Opening Thoughts:
When you ae making a puzzle focused map and decide that to add weight you will need a story, there is usually only one way you will go. You are *insert generic name here* being hled against your will by *insert scary name here* and you must complete puzzles to escape, possibly uncovering some sort of horrible secret along the way. It's never going to be fresh again and as such one must try to have fun with this setup in order to avoid the fall into bring monotemy... And The Orbs of Illusion is probably the best take on this tired system I have seen in a long time.
Visuals:
ost of this map is spent underground in a series of varying challenge rooms, but rather than just being a sucession of stone rooms the theme of this map (collecting 4 orbs of illusion each representing a different element) has allowed to creator to make each orbs area a very different look, brown dirt in the ground area, water and Lazuli Lapis in the Water temple and obsidian and lava in the fire area. These changes in style are all visually pleasing as well as being very indicative of the challenges. I'd also like to make special mention of the boss areas which are huge cavereous areas that are a true marvel to behold, you can see the hours of work and care that have gone into making them unique.
[9.5/10]
Challenge:
This is a difficult map, it has no issue with forcing you to redo challenges and can at times be a hard taskmaster. But the difficulty never stops making this map fun. Each time I screwed up a challenge I just wanted to grit my teeth and go at it again and as such it works perfectly in rewarding sucess, but not putting the boot to the face of those who fail
[4.5/5]
Length:
This map is not complete so I feel bad making any comments on the length, but for what is there the length seems to be humming along nicely, the framing of the story doesn't feel dragged out and padded, which makes me intrigued enough to keep reading and again the puzzzles are only as long as they need to be, never over staying their welcome.
[4/5]
Story:
As I said in my opening thoughts the idea of escaping an evil puzzle master will never be fresh again, but this story goes along way to make it enjoyable. The references to harry potter, the banter between your guy and the other trapped man and the premise in its self are all interesting and funny so that I enjoyed every dialouge portion. I look forward to seeing how it ends.
[8/10]
Puzzle Variety:
I could spennd 5 paragrahps talking about every puzzle but I think all that needs to be said is this, every puzzle in this game is differnt, every puzzle forces you to think in a new way so that you might progress. None of them ever feel monotomous and as though they are dragging and most importantly of all every single one of them is fun, so I can give no high recomendation.
[9.5/10]
Things That Need Improvement:- Finishing the thing.
- Some of the later lava traps (the ceiling ones) become impossible to traverse once you get through.
- The check point kept sending me back to the start of the water area despits being in the lava zone.
Things That Neeed No-Improvement:- Everything else
Final Thoughts:As a reviewer I don't want to say this is a perfect , none ever are. But it is probably the most fun I've had on any minecraft map so if you think my opinion is worth a dan give it a whirl. I can prmise you will have fun.
Percentage Score: 93%
Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/532795-wipadvparkour-†the-orbs-of-illusion†-700-dls/page__p__7026514__fromsearch__1#entry7026514
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