Review of Space Invaders

by
, 2025-08-25, 17:24:08, Level ID: 125075242
avatar
says...

This level is similar to WELL RESTED in that it is far too long for its own good. Most parts of this level hold up very well, but when you put them all together into one 5:49 long XXL level, let alone one that every player is forced to play because it’s an official Event level, you get one of the most tedious experiences in modern Geometry Dash. Again, every part of this level is incredible, but this really should have been split into 2-3 separate levels similar to Ocular Miracle rather than packed together as any late death in this level is extremely painful.

I cannot speak on the coins in this level as I personally didn’t go for them. I will specifically be talking about the normal route in this review. Based on Viprin’s showcase of this level, the coins all look excellent though, with extended secret way routes that feel like their own levels. This is both a blessing and a curse - the coin routes are impressive technically, but they really interrupt the flow of the Space Invaders song and feel out of place. This is a really minor nitpick though so I won’t take off any points for the coin routes.

0%-4% is a short cube part that introduces the city landscape setting of the level. The level starts with a Gameboy boundary frame which introduces the meta narrative that you’re playing a game within a game. At 1% you have the option to fall into a shop area that lets you customize your cube’s decals including adding a hat, a follower, and a flag that will stick to your icon throughout the level. This is a very cool way to add replayability to your level - if I ever replay this (which is unlikely tbh) I’ll definitely use some of these decals. The shop area can extend indefinitely so if you just want orbs go into this area and scroll for 6 minutes straight for 396 free orbs :)

My percentages for the rest of this review will assume you don’t go for the coins and that you never enter the shop area.

4-9% is where the level really begins - you enter the city landscape for real this time, the gameboy boundary disappears, and you have a quick sequence of cube and spider parts where you break through a window in a skyscraper at one point. I like the use of dash orbs here.

9-13% is the first 3x speed part - you have a quick robot part where your robot runs above a train (similar to Noel Electra) and then a ship part where you can choose to access the portal to the first coin. Not much to say about the gameplay here but the city backgrounds look incredible.

13-17% is the first “2.2 shenanigans” part. You are a mini cube traversing a four level building in the background. In the foreground you have a news reporter who is synced with the song’s lyrics. The reporter obscures the gameplay here which can make this part annoying. In particular there is an annoying pink orb jump at 16% that is the first major chokepoint. This part is cool the first time but it really gets annoying once you’ve died in the second half a few times.

17-22% is the buildup of the predrop and it is excellent. You reach the rooftop of the building from the previous section and traverse other rooftops, ultimately leading you up an orb staircase as you watch a massive UFO rise out of the city in the background. This part looks incredible and is the first truly Mythical part of this level.

22-30% is the first drop of the level and it is pretty cool. You start with some tricky wave parts over the city landscape. The mini wave spam and wave dash orb can be tricky here. Then you have a short ball and cube part that leads to a cool part where you dash through a ring of fire only to get launched onto another rooftop in the opposite direction. This is a great seem-less use of mirror gameplay. I also love the blimp that appears on screen in this part for half a second before you break into the blimp and have a short spider part before finally getting launched to another rooftop where you enter an elevator, creating a break in the drop. This is peak chaotic city landscape gameplay, comparable to Arclia’s levels Next Cab Soon and GD Gangster Rap or AmorAltra’s Boom Slayer.

30-40% is the second half of the first drop. You exit the elevator to enter a fast UFO part. The city landscape in the background here looks incredible and is some of Subwoofer’s best artwork yet. At one point you use some portal orbs to get through a construction site, and if you are careful you can access the portal to the second coin after these portal orbs. At 35% you transition from a UFO to a ship and must carefully dodge the UFO’s laser while avoiding the tricky city’s terrain. The ship has to use some yellow and green orbs here to tightly weave through a construction site corridor which can be tricky. Finally the massive UFO from earlier brings debris out of the ground which you have to dodge. Overall this is one of the best looking parts of the first half of this level, Subwoofer really outdid himself here.

40-44% is the second “Gameboy” part where the camera zooms out and you traverse some tight tower gameplay sections as a mini cube / mini spider. I’ve never been a fan of these parts, and this one is particularly annoying if you’ve died in the second half a few times.

44-48% is a sketchy robot and cube part - you use the robot and cube to quickly traverse some sewers in an alien spaceship. I like the dark sewer feel of this part with the purple ooze everywhere, it really adds to the atmosphere of this level.

48-53% is the last sketchy part of the first half - you have a dual where YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER TO HOLD TWO DASH ORBS. I can’t stress this enough, I forgot to hold these dash orbs several times, and considering we’re nearly 3 minutes in, dying here is painful. This dual is very cool though, in particular I love the ending where the two mini cubes alternate on each step of a small staircase leading up to a pipe entrance. The animations as you enter the pipe show incredible attention to detail, this is one of the best looking parts of the level imo.

53-61% is one of the most memorable parts of the level imo. The gameplay finally slows down as you have a 0.5x speed normal swing copter and have to dodge some debris that a big UFO sucks out of the ground. The background here looks incredible as you can see the UFO abducting all the cubes in the city. I didn’t really follow the lore of this level, but before the UFO appears you can see some aliens dragging some white and purple rocks into a portal which suggests that is the alien fuel source, very cool world building.

61-65% is one of my least favorite parts of the level. The camera zooms out so much you can barely see the cube, and the camera is fixed as you traverse several different rooms. In the background you can see a scarred cube with an eyepatch who warns you of the upcoming bossfight and speaks with the lyrics of the song. The gameplay here is very unforgiving, many little things can kill you here and having to squint to even see your icon makes it way harder. I died here in normal once because I tapped the blue orb too early, held, and jumped over the jump pad :(

65-70% is the buildup for the second drop / bossfight and it lives up to the hype. You have a ship section where you have to dodge some unique obstacles including windmills in the alien ship and some stalagmites/ stalactites that pop up and can get in your way. The part is well indicated so you know where to go, but it still feels sketchy.

70-77% is the first phase of the bossfight. It uses a gimmick game mode similar to Neozenith / Alien Dream Emulator where you use a wave that goes from left to right across the screen. I appreciate that this part is both sightreadable and if you struggle with the gamemode there are cheese strats where you can use the pads in the sides of the screen to rest in between the boss’s attacks. The boss itself looks really impressive, it’s still amazing this is the same game as Stereo Madness.

77-79% is a short cutscene where the eyepatch cube from earlier tells you its time to fight back. This is a really cool break part as it really gives you the sense of being humanity’s last stand resistance against the alien invaders.

79-85% the second phase of the bossfight and (gameplay wise) is my least favorite part of the level - I find it by far the hardest part and considering its 4.5 minutes in, any deaths here are absolutely brutal. I managed to die here about 6 times. The cube and ball parts at the start of this section are easy, but they lead to one of the sketchiest waves ever at 80% and this took up all my deaths here. You have to hold with a mini wave into a yellow portal and release at a pretty precise time that’s not easy to read imo. You need excellent wave control here so practice this part a lot. Even after the wave you still have some tricky robot and ship gameplay. I absolutely love the references to CRUSH and Citadel in the spider part at the end of this section, it really ties the Subwoofer multiverse together full circle.

85-87% is an auto part where the boss from earlier knocks your wave into yet another rooftop. This part is a nice break and it looks epic af

87-91% is the third phase of the bossfight. You have some very tricky mini cube and robot gameplay here given this is over 5 minutes into the level. I managed to die here twice, once because I jumped too far with the robot missing a jump pad and once because my click was voided in the cube part (I swear to God, I felt and heard the tap there but my cube didn’t jump, literally a cosmic bit flip that killed me)

91-94% is the fourth phase of the bossfight. It brings back the sideways wave gameplay from the first phase. Thankfully this part is easy to read, but the wave spam at the end can be tricky so practice this part. I’m not sure if the laser attack pattern is random here, but it should be, no reason not to. I don’t think it’s random, the level always gave me the same pattern in both practice and normal.

94-100% is the finale of the level - an auto cutscene where you see the eyepatch cube use a helicopter to kill the boss once and for all. Finally you see the gameboy frame again, indicating that you have beaten the game in the metanarrative of this level. Finally it rolls to credits showing all of the playtesters and dedications.

This level has been in the making for over 20 months now and it really shows. From a technical perspective, this is one of the most impressive GD levels ever made. That being said, I really didn’t enjoy this level, partially because of my nerve control skill issue causing me to die in the second half a lot, but also because it’s just tedious to play a 6 minute level in general, and because this is an event level you have to beat it twice.

This level totally deserves its Mythical rating imo, but it shouldn’t have been an event level considering it’s too long. I would have honestly preferred if Subwoofer had made 0-53% and 53-100% two separate levels, I think each half is Mythical worthy alone.

This level feels like it’s so close to being the best level ever made, but the XXL event shortcoming really holds it back and makes it more like a Top 50 level of all time. Still a 10/10 in my book, but it could have been even better and that’s a bit disappointing.

Side note: this level makes me want to reinstall Globed, I imagine playing this with other players would be so much fun.

OVERALL10/10
GAMEPLAY8/10
VISUALS10/10
DIFFICULTY-/100
Hyperbolus is not affiliated with RobTopGames AB or Geometry Dash
Hyperbolus © 2025
Connected via
Alakazam

GDPR Cookie Consent

Hyperbolus uses cookies and local browser storage to enable basic functionality of the site. If we make any changes to these options we will ask for your consent again.

Strictly necessary
Analytics and performance
Advertising personalization

sorry about this gang