Yet another brilliant level from Eric Pauker that seemed to come out of nowhere. Hot on the heels of his first really successful level 'Energy Mine on Parux', this level lives up to and exceeds the standard set by it's predecessor.

The texturing and architectural design is beautiful and each room not only has a different feel to the previous one, but seems to have a purpose....a very realistic design. The author shows a knack for finding new ways to use textures and the new space texture works exceptionally well, and including a planet in the texture was a brilliant idea.

The use of light shading with the rock textures is so effective in simulating caves within an asteroid that I almost got claustrophobic! :) In fact the lighting throughout the level is flawless. The author has spent a lot of time gauging where light sources are and how they would effect upon the design.

There are some neat special effects, like the fuel explosion near the end which is well done and sounds great as well, though you would have to be very slow to be caught in the blast. Squads of troopers appear post-explosion as you'd expect, but there are a few too many of these re-generating troops appearing out of thin air, though it does quicken the pace nicely. Two other effects of note are the power coupling disabling sequence and the cargo ship disappearing once you disembark it.......they add to the already great atmosphere of the level.

A TIE fighter flying around the canyons of the asteroid and under you as stroll across a walkway is a terrific idea and works very well, but the fighter's movements probably could be more fluid. A few more TIE fighters flying patrol around the asteroid when you look out of the windows would have been great as well. One terrific idea the author uses is textured 3D objects so that there is a sloped control panel.....very nice effect.

The amount of enemies, and ammo in the game is just the right mix, though a few more health and shields would have been nice. I played it on HARD, and it was challenging, but not frustratingly impossible......though the lack of health power-ups means you can't just dive into a gun battle too often.

There was one thing that really annoyed me......most of the rooms you visit are straight off elevators, so when the door opens you're immediately in a gun battle, which is fine, BUT the door to the elevator usually shuts before you can fight your way out.....and the only way to open it again is to ride the elevator to it's other stop and then go back again....gets frustrating after a couple of times.

Overall

In a nutshell, this is a brilliant level....and yet another step up in quality over his last level (which was damn good itself). The only problems I could find were very minor. One of the best levels of '97.