|
Review:
Every once in awhile, a map comes around that introduces something new. These maps raise the bar for future releases and often inspire authors to try out their ideas that they previously thought could not be done. Water Planet 2 is one of those maps.
Water Planet 2 was originally created by [HvC]Lace. It was recently improved upon by [HvC]Scuba and [HvC]Dev. They fixed many bugs and gave the center objective an overhaul. They also fixed the nasty spawn points that started you on the bottom of the ocean in the first version. Since the land was, and still is, completely covered by very deep water, it was extremely difficult to get out of the water without an energy pack. This is no longer a problem.
The center objective is simple but vital. It is an artillery barge. This is unique in that once you claim it, your team gets a periodic barrage (four explosions) of the other team’s base. The explosions act like the Bomber’s bombs and kill anything in the area. The projectiles always hit near the base and their assets. Since this map is very vehicle centric, this is a devastating blow to the team under fire since the projectiles hit the vehicle station from time to time. It destroys some of the assets when it hits them in rapid succession. Dev undoubtedly spent a good deal of time writing the script for this.
Each team’s main base resembles an oilrig of sorts. Their assets consist of four inventory stations, two rocket turrets, a vehicle station, a large sensor, and a generator to power it all. Available vehicles are everything but MPBs for obvious reasons. The repair pack is located in the tower with the sensor on top. The objective’s assets, apart from the artillery strikes, consist of two sentry turrets. They make it difficult to capture the objective alone unless you either destroy the turrets or work as a team to take it. You can also use a vehicle, such as a wildcat or a shrike, to distract the sentries while you make a break for the switch.
The flags are fairly open. The area they are located in has a ceiling and a floor but not much in the way of walls. A coordinated team can fly by while a capper sweeps in and then fly him away for the cap. However, the location also permits the use of a few spider clamps and mines. Cappers should also beware the two rocket turrets.
The water can be used to annoy the enemy and vice versa. Often, I would attempt to lock onto an enemy vehicle only to have them do a nosedive into the water. The rocket turrets help to a degree so it would be useful to keep them up at all times if you want to have any vehicle (and capper) defense whatsoever. Shrike defense is recommended, but we all know how that goes on pubs.
A lot of work was put into this second version. The result is a map that introduces a new idea while improving on the gameplay of the first release. I laud Dev, Lace, and Scuba for their excellent work on this map.
To see the rest of the map details, including the map author's
description of the map, and user-submitted comments, go to the
map detail page.
To see all reviews from Star, go to Star's bio page.
|
