Seared Solitude (old level)

[ssumday]

This level was another level from a old canceled project. After much time I thinked: why not post it? (I've posted it? I don't know...)
They are simple but beautiful I think and I hope you enjoy it.

Screens:

Spoiler: show

Download

Reviews and comments are welcome! =)

[HeroLinik]

You asked for a level review, and now you will get one.

Level design: 7.25/10
This is quite a nice desert level. The ideas you've got going for this level are present, and they've been used really well to create an almost authentic SMW experience with a perfect level length to boot, and I like how you also went into an underground chamber to proceed, as it added overall variety to the level. Now let's talk about the ideas you've got going for this level. It should be first worth mentioning that the moving rope was an interesting concept in that the player was given a choice of which route to take, and the reward at the end was determined by the route taken, but it sadly was only a one-time thing that came at the end of the level, despite the fact I liked it. Lesser ideas involved detonating a switch in order to push up a wall, and jumping off Bullet Bills to access a higher pipe, and they were neat additions that added some spice to the level. The quicksand added to the overall desert theme of the level, and what I really liked was that it can be bypassed, because no-one like having to wade through quicksand. In terms of landforms, the overworld portion had variety, but the first cave section appears to have very jerky landforms, especially in terms of the slopes, and this means they look quite weird. Trying to make the sloping more gradual and it'll look much nicer. Another minor gripe I found was this:

Spoiler: show

It looks really weird entering the pipe like that because the player looks like they're walking in mid-air. Placing the pipe on the ground will fix this issue. In terms of pipes, I kinda don't understand why you can go back through the green pipe after restarting from the checkpoint because you're walled by a column of blue switch blocks. But otherwise, this level has some great design ideas.

Graphics and music: 7.7/10
The music gives off the feel of the level very well. It makes it seem as though you're walking through a desert and there's still some life there, which is the overall motive of the level. The cave music is all right, I guess, but when you enter a cave and the music changes, it can be quite jarring. But it still fits. Now let's move on to the graphics. Aesthetic-wise, you did a very good job at that, and I like how not just the insides of tiles, but even the holes are decorated as well to make the level look more natural. The same goes for the really awesome cave decoration as well with the stalagmites. The graphics you used for the bushes and that are very fitting as well. What doesn't fit, though, is the lone sMB3 red Koopa just after the checkpoint, where all the other Koopas are SMW. In an SMW-styled level, that one NPC sticks out really badly, so restyling it into SMW would be a good idea. Alternatively you could just replace it with an SMW Koopa if you don't mind about a Beach Koopa coming out. Another thing I noticed was this. It's hard to spot it, but it's there.

Spoiler: show

It's quite hard to spot, but the Bob-omb death animation has an incorrect mask - the wind-up key is still visible. Fixing the mask will solve the problem.

NPC placement: 8/10
Surprisingly enough, the NPC placement was quite good, considering I've though I've noticed in many levels that this is where it slips away. As mentioned earlier, the Dragon Coins encourage replaying the level, and there are a variety of power-ups to keep things interesting, and they're placed in decent spots as well. A similar case can be said for the usage of the Donut Lifts as well, and how they're used to bypass the quicksand. There was also a lot of enemy NPC variety as well, ranging from Rexes to Chargin' Chucks, and the Fuzzies at the end were a very cool addition to add some challenge to the rope ride. The Bill Blasters, while an interesting idea on its own, are well-placed based on what the player has to do because they can jump off the fired Bullet Bills to reach higher platforms. Curiously for some reason, there is a lone blue Koopa shell at the start of this very section, and I'm not sure why that's there to be honest because there's no way to take it with you.

Overall result: 7.65/10
Great level, this could have been one of the stepping stones to the otherwise awesome levels that you usually make! Fix the flaws mentioned in the review and you're off and away.