Battle, by 
DESIGN/GAMEPLAY:
What is this?!‘s level design is (for the most part) built out of tunnels through walls instead of platforms in the sky, a choice which I approve of immensely and vastly prefer. The level appears to be divided into several parts – outside, temple and cave, all placed logically – and each location has a design which is roughly believable, if man or nature ever built the world to be used as a battling arena. The level is somewhat horizontally based in places, suggesting that it indeed was once intended to be a CTF level, but this is not a bad thing at all and it’s always nice to have a passageway which is more than five tiles wide. (Platform based levels are often guilty of never having passageways, unless forced to by moving up against the top or bottom of the level.)
In any case, the level design is somewhat complicated, so it takes a while to figure out which places can go to which others, and which way sucker tubes point. (You wouldn’t expect sucker tubes to work in this environment, but somehow they feel like yes, they should be there.) After some minutes of playing the level you should get an idea of what’s going on, but it can take a little while, partly due to the intense graphics which I’ll mention later.
Once you’re used to the level, of course, the fun really begins. The weapons are well chosen – each of the available powerups (Seekers, RF’s and Bouncers) have special areas of the level where they’re the most useful, even the RF’s which are usually left out in the cold and random. There is enough open space in the upper right and long space in the middle that the missiles can have a decent change of actually hitting someone for a change in situations besides melee battles where other attacks would work just as well. Coupled with the occasional wall put up between areas, causing you to take a specific set of passages, the end result is a very nice feeling level where you may actually have to think about what you’re doing.
(NOTE: Gameplay for this level has only been tested in a 2-4 player type scenario. Balance may vary significantly with more players as certain spots may or may not become focal (perhaps the powerups). Still, I liked what I did see.)
PROS: Inventive mix of Battle/CTF layouts, I particularly enjoy the upper left area.
CONS: Small masking bug at one point, I don’t really like the upper right area very much (and it was mostly untouched in gameplay).
RATING: 8.7
EYECANDY:
Before you can get used to the twisty level design, you will be struck by the enormous level of eyecandy What is this?! has to offer. Every layer is crammed full of beautiful sights – five distinct layers are used with X and Y speeds set to 1, and in a great number of cases they’re all used in one spot! Everywhere you go there are twists, trees, different backgrounds, complicated walls, bushes, blocks, caves, vines and a thousand other decorations. Layer 3 in JCS looks great even if you have no idea what it’s going to do.
Many levels with lots and lots of eyecandy fall into the trap of obscuring the level design (see: virtually any level made using “Swamps of the Sleeping Jaguar”), and this happens a little in certain spots, but for the most part you can still see the level beneath the finery. I do have a few complaints – it’s hard to tell what’s a vine and what isn’t – but most stuff seems logical and you could spend a long time looking at the trees.
PROS: Everything looks great, you can tell a lot of work was spent on this level.
CONS: A tiny bit overcomplicated in some areas, and some people might complain that nothing moves. (Moths work in multiplayer, right?)
RATING: 9.1
PLACEMENT:
This is always somewhat hard to review, as it’s difficult to tell what’ll be enough ammo with more players than I tested it with. In any case, there is quite a lot of ammo in the level, all easy enough to get, and in some interesting formations (again, see the upper left corner). Everything seemed to respawn at about the right speed (maybe a little bit fast? hard to tell), and I don’t think I ever really ran out of anything. There were a few complaints which I’ll outline in cons, but nothing too serious.
As for other stuff… there are two carrots that I remember seeing, both pretty well placed. I quite enjoyed the bottom right one, which just felt… right. It felt like yes, that is exactly where a carrot should be. The other carrot is also good, allowing for much strategic shooting as you prevent your opponents from healing up. Finally, there are the normal three powerups (no toaster, which makes sense as toaster isn’t too useful in this level somehow).
PROS: Everything looks good to me.
CONS: Seeker powerup is the easiest to get, one or two annoying springs, and of course… there’s only one start position. Ouch.
RATING: 8.4
OVERALL:
In case the rest of this review didn’t give you the idea, I quite enjoy Newspaz’s What is this?!, and can only suggest that the rest of you download it as well. It’s still extremely early, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the best levels of 2005, even though it could use a more start positions. The filename is j2lcdunno1, indicating that there might be a sequel… yes, please.
PROS: It’s a great level, ok?
CONS: A few small bugs I mentioned during the review.
RATING: 9.0
