So many buildings in this world are so depressingly ugly. Pre-fab monstrosities slapped together as if by washed up ex-Soviet architects, nostalgic for the good ol' days of the Bloc.

i hope that whatever it is Ryoko does for a living excites him enough to make up for the fact he's missed his calling--as the architect that might have saved us from this mundanity.

Make no mistake--these maps are works of art. Playing these feels like lobbing grenades down the hallways of a Frank Lloyd Wright. Just when you've stopped to ponder a clever stair, or the railing along a causeway--BOOM! Pwned for admiring the scenery.

One complaint i frequently have with netmaps is the lack of attention paid to variation of floor heights. Splitting up the floor levels does wonders for gameplay, as it forces you to look around--to be a true vidmaster, instead of just taking centred-view potshots on an even playing field. Every set of stairs in these maps also flows nicely--no leaping up stairs set too high, or ceilings set too low.

i appreciate a mapper who appreciates variation in textures. Not a single wall is uninteresting--even the large, flat-textured ones toward the end seem to set off the details in other parts of the map. That, coupled with the fact that surfaces are the appropriate size for their textures gives a feeling of a 'strong', 'finished' map.

Nice work. i'm inspired.

ADDENDUM: It appears i should trust my intuition...Ryoko does in fact study architecture. Should have known...