We have found the third level designed by Jack Vermeulen. It seems all of his maps are designed with DeeP95 and are thus given the name DeeP at the start of the level name. As he seems to be the only one doing it so far, it is quite easy to detect a level made by him.
This level has a few Vores, which is pretty significant as it is only the second level of the Aftershock Standalone set to have this Monster (the first being KYSENTY2).
This level is pretty interesting in the fact that the start can be somewhat painful. Upon starting this level, a Vore will detect you and thus start firing at you. Even backing up, you are bound to get hit. Firing on the Vore will alert another one which can basically see you from any angle that the first cannot, meaning that it is a matter of speed to get at least one of the Vores killed.
I was extremely lucky in the video on the management of the start. The first fired Vore pod just happened to hit the Enforcer, which gave me the perfect distraction to ensure I had time to gather all the starting weapons before the Enforcer was killed. Note that I also managed not to alert the second Vore. At one point I nearly risked dying as I was pursued by Vore pods, though I tried to grab a 25 Health to hopefully survive the impact, but managed to successfully lure them into an Enforcer. The Shambler at the end was also interesting as he didn't even fire upon me.
Ammo in this level is not a problem, you have more than enough to handle everything with little difficulty, especially due to a great surplus of Shells.
There is an interesting flickering light that seems to occur from time to time in the level. I noticed it once while running around near the "exit Button" and in the video it can be seen in the interior portion towards the ceiling. Speaking of the exit Button, it is very similar to Vermeulen's other levels in the regard that it is basically a false exit without even a trigger that could potentially cause something to happen.
The middle of the map is also pretty interesting. We have a dark corridor that is completely pointless which makes me question highly the intent. The side with the Shambler also happens to have a Red Armor, which seems useful until you recall that getting close to a Shambler in a linear corridor is probably the dumbest thing you could do. Basically, by the time you get to the Red Armor, anything threatening is dead. If you could handle the starting area, you can definitely handle the rest of the Vores without a Red Armor as I did in the video.
I didn't notice any glitches this time, which is pretty surprising for a Vermeulen level, especially as he still mentions things falling out of the level in the Readme file. It is most likely that he copy-pasted the text file for all his levels, just changing the name. This level actually has three names, one of them having a period at the end which seems rather weird for a level name.
Deathmatch, as usual, is supported and based on the wording of the Readme is most likely the main focus. However, I find the level to be lackluster in Deathmatch. The placement of Weapons is pretty balanced, as is the idea of a powerup (Red Armor) in the middle. However, there is only one way to enter the middle of the map and thus the other sides don't really have an advantage. Basically, someone who can control the middle of the map, which should be easy as it is the only place where 25 Health can be found, will dominate the map. It doesn't help that the side with the doorway to the Red Armor also happens to have a Grenade Launcher, the only one on the map, which means extra Rockets than any other side. It is therefore quite an unbalanced level.
I am happy for this map as it is the first Aftershock Standalone level in quite some time that can be played in Single Player, but the level itself is pretty lackluster at best. The entire level is a series of corridor, we don't even get the pretext of being in some location like we did with Vermeulen's previous two levels. We basically get a level made of similar looking dark corridors that is made even more identical due to symmetry on the exterior sides. There is nothing that abysmal besides the darkness in some areas, but there is also nothing in this level that holds my interest. In a way, this level seems a lot more basic and bland than Vermeulen's other two levels, even though the lack of Glitches is definitely a welcome sight. Perhaps this level could serve as a great definition for a boring level.
