Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon

This has the same issue as doom ii in that it's just more content from one of Id software's best games with a few minor tweaks in the mechanics, it's not innovative, however I'd be lying if I said that was a deal breaker as honestly the more I can play the flawless quake the better.

Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon (coop) - (Hard mode)
so, NOT developed by ID, its basically a fan mod but it got ID's approval and stamp of quality so i'll roll with it. the level design and technology is noticably more advanced and technical than the first game. you have so many weird and obscure traps and rotating objects that even in 2016 it's still a marvel to stop and look at. some parts are truly otherworldy and incredible. the atmosphere is still there from the base game, but overall the levels are worse for me. theres a lot more gimmicky parts with switches and bridges and all that sort of crap (and more level based scripted areas for that matter) its not really a bad thing, i just prefer the original level designs of course. the new guns are fun, especially the lazer gun. the new enemies are really cool but FUCK the homing mine bullshit that instagibs you from meters away. the fucking gremlin that steals your weapons is HILARIOUS and awesome.

The last boss is a fucking let down though! i don't know if it was the coop mode or something, but Armagon is a real PUSS. you can fucking stunlock him and he literally wont fight back and you win in like 20 seconds. Pathetic. on single player its probably not as much of a pushover, but still what a let down. Oh yeah, and the entire expansion is like, 3 hours long. Beat it in one sitting, so theres that.

7/10

I was pleasantly surprised by this mission pack. Compared to the maps from the original Quake, the design here feels less winding, more cinematic, implements neat tricks and interactions which weren't present in the original and that add some refreshing novelty. What I appreciated the most was how these levels maintain that id sprawling design but, somehow, cut down on the backtracking, which pays off as consistent pacing and tension. Probably only once in the entire map pack did I have to do loops through a map, and I was more often than not flying through the levels, finding secrets on the fly, and reacting to cleverly designed tricks and traps. The weapon additions are kind of lame aside from the Laser Cannon, but the weaponized scorpion (such a 90s enemy) and the Gremlin were fun to fight with. The final boss is disappointingly simple, and has none of the clever design that the rest of this map pack shows off. Excited to play Dissolution of Eternity!