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Review:
Frozen is a visually pleasing map, with several features coming to the fore to recommend it. It's not too high on the "tactical" side, but it's got enough going for it to make it a fun map.
It consists of two bases, set nearly 800 meters apart, from flag to flag. The bases are open structures, with the smallest bit of "inside" area, where the generators and one inventory are placed. The flag is on the "deck" of the base, with a turret on the upper ramparts. There are sensors on hills to the sides, and a vehicle pad behind the base area.
In the middle of the map is a force-field bridge, and I absolutely love the choice of coloring for it.. the ice-blue forcefield goes so well with the support structures and the water below. Alas, but this bridge is not only not required for capping.. it's one of the least favorable ways to go. Either you have a vehicle, at which point it's "as the crow flies", and not having to touch the bridge, or you're wanting to stay left or right of the bridge, to pick up a little speed on the hills. Nevertheless, those facts don't diminish the beauty of the setup!
The base design leads to an interesting twist in gameplay: The farmers are going to be the backbone of any defensive effort. The single base turret is so open to mortar fire from the surrounding ridges, not to mention missile launchers and an easy prey for Shrikers that there aren't many times it's up for longer than the turret in Minotaur. This, of course, makes the deployables do the brunt of the defensive work. Also, since the only inventories are inside the base and far back at the V-Pad, several close-by deployable inventories are also a must. Alas, but a single well-placed bombing run could take out most, if not all, farmwork.. so defenders need to be on their toes at all times.
The generator room is small, and the ceiling is low.. I see this could be a problem when it comes to base rape. A single solar panel powers a forcefield protecting the base.. once that's down, a heavy with a mortar will, with two shots, level the entire power grid disabled. And then, with no trouble at all, the self-same heavy with a mortar could easily proceed to hold this room against all comers.. it would be *very* hard to root him out.
Playability is about 3 notches above average.. 5 points for the nice blending of the visual and the functional, another 5 points for making a simple map that works, and 4 for the many options the mapper gives to the offense.
Attention to detail is high.. from the exact placement of the forcefields to the carefully placed organics, desire for detail shows.
Balance is pretty good.. like I afore-mentioned, the offense really has an upper hand, but the defense should have a decent chance at holding them off for a while.. long enough for their team to mount an offensive of their own, at least.
Item Placement is alright, tho' I really would have liked to see an Inventory station or two on the top levels.. having to trudge through a forcefield or make a trek out to the v-pad just isn't fun for me.. but that does place emphasis on setting up your deployable network.
Mechanics comes across as being up to par by far. The map is a really fast paced action setting, with vehicles flying and engaging all over the airspace, and the bombing raids going back and forth, as each team scrambles to defend the flag during the aftermath. The hills lend themselves to speed if you're skilled, so there are some pretty fast flag-chases, if the capper doesn't have a getaway vehicle.
All in all, I can recommend this map with high regards.. think of it as a cross between Firestorm and... Katabatic. And have fun!
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 DrPimento, go to DrPimento's bio page.
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