When I played this, it felt basically like Guardian with a floor under it. It was actually very enjoyable though, and I would have thought it deserved a higher score. Ah well, that's what you get when Stevo joins the review hub.
Technically 3 people wrote this review lol...Also since originality is not weighted it has minor impact on the final score. Had you got a 10 in that your score would have only improved by .8 Psycho...the middle of guardian has a floor under it...
Believe it or not, the score reflects the opinion of everyone who has rated the map at the moment as it gets a score of 6.2 by average of people who rated the map. But, I didn't know that before I gave it my scores. It just isn't as visually appealing as it could have been and there's nothing new or original about the map as it's essentially two maps made into one. If anything, it's a great score to have as an MLG map that's taken inspiration from other maps. If you disregard the Aesthetics and Originality sections it scores 55/75 which gives a rating of around 7.3. Oh and I'm not a "member" of the RH... I just like to help them out when they hit rock bottom so we can keep a rivalry going
Yep, and that's a damn fine rating. As for the other sections, like you say, most MLG maps chuck aesthetics out the window except for trying to make sure everything is smooth and not messy; and this map came into the world very honestly named Amalgam. It's all about gameplay. And for gameplay alone, it's a very fun map.
Actually, contrary to popular belief, the MLG community is really pushing aesthetics lately. You should check out some of the stuff coming outa Sethiroth and Solo for instance. And my latest goodie also is fairly aesthetically pleasing too. Anyhow, I'm real happy you guys took the time to review it. And glad you enjoyed it too.
It's not that popular. It struck gold with a small niche of players, but thats about it. As far as "special" goes, its one of the few asym maps out there that capture the fast action arena style game play of MLG while promoting dynamic team set ups and emphasizing map control. Essentially, it plays like a more free flowing guardian.
The only time that there's something wrong with aesthetics is when gameplay suffers because of it. Aesthetics are completely fine as long as you don't go overboard with them. Plus, they also have many uses to improve the gameplay of a map. For example, they can help point the player in the right direction. From my experiences, the MLG community was never completely against having aesthetics.
Sooooo I'll be getting my xbox again within a month or so, as well as renewing my long expired gold account. Been thinking of revisiting this map... Or at least the ideas behind this map. Any suggestions for a future iteration of Amalgam?
Schnitzel! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I don't have any suggestions for revisiting Amalgam off the top of my head, I'm just glad you're coming back finally!
I've got a few ideas for the map, just its more of a complete redesign of the thing. Still looking for a gold account btw. I'm a poor student.