Date: 05-09-99 Teams: 2 File: scrum.zip Players: 4-32 (20 recommended) Game: TFC Size: Large Briefing: Meat and potatoes.

Scrum!

The cannon entrance.

The blue base.

A teammate is needed...

Arena!

Author: Wedge | Reviewer: Borg

Objective:

You and a teammate must each stand on an arenas touchpad to gain control of that arena. Arena's MUST be taken in ORDER, starting close to your fort. Scoring is based on how long your team controls the arena, and the distance to your fort.
When you control all 3 arenas, you may then assault the enemy fort and touch the SCRUM! pad. This scores you BIG points, and resets the teams and the arenas.

Scoring:

Nearest Arena:
Hold the nearest arena to score 2 points per minute (1 every 30 seconds)
Center Arena:
Hold the center arena to score 3 points per minute (1 every 20 seconds)
Take the center arena away from enemy control to score 1 bonus point
Enemy Arena:
Hold the enemy arena to score 4 points per minute (1 every 15 seconds)
Take the enemy arena away from enemy control to score 2 bonus points
Enemy Fortress:
SCRUM! scores 20 points, resets the arenas and respawns the teams

Evaluation:

Firstly, I'd just like to thank the maps' author, Wedge, for providing a place for me to conduct a somewhat informal playtest. This kind of just happened by luck, but at least it allowed me to get a decent look at this map. Sometimes you need to take advantage of certain situations to get a job done.

The construction of this map is actually pretty good, if somewhat lacking in areas. From the readme file attached to this map, the author himself states that he was anxious to move on to other projects, and this could explain how some areas of the design weren't as well done as they could have been. Again, my main complaint about this map is the same as it has been for many, totally inadequate signage. Being able to reference yourself on the map is very important, and aids in the overall pace of the game. When you need to get to the 3rd arena to help your teammate, it would be nice to just be able to use a sign for quick reference, and then get on your way. I can't really say that there was much of a theme to this map, which is basically a modified 2fort design. It does work with the overall object of the game, but nothing really inspiring. Not to worry though, even Valve is guilty of this one, but custom mappers should be striving to go one-up on Valve, after all, it's their job to get the game into our hands, and attention to the last iota of detail would take forever. Hence, the custom mapping community should give them examples of how it should be done.

Layout was ok, but confusing, due to lack of signage, and the large areas you had to cover. The open arenas aided you in quickly seeing your goals, so kudos to that. The author wanted to use the flags as indicators of who was controlling a certain arena, but nobody but him knew this. Many a question was asked about this, and the author didn't indicate this in his readme. Getting around a map this large wasn't actually too hard, and elements were provided to aid in this. Namely, there's large "cannon" that will launch you across the main approach to your own base when you leave, and the entrance to the "cannon" is located right outside your main respawn. You'll see the tube coming down from the ceiling. All you have to do to get shot out is stand under the opening and jump. The walkways and ramps were pretty well thought out, and only minor confusion was found in between arenas. With a map this size, the signage issue really pops up. There are signs over the scrum point in the map, but you still need to actually find your way into the enemy base to find it.

Teamwork was actually this maps strongest point. Hats off to the author for this, as it's pretty surprising how few maps out there will emphasize this the way he has. In order to capture arenas, you must have a teammate stand on the opposite pad to you, hence, teamwork MUST be employed. When making the assault on the enemy base, you'd better have a few comrades with you, otherwise the attempt will be very short lived. There weren't a whole lot of innovative strategy elements to this map, mainly because of the objectives that most people were working towards. Defense wasn't too strongly emphasized, due to the fact that most people went for classes with speed, in order to capture the arenas quickly. I think this had a lot to do with how organized people on the teams were, and that a clan match would be a totally different ball game. Since most people want to be heroes, and the map is so large, they all tended to go for the quick score, rather than make sure their own home was ok. I'm not saying that every class couldn't be fully utilized on the map, as is evidenced by its design, but people just seemed to make the choice for speed. There were more than ample opportunities for every class to have fun, but people just seemed not to choose them. Maybe offering some quick and dirty way into the forts would have forced more defensive actions, because people would have realized that the enemy could pop up at any moment. This, however, is a minor gripe.

Verdict:

Not an overly exciting map, although it is very conducive to good teamplay. It has some original elements, but has a steeper learning curve than it should. A good middle of the road map, worth the download for a large team.

Delta Bravo Final Score: 
- 29/50 -