Jos Hendriks wrote...
This makes for good reading material, everyone. Seeing as I'm responsible for at least a few of your most hated levels (though some love them, too), would you mind elaborating a bit on reasons why you dislike certain levels so much for those who haven't?
I think to expand on this topic, I'll just provide feedback on all the maps, starting with my personal dislikes.
London: Dreary palette. Difficult to see. Too many shin-killers, can't run in a straight line. Make games bog down into firepower exchanges a lot of time. Which isn't fun. Basically limits the options of teams, it often bogs down to straight head-to-head clashes because it's difficult and time consuming to end run opponents.
Condor: Dreary palette. Difficult to see -- Cerberus turrets in particular are very well camo'ed on this map. I'm not too bothered by the lack of cover though. Overall the map is decent once you get the grasp of it. Map does provide enough alternative routes so that a good team can exploit flanks and such.
Glacier: Nice map but too small. Encourages CQC techniques but leaves a lot of snipers out in the cold -- Reactor doesn't do that. Also, map spawns are too close together (due to the small size), making this map particularly easy to control the spawns.. which just sets things up to get slaughtered. It's not a bad map, it's just not as fun as some others.
Rio: Too linear. It's usually a shuttle going back and forth. The container area is fun, maybe a full map in a container yard.. but quite a heart attack map if it happens. As it is feels too big, could do with being 5% shorter, and a bit wider.
White: Map size is good but the launch area is underutilized; might have been better as a multi-tier structure. Same goes for the side path with the ammo box at the end next to the landing pad. I don't go there if there's no objectives
there, not a well utilized space. The spawn points, particularly near the WGG/P farm areas, need to be better
distributed to rectify farming practices. The metal barricade at the top of the stairs in the small room is actually more a hinderence than a help. but it's not terrible.
Reactor: While Reactor is dark, it doesn't have that awful blue overlay that kills vision. As a map, Reactor brings a big change in team tactics, which I do like. Central Reactor hack can do with a bit more cover, because it's very exposed, beyond the original starting map norms. The upper Reactor hack is also bad not because of the cover issue but because of the preferred spawn -- the one that drops from the ceiling onto a crate, then a hop down. It's pretty ridiculous to have a constant stream coming down right next to the hack point -- would be better to be at the turbine or lower reactor area, so that it can be felt as constant pressure, rather than a belief-straining constant stream right on top of your head.
Similarly for the lower hack point. The landing zone for the spawns there from the ceiling is bloody predictable. I've set up on the platform there before just to kill Cerberus Engineers landing from above; Cerberus is particularly vulnerable because they are so bloody
precise about where they land. Engineer rocket boots down, sniper round in the back killing them. Kind of dumb.
Ghost: Good map. Nice attention to details. Some interior desks are a bit too long and gets into the way. Landing Platform hack is just bad; should raise the platform, not lower it -- from a aircraft landing perspective it's a bit odd to land into a pit. Cover feels correct -- you can get from point to point mostly in cover, which makes for good games. Main Street feels too exposed and the side pod next to Main Street is quite boring.. just one long tunnel, would be nice to have a bigger kink in it for ambushes to be laid. One thing to bear in mind is that most of the walls in this map won't stop a AP round, I've done a lot of killing without ever seeing the target.
Also, the "drop down" spawn is nice, but may want to provide more exits for the AI. I've had games where I stasis bubbled a trooper in mid air and every other trooper after that fell through the bubble -- ended up with a stack of stasis'ed bodies below. Nice to see but not so interesting for games.
Dagger: Good open map, ideal for snipers. CQC classes however gets a bit left out, may want to provide a bit of cover to the main spawn areas from the Array Control -- right now CQC classes can have a difficult time reaching the enemy before a competent sniper would kill things off. Dark Side action is limited, but still workable. May want to have a connector on the far side of the map between the East and West Approaches -- right now traversing from East to West forces players to use the central pipe areas. Having the option to cut directly between the two may open up better team and AI tactics.
Vancouver: A bit small but vertical separation is interesting. Again, an incredible amount of clutter makes running difficult, but at least there are narrow tunnels where players can hustle if they dare to. The room at the top is way too cluttered and difficult to get around, which makes it a shame because it blocks off a sizable map area. Hack area at the floor of the Ventilation area is very cluttered, making it very hard for non-CQC classes to contribute.
Jade: Jade is usually fun. Only complaint is that the Upper Balcony area, there are places where it
looks to be a great sniping spot, but the parapet blocks the LOS, so it's actually not so great. Otherwise, a good compromise of legs and turns. Feels a bit small, could be nicer at 10~15% larger. Also, a direct (narrow) staircase from LZ down to the Courtyard might be nice. Need to fix that Extraction Bug though.
Giant: Giant is nice. Open, bright. Bunker complex is a bit too cluttered, and same for the Control Room -- too many consoles. Have to bear in mind that with the omni-potent "A" button, it can be difficult to time the "obstacle slide" to get across the obstacles. Courtyard Hack is a bit too open, you get squeeze-played all the time and it's just annoying. Good balance of sniping potential with CQC utility. Dual ramp/ ladder config on the far end room is a bit strange.
Hydra: Hydra is nice, open, breezy, bright. A good map. Spawn point near the LZ ammo box may be a bit too close though, not very nice. Some of the walkways in that area is a bit too "square", makes it easy to get hung up on them. Walkway areas need to have the Retrieval bug sorted out. Otherwise I don't really have a complaint on Hydra.
Goddess: Goddess is visually a nice map. Central hack is a bit bad not because of the lack of cover but because it's difficult for 4 teammates to move around there -- the plant boxes restrict movement to straight lines along the axes where enemy tends to shoot down, so it becomes a turkey shoot. Also, said plant boxes makes it difficult to get from the main door to the main hallway ammo point, which slows things down. Given the "recent" reduction in between-Waves timing, it makes it more difficult for players to get into good positions.
My two credits on the maps.
EDIT: Formatting. Good grief the forum editor is terrible.
Modifié par Lynx7725, 17 août 2012 - 03:38 .
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