map review: a tale of two maps

[CSN NewsBot]

So, you say that you enjoyed the first map review from CS-Nation? You also say you've been anxiously awaiting the second installment with rabid enthusiasm? Not only should you ease up on talking to yourself, but you should wipe the froth away from your mouth because peagle delivers the goods with a double dose of map reviewing goodness! This installment takes a look at de_dust3 and cs_noir.

Teams spawn within the buildings on opposite sides of the street, so the initial skirmish is almost always defined by some raucous window to window crossfire. You'll duck for cover behind countertops in the cramped grayscale interiors while shells smash bottles over your head, and 'nades ricochet and explode into stark white flares. Enemies are harder to see in this twilight, but you'll pinpoint their positions once the bullets fly. The regular source gun flare is far more spectacular and dramatic in monochrome, lighting up the alleys and rooftops like strobe lanterns.

That's just a small sample of the detail that awaits you inside. If you think you can handle this one-two punch of 'amazing' then take a gander.

[ChinesesRubdown]

i definately have to give cs_noir a try. it looks very cool and sounds like it plays well too...

[kerosine99]

Personally, I don't want to play anything dust themed that wasn't put out by Mr. Johnston himself. As for cs_noir... it looks great.

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Once inside enemy territory it's a heart pounding room by room search, without enough room to swing a cat, unless it was an incredibly patient cat that could take a couple of nasty cracks to the head.

You are a strange, strange man peagle. I like it. :) Nice reviews, the style of writing keeps them interesting enough to keep reading despite my short attention span. One suggestion, though. Might be nice to give a link to something like Game Monitor so people can see if any servers are currently playing cs_noir or whatever.



Then again, as unplayed as custom maps often are... unless we're able to come up with a CSN server at some point in the future, that's often going to be a rather depressing link.

[David Johnston]

Wow, even from the screenshots Noir feels pretty good.

[kerosine99]

Does anyone else think the drawing of the CT in the POTD looks like a 10 year old in SWAT gear?

[entRo]

it kinda looks like this kid

[alexroyce]

Edited by [user="323076"] @ [time="1132178642"]

Hopefully my map will gain some popularity now. Its always nice to see a great review of something I put lots of work into :)



I wish you guys would review phys_phun_redone, as that map is so much different than anything today that its quite amazing. Definetly not a map for fragging each other, although its always fun to drop things on people killing them instantly.



As for more maps, along with my upcoming map cs_cabaret, be sure to check out www.alexroyce.com for more info!

[rizzuh]

Edited by [user="2065"] @ [time="1132184042"]

Nice to see you post here, alex! I'm sure your map will gain some publicity based on this.



Edit: I think we've reached the point where custom maps should really become a part of everyday CS life. Unfortunately, we're not there, but these map reviews are an effort to change that.

[alexroyce]

Indeed that is true. Far too many people seem to stick to the default maps, which is a shame as there are so many custom maps which I find more enjoyable than the default set.

[peagle]

alexroyce wrote..

Indeed that is true. Far too many people seem to stick to the default maps, which is a shame as there are so many custom maps which I find more enjoyable than the default set.

Aside from a majority who players who really just like playing the familiar, I think part of the problem is many server ops don't seem to take advantage of sv_downloadurl or bziping the files to vastly reduce streaming download times.



It really is a shame as learning a new map is a fun gameplay style unto itself you're missing out on - if all you do is play d2 till you've committed every corner to check and choke point to memory.



It's also been pointed out before how interesting it might be if there were a tournament that involved pitching pro teams into a completely new map none had played before.



I think if Valve could offer some kind of official sponsorship of great custom maps it would really aid the community and benefit the game. They took a partial step with the hl2dm contest they had, but I think they could go one better:



I.e. What if every 3 months they selected (or better still by fan-vote) a few superb custom maps and officially endorsed them? Could just be by adding them to steam news posts and offering the option to download, or building in a whole "custom map" menu into steam offering optional downloads of popular custom maps.



There's probably legal or fiscal implications depending on the level of their endorsement, but I'm sure something could be done, most mappers I think would jump at the chance to have their work promoted to more players without demanding lump sums.

kerosine99 wrote..

Does anyone else think the drawing of the CT in the POTD looks like a 10 year old in SWAT gear?

I was thinking more Dobby the house elf?

[vandmelon]

Hey... I ned some help to download skins and instal them

[alexroyce]

Edited by [user="323076"] @ [time="1132246256"]

peagle wrote..

Aside from a majority who players who really just like playing the familiar, I think part of the problem is many server ops don't seem to take advantage of sv_downloadurl or bziping the files to vastly reduce streaming download times.

Failure to understand sv_downloadurl is what killed de_crookcounty. Its a shame as the few servers which did make use of the .bz2 had clients downloading the 30mb zipped version in less than 5 minutes. The servers which didnt use it had clients downloading the full on 80mb in around 45 minutes, and thats just way too long. I tried to tell server admins to use the .bz2, but few did. There needs to be more information about both .bz2 and sv_downloadurl as im sure some server admins would love to have faster custom map downloads. Also, when .bz2 first came out, there was barely any infomation about it, as the update just said something like ".bz2 zipping now supported for downloads", and most ignored it. I had to do quite a bit of digging to even figure out what .bz2 was..

peagle wrote..

I.e. What if every 3 months they selected (or better still by fan-vote) a few superb custom maps and officially endorsed them? Could just be by adding them to steam news posts and offering the option to download, or building in a whole "custom map" menu into steam offering optional downloads of popular custom maps.

That would be great. You should mail Valve about the idea and ask what they think. Seeing as you guys reach a big part of the CS community, you might be able to rally some supporters with you and then you could possibly collectivly ask Valve (which would get more attention aswell).

[Stone Cold Spider 3:16]

the main problem is there are not enough servers running custom maps... least not here in Australia anyway.... 90% of the servers have the default maps only... seems as tho ppl are lazy and want to play right away instead of waiting for downloads to finish...

[kerosine99]

I think a fan vote would be a terrible idea. I'm afraid too many people will end up voting for some crappy fullbright fast compiled single textured fy or aim map.



I think Valve should take some interest and play some custom maps and if they find one they really like... they should contact the map creator and tell them they want to officially endorse it.



Peagle, yeah I see dobby.



Have any of you ever played DoD? Almost every server that's around now adays uses the fast download option.