Date: 10-30-99 Teams: 2 File: snipes2.zip Players: 2+ Game: TFC Size: Small. Briefing: Ok now....this is supposed to be Team Fortress, isn't it?

Snipes2

Health packs?

The base.

Econo-ladders.

Author: CaliforniaN | Reviewer: Borg

Objective:

Shoot the enemy snipers.

Scoring:

Typical DM Scoring, 1 frag per kill.

Evaluation:

Ok, this map is a little on the ridiculous side. The author obviously likes playing a sniper, or has a lot of sniper-playing buddies. This map is nothing more than a target practice map, and has no real objectives, other than standard Death-Match goals. Kill, or be killed, that's the theme of this one. While sniper guilds could use this one, most of the community, and public servers will pass this one over very quickly. With some thought to goals, this map may have been more passable as a team game, but i doubt it.

Construction is good on this map, and it should be, considering that there wasn't anything really challenging done. With 2 fortress walls, a bunch of openings, and some rocks, this isn't rocket science by any means. At least it was built right. There were not visual artifacts or high r_speeds to be found, so the map shows good design skills. I'm just a bit disappointed that the author didn't make a true team map. The ladders for moving up and down within the bases are somewhat unique, but also shows some laziness on the authors part, as he could have added rungs or some such thing. As it is, they look like simple boards slapped on the walls. The theme is consistent with the authors view, although this would have been a much better DM map. Seeing as how there aren't any sniper classes within Half-Life, the author may have expanded to the TFC arena to achieve what he wanted.

Layout is fairly simple, as it should be with the purpose of this map. You won't find any problems moving, and i never heard of any complaints about hanging on anything. There's an invisible wall in between the forts, so you can't even get into the enemy base for some wild action. When we tried to switch to crowbars on the ground, the wall is thick enough to prevent even this degree of fun, which was too bad indeed. The health, and ammo re-supply points are imbedded into the second level floors within the bases, and all you have to do is run over them. Simple, but it does the job. Basically, it's all that was needed on this map. Due to the simplicity of things, accomplishing your objectives wasn't hard. All that was required of you was quick reflexes. A high-speed connection didn't hurt either.

Teamwork....hmmm...let me say that again....teamwork. Something that was severly lacking on this map was just that. This can't even be considered a Team Fortress map, as there aren't any real teams. Just 2 large groups of snipers, looking to rack up the kills. This is nothing more than a DM map, using TFC technology. As such, this fails miserably on that front. Hopefully we can look forward to some better things from this author, as his construction skills seem to be pretty good. With no teamwork, the strategy aspect also falls right off. Just point and shoot, that's all there is to it. With 2-4 players you may be able to have some fun for a bit, but with a  large group, this map lasted all of 5 minutes before people wanted a change. That's indication enough of it's replay value. A word to the wise, people play TFC for a reason...just don't forget what the "T" stands for.

Verdict:

Unless you need to practice your sniper skills, don't even waste the bandwidth on this one. I really can't understand how the author can consider this a Team Fortress map, as it's nothing more than a sniper-war map. With no objectives other than shooting the other snipers, this thing gets boring...fast. Good for practice, and not much else.

Delta Bravo Final Score: 
- 14/50 -