Reviewed by foultzy.

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The fabled map by stevelois finally finished after over a half a year of work.

Gameplay 22/30

Needless to say, I was excited to get this one in. Play it for about a minute and you'll see his ambition through the project. It takes some good common ideas and less conventional approaches including the old platform jumping idea (put to good use though and not overused). Nice to see them evenly spaced and big enough to jump to without falling, though I would've recommended adding some extra element of danger if you did happen to fall which would also increase the risk vs. reward element.

Still, for the most part its general floorplan is a lot of fun, including a variety of room shapes including big rooms and long corridors. It's got some Z and it does well with what it's got. The pickup placement was alright and put in appropriate spots as well.

Being the hardened critic I am though, I've got my gripes too. Largely a bunch of minor issues, though worth mentioning. First is the Invulnerability and Invisibility. Invisibility isn't horrible considering his choice of weapons (you can clearly see them when they fire) and I always thought the Invulnerability was really cheap, and besides that, this isn't the best map for it anyways.

I'm also a jumping kind of guy being from the UT2003 generation, and it really bothered me with the number of instances around the map where it looked like I could make the jump, though I'd just miss it. There's quite a lot of these points, though also several you can make, so I wasn't feeling too good about that either. Even the center section, you can make it from some directions though not others. Bots did okay I thought--even getting the platform jumping down, though occasionally got stuck or couldn't always make it from a jumppad.

Overall, it's a really cool layout marred by several, in my opinion, kinda nasty flaws that unfortunately aren't even major fixes. If you can accept that though, you're in for a treat.

Construction and Performance 27/30 (Hardware)

To grade this on sheer performance is simply not right, because it's actually very good considering the outstanding map construction. (The sub-heading is a permanent change by the way) It's not one to make you look for it's construction quality, it just comes right out and shows you, and at that the performance is more than appropriate.

Eye Candy 20/25

This is no slouch in the visual department. Pretty much stock assets though with an alternative style, combining the tech and Necris sets and subtle lighting to create a unique looking and memorable map. It's bold and it goes all out. It generally looks fairly convincing--some areas not as much, though others are fantastic and everything is way above average.

It doesn't tend mix it up a whole lot (from the same general look). Most areas have similar mesh arrangements and also similar lighting, and while it's still easy to make your way around the map, I personally could've gone for a bit more visual variety too. Maybe not even changed from what it is now, just adding more dynamic elements like fluids (as in like water flowing in from somewhere or in adding the risk to the platform jumping). It doesn't look bad at all, it really looks great, I just think either more dynamic elements or variety could've helped it go even farther or made it feel more alive. Still, much more care and details has gone into these visuals than most other UT3 maps out there and it pays off.

The Details 15/15

I would have been highly surprised if he wouldn't have gotten the 15 here...

Final Score 84/100

A monster build of a map that almost reaches its full potential though still has some flaws left to iron out. Still, it's as downloadable of a map as you figured it would be, and it's incredible construction is the kind of stuff that inspires other mappers.

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Author's Website	Stevie's Corner
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Tags: 80+, DM, Large, Necris, Stevelois, UT3