CTF-Aquamarina_X32
Map Info
	File Name ctf-aquamarina_x32.zip Author El chicoverde Gametype UT Capture the Flag Date Added 01-30-2001 File Version 1.00 File Size 4.38 mb Player Count 14-16 Map Description None Review Rating 8 User Rating 8 Overall Rating 8	NC2 map imported without screenshot.
Review
Reviewer Twrecks Overall Score:  8/10 Date NC2 03-11-2001 Beware the big and beautiful Aquamarina weighs in at 16megs unzipped, yet like a fine desert leaves you wanting more. Made for large player loads (14 minimum reccomended) and high end computers, this map has already been deemed Ownage by CliffyB. That makes scoring it easier, well maybe. First let me discribe this map in case the screenshots are still loading, much like this map. Aquamarina is a submarine base as the readme states. The texturing and supporting eye-candy bare witness to this fact. Basically the map is a long shopping mall of twisty curves and tasty pickups. The ocean bottom is visible from multiple widows and the seaweed waves goodbye as you get fragged for looking at the view. From one end to the other its like going from Sears on one end, to RobisonsMays on the other, through the foodcourt, and adding another concourse for skateboarders. If you enjoy Z-axis fighting, pump up your Nikes and enjoy. Hmm... where are the JumpBoots anyway? My gig: FUN: A big learning hurdle keeps the map fresh for several games. Multiple routes all in the direction you want to go. PLAYABILITY: Ow, this is where it hurts. Lots of polys and a full cache drag this map down regularly. Perhaps Epic will spring for 1.2GHz T-Birds for everyone, cause my Duron o/c 800 hiccuped like a baby on a seltzer bottle. BOTS: You got to have BOTs, lots of BOTs! Not what you call Einstiens when it comes to snagging the triple U-Damage/Redeemer/ShieldBelt Combo on the central gallery. However, they do T/L about and travel in packs. And the x32? It stands for twice the number than what UT lets you start with. FLOW: Diapers on an octopus here. Once you get a leg in the layout becomes navigatable instead of confusing. Be on guard if you get turned around in a fire fight, cause even though the textures tell you what side of the map you're on, they don't tell you which way to go. ITEMS: Swank little markers tag weapon spawn points (ala Akuma style). Good placement and spacing provide the needed support. THEME Uh, yea. Extreme Theme to be accurate. ARCHITECTURE: LOL, nigh 4300 brush worth topping 13,000 polys and almost 30,000 nodes, and not a one wasted. Uh, but why make the outer buildings movers? This slows the engine, where they gonna ebb with the tide or were they suppose to be non-solids? LIGHTING: Good sourcing and use to define architecture. TEXTURES: Continuity and selection is among the best I've seen. A few places the transition was alittle weak, but I guess a few more polys for creating the needed trim woudn't hurt any more, considering the pain it takes to render this whale. SOUND: An abundance of perfect ambient effects plus a suiting music track scores tops. So what could possibly be wrong? I encountered an invisible barrier to the right of the blue flag, probably something the editor generated. With this may polys I'm surprised there aren't more rebuild problems. Last, not good for online gaming. Heck, it would take a day for modem users to download uncompressed. Note: If you are a server thinking of running this map, one, dissable downloads, two, make sure all your clients have better than a T1 connection and a rig that would beat Hal2000 in a game of who's your Daddy. CORRECTION 3/19: The Weapon markers are akin to Jeremy "Faceless" Graves' DM-Unreality][. Thank you Dai, Sorry Akuma.
Map Comments
Luquado Rating: 6.5   I was torn between a 7 and a 6.5 for this one. It IS sprawling and cool, but playability dragged it down. I didn't find the layout too difficult to cope with, and the screenshots make the level look more chaotic and haphazard than it really is. Still, while I like this one, it's not one I can really keep on my 433 Mhz machine. BangOut_[EH] Rating: 6.5   a 5 on my machine... an 8 on a good one... C.H.U.D. Rating: 7   Lot's of funky architecture and all, but it's fugly as hell and the layout is pretty long and linear. Axle_Striker2002 Rating: 3   It's an ok map although the layout gets confusing at times, I wasn't to fond of the textures used :( Asis Rating: 6   On the contrary, I think this texture set sucks, but that Chico has used it very well... I was impressed with the architecture, the style and the texturing. But it's overly big and the layout is very narrow and straight with some needless sideways diversions. Aesthetically sweet, gameplay lacks. mman1 Rating: 9   Very good map and the bots worked excellent, the main thing I want to say about though is the framerate because the only time I had problems was the main room and my computers a puny 333mhz celeron Oh yeah its me MMAN UGITU not "mman1" lol Fuzzpilz Rating: 10   What's the matter with this "nobody" guy? Here's a higher score to throw the user score back up to more reasonable values. Shock6822 Rating: 10   Real score would be around 8.5, but David is a ph4g :p Aegeri Rating: 7.5   I tend to agree, its big and slow. But very pretty, if you have a good machine. Apart Rating: 8   Cool map, I like big ctf games :) NYGrrrl Rating: 7   a generous 7... i like big ctf maps but tho this one looks pretty darn good, theres a fishy amount of watsed space here... fun online with 16 or more :> comintogetu Rating: 8   Hmm. Nice textures for the setting, bit iffy on the Bot AI over the center bridge and fully populated on masterful becomes a real handful. Good layout but some larger (!) central areas could have made this a classic as it would have meant some severe fire fights!! Blooddog_sweden Rating: 8   BUHU!!!!! My machine is to bad!!!!!!I like big CTF, I want a better machine and I want it now. Dai Rating: 6.5   "Swank little markers tag weapon spawn points (ala Akuma style)" what map would that be? This map is too big and slow for me... Tod Rating: 8   Me likes... skankey Rating: 7.5   The most impresive thing is the time it must have taken Chico to make this piece of shitt... just kidding, pretty cool map FranÃ�ois Rating: 9   An incredible architecture and hours of fun, a great ambiance... this map will be played on my computer for centuries. I have to add something - on my computer (P350, 192 MB RAM, 3d Blaster Banshee 16 Mo - A 2 years and a half old computer), the map is still playable in 640*480 with low detailed textures, and it's quite enjoyable. Chicoverde   thx to all pple who liked the map fuck all pple u didnt:)) hehe el chico Platinum[STS] Rating: 8   a CliffyB Ownage map. Deathwing Rating: 7.5   Ownage map, but doesn't necessarily deserve it. It's fun for a while, but gets kinda plain. Turboman Rating: 10   Ownage! GigaVolt 02-15-2003 04:18 PM MST Rating: 9   Fun and keeps my eyes alert, runs fine on my machine because I built mine with a nice Athlon XP HAHA! Gameplay is very nice and the size is adequate. Will play over and over! C-Bass 02-28-2003 10:23 PM MST Rating: 6   Ok this is map is fricken huge. The design is fairly well done, bots play good, layout is simple. Did I mention it is huge? I can run it offline quite fine but I have tried to play this bad boy on a server and puhleeze. I hate to say it but after all UT was made as a multiplayer game and this map is not multiplayer compatable. I give it a 6 though for pulling everything else off purty durn well. deadboy 03-01-2003 01:22 AM MST Rating: 9   With modern hardware this map is fantastic. I liked it before my UT2003 hardware upgrade but, it was too much for some computers on our LAN. This map looks great and plays well. It really is a masterpiece. homophobe 12-13-2003 11:54 AM MST Rating: 9   xerich everyone disagrees with you plz dnt rate maps your just an idiot EvilSwanky 05-12-2004 06:06 AM MDT Rating: 8   Allmost the best one I've seen for a while, and chico's best map for UT. But there are some little errors/bugs that prevend the map being a 9 or even a 10: -Botsupport lacks in some places (no use of side routes at all) -Music could have been chosen better Verdict => 8.5 Manticore 05-11-2004 04:02 AM MDT Rating: 9   Awesome................ Dead Man Walking 05-11-2004 07:25 PM MDT Rating: 9   Good map. Very complex. I had no slowdown issues but that could just be my computer. AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 512 ram and a radeon 9600 pro w/128ram. i have yet to get a game to slow down this bad boy. I give it a 9. a 10 would have been better hiding of the Deemer and shield belt. The Brazilian Novice 05-12-2004 08:07 PM MDT Rating: 9   One word: HUGE! Lok 08-22-2004 05:42 PM MDT Rating: 9   aaawesome , very good architectural and very good gameplay too ... Well balanced ...that all good. COngratulation for your maps El Chico! Altimartin 08-19-2005 01:53 PM MDT Rating: 7   a 7. Deathbliss 08-19-2005 03:32 PM MDT Rating: 9.5   I've always been a big fan of El ChicoVerde's work, and this is one of my favorite maps. Sadly however he seems to have stopped mapping the instant UT 2003 came out, and I yearn to see what he could do with Max and the the UT 2004 editor. Even today I'm simply dumbfounded when I look at all the curves and detail he managed to place in all of his work - especially this one and it's prequel. I have played this level a lot, and everything is done just about perfectly. Easily a 9.5, which is the score I'm giving it - - Deathbliss