AS-Coldsteel
Map Info
	File Name as-coldsteel.zip Author Monger Gametype UT Assault Date Added 05-28-2000 File Version 1.00 File Size 4.05 mb Player Count 8-16 Map Description None Review Rating 4 User Rating 8 Overall Rating 5.0	NC2 map imported without screenshot.
Review
Reviewer Ironblayde Awe Score:  2.0/3 Date 05-16-2004 Build Score:  1.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  0.5/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  5.0/10 AWE: 2.0 We've got something of a mixed bag here as far as visuals go. First, the good. The author of AS-ColdSteel took the time to create a set of custom textures for it, so most of the map's surfaces look refreshingly different from the thousands of UTTech1 maps out there. Even so, there are some strange choices. There are a few different textures used on the terrain, and while I understand the effect the author was going for –- making it look like different parts of the terrain had varying depths of snow covering them –- I don't think it works. The lines between the texture regions are much too distinct. Some transition textures would be needed to provide a decent appearance. The particle texture used for the shield generator looks pretty terrible; something with smaller particles moving in a more fitting pattern and without such a garish color would have been better. Finally, in the outside area following the first objective, two doors are textured with a piece of flooring from UTTech1. A very poor choice. Architecture is well done for the most part. There are all kinds of nice touches everywhere to break up large surfaces, and the author has modeled a number of vehicles for decorative purposes as well, everything from a tank to a bipedal robot with an automatic cannon attached that looks kind of like ED-209. The weak point here is the terrain, which looks too jagged to be convincing. The map's lighting is decent. It's got a lot of high-radius lights, and a fair amount of zone light, so it's nothing terribly exciting, but it looks pretty good. There aren't any impossibly white or oversaturated lights except where they're appropriate, which is definitely good to see. There are two things that irk me, though. First, whenever you're outside, there's a white tint applied to everything. It's not really fog; it's more like a brightening effect. It makes everything appear dull and washed out. My other gripe is that LightBox deco meshes are not used appropriately. They're almost always too large for the light fixtures they accompany, and their ScaleGlow factors have not been turned down at all, so they look much too hard. BUILD: 1.5 Surprisingly, given the number of brushes that are placed at unusual angles to liven up the architecture, there is very little evidence of BSP errors. The build is pretty solid in that respect, although there's not a single semisolid brush in the whole map, and there are a number of places where they would have been useful for simplifying the BSP tree and dropping the node count, particularly on the various vehicles. I don't like the movers in this map. There are a couple of lifts at the rear of the base that move ridiculously slowly, but what really gets me is the doors. They have two problems. First, they don't open quickly enough, so you often get caught on them as they're opening. That's the lesser of the two problems. The greater has to do with the way they're triggered. Generally in UT maps, a door will open when you approach, and not close until you leave the trigger's collision region. But in AS-ColdSteel, the doors open when you approach, then close automatically after four seconds. If you're standing in a doorway when its doors close, they kill you. That's not good. Another problem that can occur is if you're approaching a door right as it's about to close, and it closes just before you get through, it won't open again while you're standing in the collision region. You have to take several steps backwards, then approach the door again before it will open. For human players, this is a definite inconvenience, but for bots it's worse. Bots won't understand why the trigger isn't firing like it's supposed to, so if a bot is caught in that situation, he'll just stand there on one side of the door until someone comes along to open it for him. This was very poorly done. That's definitely not the only pathing mistake. I saw bots running in the wrong direction, getting stuck on walls, or standing around looking confused many times. BlockedPath actors are used incorrectly. DefensePoints are much too few, and placed ineffectively. We'll see more about that in the next section. CAST: 0.5 Gameplay in AS-ColdSteel is, in a word, broken. The first three objectives –- throwing a switch to open a laser fence, and two more switches to open a hangar door beyond that –- can all be easily passed over with a well-timed hammer jump. The worst part is that the defenders' spawn points are never placed behind the current objective, which means that once you hammer jump past an objective, your chances of meeting defenders ahead of you are zero. All they can do is hammer jump themselves and follow behind you. But even if we ignore these fatal flaws and pretend we have to play fair, the game is still unbalanced. The game's second objective is to throw two switches which open a hangar door. The switches are placed far apart, in buildings on opposite sides of a wide road. This means that for all intents and purposes, you get one of the switches for free. Bots will only defend one at a time, so you can just waltz into building number two and throw the switch, unopposed. Even if they knew enough to divide their forces, it might just make both objectives too easy to take. Almost all of the spawn points, both offensive and defensive, are badly placed. We'll start with the attackers. The second and third groups of spawn points for the attackers are right out in the open, surrounded by nearby elevated positions and distant sniper perches. It's a spawn camper's paradise. The attackers are completely helpless against defenders who know what they're doing. What's more, the supply of weapons is insufficient. At the second start position, attackers will have only a Pulse Gun (and might have to walk a few seconds to get one) against defenders who will be wielding Flak Cannons, Rocket Launchers, and Sniper Rifles. At the third position, attackers will be better armed, but they usually have to run halfway across a very large room to reach anything. Finally, the approach to the final objective has a Redeemer along it. If an attacker picks that up, he can clear his path to the end of the map by himself. The defenders' spawn points shift after the completion of every objective, just as the attackers' do. Perhaps it could be done well, but here it doesn't work. It would be much better to have a central spawn location for defenders and allow them to access any part of the map via teleporters, as in AS-Overlord or AS-Bridge. Also, the spawn points are too spread out, and some of them are placed ridiculously far into the path of the oncoming attackers, so that whenever you spawn there, you'll be immediately cut down. Attackers' and defenders' spawn points should not be so close to one another as that. If you could get sixteen human players together to play this, I suspect that the defenders would slaughter almost any attack if they played properly. The attackers are placed at such disadvantage too often, and there are a number of choke points where spawn killing with the Shock Rifle or even the Ripper is an exercise in simplicity. In a botmatch, it's the other way around. Bots cannot defend in this map. DefensePoints are hardly ever used in this map, and usually in the wrong places. I played through the map about ten times on Godlike, and never failed to conquer the base in less than six minutes. The allotted time for the match is fifteen minutes. And those times of mine were without using hammer jumps to shorten my route. While playing defense, killing the attackers as they come through a choke point is so easy that you should be able to keep the bots from ever completing the first objective. FINAL SCORE: 4.0 In my opinion, this is a severely overrated map. I've heard on a number of occasions that this map and its successor are the acme of UT Assault, but AS-ColdSteel is average, and that's being generous. Sure it looks pretty good, but the gameplay suffers from so many mistakes on so many levels that it will never provide a challenge or a fair game. It doesn't stand up to any of the retail Assault maps, nor does it compare favorably to the better user-made Assault maps out there. If you really enjoy the game type and crave new maps for it, then check this one out, but otherwise I'd pass.
Map Comments
kobrakai 04-25-2003 08:37 AM MDT Rating: 8   A HUGE assault map. Can get a bit tricky in places but is well done. Killer ('em all) 06-22-2003 03:26 PM MDT Rating: 10   Yes, it is really cold (cool)! What is good, that's fog on the outside. And it looks very realistic with new textures (of course, with size 512x256 :)). Moonrakeron 06-27-2003 09:24 PM MDT Rating: 9   Another huge assault map (oh yeah!) the graphics are superbs and the bot seem to do a nice job ;) Toothpick 09-20-2003 01:37 PM MDT Rating: 8   Great map! But i like defending on this map more then attacking.. And that's not very positive.. Slim 11-19-2005 09:37 AM MST Rating: 5.5   I did play this one quite a bit back in the day, I suppose the fact it's pretty damn long gives it a good aspect of gameplay, but as with most AS maps the gameplay does come across flaws such as easily avoidable objectives, not-so-hot bot support and fairly drab textures and blocky design. They even tried to use some sort of fogging effect outside to give it a cold gritty feel. It kind of works, but it still doesn't make for an excellent map. The ending seemed somewhat of anti-climax as well given the trouble you go through to get to the last objective - which might I add has to be one of the worst bottlenecks in Assult history - not even the Redeemer redeems it. Sicko Teddy 03-09-2004 10:57 PM MST Rating: 9   Hey did you say you see fog outside!? (neah, I sy that because, I don't have a fog in any of the UT map)GRRRRRRR. that map is niece!! :) sulkava 03-23-2004 03:50 PM MST Rating: 6   It would be hard to make this map, but its not a top. phearbot 05-05-2004 04:46 AM MDT Rating: 10   if you doesn't already have it...DOWNLOAD NOW!!!! coldsteel 1 & 2 are the best as-maps ever made. great visuals, perfect lighting, awesome architecture, good botpathing. for every sniper spot you have the proper cover,which makes this map well balanced. must be in every as-mapcycle download the steelpak...it contains both coldsteel maps Dangler 05-17-2004 04:12 AM MDT Rating: 10   What?, This map is 4 years Old why is it being reviewed now? At any rate, this map was great when it came out, i remember I loved it, Shock Systems did some great stuff. If you play UT99 and are playing Assault, I would go get more of they're maps and check em out, In my opinion they had some of the best user made Assault maps made for the game. At the time i woulda given it a 8-9 score, but it is a classic in my opinion, so i give it a 10 :X Ironblayde 05-17-2004 05:00 AM MDT   Dangler: We don't review maps based on when they come out, but when the reviews are requested. The request hasn't really been in the queue for all these years, just a couple of months. Why someone decided to request a review of it, we may never know. :) Manticore 05-17-2004 05:36 AM MDT Rating: 8   What phearbot said but with a lower rating.... KosaPL 05-17-2004 09:02 AM MDT Rating: 6   reviewer -> U should give more pointz ;p Frieza 05-17-2004 11:20 AM MDT Rating: 6   I agree, although the gameplay is flawed, I do feel a 4 is too low :D Shadowlurker 05-17-2004 12:16 PM MDT Rating: 8   As a nalicity reviewer, I can say that IMO Ironblayde has underrated this map. It's one of the best AS maps for UT. SirTahngarth 05-17-2004 12:18 PM MDT Rating: 9   I have seen some underrated reviews around here, but this one is the worst. This is a quality map and is lots of fun to play. To grade it down so severely for a problem that is rampant in UT assault (in all of the stock maps) is going too far. A talented team can overcome the gameplay "problems" cited here. FraGnBraG 05-17-2004 12:44 PM MDT Rating: 6   First off, good and thoughtfull review, IronBlayde :) You're doing a great job and are a pretty good writer. Back (in the day?) when i saw this map I for one was massively impressed. But back then people were impressed by Scimitar, too (but that's another story :P Nowadays, this is still rates as a pretty well made map imo but the AI (as IB said exactly) I liked the map, drab looks and all, but with a full load of godlike bots i repeatedly beat this map without much trouble, and i'm only an average player at best. Against people it would be different for sure. Sobering analysis of this (and other "famous" maps) is good, and keeps things in perspective. You might take a bit of flak for the 4, IB, so better grab the keg and a sheild belt... cheers Fordy 05-17-2004 01:18 PM MDT Rating: 8   This is an absolute classic assault map! (if you like this get AS-ColderSteel too). I think its got too low a score because its been reviewed some 3-4 years too late. The map can be a little easy to beat but its good fun, from start to finish. As was mentioned earlier, it uses a number of custom textures too so it doesnt really look like a run of the mill AS map. Bot40 05-18-2004 10:46 AM MDT   /me points people towards this thread: **************************************************** http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?t=135059 **************************************************** Obvious enough for you now? There are forums for commenting on reviews. If you want to "flame off" then do it there. You're just cluttering the map comments section by posting stuff that has nothing to do with the map itself (*cough* SLT^Frase *cough*) :| SLT^Frase 05-18-2004 03:13 AM MDT Rating: 8   Such a poor quality of reviews on this site, they nearly almost seem to get everything wrong. You look at the points you critise but not the map as a whole, infact you rate it from the negatives youve noticed & not the positives. Sure I dont think it played brilliantly but your score is way, way off. Please dont review any more maps because if you cant get this right you wont get any right, amateur. EvilSwanky 05-18-2004 09:16 AM MDT Rating: 8   Well, sometimes it is very hard to get the objectives done, but that's the clue in AS. The map has some funny aspects and cool visuals, and this map is fun to play. Bronze316 05-19-2004 08:14 AM MDT Rating: 8   I used to play this map....A LONG TIME AGO!!! It was AWESOME last time i remember :p Edit: How can a PROPER map that MOST ppl seem to like get such a BAD review? kingmango 05-20-2004 08:52 PM MDT   I've never played this map online, and I agree the bots need help. Visually though this map is quite impressive. And I too am amazed at the lack of BSP errors with all the beveled and angled cuts. I might be thinking of ColderSteel though, but I remember item placement as being pretty well thought out. And the end cams are pretty cool. MasterZelgadis 10-11-2004 05:49 PM MDT Rating: 9.5   AS-Coldsteelis definitely a top-map. Flow is veeery good, every objective you have completed is a hard earned victory for the attacking team. Visually it is one of the best maps I have ever played. But don't download this map...download the Steelpak where you get AS-Coldsteel and AS-Coldsteel2, which is the best AS map in this map pool very good work