A review of “Zone Control”: the new custom map sweeping GPGnet
Saya and AngryZealot have just released Zone Control, and it is now up to version 2 on the map vault.
Already big name players such as Unconquerable have picked up the game mode, and soon after the map vault was released both versions had over 100 downloads and 5 star ratings. In addition, the most recent version had games starting constantly. Is this map the first in a huge wave of Use Map Settings (UMS) style maps? Read on for my predictions and an in depth review.
Zone control is, or so I’m told, an old Starcraft Use Map Settings map, and it has been ported into SupCom.
Having played it about 5 times myself, I think I’m in love, or at least addicted. This map is pure fun, a pile of FFA chaos that reminds me of why I never really played WC3 competitively but headed straight for the custom maps.
The gameplay is simple and easy to pick up. You start off in control of a single Tech 2 Point Defense which continually spawns units, initially those oh so lovable mech marines. Later on you can spawn the rest of the UEF basic assault forces through Siege Assault Bots, and you’ll occasionally get a fancy schmancy Galactic Colossus or Monkey Lord to play with.
The Battle Field is 5 “zones” by 5 “zones” and the goal is to capture all of the zones except the corner zones (which are used for upgrading). While the map is almost completely flat (the corner upgrade zones are raised so that units cannot enter them) the zones are clearly separated by changes in textures and each T2 PD covers only its own zone just about as well as a unit with a circular range could be expected to. Zones are captured by destroying the tech 2 PD in the center of them, which is easy at the start of the game when the PDs in most zones are still neutral, but becomes very hard as players turtle up for big strikes into enemy lines.
Upgrades and the two experimental units add some variety to the gameplay, but mostly the challenge, and the fun, is in the intense combat and overall fast pace. Most games end up with the battlefield littered with wreckage, and are done in under 20 minutes.
While the game is fun, there are some issues.
First off, while the map loads almost instantaneously and is very quick at the start, it does have major performance issues for lower end machines nearer to the end of the game. Pathfinding slowdowns are also an issue, as large crowds of units get confused maneuvering around each other on the wide open spaces and respond sluggishly to commands early on in the game. The map is designed for only four players mainly due to performance issues. Higher end machines won’t bog down too much, but single core users beware, and pathfinding will always be clunky.
Another issue is slippery slope gameplay. Later on the game, it is very easy to predict a winner much of the time, though I have already encountered one upset game, where I defeated someone who had received both his Galactic Colossus and his Monkey Lord before me by effectively taking out the experimentals and out upgrading him. While there is definitely this slippery slope issue in Zone Control, more fun play (er… testing!) is needed to see how bad it is.
The only other issue is in how the game is presented. Without looking at the game files, I had no idea that you received upgrades to units both through the upgrades from the corners and from large numbers of kills. The score panel also does very strange things throughout the game, often ending with the person who lost first on top.
Overall I give Zone Control in its v2 incarnation a 7/10 for fun, possibly addictive gameplay and an easy to understand ruleset that seems like it will greatly increase in popularity over time. With a bit of work this map could truly be the flagship UMS that makes SupCom the new WC3 for custom games.
For a download head on over to the new GPGnet Vault and search for Zone Control!
May 31st, 2007 at 11:22 am
Version 3 is out in the Map vault.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Before you know it, you are hooked idd.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
The thing that is missing is auto downloading when you join a game… Also well fun and I like it it does have a HUGE slippery slope aspect
May 31st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
post needs more screenshots
May 31st, 2007 at 9:07 pm
V4 is out now too. I had a lot of fun playing it.
June 1st, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I played Zone Control for the first time earlier today, and it suffers from exactly the same problem that its StarCraft predecessor did: the victor is basically determined very early on by who gets more territory, with defeat for the other player all but inevitable. That seems to be a direct result of the fundamental game mechanic of Zone Control, though, so I’m not really sure how one might go about “fixing it”. Tacking on artificial free hand-outs to help the losing player would just be lame.
June 1st, 2007 at 11:27 pm
One thing I notice is usually one player has alot more units but less kills so worse units and one player has less units but has more kills thus better units and more upgrades. Although it still leans towards the more units person.
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
By exploiting the auto repair when upgrading defenses, you can take back territory cause your opponent will waste his time, but only if your opponent doesn’t do the same thing. If all players know that little trick involved, the game is decided at about the 3rd minute however.
I hear its getting fixed next version, and purchasable units to tip the tide are added. We’ll see how it turns out