Birth of a Mercenary 3 was a great level. I found it to be very entertaining, as well as excellent in level design. However, I did think it was just a tad too difficult because of the lack of sufficient powerups. On to the review...

The architecture of BoaM 3 was excellent. Throughout the level, I encountered a great amount of detail that kept the level interesting and eye-pleasing. I especially liked the marble pillars, but the other assorted beams, ramps, stairs, windows, and what not were also very good. Furthermore, I noted that many of the hallways were not merely rectangles, but had arched ceilings or sloped walls. The variation in sector shape was also a plus for the architecture, for it offered a lot of variety to what you saw in each area. One of my favorite areas was the Emperor's Throne Room. The glass floor allowed you to glimpse what lay below you, and it offered a new dimension for interesting features. Despite the overall excellence of the architecture, there were a few areas that were rather large and boxy with only a few details to spice them up. The pool area, for example, was very big, but it didn't really have any cool architecture in it. The texturing, while not as good as the architecture, was still quite decent. I only found a few areas where there were misalignments, and I didn't spot any color map problems. In a few areas, I felt that the textures clashed a bit. For example, a hallway with a red carpet had gray and green walls, and to me it just looked a little strange. Also, in other areas, there were some rustic looking textures mixed in with extremely modern lights and computers. For the most part however, the texturing was very nice.

Enemy placement was admirable. The enemies were spread out, and they were rarely in groups of more than two or three. This made them only somewhat less difficult to take out, but unfortunately, their danger was magnified by the extreme lack of powerups. There were virtually no shields to be found, and if you wanted health you had to run all the way back to the sickbay, which could possibly be inaccessible from your position. I don't think it's a good idea to use assassin droids either, they're way too strong. Furthermore, if they must be placed in the level, they should definitely be accompanied by some shields and health. In conclusion, the number of enemies was well nigh perfect, yet more powerups were needed to balance the scale. Unlike item placement, level enhancements were most excellent. The cutscenes were high quality, and they had voices! I was quite happy with that, and also the fact that none were exceptionally long or boring. They were great! Although, Darth Vader sounded a bit like the devil at one point, and was scaring me greatly... There were a great deal of elevators, button doors, key doors, glass and other simple things to enhance the level also. I found it particularly disturbing, however, to see severed heads floating in a jar in the Life Form Research area! I felt bad for the poor Gran who was locked in a 10 cubic-foot cell with no door...how'd he get in there? And in the statue room, at the help desk was a little bell you could ring to bring the attendant back if she had walked away. Anyway, enhancements were quite good, go play the level now to check them out! Wait, finish the review first!

The lighting of BoaM 3 was above average, but not truly great. Most of the level was too uniformly lit in each area, not making the best use of shadowing techniques. On the plus side, I thought the colored lighting looked pretty cool in the throne room and the place where the MR-14 lurked. I don't think any areas were downright bad, but they could be better. The atmosphere was very good. I don't know why, but it was good. I found the gameplay to be very pleasing also, especially because of the roundabout routes you have to take to complete the level. I especially liked the elevator puzzle 'inspired' by a similar feature in Imperial Siege on Derra IV... I had some frame rate problems in the MR-14 area, even on this powerhouse computer I'm using. Otherwise, I had no technical problems with the level, except that some of the crawlspaces were somewhat difficult to get into because they were not big enough.

In conclusion, this was an excellent level, though you've probably already played it two or three times and are just now coming back to finish the review. I liked it a lot, especially the statue room. That was really cool. Be sure to tune in next time.