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Revelation, a name you should be familiar with, brings us Syrion, a waste sector of a terraforming plant. But when terraformation was complete Revelation Corp sold the plant to Liandri. But is it worthy of sire's (that means your) time?
Let me start off by saying that this map looks good and that there's no way to look at this map (except maybe up) to make the map seem dull. There are support pillars stretching from the bottom to the top of every wall, windows that look out to the mountains that surround this place, slime running beneath the broken tiles, and a lot more detail that you'll need to see for yourself. But as I mentioned earlier the ceiling is a bit flat and that sticks out like a soar thumb except for the less wide areas and the map feels somewhat like "easy bake" architecture, meaning that it seems like most of the architecture was created by just copying one or two pillars everywhere. Still, that doesn't strip the map of it's architectural appeal. I think it goes without saying that Revelation definitely mastered architecture in this map. Texture work is up to par with architecture, thanks to the use of the great evillair6 texture set (which is brown and grey) and the author's creativity in the way he used them. Trim used is extensive and covers every edge in this map. Lighting, I'm afraid, isn't as good, though still nice and varied. Allow me to explain: first of all the light scheme is layered meaning that at the bottom there are only unsaturated blue lights, then a bit higher there are only cyan or yellow lights, and higher still there are light blue lights. Normally this would work great in very tall places but since this map is quite low it only looks awkward so maybe blending the lights together more would have made the map feel a lot smoother and coherent. Secondly the lighting is a bit too monochrome and way too blue due to the light tubes lining the walls that emit a saturated blue light. I know I said that there are cyan and yellow lights but cyan doesn't help break the monotony and there are only a handful of yellow lights. And lastly there is the issue of the dark lights, though coronas hide this little flaw, it's still obvious at the blue light strips. Sound work is complete with all sounds you'd expect to hear by looking at this map (fans, buzzing lights, and the slime) but there are a few errors like the sounds having a high volume and small radius so you can be standing in one spot where it's dead calm then take one step and all of a sudden sounds come blaring out of everywhere. Though it's hard to notice when you're busy sinking flak shards into your prey. And I also must add that music choice could have been better; Razor-ub is getting boring. Finally there's the atmosphere or "feel" of the map. There is a strong opposition of pluses and minuses. In the plus section: sound work, details (the pipes, the fans, the thing in the middle of the map, and the slime). And in the minus section: lack of other significant sounds (sounds from the outside world) and the fact that the map is completely sealed off.
The author suggests a player load of 2-4 players, which seems about right, although the map doesn't work well as a 1on1 map. Personally I found this map to play best with 4 players. The map's layout is the best I've seen in a DM map in a long time. I can't go too much into detail but put very bluntly the map is composed of two big rooms and a small U shaped room. There a lot of hiding places and getaway routes so if you're ever gonna conquer this map you'll need to have fast reflexes. You're going to have to think fast and do a lot of hunting down and killing (something I simply love), and I must add that this map made my blood rush to my balls several times, something that, even though is slightly uncomfortable, is still something that I look for in any map. As a side note I'd like to say that one thing interfered often with gameplay were the bloody coronas that always left me blindsided so I strongly suggest that you turn off coronas when playing this map. To get back on track: flow is usually fluctuant except maybe for a few door ways that can get really snaggy and grabby and can impair and hinder action and world order... well not really. Z-axis action in this map is frantic. I mean players flying over your head and beneath your feet only to get behind and riddle your back with holes. This map features the best (and I do mean what I say) Z-axis action to be seen in deathmatch with a lot of height differences, ramps, elevators, and three floors. There's a considerable imbalance in item placement. First of all there's the room where you can grab a pulse gun, a rocket launcher, a minigun, a ripper, and thigh pads in about 15 seconds, whereas in the other 70 percent of the map the flak, shock rifle, bio and sniper are spread out. And I also found the amp a bit of a nuisance since it needed an impact jump to reach and it was above a thin pipe making it too hard to reach, and furthermore it simply causes too much imbalance. There is sufficient health in the map but it is improperly distributed so there were spots were you can get 60+ health in a matter of seconds and in other instances you'll be running around like a headless chicken looking for some health. Bots are very well pathed and jump off of every ledge and never got stuck anywhere.
Bottom Line: A very fun DM map that I thoroughly enjoyed playing and admiring and you should too.
Score: 8.0
Average User Score: (0 scores)
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Revelation
Thx for the praising words, cooloola!
Just as I said... I'll simply forget that Ferrea has ever been reviewed. :D
One thing I'd like to add is about the UDamage position:
I know how incredibly hard it is to reach the Amp, when I tested the map, I sometimes wanted to screem as I impact-jumped OVER the Amp without picking it up... But I didn't change the position because I thought "Hey, how many maps are out there, where bots reach the Amplifier more easily than humans do?!" That's the point, why I left it where it is ;)
2006-09-26 05:45:09
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