Sandbox Anchorage

Wow! This looks incredible! The aesthetics are beautiful, no doubt the gameplay will do the looks justice. Man, I love Arkham Asylum and this map looks to have the same eery aesthetic nature to it. Oh and I love the presentation in the thread, just pure awesomeness. <3

Downloading now

 

Very nice job rifte and Bartoge. Looks incredible. I canno really say anything negitive at this time so I am going to look at this in a Custom Game to give you a gamplay perspective review.

Also, how come in the video it says it is a 2v2 map when there is like ten people playing on the map in the video?

 

VERY impressive. The map is neatly forged, while the design is fantastic. The thread is put together nicely as well. The quality of the pictures and the great editing of the video made me download it immediately. Thankfully, the final product matches the packaging.

 

the dl link isnt working

 

When I first saw this map when you guys were forging it I though it would be way too open and I didnt think you could fix it, but after testing a couple games on it the map was actually really fun!

I really like how you made that ghost jump I found pointless... Anyways, great job on the map guys!

 

ahaha... if you understand it and know what the easter egg is, that's really funny! Won't give it away, but just saying I lol'd. hint=you need to tear the map apart.

on topic, I really enjoyed this map. For the first while it felt as if it was just height domination but after weeks of tweaking I think this map has definetly found the perfect balance. Great job you two!

 

well made. i played it and it is very fun and interesting. what i did notice was that some grenades can be lost in open corners. that is my one suggestion

 

Anchorage Map Review
Reviewed by a non-Review Hub member


Enjoyment​

Whenever I take the time to step away from my forging career to test a fellow Forge Hub member's map I've been careful not to venture out into the unknown. Bartoge and Ruffles (This is Rifte's nickname.) 2v2 map here is not the unknown. I've been in just about every testing session possible for Anchorage, and never have I been bored with my finger just lingering over the "Leave Game" button. Anchorage is an excellent 2v2 map that in my opinion could pave the way for any other upcoming 2v2 maps. It provides an easy-to-learn layout and design, with weapons placed exactly where you think they would be placed. These are the reasons I rate the enjoyment for Anchorage so high. The problem with enjoyment in competitive maps these days are balance, spawn placement, weapon placement, and the overall design and flow of the map. But Anchorage has just about set the standards in all of the criteria. The only time I didn't enjoy playing Anchorage was when I was lagging, and when Ruffles was carrying me. And neither of these non-enjoyable circumstances were the map's fault, they were mine. My awful internet connection (Clear my ass), and my lack of aim took away from the fun I used to have playing Halo 3. At times during one-flag games I would find it irritating to spawn so far from the flag as a defender, but by now these problems have been fixed. I'd hate to have to give you a perfect "10" in a section, but here ya go! Remember that this is just one of the two practice reviews I've gotta do for the Review Hub. So any official Review Hub member, feel free to do something official here. By the way, the replay value is pretty far up there? The fact that I continued accepting your game invites after the first one says a lot.

Rating - 10/10

Balance​

During the custom games I played on Anchorage, I'd seen gametypes from Team Slayer, to Tug of War, and never had I noticed any issues with the balance between each team. The routes around the map seemed as fair as you can come by these days, though it did seem that one team started out closer to each power weapon than the other team. During most matches, one team would receive both the rocket launcher and the sniper rifle, while the other team was left with just a shotgun. But of course with a little teamwork the rocket launcher and/or sniper rifle would end up in the hands of the "shotgun" team. Maybe this has been fixed, but I can only expect that the current version is the last version I played considering you used the film clips from the match I was in. By the way, "Hooray! I'm in two of Ruffles videos now!" Now that that's off my hands, back to the review. Never did I find anybody camping in a certain area, and during every match just about every area was used. So to summarize the issues in balance for this map, the sniper rifle can be easily nabbed by one team while the other is left with either the rockets or shotgun, and though the height variation used to be an issue, with all the new ramps and the removal of the teleporters I have found this to no longer be a problem. Congratulations on once again winning my heart over.

Rating - 9/10

Durability​

Anchorage is not breakable during an actual 2v2 game. And trust me, I tried to break this map. During an entire game I attempted grenade jumps, standard jumps, jumping off my teammate's head. Nothing worked, so some might say Anchorage is breakable, but it is definitely not breakable during gameplay. With precise forging by Ruffles, and I think Bartoge forged some of it, but I could be wrong... Anchorage provides the perfect amount of room to play on in a skybubble map, while still maintaining durability.

Rating - 10/10

Aesthetics​

Lucky for me I was in the party and game with Ruffles, Bartoge, and MultiLockOn while they were discussing the aesthetics in Anchorage. There are aesthetics such as the wedges used as cover, the railings, and the ramps that were just recently added to replace the awful teleporter system. These aren't noticeable aesthetics because they were put there to provide cover, or a different route to get to the desired location. When these three stooges were discussing the aesthetics, one of them said they had hit the OLN. So I understand what you mean when you don't want to sacrifice gameplay over aesthetics. Trust me, Anchorage is beautiful just the way it is. There are no gameplay effecting bumps, and never did spawn trapping work. I guess every map could use a couple more objects to help give it a touch up. The geometry is beautiful, but it needs something to help it break away from that "I'm playing on a pile of boxes" feeling.

Rating - 9/10

Originality​

In a time where great 2v2 maps are hard to come by, Anchorage was made and paved a path for 2v2 maps to follow (I already said that.) It might not have the originality we desire, but after such a long time since Sandbox's release, there is no originality out there. We are limited to very little objects on the same map as everyone else. Anchorage has not created a brand new experience for players seeking an innovative 2v2 map, but it has provided the bare standards.

Rating - 6/10


Enjoyment Rating: 10/10
Balance Rating: 9/10
Durability Rating: 10/10
Aesthetics Rating: 9/10
Originality Rating: 6/10
Total Rating: 44/50

//Map Rating\\
8.8​

 

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ANCHORAGE​

ENJOYMENT​

Anchorage was an experience. It was unique, it was enjoyable, and it was simply FUN. While playing on this rendition of two brilliant forgers in a completely evenly matched 2v2, one of those few games involving four players on a single local console with equivalent skill levels, I can say I had the time of my life. It might be that the sixteen games played that night were so romantic because of the level of competition, but I must say the few on Anchorage were different than the others. Not necessarily the best, but still a fresh break from everything else. First of all, the person who built the spawn system knew what they were doing. None of us ever spawned too far away from a partner in need, yet one except for one poor fool, we never suddenly appeared in front of an enemy in the heat of battle. The weapons defiantly suited the map, even though they were a little too numerous for a smallish 2v2 map. Also, the actual layout was really well built and didn’t involve too much hunting around for a path to the top, which wasn’t very overpowering at all. The Courtyard was a little underused, but who cares? It’s impossible to build a perfect map when doing a remake from another game. This map so efficiently used some of the more fundamental map design characteristics that it didn’t matter whether a player was familiar with Arkham Asylum’s Sanatorium or not, it still felt familiar. Other than the overpowering weapons, and the uncommon but still occurring grenade spam of a good 3v3, there was little else of this map that disappointed.

BALANCE​

First thing that someone notices, before even downloading the map, is that you did not take the time to create a game type list… this is very frustrating for someone rating the map, as I had to go through and try every game type to see if it was playable. Luckily for you, that isnt part of the map, its just an observation. Secondly, there was mentions of a custom game type created specifically for this map, yet it could not be located anywhere. There was a very large number of game types that this map was tested on so one cannot judge it based on a single. Slayer for example, the power weapons were whored every couple minutes and especially the Bunker and Blue Rooms were camped in tight games, but KotH had no issues even worth mentioning. In one flag it was much too easy for the Attackers to take the flag out, and once it was out the map is small enough that it might as well be captured. Of the game types that worked, Slayer was easily the worst, and it was often that a poor unlucky fellow got blown to bits by the rockets, then sniped, then pwned with a shotgun, and all by the same person. It’s good that this map is so focused on King of the Hill because that is what it played perfectly, giving players an opportunity to experience what a true game should feel like. King of the Hill made up for almost all of what Slayer lost.

The weapons on this map were an issue, and they were commonly used in cruel and unusual methods. The blue team had a tendency to pick up a Snipe, kill the red guy going for Rockets, then hold both and take out the guy with Shotgun and then Blue would camp blue room for the win. The only way Red could counteract this was by camping their own spawn with a shotgun, which made Slayer not as fun or fluid as one would like it to be. This same weapon layout when used in King, however, actually discouraged camping, because of the actual weapons’ locations. The bubble shield had a strange location, and it took until midway through the third game for everyone to realize that it was in fact a part of the map. The spawns had almost no issues in a 1v1, or in the beautiful 2v2’s. If a player on the Blue team committed suicide at the very beginning of a game of 3v3, there was about a 2/5 chance that he would end up spawning behind Red team creating the ultimate flank tactic, but this exploit falls more under the Durability anyway. The actual map layout had very few actual errors in it, other than Blue Room being camp-able and the Courtyard not getting enough traffic. Overall, the creators of this map did a very decent job of making this map good for everything, but the weapons did have a few issues.

DURABILITY​

There was a pretty good sized exploit in 3v3, which was mentioned earlier about a suicidal blue team member getting respawned behind Red, and unfortunately for you this is a huge problem. While you have somehow managed to eliminate the fact that some spawn points are more heavily weighted than others you still haven’t perfected it yet because of this little bug. As far as one can tell there is no easy way to get out of the map, but if you stand on the pillars above the top of the Bunker a determined and lucky player can easily rocket jump yourself right out of the map. There are a few other ways to get out, but none that are worth the time and suicidal effort required. Grenades were not lost, and in turn got the respect that they deserved in this game.

AESTHETICS​

The actual map was incredibly smooth, and during a game not a single player noticed or complained about any bumps, so you did amazingly there. However, the rest of your map is a little bland. There is very little that was added just for the purpose of aesthetics and most players with forging experience will be somewhat disappointed. Although, one could also take this to mean nothing was wasted. Very little in Anchorage was eye catching, and there was no use of several beauteous pieces that could possibly do a better job than one boring piece; but don’t think that it isn’t a beautiful map. While it pulls out no new and ingenious feats of engineering; it still looks elegant in its simplicity, a rock of platinum in a field of diamonds, or possibly even a beam of steel. There are so many things about steel that attract a person; its strength, its usefulness, but aesthetically it just looks safe and powerful, and these traits are all found to represent this map, and all of these traits make it slightly more than the maps with random gold collumns. But aesthetics, however, is undoubtably not the strong point of Anchorage.

ORIGINALITY​

Anchorage, when rated on the most basic of levels, is possibly one of the least original maps simply because it’s a remake of another. Pretend that the reviewer is actually slightly more intelligent than that, and suddenly Anchorage seems really spectacular in this category because of the lack of comparisons to any other Halo 3 maps. If a person moves up to another level in the complexity of the reviewer then they realize why they had thought it earlier to be one of the most original maps ever created; how many people remake Batman in Halo 3? Yet they will also realize why it is simply average in this category. Walk around this map, and compare it to other maps you’ve played, ponder the weapons and how they are the same used in almost every map, wonder at the design of Blue Base and how it is almost common. Inquiring to oneself is the most quintessential method of truly understand how and why you should place something somewhere, go and learn what everyone has proved works best and where, then purposefully do something random, something to prove them all wrong. That is how an avid forger will truly break the grain, and inspire a new wave of maps, and that is how someone brilliant will add originality to their map. While this has touches of ingenuity borne from the fires of two minds, and it has the touch of Batman to make it more awesomesauce, it does not excel above the average in this category, not by much.

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ENJOYMENT RATING
BALANCE RATING
DURABILITY RATING
AESTHETIC RATING
ORIGINALITY RATING

MAP RATING
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The only true thing that irked me about the map was the region around the giant wall (rocket spawn)/"Mosh Pit". It felt so coverless. When being shot from the other end of the bridge, you are normally left with almost nothing to take cover behind except for a few extremely thin columns (wedge,long) to hide behind. Going in that region leaves it normally a deathtrap and it covers a large portion of the entire map.

Other than that, the gameplay was very sexy when the fight was taken away from that area.

 

dude sweet map, very clean, nicely forged, i thought the rockets and the sniper would be too much in this map, but it works nicely. For some reason this reminds me of that one halo 1 map that was in a covenant ship for some reason.... idk. It gets intense on the elbows, but I like that, the map has great game play, good map man.

 

@ Rifte:

Ah, i see the list now. I had my contrast misadjusted, and it looked all white on the right side of that picture.

We played a 4 minutes flag, but i didnt have too many issues with it. It didnt take much off, and you still got an above average score there because of it. KoTH balenced each other out enough in my opinion, so i would have given Anchorage a 5 in balance were it not for the flag gametype. I can give it a go with three minute flags next time i get on an edit that section, but it probably wont be enough to raise the rating by anything that would actually effect the score, possibly a fraction of a point which wouldnt show up.

Regardless, this map is considerably better almost any other on King of the Hill doubles, i loved that.

And in regards to the player count; we only played one game of 3v3 King, and it was because part of your video that i watched several times having three blue team members at one area.

 

Beautiful. Beautiful presentation. Beautiful architecture. And nice use of 3-D text.

I hope I get some time to DL and play this and a few other new ones.

Good to see that the bar keeps getting raised.

 

Woah. didn't notice that review. Big thanks for the official review. Glad you liked KOTH so much, but sad that you had problems with Team Slayer. All though I didn't notice the weapon problems in Team Slayer very much, it may just be because of the different people we probably played with and their different styles. And thanks for pointing out that one spawn glitch. I wonder how you found it out, but still its good to know. Ill see if it can be fixed. As for aesthetics, this is more of my style of forging, clean and simple. But, I think Rifte wanted to do some more touch ups, but our major problem was the OLN. If you go into forge, you shall notice that nothing can be spawned because we hit the OLN. I started planning a V2 yesterday, so we shall see what gets fixed.

 

At first glance, this map instantly reminded of me of Combat Evolved. I can't quite put my finger on why, perhaps it is the very slight Damnation resemblence. The important thing though is that the design looks fantastic.