bg_forestroad_b3 and bg_western_v2

Hello and welcome to another look at some of the custom maps provided by the community.  I wouldn't call this a review as unfortunately I have never played these maps properly with people.

bg_forestroad_b3
Author: QwErTy
Released: Unknown
Forum: http://forums.bgmod.com//index.php?showtopic=5932
Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4PJ4WLW2

Despite the name this is not a remake of the BG1 map bg_forestroad.  But it is a forest with a road in it.  Essentially it is a horseshoe map, where the two teams spawn pretty much next to each other but are blocked off by scenery.

It does follow the horseshoe format but actually it has a lot more room to manoeuvre than you would think due to having access to the reasonably large forest area in the middle of the map, which contains a flag surrounded by dead British soldiers as you can see above.

The forest looks very nice compared to most forests I have seen attempted in custom maps.  Most of which look like the mapper has uniformly placed their trees.

Maybe the stone road isn't very historically accurate for the period and the 3d skybox doesn't flow off perfectly but these are really minor details.  It would be great to see this on more servers as it could turn out to be a really strong skirmish map.


bg_western_v2
Author: 3DDEATH
Released: 18/12/2010
Forum: http://forums.bgmod.com//index.php?showtopic=5888
Download: http://www.3dclan.com/bg_western_v2.bsp

The latest creation by one of most active map makers in the community.  The name alone signals that this is not a map designed to fit in with the Revolutionary war.

So what exactly do we have here?  A small village with a cluster of buildings in the centre surrounded by a road with building along its outside.  I find that the maps best features are the alley in centre of the buildings as this could lead to some very heated close encounters.

You can see the planks connecting the roofs in the screen capture above, while the concept of hopping on the roof is a very nice one the planks let it down a bit because they are physics props and can be pushed off which can stop access to a selection of the roofs for the remainder of the map.

The main draw of the map is that it isn't linear, the flags are spread out, one is on the balcony of a building another in a yard which only has access by going through two buildings.  The only thing which bothers me about this map is the size of it, the road is quite large, as it would have been in a Western village back then, but I feel that constricting it would improve the gameplay.  Also the lighting isn't necessarily the greatest, some of the interiors are a bit fluorescent but these are really just cosmetics.  Overall one of the better custom maps.