New Textures
	New Skybox
	New Models/Sprites
	New Sounds

I have long reglected my duties as Level Of The Week writer. My excuse? College. Plain and simple. Although now that i am finishing that this coming April 2nd, free time will once again be a concept known to me. Yay for that!

The reasons for my comeback? The promise of HL 2 and the ever present shadow of TF 2 hanging around, a small rebirth of TFC maps popping out here and there...
Take your pic!

Moving onto the review, Fadeout caught this reviewer's eye a few weeks ago with the promise of rejuvenating my love for capture the flag. Did it deliver? Read on!
(Hint: It made it's way here didn't it?)


Description:

Fadeout was crafted by resident hosted mapper Chemical Burn from the renouned TFC mapping clan [WTF?].So right from the start, expectations were high, but i was not disappointed.

The map is a "Shutdown" style capture the flag, which means before you can run over to the enemie's flag room, you have to disable their base's security system (The force field surrounding the enemy flag) in order to grab it. This is achieved by pushing the conviniently placed button in the base's ramp room under the caption "Laser control".

The map's high point in this reviewer's opinion is the extremely effective layout of the map which makes both learning and moving around a breeze after a minute or two. Each base has 2 respawn/resupply rooms which are connected together by a small tunnel. The exits lead either to the flag room's main corridor access or the sniper deck. This makes defense concentrate out at the base's main entrance or the flag room, which is killing two birds with 1 stone, because of the "Openfire" style water tunnel connecting both areas. Attackers don't have to worry about the laser control as much as they have to actually get to the flag room and out again, a big problem of most shutdown style maps which pits the buttons deep inside enemy territory (NOT where you want to be most of the time!)

Moving onto the visual side of the map, i found myself facing a home designer's dileama: Go for the pleasing and functionnal architecture's pros, or rant about the average paint job in terms of cons. I decided to go for both. Lighting in Fadeout will undoubtedly strike you at first. Soothing blue or pinkish-red? You'll know right from the start on which team you're on when you first spawn in some kind of tube. There isn't a spot too dark or too bright anywhere in the map. Lighting comes both from the skylights everywhere in your base and from texlights on columns.

Texturing is other side of the coin though. The same old brick texture on every wall makes things look dull. It's obvious the architecture is made to stand out with the lighting but a bit more variation would of been welcomed.

Also, waterfalls seems to be this map's theme as you see water pouring from grates on walls to keep things interesting. Most noticeably are the double waterfalls in the map's middle section which is filled with steam, making fights in that area slightly laggy, but very original.

Gameplay wise, you'll see engineers scurying everwhere to build their SGs and snipers protect both the front of the base and the flag room. But things move fast in Fadeout and during testing, the middle area was used an outpost to quickly put pressure on the enemy base's defense. Every class can shine, but every class can be brought down.

Conclusion:

Fast "soldier-tested, mother-approved" gameplay on a solidly built map, a must for any public OR clan server.

-BlackPanther

P.S.: Watch out for the zombie !