After the recent spate of excellent Quake levels, a relatively quiet week as everyone spooges over Quake II...
Black is a fairly impressive mini-episode with a new start level, three main levels, and an end level. Some nice design and plenty of running backwards and forwards pressing switches and finding keys.

The tenth, and probably last, Quake I level in the mexx series, Cassandra is by far the best of the set, featuring great level design and a bucketload of QuakeC mods. This truly is an amazingly atmospheric PAK, featuring two impressive levels, rotating doors and fans, a lab, cut-scenes, a malfunctioning elevator, lots of new sound effects, and a coherent story to tie the whole thing together...

There's even a new monster - a sort of super-enforcer that is almost indestructible. Even without them, these are damned hard levels - there are more bad guys in these two maps than in most Quake II episodes! Which is impressive in itself, bringing the action to an almost Doom-like intensity with grunts and enforcers everywhere.

Cassandra Calamity needs Quake 1.08 or higher to run properly due to the huge number of entities on each level... Check my Quake FAQ for a download link if you haven't already got it...

Beautifully crafted three pack of levels set in the infamous Area 51. The level design is impressive and on an epic scale, with the all-new textures adding to the atmosphere with pipes, computers, twisted metal and machinery...

If you can drag yourself from Quake II for a couple of minutes, download Area 51 and give it a play. You won't regret it!

Impressive sequel to Neil Manke's original Starship level...

Starship II is typical Neil Manke - well crafted level, plenty of puzzles, lots of new textures and skins, and QuakeC trickery courtesy of Brazilian Einar Saukas. Full of great features like cracking ice, flying shuttles, and a cut-scene ending featuring a rocket take-off... The low gravity and slippery ice also add to the realism of the level, and the actual level design is equally good with some great outdoor areas as well as an abandoned base. There's even some almost Tomb Raiderish puzzles.

In short, the whole thing oozes quality... Get it. Now.

ohmygodohmygodohmygod... Sorry. Just a little excited. You see, Iikka's fifth Single Player Quake level is quite possibly the best level I've ever seen. Let me repeat that - the best level I've ever seen.

It's a military base level. I know, you're saying - "Yeah, right, another Military Base Level (tm). There's hundreds of them". What seperates this level from all the chaff out there is the shear attention to detail. For example, one room looks like it has been hit by an airstrike - bits of shattered floor and ceiling lie amongst the disordered crates, and broken metal beams hang twisted from the ceiling, the sky visible through holes in the cement. It has to be seen to be believed...

This is a huge, highly detailed, excellently designed level. When you play it, be sure to have a box of tissues next to your computer to wipe the drool off the keyboard...

An impressively accurate recreation of Doom II's first map. Apart from the Quake sky and monsters, it brings back that true retro feel. The only problem I found was that you can jump out the window into the courtyard near the end of the level, trapping yourself outside...

A beautiful meso-american style level featuring some new textures and skins. The level design is some of the most impressive and most original I've seen in a long time, from the towering cliffs of the intro map to the labyrinthine confines of the main level. Atmospheric, intricate, and attractive.

Stunning good looks and brilliant design, with some jaw-slackeningly pretty new textures. The whole level looks like a medieval church or monastery thanks to the many scanned textures, and the atmosphere with the storm raging outside is incredible. The only bad point is that it is ridiculously hard. Just how many shamblers does a level need? I counted three, maybe four. But if you think you're hard enough to take on a horde of shamblers, then check this level out. One of the nicest looking levels I've seen in a long time (though I'm sure my new 3Dfx card had something to do with that!).

Quite possibly the most imaginative Quake add-on I've ever seen, Neil Manke strikes again with his most impressive offering to date, making good use of the QuakeC talents of Brazilian Einar Saukas and Neil's own homebrew textures...

The use of helper bots is a nice addition, even if they are rather stupid. The new monsters are impressive, even though there are no new models, just new skins (for example the ogre becomes a latin-looking moustached maniac) The storyline, plot and cutscenes are cool (the level appears to be a promo for a new TV show). And of course the level design is as good as you'd expect from Neil Manke, with loads of puzzles to solve and secrets to find, and amazing locations like the stunningly detailed helicopter and some great outdoor areas that actually run tolerably fast even on my old P90.

Other level designers would do well to learn from this example.

Nice looking metallic base style level with lots of tricks, traps and triggers. There's also some nice little outdoor areas surrounded by towering cliffs. Well built and moderately hard...

A series of six levels (plus an introduction), many of them recycled versions of Zied's previous levels. Impressive construction, nice atmosphere, some sort of coherent plot and pretty challenging. Well worth checking out, especially if you haven't already downloaded Vivisect Six, Dextromethorphan and Severe Exposure (all of which feature in this mini-episode)...

Yet another base level... This one lifts itself above the others by its attention to detail and it's novelty. There's a door that won't open until you switch the pumps on to supply its mechanism with hydraulic pressure. There's a forklift truck that trundles across a loading bay to give you a way up to a ventilation shaft. Well constructed - this level looks good but doesn't suffer from bad slowdowns like many I've seen recently...

Nice largish level, mostly medieval in style. Lots of detailed architecture, but not too many slowdowns. The lighting adds to the atmosphere, and the first section especially is impressive with its arched windows, wooden beams and spiral staircases. The level is also damned hard, especially as there's no difficulty settings there...

Fairly large slimey metal level with some nice architecture. Lots of long octagonal corridors and big open rooms and plenty of slime. Some nice traps and secrets...

Spectacular new level from Neil Manke in which you have to escape from a space ship. Some stunning design, great new QuakeC mods by Einar, and lots of new textures and skins. Settings include the bridge, a cryogenics facility (why DID I defrost that shambler, anyway?), a faulty plasma core, and the shuttle bay from which you eventually escape. You even get a nice little view of the ship exploding as the game ends.

A visually stunning heavy-on-metal level with pools of lava all over the place and towering walls and walkways all around. Damned impressive, and challenging. One of the best levels I've seen in some time...

A great level from Zied Rieke, creator of another Level Of The Week, Dextromethorphan. It features some QuakeC mods to make the monsters smarter, as well as a whole new monster - a flying enforcer... The level itself is a huge base, a little over-detailed in places causing the game to slow to a dead crawl on slower computers. Impressive construction, and not too hard.

Another stunning demo level from the forthcoming Alba TC. I didn't like this as much as Neil's last offering, The Road to Inverurie, but it's still visually stunning, well designed, full of great new textures and some QuakeC mods. A little slow in places on my clapped out old P90...