Rating Curve

The simple but elegant introduction of speed changes as tools for adding dramatic flair made an already fun and stressful layout into an ageless wonder, and that level of class and style also shines through Rob's technically proficient visual design. It's such simple things that extract so much out of the song - in particular, the translucent blending objects representing the song's liquid synths just feels perfect.

With how ingrained Clubstep monsters are into GD culture it's easy to forget just how surreal and off-putting this level really is. It feels like the perfect accompaniment to a soundtrack that wouldn't feel out of place in a John Wick action sequence and a layout that stays stressful and engaging even once you've beaten much more difficult levels. Everything came together masterfully to create a viscerally neurotic experience; it's not hard to see why so many Top 1s over the years have been trying and failing to capture what the original nailed so effortlessly.

While Rob succeeded at utilizing the pitch of Electroman Adventures' soundtrack with colorful pulses and an abundance of translucent objects, he failed at capturing its tone in the level as a whole. The song's naivety just gets really fatiguing in a level as dark and structurally sharp as this one.

Very forgettable. A huge step forward in visual design does not correlate with a huge step up. It's just so hard to latch onto Theory of Everything when everything's so all over the place, decoration, architecture, difficulty, everything. It's like Clutterfunk but without any semblance of a theme and with a soundtrack only slightly less grating.

Clutterfunk's industrial aesthetic is impressively captivating for how primitive it is, but the middle's a real mess because the song's drastic shifts in tone don't correspond at all to the gameplay; the mini ball can be forgiven for tutorial reasons, but the subsequent ship corridor littered with saws is way too casual visually and is accompanied by a lull in the soundtrack. I'm also not sure how I feel about the back third being so open structurally, but I do like those flying saw-machine-stairway things, those are cool.

There's something so subtly clever about how xStep's inputs chain together like 4-step dance routines to the tune of an arrogant, showboaty Dance Massacre-esque soundtrack, but I think Rob's integration of the newer visuals leaves a lot to be desired. The pulsing objects are cool, but those curvy platforms and floating bushes look so out of place.

Similarly to Jumper, Cycles struggles with awkward implementation of its tutorial ball part within its attempt at a unified gloomy aesthetic, but it does make up for it later on with the fantastically dreary ship and great breakdown.

Rob's best and most fun gameplay. Frustrating as it was back in the day, the strictness of the gameplay accompanied by the most masterful use of reverse portals by any creator ever makes Time Machine incredibly fun and engaging - there's so much precision and quick thinking that goes into every jump and it still feels so smooth and effortless. It reminds me of the laser grid scene in Ocean's Twelve, if any of you remember that film.

The difficulty drop required to facilitate the introduction of upside-down ship gameplay leaves Jumper feeling off, but it was probably doomed from the start with how awkward the pairing of daunting structuring with such an overly naive soundtrack is. This dissonance leaves Jumper without a captivating tone or setting and the difficulty's far too easy these days to be memorable in that regard. It's still one of the best top 1s, so that's something.

I've always felt that Rob should have built Jumper as level 6 and had Can't Let Go be the final test, because it succeeds so fully in that role with its drilling soundtrack and oppressive blackout that gets the blood pumping. The gameplay just taps into that "tour de force" satisfaction with its verticality and effortless variety, since it's still mostly reliant on focus over strict timing. Very satisfying.