ONSLAUGHT MAPS

It seems like Unreal Tournament 2004 maps look better and better all the time and these are no exception. They qualify as four of the most breathtaking official Onslaught maps, and by a longshot.





"Seismic tremors and eons of erosion forged this battlefield. Adara Canyon is nature at its most awe-inspiring. But don't let the beauty fool you. Long drops claim lives and the corridor-like nature of the canyon makes AVRiL avoidance somewhat difficult."

Breathtaking waterfalls and a towering ravine provide an elegant setting for a little bit of vehicle combat. Adara supplies loads of z-axis, something missing from the retail selections.

The map is fairly linear, but power nodes are located on a number of different levels, and getting to them all requires good coordination from a number of different vehicles. The cicada is especially effective in this map as there is plenty of cover. A good cicada team can suprise and devastate a node area in the blink of an eye.







"This volcanic archipelago served once as a gateway in the human wars of the 21st century. Transformed for tournament use, a series of bridges now connects the islands. These bridges, though excellent use for ground based vehicles, do not provide a direct path to battle. Mantas will be the primary choice for transportation."

This map brings to mind some of the maps seen in Far Cry. Though I don't think I've seen water and foliage this luscious in any game. You can actually watch as water breaking on a bridge splashes sea spray to the rhythm of the lapping surf. A brilliant sunset skybox rounds out the eye-candy.

I've seen a number of user-made "Island theme" Onslaught maps. Those maps have struggled with size mainly - power nodes that are far too close to one another. IslandHop manages to spread the action far enough apart so that the new vehicles really shine. There are loads of places to set up camp with the SPMA and reign terror down on unsuspecting enemy troops. The Paladin has a number of places to hunker down and defend nodes or ambush tanks and footsoldiers. The bridges allow plenty of connectivity for the land-based vehicles without creating impossible chokeholds.







"THIS SATURDAY, ONE DAY ONLY, AT THE M-M-MONSTER VALLEY ARENA, WITNESS THE AAAAWESOME SPECTACLE OF ONSLAUGHT TOURNAMENT COMBAT!!! TWO TEAMS AND 65 TONS OF BALLS TO THE WALL GUN SLINGING VEHICULAR MAYHEM! BE THERE FOR THE FLAMING HOOPS, THE MONSTER JUMPS, THE HALFPIPE OF BLOOD, AND THE INSANITY OF THE 150 METER TALL TOWER OF DOOM! BE THERE!!!"

Unreal Tournament has always featured a wide variety of maps, but never before an (almost) empty Monster-Truck arena.

I admit that I haven't been taken in with all of the stunt driving that has become so popular with the Onslaught vehicles. The first time I played this map online I was immediately met with the fact that half of my team was off playing around on the ramps while the remainder of the team struggled to play Onslaught around them. Annoying.

It wasn't until I started playing around with the vehicles myself, on a private server with a few others who just wanted to see what crazy stunts they could pull off, that I realized just how fun this map could be. The flaming hoops, the flash pots that go off in sequence as you go up a ramp, the half pipes, and crazy flips and jumps really are a lot of fun. The ability to "hop" and "spin" vehicles by holding down the crouch and directional buttons adds a new layer to the vehicles in this map. It's perfect for this kind of gameplay.

The real surprise is that it's not a bad pure Onslaught map either. The hills spread the nodes out far enough to keep things from becoming a spam fest.







"Once the pinnacle of modernized civilization, this dense urban center has since fallen victim to crime, corruption, and civil war. Now mostly vacant, it has become a haven for underground criminal activity and lawlessness. LMC organizers jumped at the opportunity to own this prime piece of real estate. Instead of leveling the area and constructing a new arena, they decided to let the combatants do the demolition work themselves."

One type of Onslaught map that's been a real rarity is a city-environment arena. Urban features smoldering city streets, underground passages, and overhead freeways. Street signs, stop lights, flaming barrels, and rubble line the streets.

The Cicada adds a lot of life to this map. Sneaking around the corners of buildings in the helicopter type craft, and unleashing streaks of rockets onto unsuspecting victims in the streets below is just so different than anything we've experienced in Unreal Tournament thus far.

It isn't a very big map but there is a lot to do. Matches tend to go by much faster than I'd like for them too. A slightly larger version of this map would be terrific. I guess it's just a case of wanting more of a good thing.