Sim5 aka 10,000 Fathoms Below Sim
by Squonkamatic

Let's start off this new series of reviews with my all-time favorite addon SiN deathmatch map, Sock's amazing Sim5.

The second of three SiN DM maps Sock graced us with (in addition to his breathtaking Docks2 for single player; this cat knows how to make a map), Sim5 is the only addon level I know of that is set in one of SiN's unique 'Underwater Base' environments, a theme that sadly never got worked into Ritual's collection of multiplayer levels issued with the game. I've seen 'Base' themed maps set on alien planets, in military compounds, flooded with nuclear acid, in the desert, in jungles and hanging in mid air over God knows what. SiN was the first game that gave us the idea of a Base waaaay down at Davy Jones' locker, surrounded by the crushing pressure of the depths, and this is the only map I know of that exploited that idea beyond the boundaries of Ritual's single player adventure for SiN.

The map's construction is nothing short of brilliant; I'm not sure exactly who Sock is, but if he isn't working as a level designer somewhere an incredible talent is being wasted. One of the attributes that distinguishes maps like Sim5 from the majority of 3rd party designed levels is an attention to detail that builds a reality so convincing you feel like you are a part of it. Most "amateur" map designers, myself included, tend make boxes with other little boxes plopped inside them, or string series of boxes together with doors and texture them to look like dungeons, jails, computer centers, jungle swamps or whatever, but one is almost always aware of the fact that they are in a game level. What Sock has done is to create a place, a specific environment that so successfully masks the fact that you are essentially running around inside of a game engine that the reality it depicts becomes immersive. Most maps look like game levels -- this looks like an Undersea Base.

The model for the design was SiN's Uwpass1/Underwater Pass 1 single player level, which if memory serves me correctly is the map after the 'Warehouse' mission ... You get into an elevator and go down, down, down to what is supposed to be a hidden SinTek submarine base. The mission objectives involve locating some Scuba Gear and a Speargun and I think the last piece of the PulseRifle (I positively remember frying Reconahs in the map with the laser), then find the cargo bay where the little SinTek subs are dispatched with their loads of cleaning supplies you re-programmed in the previous map, and follow them through an underwater labyrinth to the next thrilling adventure. One kills lots of Goons, swims from section to section in search of security door keys, and in one of the most memorable moments from FPS history you get to bust open the air pipes leading into a decompression chamber and pop a couple of SinTek scuba diver dudes like hot dogs in a microwave oven. Way cool.

Sock took the best parts of the 'Underwater Base' architecture from the map as his starting point and let his imagination and the possibilities of SinEd lead him to the creation of a very functional looking Base that does away with everything from Uwpass1 that wouldn't be needed for a deathmatch (though I wish he could have somehow worked some swimming sections in). The map is essentially composed of sloping, interconnecting corridors with windows looking out into the depths linking a series of larger control/storage rooms, all impeccably rendered and packed with eye popping details like blinking computer terminals, fluid transfer ducts, storage lockers, and even a little loading bay with a hatch leading down to the ocean (although the bottom is closed off). If you want to be blown away by a mapper's ability to re-render a level's detail, load up Sim5, check out it's cargo bay and then look at the original rendering of the similar space in Uwpass1 ... To coin a phrase from the late Dr. Carl Sagan, the resemblence is absoltely astonishing.

Attention to the slightest bit of minutiae abound in the level; Doors open and close with logical sound enhancements that underline their functionality, ambient machinery and glub-glub underwater sounds hum here and there, the lighting adds to the map's look while never calling attention to itself, a teleporter has been cleverly inserted to speed up some of the gameplay, and the texture selections are just right, fitted and aligned to their surfaces to such a professional degree that the map is in fact seamless ... In no place can you "see through" the reality it depicts. Young designers should study this map with pencil & paper and take notes.

One of the things that impressed me the most upon first sight of this map was the way the guns/ammo are placed. Most 3rd party game levels, many of my own included, rely upon formulas of 'item distribution', where a different gun or item or ammo pack are placed at equidistant points on a map, usually just slapped there on the ground. What we see here, on the other hand, is an exacting study in item placement. Sock completely and thoroughly exploited SiN's ability to place the weapons/items in a specific X-Y-Z three dimensional axis configuration, then built little nooks and crannies to hold the melted butter. Assault Rifles and Shotguns are perched on gun racks, health and armor and ammo sit placed in specific ways in lockers and closets. A Chaingun rests quite naturally on a control console, and a rare 100 point Medikit waits on a section of overhead piping for players who are observant enough to notice it. None of the placement feels arbitrary or random. The only lapses I see are the row of little green health jars lined up on the floor of the cargo bay and pairs of stray of Magnum ammo clips here and there, but whatever.

Another one of my favorite things about this map was a realization I came to only after a couple three games ... looking around with my trained eye I realized that one of the ammo racks (the one in the little upper room of the storage bay with the big numbered doors) was empty. Surely, I said to myself, a designer of Socks' hyper-achieving nature wouldn't have forgotten to add relevant weapons to one of his meticulously made prefab gun racks. I literally was at a loss for how to explain such a blunder in design detail until one day, when I quite by accident hosted a game running a Wages addon map under regular SiN ... and there were no weapons. A light *clicked* on in my head, and I remembered the empty gun rack in Sim5, loaded it up in Wages of SiN and, sure enough, there be Flamethrowers here. There are also a couple of Seeker Missiles and I think some Thermal Goggles wedged into appropriate nooks. I'll be damned.

What makes it remarkable is that Sock kept the Wages enhancements so subtle that the level plays out just as well for either game variant. In fact, other than the Flamethrower, none of the WoS additions really make a lasting impression when playing the map, and only then if you happen to stumble upon that one particular ammo rack. Many 3rd party SiN designers, myself included again, think only to build for either SiN or Wages, but Sock has made a map here that works just as well for either game. In fact, I look upon Sim5 more as a SiN level than a creation for WoS, if only because the underwater base map theme doesn't really come into play during the Wages adventure. And if you run it in SiN you won't miss the WoS stuff one bit -- the balance is perfect.

The conclusion I have thus come to on the map's birth is that Sock probably started building it before Wages was released, then enhanced the map with a few attributes to reward players who run it under either game [please email me if this isn't correct; I am a Glutton for factual information on these matters]. The fact that he kept the Wages stuff so subtle as to not really "change" how the map plays out speaks volumes in support of the claim that, quite often, less is indeed more. If the map had a WoS Crossbow or a Stinger pack it just wouldn't be the same.

The appreciation of any creative form is based upon taste. Making a statement like "This is the best map ever" or "This is my favorite map ever" are, in fact, meaningless. My opinion plus $3.55 will get me a large Lahte at Starbucks like anyone else (thank you, Peter Cohen). A better way to phrase it might be "This addon level caters to my every whim as a gamer, like it was made with me in mind". Sim5 is exactly that, and in fact I have yet to see a 3rd party SiN level that so completely overwhelms me with it's sense of conviction and purpose, all of which is due to the author's obvious love for the experience of building it.

You don't end up making maps like this just because you like playing the game, but because you know and love it's every cranky quirk, and maybe even enjoy the building more than the playing.

Download the Sim5 from Ritual's stash of SiN files at 3ddownloads.com by clicking here.

SQ050602

email: squonkamatic@excite.com

You can access Squonk's archive of SiN:Gold Map of the Week reviews over at Macgamer.com by clicking here, and don't forget to visit Squonk's multi platform friendly SiN site for custom map and skin pack downloads and other goodies at http://www.squonkamatic.net/sin.

Related Links:
· Ritualistic's Sin Section
· Ritualistic's Sin Forums

Back to Ritualistic | More Articles >>