DM-Venom][
Map Info
	File Name dm-venom][.zip Author Akuma Gametype UT Deathmatch Date Added 07-06-2000 File Version 1.00 File Size 537 kb Player Count 4-6 Map Description None Review Rating 8 User Rating 8.5 Overall Rating 8	NC2 map imported without screenshot.
Review
Reviewer Kain Overall Score:  8/10 Date NC2 07-07-2000 Now no offence to Rich, but either he needs some inspiration for mapping or he concentrates so much on making hardcore maps that he forgets about making the map interesting. DM-Venom does, however, have an excellent layout and avoids the room, corridor, room, corridor monotony that so many maps fall victim to. There is much vertical fighting to be had on this map, and the architecture is well designed to avoid getting stuck on walls and suchlike. As in most of Rick's work, lighting is excellent, with appropriate light sources and good tasteful coloured effects. The corridor lit up by boiling lava is especially cool (well, hot actually... never mind). It is not too dark or too light, and there are no huge coronas to make fighting difficult. The architecture is on the whole very good, although blocky. There is little trim or other decoration, although this is obviously to keep frame rates high (50-70 average on a Voodoo3) and to stop players getting stuck. The level has a very similar feel to another of Rick's, DM-Malevolence, and in my opinion Malevolence is the slightly better map. There are no 'selling points' to Venom, not even a hint of a gimmick to make the map interesting. It was made for pure fast-paced deathmatch, and as the author says, is intense with last man standing. Textures are repetitive but do the job, and all are perfectly aligned. The good old grey bricks are present in abundance. The yellow warning stripes don't seem to warn you about anything, although they do help liven the place up a bit. And there are nice subtle ambient sounds that you only notice at quiet times. Like any proffesional map (and CliffyB was involved in this one), bots are without mercy. There is a screenshot (though not an especially good one), playercount and music and good weapon placement as expected from Akuma. And despite my l33t impact-jumping skills I could not reach the shieldbelt DAMMIT!
Map Comments
Akuma Rating: 8   You never did revise the review of Venom1 for the sequal... oh well :) Kain Rating: 9   ok, seeing as it takes around 24 hours to reconnect to the server to edit a review, I won't edit it, instead I'll just say that the shieldbelt has gone. Good to see you don't give your maps a 10 (even very very good ones like this) unlike some other people I know ;) Lophead Rating: 8   This is yet another example of Rich's abilities to consistantly provide us with a very solid deathmatch experience that is well suited to the gametype. Venom Rating: 9   Solid gameplay, pretty good construction, hyper-fast gameplay on Turbo, really enjoyed it and it has my tag name to boot!!! Agent X Rating: 9   Thumbs up on this one. Lighting perfect, archetecture and skybox is awesome, and the layout is maybe a tad too open. Great map. Should have been in the Christmas bonus pack instead of that other Akuma map. Deathwing Rating: 8   Not Akuma's best map, but still rocks. REiGN Rating: 8.5   Now this map is defenately not visually amazing...infact it's a bit bland in the 'looks' department..but I dunno how Akuma (heck, he only made Malevolence ;)) does it, but this map has just got the right flow... Looks 5 gameplay 8.5 IronMan 02-08-2003 07:02 PM MST Rating: 8   A very solid map design with good flow. Ramps and rockets. The eye-candy doesn't shine here but playability does. PapaBear 06-01-2003 02:35 AM MDT Rating: 9   very nice, ditto all the others Vertigo 10-02-2004 04:47 AM MDT Rating: 8   i forgot to comment on this map 2yr ago... Shao 10-02-2004 02:56 PM MDT Rating: 8   whoa , 4 years old map is still here! what bring me here...? hmm...... NeoNite 10-25-2004 10:17 AM MDT Rating: 7.5   Yes this is a solid, decent map. Plays well in both deatmatch and teamgames. Lots of z-axis fighting. Try this map with the U4E mod. Guaranteed fun! It looked nice back in the day, nowadays.. I'm not complaining really.