Ascii Art 2 - Dunkelschwamm

  

    The second map of Ascii Art is not quite a sequel and not quite a remake. The whole gameplay flow has been changed and a new area has been added, not to mention the whole map is now at night.

SCMapDB page

Author: enuze

Date of final release: 2008

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Ascii Art 2

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | July 21, 2022 | 3539 characters

    Ascii Art 2 is a map in Japanese that I cannot understand. However, with some patience, I *can* beat it.

    Ascii Art 1 was a charming map marred by a pretty unfun gameplay loop. Ascii Art 2 is a map that I also think is very charming and has a pretty unfun gameplay lop for totally different reasons. However, I do think this is an improvement and with lots of players the problems I have with this map really would melt away. Let's discuss.

    First off, if you liked the style of Ascii Art 1, you'll really like the style of Ascii Art 2. Basically the same locations but at night. Very little new continent in the art department beyond some funky Scientist-themed enemies and a nighttime skybox. Those scientist enemies, though- man, whomever decided to slam flailing scientist model animations onto the ichthyosaur is a genius. It's terrible to fight but hilarious to watch. Hard to be angry at spongey combat when you're watching that.

    Speaking of, let's get into the combat. The combat is spongey. Enemies take a lot of hits. This is made up for with powerful weapons. Zombie has 1000 health? Brain it with the wrench alt swing a couple times. Feeling blue about the armies of baby gargs in the streets? Have a SAW and some ammo and have at it! I think that with lots of players this is fine and can create a really fun, low-expectation, hectic environment where the players are hammering down on powerful enemies. But, man, the enemies are also pretty annoying to fight. The baby gargs were fine, and after some wrangling I could find some fun in fighting the zombies with the wrench. But the problem often ends up being in there just being too much- too many zombies can swarm the spawn points and one-hit players into oblivion before they can even grab their weapons. Once you've waded through those you have to do more- and while the combat can get fun and challenging after the initial frustration, it becomes a chore soon after it feels mastered. It's shortly after those fights when we're given SAWs and some of the weapons (we stuck with the SAWs for the most part, given that the SAW is the most totally broken weapon in the game). After this we were clearing out a building full of scientists which had a lot of fun bits to it, but it felt like we did each fun bit maybe three times too many. The itchyosaur was a fun gag, but by the fourth one I was shooting all I could think about was how frustrating it was I was wasting bullets on its unclear hitbox.

    After clearing out a whole bunch of enemies and taking a stressful long elevator ride to the top and killing one last zombie, the map ends.

I like a lot about this map. I think that, despite its frustrating gameplay it's still overall a positive experience, and I still love the style and humor despite not speaking the language.

    If you want an action map to play with friends or throw on a server rotation, I recommend ascii art 2.

Pros:

• Definitely fit for lots of players to smash against heavy enemies
• Great style
• Love getting hard-hitting weapons
• Funny scientist models

Cons:

• Zombies in the spawnzones
• Spongey enemies and repetitive combat makes the make feel sloggish
• Unclear enemy hitboxes and unclear enemy melee reach makes combat stressful
• I just really think the map dwells too long in the melee segment in the beginning

Score: 7 / 10