Broadsword asked if there was a track review thread on MX. I asked myself the same question and realised we do lack one! So here it is, hope it will be at least somewhat active.

To save myself time I will just copy (and modify) the opening post from the TMU thread started by "One"

So, with no further adiue:


Made a track? Want it reviewed? Post it here!

To get your track reviewed: All you have to do is review the person's track above you. EG:

Person 1 posts a track.
Person 2 reviews Person 1's track and offers his track for review
Person 3 reviews Person 2's track and offers his track for review
Person 4 reviews Person 3's track and offers his track for review
etc.

You CANNOT Review the track made by the Author who just reviewed yours.

When you review a track: Comment on these criteria so that that person gets a good informative review as to why their track is good\bad and also: That way people will give a review of YOUR track with as much information.

Try to comment on as many of these criterias as possible:

Flow: Flow looks at how smooth the track feels. For example; Are you gliding smoothly around all the corners? Or are you slamming into walls\poles due to poor placement? Are you flying off the end of the track? Do the jumps throw your car into an awkward and unhelpful spin? Now the flow is relative to the track: Sometimes a track is supposed to be a bit bouncy (EG: Dirt road sections in the Stadium) however: If the choppy\bouncy flow has a negative impact on the track: Mention that and state why.

Speed: Speed is once again relative to the track. Some tracks would be better faster, while others are good at being a slower speed. EG: A Island Track should never be the same speed as a Coast Track and vice-versa. However: Do you find yourself spending more time on the breaks due to badly placed booster tracks? Are you over-shooting jumps or checkpoints? Is the track so slow that the corners are easy and dull? Describe how well the speed suits the track. Try to remember that a slow track can sometimes be better than a fast track.

Stunts: Stunts are what seperate Trackmania from Need For Speed. It wouldn't be Trackmania without a loop or a jump somewhere in the track now would it? However, a poorly-placed stunt can seriously disrupt the flow of the track. All tracks are not meant to have stunts, you'll have to judge for yourself whether that is the case for the track you are reviewing. Perhaps it would actually be better without stunts? Comment on the stunts and say whether or not they added anything to the track or if they were only a distraction.

Scenery: Scenery can add a lot to a track. Not only will it make your track look good, but it can be more fun to jump through a loop or over a building than simply to fly through the empty air. Scenery can also clutter up a track too much so that it lags in online-play. Comment on whether or not the Scenery made the track more fun or not.

Media Tracker: If there is MT work, tracks can suffer from bad camera angles, intrusive text or badly used effects. Comment if the track suffers from a lack of Media-Tracker or if it uses it correctly and whether it looks good or not. Media Tracker can be very beautiful when used correctly or very ugly when not.

Difficulty: Let's face it: Trackmania can be a frustrating game. Is the track harder\easier than advertised? Is the track frustrating and too difficult to complete? Is it too easy to get a good time or is there lots of room for improvement to get better and better times? State whether or not the track is too hard\easy for it's own good.

Overall Fun: Sometimes, a track can be too easy, flow like a rockfall, have horrible stunts, have the worst camera angles and absolutely no scenery yet still somehow manage to be an absolute blast to fly around. Rate the track out of 10 and give a final comment as to how fun the track is to drive.

Feel free to add other criterias if you want to comment on something else. And remember, if you enjoyed the track, it is often appreciated if you post your review as an award as well

After reviewing a track, do post your own! Keep the thread alive.

There are just Three more rules that has to be followed

#1) DO NOT TAKE ANY REVIEW PERSONALLY. If somebody says your track sucks: Deal with it, take their advice and build a better track to show them that you can build good tracks.

#2) ONLY POST ONE TRACK AT A TIME FOR REVIEW. Dont just knock up a quick review and then ask for 3 tracks to be reviewed. This works on a 1 by 1 basis where you can only post one track at a time.

#3) PLEASE WRITE AT LEAST ONE SENTENCE FOR EACH CRITERIA. For example: Dont just write: "Speed: No Speed" or "Flow: Good flow". Write what it was that made it good. EG: "The Speed meant suited the wide corners, letting you fly through them at a quick pace!" or "The stunts (especially the jump) were a bit hard and frustrating". This is a thread for constructive criticism, embrace it!

Feel free to PM suggestions of changes in the rules, but don't clog up this thread with a discussion about them

Finally a link to the last thread, so you get an impression of how it works: LINK

I'll start of with this track by broadsword: "Phoenix (MTC) by   broadsword

Flow: This track doesn't have loads of corners intersecting each other, but it does flow nice for what it is, feels lovely to drive. 8/10

Speed: Along with the stunts, The speed is this tracks party piece! Loads of it and it feels so good. I feel like a jet fighter pilot navigating this track. 10/10

Stunts: Really nice, they work superbly well and are spectacular. Biiiiig jumps! But never gives the sense of lost control. 9/10

Scenery: Scenery is nothing special, neither bad or good. 6/10

Media Tracker: Short but nice little intro. Unfortunately none of the custom stuff loaded for me. Outro was still really cool though, love how you sectioned off the screen! Never seen that before. 8/10

Difficulty: With the speed and the stunts you'd expect it to be harder but I made it on my second try! only the jump to quarterpipe to banked road is a bit harder than the rest but it doesn't really matter! I have driven it before though, maybe that changes my view on this a bit. 8/10

Overall Fun: Amazing track, I recommend it to everyone! A real blast to play, thta kind of track that gives you a superb feeling of you being awesome when you drive it! 9/10



I want to have this track reviewed:

Reviewed track is : "Aroused by   Tuta


Flow : A little bit too tricky and tech, not my kind of map sadly. In my honest opinion it could be a little bit smoother on some parts. And also is a little bit too long for me, but that's just a matter of taste. 6/10.

Speed : I think you were looking for tech stuff on this map, not speed. Therefore it's obviously not really speedy, but it's still great. 7/10.

Stunts : They're a little bit floppy sometimes ! 7/10.

Scenery : Even tho it's kinda naked on some parts, it fits great. Could be better tho 7/10.

Media Tracker : Nice intro, i like it, it's smooth. Just how i like intros. 8/10.

Difficulty : Even tho it's not my kind of track it's super great to learn from your mistakes and start it all over again to hunt. 8/10.

Overall fun : It's a great map. Could be better on some points, mostly about the flow and the scenery but imo it's still a superb track. 7.5/10.

Also, i'd like to have my last track reviewed :

My Review of:



Flow:
This track's name should be "Smooth Tantrum" . That's how smooth it is!
Lovely flowing corners with smooth transitions, you are never out of control, perfectly judged.

Speed:
I'm a bit partial to Tech tracks so I was always going to love this one, not too much speed but just enough so that you have to judge your timing not to scrape some walls with the tail of the car.

Stunts:
There are some smooth transitions which fit perfectly with the theme of the track, although none of them are super original (I've seen those transitions in a number of other maps) they are fun to perfect. I particularly like the one where you squeeze between the lamp and the wall on to the drop.

Scenery:
You definitely get the feeling of driving somewhere built with purpose, the scenery is simple but adds to the satisfaction of control, particularly the walls on the lamppost transition and on the transition into sloped slide where you have to watch not to let go too wide. Some walls make the corners much more interesting than they would have been without them. The roofs and simple tunnel pass are a bonus. Just of note are some hanging roads by the cliff sides which look a bit out of place...but that's nitpicking
I would add a few signs to make it super obvious where to aim for in some transitions, mainly for online rounds.

Media Tracker:
There is no MT work, but I don't consider this a problem, I'd rather an author spent that time improving the track itself which he has done :-)

Difficulty:
The track is classified as Intermediate, but I would definitely change this to Beginner. I think it would be great for online rounds where an obvious smooth route always leads to good races. I would also call this a Tech track instead of SpeedTech.

Overall Fun:
Everything about the map clicks into place, it's not a spectacular map, but the again it doesn't pretend to be one.
Would love to see this on a rounds server, that final long drift should provide some tight finishes.
For time attack hunting I like the subtlety of the line, when you think you had a nice time you find that the smallest change in trajectory will give you an advantage over your previous run and that's always the tell of a great track.
Congrats :-)

I would love someone to review my 1st ever Canyon track released last week:

My Review of:

The Average Man v2 by   pfm

(might try a somewhat silly style, but only to help expand on points and make it more fun to read/write )
First impressions from the track page seem promising, with an impressive 10 (now 11) awards but now to head through the various criteria that follows a review.. typically like a car review, only its for the route taken, not what your driving.

FLOW - Plenty.
This track flows from every corner you take, with some subtle drifting and driving technique, you can seriously net some drifts that could circle a city! its fast, smooth and fun.

SPEED - Yes.
Despite the lack of any painted arrows, this track manages to constantly accelerate and increase your velocity as you swoop around its smoothly undulating constructs.

STUNTS - Subtle.
While there are never any dizzying areas of head-turning wizardry best left in the still non-existent worlds of Questmania, the stunts on offer here range from two distinct flavors: Smooth, and Subtle. They may not immediately be obvious but the fact they connect and flow together so well is what helps them feel connected, and a genuine part of the overall track design.

SCENERY - Orange.
Quite a sporadic sense of scenery, but it works in this track's favor, as it doesn't relentlessly assault you in the sensory scope of vision. At times it might feel a bit bland, but that more of Canyon's fault not having too much of a colour palette in daytime moods.

MEDIA TRACKER - N/A
"I'm sorry, your FX camera tools are in another environment."

DIFFICULTY - Easy, tiger.
Its very easy to learn, adapt and improve your run, its just making sure those drifts slow you down as little as possible while keeping your speed up is key. Don't approach this track like a tiger, approach it like a cheetah.

FUN - Yes. Quite.
8/10 - A very easy to learn, tough to master track, you will probably come back for more, and definitely.. desperately hope you don't stop drifting.
My only criticisms are the incredibly tight medal requirements and the lack of MT, and that last point is just being subjective anyways


I would like to have my current latest track to be reviewed if possible (as of this post)

My review of:


Flow: 8|10
The start is ok, nothing special, i've ssen this jump too often. After that, the track flows really well. I liked how picked up the wave theme with the last slalom part underground. There is a good left and right turn balance and you dont need the gps to find the next passage. Although Im not a dirt lover, the great dirt kurve outside was fun to master. There is nothing more to say really, because I dont have that much experience with the new blocks, but the underground drifts were fun, too.

Speed: 9|10 Exactly the speed you need for a great techie. It feels like you are always going with the same speed, that makes it rather easy to drive the track and to calculate the turns. I would have liked different speeds to make it harder and more interesting.

Stunts: Two jumps and a drop. I found it boring, especially the jump at the start. On the other side, in my opinion a tech track does not need stunts to be good, so you'll get 6 | 10.

Scenery: 9|10
Great scenery! Nothing distracting, solid through the whole track.

Media Tracker: 7|10
Solid. GPS is ok; there is an Intro, but nothing special, just a little overview. A really special, interesting thing is missing here.

Difficulty: 8|10 Easy to drive, "not that hard" to master. There are many spots to get a better time after your first few drives, but I couldnt really look any deeper into it because Im not that good

Overall: 8|10
A solid track, the only thing missing is something special, something that makes you remember the track. The best thing was the wave theme in the name and the track. The whole track, overall, is fun to drive; and although the start and the end are rather boring, it is great to replay it.


_____________


My track

tweakimp says:
My review of:

Return of Eternity by   tweakimp

Flow: 9|10
The start is a little rough but after that the track flows great. Don't have to lift off of the gas much and there are a good deal of twists and turns in the track to keep you on your feet. I would personally enjoy a greater variation in speed but there is something special about being able to keep up your speed while twisting and turning.

Speed: 9|10 "Exactly the speed you need for a great techie. It feels like you are always going with the same speed, that makes it rather easy to drive the track and to calculate the turns. I would have liked different speeds to make it harder and more interesting." - Your analysis of the last track sums it up perfectly. Again, I like speed to differ more often but the track still has a great speed limit.

Stunts: 9 | 10.
Tech tracks don't need much in the way of stunts and that is evidenced in your work. All down to vehicle control. Love it.

Scenery: 7|10
The scenery is okay. It does not distract but at the same time, it lacks color. The lack of scenery keeps the file small, which is great, but it just feels too bland to me.

Media Tracker: 6|10
There is no obvious GPS on the track. No indicator to the driver on what to do. Though the track is fairly self-explanatory. The intro is good but the arrows on the track are not all that helpful.

Difficulty: 3|10
The difficulty rating is out of 10, with 1 being easy and 10 being hard. Took a few starts to figure out what I was doing but once I learned the track it was smooth sailing. Easy to drive once you know where you are going. Easy to get better and better times, until you push it to the limit.

Overall: 7.9|10
A good track overall. I would get bored running it for eight minutes, simply because it is too short. Good in a map rotation on a server but I can't see myself sitting down and running it for hours on end.


_________
This is my very first track. Took me about 14 hours to put it together and after I "finished" it, I realized there is more I could do to better it; but I put it down as it was already published. I tried to make it a beginner's tech track, using the stadium, dirt, and underground all wrapped up in a one minute, 25 second package.

Let me know what you think!

http://tm.mania-exchange.com/tracks/43927

Couldn't review most recent one, I don't have Stadium! Sorry!

reVenx says:

»T antrum by   reVen

Flow: Seemed like you had some really awkward turns in there (like the block was one block to the right or left of where it should have been). Felt like I had to go out of my way to find a line instead of the line finding me.

Speed: A little too slow paced for my liking. Could have been a bit faster.

Stunts: Almost nonexistant, being a tech track. Some neat minor jumps and transitions.

Scenery: It's there. I don't feel like I'm driving an empty track, hell most of the track is probably scenery.

Media tracker: Didn't notice it in-game aside from GPS. That's good. I hate unnecessary stuff on my screen.

Difficulty: Not really that difficult. Just need to drive a few times to figure it out.

Overall: 3/5. Rating out of 10 is for squares.

[Bad Track/Map Link]

Go ahead, be tough on me too.

so why arent you waiting for someone reviewing the stadmap who posts a canyonmap afterwards?
i dont think its ok to review the same track again just because you dont own stadium
i wil review the stadtrack soon

so we will skip guygamers map

The last stadium map did'nt get it's review so i will take that. Tryed the last poster's only map too and remembered that I have tryed it before and did'nt figure out where to go then, I did this time but could not make that jump from tunnel to platform whatever I tried


Flow: Not really that flowwy map i guess but I'am not the one who needs every map to have that mighty flow. If it is fun, it is fun and I guess I just like stunts, variety and tricky stuff So let's give it a 4/10

Speed: This is a difficult question. The track is not that speedy (or I'am just too used to Canyon and Valley? ) but still not too easy because of low speed so should be rather fine in this respect, 8/10

Stunts: Stunts are the reason I love Trackmania TM maps without stunts (tech ones) are really not for me, might as well play some other racing game then, would probably even be better as TM is not (and should not be) that great racing simulator or whatever you know
But now to the map - Not really a crazy stunt map but still has some jumps and stuff to keep it interesting and fun to drive - I like the first jump to the stadium edge, altrough should use one less turbo in there maybe, so 6/10 I guess.

Scenery: Nothing that special but looks nice so 6/10.
For side note - I'am really not that big fan of those rubber castles and stuff - bit too childish and do not really fit so good into that otherwise cool Sci-Fi looking environment.

MT: No MT beside the GPS but it is fine by me, MT might be cool but I don't judge maps from this, so what should I give? GPS works good and I like that it does not start automatically (really annoying because I like to first overview new maps with free cam).

Difficulty: Did'nt figure out what to do at the first jump before watching the GPS so some arrows or something would be usefull and the part where you leave the dirt section is a bit off in my option - allways wants to turn your car upside down:D but other than that, a nice reasonable difficulty so 7/10

FUN: Nice fun and not too short map, I will add it to my collection of good stadium maps, 7/10

Sorry FT»Lodec

Let's see what anyone can say for my map Don't get dizzy for Valley or Race Industrial 2 for Canyon, depending of what game you have or whatever