Map review of Whiskey

by hydeph | January 3, 2007 | 3065 characters

Sorry, we couldn't find any images attached to this page.

This is Taggard's first map and I wanted to give him some positive feedback on how to make future maps a little better. I hope I don't seem too critical or offense. :X

Architecture/Textures

WhiskeyB1 has a very simple layout and very basic architecture. The map lacks a terrain and is one flat brush. In an attempt to add detail Taggard has made a heavy boulder, with adjacent rocks to break up the monotony of the flat terrain. Something interesting such as a foxhole from a bombshell, a mesa or a cactus could have been nice. The cliffs look decent but when the Alien Controller spawns the edges are quite square, unnatural and ugly. Details are few and far between on the outside of the fort as well as within the walls. The textures come from our beloved halflife.wad, and it looks okay, but a custom wad would have been nice to go with the obvious Starship Troopers theme. The base could have used some more detail, buildings, gun emplacements, communications tower or something to attract attention and please the eye.

Sound/Ambiance

Standard Half-Life sounds, a very dull atmosphere and a lack of anything interesting give WhiskeyB1 a 3/10.

Gameplay/Teamwork

The gameplay is pretty monotonous. The enemies waltz towards the walls and climb up the invisible brushes. The friendly human grunts fire countless bullets and lob grenades, and you as well dump clips into alien grunts, alien slaves and Baby Gargantua’s. After killing off swarms of monsters, they cease to spawn any more and the map ends. There is nothing left to do but change the map. Teamwork elements don't really exist because it's just a slaughter-fest.

Originality

Nothing much here, the map follows the Starship Troopers theme with halflife.wad. We’ve seen it all before, desert theme, Half-Life style red cliffs, utilizing the same old textures. The entire map was lacking detail, and it is very basic and plain. I liked how the monsters were able to climb up the walls of the fort and take hold onto it if you didn't help the Marines. It was well balanced for one or two players, and would be ridiculously easy for any more than two.

Monster Usage/Item Placement

Our Black Mesa favorites return again. My first thought with regards to the monster usage was the general lack of. It was really easy to take out the monsters with the help of the human grunts and I was playing alone. Weapons and ammo spawn underneath a small camouflage netting, which is the only object in the base besides an non-functional APC.