Rating Curve

While I admire Zoroa's willingness to make a level with a restriction like this, it kinda just feels boring to play, honestly. It has its moments sometimes (particularly that one robot part where you jump over rows of spikes), but a lot of it is just the same general tropes over and over. And I don't guess there's really any way around that. Combine that with a few clicks being timings that you have to find out are timings, and it's not really the most fun experience, especially if you die to the end a lot. The deco feels kinda plain as well, which is probably again due to the format of the level; there's not really anything going on gameplay-wise, and so the only things there really are to make interesting are the foreground and the background, which feel disjointed from the actual level. It's a fine level for the constraint it was made under, but that constraint doesn't seem to lend itself to interesting levels.

Lots of questionable design decisions. Granted, this was Knots' first level, but one wonders why there's four measures of triple speed thrown in randomly between two slower parts, or why the first part has so many weird fakes and fading spikes and whatnot, or why the transition into the last part kills you if you hit the orbs leading into it too soon. Not particularly unfun, of course; just a little questionable.

The deco looks great. It feels like a journey through a small little world, which — given the title — is beautiful.

The gameplay, on the other hand, is less great. The first part in particular I remember being very annoying to play. It's been a while since I beat this level, but I remember I had a bad time with it, and the practice run I did before writing this review confirmed that. Shame, because the deco is really good.

Not super polished, obviously, but it's got a clear artistic vision (that does somewhat fall apart towards the end, granted). I love the way the violins just kinda dance around in the background during the fast part; it makes the level feel more alive. The gameplay isn't really the best, especially in the last part, where you don't really know what's happening at first and it's kinda just slow. I love the ideas presented in this level; they just maybe could've been executed a little better.

It's a great homage to the GD community, but I don't know if I'd say it's a great level. For a level over two and a half minutes long, it doesn't really feel like it's got a lot going on in terms of progression. Half of it is literally just going through the city, and there aren't any real meaningful changes in atmosphere. It just feels really samey. The second half at least is a little better, with the player actually going inside a couple buildings. The gameplay isn't all that remarkable, either; it's pretty basic throughout, and apart from that one part where you get launched up by the manhole covers, I wouldn't really say it does anything interesting. If it weren't for all the easter eggs in the deco, it'd be a rather boring level to actually play.

I do need to give the references/easter eggs a proper mention in this review, as they're pretty much the only real redeeming quality this level has. It's cool being able to look at the level and pretty much always be able to see a reference to something or someone important to the GD community, and it makes the long, boring first half a little more bearable; for that, I'll give it a higher visuals rating than I otherwise would. It kinda gives the impression, though, that this level was meant more to be watched than to be played.

This level is certainly an experience. You start in a clock tower and then you get on a train and a bunch of cool-looking stuff happens and then you get to the train crash part and you think, "the story here seems really haphazard and directionless, but it sure does look really cool." And I guess that's all it really needs to do. As for the gameplay... I originally gave it a 9/10, but looking back after recording my showcase for YouTube, I'm a bit confused as to why I came to that conclusion. It's not particularly fun; it's passable, but the sync feels weird in some parts, other parts are completely illegible and basically have to be memorized, and the cutscene in the middle is way too long and probably should've been replaced with something containing actual gameplay. It's just... not particularly great.

Filled with questionable gameplay decisions — random timings, wave spam sections, and awkward UFO parts that would be really annoying if they weren't so well-synced. Gives the impression that it was supposed to be a demon. As for the deco, it feels like it was trying to copy all of the levels in the Doom and Death Gauntlets while also trying to be way more generic and lifeless than any of them. Some parts looked marginally better than others, but overall, not the best level.

The deco looks very nice, but very little care was put into the gameplay. It feels basic and hastily put together. The ship parts are nearly empty, and the first part feels like something you'd play in a level that only has a star rating with no feature and everyone in the community agrees with said rating. I'll grant that the drop at least made some effort to be better, but it still feels pretty bland. The only gameplay part that was in any way cool was the ball part with the turnaround. Everything else just felt like eating a peanut butter sandwich when you've already had your fill of peanut butter sandwiches.

Lives up to its name — kind of a weak level. The deco doesn't really feel like it matches the energy of the song, and some of the transitions feel a little too long. It also ends at a weird part of the song to end on. The gameplay isn't too remarkable, for the most part, but the invisible cube portal in the first part can easily mess you up.