I agree, Lockdown is much better. It also seems to run better for me Not as many objects in Lockdown, it's much more tactical (best with about 4 people). I found I had a lot more fun in Lockdown than Overwatch. Overwatch is full of large objects and it looks a lot more rushed. Overwatch is good for a bit of insane fun but I see it getting old, fast... I haven't yet tried it with fewer players yet though so I may be wrong

I'm sure there's gonna be some nice classic style DM maps though. There's a bit in hl2 where you move along platforms and walkways and up ladders to reach the surface or something, there's Combine almost every step of the way and the first part is done by a horizontally moving platform thing with loads of barrels on it (it's a particularly memorable part for me, I think it was in Follow Freeman, I'm not sure). I think that something in that style would make a brilliant DM map

I think at the moment that's what it seems like, it's just people having a laugh really. In time people will swing more towards using weapons and gaining advantages over gravgun users (or vice-versa), that's when I think we'll see a distinct division between weapon pros and gravgun pros

Also, I was REALLY surprised that there wasn't a GORDON model! What's up with that?

The weapons seemed underpowered (or perfectly fine) to me (except for that awesome magnum), as it takes about 3 direct hits with the shotgun to kill you and the SMG takes a whole f**king clip. But I'm not complaining...

Honestly, I'm looking forward to AG2. If that crew can incorporate the grav gun, properly, it will be the pro experience, IMO....an evolution of HLDM, which this game is not.

I agree with alot of points here....

-Overwatch map wasn't as fun.

-magnum too powerful

-shotty too weak

-spawning with Grav-Gun is BAD.

I do really like the bouncy-combine-incineration-ball thingy. I can tell you one thing, If I do any mapping for this, I will certainly be trying to balance things a little more than these 2 maps did....and almost certainly not giving Grav-gun at spawn. Giving it to everyone cheapens it, IMO. With a little creativity it is a great tool and should be an item to control; making it more valuable.

I just like such powerful items to be things you have to seek/control/fight-over...it gives the game a little more depth. Don't get me wrong, it can be fun both ways. I have made maps before (that were very fun) where players spawned with xbow, shotty, longjump. I just don't really like the idea of players ALWAYS spawning with them.

Also, I don't know about anybody else, but all the objects being tossed around constantly seems to kill my modem... choke reaching the hundreds. At that point the game becomes a slideshow. Limiting the grav gun might also help reduce all the physics calculations.

Then again, I guess you could always control the phys-spam, by limiting the amount of tossable objects.

I think starting with the grav gun and the smg is genius, and adds a whole new layer to the deathmatch experience. It basically gives you two dominant strategies with no clear victor in any situation and gives the game a nice variety. You've got the traditional weaponry with the ability to reliably hit people from a distance and can destroy grav gunners due to accuracy, more ammo, and explosives that can't be blocked, but with the disadvantage of having to hit players multiple times to kill them. On the other hand you've got a grav gun that allows for players to shield themselves or create obstacles for other players while still retaining a virtual one shot kill ability from medium distance with disadvantages of limited ammo that's not necessarily easy to come by, a lack of accuracy at a distance, and its tough to use at close combat range. You can use either strategy the whole time or choose the one that best fits your style or the situation at hand.

Even better is that there are no unbalancing weaponry or items that make the playing field really uneven. There's no s**tty LJ that allows low ping people to dodge all the laggers, there's no gauss that allows for people to camp rooms and blow the crap out of everybody (ala crossfire), and there's no 1 hit kill contact grenades. To me there's much more skill and strategy involved now instead of who has the best reaction time, fires first with the biggest gun, or knows the level best.