Rating Curve

This level is absolutely amazing. It's 6 am and I have not gone to sleep yet but instead of going to bed I'm going to do a review bc why not. Also if you get ads it's because youtube detected copyrighted shit or whatever

Gameplay:

I have very few complaints about this level's gameplay. Every single section in the level, without exception, got consistent from 0 after a reasonable amount of practice. In addition to this, the entire level, from beginning to end, is immensely fun and I only have 3 nitpicks with it. My biggest issue (which is still pretty minor) is that the first 2 clicks of the 38% wave are blind which got annoying sometimes. My second nitpick is that the wave I just mentioned is the hardest part, because if this wave were easier, this level's balancing would genuinely be so perfect that I could not pick a single part as the hardest. My last complaint is that the 92% ufo spam has an inconsistent transition and I died there from 0 because of it which really annoyed me. I also want to mention that you can spam/buffer in the sync parts which is an incredibly nice detail that I massively appreciate.

Decoration:

This level's decoration is perfect. The block designs, structuring and simple air deco are all so good and it's amazing how visually appealing every second of the level is. Being a sequel to xo, it's easy to take too much from the original level and not supply enough originality but Arrow excels at hitting the sweet spot between looking like xo and being original. I also want to mention how much I ADORE the aesthetic of the gameplay combined with the decoration and the song, just like in xo, the aesthetic of the gameplay is a big part in helping the level look good. It's pulled off perfectly here and it once again hits a sweet spot, this time between making it incredibly fun and fitting the decoration and song flawlessly. There are so many parts of the level that should be bad or that have bad ideas in them, but they're all executed in such a way that they fit in exactly right and the level would be worse without them. Another thing I love about Arrow's decoration is the subtle colors that flash in the block outlines during some of the parts that look incredible.

Song:

Normally, I don't judge a level by its song. I only do this in specific cases where the song is unusually great or horrible, and the song that Arrow uses is nothing short of incredible. Not only do I just love the song, but seeing the preview of this level on Jacob's channel 2 years ago introduced me to the band who made the song, half·alive, who have become one of my favorite bands.

Partially copy pasted from my completion description

I beat this because I realized I could do it pretty quickly, overall it's honestly a fine level if it won't take you too long. To me, the thing with this level is that the raw gameplay is actually fun for the most part once you learn it--- however, it's very, very unbalanced. The first wave is ridiculous, even if it does get really consistent, and other parts like the 35% ufo and the cube right after serve as nothing but slot machines stopping you from getting to the end. I also really don't like how, despite being chokepoint heavy, the easy parts are still going to kill you often. It's just really demotivating and frustrating. Still, the parts themselves are genuinely really fun. I revisit this often for warmup or boredom. Plus, the deco still looks good today and was SUPER ahead of its time. The level is extremely impressive in that regard

Awesome level. Amazing gameplay, gets super consistent, and even with the really hard part at 39% being the hardest part by a lot it still felt completely fair and fun.

Copy pasted from the description of my completion, it’s not actually my least favorite level but it’s the worst one I’ve beaten. The fact that I pause in the middle of my completion attempt to rant about the shitty gameplay should tell you enough

Scientists have been studying the universe for decades and yet not one of them has found a level worse than this trash

Extreme demon (#11)

Attempts: ~5.8k attempts from 2021 to get 70% and ~800 attempts coming back to the level (6270 in total)

Fails: TWELVE ENDING DEATHS (91x6, 92x4, 93x1 is my guess but I didn't keep track)

Hardest part: The second to last ufo it also sucks fucking ASSSSS)

Enjoyment: 16/100

Gameplay rating: 20/100

Decoration rating: boring