Tervantez2345 wrote:The only good things in the level are the no cutoffs and the pretty fitting music.
Actually, there
are a couple instances of cut-off (although, admittedly, they are minor):
Anyway, my review:
Wow, this level is really annoying. Not only are there no power-ups, but there's no checkpoint, either, so if the player makes one tiny mistake, he/she has to go through the entire level again. This is especially annoying because of the level's various unfair design choices: firstly, the disappearing/reappearing blocks have no indication that they'll disappear until it happens; this is annoying because the player won't think that the blocks will disappear and will go to jump on them, but then end up falling into the bottomless pit when they
do disappear. I recommend making the disappearing blocks a different color (or have them use a different tileset altogether) and introduce them in a way that won't kill the player if he/she messes up (it's easier to implement than a fading effect). Also, by placing a Venus Fire Trap sprite-swap on a vertically-moving layer, it's spawn point is shifted so that it's just above any blocks just below it (including blocks that are also on that layer), meaning the player can get hurt by the spawn point even if the Venus Fire Trap has descended completely. Plus, there's no indication as to where the Venus Fire Trap sprite-swaps are, which is especially annoying in Section 4: normally, I don't bring up a level's graphics since they normally only affect a level's atmosphere, but the flashing bricks make it extremely difficult to see where oncoming projectiles are until after they've killed the player, and this, on top of the fact that Venus Fire Trap sprite-swaps can appear in front of the player without warning, is why that section is such a difficulty spike. Plus, like Tervantez2345 mentioned, the flashlight can destroy the bricks under the player, making that section even more annoying and unfair. Also, Section 4 is the only section I can think of that could be considered as having NPC spam; to me, NPCs seemed rather sparse throughout the rest of the level, especially in Section 6.
But hey, that's why I'm not an official Level Judge anymore.
As for the descending staircase in Section 3, it was just kinda there; it didn't really add anything to the level, and that entire section could be removed without losing anything. Section 7 had a neat idea, but it was criminally underdeveloped; I recommend trying to make a whole level based around that, like Zephyr did with Mario Classic's Rideaboo Fortress. Lastly, you forgot to include a proper mask sprite for the block-575 sprite-swap, so its edges look jagged (and no, that's not enough to differentiate the disappearing blocks from the normal blocks).
In conclusion: When I first started playing this level, I thought that Tervantez2345 was being too harsh on it, but then I made it to Section 4 and was like "oh." I'd say this deserves a 2/10.
--EDIT--
Enjl wrote:-- fall off the block boo and you're dead
-- hesitate a bit in the staricase room and you're done for
Those aren't nearly as easy to do as you're making them out to be. In fact, I'd say that you'd almost have to do those on purpose to do them at all.