[ti]Insane[/ti]Question Mark by me

Level: Question Mark
Creator: WerewolfGD (Alagirez )
ID: 35755401
Song: ᑫᵘᵉˢᵗᶦᵒᶰ Mᵃʳᵏ by Schtiffles www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/727020
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MW5NpgQEys


Gameplay:
Gameplay in the first section is overall pretty fun. I noticed you had a nice balance of platforms and orbs, which makes the gameplay interesting to play as it adds variety. One issue that stood out to me was that a couple times you had a ton of green orbs in a row, this seems very repetitive and I think it would be much better if you added some yellow and blue orbs in there. There is a ton of moving objects, but these mostly give enough time to react, but I can see these being a problem for some people. At 6%, the blue orb can be hard to see, especially if the player has certain colors, so this can cause a gameplay issue. I would just replace it with a normal blue pad, as I don't see much of a purpose keeping it. I can't say much about the next ship and UFO sections, they are just mainly "stay in the center" type gameplay, and as a result they are pretty boring, however, I liked how you at least flipped gravity halfway through each, but I would also have some size portals added in there as well in certain places. The ball and spider sections are quite fun, you have a nice mix of orbs and platforms, but it seems like you overdid it with the green orbs in these sections as well, try to vary which orbs you use. At 60%, the first spike is off at a different interval than theother spikes, which caused some pretty annoying deaths. The last dual section was really fun. It had nie, fast gameplay, with no bugs that I found. I liked how you had the icons sometimes switch sides or be on top of each other as that can add slight difficulty and it definitely made it more fun than just looking at one side.

Overall: A nice variety of gameplay. You start off slow, then work your way up to fast, exciting gameplay. The first ship and UFO sections were boring, but they had some good elements. Beyond that the gameplay is pretty interesting and fun. 16/20, -2 for the player staying mostly center in the ship and UFO sections, and overall boring gameplay in them. -1 for some other minor issues, -1 for repetitive green orbs.


Block Design/Decoration:
The first section wasn't that good in terms of design and decoration. The block design is a bit bland, it's obvious you put effort into the block design, but it didn't work out too well. I think the main problem here was with player colors. While original, it's hard to make them work with different blocks with different opacities and shades. Other decoration in this section looked good, and it made it feel less empty, but the custom background needs some work. I liked the concept, but it's just rotating question marks just isn't enough in my opinion. The next section is where the design stats getting real good. You take a turn in to an entirely different style, which isn't good for a level, but I'm glad you did as it is way better than the first section. It's more simplistic, which is great when using player colors, as you can control the different shades and there's no blending at all, looks really good. The block design, while simple, is pretty good, but it seems mainly copy-pasted. The background is very good, it moves, has good shading in places, and is overall very interesting to look at. I like how you also added another layer with rotating grey squares behind it, that makes it feel complete. Also, the moving squares on the sides I really love. You also had arrows as air deco, which makes it even better. One thing that could really take it to the next level would be adding designs on each layer of the background, to really fill it up, maybe a slanted checkerboard pattern on each one or something like that, whatever you want. The ball section's block design is a bit empty, and doesn't look too great, but the background is awesome. You still have that grey back layer, which is good, and I love how you made all the pieces rotate to different squares, which I think is a nice touch. Sides of the background are good, very smooth, and the cubes in the center look cool too, but I would've liked if you made it one continuous motion, but that's just me being picky. Air deco could've helped out this section more. The dual section's block design is very simple, but it still looks pretty good, but I'd really like if you added more detail. As always, the background is the main highlight. Looks great, I like you added more design to it, I noticed the whiote pattern on each layer were sort of being pushed forward and not going back with the layer, which I thought was amazing, very nice touch. You have a grey back layer as always and it looks good, rotating squares with what is I assume a different logo of yours. Very nice. I thought this section could use air deco as well. Now, on to the colors. First section doesn't work too well with player colors, but the later sections work fantastically, I tried my best to make it look bad with different colors, but I couldn't do it, great job!

Overall: Amazing concept with a great simplistic style. I enjoyhed the design greatly, but I thought you could've done a bit more. I really recommend making the first section the same style as the others, and it would be amazing. 14/20, -3 for a poor first section, -1.5 for lack of detailed block design in the later sections, and -1.5 for lack of air deco in the later sections.


Sync:
The first section syncs the gameplay really well! There are some parts where it doesn't completely sync, however, these are tiny places and I see that you balanced gameplay and sync very well, which I don't often see. Good job! You have pulsing objects, which is about it for design sync, although later on you had the question marks rotate to the beat, which is a nice touch. The next section is very lacking in terms of gameplay sync, however, the background and effects synced to the beat, which is very good. You synced the portals and sections with the song as well, which is key. The spider section syncs decently, but it's mostly obvious with the orbs. I noticed the background synced, though. The dual section had really good sync. The wave part impressed me, I really liked it! It's very simple, but it worked well. All the portals synced and most jumps synced in some way. you had the rotating squares in the back sync as well, nice touch, but I thought you could've synced a bit more with the background.

Overall: Really nice sync throughout. You balanced sync and gameplay, which is important. Backgrounds synced as well, which is always nice! However, some of it was lacking a bit. A nice job overall, though. 8/10, -1 for some lacking gameplay sync scattered around, -1 for some lacking background sync, however you had enough to look good.


Originality: 1.1x
This level is very original with the fact that it uses player colors! I believe it is very neglected nowadays, levels don't even seem to use it for small deco, either. (Some levels still use it, though) I can say that this is really original in that sense, but the overall design of it is not too original. The custom backgrounds are the main source of unoriginality here. I'm just going to leave this off at a 1.1x, because you did include player colors for originality.

Conclusion: 16.72/20 (83.6%) High-End Good
I really would like to put this into Featured-Worthy honestly, but I really can't because of the first section. Not only is it in a different style, but it was pretty poorly done. The rest is amazing, though. You pulled off this style very well. While many elements were simplistic, the backgorunds made it seem filled and interesting, which is what many people like to see. Not only that, but you had a great concept, and pulled it off well. Great job!

Moving to Good Levels.