Rating Curve

I've known robotchief for a while now, for so long now that I've been always aware and proven by their skill of creating extremely polished levels whenever they decide to do so. this level, more specifically, has been an on & off project since May 6th and I've seen previews of it every now and ever throughout that time frame. I'm so happy for the final product, and for being offered up to improve & playtest this level further.

now, in regards to HAVOC: this is up to par in outstanding quality with some of robotchief's previous works, more notably levels like "Circuitry", "TURN BACK" & "Solar Wind", where robotchief excels in attention to detail across all elements of their level & great song representation throughout, and with great consistency — and this level isn't the exception.

in the first few parts, the level introduces a "broken" section with some masking effects atop of it, giving a general idea of what to expect in this level. the general quality of the first few parts before the ship is very neat, albeit lacking in quality in contrast to the following parts. the effects definitely fit the design choice for this part — that, and the general song execution for such! there's definitely some great attention to detail in regards to song representation in this level.

moving onward, the level itself improves massively as you play through: I couldn't help but feel that this part is one of the most mesmerizing of the whole level, due to the attention of detail in each element this part has to specifically offer. I really love the implementation of crumbled down portals after some of the guillotine-looking structures fall downwards, leaving remnants of the aforementioned. it's also worth noting that there are details over details in this level that don't inherently ruin the playing & visual experience: the particles coming upwards as the same falling down structures actually hit the bottom half, the warping airdeco elements (more notably in the 3rd part), the mixed background effects that just end up working, etc., this level has some amazing charm to it!

lastly, the last part is what sells the general "broken / shattered" theme, with glass structures that crack as soon as the player lands on them and fully break right after the player leaves — same with the orbs too, as they act like broken ornaments as soon as the player hits them. this part of the level was the one that sold me the most and defined the general quality of the level, as I personally believe that the execution of the "shattered" theme is excellently laid out, with tasteful color choices throughout & a song that ends up being smoothly looped further past the second part. there were some ideas for this level, and robotchief greatly implemented those ideas with great attention to polish, detail & execution.

briefly, I believe that the gameplay of this level isn't nothing unique outside of your general 7* level, since it's fairly straight-forward and tends to get rather stale if you focus on the gameplay aspect of it, but I personally believe that the general decoration quality makes up for the lack thereof with great success. overall, this is definitely one of robotchief's better works, with a great attention to all aspects a level may have to offer without hindering the general experience of such. for the quality this goes for, this is easily an epic worthy level without a doubt. unfortunately, RobTop rated this level fairly quickly before I had time to record the showcase, and he ended up rating this level as a featured. worse is nothing, though!

I remembered this level a few days ago after Rackett released some of his own projects to the game. I've been super attentive with End of the Play due to its charismatic and unique nature, its progression throughout and the general execution of a lot of elements that I don't generally see often.

now, this level encapsulates a hand-drawn creating style, which fondly reminds me of his other level called "OBJECT PERMANENCE". I personally enjoy this kind of creating style because it allows the creator to properly treat the editor as if it was their own notebook of sorts, doodling designs and assets in the background as constellations, foreground elements as well and even the texturing of some designs — there's a lot of neat detail in this level.

this level mostly focuses on drawn scenery, which it adds some great personality to the level the more you play and appreciate how the creator laid out most of these concepts through. however, I strongly believe that while the main appeal of this level are the backgrounds themselves, these tend to leave most structural elements empty and rather lacking massively, more notably at the UFO section at 47%, the lack of proper useful structuring in this part really hinders with the general quality of that section alone, when it has so much great potential to it.

I'd like to also mention that the gameplay of this level is rather fun to execute, but I had a hard time enjoying it for the most part, due to how the inputs are laid out to compensate song sync. the gameplay, while it aligned itself neatly with the song representation, tends to come off as odd to me in some sections. for instance, the swing section at 35% feels rather off putting with how it's laid out with the song and the general inputs of it, same with its structuring. I do appreciate the effort for implementing a swing part in the first place, since I personally believe swing is super under looked and underrated. finally, the transition work in this level needs to be heavily improved, as I personally believe that it's the level's major weaknesses. some transitions are okay at best, but what really killed it for me was the 58% to 69%. I'll admit however, and it's the fact that the constant transitions between brief, disconnected parts was a good idea due to the song's constant buildup, but I'd appreciate personally a more proper execution of that idea, since it can come off as rather offputting and just generally awkward.

now, the song of this level is what attracted me a lot. the song execution in this level is extremely well executed! I strongly believe that it's Rackett's better works in regards of representation. the design choices in this level neatly fit with the song's general ambience, and with each section, you can tell that each part was thought out for that song's part. not only that, but the creating style in this level tends to match with the song's ambience and rhythm. I really appreciate the creator's thought process when creating these sections in huge relation to the song. this is by far the level's best regard to it!

overall, this is an extremely solid demon where it executes song ideas to its maximum, things like transitions and gameplay could potentially be improved, but for what's worth, it isn't as bad. the designs in this level are as great as they can be, with the general doodled out style which really appalled to me a lot, and the overall execution of other elements like airdeco, foreground elements and the overall ambience of this level are extremely well! this is a great level from such an underrated creator.