Thoughts on the 3 new official maps

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phor

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Jan 26, 2008
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Hey all. I thought i'd just post my initial impressions of the new maps and see what everyone else thinks so far!

I can't decide whether I like Morbias or not. Its a similar structure to the map in the first UT in layout (the name escapes me atm..) except it doesn't have the trap in the middle, which is what drew me to the original UT. It's also only rockets (bar the occasional redeemer) and gets a little boring in my opinion (wheres the shock rifle!) No doubt some will love it however.

On to the capture the flag maps. I was initially skeptical about another necris style map, as it is not my favourite theme. However, Searthlight is a really well designed and fun map to play and looks class! It is made up of a couple of tiers, the rooftop and a network of underground tunnels. The brilliance of the map is that as soon as you get bored trying to strategically work your way through the tunnels and bottom tier, you can completely change tactics and try your luck running across the rooftops. Its a really well designed intricate, but simple flag map and I can see myself constantly voting for it online.

I absolutely love the reimagining of Facing Worlds! I was initially skeptical having read about the asian theme for such a classic space map. However I should have had more faith in Epic as the theme fits brilliantly. From the vast expansive views, to the scale of the level, distance and everything else, and the classic feel of the redesigned nooks and crannies. Weapon placement has always been, and again is, pretty much perfect and the attention to detail on the level design is awsome! I also love the type of filter/colour 'tone' they've used (similar to the one in Hydrosis - a slightly washed out look) I cant wait to waste endless hours on this one online!

I am loving the fact that 2 out of the 3 maps are capture the flag (greatly needed, as it's my favourite gametype) as they are so well designed and will be played online. Here's to more official maps, well done Epic :D

What are everyone elses thoughts?
 

JohnDoe641

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Searchlight seems to be a good map with decent flow to it and several different routes to the flag. I haven't really played FW yet but since it's the same layout, it's going to probably same the same as the other versions of it. Morbias, as others have said, it's similar to the original which was just insane spam and fun. :D
 

Raynor.Z

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Feb 1, 2006
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I was little bit dissapointed with Face TBH (many UT3 remake maps now have suddenly changed its location from original) , but it's still better than 2k4's version and classic tune playing background makes it only more enjoyable. Morbias was exactly the Morbias I expected from UT3 and Searchlight was quite fun to play - morphed well into UT3's Necris theme. Only funny bug was that black cube on the rooftop, silly Epic... :=)
 

pine

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I am loving the fact that 2 out of the 3 maps are capture the flag (greatly needed, as it's my favourite gametype) as they are so well designed and will be played online.

Unfortunately, more CTF maps is not going to get people to actually start playing CTF. :(
 

rythem

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Feb 13, 2008
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I can't decide whether I like Morbias or not. Its a similar structure to the map in the first UT in layout (the name escapes me atm..) except it doesn't have the trap in the middle, which is what drew me to the original UT.

It's DM-Gael from ut2k* series.
 

JaFO

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Nov 5, 2000
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thoughts ?

damn you Epic for returning Face to the UT3-universe. I thought we'd seen the last of that map ... :( / ;)
otoh it's cool to see how the maps look in this game. CTF-Face kind of makes sense now (not that it needed to though, but a little 'reality' is great).

I think the time Epic needed to release 'only' 3 maps speaks volumes for how complex map-design has become for the 'next-gen' games.
 
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phor

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Jan 26, 2008
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You're thinking of DM-Fractal I think, not DM-Morbias which was also in the original.

Yup thats right..it is a good map and the lighting is great but i think i personally prefer slightly more interesting ones.

Raynor.z - Yeah that's fair enough. I haven't personally downloaded any of the custom made Face maps and so mabye its different for me..but my reasoning is more the idea that since this is the official Epic one, it's automatically put into the map lists online and into far greater numbers of servers. I didn't once see a custom Face map online and I always play capture the flag. The other thing is, i have downloaded loads of CTF custom maps for online play but they are hardly ever online or played because they are unofficial, not everyone has them, and most importantly not all servers have them either. This seems to be more so with team deathmatch maps..i havent once played a custom one online and i want to! At least these official ones will appear everywhere.

I also love the extra effort Epic do to their maps..you can tell theyre the official ones with the extra background detail and individual sheen/looks them them :) (not to say i dont like custom made ones of which i have loads of great maps)

Pine - my hope is that once people download the map pack and see there are a couple of CTF maps, one of which is really fun to muck around on sniping etc, they will want to play them more, and then stay in the servers and play CTF more. Im hoping that was Epic's intent thinking about it...having released 2 CTF maps and only 1 DM map....mabye more people will start to gather interest for CTF.
 
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Roulette

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Mar 29, 2003
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Face is face. New theme, same idea. All the same basic structure. The area outside the base doesn't have as much room before the gap as it used to IIIRC. I dunno. I hated it in 99, and this doesn't change opinion. Take that for what it's worth.

Searchlight. Blech. Not my idea of a good map. It's pretty. Also, fairly large. Probably be a beast on fps for some people. I really don't like the flow of the map. The flag room has a ton of entry points. The midfield area just feels bad to me. Not really sure why, but that is my initial impression. I really don't like the shock being all the way at midfield, or the mini/flak/bio being clustered near the flag. Entire map has a ton of armor and health, which I suppose is to account for it's size. And wtf, invisibility on ctf maps?

Morbias I really can't speak to. DM is not my specialty, so I'm not fit to judge or comment. Seems ok, but it's hard for em to say anything credible.
 

pine

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Just tried the face remake, and it's as fun as Face was in UT99. So maybe it actually will get some people playing, who knows?
 

_Lynx

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The only thing I didn't like about Facing Worlds is what Raynor.Z mentioned - relocation. Yeah, it may be cool to see the ground below, but the map's now somehow grounded. For me it lost half of it's sci-fi feeling the Face/Face][ had just because of that relocation.
 

Argus

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Feb 13, 2008
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Hmm. Let's see.

Morbias - The first map I played of the three. It is very similar to its UT 99 predecessor, if not slightly larger. It's lots of fun, and I particularly like the warning (From the original Unreal, IIRC) that you hear just before the deemer spawns. The deemer's lack of oomph really shows in this map. The effects from the explosion are damn beautiful, I'll say that, but it's not nearly as powerful as it was in the original UT.

Searchlight - The second map I played. Totally different from what I expected in terms of appearance. I was expecting a more technological map (Similar to the likes of Carbon Fire) but this is quite nice too, if not very green. One of the best parts is there is quite a lot to see in this map, in terms of exploration. Translocator FTW :)

Face - The last map I played. I was going to play this first because I'm a HUGE fan of the Face maps, however it was a pain in the ass to get working. The first few times I tried to load it the game crashed. However, after playing Morbias and Searchlight it finally decided to let me play.
In terms of appearance, WOW. What a difference. To be honest I did think the old space backdrop was getting kind of overused. This is a brilliant map to play on, and lots of fun with a few bots. I DEFINITELY prefer this over UT2kX's Face maps, which were dire compared to the original. I'm so glad Epic dropped all that "Ancient Egypt style" crap from UT. This Asian theme suits the map more, though truth be told I'd have loved to see it in the Necris nanoblack tentacle style.
 

Lethargy

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Feb 24, 2006
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I like them very much and am glad they were released. However, I find the performance on them to be lower than any of the other stuck maps. My framerates dip into the 50's in some places on all three and I get 100+ constant on all the other maps (except looking over the courtyard in shangrila and looking across deck, which put me around the 70s).

This Asian theme suits the map more, though truth be told I'd have loved to see it in the Necris nanoblack tentacle style.
The Japan theme is very fashionable right now, give it a year or two and you'll find it every bit as dumb as the egypt theme. tbh I really liked the egypt theme though...
 
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Argus

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I don't experience any noticeable framerate issues on any of these maps.

Only problem I have is with Deck. The minute I go anywhere near the slime my framerate drops to 0 for about half a minute, sometimes more.