City Invasion - GrandmasterJ

 


    Aliens have invaded a city and it is up to YOU to repel them! There is one part that needs two players to complete but a community tweak that removes that part, the map does seem balanced for two people.

SCMapDB page

Author: Foofinoo

Date of release: 2017

Maps in package: 1

Map review of City Invasion

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | August 6, 2023 | 3892 characters

    The city has been invaded by aliens! Fight your way through a factory, make some friends along the way, and have a boss battle in the sewers. The map is a straightforward walkthrough map that delivers a good looking and well done experience.

    We start out with a shotgun and mp5 in addition to our usual loadout as well as armor. This is enough to take on the rest of the map and there are other weapons we can find as well like the revolver and uzi. The SAW and rpg make an appearance but they are exclusive weapons that you have to drop before changing to another weapon. The small piles of ammo and battery respawn instantly and give us full ammo and armor. It's very nice and now that I think about it my teammate and I completed this map without a single death.

    Before we started out I saw that there was a 'fix' so the map can be played solo, I didn't use that one. I did notice that there was a box that seemed like it should be pushable but it didn't go anywhere. Upon crowbarring it had the glass bullet hole decals. So maybe this map was made to be played solo, it is definitely easy enough to warrant a solo run.

    Enemies are typically placed around the level as would be in a singleplayer mod and then sometimes spawn in swarms. At one point my teammate and I had just dropped into an arena and aliens started spawning in very quickly, so fast that we would kill one only to have it instantly be replaced. We may not have died once on this map but we got pretty close here.

    In the very first room there is a big garage door open just a crack and we can see teensy little houndeye paws roaming around on the other side. This was a pretty striking visual and actually gave me Resident Evil vibes, I felt like the game was teasing zombie dogs. The map had a great layout and we didn't really get lost. There were a couple of times where the map had a path that was just barely blocked that we definitely felt we could jump past but in each time there was a detour we had to use. There are snarks and an egon gun hidden behind obstacles and I don't know if that is a secret or a mean tease. The map looks beautiful overall and despite the reliance on standard Black Mesa fare there were levels of added grit that added variation and a more horror-themed paint job. I also really liked the sprite wheels we had to turn in the sewers.

    By the way, there are slabs of floating text in three areas in the map that tell us our story. I don't really know where to bring that up. It's fun if a bit unnecessary and maybe even immersion breaking.

    The map is fun and fairly straightforward. With two players we took full advantage of the amazing ammo and armor dumps to keep ourselves armed and armored and breezed through most of the map. The combat is pretty standard except for a couple of times enemies are dumped directly on us but it was fun, we were equipped to handle it. The map looked good and I could see the attention to how things were laid out to create some fun scenes. I'm not a fan of the decision to replace straightforward paths with a more convoluted path, like the door we had to go through but were forced to go through a vent to get to the other side for some reason. The weapons held out of reach that I suspect are not secrets was also pretty mean.

Pros:

  • Great ammo and armor supplies throughout the map
  • map looks good
  • we spawn with very solid loadouts for a faster start
  • map layout created a couple of fun scenes
  • interesting limits on SAW and rpg, kept the map from being trivial

Cons:

  • I'm not a fan of weapons teased but forever out of reach
  • sometimes it felt like we were forced to take detours around obstacles unnecessarily

Score: 8 / 10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deluge - Dunkelschwamm

Image
       Deluge is a very atmospheric map made by one of the community's most acclaimed mappers, RNG. This map is very indicative of his style, well detailed moody and oppressive environment, strange monsters, and high levels of interactivity including lots of secrets. SCMapDB page Author: RNG Date of final release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Deluge (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 9, 2022 | 4625 characters      Deluge is a map by RNG, which you can assume means it is a quality map. RNG brings style, high-production, and a confusing sense of eldritch nonsense that glues the experience together in a way that makes it feel like something that was summoned from another plane of existence rather than mapped out.      The map is a classic arcade-style keyhunt level. After choosing a difficulty (I suggest going as hard as possible, as with two players it felt easy) you hop into a gritty world that feels like brutalist, industrial architecture made its way
Read more

Zombie Squad - Dunkelschwamm

Image
       Suit up squad, it's time to go fight human grunts that this map calls zombies. This map is a horde map taking place in a burned out urban block, supposedly there are points to capture but I didn't see any. SCMapDB page Author: cyberdaemon Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Squad (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 17, 2023 | 2601 characters      Zombie Squad is a well detailed horde map wherein grunts and hwgrunts (and, like, an assassin) swarm the players from every angle. Thankfully, within the details of the ruins are plenty of weapons, and a reasonable smattering of HEV and health pickups.      The description makes it sound like maybe my experience with the map is broken. There were, like, 3 soldiers which looked like zombies in the map. I think far more were meant to be zombies? Also, the MOTD makes it sound like there's some funny control point business, like there's an objective to the map. Far as I can tell a
Read more

Dark Seekers - Dunkelschwamm

Image
       Inspired by 'I am Legend' players fight the eponymous Dark Seekers in an abandoned city. Solve puzzles, find a way to escape, and beware the large amounts of high health enemies! SCMapDB page Authors: Goanna Date of release: 2008 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Dark Seekers (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 7, 2024 | 4838 characters      Dark Seekers is a duo of horror maps based loosely on the I Am Legend scenario. In the first map you search buildings to find necessary items to solve puzzles while being harassed by the titular dark seekers- zombies which run and take quite a bit of damage to kill. The second map takes the players through a dark seeker infested subway tunnel, until they surface into a warzone where hostile soldiers battle dark seekers in the streets. Both maps are very different in gameplay tone, but manage to feel appropriate together in atmosphere and theme.      The first map is slow in pace, with players being forced to slow
Read more