Rating Curve

Brainrotten name aside, I’m a fan of this level’s fluid gameplay and the vibrant deco. Both combine to really communicate the feeling of flying in a beautiful breezy sky. That being said, the ending is unreasonably harder than the rest of the level and a little janky.

One of my favorite levels ever. Every part just has this beautiful dynamism to it. I love the way everything moves, and the colors work well with the song. "Tsuretette" is over a half decade old, yet it still looks fresh all these years later.

The winner of the Space Gauntlet Contest, Abducted chooses to go in a completely different direction than most of the other entries, opting for a bright, fun artstyle and a comic book theme instead of the usual blurple realistic planet art that was omnipresent in this contest. Unfortunately, Abducted's reputation (especially on here and Twitter) is now inextricably shackled to the fact that it won the contest and its grand prize of $1K, doomed to forever be compared to the levels that didn't win. It's a little goofy, sure, and I understand why people mortally terrified of anything "cringe" may turn up their noses at a level that unashamedly has fun like this does. These were my thoughts as I saw this level for the first time on the results premiere.

Then, I played the level.

In Geometry Dash, the video game, not YouTube the video hosting platform.

Well, I don't know if "played" is the right word here. I guess I experienced this level. This level has basically no gameplay to speak of. Many of the parts are auto, or are so coddling in their design they may as well be. It seems antithetical to what Geometry Dash is as a game. Abducted doesn't have the balls to be a full-blown 1 star auto, or to have engaging gameplay where there are consequences for when you click and when you don't. It exists somewhere in the middle, where there are extended sections where you find out that you don't have to click at all, and like 3 random clicks that jump at you out of nowhere. There isn't much of an indication of when the auto starts and ends. Abducted is far from the only victim of this mind virus that seemingly affects anything easier than a 4-star, but it is a particularly nasty case.

I wonder if anybody involved in the creation and promotion of this draymondgreenquote.jpg level is aware that there is a real criminal gang that calls themselves the "GDs". Unfortunately I haven't seemed to enjoy the entire "event level" idea. It seems destined to create "industry plant" stuff like this. Next Cab Soon is much better imo, but I guess some people found this endearing/funny.

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.

For as long as there have been humans and stars, we have gazed upon the heavens with wonder. Aperture by Chunlv1, Reunomi and Matty2003 is a Space Gauntlet entry themed around the act of Stargazing, with a specific focus on telescopes and astrophotography. Aside from the name (the aperture is the hole through which light passes in a camera), the level's in-game description is a dead giveaway of this level's intentions. "Picture taken at April 25th - 1990" is almost certainly a reference to the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, which happened on that day. Given everything else in this level that involves telescopes, I think this is a reasonable assumption.

The level starts with a spider part that is a little tricky to learn, but is fairly satisfying to pull off once you get it done. Here, the circular structuring that gradually expands feels like zooming out while taking a photo.

The next section is a cube part that doesn't really adhere to the same telescope themes, but even here are little easter eggs that fit in with the general theme. Much of the background and foreground is comprised of papers, where we see drawings, planetary charts, and to tie it all together, an acceptance letter to "Praiseton University"'s Astrophysics Department for the 1979 academic year. Considering the letter claims this "Praiseton" is located in New Jersey despite such a town not seeming to exist, this may be a parody of Princeton. The letter gives context to all the papers and study material we see in this section; the protagonist of this level is furthering her education. Unfortunately, she seems to be having a tough time as the last paper we see has a big red "F" stamped on it.

We transition into a robot section with an animation of eyes closing on the screen, as if the viewer has blinked. As the player goes through a room with books and astronomical equipment, we see the text "For how long were you asleep?". It seems our protagonist has studied to exhaustion. Then, we see a telescope, perfectly positioned by a window gazing at the moon.

The drop transition features an animation of a camera, calling back to the titular Aperture, and then flies through a rolling film strip with frames of stars and constellations. I especially love how the ship movements in tandem with the film strip make the player look like an astronomical object themselves, zipping across the screen like a comet.

After this is another cube section similar to the first one, with photographs of planets and stars alongside mathematical functions. Text appears here too, with the words "When was the last moment that sparked interest towards astronomy?" slowly appearing as the part progresses. Here is where the level's story begins to materialize. Given the exhausting studying and lackluster grades, our protagonist may be grappling with feelings of burnout regarding her Astrophysics education. In times like those, it is very easy to question your commitment. Why am i doing this? What's the point of it all?.

As the player makes it way through a bedroom (presumably the protagonist's) in an unobtrusive swing/ship section, we approach the open window that hints at what is to come. In the bedroom sequence too, are fine details worth appreciating. The parallax on the foreground structures is immaculately executed, with the desk-like structure that has a lamp on it being a highlight. I also appreciate how it's not really a desk, more of a diagonal structure that better fits the natural movements of the swing. This is, after all, a Geometry Dash level.

As the player makes their way out of a large window, we are transported to a robot section in which the player moves around a large telescope, a domed building that may be where the previous sections are set. The 3D circular motion is great here too. We transition into the second drop with an animated sequence featuring our heroine gazing at the stars and forming a frame with her fingers. The film strip makes a return here too, as the moon transitions into an animations of it cycling through its phases on the film.

From Spu7nix's "HOW" and "WHAT", to levels like 3Depth and even mods like 3Dash, GD creators have long wished to break the dimensional boundaries of this game. The 2nd drop is a euphoric sequence as the player jumps through structures that come from the front, rather than the side of the screen as is usual. We see stars, asteroids and a tunnel reminiscent of the flash game Run. The 3D structures here are well done, and the gameplay is easy enough to understand. Bonus points for using the actual player instead of creating a fake cube. We go into a ball section where the player goes through a satellite, ending the first 3D sequence.

After this is a return to 2D side scrolling, in a section that was a little annoying to play. A few of the jumps feel "blind" and hard to anticipate here. We get into a wave section where the filmstrip is once again visible in the background as we smoothly transition to the final gameplay sequence in the level. Here is a dual wave section where the players zigzag alongside the walls of a tunnel. Here it feels as if the player is traveling inside a telescope. As the end of the tunnel approaches and the titular aperture opens up, we see a singular star, glowing brighter than all the others, come into focus. Everything goes white, and the endscreen appears.

The endscreen is a stunning art piece featuring our protagonist silently contemplating as the star from earlier materializes amidst her hands held in front of her. The 2nd drop, overall, functions as an epiphany, the answer to the questions and doubts that floated through her conscience in the level's midsection. As the grand magnificence of the heavens overwhelms our senses, it's as if the stars are communicating the conclusion to our small narrative. This is the point. This is why you are here, studying to exhaustion and doing all this. It's the simple wonder that implants itself onto every stargazer, the expanses of the skies leaving all observers speechless. That is what I feel when I play Aperture.