general:
is it me, or has the old night sky dissappeared since the update?
oddly, it seems that the default noise for func_doors opening/closing has been changed... although this hasn't effected any previously compiled maps, i've found my arena map's doors now all sound like the sawmill saw.
pipeline:
pipeline looks like a sniper vs spy map, with every other class just present to serve as targets for the two.
there seems little point to the 1st 2 stages, as either way you end up at the end.
it feels like valve made this map to say "mappers look at this shiny new toy you can make stuff out of". however the entity setup is too convoluted if you ask me.
the bombs don't explode anything. and for that matter, the particle fire doesn't even line up with where the bombs end up. (i'm guessing they just got the names switched around accidently). very dissappointed with this, i mean after the explosions we've seen on gold/badwater, and since then explosions like on borax and vipersden. i just expected something more.
the name... yet again valve's releaseda map whose name barely fits at all. i expected something like the cart tracks in the last stage to both have big pipelines underneath them on the way up, or something else iconic enough to earn the name. the only thing i can really identify that might fit the name is the new gate model in the 1st stage.
sawmill:
what can i say that hasn't when it comes to how this map looks. it's an asthetical dream.
the biggest downside for me though was that the saws were spinning models, rather than the old sawblade, parented to a (fixed) func_rotate. - that was my biggest desire about this update.
the soundscapes are brill too, although, it wouldn't have been too hard to add some triggered env_sprites so that there was lightning effects in the skybox to accompany the thunder.
particularly like the particle effects added on this map, like the water dripping off the corners of the buildings, and of course the waterfall spray.
the rain is great, but if you look straight up, sometimes the sheets dissappear, or go flat/2d.
other than the func_rotate thing, the biggest thing about this map for me is that as it's an arena it's small, and you also have little time to admire the details. would like to have seen a new multistage cp from valve, in the same style. (cos frankly i'm sick of dustbowl)
nucleus:
rather dissappointed at the lack of new models for the spy tech theme. the pipes aroun the pit looked promising, but they're all one large model rotated around 6 times.
the new textures however are pretty cool (particularly the metal one with the lighting along the middle).
the doomsday device still looks like a giant yoyo to me, but i'm not putting it down, cos i like it.