http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3EXST4LG
ts_t6
Once again I'm forced to set eyes on the Egyptian texture set. No matter, though. "Brains War" is a medium-sized map with a very angular look. Clipping is nice, angled brushes are layered for variety, and texturing is neat. However, everything looks exactly the same. I couldn't really learn the layout of the map, because there were no real landmarks for me to go by, other than the pillar in the mega health room (which still wasn't textured any differently). I did like the challenge of getting the mega health, however; you have to make a rather difficult jump or you'll fall short. Bots play well enough since there's nothing too odd to throw them off. As far as weapon placement goes, I often found myself in search of one; I think more items could be placed, actually.
You might try a round or two, but I wouldn't frequent this map.
ts_t5
Stone walls and floors with blue lighting, like the title says. It's a little hard to see, but once you are familiar with the layout you will have no problem navigating. The Carmela is pretty good. The bots play really well. They tend to like the RG a lot, but they are pretty good with it and will give you a good match. Overall, this map is fun to play with my only nitpick being the lighting. It seemed a little too dark for my taste.
Download the map and give it a try. Some may keep it.
ts_q3dm13
Pretty much, as the title says, a tourney edition of q3dm13. The only differences I noticed were item placement, textures, and the spiked columns were replaced with walls. Other than that the action is pretty good. The bots play well, but can get stuck in the small alcove below the RA. I'm not to keen on remakes of levels. Never really expected TymoN to come out with something like this.
Ok, if you like remakes of standard levels. Not sure I'll keep it
ts_pm2
Battlefield by Tymon is a three tiered bunnyhopping frenzy, made for use with the cpma mod. You can pick up some insane speeds on this map, which combined with a ramp or a wallhanging means...cya! Weapon placement is nice and spread out. Retrieving the MH either takes some traveling to get to, a rocketjump, or a bouncepad; drop through the floor; grab LG; and jump over to the MH. The whole area is wide open so good luck getting it. If you have a rail destined opponent, than forget it. The map is so connective that a stronger player could get to another spawn point on the otherside of the map with no problems due to the wideopenness and pretty much dominate the map. You could rail camp if you wanted to. This map would have valued highly from beta testing at the Challenge Forums. The RG has no place in this map. If the map had been reduced in size proportionately, than a RG would be more appropriate. Of course all that's my opinion. =)
ts_pm1
A diamond in the rough, this map dares to go into the realm of the unknown by setting the first futuristic feeling and making it work with unbelievably well thought out item placement. Very nicely laid out. The map sports a technical theme that I think sets the atmosphere of the arena very boldly. A lot of Evil 6 textures have been used. Smooth gameplay is what you find all over the level. An electrical arena that has a little of everything. Teleporters, jump pads but no BFG
I had to have Tig send me a link for mapmedia textures to get some of the lights on the ceiling into view, but this is a small problem that I'm sure only a few of you may experience. Unique design and color scheme. This map deserves an ULTRASPANK! (that's a good thing)
t-pak2c
A collection of 10 relatively simple levels, many of which are Space levels. The game modes of CTF, DM, and Tourney are covered. All the maps feel and play more like a quick sketch or a first draft than a final release. A few of levels have poor brush construction, which has lead to the author placing the map in a box to compile - this is always a mistake, no matter how simple your level is.
The gameplay on a few of the maps in the pack is not bad and shows potential if the author had spent more time on construction and play-testing. Bots play all the maps.
In the end, more work is required to bring these maps from the rough state to a finished work. The levels feel like they have been made for a few friends to play at a LAN.
subair
Concrete, grates, pipes, water, pipes with water...yeah its a industrial map... BUT! it has nice design, awesome music (3,91 mb) and, you will never guess, ...nice humor. Seriously, it has one of the best Easter eggs I have ever seen in my life.
A Bot file is included. FFA gameplay is fun and fast. But the biggest surprise for me was Tourney. ITS ALIVE! uh... I mean nice, very nice.
The biggest problem of the map is shaders. Lots of shaders. They are pretty, but they increase the load time and do not appear that necessary. Remember, kids: "Power Has a Price", (c) Q3Map2 Shader Manual.
Good map though, download it and enjoy.
rv3tourney1
nicely sized DM or small TeamDM level that doubles as a hunt-based Tourney release. Visually, this is a love or hate aesthetic. A bright blue light trim texture wraps around almost all edges and can create a harsh contrast to the stone and wood textures used elsewhere. The entire map is flooded with light and because the wall and floor textures are similar, the level can be a little disorientating.
The construction and level of detail however is excellent. A long curved hallway wraps around a tall central atrium with multiple levels and access points. The map is fast to navigate, but still has a few places to hide. Skilled players will be able to take advantage of a few architecture features, but this will not make the map less rewarding or less fun for others. Unless you are running on a PC with the almost 10 year old minimum specs set for Q3, the framerate is high as well.
Gameplay is focused a bit too much around the central atrium and the main jumppad to the Yellow Armour. This is because of the location of the Mega Health and Quad also being so close by. The Red Armour is located away from here to try to pull the gameplay over, but it is just not enough. When you go for the RA, you almost always feel like you are running away from the action, not too it.
Bots play the map without any known issues, however they also focus on the main atrium and jumppad to YA location.
The negative points highlighted above are minor ones but do need to be mentioned. They should not distract you from downloading an otherwise great release. Grab it!
rotary_small2
This small square map consists of 4 respawn rooms which enclose a larger central area.
You start in a random respawn room with MG, gauntlet and two random weapons. Once you leave your room, you can not get back in again - so be sure to grab the amour and health which is in there. In the middle of the central area a random powerup is placed and around the edges you will find ammo for your weapons. The main aim of this map is to show or improve your skills - there is only you or your enemy. You could also play it as a warm up map or just to have some fun with fragging. A secret is also included but discover yourself.
It is a shame that the height of he sky is so low - grenades disappear in the sky and nice air rockets/rails are not really possible but all in all it is a nice idea! Try to play a tourney match with a fraglimit of 1 or 2 on it - it is extremely thrilling.
A custom bot is also included:
The map also includes a custom bot named Gorgon, which features a slightly modified Uriel skin. The bot is well-suited for the map, having haste, invisibility, rocket launcher and lightning gun for favorites. - The Altar Readme.
q3dmp9
The details, textures and the whole construction of this release is quite impressive. Textures are combined almost perfectly. Lights are sober, but a little more contrast may have highlighted the architecture better. The lower section with the MH is well designed. The Regen placement is an interesting solution with the teleporter in the upper room.
Some more words should be said about the gameplay and item/spawn-placement, which did not blow me away as much. For example, the RL and GL are too close. Same issue with the RA and MH. The health count comes out at 130 points (3x25, 1x50, 3x5) plus the MH. This really is low for a Team DM, FFA or Tourney match. As a reference, protourney4 has 170 points. The ammo amounts are balanced, but placing two boxes of PG ammo next to the PG spawn is a bit of a concern. With only 6 player spawn points, it is easy to pick off or locate a respawned player. A few more spawn location would have been nice to see.
The bots play mostly fine, not challenging, but still entertaining. I only noticed one small issue after a bot grabbed the Regen - then appeared to fall into the void below.
In conclusion, I would rate the level an 8/10. I really admire the structure, textures, light and sound, but the gameplay is affected by limited spawn points, item balance and placement. Well worth downloading but may be more suited to 2vs2 or FFA over Tourney.
obs3dm3
This is the second ztn map converted by Obsessed, the first was obs3dm2, a remake of ztndm3 aka Blood Run). When I reviewed obs3dm2 I was wondering if there was a need for a second conversion of Blood Run (a previous one already had already been done by Sten Uusvali himself). The present conversion is unique, I am not aware of any other Q3A version of ztndm6. For this reason it is a more valuable contribution to the Q3A map pool.
Just as the previous conversion, this map is excellently done from a technical point of view. The architecture is superb, lighting is very well done. The textures are perfectly aligned and the whole level looks and feels consistent. The bots play the map adequately, they seem to use all rooms and take all power-ups.
In spite of the map's technical excellence, I feel slightly disappointed because - as in the case of his previous conversion - the author changed the layout of the original in such a way that seriously affects game play.
The first change was made to the lower atrium with the yellow armor. The author added a pillar at the turn of the stairs and added a water-covered pit to the bottom where the yellow armor is. These changes make the lower atrium a more cramped place (it is much more difficult to move around there) and change the style of fighting around the yellow armor because now it is possible to take cover or set up an ambush behind the pillar.
The second change is the position of the red armor. In the original map the red armor was in a recess in the wall, you could jump to it from the corridor (both directions), then jump back and retreat your steps to the upper platforms. Or you could hide in the recess waiting for the red armor and/or setting up an ambush for anyone coming for it. In this map neither of the above strategies is possible, your only choice is to jump down to the armor and use the teleport at the lowest level of the red armor room.
The third change concerns the accessibility of the quad damage. In the original you could (barely) jump to it from the elevator at the opposite side of the room. Now the elevator is gone, there is a jump pad instead. I tried for about ten minutes to reach the quad by different tricks (rocket jumping included) but could not do it. OK, I am not the greatest player of the world and do not know well many of the trick jumps, but IMO it is too hard to reach the quad (if possible at all). To add insult to injury, the bots appear to have a ready-made invisible bridge (possibly bot clip) by which they can walk to the quad w/o any effort. This is unacceptable.
Another questionable change is the use of transparent (see-through) teleports. In this map you can see if the weapon on the other side is available or not, as well as if there is anybody there. This reduces the excitement and suspense of game play by eliminating the uncertainty of what you may jump into when using a teleport.
My final complaint is about the overall atmosphere of the map. It is far too detailed and colorful as compared to the stark but elegant simplicity and colors of the original. I know that it is 2009 and we are talking about Q3A here, but I believe that in this case a more restrained approach would have served better the goal of reproducing the playing experience of the original map. You don't have to add every conceivable detail to a map just because it is technically feasible.
In summary, this map is technically a very nicely done remix of the original ztndm6 map, but unfortunately because of some layout changes and the use of excessive details and vivid colors, it fails to reproduce the atmosphere and game play of the original. For this reason I can rate this map only 7 on a scale of 10.
Criticism notwithstanding, I recommend to download and play this map, especially if you have not played the original. Older players who know the original may be a bit disappointed. Still, a slightly flawed conversion is much better than not having such a great map for Q3A.
crescentfinal
Crescent is a well laid out tourney that visually resembles a small Mediterranean seaside town. The walls are washed in carmine and off-white tones and turquoise, aqua, aquamarine tiles with timber floor joists providing perches throughout the map.
Movement through the map is often staccato due to large number of tight corners and cramped alleys. Items are well balanced with the lightning gun, rocket launcher and yellow armour offset at the opposite end of the map by the red armour and plasma gun. The grenade launcher sits in the centre of the level at the highest portion of the map and above the Megahealth found on the lowest portion of the map. The shotgun and rail gun are to be found in the inner perimeter on the next level up. Here you will also find two teleporters located by the shotgun and rail gun respectively that will take you directly above each item. In the case of the shotgun teleporter you will find yourself spawning around the corner adjacent the red armour. The spawn locations of the red and yellow armours and megahealth are indicated by uplifted floor tiles.
Because there is only one rocket launcher on this map all weapons will see there fair share of action and due to the refined layout gameplay will focus solidly on knowledge of your opponents location and weapon/armour count as well as guarding and controlling the armours, the rocket launcher and rail gun and the Megahealth. Expect a few respawn frags from the controlling player. Unfortunately the lack of a second rocket launcher will also see the down player playing at a disadvantage.
Scattered throughout the map are a series of algae green pools with lily pads floating on top. This feature I loved the most because not only do they serve as traps but also serve as excellent ambush spots that add an extra dimension to gameplay.
Bots use the map well and will take all items but will tend to get stuck occasionally in the pools.
I really cannot fault this level and this owes largely to the fact that Jochum Skoglund is a professional level-designer based in Stockholm, Sweden.
anodm4
Manic Depression is a concrete, industrial-themed base map with item placement optimised for Team Deathmatch. Weapons and power-ups included on the map are 2 Rocket Launchers (1 in proximity to the red armour and the other in close proximity to the yellow armour), 1 Railgun, 2 shotguns, 1 Lightning gun (which acts as a counterpoint to the RA rocket launcher), a plasma gun and a grenade launcher that is perched above the Red Armour. The Mega Health is located in the network of tunnels at the bottom of the map and underneath the main central arena where the Quad spawns. Not to be underestimated is the single 50 health that you will find yourself actively seeking out through the course of a game - especially in games with larger player loads.
Bot play is a bit lack-lustre but they do use all areas of the map and pick up all items bar the Red Armour and 50 health; both of which require either a rocket jump or a drop down from above to reach. They also have an annoying tendency to just stand there until engaged in combat and will often not use their weapons - more so than I have noticed on other maps.
The map layout and item placement is flawless and what really stands out is how well connected everything is with a network of tunnels underneath the main area and an equally well connected network of walkways above being hotly contested. Bouncepads allow for movement to the upper areas in addition to teleporters providing similar access as well as removing the distance between otherwise disconnected sections of the map. In this respect, Manic Depression reminded me of Teddy's classic Team Deathmatch level, Deep Inside.
The layout will see smaller battles taking place as you move around the perimeter in free for all with confrontations often taking place down below for the pick-up of the Megahealth and large frays taking place in the main arena around the time the Quad spawns.
Manic Depression also works really well as a smaller 2 vs 2 team deathmatch and 3-5 player free for all, making for a more strategic game that can be owed to the exceptional item placement and connectivity of this level. Smaller games in no way feel lacking or sparse.
Levelmakers' logos reminded me from time to time that the environment I was so absorbed in is in fact artificial, but given the support levelmakers.com provides to Quake 3 map makers this is by no means a criticism.
