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Architecture & Layout: Cornershop is a small map with a simple design. A building situated on the corner of a T-intersection with road running down both lengths of the building. The building itself seems to be a general store with 3 levels (only the first two are accesable) and an accessable roof. There are two ways to access the second story and the roof, by stairs or by a pipe on the outside of the building. A primitive, average design. Looks: The textures, lighting, and general construction of Cornershop are poorly done. While all the textures seem to be lined up properly, a good deal of the textures on objects have been stretched too much and are very ugly. A good example is the shelving on the ground floor of the store. Also, the textures on the signs look like they were scrawled out in MS Paint and aren't appealing in the least. The texturing on the walls and such is just average. Second, the lighting isn't up to snuff. While in most places, the lighting is acceptable, it isn't very realistic and in some places is just bad. Two rooms have Doom lighting, where the whole room flashes or pulses. The red light on the roof also is out of place (I think it comes from the ambiguous bird-feeder. If so, it isn't coming from the top of it.) Lastly, everything save some pre-fabs is too boxy. It gives the map a Quake2 look and could be vastly improved. A good example of this primitive construction is the bathroom on the se! cond floor. Everything looks square and unrealistic. The look of the map is average in some aspects and below average in others. Gameplay: Now for the important rating: While I encountered some problems with areas being too tight for a good fight, the real problems came from the light switches. All the light switches (and the radio for that matter) are activated/deactivated by shooting them. At first this seems like an entertaining idea. However, I found that most of the time was spent in either total darkness trying to fight or shooting randomly towards supposed positions of light switches to turn on the lights. This was only broken by the lucky find of a flashlight or night-vision googles. Ignore the problem of the lights (which I haven't), and the gameplay is average. Item Placement: Most of the items in Cornershop are placed in semi-realistic positions. However, the map appears to only have a hand cannon, sniper rifle, 2 grenades, and a few pistols plus ammo for the weapons. It is nice to see a magnum laying on the edge of the bathroom sink or two SAA's on a glass table ready for use, but most of the time you end up getting the bulk of your arsenal from defeated players. This map just doesn't have enough weapons. I found the ammo placement to be suitable for two players, but I think it would be stressed with many more (though I doubt you would want more than four or five players for the size of the map). The weapons that the map does have are placed well, but it could do with more. Other: The control room on the roof serves no purpose other than to snipe (disappointing) and isn't able to be opened standing in the normal position. The radio (which wails out the music from Ruskprick's City through-out the map) is supposed to turn off when shot a second time, but if shot continuously starts to play overlapping copies of the Karlsson song. Lastly, why is there a box on the store's counter with a gas pump texture on it? Conclusion: Everything is average at best and well below average at its worst. The bottom line is that this map just isn't that fun. Even if the obvious flaws were fixed, it would be no more than average. I know that Action Half-Life is in need of more maps, but why is the Map Depot hosting a map of this quality? Might as well create an exact remake of Bank (remember that AQ2 "jewel"?) and post it. While I was the one that stated Gerbil's Urban was "just another city map" and not very good, I think that I am on the mark with this map. :) Architecture & Layout: 5 Looks: 3 Gameplay: 3 Item Placement: 5 Overall: 4 FINAL SCORE: 2 stars   |
