Virmund: City

Description
Note that an updated version of this map is available, per the author's mention, at this link:
[url]http://files.filefront.com/13392727[/url]

"Virmund: City" by Yankfan is possibly his best map yet, strictly in terms of physical level design. It's a city built aside a lake on the side of a mountain, and it's a really nice setting - I much prefer it to "brown-scale" grasslands or dark night battles.

The map itself is built on the premise of ascending up the side of a hill - with the city's streets forming the hill. The author makes excellent use of stock Naboo assets to create a city that feels distinctly its own. One of my favorite parts of the map was a small domed overlook at the top of the hill, from which the player can jump on to some rooftops - nothing big, but it's little details like that which help to make a map feel new.

Likewise, the texturing of the props cannot be overlooked. In fact, this probably helped create the "new" feeling of the city as much as the level design did. The texturing color choices were very nice, I particularly enjoyed how they worked well with the surrounding scenery (better, certainly, than stock Naboo would have).

However - there are a couple reasons why I can't say that this is the author's best overall map. It really boils down to not enough time spent testing, because there are a number of issues that prevent real enjoyment.

The first issue - CP capture zones. Please fix this. There is one CP that the attacking team (IMP, REP) starts with, and it is uncaptureable. This means that a conquest victory for the CIS or Rebels is impossible (and victory [i]at all[/i] for these teams is unlikely, due to bug #2). Checking to make sure conquest works should be a fundamental thing, and I have no idea how this slipped past any sort of testing.

The second issue - object placement. By and large, a great job was done using the Naboo assets, but the author was not careful to make sure that they were all used correctly. In fact, I wonder exactly how many times this map was even played through completely (if at all), because this problem is equally as noticeable as the CP not working. There are a number of places where AI will choose to glitch through walls (always, and in groups, not just one or two). This is easy to notice because large numbers of the opposite team's AI will clump nearby/above them to try and attack them. In conjunction with the abovementioned bug (CPs), this makes the map virtually unplayable for a complete match.

On a minor note, it would be advised that the terrain around the docks is worked on a little more - right now, it looks sloppy, because it's very sheer terrain at very unnatural angles (and illogical, you can clearly see the zigzag of the terrain tool). Just something to consider touching up, or maybe using a prop instead of terrain for.

All in all, it's a pretty map to see, but it's tough to really appreciate when I can't even play through a conquest game. Give it a try, if for no other reason than to see it, though.

-Mav