Juren - Dunkelschwamm

  

    This map is based off the very popular anime Attack on Titan. The Chinese name for the anime is Jinji de Juren, which is where the name of the map comes from.

SCMapDB page

Author: Dr.Abc

Date of final release: 2014

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Juren

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | July 10, 2022 | 3511 characters

    Juren is a defense map styled after the hit Japanese animanga Attack on Titan! I have never seen/read the inspiration for this map, so I'll move forward with my review just assuming this is a perfect representation of the source material.

    So, much like in the hit japanimanga Attack on Titan, people defend the village wall from hideous naked freaks of all sizes who lumber around like drunken toddlers waiting to be immediately rendered to goo by a well-placed wack on the back on the neck with a metal rod. The defender swing this rod while swinging themselves using a complicated system of pulleys (a barnacle) which sails straight through the titans, to whom the grappling hooks are incorporeal (which I am sure there is a lore reason for). This makes it difficult to get to the same elevation as the target's weak spot- but I suppose that's part of the challenge. Thankfully, when defending the main gate, the gigantic titans walk at just the right level that simply standing on the gate and swinging wildly as they approach will hit their weak point and instantly kill them- I'm sure it's written somewhere that this is why the gate is built at this height. This leaves the smaller, gooeyer ones though. It's not like you can just start wailing on them- they have a ton of health and heal fast. You really gotta go for that sweet spot on the back of their neck. We lost out first attempt, not realizing we were supposed to defend something. Once we realized this, we highly doubted our ability to kill them fast enough to succeed in the map. Indeed- killing all of them is what is necessary to win.

    So, yeah, it's kind of frustrating to play. It's pretty original, relying on the crowbar and barnacle- but it doesn't make great use of them beyond making most surfaces grappleable- that they don't grapple well to the titans was a huge issue. Usually my best hope for getting kills was luring them into clipping into a huge structure where I can walk on the roof to be level with their neck and attack them. It's pretty flawed- I can't quite tell whether there was something I missed. Gameplay was overall bland, and just getting around often resulted in taking fall damage.

    The graphical component is a bit more fun. The actual models for the titans are pretty ugly looking, with big boldly darkened vaginas. I don't know if that's canon to the manganime, but I'll presume it is. The town itself looks very nice, even if it's a bit blandly lit. The bland lighting does make it a bit easier to hunt the titans, I guess. What doesn't make it easier is the canon for defending the gate which only very selectively (once for my comrade, never for me).

    If you're looking for a map to play with a friend and you like Attack on Titan, this might be worth checking out, but maybe not worth seeing all the way through to the end. I wouldn't deign to put something like this on a server rotation.

Pros:

• The town looks nice
• The models for the weapons looks nice
• The titans look gross
• It's kinda neat how the hit boxes work in this map

Cons:

• It's really frustrating how the hitboxes work in this map
• Base defense aspects are clunky and broken
• Lighting is clunky
• Using the barnacle to ascend enemies is broken
• Lots of fall damage for such a vertical map
• Whole map is a huge hassle.

Score: 4.9 / 10