Life from Clay

Description
\"Life from Clay,\" by Flake26, is a Tatooine-style map centered around the idea of assaulting \"bases\" held by each team. It\'s a concept visited every once in a while, and for some funny reason, all of the maps of this style seem to be pretty generic-looking. This one is too.

That\'s not to say it looks [i]bad[/i] - it doesn\'t. Generic can go hand in hand with bad, but in this case it is simply generic. It\'s mostly Tatooine props in a desert-type setting with a few other props (notably a Mygeeto tower) thrown in for flavor. The atmosphere is well-set (the author makes a good use of low-lying fog), but the map never really feels exciting or incredibly interesting, simply because all the props give off the \"ho hum, I\'ve seen this all before\" look. I\'d love to see a little more work put in to retexturing props to make them feel a little more different or feel like a more unique setting (even retexturing that Mygeeto tower to something a little more sandy would have gone a long way).

The gameplay - it feels a little tedious. Because the author made two \"bases\" for each team and then put the rest of the map in between them, most of the time is spent hoofing it to the other team\'s base. The AI never makes it there, which makes modes like conquest a real chore - you capture the same CP over and over and over without any AI support. Having some CPs in between each base would help a lot. To the author - I\'d suggest taking a look at [url=http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.com/file/Yavin_Arroyo_Pass;72406]Yavin: Arroyo Pass[/url] to get a feel for a map where I think the \"bases\" concept is implemented most effectively.

There was also a strange death region off to one side of the map. I found myself traversing there often to get from one side of the map to the other, and, apropos of nothing, I just died. Death regions shouldn\'t look like something you can just walk through - this was just a shallow pit. If it\'s going to be a death region, it should probably be telegraphed a little more effectively.

All in all, it\'s a decent map, but I wish the gameplay were a little tighter. If the screenshots appeal to you, go ahead and give it a try.

-Mav