Arctic Mission - GrandmasterJ

 

    Arctic Mission is a fun little romp through things that can vaguely be described as 'Arctic'. It is short and sweet with fun combat in interesting locations.

SCMapDB page

Author: TruckStopSantaClaus

Date of final release: 2019

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Arctic Mission

(originally posted on SCMapDB) 

by GrandmasterJ | June 5, 2022 | 4278 characters

    I feel like if there wasn't already two maps called Arctic Escape then this map would also be called Arctic Escape. The map starts off with players around a campfire (that does hurt if you stand on it) and the story is that we have to escape this terrible place and go home. Unlike the other Arctic Maps this doesn't take place in some remote research outpost in the middle of nowhere, there are some nice looking houses in an environment I would call alpine if it had more trees.

    The map definitely has that blocky goldsrc charm to it. The map is divided up into the first half where the player visits some secluded outdoor areas, and the second half where the player does eventually discover a secret lab of some sort and goes through it. I'm not sure I'm quite sold on the 'Arctic' part of this map, but it is somewhat snowy. Beyond the ground being white and some really nice looking evergreen trees at the beginning there really isn't much arctic atmosphere. Most of the second half of the map is spent indoors anyway so you can't even tell.

    The map layout and architecture is interesting and looks good. I enjoyed the first little house we got to and the next area was a big sniper arena with another building and a big door in the cliff face. From there is a showdown with soldiers among some cargo containers, there are underbarrel grenades and an M16 in the cabin outside the door so this combat section is great with grenades. This cargo arena has some great details with blocked off elevators on one side of the wall, later on there are inaccessible offices fully furnished with window blinds obscuring the view. It makes the map feel alive. A short trip through some more offices and a hole in the wall leads players to what appears to be ground zero of whatever is going on. There is a strange xen-like area with some green lights and spikey rocks and then the exit route opens up to a working car and the map ends.

    The action is pretty consistent and constant. There wasn't any backtracking and the action sequences were broken up by simple exploration bits, looking for the path of progression. It was always apparent which was the correct way to go. Ammo was plentiful, the weapon selection was limited but it all worked well together. When we pick up the shotgun, female assassins appear and then we have to fight in close quarters. When we see snipers we are given a sniper rifle. Right after we get underbarrel grenades there is a large arena with a lot of soldiers running around, perfect for the grenades. I think that design ends there because the only other weapons we get, a pipe wrench, revolver, and uzis come in with no fanfare. Overall the combat feels great and tuned to the player arsenals.

    Neither of us died in our playthrough, or at least neither of us respawned, we may have revived each other. But there were obvious teleporter exits that popped up nearby as we progressed in the level, shortcuts from spawn. For me, it's a really big thing to have shortcuts or updating spawn points in walkthrough maps to cut down on travel time to the action from respawning.

    I had a pretty good time with this map. The brushwork could be a little rough at times but it came together in a charming goldsrc way instead of an ugly one. There was some very nice detail work and fun texturing. The combat sequences went well with the map and ramped up appropriately as we progressed. We never felt pressed for ammunition, there were updating spawn points with resupply stations, lots of ammo, and the underbarrel grenades are so good and with liberal use of grenades combat becomes quick and easy. With more than two people the map would probably be really easy.

Pros:

• Great combat, the combat feels adjusted to the weapons players received
• The map looks great and has some very fun details
• plenty of ammo
• teleporters from spawn to updating checkpoints

Cons:

• the map can look really blocky sometimes, it can be charming at times and weird at others
• the map started off Arctic, and then veered into underground labs
• More than two players would probably make the map too easy

Score: 8.5 / 10