After reading through the DFA html file I have to say I was impressed. It had detailed descriptions of the new weapons(yes, new weapons) in this mod as well as some information about the characters you meet. It also has a LEC-like launcher to start the game. From the start this mod looked very promising.

There are actually two levels in this mod, although the first level is very short. In this level you have to man a turret and shoot incoming ships as they attack Mars. What little architechure there was was good. The second level was a full sized level so I'll concentrate on it's design. The level was set on futuristic Mars and it felt like it. The sky was a dark blood-red colour and the buildings seemed to reach up to the clouds. They were nicely detailed inside as well. Texturing in the level was good too. It was a little shabby in parts, with a few misalligened textures and a couple textures that didn't fit in. These parts weren't everywhere fortunatly but they did ruin the level a little bit. Also, there were a couple of paper-thin walls that shouldn't have been there and that also took away from the level. The level's actual layout wasn't outstanding. It was quite linear but in saying that it still had some explorable areas. It was also pretty short, still fun to play though.

All the enemies in the level were new and were placed nicely. The AIs had new weapons too, such as the M-32 OICW assault rifle. The soldiers even use the secondary fire of the weapon, a grenade launcher. Every hit did a lot of damage so it meant that fighting off the enemies was very challengeing. Even with the difficult enemies I found that there were too many powerups around the level. I was never in a situation where I had to worry about my health. Personally I think a level should be harder than that.

The atmosphere of this level suited the setting. The dark buildings and the bright red sky made a great enviroment for a level. A lot of the lighting in the level was realistic and it really made the level look like it was set on Mars. The lighting did have a lot of problems though. There were splashes of colour randomly placed on the walls and some of the lighting appeared to come from nowhere (it's better to have the light come from a streetlamp or something). This sort of problem with coloured lighting is seen in a lot of MotS levels unfortunatly. The level was very dynamic, for example an elevator explodes in one part and in another place elite enemy troops charge in. These things all helped add to the realism of the level and make the experience interesting.

This is a great level to play, and is a lot different, compared to normal MotS. The actual levels may not be perfect but the new guns and enemies will make sure the mod is fun for a long time.