The Tain

StoneHeart Returns was a really well done (and fun) map originally created by Gimpmask, but speaking as someone who has played Baak's update of the map HUNDREDS of times over the past couple years of it's development and fine-tuning, I think I am very qualified to say that Baak's modifications / enhancements have increased the funosity quotient of this map by at least 100%.

Lots of different team/unit combinations, optimized for Rocket Dorf Fest, new innovative gameplay on the frenzy/cage meshes with their randomly slamming gates (which can be both frustrating and very fun), and the reinforcements that arrive even if all your units have been killed are a great boon for people who tend to die early in multiplayer games (or so I have heard) - the reinforcements also add an interesting strategic wrinkle to most game types. There's really a lot here, that you don't see at first glance, like the unit-killing wrath of baak that punishes anyone breaking the truce at the start of a match (can be turned on or off by selective difficulty settings) [The truce is to keep Rocket Dorfs from wiping each other out in the first few seconds of a match], and other fun things - you really need to get the map and play the different meshes to appreciate all that's in this map.

Summary: Originally a really good map made way more fun by Baak's enhancements.

I find stoneheart RDF to be one of the most fun plugins to play, here's why.

1. The contrast between the cramped middle section and the open outside of the map makes every gametype worthwhile and different.

2. The cramped middle makes for numerous WTF moments as you double, get doubled/tripled etc. Invisible duffs only adds to the mayhem.

3. RDF relies on its big explosions, but there's definately some serious skill in it that the casual lurker may not see at first glance. Learning the new ins and outs is fun!

I genuinely believe this is fully worth a 5 rating.

3 stars