MannyHeffley is a creator that’s been on my radar for quite a while. Everyone now knows him for his masterpiece Extreme Demon, Menace, but before that, he was known for his level Peenos. The quality of his decoration was a lot lower a few years back, but I’ve always seen the potential in his ideas. 1984 by George Orwe was a level of his that actually slipped under my radar completely, and although I was surprised to realize I had missed out on a MannyHeffley level, the level at hand has not aged particularly well. This came out after his first 3 levels, including Peenos, but I think it looks a good amount worse than them.

That isn’t to say that 1984 is without its good aspects, though, as it has a lot of creative gameplay ideas. It’s a bit learny, but once you get it down, it can be a pretty fun level. I really like the part at the drop especially with the gravity portals, as the effect of them rotating is super satisfying. Still though, I’m really not a fan of this level visually. The colors are pretty all over the place, often having some pretty strange combinations that result in a murky feeling. The designs are off putting too, since most of it utilizes default blocks in really strange ways. The whole thing just feels pretty incohesive, with the default block and spike parts feeling essentially unfinished. Even though this is probably MannyHeffleys worst decoration in a finished level, I still appreciate how 1984 shows Manny’s potential as a creator. He tried a bunch of ideas out, with a few working and a lot falling short, but it’s still a level full of ideas nonetheless.