When Sanity Ends by Borsato. Download
Where does Sanity end? It ends for anyone trying to adequately describe all the details on this map. One could try to mention the superior custom textures used. Then one could have a hard time choosing which ones to mention. Also many of these textures defy description. There are cool green textures with nice patterns near the red armour. There are neat textures with skulls that align steps, there are impressive patterns on textures that go around the top of the walls near the ceiling. The texture on the pillar near the mega health has a neat pattern. To complicate matters, every other texture used looks impressive also. From a textural stand point, this map is one of the best.
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An incedible amount of textural detail has gone into Borsato's piece. There screenshots really don't do the maps aesthetics justice. However you can see it's unique styling and atmospheric qualities. |
It would be a maddening endeavour to try to describe the architecture of the map. There is a basic layout which is interesting. Essentially the map is a 3 part affair, each part with 3 levels, and these parts are interconnected in various ways. The map for the most part is quite open and grandiose. In each part of the map sits an armour. The red armour area also contains a quad on a walkway above the top level, a rocket launcher in the middle, and some steps leading to a mega health down below. The red armour lies in the far corner of the top level. One can bunny jump from the walkway and land on the red armour if you want to be fancy. One can also jump from below the walkway onto a small area and from there to the red armour. One could also rocket jump from the middle level or take a scenic journey around the outside of the map to get to the red armour. The red armour area is very wide open, and no matter how you want to get there, you are going to find yourself in a long distance rocket war. On most maps, it would be insane to attack someone going for the red armour with no armour and just a rocket launcher at your side. This area is so wide open that you will have time to dodge rockets coming from anyone near the red armour. You know where they want to go, and since the red armour is situated at the end of a walkway that has a wall next to it, you can dodge rockets and have a decent chance of killing someone intent on getting the red armour even if they are fully stocked.
There is a nice hole in the wall that leads from the top of the red armour area to top of the yellow armour area. This area is also quite open with a long winding spiral staircase that leads straight to the lower level. On the top there are grates that you can shoot straight through right down onto someone camping the yellow armour. The middle level is non existent, and at the bottom there is a yellow armour and a rocket launcher. From this bottom level one can go to the water area containing the mega health. You can also take 2 staircases to upper levels. One leads to the red armour area and the other takes you to the green armour level.
| The map is one of the most open levels about. Plenty of space to manouvre combined with some low-lying item placement makes for some great death-from-above opportunities. The architecture does it's job really well - looks good but doesn't get in the way of the action. |
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The green armour level has a lightning gun on the top level, a green armour on the middle level, and down below steps that lead to the mega health. There is also a walkway up above the top level that has a grenade launcher. The green armour area is a great place to snipe and shoot at people going for the red armour. You can also sneak up to the walkway and shoot at people from above. The walkway and the top level both connect to the red armour area which is just a few hops away.
Well thats the basic layout. There are many subtle features to the map. Sounds play a very important role when playing sanity. The upper walkway containing the grenade launcher is a great place to hide and fire at unsuspecting victims down below. There is however a pack of nails and a grenade launcher up on this walkway and its really easy to give away your location by accidentally picking these objects up. Also down below the water makes a distinct noise. Since this area is accessible from all 3 parts of the map, you must be very careful not to make noise when going for the mega health. To add to the confusion, you could jump in the water when fully equipped to lure an unsuspecting victim to his or her demise. Like the textures, there are so many small architectural details in Sanity. The torches aren't merely torches on the walls. There are many complicated objects that emit light. These have to be seen to be believed and show a great attention to detail. Borsato didn't just crank out a map that played well. A lot of time went into creating many of the visually impressive objects on the map. The pillars, the windows, the lights, the steps, and even the hole in the wall all have a nice, very detailed look to them. They may not effect the raw gameplay, but they do create a great atmosphere for the map. Just as this map is one of the nicest map to look at from a textural standpoint, this map all has some of the neatest structural features to it.
Final Verdict.
The map on the whole has a nice open feel to it. If you are good at battling in large areas, if you can move around the map quickly by bunny jumping, and if you appreciate attention to detail, you will love this map. "If this map were a movie character it would have to be Norman Bates from Psycho: fascinating, well developed, multi-faceted, and just flat out insane!"