Crystal Caves HD level review: "Hot Feet" by Fragrant Flaaffy
Channel: timixretroplays
Date: 2022-08-19

Click "show more" to see the level review.
0:00 - first attempt - I soft-locked myself
1:11 - the blue room gets me
2:58 - I blame my controller for this one
3:25 - perfect health run! (meow)

I'm trying something a bit different with this series: This is my first playthrough of this level, followed by enough attempts to finish with perfect health at least once. It's not a flawless playthrough, but that's the point - you can practically see my brain grinding to a halt as I'm confronted with puzzle after puzzle. Hopefully it's of interest not just to the original author, but also anyone looking for insight into how another player goes about learning a new level.

Review: Fragrant Flaaffy admitted to me on Twitter that they "haven't actually played much of the game itself" and more or less "dived right into the level editor" before banging this one out. This is fairly incredible because, aside from a few tweaks that I'll suggest below, this is an absolutely top notch level and you should pause this video and go play it right now.

Right from the start, it's clear there's a lot going on, but the design and theming of the level is so consistent that once you get your bearings, you'll quickly get used to it. It does feel a little cluttered with objects - there's nary a square foot of space that doesn't have something dangling or protruding from a wall - but that doesn't make it hard to navigate.

In the blue door room: I think the ceiling turret is maybe a little overkill, as it's already a neat challenge to fight an enemy robot from temporary platforms you can't directly shoot from, and the turret just makes it disproportionately harder. The tweak I'd suggest here is removing the ceiling turret and swapping the walker robot and zappy robot from the platform below - this makes both a more even challenge to complete. I'd also suggest putting a soft platform underneath the blue switch, so it becomes a safe spot to hide in for players who choose not to go all out and shoot every robot.

Putting important scenery in the very top or bottom row of a level - especially stuff like falling spikes - is a bit mean, because it's partially obscured by the HUD; new players especially might not know that there's an option to turn on an in-game timer that appears at the top of the screen as well. I'm so used to it I keep an eye out for stuff like that myself, but it could catch other players out with a surprise. Speaking of surprises, I love that there's three danger signs in the level, and only the third one actually falls - I got so complacent with them that I totally fell for it initially.

In terms of pickup placements, I'd have liked to see more treasure chests to make the end-game victory lap feel more rewarding, maybe a few more gems (it's Crystal Caves, after all), and some additional points pickups for flavour as well. I suspect this came last in the process as adding them at this point would further clutter the level - maybe pull back a little on the set pieces next time to leave room for interactive bits. It's also a bit mean to place fruit pickup spawns more than a screen away from where the trigger is, especially when you place a whole puzzle in between it and you - maybe the cherry could've been placed on the top brown platform a few jumps away.

All of this is minor stuff, though - the level is frankly great as-is. It took me a few goes to figure out how this one worked, and how to go about finishing it with perfect health, but on every restart I got a little bit further in, and could quickly establish a routine for starting out and setting things up, which is the hallmark of a pretty perfectly balanced level. At one point I got so comfortable playing it that I forgot my mic wasn't muted and meowed back at my cat, which I'm leaving in the recording because it's hilarious.

Say hi on Twitter if you've made a level and would like to see it reviewed: https://twitter.com/timixretroplays

Come chat about Crystal Caves HD and Secret Agent HD on the Emberheart Games discord: https://discord.gg/pCdc9Wh5kv