Junior Member
One of the most unique levels in just about every aspect. You don't really get memory gameplay with gimmicks like these anymore, even the spider part which can be boiled down to just having obscuring deco is handled in a insanely unique and cool looking way as opposed to spamming overlays and deco that blocks your vision.
The deco is also outstanding, Notslas style shines in all the right ways here like the grays and midtones are handled insanely well here and makes the colour palette alone stand out against your average level. The subtle colour usage is also really well done I especially like how it was incorporated into the atmospheric glow pulses at the first half of the spider and the last robot maze. Every effect idea in the level is pulled off masterfully and makes it a joy to rewatch just to catch all the subtle effect details, anytime a blur effect is incorporated it is done amazingly well I don't think a single other creator has ever made blur look so good. The block designs are simple but effective and the theming is very unique. great level
IMO this is the best sequel level out there and that's mostly because not only is this a great level by itself but this is just straight up what Zodiac should've been which is something nearly every sequel out there fails to do. It's to the point where I genuinely don't really care that Xander or whoever doesn't consider this a sequel because it would genuinely be a waste not to be considered one.
Spectre has more or less keeps Zodiacs theme and style and has very similar progression to Zodiac (they literally had to change the song to achieve this) and on top of that even brought over some of the old creators from it (e.g. Osiris, Yakob and Enlex). There's even a ton of references to zodiac such as the segment near the middle that heavily resembles Juhous part or Iris' part having the curved bridgelike structures that Dudex' part had or even Mercury/Mooshs part having very similar structures as Pennutohs part. From this alone it's very clear that the hosts and decorators care enough about Zodiac to have had these details included and this alone already makes It a great sequel in my eyes.
What elevates it to being one of the best however is the way in which it surpasses Zodiac which is that Zodiac didn't have enough variation between parts for any of them to stand out which is a problem that Spectre has figured out, It really feels like every part pushed its boundaries just enough for the styles to really flourish but without ditching the theme completely and as a result every part is distinct enough to keep the level interesting from start to finish while keeping the same theme which made Zodiac really boring in my opinion.
Just as some finishing notes Spectre is also just a insanely high quality megacollab, the majority of parts here would easily be the best part in many other megacollab levels but it does it in a way where each part is also so full of personality. It's genuinely impressive how this has one of the better Culuc and GrenadeofTacos parts and they don't immediately stomp every other part in the level.
There is also unfortunately one thing where Zodiac surpasses Spectre and that's just the fact that Spectre doesn't have iconic parts the same way Zodiac does with TMN and Shocksidian but really that's it.
disclaimer: I go into this review mostly talking about this level as if it was one of Zylenox' levels, because they made all of the deco. I get that Trusta made the gp, verified and uploaded but I tend to value decoration over gameplay when I'm reviewing these levels.
This level lies on the better half of Zylenox' levels, its probably their most well rounded level all things considered. It has really solid progression, intensity, designs, colour usage and stand out parts but other than progression and structures you couldn't really say it's the best Zylenox has to offer which might be why it's gone under the radar in comparison to their other levels which is a shame because Berserk is a really really good level.
Berserk is the last of Zylenox' 5 factory themed levels and I guess they realised that making another red and blood gory factory level wasn't going to cut it so they decided to go for some more interesting themes which ended up paying off because it ended up giving way to a lot of new great unique parts.
One thing this level does insanely well especially in comparison to Zys other stuff is the structuring and I'm not sure if its Trusta or Zy who's to thank for this but the structures have a lot more interesting form with the shapes they're made up of and more importantly this level makes use of a lot of massive structures which take up a lot of the screen and in conjunction with the occasional camera swoop make the level feel huge in scale when it needs to be which helps with the industrial factory theme a lot.
One part that specifically has stand out structuring is the last part because it's got some of Zys most insane structuring ideas and it works so well with the player movement but its so riddled with visual errors it actually makes me a bit sad. It's still one of my favourite parts despite that though.
Another thing that's done really well in this level is intensity where the level keeps up with the song decently well up until the second drop where it just hits you with the lightning part which is not only a super unique theme to pull off but is probably the best high intensity Zylenox part behind the Triple Six drop.
Even after the lightning part the intensity is kept up decently well until the end but feels more like its cooling off but this as well as the sheer contrast between the lightning part and everything else is more of a example of great progression. That on top of the gorgeous colour schemes each part uses in this level makes it in my opinion the best progression seen in any Zylenox level
You don't need to ditch current creating conventions or come up with a totally unique style to pull off making a exceptional level, sometimes its better to skip reinventing the wheel and just add on to other peoples ideas. This level is a perfect example to taking inspiration from other levels at the time and adding on to it in ways that elevate it from being just another level of its time to being a masterclass design and atmosphere.
You can pause and see influence from all sorts of other levels of its time such as acidcore (hinds, vlacc, old loogiah style, etc.) levels, majacko core levels and other more generic 2019 glow design levels but the way it recontextualises it into a dark claustrophobic nightmare with dark coloring, violent flickering pulses and structuring that forces the player through gameplay that feels more like squeezing your way through a hazardous abandoned facility rather than a level designed for you to play is nothing short of genius.
Obviously this isn't without its faults, sometimes the levels leans too heavily into its 2019 roots with parts like the first bit of the drop wave which is very visibly dated (I still fw the negative colouring it was going for, gives the drop a lot more impact) and the odd claustrophobic gameplay seems to have made it awful to play according to some players I know but despite that I still think it's a generational level.
my favourite level in the game rn i think its criminally underrated
This levels biggest strength to me is probably the colour usage. The high contrast colours go nicely with all the black, especially in the first part and the drop where the black helps put more focus onto the colours and background. The block designs are all also really nice, Mercurys stuff always appealed to me but Cryosmium definitely pulls their weight with their parts too.
One thing I did notice is that the two of them use the 2.0 reflective brick blocks really well and use a fair amount of custom borders in the level which on of top a mostly consistent colour palette means that despite the choppy transitions and visually distinct parts the level still fits together really well to the point where I wouldn't have suspected it was anything more than a solo if I didn't know any better.
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sorry about this gang