SINGLE PLAYER
Buzzards Bay Zone Act 1, by WEREHOG
Rating: 3/10
Explanation: Ewww...I can tell you gave this some effort, but it turned out butt-ugly, annoyingly vertical, and just all-around poorly designed. You've gotten better since you first started out here, WEREHOG, but your level design skills seem to have plateaued in a very awkward place. The texturing was generic and dull, the enemy placement was sloppy and poorly thought out, there was too much springing, and the level was way too short. Did you get that boat from Drowned Downtown? Oh, and is there any particular reason why you typed out the filename all in caps?
Cyber Gauntlet, by verifiaman
Rating: 3/10
Explanation: I wanted to give this a higher score. Really, I did. Because you have some really clever ideas here, and it was one of the most original concepts I've ever seen in SRB2. For that I applaud you. But this contest is really supposed to give points based on how it played, not how clever it was, and this is quite frankly one of the most frustrating levels I've ever played. In that red section, I must have gotten warped back to the start more than 20 times. The whole concept completely disrupts the speed and flow that SRB2 is supposed to be about. So, to both your creativity and the way the level played, I say "wow". It's just that those are two extremely different kinds of "wow"s.
Dangerous Volcano Zone, by Internet Explorer
Rating: 5/10
Explanation: Wow, this map sure is heavy with the gimmicks. But come on, that start sequence was not only way too long, it made absolutely no sense. It's like a "Family Guy" flashback...but not as funny. Anyway, the Mario Blocks also were hugely out of place. And it was incredibly hard to figure out what to do in the rising lava rooms (they were really frustrating, especially since they were slime in disguise, rather than actual lava). The blue colormaps were terribly out of place...I had no clue what they were supposed to be. And also, it's kind of bad design to send a player through the same stretch twice...if you're going to do that, you should at least make it different the second time around by using linedef executors to create new bits of scenery and stuff. Another issue I had was that the end was pretty anticlimactic...the 2D section was great, but it shouldn't end the level. There should be a short, dramatic 3D stretch after it that brings you to the end. All in all, this level is a somewhat awkward gimmickfest. But unlike Cyber Gauntlet, the gimmicks don't TOTALLY destroy gameplay. Some of them were cool. In fact, the level kind of had a "Crash Bandicoot" feel to it in places. So you get some points for that.
Canyon Operation Zone, by ComRante
Rating: 6/10
Explanation: We've got an interesting combination of environments here. ACZ, THZ, a little bit of ERZ. The trouble is, you took the most boring scenery elements out of all three. But the thematic blend is so unique that I can forgive that to some extent. Harder to forgive is the level layout. It's nice and long, and most of it plays okay, but it was very confusing and mazelike in parts. Several times I went backward, and my only clue was that the enemies were facing away from me. Also, that EGRID-textured room was practically seizure-inducing...it was a real relief to get out of it. I also think that your extra life bonuses were too obvious...they were pretty much just there, sometimes slightly off the beaten path, but never hard to spot. All in all, the level has a fair amount of flaws, but also just enough unique charm to kind of get away with it.
Starlit City, by Brawl
Rating: 2/10
Explanation: So, you didn't learn your lesson from City Jump, eh? This level was just appalling in so many ways. To begin with, that's gotta be one of the worst custom sky textures I've ever seen. Looks like someone threw a bunch of clumped-up used kitty litter on the GFZ sky. Now, we actually get into gameplay. Jump jump jump, hop hop hop, crumble crumble crumble. Those metal ACZ platforms made absolutely no sense. Same goes for the entire buildings that crumbled beneath your feet. And what was that part at the end? A park? The edge of the city? I spotted a few custom textures (and a few taken from Acid Missile) but none of them were good. And we also have a bunch of random Crawla swarms, and some weird pieces of other themes that looked like a feeble attempt at varying up the landscape. Here's a piece of advice, Brawl. Don't make city levels ever again. Or at least, not until the official Dark City Zone gets released and we all get a good look at what a really good city level should be.
Metropolis Sprint Zone, by Whackjood
Rating: 5/10
Explanation: And now we come to the second city level in this contest. This is better than Starlit City because it at least has varied gimmicks, but here is a level that just can't decide what theme it is. Sure, it's a city underneath, but all these building interiors are pretty weird, and some of them, like that THZ turret room, are too cramped (incidentally, you don't seem to have a good handle on how best to set up a THZ turret room...as the most overpowered enemy in the game, SRB2 level designers must handle it was tremendous care, and the way you set it up, it can rain death from above). The cars are really blocky...you can't make a great upright car in a game without slopes (one of the reasons I made the cars in DDZ lie on their side). I think that to some extent, even though your level's scenery is at times random, it's good that you did your best to deviate from city theming whenever possible, because those areas that were strictly city-ish were incredibly plain and flat and ugly. Not so much your fault as it is the fault of the lack of available city textures in SRB2, but still.
Single player division as a whole: This is the worst crop of Single Player levels I've seen in a long time. Lots of botched gimmicks, repetitiveness, and stuff that just screams out "not as good as it was in the creator's head". The only genuinely decent level was Canyon Operation Zone, and even that was in spite of some fairly significant flaws. Everything else was average, mediocre, or just flat out terrible. The good news is that the chances the next contest's entries are this bad can't be that huge. We've set the bar so low here, I'm sure next time we can do better as a community.
MATCH
Diamond Blizzard Zone, by Spherallic
Rating: 8/10
Explanation: The whole ice theme is getting pretty overused, but this level does a great job of it none the less. It's got great scenery and layout that encourages some confrontations, especially with the bounce rings. I had a lot of fun on this map.
Coastal Cavern, by RedEchidna
Rating: 4/10
Explanation: Frenzied gameplay, but only in the sense of Meadow Match. And that kind of stage can only be epic once. This place is pretty flat and dull.
Citrus Foyer Zone, by Brawl
Rating: 2/10
Explanation: Is this a joke? With you, I can't be sure.
Lost Paradise Zone, by Neo Chaotikal
Rating: 5/10
Explanation: I had fun with this stage, but not because of good design. It was actually kind of bad. It was mostly just one texture, and really squarey, especially in the central structure. I think I had fun in the same sense that I had fun in Coastal Cavern...lack of content meant more unfettered fighting. But having fun because of content and having fun because of lack of content are two very different ways of having fun, that say very different things about the quality of the level.
Match division as a whole: A reasonable mix of good and bad. Nothing about this contest really stands out, either in a positive way or a negative way. It was just...average.
CAPTURE THE FLAG
Freezing Flame Zone, by RedEchidna
Rating: 4/10
Explanation: Yeesh, I am REALLY getting sick of physics-defying fire-ice blend stages. And this one was hardly phenomenal. The scenery wasn't that great, the lava was actually slime in disguise, and the layout was just underwhelming. I say it's high time we move away from this tired old theme.
Wellspring Keep Zone, by SpiritCrusher and Cinefast
Rating: 4/10
Explanation: Cool to see you getting into the game, SpiritCrusher (Cinefast, you've already been in the game to some extent), but it's kind of a bumpy start. That button gimmick was confusing, and the stage layout just didn't work at all. It took me a while to even figure out where the bases were. I think this map could be a lot better if a bunch of it was just cut out and the path between bases was made more obvious.
Radiant Cavern, by Spherallic and KO.T.E.
Rating: 9/10
Explanation: Whoops, spoke too soon about how much the fire-ice theme sucks. This stage was absolutely gorgeous, and gameplay was fantastic too. In all the other CTF stages, I found myself wondering when it was going to be over. In this one, I was devastated when it was. I'd really, really like to see a Single Player stage in this theme...it's just dazzling, and I think the layout would also translate pretty well from CTF to Single Player. My only little complaint was that the central area was a tad ugly and awkward, but I think that's quite trivial. If this map doesn't win, that proves that there's something wrong with society. It's that good.
Climate Chaos Zone, by Scizor300
Rating: 4/10
Explanation: This is better than your last attempt, but it's still got problems. For one thing, it's too big and spans too many themes. It's also really laggy, though fortunately not quite as bad as that disaster you entered into the last contest. Keep trying, Scizor, and at this rate you'll eventually get good. But you've got a ways to go.
CTF division as a whole: There was one little nugget of awesomeness in a sea of mediocrity. Nothing in this division was horrendous, but most of it left a lot to be desired. The exception, of course, was Radiant Cavern.
RACE
Grassy Cliffs Zone, by AndyMan123
Rating: 3/10
Explanation: Ugh, this one was a CHORE. Fortunately a short chore, but a chore nonetheless. It meandered and went up and down and was generally very confusing. There were also a lot of weird solid invisible walls (you'd think they'd at least have the Not Climbable flag checked). And you should never be able to make a complete circuit and miss the Star Post. That's just a cardinal rule of designing Race levels.
Tidal Cave, by RedEchidna and darkbob1713
Rating: 6/10
Explanation: This was a decent level with a few interesting gimmicks to keep players on their toes. But it wasn't that pretty, and its gimmicks weren't numerous enough to justify the level's length. The fact that this level stands out in this contest is kind of sad, really.
Iron Aquarium Zone, by Zap610
Rating: 4/10
Explanation: In appearance, this was the clear winner, except for that damn colormap (next time, try using #40A0FFJ instead). But this contest isn't about levels that are pretty; it's about levels that are fun. And I really didn't enjoy playing this level. There were a lot of cheap jumps, overly open areas, and places where it's not entirely clear what you have to do. Race levels should force you to make snap decisions, but they should never force you to stop and think about what you're doing.
Race division as a whole: Really not an interesting set of levels. Iron Aquarium looks cool, but none of them add anything new to the table in terms of gameplay.
Contest as a whole: Really not one of our best contests. Aside from Radiant Cavern and Diamond Blizzard, none of the levels were particularly stunning. Seems like there wasn't a lot of inspiration behind it all. Or rather, it seems like most of the inspiration that did go into it wasn't used to the fullest. I'll be waiting for the next contest.
