DOM-DMP-Enchanted
Map Info
	File Name dom-dmp-enchanted.zip Author souldividersjosz Gametype UT2k4 Double Domination Date Added 11-11-2004 File Version 1.00 File Size 15.16 mb Player Count 8 Map Description One of the maps in the Domination Map Pack. An ancient building in the mountains exactly on the border of 2 sworn enemy nations... Review Rating 7 User Rating 8.5 Overall Rating 8.0
Review
Reviewer ArcadiaVincennes Awe Score:  2.5/3 Date 02-22-2005 Build Score:  2.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  2.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  8.0/10 DOM-DMP-Enchanted (UT2004) A beautiful map with some decent gameplay, Enchanted enchants at first sight. If you like DOM, you’ll like this one. AWE: 2.5 The theme is strong with this one. A solid theme based on the Albatross set, this map makes use of natural settings and the Medieval sets to bring very strong visuals to your eyes. Tree branch and leaf shadows move back and forth on the ground. Vines crawl over the walls and ceilings of the building. A statue holds a glowing crystal and inside the DOM areas, light streams through large windows down into the play area. This author knows how to make it pretty and he does. The lights are pretty good overall. A mix of orange/red/yellow and blue, none of it is oversaturated and they blend together well. However, the orange/red/yellow is almost omni-present. It is broken up a little by the blue candles, but not enough. The lighting is too consistent throughout the level and do not create any defined shadows. A little more variation and/or contrast really would have made the lighting complete. Another overly-consistent aspect is the texture usage. It’s all aligned well, well chosen, and well applied, but it’s almost impossible to differentiate one section of hallway from another based on just the texturing. This wouldn’t have been as detrimental to navigation if the lighting had varied more as well, but as it is it can be hard to get going in the right direction. One clue as to which DOM point you want to go to is the colored ceiling tiles. But this doesn’t work as well as it was intended because not many people look up at the ceiling when fighting or just running around. It was something I had to train myself to do which is distracting. Otherwise the emitters and projectors work well together and tie the theme together even more. The music is stock but works well enough with the theme. All in all a very pretty map with some minor detriments. BUILD: 2.5 This is a well-built map. The brushwork is solid, the blocking volumes are nicely placed as are the static meshes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear any of the ambient sounds. Especially disappointing because the author had included custom sounds. Not even in the editor could I hear them. The areas were well-zoned overall. I didn’t get stuck by anything and everything flowed together well. Nothing really to complain about here except the sound. CAST: 2.0 Sadly, the map’s gameplay isn’t as pretty as its visuals. The first problem is the FPS. Most areas are somewhat below retail quality but I got hit pretty hard outside. Some more optimization was in order despite the zoning. The other complaint was the DOM point access. ****Correction: There are 4 entries into the DOM areas. However, they all face the same direction. This leaves little attack choice and the defenders always have their back to walls. Therefore it's fairly easy to defend and difficult to attack. This does promote better gameplay than as originally reviewed, however the main problem with the entry points still exists so there is no change in actual score for gameplay although it is better.**** Because of the layout, the DOM points are extremely defensible so the only challenge becomes who can get control of the DOM point first? One other problem is the weapon load-out. At the spawning points there is a weapon locker that provides a nice assortment of weapons. At each of the DOM points there are two weapon Bases. The problem with the weapon bases is that if the defenders run out of ammo for the weapons they picked up at the weapon lockers, there are new weapons within feet of the DOM points. Placing these weapon pickups farther away from the DOM points would have been much better placement. Finally, the layout of the map is symmetrical, repeating, and the DOM point directional indicators on the ceiling are almost useless. I found myself guessing which direction to go to to attack the opposing team until I figured out the ceiling clue, and even then I was confused by the identical-looking hallways. The lower-than-average FPS, similar DOM point entry locations, and too-close-for-comfort weapon bases, and repeating geometry/texturing really hurt the gameplay a lot. This is a beautiful map marred by aspects that remove some of the fun from it. Projectors, emitters, colored lights, textures, and static meshes all work together to form a beautiful picture. But with gameplay problems of too-easily defended DOM points and a tendency to get a little lost, it falls short of expectations. If you love DOM, you’ll want to get this map to see how long your defense can hold out while admiring the visuals. But if you’re looking for more varied DOM gameplay, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Map Comments
Gargorias 11-11-2004 11:45 PM MST Rating: 9   An absolutely beautifull map, well constructed with lots of atmosphere, nice architecture and reasonably good gameplay. What more can I say! A must for DDOM fans! Manticore 11-12-2004 09:46 PM MST Rating: 8.5   A worthwhile download but it's probably well worth getting the whole pack. Very professional quality... G.Lecter 02-25-2005 02:11 PM MST Rating: 7.5   Good: - Very good visual theme. - Great ambience. Lots of sounds... - I like the sniping position... - Good framerates. Not good: - Item placement: Most of the weapons are on the weapon lockers at first. The other ones are next to the DOM points, so I need not to leave the point I am defending if I want more weps or ammo; the DOM points are too easy to defend... The 50shields next to the playerstart are not very well placed imo. - Uhmm... Gameplay is a bit slow: Players can't get a DOMpoint in 10sec if they were killed. (Edit: ah, nono, after playing it more times I think the distances are OK, I can cross the map quite quickly using dodgejumps...) - I prefer non-symetrical DOM maps. - I personally don't like seeing words in the levelpreview, I prefer seeing more nice shots... My score is a 6, but I give a 7 because I saw the mapper worked very hard, and there are very few mappers that are interested in DOM Maps... ----- Edit: Comment updated: I probably was falling asleep when I rated this map saying it is a 6... I have to say it is one of the best custom DOM maps there are out. The item placement has destroyed an important point of DOM gameplay, but it is a good map anyway. I think a new version of this map, assymetrical, with an improved item placement would be awesome... souldividersjosz 03-07-2005 06:08 AM MST   Thanks for the feedback. Hope you like playing the map as much as I liked making it! About the review, I'm kind of disappointed that you actually got 'lost' or got confused in this map while there's only a very basic and not so complex layout and there's the ceiling colours and the banners. I found this element of the review a bit odd... anyone else got lost? EDIT: Thanks for improving the review Arcadia, and I forgive you :) Sicko Teddy 11-13-2004 04:08 PM MST Rating: 8.5   Looks neat and tasty! Theme is there and well constructed! I like trees + architecture combination. FPS was good.(because my comp is good ;P.) (actually that would be a problem for me when I am making a map, i can't tell if it will run good on low end and middle machines. is there a way to tell?? help or tips will be well appreciated) DJJD 11-15-2004 01:38 PM MST Rating: 8.5   This is some very good shit... B-E-A-utiful. I really like the natural / this-used-to-be-a-cool-place-but-its-getting-overgrown-with-vegitation look. And offcourse that mighty and extremely cool looking handcrafted wizzard blows my eyes out every time I see it. PS: I never got lost. Layout is simple enough to get memorized after 2 or 3 walks to the DOM point. Morphias 11-16-2004 02:08 AM MST Rating: 8   Ecellent work, but a little spammy for a DOM match. Would like to see a DM with similar features. CONS: Low FPS. (But that is to be expected with a static rich map) T0mbr41d3r 01-27-2005 01:09 PM MST Rating: 9.5   What they said, really beautiful map, I could marry it even. Graphics are amazing, gameplay is great aswell. Really nice work on this one. [[TDW-KkillgasmM]]] 02-21-2005 03:19 PM MST Rating: 9   its maps like this that have caused me to finally like DDOM ;) i found that the fps tends to be quite fast, and better than the average custom map i get off the net ArcadiaVincennes 02-22-2005 08:00 PM MST   My sincerest apologies to the author. I was incorrect about an aspect of the map that had some influence on the gameplay aspect of the map. I have corrected this in the review with an edit to the original. Again, my deepest apologies to the author. Draco 06-10-2005 07:37 PM MDT Rating: 8   Good map ...