Yeah, there are a lot of (poorly hidden, not really) secrets on this map. But the side passages, et cetera make it more open for gameplay (one of the biggest problems with, say, Temple of Doom) You really have to understand the little gimmicks in the map to play it well (blow up the rocket hallway fusion coils, make use of the turrets, find the sword/sniper spawns, learn to drive the mongoose around. I might have to do a little tour before we actually play this in the review, which I hope goes well.
Thanks, Furious. With that, I bring you: Rick's Recap Overall Enjoyment Durability Aesthetics Originality Balance 9/10 10/10 8/10 9/10 9/10 8/10 Map Review Haiku: Climb the corporate art. Neverless loves his turrets. Cosmic owns the flag. Review: This is my own map, so this review doesn't really count. We played it unofficially as a sort of after-party thing to the Furious Review. Enjoyment: Of course I enjoyed my own map. Especially when I get a double flag kill and ninja my way through the serpentine passages to score a couple times. My team lost, otherwise I would have given it an 11/10. Durability: I didn't notice any bad spawning. And everything worked pretty well. And I was always able to avenge myself against Neverless' turret-whoring. Aesthetics: I love my corporate art. And the map is pretty clean overall. Originality: It's a different than usual layout. The turrets are a nice touch. The elevator is simple and elegant. The destructable art structures are good for climbing and destroying. Balance: It's symmetrical. And the turrets are destroyed with a good plasma grenade. Everything seems to be countered pretty well. Rick's Suggestions: -Play this map. -Seriously. Play it now.
The main thing I dislike is the barrier staircase. It keeps falling apart for me whenever I jump on it.
Yeah. I know what you mean. But if you're fast, it's no problem. They ARE meant to be fragile, though. And luckily, nobody really uses the art to climb in-game. Too pretty I guess.
I feel it is my calling to destroy corporate art, wherever it may be. Actually, it was an assignment someone once gave me... But damn, how does it make the artist feel when he made it look so nice? And The Lobbies really looks very nice. I'm impressed with the level of detail and the overall theme. The turrents are a nice touch, and I particularly like the pathway to the rocket launcher. I like all the side enterance tunnels. I did notice that the hallway area of Foundry that people usually block off is accessable but undeveloped. No real problem, it's not like anyone is going to get lost in there, but people may explore in that direction during a game and be disappointed. Overall, this map has no real gameplay weakness and plenty of extra-gameplay consideration. Good job, Chunky. I did however notice you promised cake in the introduction. Liar! Enjoyability: 8/10 Durability: 8/10 Aesthetics: 9/10 Origionality: 7/10 Balance: 9/10 Pred's Overall Score: 8/10
*gasp! I played a game on here and didn't spend most of my time on the turret?! Whaa? As Cosmic will tell you, I am known for my turret skill. Anyone who went outside died instantly the moment they popped they're head out. You have me to thank for all those propane tanks/fusion coils surrounding the turret. [/bragging] So it was suprising to me that I actually got off the turret and played through the level last night in a game of one flag. I'm glad I did, because the map plays so nice. Of course the Sentinel Beam is always fun to use, so I'm glad that's a featured weapon. Weapon placement is good overall, everything's where it should be and nothing's overpowered. I love the overall look and design of this map too. It definately feels like two office building lobbies, small courtyards in the front and back, and turrets to keep out any nasty predators. Or turn in on themselves if any crazy armored warriors show up wanting to kill each other. I don't remember having any bad spawns in all my games of this, in fact just the opposite - I usually get spawns I want. "I got blown off one of the turrets? Crap! Wait a minute, what's that glorious beautiful thing I see?" I spawn 10 feet from the other gauss turret. SWEET! Overall: 8/10 Enjoyment: 9/10 Durability: 8/10 Aesthetics: 8/10 Design: 9/10 Originality: 8/10 Balance: 8/10
All, I had to do was read that description of the attacker base. O_O I love some of those ideas. Very original. I'll have to download when I get back.
The Furious Review By: JediWithASniper Here are my ratings and review. Enjoyment 8 out of 10 Balance 8 out of 10 Durability 7 out of 10 Aesthetics 7 out of 10 Originality 8 out of 10 This map scores high in my review, after having the privilege to test it a few weeks ago before it was released, and then being able to view it in it's completed form, I must say that I was impressed. We played a multiflag variant, and I became so engrossed in just fighting for the bottom floor, that I forgot to go get the flag! This map is very well balanced, and I never felt that the opposing team had any kind of advantage over ours. This map was put together well, I could not find any way out, I felt like I was trapped in a lobby... oh gosh. Anyhow, at first I thought some parts were misaligned, but as I played, I realized that everything fell into place perfectly, and without any difficulty. I have to give props on the use of the gausehogs as immobile turrets, very original for that level. However, I did find one bug with the turrets, and that is that the shield doors have a gap at the top where you can take a plasma, or spiker grenade and eliminate the turrets without ever exposing yourself to any danger. With the obvious danger of just being in a giant shooting fusion core, it was frustrating to know that if you see someone walk up to the shield door, your days are over. This review would not be complete if I did not mention one of the very original structures that was built into one of the lobbies, there is a free-floating barrier art piece that is not only cool to look at, but also quite useful when running from an enemy, one touch to a barrier, and it falls down, so be quick, and don't try to pose for your picture! My Overall Rating Is: 8 out of 10
Squidhands' Furiously Tentacular Review I have to say, Rick; you know how to make not only a competitive map, but a really fun one as well. This played as I had a feeling it would from the moment I did the forgethrough. I had a lot of fun playing CTF and Slayer on here, although I can't believe we lost that damned CTF game! We had it in the bag! Anyway, the layout of the map is great and weapon placement works very well. I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the Sentinel Beam, so I was really happy to see it here. The only potential issue I saw, and I missed it during the initial forgethrough, was how easy it was to escape the map where the truck is parked by the Foundry dividing wall. It may be intentional, and I really didn't get to check it out other than going back through the game film. Just wanted to bring it to your attention just in case (we all know how the evening's Infection game turned out). I really love that office sculpture and the Gauss emplacements are awesome. I don't think Gorebound was too fond of them, though. What's kind of sad is this thing looks very similar to the crappy office building I work in, minus the cool sculpture and the Gauss 'hog. Oh, and the lack of the ability to kill people. They kind of frown on that here, even in Texas. Enjoyment: - It's a Cosmic Map, so you know it'll bring the fun. Would have been a perfect score if we didn't lose that damnable CTF game. Durability: - Only because of the issue I mentioned above. Subject to change upon further review. Aesthetics: - Love that sculpture! I meant to ask why is the upper deck made out of A and B signs were slanted at a downward angle? Originality: - Another thing that can be counted on from a Cosmic production is originality. Who doesn'twant to be in an office building killing people? Balance: - Well-placed weapons an a symmetrical layout provide for a nice, balanced map. Even the high-powered Gauss 'hogs can be dispatched fairly easily, if you don't get killed first. Overall: You seem to excel at making high-quality maps that provide tons of enjoyment (I never played your Dodgeball map before last night, and it was awesome). I wish you all the luck with your impending Guilder application.
Thanks for the thoughtful reviews, guys! In reverse order: Yeah, I think the CTF loss was my bad. I got 2 flag caps, and almost got the third one in, but got stopped. Then I think I murdered one of our teammates in the hallways and this turned ugly. As far as the opening, I did leave it there purposefully. There was no way for me to think about blocking off the whole map (grenade jumping, etc) as I was at the item limit, so I left it open. I can't think of any way the open area could be exploited except in infection and maybe oddball, but I hate infection, so I don't care there. (Plus, I love it when people say "Hey, I got out of your map, Cosmic. You suck." and I can respond with "umm... no you didn't. You, sir, are the one who sucks.") Tell me if you can think of a problem I missed, though. And finally, I wanted to use signs as a platform. When I placed them, they sat down slantedly. I was going to replace them eventually, but I grew to like the slantiness. Call it artistic license, I guess. This was also something I noticed and was going to fix, but kept. I think Furious did it to me once in testing and blew me to smithereens, as it were. It helps to further offset the gauss' power, and promotes teamwork. If you have a guy with a shotgun guarding you while you're Neverless-ing the turret, you're very, very hard to kill. It's a dynamic that I like. Note that if the gap wasn't there, you could just lob a grenade over the wall into the corner, anyway. I was originally going to make a cake in one of the offices so there was a little easter egg out there. But spawn points and areas have precedence over easter eggs, so the idea was cut. Maybe next time. Everyone else, thanks for the comments. I hope you, too, can have some fun blowing up greedy enemies (and friends) in the rocket hallway, sneaking from base to base, and maybe whoring the turrets just a little bit.
No, I have to say it was my fault. I usually like to be the flag protector, but I got kinda bored hopping up and down like an idiot on the platforms (it's how I noticed they were slanted) with only a couple of kills under my belt, so I left and we paid for it. :-( I had a feeling it was an intentional opening. I personally hate when people intentionally try to get out of the map, but that was one of our criteria so I felt that I must bring it up. It's not like you can't get back in so it's not that big a deal.
Yeah, maybe I would have made it into a parking lot or something... complete with stairways up into the corners of the bases. If only the item limit wasn't so low. Oh, and I'm willing to share my blame for that loss with you.