Knightmare Castle is a highly enjoyable, simple CTF level. It is basically a large, symmetrical room with two warps, two tubes, a few powerups and a carrot. The bases are in each bottom corner, and are easy to find. Although this level is very basic in terms of design, it has a creative layout that allows for a lot of good strategies to be used.
The bouncer and RF powerups are located in an area which you can only access by sucker tube, unless you are skilled with RF-Jumping. They make for good areas to hide if you have the flag, since you can easily see people comming up and shoot them before they have a chance to hit you. The powerup areas are at least a second away from the bases, so they aren’t the best areas to hide at if you want to score a point quickly. There are also several other key points you can defend from, specifically underneath a certain platform near each base, and a ledge in front of each warp. This really makes the gameplay a lot more interesting, and can make the whole map hazardous for the player.
Getting from base to base is an easy task of simply running across a flat surface. However, this is a bit dangerous since there is a seeker powerup right in the middle of the path. Other ways to get to the enemy base are by using one of the warps, or taking an aerial apporach by using a spring or ledge. These methods are a little safer, unless your opponent knows you are going to use them. It is easy to be nailed down with RF missles and seekers, both abundant in the level.
There is one full nrg carrot in the top-middle region of the level, and can be reached by either jumping to it from the bouncer powerup or RF powerup, or by using a green spring to propell you up to it. It’s very easy to be killed while getting the carrot though, creating an intense experience for anyone at low health.
Speaking of springs, the placement of them is for the most part, excellent. They all send you just where you want to go, except for a patch of them near each base, which I found forced you to double jump in one area. It’s a small problem though, and the springs are still well-done nonetheless. Spaz has an easier time getting around in this level, due to a few high jumps, but the level isn’t totally geared in his favour. Because the level is extremely open (as in there is a lot of empty room), jazz can make ample use of coptering.
Ammo placement is fairly good, although there are 2 patches which seem rather useless. They are by the powerups in each top corner (they are the patches arragned in a vertical line). Those two groups of ammo are in places where people will not travel very often. The rest of it is very professionally done, but there doesn’t seem to be enough at times. The selection of weapons in the level is good, and they can all be used to their full potentials.
The eyecandy in this level is superb. It is not too excessive in that it gets annoying, but it looks great. This level has the perfect amount of eye-candy to use, and has its own distinct look. The background in one area looks a little bizarre, but it is a hard to notice “problem”, even if it can be called that.
I reccomend this level for 2 on 2 combat, but no more due to the small size. I played this level with more than six people, and it was a little to intense. When a few people left, the game was very fun, and that’s why I give this level an 8.2. I give any level that I would host online (not for the sake of reviewing, but simply for the sake of playing) a score of 8 or greater, and this level is certainly one I will play in again.