I'm of the opinion that I love how striking these levels look visually, and I think the layouts are really, really fun. No real visibility issues (aside from maybe taking the turn on the first tunnel in Zigzag Forest feels a little blind) and I think they'd be really balanced and an easy no-discussion 5-star pack... if it weren't for how pervasively strong the shortcuts tend to be.
Aside from Neo Metropolis and (maybe) Hilltop Mount, the shortcuts tend to save a lot of time and also be plentiful.
- VR_Corruption alone has four shortcuts as a 2-lapper that save a lot of time, the first and last ones being the biggest offenders for saving a ginormous chunk. Good luck trapping the exits of all four cuts.
- Zigzag Forest feels like more of the same, but at least it doesn't have an explicit end cut.
- Metal Harbor's end-lap shortcut (already a big red flag itself) also has the benefit that you cannot even really trap it because it has the player go up from a different direction than other players, so it's also essentially uncontestable. Its entrance is also huge so you cannot even really trap this either.
- Crystal Caverns only has two cuts but they're still really strong, the first cut entirely trivializing the half-pipe ice section and the second skipping part of the zigzag.
I want to note first and foremost that adding lots of shortcuts, or adding strong shortcuts, isn't bad in and of itself. The problem comes when both cases are available back-to-back - this leads into players bagging three sneakers, and with just three sneakers you can already save a ginormous amount of time in cuts like these. Catch-up is important, but you also have to make sure that players actually have a reason to play the level and keep their current standing instead of having them sandbag for sneakers to get easy upper half placements.
If I had my way, I'd definitely remove the last cuts in VR_Corruption, Metal Harbor and Crystal Caverns as they feel really overcentralizing. I'd instead experiment with offroad patches around the levels (and breaking walls around turns to add these offroad patches) in order to still give Sneakers a use. I haven't played Zigzag Forest a lot in netgames to really say, but I'd definitely show more restraint with cuts there as well and add more offroad patches throughout.
Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I'm going to gush about what this pack does very right, because it also has really good ideas:
- The skill(?) sneaker panel at the end of the lap in VR_Corruption? Cheeky. I love seeing good players fail to take it and 2nd placers getting 1st because of it, and it doesn't feel undeserved to win this way. Also, the lighting effect on the intro is also pretty cool.
- Zigzag Forest in general - I love this treacherous layout, it almost makes me feel bad that taking shortcuts prevents me from enjoying it.
- Neo-Metropolis' way of doing cuts is rather novel without making the level too difficult to front-run on, although I do wonder if it maybe needs an extra regular cut here and there.
Overall, 4/5 stars feels fitting - a great pack to host but not one without issues. I really hope you'll take my feedback related to shortcuts to heart and you keep up the good work!
