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So the story goes: "The Gorgon Sanctuary is a small temple on an abandoned planet in the far depths of space. A statue of the Ancient Spirit watches over the complex, and it's arcane powers are still awake. The wise warriors know how to use those powers to smite down their opponents..." And here I was, ready to make some sort of wordplay on the title Gorgon....but just to spare you guys the dry humor, I won't.
Anyway, the Gorgon Sanctuary is the newest release by prolific UT99 mapper Revelation, and it is set for 2-4 players. The map is not that big in diameter (though the file size, that's a different story), and with only about 6 player starts here, crowded match fanatics need apply elsewhere. But of course, tournament freaks will have a ball with this one. A nice, big, happy flak ball!....ouch. All joking aside, the first thing I'll discuss is the texturing. Revelation made use of many Ancient textures, which were given a black-and-white facelift. He also made use of lots of masked textures like leaves and moss; just about everything he used was packaged, MyLevel style, for your convenience. With everything ranging from stone walls and ancient tiled floors, Revelation's texture choices were spot-on for the intended atmosphere. Nothing was misaligned either from what I saw. Great work. Adding to the theme of the day, you'll see how he made crafty use of a Slith carcass as a statue that watches you. I know, it's creepy, but this is presumably that "ancient spirit" he mentioned. The skybox also adds some spaced-out flavor to the theme; the orange clouds are a good match with the monochrome of this temple theme. As far as this map's performance, however, I can only say that you should have something at least halfway-decent in terms of a machine, because this map will need just that. With high attention to detail and whatnot, those of you still stuck with slow machines may have a problem with this one. But trust me, I don't want to discourage you because this map is worth it. Next, the architecture. Arches and ramps seem to be the main protagonists here - so I used a big word, what? - and their execution was nothing short of smooth. The platforms also were constructed in crafty methods, including some in, shall we say, a wavy pattern. Very unique and it certainly scores some style points for this map.
Item placement was mostly generic, but very catching when you consider the attractive bases for each item and weapon. Again, style points here! Even the health vials had a distinct look to them in the form of a liquid that isn't blue. As for the quantity, there was enough ammo to satisfy the destructive warrior in me for sure. With about 17 health vials (as I counted them) and just a few health packs (also nicely skinned) around, it might not seem like there's much health, but if you don't have too many people in here, it shouldn't be too big of a deal, I guess. On that note, item placement was pretty good. The lighting was also top-notch for the atmosphere: a good mixture of white (as in generic) and bluish-green (as in flavorful - if I can use such a term!) help the theme in a big way. All this, combined with the orange of the sky, make for some true variety. I didn't really notice any lens flares or shadow usage (or at least not much of it), but the distance given off by every lighting source (sky, torches, hanging lanterns, etc.) was just about right, so flares and shadows were hardly needed at all IMO. All in all, the lighting is a winner. But what about the bots? Brutal for sure! As they traversed through just about every part of the map and pick up anything, they were able to pick off their opponents from any angle - especially (and most notably) from above. Online, I'm sure it's fun, so really, it should be fun all around. There was a vast array of sounds to listen to here. You have wind, lift sounds and flickering torches, and you also have what I could only describe as a cross between an endless bell-dinging and a distraught human voice wailing. The end result: eerieness. Maybe more so was the fact that I heard it in random spots throughout the map. Interesting, of course, but the sound usage was good for the most part. The music track here was the custom one called Starseek, and it was a perfect fit for this atmosphere. The map strategy? Just have a good weapon. Don't worry about availability of health too much if your matches use light player loads. Oh, and try not to let the sinking framerates hinder you - easier said than done, maybe, but hopefully, you can run this one.
Bottom Line: Great atmosphere and excellent gameplay with just a slight dash of clunky performance. All of which adds up to a....
Score: 7.5
Average User Score: 8 (2 scores)
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2_Face
Score: 8.0
+0.5 for the damage area trap ..... i like that new idea (At least for me :)
By the way congratulation for DM-Hyperion it's just perfect !
2008-04-14 14:56:01
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cooloola
Score: 8.0
Tight, fast, and gorgeous, it's just a tad dark, this is a keeper.
2008-03-30 14:13:05
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Revelation
Many thanks for the nice words! :)
The problem about performance is, that it suffers quite a lot from all those meshes and particle emitters... I tried to optimize it, but there wasn't too much I could do, as the open layout made it impossible to add zone portals, and so on.
All in all, I completely agree with the review, thanks again!
2008-03-01 18:38:58
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