Holy christ. The Pyro, responsible for many superb maps in this mod, has unleashed the beast this time. Ore Processing is a blast to play as well as to look at. This is the kind of map quality that you rarely see in Gloom usually, and I hope it motivates some of the newer mappers to aim higher.

First and foremost, the visuals. If youve kept track of Pyro's work, its the norm basically, except for the outside areas. I was really surprised to see a quality outside area when first booting up this map. It sets a nice mood too, making you believe you are actually going into an Ore Processing plant. The rest of the level is decorated accordingly as well, with supply rooms, conveyor belts, smelting devices, and ventilation systems. The lighting is superb as well, being appropriately dark in the Spider Base, and primarily brighter throughout the rest of the level.



The layout is probably one of the best Ive seen in recent memory. There are plenty of places to move a base to, and the connectivity in the level prevents chokepoints (thought there are still some). The flow is constant, and once you get the layout down, youll be zipping around the map in no-time. The ventilation and sewer systems are nice ways to move around, being a Spider or Human, but they only open after pre-planned events, and Im about to get to those shortly.

The interactivity in this level is amazing. This is not a mission map, but like Pyro said, there are mission elements mixed in through the use of special entities. Some of the things worth mentioning are buttons to add extra building points by a control point method (meaning keep the button pressed for your team for an alloted ammount of time), break-away passages leading to extra points, switches that can give a defeated team a brand new base in seconds flat (the "2nd Wave" button, as I like to call it), coke machines that give out frags every other minute, and plenty more. These are all gimmicks, yes, and we all know how people can mis-treat special tricks and have them serve no real purpose in the map (tspace2), but Pyro has made these advancements (they arent gimmicks here) almost vital to gameplay. Some, if not most, of these advancements support teamplay, the basis of Gloom gameplay, which is a joy to see.

Winding down, the r_speeds are thankfully low, considering the size of this level. Though, I never really have to worry about r_speeds if its a map from someone who has as much experience like Pyro. Thank you for considering the low-enders Pyro. Anyway, now that Im done, I guess its time to award this map with the GMD Seal of Approval, yes? I thought so! Great map Pyro. I hope there is still more to come.