Mission name: THE BATHHOUSE

Scenario: The Local Authorities have just finished building a new public swimming baths and are to celebrate its opening this evening with a gala.

Judged by:Andrew Dagilis

General Comments

This mission is a somewhat unhappy mix of architectural styles (a bandit-infested ramshackle pier right next to a supposedly luxurious bathhouse that adjoins a run-down low-rent area) and fairly mismatched styles of play (heavy sneaking to steal the statue and get your loot requirement, cat-and-mouse with guards and daredevil stunts to get into the near-vacant armory to meet a groundless objective).

Primary Areas (1-10)
Gameplay 6 it plays fair and has three methods of entry into the receptionist's area; appropriately, lots of clacky tile dowstairs, quiet carpets in the living area upstairs; dull second floor in bathhouse; pointless objective forcing you to break your neck to enter an armory containing no essential items
Atmosphere 6.5 except for its meagre bathing area, the bathhouse's ground floor is convincing
Immersion 6 I was only partly drawn in -- once you're on the second floor, it becomes very ordinary; don't understand why I should be forced to break into the armory
Creativity 6.5 for the fish, the bathhouse's ground floor and the underwater tunnel
Secondary Areas (1-5)
Architecture 2.5 mismatched neighborhoods; good-looking upstairs balcony in the bathhouse; nice underwater tunnel; near-vacant armory
Tech 2.5 nice fish; underwater gate closes for no apparent reason; how can a barely industrial society have developed two-way canvas? Camera switch needs to be flipped twice to work. Secret tunnel door can be opened without a switch, so why bother having one?
Loot placement 3 most of it is concentrated in one place, which makes sense; water arrow stuck incongruously in a balcony railing
Bugs 3 some surfaces -- tables and desktops -- have no tread sounds; certain carpets sometimes have a wooden tread sound
Negative Bonuses (0 to -5)
Unsuitable Objects -1 indestructible banner from Krypton. Pirate banner in glaring, plain sight not far from city watch station. Police don't attack pirates if led to them, but do attack Garrett, who looks like one
Bad AI placement -1 guard in the street standing around protecting nothing. Guard in an office of some sort downstairs guarding nothing at all. Guard in an office upstairs shielding nothing of much worth
Unfinished Areas -1 a large basement with absolutely nothing in it and lights that float a foot from the walls
Extremely poor architecture -2.5 an expensive public bathhouse whose only bath is a single smallish wading pond and one cleaning/soaking trough. A wood-finished secret tunnel of no logical utility. A secret spyroom of questionable use. A bare-bones armory with no living amenities
Constant F11, F12 moments 0 unavoidable damage from chimney drop, though not fatal
Too rigid or directionless 0 some wandering around once you find your seventh unlabelled key, but nothing too bad if you're observant
FINAL SCORE 30.5 (possible maximum: 60)

Judged by : Marecki
Primary Areas (1-10)
Gameplay 6
Atmosphere 3
Immersion 1
Creativity 2
Secondary Areas (1-5)
Architecture 3
Tech 4
Loot placement 2
Bugs 4
Negative Bonuses (0 to -5)
Bad AI placement -2
Unfinished Areas -3
FINAL SCORE 20 (possible maximum: 60)


Judged by:Totality

General Comments

With tweaking, could be made into a good mission, but quite a bit of reworking is involved.

Primary Areas (1-10)
Gameplay 3 I didn't really enjoy the mission at all. I found the lack of shadows and the forcing of gameplay style to be rather disturbing, and eventually frustrating. The 'secret' room was not particularly secret, you could spot it a mile off, and the one other secret area I could find I couldn't understand the purpose of. I restored to just running back to the boxes at the start happy in the knowledge that I could kill the guards easily from there and they couldn't touch me.
Atmosphere 4 The atmosphere was partially believable to me in terms of decor, I did like the luxrious feel to the changing room area, but ruined by the fact that the author made no attempt to explain their choices, and that it was extremely obvious that you were stuck out in the middle of empty space. Little explanation was given for what the buildings were and what was happening. No conversations, no juicy subplots. The objectives had no real explanation, and background behind them was non-existant, also I couldn't kill the fish which was a bit of a disappointment, especially as it was one of the objectives which had sparked an interest in me.
Immersion 3 I did not feel like I was there. The lack of map made it difficult to work out what each building actually was, and keys were unamed making opening locks a cycle through inventory affair. Most doors were locked taking too long to pick, and eventually I resorted to just battering things down with my sword. The linearity and lack of ability to interface with the environment - why should one pair of shutters open and the other not, was not to my taste.
Creativity 5.5 Nothing in the mission is extremely innovative, the security camera variant which emits arrows opening confirming sight of you was briefly amusing, but it is a possible sudden death trap. Secret passages were around, but one was incorrectly configured. You could spot it a mile off, and rather than being controlled only by the lever, it could be frobbed open directly too.
Secondary Areas (1-5)
Architecture 2 Flaws in alignment, parts of walls sticking out, objects not corretly placed up against walls. Not so bad as to make it you stop playing though. Water behaves very strangely manner, though
Tech 2.5 There were not many incorrectly implemented tricks, but there wasn't really much that could go wrong.
Loot placement 3 Loot was placement was good and well hidden in places. There wasn't really much challenge in acheiving the totals however.
Bugs 2 Quite buggy. AIs sometimes getting stuck, the hidden door problems, a painting acting as a loot item though it has not been noted that one side is transparent when it is cyclying around in the inventory.
Negative Bonuses (0 to -5)
Bad AI placement -2 I found the AIs to be simply put in one place and in most cases just left there facing one direction, making it difficult to get past. Also, sometimes you do not even know an AI was there until you have opened the door and stood face to face with him. AI choice was also a problem, no archers so if you put yourself in a position where the AI can't get to you, you are laughing.
Linearity -1
FINAL SCORE 22 (possible maximum: 60)

Judged by : Myoldnamebroke
Primary Areas (1-10)
Gameplay 5
Atmosphere 6.5
Immersion 5
Creativity 4
Secondary Areas (1-5)
Architecture 2.5
Tech 3
Loot placement 3
Bugs 2
Negative Bonuses (0 to -5)
Unsuitable Objects -0.5
Bad AI placement -2
Unfinished Areas -1
Extremely poor architecture -1.5
FINAL SCORE 26 (possible maximum: 60)

Judged by : dOom
Primary Areas (1-10)
Gameplay 4 Didn't enjoy this one much.
Atmosphere 4 Some atmosphere. Some use of ambiants
Immersion 4 I didn't feel immersed at all.
Creativity 6 Has some creativity going for it, I liked the shop you raid.
Secondary Areas (1-5)
Architecture 3 Some good architecture.
Tech 3
Loot placement 3 Had to quite hard for the loot after doing everythig else.
Bugs 4 No bugs found.
Negative Bonuses (0 to -5)
All 0
FINAL SCORE 31 (possible maximum: 60)
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