Jandoon: 607th Purge

Description
This map shows you what [b]Star Wars: Battlefront II[/b] is really about... And a whole lot more! All in all, this is one of the best maps that I have ever played.

[b]Tech:[/b] 9 (New units, new weapons and even new sounds. Awesome!)
[b]Balance:[/b] 10 (Balanced to the extent where you really need to pull your own weight if you want to see your team win)
[b]Quality:[/b] 10 (Wow... Everything is like the official SWBF II but improved greatly in pretty much every area)
[b]Fun Factor:[/b] 7 (The multitude of selectable units should keep this map fresh for a long time)
[b]Stability:[/b] 10 (Stable as a mountain. Even my scrapheap imitating computer can play it without any issues! Did I mention that I was unable to find any bugs at all?)
[b]Creativity:[/b] 5 (It's not just a field, it does have a few distinguishing features. Mainly pillars, though)
[b]Item Placement:[/b] 10 (Perfect! The reduction of ammo/health droids isn't even noticed due to the frequent bacta/ammo tank drop)
[b]Size vs. Usefulness:[/b] 10 (It seems a little too big at first glance, but you will soon notice that the whole battlefield is made use of)
[b]Originality:[/b] 7 (A large field that gives one side a slightly elevated position, BUT with a temple at the top and bottom and lots of different objects lying around. Oh, and a certain sound effect was changed, that's a new thing)
[b]Installation Instructions:[/b] 10 (It's not like you can screw up installing this map with the instructions provided)



[u][b]Overall Rating:[/b][/u] 9.5

In this part of the story of the famous 607:th clone legion, things really get heated up. This takes place after the desperate battle on Xagobah. The Republic victory proved to be fruitless as the sly Dount Dokku had destroyed the database containing their only lead to the location of the menacing Darth Armonus. Thanks to some heroic effort from the 607th, the lead was recovered and apparently the evil sith is hiding on a planet called Jadoon. Not only that, but he has been working hard on rebuilding the dreaded Cult of Armonus, which will spell [i]d-o-o-m[/i] for the Republic if successful! Not wasting a single moment, the brave troops of the 607th set off for Jadoon, only to be faced by a ridiculously large droid army and several users of the dark side of the force. Will they be able to put an end to the evil cult and maybe even finish off Darth Armonus once and or all, or will this be the untimely defeat of the 607:th instead? Either way, a big battle is looming over the planet Jandoon...

Now for the actual review. You fight as a bunch of clones against a bunch of droids that are accompanied by some dark side adepts on a large field that has various objects scattered over it. The field is somewhat like a hill, however, so the CIS has to fight uphill while the Republic fights downhill. Each side starts with three opposing CPs.
The Republic also gets two 607th AT-TEs while the CIS gets a few of those snail-looking veichles. Now, even though the sides are fighting under different conditions and with very different units, the map is perfectly balanced.

[b]The CIS: [/b]The CIS is deadlier than ever before, not only because of the powerful Super Battle Droids but also because they are accompanied by several cult members, some of them learned in the ways of the force and equipped with lightsabers. Not only that, but they are being lead by Darth Armonus himself whose Force Lightning is enough to bring any clone trooper to his knees. The regular droids, such as the Engineer, Rocketeer etc. have all been given various upgrades as well!
Since the CIS has more melee fighters than the Republic, they should probably try to play more aggressively to shorten the distance between themselves and their enemy.

[b]The 607th: [/b]To counter this threat, the clones of the 607th have also been upgraded. The regular units have been upgraded like their droid counterparts, and the other units have been given new revolutionary weapons. Just to mention some, the [b]portable Ion Cannon[/b] make short work of enemy droids as well as veichles while the [b]Orbital Strike droid[/b] allows you to summon down orbital strikes just as you used to do in SWBF I! Accompanying the 607th as usual is the famed Zhaus Hyaun who can inspire allies to make them stronger than ever and chop down enemies with amazing lightsaber skills.

Playing this map is very enjoyable. In order for you to unlock the higher classes, you need to (as usual) gather points. This is pretty fun since the longer you play, the more units you gain access to, and there's the whooping amount of 18 units that you can use once you've unlocked them all. You will find that the regular units play a little differently than usual, most of them have been given new weapons and other little treats (The Rocketeer can now [u]fire off two rockets before having to reload[/u] etc.). Vaks is still there with his crazy chaingun, but at least he can be defeated by the enemy this time since the CIS lightsaber users can block all of his shots and safely move in for the kill.
Even though this is a very big battle, the game lags very little thanks to the lack of unusual RAM hogging effects and objects. Even my horribly awful computer could play the map at fairly high quality without lagging. A perfect map for online play, it seems! The background has a really nice view of some mountains as well. Ah, makes me think of the clear air found only when hiking...

Can I say anything more about this map? Oh yes, two more things. First of all, to increase longevity on the battlefield, all the troops have been modified to drop more bacta/ammo tanks when they die. Now you really need to kill as many enemies as possible if you want to stay alive! Oh, and health/ammo droids now look like black/white crates. Go figure.
The second is the sound of the lasers. Instead of the laser sound from the blaster rifles that sounds [i]somewhat[/i] like the lasers in the movie but [i]not quite[/i], this map makes the lasers sound exactly like they do in the movies. This sounds pretty unimportant, but it actually changes the whole experience quite a bit and makes the map feel more special compared to other maps.

The only suggestion that I can think of for this map is to add more objects on the field. Sure, there are quite a few of them there as it is, but even more would make the battle more varied, because as it is now there is too much open space. Maybe adding a turret or two for each side so that capturing the enemy CPs becomes harder.

I hope that everyone had a nice Halloween filled with terrors and candy, and are allowed to enjoy playing this splendid map as much as I did. Let's hope that this awesome 607 series never ends, and I'll see y'all online!

- Super_Shadowman "[i]As soon as you're born, you're really dying![/i]"