Rating Curve

I’ve seen a few Fenniko levels in the past, and I’ve quite enjoyed the ideas and decoration they brought to the table. Sadly, Grey Level is a significant step down from Fenniko’s other works. It’s exactly as it says, a grey level, in a pretty basic design style. There’s a pretty nice ball part at one point with the gimmick of being symmetrical, and some of the designs are pretty neat, reminiscent of core style. Outside of that part though, the designs in Grey Level are as basic as they get. For the gameplay, that’s pretty fine. It doesn’t stand out to me very much, but the symmetrical part is pretty interesting, as well as the robot with a bunch of structures that you don’t interact with, forcing you to not get confused by them. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much else I can say about Grey Level. It isn’t a bad level, but Fenniko is a creator capable of much more than what was shown here, and is pretty underwhelming as a result.

Looking at CabeGMD’s account, they seem to be relatively new to creating. For how little they’ve made, Lost in Time is a really good showing of their potential. They have a pretty simple and somewhat outdated approach to block design, but the approach works due to the nature of their style. Some parts need more work than others, like the second parts bright and distracting white outlines, but other parts blend in nicer. Lost in Time is highly background focused, letting the player take in what they’re seeing in the distance. While they’re still pretty unpolished, they’re executed stronger than any other elements in my opinion, so I like seeing what they have going on for them. There is one exception to all of what I’ve been saying so far though, which is the part at 0:38. Out of nowhere, Lost in Time starts to look amazing! You can still tell that it’s a little bit amateur, but the train and mountains in the background look fantastic, and I think the unique cluster of blocks for block design works extremely well with the part given. At the drop, the blocks take another step back, but the background is extremely detailed now. It’s super cool, but the extreme amount of detail does contrast pretty heavily from everything else in the level, which brings it down a bit. Overall, I think that CabeGMD is a creator with a lot of potential. While they still have to work on their polishing skills, the train part makes me really excited for their future, and I think this level could potentially earn a Star Rating despite it only being their second level.

MannyHeffley is a creator that’s been on my radar for quite a while. Everyone now knows him for his masterpiece Extreme Demon, Menace, but before that, he was known for his level Peenos. The quality of his decoration was a lot lower a few years back, but I’ve always seen the potential in his ideas. 1984 by George Orwe was a level of his that actually slipped under my radar completely, and although I was surprised to realize I had missed out on a MannyHeffley level, the level at hand has not aged particularly well. This came out after his first 3 levels, including Peenos, but I think it looks a good amount worse than them.

That isn’t to say that 1984 is without its good aspects, though, as it has a lot of creative gameplay ideas. It’s a bit learny, but once you get it down, it can be a pretty fun level. I really like the part at the drop especially with the gravity portals, as the effect of them rotating is super satisfying. Still though, I’m really not a fan of this level visually. The colors are pretty all over the place, often having some pretty strange combinations that result in a murky feeling. The designs are off putting too, since most of it utilizes default blocks in really strange ways. The whole thing just feels pretty incohesive, with the default block and spike parts feeling essentially unfinished. Even though this is probably MannyHeffleys worst decoration in a finished level, I still appreciate how 1984 shows Manny’s potential as a creator. He tried a bunch of ideas out, with a few working and a lot falling short, but it’s still a level full of ideas nonetheless.

It feels refreshing to play an unrated 1.6 demon with high quality that isn’t just another 1.6 styled or GDPS level, as they’ve become increasingly rare over the years. ghetto gospel isn’t the most outstanding level for today's standards, mostly feeling like just a Clubstep remake, but it has some competent designs for its time that still look good today. I could have easily seen it getting featured back when it came out, but there’s a few small things that hold it back today. 

For one, ghetto gospel has a ton of offscreen timings. While memory was common for older demons, I find remembering when to click when you’re entirely offscreen to be extremely frustrating gameplay, and something I’d rather people not have to deal with. It’s a bit excusable due to it being so old, but it’s still something that bothers me. Secondly, which I mentioned earlier, it isn’t much more than a Clubstep remake for today’s standards. While it was certainly its own level, it doesn’t do anything that feels very special today. Also, the level has a secret way. Or… had? There’s a very purposeful secret way in the level, with players claiming to have beaten the level with it, but it seems to be impossible in 2.2. Still, the fact that people beat it with the secret way in the past combined with the gameplay makes it hard for me to want this Star Rated nowadays. Still a good level for its time!

Cyclone Machine is an “impossible” 1.7 styled Extreme Demon by Electro2001, originally made all the way back in 2.0. I say “impossible” because it’s since been verified by exsii. A few people may remember Northernsense by the same creator, a very difficult Extreme Demon version of Polargeist by RobTop, verified by Atomic. Like Northernsense, Cyclone Machine is known less for its decoration and more for its ruthless gameplay, which looks unfeasible to most players. However, unlike Northersense, Cyclone Machine has much more to offer. It’s a completely original level, but still uses a song from the main levels, Time Machine.

Despite being an original level, Cyclone Machine still doesn’t have much to offer outside of any other old styled level. A lot of the parts are reminiscent of old creators or levels, and seemingly completely random ones, from Flappy Bird to High Life. There’s plenty of questionable color choices as well, which combined with lots of barren looking parts, result in a really strange Extreme Demon that has gone super unnoticed. I don’t think Cyclone Machine is worthy of a Star Rating, but I respect the huge accomplishment of beating this beast of a level.