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| DM-GothicMonastary | | | Map Info |
| | | | File Name | dm-gothicmonastary.zip | | Author | Revelation | | Gametype | UT Deathmatch | | Date Added | 06-01-2005 | | File Version | 1.00 | | File Size | 1008 kb | | Player Count | 2-4 | | Map Description | A gothic-seemed DM-map with a few "eastereggs"
Best for 4 players or 1on1. | | Review Rating | 6 | | User Rating | 7.5 | | Overall Rating | 7.0 |
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|  | | | | Review |
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DM-GothicMonastary (UT99)
An elaborate gothic cathedral awaits to send your opponents to thier doom. A myrid of colors, passages, and special effects await the competitors.
AWE: 2.0
The texturing here draws heavily from gothic/castle packages and is blended with custom textures. The textures are applied appropriately and to good effect overall. There are some misalignments but nothing you'd easily notice. However, the author decided to use some textures on geometry that causes them to be stretched out vetically. In most applications the stretching is mild but there are other occasions where it's somewhat dramatic and just does not look so good.
The lighting is mostly dissappointing. It's not necessarily badly executed, but more like bad design choice. First of all, the map is extremely dark. Now, yes, a dim cathedral setting is quite appropriate but I found the darkness to be a bit too much in several areas. The colors used were also a bit of a suspect design decision. We have red, green, blue, yellow, and white. The key to using colored lights is not to provide a mix of as many colors as possible but to pick a color scheme that either contrasts or complements each of the other colors used. The colors are all over the place seemingly with little rhyme or reason although various details were colored consistantly across the map. I also consider some of the colors used to be a bit oersaturated.
The architecture was the best aspect of the AWE. Traditional gothic/cathedral architecture is used throughout the map and its very well executed. My only complaints are pretty much all of the stairwells. They're all too steep, expecially the free-standing ones, and although usefull, they really should have been extended, or stretched out more.
There are a number of visual effects scattered through the map which help enhance the experience a bit. I won't go into details so that players can discover them for themselves but all of these were nicely done.
In general the textureing and architecture are the best visual aspects of the map despite a few somewhat serious flaws in each. The lighting is the most dissappointing with a conglomeration of colors that are oversaturated and the excessive darkness in general.
BUILD: 2.5
The build is fairly good. The BSP is quite complicated in order to produce all the lovely architecture, however som of the BSP is not aligned to grid. I'm surprised that I found no HOMs throughout the map. There are some odd angles/cuts/extensions but nothing that really harms the build. The zoning, on the other hand, does need some work as there were areas that could have been divided better. The special pathing for the more difficult to reach items was executed well although the bots did not seem to be very interested in many of them. The biggest dissappointment was in the soundscaping. A creepy, dark, cathedral/monastary, setting almost demands ambience enhancement through sound and the only sound the author saw fit to add was a rather annoying wind sound for the cloisters area and the splash of water if you jump in the fountain. So much more could have been accomplished through creative soundscaping on this map.
In general the build is pretty well done. There are some unaligned brushes but they don't have any effect on the map, and all the special effects are constructed well. The big dissappointment is the lack of worthy sound atmosphere.
CAST: 1.5
The gameplay here isn't quite as good as the visuals. It's a bit R-C-R and most of the adjoining passages, stairwells, and non-room areas are quite narrow. Normally, it's nice to have a risky, narrow area to pass through but such a poropensity to join rooms together with such risky areas is not such a good gameplay mechanic. The darkness also plays a major role in gameplay in that it obscures passages and makes the map feel quite limiting in where one can go. The steep stairs are also a bit difficlt to deal with in terms of maneuverability. There is z-axis scattered through the map but there are very few places where it can be used effectively. The weapon layout is satisfactory in general however the rocket launcher is placed in a somewhat uncomfortable location. True, one does not want to place it in a completely open area, but the area the author chose is a bit too constrictive for comfort. Also the sniper rifle is also placed in an uncomfortable place. There's only one avenue to access it which is an unspoken 'no-no' in level design. Master snipers can be extrmely aggravating to play against so sniper locations need to be balanced by an alternate access route which this map does not have. Finally, the super pickups were distributed well throughout the map with none too close to each other and some basic risk/reward arrangements. However the location for the shield belt turned out to be more of a problem due to the items surrounding it. The bots would tend to dance above it trying to get lower to grab it but could not. So they tend to dance around on top of it until they're discovered by a player or another bot.
Overall the gameplay is a bit dissppointing. Narrow passages, not enough z-axis, stuck bots, and two badly-chosen wepaon locations drop the gameplay fun for this one.
GothicMonastary is a fairly pretty map to play around in. If you can overcome the darkness and wonky lighting, you may end up spending some time just looking at the architecture and some of the nice effects. However, when you finally get around to playing it you'll probably be a bit dissappointed. Not a bad map by far, it just doesn't attain that 'sweet spot' of gameplay and visuals that most mappers strive for. |
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| | | | Map Comments |
| redfist
06-01-2005 12:24 PM MDT | Rating: 8 | | Wow,you must of used every deco from unreal,this level has a lot to it,everything is much better than average for sure.
I am not to sure on gameplay,really have to play (any-all) maps online to get the real feel,but it seems ok.
Anyone who wants to learn things this would be a good map to look through.
Only a few things,you shoulda added at least one breaking glass (unless I missed it).
And my only complaint is the rockets hit the sky,it would of totaly rounded off this map if you made a cloudzone up there.
I did not check bot play,nor look in the editor.
very nice job mappage.
| Freedomshaoray
06-01-2005 06:48 PM MDT | Rating: 7.5 | | that's ok...but u're doing great job
| Lord_Prawn
06-04-2005 02:42 PM MDT | Rating: 6 | | The sshots look good.....searching room for UT99....ahh! aint in de box!!
Edit: Got it! play map....nice map...lol bak 2 UT99 :)
| Revelation
06-22-2005 03:41 PM MDT | | Thank you for the review, although it was defenitly not me who requested it.
First thing to say is, I completely agree with the reviewer. I know, the map is to dark, gameplay is not prety good and so on. I think, I would even have given myself a lower score.
But despite of the fact I agree with the reviewer, I simply want to explain some details about how the map was built, especcially after the review:
First to say, the map is OLD! Built in March 2003, it doesn't nearly represent what I know about the Ed today (just compare the map with DM-Darkov which I only built one year later).
Second, I've done this in UnrealEd 1.0! Yes, really!! Don't ask why, it was a pretty strange bet.
And finally, you should know about the PC, I've used for this map.
Although you propably cannot even imagine UT running on a machine like that, the following stats are not a joke:
Pentium I 133 MHz / 32 MB SD-RAM / 1,7 GB HDD / Voodoo 2 12 MB / Windows 95 (!)
I don't want to use this as a lame excuse for the map's faults, I just want to show you how hard mapping can be ;)
PS: Of course, today I use a "little" better PC^^
| EvilSwanky
06-23-2005 08:41 AM MDT | | A good pc doesn't excuse bad framerates (as far as it goes for your other maps). :P This one, however, is built quite well for this ancient rig. Well, my PC isn't that much better...^^°
I'm not quite sure about this map, it is a bit so/so, I will have to play it a little more to give it an appropiate rating.
| Syex
07-13-2005 12:54 PM MDT | Rating: 9 | | Nice map.
| Manticore
02-23-2006 08:12 AM MST | Rating: 6 | | Above average, but not by much. No breaking glass that I could see......
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