Vortex by Mr. Fribbles. Download

When people speak of the classic custom maps, the map EFDM5 Vortex frequently comes up. Dressed up in custom textures, the green floor and gray walls give the map a very nice look. There are also interesting red textures on the floor of the map in a few places to add to the look of the map.

Vortex was Mr. Fribbles' first map to make into Ramshackle, which shows it's quality straight away. Frib took some of the most basic textures for Quake2, added a couple from Quake and ran with them to create one of the first maps that sports this look.

While the lighting and architecture is not overly complicated, the item placement and connectivity make this a great 1v1 map. The map is decked out with 1 red armor, 1 yellow armor, 1 megahealth, 3 green armors, 3 rocket launchers, 2 lightning guns, and 1 grenade launcher. With so many weapons of mass destruction available and copious amounts of health and armor, the battles will be quite long and intense. No one could possibly run all the weapons in deathmatch mode 1. Simultaneously controlling the red armor, megahealth and yellow armor, is also an exercise in futility. When playing 1v1 here, the players are like 2 tanks battling it out, each fully stocked up and ready to do battle.

There are two main areas of the map that one wants to control in the map, the red armor area and the yellow armor area. Both are quite interesting and very dangerous. The red armor sits at the bottom of a level section of the map. Up on the top level is a grenade launcher. On the middle level there are 2 pathways that one could ambush someone camping the red armor. The red armor is on the bottom level. Once someone gets the red armor, there are only 2 ways out. You could rocket jump back up of the pit and hope that someone doesn't hit you as you land. You could also run down a long corridor leading out of the pit. Mr. Fribbles in his infinite love for mayhem put a teleporter above the red armor pit that leads to the other side of this long corridor. If you see someone grab the red armor and take off down the hallway, simply cut them off by taking the teleporter and make them pay for stealing the red armor. One needs to be extremely cautious in this area. Waiting around isn't good because you are vulnerable from many directions. Once you have taken the red armor, getting out without taking damage is going to be nearly impossible.

At first the layout may seem confusing, but once you get used to the various areas and corridors you'll be flying. Besides, the small element of confusion that remains allows players to make the nuttiest surprise attacks!

The yellow armor also provides lots of heart pounding action. In this area there is rocket launcher on the top level on one side. On the other side of the top level sits a lightning gun. On the top level to get from one side to the other, you can jump across onto some small platforms, one containing a megahealth and the other having some health and ammo on it. If you like to bunny, it is possible to jump from one side to the other directly. These platforms are small and lay against walls. It's easy to hit people with splash damage down below. On the lower level is a yellow armor sitting in the middle of the room. There is also a teleporter that takes you back up to the top level near the rocket launcher. There are also 3 corridors taking you to other areas of the map. If you are waiting for the yellow armor or megahealth you are very vulnerable to attack from a variety of directions. An attacker can also fake taking the teleporter, prolong a rocket fight and cause enough confusion as to give him time to escape and get the red armor.

Final Verdict
The map has long corridors in connecting the various areas of the map. This map is a bunny jumper's paradise. It plays well in either deathmatch mode. If you love playing 1v1 with quad, the quad is in the red armor area. It sits in a small dead end like the quad in dm4, making it a dangerous item to get. For anyone that has seen the movie "The Blues Brothers" this map would be the show room of the Palace Hotel on Lake Wazapumante. Mr. Fabulous summed it up best when he called it "a classic."

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