Favorite Sci-Fi Games!

[A Black Falcon]

The last level of MotS... that level is PURE EVIL! I didn't get through it until I managed to find an FAQ... let me tell you, it was pretty hard to find. I seem to recall not finding one at Gamefaqs. That level...

Let's just say that I have part of that music track memorized after spending so long wandering around lost and annoyed in that stupid stage. :D

It's worth it, though... the final boss fight might seem a bit dissapointing, but it's clever and somewhat different, just like so much else about JK/MotS's level design. :)

A few fews I'd say differenty is that virtually no level or map of MoTS can equal the majesty and scope of JK's levels.

Hmm... both games have great, great levels. Perhaps JK does have more big open spaces, but MotS has fantastic level designs as well and its share of big open spaces. Level design is the best thing about both games, I think. And also, remember that MotS has fewer levels total... but I definitely remember some big open spaces in MotS -- like that giant room with the base in it in the asteroid, or that city in one stage, or some parts of the jungle, or in the big rooms in the spaceship...

A lot of levels in MoTS were defective, and poorly textured (if you look hard.)

JK wasn't exactly great looking even for a late 1997 game. MotS uses the same engine and came out later. You don't play either one looking for a fantastic technical graphical experience and never have... JK has just as many graphical issues as MotS.

Also, the cities looked much less like cities than they did in JK.

Hmm... I don't know. In both they don't look like REALLY real cities -- like all FPSes it's linear. Of course, as I said in the review JK/MotS go to great lengths to seem less linear than most, and do a good job of it, but still, it's not like how a real environment would be. It's just better than the competition. :)

As for how they compare, why do you think that? MotS to me seemed to have level designs that were very similar to JK, just with new locations... I don't see there as being much of any level-design gap there (design or whatever). As I've said, I love the level design and 'realism' in both JK and MotS, and don't think MotS is any worse at it than JK... really, both do about as good a job as you can hope for.

In MotS, the only one I can think of I could complain about is that one which is a more open city-street environment... it's got the same level design as everywhere else, but they try to do a normal city area and it just doesn't work quite as well (JK never really tried that, it only has rooftops, inside buildings, single buildings not in towns, etc...). Oh well. MotS more than makes up for it in level design. :)

More, as you already pointed out, the story doesn't flow like in JK... in MoTS, all the levels are almost completely different... the ending doesn't fit. (I'm still on the last level, btw, but am far into it.)

How do you know what the ending is, then?

Yes, though, it really is four or five seperate chapters loosely tied together by a main plot... though it might be more accurate to say that the game starts and finishes with a main story and in between takes a series of 3 or 4 level sidetrips that have only a little to do with it. It definitely doesn't have the narrative cohesion of JK... but I liked it anyway because I really appreicated how they were including elements from some books. MotS is the only game, really, that has put much in from the books... I thought that was great. I'd just recommend reading Zahn's trilogy before playing to help it make some more sense (characters, some monsters, etc). :)

And those cutscenes weren't even comparable to the FMV of JKII, which almost seemed like a well-composed movie at times

But the FMV was so cheesy! It's kind of hard to take it all seriously... the in-engine stuff of MotS is much better that way. It was probably an improvement.

My final word is that I really loved the first level, on the Rebel base... it's my favorite from the game. The last three aren't doing that much for me, I have to admit... I hate the darkness.

... but the last three levels are the best part of MotS... the jungle part is just fantastic. So unique and different... NO GUNS! You can't use them! Saber and force only! It's so different, and adds so much challenge... as I say in the review, probably the biggest problem with MotS is how it starts this great part of the game so late in the game. The game takes a major change in direction and in how you have to play it -- and suddenly gets a LOT harder -- and it's a big adjustment so late in the title... really, it should have had that for more of the game. It's just so much fun... yeah, I like the guns. It's fun to just blow things up. But when you remove them you force a lot more puzzles, more strategy, more challenge...

The Rebel Base level is pretty cool, though. But it's hard to choose a favorite when, just like JK, there are so many fantastic levels... really, those level designers did great work.