Ruins of the Aztecs (2-3)
Aro's Rating:
Detail - 12 / 20
The detailing was decent, very similar to that of most of Westwood's tropical style maps. The repetetive trees got annoying after a while but that's nothing too major as they add a nice tropical feel to the map. The aztec like shores were really interesting and looked fantastic in my opinion, this is the first map of it's kind that I have actually seen done well. So a big thumbs up from me. Blocky cliffs (with a few errors) and lack of variety hurt the maps detailing score in my rating, but good job non-the-less.
Lighting - 5 / 20
Well regarding lighting I don't know what to think about it. I loved how it let off the feeling of a heatwave and tropical lands as I believe that was the intention, but it is far too bright in my opinion, then again you could get away with it as it's Red Alert 2. I give a 5 for Global lighting as I'm neautral towards it and a 0 for Light posts as there were no light post related lighting spots on the map.
Layout - 14 / 20
The layout was more Naval/Air war than anything else which could add for itneresting battles, but you can also move along the shore lines with tanks though the thin chokepoints won't help in a fullscale attack, plus the destroyable bridges didn't really help in certain locations. I like my complicated layouts done with cliffs and what-not which this map lacked as it was fairly flat. Your main boost in my score is cause of the aztec shorelines which I loved, I've never seen anything like it done this well, good job on that one.
Game-play - 13 / 20
Game-play was excellent, the AI attacked frequently and swiftly as it does in most normal Westwood maps, the fact that the only ground entrances into the base were very slim hurt the score though, large chokepoints are better. I believe it will make for some very interesting play online however, it could be like a second Beach Front but without the stupid unlimited cash trigger. The destroyable bridges at some chokepoints made certain positions favorable over others which was a notch down from the possible 20 on the game-play factor.
Triggers & INI Tweaks - 5 / 20
INI Tweaks consisted of none. There were a few lightning strike triggers which made things interesting if you're looking to gather up all the oil on the map. You'll have to move fast. A few sound triggers would of helped out your score here.
Total Score : 49 / 100
Aro's Personal Comments: Overall, a good map. The lighting isn't the best of choice but does the map good, the layout is fine as all forms of units can attack and get around though there were no tactical chokepoints. If the lighting was darkened a bit and you added light posts your score could of been increased significantly. Good job, I played it, won it, liked it. Yuri owns this map by the way.
Ixith's Rating:
Detail - 12 / 20
Detailing was okay. But nothing amazing. Though the intricate shore lines were kinda neat.But i'll touch more into those in the Layout. I did quite like the Aztec areas though. Though the north area like around the top player start location you could really see repeating trees a lot but nothing that i would classify as an eye sore.
Lighting - 8 / 20
Lighting was again average. I thought it set the mood/theater but it surely didn't wow me. So i'm giving it an 8. No Invisible Lightpost usage.
Layout - 8 / 20
layout was an intersting one mainly due to the shores. However, i believe that shores while making it cool made it a bit complex to properly balance which then also hurts gameplay. my biggest complaint was the access points to the bases and the placement of tech structures.I'll start with the bases. The northern player has 3 access points..well 2 really but the one on the left splits. However those access points have bridges along them so if that player keeps the bridges destroyed land attacks are instant fail. Provided the map is best for air combat. The player on the bottom left however has it easy made too as the two access points to his base connect around the point where the 3 oil derricks are. If he controls the derricks then he can easily protect his base from land attacks. The bottom right player however, can be attacked from two completely different directions so he is at the biggest disadvantage i'd say. Also keep in mind that the top player is farther away from the other two and thus if playing against the AI the AI will likely not target them.
Now as for the tech structures. Let's start with the oil derricks...i thought the set between the bottom 2 players was placed well...although a bit close to the bases in my opinion. However, the other set on that island became useless as it takes much more time to get there since you need either naval or air transport to get engineers there. Thus the balance gets thrown off a bit due to the difference in placement of the oil derricks. I say a bit in that statement because you did place barrels and ammo crates near the one set. The Airfield could have been a bit more centrally located i think as where it's at is a bit close to one player though that's giving if any body bothers to go find it. It really doesn't help too much on this map. Nor does the Service Depot either as it's way out of the way where you need to use amphibious transports to get your vehicles there...just doesn't seem practical.
Game-play - 9 / 20
gameplay was fine. Nothing spectacular happened that caught me off guard. However, there were a few cases of AI path finding problems in which i would tell my units to go somewhere and not all of them would. My guess is that this is due to the large amount of maze like shore line that is no wider than 3 cells wide that you have to follow. Also when i went to go finish off the player at the top it's harvestors were just sitting there doing nothing. So it was out of money and it became an easy kill. Not sure why that happened but it did.
Triggers & INI Tweaks - 10 / 20
no Ini tweaks and the triggers we a few lightning storms on the variously placed buildings. It added a nice touch interesting bit to the map. I'll give a 10 as they didn't really detract from anything on the map in my opinion nor did they add too much to it.
Total Score : 47 / 100
Ixith's Personal Comments: The map was overall an interesting one. I'd play it again but not often as I felt the layout and placement of tech structures hurt it quite bad as the layout also hurt gameplay as it made bases easy to defend in some cases. I'd like to try it online before i say too much though as human players might utilize the map a lot better than the hardest AI. I'd like to see it a bit revised to perhaps include a 4th player on the top left. That would use the none-seen space in the top left area too. Thanks for making a map DrKyle1357 i hope you continue to make maps for RA2/YR.
TOTAL : 96 / 200
(Click to view map in actual size)
