Rating Curve

My favorite of the original 3. I think the cinematography is best here and I'm particularly impressed with myself for using move triggers to shake the screen (even though that is pretty simple tbh)

The art and animation are peak! The artstyle is really unique, instead of being realistic or flat-modernistic or pixelart, it's a very stylized 2D look that would hold up amazingly in a standalone game. Even the inclusion of sound effects was done very well - for example, using "fire in the hole" can be cheesy in levels, but it was included in a way that felt very fitting (with it's sync to the music) and it elevated the level by being a well integrated reference to GD's culture. I loved how this level managed to be cinematic as fuck and still have really solid gameplay, especially the sections before the bossfight. There is none of the gameplay handholding many high production levels do where they nerf the gameplay due to it being hard to see what's going on, I appreciate that a lot. The level isn't trying to feel like it isn't GD, and thusly it pulls off what other high production levels attempt better than them all.

The bossfight is the most iffy part just cuz the gameplay isn't as strong and the boss art isn't too interesting (tho it's sutble animations are very commendable). Idk if the fireballs are randomized or follow a pattern, but I did not bother to learn if it did, I just rawdogged it and had to read it fresh every time, which was very fun (though frustrating at times).

Skeletal Shenanigans isn't one I would play again over and over but it's a real joy to have beaten it and it's fun to see all the details watching it back in replays. Extra points for respectable design decisions. The bar is officially raised for me.

The visuals and the 3D gameplay is jaw dropping! I greatly respect that a lot of sections looked and felt like natural average difficulty gd gameplay, as opposed to most levels with high production visuals which obscure the gameplay, replacing it with non gd gameplay, with safeguards everywhere to save you from dying.

The ending with the 3D z-axis gameplay, and the final wave part had legitimate gameplay as a part of the dimension bending visuals which made for a novel and fun challenge. I only wish every section had interesting gameplay. The drop with the ufo and ship for example has zero gameplay obstacles, and that's what brings the level down from a 10/10.