Map Name: Run!
Author: [taZer]
Map Type: Flag running
Web Site: N/A
Download: run.zip

	New Textures
	New Skybox
	New Models/Sprites
	New Sounds

Scoring:

5 point to the player capturing the flag
1 point for the player's team

Overview:

Well 2003 is here and you all thought you could finally slow down after those holidays huh? Well i've got news for you: It's time to run!

Tired of the "all-too-familiar" 2fort clones? Want something a bit different? Well then "Run!" should be right up your alley.

Run introduces a unique gameplay i have yet to see in another TFC map: Flag running. "Yeah but what about VALVe's flagrun?" you may ask. This is really different. Get this: 2 team, 1 flag, and a non-symetrical map with 2 cap points. Interested yet? Read on!

Description:

First of all, "Run!" is not a new map. It was made way back in 1999, where TFC maps were swarming the community and new ideas were constantly being developed. Yet despite it's age, the map still holds on fairly well even with today's high expectations from players.

The map is set at night in some kind of industrial complex, complete with water tunnels, cargo storage areas, generator room and loading dock. It all sounds like the standard HLDM map setting for 1999, but the layout of the map is really what sets it apart. Simply said, it flows great. Every path leads to either capture points quickly and with enough room to deal with every kind of "trouble" you may encounter along the way. To make things better, the mapper even had the sniper in mind when he made the storage area's roof accessible either by grenade jumping a friendly conc from a medic or scout, or a boost onto a pipe you can climb like a ladder. Lighting is adequate all over the map, with nothing too dark or too bright and keeps the overall nighttime feeling but nothing really impressive. Texturing, again when looking at it through 1999 standards, is good and stick to the map's theme without any problem.

Again, the map is non-symetrical, meaning you wont find a base or even a specific team's resupply room in "Run!". This may sound like a turn off for some, but beleive me, it's well worth the change. As such, when you respawn, you're immediately vulnerable due to the lack of team respawn points. And you can spawn anywhere in the map in a number of locations, sometimes (rather often really!) reappearing right in the middle of a firefight you just got blown to bits from! Yet another incentive to keep moving all the time. You won't find a whole lot of cover in this map, which makes keeping in movement essential to acheive victory. But how exactly do you win? By doing what you're doing all the time in this map: running!

Run! features a unique gameplay in which you have to carry a single flag all the way across the map over to the other capture point. After you've done that, you have to do the same thing, but in reverse! Back to where you originally picked up the flag, either at the generator room, or the loading dock. What makes things even better, is that the flag is available to BOTH teams. But, if kill the flag carrier, the flag automatically goes back to it's original position, thus making sure your flag carrier has an escort a vital part of acheiveing victory and at the same time, keeping party crashers from camping capture points for a quick score. Just goes to show you, the simplest idea, is often the best. When played right, this scenario is both brutal and very fast. Never a dull moment!

Obviously, spawn camping can be a problem. Some respawns locations can turn you into either sniper fodder or spam banter. A particular respawn with a fast reappearing supply of grenades is the biggest problem in the map, but nothing that playing with the right people can't fix.

On a more positive not, class usage is very good in this map. Especially with many elevated spots for snipers, sharp corners for engineers and their sentry guns (inside the storage area) and plenty of room for soldiers to duke it out. I also found the demoman to be quite effective while laying down pipe bomb traps in key areas like the bridges and near the ladders. Obviously, a scout or medic can do a very quick run from 1 capture point to the other (with my personnal record being 21 seconds with a scout), which makes for quickly raising scores, and not much time to kill him before he takes the new flag and makes another mad dash through the map.

Conclusion:

Fast, twitch gaming we all came to love in TFC with a simple idea and a simple map designed for one thing in mind and one thing only: The need to Run!

P.S.: Also, sniper war fans, if you are looking for something new to mass produce "death from afar" with your sniper rifle, this is a map to consider!

-BlackPanther