NoVoices
by Squonkamatic

NoVoices is a troubling map that I am not sure exactly what to say about. This is my second attempt at "reviewing" it; the first concentrated too much on what I see as it's shortcomings, where in fact it is actually a very successful map. Made by the very competent Darklord [SinLosV2_CTF's author] the map looks great, has all the bells and whistles, has served me both as a place to play and source of inspiration for my own levels ... Darklord's DiL and NoVoices are the only "serious" SiN 3rd party maps I know of that use the SiN Speargun weapon [Hunter and Jump, as much as I love them, don't count], and as my theory goes, any SiN map with a Speargun in it rules by default.

SinLosV2_CTF was a triumph that reminded me very much of a DOOM level, with it's bright CTF colored palette and straight-forward Leggo block architecture. DiL, with it's huge vat of water, sewer pipe and little control room, looked like a SiN level. NoVoices makes me think of Quake1 for some reason -- perhaps it is the gothic castle battlements that decorate the upper levels of the map's massive building, or the twilight lighting ambiance outside amidst the little prefab tree models. I like the little sewer section he made, though it doesn't really serve any purpose in the gameplay -- no reason to go down there except to check it out, really -- and love the "enclosed pool" he made with it's glass greenhouse walls and potted palms. Darklord knows how to make a SiN level.

The areas that NoVoices is lacking insight with is in the flavoring of the environment and control over how players see what they are interacting with in the world he so intricately constructed. His item and weapon placement is good, but not much imagination is shown in how the weapons and items would appear in their designated places; guns sit at default angles, ammo and armor at right angles to corners and the plants ... the plants are all facing the same way. While they serve the purpose of obstacles during fights/chases well enough, when looking at them and contemplating how they look lined up in a neat row [including one area where he alternates flower models and health jars at regular intervals] it just seems kind of arbitrary.

The other main shortcoming is the lack of environmental sound effects. Doors open and close nicely with appropriate noised and of course if you splash around in the water that sort of breaks up the monotony, but in the map by myself when taking some screen shots I was sort of frustrated by how quiet it is, and how much more alive certain zones would be [the pool area, sewer and battlements] if there were just some noises to go with the vision he created.

The last beef I have with the level is sort of a nit picker, but it's worth keeping in mind when creating your own levels -- the file size is a little too big for ingame auto downloads, and there is a tad too much real estate to cover in the level. Like Gluttony and Skeen, two standard issue official SiN levels, the map swallows players whole, and during the few games I have enjoyed in it my opponents and I have spent more time tracking each other down than shooting.

Everything else, though, is dead on. The lighting is perfect; outside it is twilight and you sort of have to strain to see your opponents through the mass of trees. The inside sections -- especially the pool area -- shimmer with light in comparison. The lighting is also so consistent [except up on the battlements, where it's kind if hard to see] it makes me wonder how he did it; there are no patches of light/dark areas, but a consistency that is pretty much seamless.

I would also hold up NoVoices as a great example to look at if you want to learn how to build a house that looks like a house. This is more of a mansion/castle cross [with a swimming pool? heh ...] but the interior hall, with its rows of columns, upper balconies and painting texture nicely scaled on a far wall, is quite simply one of the best constructions I have seen a "third party" designer execute. It actually looks like a place, not just a gimmick running on a game engine to divert your attention for a few frags. NoVoices is a map to be savored, and it's massive size and ample allotment of ammo and health could support a large number of players quite happily for a nice long fragfest.

The sad fact is, though, that addon game levels have about five to seven minutes to either grab the imagination of your average player, and if all of that time is spent waiting for the level to download [forget about auto DL'ing this on a 56k; the fraglimit will be hit by the time you get in the game] then right there you have a problem ... This is an issue I am battling myself in a couple of current map projects that sort of took on a life of their own and are now rampaging 3+ megabyte behemoths that I quite simply am at a loss of how to proceed on. Sometimes it is more important to keep your ambitions scaled to what is practical than go to town and add whatever strikes your fancy.

I think that Darklord painted himself into a similar corner with NoVoices, and would actually point to his earlier effort, DiL, as a more successful vision. The question becomes, at what point do you start chopping off limbs to free yourself from the meat grinder? Darklord probably found himself with an end product that he had worked so hard on and spent so much time fussing over that all he could do was save it, compile it, .zip it up, release it, and move onto the next level.

That is one of the most important things an artist needs to learn. The question is, can I myself practice what I preach, call it quits with the mess currently be sorted through and make myself a nice little level I can actually play rather than just fret about?

Doubt it.

Download NoVoices from Ritualistic's stash of SiN files at 3ddownloads.com by clicking here.

SQ102102

email: squonkamatic@excite.com

Visit Squonk's SiN website for downloads of map and skin packs, and other goodies, at http://www.squonkamatic.net/sin.

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