H2H5 / [H2H5] Round Robin | Round 1 | Match 1

Well this certainly was a good matchup... I'd like to thank my team for making such a nice park and the Hurricanes for doing the same. This looks to be a great round (although the vote doesn't really reflect that atm ). One thing I'd like to do is respond to the people who feel that this park is morally wrong in some way or that this theme shouldn't even be attempted. I'm sorry but I really think that is a really pointless reason to not like this piece of work.

@Gwazi- I think you're really splitting hairs and should just try to delve into this park without nitpicking it so much. You made a ground zero theme in your PT, I might add and I don't really appreciate you using the word "celebrate" when that wasn't the intention of this park just as it wasn't in your park. Sorry if I seem like a bad sport but I think you guys really need to try to appreciate this as a good piece of work just like people managed to do with past things like Battlefield RCT, Escape from Rockwood Prison and others. It's fun rcting and while it doesn't have to be your cup of tea, I don't think you should make it out like some moral issue. It's a harmless simulation game, not some morbid fantasy ><.


That said I took a look at both parks as objectively as possible and here are my general thoughts

Our park
Pros- awesome hacks and architecture, some really creative ride ideas, sculptures (like the chessboard) really make this a unique and fun park. Peeps added to the fun factor and I can just sit back and watch the trebuchet ride alone. This was a big inspiration for me guys so thank you.
Cons- for a hacked park it is a little on the bland side and the space area was a little weaker than I had hoped

Hurricanes
Pros- it was pretty well put together and there were some nice rides, architecture was great and the peeps added a lot. I loved the EiFall tower sculpture and ride idea and the asian architecture was really good. I had fun exploring the park even though it didn't take that long. Most of it fit together well.
Cons- the "show" wasn't that amazing to me sorry, just felt like a last minute idea to justify the middle lake. Poor park layout, everything was smashed around the edges and the space wasn't used to its maximum potential. Less was there than I expected when I really took a look. Imo a pretty played out theme, "around the world in 80 tiles" might win some hearts over but it was lacking imo... really the whole park was a little stale. To be perfectly blunt this park felt like it was built with the sole pupose of "beating the other team" in mind. There was also some pretty bad style clash. I can appreciate this semi realistic style but only when it is done by one person (namely, 5dave =P) so this park didn't come together due to different versions of the same style.

But really, it decent park and I'm not trying to smash it to bits. It was just... I dunno..... boring compared to ours. It's giving us a run for our money though (we might go broke ) so good job and good luck with your future works. As said before, if this round is any guide, there should be some good things to come. I think both teams deserve credit for getting two very nice and complete parks in.

Hurricanes ftw. Here's why:

Elementalists seemed cluttered- overly detailed in some places, but lacking in others- confusing, in a way- however, some of the castle was nice and the blitz area was cool, I always wanted to do one of those

Hurricanes- simple, but elegant- nice architecture, overall presented nicely- uses small map size much better than the elementalists- I especially liked the morocco section and russia, very well done- almost forgot, cool show

Edited by Cocoa, 17 April 2009 - 06:59 PM.

So... Reviews!

Art of War
Pros:
--Great Concept
--Awesome Hacks
--Creative Ideas
--WW2 Area
Cons:
--Space Area
--Archy
--Bareness
--Hacks

Yes, I put hacks in both... I feel that the park seemed based on the hacks, and just the acts. To me, the archy seemed like an afterthought, and everything could be more organized. I understand that it's ruined buildings and such, but it could be so much more organized. Still, the ideas are great, like the trebuchet and the planes in the D-Day area. I just wish you guys didn't rely so much on the hacks...

World Showcase
Pros:
--Archy
--Detailing, in some areas
--Fireworks Show
--Rides, mainly the invert, the spinner, and the drop tower.
Cons:
--Style clash
--Foliage, in some places
--Archy, in some areas
--"Pointless Rides," which I agree w/ RRP on...
This, even if I wasn't a Hurricane, would be my pick. I like the general aesthetics more than in Art of War, and it seems to offer more to me and capture my attention more. However, the style clash can be pretty awkward in places. Whoever built it should've taken some time to make sure the areas might have flowed a bit more. Some areas are also more bare than others, which can look odd. However, this captures my attention more, and would get my vote if I could vote...

OLE, i didn't say i didn't like it, i just said i don't think it should be done.

Ground Zero was merely a testing site/facility, not a warzone. weapons were the theme, not war. imo there's a difference. weapons are just modern technology (granted, they are used to kill people, which is very wrong), while war is the actual act of killing. the actual killing of people and the process of it (showing fights going on, etc.) seems wrong to me. i don't think Ground Zero is free of any immorality, but i feel its better than going full blown war. plus, Ground Zero was originally meant to be a moon-themed area.

and i do appreciate it, i think its really well done and a really cool park like i said. just that a full out war theme kinda got to me, cuz of some people i know/knew that went to war, some of which didn't come back. i feel maybe if the park hadn't been peepable i wouldn't feel so strongly about it, but watching people go through the battle scenes almost as soldiers and seeing moments where they would die was what sparked it for me.

and i don't understand how a world showcase theme is played out when its only been done this way once before and on a very small scale.

Edited by Gwazi, 17 April 2009 - 07:13 PM.

I voted Hurricanes on this as well. To be honest, I wasn't blown away by either park, but that certainly doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy them.

I'm gonna agree with Gwazi concerning art of War. Milo, I'm sorry if you think that this is a stupid argument, but I really felt like the whole D-Day section kept me from enjoying the park more. Of course war themes have been done before (there's been stuff even more morbid than that), but for some reason I felt like it wasn't done the right way. I just feel like it would have been better to have a generalized battlefield area. You could have used all of the same stuff, just without the D-Day idea attached. The rest of the park was pretty cool, but I just couldn't get into it much. I think for me, most of the fun in RCT is imagining what the park would be like in real life. I really couldn't do that here, as such a park would never exist. So, I guess the fair way to put this is that I appreciated this park, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

The Hurricanes park was pretty good, I'd say. I do feel the same way as Milo, though, with regards to the park being built just to beat the other park. It's kind of the "oh this has been done a million times, but if we do it well enough we can probably get enough votes for the win." Well, you got my vote, because for the most part, things were executed perfectly. The archy was nice, the themes were developed well enough to hold my attention, and the invert was good. I felt like the virginia reel was built just for the hell of it, and then covered up in some trackitecture for aesthetic value. The LIM was pretty damn weak, too. I did, however, love the Viking ride.

Overall, great start to H2H5. Like Dirt said, if the season continues like this, we're in for something great.

I didn't care for either park particularly, but voted for The Hurricanes since I thought the park was executed better on the whole.

i felt both parks let down from the screens posted, but in the end the elementalists let me down so much more than the hurricanes so unfortunately kumba gets my vote.

Well it's clear that I have a very different view of rct and all I'll really say on the matter is that I don't believe that for an rct work to be good it has to emulate everything in real life or even be a "park" that I can see myself riding the rides in, it just has to allow me to immerse myself into the theme. World Showcase didn't offer that to me at all. And country themes have been done a lot Gwazi, maybe not in this EPCOT style but I didn't find much innovation here, which is something I have to see.


I guess I'm being such a debbie downer because I forsee a lot of the season going this way for us now that things have ended up this way.... it's fucking depressing but personally, I'm not going to just roll over.... far from it.

overviews link to main forum page instead of... the downloads I guess

Fixed, they were supposed to link to the zoomed in aerials.

13 to 3? fucking weak. Whatever, Ill check the other one out when I get home.

I thought both parks were well done. But im a fantasy guy myself so even if i wasnt on one team and if i could vote i would of gone for AOW. The hacks are superb and there some great ideas in there.

As for the war theme, games and war go hand in hand pretty much. FPS and RTS are probably the most popular genres. And theme parks to a degree incorperate shooting/wars with shooting rides and simulators. AoW is just an extension of this really.

But your entitled to your opinion just as im entitled to disagree with it

But whatever the thoughts on the theme i dont feel 13-3 is at all an accurate representation of the quality of the parks

Since most of the elements of both parks have already been discussed, I won't waste anyone's time with yet another 'review' of them.

This was a surprisingly difficult choice for me as I thought that both parks were pretty well executed and that they both had some very strong points and few weak points. I had to go back and check them both rather thoroughly a second time before I could really decide.

But, the Hurricanes entry ended up with my vote for one reason.

Two words..................Turkey Legs. I LOVE turkey legs.

It seems as though the votes don't represent the parks, 15-4 seems weird for something that was so close to judge.
It's a shame as I guess it comes down to preference over realism vs fantasy which given the current trend at ne, realism is always going to take the crown.

*sigh* yeah... I think I speak for the team when I say we thought we'd be more competitive than the way it has gone so far.... it's just the risk of doing fantasy these days I guess.

Tomorrow's another day . or something like that lol

dude, no names

lol if he puts in his name there, its obvious for me..

Hands down Hurricanes, really great park!
Oh and look at that beautiful screen:



The Elementalists' park was really great too, but some parts I didn't like and that
doesn't happen in the Hurricanes' one.

Really nice presentation for these parks guys, well done.

I didn't find this hard at all. A spaceman? Frozen? On top of a shop? Got my vote.

ART OF WAR gotted my vote.
just brilliant.

I voted Hurricanes.
The concept isn't very new, but it was well executed here, with creativity and style.
The Elementalists' park was technically good, but had no atmosphere at all, not even a creepy one (or whatever would be appropriate for a war theme). And for me that matters most.