Rating Curve

Rust is an extremely good example of song representation, as its sharp and jagged atmosphere pairs with the almost mechanical song. The first part is a beautiful example of how to build a "mood" in a level, as the movements, particles, and subtle flashes and rotations all come together to build up energy that's suddenly released in the drop. The physics of the animation that plays before the drop combined with the choppy animation style really adds to the way the player is suddenly forced into this release of energy. The drop continues to exert a strong mechanical theme, and I feel as though the tight and snappy structuring heavily contributes to this. The black orbs into the postdrop are a really neat way to let this energy finally start to fizzle out. The postdrop itself is the calmest part, having very few movements. This level has a very clear build-up, climax, and conclusion, and wants to present the effort it went through to achieve this to the player. I understand the people who think the decoration is a little monotonous though, since while the energy clearly changes throughout the level the overall style does not. The drop features much brighter colors and very expressive movements, but both put highlight onto the gameplay. While the structuring and designs are high quality, they mostly don't change enough over the course of the drop which personally led me to find the predrop way more memorable.

I remember being blown away when I first played this level, something that happens extremely rarely for me since I have issues assigning favorites and least favorites for anything.

The way this level actually teaches you (without actually saying much through text) how to play the level is a genius way of executing easier-end memory gameplay that honestly I had been wanting to see for quite a long time. The raw gameplay itself is also just really fun to start with; PXTTXRN SXXKER is one of those levels you just play periodically because you remember it being fun.

I dislike levels that use Koraii songs, but this level gets a pass since it uses the repetition of it extremely well to form the "patterns" you have to learn.

The decoration is simple but gets the job done. Could more have been done to represent the pattern theme? Maybe, but I like the slight shift towards theming it after aspects of old computers. Using ink and paint to obstruct the players view in the last part is really creative. The parallax part is also cool though I admit the block design here could have been expanded on more to fit the theme, especially with the gray blocks.

Just overall a really creative and enjoyable level.

Pretty much an entirely new way of playing the game, which is extremely cool to me. Actually finding out the paths you need to take was a very fun experience, and I think the way the level loops until you find the solution is a good representation of the repetition of the song, Wavetapper by Frums.

My only complaint is I'm unsure whether or not this level is meant to be completed in practice mode or not. This may seem like a very odd complaint but still without practice mode this level is extremely frustrating due to you having to do the beginning over and over again until you figure out whatever part you're stuck on. With practice mode though, some of the fun in regard to figuring the puzzle out is lost since usually the solution is quite simple. I wish more parts were like the ship part in the middle, since that actually took me a good amount of time to figure out how it works.

I feel like this level could benefit from having a checkpoint every time you solve a puzzle, the puzzles being more in depth, and there just being more content overall. This level is simply titled Experiment, however, so it may not seek to be perfect.

I like the decoration since I feel like the simple test chamber slowly breaking and turning into noise and chaos matches the song ramping up in complexity quite well. The finale is well done, as the intensity of the decoration makes up for how simple the gameplay has to be in order for level to be balanced.

CraZy III has stuck with me for a long while, which is strange considering how before it dropped I wasn’t too hyped for it.

I feel like the quality I like about this level most is its transitions. I can tell DavJT had fun trying to figure out ways to connect each part while still keeping the circus theme. The balloon transition still is one of my favorite transitions in the game actually, and it somewhat inspired some transitions in my own levels. Personally I value levels that inspire me since with so many levels getting released every day I just can’t remember a lot of them regardless of their quality. I suppose this is an example of bias, but I’ve grown to not care about that as much.

Admittedly the parts in this level could be more connected but the randomness matches the weird stylistic changes in the previous two levels. I personally don’t have many thoughts on CraZy III being part of a series since CraZy and CraZy II are not really as memorable for me as this level is.

Still: love the art, the transitions, and the way the predrop works with the song.

The elephant in the room is the fact that the level only has one part of the drop, and honestly I’m conflicted. Overall, it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense since the entire level does a really nice job at building up tension. The part we do have looks fine I suppose, I like the little animations like the boxing glove and the blocks exploding but it would be cooler with more stuff present.

Discussion about the final drop is also where the gameplay comes in for me though, since I personally loved the nerves I got at the quiet slow part before the drop and adding more level may have made the level less stressful. I also don’t think I would’ve enjoyed an xender game style bossfight at the end either, since in the previews I don’t really think it looked as fun as the rest of the level. I suppose I wouldn’t know since that’s just based on how it visually looks, but I just generally don’t like open space dodge simulators as much as I like the boss that we got in the final level. The bossfight in the current level doesn’t really feel jarring, and it fits in quite nicely with the flow of the part.

It was probably because of the nerves, but I really enjoyed the gameplay of this; not really much in specific I can say. I know a lot of people find this boring to play but I just didn’t struggle that much with it. It’s a rare scenario where timing gameplay felt satisfying for me, and honestly I’d say this is the most enjoyable of the trilogy.

While it may be slightly unfinished, CraZy III has still greatly helped to evolve my standards for transitions and theming today, so I like it.