Rating Curve

The absolute peak of the 1.9 neon style. It even ends early, just because the editor simply couldn't handle this greatness back then! I wish someone would revive this style, as it is extremely beautiful. Maybe that someone could be me...?

A classic for a reason. Ditched Machine X (a profoundly bad level) showed me just how little you truly need to set up a theme, as long as you have a little peritext to back it up. With just the title alone, Ditched Machine makes it feel like you are actually exploring the innards of a giant, nonfunctional machine, an experience that is also aided by the very electronic song. The gameplay almost veers into memory, but doesn't quite make it, which leads to the player developing an almost unforgettable knack for the level, formed from both a combination of visual cues and muscle memory. In the end, isn't that what most dual parts are about?

You just don't see levels like this anymore. Have people gotten too uptight for a little fangirl action?

For a level with such an intentionally eclectic style, it's amazing how well Booglee manages to pull off each individual "collab part". I'll admit, not everything is perfect, but from the glowy cave spider to the slow ending, every part is executed with such a degree of mastery that it's, frankly, awe-inspiring.

PEAK. GOAT. RAW. OTHER SUPERLATIVES. Oh my god, I could write so much about this. For now, I'll just say that I'm SO GLAD that this was the first popular XL level. It seems that in modern times, XL levels have deviated from this standard slightly, with travel levels setting the expectation that an XL level is supposed to constantly wow the player with new scenery. Tetrix also does that to some extent, but it's amazing just how much the decoration of the level is carried by continuity. There are callbacks to earlier parts, the intensity of the song corresponds to certain designs, the final part literally has the exact same gameplay as the first part, the list goes on! This is a level carried by its strong base, which allows Insendium the freedom to use and reuse it to fit the granular prescriptions of the song at hand. My god, is this level good.