
Short entry for WAR-Corruption for Unreal Tournament 3. PC version here, PS3 version here.
My intent was to make two maps for UT3, to familiarize myself with the engine. I actually really like the game and as I type this in May 2008, I wish the online presence was a bit higher. Having such a low online count make me hesistant to take the time to make maps, since why bother if it'll never be used? In my opinion there were three problems with the way UT3 was released.
1. The game is also out for PS3. Why not allow the two groups to play together online? I'm not sure what problems that may present. The only one that springs to mind is when you have to download a map, the two systems are very different and so different files would have to be downloaded. You would have to make servers distinguish who is playing on what and have both files available, and if they aren't then only one kind of player could play on the server. But that point is moot since...
2. Map downloading is broken. If you are playing and a custom map comes up and you don't have it on your system... it boots you out with a download error. Ugh this needs to be fixed in a big way. It prevents any custom map servers from being played. Custom content is what keeps the UT series going, and without it...
3. Third, the game's release had bad timing with little fanfare. I won't get into this but suffice to say it had a lot of competition upon release, and nobody knew about it.

Anyway. To learn the quirks of the new engine I converted the map VCTF-Corruption into a warfare map. Warfare is my favorite gameplay mode- I was over deathmatch after UT1 and prefer something with a little more meat to it. It's an extension of UT2's Onslaught mode, with more vehicles and node-capturing orbs. Some people don't like it, but I think the orb adds more strategy to the game and is therefore a good thing. There are situations where, when probably handled, you can simply deny a losing team from ever gaining ground, but that usually occurs when one side has pushed all the way to the other side and is on the brink of winning. (For example, WAR-Downtown is an exercise in utter frustration when trying to win your prime node back.)
Anyway again... I wanted more WAR maps in the rotation and a conversion was the quickest way to solve both issues- more maps and my editor knowledge. Looking over the official forum it hadn't been done (it was attempted once), so here is my version. People seem to groan at Corruption as a VCTF map since it frequently ends in stalemate that lasts for hours; you won't have that problem in WAR. Strange how much time I spent after everything was placed just tweaking little things here and there... details matter.
I was originally planning an unbalanced map like Islander but decided against it. The map is still Axon vs. Necris however. Orbs are limited to the home base so you'll need a runner if you want to use them. Most vehicles are also located at the base, although there's a free center node which has some powerful vehicles. The center area is the focus of the map and usually ends up as a bloodbath.

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