Crystal Caves HD level review: "Speed 1: Roots" by Fragrant Flaaffy
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0:00 - initial exploration
4:54 - first attempt, got stuck
7:32 - second attempt, mistimed drop
8:15 - perfect health!
Even if it hadn't been made in the space of a single hour, this would be a great level.
Up front, the only criticisms I can come up with are: Finding the kaizo block nearly killed me the first time, the fall through the crumbling blocks and past the flame is particularly cruel the first time around with the robot, the red dino enemy is a bit wasted as he's super easy to dispatch from a distance, and I feel like the plant-based decor is a little heavy, even for a level called "roots". Oh, and I maybe got a bit lost figuring out where to go next the first time through.
That's it - entirely stylistic changes, nothing that makes a difference from the second attempt onwards. The layout is great, the distribution of pickups is great, the puzzles are great, and especially once you realise it's a typical Flaaffy level where one switch will open two doors, the flow is great as well. I don't think I found the cherries, but two out of three fruits seems to be typical for these playthroughs for me.
I particularly like the combination of the red mushroom and gravity pickups, and both red mushroom sections are clearly laid out and easy to breeze through once you know where you're going. I've been wondering if levels that started out with randomly-generated terrain would quickly become same-y and boring, but this one definitely isn't - without stopping to look and thinking about it, you might not even guess that's how this one was made.
Conclusion: A fun level to figure out, and satisfying to complete. A great example of what can be done with the random map generator and only a short amount of time to flesh it out.
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