APC Rally - GrandmasterJ

 

    The point of this map is to drive an APC through a linear map blowing up obstacles and enemies along the way. The map certainly looks rough and the vehicles in Sven are very deadly to the occupants, but the map still delivers a fun experience.

SCMapDB page

Author: JJ45

Date of final release: 2003

Maps in package: 1

Map review of APC Rally

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | April 24, 2022 | 4927 characters

    APC Rally is a map about riding an APC through enemies in crazy fun combat. The map description sold me on the idea and I was excited to play. The map is pretty old and it can be pretty rough at times, but I think it did manage to deliver on its promise. The combat is exactly the kind of stuff I remember seeing in Sven maps back in the day, dense high health enemies that players chew through using tons of weapons.

    The first thing that needs to be addressed is the APC. Yes, there is a drivable APC that needs to be driven through obstacles to unlock the way forward. Yes, I died immediately the moment is started moving. The func_vehicle entity is as janky as ever in this map especially due to the decision to make the interior real small and crowded. There are two points where players can jump onto ledges and shoot out ports on top, this is a great tactical idea but terrible for goldsrc moveable objects and squishy players. Plus, of the two top ports the front one is either impossible or insanely difficult to actually get on. I ended up jumping through the middle access port and just sitting on top of the APC. This worked well until we came to several areas where we had to go under an arch and I jammed us up. Even my teammate got splattered every now and then in the driver's seat, nowhere is safe inside the APC.

    The level design is real simple large hallways. It alternates through canyons and garages, nothing really evokes the idea of a real world place. The APC is on a linear path through the level and there aren't really any side paths at all. The map brushwork is pretty simple and blocky in places and combined with the big hallway level layout makes the whole thing look and feel amatuerish. The lack of a level end doesn't help. The map description says Garompa added a level end but I can't seem to find it or make it work.

    Despite the finnicky APC and the rough level design and layout I had tons of fun with this map for two simple reasons. The first is that players start with a huge arsenal, it's easier to list weapons we don't have, namely any energy weapons like the tau or egon, the spore launcher, and the barnacle. We don't spawn with snarks, crossbows, or satchel charges but those are laying around at several areas in the map. While we're not maxed out on ammo we definitely have more than the default, it was plenty of weapons to deal with any threat. The enemies came in thick waves, players start out with 25 armor, not a lot but any amount of armor helps and it was very apparent how much it helped in this map. This is exactly how I remember my favorite moments playing Sven way back in High School, pouring fire into swarms of enemies with teammates doing the exact same thing. There was ususally somebody screaming and lots of death. Despite how dangerous the APC was we kept getting in it for protection and driving it forward.

    There was a bit of a problem with respawning, since the APC is on a track it's very possible for the APC to go off driverless and plow through the level without any player input. Not to mention that if the APC drives off any respawning players would have to walk all the way after it. The map does have updating respawn points which is extremely nice. There were only a couple times I thought that the travel time was too long. This can get pretty bad with the deadly APC but in my playthrough of this map I thought it was fine, I can see it being real annoying for people though.

    This map is real fun, its no meant for any type of serious play and definitely would never work with survival mode. A lot of the jankiest parts of the goldsrc engine are on display here, namely the func_vehicle, but its fun. It's funny when I get splattered the moment the APC moves, its funny watching my teammate get splattered two seconds later. The combat is fun because we can dump high explosives on our enemies with reckless abandon despite dying to their high explosives as well. Traveling back to the action was mostly not an issue and there were updating spawn points to help. I had a lot of fun with it and I definitely recommend it to anybody looking to play really fun older maps.

Pros:

• Old school Sven combat, enemy dumps with high health
• Players start with huge armory and lots of ammo
• players starting with 25 armor makes a huge difference
• The janky APC was fun, standing on top was a good vantage point
• updating spawn points

Cons:

• level design can look pretty rough, level layout is simple and does not look like anything real
• original map had no level end, this map supposedly has one added but it didn't trigger for me.
• new and/or more serious players will be turned off by spontaneously exploding in the APC

Score: 6.5 / 10