Dune IX

Description
For a map which is supposedly a crossover of Star Wars and Dune, this rather surprisingly has nothing to do with either.

Still, let\'s not let that get in the way.

Chances are, you\'ll spawn in either the top monument area, or inside the main room. The monument area isn\'t so bad, just standard issue. The stacked monument can make for some fun dueling, but sadly, the water shader is just terrible, as is the blue aura your character gets covered in when standing near it. The bridge does look a bit odd, and the jump pads really don\'t need to be there. The wall textures are repetitive, and the lighting is very bland and bright. You\'ll find an equally simple observation room under the main platform. The plaque on the wall featuring the names of those involved is a nice touch, though. Going in one of the little side tunnels will lead you to the main room.

Which, oddly enough, gave me a crippling headache, although it probably won\'t affect you so badly. The room is almost uniformly lit with red and blue, again with no sources, and despite a few nice tricks, it\'s still very basic. This room contains the only Dune reference I found in the entire map - a sign saying House Atreides above one of the doors in the blue side. Other than that, a somewhat typical room full of mysteriously levitating circular platforms, two with the Rebel logo, two with the Imperial logo, and the oh so familiar lava pit. One nice touch is the sliding floors. They don\'t work like conveyor belts as you\'d think, but you can skate across them which is sort of fun. The water shafts are made of that same horrible texture, and you can\'t really use it to traverse the level without drowning. If anyone gets stuck finding their way around, I\'ll tell you three exits from this room - the two gratings on the sides of the top level are hiding flares which teleport you to the top. Underneath the main duel platform (if you can get there), you\'ll find a flare which will warp you to the \"slippyslide\" room.

Which brings me to my third paragraph. The slippy-slide room is a fun concept, but still has it\'s problems. The outsides of the pipes are transparent, and you really shouldn\'t be able to see that, but since they\'re not hidden, you can. The lighting is just as bland as in the other rooms. Still, you can have a lot of fun going down the tubes. Upon reaching the bottom, you\'ll warp back up. You can use the flare to go back.

Next up is a green gunge room. Suffice to say, it doesn\'t look all that aesthetically pleasing. The platforms are far too distant to reach via jumping, and I found no other means of getting across them. Similarly, the flare to warp out is just as hard to reach. There\'s a shaft under the goo you can swim down, and it leads to a second duel room sort of like the main room - only with more slime and the ugly flourescent green lighting.

The final room is a small duel room following on from the slippy-slide design philosophy, only without the slippy-slides. Now, however, the platforms you\'re supposed to duel on are slippery. The ramps and platform around these areas are invisible, so it\'s almost imposible to notice them.

For global downsides, you\'re mostly confined to the main room, as the other room\'s entrances are so obscure. The music... well, let me say one thing - commercial songs are good in your Winamp playlist, maybe in-game cutscenes, but they\'re not good for BGM in maps. Let alone Mudvayne - this particular song has created an anti-atmosphere in the map. The lighting doesn\'t work - for a start, you should use light sources, not for realism but because it\'s a nice professional touch. Secondly, uniform lighting is just plain ugly. For a small area, it can be excused, but for a whole map... This map just has all the trademarks of being designed by a new mapper, and it really reflects in the map\'s life expectancy.

For a redeeming feature, there\'s quite a bit of room for fun mini-games. It just doesn\'t work for the intended JK gametypes at all, though.

If you see yourself playing this, you know where to download it.

~ Kouen

[b]Bot Support:[/b] No
[b]New Textures:[/b] Yes
[b]New Models:[/b] No
[b]Custom Music:[/b] Yes

[b]Gametypes:[/b]
Free For All