FCF: February 15, 2013 @ 7PM CST

I hate to say it, but we have too many maps!  You all have outdone yourselves.  I’ve reviewed as many maps as I can in preparation for this Friday and there isn’t a single stinker in those that I have reviewed.  But we honestly have more maps than we can play under the current lobby conditions.  So here’s the plan:

I went through the map list in a first-come/first-served fashion.  With the exception of a couple of maps that were carry-overs from the prior week’s list that didn’t get played, I’ve limited each author to a single map.  Maps that didn’t get selected will be carried over to next week unless I hear otherwise from the author.

I’m also changing-up the format of the map list.  I found myself wanting to make more expansive comments this time around – especially since there were so many maps and I just don’t have time to review them personally with the creators over Xbox LIVE.  So you will see a very different layout for the maps that have been accepted for play.  I hope you like it!

New/Revised Maps for Friday:

Katatonia	Broken Piggy	Domination
Domination points have been reworked.

New Camelot	Broken Piggy	Domination & Firestorm
Both game modes have been reworked.

GHETTO APARTMENTS	FND Killer Tuner	Domination
Ghetto? These guys have a pool, hot tub, recreation room, laundry facilities and tennis and basketball courts. That’s a pretty cushy ghetto… These are also the nosiest neighbors around.  Everyone is watching somebody else – except for the pot-growing pirates who sit around playing Xbox all day. There are lots of fun details in this map.  Exploring them, though, is likely to get you killed. This is a long, shotgun topology variant map. It will be interesting to see how it plays.

Burial Grounds	xXxMentalxXx	TDM / Transmission
An archaeological dig site somewhere in a forgotten part of Egypt. Apparently two teams of archaeologists claim to have discovered the site and a scientific dispute is to be solved with gunfire. This map has a good feel of a dig site and has a large pyramid as its centerpiece. There’s a good mix of open ground and cover here. The layout is mirror-image symmetrical along a diagonal axis and reduces down to an inverted ring and spoke topology. Visually, I’d like to see a bit more trash and dis-orderly positioning of the tents on the map – it looks a bit too pristine and military for a scientific site. Also, I’d like to see the wells made deeper, perhaps using the hole tool and cement sides beneath the ground to give them some depth.

Ghetto Life	wickedmoose306	Firestorm
Firestorm has been re-worked. We’ll give it a spin and see if this ghetto is ready for bid’ness.

Hide in the Cellar	Chongokiller	Transmission
This map of an isolated compound raises more questions than it answers: What are the phosphorescent plants that the drug dealers are growing in the greenhouse?  Why is there a giant earth drill under the waterfall?  What are the strange bulbous creatures who are lumbering out of the jungle?  And, most importantly, WHY MUST I HIDE IN THE CELLAR? Chongo’s tri-level map boasts a number of paths running through a relatively small space.  Outdoors, you can opt for the rooftops or the land – or take one of two entrances into the cellar.  Inside, you can explore the greenhouse, lab and lounge, or find your way through the locker room maze into the cellar. The cellar is tight and winding.  At first it is very confusing, but it actually has very few rooms.  There are three exits, two via ladders and one via stairs.  And there is a bonus room that you can see into (provided you break down a false wall), but cannot enter. This map has a solitude and spookiness to it that is hard to describe. The only item on the map I don’t really like is that one of the cellar entrances from the ground takes advantage of a glitch to pull you through a “secret” entrance via a ladder.  I’m not a fan of hidden pathways in maps – I think they are counter to multi-player gameplay – so that does count as a negative.  It’s also disconcerting if you happen to head into the shack covering the hidden entrance and suddenly find yourself on a ladder when all you wanted was some momentary cover to get some healing.  At least it’s a nice forced entry – it’s not as bad as the horrible “bury a ladder in the wall” glitch whose venomous charms beguiled so many gullible map makers back in the Far Cry 2 era. The ending movie has a nice effect here.  Most of the movies pan out and to the side and on this map, the pan goes through the wall as the scene fades for many of the animations.  It’s a very nice cinematic effect.

Paranormal Prison	Smoken Crow	TDM
When I saw the flyover for this map I thought “somewhere down there is a REALLY PISSED-OFF teenager”.  And I found him.  You’ll know him when you see him – he’s the one riding the bicycle. Paranormal Prison is a correctional facility where both sanity and the laws of physics have been thrown out the window – along with a few prisoners.  Ships and pieces of jet fuselage are suspended in air; rivers of blood flow out of windows; men wear primitive masks and mutilate each other while suspending themselves by the neck from ropes like masochistic puppets under the control of an invisible and maniacal puppet master.  Strange lights flash at seizure-inducing rates through clouds of bile and gore. This is a multi-level, indoor-outdoor map with lots of unique visuals.  It’s a sniper’s map, with some rather unique (and dangerous) sniper points.  TDM is going to play very well on this map if the spawn points are laid out as well as the map itself. The ending movie, while placed in an interesting setting, does suffer from visual glitches and pop-in/pop-out as the camera moves around.

Gaztown	Chunky Cows	Transmission / Domination
This is a nicely-decorated, small map.  It’s a tiny urban village set on a lonely road, offering much-needed fuel to those travelling through the sparse jungle.  In addition to the gas station, there is a bar, several houses and a church.  The map has a feel very much like locations in the first FC3 co-op mission. One item that may detract from gameplay is the map’s open borders: if you aren’t watching your mini-map, it’s easy to walk outside of the map limits for much of the map perimeter.  In this particular case, it doesn’t make the map intolerable, but it’s something that should be addressed with environmental cues, if possible. The map is essentially a shotgun topology – a main road with closed buildings on either side.  There is a single side-road, but other than leading to a building, it takes players outside the map boundaries. The ending movie is, unfortunately, not set on level ground, so the actors feet are often shown as buried under the asphalt of the main road.

TerrorFormed	Dark Reyule	Domination
Life as a comms tech in the Venarius Cluster was never a picnic. But ever since the discovery of maltenemite on Venarius Eta it’s been much worse.  The Syndic pirates have been conducting constant raids on Confederation comm arrays around the planet, attempting to disrupt Confed’s ability to organize a mining colony.  You’ve had enough.  With yet another array burning in the distance you and your mates decide to hold your ground on the last working array.  If the Syndics want to hijack this array, they’ll have to go through you first. Reyule’s latest map is set high above a jungle world on a floating communications array – one of many.  Another can be seen broken and burning in the distance with yet another intact array to be found in the opposite direction.  The playable area of the map is almost symmetrical with four arms leading out from a central hub.  As you enter or exit the hub, friendly arm numbers on the walls let you know if you are heading in the right direction.  Two of the arms are also marked with red and blue flags to further help with any disorientation. This is mainly a close quarters map, though some sniping can be done from adjacent arms.  Cover is sufficient, but death still awaits those in cover --  a careless step will send the unwary engineer to his death on the surface of the planet, 100 meters below. Reyule has done a beautiful job with this map, faithfully producing a science fiction map with the grittiness of the first Alien film.  While I haven’t reviewed the spawn positions for this map, I suspect it will play very well.  Very well, indeed.

Rainbow Six LVU	EddieNES	Domination
If you’ve played through Rainbow Six: Vegas, you will likely be overcome with a strong sense of déjà vu while playing this map.  Inspired by the Las Vegas University level (loosely based on the UNLV campus), R6V players will quickly recognize the Administration Building, quad area and library from that level. This is a bi-level map with two large buildings that are relatively easy to navigate.  I was able to run the map easily without encountering any glitches.  I anticipate that gameplay here will be solid for Domination.

Maps in review, awaiting revisions or known to be in development:

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
Limited Grab Bag	Chongokiller / The Govener	Domination	IN REVIEW
Jungle Boogie	Smoken Crow	Domination / Firestorm	IN REVIEW
Boxed Inn	EddieNES	Domination	IN REVIEW
The Pit	RGC Cambles	ALL	REJECTED/GAMEPLAY Tilted ladders on guard towers and shipping containers need to be re-worked.  They often cause players who descend them to be stuck at the bottom.  (NOTE: This may not happen in the editor, but it DOES happen in multi-player.) The map may be resubmitted once this issue has been corrected.

Regular Rotation Maps:

Map Name	Creator	Modes	Comments
Workmans Comp	ST x EROCK	All	Great map for 6-12 players
Contained	Broken Piggy	All	Fun for small groups.
Septic	Broken Piggy	All	No new changes, not yet published.
Jonestown	Cold Justice	All	Making the best of a bad situation…
Ancient Arena	Broken Piggy	Domination Firestorm	A fun end-of-the-night map
Suspended	Mikk_Q	TDM	Always in the rotation, but hasn’t gotten much play lately.
Smuggler’s Airport	Broken Piggy	All	Now with extra vegetation!
Island of the Dead	Broken Piggy	TDM	Another end-of-night standby.
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination	Pretty Japanese garden. Great start-of-session map.
Relictus	xXxMentaLxXx	All	Warfare in a decaying factory from a long-forgotten civilization.
Apocalyptica	Broken Piggy	All	Arid and desolate – a land now devoid of joy where men fight over what remains.
Unwanted	ST x EROCK	ALL	A small military base is installed near a village – and the inhabitants aren’t happy about it.
Overgrown City	Broken Piggy	ALL