Maps|G & B|Waves|Aesthetics|Technical
Atomgrad|-|-|-|-|
Destruct|-|-|-|-|
Isolation|-|-|-|-|
Maelstrom|-|-|-|-|
Sludge|-|-|-|-|
Plateau|-|-|-|-|
Ventus|-|-|-|-|
[/ table]
VOTE FOR EVERY MAP, INCLUDING MAELSTROM (the reason I didn't vote for it is because it is MY MAP)
Reviews are here...!
ATOMGRAD
Gameplay and Balance:
2
I really was not a fan of this layout. The entire map seems overscaled, especially the first and last areas. There are not very many sentry positions in the beginning areas of the map, and the middle building is especially hard to hold, normally forcing everyone to fall back to the hatch. The hatch area isn't fun to hold either, as defense is normally on the low ground with robots falling down from above; and if there are snipers in the wave you can count to get your head lopped off if you stick it above the radar dish thing.
Waves:
2
General consensus: the waves are too hard, long, and tedious. I'd rather it be quick and difficult than long-winded and constantly pouring in. The support was in great numbers and the intense (5+ minute each) length of the wave really punished teams that lost one. I can't even count how many times people have quit over losing one of the long, tedious later waves.
Aesthetics:
4
Kind of obvious as the map is still in alpha. The textures aren't complete and there are many boring walls and messy displacements. I commend you for detailing a map so fast, though.
Technical:
2
Framerate was okay but the rocket area tended to render from all areas of the map. Clipping, especially on the stairs leading into the warehouse from the rocket area, was generally poor. I got stuck on many props, especially in that area. EDIT: Potentially game-breaking map exploit was found causing people to leave the map. Score lowered because of that.
DESTRUCT
Gameplay and Balance:
6
The map was okay. Overall, it played decently and was relatively fun. The main problem I had with the map, though, was its constant choke and its single route for bots to take. I would recommend opening up the map a bit and adding more routes for the bots to take, while subsequently shortening the length and eliminating some of the chokes.
Waves:
7
The waves were good, generally. I thought they were much too easy, though, and every time I had tested the map we were able to blaze through it without failing once. The layout of the map might have contributed to this, but additionally I would recommend adding support to make the waves a bit harder.
Aesthetics:
7
These were decent, but I didn't like the uncanny likeness to Dustbowl. In general a lot of the buildings looked nearly exactly like the ones in Dustbowl and I would think that you should change things up to make it look more unique.
Technical:
4
The technical side was something that could have contributed to the easiness of the maps. Some of the roofs were accessible to soldiers, demomen and engies (remember the wrangler!) and the majority of the time, if an engie was able to get up there and set up his base it was impossible to destroy. Clip them, or better yet, nobuild them or add some form of stairs to make sentry busters able to reach them.
ISOLATION
Gameplay and Balance:
7
Generally, Isolation played pretty well. I'm not a big fan of the maps' size, however, and it seems that the initial area has little cover and is normally not held for too long. The final area seemed too long and too easy to defend, as there are a couple really good sentry positions that can cover the entire area.
Waves:
10
Waves were pretty easy, altogether, but not too easy. Everything came at the right time and I believe that this map is one of the best out of the contest wave-wise. I actually had fun on this map, believe it or not. It was the only map (that I'm judging) that didn't bore me with repetitive waves or long, droning patterns.
Aesthetics:
9
Very nice. I like the sunset snow theme you have here, and it's very well executed at that. The buildings are kind of same-y, though, and not too impressive. The buildings aren't what I remembered from the map because they're just the same texture again and again. Very good overall, though.
Technical:
8
Good technical work, good nobuilding, and decent clipping. I had good framerates all around and save for areas where the clipping was off, not entirely sure where they are though.
SLUDGE
Gameplay and Balance:
7
Here's the thing: overall, the gameplay was good in some areas and bad in others. The beginning area was well executed, and the end area was decent- but the areas in between I did not like. The buildings were hard to get up to and had quite the height advantage (for the defenders and the robots) and the little side area seems completely useless and inconvenient to get out of if you're stuck.
Waves:
5
The waves were decent, but not very good in my opinion. The enormous amount of high-health support heavies made the waves boring, in general, and they were always a pain to kill and maneuver around. The pacing was generally slow and seemed to get easier towards the end (due to the enormous amount of cash drops); where in other maps it tended to be the opposite.
Aesthetics:
10
I don't know about anyone else but (for now) I like Sludge's aesthetics the best. It fits the TF2 narrative great, as nobody would suspect a base set up in an abandoned swamp and the robots have a reason to invade it. There's explanation for why the teams are there and the buildings look nice. I love the environment you've made, it's massively immersive and if it weren't for all the other errors it could have been my favourite map.
Technical:
2
Ugh. Please figure out where all the FPS drops and rampart shadows are coming from, because they are downright ruining your map. The framerate is horrible constantly and the shadows that flail everywhere is NOT a normal occurrence, no matter what you say. Fix this even if all else is kept the same.
PLATEAU
Gameplay and Balance:
5
Not too much of a fan of this map. The waves, once past the initial choke, were near impossible to hold off in the intermediary area, forcing players to fall back to the hatch. Not too much I can say other than the bots tended to have a huge height advantage coming into the hatch area.
Waves:
5
Waves were okay, not too much to say about them. Nothing stood out to me as unique and they felt long and tedious. The last version I played on, the engi bots glitched out and made all the robots stuck, so I can't grade too much on that.
Aesthetics:
3
This feels like a textured alpha. None of the displacement cliffs are displaced in a aesthetically pleasing way, and the buildings were just wood blocks. A lot of the trim wood texturing was misaligned, and it overall looks much to close to Decoy. I liked Mannology better, personally, you had a much more unique and foreboding theme going on there.
Technical:
8
Most everything works as intended, save for a few areas not clipped correctly and the engi bot teleporting other bots into walls.
VENTUS
Gameplay and Balance:
4
The gameplay here is less than decent, to me. A lot of areas are useless and don't provide anything except for an engy bot to worthlessly camp out in. The beginning area is much to big and the entire map has little cover. This means that the sightlines are much too long - there is even a sentry spot by the hatch that can see all the way over to the bot spawn (which can be same for the snipers that spawn at the other side!).
Waves:
6
I'm not a fan of the waves presented here. Some of them are ridiculously easy, others arse-crunchingly hard. If it weren't for all the borked routes our teams would have most likely constantly lost on the later waves. One route, if it weren't for the broken docks, is extremely short and open compared to the others and would have made us constantly lose.
Aesthetics:
8
The aesthetics are good, although I have said this multiple times about this theme - it doesn't entirely fit into the narrative of TF2. Why the teams would be camping out in an old seaside town doesn't make much sense to me, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of spytech or underground operations in this map. While it looks nice, I'd suggest to make this scene a little more convincing for the narrative of TF2.
Technical:
5
Clip those rafts. I cannot tell you how many times the bots got stuck there. This is a major problem and makes the map much, much to easy to beat. Additionally, there is issues with sightlines and cover that I have addressed earlier. And also, please find a nicer way to restrict access to the out-of-bounds areas in the water. I and many people don't like to adventure into these areas and just get killed. Please clip these off or do something that doesn't involve killing players.
EDIT: Raising score for technical because apparently some of these issues were fixed, however I have not got around to playing the updated version yet so I'm just assuming they were.
