Two new releases from IronHammer,
and both are classically styled and quite well
done! The first one I played was The NecroHell.
The NecroHell has starts out with you on a balcony
in a Runic dimension. Directly ahead is another
balcony. Below lies lava, and a walkway you
must jump on to continue. There were several
instances in this map where the next place to
go was not obvious, this may confuse some players,
but it also makes the gameplay interesting.
Standing between you and your goal are your
usual Runic baddies - Knights, Hell Knights,
and the ever-present Ogres. Lately a lot of
Runic maps have been moving into Industrial
territory with Enforcers and Grunts, but the
Necrohell is a map that sticks to the classic
Metal theme. Monsters have been placed in several
ways: there are some standing around in hallways
and rooms, but there are also some placed in
sneaky positions - Ogres on platforms (sometimes
behind you), and the odd Knight or Hellknight
can catch you off guard. About the only oddity
in this map is the progression of ammunition.
Generally, maps go from few monsters and little
ammunition to a whole lot of both. This map
goes from little ammunition to a lot, but the
level of the monsters stays relatively the same.
This could mean for experienced players, the
end will be too easy, or for amatuers, the start
will be too hard.
All in all, The NecroHell is
a Runic map which goes back to the purity of
id style and adds some interesting gameplay
to the mix.
Review
by Tronyn
Tronyn's Score:
78
A great looking metal level,
with all your classic features - torches, lava
and huge blocky architecture. This level is
very hard, especially the first half. The main
reason for this is that there is a great lack
of ammo. Fortunately it evens out a bit over
the second half but it is still very challenging
with lots of monsters pouncing on you very quickly.
The gameplay was very frantic, but some players
might have a bit of trouble.
