First levels are always the hardest on authors and on players too. More often then not, it's the author's worst level. More often then not, players will have a subconscious aversion towards a first level. I can't think of a worse combination. Concerning this level, I wish I could say that it breaks some of those rules, but I can't. There were several aspects that definitely can be improved upon here. The plot is one part. The words aren't exactly how the author put it, but what you see is pretty much what you get. We never learn anything about Zahn as a character, what he was doing before this kidnapping operation. We never learn why this princess was captured, nor do we learn why Zahn has fallen out of imperial graces. I mean, he was a general yet he has to hire mercenaries and ex-imperials. Why? There is a prequel to this level (which was created after this one), but the author still doesn't answer most of the questions I have here. Hopefully, that will change if the author decides to continue this series.

The architecture and overall design tended to follow the path that most first levels take. The spaceport, the scene that you start off in, set the tone for the rest of the level. The area was just a giant box with crates randomly thrown around, ships laying off to the side without a purpose, troops standing around with nothing better to do, items floating in mid-air, and a skyline that looked more like part of a ceiling then actual sky. That was the first scene. The rest of the level didn't improve much. There was a distinct lack of detail as I played through. Hallways were just elongated rectangles. There were no beams, struts, pillars, or anything to help liven up the basic design. Rooms consisted of boxes, and very little else. At times though, it did seem like the author was trying. There's a really cool looking circular tube in one hallway (despite the fact that it isn't realistically placed) and the cantina did have slopes. However, there needs to be consistency. Instead of making the spaceport one giant box, segment it into smaller areas. Place cranes, docking pads, elevated walkways for personnel, freight elevators for cargo, and other accessories that you would expect to see in a spaceport. If you want to have cargo (which is a good idea) make sure it's placed with care. Also, make sure it's placed on the floor correctly. Several crates were lying on their end, apparently buried into the floor. Some of these things are easy to do, and mastering them can really add to the overall design and experience of the level. Texturing was another area that needed work. A lot of textures repeated upon themselves until it got to the point where I was just tired of looking at them. Several long hallways (such as the one leading to the zoo) consisted of about two textures. Other areas (like the zoo) had too many textures for the given area. The whole thing ended up looking too surreal (kind of like when you view a Dali painting for the first time) for a MotS level. It was almost like the author was trying to strike a balance with the texture placement but couldn't quite hone it down. Hopefully, the next level will be a bit more consistent. Lastly, there were several misalignment and stitching errors. I'm surprised that the beta testers were not able to spot some of these mistakes, as a few of them were quite obvious.

I was sorely tempted to go after this level for mixing imperials with aliens, but I cannot. Ambiguous as the plot is, it did do a good job of explaining that these were ex-imperials and mercenaries. However, that still doesn't help the actual placement. There were a ton of enemies in this level and most of them were aimlessly standing around like they didn't have anything else to do. A few were manning stations or guarding the force fields, but most were just standing around in the hallways or in the large spaceport. Also, despite the fact that the number of enemies is high, this level is still a breeze. This is due to the numerous amounts of power-ups within the level, not to mention the tons of ammunition lying around. In the first scene alone, I got the sniper scope, the seeker rail detonator, and the repeater rifle, which immediately killed all hopes for a challenging level. The seeker charges never ran low either. This allowed me to walk in, and slaughter copious amounts of troops without having to worry about return fire. The author also made a rookie mistake by giving certain power-ups repulsor lifts so they gravitate several feet above the floor. Fortunately, despite the fact that this was the author's first level, I thought that the enhancements were well done. They were several elevators, locked doors, and force fields that needed to be shut off. I hope the author continues to expand in this area along with the other spots because he does demonstrate talent here.

Lighting was pretty much non-existent. Despite the fact that this mission is supposed to take place at night I found that the spaceport was as brightly lit as the control rooms of the imperial base. In fact the only significant use of shading was in the cantina, but that isn't enough when you factor in the entire level. Also, despite the lack of shading, the author did put (at times) a liberal amount of colored lighting in some rooms. In future levels, I hope the author learns that colored lighting should be used to augment and add atmosphere to existing lighting, not to replace it entirely. Also, more shading should be used around the exterior scenes, to add more atmosphere. Of course, lighting wasn't the only part of the level that caused the atmosphere to suffer. There were several realism issues and semblance problems. For starters the base, just does not appear to be set up like a proper base. Most of it is just a tangle of hallways that connect randomly to a hangar bay, a control room, a cantina, a zoo, and a detention area. Realism problems also hurt this level's score. First you have odd things like massive pitfalls in the middle of a hallway. Why anyone would put that there is beyond me. Another minor complaint was the sky textures used. The author must not have flagged them properly because most of the time it looks like a part of the wall. In one spot, it's used for the floor! Then there were rooms, like the zoo, that didn't make sense. This is supposed to be an imperial base. There shouldn't be a zoo here and even if you could give one justification, the fact that there are Wampas, undead sith lords, and a Rancor completely removes all credibility. The gameplay could also use a boost. I liked the idea of having to slash control switches to lower force fields at first. By the end, however, I had grown weary of it. It wasn't much of a challenge as some switches were right next to the force fields that they lowered. You didn't have to hunt around the base, crawl through ventilation ducts, or really get into the inner workings of this level. Instead you just whip out your lightsaber, slash the grate, move on, slash another grate, and repeat the process until the end of the level. Framerate was relatively high, but there were a couple glitches (fortunately minor) that hinder this level. Most of these are HOMs around some of the force fields and in the zoo. Some of the glass around the first force field warps at odd angles if you close enough, and there were several misaligned textures as stated earlier. Fortunately, most of these complaints are minor. At no point did the level crash on me or lock up.

You might want to think twice before playing this level. There are a lot of mistakes as well as plenty of squandered opportunities. However, one of the good things about first levels is that it usually provides the editor with experience at making levels. Believe it or not but the same author who brought you "BoaM 3" also brought you "Vader's Journey." It just proves my point that anyone is capable of learning.