a review of DeCode by Rek3dge
today is March 11th, which is considered International DeCode Day!! to celebrate this most important holiday, i'm gonna review this level in about as much detail as i can, mainly because i think it'd be fun to try out reviewing levels!! could become a regular thing on here, who knows!
the gameplay
honestly, the gameplay of the level can be pretty awkward in places. the slope jump you can click too late at 20%, as well as the cube and ball from 36-62 come to mind here. there's some unexpectedly high-cps gameplay, and a lot of clicks you're more or less forced to buffer.
that said, i'm quite a fan of the rest of the gameplay! the first 24% is nothing special, just standard 1.9 gameplay. but the wave at 24% has a really fun click pattern to me! big fan of those short horizontal corridors :3
the 62% UFO part is probably the hardest part of the whole level (though not the part i'm most likely to die at). that part requires proper practice as well as good execution. but that does also make it very satisfying to pull off, even replaying the level when your hardest is multiple ratings higher!
also the 76% wave is iconic for a reason, and it's not just TheMuteTroll. this part is a great example of looking really intimidating, but not actually being much harder than other parts of the level. i love it when gameplay looks harder than it actually is, because it makes you feel like the greatest player to ever grace the world. that's also part of why GD's hitboxes are actually a good thing, but that's a whole other yapfest.
oh, and the last ship cube maze are fine. they're about what you'd expect for an easy demon overall. good test of nerve control :]
the deco
the deco of this level also goes hard for the time, and holds up really well today! in general, the deco fills the space really well, without being either repetitive or overwhelming. the designs make use of the basic blocks while also having nice amounts of variation and often multiple layers to it.
i really like the deco in the first wave especially! the orange and red colour scheme fits really well here, the brick-like structures under the actual blocks have a very cool design, and the structuring is very fun!
i will admit, the rainbow section's deco doesn't quite live up to the same standard. it feels pretty plain compared to the rest of the level, which it only somewhat gets away with by being 3x speed.
the second wave is simplistic too, but it has more interesting designs overall and the pulsing patterns are fun to watch. i also appreciate how the part almost feels like a tunnel. same goes for the ship afterwards obviously, but the first wave is the more iconic part, let's be honest.
and the ending maze looks very nifty too, with the chaotic network of background blocks. very fun!
conclusion!!
for what it is, DeCode is a very well-made level. sure, some parts fall short of modern gameplay and deco standards, but for its time it's an amazing level, and that's not to say it hasn't held up. i give this a March 11th out of 14, however you choose to interpret that.