Rating Curve

Aleph 0 is one of the forefathers of the effect layout style, and one I would hold as the best thats ever been made. It had groundbreaking effects throughout, that hadn't been seen prior to it's release with the dual wave and the interesting transitions from part to part. The sync is perfect in pretty much every aspect as well. It carries on the lineage of stages with this song in games that don't conform to typical gameplay creation. Speaking of the gameplay, its very fun, albeit having the dual wave and the cube/robot part after being the hardest parts by a good amount in my experience. I'd surely recommend it to anybody at its skill level or higher if that isn't an issue for them. Aleph 0 has a star rating in game which is a rarity for layouts, and i 100% agree with it being deserving of one. It was innovative and even contemporary effect layouts, like belladonna for instance, often fail to reach the bar this one set.

Through The Gates is a lowkey guilty pleasure level to me. Despite it plainly being inconsistent in both gameplay and decoration, I'm just drawn to it for some reason. Some of the parts in this have visually held up very well, while others were substandard even for its time. Where it really appeals to me though is just how intimidating it is from a balancing standpoint. The ending chokepoint gives this level character that's otherwise been lost with playtesting teams being commonplace for levels of its difficulty nowadays. Even just from a viewing perspective it made the prospect of it being verified that much more interesting to follow.

The Hell Factory was the introduction the community got to TeamN2 and their megacollabs. It's quite derivative in theming, even for how old it is. Even so, I'd still label it as one of the classics as far as extreme demons go.

Visually it's not too special. It's got par for the course hell decoration for 2.0, with woogi's part probably being the best designed in the level. Other parts such as the opening ufo by reple, Cosine's clubstep monster ship, and ryanlc's maze are also iconic when you think of this level.

In the gameplay department The Hell Factory was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. It's certainly not as well balanced as modern day levels, but its unbalanced nature isn't to the point of unenjoyability. Some of the scarier looking parts like the aforementioned maze get 100% consistent when learned and aren't a roadblock. Woogi's part was definitely the hardest in the level, but it too gets consistent with enough practice. THF is overall a pretty fair level that doesn't catch you off guard with extreme difficulty spikes, unlike its sister level A Bizarre Phantasm.

The Hell Factory is a relic of a different time in this community, and I'd overall say it's worth your time if you like old styled gameplay.

A Bizarre Phantasm is a classic in every sense of the word. It paved the way for future levels, and still holds up as one of the more popular extreme demons in the game.

Visually speaking for update 2.0, this level aged very gracefully, especially compared to many of the other levels from that time period. Parts like Koreaqwer, Miner & Yuri's key maze are timeless and will continue to be appealing as long as the game is still alive. For a megacollab of its age its surprisingly cohesive, without it being to a fault where every part looks the same.

Watching this level is always a good time, but playing it is another story entirely. While learning it first appears to be fun, unfortunately playing from 0 is one of the most soul crushing experiences if you're around it in skill. The problems start with 69%. The transition into the dual ship is genuinely one of the worst I've ever played, and I racked up many deaths there. The dual itself feels held together by duct tape and chewing gum, and I could never find an entirely consistent way of doing it. No matter how many times I tried to figure it out I just couldn't. Passing that isn't the end of the terrible gameplay late into the level, as you get thrown into a really chokeable mini wave right after the most rng part in the level. Every death there would just mean hoping to get lucky on the dual again. Beating ABP genuinely felt like a slot machine for the last four days worth of playtime I had. This stretch of gameplay completely ruined the level for me.

Overall I still love ABP from a design and vision perspective, but the playing experience unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations for such a beloved level.

Centipede is a level I constantly see people pushing for to get rated, but I feel is undeserving of its praise. It takes an already overplayed style of level, adds bland designs and gameplay, and then overuses 2.2 features to compensate for its lack of substance. Coming into the 2.2 update I worried levels would take shape in that manner, and Centipede is a perfect manifestation of those concerns. With the level lacking in quality, the only reason I can see people wanting this rated is so it can place on the list.