Veriss: Mining Colony

Description
This map, by EraOfDesann, brings us to the remote mining planet Veriss. The first thing you notice about Veriss, and easily its strongest feature, is its originality of setting. Whenever the "mining colony"-type setting is explored, it seems to be a wash, rinse, repeat of Mustafar assets. The one thing that always excites me about maps is something new, and Era brings us that.

Veriss is laden with a number of new models; in fact, the only stock models used are some terrain features and minor props. (Although there may have been a Tatooine model or two, it was well-enough reskinned that I couldn't tell the difference.) All this, combined with a natural-feeling terrain, makes for a highly enjoyable setting.

Veriss falls shorter than I expected, however, in the gameplay department. Let me preface this by saying that the gameplay is well-set up, and I noticed the use of AI hint nodes, which is exceptional in its effect on gameplay. However, the stock units don't make for a truly exceptional experience. This, however, I have no doubt will be remedied in future installments, as mentioned by the author in the readme. The map is also a touch big for the amount of units on the battlefield, but my recommendation to the player would just be to up the unitcount in your Instant Action screen. Also, a side note is that GCW 1-flag doesn't work, but this is mentioned in the readme.

All-in-all, Veriss was enjoyable, but for it to be truly exceptional, I await future versions. I'd still recommend a download if for no other reason then to see what a well-set up map should look like.

-Mav