Now this little piece of mapping goodness happens to be the 5th map from this particular author; I've seen and reviewed all his previous maps bar the predecessor to this one. And apparently I've missed out by not seeing <!-- BBCode Start -->Subdued<!-- BBCode End -->, as this is quite a fine little map for your LAN, and he's improving all the time. Also, thanks for the JRF- that came in handy for the play testing (stupid college network... <!-- BBCode Start -->/me mutters with disdain for humanity<!-- BBCode End -->)

As with many maps these days, this is 99% custom textured. It's set in some kind of dark, iron-smelting/warehouse thingy, and looks very techy indeed due to the lack of bright lighting (welcome to the future!), air-circulation fans and metal pipes. There's not a crate in site, not one cunningly disguised with custom textures, which does make for a lack of cover, but the levels cunning layout makes up for that. The 'centre' to the map would be the egon (I personally would have put a gauss here instead as the egon tends to rule corridors), which sits under a protective lightning bolt thing (it's very hard to tell what's what in maps when you haven't done a review for so long!) that you can turn on/off by shooting (but not pressing) one of several bit fat red buttons nearby. Also comes free with 'hilarious consequences?' when someone else tries to pick up the egon, but you shoot the button. Nearby, you'll find a number of small fighting arenas, often split into 2 levels, with a network of corridors and the odd air duct linking them together.

A couple of areas reminded me somewhat of <!-- BBCode Start -->Uproar<!-- BBCode End -->, especially the crossbow and health/battery in the ditch sections, but that's not a bad thing as there's not a single r_speeds problem to be found in the entire level. I even sent my wall-climbing snarks off to find some, but they just exploded before they could report back (I should stop them from doing that, really). It's a shame the author didn't include more 'things' around the level (general eye candy) as there's plenty of room to add a few more w_polys.

Weapon of choice here seems to be the shotgun, as there's seemingly hundreds of them lying around. You weapon choice this map has been carefully limited to the 9mmAR, RPG, egon and crossbow in order to keep things somewhat sensible. There's ample ammo to keep things going, too, especially for the egon. However, health is somewhat lacking ; I think I only counted 5 health kits and 1 battery in the entire map, and no chargers.

Lighting and sound are put to good use in this map- perhaps he could have picked up some custom sounds whilst shopping for textures to replace the standard industrial clanging/steam/pipe sounds that populate any & all industrial maps. I loved the mixture of yellow and orange ambience though, it really suits the textures. Overall, what we've got here is a really well laid out, good looking level, that I strongly recommend you have a play on your home LAN or whatever. It's also quite fun with the Jumbot too (well, as far as playing bots can be!), but the pesky things never try going for the egon, and cripple themselves over the RPG. Bah.

Design
Again, great ambience via custom textures, lighting and sound. Good layout too.

Gameplay
Weapon placement is okay, severely lacking health though

Verdict
If you're looking for something suitable for any type of game, LAN or otherwise, then this industrial themed level is just the the thing

Pros
Good layout, nice custom textures and general ambience

Design
Lacking health and general map scenery

Now this little piece of mapping goodness happens to be the 5th map from this particular author; I've seen and reviewed all his previous maps bar the predecessor to this one. And apparently I've missed out by not seeing <!-- BBCode Start -->Subdued<!-- BBCode End -->, as this is quite a fine little map for your LAN, and he's improving all the time. Also, thanks for the JRF- that came in handy for the play testing (stupid college network... <!-- BBCode Start -->/me mutters with disdain for humanity<!-- BBCode End -->)

As with many maps these days, this is 99% custom textured. It's set in some kind of dark, iron-smelting/warehouse thingy, and looks very techy indeed due to the lack of bright lighting (welcome to the future!), air-circulation fans and metal pipes. There's not a crate in site, not one cunningly disguised with custom textures, which does make for a lack of cover, but the levels cunning layout makes up for that. The 'centre' to the map would be the egon (I personally would have put a gauss here instead as the egon tends to rule corridors), which sits under a protective lightning bolt thing (it's very hard to tell what's what in maps when you haven't done a review for so long!) that you can turn on/off by shooting (but not pressing) one of several bit fat red buttons nearby. Also comes free with 'hilarious consequences?' when someone else tries to pick up the egon, but you shoot the button. Nearby, you'll find a number of small fighting arenas, often split into 2 levels, with a network of corridors and the odd air duct linking them together.

A couple of areas reminded me somewhat of <!-- BBCode Start -->Uproar<!-- BBCode End -->, especially the crossbow and health/battery in the ditch sections, but that's not a bad thing as there's not a single r_speeds problem to be found in the entire level. I even sent my wall-climbing snarks off to find some, but they just exploded before they could report back (I should stop them from doing that, really). It's a shame the author didn't include more 'things' around the level (general eye candy) as there's plenty of room to add a few more w_polys.

Weapon of choice here seems to be the shotgun, as there's seemingly hundreds of them lying around. You weapon choice this map has been carefully limited to the 9mmAR, RPG, egon and crossbow in order to keep things somewhat sensible. There's ample ammo to keep things going, too, especially for the egon. However, health is somewhat lacking ; I think I only counted 5 health kits and 1 battery in the entire map, and no chargers.

Lighting and sound are put to good use in this map- perhaps he could have picked up some custom sounds whilst shopping for textures to replace the standard industrial clanging/steam/pipe sounds that populate any & all industrial maps. I loved the mixture of yellow and orange ambience though, it really suits the textures. Overall, what we've got here is a really well laid out, good looking level, that I strongly recommend you have a play on your home LAN or whatever. It's also quite fun with the Jumbot too (well, as far as playing bots can be!), but the pesky things never try going for the egon, and cripple themselves over the RPG. Bah.

Verdict

If you're looking for something suitable for any type of game, LAN or otherwise, then this industrial themed level is just the the thing