Zeta Flow

"WOW" by crazybunny

OK, Crazybunny, if you read the forums at all, what was the point of that level? It would have been OK without that tracking laser in the middle, but as is, it's impossible and gets a big fat zero from me. Levels where you inevitably die are no fun.

Suggestions:

Make a trigger that destroys that tracking laser. It would be fine to put it in a hard-to-reach location, as long as it is possible to destroy it before all lives are gone.

Reduce the number of rockets or get rid of the twin-rapid core gun. Each by themselves are bad enough, but together they're just excessive.

Or you could ignore both prior suggestions and just give the player 100 lives or so.

In case anybody wants to know what level I'm talking about, you can see it at http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=9504

I'm turning this into an (irregular) series, just because we need more traffic on this board. I have no idea if the designers of these levels even bother to read the forums, but maybe the critiques will help others.

I'm going to try for a mix of good, bad, and middling levels. Since I hated the last one, how about a middling one this time:

"Colorful, Killer Robot" by Basketballcrazy

This is actually a very good level in most respects; nicely challenging, with about the right number of lives for an expert player. One feature I like is the ability to steadily chip away at the nastiest weapons until the level is much more survivable. In my humble opinion, all levels should do this; it creates a feeling of progress that makes a level much more fun, as opposed to a monotonous game of dodge-em while you wait for enough of your bullets to hit the target.

Which, unfortunately, is what this level turns into after you've chipped those weapons away; you're left trying to kill a tiny core that's spewing a twinrapid gun at your face. I really, seriously hate that sort of thing. You have to sit there dodging while maybe one in thirty of your shots hits that microscopic target. If it was even twice as big, it would still be fine, and I would have rated the level about a seventy; as it is, it's pretty much impossible, and definitely no fun. As it is, it gets only a ten.

I might play this level again until I get to the core, though. It's pretty good up until then, though definitely not for beginners.

swartzer - I agree 100% with your statement that "Levels where you inevitably die are no fun". There are a lot of levels that would have gotten much higher ratings if they offered more lives, or got rid of following lasers. They makes you wonder what those designers were more concerned about. Even an incompetent can make an impossible level, there is no challenge in that. If you look at the highest rated levels, they are generally a good balance of challenging design with enough lives to win.

I hope the designers learn something from your comments.

Now here's a level I really like: Cyber Crab by Ryo

Though it isn't terribly challenging for an expert, I think it's about right for mid-level players. The visual design is great, and there's a variety of threats to keep you hopping. You can get a good feeling of progress by knocking off the various weapons, though to get to the biggest threat -- that slowly turning arc of lasers -- you have to work a little harder, which is good. I rated this eighty out of a hundred, and I rarely give ratings that high. Well done!

Since comments are now available in the beta version of the game, I'll be putting my critiques there instead of here from now on.

Check out the New Website Features topic in the News section for more. I've been playing nothing but the beta for weeks now, and it's really solid.

Swartzer, I have noticed out of all the comments i have read, you and I appear to be the onnly ones activly posting comments.

Apparently the beta doesn't work very well in IE yet, and of course somebody who never reads the forums wouldn't have heard about it in the first place. So I'm not too surprised that very few people comment. I bet that will change quickly whenever MD finishes the beta and upgrades the main site.