Resident Evil: Directors Cut - GrandmasterJ

 

    This is the second and probably final Resident Evil map made by James Smith, following his previous map, Aftermath. The map is very similar to the first, keeping with a recreation of the Resident Evil mansion, but it is very much improved.

SCMapDB page

Author: James Smith

Date of final release: 2008

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Resident Evil: Directors Cut

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | September 3, 2022 | 3173 characters

    The second map available in the series of Resident Evil maps made by the author, James Smith. it is unclear if this series has anything to do with the other Resident Evil maps made by a different author but it is definitely an improvement over the first one. It still leans heavily on the long and twisty hallway element though.

    The map still only loosely resembles the layout of any Resident Evil game but it looks much better. The main hall treats players to some nice looking windows with rain effects behind them, it set the mood right off the bat. The hallways do still blend together, but parts of hallways will look different in how they are built, some have furniture, one hall had tons of forever-locked doors. It was still mazey and a huge pain to get around in, but there were landmarks and we could generally remember how to get to keys and their locks. Locked doors will trigger messages announcing which keys we will need. Sometimes the keys blend in with the background or are hidden really well, here's a tip, we found the first key just laying around in the second story of the main hall and it took a while to find and another key was hidden behind a mirror in a corner of a room. We also had to boost in the dining hall, my teammate took some fire damage from a candlestick.

    The spawn area had some ammo and the zombies are fairly slow moving. They have pain animations where they fall down and then get back up and that's pretty fun. We find weapons and ammo throughout the map but be careful, the ammo does not respawn. We did find shotgun ammo but we did not find a shotgun before the map ended. The map was fairly hard for two players, later on Hunters rush in and we died once or twice, but with the ammo in spawn, and a long trip down some hallways for the mp5, we never really felt pressed for ammo. The map felt balanced with two people and we completed it pretty fast, the most time spent in the map was walking down the winding hallways.

    The map was decent, I liked the combat, the key hunting through the twisty hallways was very annoying. Some pathways opened up into previous areas, this is a huge improvement over the first map. I also forgot to mention that there is no medkit in this map, so players go until they die. The supplies in spawn come in handy, but we still have to travel for the mp5 and revolver. It is a big improvement over the previous map and I recommend playing it.

Pros:

• The enemy to ammo ratio was pretty good and felt balanced for my teammate and I
• There were some nice custom models, especially the hunters
• the level detail is much improved and helps break up the hallways
• I like the rainy window effect, mood is much improved
• I still like the locked door messages
• shortcuts open up as the map progresses

Cons:

• Mazey samey hallways dominate this map
• the amount of key hunt gets a bit ridiculous
• besides the reskinned enemies and vague mansion theme, there isn't much Resident Evil here

Score: 6.5 / 10