BeyondUnreal's FlagPack 2004 Review



DM-FP-Dismemberment - "Welcome to the dismemberment arena, originally created by the Vadigrar. An arena built of stone, where the gladiators must have 200% sharp senses, because new blood is easily spilled."



It is puzzling why the author of this map didn't spend a little bit more time on this map to make it better.

The gameplay is fairly unexciting, but the visuals are what bring this map down. While gameplay of a map is more important than how it looks, the visual appeal (or lack thereof) cannot always be overlooked. The lighting, fog, texturing, and almost every other aspect of the visuals are far too bland. The map stays pretty much one color throughout, with a boring skybox to top it all off. As Soma proved with DM-CBP2-Achilles, it is possible to use the Albatross theme while maintaining good visuals. However, in this case, this map leaves a lot to be desired.

Score: 4.5/10



DM-FP-Nictu - "DM1 from Quake1 revived"



A classic Quake remake (dm1q1), this map feels like it started out excellent, when the static meshes and other details had not been implemented yet. The major problem with this map is the amount of breathing room. In several areas of the map, even during a 1-on-1 match, there is little to no room to dodge and avoid attacks. While this could be intentional, it just doesn't fit the layout of the map.

Score: 5.5/10



Final Thoughts



We reach the end of the BeyondUnreal FlagPack 2004 Review and all that remains is to answer one big question:

Should you download this flag pack?

Yes.

If you haven't already done so and are at all interested in Capture the Flag, this is a must-have.

Despite being out a short amount of time, the pack has already enjoyed online acceptance. A few of the maps have found their way into clan play, which is good considering that the "gameplay" crowd was who the team was targeting and they are notoriously hard to please. A number of the maps in this pack are winding their way up the UT2004 stats ladder and a few of them are already crowd favorites at our own weekend FragBU events.

It's easy to see how too. More than 50% of the layouts are remakes - tried and true. Mostly well chosen layouts too. More importantly though, these maps were tested and tweaked reasonably well so that they offered plenty of room for UT2004 movement, proper weapon placement, and decent balance.

All of the maps are pretty consistent graphically and all have those extra few touches that remind you that you're playing UT2004 and not Unreal Tournament. There are lots of repetitive textures throughout the pack, you'll notice the same bricks and trim throughout, but you can probably chalk up some of that to the fact that a number of them share Quake roots.

Oddly enough the DM maps don't fare nearly as well in the translation. They don't seem to be scaled as well as the Capture the Flag maps, but since this is a "flag" pack you're probably not downloading it for Deathmatch, are you?