My Review:
Atmosphere: [5/5]
-Given the face that the level's entire gimmick is a typical oil-based canyon I would normally dock points for the unoriginal idea chosen. However, with a combination of your lovely poem and music choice I would have to say that despite the unoriginal choice you did manage to make it unique to just this level somehow.
Level Design [3/5]
-This level fell short in its actual design. It has something I call "artificial extensions," which is effectively "hit a switch to do a thing." This was cute for a while but eventually the level started to rely on making the player backtrack to an area they have full power to go to only to reach a deadend unless they hit a switch. This is doubled by the fact that the halfway point exists in one of these temporary deadends, forcing the player to backtrack despite earning "progress" by hitting the midway point.
Graphical Continuity [4/5]
-Again it is a neat system having the player be in an oil-based canyon while having the player almost live their own adventure, as evident in the poem distributed in the level. However, such a lush assortment of grass, bushes and mossy hills wouldn't exist in this environment. While I don't want to dock points off for this, I will still have to say that this element was entirely uncalled for in such a heavily industrialized area.
Music Continuity [5/5]
-No comment necessary. The music was perfectly fitting to build on top of the atmosphere chosen for this level.
BGO Placement [2/5]
-Half of the score deduction comes from the fact that a majority of the BGOs in this level are the aforementioned grass, bushes and trees. The remained comes from the pipes. While you did warn the player, which is something you shouldn't TELL but rather TEACH, I still can no disregard the fact that these BGOs blend in way too much with the factory tileset chosen. In some cases these pipes rest right above lava in front of a lava pit which can trick the players into believing this is a safe zone.
NPC Placement [4/5]
-While I did find nearly every enemy to be placed in a neat fashion, with the exception of generated bombs, I have to say the Bully's fell short in their involvement on the level. It is clear they were created to pose some sort of threat on the player, especially considering their positioning: but they don't do a god damn thing. I Loved everything in the level, but I feel like this was a pretty long-lasting impression in terms of NPC Placement. I highly recommend just removing them entirely.
Difficulty / Replayability [3/5]
-The difficulty was fun and fair, but I would have to say I wouldn't play this level again. The artificial level extension was used way too often. While it was kept immersive with cool elevators and hovercraft I would have to say that the design choice was much too tedious to warrant a higher score.
Overall Score: 26/35
Final Score: 7.4/10
Judgement: Pretty Good
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2w7IpocYhw
