(note: Review originally written 10/5/01)

This map is one of many that has been put out by the [DRS] Clan, and Doomdog in particular. I am glad to be able to review another one of Marty?s maps after being disappointed with the high r_speeds in his Reapers_Requiem map. As I said in that review, I believe that the 60+ member clan has produced way more HL maps than any other. Doomdog?s list includes many nice maps that are regularly played on many HL servers, including <!-- BBCode Start -->Reapers_Revenge<!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start -->Morality<!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start -->Drs_Unity9<!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start -->Freewill<!-- BBCode End -->, & <!-- BBCode Start -->Galileo<!-- BBCode End -->. He also adapted the HL version to make OP4_Freewill, so on behalf of the Half-Life community I thank him and his clan for their many contributions.

Laserseti is one of the 100+ maps that were submitted in January 2001 with only a few weeks notice for authors to make a map with the winner included in the latest upgrade patch for Half-Life. Of those 100 maps, prizes were given to those judged to be the top 3, and several months later, 10 maps (including the 2nd and 3rd place maps) were distributed for the first time by Planet Half-Life as some of the best. Laserseti was recognized and included in this map-pack (download <!-- BBCode u2 Start -->here<!-- BBCode u2 End -->). For the entire list of entries, see [url=http://www.planethalflife.com/contest/mapcontest/winner.shtm]here[url].

I have had the chance to play this map with others on a number of occasions, and it is always a lot of fun. The standard textures, lighting, layout and use of ladders, lifts, and a switch activated ramp to a secret room are well designed and pretty handy. This map has 2 floors in most areas, with excellent weapons, recharge, and items placement. There is a nice switch activated RPG hidden cargo box that is begging to be mined for the next customer.

There are a couple of larger rooms that allow for furious firefights, with an overlooking balcony for sniping down on the innocent bystanders. There are gradually sloping and wide hallways in several locations that gives the players more space and freedom to have fun moving around the map. I would say the strongest points in this map are how effectively the areas are connected and how there is a natural flow running throughout the map. It is an easy map to learn, but still interesting enough with everything I have mentioned and the architecture Marty used to hold your interest for quite a while.

Fortunately, the r_speeds in this map are excellent, and well under 500 in most of the map. Even though there are some borderline readings looking over at the secret door panel, it is very minor and will not interfere with Gameplay on less sophisticated hardware systems. The only criticism I ended up having with this map is that the telescope didn?t really look like one. I think it might have helped if there was a planetarium/observatory retracting dome, or having it more in the center of a dome-shaped room, but this is really just an aesthetic issue that does not affect gameplay.

Overall, this is one of Marty?s finer maps. It is not as large as some of his others, and there are no custom textures as required by the contest, but it is a fine job without any errors. It has a nice clean, well done design feel to it, and if you didn?t already get it in the map-pack, make sure it is one that you download. I have seen it playing on a number of HL servers over the last 2 months. This is an excellent map with nice clean textures, lighting, items placement, and interesting use of switches, lifts, and levels to make it one of the better HL maps. The [DRS] clan should be proud of this accomplishment, especially with so little time given to making it. I would place it in the top 5 of the 25 or 30 maps I have seen so far from that contest, and certainly ahead of one of the 3 winning maps.

Design
This is a very well done small indoor telescope observatory/Lab map with interesting architectural design, and a nice use of cur

Gameplay
This is one of the strongest points with this map. All areas have many ways of connecting to the rest of the map, so it is fast

Verdict
If you haven't downloaded the PHL map pack yet, here's another good reason to.

Pros
This map is one of the more fun PHL Contest Pack maps to play!

Design
This map isn't quite as big as I would like, but has excellent connectivity and flow!

(note: Review originally written 10/5/01)

This map is one of many that has been put out by the [DRS] Clan, and Doomdog in particular. I am glad to be able to review another one of Marty?s maps after being disappointed with the high r_speeds in his Reapers_Requiem map. As I said in that review, I believe that the 60+ member clan has produced way more HL maps than any other. Doomdog?s list includes many nice maps that are regularly played on many HL servers, including <!-- BBCode Start -->Reapers_Revenge<!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start -->Morality<!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start -->Drs_Unity9<!-- BBCode End -->, <!-- BBCode Start -->Freewill<!-- BBCode End -->, & <!-- BBCode Start -->Galileo<!-- BBCode End -->. He also adapted the HL version to make OP4_Freewill, so on behalf of the Half-Life community I thank him and his clan for their many contributions.

Laserseti is one of the 100+ maps that were submitted in January 2001 with only a few weeks notice for authors to make a map with the winner included in the latest upgrade patch for Half-Life. Of those 100 maps, prizes were given to those judged to be the top 3, and several months later, 10 maps (including the 2nd and 3rd place maps) were distributed for the first time by Planet Half-Life as some of the best. Laserseti was recognized and included in this map-pack (download <!-- BBCode u2 Start -->here<!-- BBCode u2 End -->). For the entire list of entries, see [url=http://www.planethalflife.com/contest/mapcontest/winner.shtm]here[url].

I have had the chance to play this map with others on a number of occasions, and it is always a lot of fun. The standard textures, lighting, layout and use of ladders, lifts, and a switch activated ramp to a secret room are well designed and pretty handy. This map has 2 floors in most areas, with excellent weapons, recharge, and items placement. There is a nice switch activated RPG hidden cargo box that is begging to be mined for the next customer.

There are a couple of larger rooms that allow for furious firefights, with an overlooking balcony for sniping down on the innocent bystanders. There are gradually sloping and wide hallways in several locations that gives the players more space and freedom to have fun moving around the map. I would say the strongest points in this map are how effectively the areas are connected and how there is a natural flow running throughout the map. It is an easy map to learn, but still interesting enough with everything I have mentioned and the architecture Marty used to hold your interest for quite a while.

Fortunately, the r_speeds in this map are excellent, and well under 500 in most of the map. Even though there are some borderline readings looking over at the secret door panel, it is very minor and will not interfere with Gameplay on less sophisticated hardware systems. The only criticism I ended up having with this map is that the telescope didn?t really look like one. I think it might have helped if there was a planetarium/observatory retracting dome, or having it more in the center of a dome-shaped room, but this is really just an aesthetic issue that does not affect gameplay.

Overall, this is one of Marty?s finer maps. It is not as large as some of his others, and there are no custom textures as required by the contest, but it is a fine job without any errors. It has a nice clean, well done design feel to it, and if you didn?t already get it in the map-pack, make sure it is one that you download. I have seen it playing on a number of HL servers over the last 2 months. This is an excellent map with nice clean textures, lighting, items placement, and interesting use of switches, lifts, and levels to make it one of the better HL maps. The [DRS] clan should be proud of this accomplishment, especially with so little time given to making it. I would place it in the top 5 of the 25 or 30 maps I have seen so far from that contest, and certainly ahead of one of the 3 winning maps.

Verdict

If you haven't downloaded the PHL map pack yet, here's another good reason to.