Waste Processing Plant 13
Waste Processing Plant 13 is r3tina's second Quake III Arena map, and this time it's made specifically for the Domination mod. This great mod is similar to Unreal Tournament's Domination, but for those who don't know I'll explain the rules in short.
In a Domination map there are several Control Points. As long as a team has a Control Point, that team starts receiving points for every second the Point is in control of that team. While your team is defending the Points that the team controls, you must also try to conquer other Control Points.
Waste Processing Plant 13 is a map with three Control Points. The map is set in some kind of rusty factory where they process very toxic looking waste. The map is very suitable for teams of 3 or 4 players. I wouldn't recommend more than that, but it might be possible. Two players per team is not enough because your game would turn into somekind of 'who can run from point to point in the least amount of time' game.
The maps layout seems a bit complex the first time you play the map, but soon you'll start finding your way in this structure without much problems. The map has elevations in some places and you'll soon find yourself fighting for that top spot so you'll have the advantage of the higher grounds.
The three Control Points are placed really well. The first Point is located on top of somekind of pillar in a bath of acid. This point is pretty hard to defend since you can't dodge any incoming fire when you're camping (okay, guarding) on top of the pillar.
The second Control Point has the advantage of the higher grounds I was talking about. This Control Point is very well defendable from one side the enemy can approach from, but you can still be surprised by players coming from the other way. There's a railgun nearby, so the enemy should be able to pick out any defenders with the railgun before taking over the Control Point.
The third control point is in a somewhat 'normal' room. Battles fought for this Point will be more about skillz, weapons and armor than about tactical advantages. However, campers might find themselves a nice spot behind a pile of crates where you can't be seen by any unsuspecting incoming enemies.
The map features both the Quad Damage and the Regeneration (they spawn alternatively), but both Powerups do not tip over the balance of power in most cases. It's nice to control them, but it won't bring you victory.
Though this map is only r3tina's second map, it does look very good. There are almost no walls that are build up out of one large brush and this, in combination with some well done (metal and concrete) texturing adds a true industrial look to this map.
Bots play well in this map in plain Free for All but the map works out better as Domination map. There's one place in the map where the bots seem to get stuck. They tend to crouch and keep walking against the wall. It's not much to complain about, but doesn't look very 'human-like' to me. Unfortunately the bots don't quite understand the tactics involved in Domination and they do nothing more than run from Point to Point. With any luck this will be fixed in a future release of the Domination Mod.
This map is a really well done map, and it's a winner for me. It could use a few tweaks here and there, but that's basically nitpicking. Fortunately, r3tina took some time to perfect this map and haven't got much to complain about. There are a couple of areas that could use some additional clipping but it's nothing you'll notice during a game. Download the Domination Mod, download this map, and have some real fun.
