Like I reviewed your other level, I'll review this one.
Gameplay
I know I may be being harsh here, but don't take it personally - use it to improve your future levels. While your other level was actually quite good, this one has regressed in comparison. This one is OK-ish with one half an overworld run and the second half a cave, while feeling very SMW-ish at the same time (and managing to capture the feel of the SMW levels). Bringing replay value to the table is the addition of a secret exit, although you can't reach it without a flight-based powerup (but this is justified in the episode's context). Unfortunately for the level's case, there are many flaws that need fixing, and the first one is in the cave. Aside from the lava, the cave doesn't even bring out the lava theme at all - it just feels like another generic cave. It's as though you were thinking "Hey, let's put some lava in the cave, and it's a lava cave!" but no, it takes much more than that. I'll return to this issue later, and while I like a good chase against rising lava because it puts pressure on the player's speed, this one was done pretty badly - the lava moves too fast and the uneven gradient slows down the player's speed, making it more difficult than it already is. And while your overworld section is quite nice, the addition of "huts" was also interesting, and one of them even gave you a free Yoshi as a bonus, but the other one had a lone Toad that did nothing useful but spit out dialogue at the player, and nothing else. Lastly, it should be worth mentioning that the level is quite short, but this is justified as it's a world 1 level in the episode. The moving pipe gimmick at the start of the level was interesting though, but sadly wasn't realised enough. As with the NPCs, you seem to be rather happy about just throwing random blue coins at the player, and it's really easy to rack up lives as a result. Try to cut down on the amount of blue coins you put in the level, or don't use them at all. The main plus about the level though is that it's still playable and there's nothing game-breaking in it.
Atmosphere
While the music tracks you used are good choices in their own right because they fit with the SMW theming of the level, it's strongly advised that you could pick a better track. Custom music can help you with this. In terms of the graphics though, it's largely vanilla (and the music track you used could work for this reason) and the overworld portions sport great decoration without any cut-offs or lack of BGOs, but the Toads don't fit with the style of the level. There are other things in this level that kill off what was going to be a good atmosphere. and that can be said for the cave section, where there's little decoration to be found, and it's absolutely barren. This is especially apparent in the final lava chase is almost completely barren, with nothing but blocks, springboards and the rising lava. In this cave, some of the graphics in there don't fit, like with the Pencil Pillars, which could easily be replaced with spikes. While it was mentioned before that your cave section didn't even look lava-ish at all, it looks quite bad aesthetically. Predominantly, it's the graphics used that make it look more like a generic SMW cave and kill off the overall atmosphere the level was originally aiming for. Therefore, using more lava-ish graphics would make it fit with the lava-themed aspect of the level.
- SCORE FOR GAMEPLAY: 4/10
SCORE FOR ATMOSPHERE: 2.7/10
FINAL SCORE: 3.35/10
