Capture the flag, by 
I wasn’t going to review this, but the reviews prior to mine have really disappointed me, rating-wise. Especially SJ who used to be one of the more harsh reviewers back in the older days. Perhaps times have changed again?
Visual Appeal – 3 out of 5
..the author tried. This level has little to no any outstanding eyecandy (which isn’t necessarily the tileset’s fault), or any good-looking eyecandy for that matter. There’s the (particularly ugly) animation of the palette tile used rather randomly.
Like in other levels by the author, “some parts look pretty empty while others look like they have random stuff tacked on, and the backround is pretty boring” as Blacky put it nicely. The background is nothing interesting, and the rather odd (pastel blue?) 16bit fade just adds to the empty, boring feel.
Also why does layer 7 move faster vertically than layer 6? It looks nonsensical, really. And on a closing note, the author should have at least taken time to disflip the tiles from the flipped half of the level.
Playability – 4 out of 5
First of all, I have to say that this level does have a very nice flow. I haven’t found myself annoyingly bumping into things, which is a vital thing in a CTF layout. On the other hand, the layout itself is a mixed bag. I do like its bottom part, even if it could use a little more paths, but the upper part just feels random and uninspired. There’s a big open area just next to each base, why not add a platform there?
The coins (needed to get to the player’s own base, which could be useful but not really original) are placed decently, if a little confusing. However, I couldn’t help it but get the feeling that there’s way too few loose ammo in the level. And if there actually was ammo, it would be in a boring square pattern.There could be more fastfires rather than just 3, since it would take a longer time to get a properly fast fire rate. The powerups are Bouncer, RF, and Seeker – no balance problem.
And last but not quite least, I really like the way Yasco places the +3 carrots, and this is no exception. The player requires to drop down a pit to get the +3 and bounce with a spring, which is kinda evil and might encourage camping, but I still like it, so there.
Summary
- Has several good concepts, like the +3 carrot placement
- Flows decent
- The eyecandy needs work, and quite a lot of it
Overall
This level was definitely overrated. Not by a lot, but certainly not worth an 8. It’s still a fairly decent level, but there are more worthwhile ones around. And just as well, the “BURN, BABY, BURN”, things are moderately disturbing at the least.
– 0.1/0.5
