Kuribo Forest

[TDK]

This is my second level that I posted on the forums. This is an SMB3 style forest level.
Anyway here's the screenshots:


Video:


Download and enjoy:
https://www.mediafire.com/?5uk5ey4sjmlp86j

[SanicHegehog]

I liked it a lot!
Though, it was pretty easy, but very enjoyable and fun.
I wouldn't think twice into putting this level as the first or second one in an episode.

[TDK]

I liked it a lot!
Though, it was pretty easy, but very enjoyable and fun.
I wouldn't think twice into putting this level as the first or second one in an episode.

Thanks, I'll edit the level to adjust the difficulty.

[Emral]

Thanks, I'll edit the level to adjust the difficulty.

I read this after playing through the level a dozen times to understand what's going on and how everything is connected. And it does explain something which I'll get to in a bit. First off,

REVEIW with lots of pretty pictures.

After excessively playing this level I think I got a rather okay-ish understanding of what it was trying to do, and what it was going for.
The main idea for this level was to recreate a smb3 forest setting with lots of secrets, kuribo shoes and that one gimmick from cc11 with the munchers.
And that's a pretty good setup for a level if pulled off well. I can see myself really liking a level which has secret areas all over the place.
However, and excuse me for using so many line-breaks, this level felt confusing in ways where it really shouldn't have, and that confusion steered against my overall experience with the level. I don't think I've played a level which made me think "what" so often, in quite a while.

This level has a lot to offer the player and a ton of secrets. In all my numerous attempts I never managed to even find any of the Yoshi's you've hidden within the level, however, this is about everything this level has going for it. A lot of secrets and pseudo-secrets. And the muncher gimmick. Kinda.

Honestly, what I wish this level would have done was focus entirely on the Kuribo goombas you're using in the beginning. A level built around those as its main focus would've been great, and muncer-based obstacles like the p-switch run would've complemented that setup very well. However I feel like you didn't bother designing around the tools you throw at the player, and the level ended up feeling like a cheap run broken by it's own laws, desperately attempting to take the player's power by throwing a lot of enemies at him. (this is where the quote comes into play)

There's a lot of spam. Like, there's really a LOT going on at once. And the enemies are, for the most part, not placed in a clever way. I can't say the nipper-throwing Lakitu, or the superfast ambush-spinies were a needed addition to this level, as, if anything, they encourage rushing through it and missing out on all the secrets you placed about.
[rimg]http://i.imgur.com/MwcJTC0.png[/rimg][rimg]http://i.imgur.com/YtcLVky.png[/rimg]
There's also a tree in the lower right corner but how can you pay attention to that when a dozen moving objects are trying to kill you?

As a whole, the level feels rather disconnected. It goes a bit all over the place. The first and second time I exited the first forced bonus room, I thought I returned to the first section, as I imagined I had just visited a bonus room, not a required area. This became even more confusing when I did http://i.imgur.com/JbqXXhm.gifv upon exiting it, wanting to check out the pipe above for more bonus areas. This, combined with some other stuff like the poorly placed NPCs and coins, as well as being able to access the yoshi bonus area without yoshi:
[rimg]http://i.imgur.com/K7nJayG.png[/rimg][rimg]http://i.imgur.com/QWW7YJa.png[/rimg]
leads me to believe that you have barely tested this level, if at all.

Thinking of ways on how to improve this level is difficult, as its main flaw lies in its structure. You're able to fix part of the issues presented by fixing up the NPC placement, though I think it'd be worth just restructuring it completely, making it a bit more linear and focused (around kuribo shoes), and removing bonus areas the player is forced to visit (maybe making them side-areas hidden inside random warp pipes). How it stands, however, this level is not very good.

Also, if you need to place coin arrows to guide the player in the right direction, think about whether there isn't another way for you to get your message across. Especially if they're placed like this:
[rimg]http://i.imgur.com/Y7BDK0u.png[/rimg]
http://i.imgur.com/EUNsVep.gifv

So uh. I've run out of stuff to talk about. This level had a nice idea, but less nice execution. In terms of issues it comes down to lazy npc placement and not well thought out structure primarily, but those are so pronounced they kinda kill the fun of the level for me.
2.5/10

[TDK]

Thanks for the review, I'll try to improve the level.
EDIT: The level has been updated.
I would like a re-review.

[glitch4]

Review of Kuribo Forest

The start and the first section was pretty okay. It contains decent design, kuribo's shoes and pipes, which send into various bonus stuff sections aka powerups, no idea what's the point of that, you could of designed more forest sections instead of that. Moving into the next sections, we have P-switches which freeze the munchers for short time, then platform rides and more various pipes sending to somewhere else, right now they're not into the bonus sections, but into sewers and more forest ones. As far as progress goes in various sections, almost all of them went into the last section, where the p-switch run is, and after that, you get into the goal and the level ends.

I have to say there was some decent effort put in this level, but I have mixed feelings about it. The level could've been longer, it had too many powerups - in average gameplay, you can get about 9 powerups, without that, there's kuribos shoes and yoshis in some sections (particurly bonus ones), so because of that, the P-Switches are pointless if the player will use one of them, and in my opinion, that makes the level way too easy. there's a lakitu in sewers section at the top, and it was unnecessery, specially because it appears only at top you placed it. Overall, that was a pretty average level, so I'm giving this a 5.5/10.

[TDK]

Review of Kuribo Forest

The start and the first section was pretty okay. It contains decent design, kuribo's shoes and pipes, which send into various bonus stuff sections aka powerups, no idea what's the point of that, you could of designed more forest sections instead of that. Moving into the next sections, we have P-switches which freeze the munchers for short time, then platform rides and more various pipes sending to somewhere else, right now they're not into the bonus sections, but into sewers and more forest ones. As far as progress goes in various sections, almost all of them went into the last section, where the p-switch run is, and after that, you get into the goal and the level ends.

I have to say there was some decent effort put in this level, but I have mixed feelings about it. The level could've been longer, it had too many powerups - in average gameplay, you can get about 9 powerups, without that, there's kuribos shoes and yoshis in some sections (particurly bonus ones), so because of that, the P-Switches are pointless if the player will use one of them, and in my opinion, that makes the level way too easy. there's a lakitu in sewers section at the top, and it was unnecessery, specially because it appears only at top you placed it. Overall, that was a pretty average level, so I'm giving this a 5.5/10.

Thanks for the review.