03-Jun-2013, 12:22 PM
Motoring along at uncontrollable speed, here are some of my thoughts on The Giraffe Pack:
A number of great melee and monster manipulation levels at the beginning of this pack, with #1 (Maelstrom) and #4 (The Companion Block) really standing out. Other great levels in my opinion include #15 (Whirlpool), #25 (Sleeping Dragon), #27 (Portal Swapper), #29 (Fibonacci) and #34 (Deliverance), although I agree with Miika that Fibonacci definitely needs a higher time limit. Also, when you've solved Whirlpool, go and look at it in an editor and you'll see just how beautiful the level is (:
On the note of Sleeping Dragon, for the longest time I couldn't work out why the teleports wouldn't work until I realised that by trying to be clever and save blocks, I had partial posted with fireballs and ended up with them stuck on teleports and a whole mess of other problems...Though this is a negative reflection on myself, the player, rather than the level, which is great!
#31 (Release Me) and #40 (Enter the Teleport), while both good levels in their own right, were a little on the tricky side for me. At least the latter, which I would place on the same plane of deviousness as CITYBLOCK's final room was the whole level, and not just an infuriating gimmick tagged on at the very end to annoy and frustrate a player probably lacking in concentration.
#35 (The Bugs and the Bees) appears to be busted, since there is no chip socket even though 5 chips are "required". This defeats the purpose of having two paths, one of which is supposed to be the "correct" one (by knowing whether the monsters follow the central chip or the outer wall), since you could pick either one and simply follow the monsters without picking up the chips. While this isn't faster or significantly easier, I feel it was not the solution the designer had in mind, since aside from this it's actually not a bad level.
Is #41 (REW) supposed to be a joke? I understand that CCLP1 is supposed to be a replacement for the original CC1, but it makes no sense to me why we should include a level that consists almost entirely of cut-and-pasted sections of CC1 levels Taking the concepts and altering/improving them in some way is fine by me, but outright copying them into another level defeats the purpose of a "new" level pack. In order of appearance, BLOBDANCE, MIX UP, BLOCK N ROLL, MIXED NUTS, AMSTERDAM, OPEN QUESTION, SPOOKS and NUTS AND BOLTS from CC1 are represented, with only AMSTERDAM not looking (to a moderate inspection by me, at least) like a complete cut-and-paste job. I apologize to whoever designed this level (which I assume to be short for "Rewind"?), since again, it's a perfectly good level, but I'm not impressed with its inclusion in CCLP1 voting.
Ending on a positive note though, #39 (Hate This and I'll Love You) has perhaps the greatest hint message of all time. If the reverse of the level's title is also true, then I don't mind admitting that we are now enemies
A number of great melee and monster manipulation levels at the beginning of this pack, with #1 (Maelstrom) and #4 (The Companion Block) really standing out. Other great levels in my opinion include #15 (Whirlpool), #25 (Sleeping Dragon), #27 (Portal Swapper), #29 (Fibonacci) and #34 (Deliverance), although I agree with Miika that Fibonacci definitely needs a higher time limit. Also, when you've solved Whirlpool, go and look at it in an editor and you'll see just how beautiful the level is (:
On the note of Sleeping Dragon, for the longest time I couldn't work out why the teleports wouldn't work until I realised that by trying to be clever and save blocks, I had partial posted with fireballs and ended up with them stuck on teleports and a whole mess of other problems...Though this is a negative reflection on myself, the player, rather than the level, which is great!
#31 (Release Me) and #40 (Enter the Teleport), while both good levels in their own right, were a little on the tricky side for me. At least the latter, which I would place on the same plane of deviousness as CITYBLOCK's final room was the whole level, and not just an infuriating gimmick tagged on at the very end to annoy and frustrate a player probably lacking in concentration.
#35 (The Bugs and the Bees) appears to be busted, since there is no chip socket even though 5 chips are "required". This defeats the purpose of having two paths, one of which is supposed to be the "correct" one (by knowing whether the monsters follow the central chip or the outer wall), since you could pick either one and simply follow the monsters without picking up the chips. While this isn't faster or significantly easier, I feel it was not the solution the designer had in mind, since aside from this it's actually not a bad level.
Is #41 (REW) supposed to be a joke? I understand that CCLP1 is supposed to be a replacement for the original CC1, but it makes no sense to me why we should include a level that consists almost entirely of cut-and-pasted sections of CC1 levels Taking the concepts and altering/improving them in some way is fine by me, but outright copying them into another level defeats the purpose of a "new" level pack. In order of appearance, BLOBDANCE, MIX UP, BLOCK N ROLL, MIXED NUTS, AMSTERDAM, OPEN QUESTION, SPOOKS and NUTS AND BOLTS from CC1 are represented, with only AMSTERDAM not looking (to a moderate inspection by me, at least) like a complete cut-and-paste job. I apologize to whoever designed this level (which I assume to be short for "Rewind"?), since again, it's a perfectly good level, but I'm not impressed with its inclusion in CCLP1 voting.
Ending on a positive note though, #39 (Hate This and I'll Love You) has perhaps the greatest hint message of all time. If the reverse of the level's title is also true, then I don't mind admitting that we are now enemies
CC1: 5,954,550 (completed)
--- CCLP1: 5,989,110 (completed)
--- CCLP2: 5,936,410 (148 levels completed)
--- CCLP3: 1,223,887 (a few levels completed)
My levelset JRB_CCLP1.ccl
--- CCLP1: 5,989,110 (completed)
--- CCLP2: 5,936,410 (148 levels completed)
--- CCLP3: 1,223,887 (a few levels completed)
My levelset JRB_CCLP1.ccl