Review: Storms and Shadows
I: Requiem
Not that challenging, rather a warming-up than a real map. The “concept” was ok, though quite simple. Too short and unexciting to be fun.
2.4
II: Your Luckiest Bad Day
Bravo! The difference between the previous one and this one is tremendous. Compared to “Requiem” this is absolutely perfect, except for the last “jump”, because getting up to the finish was the most difficult thing here, imo. The chaingun seemed to work quite well, though it became annoying, since it often blocked the way up to the exit.
The tiles were quite presentable.
3.6
III: Curves
Good drone-mechanics. Gameplay wasn’t that hard, yet not ridiculously easy.
3.4
IV: Ten Dollars Skatepark
Humm…not that special. I saw what you intended to do here, but jumping up and down is not really fun. I couldn’t reach the two topmost pieces of gold, but I guess it’s possible.
2.8
V: A Plumber’s Nightmare
Unexpectedly good. Everything worked together very well and there was kind of a “flow”, which I especially liked.
3.7
VI: Whoa! That was cool!
I also didn’t foresee this would be better than it looked. After I played it or a while, I found out the gameplay was actually quite smooth. Tileset was kinda ugly, though.
3.3
VII: With Without Out
Nice map. Another time there was a "flow"; or at least best route; which led me through the level. I appreciated that much.
3.5
VIII: Letter Performance
Mmh. Didn’t know what to think about this one. The main difficulty or sense of gameplay consisted in being lucky and getting past the chaingun. Not a simple, but a short map. Way too short, though.
2.5
IX: Strangest Faces Map Ever
Not strange, but ugly. The gameplay was generally ok, but was spoiled by those “below average” tiles…The left- and rightmost thwumps were useless.
2.7
X: Eight Evil Eyes
One of the better maps of this pack. Although there was never really the danger of being killed, this map had something.
3.4
XI: All Against Me
Not brilliant, but not bad either. The one laser lagged a bit behind, which made it slightly more complicated to agd. Average map.
3.3
XII: Where’s Your Head At?
Good concept. Got boring after a while, but the idea is great.
3.2
XIII: Aloha, Boa…
Very enjoyable, smooth gameplay. I couldn’t see the use of the drones, though.
3.4
XIV: Romantic
Quite exhausting map. Getting all gold was annoying at the beginning, because there were so many rough edges in the tileset. However the longer I played, the better I liked it. I even found a flowy route, so thumbs up.
3.5
XV: Tough Machinery
Possibly the best of this pack. Gameplay was completely different than I had experienced it in this pack so far. This map seemed sooo mature; it was a delight to play it over and over again.
4.2
XVI: Yang (Ying Yang Yoh! <3)
Not bad. Ying was missing. ;D
3.4
XVII: Come Home
Good use of thwumps. The pair of them at the top was a bit harder to get past, but that was a nice challenge.
3.5
XVIII: Gold Devourers
Excellent map to finish this map pack with. Leaves a good impression of the whole. At least as good as “Tough Machinery”. Those two were outstanding, compared to the rest of the pack.
4.2
your average rating would be
3.3
*all ratings are based on numa rating system (0-5, 5=best)
Summary:
- good, well-though-out map pack
- your strengths:
+ considerably good gameplay
+ some cool concepts
+ good enemy placement
- your weaknesses (or things to improve):
- originality (quite unspectacular maps)
- improvable aesthetics (e.g. tileset)
- quality of maps is unsteady
Don’t take my ratings or evaluation of your abilities too serious; see it just as my advice and constructive criticism. It’s perfectly possible I have a completely wrong impression of your map-making skills.
All in all I was quite satisfied with the pack (even though I criticised it). It was generally fun and I’m looking forward to seeing another one of yours sometime.
I’d be thankful now (whoa, after all this reviewing; 4 hours(!); I’m extremely tired) if you’d give me some feedback on my map-pack, too. My signature shows you the link. Thank you in anticipation.