Capture the flag, by 
W00t. A Capture the Flag level to sink my teeth in. And judging by the ratings, it’s a good one, too. Let’s hope that this lives up to it’s lofty rating. It would be nice to have a new level to add to server rotation.
EYECANDY
Tileset Use: Unsurprisingly, this level uses Agama’s Heaven tileset. Levels using this tileset often turn out to look pretty good no matter how bad they actually play, though there are some exceptions. This is not one of them. The level looks very good, though there were some small annoyances. Some areas had a lot of eyecandy while others seemed to have significantly less. Still, during normal play, this would not be very noticible. What was noticable was an annoying jerking motion by the background of this level. The clouds went by at a pace that for one reason or another was just at the right speed to annoy me. I’m probably the only one who thinks this, but I believe speeding it up a bit would have maybe bettered the atmosphere.
Creativity in Tileset Use: I can not say that this level used the tileset in any way that is new or fresh, though it still is used well. This is not surprising. Because of the way Agama made the tileset, it leaves little to no room for changing how tiles were meant to be used. The background is supposed to be used a certain way, and using your imagination and trying a different method will usually just make it look very bad. This level pretty much uses the tileset as creatively as it is possible to use the tileset. I can not detract points for creativity, but I can not add them either.
Tile Errors: This level contained very few tile use errors. In addition, it contained very few parts of the level that looked off at all. The bottom clouds are a bit vision-obscuring, but not as badly as I have seen them used in other levels. If you look extremely closely at the ground (again, something that you would never see while playing it) you will notice that some of the eyecandies (skulls, etc.) inserted into the ground break the pattern of the cracks in the cement/dirt/whatever the floor is made out of. This is nearly impossible to avoid, but it is still a tile glitch, albeit one of the smallest possible ones. Eyecandy overall was very good, but nothing you have not seen before.
PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: Call me a conspiracist, but this level reminds me of Diamondus Warzone in many respects. Heck, I know that it is hard to make a level that does not at least borrow one idea from the classic Capture the Flag level, but there are certainally some disturbing resemblances, possibly the biggest being the carrot placement. The carrot is in a box in the middle of the level only accessable by warps, one located on each side of the level about equal distances from the bases. Suspicious, eh? Well, this has never been my favorite aspect of Diamondus Warzone, as players tend to get in a loop of damage opponent, go to carrot box, wait for damaged opponent to come, kill them, score a point. While I have been unable to do extensive testing on this level, there is probably a good chance something similar to that may happen during regular course of play. Whether it is a conspiracy or not, this is certainally something to keep in mind while playing. And remember – the truth is out there.
Powerups: Just as I started to think that maybe, just maybe, the carrot box was a coincidence, I noticed a seeker powerup very close to the carrot box, JUST LIKE IN DIAMONDUS WARZONE. However, there are a few things in this category that make it certain that this is not Diamondus Warzone’s evil twin. First of all, this seeker powerup is just out in the open, as opposed to somewhat tucked into a narrow alley like in Diamondus Warzone. Also, there is another powerup – a gated bouncy powerup. I would probably have preferred to have the two switched, with the bouncy out in open and the seeker a bit harder to get, but I can see how this works. Overall, powerup placement was good, but a little unbalanced.
Basic Weapons: Basic weapons are an aspect of the level that many authors of CTF levels these day seem to miss. In fact, when looking at some levels, it seems that a few CTF level makers regard basic ammo as decoration, just waiting to be made into interesting patterns, as opposed to an interesting part of the level that should be placed very strategicly. Thankfully, this level does not take that attitude towards basic ammo. Instead, careful planning seems to have gone into how to align the ammo and where it goes, as opposed to how well it will contribute to the feng shui of the level. This kind of attention to detail is good to see, but unfortunately rare, in even the best CTF levels these days.
GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: When it comes down to it, a heck of a lot of my rating is based on flow. I often have people join my server and claim that “this level is great” or “this level stinks” without ever playing it. Most people judge on eyecandy above all. While it is important to have a good-looking level, in the long run flow is the most important aspect of a level. After all, no matter how pretty it is, if players keep bumping into walls that should not be where they are, aggrevation is a given. While it does not have perfect flow or anything, this level still has very nice flow that is suitable for playing over and over. The more I played this level, the easier I find it to adapt to the interesting layout.
Layout: Layout is sort of an overall rating of how well everything is placed in the level (an extreme simplification.) This level has excellent layout through and through. On paper, the layout looks just as good as while playing. Though it is not predictable (this can be frustrating when you are first playing the level but really makes it more worthwhile in the end), the layout still manages to be effective and flexible, allowing for all different types of strategies. This variaty in options is what makes this level so great and why it is so fun to play over and over again.
CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: At first, I had a lot of trouble finding the red base. Instead of having the bases fairly the same distance up, CelL and Rage elected to have the blue base and the top left and the red one at the bottom right. I kept going to the blue base over and over, which was quite infuriating. In fact, several times, I entered it by accident. You can literally just run right through the blue base, capture the flag, and be out of there in less than a second. The red base, which has a wall behind it, requires turning around, but the level was still fairly well balanced. Both powerups seemed much closer to the blue side than the red, but balance was O.K. during normal play. Still, the blue team felt like it had a very slight advantage. Balance was not as good as I would have hoped for, but still not bad at all.
BUGGINESS/COMPATIBILITY: This section notates any problems (bad shield use, getting stuck, flag bug, etc.) that I noticed during play. I am happy to announce that this level pretty much passes with flying colors. Heaven, a tileset that really could have had a terrible mask, is not easy to get stuck in unless you are trying. There was, of course, no flag bug. There were also no shields in this level. I have never had stability problems with this level, and since it does not use anything fancier than triggers, I doubt there are many.
SUMMARY
At first, I thought that this was overrated hideously. After playing for a while, however, it turns out that indeed, this level deserves near the rating it has. While the eyecandy may be nothing new and the level may seem slightly annoying at first, this level has such a high replay value that it is really hard to get bored with. This level is excellent for any number of players. The best part about this level is how flexible it is, as I have already stated. You are not forced to adopt a strategy to do well in this level, nor does the level prohibit certain playing types. The only thing that caused me concern was the carrot box. It seems that this is not as strategically important as in Diamondus Warzone, but it still is probably fairly easy to get into the same loop that often decides the outcome of DW battles. Overall, an excellent level that will probably be played often in the future.
+ PROS: Allows for a great variaty of playing strategies. Also looks good. High replay value.
- CONS: The balance is just a little off. While it does look very spiffy, it is not anything that I haven’t seen before. The carrot box, while not as important is in DW, still could cause annoying “loops” in gameplay.
VERDICT: This certainally is a great level. It is enjoyable no matter how many times it is played. While it may seem fairly run-of-the-mill, underneath, it shows that great thought has gone into it. Sure, it may not revolutionize Capture the Flag as we know it, but that doesn’t matter. The truth is that this is probably the best Capture the Flag level that I have played in ages, and will find itself being played a lot if fate is fair. A definite recommended download and an 8.7. Great job, CelL and Rage.
-Trafton aka NOT AIKO, DARNIT.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]
