CTF-Stadium by Homeslice

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Reviewed by foultzy.

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The old stadium concept is revisited, this time with American football.

Gameplay 6/30

It's not really anything new to see these types of stadium maps. I've seen it done with FIFA and the like before and they are fairly popular maps, though this one isn't as much of a spambox as those, yet in some ways it seems like could be. He tried to cram a ton of pickups in here, which while that seems normal, also includes power-ups including some that counter the type of map it is (like Invisibility). He said he went through two failed deathmatch versions to reach this, though unfortunately I still don't see it pulling through yet.

I think they're trying too hard to be perfectly honest. It attempts to decorate the typical box with a fancier layout and design, though it doesn't work. It's confusing, hard-to-understand, easy to fall (from several spots), and it could've used more thought. It doesn't seem like a totally logical floorplan and I couldn't dig into it. Another oddity that makes me kinda question it is a recommended 2 players. A duel CTF map requires a very special way of constructing them and this kind of near-spambox is never a duel map. The bots were alright opponents though--not the best, though pretty good I'd say.

In the end, they were persistent in this one, though they tried too hard and ended up overcomplicating and bloating it and it really hurts the map's quality and playability.

To Homeslice

Always make sure the pickups you put into your map are suitable for it. Invisibility, for instance, has no place at all in this kind of map.

Performance 13/30 (Hardware)

It performs as well as you'd expect it to, though it does have many visual issues in software rendering, plus the strangely unconventional CTF layout really doesn't work very well.

Eye Candy 8/25

It looks somewhat like a football stadium though it's rather odd-looking and bare. There's nothing in the map except the stadium, skybox, and empty space, which doesn't give a great feel to the map. It's dark and some parts are almost completely unilluminated in OpenGL (and high in the air which means you'll often times fall off and take quite a lot of damage if you aren't looking). The colored lighting implemented here is largely red which looks very peculiar. The coronas are distractingly big and I also spotted a BSP error (triggering the dreaded Hall of Mirrors). Software rendering presents additional problems too like much stronger red lighting and objects getting cut off.

Some things were kinda cool, like seeing the Unreal Tournament trophy around as well as the real-time changing marquee signs, though the map on the whole was not all too attractive.

To Homeslice

Even if it's only a little bit of ambient lighting to illuminate an area, it's almost always better than having pitch black areas, especially where players are walking.

The Details 15/15

All provided...

Final Score 42/100

As was said, he seems to understand what he's doing and simply tried way too hard in creating the map. As a result it's not all that fun to me and looks odd, plus it's strewn with way too many pickups. Some ill-advised decisions really ended up hurting the map and I think some pre-development planning could've gone a very long way here.