CTF-Stargate R3
Map Info
	File Name ctf-stargate-r3.zip Author Nemezis Gametype UT Capture the Flag Date Added 02-06-2004 File Version 3.00 File Size 1.44 mb Player Count 8-16 Map Description A versão mais recente do mapa CTF-Stargate. Como existem alterações significativas, achei melhor fazer um novo mapa ;) -------------------------------------- New version of the CTF-Stargate map. The are some relevant changes, so i've thought it would be better to make this a new map ;) -------------------------------------- www.nemezis.pt.vu -------------------------------------- Review Rating 4 User Rating 7 Overall Rating 5.0
Review
Reviewer Ironblayde Awe Score:  1.0/3 Date 06-07-2004 Build Score:  2.0/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  1.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  5.0/10 AWE: 1.0 Based on the film Stargate (and apparently a TV series of the same name, though I've never seen it), Nemezis' update of his map CTF-Stargate features two pyramids connected via teleporters, one done in the traditional Egyptian style, the other with a more technological theme. It definitely isn't much to look at, constructed as it is of extremely basic architecture that generally shows you fewer than a hundred polys at once. That's a sparse figure even by 1999's standards, when UT was first released; today it's exceptionally so. That isn't to say that a map must have x polygons in view at all times in order to be effective visually, but in this case, the minimalist approach fails to impress. The whole map looks very utilitarian, bereft of ornamentation. What's more, those decorative elements that do exist sometimes look out of place. For example, the map has a couple dozen tiny octagonal platforms protruding from the ground, one for each PlayerStart, and its base texture has a shimmering mass of energy on a solid black background. It's an effect texture, often used for teleporters. It looks ludicrous on those little platforms, and given its usual function, it also makes the platforms look like they should do something. The first time I saw them outside, I thought they were jump pads. I do like the Stargates, though the architecture surrounding them leaves something to be desired, particularly in the blue base. The Stargate in there is supported by legs so impossibly thin that the whole setup looks like it would collapse if a Nali cow sneezed on it. And the railing supports leading up to the gate are made of sheets instead of solid shapes, so they appear two-dimensional. Finally, there are a few touches that the author seems to have forgotten to add. There are no boundaries around the teleporters outside the red base, so they're invisible. Similarly, a lift in the red flag room has no border on it, and is indistinguishable from the floor around it. Architectural differences between the two sides of the map are minimal; primarily it's the texturing that differentiates between them. Egypt textures are used for the one, and Starship and UTTech1 for the other. The textures chosen are all right for the most part, aside from some odd choices for ceilings, but it's not the choices that hurt the map. The problem here is that since the bases have extremely large surfaces that are unbroken by decorative features, the textures often tile far too many times. It's not so bad on the Egyptian side of the map, since most of the big walls are plain brick, and many rows of bricks stacked atop one another looks perfectly natural. The map's futuristic side, though, uses textures that are a lot busier, and those really start to look bad when they tile too much. The teleporter room in the futuristic base features walls whose textures tile ten times from top to bottom –- way too much. Texture alignment is very poor as well. Sadly, the lighting does nothing to improve the look of the map, and in many cases it does a fair bit to detract from it. The author has taken the artless approach of blanketing his map with a number of insanely high-radius lights that bathe each room in largely uniform light, excepting the shadows that collect where two surfaces meet. The colors are ugly in most cases as well, either pure white or grossly oversaturated, red in the Egyptian base and blue in the technological. The effects of this are considerably worse to behold in the red base, where oversaturated lights create gigantic, unsightly blotches of reddish-pink color on the walls. This is especially bad in the red base's Stargate room, which is mostly lit with a decent whitish color that has a faint red tint, but whose walls have enormous rectangular regions of red. The worst part about it is that it's not at all obvious where the red light is coming from, which is what happens when you set a light's radius too high by an order of magnitude. BUILD: 2.0 Though the map lacks visual appeal, it is proficiently assembled. The author's brushwork is nice, with no brush alignment errors that I saw, and a very low incidence of BSP holes as well, which is especially nice to see. Zoning is effective as well. A handful of the zones (the hallways to either side of each base) are perhaps a little on the large side – I might have cut them in half solely for the purpose of making the location names a little more specific – but that's only a small thing, and a matter of opinion at that. Speaking of location names, they're all in Portuguese, so those of us who don't speak the language get to have ourselves a small lesson in it. After playing this map several times, I'm confident that if I ever get lost in Portugal and need to ask a native where the blue flag room is, I'll be all right. There are some interesting movers in this map. Aside from the usual lifts and doors – which work fine, though I think the lifts in the flag rooms move too slowly – there's a teleporter effect that anyone who's seen Stargate will be familiar with. You step onto a circular region of the floor, and metallic rings descend from the ceiling to surround you. Once that's done, you're transported to a similar construction elsewhere in the map, and the rings rise back into the ceiling to release you. It's cleverly done, and fans of the film (or the TV series) will be happy to see that the effect is rendered faithfully. Botplay is pretty good. The author has assembled an effective node network replete with appropriate DefensePoints so the bots stay vigilant on defense. They also take multiple routes to and from the flag when attacking. The main problem is that they never use their translocators, and there are many places in the map where it would be beneficial to do so. There's also one place in the blue base with a small path that's completely disconnected from the network, a hidden hallway with an invisibility pickup. Usually this just means that bots won't go in there, which is a minor problem, but in my first test game I saw a bot get in somehow, and suddenly the problem became more significant. Whether he danced in there accidentally while fighting or was knocked in by weapons fire, I'm not sure, but once he was in, he didn't know how to get out. He went and got the invisibility, then sat and did nothing for the rest of the game. Ambient sounds are used throughout the map, and are usually appropriate, although the sound of a swinging bridge in the red base is out of place. The problem with sound is akin to the author's problem with lighting, meaning that there are too few actors with their radii set too high. For example, instead of having a burning sound emitted over a short distance by each torch in a room, the author will place a sound actor in the center of the room and turn its radius up. There are two problems with this approach. First, you can often hear the sounds from too far away, and second, it sometimes seems like the sound is coming from the wrong direction. A little more patience on the author's part in this area would have been appreciated. CAST: 1.0 When it comes down to gameplay, despite a few interesting ideas on the author's part, much of the map involves running in straight lines through wide open areas. The two bases are completely separated from one another in space, so that the only way to get from one to the other is to pass through one of two teleporters: a big Stargate, or that contraption with the rings that I mentioned earlier. The Stargates link the inside of the red base to the outside of the blue, and the rings link the inside of the blue base to the outside of the red. Thus you have to traverse the region outside one of the bases to get from one flag to the other, and that region is nothing but a long, straight run (more than 4,000 UUs, for those keeping score) with only a double handful of skinny pillars offering inadequate cover from enemy fire. The situation inside the bases is a little more interesting, but still flawed. There are four ways to escape the flag room. The most obvious routes are to either side of the room, which subject you to a long run through narrow corridors – that's never fun. The third route is out of a window right in front of the flag, which will take you right down to that base's inner teleporter, but the catch is that it's guarded by a door that only opens for members of the defending team, so you can't use it unless you catch a sniper unawares, and he's not clever enough to move inside before you can jump through the window. The fourth and most interesting route is also in front of the flag, but elevated significantly. Anyone can get through that, but if you jump down to the teleporter from up there, you'll lose more than forty health from fall damage, and there are automatic machine guns up there too, preventing you from running out the front of the pyramid on that elevated walkway. However, it is possible to break your fall halfway down to the teleporter, thus eliminating any fall damage, leaving only a minor bruise you might take from the automatic guns on your way down. Normally I would say that's pretty cool, but for two things. First, seemingly insignificant architectural differences between the two bases actually make this much easier to pull off on the blue side (it's very difficult on the red), and second, even if you pull it off, your only reward is the aforementioned long, unprotected run back to your base, so you don't even get a real jump on the defenders. The map's flow is also hurt by the rings that act as one of the sets of teleporters. The effect looks cool the first time you go through it, but after that, you'll just get annoyed at the fact that it takes four seconds to get through a teleporter, which is normally an instantaneous process. Plus, only one person can go through the rings at a time; try it with more, and people get telefragged. This exacerbates the advantage to the red team that I mentioned above; not only is it easier to take the easiest route without getting hurt for an attacker on red, but he also gets a head start of several seconds once he makes it through the inner teleporter. A blue flag carrier enjoys no such advantage. I don't like the item placement in this map. It usually seems like there's far too much ammo and not enough weapons. The flag room and the teleporter room adjacent to it, for instance, have 32 standard ammo pickups between them (plus eight individual shells for the Sniper Rifle), but all they offer for weapons are a Sniper Rifle, a Bio-Rifle, and a chainsaw. Who in his right mind is going to use a chainsaw? Yet there it is, right next to the flag. You have to run some distance into your base's corridors to get anything better. This wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that most of the map's spawn points are right in those rooms, where weapons are so scarce. Try chasing a flag carrier from in there and you won't have much of a chance to arm yourself along the way. Health is placed pretty well, so that there's always enough to keep you going, but not enough to make you invincible, but when it comes to the other pickups in the game, the map has problems again. I think the author went rather overboard with his secret doors, hidden lifts, and false walls. Each base has a Big Keg O' Health, a Redeemer, an invisibility pickup, a Damage Amplifier, and a Shield Belt, and they're all hidden in various secret rooms. The point of a secret room is to give the player a little bonus or an Easter egg for finding something that's not immediately obvious. But in this map, knowing the secrets is essential if you want to compete, since they house so many important items. Including so many almost defeats the purpose of including them at all. FINAL SCORE: 4.0 Good execution on the technical front is the only aspect of this map that's truly noteworthy. Elsewise, lackluster visuals and uninspiring gameplay condemn CTF-Stargate-R3 to the pile of gimmick maps that don't offer much, except to fans of their inspirers who are willing to overlook flawed gameplay in favor of seeing a familiar location.
Map Comments
dushnok 02-06-2004 12:13 PM MST Rating: 7   Two bases (clas sical and high tech themed pyramids) linked with ring teleports and the gate, there are some traps and secret areas. Looks nice without too much polygons. Good work overall kkehoe5 02-07-2004 07:47 PM MST Rating: 8   Great map. It is very large and really has a good Stargate feel to it. I love the transporter rings. It is pretty easy agenst the bots but plays well with people. The textures could be better but I like it overall. introspector 02-20-2004 02:07 AM MST Rating: 9   I joined just to comment on this one. I think this is the best map since the Evil Tower series. The effects makes you feel like you are on a real SG-1 mission! It is a large map that is still very playable. Try it with the Monster Madness mutator! The only reasons I didn't give it 10 points is because there does not seem to be anything interesting behind the pyramids and the pale-white naked angel is completely out of place. Keep 'em comin’! -- I found the secrets behinds the pyramids. Looks VERY nice but nothing happens there. If you use the guantlet mod no gateways ever show up in there. DiFool 02-13-2004 10:14 AM MST Rating: 7   This is a good map for the reasons already cited (yes, there should be a fortune cookie if you bother to walk around the pyramid-a hidden entrance or something). There _are_ a couple of secret passages like that inside the pyramids (the bots will show you the way!) holding some goodies. CTF-Tutankhamun had a stargate too, which unlike this one actually gave you a ride in the wormhole (on this map it would slow flow down too much tho). Nemezis 02-16-2004 02:56 PM MST   First of all, thank you for all the good things you say about my piece of work ;) Second, there is something behind the pyramids, but i'm saying too much already ;) its up to you to discover it, hehe... And that angel, maybe its out of place, but i liked it so much that could not resist it :) Doctor Evil 02-15-2004 06:15 PM MST Rating: 9   I find this map intriguing and a joy to play. The stargate looks nice, but it is the transporter rings that are so new to me - nicely done! The area behind the pyramids does seem to be somewhat wasted. The secret chamber doesn't seem to harbour any goodies that would make that lengthy detour worth the time. The main entrance to each pyramid does seem to cause a bottleneck that can favour the defenders. Some of the textures are almost as garish as those that often afflict the Evil maps that I have created. Yet all these comments knock my rating down to no lower than a 9! The effect when you go through the transporter rings ... very interesting. mowgly 05-24-2004 03:52 PM MDT Rating: 10   This map is sooo sick. It has abunch of things from the show stargate. And its a fun map. You should download it. Manticore 05-25-2004 06:50 PM MDT Rating: 4   The mapper obviously wanted to create two different worlds and succeeded up to a point. Or was the mapper's intention to do a map that echoed parallel univese maps like "Wormhole" from Doom? The high-tech themed alien temple is fine; making use of the old Unreal textures. The Egyptian themed temple is o.k. too, until you enter that large hall which lies outside the entrance to the pyramid. Then you encounter deco's that have absolutely nothing to do with the Egyptian theme of that "universe" (yes, that stupid angel) and the whole mood of the map is ruined. In fact, the non-Egyptian deco'ed hall which doesn't contain the stargate in that particular "universe" doesn't just look bad in terms of the overall Egyptian theme but is totally superfluous to the gameplay. Why only half change the two map sections' layouts to create different "universes"? Why not have two completely different architectural "events" instead of just the same map mirrored with just a few functional or cosmetic changes? This is another mapping example of too much too soon (or too little too late)......... The rating is for making a good attempt using UT but after that the disappointment starts...... sl1m 05-27-2004 04:37 PM MDT Rating: 10   enother great work! :p cobra6 06-08-2004 02:56 AM MDT Rating: 4   Very good review, and very precise. I completely agree whit you. Luquado 06-08-2004 03:42 AM MDT Rating: 3   There's really no excuse anymore since UT's been out for so long for maps with poor flow, poor design and architecture, and poor texturing... this map suffers from all of those things, as well as *very* basic geometry. I don't mean those comments to discourage the mapper, but more as a "wtf" to the people giving this map 7s-10s (?!) Practice and you'll get better. On the flip side, the teleporter rings are cool. That and the lack of major BSP errors (as the reviewer mentioned) are the only thing preventing this from being a 1 or 2. zzeta 06-10-2004 09:20 AM MDT Rating: 1   ITS look so crap