Custom Map Reviews – DownTown Dine: DEAD END (the lost Maps)

Channel:

Overcooked Sushi

Subscribers:

794

Published on May 24, 2016 9:27:15 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGdgLvqjW_A

Game:

Left 4 Dead 2 (2009)

Category:

Review

Duration: 50:14

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3

DownTown Dine: DEAD END (the lost Maps)
Can be downloaded here...
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/10071

Campaign Description...
“Welcome to Downtown Dine. The neighborhood just isn't what is used to be. The citizens of the Downtown Chamber of Commerce attempted to stave off the infection. With the help of local military forces, they set up checkpoints, health facilities, and attempted to maintain law and order. They Failed.
”

A very odd and colorful map... So many reference, cheesy horror, and other things going on... That it was straddling the line of being kind of obnoxious maybe two miles back...

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+ Positive
/ Neutral
- Negative

Aesthetics
+Metric ton of custom content...
+Environments are interesting and varied...
+Custom music and voice overs...
/The amount of “out of place” references is a bit obnoxious...
-Visual clutter everywhere...
-A couple... “odd” aesthetic choices...
+Super cheesy haunted house theme...

Gameplay
/Longer chapters...
/Just enough supplies most of the time...
-Lots of horde events in one chapter...
+Some interesting and unique events...
+Good player leading...

Performance
/Averaged below 60 FPS...
+No apparent crashes or conflicts...
-Optimization looked fine... but the dips in chapter 3 were monstrous...

Finale
-Entire chapter before the finale...
+How to start was and play the finale was clear...
/A bit on the easy side
-How to escape was not that clear...

Final Verdict
Recommended

Dead End has a lot of problem... Don't get me wrong...
The chapter filled to the brim unique and out-of-the-box design choices goes over board... Like it is trying to be TOO unique after the original; Downtown Dine was not unique enough...

There is also the dips in chapter 3 that dropped me down to single digit FPS and killed the sound in the process... Something I haven't seen a campaign do consistently... ever...

But those are really my only complaints...
Much like the original Downtown Dine... gameplay is solid for the most part... A couple hiccups, but most of that can be attributed to the problem of trying to hard to be unique... With that being said, I did thoroughly enjoy some of those unique elements... I'm always a sucker for arenas afterall... ;3

Aesthetics is where I personally and neutral... It took Haunted Forest's Cheesy horror... and cranked that shit up to 11, and stretched it across an entire campaign... Some people will find joy in checking the list for every single horror trope to exist... and while will have their nerves tested... Personally, I am on the fence, but never once did this anesthetic truly hinder gameplay... Even though the mansion in chapter did just that, it was kept interesting throughout...

The finale feels kind of like the weak point for the campaign... The chapter itself loses a lot of the charm that made the rest what they were... Also factoring those nasty dips and the entire chapter before the finale itself... While the finale itself was short and fairly easy, the ending was kind of the worst part... having to find the exit through luck... It didn't happen to me... but I wold have been pissed if I was chased into a dead end and murdered by the tank... having to do that entire chapter again...

Overall... I would say average... Personally I would set this a solid 3 out of 5... But I can still see the work put into this one... And while the theme didn't do it for me, I know I am a minority there... The uniqueness, while its Achilles heel, it is its everything... and would be much without it...

And while I might never play it again... I would still Recommend this...


Intro music - "Cybernetic" by D1scordant
Final Verdict music – "Synthetic Harmony" by D1scordant

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