19-Aug-2016, 10:24 PM
Buried (#4): I love the concept of taking an existing level and mangling it in some way to create something new. That being said... I don't think this level does a very good job of it. Before realizing that it's a copy of Lesson 1, the solution takes a lot of guesswork for finding keys and chips under blocks. After realizing, there's a lot of looping around the outside finding the way in. As I tend to say: A+ concept, C- execution. I'd much rather see Ravaged (Longbow #1) as a rehashed level.
Blue Island (#9): For the size of the level, this is a pretty devious puzzle! I especially like how the difference in trap behaviors in rulesets is highlighted without being unequal.
Wisdom and Madness and Folly (#17): Oh boy, where do I begin here...this is one of those levels that crams too much cleverness in for its own good, and combines it with some semi-precise timing. The cloning/trap room is interesting enough, but there's a lot of waiting around. The tank room is much more precise than it needs to be, and it's especially annoying in Lynx trying to get the exact right tick multiple times to proceed. Then there's an unnecessary dodging room, a neat pink ball corridor that plays cheap because there's no return if you didn't toggle the walls between trips. (technically observable, but the balls bouncing on toggle buttons and lack of visibility means it's a very unfair trap) This is followed up by a small toggle maze with bugs and paramecia circling on toggle buttons (this is cool!) and using a block to guide tanks to their doom. Last is... another cloning room that's really all about waiting. It was easy to figure out, but one wrong step while figuring it out and do everything over again! Then the level ends by disrupting the monsters in the middle to make the walls toggle and reach an exit. Yay.
So overall there's some neat ideas weighed down by an excessively rigid implementation. There's no real reason why each of the 6 distinct challenges had to be tackled in the order they were: the level would be a lot stronger if you could choose your order and started in the center, but even then I don't think I'd enjoy playing it.
Push Blocks and Do Things (#19): Well, that's a boring title. There's also an inequality with the blue key (swap blue for red or yellow and it's fixed. Anyway, this is actually a pretty neat 'find the order' level with a lovely aesthetic. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing this (with a new title) early in CCLP4.
The Boot Problem (#23): Cool idea to take the "you have a boot you don't want" design trope and repeat it through the level, but ultimately it falls victim to repeating the same challenge (4x4 rooms with a glider) over and over.
Diamond (#26): I don't think you should have to optimize a level to quite this extent to be able to solve it. I'm fine with needing a decently optimized route (see Dwarven Keep's chip vault) but this takes it too far, needing not only the route but near perfect execution.
A Puzzle (#30): A tedious level. Kind of like Yet Another Puzzle and Yet Another Yet Another Puzzle, except without most of the puzzle. (of these, I think YAP hit the sweet spot and YAYAP crammed in too many block loops: though the actual puzzle in the level was excellently done)
Randomness (#35): This pack has too many "why is this in voting" levels. This, Pacific Ocean, Shuffle, and Blobhunt.
Exclusive Or (#36): I love this level. I solved it both ways for the full experience and this is easily one of my top picks for the final set. My only real complaint is that the ice slide at the end isn't entirely an ice slide, but that's such a minor nitpick.
Minigame (#46): The mechanism breaks when you push multiple buttons in quick succession and I'm not a fan of the idea to begin with, at least not in this context. Mobius made a really good puzzle in CC2 with 6 buttons and walls and I think that the concept works better there: or with a line of traps that get cloned into and then released...
Favorite level: Exclusive Or (#36)
Least favorite: Wisdom and Madness and Folly (#17)
Blue Island (#9): For the size of the level, this is a pretty devious puzzle! I especially like how the difference in trap behaviors in rulesets is highlighted without being unequal.
Wisdom and Madness and Folly (#17): Oh boy, where do I begin here...this is one of those levels that crams too much cleverness in for its own good, and combines it with some semi-precise timing. The cloning/trap room is interesting enough, but there's a lot of waiting around. The tank room is much more precise than it needs to be, and it's especially annoying in Lynx trying to get the exact right tick multiple times to proceed. Then there's an unnecessary dodging room, a neat pink ball corridor that plays cheap because there's no return if you didn't toggle the walls between trips. (technically observable, but the balls bouncing on toggle buttons and lack of visibility means it's a very unfair trap) This is followed up by a small toggle maze with bugs and paramecia circling on toggle buttons (this is cool!) and using a block to guide tanks to their doom. Last is... another cloning room that's really all about waiting. It was easy to figure out, but one wrong step while figuring it out and do everything over again! Then the level ends by disrupting the monsters in the middle to make the walls toggle and reach an exit. Yay.
So overall there's some neat ideas weighed down by an excessively rigid implementation. There's no real reason why each of the 6 distinct challenges had to be tackled in the order they were: the level would be a lot stronger if you could choose your order and started in the center, but even then I don't think I'd enjoy playing it.
Push Blocks and Do Things (#19): Well, that's a boring title. There's also an inequality with the blue key (swap blue for red or yellow and it's fixed. Anyway, this is actually a pretty neat 'find the order' level with a lovely aesthetic. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing this (with a new title) early in CCLP4.
The Boot Problem (#23): Cool idea to take the "you have a boot you don't want" design trope and repeat it through the level, but ultimately it falls victim to repeating the same challenge (4x4 rooms with a glider) over and over.
Diamond (#26): I don't think you should have to optimize a level to quite this extent to be able to solve it. I'm fine with needing a decently optimized route (see Dwarven Keep's chip vault) but this takes it too far, needing not only the route but near perfect execution.
A Puzzle (#30): A tedious level. Kind of like Yet Another Puzzle and Yet Another Yet Another Puzzle, except without most of the puzzle. (of these, I think YAP hit the sweet spot and YAYAP crammed in too many block loops: though the actual puzzle in the level was excellently done)
Randomness (#35): This pack has too many "why is this in voting" levels. This, Pacific Ocean, Shuffle, and Blobhunt.
Exclusive Or (#36): I love this level. I solved it both ways for the full experience and this is easily one of my top picks for the final set. My only real complaint is that the ice slide at the end isn't entirely an ice slide, but that's such a minor nitpick.
Minigame (#46): The mechanism breaks when you push multiple buttons in quick succession and I'm not a fan of the idea to begin with, at least not in this context. Mobius made a really good puzzle in CC2 with 6 buttons and walls and I think that the concept works better there: or with a line of traps that get cloned into and then released...
Favorite level: Exclusive Or (#36)
Least favorite: Wisdom and Madness and Folly (#17)
My CC1 levelsets: (25, 150, 149, 149, 149, 149, 60, 149, 43, +2 = 1025 total)
25 levels.dat | Ultimate Chip.dat | Ultimate Chip 2.ccl | Ultimate Chip 3.dac | Ultimate Chip 4.zip | Ultimate Chip 5 | Ultimate Chip 6 | Walls of CCLP4 | i^e
IHNN-Ultimate: 147 of my best levels (through UC5), plus 2 entirely new ones. May be overhauled soon.
My CC2 levelsets: (100, ???)
IHNN1 | IHNN2
My CC score tracker. Has lots of cool automated features!
Twitch | Youtube | Twitter
25 levels.dat | Ultimate Chip.dat | Ultimate Chip 2.ccl | Ultimate Chip 3.dac | Ultimate Chip 4.zip | Ultimate Chip 5 | Ultimate Chip 6 | Walls of CCLP4 | i^e
IHNN-Ultimate: 147 of my best levels (through UC5), plus 2 entirely new ones. May be overhauled soon.
My CC2 levelsets: (100, ???)
IHNN1 | IHNN2
My CC score tracker. Has lots of cool automated features!
Twitch | Youtube | Twitter