Inflight - Dunkelschwamm

 

    Inflight is a small map with a simple concept. Players spawn in a destructible plane and alien controllers surround the plane and attack the players, damaging the plane in the process. Defend the plane until time runs out.

SCMapDB page

Author: Unknown

Date of final release: 2003

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Inflight

(originally posted on SCMapDB) 

by dunkelschwamm | November 28, 2021 | 2643 characters

    Defend a destructible plane from an alien onslaught for as long as you can!

    What a map. I feel like this was created with the goal of defending the plane as an after-thought to a destructible brushwork plane being made for shits and giggles. You know, I respect that. I have nothing but love for somebody deciding to make a fun toy and then deciding at the last minute to turn it into a game.

    Unfortunately, the game itself isn't great. The destructible brushes of the plane are in wildly varying proportions, so attacks from enemies have an insane variety of consequences depending on where they land. On top of that, the very nature of the game means that any time an alien controller attacks, that attack must either hit the player or destroy the plane. However, they are constantly spawning two at a time. The only way to successfully defend the plane by actively attacking the aliens* is to have enough people present that they can snipe the aliens as soon as they respawn so they do not instantly erode the plane into pieces. Now, that's not to say the goal of the game is to preserve the plane indefinitely- there is a win condition at 8 minutes, and the game congratulates you with increasing praise as every minute passes by. The real intention is for the game to mount tension as the plane slowly falls apart and the players cling to each scrap. However, as soon as the plane begins falling apart the rest shortly follows almost inevitably, especially as the players struggle to find footing on an ever-shrinking platform and enemy damage output makes erosion impossible to prevent.

    *there is one way which we found to defend the plane and win the map. I hypothesized that the aliens do not target the plane, but rather the players, whom they can see through the destructible brushwork. As soon as the map began, we killed ourselves. Without players to target, the aliens did not volley any attacks at the plane. After eight minutes, the map ended with us victorious, laying in heaps at the back of the map.

    The brushwork of the plane is fine, the way it was made into individual destructible pieces would be very impressive if it weren't designed for this kind of gameplay. The overall novelty wears off quickly.

Pros:

• Neat destructible airplane map.
• You can win by being pacifist (a corpse)

Cons:

• The actual defense gameplay is kinda lame and wonky
• You can win by being pacifist (a corpse)

Score: 4.5 / 10