Aaris III: Beachhead

Description
This map, "Aaris III: Beachhead," by bobfinkl, is easily his best work yet. And I think it's a great example of how using the [i]right[/i] Yavin IV assets instead of the [i]wrong[/i] Yavin IV assets can really be put to work (disclaimer: my opinion).

My favorite part of this map was the sky. I know a sky can seem like such a minor thing, but when you think about it, everything from the horizon up is almost half the map - vertically. A good sky can do wonders and it did here. It was nice and simple but the touches with the lighting (although it could be a little less red and maybe a bit more orange/yellow) and the very well-placed setting sun really set the mood nicely.

Another strong suit of the map lay in its attention to detail. It was nice seeing thoughtfully placed AI hintnodes (snipe and mine), as well as seeing skydome flyers (although I would mention that you left the CIS skydome flyers in the GCW era). I also thought that the "beachhead" design we see from time to time (and in the stock Kashyyyk map) was well-done and well-implemented into gameplay. It's probably one of the best of that category I've seen.

There are some criticisms I would make - and I would hope by this point nothing less would be expected of me. First thing - no load screen. Not a requirement to enjoy the map, but a nice load screen goes a long way towards making a good first impression. Also, I noticed vehicles were missing sound. I know when I started modding I didn't think that it was such a huge deal to leave out sound, because it seemed so complicated to fix... well, my opinion has changed somewhat. It does do a lot for a map to have the correct sounds (vehicle or not), and yes, the sound can seem tricky at first, but as long as you've gotten used to following tutorials, it's not that big of a deal to fix. I would also mention that the bug the author mentions in the readme is probably caused by unnecessary tiled water underneath the terrain - do this on too much of the map and you will cause a crash, as mentioned. To the author - you will notice my criticisms are a lot more picky than they are for most maps, but I only criticize the small things when the big things have been well-taken-care-of in the first place, which they have.

Definitely worth at least a playthrough. It's not the most exotic locale, and it's not a complicated map, but it is well put-together and enjoyable.

-Mav