Yah, personally I like DM and DOM the most. DOM winning by a healthy chin stretch. I like the teamplay aspect more than just randomly running around shooting at things. I'm still burnt out from all my Unreal bot dm days in freakin' 1999! I was doing landscaping back then, and one time I came across a new water hose that was rolled up and a metal bar was sitting at the foot (wait it's a circle, does it have a "foot" area? hmm) well, at the top of it. When I glanced at it, I, for about half of a second, had this very STRONG URGE to RUN to it. I suddenly realized it looked like a dang shieldbelt!!! That's how much dm playing I was doing back then lol.
I'll include a quick review of the 4 maps in the dom-OstDomination map pack.
DOM-Ostburg--Castle/mountain area. Dom points are funly laid out. Keeps you running from point to point. Problem is you hafta hump your way around. Design needs to be a lil "tighter." A few areas (like the thigh pad zone) could have been scrapped altogether. Skybox is well chosen but is too stretched. Weapons\ammo\health flow well. Bots play it goodly and fly around just as much as you do. Expect intense seesaw battles for the center dom-point. I'd say a fun 6/10.
DOM-Ostburg][--Interior/forest area. This one is a bit smoother play wise. Ground has different height levels which are pretty fun. Though, there are trees placed and they do block your vision. Especially around one of the dom points. It's nothing too big and I guess I'm not mad at it since it's kinda a novelty. Teleports, uh, teleport you to areas you actually want to be in. Instead of having to haul your butt outa some nook placed in the middle of nowhere. Weapons\ammo\health again placed intelligently, though some unusual combinations are set. Flow isn't as tight, but since it is a small level you get where you want to pretty fast. One semi-hidden room is empty (could have used an invisibility power up here). Skybox is a night sky with a big purple moon. Fits the mood. Bots again play it well and love to kill you in the forest area (they sometimes get momentarily stuck above the water dom-point if they get the Rocket Launcher). I'd say a satisfying 6.5/10.
DOM-Ostheim--Industrial/cryptic/lava area. The textures and set pieces kinda mesh like peanut butter and bubblegum here. Could have dropped the spiderwebs and everything for something a lil more cohesive. Also, lots of elevators (that don't always pick you up). Lighting seems a tad dim also. Took me a good 4 plays just to finally get the hang of all the dom points. A very fun armor vest you can Impact Hammer jump to. Again, design could have been "tighter" as a few areas just seem to be put there for you to run through. Set-piece wise it seems there's just too much going on. Weapon\ammo\health is prolly the least liked by me's. It's serviceable though. Skybox is kinda an after thought, but maybe something with flames would have been better. Bots play fair, but tend to congregate at the bottom (slow moving) elevator behind the Flak Cannon. Strange thing though, the more I'm playing this thing the more I'm liking it. Prolly cause the music to it keeps making me bob my head the whole time. I'd say a decently intense 6/10.
DOM-Ostwerk--Technospace/sewer/wharehouse area. My fav map out of the 4. Flow is really fun and items well laid out. Author suggest 2-4 players, but I play it with 12-15 and have a blast. Frantic, vertical frags and getting shot in the butt are routine happenings. What more do you need? Again, took me a few times through to learn the dom-points (mainly the receiving door point). A well chosen place to put the Thigh Pad armor as it kinda puts you in the middle of nowhere. Get your reward, but be taken outa the loop for a few seconds. Makes it more of a strategery decision if you want to get it. Weapons\ammo\health are again all well laid out (Flak Cannon is *just perfectly* out of the beaten path). Could have used something in the Thigh Pad area though (maybe). Bot play is really fun and they don't seem to do anything stoopid. Skybox is quite lovely as well. Purple mountains with stars hanging gently above. Spanky and I say 7.5/10!
Music throughout was well chosen too. Nothing too annoying or anything. I also liked how the author included small touches in the maps. Like a green sewer flowing in Ostwerk or the coal mine shaft in Ostheim. Texture wise it seems he used a lot of S3TC ones so they look smooth and purrty. Definitely some fun maps to play as there's not too much action Dom wise these days.
This is my current Dom map list (with Spanky's favs noted):
Dom-Cinder
Dom-Cidom
Dom-Cryptic (Spankmania)
Dom-Cartridge
Dom-Diva (Spankmania)
Dom-Dualism (Spankmania)
Dom-Dragons
Dom-Extenza
Dom-Final Hour
Dom-Gasmine (Spankmania)
Dom-Hellfire2 (Spankmania)
Dom-Illwill
Dom-Lament][ (Spankmania)
Dom-Mystical
Dom-MementoMori (Spankmania)
Dom-Ostburg
Dom-Ostburg][
Dom-Ostheim
Dom-Ostwerk (Spankmania)
Dom-Syncronicity][
Dom-Storm
Dom-SpireTemple
I've been snooping around and finally played the Immaculate Map Pack. It is the pack that Dom-Cartridge is in. It is setup like the UT ladder single player. Haven't played it in sp mode or any of the DM maps. Just the 5 Dom maps. Other than Dom-Cartridge all the other maps are plainly average. However, two of the maps are pretty fun. Dom-GrievousVaultXL has a cool atmosphere to it with a fun layout. The other is Dom-Sangrel which is a plain but large level that has some good adventuring to it. File is Ut-Immaculate.zip:
http://www.3ddownloads.com/unrealis...s;jsessionid=1C0CE57F5AA1D6437841909189239868
I've also been checking out some of the unreviewed Dom maps at Nali City to see if any were decent. I've found a few:
Dom-Lathairon
http://nalicity.beyondunreal.com/map_hub.php?mid=5412
Dom-Khorne
http://nalicity.beyondunreal.com/map_hub.php?mid=4886
Dom-Hunalivalley
http://nalicity.beyondunreal.com/map_hub.php?mid=4877
The last one, Dom-Hunalivalley, is definitely intense and prolly the best one out of this current "unknown" bunch. There are a few more unreviewed maps that I'll check out to see if they're worth playing a few games in.