The gameplay design is where the strength lies. The mapmaker has a great focus on playability and making sure that the player is in for a challenging time! Attacks come from all sides and it is extremely interesting and educative to study what the mapmaker pulls off here. Although this is a single player map, it plays very well and even multiplayer people will have fun with this map, just because it keeps you on your toes and makes you think! Tip/bugs: The terrain is somewhat generic in places with large bunches of forest, but in general is distinct enough. Little touches of unique/new terrain (graveyards, carts, etc) give the map a sufficiently genuine feel. But because the author is clearly an advanced and skilled map maker, I would encourage him to develop certain areas a bit more in order to create a more magical ambience—the Nomad temple where you can hire units, for example, pops out of no where. I think a few torches or pavement tiles could be added to make it look more like a sacred place. Of course, the question is when is too much? This may just be a difference in taste between us The introduction is written clearly and directly with a good story line that does not fall into the typical trite/affected language or motifs of fantasy writing. A few hints are given but no spoilers. The author takes the point of view of an entire people rather than a single leader/hero, which gives the map a refreshing contrast to many of the hero centred maps that have been produced in the past. I would say that writing skills are one of the author’s strong suits and gives this map an instant credibility to the new player. In terms of a unified, compelling story line, I think this map provides the best rationale for how and why the map is set up like it is. I always felt as if I knew what I was fighting for. [This message has been edited by Magog (edited 02-01-2006 @ 01:05 PM).]
Visually, the map looks beautiful, but nothing astonishing or breathtaking.
Very, very well done!
- Who am I?? Chmee? What is my history?
- Some more events can help to immerse players more!
- Lots of undefended sites. This seems to be intended but I don't see why. It made the map too easy for me. The rewards (early sphinx) are also very strong!
- There were still spawns, that walked right past me, even when I took the effort of taking out the tower (to the west).
The AI as usual is very inept - ultimately due to the choke points placed on the map. No use of the predesigned area as well.