Capture the flag, by 
This is an interesting level. Interesting in the way that it continues digging its own grave even after it is painfully obvious that it has been dug far enough that it will not be able to get out of it. The more I played this level, the more I disliked it. The entire effort (not the author, mind you, but text in the level) seems aloof and self-important. Additionally, there are some seriously bad ideas here. The two most notable ones are a crate that causes flag bug. And this is not just an unintentional bug. The author allows anyone in the server to enable flag bug. Of course, someone curious will quickly stomp the crate, or perhaps on accident, and flag bug will be caused. I cannot tell you how bad of an idea this is. The second is perhaps entertaining to some extent. The level requests that you register it before playing it; hosting it, according to the sign, is unauthorized unless you register. Fortunately, it appears that registration costs nothing. However, you should simply save yourself the trouble; the author fails to make a sign that legally informs the user that the work is under copyright per penalty of law, thus voiding any legal claims the author may have against miscreant hosters. I suggest that, if you create a level like this, you not force registration; this simply will be laughed at, even in great levels. And this level is far from great. On a completely unrelated note, this is the first time I will be using my new review image things. I hope you like them. Or something.
Joy, oh, joy. This reminds me strongly of the levels of 1999. It is basically made completely without thought towards game mechanics with a few “neat-o” things thrown in that honestly have not been neat for years. Simply put, you see the entire gist of the gameplay the first time you play this level. There are two bases on top of eachother. Fortunately, the author does not make it so easy as to just be able to go between bases, but might as well. This level is small, which is not always a problem, but the size of this level is handled poorly. The balance is questionable. The two bases are accessed on different sides in a large room, which is the only other part of the level other than the bases. That large room has a warp to the blue base on the left side (near the bases) and to the red on the right (far from them). This causes a number of balance problems, which are obvious when you consider this. Players simply run around in this fairly standard issue level. The bases are only accessable via one warp, causing an easy warp kill.
PROS: The level runs and does not feature any traps of any sort.
CONS: Poor layout and gameplay that obviously was an afterthought more than the focus.
RATING: 4.5
When I first looked at the other reviewer’s ratings, I was somewhat confused. At that point, I had decided that I would probably give it somewhere in the low 4’s. Then I realized I was playing with Low Detail turned on. With it off, I was greeted with what may be one of the most annoying backgrounds ever conceived outside of a CLIFFYB level (the fake CliffyB levels, not the real ones.) Not only does the back of the level feature binary 1’s and 0’s, but they are animated. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this background is entirely animated. The headache-inducing display is enough to make anyone want to give this level a 1.0. However, I will restrain from doing so. It is obvious that the author put some effort in here. There is an MCE, which naturally is the very ugly multicolored swinging carpet thing, and another MCE of a nonfunctional rope that does absolutely nothing and is easy to miss unless you are actually looking for it. Beyond that, the eyecandy is a standard poor use of “Blocks of Sprite” by Violet CLM (who should have been credited – just putting “dunno” is kind of inappropriate.) The background behind the 1’s and 0’s is not bad, but it is hard to get past them.
PROS: The eyecandy beyond the 1’s and 0’s could have been worse.
CONS: The binary blasphemy is aggrevating to the nth extent.
RATING: 2.7
The first thing I look for in a CTF level is at least one carrot, especially in this one. After all, as previously mentioned, it is not hard at all to accidentally warp into someone’s seeker fire and this tends to make it impossible to enter some areas. Naturally, the level continues to shoot itself in the foot. There are no carrots – not even a single-healing one. Ammo does not fare much better. There is seeker ammo, which is probably the most likely to be used. There is also TNT ammo, which is accompanied by a sign reading “Who says that TNT is useless in Party Mode?!! :-P”. No one said it was useless. However, it is pointless. There are also two electroblaster powerups which can only be reached using an electroblaster, which naturally can only be found in form of the powerups. Whether an attempt at irony or simply a mistake, this is not good.
PROS: There is seeker ammo.
CONS: TNT ammo is not worth putting into a multiplayer level, especially considering that it can mess up the host. The only powerups in the level are not usable, and wouldn’t be worth using even if they were.
RATING: 3.0
There is very little “fun” about this level. The care-free whimiscalness that it probably doesn’t posess anyway are sort of squashed by the signs threatening legal action if someone hosts this without registering it first. Uh-huh. The only people persuing legal action should be those forced to play this level. Not that it matters: The sign contained within fails to state in proper legalese the definition of “prohibited.” Besides, one could just claim that they never saw the sign. There are also a number of inappropriate obscenties in the level which I will not direct people to. Please refrain from uploading levels that contain obscenties such as these in the future. As you can tell from the other ratings, there is nothing fun about this level. You could trigger the CTF flag bug, but why would you? It’ll probably be done on accident anyway. Not fun at all.
PROS: Very few.
CONS: Just plain not fun.
RATING: 3.0
Before seeing the background, I would have given this a higher rating. However, I am glad that I rechecked the level, as I also saw a number of other problems mentioned above in addition to the old ones the second time around. All of these problems and inadequacies add up to what is in general a poor level which it is doubtful that anyone will host. And, of course, the fake legalese makes this level seem somewhat aloof, and acts as if it is more than it actually is. Whether or not you restrict its play and force pointless sign-ups, it does not change the fact that no one will want to register this level – threatening them will do nothing for you. I suggest that in the future you try much harder, and focus on levelmaking instead of fake legal restrictions.
PROS: Very few, if any.
CONS: Annoying background, useless registration…the list goes on.
RATING: 3.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: No. Just no.
GAMEPLAY: D -
Flow: D
Layout: D
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -
EYECANDY: D -
Tileset use: D
Eyecandy Look: F
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -
PLACEMENT: D -
Weapons: D -
Carrots: N/A
~ Traft[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]
