dew
Feral Kid
Posts: 1558
Registered: 05-08 |
continuing the map-by-map review
MAP19 - Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe - Hellbent/esselfortium
design: i have to admit i haven't played enough of this map to pass an accurate judgement. it's pretty characteristic for hellbent, so i believe it works. especially since it features all the weapons and they all seem useful. the map is neatly compact even for it's size, so i wouldn't be afraid of 1on1, too. 8/10?
detail: i bitched about the floor detail messing with jumps, and darkness in some parts of the map and it got ironed out, that's good. i like how the missing bricks in walls allow climbing them with a jump, that's gameplay enrichment via nice detailing. make a note for the next flame about this issue. :) i'm not thrilled by the dull color theme, though, and i'd probably amp the overall lightness level even more (much more). 7/10
MAP20 - Rusty Garden - Hellbent/Vader
design: the global layout reminds me of map13 or map18 and possibly other maps... like if hellbent's brain was a map generator that first selected a 'map type', then varied the template by local design features. erm, anyways. the global layout is fine, but these particular design features aren't very inspiring and the map feels empty. the ramps are rather small and they certainly don't give you the higher grounds advantage.. and the heavy weapons aren't that useful in the predominant open space. overall this one felt like a filler. 5/10
detail: very nice aesthetic job. i haven't played much from vader, but i surely got reminded of thunderpeak. thankfully there's impassible lines making the walls flatter than they appear, although it still snags a bit where the linedefs form a T. and on the rounded inside wall. i was also annoyed by a ceiling beam that makes it almost impossible to jump from plasma back on the ramp... it might be on purpose, though. i'd also prefer the map brighter. i love brightness. 7/10
(special mention for the useless exit area)
MAP21 - BFG Containment Area - Hellbent/Lupinx-Kassman/esselfortium
design: i've only played this map in large number ffa and sadly, everyone just mindlessly grinded ssg. this should be a battle for heavy weapons so i blame the stupid crowds for not getting the point. :) the bfg trap is truly indy-like, cheers. the plasma is probably a bit too hard to get just for the sake of using it, but the risk is worth it if you need more cells for the big gun. i think of this map as a smarter, better version of greenwar map15. 7-8/10
detail: cheerful, heh. the red lights and the monitors feel a bit distracting, especially if you're searching for the opponents in the distance. the light grey stone+ice theme is a great choice for DM, though. the funky cellar decoration makes me grin every time i see it.. i liked the proposed name 'vladimir putin's siberian bunker' or something on that note. :) some windowed walls are snaggy due to the T-joints. 7/10
MAP22 - Chaos Wargrounds of Yog-Sothoth's Arctic Caverns of Terror - Hellbent/Rottking
design: ok, the map is an empty cavern dented by some dark alcoves filled with weaponry and ammo. i can't say i share r's enthusiasm over it. sure, it's fun and fairly ballanced for it's purposes, but rather simplistic in nature. if i understand it correctly, rott added the big torchstand in the plasmaroom. r thinks it damages the gameplay, but i think bare rooms have only limited amount of it - the rest of the map IS bare. this way i can dance around the stand like a pagan on a solstice. good job on adding it, i say. then, the Tree Stump of Cosmic Woe in the exit area. there's a box of shells, 20% health, a green armor and the only rocket launcher. and a limited access. for crying out loud! that place is basically a BUNKER. it's only fair to make the visitor annoyed somehow. i'd make the floor fucking LAVA. i dare say rott's little touches improved the gameplay. 7/10
detail: a big, empty icy cavern with some background mayan decor. nothing wrong with that. interesting use of the light levels... the dark parts aren't just an effect but work with the limited map design. the mayan wall decor snags, but it's in the exit area, so burn, camper, burn. :P 8-9/10!
(i'd replace the exit corridor with just a button, though)
MAP23 - Paregoric - Hellbent/Mechadon
design: i'm surprised myself, but i haven't played a full proper game here at all. weird. i won't grade.
detail: i think this map is just too detail heavy and the opponent is hard to spot. the dried vines obscuring the high ssg spawns make me nervous, though. greenwar map14 has something similar and i've seen retards camping hidden behind the spawns. no proper games, no grade either.
MAP24 - Dominion Grinder - Hellbent/Butts/Mechadon
design: this map features a truckload of rocket launchers and it's a welcome change of pace from the usual ssg madness of greenwars. i also like the map layout, except the central pit itself. that feels... redundant. if it was a bfg and the pit was more trapped? maybe. but yet another rl in there? ha. :P 8/10? i'm not entirely sure
detail: pretty pimped up... and since mek overtook butts' work, the detail isn't so strictly blocked by impassibles, also an interesting change from the usual... everything snags, but you can also jump on it. i haven't seen anyone exploiting it yet, but who knows. all the windows around the center make the pit area ridiculously vulnerable, so that part is really not a good place to be. i'd brighten the whole map a bit. 7/10
MAP25 - Ogrim's Shrine - Hellbent/Vader
design: i've only played this map in 4 and less players and i believe it'd be best enjoyed in a large crowd, very much like greenwar map10. might be great, but i won't grade without the proper experience.
detail: hmmmm... this might be the best looking map of the wad, i mean 11/10 for aesthetics, but! a part of the effect is the overall darkness... and i simply can't stomach that in DM. it also feels very bumpy with tiny steps and stones densely located around the whole map. i will have to say 4/10 for DM playability purposes.
(a beautiful and playable exit area, btw)
MAP26 - Opus - Hellbent/Craigs
design: fairly large map with rich arsenal. the more players the better, i'd say. it's damn fun and you can select your happy corner and slay incomers/spawning players, or you can roam around and sweep the campers... whatever suits you. by the way, it reminds me of r-mega more than of greenwar. 8/10
detail: a mixed bag. i really like the traditional oldschool green theme, it's so nostalgic. i don't mind the black room, either. but the external background detail in the southwestern corner of the map and the corpses thrown around the level feel excessive and create a scene too rich for a DM player to comb for the opponent. 7/10 (some parts are better, some are worse)
(doh, what a silly exit area)
MAP27 - Electropsychosis - Hellbent/TheMionicDonut
design: many features of this map remind me of greenwar map27... and that one i don't like. a frenetic large central area, a trench, some campy hallways. this isn't my cup of tea. 4/10
detail: without checking the textfile, i'd say mechadon detailed it. donut made it in that fashion and it's certainly in tune with all the other gw2 brown metal techbases. i like how it looks, i just don't like the type of the map. :) oh, and a bit more light would be nice. 7-8/10
MAP28 - Trepidation - Hellbent/Mechadon
design: a great map in the spirit of gw map03 and some similar ones. i don't see the need to comment particularities, it plays like a good gw map, so why bother. :) 8/10
detail: mek had to downscale the detail and it's still pretty heavy, but at least it's not lagging strong computers anymore. some people cried about areas looking accessible when they're not... yeah, the whole western part baits you to try and jump in there. it's rather distracting. also some parts are dark and it's not as purposeful for gameplay as let's say map22. also there's the issue of cartoon-red bloodpools on superhigh gamma (=typical dm settings). the map is beautiful otherwise. it'd be 10/10 in singleplayer, but the darkness especially is annoying in ffa. 6/10
MAP29 - Diametric Opposition - Hellbent/Mechadon
design: an excellent ffa map, reminds me of the classic large opening maps of the original - 05, 07, 09. no further comment needed. 9/10
detail: mek nailed it in this one. a modernized green look and practically zero snagging (in a mek map!) 9-10/10
MAP30 - Freezer Burn - Hellbent/Kuchikitaichou/Cybershark
design: uhm, disappointing. a series of wide twisted hallways with no point of interest (the central plasma stand doesn't fit the role really). people keep running laps in confusement. 3/10
detail: ha.. the 'polarity' is really not easy on the eye. i can survive the icy part, but the lava areas are straight out annoying and unpleasant. the external backgrounds are a nice touch, but the playable area itself is meh. 4/10? hard to say, i'm biased with shark around.
MAP31 - The Charles Fort Experiment - Hellbent/The Green Herring
design: a silly gimmick. i've seen hellbent's original and tgh managed the impossible, streamlining the gameplay on such a tiny simplistic map even more. :) for those familiar with brit11... this is the credit room of gw2. it shouldn't be taken seriously, but it's also going to be the most popular map of the wad on zdaemon. i don't want to grade it.
detail: impressive surroundings! and the station itself looks fantastic... from the outside. :) the windows are nice, but i'm not a fan of 'consoled' walls. it'd be interesting to go with the credit room idea and throw some screenshots of other maps on the walls... i'd say 7/10, but that doesn't include a possible penalty for tgh's rather insensitive design change.
MAP32 - Rapecube - Hellbent/brinks
cute. pointless, though.
MAP33 - Limbo Dancing - id/Hellbent/Cybershark
design: borrowing some stuff from e3m7, this map is a BRILLIANT 1on1 piece. i wouldn't want to touch it on ffa, but we already ran a duel tournament and it was a success. the teleports are very complex and require training... and the 'battle for the only ssg' flow is simply something different. for anyone with zdaemon installed, i recommend watching the final game of the tourney. pretty leet.
detail: doh, e3m7 homage, what else? it was funny to see some zd-noobs cry about the blood theme or the walls. also lol'd at the pigs and the hueg inaccessible areas. i won't grade, cause it's a derivative, and shark is involved, but this is a 10/10 job (ha ha)
MAP34 - Bleeding Grounds - Hellbent/TheMionicDonut
design: i've raged about this map quite a lot. the central plasma structure just doesn't work as intended and all the hassle is for a stupid PG. the rest is very simplistic. this is simply a bust concept, i won't go into too much detail. 2/10?
detail: well, donut tried, but the color scheme clashes similar to map30. also there's some annoying corners sticking into the playable area. i'm simply not a fan of this map. 3-4/10
MAP35 - Edgecrusher - Hellbent/Mechadon
design: a sweet map.. people tend to cluster near the bfg in ffa and only use the whole area in 1on1. 7/10
detail: the cursed map. mek made it into an eye-candy, but he also severely damaged the 1on1 gameplay in the process. the walls still snag like hell even after countless repairs and the color scheme might be a bit too aggressive combination for a DM player trying to keep attention on his opponent. it is so nice, but still so flawed... i don't have a number that'd express that.
MAP36 - nz12b - Hellbent
i have yet to play this map.
overall: this wad is worthy of DM/FFA player attention, as it's one of the most important releases of the year. there's greenwar 'legacy' maps, there's some new concepts... also more duel-inclined maps than in the original. the problem with the online crowd is their laziness to explore and learn new stuff, so making them play and fave gw2 isn't an easy task. the detail should not be a repulsive factor for the oldschool players as only a few maps are really suffering from detail-related issues. a more important problem might be a dynamic player limit. some maps can't hold as many players as others and it's easy to get annoyed by either too much slaughter or too much hitch-hiking without finding anyone.
i'm too tired to make a smart conclusion.
edit: fix in map36 author credit.
Last edited by dew on 01-30-10 at 01:15
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01-29-10 02:44 
