: Area 69 (433)

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

Mapping template:

Duke Nukem 3D .Map Authoring Template v1.0
==========================================

Title                   :Area 69
Filename                :growl.map
Author                  :Fernito
E-Mail                  :fernito[at]gmail.com

Description             :You were in Area 51, and hid into a box which destiny is
Area 69,
			 an investigation centre in the North Pole. Your mission is to get
			 out of the installations.

Additional Credits to   :Nancsi, for getting me into this and helping me with the 
			 ending of the level :)

Additional info         :The map was done a lot of time ago, but never thought on
posting
			 it somewhere. Also, Nancsi helped me out to give it a proper 
			 ending (the previous ending was... err... just senseless).

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

* Play Information *

Episode and Level #    : E1M8
Single Player          : Yes
DukeMatch 2-8 Player   : No
Cooperative 2-8 Player : No
Difficulty Settings    : No
New Art                : Yes
New Music              : No
New Sound Effects      : No
New .CON Files         : No
Demos Replaced         : No

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

* Construction *

Base                   : New level from scratch
Level Editor(s) Used   : Build.
Art Editor(s) Used     : Editart.
Construction Time      : 6 months? Maybe 1 year of non-intensive working? Don't
remember.
Known Bugs             : Nope, as far as I know.

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