Xtreme_CTF2 a.k.a Extreme Water
by Squonkamatic

One of the little quirks about my obsession with 3d FPS mapping has always been centered around liquids. Bodies of digital binary fluids and how they are used to construct game level environments just simply fascinate me: I love seeing how designers employ liquids when constructing their levels, and there are actually several "sub-genres" of The Water Map, a theme more or less invented by Id's Tim Wilitis with his E3M1/The Sewage System from the Quake1 game. Water Maps are what they sound like; some sort of water body or tank or sewage construct that justifies use of lots and lots of binary liquids [DiL would fall into the "Water Map" category, for instance].

My favorite Water Map theme is perhaps the Swimming Pool Complex, and Alf's XTreme2_CTF is the finest and most complete vision of such a setting that I have seen for any shooter game, period. And trust me, I have seen quite a few. Swimming Pool maps date back to Quake 1 mapping, which was one of the first shooters where players could actually submerge themselves in the fluids ... I used to have a whole 3.5" floppy disc [heh] loaded with just Swimming Pool Complex maps, and would bust them out whenever I felt like taking a dip. Most of them were comprised of a central pool and valiant attempts to construct proper swimming pool accouterments like diving boards, locker rooms, deep ends and shallow ends, maybe even a couple of benches. Since we are all familiar with swimming pools it is interesting to see how people reconstruct them.

I'm not sure just what it is about my fascination with a shooter map set in and around a pool ... a common Internet Urban Myth concerning the Squonk is that my obsession with Water Maps is centered on the fact that I was kicked off the swimteam when I was in High School for smoking dope and took up DOOM2 instead, which is untrue ... It was the soccer team, and I was a goalie and got Red Carded during the next to last game of the last season I played, was not invited to try out again the following year, and DOOM hadn't been invented yet anyway. Myth debunked. Also, the last thing I would want to do would be to run around some swimming pool with a Rocket Launcher -- I would be too distracted by the athletic looking college aged women in their soaking wet, figure defining, skin tight Speedo's ...

Um, where was I ... Oh yeah the map. Well most of the Pool themed levels I am familiar with do a decent enough job of making a pool that looks like a pool, but I have never seen one that went so far as to basically create an entire health spa complex around it. I went to Germany the summer after graduating from High School and my favorite place to go was the "Wasserpark" in town, a huge sprawling collection of pools, jacuzzis, saunas, and snack bars inside and out of this gigantic glass and steel building. Until I really studied XTreme2_CTF I never thought about what a great idea it would make for a Water Map. Good maps are distinguished by the fact that they suggest more maps, remember.

But Alf [who is from Austria and most likely familiar with "Wasserparks"] went in a different direction, and instead made what looks like more of a competitive swimming arena, complete with observation decks, a working diving board [nice touch!], a snack bar with tables and chairs, and underwater observation port, sewer channels leading to the lower bowels of the map and its Team Bases, and a fascinating overhead series of ductwork that not only look right but serve a specific purpose in the map's design. This is one of those levels that must have taken extensive research [planning sketches, photo references, on-site observation of a similar real world location] to create such a complete world. The sense of place is so convincing that I often find myself just looking at and interacting with the map's world rather than bothering to play the game.

And there is so much to look at. The tables in the snack bar areas have heath items and ammo packs where one would expect to see condiment bottles or napkin dispensers. Lockers with ammo and armor items on them line the walls. Subtly colored lights from specific sources illuminate the map in an atmospheric way that never overwhelms the architecture. The water in the swimming pool has a glorious "wave" coefficient applied to it so that the whole surface is constantly in motion and rippling with life. The diving board is an inspiration in itself -- not only does it look like a diving board but it behaves like one as well, with a nice little "push" trigger that bounces you up in the air. If you time and work the bounce just right, it will pop you up onto the overhead duct where a Chaingun, Rocket Ammo and a Bio Shield Powerup wait: hop into the duct and you can crawl into the opposing team's base unseen. Cool.

Being a CTF map it is essentially mirrored into two identical sides, each serving as it's own "team zone". The flags themselves are located at the bottom of shafts that lead to what I think are supposed to be steam rooms. Alf also did a great job in taking the requisite CTF sewer tube leading to the base attribute and using it to fit the map's esthetic -- you have to jump into the pool and swim to the bottom, where team flags denote which tube leads where. Swim down it and you will emerge in a little tank in the team's steam room, then negotiate the maze of glass to get your cap.

Now, with that said the map has a couple of items for my gripes department. The map is dead silent, an oversight that is understandable given the way that SinEd works -- manipulating the editor to make the map is a chore enough for most mappers, and the map is so well made I can live with it. Some of the underground passages kind of meander and lead back upon themselves, creating more surface area than the level really needs. The map would be just as good if not better without them, even though they gave Alf an opportunity to add a couple of Heliguns. It feels as though Alf felt a need to make the map bigger, but he did not give these areas the same attention to detail that the main zones received; they feel tacked on, a sentiment that is underscored by the arbitrary item placements down there ... everything else in the level is exact and specific.

Look at the texturing, for example. Alf had the insight to explore SiN's texture selections and find the bright blue and yellow block textures from the "CTF Tiles", "Sintek Lab" and "Subway" missions, and everything in the pool, snack bar areas and surrounding decks is scaled with a precision that suggests lots of practice to me. Alf knew what he wanted to see and used what the editor was capable of [and his knowledge of the game] to produce exactly that, right down to the perfectly colored lighting effects. It is because his execution of these areas is so uncompromising that I question why the underground maze is needed, and conclude that it isn't. I haven't played in this level for quite a while [sorry about the boring screenshots -- no Mac SiN Bot yet], but my memories of playing it are centered on having such a riot playing on the diving board, hopping around in the snack bar while being shelled, and then wandering through the underground tunnels looking for a way out so I could go play in the pool some more. I liked playing in the pool ...

A reader wrote in suggesting that I come up with a "grading scale" to "rate" the maps, a suggestion I resist; there are no prizes given out or anything ... But if I had to, XTreme_CTF would get an A-. It is as good as anything else out there, better than most, and is such a competent rendering of the setting that it cannot go upraised. I had wanted to review this level back when doing my SiN: Gold weekly over at Macgamer.com and writing this now I wish I had so that my impressions on playing it were fresher ... Maybe I should set up a "MoTW Server" running the map I plan to review for the next week to help in the evaluation ... Well, I think you can take it on my word that Xtreme2_CTF kicks major ass -- if you are looking for an addon SiN CTF level to host, this is where you should start.

Host it, and they will join.

Download XTreme2_CTF from Ritualistic's stash of SiN files at 3ddownloads.com by clicking here.

SQ072502

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 his multi platform friendly SiN site for custom map and skin pack downloads and other goodies at http://www.squonkamatic.net/sin.

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· Ritualistic's Sin Section
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