DM-Carcane

Author : TheEmperorStalwartUK
Version : 224
Release Date : 29th September 2004

OK, now when I looked at this map, I cried...Manly crying, you'll understand, but crying all the same...

Why do I cry, you ask? No, its not because I have found several hundred bad things with which to fill this review with related to this map. In fact, I could find only one bad thing about this map, but we'll get to that later. It is, for once, because this map is goddamn brilliant!

It is basically a set of small rooms connected by corridors. You could compare it to DM-Curse, with the texture set and brush styles, only this is so much better.

The first thing I noticed was the rain. Not many maps have rain, you know. But not only does this map have rain, it has rain at the right places, in good amounts, and it creates a really nice effect. You can just image walking through this place, listening to the rain hitting off the stone floors, staring at the little puffs of smoke rising up off the torches...It seems really realistic.

The attention to detail is quite amazing. Looking out one of the windows, you can see the odd bird flying around, or looking where the rain comes in, you can see the puddle it makes on the floor. The underground areas are small, and misty, with bits of spider's webs and foliage hanging down here and there. Everything is quite claustrophobic (some mighty say a little too claustrophobic) and that really keeps you moving from one area to the next.

In short, I was bowled over by the graphics of this map. There is just so much to see. Mr.Pitbull tells me that I should take only three screenshots of each map I review...But how the hell am I meant to choose?!?! So I gave him all six that I had made...If he doesn't put them all up, slap him for me.

Really, there's not a lot of things I can say to describe this map to you. Many maps follow a very similar design, with almost the same layout and the like, but none of them do it with such style and attention to detail as this one.

So now we come to the bad point. Its symmetrical. Don't get me wrong, symmetrical maps can be good, and add to the flow and rhythm of a map, but here it just takes away from the quality. In a map like this, where you will often find yourself stopping to look at the many effects used, you shouldn't be seeing the exact same thing, in two separate places, twice. This map would have been better as a DM-Curse kind of layout, only with much smaller rooms and the like...

Highlights: The rain effect (they are all good, take a look at them for yourself); The torches with the smoke); The hanging decorations, working together with the lighting, in the underground areas; The little slab of stone sticking up out the ground making getting back out of the bit with the Kevlar Suit a bit complicated...

Lowlights: Symmetrical!

Geometry: 9/10 Damn good. Take the stairs with the two skylights with the rain pouring down through them as an example
Lighting: 10/10 Perfect. Torches look excellent, making a strong, almost poetic, contrast with the rain outside, and the mist of the underground areas.
Textures: 10/10 Damn good...I could see no places at all where textures had been cut at inappropriate places. It all flows very well.
Inventory: 10/10 There are lots of weapons, lots of ammo, and it's all accessible quickly. Just what is needed, really.

Overall: 9/10

Yes, I know the average of 9, 10, 10 and 10 is, of course, 10, but I would like to emphasize that the symmetry of the map really takes away from it...

Go ahead and slap me (see above) lol!!!!!!!       Pitbull