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Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain Damage
Posted By: Steve LevinsonDate: 12/1/03 6:28 a.m.

Brain Damage is the title of a Pink Floyd song but, after playing this level, you are likely to feel brain damaged. Actually, this is perhaps the most memorable level for me - this is the one I remember the most completely of any TI level. Basically, I like it, but it can be a bit tedious and that one and only pattern buffer is oh so hard to reach, and not even your faith will carry you through till then.

Starting on Repository 5, you are first treated to a wonderful example of Pfhor bureaucracy. I love the introduction, "The entire (/biomass?) of the Pfhor species is less than the weight of our shame, our despair that we were ever under their diseased control." Basically the S'pht are forced to "terminate" the 4th-ranked science officer to satisfy the computer protocols in order to be able to synthesize projectile weapons, even though he's already dead. This discourse is brilliantly consistent with Pfhor and S'pht terminals from the original Marathon trilogy.

Brain Damage is one big puzzle, with lots of action to keep the player busy. There a series of towers, locks and moats that must be traversed in order to progress from one area of the map to the next. Now it is possible to activate the locks in the towers by firing at them from the outside, but there is still a key that must be retrieved in order to reach the end of the level. Besides which, the fun is in the fighting, and the exploring. One of the interesting things about this level is that much of it is interconnected and you can often see where you will be going later. The terminal on this level is not found until the end and, lo, there is no manuscript to be found:


Those stinking Venetians! I knew at the outset that they couldn't be trusted, but I was a fool! They offered silver, gold, jewels...power...access to certain tomes...protection, and other things.

Now one thing that was never clear to me is whether Leonardo is talking about real Venetians or Pfhor. I would like to think that an educated man - or an uneducated one for that matter - could recognize that the Pfhor are not human. I'm just not sure what the Nardo team had in mind.


They've taken--no, stolen, my war journal. I doubt that their tiny rodent brains will be able to use any of my drawings, but I've no doubt they will be able to dig up an engineer or two and start construction...

Now that sounds like the Pfhor.


...my God. If they do start building these things...I'm certain they, of all people, will be the least hesitant to put them to use...I have never regretted inventing anything; all knowledge is precious, but this is truly dangerous. That journal must be recovered.
...Perhaps Lorenzo can be of assistance, though it will seem beggarly to come pleading; ah, I must swallow my pride.

And maybe a certain cyborg can help, too.

Brain Damage also serves as the portal to the first real secret level, Towel Boy, which we'll discuss separately. Beyond Black doesn't really count in my mind as it is nothing more than a very simple net map with lots of ammo to collect. The way that one accesses Towel Boy is interesting, however. First of all, it's perhaps a bit unfair that the player must look in the pool to find the switch to activate the exit terminal, but sooner or later most players will figure this out, as there is no place else to go. A seasoned Marathoner will know, however, that it often pays to look elsewhere before jumping into an exit teleporter that is activated by a switch. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book for accessing secrets - I'm wondering if this is actually the first level to have exploited this trick, however. If so, it has certainly been copied widely. In any case, jumping back out of the pool will reveal a newly exposed switch. Activating it opens a second transporter, the entrance to Towel Boy.

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Replies:

Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageSteve Levinson 12/1/03 6:28 a.m.
     Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageMark Levin 12/1/03 7:15 a.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageGholsbane 12/1/03 7:48 a.m.
                 Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageSteve Levinson 12/1/03 12:39 p.m.
                       Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageGholsbane 12/1/03 1:13 p.m.
                             Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageMark Levin 12/1/03 3:02 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageSteve Levinson 12/1/03 12:41 p.m.
     Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageGholsbane 12/1/03 7:42 a.m.
     Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Brain DamageGholsbane 12/1/03 9:16 a.m.



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