DM-DMC_BlueVapors_Time
Map Info
	File Name dm-dmc_bluevapors_time.zip Author ApHeXx Gametype UT Deathmatch Date Added 12-04-2004 File Version 1.00 File Size 5.03 mb Player Count 6-12 Map Description DM-DMC_BlueVapors_Time is a medium sized Level provided with the ShockRifle Review Rating 5 User Rating 6 Overall Rating 6.0
Review
Reviewer ArcadiaVincennes Awe Score:  1.0/3 Date 07-14-2005 Build Score:  2.0/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  2.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  6.0/10 DM-DMC_BlueVapors_Time (UT99) A somewhat generic-looking semi-industrial map with many signs relating to rabbits, a clan, and a substance that's illegal in some places and regulated in others. Oh - and it's shock-rifle only. AWE: 1.0 The map has a mix of textures ranging from rusty metal to stonework, to generic metal walls/doors. No real continuity, nor much of an effort at alignment of the textures is present although the custom textures, aside from the self-pimping ones, are quite nice. The overall effect is - well - there really is no overall effect. The colors all flow together fairly well but there's no overall theme to speak of. In general the textures look okay in place, but when taken as a whole, there's no consistency to their implementation. And there's no trim anywhere to soften the borders between them. The lighting is just about as bad. The author primarily used the same light fixture everywhere. The problem is that the fixture is white and therefore looks very bad in Unreal light. So he set most of them to unlit. This causes the light fixture to look like it's 'turned off' but yet there's still light in the area. Either the author should have chosen a different fixture or used a low-level light and set it, and the fixture, to 'special' lit. Then he could have added another light actor to do the actual light casting. The result in the map is that all the light looks 'ambient lit' and it seems like the light is completely separate from the light fixture. And, unfortunately, all the lighting looks like the same color, except in the lava area, although they aren't. The architecture is also very basic. There are some nice forms used but overall it doesn't build up to any discernable theme or overarching idea. Also, there are some really quite useless forms such as dips in the floor that serve no purpose, nor are deep enough to add to gameplay and frankly look out of place. Still, they do break up the flat surfaces a bit. So overall the awe isn’t really. The texturing was somewhat random, the lighting fairly bad, and the architecture just really wasn’t there. Not a bad effort for a beginner, but clearly plenty of room for development. BUILD: 2.0 Despite its visual deficiencies, the overall build isn’t quite as bad. There are someunaligned vertices but they don’t produce HOMs. The BSP does fit together well and there is some nice work dotted around the map. The teleporters worked fine although there was absolutely no reason to have them. The lifts and doors all worked and sounded appropriate. However, their trigger setup, although functional, needed some tweaking. Many times I approached a door that was closing and stood against it waiting for it to open again. Only by stepping away from the door could I activate the trigger to open it again. The map is zoned appropriately so there was no real FPS slow-down except in one area. In the ‘garden’ area the FPS dropped through the floor because of the marijuana plants that were comprised of entirely too many polys. A nice idea to present an outdoor area, and keeping with the ‘theme’ as it were, however the outside sucked the FPS out of the map and rendered that area largely unplayable. Finally, the ambient sounds were decent enough but lacking overall. There were far too few and left most of the map in silence. Except for the custom music. In general not a bad build. Some tweaking and more ambient sounds would probably be jut what the doctor ordered. CAST: 2.0 The first thing you’ll need to remember is that the only weapon provided is the shock rifle. So you’ll get lots of practice and shock whores will fall in love with them all over again. There are plenty to be had – and ammo – without going overkill. As for the layout, it’s decent enough. There’s some long hallways, a mix of smaller and larger areas, some z-axis, although there could have been more, and some doors to surprise your opponents as they come through. There are still thighpad and armor pickups (they have been reskinned gold) and health vials, but there’s no shield belt or damage amp (that I could find). So it’s pretty much just you and the shock rifle. Flow is decent enough. I found bots pretty much everywhere I went, although they did seem to concentrate around the teleporters a bit. This is unfortunate as, as mentioned earlier, one end of the teleporter is located in the outside area where the FPS drops to almost unplayable levels. There really is no need for the teleporter here. Yes, if one removes it, the outside room is left with only one exit/entrance but a door and short corridor could easily remedy that. So overall the map’s not so bad to play. If the outdoor area and teleporter had been tweaked, and more z-axis included throughout, it would be quite fun. So for a beginner map it’s really not that bad overall. The author certainly needs to work on the visual aspect of mapping, but it’s built fairly well. The gameplay is fairly good and it would seem to me that this would be a fairly good map to practice your shock rifle skills on. Still, you won’t be looking at the pretty in this one and you might tire of the author’s mug, the rabbits, and the ‘weedies’ scattered around, but in the end, you may very well come out a better shock rifle user. An okay map to practice on but not to hold onto once you’ve become a shock whore yourself.
Map Comments
HaleBopP 12-07-2004 07:23 AM MST Rating: 6   Cool map.. i like it. especially the golden items ApHeXx 08-14-2005 06:30 AM MDT   Thank you for the review ArcadiaVincennes. I'll keep some things in my mind for the next maps. Thx 4 the comment(s).