The ShroomDuck Inc. Map Pack v2.0

Description
In case you haven't seen v1, let me inform you: this pack is [i]GINORMOUS[/i]. If you play JK2 at all, I suggest you start downloading now and read this review while it downloads, because it's worth [i]every kilobyte[/i] of your bandwidth.

[b]If you aren't fond of explicit music, you may want to adjust the volume on this one. Don't let that hinder you from downloading, though - don't miss out![/b]

[b]Bespin Ruins v6:[/b]

Wow, seems like ffa_bespin flew into an asteroid field! This is a destroyed version of Bespin - buildings are broken and leaning over, fires abound, walkways have collapsed, many random areas are broken out, and asteroids (the probable cause of the destruction) are falling from the sky. I was quite impressed with the atmosphere on this one - it's a well-made twist on the same old Bespin most of you JK2ers are used to. There's also a great deal of new material underneath the map...completely new areas!


[b]Big Cannon:[/b]

This one was fun. You spawn on an orbital space station with a gigantic nuclear cannon in the center. If you enter it through the door (or jumping in the top, like I did) a 10 second countdown begins. At the end, the cannon launches you into space. I found it pretty neat...I have never gone that fast in-game before without using noclip at full speed. It was awesome.

The downside is that it will probably wear off after a while...once the cannon launches you, you need to quickly get off the pad where you land, because the force field you stand on turns off each time a person is shot from the cannon. Would have been nice to see a one-sided wall there, maybe...basically, this map is an all-out space station slice-up or a king-of-the-hill brawl on the asteroids above. Take your pick.


[b]Big Hill:[/b]

Hmmmmm...I have no idea how this map was created. The entire map consists of simply a steep mound in the middle of a small courtyard. On top of the mound is a small stone structure, that when stood on, will begin making noises and glowing. There are eight cannons surrounding the mound, and off to one side, there are some stairs. These stairs lead to a console that will fire each of the cannons. All the shots went straight to the top of the hill, and I assume whoever is standing there gawking at the pretty glowy effects and sound will be blasted away.

I found this map to be quite small, so I assume this may be some kind of proof-of-concept deal. Correct me if I'm wrong.


[b]Bikini Bottom:[/b]

Spongebob Squarepants has made his way into Quake III. Quick, everyone run for the coral reefs!

This is an incredible likeness of the Spongebob world. The skybox is perfect, and many random locations from the show are scattered abroad There are also a bunch of oversized fishing hooks hanging down and several boats traveling back and forth across the 'roadways'. Among the locations available are the Krusty Krab, the rest home, the driving school, and of course, Spongebob, Squidward, Patrick and Sandy's houses.

The only thing I could mention negative is that Spongebob, Squidward and Patrick's houses are too close together...but that's it. This is about as good as Spongebob for JK2 can get. Great work!


[b]CTF Country Roads:[/b]

CTF is all about speed. This map is very fast-paced...so much so that I'd say you could get a lot of high-scoring matches here. There are two barns with the flags in the silos next to them. Between them is a road that goes through a dug-out tunnel in the rocks. Underneath this, a boat travels on the water between the two barns. It's a very small setup, yet elegant at the same time. I enjoyed running around on this one for a while.

The atmosphere is great, with a dusty, dirty look inside the barns and a clear, sunny day feel outside. My favorite part was definitely the roadway, though...the automatic means of getting from base to base was definitely awesome. There is also a boat that goes between the two bases, although it seems a little slower than the roadway. There are hidden missile launchers in the water...if you can get them without drowning. Oh, and that water shader is awesome.


[b]CTF Mines of Boognish:[/b]

It took me a while to figure this one out, but I finally did. This is a mining asteroid. You can enter the mines by sabering out the floor in the towers you start in. Once you get to the bottom, you can enter the mines and begin your run towards the other side of the asteroid. The mines are rather short, but once you get to the bottom you can either continue on to the other side of the asteroid, or cut across the middle of a lava pit and try to disable the force field up above. This makes for very interesting gameplay.

The only problem with this one was that [i]I couldn't find the flags![/i] Laugh if you wish, but I couldn't find them anywhere! Wherever they are, it must be in plain sight or hidden just around a corner out of sight.


[b]Duel Caribbean:[/b]

I found this one a little confusing. The duel takes place on a high rock overlooking the sea with a lighthouse built into the side of the cliff. There's plenty of room for a good duel, although there is a lack of detail on most of the objects, as if they were supposed to be viewed from far away.

I say that because at the bottom of the lighthouse, there is a ship. The side is blown out, the masts have broken off , the bottom no longer exists and the whole thing is flooded. But you can't reach it...I tried every possible way to get down there without noclip, and I just couldn't. The only thing I can figure is that there's a hidden button somewhere, or you aren't supposed to reach it. Which is kind of a bummer, because the ship is much more interesting than the hilltop. I hope it's just a glitch.


[b]Duel Pinworld:[/b]

This is an interesting idea. The entire map consists of a pink environment, wooden walkways and bowling pins. Ok, so there is a platform off to the side, but that's not the point...the point is that this place is unique. Whatever gave the author the idea to make a map from bowling pins, I have no idea, but it's pretty neat! Honestly, you just have to take a look to understand Pinworld. It seems like an interesting place, and for a duel, it has a few elements that should enhance gameplay a little.


[b]FFA Mustafar:[/b]

This remake didn't go for accuracy, but rather for a mapper's recreation of the facility. It's not bad, actually - many of the key areas are here, intact. There's a few secrets I found, and there are more somewhere that I was unable to find/open. (Yunz are really good at hiding em!)

I really can't find many words for this map. There's nothing wrong with it - I'm just unable to put it to words. Put it this way: If you like Mustafar, you'll probably like this map. If not, *waves hand and performs a mind trick* then you [i]will[/i] like it anyway.


[b]Jedi of the Caribbean:[/b]

This was a good one, though a tad small. You spawn on a ship sailing through shark-infested waters. There is a ship on either side of you (hopefully friendly!) and some sharks in the water. Oh, there's a nice, thick fog, too.

Construction was excellent. The upper deck had no cannons on it, but it did have a bunch of crates. Below deck, there are more crates of this 'n that, hammocks and a few other items of interest. It was a little bare for my taste, but with some good players, that won't be noticed.

[i][b]Note from the author:[/b]
Inside the captain's deck, there is a giant map. If you touch this, you're teleported to another ship with the lighthouse area from JotC Duel. The map is much bigger than the first ship!![/i]


[b]Jedi of the Caribbean II:[/b]

I was a little disappointed with this one. The map consists of a donut-shaped cave with two short passageways on opposite sides. There are several boats with umbrellas sailing around the cave. That's it...did I miss something?


[b]Khomm CTF:[/b]:

I like the khomm maps. All of them deal with lava, and most of them consist of a network of platforms supported above it. I like the setup...it gives a Mustafar kind of feel, actually. Not half-bad. This particular one consists of a blue base in a big lava-filled cave and a red base in the open air getting pelted with asteroids. Unlike Country Roads, this one is geared toward low-scoring matches - players will have to rush in as teams with large forces to blast through the enemy's defenses. Lots of strategy will be involved for sure.


[b]Khomm FFA:[/b]

I think this was my favorite map in the whole pack. It's a combination of Khomm Lavacave, Khomm Lab, Khomm Pad and a few elements from the Khomm TFFA as well. The center of the map is a cave, almost completely sealed off from the outside world. The Millennium Falcon sits on the platform above the lava. There are force fields in a few areas in place of the grates, and several doors leading to other places. There are plenty of interconnecting hallways, and there was even an evil secret area that had a camera system and some cool buttons. I loved it.

Just a sidenote, from evidence seen in the Laboratory and Lavacave maps, I'd say the FFA version was made first and split up into the separate maps included in this pack. Either way, they're all well done.


[b]Khomm Laboratory:[/b]

More Khomm! This one is a small laboratory next to an underground lava flow. Looks pretty snazzy. There are some shadowtrooper suits hanging on the wall, and two tubes in the middle of the room with lava running down them. This one seemed a little empty, especially compared to the other Khomm maps, but it's good overall.


[b]Khomm Lavacave:[/b]

Hmm, another underground location on Khomm. This is a cave, and like the laboratory, it appears completely closed to the outside air. There are multiple lava flows, and in one area there is a rotating JK logo hovering above a pad. Lava drips from the ceiling in multiple areas. There isn't really much to say, except that the atmosphere is [i]perfect[/i]. A jorb well done.


[b]Khomm Pad:[/b]

This map consists of a landing pad under a pitch black sky, with a pitch black pit below it. There's a rock face into which it is anchored, and a door in said face. The rock can be walked on for a short distance, but not much. You can get on the supports under the pad, but good luck getting back up once you're down there. There really isn't much to say here, it's a very simple map.


[b]Khomm Pit:[/b]

If I'm not mistaken, this is the third entirely underground Khomm map. The entire map consists of a junction between three caves. There are torches along the walls, and in the middle is a small pit half filled with lava. Steam rises from the pit, as the lava angrily growls at the potential morsels dueling on the walkway above. There are three closed doorways, and none of them open - you're stuck with hungry lava or a saber-wielding adversary to kill you.


[b]Khomm TFFA:[/b]

The final Khomm map in the pack. This appears to be an inner part of a facility where lava is collected and stirred. Asteroids are falling, and when I looked up, I saw the reason why. That's an awesome skybox, I have to say!

The facility has two floors in addition to the walkways over the lava. On the second floor, there are buttons that toggle the force fields on the walkways on or off. It seems a tad small for a tffa, but seeing as every player will be in constant danger, I'm sure it'll be interesting with a massive amount of players.


[b]Ook's Haunted House:[/b]

Hoooo boy. Where to start! This is definitely an awesome map. It's not really a "house" per say...maybe that's what makes it just a tad creepier. You have to understand, this isn't really meant to be scary, it's just meant for fun. There are at least two instances of cats, an inverting bedroom, and a special guest appearance from Dave Thomas and the Taco Bell Chihuahua followed by death. There's even an Indiana Jones 3 style puzzle in the "shed" thing behind the house, which I thought was pretty neat. After completing the puzzle, I "called" a "special team" to fix up the house and I moved on, because it was simply too much fun. XD

[i]Edit: Thanks for that song, by the way. It irritates my brother to no end. =D[/i]


[b]ShroomDuck's Yavin Duel:[/b]

This appears to be a partially destroyed variation of the Skywalker Room (Is that what it's called?). The room has been slightly redesigned and a few things have been added, but it still says Jedi Academy to me.

There were a few visual elements that bothered me, though...specifically the gradient light beams from the window and the blocky shadows on the ceiling. Both could be fixed without a whole lot of hassle, and it would definitely make the map feel even more yavin-ish. It also seemed a bit empty, but that's how the Jedi Academy is so there's no problem with that.


[b]Shroom's Death Star:[/b]

Not really as big as the death star, but still very large and incorporating many of the key elements to make it a good Death Star, it's Shroom's Death Star! This place looked FUUUUUNNNN. Crates everywhere, computers everywhere, at least one hangar, several platforms-stretched-out-over-pits areas, a mouse droid, and a garbage crusher. Really now, need I say more? It's the Death Star. It's done very well, and I would highly recommend this map to anyone.


[b]SM64:[/b]

Ah, yes. Mario, the little plumber with a red hat and more problems than you can count. This map recreates the palace and several of the beginning levels from Super Mario 64, up to and including the first boss. I was impressed at the accuracy portrayed here - good job! The two most notable areas I remember were the bob-omb battlefield (or whatever that place was called) and the snow world, where you slide down the mountain slopes. Quite fun, and a job well done.


[b]The Forest Moon of Endor:[/b]

This is a very "artist's rendition" version of Endor. It is in no way accurate to the film, yet is enticing in it's own way. There are three main areas - one with Ewok huts up in the air, one with an imperial landing pad and an AT-AT (which can fire it's lazor) and the third with a swinging tree trunk and some AT-ST's.

Everything in this map seemed to lead to another place some way or another. There were hallways all over the place. I especially liked the Extend-O-Glove trick...what a way to go. XD The bounce pads were pretty neat, too.


[b]Team Wookiee Invades South Park:[/b]

I've never seen South Park...yeah, yeah, I know, that's unheard of, but it's true. This map creates what I assume is part of the South Park world with many of the key characters implemented. The cool thing: making use of cel shading, everything in the map has been given a black outline. If you are not yet familiar with cel shading, now's a good time to check it out. It's really sweet.

Since I'm not familiar with the show, I can't vouch for accuracy on anything. All I can do is give you a few of the things you'll find...you'll find cows all over the streets, a bus that crashed into a tree in front of the school and ran over Kenny, a stage with Ween on it, and several funky shops such as a Sushi Bar. An interesting environment for sure...now if only I knew what everything meant. XD


[b]Puerto De Drahcir:[/b]

I was reminded somewhat of Port Royal while testing this out. I assume this is the desired effect because of the music track. The entire map consists of a very small town next to a port, with a gigantic boat next to the pier. The town itself is mainly a conglomeration of random buildings, with a graveyard off to the side. Most of your time will probably be spent on the gigantic boat. She's a real beauty. I was only able to find a cargo hold and a crew's quarters below deck, though. The cannons were neat...I like getting fired off at high speeds, thanks to BigCannon.

There were several small glitches here and there, including two patch meshes that don't meet on the sides of the ship, but nothing terrible or too distracting. The level of detail on the ship is just too amazing for me to gripe about that.


[b]Rhiom's Retreat:[/b]

I'm reminded very much of The Karate Kid for some silly reason. This is a japanese-looking place, although I can't decide if it's for training or a restful retreat. I take it as a training grounds simple because of what lies below. There were various areas available here, ranging from a pool to what looks like a jacuzzi and various dueling areas in completely different environments. Most of the map seems to deal with water, though.

Didn't find any big bugs or anything...this one seems pretty stable all on it's own. There was a texturing glitch on the circling fish, but I think that was it.


[b]Sirhc's Bowling:[/b]

This is a re-release of a map that has been out for quite some time. I think the music was changed since said release, but that's about it. It seems pretty much exactly as I remember. Arcade games that you can play around inside, an exploding toilet, a pool table you can play on, pinworld...oh, and of course, the bowling alley itself. I'm just skimming the surface here, because really, if you want to have some JK2 fun, you can have quite a bit here. You just have to try it to understand.


[b]Space Station:[/b]

More space material. This is a big space station orbiting some planet somewhere in the middle of space. The outer areas are connected by a neat ring which pushes you through as a one-way means of transportation. The inner rings contain most of the goodies. You can also get outside the station and walk around it from the outside...must be an air bubble surrounding it.

Now, to me, the architecture on the station looks a little slapped together from the outside...the inside looks fine, but the the outside looks like it wasn't quite planned to turn out the way it did. That's not a problem, just an observation. In any case, this one didn't have any really big bugs, either. I probably missed a whooole lot of areas...be aware that there are many, many ways to get places!


[b]Transdermal Celebration:[/b]

Okay...I'm disturbed. After hearing the music and seeing the map, I looked up a video on youtube out of curiosity. It only got more disturbing...I guess if you like morphing into different beings, then it's not so bad...I'm not exactly sure what was happening here. PLEASE tell me it isn't what I think it is! XD

The map itself has a very nice, solid construction, and it's good for an FFA match for sure. To me, it looks like a broken down citadel floating in the clouds with many platforms floating around it. I'm not sure how this fits into the music, but I'm sure it does some way or another. Many random signs of Boognish decorate the map, many of which will teleport you or throw you to another area of the map. I didn't see any bugs during my test.


[b]*Phew!*[/b]

There was a simple glitch applying to the entire pack...the lava shader and a few of the computer shaders had an awkward blendfunc or something that made them draw over some of the effects and, in some cases, your lightsaber. The lava's steam was the biggest loss, although there are a few visible glitches on Mustafar and Khomm FFA as well.

A must download for ANY JK2 player. Hear me? Must. Get going!

~Dretzel