FCF: March 27, 2013 @ 7PM CDT

Thanks to Broken Piggy and Panyc333 for running last week’s party.  And thanks to everyone who wished me good health – it is greatly appreciated.

This week CJ is back in the saddle for a Good Friday edition of FCF.  Here are the new maps we are serving up for you:

Beachtown Beatdown	JesterTheKyle	Domination/Transmission
It’s a sad day when mercenaries and pirates can’t get along.  This map features a number of vignettes of UFC-style action spread throughout the map, though most are concentrated around a campfire scene in one of the initial spawn areas.  Note that these guys were all trained by Jackie Chan – it’s Hong Kong style, no holds barred fighting. The majority of the action in this multi-tiered map takes place in a stilt village where the houses are connected by long rope bridges.  The play area is good for medium-to-large groups and has been fine-tuned for snipers.  Careful observers will find some custom-designed sniper nests scattered around. Navigation on the map can be confusing and there are several places where the player ends up walking on rails and needs to jump in order to pull themselves off the tracks.  We’ll see how this plays on the author’s preferred game modes tonight.

Black Box Jungle	FND Killer Tuner	Domination/Firestorm
The three-story tall mechanical spider surveys the wreckage with a mixture of concern and confusion in his multifaceted red eyes.  Is the wooden carnage below him the product of a cargo cult eager to please the sky spirits?  Or has Howard Hughes been defrosted and allowed to make a passenger version of his Spruce Goose? The wooden DC-10 below was fortunately bereft of passengers when it fell out of the sky – perhaps it was a maiden voyage that ended in tragedy.  Or perhaps the survivors have escaped into the nearby luminous cave, never to be seen again. So many mysteries – and yet we ignore them all for the pleasure of turning other people’s problems into our personal playground of carnage. The terrain on this map can be rough in places, so watch your step.  Also note that the giant spider is fully traversable, but, alas, the cable coming from her spinneret does not serve as a zip-line.

Tomb Raider	Broken Piggy	No preference stated
There is much that is deceiving about this map. For example, while it’s title conjures images of a busty, no-nonsense adventuress, the overall design is straight out of an Elder Scrolls Dwemer ruin.  Moss hangs freely in an all-indoor environment featuring pieces from the Temple object set. Another deceit is in its size.  Ostensibly this is a small arena taken up mainly by a moldering pyramid.  And yet, when one ventures through the moss-covered doorways on the side, a bi-level labyrinthine path is revealed that more than triples the overall size of the play space. It’s apparent to this writer that Broken Piggy is redefining his “arena within a ring” pattern in a way that encourages players to spend more of their time in the ring. There is indeed a tomb here – but any adventurer brave enough to enter it will find that it is likely they themselves that are raided.  The ghosts haunting this tomb are all too eager to have you join them.

As always, we’ll fill out the night with past FCF favorites.  See you there!