reviewed by VeNgEaNcE
Turmoil is
the first release from Gumaro Ruiz and is an
excellent first attempt, however like most maps
released these days it lacks the ingenuity and
creativity required to make it last in the minds
of the players.
SE7EN must have played a lot of deathmatch levels
and studied them well as Turmoil has all the
elements of a good hardcore DM map. Connectivity
is excellent with every area having multiple
exits. The level is also well layered making it
flow well in all dimensions. Turmoil is best
suited for small 1 on 1 matches and will go down
well with fans of Scary One's map, Scary_2.
Weapons are placed well and all spawn points are
close to fairly decent weapons. Ammo is well
spread out meaning that campers will have a
pretty hard time to dominate this level (thank
God for that!). The more powerful weapons are
placed in hard to reach places and expose the
player whilst they are trying to reach them.
Lighting is executed well, no part of the level
seems over or under lit. Architecture is very
excellent for a first attempt turning something
which could have been quite bland into a nice
looking map. Texturing is well done and the
textures chosen blend well. The overall look of
the map is good and the texturing complements the
lighting and architecture well.
R_speeds aren't too bad but for such a small map
I was surprised that they get as high as 900. I
think this happened because the author has put so
many complex brushes in one area.
So overall Turmoil is very professional,
especially when you consider that this is a first
release. However it continues the trend of maps
which contain no apparent theme. I have said this
before in my review of Scuttle but I may as well
say it again. Running around shooting people in a
generic deathmatch map (ie: those best described
as some kind of factory, alien outpost or
military base) can be fun for a while but they
seem to have very limited long-term appeal. Very
few levels these days show much variety or
ingenuity. Level designers seems to be under the
impression that if they don't design their map to
a rigid set of rules then it will not be well
received by the community. But they are
absolutely wrong, be as different as you can.
Make the kind of maps that you actually WANT to
make. The Half-Life engine has a huge potential
for variety, and I think that what has been
achieved by mappers so far (even though we have
seen a lot of excellent maps in the last few
years) is only the tip of the iceberg. On these
grounds I don't think maps such as Turmoil can
really be awarded a grade any higher than a C.
Apart from the limited creativity displayed in
Turmoil, it is still a very well made map and
once the author figures out what he wants to
achieve with his levels then his later releases
will definatly be worth looking out for.
SCORE:
C
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