GCCC's Got Talent 47! Wednesday 4th Jan. 11:30pm GMT/UTC

Thanks Mandible

Here are my haven't-really-slept-yet reviews, apologies if they make no sense/the wrong sense.

Race: P-GP: Father Jack by prototypetom

Finally fixed a tiny undulation in the chicane(?) section which would flip cars going super tight to the first corner. Personally I feel like this one is as baked as it can be now, but hey, personally.

TDM: Industrial Evolution by Scam144

Even though it's a cover shooter's dream, I enjoy this one a lot. It seemed to play with a better flow than the last time I played it - central area or outside circuit felt like a real option without as much of the interplay which diluted the experience before. I only really have more cosmetic feedback to offer. This map really suffers visually in the rain with the lack of prop reflections making all the props appear to float inches off the ground (I think some actually might have been too). I really feel a little fine height adjustment here and there, and turning off the rain, would make the simpler areas feel more of cohesive environment and less like a scattering of props.
And not just cosmetic, there's a few spots of uneven and embedded native props in the ground that cause occasional player tripping or floating, I suspect some of them could be refined with some filling in with rotated barriers - without sacrificing the inherent aesthetic.

Stunt: × | L.S FreeStunt Final by Ex-TerminatorBRr

Nice smooth build that requires a little art to get through the stunt, but no frustrating mystery. I only managed to get through very late, but I suck at stunt races and this felt intuitively about right as a simpler stunt.
That said, I did feel the carriage guide props were a little harder to judge than regular containers and I didn't see any positive benefit of that. Also there was a spot in the rest of the race which could be improved. The turning under the overpass is easier to miss than hit until you learn it, which was an unnecessary frustration. I'd like to see bigger props used that are actually inline with - and perhaps guide - that turn.

TDM: #Rezylo Arena Korvius IV by Zorvaine

Not sure if it's been updated since the last time I played it, or if it's a different iteration/version, but I didn't run into any of the dead ends which bugged me last time I think I played this map. It's highlights are when a train rolls through the middle of a fire fight, and any active battle in the brilliant chained fence window in the bridge. The weak spots for me are the somewhat chaotic collection of legs in one section, and the few places where you can unexpectedly pull up onto bars instead of rolling - a few bits of chain-link fence would be appreciated to remedy that. 

Race: Hairpin Heaven by geenopa

Fundamentally a really cool race. Although I've stuck quite a few bits of track to hillsides, it's never occurred to me to be reduce the track width so dramatically - it's really exciting to play. The location is awesome too, really sets off the design with a stunning sky and vertigo inducing views. On the medium scale on the criticism scale - there was a few places where barriers had been forced in so hard that I had to question whether it was worth it, in literally just a couple of places. But on the hard end of the criticism scale was the dynamic props - for me they had no business being there, adding nothing but troll-like frustration and annoyance, really detrimental to what was otherwise a great technical racing experience.


Race: Deadly Drive by masapy072

Solid street race, and nice to play a race with no stunt props for a change. Most of the race is problem free, I just had two notable gripes: firstly the back section through the hills. This route, in many races, I often find a bit too wild and bumpy in this direction, and it was certainly true here although it's just an inherent characteristic of this route... except in the fixed turn you've put in - which I appreciated for the most part - there's an obscured bit of barrier on the apex which really ought to be highlighted more. And the other thing is the chicane - although it's probably fine itself, the checkpoints completely obscure it and I'd suggest very few people make it through their first lap unscathed - which meant eh checkpoints wouldn't be doing their jobs anyway. I would suggest (and others may disagree) removing one checkpoint and placing the remaining one just after the chicane instead, putting faith in driver ability to just navigate the props (perhaps add a tent or two behind the tires to make it a bigger object too).

LTS: !K86 SOGGY BOOTS by KM86REDDEVIL

I love the effect from the location and the enclosure. But this being my second playthough of this job, I have to say got that 'over it' feeling. I think there's a bit too much leg work, which I guess you can't do anything about given the location is the job. But what began to get under my skin was the effective blind fire and lotto of auto aiming through trees. I guess it might be a little more forgiving on FA, but I stopped enjoying the loop after the second round - walk loads, try and get lucky. I don't think the dense foliage is crucial to the job, I think it would work as well - better in fact - with less trees and a little more practical cover. That said, it still has it positives,  and it's worth noting I have a particularly low patience threshold for LTS. It's hard to say how much my issues are with a job and how much they're with the game mode itself.

TDM: (!+DM) Turning Tides by stringking

In their own right, I really like the two main elements of this. I especially love the abstract, chaotic - but really solid - build structure. By design or coincidence it has some great lines and offers lots of options for routes and targeting. I also generally quite like splashy maps which mess with the running physics a little, it just feels new for a little bit. But together in this map I felt the combination didn't make a better whole. I was a bit frustrated I couldn't navigate as I wanted to when i was spawning in the water - especially when i found myself swimming! I was also suffering some worse-than-normal lag too though, which probably made me lean towards more negative feelings. But I spent much of the 5 minutes wishing the whole map was 4foot higher in the world (and that lag hadn't turned my bullets into marshmallow). But really that just illustrates how much i liked the build, that i wanted to be able play it more freely.

 Stunt: ! *V8 - DEVIL RIDE 1.0 by ven876

This one seemed to be a bit less ambitious than the earlier stunt race (geometrically at least). Looking at Mandi's stream, it looks like its a solid build that does what it's supposed to do, but I have no desire to be better than terrible at most of these type of job. It didn't have as much visual pop either, I guess somehow I find more value in failing at something the better it looks. 
But I did manage to FLUKE the stunt section with a second to go - I don't know if that's a good or bad thing in review though!