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xiaomao

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Reviews

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9/100
DIFFICULTY
6/10
OVERALL
7/10
VISUALS
4/10
GAMEPLAY

It's genuinely so impressive to me that no two designs in this level look exactly alike, considering the volume of them on display here. nila is very reminiscent of the style of creators like Nahuel2998 with the huge, bizarrely shaped structures and highly detailed designs, and this is kept consistent all the way through the level. The air decoration sometimes blending in with the block designs almost makes nila feel like a maze that the player has to navigate, which gives the level a bit more depth when playing it that's surprising considering the simplicity of the gameplay. However, my favourite quality of this level is just the sheer amount of variation. nila is absolutely teeming with ideas for interior designs, structures, block connections, colour work, and everything else you could think of. It makes it feel like a sketchbook or a kaleidoscope at times with how everything manages to come together in a cohesive unit due to the care placed to ensure cohesive colour work and level of detail among each block despite how different they are.

This strength is also the level's limiting factor, though, as aside from a very defined style there's not really any theming or progression to be had and leaves the level in a state where it does feel like it's lacking something to take it to the next level. The main element I wish was added is having more structures become "focal points" for surrounding structures, where some central design is surrounded by sub-structures that share key elements. This is something I tend to see do really well at being a set-piece or single memorable point of a given part, and it can allow for a ton of creative freedom in how it is integrated in with other designs; approaches such as progressively building the design up layer by layer as the level goes on or changing specific aspects in time with the song would be good use cases that would help add some more visual depth to nila.

10/100
DIFFICULTY
6/10
OVERALL
7/10
VISUALS
6/10
GAMEPLAY

Maelstrom is a bit of a mixed bag to me. The gameplay feels like it functions on hope and prayers for most of the level due to a lot of the transitions being pretty inconsistent, and some parts are noticeably worse than others (namely the ship at 0:15, and the cube at 0:22 as well as the following transition part). The aforementioned parts are just sort of bland and quite typical for what one would expect from mid-late 1.9 design levels. There's also a notable lack of any form of cohesion between any of the parts, and thus Maelstrom ends up feeling like GMD Condor just building the first thing that came to mind for the length of a 55 second level; not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd have liked to see a stronger overarching theme here.

However, what Maelstrom does have is some genuinely stunning effect and design work for the time it was made. The first ship makes really creative use of slanted lines to form the fake reflections that make the blocks look like glass, in addition to using yellow pads for the fiery effect, which are both just such cool uses of blocks outside of their intended purpose to create something really interesting visually. The blocks in the cube part at 0:34 use chained pulses that almost look like they were done in 2.0 due to their smoothness, which does a lot to elevate the relatively simple designs, structures and air deco of the part. The wave following this may very well be the most intricate and well-executed piece of "tech" deco from this time, GMD Condor's mastery over using 3-D objects and blending greyscale tones to create something this convincingly metallic is definitely the highlight of this level for me.

I can't really ignore this level's issues, but it has a lot going for it that makes it one of the most interesting and memorable levels from 1.9 to me. I'd recommend this for Feature.

11/100
DIFFICULTY
8/10
OVERALL
8/10
VISUALS
5/10
GAMEPLAY

The first part alone of Altitudinem gamva makes me wonder how far we as a community would have come if we were stuck with 2.0 for 8 years instead of 2.1. Nearly every effect used in this level is highly technically impressive in some manner. The perspective shift in the first part and the wavy background at the beginning of the drop are my favourites because at first glance they just genuinely seem impossible to recreate in the 2.0 editor, showing just how skilled Serponge was even as far back as mid 2.0. Even aside from that, the perspective shift makes it feel like the player is climbing a huge spiral staircase, which is both a cool visual and a concept I haven't really seen executed at a high level since except for Still Life by Empika. The wavy lines give a lot more punch to the bass notes of the song and make for a great supplement to it, as well as filling some of the negative space left by the rather sporadic structures. The level's focus on effects does leave most of its other elements lacking, though, and it ends up feeling more like a tech demo or sandbox for Serponge to experiment with effects rather than anything more cohesive or directed. I quite like this sort of level as they bring about a strong feeling of nostalgia in me, but I do really wish more care was put into either the gameplay or the miscellaneous designs and air decoration to make most of the parts feel complete rather than a vessel to show off whatever effect Serponge made. Regardless of this, Altitudinem gamva is still a fantastic early level from Serponge, and it's awesome seeing how far he has come from this already high point.

43/100
DIFFICULTY
6/10
OVERALL
5/10
VISUALS
6/10
GAMEPLAY

Everything about this song screams intimidation to me, so it's nice to see that translated into a style reminiscent of creators like Majacko and Loogiah from back in the day. I always found those levels claustrophobic and intimidating due to the frequent use of huge, highly detailed structures and very intense songs with slower gameplay, and CP MACHINE mostly delivers on those same ideas. I like the subtle orange glow used to highlight some parts of the song, as it not only helps with intensity but also gives the impression that the level itself is incredibly hot to the point of everything glowing orange, adding to the feeling of being in hell or similar. I think this is at its best in the final part, with all the destroyed structures crumbling and at odd angles with pillars of fire sticking out of them. It does feel like the level is sinking slowly into the depths of hell, and I really like the strong progression and song representation it helps create throughout the level.

My main issue is the sudden switch in ideals at around the midway point. There's one part that's completely blue for some reason while keeping similar designs, which could in theory be a neat way to signify a short break in the level, but I think the colouring is too dark and the other structures are too similar to the previous parts which ends up with it just feeling really out of place. Also, the following part has a completely different, more modern aesthetic with lots more flat colours, art-design elements and moving objects that also feel completely out of place for an older-styled level like this, and it unfortunately completely kills most of the progression along with it due to it being right in the middle.

I really like what CP MACHINE is aiming for with its designs, effect/colour work and song usage, but the issues I have with the midsection mean I'd likely only recommend it for Feature.

35/100
DIFFICULTY
6/10
OVERALL
6/10
VISUALS
4/10
GAMEPLAY

The experiment ii has quite a lot of visual cohesion and a pretty strong theme, which was fairly uncommon back in early 2.0 when it was made. It's meant to resemble a broken down, somewhat post-apocalyptic science facility, and I think NachoLag executed this pretty well with the blend of mechanical design elements and movements present throughout. The main structuring is done using a long corridor filled with metallic, red/white spikes surrounded by black ground spikes, which is a pretty cool aesthetic since the usage of the decorative spike blocks inside the structure generally resemble shards of broken metal. The staccato, bouncing movements seen at specific points in the level accentuate this as they feel like robotic elements that are not working correctly, which is a really nice touch to add to the calmer break parts of the song. Due to the time period The experiment ii was made, there's a noticeable lack of general polish brought on by the community's unfamiliarity with the editor, and I personally don't mind this as I think it ends up functioning more as an aesthetic element common in levels of this time, but I'd have loved to see more creative usage of objects such as fire, animated creatures and structures inside the corridors to further elaborate on the overall theming. Additionally, the pulse work is pretty sloppy and the level only uses red, white and black, so some hue variation and better synced effects would have been nice additions for better song representation.

I'll definitely be checking out some of NachoLag's other levels, because The experiment ii is an intriguing level in most fronts despite its lack of polish or execution. I would recommend this for Star Rate.

32/100
DIFFICULTY
8/10
OVERALL
7/10
VISUALS
9/10
GAMEPLAY

Dem Journey has a ton of polish for the time it was made, and a lot of the work put towards the colours, effects and backgrounds was quite ahead of its time. Goose really excelled at carrying forth the song's energy throughout the level, which is due to a combination of its gameplay and the aforementioned elements. The mini cube at 0:34 is a great example of this, with the glow beams and flashes in the background synced to the piano and the floating orbs to match the deep, reverb-soaked backing synths of the song. The drop does this just as well, with the first part using tons of movement, the flashing glow beam and constantly shifting/flashing colours to express the newfound energy of the song. It really feels like every part of the song has something in the level representative of it despite the designs and structuring being generally unremarkable, although still clean and quite well polished, which makes Dem Journey quite a joy to play and watch. I do still wish the level had more of a cohesive theme regarding its designs and colour usage, though, since the quality and style varies pretty drastically from part to part in a way that doesn't really fit the ebb and flow of the song's energy. I'd also have liked to see more movement throughout the level, as even in the drop it's only used in 1 or 2 parts, leaving the others feeling oddly static without anything from the song or visual style to justify this being the case.

Dem Journey is an awesome blast from the past, and a very fun, well put together 2.0 demon, albeit with a few minor issues regarding its cohesion, design choices and usage of movements. I'd love to see more levels like this nowadays, as they feel reminiscent of a simpler time in a lot of aspects, which I'm very much nostalgic for.

7/100
DIFFICULTY
5/10
OVERALL
6/10
VISUALS
5/10
GAMEPLAY

From Below is a very unsettling level with a very unsettling song, and one with a lot of cool concepts and ideas thrown together in a bit of a ragtag manner. Every part has a pretty defined identity stemming from consistently placing emphasis on a couple specific design/background/effect elements; the first cube has eyes, missing texture blocks and red cracked tree-like objects, the following spider has celeste dream blocks and pillars in the background that look like they're rotating, and the final part has eyes which stare at the player as well as bright, flashing glow covering the foreground. I really wish more of this level was tied together; the general colour scheme from part to part is similar, sharing rainbow elements with a base blue/purple/pink tone, but nothing else really stays consistent. Each part takes a completely different visual approach to structuring style, level of detail and style of detail, as well as where to put the focus onto its "set pieces" such as the aforementioned dream blocks or eyes. As is, each part feels far too disconnected from the ones surrounding it, which is made more jarring because the song does not change much throughout the level, especially enough to warrant the sorts of stylistic shifts present. However, I do like a lot of the concepts in each individual part and I think they each look good in isolation due to what I mentioned previously, so I would recommend it for Feature.

3/100
DIFFICULTY
5/10
OVERALL
5/10
VISUALS
5/10
GAMEPLAY

I hold a lot of appreciation for the things other people can create in short amounts of time, with levels like TRIPPY TRIPPY by Wulzy always fascinating me with how they must have optimised everything about their conceptualising and building process to build so quickly. Speedbuild Monday is a pretty decent showing from RhymerGD considering this, nothing particularly stands out about it but it's quite well polished and doesn't feel like it was rushed. The designs, air deco, structuring and effects are all pretty standard, heavily leaning into glow-design styles that were most prevalent in the first few years of 2.1. The glow bar effects on the orbs and some of the song's synths as well as the rotating 2.1 particles used to fill up space definitely show their age, and in my opinion are pretty underwhelming methods of representing a song and filling space. I don't feel there's anything particularly powerful in the song to warrant the bright bars of glow, so something a little bit subtler like a glowy emblem surrounding the player or hue-shifted pulses would have worked better to accentuate the soft synths of the song. The rotating particles are wholly unnecessary and only serve to add more visual clutter to the level, so I'd recommend using the 2.2 particle editor to create some sort of background "white noise" or add some floating embers or particles in their place to achieve a similar effect.

Other than this, there's not much to comment on as everything is part of a very tried-and-true style. The structuring and designs are ok, making use of multiple rectangles and some black glow to create the illusion of multiple rectangular structures stacked on top of each other; this isn't bad, but it's something I've seen done in many, many levels and I'd like to see a more unique take on this with different structure shapes. The colours are also very standard, mostly purple and blue with minimal notable pulsing. Because of this, I'd only recommend this level for Star Rate, but it's still impressive to see something of this caliber made so quickly by a creator I've never heard of. Nice work!

37/100
DIFFICULTY
4/10
OVERALL
4/10
VISUALS
3/10
GAMEPLAY

God, what a nostalgia trip. Gallimaufry has so many things about it that scream "early 2.1 megacollab" in a way I tend not to like, but in a way this makes me appreciate it more because it's so clearly a product of a bygone era of Geometry Dash. The part-to-part cohesion is lacking to the point of actually being quite funny - there are many cases where the style of the part completely flips with little to no work done to make a workable transition, which makes the whole level feel like it was stapled together on hopes and prayers. The visuals themselves are generally not great, with many parts having pretty lacklustre designs and structuring even for the time (namely, 0:43 with the very garish colour work and the questionable use of 2.1 rocks), but I'd be lying if it wasn't charming in a sense because it's clear these creators whom I've mostly never heard of did put a lot of effort in to make this level presentable. Additionally, there are also a few parts which have stood the test of time very well, namely the clean circular background designs and blue-purple gradient at 0:55 and the part at 1:30 feeling like a mix between old Samifying and LucasYecla99 deco with the huge, angular structures, overblown blending glow and high vertical movement gameplay. Speaking of the gameplay, it's quite buggy, with a lot of very awkward transitions between parts, and I don't find it particularly fun even despite this because the balancing and structural telegraphing are both quite poor. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find quite a lot of enjoyment in reminiscing on the times where levels like this were more highly regarded, so I'm glad I got to see this.

75/100
DIFFICULTY
4/10
OVERALL
4/10
VISUALS
5/10
GAMEPLAY

Magnificent Gaps is a very odd mix of 1.6-style "impossible level" gameplay and modern art-design with similarities to neodesign. This disconnect leaves the level in a really weird spot as neither element fits particularly well together - the very claustrophobic gameplay with the awkward, highly simplistic 1.6 structuring is something completely different from the complex, finely detailed structures and high use of vertical movement generally seen in modern art-design and "neodesign" levels, which just ends up resulting in most of this level's designs not looking quite right. This is most evident to me in the first part, as the structures feel warped and cramped in an unnatural way, and the shapes formed by the layered designs don't look particularly good or coherent because of that. There's also many spots with awkward sections of negative space between tall blocks of structures, which makes the level feel both too claustrophobic and too empty at the same time.

With this said, there are a few parts that do make excellent use of this odd structuring style. My personal favourite is the ship section with the stars at 0:38, since when combined with the clouds there's enough contrast to make the corridor-like gameplay work while also having a very grounded visual element that would necessitate this sort of structuring, being the lines connecting the stars to resemble some sort of constellation. The previous part also does this fairly well, with the single-block-wide alternating light and dark structures managing to make the jagged ship corridors work quite well for similar reasons as mentioned above. However, it's not enough for me to overlook my other issues with this despite the fact that the actual design, colour and effect work in this level is quite solid, so I'd recommend it for Star Rate.

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sorry about this gang