Author: Scott Haslam (Dagger)
Released: 23rd April 1997
Rating: 87
Review by Kim Robinson on 8th November 2008
A top-notch addition to the archives, Dagger's Cavern is a right blast from the past - 1997 to be exact - though you wouldn't think it to play it. Created at a time when most user maps were just a series of badly textured tubes, this map blew away all my expectations. Dagger's Cavern will have you scouting and scouring deep inside nothing less than a cavern, containing lots of little passage-ways, an old pirate ship and some rather dank dungeon-esque bits.
Design is complex and brilliant in conception, with plenty of overlapping sectors and architectural detail, on top of well-used sector effects, and despite the rather constant use of the rock face texture it's generally quite difficult to get lost. Texturing is for the most part very good, though in more than a few places they repeat without being properly panned. The result: less realism, which compared with near perfect texturing elsewhere, really makes it stands out. Shading is pretty much spot on, however. Ambient light increases and decreases quite well with visible light sources, and the places you'd expect to be dark usually are.
There's a lot to do in this level and to get the most out of it you're encouraged to explore. There's some nice secret areas and scenery which you'd otherwise fail to appreciate if you quickly ran through looking for keys. That isn't to say that finding keys is easy, but it's not difficult either. Puzzle-wise there's nothing overly creative, though there's some finicky jumping about you'll have to do in order to reach the bottom-most depths of this level. Monster to ammo ratio is quite reasonable, if anything there's an excess of firepower available. You're well prepared for the final boss encounter, but there's an easy way to kill the beast which takes all the fun out of it. Or makes it less annoying, at the very least. Enough ranting, take a look at this map.
Texturing/Lighting-Shading: 9/10
Sprite Work/Detailing-Architecture: 8/10
Ambiance: 15/20
Layout: 19/20
Gameplay/Difficulty: 36/40
Overall: 87/100
Gameplay Type: SP
Requires:
Duke Nukem 3D v1.3d
Filesize: 82.35 KB
Download: Daggers Cavern (313)
Know of any other maps from this author? Let us know
Mapping template:
Havok Presents: -==DAGGER'S CAVERN==-
======================================================================
Title : Dagger's Cavern
Filename : dagger.map
Author : Scott Haslam aka Dagger
E-mail : 102761.222[at]compuserve.com
Other Levels : LTEMPLE.MAP CRYPT.MAP LCITY.MAP BOXING2.MAP
Description : I didn't actually build this with a story in mind,
I just pieced it together from various ideas that
came to me during the 5 month build time. Anyway
some pirates used to use this underground cavern
as a hide-out, they called it Dagger's Cavern. This
cavern also served as a way to get to and fro a deep
underground uh, place, which i suppose you can call
hell, which an alien guy rules over, your supposed
to pretend he's, like, the devil or something...
Duke was on vacation with his girlfriend, driving along
in his car, when he becomes suddenly distracted by...
something.. and the car flys off a mountain and smashes
through the ground. Duke, being the tough guy that he is,
survives the crash, unfortunatly his girlfriend did not.
He climbed his way out of the car and into some sort of
cave. Looking around, he saw a light in the distance.
"Hmm, whats that up there. Better check it out, too bad
I don't have my shotgun with me." Turning his head, he
found
lying on a rock nearby, his shotgun, which must have fallen
out of his car in the crash.....
Additional Credits To : Simon Poole for testing and ideas
Special Thanks To : Bud Drakir & David A. Wass for testing it out for me.
======================================================================
* Play Information *
Single Player : yes
DukeMatch 2-8 Player : a little big, but theres DM sprites there, just dont
go to the hell area.
Cooperative 2-8 Player : yes
Difficulty Settings : no
Plutonium Pak Required : No
New Art : No
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 : none
Construction Time : about 5 months, I had to completely rebuild it after
2 months of work because of a computer problem, and
also alot of other new games have been distracting me.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Copyright Information: Please distribute this file in any non-profit means
(web-sites) as long as all files remain intact.
If this level is too be used in a commercial format
(CD's) i would like to be emailed, and too have a bunch
of money sent to my door. All files must remain unaltered.