What do you know, I'm actually a level judge now, that means I'm gonna review this >:)
Magma Canyon (v.3)
Gfx: 8/10
Really nice gfx! I liked everything about them! Everything was recolored in red and dark brown and it gave the level an feeling that could best be described with... earthy??
The transparent clouds really added to the atmosphere of the level an looked really nice. Even the skulls got a red "evil" recolor, which gave the level a special kind of charm.
The background on the overworld parts didn't really blend with the simplistic style of SMW, but it still looked damn good!
One little complaints: The pink of the switch blocks looked really out of place, maybe recolor them red too?
And another little nitpick: I really didn't like that the lavafalls had "edges". When two of them are placed directly next to each other it just looks odd.
Music: 7/10
The music gave the level a sense of heat... I quite liked it, but I don't know if it was the best choice, as it still was a bit too cheery for a lava level.
NPCs: 8/10
There was a good range of NPCs in this level: Podobos, Piranha Plants, Bonedries, Rexes, Buzzy Beetles, and for some reason one single Red Koopa.
There also was a midway boss. I already once complained how it had cliffturn=1, but more about that in "Gameplay".
All of the NPCs fit in with the level and gave it a decent difficulty, exactly what I'd expect from a typical obligatory lava World 8.
The amount of power-ups also reflected that. There were enough to make it through the level, but not too many, so you had to save them up if you wanted to make it.
Gameplay: 9/10
Finally, a level with decent difficulty that's still enjoyable and fun!
The level is placed inside what, by the name of the level can be assumed, a canyon, with lots of magma.
For some reason I really liked the skull-raft part, because the lava had slopes and it just looked and played really good.
Another plus is that the level sorta makes you backtrack a little after the midway point, and that there sorta is a mini-boss in the form of a big Bully.
Now for the cons:
I already mentioned in this thread that I really didn't like the fact that the Bully had cliffturn=1 which made it not only annoying but also unneccesarely hard to beat it.
Ironically, on my playthrough for this review, I defeated it with one jump.
Another con, that is probably only minor, is the fact that the dragon coins are placed in ridiculously-easy-to-reach places.
For example the first one is placed directly next to the player's starting point.
...
Another one is placed on a pipe entrance that you go through to proceed in the level.
...
I also would've liked if there had been a few more gimmicks in this level, aside from that, this was a really good level!
Over all, this was a really good level, I'm looking forward to see more from this designer, 8/10, moved to "Pretty Good"!
Reminds me of Lethal Lava Land
