That's basically the plot when you boil away the dialogue. Fortunately, the added speech makes it seem much more interesting the this. As for the actual review, I only have one thing to say: oh boy. This is not going to be a pretty review. In fact, I haven't seen this kind of quality since January and February of 1998 when levels such as "Jedi Hell", "Dark Pyramid", and "Z Transform" were considered to be average levels. As a whole, the JK community has evolved beyond this and into such levels as "Siege at Vol Kanst", "Warzone", "Dartana Spaceport", "Remnants of the Empire", etc. However, there will always be authors living in the past. This a note to all readers of this review: I really did not like this level at all (in case you haven't figured it out). Therefore, I'm going to try and be as quick as possible with this review so that your overall pain may be lessened.

Like I said above, I'm going to be as brief as possible with this review. To state everything that was wrong with the level would just take too long. Exterior architecture consisted of flat, giant cubes with lots of trees to fill them. Walls (vegetation) were perfectly vertical and without any natural qualities that you would normally see when you look outside. As for the trees, they were little more then wooden stumps with, what looked like, green arrowheads stuck on top. The only variation among the trees was the size of the wooden stumps. Interior architecture was no better. The rebel base consisted of large rooms and hallways that had absolutely no detail to them. Just look at the screenshots. You can see that the hallways are too big for what they were designed to do: allow passage for small humans. Plus there's no detail, which makes it look really dull. The barracks room was a large triangle with about a dozen beds randomly throw about. That's it. Strip away the beds and it's a plain, white room. Texturing was even worse. The same textures were re-used over and over again. The exterior scenes altogether used about three textures. The rebel base wasn't much better. Needless to say, the repetitive use of textures didn't help the boring and unoriginal architecture.

70% of the level's enemies are located within the first cube of the forest. The rest of the rebel troops were scattered across the two cubes that make up the forest, and the base itself. Furthermore, all of them die after one hit, (then again so do you) so you can just sit back and pick them off from long range (just like in "Thaku: Rodian Bounty Hunter"). Items were all in the form of ammunition- what's the use of health packs when you start out with 5 health? There were also three keys, but don't think that that means the base is big or complex. In fact, I fail to see the point of putting a key-carrying rebel in the same room as the locked door. Why even make the door locked? Fortunately, the level did have a bright spot: it's enhancements. There were several on-screen text lines, and general Ervin actually follows you (like Mari Hari in "Warzone"). That's about it. I'm assuming that after you blow the reactor you have two minutes to get out. I don't know because I couldn't beat the game (more on that later). Overall, the enhancements were a nice touch, but they're in no way able to help the level achieve a high score.

Usually this is where I talk about the level's atmosphere and overall experience/mood. However, with poor architecture, non-existent detail, repetitive texturing, and poor enemy placement it's a wonder this level was able to create any type of atmosphere. The fact that you start off with only 5 health has the potential of being interesting (this requires you to be in constant stealth mode). However, after dying a few times from lucky hits, I found it to be more annoying then anything because every shot is fatal. Another thing that hurts the level is the fact that it's unbeatable. From my understanding you have to get General Ervin into the base's generator so that he can sabotage it. However, in order to get to the base's generator you have to get on an elevator that can only be accessed by jumping on to it. Now, general Ervin seems to be incapable of jumping. I honestly don't know how to get him on the elevator, short of blowing him on to it with a rail detonator. What I do know though is that an unbeatable level is one that isn't worth playing. For all I know, the ending may be spectacular, but right now it's just frustrating. Now, due to the level's diminutive size and basic design, you'd think that the level would be clean. Not true. HOMing and stitching problems are the most prominent bugs. The latter can be found just about everywhere. Fortunately, the level doesn't crash or lock-up. At least it has that going for it. If you do decide to try it out, you won't have much trouble with the framerate. Again, the basic design is a big contributor to this. However, I hardly consider a high framerate to be an excuse for playing a level.

Actually, I recommend this to anyone who wants to make a level. My reason for this is because this level is the perfect example of what not to do in a level. For everyone else though, don't bother with it. If you just want to try this level to see the Mari Hari COG in action, go play "Warzone."