Rating Curve

Le Muguet de Mai. The lily of the valley.

As the name suggests, this level is themed around flowers, and does a great job of utilizing 2.2 features to tastefully accentuate the theme instead of spamming CapCut effects with a great example being the beginning and its platforms that use the scale triggers to literally bloom in front of you. The floral block designs and vibrant colors all add to the atmosphere. I also love the art style, aiming for a memorable distinction instead of the default mode of just making it as shiny and realistic as possible.

The gameplay is easy to follow as well, showing that you can create an engaging experience in 2.2 without having the camera perform acrobatic circus tricks and a lasagna of shader effects layered on top of one another. Some parts were a little janky, like the swing and spider, but I still enjoyed this level a lot.

RobTop descends from his ivory tower to show creators how to make a 2-star with beautiful sightreadable gameplay that isn't just an auto with 6 indicated jumps. I must also commend his extraordinary humility in not giving himself a mythic rating.

Happy April Fools.

A great example of how Geometry Dash can be used as an art medium. EndLevel's "The Best of Me" is a short level set to audio from the final tape recorded by Ricardo Lopez, the infamous stalker obsessed with the singer Björk. The level does a great job of representing the emotions of the haunting video, all without compromising the GD-ness of the level. From gameplay and pulses that sync with the heavy breathing of the deranged Lopez to the level's abrupt end representing his filmed suicide, "The Best of Me" (a title that is also a reference to the tape) uses its small runtime to the fullest, and is one of my favorite works of art in this game.

A well-executed sequel to the first troll level that is an absolute joy to watch. Unfortunately I am nowhere near skilled enough to comment on the gameplay, and will update my review if I am ever able to.

KillDonaldTrump cooked here.

Easily one of my favorite design levels ever. It's one of the best executions of the cyberpunk/city theme out there, and one of the design genre's finest works. The predrop features the rare sight of player colour integration, once a mainstay in the 4 colour channel era. It uses both player colours in the background and in the glow that accents the blocks, an effect that helps personalize the level. The notes of progression in this part are also noteworthy; the tall buildings of the titular metropolis loom in the background as a helicopter flies overhead. The drop is an explosion of colors and fine detail, with every block looking meticulous. The pulses just add to the frenzied explosion of colour. The gameplay here is fairly enjoyable in my opinion, with the rapid portal switching fitting the intensity of the drop. Then we transition into the headline-grabber of the level, its midsection that employs a wall-jump system several years before RobTop would add the arrow trigger that makes building such a section in 2.2 fairly trivial. Naturally, playing such a part has its little oddities that come from the direction switch implementation, but it's not that much of an annoyance and doesn't bring down the experience as a whole. The buildings that were once looming shadows are now visible in much more detail as we approach the level's climax. I've always interpreted this part as being a section where the player climbs up an alleyway in between two buildings. The final part is a glorious tour de force, a euphoric joyride through this intricate city. The colours here are magnificent, with each flash and pulse complementing the vibe. One of my favourite effects here is what happens when the player pops in and out of the brightly lit sections as the player becomes a blacked-out shadow, just as what happens when someone stands in front of a large light source. The gameplay perfectly complements this freewheeling spirit, and playing this section feels like a sequence from a Spiderman film as he player jumps and flies from buildings to industrial equipment as skyscrapers and a tower reminiscent of Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower dazzle in the background. The structures here are simply beautiful, with the high rises looking absolutely gorgeous with colorful windows. All in all, DesTicY's Metropolis is an absolute masterpiece, a dazzling trip through a colourful cyberpunk utopia.