Demolition
This new map by r3tina is yet another beauty, but this time for the awesome realism mod Urban Terror.
The map is set in a city block, distinctive by the huge crane in the middle. The map is basically an open area in the center, with the crane set up in a construction area (or rather demolition area since the crane is standing next to a half wrecked down building and it has a wrecking ball attached to the end of the neck). Around this open area there are buildings, fences, walls and plant growth creating some covered movement area around the center of the map. Most of the buildings can be entered, and have breakable windows, creating excellent hiding places for snipers. A few of the buildings have accesible roofs allowing snipers to overview most of the central open area.
r3tina's sharp eye for detail made this map a great piece of work. Everything looks very naturally, and it almost looks like a real city. Everything just blends together very well. The only real big downside of the map is that the sheer amount of detail, and the openess of the map make lower end machines hog through the map. A moderately powerful machine is definately a good thing to have when playing this map. As for the visuals, this is definately a map to follow when doing your own Urban Terror map.
When taking a first look at the map to judge gameplay, it looks like one big camper heaven with all the buildings overviewing the big open area. But once you've played this map a few times more, you'll see that snipers and campers aren't that much of a problem since the possible sniper-spots are too obvious not to notice. The only downside of the map is that the overall distance between the red and blue spawnpoints isn't big. Firefights are fought out often in the center of the map which tends to make games in this map a bit one sided sometimes. Battles get more interesting as both teams use a bit more ingeniuity in their tactics. Even though there is a big open area, one team can get completely locked down and wiped out if the players aren't careful of opponents trying to outflank your team.
Bots play as expected. Even though the Urban Terror bots seems to be a lot more intelligent than the default Q3 bots, it still isn't much of a problem to take 'em on, even if your team is outnumbered.
All in all, I'd say this is definately a great map for all the Urban Terror players.
