Frag Furnace represents everything we have come to expect from a map by Martinus: rich visual detail, custom models, alternating item spawns, new textures and sounds (courtesy of freesound.org and Doom), a surfeit of power-ups. On this occasion, Martinus has gone with a Gothic-medieval theme, dividing the level into a courtyard, castle and smelter (hence the title: Frag Furnace) where you will find a custom-built towering skeleton presiding over the combat; another trademark of Martinus' creative level design. The subdivision of the level into these three areas form the basis of the location entities available in Team Deathmatch (TDM) and a series of custom portals will shuttle you back and forth between these three locations. Due to the presence of all major power-ups bar the teleport, the majority of action will be focused in the courtyard which teams will fight to gain control over in TDM. For this reason, Team Deathmatch comes recommended. Bots are supported and will even take the precariously located Quad damage. While Martinus has done this before (e.g. FortTown), and probably sought to avoid it here, with a little reworking, I could easily see this level making a great asymmetrical CTF.

While Martinus' creative flair is undeniable, there are some persistent issues with gameplay that have been raised by reviewers before and that the author really should have addressed by now; issues that I would personally like to see resolved if the author wishes to take the next step and transform his maps from visual feasts into truly enjoyable and replayable levels. In his earlier work, The Courtyard, Martinus appeared to be moving in the right direction but somewhere along the line things seem to have gone awry. While the creative details have become one of the author's greatest strengths, some thoughtful editing wouldn't go astray as these elements often come at the cost of fluid player movement, functioning more as unwelcome snags, in the heat of battle, than they do as eye candy. The lack of space in corridors and on platforms will find you taking unexpected trips onto bounce pads and accelerator pads at the most inopportune of times. Or worse still! Will see you burnt to a crisp in the smelter's molten pit. And the bumpers demarcating the surrounding arcades in the courtyard will often have you stumbling as you try to snatch a contested power-up or make a hasty escape from an assailant. Paying attention to these details would greatly benefit the overall design in terms of replay value.

The smelter also suffers from many obstacles and pitfalls that are not offset by giving players room enough to move. I was often dissuaded from visiting this area, because aside from the availability of a Red Armour (RA) and some weaponry - all of which are more easily accessible in the courtyard - it is often just not worth the risk to go down here, meaning that players will miss out on all the amazing models Martinus has created. And while it is a blast for players to rack up frags from a pick-up of both the Battle Suit and Quad, there is little point to this combination if there is nowhere else it can take you; you can jump from the bottom of the courtyard to the top balcony of the castle but that's about it! Perhaps if some of the power-ups were moved to the smelter there might be more of a justification to go here.

Protection from crossfire just isn't justification enough for all the obstacles and pitfalls. For example, the uprights could have been set back on the perimeter of the upper rampart and the number of crates could be reduced. And while a minor niggle, the kill triggers could have been set to the surface of the lava pit instead of above it. I understand this was probably intended to prevent camping on the surrounding rock face, but it just seems odd to burst into giblets before you've even hit the lava. Another oversight I noticed was that the lava inside the central Gazebo does damage on the RA side but not on the opposite.

While not necessary, opening up the rooftops and adding some hard to reach secret places, where some of the power-ups could be concealed, might add some interest beyond a player simply accumulating power-ups to dominate the courtyard. There are many examples of novelty levels here at ..::LvL where some thought has been placed into the distribution of power-ups. Due to my recent foray into PadMaps, ENTE's PadGallery comes to mind; City 1 by KRAFTWERK2K1 also springs to mind.

While Martinus does not make levels for "competitive" play - nor do I think he should do so either - in order for his levels to fully succeed as the "fun" maps, I am sure he intends them to be, he should really address the concentration of power-ups, break-up some of the symmetry and therefore predictability in the level design, and open up otherwise cramped spaces to allow for greater freedom in movement. Martinus has the level construction and creativity down pat, the challenge now is to just refine the details affecting gameplay.

Reviewed by HelterSkeleton