[ti]Harder[/ti]SIM by Enolab

sim by Enolab
ID: 57448814
Requested Difficulty: 5*
Personal Difficulty: 4*

I can't really tell if you made this or not, so I'm going to refer to the creator of the level as "Enolab" instead of "you".

0-10% (first cube)
I like the concept of this part with the glitchiness and stuff, but I think the glitch lines themselves (the red/blue/green lines) are a bit too thick. I also think the custom ground is too empty and the "circles made of lines" are copy-pasted a bit too much. In addition, this part could definitely use a lot more air decoration. The block designs look okay, but I feel like there's just a lot missing from the essential design.

The gameplay is very sight-readable and simple in this part, as it should be in 4-5* levels. The gameplay isn't very interesting, but it's passable.


11-24% (first ship)
The transition into this ship part is a bit weird because you have to clear the platform at 11%. This part also foreshadows the consistent usage of invisible size portals in an attempt to ameliorate the sync in this level. I personally really dislike it when people use invisible size portals for sync because there's much better ways to have visual sync, and using invisible size portals makes it more difficult to read the level. Also, while I do appreciate that the gravity portals are unskippable, I don't really like that they're fixed using teleporters. Again, it makes it difficult to read because if I go over or under a portal, the teleporter will pick me up and fling me back towards the middle, which is a bit wonky.

I'm not a fan of the black ceiling spikes in this part and I think the "Inspired by FGH" text at 13% and "Eno" text at 16% could be a bit brighter because they're basically the same color as the ceiling spikes, which is a bit confusing, but I really like the gradient colors in the block designs. Other than that though, the block designs are a bit too simple and they really could use some pulsing and a bit more detail in the gray part. The background is pretty good, however. I wish it was less copy-pasted, but I think the color is perfect (the background is visible but it doesn't obscure the gameplay) and I like the way it moves. This part could also use a bit more air decoration, but the backgrounds do make up for at least part of that.


28-48% (spider/ball)
I'm not a fan of the green orb timing at 32% and I wish there wasn't an invisible blue jump pad at 45%, and I think there were just too many jump pads in general during this part. However, this is also very passable gameplay. Aside from those things, it's very easy to read. Maybe there could've been more arrows to show where to jump, though.

The design in this part is a slightly better version of the part before it. Again, it could use more pulsing and color changes, and the block designs in this part look more empty than in the last part, but I like the way all the objects in the background move, and again, the gradient block design looks really nice.


49-68% (second ship/only UFO)
Visually, this part is a bit different from the previous two. There's at least a little bit more air decoration, the block designs actually change colors in this part as opposed to the first two, and there's some nice foreground effects, like the flash and the spinning perpendicular glow over the player. The background, however, isn't as interesting in this part, especially when the equalizer goes away. It looks a lot more static and uninteresting. In addition, while I like the idea of the perpendicular glow over the player, I don't like how the flash covers the entire screen, and the effect gets repetitive after it's done so many times. In addition, the invisible size spam in this part kinda loses its meaning since the flashes cover the entire screen anyway, so I can't even see the size portals.

The gameplay in this part is very similar to that of the first ship. I have literally nothing new to say.


69-72% (short break)
The black background in this part is a bit odd and pretty empty. If there was more detail in it, this part would look a lot more interesting and unique. I do, however, like the block designs in this level. I really like how the platforms change from white to rainbow-colored in this part as you step on them. I don't really like how the sawblades move really slowly because it looks pretty out-of-place compared to the rest of this level's pixel art-like design, but otherwise, I really like the design and the colors.

This part is super short so I can't say much about the gameplay, but I feel like Enolab shouldn't have to specify that something is an orb. Instead, he or she could just place regular orbs instead of making custom designs that match with the block design.


73-87% (wave and second ball part)
This part is very similar to the first ship part in terms of design, but there aren't any pixel art backgrounds in this part, and the block designs are even more empty. The air decoration is passable at best, though I do like the colors of the little rods sticking out of the ground and ceiling. One thing that really makes this part stand out though is that there are no ceiling spikes, which is pretty odd, and the lack of them actually makes this part seem a lot more empty. However, the gradient portion of the block designs do pulse slightly in this part, which is more than what can be said for the first ship.

The gameplay is very standard 4*. The transition into the wave part is readable because of the D blocks at the beginning, though I wish there was some sort of indication on where the D blocks actually are, because it's not clear in this level. The ball part is basically semi-auto because of all the jump pads, which is kinda disappointing.


88-100% (ending)
This part is basically the exact same as the first cube, but the glitch effect in this part is a lot more polished. I'm confused as to why Enolab didn't update the beginning to look like this, but I guess this is better than nothing.


Overall Rating
Good. There's some very good ideas in this level and even good execution in a few places. I like quite a few of the designs in this level, and almost every part of the level has potential, but there's just too many flaws in the gameplay and occasionally the design for me to confidently call this a feature-worthy level. I would mainly suggest for Enolab to work on gameplay and alternative sync devices (as opposed to invisible size portals) in the future.

Please don't do this again, as it violates rule 6 in the judging panel rules.

Review approved. I don't know if you mentioned it and I just accidentally glossed over it, but I'll just say it just in case. But I also felt the constant full opacity flash overlays were a major hindrance both to the decoration and gameplay. And that's all I really have to add.

Moving to Good Levels.