*Blows up mochasun's head* There ya go, your mind blown now? But anywho It's all a matter of opinion whether it is mind blowing or not. I appreciate all comments.
Boss Battle on Sinking Sand Galaxy Arena Enjoyment All too many times on the Halo battlefield we come across maps that support anywhere from 4-8, or maybe 6-12, or even 8-16 players. Very seldom does any required number of players dwindle below that number. Where is the love for the guys with only two controllers and only a silver LIVE account? Well, Sinking Sands shows those two lonely fellows just the loving they needed. That’s right, this map supports two players (or a couple more) and it does it well by simulating a boss battle from Super Mario Galaxy. Thanks to Reach’s interesting game options, boss battle like creations can be simulated pretty well; in this instance, whoever is the ‘boss’ is pinned in the middle of the Sinking Sands Arena and cannot jump, but is however super strong and packing some pretty heavy heat thus simulating the boss battle experience a bit more. The fellows who are able to move about are deemed as the Mario(s) and must destroy the boss using whatever means. Albeit, the most satisfactory part of this map was how well it actually does simulate a boss battle. There really is no game ruining aspects like the big bad guy simply being taken down by a tap in the back. A decent amount of strategy must be used by both sides. The boss must learn how his enemy operates and lead his shots to get a kill, and our little Mario(s) learns pretty quickly that camping behind the flower spawn simply doesn’t work. Overall, this tiny, boss battle mini-game delivers a satisfactory experience that offers a nice break from the everyday fray of the normal Halo experience and offers a more one on one approach and an interesting little David Versus Goliath feeling of accomplishment to those who quell the beast at the center of the sands. Enjoyment: Balance Speaking of David Versus Goliath, this game very much feels like that. Mario is very much helpless in defeating the monster in the arena until he obtains a custom power-up which allows him to actually do damage to the beast. The window for Mario to do any damage seems quite short at times, and even then there really is no clear indication as to if he is actually doing damage or not except for if he may notice he’s red again. This doesn’t play a particular issue since there is unlimited ammo, but the useless time spent shooting bullets could be better spent finding ways to avoid constant plasma barrage from the boss. However, despite the little things against Mario, the boss character definitely gets the short end of the stick in this equation. The fact that he is pinned in the middle helps create the ‘boss battle’ scenario, but anytime there are more than two players playing the boss is constantly getting shot at from all angles and considering the delayed fire rate of the Plasma Launcher it is awful hard for the boss to actually hit someone without them being able to look/listen for the audio/visual clues of the launcher about to fire. In fact, many time the Boss simply resorted to using the Plasma Rifle to no avail. Evade also felt a little unfair in this game. Even with leading shots judging where an evading target will land is awful hard to do sometimes, especially with the Plasma Launcher. I’d have suggested either replacing Evade with Sprint or replacing the Plasma Launcher with the Fuel Rod. Most of these balance issues sort of even out somewhat, but the boss definitely comes out feeling like he is the only target stuck in the middle of a pit… oh wait… Balance: Durability Sinking Sands Arena is a floating island in the sky. Escape is futile, pointless, and utterly stupid. The fact that the Mario spawns on a gradient on the outer edge of the arena gets rid of spawn killing by the boss since he can’t see the Mario at the start. Also, the safe zone is a nice touch that does a great job of eliminating camping on any part of the outer edge. However, a couple of the rocks have lips that can’t exactly be traversed easily and get the Mario stuck and possibly unjustly killed. A relatively minor issue, but nonetheless an easy one to fix and it would only help the map out. Also, when more than four people want to play spawning can be kind of weird. I believe it’s due to players (enemy and ally alike) spawning so close to each other. At the same time though, despite your listed player count, this game should not be played with any more than four people and actually plays optimally at either two or three. Durability: Aesthetics One of the big disappointments of the Sinking Sands Arena is how it looks. Not that what is there looks bad, it’s what is not there that hurts. It’s the fact that despite hardly a dent was put in the budget and very little was done to spice up the map at all. Aesthetics don’t have to have any effects on the actual game and when it comes to a mini-game like this it would seem that you would put more effort in that area. You could have at least created little planets or asteroids to better emulate the Super Mario Galaxy theme that is supposed to be present. Make better use of those ten thousand dollars Forge World grants you. However, the structure you did build looks great. It has a hanging in the air deteriorating away look that I felt like you went for. Also, the (relatively) circular layout of the arena was a nice achievement with rocks. Nothing feels particularly out of place in the arena except for say how neat the two Fire Flower columns are amongst the other swirling debris, but at the same time it’s good to have visual clues as to where your tools are going to spawn. What you did do was good, but what you could have done would have made this (at least aesthetically) better. Aesthetics: Originality Ever since Halo 3 forgers have been trying to replicate boss battle experiences, but thanks to limited options and assassinations making tough guys look like mosquitoes they weren’t pulled off very well at all (Exception being maybe Duel of Fates). However this boss battle pulled from Super Mario Galaxy 2 nicely replicates that. I couldn’t honestly judge on how well the transition between The Wii former and the Reach version went considering I’ve never actually played the Mario Galaxy Sequel, however, speaking from ignorant eyes I can say that Boss Battle on Sinking Sands Arena possesses a concept that had not been accomplished thus far. It is safe to say (whether they be improved or not) that many scenarios like this one will shine face and you were one of the first to create a successful Boss Battle scenario in Reach. Congrats. Originality: Summary [floatleft] Enjoyment: Balance: Durability: Aesthetics: Originality: [/floatleft] 7/10 6/10 8/10 4/10 8/10 Average Score: 6.6/10 Final Score:
Oooh ouch. Ah well you know this is my first serious map review. IN later versions I will definitely pay more attention to all the helpful tips given here. Now If only I had more rocks. It was actually better than expected. Thanks Review Hub!
If you read [thread=100751]this[/thread] guide, you will see that the score I gave is not bad at all.
Ohhh. Ok wow that's awesome. But it still means later maps need more attention to this detail so I will still follow these suggestions with the same vim and vigor!!!!
Prob just get on reach to unload your map queue, then go back and dl more maps. hats how I do it at least
Hey Im new to this website, but i think im right to say that your link to the gametype dl is broken. Try putting up the gametype again; thatd rock. tyyyy looks awesome btw
Haha! Yes! You just combined two of my favorite games into one! I love you, man! This looks really fun, and creative. Downloadin' right now