Rating Curve

my playthrough of flappy weird:

(first practice run) hey this plays kinda interestingly why do people hate it so much?

going from zero: random inconsistency in the beginning (especially at the part where the structures are pitch black against the dark purple background it’s super hard to see), very boring to play up to the chokepoints at the high speed parts, 98% x2

ohhhh

But despite everything we’ve been through, the hardship only makes our love stronger. I love you Flappy Weird.

was initially interesting and fun at first practice run, and i can still see the essence of that with sections like the semi-auto after the mini cube and that ending input with the flashing background into the last orb. unfortunately the incredibly rough chokepoint which is the infamous ball in this level completely sucked out nearly all of my enjoyment. it felt buggy, inconsistent, and generally super unfun to blitz my way through the earlier cubes and then die to some random input in this ball part. some random unbalanced part in a level is par for the course for the map packs though, so of course the ending cube to this level has to be equally inconsistent and annoying to really elevate this level above the rest. didn’t like it much at all but at least it’s over. still love the map packs

usually I don’t really care for level deco but this one’s just really really bothered me. the parts with default blocks and eyes feel extremely disconnected from the rest of the level. the rest of the level itself is mostly just red “ahhh spooky!!” and it doesn’t really change at all except near the end where it adds blocks that flash colors that don’t fit even slightly and just look extremely out of place. the gameplay is also paced like someone’s having a heart attack, but not in a good way where it would be appropriate for a free99 song but instead like they didn’t really know what to do with the gameplay to make it different and stand out. just a really nothing level to me. if anything it’s very “cp-grinder”ish, like most of the spooky emo elements were kinda just pushed out to say something funny in the description about electricfire (the connection here makes sense considering what I think of their levels). didn’t like it at all

gorgeous level with unfortunately many flaws. this level utilizes really clean and pretty modern style deco which goes really well with the happy go lucky song (which I really really like) and has a silly personality of its own with the little guy teevi it introduces halfway through.

unfortunately for this level, its gp is quite rough. I have no issues with the first two parts, but the mini ship after the robot has an awkward fly up to avoid a really big background element turned obstacle. the angled gp is a little awkward but the first jump being music synced helps. the dual was a lot of fun for me (I particularly like the short stretch of cube-robot) but the level takes a very sudden turn from ok to not good with the progression halting introduction of teevi, who basically just puts you in a cutscene for 10 seconds, and also has the worst jump in the level: a deceptively tight two spike jump in a sideways minigame section. this was an abysmal chokepoint for me and never got consistent, really dragging down my experience. it doesn’t help that the next two parts are one with moving blocks and deceptively out of reach orbs that make the gp feel a little awkward and the ending mini robot gp which is SUPER awkward and may need extra practice to handle well.

though I really like the deco, this level gets a 3 for its unfun second half gp and the first half gp and cutscene which eventually become a slog to go through each time you die at the chokepoint. without that ONE jump this probably goes up quite a few points. really unfortunate

this level is a serious mixed bag for me. i played this for pvz's anniversary last year (i am the #1 pvz fan) and honestly i'm just going to split this review into two halves because it'd be easier for me to dissect.

for one, this level is amazing on a technical level to me. just... everything, really. peashooters shoot and damage zombies, sunflowers produce sun on a timed interval, zombies eat plants and potato mines come up occasionally. if showcases of this level from before 2.2 are to be believed, this level USED to be a really good and genuine recreation that id probably have given a 10/10. the art style it uses is silly and fitting for the level, and the music for the level is pretty good. the controls work well for what it is and i got used to them quickly. the gimmicks that appear every huge flag are very interesting (except for nighttime, which is stressful, but still okay and probably was fine before). it's a shame this level is no longer what it used to be.

so what happened? well... 2.2 happened. and 2.2 really, and i mean REALLY, fucked up this level.

2.2 introduced SO many bugs and glitches to this level that turned it from a 10/10 into a level that i genuinely cant really recommend for you to play in good faith. the level is extremely buggy now in ways that majorly harm it. after a few flags, at first, it seems very put together. however, as the level progresses, the bugs slowly start unveiling themselves and, by the final flag, turn the level into a nearly unplayable mess. a variety of bugs i encountered from just one replay of it for this review include:

• after your first potato mine, potato mines stop coming up after a short time. they now stay underground and let zombies eat them, except for literally your first one. during the nighttime portion i planted some mines and they came up like theyre supposed to, but crucially during the beginning of the level after your first they stop coming up, which can lead to some surprising losses (including once for me).

• as time goes on plants and zombies alike experience major graphical glitches. this goes on to a point where during the final wave peashooters just became a scramble of objects and zombies had weird blocky arms.

• plants will move on their own now. as the level goes on, plants just start randomly shifting to the right. as you can imagine, because this is plants vs. zombies, this is a major issue. after they get far enough they basically just offer themselves up on a silver plate to the zombies, which is inconvenient on its own but just an extremely nasty surprise with the next bug down..

• planting space is randomly filled in or denied! yay! this is a major reason that i just cant recommend this level to anybody. as plants start randomly moving right, the level will also randomly start deciding you can or cant plant in certain spaces. looks like there literally isnt a plant in this spot? too bad, cant plant there. like two different plants in one space, like two peashooters and a wallnut occupying a single tile? sure, go ahead! put down your potato mine. as your plants get eaten because they start assuming sentience and carry out their death wishes you just suddenly become unable to replant them in a safe spot because the game says so. i dont even know how this happens

• but by far the worst of these? adjusted planting locations. you want to plant a peashooter in the first column? sure, but he's actually going to appear six entire tiles away. want a wallnut in front of your torchwood to protect it? sure, in front of it, why not.. we're putting him in column 9 where he's going to get eaten immediately. want to put a cherry bomb on literally the LAST ZOMBIES in the final wave so you can beat the level and end the review on a satisfying note? tough luck! we put it down four tiles away and now the zombies are going to eat your brains and kill you at the end of this 6 minute level for a reason that literally just isnt your fault.

despite everything, i still dont have it in me to give this level a 0, 1, or even a 2 out of 10. this level has such a charm to it and gets so many things right, but i cant go any higher than a 3 personally. the gameplay and bugs bury this level for good. really feel bad for gdvesuvius, hope he can come back and try tinkering with this again. i wish i couldve played this level when it still functioned correctly.