Dont know if I'll ever have the time to ever touch fairytale again. Sadly, but Nightwatch comes first and I have a ton of work to it. So go ahead and review it, though I fear your review of the caves which were a total disaster and have let me down completely (so skip them ~)

I mean like 90% of the map was polished and playtested for this compettion with playability in mind. I threw in that last bit for gameplay reasons with Reno's bickering

3d melee rocked.

so did fairytale.

parallaxion was real good too.

persion letters.

and of course pulse.

to me. though most of the maps were good or even great. they didnt fit the themed concept enoufe. some were not done. or glitchy.

3d melee got my vote and pulse. 3d melee was made after a existing thing. or game. where pulse was totally orgional.

either way some of these maps were totally awsome. im fiquring some of the best mappers around.

First off, I didn't download dm_fishy or dm_hogwarts. Something about that 10meg download...sorry! I'll comment on them later today.

--QUICK OVERVIEW--
THEME
fully realised theme: persia, dm_fairytale, flatshaded, melee3d, dm_pulse, paralaxion
theme needs some work: reclamation, zgz, superman, skull_cave, dm_abstracttowers, dm_sorrow
there's a theme?: thanto, black, atrium, omni_arena, flatkillbox

CONSTRUCTION/DESIGN
solid, polished map: reclamation, thanto, dm_sorrow, paralaxion
some problems, but still good: zgz, flatshaded, superman, melee3d, persia, dm_pulse, omni_arena, dm_fairytale
why did you bother?: skull_cave, black, atrium, dm_abstracttowers, flatkillbox

PLAYABILITY
quality dm map: reclamation, thanto, zgz, dm_sorrow, paralaxion, dm_fairytale
look at my graphics, not my gameplay: flatshaded, persia, dm_pulse
suck: superman, skull_cave, melee3d, black, atrium, dm_abstracttowers, omni_arena, flatkillbox

--COMMENTS-- (note that I haven't played these online with other people)
dm_abstracttowers
pros:
-looks like you're stuck in a hampster house, where you get to run around all those plastic pipes

cons:
-the symmetry was unnecessary, some variety would have been nice
-not enough headroom
-a little too simple

atrium
pros:
-those models are nice
-the roof access was a good idea

cons:
-it looks like it was compiled wrong
-tons of small brush errors
-too small
-not much of an obvious theme

black
pros:
-you mastered the art of using the color gray

cons:
-looks like the basement was a last second idea after seeing dm_pulse
-rubble looks like ass, or at least too angular
-connectivity pretty poor, too many small cramped areas, ladders, and dead ends
-the red arrows take you out of the grayscale theme

dm_fairytale
pros:
-crawl into oven = win
-great textures
-construction looks solid ignoring the HOM
-outdoors/open areas look great and probably play great
-theme obvious and well executed

cons:
-way too many teleporters
-too many snags
-seemed too cramped in the indoor areas
-waterfall works like 1/4 the time
-connectivity/flow problems (see the above four comments)

dm_pulse
pros:
-looks unique
-architecture works well with the texture choices
-the moving things look cool

cons:
-some walls need to be clipped
-difficult to tell where the floor ends and the wall begins in some areas
-blindingly white and bright
-perhaps the gray texture should have been used more in the hallways, on floors, and on ceilings?

dm_sorrow
pros:
-very atmospheric sounds and vegetation
-you can almost taste the sorrow

cons:
-doesn't look polished as there's not enough variety
-there needs to be more vegetation, more grass covered rubble, more graves/crypts/old bones
-why are there a bunch of floodlights but no excavation team?

flatkillbox
pros:
-its correctly compiled...

cons:
-its a killbox
-too many high powered weapons in a tiny area
-could have made an arena map with the amount of effort you put into this

flatshaded
pros:
-looks awesome
-great use of flatshading + architecture
-has sharks

cons:
-r_speeds just a tad too high
-giving the players all those guns is no fun
-there is no reason why the blue water should kill upon touching it. Instead you should have allowed people to play around in the water, but only so far from shore. Perhaps 128 units out there'd be a trigger hurt that takes off 5 per sec as a warning to turn around, then 160 units out instant death.

melee3d
pros:
-architexture looks great
-awesome texturing
-very strong theme

cons:
-r_speeds seem way too high
-there are some snags plus brushes with seams sticking out
-there's no excuse for the missing textures. It's ok to reuse textures in a map...
-theme gets in the way of the gameplay. Some areas are way too tight and there's little combat space or headroom.

omni_arena
pros:
-unique, that's for sure
-works as an arena map

cons:
-i get a lower framerate here than on Flatshaded. That's a problem...
-the floaty, pointy thing is pointless detail that could have been used better elsewhere in the map
-texturing is kinda lame
-eventually it turns into a big ol' killbox, which isn't that fun.

paralaxion
pros:
-looks nifty, reminds me of that Diablo 2 level
-r_speeds are great considering that you can see the whole map
-construction/architecture is awesome

cons:
-why did you put the beegun in? Why did you put it in a corner where you can see the whole map and hit everyone? Do you like the beegun?
-that rubble should rotate as it spins, but maybe that's not realistic
-the jump pads almost never work. You get pitched into the cold void more often than not.
-weapon placement is iffy, since i could grab the gauss, the hivehand, and the egon in about 15 seconds. That's a bit excessive. I'd put the rpg up there instead of the egon.

persian
pros:
-map looks and feels epic
-great texturing
-some awesome looking rooms
-looks very promising for HLDM. Some of these areas would be classic battlegrounds (the zoo area especially), but they're let down by the connectivity and errors.

cons:
-big huge dead end in baths area
-can fall out of the map
-lighting could have used some work
-models vary from being clipped to not, make up your mind!
-func_illusionary rubble thats 4 times the size of the player?
-ladders suck in dm, these ladders suck in general. Plus the red and gray ones don't fit the theme to boot.
-some areas (especially some of the hallways) are just too large for HLDM (no cover, take ages to move through them). This is the same problem that I felt let down almost all of Peter Manson's maps.
-invisible teleporter in the rocks above the zoo?

reclamation
pros:
-not too dark
-solid construction, well tested minus the weapon placement
-rubble/destruction looks good to me

cons:
-too many 357s, too many weapons close together
-two or three snags in map is two or three too many
-theme not as well conveyed as I would have liked (no blood decals, not enough infestation, no gibs)
-no env_sounds (i wanted to use them, but there wasn't enough time)

skull_cave
pros:
-cool skull
-don't seem to be any noticeable errors

cons:
-too small and simple
-why is there a pirate ship on the beach?
-rockwork is too simplistic

superman
pros:
-Theme works in an unintended way

cons:
-DC comics suck, and so does Superman. I mean, cmon, why does everyone and his brother have kryptonite? And what about that obvious cash grab with Doomsday and the Death of Superman?

thanto
pros:
-I'm glad you no longer have scurvy A_S
-very nice textures
-solid construction and architecture
-great connectivity

cons:
-there's little evidence that two people made this map beyond the opening title

zgz
pros:
-cool design and layout
-low gravity areas well done
-architecture works very well
-good texturing
-reminds me of UT in some ways

cons:
-too many crates, its obvious you ran out of ideas
-doesn't look polished enough
-those models are weak
-too many texture misalignments than should be acceptable
-i managed to get stuck in the big push...thing
-this really could have used some infestation...perhaps if we merged our themes?

I'd say the finalists are reclamation, thanto, persia, dm_fairytale, dm_sorrow, melee3d, paralaxion, and flatshaded.

flatshaded, unfortunately, is disqualified right off the bat for not following competition guidelines.
reclamation is too rooted in traditional HL themes to deserve winning a themed contest. I'm not going to vote for my own map, but nobody else will either. It's just too bad few people seem to like it...
thanto is a great map and all the more remarkable for a first release. The problem is that there isn't a strong theme, and just like for Reclamation I couldn't vote for it to win a themed contest.
dm_sorrow is above average in many ways, but it's missing much of the necessary polish to win against these other maps. I really like the theme but it wasn't explored enough. If this had a fully developed theme it would beat many of these final maps.
melee3d looks great and has great atmosphere, ignoring all those checkerboards. However, this is not an acceptable DM map. It's frustrating enough to run around it offline. I can't imagine how hellish it would be in a real game. Sometimes the theme gets in the way of the gameplay, and this is a prime example.
persia is a map brimming with potential as a DM map, but it has some sizable issues with flow and connectivity that get in the way. All those construction errors don't help either. Great theme though.
dm_fairytale has a great theme and plays reasonably well, but the connectivity is off. Whenever there's a ton of teleporters all over the place that don't fit into the theme there's a serious problem. A few big errors such as an almost non-functional waterfall jump and a HOM the size of a truck don't help.
paralaxion is a simple map that works well as a dm and has a strong, cohesive theme throughout. The only real weakness is some uncooperative jumppads that like to kill you. I can deal with that.

If I were to vote today:
1st - paralaxion
2nd - dm_fairytale
3rd - persia
4th - reclamation (because I can)

whatever. do you think it's better than any of the maps I chose as finalists? cause if you do I'll download it and comment.

EDIT: all right, ill download both of them and comment later today

HUH.....i thought melee 3d rocked. and pulse.

lots of differant tastes i quess.

yeah pulse gave me the idea for my basement...that and renos map....

the 3d map gave me a new idea for map where its realistic and uses flat shaded textures..it might be good..haha

i dont think my maps great...at least for a first map.