Looks / Visual Appeal

Evalia does not stun the player with looks, but it is not a lifeless and boring map. The map’s lighting provides a light blue tint that radiates throughout, but still keeps a dark feel that is familiar to Quake-style maps. The texture use is limited but varied in such a way that a new player or spectator would not be confused about the position of the player. This has a lot to do with the layout as well, since most areas are unique and not easily confused with other locations. Something of note however is that David Light, the Q4 Department Head at GotFrag, states that "the map needs a serious texture overhaul" and that "it could become disorienting for spectators, since they are not in control of the movement". While the locations are not easily confused by the player, for the viewers it may be a different story.



Visual appeal, although not very important for competitive game play, is an important aspect of a map. Evalia may not be the prettiest map you have ever laid eyes on, but it is definitely better looking than many of the retail maps.

Layout / Map Design

Layout is one of the most important aspects for competitive play. It is important for it not to be exceedingly open in Quake 4, since it would promote rail gun only play. This is not only frustrating to the players, but also incredibly boring to watch.

Fortunately, Evalia’s design is definitely up to competitive standards. The map features 3 main levels with various curving ramps, staircases, and jump pads to connect the areas. The map has many spots for close combat and positions available for railing. It allows for a number of play styles, and promotes a more in-your-face style of play. It is certainly possible to be a rail monger if all the right positions are learned, but it would be advantageous for a player to be more aggressive and use close quarters fighting to their advantage. Overall, the layout is tight and has a few decent spots for lining up across-the-map rail shots.



The overall size of the map is something similar to Galang. It is not very long, but the 3 levels allow for some nice z-axis fighting and provide multiple routes for getaways.

Evalia’s design allows for some fast movement, but not very many places for specific trick jumps utilizing the ramp jumps of Quake 4. Most custom maps that have come out recently have put in special ramps like these to make special jumps, but there are not any in this one. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but a couple spots for these Q4-unique jumps would have added a little variety to the game play and movement. On the plus side, the staircases included in the map are properly clipped allowing players to jump up quickly instead of getting stuck like you do on Over the Edge.


Item & Weapon Placement

Even when a map has a solid layout, the item placement can make or break the map for competitive play. Maps that are thoroughly tested go through many phases of armor, health, and weapon placement and players give input to make it work the best it can for competitive play.



Evalia incorporates 2 yellow armors and 1 mega health. In most cases, Quake maps will have a red armor (Phrantic, Galang, Monsoon), but there have been a couple maps so far in Quake 4 that have utilized the same item selection as Evalia (Bliptourney, [TMP] The Lost Fleet). Obviously, there is no set formula for what item selection works best in Quake game play, although the general idea is that 1 yellow armor, 1 red armor, and 1 mega health works well in most cases.



That being said, the 2 yellow armors and 1 mega health setup seems to work in Evalia. The armors are located on the 3rd level of the map, but they are separated in such a way that it is not too easy to take both of them in a short time. The mega health is located at the very bottom of the map in a location vulnerable to attacks from above. This gives a small window of opportunity to do some damage to a player while they are going for this crucial item.



Armor shards and health bubbles are scattered across the map in various pathways. The amount of health and armor shards seems to be just about right for the size of the map. There is plenty of health to recover from a fight, and enough armor shards to provide a little protection in the case that a player is not in control.



The map features every weapon in the Quake arsenal except for the nail gun. Each weapon other than the nail gun is included once except for 2 rocket launchers. The rail gun, lightning gun, shotgun, and grenade launcher are all located on the bottom floors. One of the rocket launchers is located in the middle/upper level, and the other is on the top level on a platform connecting the two sides. The hyper blaster is located on a top level platform that has a view of the rail gun, shotgun, and both rocket launcher spawns.

If there was one thing I would change about the current weapon placement it would probably be switching the hyper blaster and rail gun. It would most likely balance the weapon placements a little more by providing a hitscan weapon up top and still providing most of the weapons on the bottom levels.


Final Thoughts

Overall, Evalia is a very solid map. The layout promotes a fast paced game, the weapon selection and placement are acceptable, and the item layout works well for the size and design. The movement options are there, and although there are not many places for tricky or challenging jumps, it is still a fun map to move around on.

Of course the map cannot be proven until some high level players get a chance to really test it out and play it in a competitive setting. It is my belief that Evalia would do well in the competitive world with some slight texture adjustments, and would provide a better experience to both the players and spectators compared to the current map selection.