CTF-Angkorian
Map Info
	File Name ctf-angkorian.zip Author DarkWaver Gametype UT2k3 Capture The Flag Date Added 03-02-2004 File Version 1.00 File Size 10.95 mb Player Count 8-12 Map Description None Review Rating 8 User Rating 9 Overall Rating 9.0
Review
Reviewer Hourences Awe Score:  2.5/3 Date 03-04-2004 Build Score:  2.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  3.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  9.0/10 A rather large map with a theme based on the Angkor temple. People are going to shoot me for this probably but the map kind of reminds me of CTF Gaunglet for the original UT, in some bizarre but better way. The whole floorplan is basically a straight line, with a flag at both ends. The whole map is also outdoors, running around in a area with lots of terrain, rocks and kind of angkor styled buildings. For such a type of floorplan and map that uses a lot of terrain it works pretty nicely. The gameplay is better as the retail UT 2003 CTF maps (duh). The rocks and walls on the terrain nicely block your view so you don't see the whole map at once and the second floor also provides a lot of cross spots where you can get to the other side of the map via some walkways and the like. In the middle you can also get back up to the second floor without translocating but by using a rock bridge. Basically said : flow is nice and the map plays well. It also has a few cool dodge areas, where you can dodge against a slant thing and thus flying a little higher and maybe even reaching the second floor. Like the tiles near the flag, nice stuff. Most itemplacement was good, although some of it was weird. Like having lots of healthvials at the bottom of a pool, the gameplay point = ? On a few spots there were also some missing blocking volumes, there are already a nice amount of BV's around but I feel it could have still improved a lot. As for visuals, the map has some nice custom staticmeshes that are all nicely made and improve the map a lot. The architecture in general is believable and solid, though it could have looked more like Angkor. Right now it looks very loosely inspired by Angkor instead of really looking like Angkor. Lets say it looks a lot more like the generic UT2003 Aborea styled maps then anything else (also due to the textures ofcourse). There is a lot of BSP around but it doesn't make it look bad, it looks solid and that's more important then a 5 million poly environment that looks highpoly indeed but also weak and without any sense of feeling or whatever (*shrug* some retail UT2003 maps *shrug*) Oh and some BSP surfaces lacked trim and I noticed it quite hard while playing, just struck me in the eyes every time I ran past such area. Textures are fine, but nothing more. They are almost all retail UT2003 textures. And yeah that's fine but after 500 custom maps I'm really bored with them. The rock texture I saw in just about every outdoor map out there already, so it's not exactly thrilling to see it once again. If you put so much time in getting new meshes and making this kind of map, get some new textures as well, 'will greatly improve the feel of the map and the impression people get while playing. Now the one thing I really didn't like about the map was the lighting. For one it looked really dark at some spots for me. While the sunlight and other lights are fine with brightness a lot of the shadows look really pitch black for me. There is barely any distance fog in the map to ease the utterly black shadows a little, nor is there any zonelighting around to break the black stuff. Kinda bad, as pure black is never good, it's so terrible hard and powerful that it destroys the visuals around it, just like pure red or pure purple lighting would do. Another thing I dislike about the lighting is the saturation and the chosen colors. Especially some rooms inside are really pure blue, not only because their saturation is way too low, but also because the only lamps in those areas all cast the exact same color, and the ambient is the exact same color as well. This happens outside as well, red ambient light, with red lights in the red base give this washed out result, and the red ambientlight on itself works far from great as well. The blue base is better because the small blue white lights at least give a little variation but it still doesn't blow my mind. More colors, less saturation inside and more contrasts and variations could have done wonders. Compare the two screensshots of the interior places. The middle room picture contains two colors and it already lives up a lot, the other picture only has blue light and the result is that it's really boring looking. All in all the visuals still do their job pretty well and aren't ugly at all most of the times, most of the times because a few things are far from perfect at the moment. Far from bad, much better as most maps that are being released, nice amount of custom stuff and floorplan/flow is nice too, but on a few areas it didn't blow me away. Yet a cool map, and one of the better maps of the latest months, give it a go. Btw, if you comment on your own map, any score you fill in will automatically change in a --, that is, as long as you post the comment with the same user login as you claimed the map with. And you used another one at the moment, that's why
Map Comments
Sicko Teddy 03-03-2004 01:09 AM MST Rating: 9   Ohohohho! you llook at that! I was waiting for level with some flaura , and here it is! generator 03-03-2004 01:41 AM MST Rating: 10   ugh shit! because i know the real Angkor-ruin, hoped that this map would be a good lookin' one! fucking great work dude Amisa 03-03-2004 05:21 AM MST Rating: 10   A very good map ! Both for the architecture and the CTF mode. There are many maps with a nice design in DM, but too few CTF, BR.. So a great thanks for this one ! Hope we find it on servers. ShortCutMan 03-03-2004 05:40 AM MST Rating: 10   Fantastic look, and great flow. The music suits it nicely as well. Darki 03-03-2004 10:36 AM MST   Thanks for all the positive feedback. I'm really glad that you like it. Have fun, Alex Obi-Wan 03-03-2004 12:17 PM MST Rating: 8   well this is a nice little ctf map with great flow.. really like the new smeshes, and the music fits the theme Koveras 03-03-2004 05:58 PM MST Rating: 8   nice stuff here, I really like the look and feel of the map kind of reminds of the old UT temple maps Manticore 03-04-2004 03:00 AM MST Rating: 8   Super job. Tight gameplay. Good visuals. Worth the download. Play it now! Makey 03-05-2004 04:10 AM MST Rating: 9   Review it, BU-guys! :-) EDIT: Thanks! ;-) capone 03-05-2004 04:51 AM MST Rating: 9   Why not in «NC Hotlist»? :) Gargorias 03-06-2004 09:49 PM MST Rating: 7   Another great map destroyed by a sub-standard skybox. sulkava 03-22-2004 05:09 PM MST Rating: 10   ownage!!!!!!!!!!!11 Mister_Cope 04-17-2004 07:58 AM MDT Rating: 7   CTF-VaguelyCambodianStoneforts, anyone? The angkor theme is rather understated, but the map is generally pretty solidly built, with some good layout. Also a good choice of music. Not bad at all. Petrus 12-26-2005 10:48 PM MST Rating: 10   I've just finished playing...I'm trying to remember the last time I had a more awesome experience with this or any other game...I don't think there's been one. Eyecandy like I've hardly ever seen. A fast paced map with tight corners and enough obstacles that I briefly lost track of where I was, but was always able to get back on track...right in the proverbial sweet spot between too easy and excessively frustrating. 12 players *is* probably about right...enough for an enemy bot around each corner. More would probably be spammy. I found myself thinking that if I was going to show this game to someone who'd never seen this game before, this is the map I'd use...needless to say, it's a definite keeper on my system. Mindblowing stuff. EDIT 27/12/2005:- I was extremely gratified to learn that this map had in fact been a hotlist map at one point, thus earning the recognition which I feel it deserves. For any of you who haven't discovered this one yet, do yourself a favour and download it. In my less than humble opinion, it represents what CTF is all about.