Postby cold soup » Mon Dec 16, 2024 2:36 pm
solid level overall! my favorite part of the level was the vibes. the purple hue combined with the spyro music gives the level a sort of strange yet cozy feel, it's very unique. the theme in general is cool, a forest with trees that grow crystals is a very inspired concept. i like when elements of different themes are meshed together. as for the gameplay itself i'd say the highlight is definitely the ptooie placement. in a lot of other levels they can be frustrating to play around due to the unpredictable nature of their spike ball, but because they're pretty much always underneath you here, you're given more than enough time to figure out the spike ball's trajectory and play around it. all the while they're still a threat
my main problem with the level is that the crystal platforms aren't too interesting? i feel the level does everything you can with them when paired with the other level elements, but i don't think they're strong enough to work as a main gimmick. i can see they're meant to make the platforming more precarious, but they aren't really that threatening since they only tilt a certain amount, and you don't really need to adjust your jump trajectory depending on their tilt. plus there isn't any danger to them tilting too far, as it isn't like you can loose your footing or the crystals can topple over a la the wobble rocks from the NSMB games. the platforming here feels pretty standard as a result. it's well-designed, it's just that there's not much to make the level stand out gameplay-wise. the most interesting setups with the crystal platforms were when they were combined with the chestnuts. but i feel the source of the challenge was moreso the variable speed and zig-zaggy movement of the chestnuts themselves making them difficult to dodge, rather than the danger of a crystal tilting too far and causing you to fall. generally i think my problems mostly come from the gimmick itself not being that strong in my opinion, rather than any fault of the level design itself
again, solid level, it's just a bit flawed in the gameplay department