It's two maps and there's not some plot twist in them, so it's a review. I only played them for an evening, so I feel like it should merely be impressions. It's... whatever. I don't know if there's a difference for this kind of content. It's actually kind of hard for me to say this, but these new maps aren't very fun. It isn't the fault of the maps themselves; the people playing on them being camping douchebags is clearly what ruined the experience for me, but it was significantly marred regardless of the reason.


Here's the video again. What do you want, pictures of dirt and hallways?

The first map I found myself on was Sujeva Cliffside and as much as I like the atmospheric outdoor maps we got previously, this one seems to be specifically built for spawn camping. The map isn't especially long and feels decidedly cramped no matter where you go; it just isn't an open map, which is fine. The trouble is that all that cool junk piled outside is great cover for a team to rush up to the building on your side of the map. The buildings, while 3 stories are actually pretty useless for scouts due to a big rock formation and general clutter cutting down the visible range of the map. The trouble really comes in when someone gets a spawn point on the top floor. It's plenty of blind corners and easily camp-able stairways, only to get up to the top to meet half a team and turrets. This will be a cool map for dtoid private games because I can generally count on fellow dtoiders not to be total cunts, but the dregs of the internet make this one a waste of time. If you thought Tharsis Depot or Radec Academy were bad for spawn camping, good luck with this one; the distance you have to go to even see if someone is out there means your spawn-invincibility can't help push them back.

Arctower Landing is better, but still kind of iffy. Instead of having a bunch of junk, it's hallways. It's less about spawn camping and more an instance of what I always hated about FPS games before: pac-man. HallwayhallwayhallwayhallwayDEAD. Unless you can psychically predict the path someone will take and have the spaghetti plate of a layout memorized, the best way to take out a speaker-carrier is to wait by the goal; one unexpected turn can make them all but un-catchable so the safe bet is to ambush them. Once again, it will likely be killer fun with dtoiders, but random groups from the intertrons makes for an exercise in how many times you can die because someone hopped in front of you to soak up all the bullets meant for the other team, died, and obstructed your view in the process to make it easier for them to kill you. For once, I want friendly fire on not just as a novelty, but as a way to kill people that get in my way. It will make them not be in the way anymore, at least. I don't want to seem too down on this one, or for either map give the “I only lost because of my team” impression. I played for a good chunk of the evening and really only on these maps and it just didn't feel as good as map pack #2. Of course, Southern Hills and Beachhead are also awesome so topping them might have been a difficult task. I was right. It's a hell of a battle to get the boltgun. I don't know if it ever respawns though; it might end up just lying around the map after whoever has it gets taken out.

After the quality additions of the previous two DLC packs and the apparent thought that went into the on-disc maps, I'm left wondering if there is just some path or strategy (other than “sit with gun pointed at door” or "try to make sure no one else has fun") that I am missing or if these simply aren't as nice. The maps are as aesthetically pleasing as any of the other ones and they could be a ton of fun if you were going to play them with people that don't think winning at the cost of fun in an online FPS makes them important. In short: ehhhh. Hopefully the bullshit drains out for double XP this weekend.