Tokay Arena
Tokay Arena by sst13
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This is yet another conversion of the Quake 2 map Tokay Towers, released in August 2019. But it is not yet another nostalgic remake for fans. On the contrary, this is the only conversion, in my opinion, that can actually translate the original's intensity into Quake 3's unique style. This must not be a surprise, since the author is one of the best mappers out there, sst13.

Plenty of bouncers instead of lifts, for a start, make a significant change in game speed. But also, the map is larger, giving plenty of more space for those amazing open fights for which Q3 is better suited than Q2 (giving extra relevance to the Rail Gun). Connectivity between rooms is greatly improved with some extra passages, windows and teleports. Water level is lowered on the main room, to make space for more room for fighting. Another great change is the new location of the Rail Gun. Item location is changed too. For instance, RA is moved to the main room (which got downgraded by replacing the rocket launcher with the plasma gun), a clever way of spreading the balance across rooms (the original one had the RA in a hard to get place, and literally next to the Rail Gun). Textures are loyal to the original map, but with improved lighting (for some reason, as a former Quake 2 player myself, tolerance for dark maps was significant; that is not the case in Quake 3).

Overall, all these changes make for a fast, intense, and fun experience. As such this is a great translation of the original to Quake 3. Bots play the map great too (except for never grabbing the MH, which requires some extra jumping skills).

In conclusion, we do not need more Tokay conversions because this is the one we have been waiting for! Grab it!

Reviewed by raspatan

Ranked: 4.6 out of 5 (9 votes)

Download: Tokay Arena by sst13

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