Quake Mission Pack No. I: Scourge of Armagon

The Good
This is the first mission pack for id Software's awesome first-person shooter Quake, and it is was developed by Hipnotic Software, who later changed their name to Ritual Entertainment. In my opinion, they did an impressive job at maintaining the look and feel of Quake, while adding a ton of new features.

The mission pack starts right where the original game left off. You may have killed Shub-Niggurath and her minions, but the fight isn't over yet. You learn that a mysterious creature known as Armagon wants to continue her work. The game is spread over three episodes with fifteen maps in total. The maps themselves can take a bit of time to get through, especially if you take the time to explore your surroundings and not just rush to the exit.

Out of all the new enemies on offer, I love the Gremlins, which appear from episode two onwards. They are not related to the same ones from the films, but look like teddy bears with big, scary eyes. They come up and start clawing at you, sometimes stealing your weapons in the process. I remember one of them stealing one of my nail guns and using them against me. You can also see them rip the flesh off dead corpses. Nowhere in a first-person shooter have I seen such incredible enemy behavior. All the enemies from the original game still makes appearances, such as the zombies who throw their guts at you.

I didn't really take advantage of the new weapons, but I found the Mjolnir impressive. It is basically Thor's war hammer that discharge lightning bolts at your enemies. This weapon was mentioned in the promotion for The Fight for Justice, id's role-playing game that never came to fruition. I'm glad that you can actually use it. I also love the proximity mines which can also be attached to walls. You wait for the enemy to hit one, and BOOM!

Out of all the power-ups you can get, I love the Horn of Conjuring. It makes a nice sound when the player blows in it. It is so nice for one of the creatures to fight along side you for once, but the disadvantage of whatever creature is spawned is that if it receives too many hits, it's dead. The wetsuit is awesome; not only does it help you survive underwater, but you can hear the sound of Ranger inhaling oxygen.

It also introduces features that the original developers didn't think of, such as the inclusion of booby traps and structures specific to each map. I like the huge clock in the cathedral, and the laser bridge in the storage facility. Out of the booby traps I remember well, there's this room with tiles and a switch on one part of the wall; and stepping on certain tiles causes them to collapse into a pool of lava.

The Bad
Can't think of a single thing bad about the mission pack.

The Bottom Line
Scourge of Armagon is an impressive mission pack for Quake, which captures the look and feel of the original game while introducing new features. There are fifteen maps spread over three episodes, and some of these levels have booby traps. I haven't played the second mission pack, Dissolution of Eternity, so I can't say which one is better. If you are a Quake fan like me, then you will certainly be happy with this mission pack.