DM-Gael99
Map Info
	File Name dm-gael99.zip Author commander_keen Gametype UT Deathmatch Date Added 01-23-2005 File Version 1.00 File Size 565 kb Player Count 2 - 3 Map Description people will probably hate me for bringing this map to ut99, but its was an architecture test more than anyting. Review Rating 5.5 User Rating 6 Overall Rating 5.5
Review
Reviewer ArcadiaVincennes Awe Score:  2.0/3 Date 03-04-2005 Build Score:  2.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  1.0/3 User Point:  0 Overall Score:  5.5/10 DM-Gael99 (UT99) Those who know UT2003 especially, but also UT2004 know DM-Gael. Rockets and lightning, one room, one big ragdoll pit, and - some would argue – a whole lotta spam. Well, here we have a conversion of this love it or hate it map for UT99. The author says it was mostly for architecture testing and not for serious play but I did receive a request for review so…. AWE: 2.0 Gone is the industrial steam house of the original. It’s been replaced by cut stone, brick, and wood with a hint of metal here and there. It’s pretty map, but has its issues. The texturing in normal light looks nice. Everything seems aligned, trimmed off well, and none of the textures seem out of place. But if you turn it to unlit, wow – there’s a lot of different textures. Again, they’re mostly well aligned – some aren’t but you have to look for them, and everything is well-trimmed. Although the textures all match the theme, it seems like there’s definitely too many used. The lighting is a little too consistent, and definitely too dark. The light changes between a soft yellow from torches, a white/blue light from the sky, and the rest is dark. So dark I could either barely see the texturing or not see it at all. A little more variation and a bit more light would have been a great help. On the plus side, the coronas were nice and not overdone which is usually the case. As for architecture, it follows the same general layout as the original with the exception of the two ramps in the middle and the boards over the ragdoll pit. Everything’s been shrunk/scaled down a bit to fit the UT99 sizes but I got the impression it was shrunk a little too far. The new/improved/changed architecture is nice enough but nothing particularly special. I think the structural work is solidly constructed and it works well with the theme. In general, the textures are well chosen and applied with a bit too much helter-skelter. The lighting is good where it is, but a little more variation would have been nice along with more light. Finally, the architecture was solid – nothing too special, but well done nonetheless. BUILD: 2.5 For build I don’t really have anything much to complain about. All the pieces fit together well. The BSP work was quite competent and the movers worked and sounded fine. The only lacking area IMO was the ambient sound. There’s a general ambient sound of wind, and specific ambient sounds for the torches but that’s about it. Granted the map doesn’t afford one the opportunity to do much with sound, a little more variation/instances would have helped. In sum a well built map with just a little deficiency in sound mapping. CAST: 1.0 The gameplay is similar to the original but the middle ramps and the removal of most of the danger of the ragdoll pit end up changing it fairly significantly. Because of the ‘blockade’ caused by the ramps in the middle, it is much easier to avoid the shock rifle (which has replaced the lightning gun). The author has added in flak cannons to the top elevator exits and the rocket launchers remain on the bottom floor. For those used to the original, you’ll probably find the gameplay a bit strange. The addition of the flak and the replacement of the lightning make this much more of a map for everyone, rather than just those who were good at either spamming with rockets or headshot lightning lovers. However, with the map shrunk down as much as it is, the size of the ramps makes a large difference in terms of avoiding projectiles. It is much easier to survive much longer and the ramps providing an additional way up is at the same time welcome and yet an annoyance. It’s an easy escape that you appreciate when you’re being hunted, but annoying when you’re hunting a player. Also, I don’t think the boards were necessary to cover the pit. A quick jump and one clears the pit with no need for the boards. However, due to the lighting the map is quite unnecessarily dark which made gameplay a bit more difficult. But it’s small enough that one can easily escape the darkness. But your enemy may not making him that much harder to target. In general the lighting and ramps really made the gameplay more challenging and yet easier at the same time. I would argue that both factors were really more unneeded rather than an improvement. Despite having the same general layout the gameplay is fairly different from the spamfest of the original. However, the difference is not necessarily good. I think it will depend largely on players’ individual gamestyles. I believe, like the original, players will find this a love it or hate map. Some deficiencies in textures and lighting drag the score down a bit and the gameplay just seems odd overall. I say download it to play the infamous Gael in UT99 but you probably won’t be playing for long.
Map Comments
Derdak2rot 01-23-2005 08:19 PM MST Rating: 5   Nice constructed morbias-like map but unfortunatly bot support is not very good , they fall often in the central pit which are no deadzone !! damn !! and the map is very small , the central area is tight, but its also nice builded . souldividersjosz 01-24-2005 05:23 AM MST Rating: 5   Too bad such a nice architectural style has to be wasted on something as questionable as Gael... redfist 01-24-2005 09:31 PM MST   Hmm,I wonder what all the redo-remake haters think of redoing a new map for an older game,,,hmm Cause all there ideas and complaints theorys fly right out the window,no static meshes omg they will have a coranary. hehe. Kantham 01-25-2005 02:16 PM MST   kool , another commander_keen map! RayZidane 01-28-2005 03:05 PM MST   yeah...maybe Redfist should learn how to create his own map!! Bot40 01-28-2005 05:56 PM MST   Argg, architecture test maybe, but why gael of all maps :p Anyways, you obviously don't want comments on the gameplay so here's what I thought :) Architecture was quite nice, classic ut stuff, maybe a bit easy to get caught in places (the doorways to the lifts?) Would have been nice to see some sort of unique features (for example, some collapsed walls/closed off corridors etc. to add some extra character) but what is there is solid stuff. I thought there was perhaps a few too many different textures used in places though, and the textures are rather over-saturated...but that's epic's fault more than anything :p Some nice shadows cast from above but lighting could have used another colour somewhere for contrast, maybe some cool water or something, but it certainly doesn't look washed out and plain like a lot of maps. In particular, it's nice to see the dark areas are not just zonelight which is what lazy people do and always looks terribly flat. The skybox could really have used some work, it doesn't fit at all with the overall colour of the map at all. Errr yeah, I am normally highly critical but this was a plesant surprise for me :) I wanna see a larger map with a proper layout next time :p Sicko Teddy 01-28-2005 10:31 PM MST   HEAY!- make DM-ANTALANTUS :P LOL! I quite wondering if it is possible to make such a terrain in the old UT. kurtloeffler 01-30-2005 08:23 PM MST   thanks for the comments i really hate zone lighting, it looks horrible and unlit i never use any zone lighting in any of my maps, you can get really cool global illumination effects just by using large radius, low brightness lights. the sky box is crap, it is just an unlit box with some premade sky texture (that arent even the exact same color, at least on the computer i made it on). xMARIN 03-09-2005 11:25 AM MST   hey kurtloeffler, if u see this reply, plz contact me by icq if u can, thx :) Corrupt Mind 03-10-2005 07:39 AM MST   Wow... this is actually quite nice... I prefer to call it a DM-Morbias remake... because all in all every Unreal/UT99 player knows Gael was secretly inspired if not a clone of it. So thats where my views are gunna come from. As I said its a great map. IMO if this map gets out it will be played alot. I have added it to my collection and it will be played alot. GJ XepptizZ 03-19-2005 04:45 PM MST Rating: 7   I'm one of those rare arena map fans, so I liked it pretty much. Monday 04-01-2005 01:35 PM MST   Small and slightly spooky. Bots are no good. Commander_Keens' '1on1-zhuanxu' is better. Gave no rating as it's a test-map and not original. milb 04-02-2005 05:54 AM MST Rating: 6.5   Looks real good, but found some missalignements an the corridors.^^ Nothing to say to gp, coz it's only a arena. But it's fun to play so I'll give a 6.5