I, the great genius Doctor Ivo Robotnik have decided to grace this OLDC with my magnificent presence to give my verdict on the creations you aspiring level designers have brought forth this contest.
With my
stunning portfolio consisting of 20 years of original base designs and arbitrary traps placed in naturally formed ruins, I am fully qualified to make the insightful and informative comments I am about to grace you with.
Single player
Mario Land 1-1 - 3
While I appreciate the gesture in placing the accursed blue hedgehog in the territory of his rival from the 1990’s, a Mario stage is simply not designed to accommodate the style of Sonic game and as a result the level suffered.
Flawed concept pushed to one side, the effort put into executing the visuals of this level is certainly commendable, but it isn’t enough to rescue what is otherwise an uninteresting port of a level from an old game.
But I suppose with all these time travel antics since the Time Eater went on a rampage, I should expect more old levels being ported to SRB2 in the following months. Confound this Sonic Generations; it will drive designers to make terrible ports of my failed base designs!
Chemical Facility Zone – 8
This concept is relevant to my interests, I do quite enjoy to see bases constructed using the examples and techniques I provide. I am also
very pleased to see that certain areas of the factory had my beautiful face on, an excellent touch indeed. However, I am truly baffled to hear the music I placed in Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic Generations is being used here. The adventure hasn’t even happened yet! How in the name of ‘the planet’ did you steal the music before I installed the speakers that would play the music throughout Chemical Plant Zone Modern? Oh, wait, time travel. Confound it.
The various different chemicals used in the facility amused me greatly, however the light blue chemical functions exactly like water. For the sake of clarity, replacing this chemical with water is a good idea. You may argue that letting the hedgehog know exactly what the liquid will do before he touches it is helping him, but water is his
weakness and it will strike terror and fear into his very soul!
At the mid-point of the facility, the path splits two ways. There is a problem here as one path is vastly more interesting than the other. To be more specific, the path with creeper-bots is both more varied and enjoyable than the alternate path which only has a short waterslide to keep it fresh and original. In future iterations of this stage, you may want to expand on the path with a waterslide in.
I found the mice badniks in this stage to be excellent pieces of handiwork, especially the way the green mouse works in conjunction with other robots. Good job there, good job indeed. Similarly, the creepers were a great addition to the facility as well. However the placement of the first creeper needs to be changed, it often runs directly into the player instead of pausing and giving them time to react before exploding.
Oh, by the way. I found your little Pony secret room. I
hate ponies.
Match
Magma Temple Zone - 2
I am not sure how I should respond to stairs that crazy.
I must say, I found it most peculiar to see that in many cases you had no problems in harming the player with lakes of lava. But many of the lava falls had see through rock barriers in place to keep the confounded animals from burning themselves? How odd and inconsistent.
Some of the areas in this stage are gigantic, while this isn’t a problem in of itself, I found there was a frequent issue where the empty spaces made it almost impossible to hit other players. For example, it is possible for a Sonic player to thok with reckless abandon and be almost impossible to hit, without any obstacles for him to avoid in the process.
Oh, and sometimes
players spawn in the lava. I have no words to describe how absurd that is, but part of me is also jealous that I have never done that before and roasted the pesky hedgehog on the spot.
Eggmatchsion Zone - 8
Meanwhile, in Mystic Mansion.
The visuals in this stage are nothing short of fantastic, I am quite the fan of the effort you put into making this place appear to be a haunted house. Oh, of course, I also like the statues erected in my honour. That is a nice touch indeed.
The vertical variation in the outside areas of this map were very appealing to me. Giving Tails and Knuckles users a distinct way of approaching the room and travelling that is separate from their spikes and thok happy partner.
You know, I would say this map is nothing short of fantastic! If it wasn’t for one little detail… MORE PONY REFERENCES! Confound it!
CTF
Arctic Facility – 4
In this map, the detail is tightly packed to the point of it being quite a significant problem. The wide girth of your lord and master, Robotnik, was unable to fit through some of the cramped corridors to be found here and I frequently found myself getting caught on the various crammed together computers and pipes. On the topic of those pipes, some of them block the players path by being ever so slightly too high to step over, when they appear to be fine to simply walk over.
I also found it very difficult to see where I was going when surveying this map and participating in the game. As a result of the blue colourmap casting a dark hue on everything and the blinding use of textures.
This map also contains various nooks and crannies that make it extremely easy for the flag carrier to camp in and be very difficult to take the flag from. For example, behind the decorative water tubes near the conveyor belts.
Uninspired Name Zone - 0
It crashes, genius! A spectacular feat by only the most advanced super villain! Sonic dies as soon as he arrives!
The Map With No Name – 5
What immediately strikes me, is that while your presentation is unique by placing the player an empty void without identity or any unique characteristics. You also rob the stage of any interesting theme beyond “It’s in a void without description.” Using one of the special stage skies and a choice of music that fits the theme could have averted this problem; even something simplistic such as the outer space theme improved the map vastly for the esteemed Doctor.
The concept behind the map is certainly interesting, but it is also incredibly confusing for a new player and takes several minutes of painful trial and error to understand. While I fully endorse the demise of these red and blue furry recolours, I am unable to enjoy the gladiatorial sport CTF mode provides if they keep dying before they get to fight each other!
Another problem that needs to be addressed is that as the players must climb upwards to reach the flag, but drop down to return it. It makes escaping with the flag trivially easy as the other team have no choice of chasing the flag carrier down, and in terms of reaching the flag the balance is vastly tipped in favour of that accursed two tailed fox thanks to his ability to fly up the level.
This was entertaining after the player learned how the map works, but before that, there was a horrible brick wall learning curve that impeded my experience.
Race
Dread Valley Zone - 7
The use of frequent but small obstacles such as the fences that Sonic must go around while Tails and Knuckles can go over them, along with the use of a shortcut that only Tails or Knuckles can take did a decent job at balancing out the different characters in race mode for this map.
The use of hazards is good, as it succeeds in forcing the participants of the race to be on their toes at all times without becoming cheap. So when they are hurt, it is entirely their fault. Which makes watching a pesky echidna be smacked in the face by a swinging mace all the more satisfying.
I couldn’t help but notice the Nightmare Moon insignia used as a decorate object as well. I find myself forced to begrudgingly acknowledge that this is a nice touch that fits the festive Halloween theme, even if I hate these confounded colourful equines.
Spring Factory Zone - 6
At first glance, the blue floors appear harmful to the player and while I appreciate electrocuting or frying those numerous woodland critters invading my factories and facilities, you have made parts of the race course appear harmful when they are not.
The first Knuckles/Tails shortcut in this map needs to be immediately obvious for the racers to notice, it is hidden around a corner when the players attention is focused on the springs and rings directly ahead of them instead.
Ideally, the map should naturally loop around. However, when teleports are used like in this map, you should at least make the teleports appear seamless (for example, a fall similar to the seamless teleport in ERZ2’s vents or the infinite falling sections in Ice Cap Zone)
obnoioxies mym litltle pnony refenrence znone - 0