Clear the Coast | Single/Multi | Author: Merlijn & Maarten van Oostrum | Download 2Mb, Mirror

Description: Another fantastic map by the Oostrum brothers, Clear the Coast, a huge outdoor canyon map, weighs around 800 kilobytes and should take you no less than 30 minutes.

Design: Clear the Coast hits high on Conceptual Grandness but without suffering from low attention to tinier details. From a few spots you can spot the almost entire level area and boy it looks good with all the cliffs, canyons, vegetation and buildings. And then there are of course all the things you can see but cannot go to, such as strange lights in the distance, a trademark of the Oostrums since Red 3. The whole setting, canyons and buildings, contrasts nicely with the blue sky and the overall light level. And while this level relies on outdoor design its indoor areas are perhaps the best Oostrums have ever produced, at least design-wise with cleaner than usual architecture.

Gameplay: The map is a good action/adventure mix. Despite not being a scary map like the Red serie Clear the Coast has a moody, desolated atmosphere, mostly spiced up by design, modest use of sounds (including heavily present wind and some new sounds) and textures whileas previous Oostrum levels relied heavily on scripted sequences. I did find the level a bit too easy though. I played the level twice, first on Let's Rock during beta testing, then on Come Get Some with the finished product. I cannot say I spotted any differences. There's plenty of health and ammo around and avoiding death is easy. The map has quite an interesting background story that progresses while playing. Another point worth mentioning is that even though the map is huge, you should have no problems navigating it. The flow is excellent.

Conclusion: A satisfying ride from start to finish, Clear the Coast provides amazing outdoor design, desolated atmosphere and a good amount of opponents.

Rating: 98