DM-AtjesArena
Map Info
	File Name dm-atjesarena.zip Author Evil Atje Gametype UT Deathmatch Date Added 04-24-2001 File Version 1.00 File Size 1.16 mb Player Count 12-16 Map Description None Review Rating 5.5 User Rating 6.5 Overall Rating 6.5
Review
Reviewer ArcadiaVincennes Awe Score:  1.5/3 Date 02-18-2005 Build Score:  2.0/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  2.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  6.5/10 DM-AtjesArena (UT) A very complicated Urban map with so many twits and turns it’s like eating an MC Escher pretzel. There’s enough z-axis for more than one map but the visual aspects are as convoluted as the layout. AWE: 1.5 The textures are all chosen well to fit an Urban theme from concrete to metal, to grided windows and placards. There’s a healthy quantity of misaligned textures but on the plus side they don’t really stand out so much and there’s appropriate trim on pretty much everything. The problem with the texturing is that there seems like there’s little rhyme or reason to it. There are some architectural elements that repeat and so the textures match them consistently, but there’s so many different layers and areas and ramps and stairs in no consistant shape that the texturing suffers from lack of consistency of design. There’s too much variety for its own good. The lighting is done sometimes very well and sometimes very badly. There are some too-dark areas of the map, mostly in the lower areas. There are some light fixtures that in one location cast a nice yellow light but in others the same fixture casts a white light. The lighting is almost never oversaturated but, like the textures, there’s too much variety for its own good. I don’t think the purple lighting was needed, nor the green although the green fits much better than the purple. The use of coronas and light beams was very nice although I did find a group of four where there was light, coronas, light beams, but no source. The architecture was extremely complicated in terms of how it all fit together but seemed to be made up of simplistic shapes. Looking at the gestalt of it, the architecture worked well, but drilling down to any particular location, it seemed a bit primitive. In general the lighting and texture problems are the result of lack of attention to detail and design inconsistency. The architecture helps one put this out of mind but really feels a little primitive compared to what it was trying to accomplish. BUILD: 2.0 With this many BSP cuts and variances, I applaud the author in avoiding HOMs. The BSP is obviously constructed competently, if simplistically. The sounds, on the other hand, are really quite lacking. There are a few sounds dotted through the map that match the urban setting but they’re few and far between leaving the soundscape somewhat empty and wanting. The few movers work fine with decent speed and sound. Overall the map is constructed well but a little lacking in complicated BSP work and very lacking in sounds. CAST: 2.0 The gameplay here is quite frantic. The default number of players is too high at 12 – 16. Playing at the default player load means that you are constantly fighting off the bots. A lot of times you don’t have enough time to get a weapon before you’re being attacked. On the other hand the bots do get around the map and will assail you wherever you go. Another complaint is that 80 – 90% of the time I spawned in the ‘lower’ or ‘middle’ levels of the map making it very difficult to ascend anything in order to enjoy the many z-axis opportunitites the map provides. The dark areas down below combined with the complete variation in BSP caused a lot of confusion on where to ascend, as well as a lot of places to get stuck on when jumping or dodging. The flow, like the layout, was all over the place. There were sections where is was good, and sections where is was satisfactory. It wasn’t really ‘bad’ in any place but there was little consistency to it. The same with the weapon layout. There were some weapons that spawned in more than one place which, despite the size of the map, seemed a tad unnecessary. The super pickups were either too easy to get to, like the keg and the redeemer (which is difficult to use in the map due to the lack of larger open spaces), or too difficult to find like the shield belt and damage amp which the bots used all the time but which I could never locate. Possibly due to the player count being so high that they were taken as soon as they appeared. Overall there are a fair amount of downsides to the gameplay but the vast amount of z-axis opportunity makes up for some of them. The map lacks a fair amount of polish despite the amount of effort that went into it. It’s missing consistency of design in the texturing and lighting and the architecture is all over the place. While promoting good z-axis gameplay the problems with darkness and confusion based on a lack of landmarks make the gameplay as confusing and complicated as the layout. It’s an interesting map to try out but it probably won’t stick to your hard drive too long.
Map Comments
[IMD1]KillRoy 02-19-2005 05:03 AM MST   How old does a map have to be to get reviewed here... Come on, reviewing a 2001 map with the 2005 standards is kinda lame imo... Aggressor 02-19-2005 06:19 AM MST   Considering how many newer maps there are, it's irrational as well. CursedSoul1 02-19-2005 06:25 AM MST   imho its a good job that arcadia reviews some old maps, not only the newest maps should be reviewed, the old ones as well. Lok 02-19-2005 11:45 AM MST Rating: 6.5   i post this review to arcadia , i dont know if he like that but i think that a good idea to put a review on some old map ... maybe some old author like that the reviewer check their map, maybe they forgot lol... i post some review because its a shame that some good author like clay or atjes was forgotten...IMO...