These are my reviews for Round 4 of Death-match maps.
Halley Berry or Hallelujah http://rsg.ms/1hhM2ir : (-)
My feelings about this map are complicated. I absolutely love how much work you put into making the "Lowlife" base, as well as putting in police vehicles for the other team to "raid" the enemy team with. I know you requested that I try this in free-aim, but barely any players would join, and those that did, left immediately because of whatever bull crap reason they had. So I was left with no choice but to try in auto-aim for this match. Having played enough free-aim matches I can imagine how it would have went regardless (a bit different, but not by much). What killed this map for me wasn't the combat on the map itself, but the locations of spawn points and weapon points were poorly chosen. But the thing is, the player spawns would have been fine if the weapon spawns didn't promote fighting over the one sniper spawn on top of the hill, or the weapon spawns you had would have been fine if the spawn locations were more area regulated, as opposed to just all over the place evenly. With some work with spawning locations (or prop usage, whichever you prefer), this can be a great one to have. But as it is now, no one in the matches I played really enjoyed it, even the teams that won.
Lazer Jet Battle 2.0 http://rsg.ms/QAE1j3 : (+)
(This map was reviewed in a previous round, but was given conditions to meet in order to get a positive) Same as before: Vehicle Deathmatch, Lazer Jets, 2-16 players, mainly in Blaine County. The spawns have been corrected and more consolidated as mentioned in our reviews last time. This will be an excellent addition to the Vehicle Deathmatch list. This is one of those maps that "It just needs to be made eventually." This one is staying in my bookmarks.
Damned If You Don't http://rsg.ms/1gNqIBj : (+)
TDM, Forced and Pickups (pump shotgun), up to 16 players. This map is an interesting take on the "Shotty/Snipers" gamemode. Sufficient prop placement to avoid snipe spawn killing, and just enough for the shotgun fights that happen on the dam. Plenty of shotgun ammo around so players don't have to worry about running out, and just having only two sniper rifle spawns on each side is a wise choice, so most of the players are still forced to get into close combat with their opponents. A simple yet solid map!
Unfinished Business http://rsg.ms/1gNsJx6 : (+ : But with conditions)
Forced SMGs, 2-8 players, Team Death match. This close quarters map is a prime location, expertly selected forced weapon for the occasion. Very fast paced at some moments, a practical stalemate at other moments (not the case in free-aim though, which made for a really fun and intense tdm!). This would have gotten my unconditional approval, save it be for how the map handles auto-aim lobbies. There aren't enough props to be able to maneuver close enough to close the gap if one side wanted to without being blasted with bullets the moment they went out of cover. I'm not saying we weren't able to break the stalemates eventually, but there were just too many moments where we could point out exactly where our opponents were, but neither side was willing to move even their head out of cover, fearing that they are gonna get auto-aimed in the face in a half a second. Simply adding in some more low cover (or tall cover as well, but don't go crazy with tall cover or it will be just more effective to just run up and punch them instead). tl;dr version of conditions: Add more cover to make auto-aim matches more streamlined in their combat action, and this map is good to go.
Subway - "Die Fresh" http://rsg.ms/QHrM4o : (-)
Owned and pickups, 2-12 players, Team Death Match. The area chosen for the TDM is an area I've seen used before, but for a good reason: the over ground/ under ground dynamic is just too good to pass up. What caught me off guard was that one team started on the surface, while the other team started at the station underground. Yes, the weapons were evenly spread out between the surface and the underground, and there were mini gun spawns and rpg spawns so that even low level players can pick them up to even the odds against level 120s. What broke the map for me (and most of the people I played with were two things: 1) Spawning 2) prop usage. Starting with the first one then, spawning. Having the teams start off separate from each other by means of elevation is definitely neat, and watching them clash as they meet at the halfway point from each other was a great intense moment. But once the fighting broke down into spawn locations, Most players seemingly spawned in the most awkward of locations, either right in front/behind an enemy, or in an area where the player has to get their bearings again in order to get back into the fight. We had a full match, so this got out of hand fast. Secondly, the prop usage. One would think where all the fighting would go down (the midway point between the two teams), there would be more cover to use. But since most of the cover was at either team's spawn, it was better to just wait for the other team to come to you, instead of wanting to fight for the risky middle ground. It motivates people to fight for the middle area more as well if you put the power weapons in the middle area, not at their spawns. Put this map through its needed overhaul, and nominate this for a later round. A good deathmatch area for sure, it just needs some work.
Rehab Unaccomplished http://rsg.ms/PPSVSa : (-)
Forced and Pickups (pistol forced), 4-6 players, Free-for-all. This match had a sort of "Classy Construction" kind of feel, with the limited weapons and all. I do like that even if you have the power weapons like the carbine rifle or the grenades/stickies, it's only temporary and not game breaking imbalance. The RPG on top of the house, however, was never touched, mainly because we either couldn't figure out how to get up there, or even when we did, you couldn't get up there safely in time without getting shot from every direction. It may as well not have been there. The lack of props for cover in the more centralized areas also left the map open to spawns that put you right next to an enemy, or the enemy spawning really close to you without anything you can do about it. I won both matches (auto-aim and free-aim), and I still didn't feel like it was justified, mainly because I just got lucky spawns that I could be an opportunist about. Putting more props in good locations, and replacing spawns accordingly can improve this map greatly. I can see your vision for this map, but it just felt incomplete.
Tanks in Los Santos 2.0 http://rsg.ms/1j2SE7Y : (-)
After having it reviewed last time, and even seeing the spawns placed much closer this time, I realize now that a free-for-all vehicle deathmatch with tanks, but with nothing special aside from that (like clever usage of props and such to spice things up), is just not enough. It's just shoot enemy tank, get one kill, get killed by another player in one hit due to all the damage you can't regenerate, respawn, kill another tank in two hits or so, then have the same happen to you. Wash, rinse, repeat. Your Jet deathmatch made it because it involved all 3 dimensions instead of just two like tank deathmatches are restricted to. A tank deathmatch has to make up for that missing dimension of awesome by having something else with it to spice things up, but there just isn't anything here aside from exchanging tank rounds. Unless you can show me that your usage of props can add a new dynamic to tank deathmatches in the city, this will continue to keep its (-) from me.
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It pains me to have to put up so many (-), but I must be honest with my reviews, otherwise what is the point with having this thread? I really do want to see the map creators of these maps improve and come up with the new best thing since sliced bread! But we must take the highs with the lows that comes with inventing ideas. Shoot, I have had my fair share of maps I've made, then sat back and just thought "...Holy crap I thought this was a good idea?"
This concludes my reviews for Round 4. I eagerly await the next round, and applaud everyone that willing put their creations out there to take constructive criticisms in a public forum.