Map name: Urban in da City
Map author: Gerbil!
Map filename: urban.zip
Reviewed by: Cannon Fodder; The Rookie; Computer; Victor Chow (eLDeR_MMHS);
[RD] Holy Goat; Death-)(-Arc; (USR)Cardinal; Baltham{HOG}; ARage [MCs]; Wanderer;
Crodge; SoS~Erebus, Knat, sockit, [DA]NightMare
Review
Architecture Rating: 10/10
Architecture Comments:
Well, urban has everything.Its got lots of jumps(i can do them all)and
i think its one of the best maps.layout is great because you can get form pretty much anywhere to anywhere if ya know how :)
Looks Rating: 10/10
Looks Comments:
Great layout helps this map have a great look.
Not much else to comment except GREAT.
Gameplay Rating: 10/10
Gameplay Comments:
awesome.like before this map is fun because it has lots of places to hide a snipe from and lots of spac eto run around.
Ambiance Rating: 10/10
Ambiance Comments:
its realistic and gets me in the mood to KEEP MY ASS ALIVE.(looks kinda like the mall area of my old {Small} town..now i live in houston)
Other Comments:
Conclusion:
THIS MAP AS WELL AS ALL URBANS ARE THE BEST!
Overall Rating: 10
Reviewed By: [DA]NightMare
How It Looks score 6/10
Commentary:
The alignment of the background cityscape adds a touch of color to the otherwise
brown, bland map. If there were additional stars in the sky, this too could
have given urban more dusk or early evening feeling. Overall, the theme of the
map works.There is nothing overly spectacular about urban. Gerbil! did take
the time to use a few different prefab textures on the buildings, giving a bit
of randomness to the map. But these textures still become a bit over used. But,
nonetheless, this is a city and most buildings seems to resemble the next.
Gameplay (fun factor) score 8/10
Commentary:
I find this map to be an excellent map to play and have experienced both teamplay
and DM on urban. There are a few areas which snipers seem to covet, like the
shielded area near the parking garage, accessed by jumping over to the grey
building. Also for those who dare to access the roof of the parking garage,
BEWARE. This can become a prime location to be picked off from. I know, because
I love this spot. A note to the sniper, if no one is covering your back, your
opponent could easily climb the building sneak up behind you. For those who
like to get into blaring gun fights, you are in luck. The is enough area where
you are usually covered from being shot at. An excellent for teamplay, except
for one respwn spot. That being the spot on top of the center building. There
is only a single way down, by jumping onto the roof of the walkway and dropping
through the hole in the roof. A door and some stairs leading into the small
enclosed room would have made for even better team action.
Ambiance score 4/10
Commentary:
There was no use of sounds, unless you want to consider all the times a player
attempts the jump over to the brick building with the 'Coke' sign on top. If
you misjudge, there is a yell, followed by a splat. Outside of that, this is
a quiet map. I do think some sound would have been out of place if used. There
are not really any dark areas on the map, but the author did use lighting on
both the streets and on the corridor for effect. Looks a bit false shinning
on the streets, maybe because I don't think it is dark enough, but it does help
out this map.
Other:
Still one of the most popular and well designed maps around. Its simplicity
makes it a map which will stand the test of time. The map does have great play
characteristics, but there is potential for even a better urban map. This has
been accomplished in the follow up maps, urban2 and urban3. A few parked cars
or trucks would have helped for cover when running through the empty streets.
Conclusion:
Great gameplay and action all the time on this map. Not too big for a few players,
but large enough for a good team match. This is worth the download, check it
out!
Overall score: 7/10
- Reviewed by [email protected]
REVIEW How It Looks score = 9/10 Gameplay (fun factor) score = 10/10 Ambiance score = 9/10 Conclusion: Overall score: 10/10
- Reviewed by Knat
Review: Textures and lighting: 5/10 Review: Gerbil takes the common urban idea and truly explores
all the possibilties of Urban warfare. Everything from roof top chases to street
wars to building blowouts, this map takes the city theme and truly explores
it. The attention to detal is amazing, using beatiful textures, well crafted
buildings and enough secrets to make you explore the level a little.
Layout is a bit tricky to describe. Theres a few building,
two attched by a "catwalk". One "under contruction" building, numerous roof
tops and a nice sniper area behind a billboard. The map features lost of little
passageways, a plus for teamplay. There's enough cover, but it's still open
enough to allow freedom of movement. There isn't any real "advantage spot" so
teamplay is usally fair.
DM is fun on this map. The ammo and weapon placement
are great. The size of the level is perfect and it's just a blast. But this
map truly shines on teamplay. Multiple paths, surprise spots, high ground, all
the things needed for a good team map are definitely in this map. I can't say
too many good things about it.
Gripes: Well r_speed are high (grr... buy a 3D card
and use GL damnit!)
Overall this map is excellent, this map is truly a great
map and it couldn't have come at a better time (with the recent flood of mediocre
maps.) I'll have to shake the hand of whoever leaked this map to force Cliffe
to put it up, everyone should have a chance to play this one. Review: If it had difference in texture use throughout the level
like blockwar and had more detail (like blockwar..) and maybe slightly more
cut off from one side to the other (like...actcity2) then it would be a classic
in my books. Pretty good for DM though. Review: Structure and Design: This is probably one of the better
map layouts most players will face. In its crudest view, 'Action in da city.'
or 'Urban' (I will refer to the map as the latter from now on) is designed around
a sort of 4x3 grid, with twelve or so major "zones" where battle may ensue.
The buildings themselves are not exactly realistic in nature, however a fairly
good attempt was made to mask that with good placement. It's kind of disappointing
to see that you can usually enter only a portion of a building, and the rest
is just one big, fat brush. If anything gains from this, however, it's the fact
that the level appears to be large, but is in fact quite small. It's actually
not hard to find people in a four player game. I noticed a couple prefabs here
and there (ie. the lamp posts) but these were implemented much more convincingly
than many other maps and are actually appropriate. Great design and structure
for the map, though it's realism takes a mediocre hit because of missing level
detail and questionable building purposes. [8.5/10]
Aesthetics: Again, generally well done, but I think
some attention to the colour and texture placement should be considered. Because
these are low-brush buildings, texture repetitive will be made a lot. It is
a bit disappointing to see 8-floor buildings that are slapped on with the same
texture all the way up. Something could have been done here, though I have a
feeling it would have churned up the higher-than-normal r_speeds (see later)
to a greater peak. Textures were mostly borrowed by others, but the greatest
problem lies with colour. It's another brown and grey level! These maps remind
me of some post-nuclear strike or something, because of their lack of city vibrance.
As a last bit, I thought the lighting of this level was mediocre, in the sense
that little attempt was made to contrast walls like real life. There are light
entities placed in alleys and what-not for no real purpose and add round light
spots to places where they shouldn't be. Gameplay doesn't really suffer, but
visual quality does. [7.5/10]
Weapons: Good weapon placement, though the ammo placement
is unbalanced. The M4 is placed out of the way in a useless location (it will
never be used where it's found) which is good, as it promotes movement and less
tent-pitching. However, I think the most questionable part is behind a billboard
where 2 MP5 clips are located. Any MP5er will want to just pitch-tent there
and kill everybody below. There is good cover, and only a sniper can take that
person down easily (assuming he/she doesn't get nailed by a spray of bullets
first). Of course, if you're teamplaying this map none of this applies. :) [8.5/10]
Gameplay: Now this is where the level really shines.
I played this map with 3 other friends and although it is a bit on the "CPU-intensive
side" (as quoted from the MapDepot page) it is still very, very good. You don't
get lost like 'Blockwar' (which I still consider a benchmark map), yet it's
a non-fragfest level. That's the beauty of it. TP Rounds will take a reasonable
amount of time (slower than 'ActCity2,' faster than 'Blockwar') and DM will
have a good cycle of "kill, bandage, suspense, kill, etc." :) R_Speeds are a
bit high for your software user like myself, and you will often lose a lot of
polys when you look from a rooftop. 3D Accelerators should have no trouble.
Even though the map looks messed from high areas w/ SW rendering, I still give
it a perfect mark for gameplay. [10/10]
Miscellaneous: Just a comment: the author did not create
the zip perfectly- it unzips the map into the \Quake2\Action directory (as opposed
to \Quake2\Action\Maps). Plus, the text file says urbanaq1.txt, which may mislead
you into thinking that's what the map name is supposed to be. A little hassle
that is worth dealing with for the map.
Overall: Gameplay is what makes most maps great, and
this one proves just that. The textures and realism are not superstar quality,
but nonetheless something most people can set aside when really into a game.
A well done map- I would love to get more action on this map (no pun intended
and don't take it as some sexual innuendo :). [8.5/10]
-Victor Chow (eLDeR_MMHS)
Review: The map, for those that haven't tried it yet, is a small
city map, with the same rough appearance as such classics as Mancis Freeway
and Blockwar, although I can see influences ranging from the SiN deathmatch
level Sin City to the Teamfortress maps Town2 and Town4.
The city includes a kind of parking area that isn't
fully built yet, streets, alleys and some dangerous places to climb. The first
thing that leaps into mind on startup is the problem with the zip. Not only
does the map extract to the base directory, not maps/, but a sound is missing
(not in the zip at all).
The map is fairly nice looking from my perspective,
although there are flaws (in my opinion). The streetlights are simply light
entities with the info_null on the ground and a larger than normal _cone value
(I guess around 40). This gives them a pretty rough, delineated edge; I think
putting in a surface light either instead of or in addition to the spotlight
would have helped. Some of the texturing could have been better; for example,
the sewer grates on the ground are like chicken wire not a metal grille, and
I note that an awful lot of textures have been borrowed (I don't mind myself,
but I'm not so sure about other mappers/texturers). It gives you a chance to
play "What's That Texture" though :)
There are quite a few nicely made things though; the
streetlights look nice, and the parking area, although totally unsafe (both
in the lack of some supports and also the "ramp of doom" deathtrap), looks appealing.
Weapon placement is fairly good, though I note that there isn't that much ammo
available; hopefully this means that a more stealthy style of play will become
useful.
A major gripe I have with this level is the one-way
system. By this I mean that much of the level is only accessible through the
use of ladders; you can only go up. Bad thing - I can imagine this frustrating
many players. "[RD] Holy Goat's happy thought wasn't good enough" anyone? Stairs
are much better in my opinion.
The great variety of heights is a good thing though;
sniping should be fun on this map, though we shall see if it dethrones Cliff
on this count.
The framerates are very good for most of the map; at
most they go into the high hundreds/very low 1000s at the very highest point
of the level, which will be fine for snipers. Commendations on that area.
Of course, I am a very cynical person, and a mapper,
so I do like to pick up on the little details of a level. In no way construe
that I hate this map; the level on the whole is a very good effort; well made,
clean and fun to play. I recommend you all to get it immediately, although for
his next effort I recommend Gerbil! to take more note of scaling (use insanes
for this) and also accessibility. And always to check his zips.
I hope you enjoyed this review, and maybe learned something
from it; who knows.
-[RD] Holy Goat
Review: Now I only played this map in teamplay-- I am not sure
what it would be like DM. But I must say this map was made for teamplay. As
a teamplay stand point I give it 9/10. It is simply the best AQ2 map for teamplay.
I would rather play this map than any other. Go try it and see what I mean!
-)(- Review: -(USR)Cardinal
Review: Additionally, if you don't like team sniper duels, this
map should be avoided. I like wide open spaces combined with narrow, twisty
hallways, but when the other team has 3-5 snipers, running from building to
building on this map becomes a VERY risky situation. It is too likely that one
of them will snag a lucky shot no matter how erratic your movement. If the map
had some cover in the streets (a truck, something to break the bare landscape--think
the streets in subway2), it would be much more playable. If you for some reason
LIKE both teams being completely made up of snipers, why are you here? You already
have the perfect map--Desert Bases. *shudder*
This is almost a great map, but I'm sticking to Blockwar.
I hope Gerbil! tries again, though--this shows some ability. Review: Review: High r_speeds! I don't have a PII/V2 combo here so I
feel it real quick. The average r_speed here is 700. High number of textures:
I don't know if you know it or not but it is possible for the number of displayed
textures to hurt! Try to keep it under 30.
One last thing. Hint brushes. Ever hear of'em? Use'em
that would have helped a lot. This isn't Unreal, Q2's ability to reduce the
poly count isn't that great.
Structure: Everything feels thick. I guess it's normal
but that door doesn't need to be 8 texels thick. Everything though feels kind
of simple. Stairs are no different. Those are 16 texels thick on there own,
that's about 1/4 the size of the player. Now when was the last time you had
to climb a set of stairs that was about a 1.5 feet high? Ladders, come on. I
know the eight sided thing looks nice but we can't necessarily spare the r_speeds
here now can we? A simple 4 texel thick, square ladder would have achieved the
same effect without the higher poly count. Are your sidewalks like that? I know
mine aren't. Mine aren't even that high. I do like the street lights though.
That's pretty much the only thing I liked.
Weapon placement: I felt it was too easy to get the
M4. You should have atleast made it a little challenging to get it. I never
did find the shotgun though. Maybe I didn't look hard enough.
Gameplay: Obviously this is a snipe fest. No doubt about
it.
That's it, I'm happy now. :)
-Wanderer
Review: Layout and Design -3/10- The ideas are good, but most
have already been used, like the parking garage deal, and the signs which in
my mind and others Action + Cartoon Graphics = Sucks. Mapmakers need to use
their own ideas, instead of making essentially a different version of another
map. This map is essentially like actcity2, but more wide open. I don't like
an entire map to be open, and ecspecially one of this size. I really, really
dislike maps that have all of these great buildings, that you can't get into,
except for a couple of inside sniper areas. There needs to be more inside to
this level, and less outside. Basically if you are a camping sniper, then this
map is for you, I'm not really a sniper so I dislike this map greatly. Not enough
cover is in this level. It's hard to find a spot where you don't need to watch
to both sides of yourself also. Stop making box maps, you can do something like
chriscity, where it's less of a box and more of a curve type of thing
Textures -5/10- Low grade for one simple reason, and
that's all of the window textures, directly from Duke 3d. To me this is a cheap
way of decorating an entire building without a lot of thought. Also the action
quake signs and such, please don't do this in the future we don't want to see
it and it doesn't fit in any level. Nothing makes me dislike textures more than
a few stupid signs. One question to mapmakers is why you put action signs in
the map? Really stupid to do and please DON'T DO IT. The textures are boring,
and don't add to this map in any significant way.
Teamplayability -3/10- Way too many people take up sniping
on this map, which makes it ultimately a boring map. What else can I say, but
that it's too unbalanced towards one weapon to even be fun.
How it ran -7/10- It runs great even though it's a big
level. Need I say more?
Overall -4/10- This map is unoriginal, there are too
many city maps, so mapmakers expand to new horizons, such as forest maps, or
western style maps, or maybe even one of an airplane or a courthouse anything
but another cityscape. Good try, but if someone else makes another map of a
city, I'll scream. -- Crodge
P.S. I know I bash lots of maps, but I praise others
too, if I'm not impressed by a map, I'm going to give it a beat down. Thanks
for reading :)
-Crodge
Review: At first I didn't like this map, mostly because my brains
were being sprayed against the walls every 10 seconds by snipers. However, I
feel this is probably the best team play map I've seen yet, with something for
everyone.
Obviously, this is a great sniper map and some of the
highest individual scores I've seen in a 20-minute cycle were by snipes. There
are plenty of elevated positions on the buildings, and a lot of strategy for
snipers revolving around which positions can be seen from which positions.
However, theres plenty of fun for run 'n gun types as
well, especially in team play. It is, of course, one of the funnest things in
Action Quake to walk up behind a guy that has his eye glued to his sniper 'scope
and re-align his frontal lobes for him. I've had clean sweeps of 3-4 snipers
on top of the largest building - if you can get up the ladders of course.
One of the few bad things about this map is the waiting...especially
if you get into a 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 situaation and everyone is camp-sniping.
We've had a few rounds that were mostly over in 2 minutes go the full 6 and
time out because of a couple of lame campers. My suggestion is to berate them,
or even switch teams and kill them repeatedly if necessary to get the point
across.
One Urban-specific tactic is the swan-dive of death:
The end of a round, you have a 2 on 1 advantage and the 1 guy is below you:
pull out your pistol and swan dive past his position. Make sure you get him;
it's embarrasing if you miss and splat but you're a hero if you kill him and
splat. It's actually and easy shot too if you think about it.
Well thats my review of Urban. What? You want scores
for lighting? Go look for yourself :P
-SoS~Erebus
Architecture & Layout score = 10/10
Commentary:
Perfect layout! this map has no flaws in architecture! it has perfect gameflow
ect ect ect!!
Commentary:
Urban has the actuall feel of a city at dusk.
Commentary:
This map is the best! Its fantastic, THE most fun to play.
Commentary:
Urban makes you feel like a downtown badass.
This map is the best action quake map made to date!
Well, I noticed there aren't any reviews for this map, so I figured I'd start
the ball rolling. Ok, I guess I better stick t the format that so many other
reviews use, this is my first review and feel free to e-mail me (I barely get
any flames). Well I downloaded Urban yesterday and started playing it against
my borther. I can't say that the idea is original with actcity and about three
more city levels, but this level isn't too bad for deathmatch (teamplay I have
no idea). The textures aren't that amazing but with the amount of buildings
you can get on top of, it is a good sniper's level. I found one very large flaw
with the level, there is barely any ammo (obviously it was set up for TP not
DM). Well, back to the sniping bit, it is good for the snipers but not for the
snipies. I can't say it is the best map ever but it doesn't suck too much. You
can download it, but I don't think too may servers are going to run it because
it just isn't that original or good.
Structure: 4/10 (not original or that good for anything but sniping)
Weapons and Ammo placement: 1/10 (not enough ammo)
Gameplay 6/10 (pretty good 1 vs 1)
Framerate 10/10 (didn't have any problems but I use an open GL viper v330)
overall 5/10 it isn't any cliff, but thank god it isn't another cliff2
[email protected] (feel free to send me some e-mail or flames :)
Hey all you good good people, Rookie here to tell you that this map RAWKS!!!!
While release was tentitive (bad r_speeds being the reason) this map is all
about gameplay, making it one of the best maps ever.
-The Rookie
This looked pretty damn cool on first impressions, the street lamp spot lighting
is very nice, the texture use and kerbs are nice. The buildings all look too
blan to me; first there is no furniture anywhere and most buildings just usethat
black window texture from Duke3D. I wasn't playing on a server but from what
i could see the map would run fast but teamplay would not be a favorite because
there are many ways from one side to the other. The coloured lighting is excellent
as i have never seen that colour before :) There are plenty of sniping spots
(then again i snipe on the floor with my back to a wall...), the M4 is in a
good position up high and it just looks quite nice.
-Computer
This map requires little introduction. If you crave the speed, and ferocity
of 'Actcity2,' but yearn for a larger playing field and more/better sniping
locations, this map is for YOU.
OK. I think I'll start by stating relationships. I recently joined Smoking Mirror
Productions (smp.telefragged.com), as did Gerbil!, so I suppose there is a connection.
He also sent me a preview of the map 2 days before release, which was essentially
the same as the final. Of course, this won't affect my objectivity. I will be
writing this review as a mapper, in my usual in-depth style (as the mappers
I have contacted personally will know).
Now I know Gerbil and I have been talking to him throughout the his mapmaking
process. At one time he had let me try it out (imcomplete with no weapons).
Even then I could see the potential. What can I say? This map is great. And
it is my favorite. The setup is quite unique with a bunch of skyscrapers and
in the middle a street. Snipers rule on this map--- but with some tactics even
they go down easy. The spawn points are great, giving some immediate cover,
making this map balenced nicely. No particular spawn point has any particular
advantage over another. There are many snipe points on the skyscrapers...and
on the bridge to combat the ones in the buildings.
-Death-)(-Arc
OK, well I don't profess to know everything about map-making. I do know that
I am a quaker and I like this map. I love the layout, It reminds me of a mix
of Action City and Block War. Its got that great setting of a city that really
lets you get into a mod like action quake. I haven't played it on DM but in
Team Play its awesome. For those of you who like to snipe from sky scrapers
you are in luck and for you automatic weapons users there are some great street
brawls with alleys that provide excellent escape for a quick reload or bandage.
You can get into some interesting situations in this. You know the ones that
you tell your friends about later. I've heard some ranting about lag on this
map but I haven't seen anyone leave because of it. I have a friend who loves
this map and software renders. Anyway that's about all I have to say but in
short this map kicks ass. Congrats Gerbil!
Well, someone has to say it. I don't like this map. While it is excellent for
deathmatch (I believe a previous reviewer mentioned stealth being a useful thing,
which is very kewl), I play primarily teamplay. There, this map has problems.
The biggest need in teamplay is mobility--can you or your teammates move to
support positions? Even if you snipe, it is important that those M4 and shotgun
wielding teammates be able to move to a position to watch your flanks. This
is especially true on this map, with the multitude of ways for approaches to
be made. However, a couple of places can't be left, even in the no-damage time
given at the start of a round. This occurs because of the use of ladders at
bad locations. What this means is when you spawn up there, the other team can
surround you and start the frag-fest. And nobody on your team can do anything
to stop them from moving to their positions short of some heroic and ammo-wasting
shot attempts. The map is a good attempt, and most of it seems well done (as
other reviews have said, good framerates, decent lighting, good weapon locations),
however, this should be considered a deathmatch map. The inability to spread
out and find more advantageous positions from oft-used spawn points kills teamplay.
- Baltham{HOG}
This is one of the finest Teamplay maps ever!!! It's simplistic city layout
allows the fights to begin within a couple of minutes. There are many team starting
points that put you into different types of situations. You may start on a rooftop,
or you may start down on the ground. One thing I don't like about this map is
it fuels camping. Dark rooms for snipers, and high locations for snipers all
cause people to camp out. I once had my whole team whiped out because they all
camped out in a room, and a member of the opposite team sneaked in with the
slippers and my team died because they were all bunched in this little room.
Other then that, you'll be envolved in rushing gun fights on rooftops, streets,
and other.
-ARage [MCs]
Ok, I've got to be the first to burn this map.
Okay, now if you read my review on Armyterr, you'd think I'd like an open map
like this, because I bashed on armyterr for being too boxed in. Well I don't
like this map either because it is far to open to play on. I don't like open
maps for one reason, and that is balance you simply can't be very successful
in teamplay using a handcannon, nearly all weapons need to have range on this
level to be good. Yah you may be able to sneak up on an occsional sniper, but
this map is way too unbalanced to be fun.
My first review...I'm so nervous...