Rating Curve

A common misconception with 1.9 levels getting rated nowadays is that it's acceptable to simply build in an older existing style and still succeed in meeting today's standards. Putting this stereotype to shame, Zer0 is astounding and impressive, period.

Despite being made in a version of the editor that is outdated by several years, Zer0 not only meets the standards for design, movement, atmosphere, and uniqueness; it exceeds them by far, using four color channels to simulate movement, pulsing, and visual glitching. The beginning parts feel alive in multiple ways, both in that they somehow pull off horizontal and vertical movement animations simultaneously as well as seamless transitions between multiple fragmented parts, and also give the level a deceptively sinister personality. The pulses and design quality work fervently in the more intense parts, and despite the limitations on Z layering and the inability to move custom backgrounds in the 1.9 editor, the backgrounds and foregrounds agree with and complement one another eerily well.

The only part of this level that feels particularly weak by comparison is at around 40 seconds where the blocks glitch out and change as you move through them. Visually it feels emptier and less fulfilling, but it's important to note that with four color channels and no toggle triggers, any kind of further foreground or background decoration would either expose the hidden solid objects, or interfere with the use of color channels that make the glitching so seamless and immersive. Our community thrives off of the creative spirit of levels like Zer0 that succeed in executing sophisticated techniques and creating an immersive atmosphere, and the fact that Samu accomplished this to this extent with such limitations is astounding.

Review originally authored for Viprin+Paste

There comes a time in the history of every established creative medium where some unhinged visionary finally captures lightning in a bottle and reaches so far into the future that they unequivocally stomp everything in the past and present. If you asked music fans which song accomplished this, fights would break out between team Crazy Blues and team Eleanor Rigby, and painting aficionados may laugh at people who afford this praise to Picasso's Guernica, but if you ask any well-versed Geometry Dash player which level takes this crown, their answer will almost certainly be Death Moon.

Afraid that his account would be banned for exploiting a glitch to bypass the object limit of 15,000 in 1.9, FunnyGame released Death Moon under the emergency guise of Caustic in 2015. Though he remained quiet about his alias, players quickly caught that this level is covered in FunnyGame's DNA, full of cascading glow animations, unconventional uses for common objects, pulsing background tessellations, and sprawling geometric patterns pioneered in his previous works. Despite adhering exclusively to a red and black color scheme, and despite being forced to reuse a bunch of assets in bypassing the object limit, Death Moon manages to remain engaging and iconic for its full 2:40 runtime.

The song and the level work together beautifully to set an abrasive and hellish tone, matching awkward rhythms and tritones with coils of ground spikes and thorns swallowing structures like ivy. Staying monochrome enables FunnyGame to use 1.9's four color channels to cycle between animation frames, which he uses to add tension and intensity, switching on a dime from an animated drop of blood in a quiet, pitch-black falling transition, to an explosive loop of background designs switching with every note.

Iconic, distinguishable designs and clever workarounds to the game's limitations are the lifeblood of creativity in Geometry Dash, and Death Moon channels that spirit with historic strength and ingenuity.

Review originally authored for Viprin+Paste.