Castle of the Bad Die

The second map by IronHammer I have played today, and I have to say this one is my favorite. Castle of the Bad Die, although in possession of a strange name, is the best map in this recent barrage.

You'll begin in what can only be described as an impressive hall. There is an Ogre which you can quickly despatch with the conveniently-provided double shotgun, but then you will have to be very careful with two fiends flying at you. This is one of the few maps where the fiends had me *actually* moving my head out of the 'way.' I'm sure it would have looked odd to anyone watching.

The gold key is directly to the right, on a stand, as is the rocket launcher. I thought it was odd to give the player the rocket launcher right off the bat, but it did not make the map too easy. Someone who wanted to cheat rocket jump and grab the gold key, but the design means this wouldn't help them much. Continuing on, you will run into some outdoor areas, multi-leveled courtyards really, which can sometimes feel empty. However, you will never be alone with the use of trigger_monsterjumps and some teleporting monsters. There are ambushes but these are fair. There is only one thing hindering progress in this map, and that is the use of key symbols (or lack thereof). You require the silver key to lower the gold key, but you won't find this out until you touch it... I had to run around a while before I understood that. A simple silver lock texture nearby would have helped greatly. In other locked places, that would have helped as well. Finally, the end challenge (one shambler only) was a let-down due to the continually growing supply of ammunition.

Overall, Castle Of The Bad Die is a refreshing medieval map, and one that sticks to its theme well. If those fiends get you, keep trying because this map is worth it.

I have to agree with Tronyn that this is the best of the bunch (followed closely by Ambush Keen Pilgrims). It has great solid architecture and design, although fairly plain, there was good use of angles. Gameplay was also a little easier than the last map, and therefore even better. It could have done with some tweaking in gameplay, but overall I enjoyed it.