0:00 no clicks
1:11 clicks
I decided it's been too long since I've done an extreme, so I went and looked for a beginner tier that I didn't know that well to jump into something blind for my 31st. I ended up settling on this, because after a practice run I found that I already had a good grasp on the click sync patterns. It ended up being really fun, and took me roughly 2.7k attempts. Highly recommend this if you're looking for an extreme in this difficulty range and like high CPS!
Anyways, this is a great example of your standard good design megacollab. It has a simple premise, and doesn't do anything weird; just high quality parts with engaging structuring. It does have some flaws that I see personally, but nothing that makes me dislike it. For example, I think the energy/lighting in certain parts doesn't really match that well with the part of the song they're at. The block outlines in the first part being as vibrant as they are even though this is one of the calmest sections of the level would be fine if the drop upped the ante in that department, but it doesn't really. The drop looks great don't get me wrong; the pastel details in tandem with the large areas of airiness make for a smooth and flowy part which I love in concept. This look just feels off to me when the general dimness is so much greater than before despite the song turning up the power to 11.
The part following does a better job of kicking things up; the floaty nature of all the disconnected platforms moving around breathes a ton of life as the intensity of your run rises, and the more potent variety of colors in the block designs make this more engaging in the long term. Something quick I want to praise about the part after this one is the background; I adore the enormous cyber-like blocks taking shape in the background. They're a great choice to create a uniquely textured feel from the other parts, and fill in space perfectly alongside the structures that are so far away from each other.
The part right before the post-drop is probably the most underwhelming looking for me. This should be the vigorous climax of the level, but instead we're left with what looks like the opposite. The entire thing is almost completely static, and that along with block designs that are either nothing but black or spammed carelessly with diamonds leaves a lot to be desired. It's a shame especially considering how special the base is, with a dynamic dual and fun verticality.
The final two parts are another example of what I mentioned earlier with the mismatched visuals to energy of song. The first of the two being as beaming as it is would actually kind of work as a sort of starting point for the energy to simmer down as you pass along to the final section, but that only makes sense if the part before it isn't devoid of life. Nonetheless, the plush pink/purple blocks on the front of some structures is a very pretty contrast to the darkness of the others, and the giant custom saws wrapped in simple hexagons do the same for the intricacies of the wire-like block designs. As for the final section, I appreciate the night sky type theme for it, kind of like the level is sunsetting. The twinkly piano matches the dark clouds and connected stars very well, calming you down after so much exertion.
Even with all of my critiques, this is obviously still quite a high quality level featuring creators that know what they're doing. Blue and pink is one of the most beautiful color schemes out there, and there is a lot of variation in style between parts to keep you on your toes. As for how it plays, I quite enjoyed it aside from a few nitpicks. Because each section features gameplay made by a different person, there will be subtle differences in how the click sync is done which I felt like I had to adapt to on the fly. For example, the drop spiders are simple because you just click exactly to the music, but the second drop part featured timings like the orbs in the UFO that you have to perform in a way that feels super specific regardless of the song. I'm also not sure why half of the clicks in the last 30% are super easy buffers, and the other half are extremely tight timings. The distribution between the two doesn't correlate to anything and feels very random. Other than that though, learning these nuances is satisfying to an extent, and once you get consistent this is a blast! I love click sync levels personally so this was very much for me, and I'm glad to be able to do extremes again!
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