Layout - Score 8

Here is how Holy Goat explains what is included in Asylum: "Mental hospital with private rooms, operating theatre, ward, reception, life, stairs, cells, padded room, interrogation chambers, coke machines, garden and rec. room. I didn't base it on real life experiences, ok? =)" As he mentioned, the map is of a mental hospital, which is three stories high. The map flows very well, for only have limited access to the different floors. There is a single stairwell and an elevator. Both at on end of the hall, across from each other. Each floor differs from the next depending on where you are, the lower levels have a waiting room and a small outdoor area. As you make your way to level two, the hallway is laid out like the letter 'H', with offices, padded cells and an operating room waiting to be explored. The top floor consists of private rooms, a large ward full of empty bed, and a reception desk. The layout is quite ingenious and well laid out. The flow pattern does not seem to suffer with the location of the stairwell and elevator. The lines of site are not as simple as they first look. There are many twisting hallways, rooms and objects obstructing your view. All the weapons are spread equally throughout each level of the hospital. Ammunition is also abundant as you make your way up and down the different floors.

Textures & Sky - Score 9

Most all of the textures used in Asylum are original work by Holy Goat. "Thanks to the guy who made Coventry for the textures I used; only two flat colour ones, but it saved me making new ones, and your harddrive space :)." The textures are beautiful and really help to create the ambience you feel when running though the mental hospital. Generally, the hospital is set in the soothing color of white, to keep the inmates from going crazy (but I guess that is why they are there in the first place). The textures range from tiled floors to padded cells and no detail was left out. For a good example head to the third floor ward and look at the individual beds. Great texture work! As an added bonus, the windows were created using an animated textures. Initially there were supposed to simulate rain in a thunderstorm, but the drops are a bit too large and look similar to snowflakes. Still, this is nothing less then spectacular and only add to the every growing ambience which is created in Asylum.

Prefabs - Score 8

The prefabs looking great, thanks in part to the wonderful textures Holy Goat has created. The most recognizable are the beds, which can be seen in the private rooms and the ward. Along with those, you will see nightstands, a electrical wall unit, computer monitors, couches, tables, highly detailed signs and even a functional dart board. The Coca-Cola machine seems to be the only prefab which has been used on previous maps.

Sounds - Score 8

The map comes alive with sound on every level. Throughout the hallways and rooms, you can usually hear the sound of falling rain. "I put lightning [from a pretty good flight sim], but it broke in later versions so I took it out," says Holy Goat in the Read Me file. This small feature would have been nice and added to the ambience, but is not really missed due to the other sounds which cover the map. Other sounds include "a very short sample of a little-known song; the artists are called Ouch!!!" playing from the stereo up in the ward on the third floor. There is also the sound of metal doors of the cells, opening and closing on the second level when the button is depressed. Overall, the sounds, combined with the texture give you a sense, that you are actually in an asylum. Not to mention being with a group of crazy who are trigger happy.

Lighting - Score 8

The glow of the interior lighting and the blue tint created by the windows really help to intensify the overall setting. You get a shiver down your back, as the lighting has an eerie glow which is cast upon the floors and the walls of the asylum. The intensity of the lighting runs the entire spectrum, depending on your location on the map. A few of the lower offices and waiting areas are almost completely dark, while the operating theater is very bright. But throughout the majority of the map, the lighting is giving off an almost dulled glow. The windows are mentioned previously engulf you in a light blue glow, which gives way to the dulled white corridors as you move further away from the glass windows.

Playability - Score 8

All the files are in lower case, zipped correctly and unzip into the correct directories. The r_speeds average from 100-400 though most all of the levels. A few random areas saw r_speeds creep a bit higher into the 500-600 range. The worst area was on the third floor standing near the couch and looking toward 'Room 27.' R_speeds jumped as high as 840, but that is within standards and pose no problems while playing over the internet. Overall a great attempt to keep the speeds manageable, making fluid game play.

Team play - Score

N/A

DM - Score 7

One must be fast on their toes when the round begins and grab a specialized weapon. The map started with four players and slowly crept up to ten players in the matter of a few rounds. This made finding and holding onto a special weapon all the more difficult. With kills piling up on the map, it was not uncommon to run around with akimbo pistols for a majority of the round. Kills came rather fast and the game flowed very well, considering the bottleneck which could be created around the stairwell area. Game play was scattered throughout all floors. Some players got trapped or happened to spawn inside the cells and were trapped until another player either killed them of pressed the button and released them. The sniper rifle seemed the most difficult weapon to master on this map. This is partially do the confined space to operate in.

Originality - Score 8

There has yet to be another map created even remotely close to what Asylum has to offer. The combination of prefabs, textures, lighting and sound, all help to create an ambience which is very difficult to find in most maps. There are a few minor problem areas, such as the spawning in the cell when it is locked shut. Holy Goat as tells us, "Room 27's door goes a little out of alignment when it opens, and a few of the roof light textures are out of alignment." But if you are not looking for these minor flaws you won't catch them. The animated rain and interactive dart board are all items which make Asylum a special map you don't play. But experience. "And remember: take your medicine and nurse won't have to strap you in..."

General Feel - Score 8

The test group never did get to play this map in team play, but it may end up in a future LAN rotation. I am not really sure how I overlooked this map when it came to play Action Quake. I guess as they say, "better late, then never." If you have not played this map, then by all means head to a local ftp and download it. This map is something special, which Holy Goat has recreated and it is called Quakeham Asylum. If you are insane or going crazy, then you will be welcomed here.

Final Rating - Score 8.0 (72/9)