Blog: Larsons weekly reviews [PS4]

Great review larson ! I wish one of my jobs one day gets a praising review like this!

You didn't mention the random factor of the plain crashing with an actor holding the bag so it drops on a different location every time, and that there are two sniper towers on each side with a focussed view on the turrets.
There are probably some more easter eggs in this well built job.

Also, your video is set to private?

I hope you keep up this extensive way of reviewing!

Thank You larson for the detailed review. It's incredibly rare to see appreciation on such a scale. Respect.

I haven't given it a proper description yet. I'm waiting for the next Update which will fix the description limit. Given what stronktank said, there are far more hidden secrets on this map. For example, on the broken bus sniper tower, if you pick up the sniper and look north you'll see a rusty camper van stationed in the middle of the desert with 2 actors. Breaking Bad reference.

Defenders can use the soda machine from within the building to regenerate health.
There's an additional hatch inside the Turret Room where you can jump into the main warehouse interior. So technically, you can enter the building from all 4 sides.
The weapons are stacked to give you a ''Wooden Weapon Bundle'' ala the Compact Rifle, Marksman Pistol and Double Barrel Shotgun.

I've been working on adding as many details as I could to make the map both functional and aesthetically pleasing and realistic. The crashing titan will always make the bag or Territory Control drop in a random location to take advantage of the scrap yard. Again, I thank you for the most detailed and appreciative review that I've ever been given.

Exactly the sort of thing we've been crying out for. Fantastic review. I look forward to seeing this develop and grow into something the crew can evebtually showcase to a wider audience.

Job of the Week 22/2016: Battle of Hoth by stronktank




Type: Capture Hold
Players: 2 - 30
Teams: 2
Description: 3 ABY: The empire strikes back! Based on Trongreen's AT-AT Walker. #Grindhouse

Review:

Another capture? Another hold? That's unorignal. Granted. Reviewing the same jobtype twice in a row is neither original nor creative. This week's job of the week however is both, and this is exactly why it was chosen.
First off: I'm not a big Star Wars fan. The only Star Wars games I've ever played were X-Wing, Rebel Assault and Dark Forces. Well, and ten minutes of the Battlefront "Beta". I haven't seen the newest movie. To be completely honest, I even missed out Episode 2 and 3. Personally I think this franchise went down the drain long before licenses were sold to Lego or it got bought by Disney.

Why am I telling you this? To assure you that I'm absolutely not biased. I'm not the type of person who freaks out when he sees a AT-AT Walker. However, when I was looking at the job's thumbnail, it left me speechless for a while. There was an AT-AT Walker. In GTA Online. It was nothing that looked something like a Walker. Not a deformed dinosaur. An AT-AT Walker. Unmistakable. Undeniable.

The thumbnail alone made me curious, and by knowing that stronktank  usually delivers high quality jobs, it got me exicted for this one.

My first adventure on the actual iceplanet Hoth was a mixed expierence. Although the soldiers (stormtroopers) and the containers, trailers and generators instantly reminded me of the first level in Dark Forces, I didn't had a clue were I was and what I was supposed to do. I'm not entirely sure if I made it to one of the three Insurgent's turrets. Two are placed at the Walker's head to resemble the laser cannons, the third one is at the back of the war machine.
More than likely I fell to the ground within a few seconds, since I got overwhelmed by the Walker's interior and the things going on outside. Meanwhile the Rebel Alliance must have been already on the way to take over the mechanical monster, flying towards it in snowspeeders (Besras).

To get it out of the way: the job is confusing when you play it for the first time. But this is already my main critisicm. And when you replay it, you actually got to ask yourself, if it is the player's fault, who might have been a bit too inattentive.
In fact it's all quite simple and in fact we are still in Blaine County, although the player could tend to forget about that. While the defenders are supposed to hold position inside the Walker, the attackers task is to enter it, collect the package and escape to their base. Despite everything a simple capture. The walker is surrounded by two SuperVolitos and Hydras by the way, which add as much to the atmosphere as the exploding Besras do. These will blow up since the easiest way to get inside of the Walker is by parachuting to it's top, where health packages, PDWs and - most important - teargas are waiting.

The interior of the Walker is a claustrophobic's nightmare. And that's a good thing, because it makes the teargas very effective. If you use it and not just fall headless into the Walker's heart. In case you change your mind and rather fight on the ground, enough parachutes are provided for an easy way to the battleground. Not only a few NPCs are waiting for you, but also imperial reinforcements, which respawned on a Blazer a bit further away.

But what does one do, if he is down on the ground and survived the first attack wave? Ideally, he climbs back up on one of the hindlegs. Although the creator has done something really amazing, this part can be quite tricky. Expierenced parkour maps players will probably have less problems, for every other player it can be hard to find the right position on the stairs. If you watch from a distance or by using the Editor you might see scenes that remind you of Lemmings. Practice makes perfect. If you want to, you can see the difficulty in getting back up as a feature. Defenders can also go for the strategy to let the 10 minute timer run out and win by kills, instead of trying to recapture the package.

Once the package is on the ground, the hardest part for the attackers is done. They can either use the reinforcement's Blazers or white Vindicators for a quick escape to their rebel base, located nearby at Thompson scrapyard, to finish the job by - according to the (maybe too) individual objective texts - "destroying the walker" and delivering "the force". A teammate who takes over the Insurgent's turret can be quite helpful for the getaway. These are not that useful for the defenders though, and their job actually seems to not let them fall into the Rebel's hands. Team Jedi also has an additional Insurgent at the base.

After playing two rounds you should definitely know what to do. All you need is a bit more patience than the usual 12-year-old GTA player has after his third energy drink. Such players might have caused the rating this brilliant job has now. Because even if you don't like captures in general, or you are, like me, not a big Star Wars fan, you can't deny the uniqueness of the map and the tremendous job stronktank  did here.

It has flaws, but I don't see a way to do it any better. It's an impressive example of what can be done with content creator and it's limited options.

No other map though, not even "!!!Snowball Fightz!!!", needs snow as much as this one. 361 days a year stronktank 's version of Hoth unfortunately does look like Tatooine. This kills immersion, but this is of course not the creator's fault. I can only imagine how this map looks during christmas and new year, but I'm sure it's going to be extremely immersive and deserves an extrapoint for that. It's a good map all year, but I highly recommend to bookmark it already for the seasonal holidays. A snow playlist without "Battle of Hoth" is not complete.

And while you're at it, don't forget to take a look at the other brilliant jobs from GCCC's Star Wars themed event GRINDHOUSE Episode I.

Rating: 9/10 (10/10 with snow)

Editor video by stronktank