DF-21 Forums

[Matt H]

Welcome to the New Level Reviews Forum!

I want things to be pretty much like how they were before, in the old review forum.

We thought that a good way to operate this place would be to have topics dedicated to individual levels, for review and discussion. Previously reviewed levels shall be discussed, and non-reviewed levels shall be reviewed. It is our hope that information gathered from your comments can be put together to form comprehensive, accurate reviews.

We would also like to see a 'review group' which would work in this way. Every month or so a mission will be picked for review from the files section, group members will download this level, and play it. Then the group can gather at this forum and discuss the level within a topic. After a period, the best points shall be taken, and that topic condensed into a review of that mission.

I hope you all make good use of this forum.

A couple of guidelines:
If and when some of you get around to writing your own reviews, and when posting in the review topics, try to assess missions under the following criteria; Plot (Is it original, credible etc), architecture (tecturing, lighting, general atmosphere), interaction (inf, any puzzles tricks, enemy placement, pickups etc.), best feature (1 [or more] outstanding aspects of the level) , worst feature (parts of the level that really got to you i.e. it was boring and unoriginal), overall score (what you'd give it out of 100). Also look at the review system over at TACC if you need any more guidance.

Please don't give good reviews/comments out of any bias, i.e. don't give a level a great review because you wrote it. I urge you all to be as critical as possible!

Enjoy!

[Barry Brien]

You're a legend Matt. Thanks for starting this up again. I know what a pain in the arse it is. If I can help let me know. I could take m-z or something.

[Nottheking]

I've come up my own method of scoring, and was wondering how you people thoguht about it. When I thought about it, I can break what I like in a level into four roughly equal parts:

• Quality - how professional the work seems. Obviously, good selection and alignment of textures, and arcitectural detail are the key here, as well as credibility.
  
• Atmosphere - how well one can "feel" the level. This is built up with suitable music, good use of effects, and the like.
  
• Innovation - how much cunning was put into the level. Puzzles are a good example of Innovation, as is pushing the code in creative ways.
  
• Gameplay - how entertaining the level is. object and objective placement used to fuel palying are examined here.
  
• Overall - the averaged rating of the above four fields.

Any thoughts? I personally like it, and it will probably be my preffered method of rating games.

_________________
Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

[Barry Brien]

I like that, though I think 'originality' should be considered too, seeing as we have 200+ DF levels already available. Having said that I do encourage people to use their own scoring systems, as this will give a greater overall analysis on the level(s) being reviewed.

[Nottheking]

[Matt H]

Just so people know, I'm trying to update the links to the review forum on the mission download pages as I add new entries. This should help people find the review topics for levels as they get shuffled around and/or pushed to the next page in the forum itself.

(I also brought back the ratings page.)

[Nottheking]

Good work. The links to here seem to all work, at least the ones I tried. Now could you please put up more levels? I've posted quite a bit at all of the levels that I've bothered to play.

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Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

[Emambu]

Reading through older comments of older levels is the best way to get me nostalgic *grins*. It's really good to see the review forum back. I'll have to try and do a couple...


---Emambu

[Burning Gundam]

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is how my rating system goes.

0-0.9 of 10: Don't even bother downloading, it sucks

1-1.9 of 10: Might be fun if you were to try the crummy ones first, but still pretty bad.

2-2.9 0f 10: Might have some good quality points, but for the most part is uninspired and boring.

3-3.9 of 10: A little better, but could still use some heavy duty work with its stronger points.

4-4.9 of 10: Good and fun to play, but could still use work.

5-5.9 of 10: An Average level. Has an equal balance of strong and weak points that make it just a level of the norm. Usually contains nothing special, but might at some times contain things that make it enjoyable and fun.

6-6.9 of 10: The level has slightly more stronger points over the weaker ones. May contain hordes of enemies when there should have been less. Texturing has some good areas, but may still be messy and bland. Plot and gameplay is okay. Recommended if you have extra disc space.

7-7.9 of 10: Great, but not an Oh-My-God-This-Is-Good! Level. Has a good balance of difficulty and gameplay is good. May contain the occassional bugs and texturing issue and problems with enemy placement, but is still pretty fun to play. Recommended.

8-8.9 of 10: Terrific level with excellent texturing and new inovative features to keep the player hooked without straying away and getting bored. Enemy placement is good, texturing is good, and all around fun to play. Highly recommended.

9-10 of 10: An absolute work of art. Everything about the level shines and clearly shows the time and effort the author(s) spent working on it. Gameplay is excellent along with everything else. Innovation is a major plus with things that may have never been done in DF. Everything fits with the SW universe and immerses the player in the world of DF. Download NOW!!!!

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Ye Olde Schoole]

What is the lowest rated HoF level?

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Girls are always running
through my mind. They don't
dare walk

[Burning Gundam]

For me it was Dark Tide 1, which scored a 9.5 of 10.

Speaking of Level Reviews, when are we going to get more of them to review?

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Burning Gundam]

GIVE US MORE LEVEL REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Nottheking]

::pounds fists on table::

More Levvel reviews! NOW!

_________________
Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

[JJ]

someone could focus attention on the levels they want reviewed. I suggest only a few at a time so you can maximize the reviews for each level and people can focus more.

[Burning Gundam]

Got all the O's and P's in there and a few of the R's. I'll finish the rest tomorrow after work

Oh and before I forget, is it possible to have these linked to the Download page like Matt H was doing? I don't think I have that capability.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Burning Gundam]

All finished. Please let me know if I missed any

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Fenwar]

Good work Gundam, thanks for taking care of that.