[br]Cedar Orphanage by II Krazy Azn II [img width=300 height=200]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/II_Krazy_Azn_II/18726783-Full.jpg[/img] Santa has gone mad! He's breaking into the orphanage to turn the poor little kids into his mindless toy-making elves. Use weapons to defend yourself from the Holly Jolly Horror.[br]_________________________________________________ Aesthetics The construction of the house itself is extremely sound, with object alignment being just so. This lays the foundation for a great looking map. Inside, the beds, upper level and of course the Christmas tree provide a great environment to immerse the player in, without detracting too much and stealing your eye away from business. The soccer ball seems rather incongruous however, due to it's ridiculous size. It seems to be rather a gimmick which is of course difficult to avoid, but regardless it should have been replaced with something a little more appropriate. Outside the house there is a sleigh and reindeer sitting on the roof, represented by mongeese and a warthog. It's recognisable, so does the job, and the firebomb grenade on the lead reindeer's nose (aka Rudolph) is a nice touch. Elsewhere outside the house there is a yard area which has the obligatory open fence door, vehicle parking area and so on. Overall this map had a lot of thought put into its appearance, and it definitely adds to the player's experience. Durability There's nothing that can really be broken whilst playing this map - it is very robust. There is a single gap right at the back of the top floor through which you can be hit by the swords of Santa and his elves. But other than that there's not much to be said here. Originality As far as zombie maps go, this is a highly original concept. II Krazy Azn II took the Christmas theme, gave it an amusing if ridiculous back story, and constructed a gametype to fit round it. Where else would you be able to hunt and kill orphans before recruiting them into your (presumably undead) elvish horde of festive murderers? Balance Unfortunately this is where the map breaks down. The orphans have a variety of methods to completely dominate Santa and prevent him from making any headway. The overidding problem is that the orphans have magnums and Santa only needs two shots to the face to be put down. The elves need only one. This is relatively easy considering that the orphan's targets are falling down the chimney in a relatively straight line and so you can lead them as they fall. It's also a spot you can camp with a magnum + SMG dual wield combination. The back door which consists of crates stacked two deep and two high against an opening into the house can be pushed away using the sword, but this takes a long time - and once you get close to being able to walk in, the orphans can beat you down through the gap. The result is that Santa and his elves spam down the chimney whilst the orphans take up positions camping the chimney with the shotgun or dual wielding, hiding within the Christmas tree and on the second floor with pistols. This combination effectively means that with a decent team Santa can never win. Longevity When you first play this map it's a treat, both due to the aesthetic appeal and because of the humorous concept. The gameplay is entertaining up to the point where the orphans realise that they can afford themselves almost 100% protection if they set up in a semi-organised way. This takes a few rounds, so after two games of Cedar Orphanage you're likely to only bring it out to play with people who haven't seen it before. As such the replay value is low and it's not something you're going to want to keep on your hard drive for a long period of time. Overall Score 6.0 _________________________________________________ This review is an offshoot of The Furious Review - look out for map reviews every week from Furious D 18's team of ninjas! : D
[br]Hangar 02 by Insane54 [img width=300 height=200]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/mooinsanecl/19159206-Medium.jpg[/img] This is an objective map built on Rat's Nest, and built to require strategy.[br]_________________________________________________ Aesthetics Hangar 02 doesn't place a huge amount of emphasis on it's aesthetic appeal, instead relying on gameplay to draw you in. The general idea is that of a slightly war-torn city street scene and the battle between factions. The long corridor in the outside section of Rat's Nest enhances this feeling of a war rather than a skirmish, and the more convoluted and smaller team routes around the back and along the pipes have an industrial, considered feel. At the end of the day though, this is all due in large part to the original map geometry and whilst it can be assumed to be intentional by the designer, it never strikes as being inspired. Durability Hangar 02 doesn't have a large amount of object placement to break - it's playing area being composed mainly from the original map geometry, immovable objects and containers. The latter are securely placed and there are no issues with breaking out of the playing area due to a large part already being used and the placement of teleporters to save those who fall whilst traversing the pipes. Fusion coils and destroyable objects placed do not cause gameplay problems. Originality On the face of it there's nothing hugely original about the layout and concept of Hangar 02. What is new and interesting - and it does enough to give the game a unique feel whilst avoiding basing the gameplay on a gimmicky concept rather than ignore the basis of standard Halo gameplay - is make use of the pipes around the top to allow an alternate, stealthy approach to the opponents base. At the mid point an active camo spawns, and teleporters facilitate the transition between sides. There's not a huge amount of novelty here, but there's just enough that it feels fresh. Balance The great thing about Hangar 02 is the way the game ebbs and flows between strenuous attack and desperate defence. The sides are balanced perfectly and the weapon placement affords moments of tactical pleasure without ever letting you camp for too long. There's a feeling in these moments of holding people off as you buy time for your teammates to push in behind or for them to escape with the flag. Rounds can last 20 minutes and for fans of competitive play, it's a delight. Longevity Hangar 02 doesn't suffer from any noticeable flaws and certainly doesn't disappoint in terms of providing a balanced competitive game time and again. If this sounds like your thing, I'd recommend you reserve a slot on your 360. Overall Score 8.0 _________________________________________________ This review is an offshoot of The Furious Review - look out for map reviews every week from Furious D 18's team of ninjas! : D
[br]Urban Simulator by gamergimp [img width=300 height=200]http://www.drunkheretic.com/images/jax/urbansim/19746465-Full.jpg[/img] Originally built as a small 1v1 map to mimic an urban training environment, this map can scale upwards to 4v4, but it will feel pretty cramped by then.[br]_________________________________________________ Aesthetics Durability Originality Balance Longevity Overall Score ? _________________________________________________ This review is an offshoot of The Furious Review - look out for map reviews every week from Furious D 18's team of ninjas! : D