MAP01 - Deep Ruins Zone by BlazeHedgehog - 2/10
I was originally planning to joke about how this would make a good Doom level, but thinking about it more, I realised even Doom levels have more Z variation and more interesting layouts than this. The whole map is boring, flat, huge, and confusing. Even with five players, I spent more than half the play time just looking for someone to shoot at, and there wasn't much to keep me entertained either. The new textures are nice; that's really the only positive thing I can say about it.
MAP02 - Nightside Rouge Zone by Digiku - 0/10
When I saw all the secret work Digiku had been doing for weeks had culminated in this, I couldn't hide my disappointment. Gameplay is garbage due to the constant shortage of rings (automatics require lots of ammunition), visuals aren't that great either with the lines between floor tiles. I could make this in five minutes with GFZROCK and FLOOR0_3, and it would be better, because there wouldn't be glitchy lines on the floor, it wouldn't be 3 MB, and it wouldn't mess up the animations in all the other maps. (This map's ANIMATED lump, which the contest rules technically don't provide for, is the reason slime, water, and waterfalls don't move when you have the contest wad loaded.)
MAP03 - Stratosphere Tower Zone by Digiku - 4/10
An unfortunate case of overcomplexity takes its toll on this map. If it was just the lower areas, with the whole tower part gone or simply used as a visual, this would be a quite fun map. But since all the bonuses are inside the tower, and there aren't enough rings out of it, we can't ignore the tower and have our fun. The red diagonal springs aren't spaced right and send players too far, unless careful adjustments are made, which is hard because the framerate is getting mauled during that flight. The red vertical spring was equally hard to use, and the inside area it occupies was too cramped to serve any real purpose. I did have some fun in it, mostly in the lower areas, so it wasn't a total failure.
MAP04 - Acid Ravine Zone by a441 - N/A
Can't rate this one, obviously, but I honestly believe it was the best map in the set. The matches I played on it were the closest and the most enjoyable. The powerup monitors in the slime offended some people's sensibilities -- it's supposed to be a tradeoff, at least for Sonic, and if you're one of the weaker characters you get the privilege of grabbing the bonuses without being hurt, which evens it out some. The only thing I'll admit is wrong with this level is the lack of special rings except for infinity. I somehow forgot my plans to add some in the corners of the top part.
MAP05 - Cloudscape Zone by Tets - 6/10
Looks almost big enough to be a single player stage, something I thought would be a huge problem, but I actually didn't have much trouble locating people, at least when there were five players. The map really suffers from poor navigation, however. I often had to travel great distances to find my way up to a platform that was right next to me on the map. There was also a shortage of rings, something so common in Tets's maps I'm starting to think of it as a "theme" more than a "problem." Please try another theme next time, Tets; I'm not too fond of that one. Still provided some good fun, though.
MAP06 - Tropical Paradise Zone by hotdog - 7/10
Very simplistic design. The moving platform and the FOF up high in the sky were pointless, the non-deaf rings are ugly, and monitor selection could've been better. Still, I had a lot of fun on this one, and it's cool that you gave people a reason to prefer using Tails.
MAP07 - Mushroom Kingdom Zone by FuriousFox - 7/10
Again, a simplistic design, but one that works fairly nicely. It would be good if the depression in the center weren't so deep. It would be better as a jumpable distance, like two steps down of 64 fracunits each. I also would've liked to see the monitors respawn at random for some variety, and it could've been made harder to grab all the weapon rings in quick succession; maybe they could be up on top of the tunnels, or there could be obstacles between the tunnels. But, as is, it worked well and was very enjoyable.
I was originally planning to joke about how this would make a good Doom level, but thinking about it more, I realised even Doom levels have more Z variation and more interesting layouts than this. The whole map is boring, flat, huge, and confusing. Even with five players, I spent more than half the play time just looking for someone to shoot at, and there wasn't much to keep me entertained either. The new textures are nice; that's really the only positive thing I can say about it.
MAP02 - Nightside Rouge Zone by Digiku - 0/10
When I saw all the secret work Digiku had been doing for weeks had culminated in this, I couldn't hide my disappointment. Gameplay is garbage due to the constant shortage of rings (automatics require lots of ammunition), visuals aren't that great either with the lines between floor tiles. I could make this in five minutes with GFZROCK and FLOOR0_3, and it would be better, because there wouldn't be glitchy lines on the floor, it wouldn't be 3 MB, and it wouldn't mess up the animations in all the other maps. (This map's ANIMATED lump, which the contest rules technically don't provide for, is the reason slime, water, and waterfalls don't move when you have the contest wad loaded.)
MAP03 - Stratosphere Tower Zone by Digiku - 4/10
An unfortunate case of overcomplexity takes its toll on this map. If it was just the lower areas, with the whole tower part gone or simply used as a visual, this would be a quite fun map. But since all the bonuses are inside the tower, and there aren't enough rings out of it, we can't ignore the tower and have our fun. The red diagonal springs aren't spaced right and send players too far, unless careful adjustments are made, which is hard because the framerate is getting mauled during that flight. The red vertical spring was equally hard to use, and the inside area it occupies was too cramped to serve any real purpose. I did have some fun in it, mostly in the lower areas, so it wasn't a total failure.
MAP04 - Acid Ravine Zone by a441 - N/A
Can't rate this one, obviously, but I honestly believe it was the best map in the set. The matches I played on it were the closest and the most enjoyable. The powerup monitors in the slime offended some people's sensibilities -- it's supposed to be a tradeoff, at least for Sonic, and if you're one of the weaker characters you get the privilege of grabbing the bonuses without being hurt, which evens it out some. The only thing I'll admit is wrong with this level is the lack of special rings except for infinity. I somehow forgot my plans to add some in the corners of the top part.
MAP05 - Cloudscape Zone by Tets - 6/10
Looks almost big enough to be a single player stage, something I thought would be a huge problem, but I actually didn't have much trouble locating people, at least when there were five players. The map really suffers from poor navigation, however. I often had to travel great distances to find my way up to a platform that was right next to me on the map. There was also a shortage of rings, something so common in Tets's maps I'm starting to think of it as a "theme" more than a "problem." Please try another theme next time, Tets; I'm not too fond of that one. Still provided some good fun, though.
MAP06 - Tropical Paradise Zone by hotdog - 7/10
Very simplistic design. The moving platform and the FOF up high in the sky were pointless, the non-deaf rings are ugly, and monitor selection could've been better. Still, I had a lot of fun on this one, and it's cool that you gave people a reason to prefer using Tails.
MAP07 - Mushroom Kingdom Zone by FuriousFox - 7/10
Again, a simplistic design, but one that works fairly nicely. It would be good if the depression in the center weren't so deep. It would be better as a jumpable distance, like two steps down of 64 fracunits each. I also would've liked to see the monitors respawn at random for some variety, and it could've been made harder to grab all the weapon rings in quick succession; maybe they could be up on top of the tunnels, or there could be obstacles between the tunnels. But, as is, it worked well and was very enjoyable.