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TASHARACOVE-Utsp | | Map Info |
| | File Name | tasharacove-utsp.zip | Author | Hellscrag2002 | Gametype | UT Other | Date Added | 02-09-2001 | File Version | 1.00 | File Size | 4.92 mb | Player Count | Unknown | Map Description | My oldest UT SP pack. Three complete maps with a good atmosphere and good gameplay - although map 2 could have used some zoning for optimisation! | Review Rating | 7 | User Rating | 7.5 | Overall Rating | 7 |
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| | | Review |
| Reviewer | Shambler | Overall Score: | 7/10 | Date | NC2 03-27-2001 |
A 3 map UT SP unit, plus a final flyby. The player, a refugee from the ISV Kran, falls into a cave and must explore around the eponymous cove and adjacent Chizra-style temple to find a way to escape. There are standard translator messages from Nali's describing the hostile takeover of their cove village, and some more interesting features that give the maps coherence. For example, sections of the cove are visible from the temple, and vice versa, and the light smoothly fades from night to day through the maps - nice little touches that help the setting make sense.
Architecture is quite impressive in the expansive cove, often a lot simpler in the temple, but well made throughout. The cove consists of an broad pier in a U-shaped bay, with standard Nali huts, a gatehouse and pillars - an effective scene. The temple consists of an interlinked collection of simple, half-flooded rooms often with walkways above the water. Some of these rooms are very simple, box rooms with a few details. Other areas are more complex and have angles or curves, but this map needed more spectacular architecture. The final map includes a section of canyons, a shrine, and a few other buildings into an area beyond the cove - again straightforward but well designed. Texturing, lighting and build quality are generally good, but a few textures could have been neater, and one temple room had inexplicable slowdown.
The maps give a fair bit of exploration, with some side-areas to explore in the cove and a few route choices in the temple. Gameplay is pretty good, mostly well balanced and a decent but fair challenge on Hard skill. The player fights a mixture of Krall, Slith, and various Skaarj, with a liberal amount of less monsters for variety. Monsters tend to lurk in wait or sometimes appear out of thin air. The exploration and side areas gives you plentiful weaponry from early on, and most monsters are faced individually or in pairs, as is traditional. However it retains a challenge particularly in the temple maps - fighting in and around water can prove quite tricky, and sparse armour in this map adds to the tension. The ending, with harder Skaarj, is also respectable, however with lots of weaponry it's not as exciting as it could be.
Overall: An modest, sometimes simple, unit, but one that is sensible, coherent, and well designed. |
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| | Map Comments |
| Hellscrag | Rating: 6.5 | | Thanks for the comments Shambler. Wow my first 7... :) modesty forbids me from posting a higher score.
| BangOut_[EH] | Rating: 6 | | I liked the balance of the three maps' gameplay and... *gasp* author modesty (see above)... wish there were more UTSP's lying around.
| Joeman | Rating: 7 | | I agree with that review. There are quite a few nice details and not many bad points at all. Combat in the temple was great!
| treebeard | Rating: 7 | | 7 is a fair score for this game. The words "short but sweet" sum it up nicely. The game plays well with never a dull moment, but just when I was getting into it I realised it been completed. LOL
| mman1 | Rating: 9 | | This only real thing that scored it down is a totally lame thing simply that there is something I don,t like about the chizra style levels! (maybe I just hate sliths) Told you my reason was LAME!!
| sykogene | Rating: 9 | | i really enjoyed these maps, best single player map(s) i've ever played. good music for it, and a cool map concept, i especially liked it how you made the maps interlink with each other,(going into one level then going back to the previous one). Well worth the download. :) Good Job.
| Shao 08-09-2004 10:29 PM MDT | Rating: 7.5 | | Good work :)
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