Your review will be out soonish. All the reviews before you are done, and we are just waiting on a little fix up from stream to resume posting. We took a bit of a break as we all have been quite busy (and we just needed a break) but we should get back into reviewing on our old schedule soon.
Sorry for the delay!
Everyone needs to take breaks now-and-then. The only downfall after a relaxing break (I hope it was relaxing) is a pile of queued maps. Good luck tackling them all.
Everyone needs to take breaks now-and-then. The only downfall after a relaxing break (I hope it was relaxing) is a pile of queued maps. Good luck tackling them all.
Thanks, we will do our best.
We are back! Look out for new reviews, coming out faster then before!
Dr Robert and the Mysterious Ruins is a map that is beyond solid in almost any way possible. Its quality never dips anywhere below decent in any varying aspect, and feels complete as a whole. With an incredibly adventurous, descriptive story and plenty of phenomenal architecture to support it, the map is a true adventure, and is completely worthy of the name. Delving into the mystery of the map is great fun, and the satisfying road from beginning to end is one of the most satisfying minecraft journeys I've taken.
The story feels original, exciting, and fresh, and Jamspots makes use of incrediblly descriptive and accurate words to create several intuitive layers to the plot. The story itself appears quite standard near the beginning, where a friend requires you to complete certain tasks and accomplish goals. Yet the map takes a surprising and sudden swerve right near the beginning, completely morphing into a fantastic RPG story-driven adventure. The plot is great help, and ties into the linear-branching gameplay seamlessly. I, in particular, especially enjoyed how the plot played out and gave you multiple options and areas to explore. The end of the plot was nothing short of breath-taking, and while I won't give away any particular spoilers here, I will guarantee the player that it will not disappoint.
The architecture of the map is caught about halfway between decent and absolutely mind-blowing, as certain builds are deceptively simple, and others are outright boring cubes. The overall visual appeal of the map as a whole is quite good, and supports the modern RPG-epic story effectively. The creations within the earth also look appropriate for most situations, including the ruins themselves. I was fairly disappointed near the beginning when greeted with only a decent landscape, but it was up close that I really realised how well most of the structures were built.
The map's difficulty is its only weak point, where it struggles to grasp the concept of consistency, but even so, the parkour points provided are quite exciting and a nice change from the mainly exploration-based gameplay that makes up almost the entirety of the custom map. While the fact that the player is forced to play on easy or higher the entire game is sometimes utilized very well, at other times it feels out of place and awkward. If I may make a suggestion, I would recommend that Jamspots feature signs that tell the player to switch difficulty for underground sections of the maps, and switch back to peaceful for the exploration aboveground. Despite the flaws mentioned, I did very much enjoy side-puzzles like getting your pocketwatch, scaling the Hellbox, and finding the Pharaoh's treasure.
Difficulty aside, the map was quite consistent, and this was extraordinarily noticeable when it came to the atmosphere of the map. The story flowed smoothly and likewise brought the player to numerous locations along the way, keeping the atmosphere steady. The atmosphere took a deep plunge for certain missions somewhat unrelated to the major storyline, but nonetheless, was incredibly strong in comparison to the atmospheric nonsense featured in countless other poorly done maps. I enjoyed the varying degrees of puzzles and numerous story twists, all of which tied into the atmosphere and its beautiful final result. The only suggestion I might make is that adding royalty-free music in the download to enrich the gameplay would be a great idea!
I left the gameplay aspect to the end of the review, as I feel it was what really sold the map. Linear exploration often feels forced and pointless, but when a strong story is provided, it can turn into a masterpiece. The multiple options for things to do next, coupled with the clever idea of listing all objectives in the note files, create an easy-to-understand, hard-to-master gameplay style that completely revolutionizes linear-mapping. As mentioned previously, adding music to play while in the map would make the entire experience completely smooth and entirely professional. Lastly, in terms of gameplay, I would like to mention the constant feeling of danger throughout the map, whether it be a burning ship, or molten magma below your feet as you carefully tread. The gameplay is nearly perfect, and with one or two tweaks could bump up this map's score by at least a full mark.
When it all comes down, Dr Robert and the Mysterious Ruins is a truly strong map, and stands out as a prominent display of just what is possible with Minecraft, and (let's face it) a little bit of imagination. Jamspots' adventure map is one of a kind, and I can't wait to see what else he has in store for the mapping community. No matter what you are looking for, be it survival or roleplaying or adventure of puzzles, I say you should give this map a look. You won't regret it.
Bugs/Tips
-If I were you, I'd try to keep the building style more consistent. The town felt like a city in certain areas and a fishing village in others. Try to define the settling using architecture.
-The difficulty was inconsistent. At this time it may seem pointless and may be the hardest of the map-creating endeavor thus far, but if you could try to make the difficulty similar throughout, then the map's score would be rocketing into outer space.
Fortress Escape is an awkward map. No other way to say it. It's an Escape-style map, where you have to use the resources given to craft and puzzle your way out of the map, and gave the materials pretty well. The setting wasn't too bad too, but the build itself, the puzzles, and the redstone horribly dragged this short map down.
I don't expect this review to be very "long", due to the fact that this is a short map, with little to talk about, but I'll try and be detailed. Fortress Escape is, as mentioned, an Escape map, where you are a prisoner, and after the "Fortress" mysteriously empties, you try to escape. You progress through three floors and then the roof to get out, and finally succeed (or don't...) in escaping from the Alcatraz-like Island. The story is pretty generic, but it ran well, though the map was VERY unclear. Many times I just wandered about, and finally stumbled across what I was looking for. This made me rather frustrated, and definently broke the atmosphere. Another issue atmosphere-wise was the build. While it didn't look very bad, it didn't really feel like a prison. The signs hanging around were also very out-of-character, and didn't feel like they belonged.
Puzzle-wise, this map flopped flat on its face. Every single puzzle, with the exception of the Parkour was broken. I had to noclip through the floor, through walls, and fly to repair broken sections, be it redstone, or a mechanic part that failed. This really annoyed me, and felt really sloppy, as if the creator didn't know Minecraft mechanics, didn't test, or didn't go back and fix things that had been broken during updates (such as redstone and Glowstone problems, which broke one puzzle). I ran into so many problems during this map, that the creator really should go through and just test the thing better to stop all of the issues I found.
Unfortunately, there's not really much else I can talk about. The map has almost no story, the puzzles are broken, and the atmosphere is still pretty flawed. Also, being such a short map, there's little to discuss. So yeah, creator, please take this review well. You've got a shell of a map here, and with some heavy repairs, you could be doing a lot better.
Bugs/tips
-Wood Pressure Pad puzzle - fix the redstone. All the glowstone has made it pop off, due to 1.0.0 changes
-Library Maze - Fix the pistons; one of yours is stuck out, and as such is broken
-Shoot the Painting puzzle - The painting rarely falls onto the pressure pad, and breaks that puzzle too. Fix it up!
-Dispenser Egg puzzle - The Chickens almost never go where they're supposed to.
-Craft item; pull lever "puzzle" - Didn't work at all!
Username: trappedinlimbo Age (optional): 14 Gender (optional): M Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): Haven't released any yet but I'm working on one. Writing experience: Not professionally but I like to write my own reviews of video games on my computer :P. Review experience: Unfortunately none besides writing reviews on websites. Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes. Additional info: I would love to be part of a reviewing team and would think it would be a lot of fun.
Username(creator): Nnelg9111 and Njits4
Map Name: Qwazerty Adventures
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...rty-adventures/
Genre: Adventure
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): none
Estimated Completion Time: Depending on how many quests you do 1 hour-3 hours
Additional Info(optional): Best played with multiple persons, some quests need 2 persons, so best to play with 2-4 players
Username: trappedinlimbo Age (optional): 14 Gender (optional): M Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): Haven't released any yet but I'm working on one. Writing experience: Not professionally but I like to write my own reviews of video games on my computer . Review experience: Unfortunately none besides writing reviews on websites. Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes. Additional info: I would love to be part of a reviewing team and would think it would be a lot of fun.
Username: Glasscreeper Age (optional): I am going to keep it at "I am mature enough to handle critisism" Gender (optional): Male Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): Yes, http://www.minecraft...2100-downloads/ Writing experience: I do know my grammar well, some typo's here and there because english is not my first language. Review experience: Done a few, i know how to spot bad things in a map. (I always have a pen and a piece of paper next to me to write it down.) Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes. Additional info: I am better at reviewing Parkour maps than anything else. And i would love to be part of the team because i think it will be fun.
Username(creator): Elena the Neko/Prankinyou/Magix39
Map Name: Pranking Neko Magix
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...ing-neko-magix/
Genre: Puzzle / Parkour
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: About 45 min - 1 hour
Additional Info(optional): This is the first map we have ever made and we tried to make it so that even if you were smart you would have to think beyond that to finish the tests. The tests are mixed up from easy - medium - hard and ultra hard. We wanted to make it so people would rage quit but then come back and finish it and be proud that they did.
Username: Elena the Neko
Age (optional): 20
Gender (optional): Female
Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): http://www.minecraft...ing-neko-magix/
Writing experience: Pretty good. I writes short stories at times and roleplay with a friend of mine on GaiaOnline
Review experience: Not much but I'm a fast learner. I love playing minecraft and always have something to say about each map I play.
Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes I have.
Additional info: I wanted to try out because I was looking over the thread here and there are not that many female reviewers so I thought I would try for it. Its always nice to have a female opinion once in awhile.
I updated my map to the final version, so I decided to submit my map here for review. Only do review my map if you can get it back in a week or two. I completely understand if this is not a possiblility. You have many other maps submitted before me, so trying to get mine in before the others is unfair. The reason why I ask for it to be done in 1 to 2 weeks is because I won't be back on these forums to check my rating afterwards. I'll be gone for a very, very long time on a trip.
Username(creator): Zinic Map Name: Stunzle Forum Link:http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1077957-puzzle-stunzle-v16-final/ Genre: Puzzle Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None Estimated Completion Time: 2-4 hours Additional Info(optional): This is a super hard map. As such, I provided some "cheat blocks" to assist anyone in these puzzles.
A map I made a while ago, but still got like 4000 dls. Username(creator): YoeXoe, AnewAaron Map Name: Parkour Academy Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1038089-parkour-parkour-academy-v13-122-compatible/ Genre: Parkour Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Texture Pack included (better ore blocks, stylish doors and trapdoors). Single Player Commands or Too Many Items is recommended to change to night time. Estimated Completion Time: Depends on your parkour skill, there are about 15 levels, with an average of 5 minutes each, I would say. Additional Info(optional): It's a really good Parkour map, some famous YouTubers recorded it as well, Like CocoSmackDown and HuskyMUDKIPZ. I believe setosorcerer also recorded it, though I can't find it.
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Intel Core i5 2500k - Asus Radeon HD 7870 - 8GB Memory - Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM - Corsair Builder Series X600 - MSI Z77 G45
Additional info: I wanted to try out because I was looking over the thread here and there are not that many female reviewers so I thought I would try for it. Its always nice to have a female opinion once in awhile.
Username: trappedinlimbo Age (optional): 14 Gender (optional): M Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): Haven't released any yet but I'm working on one. Writing experience: Not professionally but I like to write my own reviews of video games on my computer . Review experience: Unfortunately none besides writing reviews on websites. Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes. Additional info: I would love to be part of a reviewing team and would think it would be a lot of fun.
Username: Glasscreeper Age (optional): I am going to keep it at "I am mature enough to handle critisism" Gender (optional): Male Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): Yes, http://www.minecraft...2100-downloads/ Writing experience: I do know my grammar well, some typo's here and there because english is not my first language. Review experience: Done a few, i know how to spot bad things in a map. (I always have a pen and a piece of paper next to me to write it down.) Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes. Additional info: I am better at reviewing Parkour maps than anything else. And i would love to be part of the team because i think it will be fun.
Username(creator): Elena the Neko/Prankinyou/Magix39
Map Name: Pranking Neko Magix
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...ing-neko-magix/
Genre: Puzzle / Parkour
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: About 45 min - 1 hour
Additional Info(optional): This is the first map we have ever made and we tried to make it so that even if you were smart you would have to think beyond that to finish the tests. The tests are mixed up from easy - medium - hard and ultra hard. We wanted to make it so people would rage quit but then come back and finish it and be proud that they did.
I updated my map to the final version, so I decided to submit my map here for review. Only do review my map if you can get it back in a week or two. I completely understand if this is not a possiblility. You have many other maps submitted before me, so trying to get mine in before the others is unfair. The reason why I ask for it to be done in 1 to 2 weeks is because I won't be back on these forums to check my rating afterwards. I'll be gone for a very, very long time on a trip.
Username(creator): Zinic Map Name: Stunzle Forum Link:http://www.minecraft...nzle-v16-final/ Genre: Puzzle Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None Estimated Completion Time: 2-4 hours Additional Info(optional): This is a super hard map. As such, I provided some "cheat blocks" to assist anyone in these puzzles.
Sorry, but I would estimate a month or 2 at least before you review is released. If you are ok with that, let me know and I will post your map on the waiting list.
A map I made a while ago, but still got like 4000 dls. Username(creator): YoeXoe, AnewAaron Map Name: Parkour Academy Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...122-compatible/ Genre: Parkour Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Texture Pack included (better ore blocks, stylish doors and trapdoors). Single Player Commands or Too Many Items is recommended to change to night time. Estimated Completion Time: Depends on your parkour skill, there are about 15 levels, with an average of 5 minutes each, I would say. Additional Info(optional): It's a really good Parkour map, some famous YouTubers recorded it as well, Like CocoSmackDown and HuskyMUDKIPZ. I believe setosorcerer also recorded it, though I can't find it.
Username(creator): SPG and sevral others Map Name: Project Johto Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/804870-mc-123500-downloadspokemobs-adventure-map-johto-4th-gen-wiplooking-for-beta-testers-version-10-available-for-download/page__fromsearch__1 Genre: adventure/recration Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): texturepack provided in the map download (must use) and mods at the top of the thread (if you cant/to lazy to downgrade let me know in a pm on the forums, i will hook you up. Estimated Completion Time:3-5 hours Additional Info(optional):took about 5 months to make and this is the first release so it might have bugs, please let me know if you find any so we can fix them and we have invisable barriers everywhere so it stays ture to the game and you cant cheat so please review my map, no one wants to do it because the modder is horrbile at updating :/ he litteraly updated to 1.2.3 a week ago
Sorry, but I would estimate a month or 2 at least before you review is released. If you are ok with that, let me know and I will post your map on the waiting list.
I'll pass. I won't be around to check rating then and I'd bug me not knowing what rating I got. You're still welcome to play it though.
Username(creator): Mastadge
Map Name: Crybral Labs Part 2
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1144479-advpuzcrybral-labs-pt-2/
Genre: Puzzle
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: 30 min - 1 hour
Additional Info(optional): Part 2 of a series
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If I helped you or you are pleased with my work, push that big green + over there!
Hello, Kmilley. First off, i would like to propose if i could change my Sly's Parkour Facility to another map that i have been working on recently. I am more proud of this map than my parkour facility map i made, and honestly, i think my parkour map sucked. This is my application for my map. Username(creator): SlySlasher Map Name: Castlevania: Blood Moon Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1104369-125adv-castlevania-blood-moon-v12-adrenalin-pumping-combat-map-1600-downloads/ Genre: Adventure/ Combat Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Gerudoku Texture pack and TooManyItems recommended Estimated Completion Time: 30-100mins depending how good you are. Additional Info(optional): Additional info on the thread.
Username(creator): Romin865
Map Name: The Beginning Of The End
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/860920-adv-game-the-beginning-of-the-end/page__gopid__11048490
Genre: Adv/Puz/Parkour (there's very little Parkour)
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): no need, but if you do want to use my custom painterly for this map, go ahead, the link to the download is in the forum
Estimated Completion Time: 1-2 hours
Additional Info(optional): Have fun btw this is not the final update, so it will get better...
Username(creator): SPG and sevral others Map Name: Project Johto Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...__fromsearch__1 Genre: adventure/recration Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): texturepack provided in the map download (must use) and mods at the top of the thread (if you cant/to lazy to downgrade let me know in a pm on the forums, i will hook you up. Estimated Completion Time:3-5 hours Additional Info(optional):took about 5 months to make and this is the first release so it might have bugs, please let me know if you find any so we can fix them and we have invisable barriers everywhere so it stays ture to the game and you cant cheat so please review my map, no one wants to do it because the modder is horrbile at updating :/ he litteraly updated to 1.2.3 a week ago
Username(creator): Mastadge
Map Name: Crybral Labs Part 2
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...bral-labs-pt-2/
Genre: Puzzle
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: 30 min - 1 hour
Additional Info(optional): Part 2 of a series
Hello, Kmilley. First off, i would like to propose if i could change my Sly's Parkour Facility to another map that i have been working on recently. I am more proud of this map than my parkour facility map i made, and honestly, i think my parkour map sucked. This is my application for my map. Username(creator): SlySlasher Map Name: Castlevania: Blood Moon Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...1600-downloads/ Genre: Adventure/ Combat Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Gerudoku Texture pack and TooManyItems recommended Estimated Completion Time: 30-100mins depending how good you are. Additional Info(optional): Additional info on the thread.
Username(creator): Romin865
Map Name: The Beginning Of The End
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...gopid__11048490
Genre: Adv/Puz/Parkour (there's very little Parkour)
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): no need, but if you do want to use my custom painterly for this map, go ahead, the link to the download is in the forum
Estimated Completion Time: 1-2 hours
Additional Info(optional): Have fun btw this is not the final update, so it will get better...
Demons of the Nether fully exceeded my expectations, above and beyond what was expected. Upon starting the map, I was a little leery, due to the odd build, and slightly sloppy introduction, and the unfamilar texture pack (Sorry, I really dislike Painterly and the offshoots. too used to Johnsmith I guess >.>). The start of the map was also very confusing and slow, but once I finally got orientated, the map got into its stride. I'm going to be breaking this review into sections: Story, Atmosphere, Archetecture, and Puzzles. I know this is default, but this map really is reviewed best here, because it was GOOD, but it also has many flaws. One last note before getting into things, is that I find myself drawing many paralells between this map, and my own project, in the ways that we've flawed. This of course isn't affecting anything here, but I do find it interesting that both of us had such a similar set of strengths and weaknesses.
Alright, let's start with the weakest point, and go up from there. To me, the weakest point was definently Archetecture. With the exception of the Pandemonium Fight Arena. this whole map wasn't very good with the builds. They were erratic, a bit sloppy at several points, and didn't help too much in building atmosphere. Some it had to do with the required Texture Pack, as I've, as mentioned, rather found the Painterly set a bit hard to look at, but all in all, it was in build. The buildings served their purpose, but weren't all that great. Some sections felt especially sloppy, such as the Nether King, and some of the Nether-based areas, as well as the Underground portions.
Next up, let's discuss the Puzzles. I'll admit right off the bat, there aren't as many as I would have liked from this. Because the player had the choice to play on Peaceful, it removed a lot of the difficulty that could have been added to the map. Several times we were actually forced to be on Peaceful, in sections that could have made great use of the danger of combat. Also, the Ice Maze was seriously infuriating. The path never did make sense to me, and I just stumbled across the end somehow. The other puzzles worked, but my biggest issue here is that we required way too much walking. It felt very lazy, and could have been spiced up with some more puzzles and more interesting things. However, your use of map mechanics, especially with the use of portal transport to tell story was very well done. The map notes were also pretty well executed, though they were a bit confusing.
Following up with Atmosphere. Demons of the Nether did this bit quite well. It held a very creepy feel throughout the map. Your character is basically alone the entire time, and the feeling of progressing into some kind of insanity was very well done. Not the best, granted, but the overall feeling of being alone and manipulated by both sides was felt very heavily. The map makes me wonder if there's more to the story, in that our character has actually died in the plane crash, and is stuck in a battle between heaven and hell, and your choices decide the winner. Biblical references lead some undertones to the atmopshere that are subtly wonderful.
Story wise, this map definently excelled the most. The story is a dark, twisting adventure in which the player crashes horribly in a plane, left nearly dead and starving. After exploring an oddly deserted town, and solving some puzzles, we learn of a sprawning backstory through a "flashback" that was very cleanly executed. The story is one you should experience for yourself, but it was most definently the strong part of the map. If there's anything that should be remembered about this map, it's the strong story-element the map has.
All in all, Demons of the Nether is a pretty strong story-map, but still needs some effort in the atmosphere, build, and puzzle department. An overall fun experience though still flawed. I still applaud the effort put into the map, and I had a rather fun time playing.
Bugs/tips -Both of the initial Elder Challenges' rewards can be accessed without completing the challenges, by breaking the clay. It was well hidden, but I accidentally found the Ice one before I knew about the challenges
-Since the map is supposed to be Linear, the map does get a fair bit confusing at times. Perhaps help with pathfinding a bit better in future updates, to help a player have a more streamlined map.
Everyone needs to take breaks now-and-then. The only downfall after a relaxing break (I hope it was relaxing) is a pile of queued maps. Good luck tackling them all.
Thanks, we will do our best.
We are back! Look out for new reviews, coming out faster then before!
The story feels original, exciting, and fresh, and Jamspots makes use of incrediblly descriptive and accurate words to create several intuitive layers to the plot. The story itself appears quite standard near the beginning, where a friend requires you to complete certain tasks and accomplish goals. Yet the map takes a surprising and sudden swerve right near the beginning, completely morphing into a fantastic RPG story-driven adventure. The plot is great help, and ties into the linear-branching gameplay seamlessly. I, in particular, especially enjoyed how the plot played out and gave you multiple options and areas to explore. The end of the plot was nothing short of breath-taking, and while I won't give away any particular spoilers here, I will guarantee the player that it will not disappoint.
The architecture of the map is caught about halfway between decent and absolutely mind-blowing, as certain builds are deceptively simple, and others are outright boring cubes. The overall visual appeal of the map as a whole is quite good, and supports the modern RPG-epic story effectively. The creations within the earth also look appropriate for most situations, including the ruins themselves. I was fairly disappointed near the beginning when greeted with only a decent landscape, but it was up close that I really realised how well most of the structures were built.
The map's difficulty is its only weak point, where it struggles to grasp the concept of consistency, but even so, the parkour points provided are quite exciting and a nice change from the mainly exploration-based gameplay that makes up almost the entirety of the custom map. While the fact that the player is forced to play on easy or higher the entire game is sometimes utilized very well, at other times it feels out of place and awkward. If I may make a suggestion, I would recommend that Jamspots feature signs that tell the player to switch difficulty for underground sections of the maps, and switch back to peaceful for the exploration aboveground. Despite the flaws mentioned, I did very much enjoy side-puzzles like getting your pocketwatch, scaling the Hellbox, and finding the Pharaoh's treasure.
Difficulty aside, the map was quite consistent, and this was extraordinarily noticeable when it came to the atmosphere of the map. The story flowed smoothly and likewise brought the player to numerous locations along the way, keeping the atmosphere steady. The atmosphere took a deep plunge for certain missions somewhat unrelated to the major storyline, but nonetheless, was incredibly strong in comparison to the atmospheric nonsense featured in countless other poorly done maps. I enjoyed the varying degrees of puzzles and numerous story twists, all of which tied into the atmosphere and its beautiful final result. The only suggestion I might make is that adding royalty-free music in the download to enrich the gameplay would be a great idea!
I left the gameplay aspect to the end of the review, as I feel it was what really sold the map. Linear exploration often feels forced and pointless, but when a strong story is provided, it can turn into a masterpiece. The multiple options for things to do next, coupled with the clever idea of listing all objectives in the note files, create an easy-to-understand, hard-to-master gameplay style that completely revolutionizes linear-mapping. As mentioned previously, adding music to play while in the map would make the entire experience completely smooth and entirely professional. Lastly, in terms of gameplay, I would like to mention the constant feeling of danger throughout the map, whether it be a burning ship, or molten magma below your feet as you carefully tread. The gameplay is nearly perfect, and with one or two tweaks could bump up this map's score by at least a full mark.
When it all comes down, Dr Robert and the Mysterious Ruins is a truly strong map, and stands out as a prominent display of just what is possible with Minecraft, and (let's face it) a little bit of imagination. Jamspots' adventure map is one of a kind, and I can't wait to see what else he has in store for the mapping community. No matter what you are looking for, be it survival or roleplaying or adventure of puzzles, I say you should give this map a look. You won't regret it.
Bugs/Tips
-If I were you, I'd try to keep the building style more consistent. The town felt like a city in certain areas and a fishing village in others. Try to define the settling using architecture.
-The difficulty was inconsistent. At this time it may seem pointless and may be the hardest of the map-creating endeavor thus far, but if you could try to make the difficulty similar throughout, then the map's score would be rocketing into outer space.
I don't expect this review to be very "long", due to the fact that this is a short map, with little to talk about, but I'll try and be detailed. Fortress Escape is, as mentioned, an Escape map, where you are a prisoner, and after the "Fortress" mysteriously empties, you try to escape. You progress through three floors and then the roof to get out, and finally succeed (or don't...) in escaping from the Alcatraz-like Island. The story is pretty generic, but it ran well, though the map was VERY unclear. Many times I just wandered about, and finally stumbled across what I was looking for. This made me rather frustrated, and definently broke the atmosphere. Another issue atmosphere-wise was the build. While it didn't look very bad, it didn't really feel like a prison. The signs hanging around were also very out-of-character, and didn't feel like they belonged.
Puzzle-wise, this map flopped flat on its face. Every single puzzle, with the exception of the Parkour was broken. I had to noclip through the floor, through walls, and fly to repair broken sections, be it redstone, or a mechanic part that failed. This really annoyed me, and felt really sloppy, as if the creator didn't know Minecraft mechanics, didn't test, or didn't go back and fix things that had been broken during updates (such as redstone and Glowstone problems, which broke one puzzle). I ran into so many problems during this map, that the creator really should go through and just test the thing better to stop all of the issues I found.
Unfortunately, there's not really much else I can talk about. The map has almost no story, the puzzles are broken, and the atmosphere is still pretty flawed. Also, being such a short map, there's little to discuss. So yeah, creator, please take this review well. You've got a shell of a map here, and with some heavy repairs, you could be doing a lot better.
Bugs/tips
-Wood Pressure Pad puzzle - fix the redstone. All the glowstone has made it pop off, due to 1.0.0 changes
-Library Maze - Fix the pistons; one of yours is stuck out, and as such is broken
-Shoot the Painting puzzle - The painting rarely falls onto the pressure pad, and breaks that puzzle too. Fix it up!
-Dispenser Egg puzzle - The Chickens almost never go where they're supposed to.
-Craft item; pull lever "puzzle" - Didn't work at all!
Age (optional): 14
Gender (optional): M
Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): Haven't released any yet but I'm working on one.
Writing experience: Not professionally but I like to write my own reviews of video games on my computer :P.
Review experience: Unfortunately none besides writing reviews on websites.
Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes.
Additional info: I would love to be part of a reviewing team and would think it would be a lot of fun.
Accepted.
I will PM you a test review soon.
I will PM you a test review soon.
Map Name: Pranking Neko Magix
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...ing-neko-magix/
Genre: Puzzle / Parkour
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: About 45 min - 1 hour
Additional Info(optional): This is the first map we have ever made and we tried to make it so that even if you were smart you would have to think beyond that to finish the tests. The tests are mixed up from easy - medium - hard and ultra hard. We wanted to make it so people would rage quit but then come back and finish it and be proud that they did.
Username: Elena the Neko
Age (optional): 20
Gender (optional): Female
Map maker? (if yes, provide a link to map(s)): http://www.minecraft...ing-neko-magix/
Writing experience: Pretty good. I writes short stories at times and roleplay with a friend of mine on GaiaOnline
Review experience: Not much but I'm a fast learner.
Have you read the entire "Join The Team" section of this thread?: Yes I have.
Additional info: I wanted to try out because I was looking over the thread here and there are not that many female reviewers so I thought I would try for it. Its always nice to have a female opinion once in awhile.
Username(creator): Zinic
Map Name: Stunzle
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1077957-puzzle-stunzle-v16-final/
Genre: Puzzle
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: 2-4 hours
Additional Info(optional): This is a super hard map. As such, I provided some "cheat blocks" to assist anyone in these puzzles.
Username(creator): YoeXoe, AnewAaron
Map Name: Parkour Academy
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1038089-parkour-parkour-academy-v13-122-compatible/
Genre: Parkour
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Texture Pack included (better ore blocks, stylish doors and trapdoors). Single Player Commands or Too Many Items is recommended to change to night time.
Estimated Completion Time: Depends on your parkour skill, there are about 15 levels, with an average of 5 minutes each, I would say.
Additional Info(optional): It's a really good Parkour map, some famous YouTubers recorded it as well, Like CocoSmackDown and HuskyMUDKIPZ. I believe setosorcerer also recorded it, though I can't find it.
What's a female?
I've only ever heard of ponies...
Not that I'd expect it to be, but I can always make sure :P.
messaged you
messaged you
messaged you
Sorry, but I would estimate a month or 2 at least before you review is released. If you are ok with that, let me know and I will post your map on the waiting list.
added.
Nope, we have not forgotten
Map Name: Project Johto
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/804870-mc-123500-downloadspokemobs-adventure-map-johto-4th-gen-wiplooking-for-beta-testers-version-10-available-for-download/page__fromsearch__1
Genre: adventure/recration
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): texturepack provided in the map download (must use) and mods at the top of the thread (if you cant/to lazy to downgrade let me know in a pm on the forums, i will hook you up.
Estimated Completion Time:3-5 hours
Additional Info(optional):took about 5 months to make and this is the first release so it might have bugs, please let me know if you find any so we can fix them and we have invisable barriers everywhere so it stays ture to the game and you cant cheat
Former Lead Modeler of Pixelmon
I'll pass. I won't be around to check rating then and I'd bug me not knowing what rating I got. You're still welcome to play it though.
Map Name: Crybral Labs Part 2
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1144479-advpuzcrybral-labs-pt-2/
Genre: Puzzle
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None
Estimated Completion Time: 30 min - 1 hour
Additional Info(optional): Part 2 of a series
Username(creator): SlySlasher
Map Name: Castlevania: Blood Moon
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1104369-125adv-castlevania-blood-moon-v12-adrenalin-pumping-combat-map-1600-downloads/
Genre: Adventure/ Combat
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Gerudoku Texture pack and TooManyItems recommended
Estimated Completion Time: 30-100mins depending how good you are.
Additional Info(optional): Additional info on the thread.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1104369-125adv-castlevania-blood-moon-v13-adrenalin-pumping-combat-map-2100-downloads/
Map Name: The Beginning Of The End
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/860920-adv-game-the-beginning-of-the-end/page__gopid__11048490
Genre: Adv/Puz/Parkour (there's very little Parkour)
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): no need, but if you do want to use my custom painterly for this map, go ahead, the link to the download is in the forum
Estimated Completion Time: 1-2 hours
Additional Info(optional): Have fun
Map Name: Zombie Castle Defenders
Forum Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1153335-gametowerdefensemultisingle-zombie-castle-defenders/
Genre: Game
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): nope
Estimated Completion Time: Couple of hours... depends where you loose
Additional Info(optional):
added
added
replaced
added
We don't accept the "game" genre.
Alright, let's start with the weakest point, and go up from there. To me, the weakest point was definently Archetecture. With the exception of the Pandemonium Fight Arena. this whole map wasn't very good with the builds. They were erratic, a bit sloppy at several points, and didn't help too much in building atmosphere. Some it had to do with the required Texture Pack, as I've, as mentioned, rather found the Painterly set a bit hard to look at, but all in all, it was in build. The buildings served their purpose, but weren't all that great. Some sections felt especially sloppy, such as the Nether King, and some of the Nether-based areas, as well as the Underground portions.
Next up, let's discuss the Puzzles. I'll admit right off the bat, there aren't as many as I would have liked from this. Because the player had the choice to play on Peaceful, it removed a lot of the difficulty that could have been added to the map. Several times we were actually forced to be on Peaceful, in sections that could have made great use of the danger of combat. Also, the Ice Maze was seriously infuriating. The path never did make sense to me, and I just stumbled across the end somehow. The other puzzles worked, but my biggest issue here is that we required way too much walking. It felt very lazy, and could have been spiced up with some more puzzles and more interesting things. However, your use of map mechanics, especially with the use of portal transport to tell story was very well done. The map notes were also pretty well executed, though they were a bit confusing.
Following up with Atmosphere. Demons of the Nether did this bit quite well. It held a very creepy feel throughout the map. Your character is basically alone the entire time, and the feeling of progressing into some kind of insanity was very well done. Not the best, granted, but the overall feeling of being alone and manipulated by both sides was felt very heavily. The map makes me wonder if there's more to the story, in that our character has actually died in the plane crash, and is stuck in a battle between heaven and hell, and your choices decide the winner. Biblical references lead some undertones to the atmopshere that are subtly wonderful.
Story wise, this map definently excelled the most. The story is a dark, twisting adventure in which the player crashes horribly in a plane, left nearly dead and starving. After exploring an oddly deserted town, and solving some puzzles, we learn of a sprawning backstory through a "flashback" that was very cleanly executed. The story is one you should experience for yourself, but it was most definently the strong part of the map. If there's anything that should be remembered about this map, it's the strong story-element the map has.
All in all, Demons of the Nether is a pretty strong story-map, but still needs some effort in the atmosphere, build, and puzzle department. An overall fun experience though still flawed. I still applaud the effort put into the map, and I had a rather fun time playing.
Bugs/tips
-Both of the initial Elder Challenges' rewards can be accessed without completing the challenges, by breaking the clay. It was well hidden, but I accidentally found the Ice one before I knew about the challenges
-Since the map is supposed to be Linear, the map does get a fair bit confusing at times. Perhaps help with pathfinding a bit better in future updates, to help a player have a more streamlined map.