Synopsis
| THIS watery environ holds many secrets. Success in this level requires thorough knowledge of their workings. Stalking and the element of surprise will be your allies. |
| THIS watery environ holds many secrets. Success in this level requires thorough knowledge of their workings. Stalking and the element of surprise will be your allies. |
| "BuGG is a nice kid and I always enjoy playing with him. He uses a Spaceorb, so he is at a controls disadvantage vs a seasoned Sidewinder player like me, but he is a good sport, never complains. He wanted to try me in his new home level, Cygnus X1, so I agreed. I got the level from him, then wisely took a very close look around inside it before playing, and good thing too. Cygnus X1 has a TON of secret areas tucked under the water (a la Speed Racer, under the lava) as well as several sniper posts, some fly-thru waterfalls and such. BuGG pasted me bad in one dogfight: 100 to dead in a few seconds. I was impressed. But mostly he tried to ambush me, using the level's features, and I did a good job of turning the tables on him in almost every instance. I enjoyed the game even more for the fact that it was quite different from the usual routine: it does a body good to play stuff besides Spaz levels, now and then. If you take BuGG on in here, bring your thinking cap with you, or he will surely send you home in a body bag. :)" |
-Sirian
|
"When Bugg and I decided on Cygnus X1, I thought it would be a pretty good
game, but nothing I couldn't handle. Since I MADE the level, I'm pretty
familiar with it, and I had played Bugg in it before, (he helped me
playtest) and he hadn't really given me any problems... of course, that
was before he learned the level!;) When I was designing Cygnus, I put a WHOLE lot of thought into how the mine's archetecture would lend itself to gameplay, but I sure was taken to school and taught a new lesson! Bugg's use of the mine structure showed he knew the place... intimately. I, on the other hand, hadn't been there for a while, and was pretty rusty. Bugg went ahead quickly by about 7 points with some gnarly dogfighting moves and intricate corner fighting, putting me in the hole right off. I fell back to my catch-up game of sneak and hunt, comming back with some well-placed smarts 'till I was within 2... Then, right in the middle of an intense dogfight, I yanked the wire out of my headphones (thought that homer was going to hit my face ;)! We stopped for a second and I taped the wire back on, but from then on my sound was all messed up. I never knew how much player location is based on sound until this game, 'cause after that, I could hardly get Bugg in my reticle, let alone hit him. We stopped again and I got another pair of headphones (some cheap walkman things that had more static than sound) but the sound quality was so bad I still had trouble. Bugg continued to rake me over the coals, especially in corner fights around the big room, where he excels in timing his attack/retreat phases. Even if I had working sound, it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome. Bugg just knows how to play this level too well. I have a pile of smoking metal to prove it.. ;)" |
-zapp
| "Zapp and I are both PPG, and back in the glory days, we played a lot of Cygnus X1 after he finished making it. He used to woop me, tho. hehe This is the biggest win I have ever had against him. After the match, he commented on how I seem to know the level better than him, and he designed it! It was kind of funny, actually, some of the things that happened. We seemed to keep meeting in the same spots. He pulled some good ones, tho, by hiding under the water and shooting smarts in my face as I flew past. :) And now I know not to hide in the waterfall; he can pick me out behind there in a second. hehe This was a big win for me. I haven't had much luck lately, on the IDL, and it felt especially good to beat the guy who always used to kick my booty. :)" |
-BuGG
 |
T HIS level has a large amount of gimmickry going on, but the design and layout were crafted with great care and the result is highly playable. The level is constructed around a large dogfight room, and everything else is tunnels leading in and out of this area. Wherever you find water, there are secret passages underneath, and you must go down into them to reach the reactor room and exit. The omega is hidden in the reactor room, above the water, and is easy to overlook if you are not thorough in your explorations. There are a modest amount of missiles available, mostly mercs, so you will have to rely on guns for most kills. |
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| Unless players choose to dog it out in the main room time and again, a game here is going to be mostly about stalking. There is one sniper post hidden behind a false wall, and this is where the fusion starts; but once a player locates this secret it is more likely to be a deathtrap for his opponent than anything else, since surprise is all it brings and if someone is camping in there they are a sitting duck if caught. The level has a few traps, and it is easy to turn the tables on campers and ambushers if you determine where they are without them realizing it. This is a fun level to play and requires a wide variety of skills to master, and as such we rate it a 9 overall. |
| Level Name | DF | TR | TM | TP | EB | GM | 3D | WF | CR | LV | ST | Overall | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cygnus X1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 9 | G |
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