Kani Gyosen - Dunkelschwamm

  


    Kani Gyosen is Japanese for "Crab fishing boat" and true to the title, in this map players will fish for crabs. Since this is based on Half-Life the crabs in question are all headcrabs.

SCMapDB page

Author: takedeppo.50cal

Date of final release: 2020

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Kani Gyosen

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | March 20, 2022 | 3006 characters

    Kani Gyosen is another great chill map from takedeppo.50cal. This time the focus of the map is on capturing headcrabs at the bottom of the sea using spears and reeling lines. Over the course of five "days" the ocean becomes increasingly inhospitable, escalating the stakes with bullsquids, sharks, alien controllers, and eventually armed pirates and helicopters. To defend yourself, you are armed with a machinegun of some sort which can fire underwater. Throughout it all, however, never lose sight of catching crabs!

    To catch crabs, players can jump from their boat into the water (which I stayed in for extended periods of time and did not even begin to drown) and search for them where they spawn in clusters around certain areas of the ocean floor. The player can use a barnacle replacement to bring headcrabs from a distance to the player quickly, then use the right click of the harpoon weapon to stick the headcrab and capture it. The player then takes the headcrab with them back onto the boat and places them in a cage. After some time elapses, the day ends and players are forced to spawn locations within the boat and new enemies are added to the ocean. Once the final day ends, you get to see how many crabs you have captured. Never lose sight of capturing crabs- it's what the map is all about!

    The ocean floor is beautifully rendered with really nice aquamarine colors, simple but effective and evocative sea junk on the ocean floor, some fun and well conceived landmarks in the water, and the boat itself is incredible. The water has a fun effect where it seems like another light additive layer of water was added on top, which gives the water a cartoony foamy look which really distinguishes it from water in other goldsrc maps altogether. The models for the new weapons look great too. Really, it seems you can count on takedeppo.50cal to deliver charming and tasteful maps made with quality assets.

    If you're looking for something that's kinda chill but with some raising escalation of challenge of time, this is great. I'd recommend it for servers with off-the-wall maps or just anything that's fun, or even possibly for chill maps. If you're looking for something pretty chill to play with friends, I think this would work just fine.

Pros:

  • Absolutely charming idea for a map's gameplay loop- catching crabs with a little spear
  • Map's style and assets are cute as a button
  • I really respect this depiction of the ocean, and think it's probably one of the better ones I've ever seen in goldsrc
  • The map ends right before it gets old

Cons:

  • It can be frustrating when sometimes crabs coalesce in an obscure part of the map, preventing crabs from respawning elsewhere
  • Fighting two helicopters was actually kind of a pain and they were hard to ignore

Score: 8.1 / 10

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