Author: Pascal Rouaud
Released: 12th September 2000
Rating: 96
Review by Steven Laliberté on 11th May 2008
The fifth map of the terrific map-creator Pascal Rouaud, Roch 4 is a genuine jewel, one of these so unusual levels you remember a long time ahead after you played it, since you’ve been struck by their originality. The idea of this level consists in Duke becoming the challenger of an entertaining TV show: “The Grab-the-keys TV Show”. You have to find the 6 keycards spread into this new part of the ROCH city and bring them back to the TV studio, to finally earn your prize: an absolutely astonishing French castle dominating the city, with a splendid car from the mid 30s!
The graphics are plainly outstanding - I bet you won’t leave cold in front of the marvellous entrance of the TV building or inside the studio itself - and they are always supported by an powerful Build craftsmanship. The castle, which was inspired by the French “Cheverny” castle, is a masterpiece of Duke-mapping with its wealthy rooms, the four superposed floors, and the majestic final crypt (and even a hidden treasure still to be revealed ?)! Furthermore it’s a pity you can’t go for a drive in the well-designed “Traction Avant” Citroën French car parked within the garden because once again Pascal did a top-notch job on it. Concerning the city itself, it seems to be a kind of old residential quarter arranged for the TV game, rather realistic and interesting, but not as much detailed as it could be since… “Sector limit sucks!” (Eh… You said hidden words in forbidden places?). Finally, you’ll probably be given to wonder in front of an impressive effect Pascal invented, quite revolutionary in the year 2000 of the release, creating the oblique handrail next to the new animated billboard.
The gameplay is excellent, fairly balanced and innovating - Pascal put forward his first unlinear keycard system: you can indeed bring back the 6 blue and red keycards to the studio in the order of your choice, and the action depends on your own way too. It consists in many waves of monsters and goodies respawned in the city and the studio when you’re activating the 6 locks, and you can choose the order of their difficulty from 100 to 10,000. In the second part, you’ll have to clean up all the rooms of your occupied castle, before pitting yourself in an ultimate fight within the secret crypt against minor bosses.
To conclude: no way out except to instantly download this map!
Gameplay Type: SP
Requires:
Duke Nukem 3D v1.4+
Filesize: 117.07 KB
Level includes: new music, multiple difficulty settings
Download:
Roch 4 (607)
Other releases by Pascal Rouaud:
Roch,
Roch 2,
Roch 3,
Roch 5,
Roch 6,
Roch 7,
Roch 8,
Roch Secret 1
Know of any other maps from this author? Let us know
Mapping template:
============================================================================= Title : Roch 4 Filename : Roch4.map Author : Pascal ROUAUD E-mail : pascalrouaud[at]hotmail.com Please send me any comments about this map If you plan to post it on your web page, tell me you'll do it so I can appreciate... Web Page : none Misc. Author Info: I'm French (so sorry for my English!) (I hate Quake, Quake-like Duke maps, etc.) Other Levels : Roch, Roch2, Roch3, Roch_sc1. Story : Duke subscribed to a TV show to win a stay in a castle... Description : Fourth episode... City map with a grand French style castle (Cheverny), TV studios, some cool new effects (see the handrail of the outside staircase near the building behind the sliding ad), many sector-over-sector... 5 secret places. If you love this map like I do and would like to know all secrets, e-mail me to get a demo file that shows everything (or to get my previous / future levels). ================================================================================ Additional Credits To : Ken Silverman, 3D Realms. Special thanks to my beta-testers: AirHawke : Nukeleated http://www.nukeleated.com/ Kevin Cools : Borg Nukem (& DNF Inc) http://borgn.totalconversions.com/ Dukebert : Dukebert's Map Zone http://www.homestead.com/dmz/ Juha Laaksonen : Dukesivut http://www.dukesivut.cjb.net/ Maarten Pinxten : Maarten's Gamorama http://www.crosswinds.net/~gamorama/ Antonio Rodríguez: Página oficial de Real3D http://r3d.cjb.net/ Mikko Sandt : MSDN http://www.planetduke.com/msdn/ Matt Wareham : DNF Inc http://www.dukeworld.com/dukeinc/ I also wish to thank Jeremy Endres (aka Deathtoll) for his demos and previews of my levels : Duke Map Busters http://www.dukeworld.com/dmb/ ================================================================================ * Play Information * Episode and Level # : Roch4 Single Player : Yes DukeMatch 2-8 Player : Yes Cooperative 2-8 Player : Yes Difficulty Settings : Yes (3 skills) Plutonium Pak Required : Yes New Art : No New Music : Yes (The Persuaders series) To be played with a wavetable ONLY (or it will be horrible!) New Sound Effects : No New .CON Files : No Demos Replaced : No (see above for a "secret demo") ======================================================================== * Construction * Base : New level from scratch Level Editor(s) Used : Build, Hex Workshop Construction Time : 3 months (on and off) Known Bugs/Problems : Let me know if there are... * Where to get this MAP file * File location : In the zip archive with this file... ======================================================================== * Important Information * Installation : Unzip ROCH4.MAP in your Duke3d directory, then type : duke3d map roch4You may choose your skill : add /s# (#=1 to 4) ======================================================================== * Suggestion * You're a great player (or not) and want to show me how you complete one (or some) of my maps. Please send me your demo(s) (preferably in 'come get some') to: pascalrouaud[at]hotmail.com I want to watch you playing my maps! ======================================================================== * Special notes * The castle structure is inspired by the Château de Cheverny (France) As did Hergé (Belgian comics author) in his "Tintin" series, I didn't reproduce the two lateral parts of the castle (sort of "towers"). (go visit: http://www.chateau-cheverny.com/ ) The car is inspired by a "Citroën", model "Traction Avant", a French car in the 30's (1934). ======================================================================== * Copyright / Permissions * Authors MAY NOT use this level as a base to build additional levels, concatenations, or otherwise. You MAY distribute this MAP (Roch4.map), provided you include this text file (Roch4.txt), with no modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.