plr_frostfell_b1b
Gameplay
Well, I must say that the gameplay in this map is rather good, but not great, because it has a couple of issues. The main issue of the map is the fact that one one team pushes their cart to the enemy base, it's hard for the opposite team to win.
This is because, that team which manages to push their cart first, can focus all players on attack. While in the same time, the other team has to decide, whether to defend, attack and risk to lose, or split up. To have either a weak defense or weak attack.
Other wise, the map is quite fun, with both open areas which give advantage for airborne classes, and chokes for close combat classes. There are some nasty sightlines though, especially near spawn. A sniper can easily stand in spawn, while having a nice view of surrounding area.
Balance
In my opinion the map was quite Balanced, with some issues. The main issue as i mentioned before, was the fact that the first team to push to the enemy base, will have a 99% chance to win the map. Rarely the opposite did happen.
One team will always leave their cart behind, in order to defend.
The map doesn't really exclude any class, there are some areas where one or another will be stronger, but then there are areas where the opposite will happen.
Although, there is one thing that i really disliked, and i'm probably not the only one. This actually is the main reason why rounds take so long to play. The final push with rollback zone is really annoying, especially in the part where cart rolls back on a flat surface. This requires either a lucky push, or all team to push the cart. Otherwise, one round can take up to 30 minutes. However, this really depends on each players like, some would prefer short rounds, while others to defend or to attack for a long period.
Dynamic element
The dynamic element in this map, wasn't anything special. Being a simple door, which opens once a cart has arrived. I feel that the map could work as good without it too, since rollbacks had a bigger impact on the gameplay rather than the door.
It feels quite simple, also Aesthetics wise didn't really make any sense, why was the a door there, why does the track have to go up. Few things to consider.
And yeah, gameplay wise, having only rollbacks, would be way better than having that door, since i feel that it's not that needed, and barely ever gives any advantage for any team.
Aesthetics
I must say that the Aesthetics in this map are quite nice, however, really messy. For example, in blue team there are like 6 or even more textures use to detail it. No matter whether they fit for Red team team, or blue. In this case it just feels like, the mapper just threw the textures there just for some change, without realizing that it will look awful.
The detailing in some other areas looked strange too, either because of lack of time, or any other reasons.
One really strange thing is snow, snowing from nowhere, because those few clouds in the skies, didn't give me a feeling that it is going to snow. It looked more like a sunny day.
Also, in my opinion it wasn't the best idea to copy paste one side of the map, change the textures and put it back for the other team. It's really noticeable that such kind of detailing has been in last few minutes, just so it looks better, however when you look closer, you can see that only textures were changed, and some of them weren't even properly aligned.
Some things, that I have noticed:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0000.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0001.jpg
Really messy detailing in blue spawn.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0002.jpg
Actually, in most of the indoor areas.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0003.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0007.jpg
Out of bonds areas look really boring and uninteresting.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0004.jpg
Again, messy texturing in blue side.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0005.jpg
Such clouds, can't really make me think of snow.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0006.jpg
Never, ever, use the same texture for walls and ceilings, it looks just awful.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0008.jpg
This bucket, however is creative.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0009.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0010.jpg
You can see the result of copy paste, without anything changed except for textures.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0011.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0012.jpg
How did these boxes/barrels get in there, and get stacked like this.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0013.jpg
These doors just going into the wall looks strange.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0014.jpg
I get stuck here.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1607727/Contest/frostfell/plr_frostfell_b1b0015.jpg
Make the flat part not a rollback.
Performance
As with most of the maps, I didn't have any noticeable fps drops, and neither had heard anything from others. I have had no issues in this map at all, and due to the simpleness of the detailing it has, there shouldn't be any, so the mapper did a really nice job! This actually is a rare case I can give max points.