Rating Curve

Out of all of sweetdude's levels, "zeldas lullaby" is the only one which I can honestly say I actually like or tolerate to any extent. It's not as bland or mind-numbingly monotonous as the dreadfully dismal "With You Tonight", and it's not messy as some of his most excessive levels. However, it is still certainly evident that copy-and-paste has been liberally sprinkled here. While the colors used throughout might be pretty, I think it's a level that's a little too cluttered, especially for a level that literally has a lullaby as its soundtrack. Lullabies are meant to ease you to sleep. They're meant to be gentle, comforting, and relaxing. "zeldas lullaby" is a level that features the same quantity of light pollution as that emitted by a big casino in Las Vegas or Macau, not necessarily fitting for the song in spite of how nice it might look at points.

Regardless, this might be the only sweetdude level I actually like to some extent. For the most part, I'm pretty baffled by sweetdude's career. Sweetdude can pump out a "zeldas lullaby" approximately once in a blue moon, but also releases lots of tedious slogs like "With You Tonight" or "Fireflies", or eye-bleeding levels such as the two "nyan cat time" levels (which are so similar to each other I'm surprised the sequel got rated because they are practically indistinguishable except for the use of different renditions of the Nyan Cat theme song).

"Mystical Island" by Jeyzor is a level that evidently uses a decent amount of copy-and-paste in its creation, however, I really like the whole 'crooked' and 'jagged' block design that is featured throughout. The whole 'crooked' block design really makes the level feel like it consists of abandoned, desolate structures and buildings on the eponymous 'mystical island'. I really like the ornate spike pillars that are used in the mini-UFO towards the end of the level. My only real complaint (which applies to most Jeyzor 1.7 levels) is that "Mystical Island" is too short and too repetitive to be any greater than it currently is. The final ball part is a little too empty and feels as if it was shoved on at the end to ensure the level received a 'Long' length (as level lengths used to be calculated differently).

Call me sadistic but I like Devin's "deaf meat". It's a twisted take on a cookie-clicker-esque idle game except instead of clicking cookies to bake even more cookies, it's clicking buttons to inflict incomprehensible amounts of torture and pain upon a poor, innocent cube. Get to 1,000 damage points before the level ends and you win! It's a level that might seem morally deplorable in concept, with it basically incentivising you to mercilessly mutilate and kill a helpless cube in order to achieve victory. There is no pacifist route in "deaf meat", only a bloodstained road of violence and torment lies ahead. However, personally, I see no reason to be provoked by the level's particularly macabre content. After all, if you chose to play this level about torture and you were disgusted by how violent it was, you should remember you're part of the problem you claim to be so offended by.

"deaf meat" is a well-executed crossover between Cookie Clicker and all those Flash games where you torture ragdolls. There's a myriad of interesting choices by which you can murder the poor cube. You can subject it to poison. Shower it in acid. Douse it in magma. Immerse it in dark matter. And even allow it to get swallowed by a black hole! The more damage points that you manage to accrue, the nastier and more gruesome the cube's appearance gets as it bleeds and then transforms into an incomprehensible smorgasbord of guts and gore. The level never questions the morality of your actions, confronting you with the harsh truth you chose to partake in such horrific acts of violence, instead imploring you to go bigger and greater with each elaborate mutilation method it provides. The effects and animations for each torture method are surprisingly well-done and I found myself trying to vary my torture methods in order to see each possible animation that could appear.

All in all, "deaf meat" is a nice minigame that will never (in a million years) get close to being touched by the rating system, the main reason being that it's far too gnarly to be promoted in a game played by many people who are still kids. It's an interestingly dark and Devinesque take on a cookie-clicker type idle game which is fun to play in spite of how morally questionable or downright psychotic it might seem.

However, there is a pretty annoying bug where you can get trapped while moving (this happened to me after I'd accrued around 700 damage points and was already 70% into the level; it's kind of annoying to get stuck so late, especially in a 15-minute level, so that bug might have hindered my rating, even if it's never happened on my previous playthrough).

Just when you think you've seen it all in life, you see a dolphin rocking it with a guitar…

"Bathroom Lagoon" is a level which very loosely follows the 'Bathroom' half of its namesake, with a few spinning toothbrushes and the hot steam of a shower being the only real indicators that the level is supposed to be 'bathroom' themed. It certainly hasn't aged the best since I first played it back in 2018, with the overuse of glow definitely being noticeable in some sections. It would probably benefit from being rated 6 stars compared to a mere 5.

I do still think it's a pretty charming level. The dolphin-with-a-guitar segment is probably the most memorable part, with the art and animations of the dolphin looking pretty good for a level released in 2018. I remember this level always lagging my old iPad 4 whenever I reached that section (Smooth Fix made laggy, object-heavy levels play as if I had speed hacks activated). I can't really elaborate on why, but the early 2.11-ness of it is also kinda endearing.

DISCLAIMER: "HOTTIE" by Elisione does NOT feature any hotties in it, contrary to its title. It does feature a pretty decent level though, so if you're into that, feel free to play it.

All jokes aside, "HOTTIE" is pretty decent. It's one of those incredibly inoffensive levels where I can't really comment on anything except for the title. It's not extraordinary or revolutionary by any means, but it's not bad either. It's just an extremely solid level that's serviceable for what it is. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"BUSSIN" may just be pure brainrot, but at least it's a level that is aware of this fact, unlike a certain "boogie" that's completely deluded by its supposed cuteness (when in actuality it's just annoying, not cute). It very much knows that it's stupid and unfunny and I think the level's own knowledge and awareness of this actually makes it funnier than if it were a full-on and unironic celebration and parade of brainrot. A heavily ironic commentary on 21st century humor and internet culture, "BUSSIN" will undoubtedly be a time capsule for the dark, dark era that was 2024.

For what is essentially a silly joke level, "BUSSIN" has much more effort than probably should have been put into it. It's pretty fun to play (even if boss-fights are always kinda bleh for me) and it's undeniably good-looking and polished (even if I am completely averse to 'skibidi fanum tax' whatever is trending these days with Gen Alpha kids). To be completely honest, I'd argue "BUSSIN" is a level that's unjustly overhated. I understand disliking the mindless brainrot behind the level, but I think it's pretty clear that "BUSSIN" is a level that actively mocks the brainrot, and less so perpetuates it. It's an ironic level in its conception (as is made evident by its use of dead memes) so I'm surprised that its irony seems to be missed on some.

Anyway, hot take here but BUSSIN >>> boogie. Sorry, but just because you have cute anime girls, doesn't make your level any less of an overstimulating TikTok. I'm kinda shocked more people prefer boogie, but then again, cute and popular anime girls have always been a sustainable marketing strategy…

An extremely standard remake of "Jumper" which only becomes an object of interest due to its particularly questionable title.

The level that started the whole 'Cube Story' series. "Cubes story GD" is admittedly a pretty dated level by today's standards. Writing-wise, it tells a very basic story. A cube meets another cube, they do some jumps, a hacker suddenly appears; however, thankfully, the 'God of GD' (aka RobTop) arrives to vanquish the hacker to the shadow realm. It's far from the most thematically deep or emotional storyline, but I think "Cubes story GD" is very charming for what it is. The animations and movements are pretty advanced for the time (even if some of them feel a little stilted now), and I can see why it caught on and became a popular and successful series (successful enough that there are many unofficial spin-offs from other creators). The simplicity to the its story is probably a main reason why it succeeds. It’s something accessible and lighthearted that pretty much everyone can watch and understand. Animated auto narrative-based levels (like the 'Cube Story' series or even "MrGawne") are almost destined to be four-quadrant crowd pleasers (unless they're something more arthouse or esoteric).

This level was:

✅ Enjoyable ✅ Informative ✅ Heartwarming ✅ Calming ✅ Useful ✅ Inspiring ✅ Life-changing