Rating Curve

This level is incredibly hard to judge because it defies everything that would normally make a level good, it's astounding how this managed to be so unoriginal and unique at the same time. The premise of the level is interesting, intentionally taking large chunks of other levels to represent the song which is known for falling under the plunderphonics genre, I have a lot of respect for this kind of indirect theming and it does convince me sampling has a place inside this game. However, this whole idea falls flat on its face when the level is scraping by to think of any transformative use for the samples it is capitalizing off of. There are no meaningful references, the way the designs work together is a mediocre attempt at best, even the creators picked to sample from are completely random as far as im aware. The end result is just another generic looking 7ak level that somehow happens to suffer worse from lacking character, nothing about it sticks in your head the same way a catchy plunderphonics song does, I find it really lazy

A level I didn’t really think too much of first, despite undoubtedly being one of the top entries from this contest, but when put it into perspective it highlights all the good qualities of flash as a creator. The level brings the authenticity of flash’ newer work and combines it with the kind of progression far more prominent during his mid 2.1 breakthrough, where sculptures still felt more like a proof of concept I believe planispheres to be more presentable as an actual level. The aesthetics are also just nailed to perfection, it takes me back to my luminescent dreams and the sheer majesty these environments held. I really love every corner of this level despite being fairly short and uneventful, I think theres a certain elegance to its serenity if anything.

This level is sorta bizarre, it’s been the most prevalent trendsetter for hyper optimisation and it earned a name for making maximalist designs more approachable for both players and creators. Following this trend you saw levels with high object count slowly losing their reputation as these “explosive masterpieces” and instead a wide influx of similar art levels became more and more popularised. There are definitely some arguments to be made in favour of this change, mediocre art levels were absolutely not unseen before then and it allowed more creators to work under healthy conditions and make it accessible to play for lower devices. However, giving creators the liberty to make whatever they want comes at a price, and for what’s worth I think the level could’ve set a much better example when opening the gates. Filled with a bunch of jarring cutscenes, a narrative so forced it feels as if chatgpt wrote the script out, indicators and UIs so futile it becomes laughable, this level has done irreversible damage to the creating scene on a scale I couldn’t even have imagined. It’s not like this level has 0 good qualities to it, the color palettes are refreshing and I can respect some of the designs despite its predominantly muddy artstyle, but that’s not nearly enough to salvage this from all its flaws.

It’s memorable, it’s kind of insane how the sea1997 video had a complete opposite effect on me because I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been as interested to look into the level without his input. I don’t exactly see this as the pinnacle of level creating but I can admit this is most likely the only case an impossible level actually feels as chilling as its difficulty should suggest.

I feel very conflicted about this level, on one hand this is an amazing tribute to the wide variety of creators that influenced s3rios to be the creator they are today, on the other hand it’s quite glaring how rushed the final product is and it drags the level down a good bit. Some parts are of much higher quality than others, done in such a way that hinders the overall pacing, and combined with how so little cohesion is held between parts already it makes the level feel rather awkward and unbalanced. Some nitpick I have with the gameplay is that I despise double clicks, so obviously making an entire level revolving around this mechanic will put me off from ever giving it my own attempt. As much as this level has truly fascinating ideas, I would’ve preferred if more time was taken to refine a thing or 2, I hate to say I don’t believe this was an improvement over new bloom despite the ambition behind it.