Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Detained Review

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Detained
by gun123456

Author's Description
This is a medium sized map that uses half of foundry. It has two bases and 4 levels. It has plenty of cover and weapons.


Parent Map
Foundry


Applicable Game Variants
Any


Pros
- Plays all game variants
- Map layout has a natural flow
- Balanced spawn postioning
- Map is unescapable



Cons
- No interlocking was used
- Some wall based scenery pieces are placed very sloppilly
- All weapons and equipment spawn too often, 30 second preset
- One team spawns close to the shotgun, the over-shield, and the turret.
- Shotgun whoring
- Energy shield spawn camping
- Attacker's side has the overall advantage



My Opinion
Detained is a variant of foundry in which one side has been sealed off. While certainly it is not the first map of it's kind, few have as many pathways and such a natural flow. It certainly is far from the prettiest map, due to the lack of interlocking, but if properly applied to the current scenery placement this map would become beautiful.

The downside, while the spawns have been adequately placed the spawn times of the weapon placements (and the overshield too) are set to the default, 30 secs. To make matters worse, the Attackers (Blue team, I believe) have the advantage as their base connects directly to not only a shotgun, but an elevated sniper rifle, the one and only quick respawning overshield, and add a machine-gun turret to boot. And, although there is a sniper rifle placed on the defenders side, you'd be damn lucky if you aren't sniped in the process of grabbing it. Ironically following after the very name of the map itself, the very shield doors that prevent the Attacker's sniper-spree against the Defender's spawn will keep you held prisoner by the quick spawning shotgun with a little help from it's friends quick-spawn turret and quick-spawn overshield.

In retrospect, I tried not to be too harsh on this map because in all honesty I like it's layout, and aside from the weapon problems, all the game variants are properly placed and in theory should play rather well. As I said before, I enjoy the layout and if it was interlocked even half as nicely as Paranoia UK II's Killswitch this would be a gorgeous looking map. I suggest that you look into interlocking or perhaps ask for someones help in the matter. If you clean up the messiness, provide a little more balance to the weapon placement, and adjust the weapons' spawn times, then you might actually have a really good map there. I think you have the potential to be a good forger, so don't give up.



Gameplay - 7.5
Balancing - 4.5
Originality - 6.5
Neatness - 5.5

Overall - 6
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