review of a moist impressive level

1. WET (By Big Fish)
Reviewed 1st
DESIGN: 30/35
FUN: 20/25
CREATIVITY: 10/15
AESTHETICS: 12/15
FUNCTIONALITY: 10/10
TOTAL SCORE: 82/100
COMMENTS: That was good! This is “Make a Good Megaman Level”, and I’ve certainly ended up leading with just that! It’s not breaking new ground gameplaywise, but at the same time the gameplay does feel like that of a Megaman level.
-Let me give you props for design first and foremost: I place great importance on teaching the player the rules, and you’ve introduced practically everything, making perfectly clear how everything works, usually even preventing the player from leeroying in there! With one exception: The jumping Gabgyo near the large health tagged me the first time because it was the first time their variable jump height came into play. I feel that could have used a bit of clarification beforehand but that’s the only gripe I have in regards to introductions, conveyance and clarity. It’s not a big gripe either. I can also appreciate your introduction to the invincible enemies, as I count that as a gimmick despite being a devkit option.
-Continuing on this good streak, length, pacing and checkpoints are all just right. Everything is fair. Fairly easy too, with a couple of exceptions.
-The enemy and gimmick selection is fitting and of manageable size (and the fish droppers got a good chuckle out of me), which contributes to the level feeling like a megaman level to play through. You’ve put that to good use. That said, I feel there’s some missed opportunities: The Big Fishes feel slightly underused, and while I appreciate your introduction to the invincible enemies and the fact you used them a few times afterwards, I feel that could be utilized just a little more as well. Also, your enemy selection has your bases covered, with shooting enemies in Ace Manbows, horizontal enemies in Gabgyos, and a plethora of vertical threats. I’m kind of missing a few combinations of horizontal and vertical, though the setups you have are good nonetheless.
-There is a part of your level that brings it down a bit: There is the Big Fish near a ladder with wind. It’s a detriment for several reasons. For starters, it’s really tight. Getting past it immediately requires a slide and a quick jump and climb on the ladder. That, or time it just right. Either way, hesitation got me killed really often. Consider that this is in the middle of the level. Then consider that this is also the first section with wind. It’s a pretty steep difficulty spike and it throws an otherwise decent difficulty curve out of whack. Uncomfortable, that one.
-On the note of difficulty curves, there’s a fish dropper death run a few sections earlier that feels every bit as climactic as your actual final stretch, which perhaps for that reason felt underwhelming to me. You used almost everything in the final section, but you could go out with a bigger bang in my opinion. That death run is another section that throws the difficulty curve out of whack.
-Creatively speaking, you did pretty well. I recall midair-dwelling sealife in Mario, but otherwise that’s a perfectly original concept I haven’t seen anywhere else. That said, you… don’t bring a whole lot new to the table gameplaywise, and as I said I’m missing a few more combinations. Combinations aside, you did about as well as you could with a conventionally-playing level.
-A few quick notes about the aesthetics: The level looks really good, and the music is absolutely dope (like if Kirby made… er… ate a skull fortress). My problems here are borderline nitpicky: A dark sky does make the level look more wet but then again, so would rain. I myself am not sure whether to go for rain to have fish swim in rain, or keep the level looking as dry as it does now for joke purposes. Something I am sure about, however, is that I don’t really like the shafts as marks for the jumping Gabgyos and Big Fishes. More specifically, when they’re strewn across larger pits it looks… off to me.
-Finally, while I would prefer if the level also had a good final stretch, Kine himself is a good climax to the stage. It starts out easy, but when the wind gets added in, the Soul Body+dagger attack in particular can get really, really tight to dodge. I’m also not completely sure when the wind direction gets changed. This has proven sometimes problematic during the gun attack. Nonetheless, Kine is a very good boss fight, and one that I have often gotten close to perfect running.
-Overall, this was a fun, solidly designed level that plays fluidly. Moist impressive!