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Review:
Cinderkarst has always developed wonderful maps and Xerxes is no different. This map creates a feeling of ancient, mysterious power. The soft purple fog blends well with the low valleys and creates a feeling of serenity until a mortar lands at your feet. The high hills and close to unlimited view is a sniper’s haven, despite the slight winding of the valleys it is for the most part, straight.
When playing this map, getting a team of HOs and LO support to the enemy base is a necessity to get a few quick caps. The terrain creates a high barrier making a quick flag grab hard to do. There are two routes for the offense, the high road or the low road. Taking the high route with the flag in the open, spam on the flag and its defense will be very easy. Follow up caps will be simple as one can deny the enemy access to its main base by spamming the entrance and spawn area, leaving the enemy to operate from its backup bunker. The lack of an indoor main base spawn sphere makes it easy to deny a team access to its base.
The focus for the map is the flags rather than the base. The generator is sheltered at the end of a winding path of narrow passages making enemy HOs an easy target for defenders. The low entrance makes it next to impossible to ski into the base, forcing HOs to walk to the first chute. However, once inside defenders can camp the base after destroying the teleporter.
Flag defense is easy to set up with lots of space for clamps and spikes. HoFs will be hard to remove without spam and several perches around the base allow for LDs to snipe with ease.
The base design is simple yet has the tomb feel to it. Low ceilings, tight passageways, and rooms will create some intense, claustrophobic battles should the enemy try to take down the base. A secondary entrance to the base seems almost needed should the entrance be under constant spam, forcing the team to work from the bunker. The lighting is great for the mood; however it would be great to have an outside reference if the generator is knocked out. It would have been great to place the turrets in areas where they would provide more coverage. Their present locations make them a target for spam and highly ineffective against just about all the offense leaving the defense to fend for themselves.
The map is quite simple from a playability standpoint. Knock out the enemy and get the upper hand before they can. LO will be pleased to find several areas to snipe and to lance that occasional HO bounding over the hills. The HO will notice the ease at which to render the flag and surrounding area a wasteland. Cloakers and stealthy LO will notice the thick coverage the fog provides, rendering them invisible from view in the valleys, if the enemy sensors are destroyed. Cappers will have lots of high-speed routes; however they must be conducted with skill to prevent bypassing the flag or smacking into the floating obelisk. Several locations around the base offer the defense a perch for flag defense, however should the main base get destroyed or the entrance spammed, the defenders will be forced to make the long trek over two ridges to make it to their flag.
The map is slightly off balance in an O to D ratio. The high ridgelines and large viewable distance make this map more favorable to the Offense. Defense will likely find themselves dealing with large amounts of spam and snipers. However a highly organized defense task force could easily keep the heavies at bay, knocking out their outlying bunker and dropping lance-wielding LOs to the midfield. To balance out the O to D ratio I would suggest that the repair pack at the outlying bunker be moved to the ruins on the other side of the ridge, extending a period of rearm and regroup. One could even put more emphasis on the main base by removing the INVs at the bunker making it a necessity for the teleporters and main base to stay operational. I also suggest an indoor spawn sphere at the main base and a secondary base entrance to help the defenders regain control of their base once it has been knocked out.
I would gauge this map at no more than 10 players per side as it seems well suited for 7 vs. 7 matches. With the changes suggested I feel this would be balanced map, suited for competition.
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 Q-Ice, go to Q-Ice's bio page.
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