Jade Moon

Description
It's always nice when a mapper comes up with a creative and original environment. Jade Moon is no exception.

The map is not without its faults, however. The map size is pretty large so there can be some serious walking involved, especially as the battle starts to dwindle down. Fortunately there are lots of CP's and AI to compensate for this, but it doesn't do much good once the ticket count drops into the double digits. Personally I think some of the CP's might be within too close a proximity of one another which can lead to a continuous match of tug-of-war, though I'm sure some players might appreciate that. There's also a selection of aircraft thrown in to counter the map size, though the fighters move so fast that there's almost no chance that you'll hit anything on the ground. I think some speeder bikes would be better suited.

Some nitpicks include...

-The terrain textures, specifically those used on the mountain sides. They can get a little repetitive and squared which creates an unnatural, almost sloppy look.
-The custom four-cornered platform model has an uneven and unusual shape which can make it difficult to walk across when using the catwalks.
-Some of the AI clutter together on the platforms.

Now onto the good. As mentioned in the beginning, this map is one of those few creative and original pieces of work that we get from time to time. Having an interesting and eye-catching environment is a big bonus for any map which is why I appreciate ones that go outside of the box and create something that we haven't seen before. Unfortunately I think the size of the map sort of hinders it from reaching its full potential since it's much more difficult and time consuming to put detail into a large map. The custom models, however, are a nice touch. In particular I enjoyed the elevated catwalks that could be used to traverse from one side of the map to the other. I wish that this were more of a focal point.

Overall the concept of this map is nice and refreshing but the execution is off. I think that using a smaller setting would make the action a bit more tight and focused and would enable the author to create something truly elaborate.

~Era