Dieppe is an interesting medium-sized DM/TDM map by the well-known mapper Mj. Presumably based on the events of August 19th, 1942 - when an Allied seaborne invasion of this town miserably failed, this map doesn't offer many leads to confirm so. It does however feature a marvellously architectured town, with plenty of narrow streets and alleys to fight about.
Presentation / Technical
Most of all this map shows its creator is a master of complex architecture. All buildings are built at odd angles instead of the all too familiar 90 degrees corners found in almost any map out there. It certainly helps to liven up the map and makes it look just that bit more natural. The author has also made significant height differences in the streets, a very nice touch for sure.
Apart from these two aspects I have to mention the awesome detail found at some places in the maps. To mention but a few: I found a very original snake 'statue', some walls have individually mapped bricks, there are cobwebs at dark places, and the walls are littered with ivy. All of this leaves me no choice but to give the highest available mark for architecture, and it is well deserved.
The texture work is good enough to get the job done, though not much more than that. A few custom textures were used, which is always a good thing, but their usage is too insignificant to give this map its own atmosphere. Some more textural variety would have made this map look considerably more natural. Nevertheless I found no major texture errors so this map still gets a decent mark for texturing.
The map is set at night, which leaves some challenge to get the lighting right. The lighting I found has 2 small problems: there is too much of it and it is too colourful. During wartime the first to break are the street lights, so I found it disturbing to find them all alight. This is even worsened by the bright colouring of the lights, which inevitably makes the map look fake and bland. Fewer point lights and primarily a soft moonlight would have fit this map much better, and not have ruined the atmosphere.
I decided to give a medium score for audio. The positional ambiences such as the radio playing are definately good additions, but the overal battle ambient sound just seems more suitable for a daylight map than this relatively peaceful town.
Performance is moderate to bad when compared to original mohaa maps, but considering that most players by now have far more powerful hardware and the great detail found in this map to make up for the lower framerates I don't think this is a big issue. Some vising could have improved performance considerably, but it isn't really needed.
For the technical aspects this leaves only the scripting to be reviewed. The script contains nothing special really, but the map just doesn't need a fancy script either. Hence an average mark here.
Playability / Game Flaws
Much to my pleasure I've had the chance to give this map a playtest with a handful of players. Sadly there are few open spaces where combat naturally concentrates, leaving mostly occasional skirmishes and no larger battles. However this map can still be good fun with the right players and a roadmap to find your way in the mazy alleys and erratically constructed buildings. You will mostly experience close to very close range combat, as there is little opportunity to get a clear long-range shot.
I found a few drawbacks that would classify as game flaws. Most notably the spawn points of both teams are all placed very closely together which makes gameplay unnecessarily monotonuous. Also I found the Allies have a definite advantage, as their spawnpoints provide better cover opportunities and allow them to engage the Axis from a superior position. Finally I must note the numerous doors, which sometimes open towards you, pushing you aside. Even though real doors can only open to one side, this detracts from the playability: you will be forced to fight doors instead of players.
Conclusion
All-in-all Dieppe is a very original map, excelling in its phenomenal architecture but lacking a true war atmosphere. Playability and fun are at a medium level, with seemingly insufficient thought gone into gameplay. Nevertheless it is well worth a download, even if it were only to admire the breathtaking detail found literally everywhere.
