Halo Customs Review Crew Official Review:



I am going to be reviewing this as a competitive map, as this was the category that it was placed in.



Gameplay: Unfortunately the gameplay on this map was so hectic that the map did not play well at all. I only played on the map with a six man party (as recommended by the map author); any more players and the gameplay would have become even crazier. The games that I played were madness due to:



Too many power weapons/ power ups on the map. I would recommend only placing two or three power items on a small competitive map, as otherwise the gameplay becomes more like a ‘fiesta free-for-all’, rather than a competitive game. I would also recommend placing competitive weapons down (like the Sniper Rifle or the Rocket Launcher) as this is a competitive map, rather than a Needler or Damage Boost.



These power items were placed far too close together. Try and spread these items out. For example on this map, the sniper rifle and the damage boost were placed very close together, which enabled one player to pick both up.



These power items spawned way too quickly. Make sure to have a fairly long timer (e.g. about two-three minutes) so players do not constantly have a healthy supply of power weapon ammo.



When playing the map with the recommended Gametype ‘Ghostball’, there were two oddballs, which made the gameplay very confusing as well. I would recommend reducing this number to one, as the two oddballs just simply did not work.



I would also like to add that this map was definitely not very competitive as stated. Unfortunately it reminded the other players and myself in the lobby more of a minigame, and although we certainly had fun playing the map during our first match, we would not play it as a competitive map again.



Therefore my score for gameplay is 2/5.



Aesthetics: The exterior of the map actually really looked very nice, and the spring mentioned in the map description was certainly created very well. Although the exterior of the map was cleanly forged, the interior section of the map looked quite rushed, and I noticed a couple of dynamic lighting and Z-Battling issues in this area. Nonetheless, the map looked quite clean and organised, and it was obvious to me that you had previously planned out the design of the map.



The only major problem with the aesthetics was that they were not particularly Forerunner as stated in the map description, thus not fitting the intended theme. Forerunner design tends to be quite symmetrical and stand-outish, whilst unfortunately the pieces you used on your map looked more as though they were just placed there to just fill a gap etc., rather than looking as though the Forerunners themselves had placed the pieces there. In future I would recommend making your map possibly more symmetrical, and including some Forerunner aesthetic on the walls/ ceiling of the map to create more of the desired theme.



Thus my score for aesthetics is 3/5.



Mechanics: Unfortunately the map was easily breakable. I would recommend the use of some hard kill zones in certain areas, as players can just pass through the soft kill zones to get to certain spots. Especially when playing the ‘Ghostball’ gametype, this ruined the gameplay of the map.



There were also some bad initial spawn points on the map. While some players spawned next to neither power weapons nor an oddball, others spawned next to both. This created very unfair gameplay as well, and left some players at a disadvantage. Apart from this the respawn system worked very well, and the safe boundary at the top of the map stopped any players from getting out that way.



Therefore my score for mechanics is 2/5.



This gives the map an overall score of 2.333…., rounding down to a final score of 2/5.



Please do not take this score badly. With enough work and thought this score could easily be increased. We did also have a fun first gameplay that provided quite a few laughs and exciting gameplay moments.



I hope this review helps with your forging. Don’t give up with this map. It has potential.