Another of my faves, Migga. I died the first time at screenshot 25; which is the first time I’ve died in one of your maps. (Well, except for falling in acid, or walking on electrified flooring, or your other almost-insta-death things.) I guess it’s the first time I’ve died in combat in one of your maps.

The train was difficult–thankfully I survived (barely) my first time through, because the second time I tried it I died. The roller mine puzzle was clever–of course I threw it away when I first saw it, so had to reload after I noticed the drawer.

As stated, the ending was weird, but at least you said it was The End so I didn’t have to wonder. Thanks for another great map!

I seem to be having some issues with overly-bright graphics. Some of the pipes and such were *extremely* brilliant white, highly reflective. I’m not sure where that texture is coming from.

I’ve been playing these in alphabetical order. So, this was the 4th one I’ve done, and there IS one complaint I have, well, two –

1 – There’s not really enough ambient music. While there is music to go with certain dramatic moments, there’s almost none at all otherwise. I’d like some kind of mood music around just to fill the space.

2 – Going along with that, there is ALWAYS the eternal hum of indoor-industrial machinery. That gets to me after a while, especially when I’m trapped in a place searching for the last key or whatever, to get out of that area. In places it became somewhat overwhelming, though it wasn’t nearly as annoying as any of Strider Mountain’s annoying alarms blaring continually if you missed where to turn them off.

I thought that the puzzles were intensely creative. While I understand that your ‘thing’ is the ‘key puzzle’ that’s actually new to me, so I enjoy figuring out what needs to go where. I’d like more of that in the normal games

Aside from any of those minor things, I think that this map was a LOT of fun. I’ll be continuing my Miigga experience today, with the last one I haven’t done.

Well, if you’re a fanboy, you’re in luck because I am currently working on a new singleplayer puzzle-action map for ep2. I promise I’ll try to come up with a good ending this time. (in gm_coolgluon I noticed that my entdata is growing quite large so I decided to just end the map there, hence the abrupt and weird ending)

Here’s a little sneak peek screenshot of my upcoming map if anyone is interested: http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f34/Miigga/gm_coolnewssdsdsfsd0032.jpg (and if you are smart you can change the number 32 to something else to see other screenshots)

Mmm, that’s interesting because I have never installed any custom skins for EP2. I wonder if my installation got screwed up with another mod. To be perfectly honest I did notice they were different in all mods but thought Valve had updated the skins in some update I missed.

I think I’ll delete all my local content for EP2 and start again.

The crates I put there are completely default supply crates with the default supply crate skin.

Thanks for the positive review, though. I appreciate having someone who makes fairly in-depth reviews of my maps, makes me see what I’m doing wrong and what I’m doing right.

I almost made this a Hall Of Fame but it lacks a story or at least that something special. That said it’s the best release I have played in a long time.

Visuals
Whatever I have against miigga’s maps, and it’s not much, I have to say they are beautiful to look at. He uses the Source engine so well and others could learn a lot from him. No area is too dark and the only problem I had was the traina nd the crates were a little bright for my taste.

Gameplay
Okay, what he did this time was create two set pieces and I enjoyed both, although I have to say my expectations were higher than the feeling at the end. I don’t remember him doing that before but at my age I could easily have forgotten them. The problem with the first setting (see images 13, 14 and 15) were the arrival of the enemies were a little predictable in both location and timing. The second (see image 25) suffered from a similar fate. Not enough variety or challenge. The settings had been perfect set and I knew as soon as I entered the area that it was going to be a fight but it just wasn’t exciting enough.

The manhacks emerging from the floor was a classic moment, made all the more exciting by the fact that you couldn’t hear them – great touch.

I found one “hole” in the mod (image 28) where you could jump on a ledge and see over a wall, but I couldn’t get out. That particular puzzle took me a while to workout but it was very nice – perhaps the best of the bunch. Although images (21, 22 ,23 and 24) show a nice puzzle too.

I didn’t like the appearance of some crates seen in image 6, that suddenly appeared after I had been around the corner, but that’s a minor issue.

The train ride was perhaps a little hard but well built. My problem with this and it was the same in Sity was that if you failed, you died. Personally I don’t think that’s the best way to go. I don’t mind dying because I chose the wrong tactics but in this case it seems different.

Lastly, the finish was, well, a little disappointing. Definitely needs more thought for the next release.

Layout and Design
Miigga always takes you on a winding path and that’s cool with me. Some puzzles still seem a little artificial, but there’s little doubt he is getting better at blending them into the environment and making them seem natural.

Summary
Miigga is getting better and better with every release. That excites me because with his talent for visuals and increasing ability to “blend” puzzles the next release should be fantastic. My unsolicited advice to him would be try and include some sort of story and obvious reason for playing. Even if it’s a quick explanation text on the screen before the map starts. I will even offer my humble services as a sounding board and ideas man if he is interested.

Without doubt a fun and well-built release, that should be played by all.