I will play every level in Tempus Irae and comment on them.

[RyokoTK]

25. You Gotta Sin to be Saved
[attachment=3717:YouGotta...ved_0000.png]

This one's a fun one. It has a lot of super-sized architecture and huge jumps, which is really fun to play through, as well as a lot of Troopers for you to plow through.

The best part about this level is that it's very distinctly different from other levels in TI. It's not another rectilinear corridor shooter like several levels prior to this one; there's one part near the beginning where you have to wander around ledges in an indoor lake or something, which is sort of the same, but as you're being bombarded by Troopers and Fighters from other levels it adds a certain degree of intensity that's necessary for a mid-game map like this one. Generally it seems that the monster placement is pretty intelligent for a change; it keeps you on your toes without being really annoying.

Like some other levels, this one is on the longer side, and it's a buffet of different types of areas. There's the large cliff that the first leg of the level is based on; Troopers raining their grenades down the pit makes this one pretty intense. It also has the aforementioned indoor pool area, which I rather liked; it was plain but successful. Then there are a couple small villas in the mountains, and another big underground cathedral. This one is, as I mentioned, super-sized, which is pretty neat. Oversized architecture is risky to employ in Marathon because, if done wrong, it can look extremely plain and simple, but if done right it can have that monumental feeling that you really want. There have been instances of the former up to this point, but this level is pretty successful with it.

[attachment=3718:YouGotta...ved_0001.png]

The only complaint that I can really muster up is that, as usual, it's a little easier than it ought to be. Despite the few intense points of action that I mentioned, this is not a very tough level overall, as the level is generous with 2x canisters again. Oh, and once again there's a hidden door that's required to proceed. But really, beyond this, this is a great level and one of the best in Tempus Irae.

Level design: 4.5/5
Aesthetics: 4/5
Combat: 4.5/5

[RyokoTK]

26. Hang to Dry
[attachment=3719:HangToDry_0000.png]

This is another action-oriented level. I suspect the levels are turning toward larger spaces to accommodate for larger groups of enemies; it shows with this one, which is almost entirely large spaces. Now I'm generally okay with this; as you've seen, I've pretty much complained constantly up to this point that levels don't have enough open spaces. And now that I have them, I'm... reasonably satisfied, I suppose, but I kind of wish that the areas were a little more well-developed.

The problem with this level is that the open spaces are pretty much just flat rectangles. This is a problem that a lot of TI levels have: larger areas don't have enough detail to actually fill the spaces, leaving them empty and boxy. Now that's basically this entire level, so it's just a drab, long sequence of big boxy fights.

The good thing is that the level is... at least, a little bit challenging. The big problem is a deliberate design decision: in a lot of the ambushes, a monster will teleport in like 3 inches behind you and begin shooting at you. This is a horribly cheap way to injure the player without actually making the game harder. Of the three times I died on this level, two times I'd enter a room, monsters would teleport in, and I'd back up two steps and run into a Trooper or Cyborg which would immediately drain over a full bar of health. The first time, I got kicked all the way back to before the final battle of the previous level -- all due to a cheap trap. Naturally I didn't fall for those traps twice, so it's just stupid.

Anyway, that being said, beyond those hangups the combat is fairly fun and challenging on its own. So the real weakness of the level is the overly-simple design. It would be nice if some of the more intricate levels like Gates of Delirium or Polygonium Opus were also combined with the more exciting action scenes of levels like this one and the previous one.

Overall, the simplicity of this level is a bit of a downer after the rather creative level that precedes it. However, the action at least doesn't let up, so there's still a considerable amount of momentum being maintained from the end of You Gotta Sin to be Saved. This one could be worse. Now, at this point we're entering the final third of the game; we have the ninth manuscript, all the guns, and the action is starting to pick up. How does that bode for the remainder of the game? Well, we'll see...

Level design: 2.5/5
Aesthetics: 2/5
Combat: 4/5

Annoying quirk:
[attachment=3720:HangToDry_0001.png]
This little cache is just to tempt you to fall into the hole, which is really shitty. It's obvious that you can make the jump, but no, there's an invisible wall there. Honestly though, wouldn't anyone jump down the hole anyway? Don't taunt the player with unattainable items.

27. Game of Death
[attachment=3721:GameOfDeath_0001.png]

This is the second secret arena level. This one is pretty fun and simple, and while you don't really come out ahead of where you were, it's still a fun little break. Anyway, there are four big waves of enemies that come at you, along with the four Major Juggernauts constantly bombarding you. The gimmick here are the super-sized Fighters that have far too much health and don't do much but sap your ammo away. Okay, so it could be a lot better, but it's fun and pretty tense. There are two 3x rechargers to keep you at your best, which on the one hand diminishes a lot of the challenge, but on the other hand keeps the level light and airy without being too intense. Overall, it's pretty fun, and does what a secret level ought to.

[RyokoTK]

28. Repository Nine

29. You Got Me In a Vendetta Kinda Mood
[attachment=3722:YouGotMe...ood_0000.png]

Now here's an enjoyable level. You begin your siege on the Pfhor ship K'alima, only to find that it's... really not that heavily guarded.

Like the other Pfhor levels to date, this one is attractive and nicely designed, with an interesting vertical structuring of the objective. It's a fairly short level, though, and not very difficult. The gimmick here are invisible Enforcers, which, when coupled with the pitch black darkness of this level, should be challenging but really isn't because as soon as they start shooting you know exactly where they are anyway.

Anyway, of the Pfhor levels, this is probably the weakest so far; not because it's bad, really, but because it's short and extremely easy. A berth of 2x and 3x rechargers completely trivializes all of the battles, but even without them the map isn't too hard. Believe it or not, the main enemies on this level are actually Fighters and Drones again. By this point, I have so much AR ammo that I can pretty much close my eyes, hold both triggers, and wait until they all die without even worrying about death.

This is one of those levels that's really intelligently designed, and I admire it for it. The main part of the level is some kind of antenna structure in the center of the map. So, believe it or not, the rest of the map actually is structured around that, just as you'd expect. Rather than just a linear sequence of not-really-related spaces leading up to the antenna, the entire level (or thereabouts, anyway) is actually oriented around it, which is sensible and intelligent. Plus it's a two-story complex, and transiting between the two stories is cool and brings a lot of depth to the design.

There isn't a lot else to say about the level. It looks very nice, though. Darkness works well for Pfhor ships for a lot of reasons; in the case of the TI Pfhor textureset, it helps dial down some of the loud coloring choices in the textures. It also gives an air of mystery and foreboding to the level. So, good choices were made all-around for this level.

Level design: 5/5
Aesthetics: 5/5
Combat: 3/5

[RyokoTK]

30. ...evil so singularly personified...
[attachment=3723:evilsosi...ied_0000.png]

This is nothing more than a continuation of the previous level. It's also fairly short (I suspect it's two levels due to polygon limits), but it has a lot of very large and intricate bits of architecture and looks very nice.

There's not much to say about this one that I didn't say about the previous level. Once again, very coherent architectural design, though it's a lot more linear due to the level's iconic stairway. It's also very attractive and far too easy for its own good. The only bad part is that you have to backtrack a considerable distance to exit the level -- for no real good reason. There's no additional fights or anything.

Level design: 4.5/5
Aesthetics: 5/5
Combat: 3/5

[RyokoTK]

31. I Haven't Killed Anything Since 1485

32. KMG-365
These two levels actually serve to plaster over a plot hole, if you can believe that. According to the Nardo TI guide:

I Haven't Killed Anyone Since 1485 arose out of plot necessity. Actually, it resulted from my own anal compulsion to attempt to fix everything in the plot remotely resembling a hole, or as much as possible given a plot that involved time travel, aliens altering human history, and one of the most famous men ever to live. Very near the completion of the scenario, I figured out that the amount of time (in _real time_) the player would need to complete the scenario up to the end (Mt. Vesuvius) was about 5 days. When I looked at Mike's level, I thought "There is no _way_ even an alien species could build this sort of installation in 5 days." So I approached Borzz, and probably took a couple months off his life by announcing that I had to make _another_ level. (It did take me a while to get around to the first two...)

I decided to put the player into the hospital (KMG-365, built by Borzz just to satisfy my crazy whim - editors note: which also required we come up with another chapter screen, to further pause the action) by having the Tycho/Marine AI blast the player out of an airlock in a massive thermonuclear pulse.

So there you have it. TI's idiotic plot actually had a hole that required one expository level and one that's almost exposition. KMG-365 is a Rebellion level, so for the very final levels you basically have to build up your arsenal from scratch. I guess that's okay, but still.

Edit: to give credit where it is due, the explosion blowing you out of the ship in 1485 is a pretty neat effect.

[RyokoTK]

33. Mt. Vesuvius
This one is a real suckmonster, which is a shame because we're finally at the climax of the plot and you want the levels to be as exciting as possible. The idea here is that you're penetrating the Pfhor camp that they built inside a volcano. Why would they do that? Apparently just to fuck around with humanity.

Anyway, the idea here is noble enough: they wanted to build a level that was half-Italian, half-Pfhor. And unfortunately, it's all awful. The entire level is just a series of narrow corridors. That's it. It's the worst of Tempus Irae all for one final assault on good mapping sensibility. So, because you don't have any ammo, you have to gain it all back as you progress. Thankfully, they're pretty generous with the ammo, so it's not really a big deal.

This isn't a very large level, but it's a tedious one because of all the corridors. It's just slow going throughout the entire level as you plow through endless Hunters, Troopers, and Enforcers. Most of the level isn't really that hard, except for the beginning. From the start, there's a long stretch before you can find your first save, and probably five or six different groups of enemies that you have to fight at the minimum. It's pretty tough from the get-go, but to make it harder, Troopers are constantly teleporting in three feet behind you. I died so many times at the start from these cheap, dirty ambushes, and the worst part was that dying here would kick me back to KMG-365.

When you're trying to make a level hard, using underhanded tricks like that isn't a good way to do it. When enemies weren't teleporting in behind me, the level wasn't really difficult at all; the presence of so many corridors made it pretty much impossible to not cheese these guys to death. Aside from that, the only real confrontations of note were when you'd have to go through a tiny room with a Juggernaut in it. There are two cases of this. Now, because you have no ammo, you really don't want to fight these guys, but you don't have a lot of choice. It basically involves shooting them a few times, then hiding behind a corner for 10 minutes while the Juggernaut spams fireballs at you forever.

This is a really bad level, which is a shame. Aesthetically, the Pfhor/Italy combination doesn't really work. It's something that would have panned out a lot better with more open spaces to actually show off some of the architecture crossing over. As it is, you just have one corridor painted gray and yellow and the next corridor is brick. It's unconvincing and fakey.

Level design: 1.5/5
Aesthetics: 2/5
Combat: 1/5

[RyokoTK]

34. Mt. Vesuvius 2 -- Electric Boogaloo

Not much to this one. Grab the manuscript and run through a brief gauntlet of Hunters and Juggernauts before the lava flow kills you.

::shrug::

It seems like the final manuscript level could have been a little bit better developed to me. The entire thing is just one brief lava escape, which is okay, but I wish there was more. You're discouraged from fighting any enemies, which is cheesy, and beyond that the level's just not tough.

There isn't really anything to say. The level's just dark and ugly and full of monsters you aren't going to bother fighting, so it's a pretty trivial experience.

Level design: 2/5
Aesthetics: 2/5
Combat: 0/5

[RyokoTK]

35. I Can Feel It
[attachment=3724:ICanFeelIt_0000.png]

Adding a denouement level to your scenario is a real risk because you don't want to diminish the role of the actual climax in the overall scheme of the plot, but you also don't want to follow up a great finale level with a lousy or overly-easy denouement. Well, since Tempus Irae's climax level sucked hard, that puts a lot of pressure on I Can Feel It to be good in its stead.

Unfortunately, it's not. I mean, it's not bad. But it's definitely the weakest Pfhor level, because it's just not very difficult. There's a lot of running around through vent shafts killing Drones, which is so incredibly uninspired it practically hurts me to even write it. Now, that's a pretty unfair simplification of the level; like the other Pfhor levels, this one is a good arrangement of nice-looking rooms and architecture to keep the pace up. The biggest problem is that it's just underpopulated and fairly low-key.

Which, for the final non-secret level, is unacceptable. This should really be testing my skill; if nothing else, this level should only exist to be difficult, since its role in the meager plot is pretty trivial.

I think the biggest problem that I have with TI's plot, besides being another stupid time travel storyline, is that it really undermines the role of the Pfhor throughout the course of the entire thing. From start to finish, the S'pht have the upper hand against the Pfhor, and so for the few intermissions where you're on either ship it basically boils down to the S'pht realizing they forgot about the Pfhor and, meh, maybe you can come up here for a little bit. The Pfhor are consistently so nonthreatening in the Italy levels, and the K'alima is so... empty, that what it boils down to is that you're fighting a bunch of weenies.

This is one such case. The Pfhor apparently made one last desperate gasp to keep the S'pht trapped in Renaissance times. The first terminal basically says it's not a big deal and boils down the entire thing to a chore -- "can you run down and reboot the computer for me?" There are a few Pfhor along the way, but it's just too trivial. Besides, why is this the last level? The Pfhor could have done this at any time. If you swapped this level and Vendetta Kinda Mood/Evil So Singularly Personified, at least you'd have a more appropriately difficult and plot-climaxy level.

So this level is kind of a snooze, but it's basically over now.

Level design: 3.5/5
Aesthetics: 4/5
Combat: 1.5/5

[RyokoTK]

36. The End
The idea behind this level is that it's just a portal for the final secret exit. It looks like the repository levels, but a hidden switch that you have no hope of finding opens the door back up into the rest of the ship. Beyond that, making your way to the secret exit is trivial. Apparently there used to be quite a bit more to this level, but the Nardorks... well, I'll just quote them:

The original plan for this was to have two "challenges" the player had to beat in order to reach the final secret level. The doors flanking the terminal lead to each of these challenges. The door to the left brought the player into a room with a deep goo pool, guarded by a very large, very pissed off Juggernaut. The trick was to make it around the room to the other side, open a door there, and flip a hidden switch which would crush the Juggernaut. A teleporter there delivered the player safely back to the terminal area. The door to the right brought the player into the single most annoying moving platform puzzle ever invented for a Marathon game - each platform moved up and down at a different rate, and the room slowly filled with goo. The player had to time each jump perfectly to make it up and across the room to reach the teleporter on the other side.

Given the kind of crap they left in the game, it must be incredibly awful what they took out.

37. For Your Eyes Only
[attachment=3725:ForYourE...nly_0001.png]
The final secret level has very little to it except one last tour of some Italian architecture (which looks pretty good) and some naked women (which look pretty retarded).

I have to credit Nardo for having a pretty inventive reward for finishing the game. The fact that you can find women that don't look like complete idiots easily on the internet is beside the point. It's a pretty "clever" puzzle level, and by "clever" I mean stupid. The only puzzle of note is when you have to pass through one of four archways. Three of them will kill you. The clue is in a painter's palette with the paintbrush pointing toward green -- the green arch is the safe one.

Beside that being a ridiculously obscure clue, it doesn't even work in the Aleph One version; instead of a palette, there's a non-animated torch in its place. Basically you're just going to die and get kicked back to The End until you get it right.

For anyone curious, here's the best that Nardo could do about naked women (nsfw): hurp-a-durp

[irons]

i totally clicked that at work
now im fired
fuck u

[RyokoTK]

So I guess here's what I can say about Tempus Irae:

It should have been a lot shorter. The plot isn't very complex, and there aren't any subplots or really many events that happen in the plot. There's no real convincing reason for there to be 10 manuscripts except that they wanted to make a bunch of levels. Unfortunately, a lot of those levels are of particularly poor quality. If the best eight or nine levels had been sampled from the game and compiled into one abridged version of the TI plot, I suspect the game would be a lot better.

It is evident that the levels were tested pretty thoroughly. There aren't many points in the game that make me think "geez wtf were these guys doing," and there aren't any glitches I can think of. With Rubicon, I frequently got the impression that CLund had never really tested his game as much as he should have, and certainly not on TC. This is not the case here, which is really good. Unfortunately, what it means is that some of the less desirable levels and some of the poor monster placement (and cheap ambushes) were very deliberately left in.

Best levels are Brain Damage and You Gotta Sin to be Saved. Worst levels are Sordidae, Turpes et Faetidae and Mt. Vesuvius.

[L'howon]

So I guess here's what I can say about Tempus Irae:

It should have been a lot shorter. The plot isn't very complex, and there aren't any subplots or really many events that happen in the plot. There's no real convincing reason for there to be 10 manuscripts except that they wanted to make a bunch of levels. Unfortunately, a lot of those levels are of particularly poor quality. If the best eight or nine levels had been sampled from the game and compiled into one abridged version of the TI plot, I suspect the game would be a lot better.

What of TI: The Lost Levels? I dimly remember playing through them and thinking that at least the architecture was more interesting. It too is a monumental pain in the ass like TI, but it's relatively short (I think? It's been so long).

[RyokoTK]

What of TI: The Lost Levels? I dimly remember playing through them and thinking that at least the architecture was more interesting. It too is a monumental pain in the ass like TI, but it's relatively short (I think? It's been so long).

Oh yeah, the Lost Levels. I don't think I ever finished those. Maybe I ought to.

Edit: or not. I made it halfway through before I realized that it was really bad.

[brilliant]

i totally clicked that at work
now im fired
fuck u

haha yea i clicked that without reading any of the post and was surprised.

[L'howon]

Oh yeah, the Lost Levels. I don't think I ever finished those. Maybe I ought to.

Edit: or not. I made it halfway through before I realized that it was really bad.

Yeah, I should've been more emphatic with the 'pain in the ass' part.

Some all of the puzzles are just absolute bullshit, and the weird ass 'story' that comes with it is just bad.

[ellio7t]

This is the only save on the level. It's a secret; it's easily overlooked and other saves in the game don't look like this. What a bunch of crap.

Jesus saves, I always thought it was funny.

[President People]

I present the infamous TI STAIRS

I never even found the stairs until this topic. I saw the switch up on the ledge, and fired grenades at it, adjusting my aim until I hit it. I thought I was cheating or something, but now it seems like I saved myself a lot of frustration.

[CaptainJason]

25. You Gotta Sin to be Saved

[attachment=3718:YouGotta...ved_0001.png]

Level design: 4.5/5
Aesthetics: 4/5
Combat: 4.5/5

In "You Gotta Sin to be Saved": I am having a problem with the library in the lower cathedral, per your picture posting. In this particular room I keep running into what I can only describe as a bug with that secret door not opening. I have tried a variety of ways to try to get it to activate, but all to no avail. This is very aggravating! Any suggestions?

[RyokoTK]

In "You Gotta Sin to be Saved": I am having a problem with the library in the lower cathedral, per your picture posting. In this particular room I keep running into what I can only describe as a bug with that secret door not opening. I have tried a variety of ways to try to get it to activate, but all to no avail. This is very aggravating! Any suggestions?

Which secret door? There's one in the side of one of the floor-to-ceiling stacks that leads to some stairs. You go up the stairs and jump on to the lower shelves. Jump to the back wall and a little switch opens up that opens the other secret door.

[CaptainJason]

Which secret door? There's one in the side of one of the floor-to-ceiling stacks that leads to some stairs. You go up the stairs and jump on to the lower shelves. Jump to the back wall and a little switch opens up that opens the other secret door.

Aha! Apparently I am just dense. Whew! Brain farts are fine (even if moderately embarassing/irritating), but I was concerned that the program had gotten buggy on me. I am pleased that it turned out to be the former. Thanks, you were a great help!

[RyokoTK]

Well it's not your fault. As I mentioned earlier, stuff like that is just stupid map design.

[jht]

I enjoyed reading this review - it was tough but fair. Of course, I think that because you mostly liked the levels I designed. There are levels I loved and levels I hated.

Couple of things I wanna mention:

Difficulty: We had a tester dedicated to testing every level VID style. Meaning, starting the level from scratch, on hardest difficulty, and try to get to the end without saving. Then he'd come back and tell us where we had too much ammo, or not enough. Explains why some weapons keep showing up in every level. He also liked punching things, and insisted that every monster be killable. He was a pretty hardcore player so we mostly listened to what he had to say. I myself am a fairly weak player, so I would complain if I couldn't get through a level on "easy" mode after several tries, and we'd adjust monsters or ammo to suit. Basically, we were trying to make everyone happy - weak players or hardcore players. The ability to VID a level means you can't really count on or rely on what the player gained in a previous level, so I think it tilts the difficulty level a bit towards being too easy in the final analysis. Oh well. Difficulty is one of those things that is really hard to get just right. In my defense, I find most modern FPS to be ridiculously easy. Go figure.

Uneven Quality of Levels: We were a bunch of guys with various levels of skill who wanted to collaborate on a scenario. Everyone did what they could to fulfill the requirements of the scenario "vision" within the limits of their own personal skill set. Borzz was the boss, I was the art director - we both tried really hard not to step on toes or hurt feelings. Even so, there were were some levels that I personally could not let into the game as is. As horrendous as you think "Revealing Science of God" is now, you should have seen it before I re-textured and re-light the entire thing. I really pissed another guy off by re-texturing one of the Pfhor levels (I think it was "Polygonium Opus") because he kept using textures that were meant to be used later in the game. And a disagreement broke out about the difficulty level and generally aimless design of another level to the point were the map-maker quit entirely (but the map did end up in the Lost Levels).

But I digress. My point here is that when working on a collaborative effort, you sometimes have to accept other people's work even if you personally don't like it or feel that it fits in. Some people are just better at Forge than others, and unless you want to make an entire scenario on your own, you have to accept that other people are going to do things in ways that you might not personally love.

Fun fact: The guy who wrote the terminal text and designed the latter Pfhor levels (Vendetta, etc, but not "I Can Feel It") ended up being a lead design guy at Monolith. Among other games he's had a big hand in designing were Tron 2.0 and the original F.E.A.R.

If we had been selling it for money we might have made different choices in some areas for sure...

Lost Levels is a real grab bag in that regard. I turned in a level with no monsters, another one a remake of a Quake level, and re-textured a Randy Reddig network map as a single player map. But yeah, ignore the plot.. there isn't one.

Naked Ladies: You gotta remember the era. Those were done in Poser version 1 or 2 I think? pretty primitive stuff for the time. Even now Poser figures are horrendous.

Ok, enough of my excuses.

[ellio7t]

I turned in a level with no monsters

I still have trouble trying to beat every path of that level.

[Crater Creator]

It's always nice to have one of the original creators chime in. Thanks for offering your perspective.