Rating Curve

Limbo v0

Ok, minus a point because whoever merged this was an idiot and a bunch of parts are slightly offsync in both directions (yes I know dehznik was already stupid, to a lesser extent also applies to Akira). Also 3 Robtop moments in here and I don't even know how hilo's part broke let alone how to fix it (wtf is a collision block).

Anyway. Crazy, unique, creative, polished, well structured, this really is a hidden gem of a layout and it's a shame it never really got the recognition it would've had if it was all put together and previewed when it was supposed to be.

Orientalist white boy

I feel like I would've liked this even more a couple years back but I'm somewhat past that hyperfixation so right now it's just "good". Main complaint is honestly that some effects are too good and I find myself losing track of the gameplay (in a bad way).

Also this inevitably has to compete with coke county in my head and that thing did this song better

How? It's monochrome.

Well ignoring the fact that some clicks which are clearly supposed to be synced aren't (and my rating sure doesn't ignore), the sync is really good. It's honestly kinda hard to go wrong with this song's non-drop parts because the lines of portals/pads/whatever are just a sensible, intuitive thing to use with those notes (see also: Fairy Knife Hell). Outside of sync the gameplay also has some high peaks (40% memory wave, 43% dual, 58% repeating segments especially, 70% dual, 95% dash orbs) even if everything else is pretty basic with at most some camera movements.

That splitscreen UFO exists. It certainly exists. I can say that

This level really suffers from that long-ass intro with the single jump (as if Quasar's levels somehow couldn't get even more unbalanced than they already were), but also idk this really wouldn't be the same without it. It needs to be there. It just has to. Even if it makes it worse.

Effects are great as usual though. No wait, scratch that, not as usual, no, it's actually even better than usual.

blub blub blub blub blub blub blub blub blub

This is one of those Lit Fuse type levels that has a clear artistic vision behind it that I CANNOT praise enough, but also has a couple bafflingly bad design choices that keep it from being as good as it should've been, and it's just all the more painful seeing a potentially amazing level be held back by simple problems.

First off, I'm a sucker for repeated motifs in gameplay. This has a number of them but I think the one that really shines through is the blue orbs over the spikes during break parts. You see it so much throughout the level and almost never hit the orbs, so the couple times you do just feel that much more impactful. The other motif I want to bring attention to is the sets of 4 size portals. For some reason the pattern of skip big-hit big-skip small-hit small just feels like a really natural and satisfying way to mark your progress through the journey.

The next point of interest that shows up is the 2nd drop, and I think this is where the two biggest issues, namely the sync and the lack of energy, combine to make each other their worst. The sync for the individual "OH"s is actually really good with how the background pulses and the waves make big movements, the mirror portals and the ufo are also good, but the repeated words (I cannot hear this as anything other than "blub blub blub" wtf is he saying) are very noticeably going by faster than your clicks, and the gameplay just feels so much more lifeless than the song. Perhaps it would've been too much of a difficulty spike if it was better synced? But then why not just make all of it a wider spam for the whole part instead of consistency? Or better yet just let it be harder?

Piano part also suffers from sync issues (like straight up there are more notes here you're not syncing to, did you just not hear them) yet at the same time the sync is still beautifully done there. Somehow. Idk. Conversely, the 3rd drop is also beautifully done but suffers from feeling too slow. It's not as severe as the 2nd drop but there's still way more energy in the song that's not happening in the gameplay. For as much as I dislike The Human Limit, one thing it really doesn't struggle with is maintaining the same vibe as the song. Love the box in the buildup to it though it's simple yet fascinating I wish there was more stuff like it.

The 4th drop also doesn't have enough energy. God, the 1st one is the only one that really feels right, huh? Why and how did you screw it up 3 times in a row like this? I do like the empty feeling of a lot of the structuring in it though, it feels like it's happening in a big empty room (like the song).

The latter half of the last section is great. For the whole duration of the level you've been told to hit white and avoid hitting gray, and it never lies to you once. It still won't "lie" here either, but it WILL throw the curveball of orbs with both indicator colors around them. It's only a couple orbs, but it's really a nice detail, as is the word "humans" being highlighted and the invisible slopes taking you through the gears in sync with the reversed piano in a similar pattern to how you've been raised up by some sets of visible slopes.

Is this my longest review? I don't know. I feel like it is though. Halfway through writing I got distracted by Hollow Knight: Silksong for 4 hours

It takes a while to get going (frankly a bit too long for my liking, that's my biggest problem and what's really holding it back), but man when it gets going, it REALLY gets going. Amazing atmosphere at some points and solid effects throughout. 3 points less than perfect

Built like a dark, fucked up version of God Eater haha. Just a glimpse into my dark reality. A full stare into my twisted perspective would make most simply go insane lmao

There aren't many levels that have really benefitted from being unfinished. I don't mean as in "this sucks so bad thank god it's dead" (no pun intended) or "the layout is great but the deco sucks", there are plenty of both of those. Rather I mean "this is so much higher quality with less than half the layout built". The only other thing I can really think of that does this is Bottomless Pit.

So, why does this benefit from being unfinished? Because it's more unsettling this way. "Famous author is forced to cancel his horror-themed work due to external reasons and hide its existence, only for someone to break the rules and find out about it" is literally a horror trope, and the contents of the level itself could hardly go with that concept better.

A single, looming face silently watches you at the start. Much of the gameplay is surrounded by darkness, with the little that can be seen being incredibly barebones, only consisting of disconnected outlines, and the fact that most notes are slightly offsync kinda indicates "something went wrong here". Even the famous circle, which everyone has seen in its full glory, has been grotesquely cut up into individual spike patches. It all just feels like it's not meant to be seen in an entirely unintentional way, and that's compounded by the fact that it really is not meant to be seen.

Also another reason this is better unfinished is because many parts of this song suck ass including some of what would be used in this level if it were finished

Hatsune Miku Twerk Compilation

Despite the poor sync (the genral energy is represented well but otherwise it's pretty bad) and rather questionable playtesting, the creativity on display here from so many legendary names really makes this worthwhile, and I'm glad we finally got to see this complete. I especially love Manix's memory part, and the one bit where the sync is good (the transition into Daddy Yankee's part), the sync is REALLY good.

I really can't think of any level that feels the same as this. There are plenty of other "so bad it's good" levels but none of them have the ultra epicness that is the simpsons appearing in a 2x2 grid synced to the beat of freedom dive

There's some neat structures and stuff in individual parts but the thing I really like about this is the subtle progression. It doesn't immediately feel more "packed" from one part to the next but if you were to jump from the start to the end you could pretty clearly see a difference