Stonehenge

Praise

I like Stonehenge for it’s simplicity and that it does not allow for a great deal of hiding. It’s a in your face game where your skills are challenged in a fast paced form with your opponent. Personally I like this game for the one on one action with only one other player although a few other players would be okay in my opinion. For multiple players I would lean toward playing Carnage Garden. Overall, a very fun game.

I thought the architecture of this map was beautiful. It’s simplicity makes it work quite well as a net map, and it provides a unique but well-themed addition to the EMR net maps. The time gate was a nice feature.

Another really good map. I honestly really enjoyed the size, shape, and feel of this level. It had a strong atmosphere in it with the sunset, shadows, the distant stone (glowing in the night)... and the wizards were a nice touch. The time travel feature took me by surprise, and the rows of stones makes it divided but not crowded. It might actually be too big, but not too much so. It's going to be hard to choose whether this or SCG is better...

Excellent choice of setting, and I love the magic scroll mechanism.

The lighting effect is gorgeous, which is why the map got such high Atmosphere marks.

Prettiest map. The standing stone's shadow made me go “ooh”.

I enjoyed the openess of the map. Although I don’t do netplay, if I ever did, this would be the kind of map I’d like to play in. The portal was pretty cool. This map would make a very nice solo level to play along the lines of the BattleCat’s solo level Hell Hole. Stick some regenerating monsters all through both layers of the map and designate the level Extermination. That would be fun!

Suggestions for Improvement

In an actual net game, I found the availability of weapons less than satisfying, and that’s playing with only 2 people. I imagine playing with more people would make it very annoying. The weapons and ammo needs to be beefed up. There were some bouncy polys near the time gate as well. Lastly, I would recommend more of a change in the “2nd world” after entering the gate. I was a bit disappointed with the 2nd area. Why not take advantage of MML and transition to the future with more weapons?

Because the levels were very simple, I didn't see too much in the way of design errors in it. I might make it a bit less of a run for the central stones... by about a third less distance, but the wide open areas also give it a good eerie feel.

The net play was much running around in circles and trying to shoot through gaps – a bit one-note.

I have no idea if it’s even possible, but if the player gets knocked over the small wall surrounding the interior, there is no way for the player to get back unless they have a weapon to blast themselves back over the wall. Might have been more effective to have the exterior transport the player to a highly dangerous part of the map as punishment for getting knocked back there.