Golden Shine
Speeding Gleam
I keep forgetting to do this every single OLDC, so let's actually contribute for once! I won't hold my biases back or try to be whatever anyone deems "objective", as the only thing I can be truly objective about is how much I enjoyed each stage, and I'll do my best to explain why.
SINGLE PLAYER:
1: Follow Your Rainbow
Yes, my bias for Adventure-related stuff exists, I know. Perhaps you purposely timed this with SA-Sonic's release window to make the stage stand out more. I don't care. This still is a fantastic stage filled with high-octane action that doesn't outstay it's welcome, and can be replayed dozens of times because of it's creative alternative routing and it's infinite easters eggs. You could spend an hour just running around discovering everything. Crude as your humor and assets may be, you never leave room for getting bored for even a second. Ultimately, having fun is what games are all about, moreso than being technically or visually stunning!
2: Bricked Busted
Holy crap, this is humongous. THIS is what a platforming-based level should be like. A few speed-gimmicks to switch things up, great fitting music and impressive visuals to keep things interesting, and otherwise just platforming perfection. This stage's only downsides are FPS being bad for some people(not me), which is mostly down to SRB2's limitation...and I occasionally got lost in these huge spots and had a bit of trouble finding my way back to the intended path. Thankfully I didn't mind because the level was a ton of fun to explore anyway. Should SRB2 ever stabilize it's performance on more platforms, this level deserves a spot in the game's official bonus levels. It's that good.
3: Nimbus Lake
A gorgeous atmospheric waterlevel that really makes you want to have fun running around exploring without a care in the world. The music and skybox work perfectly in harmony, the set pieces make this stage very memorable, the waterslides are among the most fun ones in SRB2, and the level nails it's difficulty, use of color, and spaceousness just right. Having a water level this enjoyable is a wonderful treat! The only nitpick I have is that the constant colormap makes it start feeling a little samey after a while, but the level really doesn't go on long enough for that to become a big complaint.
4: Digital DeLuche
This stage really knows how to visually impress and make players feel clever about using their wacky environment to progress. It's incredibly impressive how alive you made this level feel, the ending's funny, the music and challenges feel just right. Occasionally it feels like it crams in gimmicks just for the hell of it, like the rolling rock section or the 2D part with moving hills barely contributing to the gameplay, but it never really gets boring or frustrating, and I loved it's alternate paths. This could be a contender for a vanilla bonus level!
5: Caustic Crater
This level is generally too cramped for my taste, to the point where it's scenical little ridges and ledges actually get in the way. But man, does it impress with its memorable intuitive set pieces and overall visual fidelity. The music fits well, and it is jam-packed with alternate paths and secrets to discover, some which really require some creative thinking. A very well designed stage.
6: Command Facility
Very fun stage to run through with fair challenges and exciting little set pieces that keep it from getting boring. Does occasionally feel a bit barren probably because of it's desire to be Doom-y yet big enough for Sonic gameplay, and it never thinks to add more scenery to compensate. It doesn't help that there's huge patches of the same texture frequently. Still, it's occasional aesthetic lacking doesn't stop it from being fun.
7: Botanic Space 2
Love that you made a sequel to the first act. Incredible area design. This one looks really beautiful and mysterious, like an abandoned sci-fi ARK, and it's a rare case of a slow-paced level working really well even in a Sonic setting. I do have alot of nitpicks, but almost nothing that really broke the level for me. Nitpicks being: There's a few too many seemingly dead ends, waiting for elevators to move in netgames is a pain, the music stopped entirely at some point, there's pointless spikes spaced too far apart to matter, and breaking the monitors to proceed never felt intuitive.
8: Powder Park
Love the wide-open yet pretty space, somehow doesn't tank my FPS despite this being SRB2. Despite it's alternate routes and snow-theme(which usually makes everything blend in after a while) I never got lost, which is an accomplishment all on it's own. Big problem I had was a huge invisible barrier stopping you from flying/leaping into otherwise clearly reachable. You should redesign your level if you don't want a player to do something, it cost me quite a few deaths and left me second-guessing my every move.
9: Frozen Fissures
This is one meaty and good-looking platforming stages. The huge alternate routes, scope, well-fitting scenery and enemy placement all make this a prime snow-themed level. It does however, feel a bit basic at time and seriously drags on. Cut into 2 acts it'd make an awesome zone in a levelpack.
10: Lucid Landscapes
I got lost alot my first runthrough, the constant gravity flipping is incredibly disorienting, you succeeded at conveying the "lucid" part at the cost of my eyesight and orientation, multiple areas look unpolished and unfinished compared to the rest(because...they are). Yet I loved it anyway. With any kind of momentum mod or in my case SA-Sonic, this place is a blast to run through, even moreso when you actually know where you're going the second and third time. Your slopes and sheer level scope also never fail to impress. Switching the sky out and adding mods makes this level a marvel, and I hope to keep seeing it!
11: The Twins Palace
Tons of enemies and rings, LOVES bricks...wonder who made this level? Tropes aside, you did put them to very good use with the ring-draining level gimmicks and it makes me actually care about collecting everything and staying at full health. Wish the draining sound wasn't so ungodly loud and had a visual indicator, but that's just a nitpick. The alternate paths also bump this level up a bit! Generally, great job!
12: Blue Glaciers
Short but sweet stage. Wish you gave more incentive to take the alternate routes, I doubt most people took the effort to actually see them, but they bumped the stage up for me personally. I did like how they were almost always visible to at least spark curiosity. Some areas did look downright unfinished.
13: Sunset Summit
I'd say this makes this a good middleground level setting the standard for quality. Very aesthetically pleasing, easy to move around in, the black swirl makes the goal and level really stand out while still having you figure out how to reach it. Finding the path forward isn't always easy, the strong colormap sometimes making areas look samey, but generally this is a fun breezey stage I never mind getting picked.
14: Lofty Woods
The dull color palette used on top of the already not-so-colorful textures was really unnecessary. I don't have much to say about this, it's a solid cool-looking platforming stage that I wish had a bit more free room to move around in and some more memorable set pieces to make it stand out, because the gravity flipping mechanic just felt tacked on and didn't help it's case.
15: Rhyolite Ruin
A really well-designed NiGHTS stage that easily deserves to be an official SRB2 bonus stage. The camera turns let you see what's up ahead well-in time, and the color choices are wonderful. However, while this looks polished and has a thought-out camera, it doesn't really do much else to stand out from other NiGHTS stages, so it just kind of fades into the back of my memory. It doesn't help NiGHTS isn't really that entertaining for me personally.
16: Grass Planet
A cramped level with a bright-orange colormap that blinds the eyes, has an affinity for the most obnoxious enemies, and also meets the unfortunate fate of having practically every gimmick it tries already done better before, even by maps in the same pack. It's use of balloons are fun, however, it's packed with collectibles, and skipping sections is pretty damn satisfying. I admire the level's enthusiasm to keep you at your toes and switch things up, even if it doesn't always unpack well.
17: Pineapple Praerie
It's weird when I have to rate a level this strong so low, 'cause this could this could've been a contest winner 15 years ago, but that just goes to show how far we've all come. The custom death transition was a neat touch and the thing I remember the level most for. Other than that, the level looked good on a technical level, but the bright yellows everywhere were an eyesore, the cloud platforming with hidden springs was incredibly awkward, and the unnecessary button you had to stand on just completely blended in with environment textures. There was also a lot of lag after a while which you probably should've noticed from playtesting. My critique aside, this wasn't a "bad" level by any means, just one of "less great" ones.
18: Iron Dominion
Starts off as a neat spacey Techno Hill clone, but quickly piles on the button hunts and "look for the path/door forward" puzzles that were never fun in THZ either. Technically and visually very solid, but doesn't have many either entertaining or original ideas.
19: Invasion Zone
Unfitting music, bland environments and frustrating moments when you fall down all the way and have re-climb sections because of the forced custom physics making everything slippery. It does however get more impressive later on. There's some fun ramps, and I really dig the custom enemies, but unfortunately my gripes are too big to say I liked the level as a whole.
20: Something Zone
Axis2D or even simply SRB2's 2D mode's shortcomings aren't really the creator's fault beyond choosing to engage with it. But their heavily nerfed slow physics and the limitations of 2D and SRB2's 2D camera always end up making for a slow boring jog through a visually neat stage that plays basic as hell and has a few too moments where choosing to jump results in you jumping into a pit you didn't know was there. It truly made me say "Well, that was something". Good for 2D level standards, however.
21: Junky Jeopardy
I've criticized a few levels for their colormap choices hurting the eyes or just making the level feel samey. This one is by the far most ugly and even hinders my sight, making it hard to see obstacles sometimes. The stage is easy to get lost and accidentally backtrack in, it spams crushers to the point of the Sonic 2 rising crusher death bug being frequent. The 2D section is unnecessary, frustrating and cryptic, and occasionally desynchs you from the track. I really just ended up disliking everything this stage. Now on a technical level, this IS decently well done, it does have inspired ideas, as well as the necessary effort and soul put into it. But unfortunately it made far too many wrong turns and choices. I wish you good luck on your next level, I do believe you have potential!
__
That's it! Hope I didn't miss anything!
As a post-note, the HUB world this time had some cool structures to climb and an awesome skybox, but it's colormap and textures palette made it rather blinding.
SINGLE PLAYER:
1: Follow Your Rainbow
Yes, my bias for Adventure-related stuff exists, I know. Perhaps you purposely timed this with SA-Sonic's release window to make the stage stand out more. I don't care. This still is a fantastic stage filled with high-octane action that doesn't outstay it's welcome, and can be replayed dozens of times because of it's creative alternative routing and it's infinite easters eggs. You could spend an hour just running around discovering everything. Crude as your humor and assets may be, you never leave room for getting bored for even a second. Ultimately, having fun is what games are all about, moreso than being technically or visually stunning!
2: Bricked Busted
Holy crap, this is humongous. THIS is what a platforming-based level should be like. A few speed-gimmicks to switch things up, great fitting music and impressive visuals to keep things interesting, and otherwise just platforming perfection. This stage's only downsides are FPS being bad for some people(not me), which is mostly down to SRB2's limitation...and I occasionally got lost in these huge spots and had a bit of trouble finding my way back to the intended path. Thankfully I didn't mind because the level was a ton of fun to explore anyway. Should SRB2 ever stabilize it's performance on more platforms, this level deserves a spot in the game's official bonus levels. It's that good.
3: Nimbus Lake
A gorgeous atmospheric waterlevel that really makes you want to have fun running around exploring without a care in the world. The music and skybox work perfectly in harmony, the set pieces make this stage very memorable, the waterslides are among the most fun ones in SRB2, and the level nails it's difficulty, use of color, and spaceousness just right. Having a water level this enjoyable is a wonderful treat! The only nitpick I have is that the constant colormap makes it start feeling a little samey after a while, but the level really doesn't go on long enough for that to become a big complaint.
4: Digital DeLuche
This stage really knows how to visually impress and make players feel clever about using their wacky environment to progress. It's incredibly impressive how alive you made this level feel, the ending's funny, the music and challenges feel just right. Occasionally it feels like it crams in gimmicks just for the hell of it, like the rolling rock section or the 2D part with moving hills barely contributing to the gameplay, but it never really gets boring or frustrating, and I loved it's alternate paths. This could be a contender for a vanilla bonus level!
5: Caustic Crater
This level is generally too cramped for my taste, to the point where it's scenical little ridges and ledges actually get in the way. But man, does it impress with its memorable intuitive set pieces and overall visual fidelity. The music fits well, and it is jam-packed with alternate paths and secrets to discover, some which really require some creative thinking. A very well designed stage.
6: Command Facility
Very fun stage to run through with fair challenges and exciting little set pieces that keep it from getting boring. Does occasionally feel a bit barren probably because of it's desire to be Doom-y yet big enough for Sonic gameplay, and it never thinks to add more scenery to compensate. It doesn't help that there's huge patches of the same texture frequently. Still, it's occasional aesthetic lacking doesn't stop it from being fun.
7: Botanic Space 2
Love that you made a sequel to the first act. Incredible area design. This one looks really beautiful and mysterious, like an abandoned sci-fi ARK, and it's a rare case of a slow-paced level working really well even in a Sonic setting. I do have alot of nitpicks, but almost nothing that really broke the level for me. Nitpicks being: There's a few too many seemingly dead ends, waiting for elevators to move in netgames is a pain, the music stopped entirely at some point, there's pointless spikes spaced too far apart to matter, and breaking the monitors to proceed never felt intuitive.
8: Powder Park
Love the wide-open yet pretty space, somehow doesn't tank my FPS despite this being SRB2. Despite it's alternate routes and snow-theme(which usually makes everything blend in after a while) I never got lost, which is an accomplishment all on it's own. Big problem I had was a huge invisible barrier stopping you from flying/leaping into otherwise clearly reachable. You should redesign your level if you don't want a player to do something, it cost me quite a few deaths and left me second-guessing my every move.
9: Frozen Fissures
This is one meaty and good-looking platforming stages. The huge alternate routes, scope, well-fitting scenery and enemy placement all make this a prime snow-themed level. It does however, feel a bit basic at time and seriously drags on. Cut into 2 acts it'd make an awesome zone in a levelpack.
10: Lucid Landscapes
I got lost alot my first runthrough, the constant gravity flipping is incredibly disorienting, you succeeded at conveying the "lucid" part at the cost of my eyesight and orientation, multiple areas look unpolished and unfinished compared to the rest(because...they are). Yet I loved it anyway. With any kind of momentum mod or in my case SA-Sonic, this place is a blast to run through, even moreso when you actually know where you're going the second and third time. Your slopes and sheer level scope also never fail to impress. Switching the sky out and adding mods makes this level a marvel, and I hope to keep seeing it!
11: The Twins Palace
Tons of enemies and rings, LOVES bricks...wonder who made this level? Tropes aside, you did put them to very good use with the ring-draining level gimmicks and it makes me actually care about collecting everything and staying at full health. Wish the draining sound wasn't so ungodly loud and had a visual indicator, but that's just a nitpick. The alternate paths also bump this level up a bit! Generally, great job!
12: Blue Glaciers
Short but sweet stage. Wish you gave more incentive to take the alternate routes, I doubt most people took the effort to actually see them, but they bumped the stage up for me personally. I did like how they were almost always visible to at least spark curiosity. Some areas did look downright unfinished.
13: Sunset Summit
I'd say this makes this a good middleground level setting the standard for quality. Very aesthetically pleasing, easy to move around in, the black swirl makes the goal and level really stand out while still having you figure out how to reach it. Finding the path forward isn't always easy, the strong colormap sometimes making areas look samey, but generally this is a fun breezey stage I never mind getting picked.
14: Lofty Woods
The dull color palette used on top of the already not-so-colorful textures was really unnecessary. I don't have much to say about this, it's a solid cool-looking platforming stage that I wish had a bit more free room to move around in and some more memorable set pieces to make it stand out, because the gravity flipping mechanic just felt tacked on and didn't help it's case.
15: Rhyolite Ruin
A really well-designed NiGHTS stage that easily deserves to be an official SRB2 bonus stage. The camera turns let you see what's up ahead well-in time, and the color choices are wonderful. However, while this looks polished and has a thought-out camera, it doesn't really do much else to stand out from other NiGHTS stages, so it just kind of fades into the back of my memory. It doesn't help NiGHTS isn't really that entertaining for me personally.
16: Grass Planet
A cramped level with a bright-orange colormap that blinds the eyes, has an affinity for the most obnoxious enemies, and also meets the unfortunate fate of having practically every gimmick it tries already done better before, even by maps in the same pack. It's use of balloons are fun, however, it's packed with collectibles, and skipping sections is pretty damn satisfying. I admire the level's enthusiasm to keep you at your toes and switch things up, even if it doesn't always unpack well.
17: Pineapple Praerie
It's weird when I have to rate a level this strong so low, 'cause this could this could've been a contest winner 15 years ago, but that just goes to show how far we've all come. The custom death transition was a neat touch and the thing I remember the level most for. Other than that, the level looked good on a technical level, but the bright yellows everywhere were an eyesore, the cloud platforming with hidden springs was incredibly awkward, and the unnecessary button you had to stand on just completely blended in with environment textures. There was also a lot of lag after a while which you probably should've noticed from playtesting. My critique aside, this wasn't a "bad" level by any means, just one of "less great" ones.
18: Iron Dominion
Starts off as a neat spacey Techno Hill clone, but quickly piles on the button hunts and "look for the path/door forward" puzzles that were never fun in THZ either. Technically and visually very solid, but doesn't have many either entertaining or original ideas.
19: Invasion Zone
Unfitting music, bland environments and frustrating moments when you fall down all the way and have re-climb sections because of the forced custom physics making everything slippery. It does however get more impressive later on. There's some fun ramps, and I really dig the custom enemies, but unfortunately my gripes are too big to say I liked the level as a whole.
20: Something Zone
Axis2D or even simply SRB2's 2D mode's shortcomings aren't really the creator's fault beyond choosing to engage with it. But their heavily nerfed slow physics and the limitations of 2D and SRB2's 2D camera always end up making for a slow boring jog through a visually neat stage that plays basic as hell and has a few too moments where choosing to jump results in you jumping into a pit you didn't know was there. It truly made me say "Well, that was something". Good for 2D level standards, however.
21: Junky Jeopardy
I've criticized a few levels for their colormap choices hurting the eyes or just making the level feel samey. This one is by the far most ugly and even hinders my sight, making it hard to see obstacles sometimes. The stage is easy to get lost and accidentally backtrack in, it spams crushers to the point of the Sonic 2 rising crusher death bug being frequent. The 2D section is unnecessary, frustrating and cryptic, and occasionally desynchs you from the track. I really just ended up disliking everything this stage. Now on a technical level, this IS decently well done, it does have inspired ideas, as well as the necessary effort and soul put into it. But unfortunately it made far too many wrong turns and choices. I wish you good luck on your next level, I do believe you have potential!
__
That's it! Hope I didn't miss anything!
As a post-note, the HUB world this time had some cool structures to climb and an awesome skybox, but it's colormap and textures palette made it rather blinding.