Crystal Tokyo by Doctorofdeth (me) and MezoZ [Hard 4 stars]

Gameplay

To be completely honest Gameplay was the strongest suit in the level, not to say that everything else was bad. Throughout the first half of the level the synchronization was on point and it transitioned quite smoothly. The major problem with the gameplay in the first half would be the fluctuations in difficulty, being a 6 star level difficult in some areas (the ship part right at the beginning) and a 3 start level difficulty in others (the ship part after the ufo part). The ufo part offered some difficulties too, as the portal spacing was a bit too close, making the screen quite shaky at parts, in the future try spacing your portals out a little more when attempting a free roam section like that. My final tip for the first half would be to fill in the sections where the player isn’t really doing much but watching, even if it’s just a jump here or there

The second half of the level got somewhat better, having less open spaces and more engaging gameplay, transitions are good and there aren’t any noticeable bugs, well done on the second half 

Gameplay score: 6/10

-2 for inconsistent difficulty

-1 for static movement (player does nothing)

-1 for shaky ufo part

Decoration

To start this section off on a good note I would like to say that the block design throughout the entire level was pretty much on point, the only problem really being that the designs themselves could be a bit repetitive at times (mini cube part and ship part after ufo, yes saw design counts as block design). I say just put a little more variation into the actual design of the blocks (like at the last part of the level) and you should be good on block design. Now, as far as the background decoration I really don’t know what you tried to go for. Some parts of the level had really good bgs while others where practically empty (the wave part and spider/ball part to name a couple). I’m not going to say much more about this schism other than it might be a good idea to ensure every part of the level has some background/foreground decoration. As for the parts that did have a background decoration I must say that they were well thought out, but too static, either staying locked to the player’s x position with no movement or just completely motionless all together. In the future I suggest that you use rotation triggers or some of the many other triggers to really make your level pop.

Decoration score: 5/10

-3 for scattered bg deco

-1 for static designs

-1 for repeated block design

Concept

Although the idea of the level was a good one that not many people have used before the decoration nullifies the level by using designs that have been seen time and time again. The lack of use of triggers doesn’t quite make anything really stand out through the level and the song has been used many times as well. My suggestion would be to sprinkle your own personal touch into the level. It can be hard to find an original design that you’re willing to use in a level, but for the most part it pays off when you do. Also, as mentioned in the decoration section, it would be a wise idea to brush up on your knowledge of the triggers and implement them into your level

Concept score: 5/10

+/- 0 to base 5/10 for not utilizing much original designs into the level, this score was primarily kept down by the decoration throughout the level, not the gameplay