AS-Desertstorm
Map Info
	File Name as-desertstorm.zip Author Grzegorz Kubicki Gametype UT Assault Date Added 11-12-2001 File Version 1.00 File Size 6.37 mb Player Count 8-12 Map Description None Review Rating 5.5 User Rating 8 Overall Rating 6.5
Review
Reviewer ArcadiaVincennes Awe Score:  2.0/3 Date 08-02-2005 Build Score:  2.0/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  1.5/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  6.5/10 AS-DesertStorm (UT99) Although released back in 2001, someone recently requested a review of it. Plus, assault maps are rare – and even rarer are good ones. So let’s see which category this one falls into. AWE: 2.0 The texture work is pretty good here. There are some misalignments but considering the level of detail the author went to, it’s minimal when compared to the gestalt of the whole. The custom textures are fairly good overall. I think a few of the ground textures received a little too much bevel/embossing but overall they’re rather nice. Nothings so striking it will impact your gameplay, but they are still there. The color palette, as one could expect from the map name, is brown. Light brown wood, dark brown metal, medium brown rock and dirt – they all make their appearance here and in general they work well together. It does create a rather drab palette, especially with the similarly colored light that pervades the map, but it certainly makes the setting very clear. The lighting isn’t quite as good as the texturing. Although there are light/dark distinctions, most of the light areas are the same color which lends a somewhat homogenaic feel to the map. Almost all the indoor areas, as different as they may be, all seem very similar in terms of light color and brightness. The exteriors, when lit by the sky only, look nice and the subtle blue contrasts nicely with the warmer indoor lighting. The man-made exterior lights are the same as indoors and seem to be fighting against the skylight, which doesn’t look quite as good as the regular sky light. So nothing’s overbright nor oversaturated, but some more color variation throughout the map would have been nicer. The architecture is well-conceived and well-implemented. From base interiors, to barracks tents, to sandbag walls, to missle launch bays, the author did a really nice job with all the architecture. The only feature that stood out in my mind as being not so good was the underground passage and its entrance/exits on either side. It just seemed a little too simplistic compared to the rest of the map. The texturing was good but not without flaw, the lighting was a bit disappointing, but the architecture was really well done. BUILD: 2.0 The BSP work is all very competently done. It would have to be to produce this map with no HOMs. All the movers work well and have appropriate sounds/triggered sounds attached to them – except for one. All the triggers also work fine and produce nice results. The sounds were implemented well, although somewhat lacking. There were general, locational, and triggered sounds, but the general sounds were all the same throughout the map, and the triggered sounds were all event-related rather than being a mix of event-related and surface-oriented. The botpathing was really unfinished however, and this is really unfortunate as this can make or break an off-line game. So in general very good except for a little lacking in sound use, and very lacking in botpathing. CAST: 1.5 The gameplay quality here will largely depend on whether you’re playing with bots or with humans. The bots are pathed for a straight route through the map and totally ignore the side-objectives. Along the route, they do work well enough, but there’s nothing terribly special about their performance. If you use alternate routes, you will not encounter them at all. Therefore the map will be predictable and not nearly as challenging as if they were pathed fully. The author does mention this but still, it could have been much better. As for the objectives, they’re fairly straightforward – press button, proceed to next button. But within the layout the author set up, they do work well. The layout has a nice mix of z-axis although there are some extended flat areas that could have been broken up a little more. But not a bad mix overall although you may want to favor your hitscan weapons for a healthy portion of the map. The side objectives are really kind of unnecessary, one because it does not afford much of an advantage, the other because there’s a layout flaw one can exploit. The first side route is accessed by either climbing a few boxes to a higher level, or by jumping onto a wall (although I think the wall route is accidental). One can then proceed into the building and drop into an area that holds a switch that will open a shorter route from the side-route. The problem is, there is a jump that’s possible over the switch area that takes one past the enemy team spawn points and directly into the objective room. Since the bots are generally pre-occupied with the main route, it’s very easy not to even bother with the switch and just proceed directly to the objective room. Playing against humans, this entire side route would open an entirely new dimension to gameplay as the bots only use 2 defensive points. Using the side route, 2 more defensive positions become available. As for the second side route, near the end of the map, it’s relatively easy to access and can essentially catch the defenders off their guard as it’s a ‘back-door’ type route. Considering the final objective is a ‘touch’ objective, it can make completing the final objective very easy, especially considering the bots ignore it entirely. Again, with humans, it would add an extra layer of gameplay although I suspect the side route would still make the final objective a bit easier to accomplish. Also, be prepared for some spamtastic play because the author saw fit to only include the flak cannon, rocket launcher, minigun, and sniperrifle – I assume to keep with the ‘modern warfare’ theme. In general, without the proper botpathing the gameplay is straightforward and a bit dull. Despite the nice variation in locations and somewhat challenging layout, it’s really not much fun against the bots. I would imagine humans would make the map much more challenging and certainly up the fun factor quite a bit. I want to stress that the gammeplay with humans will be much different - and much better. The low gameplay score is based mostly on insuffcient bot support. This desert storm is an interesting assault and would have the potential to be one of the better ones from the original UT99 custom assault crowd if only the botpathing had been completed. As it is, assault lovers should download it and play a few rounds. But it probably won’t last on your hard drive very long. If you can play it online with other people – you may very well be looking at a pretty good time.
Map Comments
PepperoniX 11-30-2002 06:15 PM MST Rating: 8   This level was pretty pimp. It got hard to navigate at parts and I had to follow the bots. I really loved the end animation. P.S. You suck Hussein! BangOut 11-30-2002 08:25 PM MST Rating: 8   If this is the map I'm thinking of, I was pretty satisfied with it... Grz is my ASs hero. Mxtrmntr 12-02-2002 08:36 AM MST Rating: 7   was quite nice iirc. graphics could be better, but all in all, a decent AS map. The_Real_Meneer_Aard 03-30-2003 12:47 PM MST Rating: 8   a nice map. nice textures and detail, nice objectives. good work on the animations. especially the final animation was cool. it would be better if it wasn't all over in a flash. there are no real battles, and my attacking team overrun the enemy bots. i think this map would work much better with human players ShortCutMan 04-19-2003 06:15 AM MDT Rating: 9   Great Map! Has great theme to it, and sticks with it. Even better if Played with Infiltration if you have it. Rob1ooo1oo 06-02-2003 04:01 PM MDT Rating: 9   /me :bowsdown: Grz! Great map, high fps with 10k+poly what can I saw! This map has a unique atmosphere with lots of little goodies! Not to much in launch potential (apart from end) but this is good as it gives you a break and can still be compleated in very fast times. I quite like this map as it is a good fragging map! Plenty of killing sprees and no HOM! Moonrakeron 08-03-2003 09:58 PM MDT Rating: 5   Nice map but too short OMGTTFS 08-04-2003 09:19 AM MDT Rating: 8   One of the better AS maps I've ever played...with some of the best and most animations. Am I the only one that wishes UT2003 had AS maps? RamboSnakey 08-04-2003 10:38 AM MDT Rating: 9   Good map, Only a bit short. That just make it a 9. And its assault(not a favorite gameplay for me:P) Nahand 12-10-2003 01:24 PM MST Rating: 7   *stands in and prepares to talk* My friends:... 1. It's a great map, with great realistic-wannabe-look; 2. Gameplay suffers at times because it is indeed too difficult to navigate the map without loose yourself (you'll eventually get used to); 3. No matter what your favorite gametype is, this map is a VERY well designed example of UT engine capabilities, especially with triggers and animations; phalanx 08-05-2003 04:34 PM MDT Rating: 9   i liked this it looked good the animations were cool but yeah its easy to get lost ~shadow~ 09-15-2003 02:50 PM MDT Rating: 8   good map nice idea! the movie is good! Reciprocity 09-16-2003 06:13 PM MDT Rating: 6   Nice map but too short and way overrated. I think you people are rating this by how patriotic or "don't f*ck with the USA" this is as opposed to rating it by gameplay. Slim 11-19-2005 09:56 AM MST Rating: 5   I got lost. Getting lost is rarely a good thing, since it often indicates maps have bad layout or don't make it clear enough where you're supposed to be going, but, it's a small aspect of the map's flaws. And besides you can always get a bot to come back and get you (if possible). Apart from that, it's nice and big (something I think Assult Maps should be), although for it's size, why oh why was it as short as it was? Still, it has average design and half decent gameplay and a sort of interesting ending. Though in my opinion this map would have been better suited in a different game. It just doesn't fit with the whole Unreal theme if you ask me. (CKY)Paranoia 12-05-2003 05:00 PM MST Rating: 9   one of the best maps ive ever played. i have about 2 gigs taken up on levels. if i only had 10 mb left, i would definatly download this. goes great with the automatic sniper rifle mutator. kingmango 12-10-2003 02:19 AM MST Rating: 8   Great level. Visually satisfying and after about twenty run throughs, I knew where everything was. For the navigation difficulty, I knock a point. For all the teleporters I knock a point. Other than that, it has some of the best animations for objectives out there. And the use of triggers is truly staggering. I am really impressed with this map, and so far it is my favorite yet. Good job. Grz. Keep em coming, but no more teleporters. I know spawn areas are tough in as, but did I mention I hate teleporters? :D Razor 12-11-2003 08:05 AM MST Rating: 7   Good level, long(which i think is good) and with many places to go.. but bots dont play so good and its too complex at first. Overall its good(after you know all the routes) PsychoGnome 12-20-2003 04:56 PM MST Rating: 9   The best AS map i've ever played, it was a bit confusing at first, then it got really good. If you have a real weapons mod then the map really starts to shine (too bad I didn't have any navy seal/terrorist skins on). The only reason it got a nine is because it was a little hard to navigate at first. KosaPL 01-26-2004 06:51 PM MST Rating: 10   Great assault,Cool Kirgon A.K.A Supa_Sniper_Master 03-19-2004 01:31 PM MST Rating: 10   :) P.S. Hussein sux iraq sux TheSpoonDog 03-19-2004 04:40 PM MST Rating: 9   That is a really cool assault map! good effort! Sure it doesn't look as good as it could've in most places but the gameplay rocks and the construction is unique - as I've always said - I like it when authors take the time and effort to produce a map like this :) Sicko Teddy 03-20-2004 12:10 PM MST Rating: 9   I always meet that map in the multyplayer. It is played all the time. The architecture is solid and layout makes sence. One thing you could do is to make music switch, when attackers get to the middle of their assault path. firebr.umx has too much tention in it, which make playing a little ennouing. oh well . The ending scene is nice. You could make Hussein stand and a giant bomb fall on him and then hellicopter destroy the picture as a last evidence of that retard! phearbot 05-05-2004 04:53 AM MDT Rating: 9   cool map. very much bunker-fight...with enough cover to encounter real battles. some of the outside bunkers give you a little z-axis-fighting, and a few good spots for traps or ambushes. lighting and architecture are well done. i like the ending scene, especailly the hussein-picture ^^ Shao 09-19-2004 12:06 AM MDT Rating: 5   guys this assaut map is too short!! NeoNite 09-19-2004 11:37 AM MDT Rating: 6   Too short? Looks like you haven't played that many assault maps yet, Shao. This isn't a bad map, but it does indeed take a while to get used to the lay-out. As a defender, that is. Some areas on the map are too difficult to defend, whereas others are too easy. I'm thinking about the final stand, with the sniper nest. In botgames you can snipe,snipe,snipe untill you drop. The bots walk in a straigth line, right in front of your gun. Tip: if you're on offence, target the sniping bot. Be sure to be out of range though ;-) Just saying. That way your bots can easily (well, at least they stand a good chance) penetrate the final room. Bots sometimes get stuck. Near the area where you have to launch the rockets. The walkway to the upper level. When they jump off, they've lost their objectives and are "oblivious" to what happens next. Sometimes they get stuck around the crates. This can be a short map, or it can take a long while. It depends on how you play it. I know assault maps you can finish in 25 seconds, without launching !(or any other dirty tricks) Now that's short... Commander2 08-04-2005 10:18 PM MDT Rating: 8.5   I've never had any bot problems like NeoNite o_O The main problem is this map is a bit too Large than it should have been. May have been the final song and cinimatic, but I loved the music anyway. The map does have one main problem: Way too easy. for both sides, anyway. I usually win as an attacker and lose as a defender, because the final rooms was way too easy to get into and dodge rockets and instagib shots and just beat the thing right there. It could have used a few sentry guns or something along those lines to hieghten the difficulty and overall experiance. AS for the length, it CAN be short, but it can also take the entire time limit. Just depends on the players and bot skill, I guess. but some people rate this a ten? Meh, ten usually represents perfection... Nothing is perfect. Nothing. Manticore 08-05-2005 10:48 PM MDT Rating: 8   This was a good assault map. The gameplay was complex enough to make it worth playing over a few times. I'm suprised it took so long to get around to someone reviewing it.... Regulus 11-07-2005 06:14 PM MST Rating: 7.5   This is a map that's worth playing even once. Good use of custom textures, though some places can be bland at times. Great ending sequence too. The only gripe I have about this map are the bots. They never use alternate routes and don't seem to defend well. I can use this to my advantage to blaze through the map quickly. Other than that, good map. thevirus 11-08-2005 09:03 AM MST Rating: 9   no doubt its just a cool map ;) Mister_Prophet 11-20-2005 07:43 AM MST   His Riverbed maps were better imo.