14th of February 2023

Tit-E-Bar | Single/Multi | Author: Aymeric "MRCK" Nocus | Download

The Review: I should probably change this website's name to MRCK's Mapping Centre or something to reflect the fact that MRCK seems responsible for a lot of usermap output these days. Tit-E-Bar follows in the vein of his recent "weird" maps and is a direct sequel to Koodbool. This one is more conventional in design though. It has a similar city skyline as the other maps in the "series", but otherwise it looks and plays like a "normal" city map. The map consists of a titty bar and a short street area (with an awesome moving helicopter!) encircling the bar. Most of the action takes place inside the nest of sin. The bar is quite a colorful place with some potential for sensory overload, but there's nothing too sacrilegious design-wise and you're treated to a bunch of interesting visual details. It has a multi-floor layout, and you'll quickly get the impression that there's something wrong with the place, as it seems to violate the very laws of physics. There's some potential for this layout to confuse the player, but it's not terribly obvious actually; you first put some of the confusion down to the map's multi-floor layout, maybe without realizing the layout is just plain wrong. It makes for an interesting experience for sure, and you kinda expect some "gimmick" from the author's maps these days anyway. Combat and navigation are much more tolerable than in Koodbool; monster spam is absent and there's very little tedious outdoor combat. The Shrinker/Expander combo works wonders in the map, especially against the relatively plentiful Commanders. The map seems to lack explosives, but it doesn't really need them and using them indoors would come with a risk anyway.

Conclusion: Tit-E-Bar is a clear upgrade from Koodbool in gameplay terms, featuring far fewer "annoying" combat situations but without turning challenge trivial. Visually there are enough things to hold your interest and the map's gimmick is a nice little curiosity rather than something that gets on your nerves.

Rating: 92