Rating Curve

this level is a silly one for the books! the fact that this is rated is insane. albeit it took two years, but it still got rated. not that i care too much for the rate system because a lot of bs goes on there, so let's move on to the things of actual value. i think it's impossible to talk about this level without mentioning its song. i've seen people say that the only reason this level is good is because of the song, but i have to strongly disagree with that. first of all, a level's song choice should be considered one with the level and not a separate aspect, but there's also the fact that even without the song, this level stands on its own as a genuinely good level. the newgrounds theme is something that hasn't been seen much before, giving this level a fresh look compared to even levels with a similar decoration style. i really like all colors in general, but i am especially a sucker for warm colors like orange. the little highlights in the blocks showing comment bubbles, among other things, look very nice over the dark gray of the main blocks. at the same time, it isn't too overbearing; there isn't so much detail to where it would be hard to see the individual elements. this can be to its detriment, however, because some designs can be a bit empty, but it's nothing major. the gameplay is also very smooth, especially in the drop parts. the parts in between are less smooth, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. the gameplay quality stays consistent, for the most part. the smoothness of certain parts also matches the flow of the song, where the drop parts are more coherent while the parts inbetween represent what the actual words are. for example, the spam parts whenever he says "spam," along with the movements of the cube, and the iconic "collect to kys" key. i'm personally not a fan of xl levels, but this one is acceptable 👍

i personally haven't beaten this level yet so my words may not as credible, but i'll give my thoughts regardless since i think this level deserves a few affirming comments. now, i want to get out of the way that the main spectacle of the level is the dual. beside maybe the ufo immediately after the dual and the final cube-ship dual, i don't find many other parts of this level to be particularly intriguing. what the levels lacks in those regards, however, is definitely made up for by the dual. upon first seeing the dual, one might be compelled to think that the colors... don't exactly work that well, to put it kindly. i think most people would probably dismiss it simply for that fact alone, but i think we should keep in mind that this is the drop of the level. the drop is the most intense part of a level, and the strong color choice here really helps to accentuate the energy of the drop. the level is so high in energy that for a good while, i had thought that the dual was in 4x speed. nope, it's entirely in 3x. the gameplay itself is also very interesting, with it being more wave-based than it seems. i think this also helps with the kick of the level, wave being a very "sharp" gamemode. overall, the entire dual really fits with the song and gets me very excited, so awesome job to wiremuncher. i hope i can beat this someday :)