I think the voting may be over (GMT? what the f?) but i'll get this in now. Before I start, should there not be a rule forbidding people from posting who has what average score while voting is still going on?
Match
Restricted Cavern Zone - 2/10
Dull, largely featureless, not enough rings outside of the center, sloppily built (undeafed items, sneakers monitor that is not random), need I go on.
Frost Forest Zone - 8/10
Slightly lacking rings, but the most fun I had with this division. Very well built and I particularly like what was done with the bomb panel. The areas below need more walls to fix Twilight Zone moments like this:
(above is not a path, it's an invisible unclimbable wall)
Neo Green Lake Zone - 4/10
Breaks pretty much every convention of good map making sense, but in large groups the chaos that results from this totally unbalanced map is pretty wild. Might have been a 5 if the walls did not, you know, practically BLIND me.
For posterity, while playing the map, this happened.
Mystic was hit by iGHOST's scatter ring.
iGHOST was hit by Mystic's scatter ring.
<~Mystic> oh my god, that was the most epic thing ever
<~Mystic> I missed with scatter and it attracted directly to the attraction shield
<~Mystic> at point-blank range
<A Lagshot> XD
<~Mystic> making him launch in a completely insane direction
<iGHOST> You hurt my dignity.
Amber Ravine Zone - 7/10
Nice, and seems to be well balanced (better than the "balancing" i've seen in the 2.0.5 WAD, anyway), but bloody goddamn cramped. Many of the passages need to be widened out, and cut down a bunch of those trees; there's little that frustrates me more than not knowing what is going on ahead of me because a PLANT is blocking my vision.
Minor peeve: the shortcuts that have you spring up through what otherwise appears to be solid ground are a little cheap feeling. Maybe some clever texturing or something to make it apparent that people can come up through the floor at those spots?
<~Mystic> Massively violent stage
Acid Plant Zone - 5/10
I can't say for sure what it is that so annoys me about this place, but I do not have much fun with it. I'm guessing it's a combination of the floorplan making it too easy to get ambushed randomly (bad when you're suffering c-lag), and the layout being stacked heavily in Sonic's favor. Not a very forgiving map, but the fatal acid has nothing to do with it, so don't remove that.
Astray Canopy Zone - 7/10
Very good for a big map. Some areas could use better textures and much work needs to go into thing placement.
Land of Light and Rain WHITE WHITE WHITE WHITE WHIIIIIITE WHIIIIIITE Zone - 3/10
Blinding, laggy, makes no bloody sense, tends to crash and has a giant freaking ocean surrounding it for no apparent reason. Playable I suppose, but I don't think I want to know what you were thinking. What a mess.
CTF
Upload Download Zone - 3/10
No wait, THIS is a mess. Decent concept, executed very badly.
The path between the bases is practically a
straight line, narrow spaces/dark rooms/both team ring boxes in each base make camping stupidly powerful, the computer world is interesting but oversized, lopsided weapon placement is not cool, ect., ect., ect. Chaotic but torturous after very long. Forget fixing it, just scrap the layout and start over. Preferably with help.
Choice quotes...
<A Lagshot> DARK
<A Lagshot> fucking DARK here
<~Mystic> wtf is this shit?
<A Lagshot> why are there pretty flowers in this wasteland
<A Lagshot> suspension of disbelief fail
<iGHOST> Cuz base camping in this fuckin tiny ass base is the HETERO thing to do, right?
Night Shrine Zone - 5/10
<@Horizonfall> what's with all these thok-forward maps?
^There you have it, pretty much. It works, but it's rather dull and the torches get quite annoying after the 30th time you accidentally burn your butt on one. The bases suffer from Twlight Zone syndrome:
Coldlava Cliffs Zone - 6/10
Since this one was actually good and fun, i'm thinking you need to collaborate more often to avoid making bad maps. Three problems:
* It's fairly straightforward, and in short order you'll figure out pretty much every way there is to get from base to base.
* The lava in the side tunnels (and perhaps the pits nearby) does not have flag return behavior
* I might have made this a 7 if your brother didn't dump crap scores on everything but the bad maps and your maps.
Sunkist Falls Zone - 7/10
Good stuff and looks very slick, but Gemini has a point about the underground route. You can get the flag through that path so fast that it's easy to ignore the rest of the level, especially if one team is on the match point. Since the rest of the level gives you plenty of options as it is, i'd seal those alt. exits off altogether. Also, the base design is snazzy but kind of screams "camp here plzkthx"...move the bombs elsewhere at least.
Arial Skyfort Zone - 5/10
See also: Neo Green Lake. This one didn't hurt my eyes, anyway. Not good, but almost as frustratingly hilarious as Nimbus Ruins. So i'm guessing it's, uh, a joke map?
Race
Crispy Canyon Zone - 5/10
Creative start with the spiral stairs, major letdown after that. It's like after checkpoint 2 you ran out of ideas.
Frosty Aroura Zone - 5/10
Pretty, but very little to it other than a few slow corners and loooooots of boosting straight ahead. This place is also prone to very bad stutter lag for whatever reason.
Thunder Factory Zone - 9/10
Fantastique. Destroys anything else this contest. The only problems I can think of are too few springs in the toxic goop, and the fan on the right after checkpoint 3 hits without much warning.
Midnight Lagoon Zone - 1/10
Race? There's supposed to be a race here? Sorry all I see is 99% scenery and a PILLAR OF MYSTERIOUS, UNIDENTIFIABLE CHECKERED FLUID.
<~Mystic> Pool's closed.
<~Mystic> AIDS.
Molten Mountain Zone - 7/10
<~Mystic> What a violent stage
This could be great with a few more rings,
much more texture variety, and clean up the especially cheap bits. Perhaps implement a few other hazards specifically to stop the Element Shield from being completely op. The next to last hard left obviously needs to be less vauge.