10,000 FEET UNDER

Title: 10,000 FEET UNDER
Link: http://www.gamemaps.com/details/2594
Author(s): Nigel Moran
Survivors: L4D2
Notes: One map beta of an unfinished campaign.

This is a bit of a weird one. 10,000 FEET UNDER only exists as a single map that clocks in at a very average length, being beatable in six or seven minutes. The first time I played this was in a multi-campaign mash-up of various incomplete campaigns. This campaign didn't work in that setting though because it featured a guy who shot at the survivors, which isn't prevalent in this original map.

As far as campaign settings go, I actually like this one. It's got a hazy daytime feel and it has a decent mixture of grassy areas with some industrial outposts and buildings. What's odd is that this actually kind of works in a strange way. There's definitely some promise of what could have been. It handles a nice balance between events and boss fights and there are never any fuck-you spots. Things look blocky and beta-esque of course, and there isn't that layer of polish that's expected of finished campaigns. The nav mesh in particular is horrendously broken, as the bots will rarely pick anything up, but there are enough supplies for you to take yourself.

I think the nicest thing I can say about this is that it looks pretty good for a beta. It's decently balanced, doesn't have any spots that dick you over, and while it definitely doesn't feel finished, it shows potential for what it could have been and I was genuinely curious to see where it would go. Unfortunately the bot nav being broken and the fact that it's just a single map means you probably don't want to waste your time trying it out and downloading it, but in terms of first attempts, this could have been a lot worse. One thing that did annoy me though was how late into the map it gives you a primary weapon (about halfway through), which is odd considering there's an ammo pile right from the beginning. I had to fight a tank with only a magnum and a molotov. Otherwise, nothing terribly dickish to report.

Difficulty: The fact that this gives you primaries only halfway through might be seen as a pain, but it gives you melees and magnums right off the bat, so it's kind of mediated. This is very average in terms of difficulty, perhaps even on the easy side since you're mostly in open areas. Not a challenge for experienced players.

Final Verdict: This shows potential for a decent full campaign that was never released. As a final product, it's serviceable at best, annoying at worst because of the broken nav. It might be interesting if you're curious about some unfinished beta maps, but since it's so short and lacks polish, there's really no point in trying this out.

Rating: 2.95/5. 
59 buildings on fire out of 100.