Bossbattle - Dunkelschwamm

 

    Battle exactly one boss in an well made arena using barnacles to fly around the arena and summon bombs. The map ends when the one boss is dead.

SCMapDB page

Author: Streamfox

Date of release: 2017

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Bossbattle

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | April 24, 2023 | 3350 characters

    Bossbattle is a battle against a boss. Which boss? Why, the gargantua, of course! How are you going to fight the gargantua? Why, with a barnacle and timebombs, of course!

    The setup is pretty simple: a big indoor arena sizeable enough for a player to maneuver around a gargantua, complete with grapple points for the player-held barnacle. Press buttons on ceiling-bound grapple points when they highlight to place bombs directly beneath, then lure into gargantua into said bombs when they go off. The buttons are chosen seemingly at random, at which point it's up to the players to grapple up to it and press it. This can be a chaotic frenzy as the barnacle has a way of tornadoing the player around if they come from afar, which is quite fun.

    Once the button is pressed, the gargantua will run up to to the player, who hopefully is acting as sufficient bait above the bomb. My teammate would often dangle himself using the barnacle's rappel to be a sexy little minx for the garg to pursue. That worked pretty well compared to my tactic of staying high out of sight, which often left the garg restless and milling around in circles semi-proximal to the bomb. Lesson learned: always bet on being a sexy little minx. Staying cloistered high up also had the downside of the garg defaulting to the long-ranged stomp attack, which can kill the player with its verticality. The aforementioned tornado swing comes in handy here.

    There's a lives system, which is displayed along with the boss's health on big cool counters. We didn't die enough to see what would happen when the lives run out. The map in general looks really good and cool. My teammate mentioned that it had a gameshow-like quality, and I can see that. It gives me a big sports arena vibe, which is a similar and adjacent aesthetic idea.

    If I had to complain about anything, it'd be that the barnacle's and gargantua's worst qualities are obvious when they're so placed at the forefront. The gargantua's attacks are awkward and weird, and every time I flee the garg I get that feeling. Thankfully, using grappling points helps the player get away and any damage caused by awkwardness alone can be easily negated using the liberal helpings of respawning health bonus pickups all over the map. I love these health bonuses and believe they are a saving grace for the map's design, along with the removed fall damage.

    Overall, I highly recommend Bossbattle. It's pretty, it's simple, the idea is fun and ripe for hijinks, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. Throw it on a server list, play it with a friend. I think the more people involved the more chaotic it will get, and that with too many it may result in some frustrating losses, so play with fewer players. Or, at least, as many as you can coordinate around a gargantua.

Pros:

• Simple concept that is fun and easy to master
• Gameplay encourages funny wacky confusing co-op hijinks
• Short and sweet
• Good pickups
• Good looking map

Cons:

• Heavy reliance on the janky aspects of the gargantua and the barnacle
• It's pretty frustrating when the garg randomly dances around the bomb instead of standing on it

Score:

9 / 10