Shaky Grounds pt1: Apocollapse


Author: Merlijn v. Oostrum
Release Date: September 9th 2016
Story: Duke had to report to the EDF headquarters. Again. You’d think that after 20 years, he finally earned the right to enjoy some peace and quiet for once. But nooooooo.What would it be this time? Aliens? Probably aliens.

After shaking the generals hand, he wasted no time:
“What is it this time, sir?”
“Aliens.”
Of course.
“..Of course. What are they up to now?”
“We don’t know. But 20 years of experience learned us that it can’t be anything good.”
(So at least you learned something while you were all sitting on your asses and let me do the dirty work, Duke thought.
But that might not be the smartest thing to say, so let’s say something neutral.)
“Ok, what do you want me to do?”
The general switched on a screen, showing a map of the world and a bunch of scattered red dots.
“It seems the aliens went underground this time. Literally. We’ve picked up alien activity underneath major cities
all around the world. We can’t be sure, but it seems like they’re building underground structures. Or machines. We don’t know yet.”
“Heh, maybe they watched Spielbergs War of the worlds? No worries sir, the bacteria can handle it. hehe..”
“Enough with the stupid jokes, Duke!”
The general pointed at one of the dots, situated in Europe.
“We’ve picked up the most recent activity at Emmerichville, a major European city. One of our biggest EDF bases also happens to be in that area,
and we don’t believe that’s a coincidence. So that’s where you’ll go.”
“Damn, I don’t like Europe. It’s always fucking raining over there.. But sure. When will I go?”
“Right away! There’s a plane standing by at the hanger. You’ll get further briefing at the base.
They’ll send a car to pick you up from the airport. ”

12 hours later, Duke walked through downtown Emmerichville. Those idiots forgot to send the car and it’s a long walk towards the EDF base.
Aaaand it’s raining. Of fucking course. A heavy jetlag plagued his head, and suddenly the bright neon lights of a Hotel across the street looked very inviting. Screw these guys, Duke thought, I’m gonna sleep for a few hours first.

***BRRRRRMMMRRR!!!***
Duke woke up from his slumber. The hotel room looked dark.
The sky outside still tried to go for as many shades of grey as possible, but at least it stopped raining. What just happened? It felt like the entire room was shaking.. An earthquake? As far as Duke knew, there were no major fault lines in Europe. Must have been his imagination.

***BRBRBRBRRRRRMMMMRRRMMRRRHHMM!!!!!****
Suddenly, the room started to violently shake again. But this time, it didn’t stop…

Additional credits: The beta testers: Maarten, Sanek and Jblade. Thanks guys!
Maarten again, for his help on the soundtrack (recording, mixing, sound effects and percussion)
The Eduke32 team
* Files included *
Shaky grounds pt1.txt
Shakygroundspt1.map
Shakygroundspt1.ogg
Shakygroundspt1coop.map

* Play information *
Single player: Yes
Dukematch: No
Cooperative match: Yes. For co-op matches use shakygroundspt1coop.map
Difficulty settings: Yes
Atomic pack required: Yes
Ports required: Eduke32
New art: No
New music: Yeah. We made a raw, grungy and suitably apocalyptic soundtrack, based on sneaky snake.
New con-files: No
New sounds: no
Construction Base: Brand new map

Review

10

Architecture

10.0/10

Details

10.0/10

Texturing / Shading

9.9/10

Atmosphere

10.0/10

Gameplay

10.0/10

Pros

  • Wonderful Architecture
  • Excellent Shading
  • Great Atmosphere & Attention to detail
  • Fantastic AI / Weapon & Health Placement
  • Fun & Challenging Gameplay

Cons

  • Minor texture & alignment problems

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