DM-1on1-WeepingTomb
Map Info
	File Name dm-1on1-weepingtomb.zip Author guesscui Gametype UT2k4 Deathmatch Date Added 11-07-2004 File Version 1.00 File Size 4.62 mb Player Count 2 - 5 Map Description This place is the terminal of pains. Doleful souls gathered here. Their enmity tears could kill anything in this tomb. Only way to break it is that to sacrifice the warriors’ blood! Review Rating 6.5 User Rating 5.5 Overall Rating 5.5
Review
Reviewer ArcadiaVincennes Awe Score:  2.5/3 Date 11-12-2004 Build Score:  2.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  1.5/3 User Point:  -1 Overall Score:  5.5/10 DM-1-on-1-WeepingTomb (UT2004) Very few maps come out with unique themes that really present something different to the Unreal public. Thankfully we do get them once in a while and this one delivers the goods. A truly unique atmosphere and look it suffers a little in terms of gameplay but is well worth a download to take a look at what is a very original map. AWE: 2.5 The ambiance really presents a different look to Unreal. A gloomy tomb with a very distinct feel combines colorful ambient lighting with curves and rounded geometry to create a new space. In terms of lighting, I would normally dock points because there are no real visible light sources. But the lighting is blended so perfectly with the different colors flowing into each other and still providing sufficient light to fight by. The hues, saturation, and color choices really add to the ambiance so well that I’m willing to ignore the lack of light fixtures. In the hallways ringing the two center areas are a little too evenly lit, however, and would really have profited from the color blending apparent in the central sections. As for textures, they’re custom and well-applied. There were a few places where two walls met and the texture changed with no trim to separate them, but they’re not obvious discrepancies and you have to look for them to find them. The architectural theme is very unique and fit well with the textures and lighting. In some places it felt like the custom static meshes were just planted on the ground/walls with little regard to making them fit more ‘organically’ into the map, most notably in the surrounding hallways, but most of them felt like they really belonged where they were and were a natural extension of the map’s theme. The only downside to the meshes is that some seemed a bit ‘low-poly’. I’m not sure if this was on purpose but a little more definition would have been nice. The emitters were used to good effect, the jump-pads and zip-tube emitters were really very nice as well as the ‘ambiant’ emitters in the central areas. The zip-tube (more on this later) emitters were not perfectly aligned to the tube’s axis but were darn close. The music was a stock track but fit well with the theme. Custom music to perfectly match the theme would have been better but mappers aren’t necessarily composers and he picked the stock track well. Overall, a very unique, interesting, and new theme. The emitters, textures, static meshes, and the expertly blended lighting really give this map a brand new theme that is really nice to spend some time in. BUILD: 2.5 The construction is solid overall. Everything is well-zoned and the curved areas really mesh well with the rest of the areas. There are a few places that seem ‘out-of-place’ with so many curves elsewhere. For example the narrow corridors leading to the lifts have a 90° drop of a few feet. This either should have been flat or ramped. But otherwise all the brushes are positioned well. There are only two sounds in the map which is really unfortunate as better ambient sound would really have rounded out the theme. The movers have a sound, although it was hard to hear in-game, and the zip-tube has a sound which fits well. On the other hand, there’s no other ambient sound and the jumppads have no sound either. The lifts are nice looking but they have no ‘anchor’ to the walls – there’s no groove for them to travel in, nor is there a pole/shaft that lifts them. They’re floating movers which just seems a little off. The blocking volumes around the custom meshes do a good job of keeping one moving and unstuck, but there was one place I consistently got stuck. The junctions between stairs, and door trim kept me jumping in place trying to get onto the stairs in order to travel through the corridor they led to. Overall very well built but there is still some room for improvement mostly in terms of sound. CAST:1.5 Despite the wonderful theme, there are very few parts of the map where the gameplay is equal to the theme. Most of the hallways and corridors have little to no z-axis. There are a few places on can drop in from above, and there are stairs and strange head-height arches one can run up to gain some height, but other than that, there’s really no option for death from above in the hallways/corridors. Also these hallways/corridors are either somewhat narrow, or very narrow. It’s a nice touch to add a dangerously narrow hallway to a map to vary gameplay, but there are too many and they’re too long here. The z-axis really shines in the two central rooms. An open pool of water with two layers of jumppads and chains stretching across the gap with numerous ledges really provide a nice, multi-layered z-axis space to DM in. The pool of water at the bottom, however, leads to instant death. I think it would have been better to have it a regular, non-lethal, water with perhaps a teleporter to get oneself out of it. There are some door trims one can get stuck on which leads to death, and the chains above the pool block two of three jumping access points to the lowest jumppad. One can only jump onto the jumppad from one direction. This hurt the flow a little. The zip-tunnel I’ve been referring to adds a nice little touch to gameplay. Basically, when you enter it, you speed up in the direction of either end you travel towards. You can also stop yourself inside it and speed back and forth inside it. This is important because the minigun is in the tunnel and it’s easy to speed right by it. I thought it actually added a lot to the gameplay because if you jump properly, it can propel you out like a cannon which sends you flying across the z-axis room and down to the middle of the lower, central entry to the z-axis room. I dropped on the bots several times doing this and it was very satisfying to land on top of them with a well-timed flak shot. They didn’t even see it coming most times... The bots in general did fine. They knew where to go, they go the pick-ups with ease and the negotiated the central z-axis rooms very well. They even put up a good fight inside the zip tube from time to time. However, they did tend to concentrate in the two z-axis rooms and the zip-tunnel. I never saw them drop on me in the narrow corridors and I only encountered them there as the spawned or were trying to get the flak cannon or rocket launcher. As for pick-up placement, everything was fairly well-distanced apart with nothing too close together or two far apart. However, the rocket launcher and flak are on the same level at opposite ends of the map. I would perhaps have tried the flak cannon in the zip-tube rather than the minigun but the setup worked well overall. Sometimes it was a little difficult to find a health in the outer narrow corridors and I usually gravitated to the z-axis rooms to get some. Finally, the FPS throughout the map was surprisingly good. Despite the curved architecture and the number of triangles that this produces, the FPS stayed at retail levels throughout the map. The gestalt of this map is really a refreshing breeze in the Unreal themes universe. The lighting, architecture, and custom meshes really bring a new feel to the map. The lack of ambient sounds, the too-even lighting, and a little bit of a low-poly feel to the custom static meshes are the only complaints towards the ambiance. The build is almost equal to the theme in that there are few complaints but the map needs some work in the gameplay aspect. More/better z-axis, widening of corridors, and some physical tweaks would have made this map shine. As it is, it’s fun map, though not perfect, with a beautiful theme. If you’re looking for something visually different and are willing to sacrifice a little quality in gameplay, then this is for you.
Map Comments
[morpheus] 11-07-2004 01:34 PM MST Rating: 7.5   I like this one. It has different looks(custom meshes, nice particles), bouncy gameplay(jump pads and many decorative pieces you can walk on) and superb bot pathing. Drawbacks: some annoying arrow passages, annoying health placement, too much symmetry imo. Slainchild 11-07-2004 01:50 PM MST Rating: 4   I like everything except the gameplay, which is the main ingredient for deathmatch. Manticore 11-08-2004 12:52 AM MST Rating: 5   An intersting attempt at doing something with a different look. Construction is not too good in places and the gameplay is average at best. CursedSoul1 11-08-2004 06:18 AM MST Rating: 4   Lol, its the same kinda beginnersmap I made. (though i made it back in ut) Imho you should put some more practice in creating static meshes since these are kinda rushjobs, and it looks like there is a meshsmooth or something like that over it, try working with smoothing groups. Your meshes dont look that good, and are very simple. but for a first try two thumbs up, so dont get me wrong :) Your layout is also very simple, and filled up with some of the meshes, but at least your colors are more solid than some beginners their maps. read lotsa tutorials from nalicity, team phalanx and that kinda websites and check out forums :) youll get there m8. cUnNiNg_StUnTs 11-08-2004 08:42 AM MST Rating: 6.5   The look and theme was great, it really attracted me to download it. But the speed in the tunnels is annoying and can sometimes thrust you in the wrong direction. Also the water pits cause death that is a bit deceiving. All these tricky ideas in one map make for bad game play. The map is good looking though and has a great theme. Good name and everything too. nylevefalls 11-08-2004 02:16 PM MST Rating: 5   well,while lighting is nice;there is no clear light sources;also some seams on the wall need to be fixed;and use of more sounds would be sweet!When it comes to gameplay map is just fine;perhaps some work on connection needs to be done (lots of tunnels there)... Highwing 11-10-2004 12:02 PM MST Rating: 5.5   It looked nice but wasen't fun to play. Momoka 11-20-2004 01:06 AM MST Rating: 7.5   First of all, i am very close to the opinion of[morpheus], and NOT the opinion of all the others so far. The map is well suited for up to 6 ppl without getting too crowded, even if its stated as 1on1. Basically the map layout is like a 8, with two big rooms(the one with the chains)inside the circles. The map is one of thouse maps that are hot and tight. There are only a few things that are really anoying for me, first that there is some "shiny" effect on the walls in the outside corridors. This makes them look very bright and it doesnt look too good for the theme; to be a Night-Humans style map. Then you should place the weapons that are in the small rooms more in the center of the room, and not too much in the alcoves. Lastly i would suggest that you not put water inside the pits, wy not put lava into them? This could emanate some nice light to the room from below and would show whats happen if you drop down . . . A very nice map with its flaws, but surely worth the time to take a look . . . the size is not too large and its not a waste of time. ~Momoka~ T0mbr41d3r 02-02-2005 10:22 AM MST Rating: 4.5   It looks nice, but its sssoooo annoying to play :O Pyrii 05-05-2005 11:55 PM MDT Rating: 4   Very interesting, very new as the review says, but bad collision on door frames to lighting problems, very hard to see where you're going half the time. But the z-axis is very confused, it made it less fun to play than I'd expect. The wind tunnel (If that was the effect wanted), just seems pointless. And there seems to be an overuse of particles, or maybe they just seem incorrectly used, they jump up a little before falling down. I didn't seem to like this map much, you could almost say I was weeping. =P But it's fresh, so it's worth credit for the work done. kais 08-09-2005 06:13 AM MDT Rating: 7   This map look really good, though the lighting could have been a bit better. Although everyone says its so anoying to play - and i can understand why they say that - i kind of liked it, although that thing in the centre is pretty anoying.