This is one big, “a-maze-ing” map. High dirt is used to create fairly narrow maze of passages that must be navigated to access expansions, allies and enemies. All of the start positions and the expansions are land-connected on the base level of the map. Each start has two “natural” expansions; a five-rock mineral-only, and seven rocks plus a geyser. There are no other expansion points.

Balance/Terrain:

This isn’t a symmetric map, and there are noticeable differences in distances and relative defensibility of the start positions and expos. The start position in the upper left corner may be the easiest to play from. It has a markedly shorter distance to travel, than any of the other starts, in order to defend a choke that protects its main and both expansions. The start immediately below it (roughly 10 o’clock) may be the most difficult. You’ll have to defend at least two points in order to protect your main and both naturals

Gameplay:

This is a large map, but it does play well with as few as four players. Each start position has nine rocks and a geyser so builds can move along quickly without worrying too much about expanding. For team play, it also offers easily defensible chokes and relatively long distances between the start positions, so early rushes and doubles are hard to pull off. The games usually run at least 40 minutes and most players leap to air units as soon as possible. By the end of the game you’ll see high tech units duking it out with each other and nice sized squadrons of support troops jockeying for the advantage. This map does make for interesting FFAs.

Strats/Tips:

There’s one choke point that divides the map in half from top to bottom. If you can control that point, you can effectively stop ground units from ranging about the map. Ground troops tend to look like a long green line on your minimap when you send them out in force, so you have to make sure you gather your troops before an attack or you’ll hit the enemy with just a couple units at a time. Even though there’re no resources on the high ground, the raised terrain can give you a huge advantage offensively if you drop some ranged troops up there. You may also want to throw some units or structures on the high ground around your main to discourage the enemy from shelling your town with carriers, guardians or cruisers that you can’t even see. Ghosts, defilers and high templar can cause quite a bit of trouble if you can sneak them on to the high ground overlooking an enemy main or expansion. I’ve had some success on this map by going quickly to transport tech. I’ll defend a couple of spots on the high ground by dropping ranged troops up there, get a squad of low end air units, and then drop ground troops into the enemy main using the air squadron to protect my transports. If you decide to go all air, be careful to not get drawn into a battle where your opponent can bring up support ground units to turn the tide against you.  

Esthethics/Originality:

As far as esthetics go, this here is one ugly map. It’s another sepia-toned badlands creation with some patches of withered grass and structures in the top corners for color. There are a lot of doodads, but for the most part they’re placed in a way that makes them invisible. What saves this map though is its originality. The creator built a maze. The maze passages are wide enough to move ground troops through without obscene bottlenecks. The fact that the high ground is wide enough to build on, gives it greater tactical importance. For a map without a single ramp, it plays remarkably well.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

There are some balance problems with this map, but the two that I mention above are the worst. The map is ugly. Actually, Badlands may be second only to Ashworld as an ugly tileset. (I’m still trying to figure out where Ice fits in on the list of ugly.) The map plays well though. I’d recommend Labyrinth for four or more players as either melee or FFA. This map may have done more to make me appreciate the speed and spider mines of vultures than any other.

-Dhavok