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Egypt and Rome. Two sides that never really got along. Antony and Cleopatra, anyone remember that? Or perhaps just a result of a simple bean burrito theft? Heh, maybe not, but this map shows that the conflict never really got resolved. CTF-EgyptVsRome's theme is exactly as you think it is. Blue is Egypt, Red is Rome. And when in Rome....head! Shot! 12-16 players is what theabyss calls for in this map. This is a big map, trust me - I think you could go higher than 16 (assuming, of course, there are more playerstarts than 16).
I must say though, while I liked the idea of the map, the whole thing just didn't seem to click somehow, and I'll explain why. First of all, I did like some of the textures used for both sides. The blue base did feature some good Egyptian fare, such as the hieroglyphics and sand-colored brick walls. The red base had a few good-looking Roman textures including its familiar stone patterns on the walls and floors. And each side has a nice pool for you to tread your blood-soaked boots on, complete with nice splashing effects. However, the thing that got me about most of the textures was that they didn't seem to be scaled large enough, making them look a bit distorted, especially as most of the rooms are large. While I smile at the lack of misalignments, the small scaling made me feel dissatisfied with the overall look of the theme. Don't get me wrong, some of the textures were nice, but still. At least the appropriate statue meshes for each base helped the themes out some. Now, how about lighting? The inside was okay, with some necessary light sources there for spotty effect, but not many rooms seemed to use believable sources. The outside was better though, with the trees at each base's pool (good job on variety, BTW) casting some very effective shadows on the ground, thanks to a bright blue sky (good job on the skybox, BTW). So in short, lighting's about average. The bots seemed to do okay as well. They were able to use some of the different paths to the opposing base, but I didn't see them go through them all - which stems from the fact that so many paths were made for the map that not all the nodes might've been noticed by them. It didn't help that one of the paths had a locked gate either, forcing a dead end. They did seem to be effective defenders of their flag, though I didn't see them do a whole lot offensively (including capturing the flag). They didn't use the jumppads that much either. This map might be better suited for all-human play; that is, only hardcore CTF fans who don't really care what map they play next. In terms of the performance, it seems to be good for the most part, at least indoors. Outside, a slower-end machine might not be able to bear the shadowy omnipresence of trees at the courtyards, but really, the map doesn't have so much detail thrown in any one spot. If you have a good enough computer to run this game, this map shouldn't be so bad for it.
Now, what about the architecture? Mostly simplistic to be sure. A lot of the rooms are rectangular or cylindrical in structure. Uninspiring perhaps, but the author did make use of other shapes including columns, trapezoids, and plenty of arches, especially in the courtyards and flag rooms. All of this which marks the overall architecture rating as close to average. The item placement isn't much to write home about. Weapons are found where you'd want them to be - at platform's end or against any wall - and other goodies are found separately. The sound usage wasn't much either, except for maybe jumppad and water splashing sounds, as well as something for the moving walls that reveal hidden paths in each base. The music track here was of the default kind, and it seemed to be just right for the atmosphere. If anything, this is one of the map's few strong points. As for the ever-important map strategy, just play hard like in any CTF map. Have a good weapon and keep one or two bots on direct defense of the flag and whatnot. And because there are so many paths to choose from, mix it up every time. The bots won't really see it coming - unless you stick plenty of them into your game.
I'm normally an advocate for variety, especially when it comes to multiple paths in a CTF map, but that was one of the very things that hurt it rather than help it here. I feel let down because, judging from the name of the map, I thought there'd be more and I wanted to like it. But there were so many things that hindered that hope for me.
Bottom Line: Really not much from this one. I really expected more from the theme because I think it could've - and should've - been able to work, especially in the eyes of a hardcore CTF gamer. It's a passer.
Score: 4.0
Average User Score: (0 scores)
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