File:DMAS04 - LavaBox

Description
At first glance, this level is simply what it says on the tin. There is a giant pit of Lava in the middle contained in a box contained in a symmetrical room with the main difference being the placement of the highest level platforms. There is a moving platform over the pit of Lava that allows for navigation from one side to another, including being the only normal way (AKA without exploits such as Rocket Jumps) to get to the platform with the End Tunnel (plus the Thunderbolt, Ring of Shadows, and Quad Damage).

However, this level does have two enemies in it (for some reason Gregory A. Macmartin likes throwing two enemies in each Deathmatch level). As usual, the Enemy counter is messed up due to one being a Rotfish. Also, as usual, the Enemies in this Deathmatch level serve no real challenge due to the large amount of Ammo and Powerups given.

The Rocket Launcher platform can be a bit frustrating. Though somewhat difficult to navigate (as seen in the video), that is not my complaint with the platform. What I didn't bother showing off in the video was the frustrating back, where it is possible to get stuck between the wall and the platform. Such frustrating geometry, especially in a Deathmatch level where it can be unavoidable (see Spiral of Degeneration), can make the level more annoying than it would otherwise be. In normal navigation, it wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that Deathmatch has no normal navigation, it is a requirement to be designed to give the player choice. Getting stuck on the geometry due to being knocked back by an opponent is never a good choice.

Also, this level is advertised as being good for Tourney based games. I would agree with that assessment, this level is very small and thus ideal for two players. It is also advertised that this map is good for those that are on a modem (meaning worse than an Internet connection). That assessment I am not so sure about. The initial rendering of the map would be better as it is smaller, but the level is rather open and all the action is focused in one room. When the map cannot cache anything, instead having to be constantly updating all entities due to it being visible in a single room, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually caused more lag to play this style of map to a corridor runner such as DMAS02.

Overall, this is a tourney style map with one room. As exploration is one of my main interests in playing these, that means that this level offers little to satisfy my palate. Furthermore, the ramps can be a little annoying to navigate and the area behind the Rocket Launcher makes this map stick out as having frustrating geometry. Perhaps I would have been more interested in the concept of a LavaBox if it hadn't already been done, albeit better, in Darmack.