toxic_fabric (2)
toxic_fabric (2) by Devils Right Hand
Review
Report

A rebuild of the authors previous release of the same name. There have been a lot of improvements, the main one being that the map should now load - so long as you have com_hunkmegs 128 or higher (which most people would have for other maps already).

Most of the original review is still valid for this map. In Deathmatch and Team DM games, the release still feels like an extended version of Deck 16 from Unreal. The brushwork, level of detail and aesthetic is a close match of of the original Half-Life from 1998. It is easy to imagine this release as a single player custom release for Half-Life. The author has even included a story in the readme to help to build the atmosphere that would match a release like that.

So much work has been put into the level. That is very clear. The theme is strong and the sense of the environment is working, even if it feels dated compare to other recent releases. All very good things to have custom map.

Where the map falls a little flat is with the game play. The entire level could have been cut back to the just the main room that is the most similar to Deck 16. This section leads to a lot of intense, fast game play at the mid and top sections. Most of the surrounding rooms, where a lot of the details and hard work has been done, are almost never touched.

A few missing textures warnings are shown on the console (see update note below). More of an issue is the fenced area around three toxic tanks on the lower floor. You can fall (or jump) into this space and the only escape options are either a difficult path that is not clear (see first comment for details), to RocketJump out (if you can), or self kill on the console. There are other smaller issues like this found over most of the map.

No obvious issues with Bots.

The enthusiasm for level construction from the author is clear. Games can be enjoyable when focused on the main hall. A big map that could have been a lot tighter with some game play focused editing.

Update: The current download resolves the missing texture errors. 11th July, 2023

Ranked: 3.7 out of 5 (3 votes)

Download: toxic_fabric (2) by Devils Right Hand

Clear