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Thursday, 19 October 2000 -
Miiimiiic ? comment
"Centaura" | Miiimiiic | 666 KB | 19.10.00 | Duel |

Description - Miiimiiic is a CPM 1on1 map made by Kiwi map-maker Centaura which is enormous fun to play. It's medium-sized but very open, so you can pretty much see your opponent or know where they are at any time. This gives you plenty of time to anticipate the coming battles. The map design is very clever, consisting of two balanced sides to the map connected by a series of platforms and jump pads which provide a myriad of different tactical options. But you don't feel as if you're playing some sort of "trick map" at all, instead the feeling is very solid. There is plenty of vertical action, as well as use of teleporters and jump-pads to mix up the gameplay and provide multiple options.

The 'strong side' of the map has the YA and a RL close by, while the 'weak side' has a MH and a RL. Both these areas are at opposite ends of the map, and promote an almost "Rocket Arena" feel to the map when your opponent spawns over there and kits up before coming to engage you. In keeping with Centaura's preferences, there is no RG on this map, which is probably a good thing as a RG would make the wide-open spaces too easy to dominate. Instead, there is a LG, a SSG and a GL. The LG is obviously a weapon that plays a critical role, but it's placed in an exposed location that requires a bit of manouevring to get to.

Visually, Miiimiiic has a classic Q3 deathmatch feeling - it has a lava pit, and fog-o-death pit, the fiery red sky (which we all turn off anyway) and grey stone walls. It looks good, and plays fast and smooth. I'd have to say that this map is my favourite CPM map to play at the moment, especially if you have to play bots. I hope we get to see some demos on it because it promotes good gameplay imo.

Luckily, I have a demo here for you to show off the map in action. What's more, it is the pov of the map author, Centaura, and he's playing the lead programmer of CPM, PhaNToM. Centaura is actually one of New Zealand's finest duellers, so he's well qualified to make a duel map. His demo also reveals a number of tricks and tactics which help to introduce the map and make me think that perhaps it should be more common for map authors to release demos of themselves playing their own maps. In this case, I learnt from watching the demo that you can lob genades over the wall into the YA area, and that you can double-jump from both sides of the LG to it, using small ledges. Check it out.

Weapons - 2x RL, LG, GL, SSG.
Armor - 1x YA, 8x shards.
Health - 1x 50h, 6x 25h, 7x globes.
Powerups/Items - 1x MH.