Rating Curve

SKY HIGH is a short but ethereal level, only having 2 simple but effective parts. Right from the start, the level has some funky grass and ground colors that make you feel like you’re on another planet. After that part ends, you ascend into the sky, which feels like a vast and delicate landscape made of glass. I really like the vibes that this level has to bring here, as it looks nice and has a great atmosphere. There are a few things I think could be done a bit better though. For one, the level feels just a bit cluttered with the background elements at play. They’re all a bit bright, and seem to blend in a bit with the rest of the designs at times. On top of this, there’s some elements like the stars in the drop part that feel like they would kill you that don’t. Besides that, I don’t have many other issues with the designs. Some of the colors in the drop can feel a bit murky due to them all blending together, but it isn’t too bad.

The gameplay is where SKY HIGH seems to struggle the most in my eyes, as it feels a little clunky to play with the slowed down gameplay and unclear visuals at times. The slow motion gameplay works, but I personally would rather see half speed gameplay used, as it would feel much more natural. For the rest of the gameplay, the unclear visuals at times in the drop combined with low gravity and essentially offscreen gameplay make for a bit of an annoying experience to sight read. It isn’t the end of the world, but with an easy start, it can feel a bit frustrating to die to. Overall though, SKY HIGH is a neat level with a pretty atmosphere, and I think this level deserves a Featured Rating. I do think DangerChampion could easily expand upon their ideas though, so I hope to see them do so in the future.

ryli06 and nwolc strike again with another banger level, this time using the song Vampire in the Corner by Magdelena Bay, a song from the most critically acclaimed album of 2024. I was immediately intrigued when I saw this, due to ryli06 previously uploading drift away, a level that I think perfectly represents the song Milk by Sweet Trip. Unsurprisingly, I was not disappointed with ur my valentine. While it’s subtle, each detail works so perfectly to accompany the song used, feeling completely intertwined with the song also being subtle. I love the part at 1:25 especially, starting off by only utilizing these super satisfying glow streams on the blocks. As it progresses, you start to see stars, a brighter background, and more to the designs, all leading into the chorus to the second and final time, where the level starts to really pick up with the song.

I really like the choice made at the last chorus to make the whole thing one long ship with flowy gameplay. When you enter the part, you’ve seen most of what it looks like until it's done, but once again, the progression of it really seals the deal. It gets faster as the synths come in, introducing fireworks that explode into a bunch of beautiful colors, and then leads into the drop of everything, where the screen changes from 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 and goes crazy with intense pulses. It takes advantage of everything it built up to be and executes it perfectly, before calming down for the ending and coming to a satisfying close with a TV screen going to static and turning off. This small moment is one of my favorites in the level, as the execution of the static and turn off animation was flawless. Overall, ur my valentine does an outstanding job at representing its song, which is one of the most crucial aspects of making a great level that stands out. I personally think this level much more than deserved an Epic Rating, and although it’s a shame it didn’t, that doesn’t take away from how great ryli06 and nwolc did on this level

Neon Mixtape Tour is one of my favorite Extreme Demons, being 4 minutes of pure fun made by 60 different creators to Dancing Naked by TheFatRat. While it isn’t the most serious level, almost every part went absolutely crazy, bringing a bunch of different ideas to the table and executing them in some absolutely crazy ways. It’s super fast faced and extremely colorful, matching the energy of the song perfectly. While there are a few parts I think are a bit weak, with most parts being as good as they are and all parts being so short, this isn’t much of an issue.

Due to the insane amount of content found in this level, it’s a little hard to talk about all of it, but Twister did an incredible job hosting Neon Mixtape Tour and making every part transition seamlessly into the others. There’s a lot of comedic aspects that make it memorable as well, with the level having 3 level name drops being one of my favorite things, especially with each one being unique. I actually had the great opportunity of making the part at 1:08, also creating the drop screen there, and I can safely say that this level was as fun to build on as it is to watch. Neon Mixtape Tour is a great example of having fun with a big project and something great coming out of it, so well done to Twister for hosting this!

OMG ITS 2 POINT TWO is a fever dream of a level. To be honest with you, I have no idea what the meaning of almost anything in this level is. It’s loosely based off the music video for the song, T+ VS SHARK, which is similarly goofy. Essentially, the level comes down to Foxtailo’s character running around and finding itself in a bunch of different situations. While it’s pretty nonsensical, it’s also pretty awesome. Admittedly, the humor of it is a little lost on me, but it’s still really funny nonetheless seeing all the different ideas Foxtailo threw together for this level. My favorite part is probably at 1:40, when it pans across the city on fire, although this is just one great moment of many.

Since OMG ITS 2 POINT TWO is an auto animation level, there isn’t much to judge besides the creativity and visuals of it. It’s certainly got the creativity down, but the visuals struggle a bit at times. Design wise it isn’t very bad, just a little weird at times when pixel blocks are combined with normal ones, but a big nitpick I have is the shaders and colors. The shader usage is pretty abused in this level, often having a vignette or glitch effect covering the screen that makes it look messier or darker than it needs to be. This takes away from a lot of the detail, which can be kind of upsetting in parts like 1:17 that otherwise look super cool. Secondly, a lot of the colors look pretty strange. A lot of the level is pretty desaturated, which makes it feel less exciting, and it’s made worse at times where the colors blend in weird ways, like the pink and yellow backgrounds. Still though, this is a really creative and silly level that I think deserves a Featured Rating.

It’s always fun looking back at well known creator’s old levels, with Fuzzy by Blitz being no exception. Fuzzy actually isn’t too bad for its time. I could have seen this getting a Star Rate or even a Feature back when it came out, but it doesn’t do much to stand out from a lot of levels from that era, so nowadays it’s a bit harder to see it happening when combined with the aging in designs and polish. Still though, I could see it potentially earning a Star Rating today. While the designs have aged quite a bit, I like the charming and classic 2.0 design style, and I think it was well executed for its time. The colors are nice to look at as well, albeit pretty monochromatic, and the level overall makes me feel good when playing it, partly due to the banger song by Waterflame. Overall, it’s clear that Blitz has always been a good creator, and I love that they’ve stuck around for so long.

Button Masher is Viprin’s first megacollab released in over 2 and a half years, and it’s a pretty surprising one. For over half a decade. Viprin’s projects have been hyped up design style collabs that consistently push the limits in execution with simple themes, such as “sky” and “rainbow”. With Button Masher, however, this way of level creation was flipped on its head. As the last level of the NCS x Geometry Dash event, Button Masher was teased only a month before getting released, and isn’t your typical design level you’d expect from Viprin.

The level starts off outside of an arcade machine that you enter after a few seconds. Before you enter, you can see vibrant posters of all the NCS event levels on the wall, as this level isn’t just the final level of the event, but a collaboration between all the creators of those levels as well. After entering the arcade machine, the next 50 seconds are fairly basic pixel block parts. I say basic, but it’s still a well executed version of the style. It doesn’t do much to be very original though, which honestly brings it down a bit for me. This is the case until 0:46, where you start beating up a monster to the song, with a few “glitches” forming and the screen occasionally breaking out into the real world, reminding the player that you’re in an arcade machine. The drop is where the level seriously picks up, as the level becomes more menacing and more glitches start to occur. Eventually, the glitches overtake the arcade machine, and you break out of the screen and into the arcade. 

At this point, the style of the level completely changes. You’ve broken into the real world, and the decoration is more art based and realistic to accommodate that. This segment is easily my favorite in the level, as it packs so many small details in such a short timespan. I love how you see all the arcade machines in the background, before crashing through a claw machine, going past a bowling alley on an air hockey table, and flying your way past the prize corner before jumping into another arcade machine. You don’t last very long in this new arcade machine before you start jumping between multiple different ones, with each one referencing different games and levels. Finally, you reach the last machine, and the level ends with a brilliant sequence of a fake “Game Over!” death followed by a wonderfully animated endscreen.

While there’s a lot more I could talk about, Button Masher is a great level. I do think that the first half is pretty weak, as it lacks originality, looking more like random RobTop styled levels than something actually themed. It even feels a bit weak design wise at times, with some large empty spots and somewhat off putting colors, but the later parts are all fantastic. I think this was a really fun way to end the NCS event, as everything ends up coming together for an exciting grand finale!

The Submarine is a vast and highly ambitious Platformer Insane Demon that pushes the boundary between Geometry Dash and an original game. While not too visually impressive, mainly just utilizing the pixel blocks, the contents of The Submarine is where the magic lies in the level. It’s a big mix of primarily mining for materials, fishing for extra health, avoiding monsters in the sea, and defeating bosses to advance to further points in the map. The amount of time you have to breathe underwater is limited, but you can refuel by going back into your Submarine that you move around the level. Inside the submarine is where you find a ton of stuff, like crafting, cooking, objectives, information, moving the ship, and basically any other important thing needed.

Admittedly, The Submarine isn’t very much a level for me. I played it for 30 minutes and got to the second area, but I’ve seen most of what the level has to offer through my playing and looking through the rest on YouTube. While I like all that The Submarine has to offer, it can be very confusing and overwhelming to get into. This isn’t much of a problem after a while, but that isn’t to say I didn’t have other problems. One of my biggest issues is the 2 player mode required to play the level. I understand why it was needed, but being forced to use ship entirely with WASD is a nightmare, especially when it’s challenging gaps at times. Secondly, I just found everything to feel rather clunky. Entering and exiting the ship is so slow, and using weapons is super awkward and frankly unenjoyable. I also didn’t enjoy how sea creatures could attack you as you entered the ship, as it felt rather unfair. As a result, The Submarine is not a level I would want to spend a ton of hours completing.

Unfortunately, I feel validated for not wanting to complete this level after watching through the videos. While all of the bosses are cool in their own rights, they feel sort of slow and anticlimactic, and the clunky weapons don’t make them very fun to fight. Honestly though, the biggest letdown has to be the ending. The opening scene of the level is an intense cinematic moment that gets you excited to figure out the mystery behind everything, only for the ending to be this: “Oh hey, you found me! I didn’t think I’d ever get saved. Well, unfortunately this was a death mission, you can’t get out from here. Have fun dying with me!” Then the level ends. It’s a super lame ending for what it built up to be. Despite this, The Submarine is a really interesting level. It isn’t exactly one that I find myself wanting to play, but for some people, I can certainly see why they would find a lot of enjoyment from it.

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!

When I first went to view The Square, I was immediately surprised to see that it was a collab with creators like Pueeds and Flash, 2 incredible and very creative creators. This was surprising to me, coming from a creator who I knew from one 1.6 level that didn’t really stick with me. The Square was created as a result of an Australian meetup by a bunch of different GD players, which I think is super cool! It isn’t a very serious level, but it gives the feeling that the creators had a ton of fun building it in that short time span, so I can appreciate it for what it is.

The level starts off with Pueeds, who made a super intriguing part that gives a modern take on older levels. It remakes the default blocks in a simple way, and I absolutely love the splash of colors that Pueeds did. After the strong first impression, the level quickly moves into 2 parts by stcubing. While stcubing is a good creator, his parts here feel very rushed, understandably so. As a result, the decoration doesn’t do much to stand out, and it feels a bit off with how bright everything is. However, stcubing absolutely killed it on the gameplay, resulting in one of the most fun parts. After that is a part by multiple different creators, and it kind of shows. While I like aspects of the part like the background and falling stars, as well as the gameplay, the part feels pretty disconnected. All of the ground spikes and block designs feel very plopped in at the last second, and they look off compared to everything else as a result. 

Thankfully, things ramp up quickly in the second half of the level. it moves into Flash’s first part, which is probably my favorite in the level. While it looks odd, Flash is extremely talented at making really unconventional designs, and combined with the super fun gameplay results in my favorite part in the level. It’s immediately followed by my least favorite part, as I’m not a big fan of Whata’s lacking designs with the super desaturated colors. It’s a very short part though, which finally gets us to the last part of the level, Flash’s second part. While this part feels a bit rushed like a lot of the level, Flash’s creativity still shines brightly here, with a part reminding me a lot of their level Crop Circles.

Overall, I enjoy this level. I don’t normally review levels part by part, but every part in The Square is wildly varied from the last, resulting in an odd but neat level with a some creative parts and a ton of energy. On top of that, the level is super fun to play. Even if the quality is a bit all over the place, you can tell that everyone had a ton of fun making it, so I agree with the Featured Rating given.

As an enormous Hatsune Miku fan, I was really excited when I initially saw christmas with miku in the Sent tab. Upon playing, I was a little bit disappointed to be honest. While I’m overjoyed by all the Miku art in the level, every other aspect of the level is unrelated to Miku. The Miku art is great, and I love the Snowman Miku and Miku plushie that pops out of the present especially. There’s some other Miku art as well, like the last background with art strikingly similar to the art of the artist CAST, although I wasn’t able to determine if this art was recreated or original. Either way, there isn’t really anything besides some of the backgrounds and the song related to Miku. Half of the backgrounds aren’t even Miku either.

Design wise, christmas with miku is a very standard and trope-filled modern level. While I think the start actually has some pretty nice blocks, the rest of the level is made with designs I feel like I’ve seen thousands of times. There’s a lot of tropes like the rotating squares at the beginning that bring that part down, and things like random food backgrounds in other parts for no reason. The gameplay is also very straightforward, but it doesn’t seem to sync very well and feels awkward as a result. The last part also 2feels buggy, as I died a few times without understanding why. Overall, christmas with miku doesn’t have much interest outside of the Miku art. I think that Hatarii should take a look at a level like MikuMikuMikuMiku by OddMod on how to make your decoration fit more with the theme/character used instead of only putting them in the background.