====Single Player====
Freezing Flare - 4/10
Aesthetics: The level almost entirely bland, and the only thing that stood out to me was the use of the rock texture against the snow wall in the transition into the lava area. It felt like the only thing that differentiated one theme from the other was the choice of textures.
The theme switch was also not very creatively implemented. Switching themes like that mid-level has been used in countless SRB2 levels, while I was hoping for something that blended both the lava and the ice more closely. Additionally the level as a whole was way to bright in the ice area, even if it is generally supposed to be that way, I would recommend toning down the brightness or adding some dark textures for possibly no reason other than the fact that the textures are so bright.
Lastly the music was not bad, but I didn't like the use of it in SMG and I didn't like it here because it just felt like a menu theme with no gameplay 'flavor' in the melody. The music switch addressed that slightly, and was a nice touch, however.
Gameplay: There was actually very little that makes this level stand out. No distinguishable gimmicks are really present aside from using fans/steam instead of springs in some areas. The layout is uninteresting and the ice theme pretty much dominates a map which I'd expect to have at least balanced the two into even sections. There was also an area where the problems with the brightness mentioned above actually hurt the gameplay, making it impossible to make out the difference from the ice from the water.
--------------------------
Skyline Paradise - 2/10
Aesthetics: Actually the use of a city as a theme for NiGHTS was quite good, but in most areas, it was only just detailed enough for me to tell it was a city as opposed to ocean ruins or whatever other theme there might have been.
Gameplay: Due to the weird bounce SRB2 gives the player when he runs into a wall, this made the cramped corners even more miserable. Furthermore, there were many areas where I went to the bottom of a skyscraper to find out I had to go around the top, and vice versa. Lack of decent item placement gave absolutely no direction, and to top it all off, it doesn't even play like a NiGHTS map, with there being no emphasis on achieving combos or trying to go through quickly. The challenge is merely to navigate through the area without bouncing.
-------------------------
Electric Dungeon Zone - 5/10
Aesthetics: There really wasn't anything significant here, which is more apparent due to the map's theme being that of a factory... which probably has the heaviest emphasis on and the widest range of gimmicks and detail of all those commonly used. The music surprisingly fit pretty well with the stage and for the most part the graphics were not broken.
Gameplay: The main star here is the button pressing, and the unfortunate thing is that it is the only star here. The use of the scripts to play the noise and show the text made it pretty neat, but overall, being required to activate the lift made it even more tedious than waiting for the lift to bring you where you want to go.
Aside from overall issues with the lifts, there was an area where the platforms wouldn't respawn when you died, there was a button that seemed to do absolutely nothing near the beginning, and the room with the turret provides absolutely no cover after you fill it with chemical water.
--------------------
Red Desert Zone - 9/10
Aesthetics: The texture set was new at least, and that was cool enough. However, the sand ended up looking like lava that didn't hurt you for some strange reason, and the washed out pink for quicksand fit with the level, but just barely. There are some areas that find a way to strike a perfect balance in detail, and the abundant secrets of your SP levels are still there. Most of these secrets are something short of notable, but the one secret caught my attention because of the terrific interpretation of a familiar melody used upon the music swap for that area. The normal music fits the level though, and is well composed.
Gameplay: The platforming was solid and there were plenty of interesting gimmicks. As others have mentioned, the quicksand launcher was neat, and the enemy-sector-special with the Jetty guards were implemented in a way that does not disrupt the flow of Sonic, rather than the usual hide-and-seek effect it provides in other wads. The layout was linear enough to keep the player on the right track, but nonlinear enough to provide replay value. Ideally, I would like to see multiple paths implemented in synthetically rather than the neat and tidy use here where there is not a single path the players can take, and not have access to any of the other major paths.
------------------------
Frost Mountain - 5/10
Aesthetics: The overall theme looks good, but there is little in the way of detail throughout most of the map. The music also didn't *quite* seem to fit.
Gameplay: There is nothing new here, and nothing notable. The layout does branch out near the end, but its hardly noticeable because they meet almost before you realize you've taken a different path. The overall level was pretty compact, and it would have performed better had there been quite a bit more room.
------------------------------
Glaber Special Stage - 6/10
Aesthetics: The entire thing was one texture, and it didn't look that bad but it would have looked much better with a more unique blend of textures. The yellow looked good against the green backdrop however...
Gameplay: Its an average special stage, which is a vast improvement over most of the other custom special stages I've seen, regrettably. There is nothing here that makes the special stage stand out, but the layout is pretty good and the rings are well placed for the most part. I would have preferred a wider rings total to rings required ratio, especially for the first special stage.
-----------------------
Snowpoint Land - 2/10
The entirety of the stage consisted of jumping over frozen blocks over harmful water. This got very repetitive after a while, especially when it got to the point where it was so skinny you had to tip-toe to avoid falling. The whole thing was bland and empty, but there wasn't enough gameplay for it to detract from it.
-------------------------
Water Ruins - 1/10
There was practically no gameplay, but at least it didn't trip you up like 2d mode usually does. Quite frankly, while it should be longer, I don't think there is a way to improve it in this iteration of 2d mode.
----------------------------
Geothermal Volcano - 0/10
I don't know where to start with this one, there's a messed up texture, textures are irregularly placed, lava inconsistently is either a pool or over a pit, sector layout is sloppy, some areas are cramped, one area requires you to use invinc to pass through an area, falling lava sector is misplaced so that its impossible for all but Sonic to pass, there is pretty much no half-decent detail or visuals, the exit sectors were indistinguishable, etc...
====Race====
Quicksand Forest - 5/10
I didn't really care for this one, the quicksand was waaaay to punishing if you made one slight trip up. The race had very little to it, and was very bland and ugly, the most significant gameplay area being the platforming area at the end where the quicksand becomes even more aggravating because slipping up there means you have to start back at the beginning of the area.
----------------
No Name Forest - 3/10
You had to pretty much memorize a lot of the obstacles to avoid ending up hurtling through a punishing ricochet. They were all too close together for your first run through the race to be any good. After memorizing it, its substandard NiGHTS gameplay, having neither decent item placement, nor interesting layout.
-----------------
Warped Woods - 10/10
This map is, without a doubt, the best circuit I've played. There may be room for improvement, but its kind of hard to place. The hazards are well placed to avoid running blindly and are detailed enough without being so complicated as to impede the progress through the map. The layout was very interesting, requiring the player to make several direction changes that weren't confusing but made the race overall unique. It's also one of the best looking circuit maps I've seen. Additionally, I've had more than one close race with a Tails player, and that is a feat in itself.
My only nitpicks would be that its hard to fit through the trunk at full speed, and that apparently, under a large amount of lag the map becomes disorienting. Neither of which are flaws in the map design as much as server stability and personal skill. (you should see how often I end up stuck behind a torch in Toxic Citadel)
====CTF====
Opposition Zone - 7/10
The level looks good overall, and the teleporters are integrated solidly, but the teleporters also make it impossible to see any more than a fraction of the playing field at a time. In a gametype such as CTF, this is rather important. If there was some way the player could actually see from one playing field to the other (teleporter or not), then the whole thing might have worked. Because of the teleporters, the stage ends up too big for all but the largest games. Its still pretty solid, visibility or not, and I quite like of the use of the non-damaging water in the lava area.
-----------------------
Green Valley - 5/10
This was a somewhat average level, the layout was pretty plain but there was nothing that really broke it. However, the platforming required to get into the base is painful when you are under fire, and even more so given the chance of camping. This makes returning the flag successfully nearly impossible.
----------------------
Contaminated Gourge - 3/10
The level looks pretty cool, but it ends up being a platform over a bottomless pit, with alternate paths being a cave on the side, and a ledge over top. Because of the level of transparency, the platform has a tendency to blend and its hard to judge distances, and even though the platforms are wide enough to run on there is not any room for error. Additionally, the entire thing is flat, and with the exception of the caves and the ledge, there is only one level. Additionally, using a spring to reach the flag is often debilitating.
--------------------------
Lift Bridge - 4/10
The concept is cool, in fact, I spent most of the first match just playing with the buttons. The problem is that that bridge and pit is all that separates the two bases. This tends to make the map somewhat dull, as it ends up running in a straight line. It would be preferable to have a fully implemented area beneath the bridge in place of the pit.
---------------------------
Zero Star - 3/10
The only thing this has in common with Zero Wing is the big pipe. The layout is similar to Metal Star in that two bases are across a pit. However, the pipes don't really make things that interesting, and hopping from the arrow to the center, to the next arrow, to the other base is infuriating given the small amount of room there is to move around.
-----------------------------
Techno Base - 7/10
I really liked the way this looked, and overall it was pretty solid except for a few small issues. One was that the flag area was way too removed from the rest of the map, two was that it is too big even for a large netgame, and my biggest complaint is using AGZ style terrain over the pits. The textures look good, but unfortunately, since they are all crammed in there, you don't realize you are running into a pit between the platforms instead of hitting a wall. I'd say move the base and cut out one of the sides, then experiment with attaching certain areas and spacing out others to make dying in between pits more believable.
====Match====
Gameboy Valley - 5/10
This was an okay map, however the Software version was blindingly white, and you couldn't see through the wood textures. This did make it much harder to enjoy the map, but the layout itself was pretty average with nothing exceedingly unique about it to set it apart from anything else. One issue also existed with the weapons, where there was never enough rings to supply your automatic.
-----------------------------
Treehouse Sanctuary - 5/10
This map's layout suffered from the central pit where the player ended up trapped if they fell in the river. The problem was that this pit was fenced in, and players there were at a disadvantage. Everything else was quite generic, a more creative design would have been much appreciated. It played well enough however, despite all that.
---------------------------
Grassy Pier - 0/10
This map had HOM, overtly thick colormap, and a generic design that the poorly implemented gimmick failed to make interesting. Everything looked rather dull and even if someone did get the hang of the wall launching the player, there weren't enough rings to seriously do any fighting there. Given the wide space, homing weapons did not make anything easier.
------------------------
Submerged Sanctuary - 5/10
This map was quite annoying because the only source of air in the tight areas was either a bubble on the outer corner, or heading to the upper area. Like Hydro Plant, you end up with people camping by the springs to rack up points without drowning, and like Midnight Abyss you get people running around the outside to rack up on a ton of rings. The automatic weapon in the confined areas were downright painful, especially when considered in conjunction with the fact that water severely hampers Sonic's movement. Despite its flaws, it was still solidly built and there was at least some fun to be had.
------------------------
Dark Fort - 6/10
This was probably the best map of the bunch, and while it suffers from the same generic arena theme that plagues almost every other map in this division, the arena layout is solid and fun. The CEZ textures were sharp and distinct and the weapons were, for the most part, well distributed. The problem was, however, that the springs were all just a little bit off from performing their task. Additionally, it *would* have been nice to at least see some decor to break it from the generic mold, but it was good enough to survive without it.
EDIT: After another playthough in Jazz's server, I modified some of the scores:
Lift Bridge: Raised to 4, which is just below average. The alternate paths were a nice touch (once I knew they existed >_<), but in the netgame they really didn't make much of a difference because the layout pretty much kept them in one place.
Contaminated Gourge: Lowered to 3.
Green Valley: Lowered to 5.
The rest are still fair votes as far as I'm concerned.