Perpetuation

HEy I tested this ^_^.....I see you blocked off all of my chea.......er......strategically advancing places >_>. Anyways this map rocks. Certainly one of my favorite puzzle maps.

 

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Perpetuate​

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Enjoyment:
Perpetuate is a single player puzzle map that sets itself in the sky bubble of sandbox. Following the Greek story of Sisyphus, this map very much feels like an upward battle to a goal not anywhere in plain sight. Anyone familiar with the story of Sisyphus knows that he was eternally cursed to roll an enormous boulder uphill only to have it topple back to the bottom anytime he came close to the top. Imagine that frustration. Now port from Greek mythos to Halo 3 Assault with that same frustration and there is Perpetuate.

This puzzle is presented in a way that the challenges escalate in difficulty as the level goes on. Up to the ‘Bridge Too Far’ challenge the obstacles are quite easy , but soon after that they become very perplexing especially since after that most of the challenges you must double back (maybe several times) to carry on.
Often times puzzle map polarize to mindless or impossible; too easy, too hard. Perpetuate definitely falls into the too hard category. It is hard to give an opinion on a puzzle whilst not spoiling the solution to it, but the creator so graciously provided a walkthrough should it become too hard.

Since the goal here was to make the player spend all day on the map then your mission was accomplished, but due to the fact that this is also one of those stages where controllers fly across the room after about thirty tries the pure enjoyment can be questionable.

Enjoyment:

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Balance:
For a one player puzzle map balance is in the sense of does one player have more of an advantage over the other is pretty much inapplicable, but balance in the form of map flow and fairness to the players does apply.
When our friend Sisyphus miscarried his damning rock a little he didn't die. The message here is that it is super frustrating when (almost) every time a challenge is done wrong the player dies (or gets stuck). On top of that, every time the player dies, no matter how far they are into completing the course, they must start over at the beginning. This isn't a big deal after the first four challenges but soon after that there is an honest need for some sort of checkpoint system.
The metaphor you wanted in this map is duely noted, but the ultimate goal in designing a map is to hold the player's attention, and in the case of this one, give them the satisfaction of solving this puzzle on their own without the walkthrough (something I can't say I've done). It is hard to say that a puzzle is unfair without sounding like I'm just bad at figuring things out, but almost any player is going to play this puzzle to about the sixth challenge (after dying countless times), have no clue what to do, watch the walkthrough, and wonder how they were supposed to know how to do that.

Balance:

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Durability:
Two successful (against hundreds of unsuccessful) bouts through this map has revealed no prevalent way to break the map be it by skipping a challenge. Now getting unnecessarily stuck (while not exactly a break) like what would happen often on the shield door bridge is very frustrating especially when it’s because the Mongoose despawns. It’s hard to consider that break in the map because it isn’t, but when you want to keep a player trying to solve a puzzle like this it would be a good idea to allow them to backtrack a little instead of marooning them on an upside down tin-cup.

Durability:

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Aesthetics:
Puzzle maps generally aren’t focused on aesthetics, but instead they focus their resources in the challenges presented. However, if the challenge itself is aesthetically appealing it gives itself a more natural feel. This puzzle didn’t succeed in that sense, but visual touches here and there didn’t cause it to fail aesthetically either.

Aesthetics in puzzle maps tend to lend into gameplay slightly too. They might help align the player with where to go, give a hint as to what to do, etc. and anyone playing the map is given a (mostly) clear path where to go.

Aesthetics:

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Originality:
The most important aspect of any puzzle is the originality factor. The statement, “I’ve seen this before, just do this,” is essentially a puzzle map’s mortal enemy. When playing this map though, the player might think they have seen it before, because in truth many of the challenges ever done in Halo can be seen here, but don’t think for one second that it can be played the same way. The biggest quality of Perpetuate comes from the difference in having the bomb and not having the bomb. Since while you have the bomb movement is hindered, most of the challenges require the player to drop the bomb, quickly do a task, then return to claim the bomb before it resets to the beginning (hence the Sisyphus reference). The biggest standing factor of Perpetuate in the originality department is the final challenge. It would be a crime to spoil it, but rest assured when (if ever) you make it to the Sisyphus(final) challenge you will be pleasantly surprised.

Originality:

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Summary:
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Average Score: 6/10​

Final Score

[thread=100751]Understanding Review Hub Ratings[/thread]​