H2H7 / [H2H7 Round 5 Match 3] - Heaven's Atlas vs Manual Laborers

Do your fucking job Austin!

The shirts thing was used in Atlantis resort aswell for the Same result so i liked seeing it here aswell, really adds to the atmosphere

If you're unable to view Heaven's Atlas's park because you don't have rctll, I'm giving away a free GOG copy of it which is compatible with the Drexler patch.

Poll is live! And I'm sure the creators would be interested in reading some more reviews. Last H2H match for the next couple of weeks!

4 reviews in 24 hours....

This was the toughest matchup for me to vote on.

Although Costa del Maya was slightly unfinished I found myself enjoying it more and spending more time finding new things than I did on Seven Wonders.

Costa del Maya

Didn't seen a water park in H2H before. It's refreshing to see, especially with this hot weather  The idea of exit huts as tents is brilliant. I also liked the lazy river, for me the ride when visiting a water park! Too bad it's kinda unfinished. The coaster that lacks supports on some parts, bare spots... A shame because it really has potential. 

neither park felt like they had much polish, felt like lots of hard work was done but we were missing those last 2 hours of refinement

I've heard both parks are 'Colorfloods', which explains the lack of refinement.

I say color you say flood

Color

Seven wonders:

 

The concept isn't the most original but still it's a nice way of weaving together a few classical themes. Overall it's got a nice lively feel even without peeps. Busy but in a good way. Some beautiful bits but then some quite messy unrefined stuff too.

 

Loved the entrance area/Greece. Unusual architecture style for Greece but it looked fun and unique. Great mix of foliage, flowers and all the little white statues/pillars. I found the Collossos and Zeus sculptures quite ugly though I'm afraid.

 

Egypt was great in terms of theming/architecture/foliage etc, but the path just kind of skimmed through it and was so far away from the coaster which let it down a bit.

 

Anatolia was beautiful with really clean architecture but didn't have the same busy, fun vibes as Greece. It looked great on its own but contrasted the other areas too much in how open and peaceful it was.

 

Herostratus was great. Layout was nothing mind blowing but it fit into the surroundings really well and there were some cool moments like the arch over the path and the turnaround near the entrance.

 

Babylon area was a bit too messy for my liking. A bit more clarity with the structure of the gardens and a tighter colour/texture palette would have helped. The water coaster was cool but could have done with a splash section before the second lift. I loved how it was quite long and adventurous though. Had a really old school, don't give a fuck about realism RCT feel to it. The codexed pyramid tops were nice too of course.

 

 

Costa:

 

I loved that you made a waterpark, great to see so many unique rides. Concept wise I prefer it to the Atlas' park. The ancient ruins theme feels really believable for a waterpark too. In general there's a lot of empty areas, the entrance area in particular. I'm assuming this is because it's a little unfinished. 

 

The parks layout was really nice and obviously well planned out - Mountain in the middle with a waterfall and pool in front, circular path and lazy river around the edge. Simple but really effective and believable. Looked great when zoomed out. Great colour pallet with the pale paths, bright water, lush green foliage and brown ruins.

 

Good use of landscaping. I've not seen a landscaped waterpark like this with 'terrain' rides/slides before. This was the parks highlight for me, even though the execution of the landscaping was a bit raw/bare in places. There's a lot of great details though like the big arched tunnels and the waterfall/rope bridge.

 

Rides all looked great because of the clever terrain interactions. Good job making all the slides different from each other too. Some evocative naming too, like the three snakes: cobra, python and diamondback.

 

The soaker coaster looked great. Love the chunky supports with the canvas covers. The suspended coaster was good too. I don't know waterparks very well but a suspended coaster with open cars seems a sensible choice for wet, half nude peeps.

 

Overall what's there is really strong there's just a lot of bare spots on the paths and landscaping holding it back. It had the potential to be one of my favourite parks though and I'm leaning more towards this park rather than the Seven Wonders.

Do your fucking job Austin!

 

 

I'M TRYING DAMNIT

 

HOW DO YOU OPEN THE RESTRIANTS ON A WATER SLIDE

^You should have thought about that before taking the job!

I say color you say flood

Color

 

flood 

Costa Del Maya:

 

This park was just ok for me.  The overload of brown in both the peeps and the rides just didn't work for me and created an overall ugly park to look at.  Especially considering so much of the park was empty in terms of scenery and foliage.  

 

Overall, it reminded me a lot of DW's Blizzard Beach, expect brown.  I quite liked the diagonal canvas awnings, which added a unique sense of realism to the park.  These objects should really be used more, as they help break the grid and offer some cool opportunities with queues and such.  It was also nice to see the slide ride in use, definitely lots of potential here.  My favorite area definitely was the collection of ride huts disguised as changing tents.  The Roller Soaker ride was also very cool and nicely placed over the lazy river (which was also cool).  

 

However, some of the backstage areas confused me in this park.  They were all really boring, and seemed to be shoved in where there really wasn't room.  The sewage outflow was probably the only backstage part that I liked, it was very well done.  Kind of disappointing overall that this didn't get a proper finishing, although the map size and park layout seemed to limit this parks potential a lot.  I would love to see a fully sized version of this sometime in the future, especially now that we have all these nice water rides.

 

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World:

 

Very solid LL park with a cool concept.  All the actual wonders were nicely implemented and constructed.  The Colossus at Rodes was especially cool, kind of would of preferred if this was over the entrance of the park, but oh well.  

 

Each of the areas was nicely done, solid use of theme and believably for me.  Kind of a shame we have already seen a park with the hanging Gardens this season as it was done very well here.  Not really much to say honestly other than its solid LL, great concept and good execution.  Just seems to be a lot of missed potential.  You could of possibly made the park year between 247-226 as those where when all Seven Wonders existed at the same time.  The positioning of the wonders could also have been better.  

 

I would have put Colossus over the entrance with the Lighthouse near it.  Put the pyramids in their own area on the side (possibly over a river from the rest of the park like were/are IRL).  Then placed the Temples in more central locations with more focus on them, rather then scattered around the park like they seem to be.  Ahhh, it almost angers me.  So much potential here for something really special, again, I would love to see this in a full scale map with more time put into it.

 

 

To me Seven Wonders was easily the better park.  Costa could have been if it was more finished, but I simply cant vote for an unfinished park when its going up against a seeming polished park like Seven Wonders.

 

Congrats to both teams for making the playoffs, not sure who we are going to face just yet, but good luck to both teams!

I actually really enjoyed costa. It was really beautiful, and the curved monorail wall work was IMPECCABLY done. Very clean and well made. I appreciated the land variation and the small steps up and down to different areas. The hacks were also quite nice and I liked how interactive some of these slides were. Very good organization and looked well planned.

The atmosphere was a bit lacking though, I think it was the overuse of tan and beige that kind of made things look to bland. I would suggest being more strategic in making sure you have a good mix of colors or at least more accent colors to make the park stand out more. The awnings were a good touch but the color choice was bizarre for me and didn't add to the atmosphere as well as it could have.

There were also some floating peeps and some ride raft returns that looked weird going up a pedestrian staircase.

Overall I would love to see you guys finish it though, it was a lovely park with some great bits here and there.

I voted for Costa because I thought it was executed better than 7 wonders. I disliked the statues in 7 wonders, just didn't think they were executed well enough and some of the trackitecture didn't jive with me as well. For me 7 wonders was the weakest park in this round. I wasn't too awed in either one but Costa has the slight edge for me. A bit of a lackluster round, but it doesn't matter because both teams are in the finals no matter what.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Concept:
And yet another similar concept in H2H. First the Hanging gardens, now all the seven wonders of the ancient world. It's not the most original concept again so I'm kinda dissapointed because all the other concepts of HA's were relatively fresh to some extent.
Macro (Park Impression):
From above the park looks nice, has great colors and an easy layout. I just feels kinda outdated, but I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it's because it doesn't really offer something new for LL like we've seen recently with a lot of unique hacks, unique themes, inventive codex stuff or peep-ability.
Rides:
Herostratos is the first eyecatcher of the park. Feels very oldschool somehow with the vertical drop and the woody supports. The layout itself is solid - really like the diagonal part of it and the queue is good as well. The hanging gardens waterride was also very impressive. Loved the whole structure, although it was REALLY huge and the ride felt very long somehow. But I really liked it! Slave, eehm great labout felt rather short and would have been good if 2 rounds were possible, but I guess that's not doable in LL. The flat rides weren't that spectecular, although the maze underneath the pyramid was a good idea!
Architecture:
MY favorite area was the hanging garden section, really how I imagined the hanging gardens to be. Also the Mausoleum (even though that was not as impressive as it could have been) or the Artemis temple. Also I liked the fact that every area has a very distinctive style.
Micro (Details):
The park has some nice details - the dolphins in the water or the use of the sphinx and pyramid parts. While the statues were understandable for the most part, they were kinda ugly IMO. But I don't know how to improve them so I guess it's ok It's pity doesn't offer something really exciting in terms of innovation or peepability, but it's a classic LL effort with some modern touches so kudos to that.

Costa del Maya
Concept:
First off - a water park is always nice and not seen that often, especially if its working well. Also it's nice to see X0135asdf1246's new water rides as well. The mayan setting didn't convince me that much because it was just decoration and no real immersive theme imo. Most of the rides could have any other theme and naming - and they for some part have some generic names as well. I also think the unfinishedness hurts the park and is a pity so late in the season, but that can happen.
Macro (Park Impression):
The park feels very brown with only a few water slides being a splash of coloro. I wished there were more bright yellow, blue or even white slides in the park that didn't blend in at all and attract more attention from afar than the currently used colors. The foliage is also a weak spot in the park, but I guess it's rushed to make it look more finished in the end. Height elevations and general composition looks nice, though! Also great to see white paths throughout the whole park, everything else would be torture walking on barefoot.
Rides:
The slides were believable and well executed, but also not very exciting. There could have been more exciting slides like a half pipe, a slide with a jump, master blaster, one of those bowl slides and maybe even a looping slide. That's what I liked about Calypso quay and that's what's hurting this park a little. It doesn't do anything new in terms of ride when it could have judged by the current state of RCT and those new custom rides. I really appreciate what is there but it bugged me to see yet another water park that didn't go all the way. The swinging coaster was kinda strange being the only non-water ride in the park.
Architecture:
The only more or less impressive structure was the mayan temple and the restaurant(?) next to it, but I must say it was kinda misplaced. It always bothers me when there are iconic structures in the park facing the backside of it. Why would a mayan temple - the main icon of the park obviously - with the two most exciting rides not face the park entrance? Please think more of a peeps perspective. Think about what you want to see when walking through the park. It's not a short boring slide, or a wave pool. It's a mayan pyramid with nearly vertical drop slides! Think about that! The station of Chac's challenge was nice - really liked that! Wave-pool terraces were awesome as well.
Micro (Details):
The canyons at the sidewinder slide were a nice idea, but the object choices made it hard to recognize. The racing slide had a nice feel to it with the finish line and the viewing platforms next to it. The park makes advantage of the terrain pretty well with terraces, bridges and platforms everywhere, so that's a huge plus as well. There's not a lot of details to see IMO, but things like lifeguard chairs, sun loungers and the backlot pump station were nice touches. All in all the park has a nice idea behind and also some very good approaches, but left a lot to be desired.

"MFG"

Voting Closed
 

Heaven's Atlas beat Manual Laborers

 

Heaven's Atlas vote count: 13 (76.47%)

 

Manual Laborers vote count: 4 (23.53%)

 

Seven Wonders was made by Liampie(93%), Ride6 (5%) and BigShooterGill (2%)
Costa de Maya was made by inthemanual(65%), lightkeeper(34%), and Disneylandian192(1%).