Playability: 3/5. This is an enormous map with a huge fortress-looking building to overcome. Lots of troops on the map as an attacker means that care is required in deciding which route you need to take to the keep.
This siege map was interesting to play and offers something different to the norm. The construction adds to the playability as you try to discover the best way to the keep without incurring toomany of your own troop losses. I played on very hard initially as per the author's instructions but despite several attempts I opted for the normal setting. With so many enemy troops to overcome, you need numbers more than tactics here and the numerous knights on horseback were swift and difficult to deal with. It is still an interesting siege and I played this quite a few times in all, trying different approaches both in attack and defence. It turned out to be a surprisingly addictive siege and I enjoyed playing it.
Balance: 3/5. There is no indication whether this is an attack only, defend only or attack & defend siege so I played through all options. As an attacker on very hard setting, as above, it was just too much to deal with. Normal setting was much better and the more experienced player may be able to take the castle on hard setting. The route I took to the keep was via the left side of the map and opted for taking down walls in order to make better progress. As a defender, playing on very hard, it was a similar situation. My abundant troops made relatively short work against the route chosen by the AI and therefore this does play much better as an attacker. I noticed that I was unable to build any siege equipment with the masses of gold you start with until some of the enemy troops were killed. I feel that this needed to be addressed with careful playtesting prior to uploading the map. The score here goes for playing as an attacker.
Creativity: 4/5. The idea of having a huge walled fortress with no direct route to the keep was refreshing and the idea worked extremely well, something I liked a great deal about the map. If it were better executed this would have increased the score. As it was, the map design and story held back the efforts of the author (see below).
Map Design: 3/5. As a functional map it was fine and the many walls posed a puzzle as I assessed the best way to take the castle. The terrain was rather limited in terms of design and flair, with some modelling of the landscape required to achieve a better score here.
Story/Instructions: 1/5. A shame that there was no story, no text on the description page and only the map title on the introductory screen prior to the game launch. This let the map down badly and the map cries out for a bit of an intro to let the player know what the creation is all about. Unfortunately I can't rate this section any higher without some sort of content to review.
IN SUMMARY: Interesting map for what it is. Quite difficult, and recommended to be played as an attacker only IMO. Not a bad effort though and some great elements combined with a unique design deserves praise.