Sandbox Left 2 DIE

The map looks great, it seems like one of the better L4D style maps.I haven't played the map yet but I think there should be more hold out points, it keeps the game interesting. Also what forces players not just hold out at the start for the whole game? And once you get to the safety zone what does that trigger? I probably wont ever get the chance to play this map because of the lack of people playing halo on my friends list. Overall i give a rating of 4/5 from the video because it looks really fun, it would have been a 5/5 if there was a significant aesthetic for people to look at while playing and just think WOW...

 

Legit review =D

Enjoyment:
Left 2 Die definitely resembles a classic Left 4 Dead (yea sue me) romp through an urbanesque environment.

Despite the fact that all of the Crypt of Sandbox is used this map is quite short for one of its type. If the zombies don’t know what they’re doing (and they commonly don’t) a lot of the first part up until the holdout at the van goes without any action for the humans. The fact that the humans are constantly moving with very little obstacle coupled with the sketchy spawning of zombies make it very hard for the brain-thirsty to find their subject without the zombie-phobic finding them first.
Speaking of sketchy zombie spawns, the biggest downfall of this map is the inability for the zombies to choose where they enter the map. They just spawn where the spawn system chooses which is often entirely too far from the humans, leading to huge amounts of time the zombies have to traverse to get to the humans. This could have been easily fixed by some sort of spawn system using teleporters or something.

On the up-side, Left 2 Die has a very straightforward approach that’s lends to not getting lost or turned backwards which is always a good trait for linear infection maps. Getting lost is never fun in a zombie onslaught.
I must admit my bias (that anyone who knows me knows) to Infection maps and more specifically linear infection maps. The worst maps like these I find a little enjoyment in, but this is by no means the worst linear infection map I’ve played. It is far from the best though.

Enjoyment: 4/10

Balance:
One thing that is a widely accepted imbalance in infection is how zombies generally under-power humans and that ultimately all the humans have to do is find an area (of altitude preferably) and camp the **** out of a map.

One thing that became very funny was people thinking they could just camp the beginning of the map. Not only did most of them run out of ammo (and resort to swords =[ ), but suddenly tanky-poo would pop up and sodomize them all. In fact, one of things that are very hard to do in this map is camp. Giving the zombies a semi-aerial advantage and making nooks accessible by more than one mean helps eliminate a dangerous issue in infection games that are meant to be fun.
While maybe not the most balanced in Halo terms, you accomplished the L4D balance sans getting in a corner and bashing zombies with the butt of your gun while magically reloading.

Balance: 7/10

Durability:
With 200% gravity for the humans and most of the map taking place on the ground, breaking the map is (mostly) impossible. Now I added that little remark into the parenthesis (the most recent one (besides this one) =P ) for a reason. Once the humans are climbing the construction site right at the end they are able to jump over to where the zombies are only supposed to go. While not a big issue, it does enable the humans to get the custom power-up creating the tank. THAT can be an issue especially for someone who wants to rack up major points on zombies that can do nothing but cower beneath the shadow of this ‘human tank’.

Whilst not in direct relation to durability, I’d like to mention the human respawn. Sometimes if a human commits suicide (it happened) they respawn at the middle tier of Sandbox. I’m not sure, but it sounds like you put starting points for the humans but no respawn points which would be the reason for that problem.

Durability: 6/10

Aesthetics:
Judging by the aesthetics I’d have to guess that you built this map semi-backwards.

Did you start at the building where the safe room is then work your way to the beginning? Even if the answer to that question is no, I’ll tell you why I asked it. As one progresses through Left 2 Die the aesthetics move from dreadfully boring to potent and lively. The reason I asked that question was because generally in creating a map one puts all their effort into the first tasks and (in the case of forge) as ideas and object supplies dwindle the lack of that starting effort becomes apparent.

As I was moving through this map my reactions to the aesthetics went as follows: boring… boring… ooh a split in the path… okay, holdout… pass van… Whoa!
That ‘whoa’ got you major points in this department, but the multiple borings also cost you.

Aesthetics: 5/10

Originality:
I believe I mentioned earlier my bias towards maps like these. As such I’ve played hundreds of them and most of them possessing nothing new. Of course the limits in Forge pose their own restrictions on originality, but the ability to combine things that have been done before into something new is there. You, unfortunately, did not accomplish this. Nothing in this map separated it from anything else I’ve ever played. I could stray so far as to say this is your run-of-the-mill linear infection, but that comes with its own degree of fun considering there are many out there who would still enjoy this like me.

Originality: 2/10

As a personal complaint, I've never liked gametypes that force humans all one color. I know it really doesn't matter, but it's just one of those things for me.

Overall I like the map. Just a few complaints I had to throw out there, but this does remind me of a classic run and gun zombie mowdown... yeehaw.
Average Score: 4.8/10
Final Score: 5.5/10

 

Oh, one more thing: I've found that if you make the entire map playable (i.e. the crypt in this case) then it gives you more objects to work with.

You can focus more on using objects for visual appeal instead of using them to limit where humans can and can't go.

You know what I mean?

P.S.: The song in your vid is what encouraged me to download this btw.

 

This is acutally planned out or something? Very helpful with the quick walkthrough. The map itself looks very nice, but Im not always sure on gameplay. Lol its like packman or something like that. Mabe there should be teleporters for zombies to cut off "some" path ways, forcing the humans to go another route.