Apache Battle - Dunkelschwamm

  


    Apache Battle is an arena map where players are expected to take down an Apache Helicopter. There is nothing else to the map, take down the helicopter and another appears, forever.

SCMapDB page

Author: Mad Jonesy

Date of final release: 1999

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Apache Battle

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | April 23, 2022 | 1978 characters

    Apache Battle is one of those earliest maps that remind you that there was a point in time where every aspect of Half-Life was extremely novel. Players spawn in a room which gives basic equipment. If there's meant to be some extra weaponry given, it no longer is. The player gets a pistol clip and is jutted into the a world of respawning grunts and apaches. The goal seems to be to run across the battlefield using sheer numbers and the trickle-fed HEV batteries to survive gunfire from the apaches to reach a large mounted gun which is then used by the players to engage the apaches in a game of attrition. Whomever succumbs to gunfire first loses.

    Of course, much like the players, the apaches never truly suffer a defeat or loss. They continuously reappear, one after the other, sometimes up to three at a time (possibly more, but I didn't see more than 3 at any point) just like the players who show up one at a time to fire back. The endless cycle isn't pretty, but some 25 years ago somebody thought it was fuckin' sick as Hell.

    The brushwork and use of textures are pure function. Proportions are within acceptable bounds, but it's all pretty vanilla, and does nothing daring with lighting or texture variation or architecture. The mounted gun looks kinda neat, though, so there's that.

    If you like just throwing yourself at bullets over and over again, give this a shot. I don't really think this kind of map aged super well, but maybe if the players spawned with some decent weaponry I'd change my tune.

Pros:

  • It has apaches, and technically you do battle them
  • The mounted gun is neat looking

Cons:

  • Lack of starting equipment
  • Barely any cover in any relevant fighting areas
  • No ammo
  • The Sisyphean task of fighting a hydra of apaches

Score: 3 / 10

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