Can I just start by saying that this was absolutely THE most enjoyable campaign map that I have played? It was really that good. The detail is astonishing, the gameplay is very enjoyable and was (at most times) very balanced. I often found myself in awe of the detail. It's something i've personally never quite experience in a Left 4 Dead map. I played this all on solo. Not on co-op. That is saying quite a bit, considering how boring solo can sometimes be in L4D. This map was also very memorable. I am sure to play it plenty more in the coming months. I also can't wait to experience it in co-op and versus.


I want to start with some of the things I loved. First off, this map felt just like a real city. I've never been to SF myself, but damn does this feel real. The objective is simple : reach alcatraz for extraction. Throughout the entire map, you see your objective, and constantly I was inspired to reach it. This map also had some pretty funny momemts through my playthrough. I start the map and I instantly get trolled by a big ♥♥♥ tank storming down the hallway and falcon punching me out the window, thus killing me. The starting hotel has plenty of doors to open, but I felt very rushed and was disappointed I didn't get a chance to open every door. Although there was one door I did get to open... (I highly recommend you don't read this part if you haven't yet played through the campaign) I was minding my own business, checking doors for supplies near the howitzer, when I come across a bloody room with gears all over the room (not sure if the gears are a part of the map or one of my mods) and red text on my screen with a skull beside it. Kinda scared me, to be honest. Well, anyways, I grabbed one of the gnomes and continued through the map, assuming the gnome would eventually lead to another easter egg. Sadly, this hunt ended, as I dropped the gnome on the ground, shot the howitzer, and the gnome launched off into the stratosphere. No secrets for me :(.

The next thing I loved, was the bridge crossing stage. It was difficult, yes, but also very thrilling and exciting. I enjoyed jumping cars and sometimes finding military trucks full of valuable supplies. That scene had my heart pounding, as my teammates were constantly being pounced and/or ridden. There were also plenty of medikits, but I was loosing more health than what I was getting, as the alarm reset was far from where I was. The jets passing overhead had me tense, and sliding down the snapped bridge was very new and an exciting thing to see.


(Now obviously, this is something that is a flaw with L4D's mechanics, not the map itself. Just something to keep in mind. I didn't rate the map any lower because of this :).) This map really loves witches. Like there are, what felt like, three witches at each stage. The wandering witches were constantly blocking tight corridors, forcing me to sacrifice Rochelle again and again. There were also lots of tanks, but the tanks were certainly not as common as the witches, and I feel, balanced out the map. Next, on my playthrough, the game decided to accumulate a strange addiction of Combat Rifles, Tactical Shotguns, and Combat Snipers. Only a few times did I see the Hunting Rifle, the M-16, and the Combat Shotgun. In fact, the M-16 was extremely rare, that I only saw it after having died 4-5 times, which leads me to my next point...

Minor spoilers on the cons. Suggest you don't read if you haven't played the map yet.

4/5 Maps are balanced. The second stage is a huge difficulty spike. This caused about an hour 1/2 long map to take me close to three hours, simply because of the amount of times that I died (obviously because of terrible bots, but I know that there are lots of people who still prefer to play singleplayer, so something to keep in mind). On about the third death, I saw 2-3 M-16's, only to never seen them again. I finally got through the level on my fourth or fifth try. The reason this level was so difficult? A small run through a tight corridor. It instantly throws all the commons possible on you, and they all spawn instantly, directly infront of you. Even if you get through the commons, you have to watch out for boomers camping behind fences, and jockeys waiting on the stairway. The bots are terrible at killing jockeys. This is how I died about 3/4 times, was due to a jockey. I constantly felt like I needed to save a boomer bile for this section. There sometimes is also a throwable item that spawns beside the door. Well, if I try to pick it up, the door opens alongside it, causing me to panick. It is this level that I dread. There is a building before the beach with lots of turrets and supplies inside of it. When I saw it, I instantly knew that there would be a holdout, where we would have to set off an alarm, or wait for a door to open. I got set up, grabbed my favourite gun, placed items around strategically, and looked for a switch. There was none. I got confused, thought the map was glitched. All the biles, ammo piles, and turrets had me convinced a horde was going to come. This is only an area to pass by, and to grab some quick supplies. Another problem I had with the building, is the bots had a lot of difficulty picking up some of the items, specifically medi-kits. There is a medi-kit placed hanging from a bookshelf in this building that was invisible to the bots. There was also a medi-kit in the bathroom, that the bots also could not see. Of course, this does not apply to co-op, but it is frusturating to us solo players.

Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't make this level boring. In fact, I loved the level. I'm sure you will love it in co-op, or if you don't suck as much as I do. Even still, this level is particularily beautiful, with tons of detail. It was very interesting, and even had some small seperate routes you could take. Now, the dialogue choice in this map as a whole is brilliant. It feels like a Valve map, with Coach sometimes stating the distance the bridge was away from them, and Nick being disgusted by a sewer, with the rest of the team teasing him. It all felt very appropriate, and very real. Other custom maps throw the survivors into an area without giving them specific dialogue, breaking the immersion. This map had me immersed, especially with all the San Francisco landmarks placed all around the map.

There were also some spots here and there where the enemy AI had difficulty getting to the survivors. Off the top of my head, I can remember a jockey getting stuck behind the broken wall after shooting it with a howitzer, and a tank being stuck behind an alarm door and eventually dying on its own.

Now the finale. It all felt new and was very exciting to finally explore a new kind of finale. It is, of course set on alcatraz. I won't spoil everything that you do for the finale, though, as I believe it is something you have to experience on your own. I do believe, however, that the finale was very easy, even on advanced. I flew through it first try, even with bots, meaning that I had to pick up all the gas cans on my own. Sadly, this finale did get repetitive by the 7th gas can I had to pick up. Later on, we had a tank after us on the ground, killing two of my teammates, and leaving one down. I didn't feel panicked at all, though, as two defibs were spawned on the ground directly beside us, along with plenty of pills and adrenaline shots to go around. The horde, I feel, is what made the finale easy. The horde was very split up, with long times between hordes, and sometimes having only a few zombies spawning from those hordes. For the pre-finale setup, I feel I would have liked to explore more. It is large, but again, I felt very rushed and like I couldn't fully explore the island of alcatraz. I did love the jukebox at the beginning, and would have loved to see closer to the end, so I could hear it while fighting during the finale, or having the music louder so I can hear it from more than just the safe room. Starting the finale is also very sudden. I feel like there should be a slight delay before letting us open the door, as I opened the door and was disoriented and confused as what to do, as I did not know that the door would start the finale instantly. Perhaps having us briefed early on the way up the elevator would be helpful


Now, don't get me wrong, I still love this map, I just feel it's cons, albeit very minor, need to be pointed out. And after all, it is Left 4 Dead, and Left 4 Dead isnt perfect as a game. Some things simply can't be fixed by mappers. I also understand the amount of time and effort that is required to be put into a map. Not only did this mapper create the map on his/her own, he/she created it over the course of five years! That there shows just how much passion he/she has in his/her map, as well as the amount of detail and polishing this map has in it. I, myself have tried to build a map, but didnt get much further than the first room as I didn't have the time, motivation, or PC specs to continue building the map. This has given me so much more respect for mappers and modders.

Now for the highlights and a verdict :

• Extremely detailed
  
• Very new and exciting
  
• Excellent for co-op
  
• Has replayability
  
• Very balanced (with one exception, of course)
  
• Excellent finale
  
• Immersive
  
• Great dialouge
  
• Real life landmarks!
  
• Most importantly, very fun!

• Small AI issues
  
• Weapon spawning issues(?)
  
• WITCHES X1000
  
• Gives autism to the bots' pathfinding
  
  
  The pros heavily outweigh the cons though. This map is definately one of my favourites, and will be played plenty more by me.
  
  I'd give this map a
  9/10
  9.5/10 on co-op
  
  
  It would easily be a 10/10 if the balancing on the one map was fixed, along with a few other bugs and glitches. As well, I do understand this map is still being tested, and I'm sure they will all be fixed.
  
  
  
  Post your own reviews on this discussion!
  
  
  EDIT : I just had look at the Change Notes and noticed the change of the amount of gas cans in single player (from 13 to 8). In my playthrough, I still had 13 cans. Perhaps this is because I started the map through the console. Just a bug for the author :).