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DM-Schreiber (UT2004)
Map Author: MsM
Download Here! (2.25 MB)
Date Reviewed: 19 July 2006
Reviewer: T2A`
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Yeah, I know. This review is seriously past its due date. I haven't reviewed a map since Tantal, and that was four months ago, and this map has been sitting in the queue for much longer than it's been assigned to me. Well, you know how things go. Sometimes you just lose the motivation to do certain things, and reviewing was one of those things for me. I just recently got tired of this map staring me in the face, even though I'd sat down to work on the review at least twice and then ended up not doing it, so here it is. Finally. If you hadn't noticed, it's another creation from MsM, and it might just be his best.
This theme should look familiar to anyone who played through, or at least started, the single player ladder. For those who never did so, there's a very slim chance you've encountered this online, so this theme might be very fresh. What theme is that? The one from DOM-Atlantis. Since no one plays Double Domination online, there's a good chance you've never seen this map if you're not one to play offline much. Set underwater as one would expect, this theme was one of the few that got a reaction out of me when I played UT2004's levels for the first time. The crumbling architecture, the shiny, moving walls of water, it was all so cool. MsM has taken that theme and created a new deathmatch arena for our fragging purposes, and I think he's been pretty faithful to it. Given that this map isn't team oriented, it's more reddish-orange than its predecessor, and it seems a bit more indoors. Not that we can really call it indoors if it's at the bottom of the sea, but given that no area is really open-air, I think that description fits. If you'll remember the original DOM map, the whole area near the domination points was open, giving it a much more ruined feel. In the case of MsM's version of this theme, the level is rather pristine for the most part. Perfectly straight and flat walls simply have small portions that are broken away, and there is no spot that has the open feel of Atlantis, as the rooms generally just have windows or missing wall sections. To that end, the theme isn't done as well, but what's there works, and it's nice to see a map using such a theme, because I enjoy it. The other details aren't forgotten either; the map has plenty of trim, terrain, crystals, light beams, and other decorations to bring the visuals together. The map's architecture is just a bit too angular for me, given that this is supposed to be Atlantis-like, and whenever I hear of an under-ocean city, I immediately picture something in ruins. With the map's angular design, I think it could be transferred over to an Egyptian theme quite easily, though I probably wouldn't like it as much since it's been done a million times. Oh well. A good effort visually, and I think he pulls it off for the most part. The amount of ramps is disconcerting though. I get the feeling that there should be a lot of stairs and relatively few ramps, but that's just me. The ramp near the 100 armor is particularly ugly and out-of-place looking. With more destruction and a more open feel, I think this map could go from "good looking" to "really good looking."
So what kind of gameplay are we looking at in our sunken city? MsM recommends a player load of 2-4, and I'll tell you right now that's just too few. This map is relatively large, with long lines of sight at times, and with a power-up situation involving the 100 armor, the keg, and the amp, this map is more suited to a free-for-all battle than anything else. However, keeping the bot load at default nets you only two opponents, making the match relatively slow. The layout, I found, wasn't bad at all, though it's a bit predictable. It's your basic scheme of carving out a few rooms (nine, in this case, I believe) in the basic shape of a square and connecting those rooms across two levels of height in various manners. This almost always gives you good connectivity throughout the entire map, but it can be a bit repetitive. In this case, I don't think it's too repetitive, mainly because the size and basic characteristics of the rooms span a good range. Some of the rooms are quite open, like the minigun and rocket launcher rooms, while others, such as the shock rifle and 100 armor rooms, are pretty cramped. The contrast is nice, though I still felt that overall lines of sight were a bit too long too often. As usual with map layouts formed in this manner, there is plenty of Z-axis play to go around, and I particularly enjoyed the ability to drop onto the 100 armor from the ledge above. In addition to the many ramps, there are many spots where wooden planks help keep the flow at a high level by providing spots up which to run or dodge. Not bad, as far as the layout is concerned, but what about the item placement? Sadly, this doesn't quite match up to the layout. Things are spread out, for the most part, as each room houses some weapon, but in relation to each other, things can get messy. See, one side of the map houses both the shock and lightning, the flak, and the 100 armor and the keg. In contrast, the other side holds the rocket launcher, the bio rifle, and the minigun. Seems a bit unbalanced, eh? Two rooms hold 80% of the map's power. The shock room is also the keg room, and the lightning gun room doubles as the 100 armor room. Control these two cramped rooms and you're set. Off a lucky spawn you can potentially get completely stacked with full health and nearly full armor and the two most efficient weapons available in this day and age where nearly anyone can get a sub-50 ping and be accurate with hitscan. On the flip side, the rocket launcher room, the room with the most prolific use of ramps, is large and just about completely empty. Next to it is a room with two health packs, which is connected to a room that is nearly useless with the bio rifle and a place to drop to a lower level, and then you're in the minigun room, which is, again, nearly empty. The underlying issue here, I believe, is that this type of basic layout design makes it hard to create strong chokepoints. Most chokepoints occur within the rooms themselves and are simply at the bottom of the room. Take the amp room, for instance. The lower middle is a chokepoint - entrances all around it and a lethal view distance. Something good should probably go down there, but all we find is a health pack. This kind of thing is continued around the map, and what we're left with is a feeling that item placement was altogether haphazard. There is no balance and generally little reason to why things were placed where they were. And it's not just this map, either, as MsM has shown on several occasions (including his last map reviewed before this one) that while his layouts might hold potential, his item placement is what lets his maps down most often.
In the end, what we're left with is a map that has a pretty good, though not too imaginative, layout coupled with pretty random item placement. Add in the large amount of health packs (eight), the lack of a 50 armor, and a keg that is impossible to lift jump to, and this is one for you free-for-allers. Ignore the recommended bot count, add in five or more bots, and go have some spammy fun. Seriously, though, no matter how many times I tried to lift jump to the keg, I failed. The only way I managed to get it was by adding shield jump in on top of the lift jump, at the cost of 20 health or more, depending on how much I charged it up. I don't know if it was intended to be this way, but as you can come oh so close to making it without the shield jump, I'm going to say it wasn't. Odd. Perhaps after two years of playing this game online I still can't lift jump properly...
And so we have another MsM map to add to our extensive collection, but something still bothers me about his originality. He used to be the remake king, and while he's gotten away from that now, he's moved on to borrowing whole themes and using them pretty much exactly the same way as other authors. While he may have a huge number of maps to his name, I think he should strive for something more original to really make a name for himself (assuming he's still mapping, which he might not be, since it's been months since this map entered our queue). Guys like Slainchild, Sjosz, Steve Keene, and a few others come to mind as ones who got into mapping and soon developed their own recognizable style. MsM has shown many times over that he's good at making remakes and reusing themes, but I think it's time for him to add that creative MsM touch and see what happens. He's a long-time mapper, and I believe he could pull it off, unlike someone such as myself who has the creativity of a pineapple, and it's something I would really enjoy seeing.
Bottom Line: Another solid yet somewhat lacking effort by MsM - a good theme and layout let down by poor item placement.
Score: 7.0
Average User Score: 6.5 (2 scores)
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SkaarjMaster
Score: 6.5
Decent level with good atmosphere and average gameplay (ramps need work), but bots get stuck a lot. Uh, and yes, default player load is a little low.
2006-07-19 08:30:27
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Sjosz
Score: 6.5
The liftjump to the keg is a matter of timing, I manage to get it just fine with liftjumps. I do agree that MsM should try to add his own touch to the maps he releases to give it some more awe and originality.
2006-07-19 03:09:21
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