Rui's review for "(2)Westfall", a melee map by Tusky
This is my review for Tusky's map, "Westfall"."Westfall" is a little better than other melee maps of the lot I decided to test. However, several things need rectification.
First of all, the terrain is not even for both players. The point of making a map relatively symmetric is to make sure that players never suffer from imbalances. There are little things that often tend to escape our eye. In this melee map, however, there is no doubt: the terrain, , is definitely uneven.I want to start by saying the landscape has a few collision problems (the trees at the Fountain were unnecessary, for example) and there are several holes on the trees which are important that you fix.Proceeding to identification of the imbalances; Red's base is clearly more exposed to an attack. While it is mostly open, Blue's base is covered by cliffs and open only from two sides, making it not only harder to place his structures for Blue but also making an invasion from Red more difficult.Gold Mine expansions are much more favorable for Red, too. Just notice the difference between Red and Blue's closest expansions: Red's expansion remains relatively safe with one of the ways to access it guarded by his own base; on the other hand, Blue's secondary Gold Mine has empty room to all of its sides. This is the situation for the gold resource, but lumber is also much more abundant for Red, and his workers, while harvesting trees, will also benefit from the protection of the base, which is the exact opposite of Blue's situation.The starting locations do not have the same distance to the Fountain of Health or the Tavern; both are closer to Red's base than Blue's. To put it short, Red has the closest access to most of the most important neutral buildings in game, such as the Marketplace and the Fountain of Health, which I already mentioned.On top of this, the map did not leave me too pleased in terms of beautification. There are entire areas covered in grass; and the cobble path, clearly made using a square or circle tool, does not look good. There are not much doodads, either.
Surprisingly, the most part of the drops are decent. There are, however, a few exceptions. You cannot set the creeps to drop a «lvl X item». The Mur'gul Marauder at Red's closest expansion, for example, can drop items like the Ring of Archmagi (+3 to all stats + Brilliance Aura), the Tome of Retraining, the Tiny Great Hall or the Orb of Venom (purchasable items, which should never be a drop). The only items you can assign as drops are those from the Permanent, Powerup, Charged and Artifact groups. The others (Purchasable, Miscellaneous and Campaign) are not balanced for melee maps and including them in an itemset is an error.
I should also add that Gold Mine guards should have their normal acquisition range.
That said, I conclude my review, granting this map a 2/5 (Lacking) and hoping you'll work on these points. Because the rating is this low, I can only set your map to Approved once you get to work on these points. For now, I am Rejecting it until you update it.
Approved
