Capture the flag, by 
Unfortunately, I am not sure that I am hugely fond of this pack. Here is my review.
Just Got A Carrot Away
EYECANDY
Tileset Use: The used tileset was Carrotus. Yes, Carrotus is increadibly overused, but it was not used in an annoying way. In fact, the way it was used is a way I have never seen before. Still, it looked a bit “off” and I can’t say that eyecandy lives up to my expectations.
Creativity in Tileset Use: This is definitely like nothing I have ever seen before, but I am not completely sure whether that is a good thing or not. The background consists of a purple layer that looks gelous. I am not sure what this was supposed to be, but whatever it is, it is not pretty by any definition. There are pudgy carrots floating around in the background that just look strange. Still, tileset use was OK.
Tile Errors: This level pretty much entirely lacked tile errors. However, I can not say as much for lacking tileset inconsistincies that detracted from the overall quality of the eyecandy. In fact, there were several parts of the level that just looked a bit off. They did not quite look ugly, but I know Stripe is capable of better.
Creativity: The ideas presented in this certainally are creative. Some may love the eyecandy of this level, and others may want it to burn in eternal fire. Whatever your preference, you must admit that the Carrotus tileset is showing its age. The same “wow-gee-whiz” effects that would have captivated some people in 1999 are standard everyday stuff these days. It is hard to make a Carrotus level with generally interesting eyecandy, and while this eyecandy may interest some, I can not say I was nearly as impressed.
PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: This level has one carrot. Yes, you heard me right, only one. And it is quite well hidden. It is well-known that Stripe never goes overboard with carrots, but one single carrot (not even a full heal one) is a little, well, little. Maybe if it was a full heal or at least was not in the sucker tube the level would have played better. As strange as it sounds, carrots are even more important in small levels since it is much, much easier to get killed.
Powerups: If you thought only having one carrot was not enough, you probably want to stop reading now. This level contains no powerups. However, during normal play, it was not that much of an issue. In fact, I am almost glad that it contained no powerups. Otherwise, it would have been way too easy to die, being that the level only has one carrot and all.
Basic Weapons: The normal non-powerup ammo was placed quite well, in fact. There was always enough to suffice for some good fights, though RF seemed to be used more than anything. Still, the weapon varaity was good and well balanced. Kudos to Stripe, since this has always been an area that he has excelled in.
GAMEPLAY AND FLOW<
Flow/Navigation: This level did not have as good of flow as I would have liked. I ran into the sides of the level many times and the frequent collisions started to get a bit annoying. On top of that, Stripe elected to make it easier to get from blue to red as from red to blue (or maybe the other way around, it does not exactly matter.) Still, this was not much of a problem during general gameplay. Flow was still good, though it was not as well done as other Stripe levels.
Layout: Layout was another area that was quite good, but not exactly up to Stripe’s high standards. The general idea behind the level was great, and on paper the layout looks fantastic, too. However, in practice it seems as if the layout was at some points lacking. The routes were fairly linear, and to stage “surprise attacks,” the players were forced to memorize an array of sucker tube combonations. But layout was still not bad at all.
CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: This is probably the area that the level is best in. Both teams have a pretty equal standing in this level, even though it is not a “mirror” level if you will in any way. This is hard to accomplish, especially with a level that is neither semitrical nor large, so it appears that Stripe did plan this aspect of the level quite well.
SUMMARY
This level was, at least for me, worse than I expected. But that does not mean that is not a very solid Capture the Flag level. Do not be fooled by my negative sounding review: a seven point five is still a fairly high mark for a Capture the Flag game. And while I can not expect Stripe to return and be back to his original glory immediately, maybe I was expecting something a bit more. I lack time, being that this is Christmas Eve, so I will leave my review half way done and finish it tomorrow. This is still an excellent level and 7.5 is not a bad score. I hope GemNERIC will be as good as promised, but this is enough to keep me entertained for now.
+ PROS: Excellent balance between teams. Not a bad looking level. Fairly creative.
- CONS: Not as good as Stripe’s previous works. Flow could use some work. A few people got stuck in test server.
VERDICT: Good and solid, but not as good as I thought it would be. Still, the first level (there are two, the second I will test later) still will not disappoint if you are looking for a solid and highly playable Capture the Flag level. A seven point five and a download recommendation for now until I am able to completely rate the other level. Hopefully, the rating will go up then. This may sound surprisingly harsh, but even though the score is lower than I expected, it is not a bad level in any respect. Good job so far, Stripe.
GemNERIC CTF
EYECANDY
Tileset Use: This level uses the Diamondus tileset. Carrotus and Diamondus being pretty much the two most often used tilesets, this was a bit surprising (Stripe seems to like using the official tilesets.) GEMneric, like Just Got A Carrot Away, uses eyecandy in interesting ways that you would not expect to see. However, unlike Just Got A Carrot away, it turns out to look pretty darn good. The background, which consists of blue tiles in a sort of jigsaw patern, looks really cool and gives some interesting eyecandy to the level.
Tile Errors: I could not find any tile errors that are worth noting here at all. This was not surprising, as Stripe has a pretty good history of levels that lack tile errors. The eyecandy overall was definitely better in this level than in the other level that I am reviewing here. There were no tileset uses that looked off, and overall eyecandy, while nothing extremely innovative, was high quality.
Creativity: Creativity in eyecandy is not that easy in Diamondus. Unlike Carrotus, it leaves very little room to edit it’s standard look, though many have tried. This is about as creative as eyecandy in Diamondus can get and definitely is worthy of praise. The background looks quite spiffy and gives a nice cave-y atmosphere to the level. Also, it contrasts well from the plain vanilla look that Diamondus is typically associated with. Eyecandy is one of the strong points of this level and it definitely shoes. There are no errors to speak of in the eyecandy, and while it may not be anything new or extremely exciting, it is quite solid.
PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: This level, unlike the first one with only one carrot, contains two full energy carrots. It is nice to not have the same carrot drain in this level that the original suffered from, and I think that this was generally well-done. The two full energy carrots are pretty much placed the same distance from the perspective bases and it seemed quite fair. I prefer this carrot setup to the other level’s.
—-I will continue this review. I am way too tired to write anymore right now, sorry.—-[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]
