This map is the companion piece to Animal
Tusk, the first map author Kona created
using Q3Radiant, and is a definite improvement
over the first one. It is slightly larger
than Tusk, giving players more elbow room
for running-n-gunning. It also uses the
same theme as Tusk, which isn't a bad thing
if you ask me because I see Kona's first
map as a flexing exercise and this one as
more or less the real thing.
The setting is (in my interpretation) a
kind of futuristic zoo pen for some large,
presumably predatory, space critter. The
stone has a very organic feel to it, textured
in nice greens with a spattering of brown
here there, sort of like moss has moved
in and taken over. Pointy minarets adorn
the many pillars jutting out of the map's
floor, also adding to that ineffable organic
feel. I really groove on this map's appearance.
The name alone builds up a kind of sub-liminal
impression that is amplified once you get
into the map itself. Normally, Quake authors
give their maps pretentious sounding names
that accomplish nothing more than to make
me scratch my head and wonder if the MDMA
they dropped was pure or not. This is one
of the few instances where the name works
for the map and actually adds to its ambiance.
Weird, I know, but that's the impression
I get.
Connectivity is much better in Bone than
in Tusk. The gameflow is 90% there with
the exception of the stair zone. Kona seems
to have trouble with stairs, and in Bone
the alcove they are built in really puts
a kink into the flow. Off the main arena
is a wicked looking u-shaped tunnel that
takes you to the rocket launcher. Again
the presence of stairs at one end of the
tunnel breaks the rhythm but otherwise the
tunnel is one of my favorite features -
it's good fun camping in the tunnel mouth
with a rocket launcher and fragging hapless
bots and players while they duke it out
in the arena. At the backside of the map
is a small atrium that plays host to the
Haste powerup. This area acts like a bot
magnet and the gameplay gets quite frantic
rapidly.
Textures are well done and create a palpable
atmosphere. There is only one part of the
map that looks like either the texture is
missing/broken or the lighting on it is
way FUBAR. If you look at the second screenshot
up above you can see a black patch along
the right side just after the rocks. That's
what I'm talking about. (FYI the second
screenshot comes from the atrium I mentioned
a few sentences ago.) As with Tusk, the
lighting is ho-hum - both it and the sky
don't add to the atmosphere as much as they
should, but that's a minor quibble at best.
Overall, I love playing this map. It, like
Tusk, really grows on you after a while.
It's certainly not a perfect map (the sky
plane is way too low, for instance), but
it has a ton of character and that counts
for a lot. Get this map while you can, play
it and enjoy and by all means encourage
the author to do more!
Score: 3/5 |