Architectural Design

  In a nutshell, Falling Higher consists of three tiers situated around a central-
atrium. The ground-floor consists of the map's largest open fighting-area. One end
this level is flanked by two teleporters which empty out on the second-floor & to
the big-ticket weaponry, the RL & RG. Just beyond these teleporters is a horseshoe
shaped lava-tunnel where the much loved Quad resides.

  The opposite-end of the level consists of a large double-staircase leading to the
second-floor. Moving to the second-floor, you find that this tier makes a complete
loop around the entire level. The third-level is the smallest & is accessed from
the second-tier stairways. This is the smallest area but allows players to obtain
the GL & rain grenades through various openings.

  I found that due to the cut of the second floor & the sunken area of the ground-
floor, this map has a much more vertical feel to it instead of a linear-layout.
Aesthetics were very tasteful. No garish colors or globs of skulls splattered about.
I definitely got a Q2-feel from this map & not just because of the lack of jump-pads
& the use of few curved-surfaces. I felt that way because of the texture & coloring
was reminiscent of the "waste" theme from Q2.


Atmosphere & Lighting

  Following Senn from Agony & Ecstasy, Mindfields, & now Falling Higher.. this is
one area he has down pat. Seamless lighting gives this map an eerie & very
realistic-feel. The whole level had that dark & abandoned feel about it. My only
criticism was the lack of more sound. Sure, it was used but I never got that "SP"
feeling in my single-walkthrough.


Style & Textures

  As I eluded to before, I felt the entire map had a Q2-feel about it in both design
& texture-work. Dull stainless panels with a rusty texture really give it that "waste"
appearance. Also the dull, colored diamond-plate flooring seemed to accentuate
this even more letting key-items really stand out against the backgrounds. As a Q2-
lover, I really enjoyed the theme even if it wasn't intended to be reminiscent of Q2.


Weapons, Ammo, & Items

  I have to say this first, finally a map that puts the GL to great use! Now listen to
me on this one. Sure the RG & RL are a good find, but considering the positioning
of the GL on the smallest-tier & that you can rain grenades down on everyone make
it just as valuble as any other weapon instead of always playing second-fiddle.

  As for the other weapons, nice positioning on the RL & RG which oppose each
other from across the second-tier. This makes for a mad dash to the teleporters on
the ground-floor if you don't stop to scoop up a Shotgun. Ah the SG's.. now here's
a dilemma. Do I pass everything up & make a break for the Quad, or go for the
quick-fix & hit the teleporters? Nice eh? Finally the LG. A nice location allowing
you to duck around by the stairs to draw first-blood on a hapless RL-fiend & steal
his weapon. Overall, a very professional choice for serious DM-action.

  As far as ammo goes, I had no problems gathering or maintaining my levels at all.
As a matter of fact I discovered that the make-up of this level seriously limits one
weapon from dominating the rest. This is important so if you did run out of rockets,
slugs worked fine.

  This map was small, leaving some items a bit cramped such as the jacket-armor
which was all placed on the second-tier. Perhaps instead of the Haste being
included on the second-tier, the Yellow Armor should have been placed there
instead. Haste is a great choice but in such a vertical map I found that using it
didn't help that much.


Balance & Gameplay

  Alright, I've played this 1v1 on a LAN & multiplayer over the net with five other
quality DM-players. On a LAN this map was awesome (other than me getting my
ass handed to me). Over the net it was pretty good. I say that because I feel it's
just a bit too cut-up & a little too vertical. Even on the second-floor which makes
a complete loop, you have to dodge stairs disallowing any real flow.

  I do realize you need to keep the r_speeds down & not leave endless-hallways,
but it just didn't feel very smooth. Even in the largest area on the ground-level,
you were confined to the sunken-area. You could jump across but it required a
strafe-jump. The best area was the transition between the second & third tiers
because of the very wide stairs & overall-openness of the third-tier.


Technical & Presentation

  I played this on two different machines both with 128MB RAM one using a
Diamond Viper 770 & the other using a V2-1000 overclocked to 120MHZ at 800x600.
As far as r_speeds go, I didn't have any problems & everything seemed acceptable.
You may notice a serious drop near the RG in this map so if you have a slower
video-card, keep that in mind & grab it on-the-fly. I didn't see anything such as
misalignments or sloppy brushwork. In addition, clip-brush work seemed to be
well-done with no nasty hangups.


Conclusion

  I must say I like Falling Higher much more than the flashy Mindfields. This is a
super map with the exception of flow which isn't bad but isn't anywhere near that
of his first map, Agony & Ecstasy. I'm really not trying to compare these maps & I
think they stand on their own merit. It seems that Senn's two latest maps are very
vertical & cramped in some areas. My opinion is that in these last two his layouts
are really good, but the problem lies in the scaling during the development-process.
I'm sure Senn's future projects will only continue to get better & I can't wait to
download them... B+