Скачать или смотреть Crystal Caves HD level review: "Emp-63" by El mala persona

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0:00 - 100% the first try!

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: Now this is something different! There's not much to talk about in terms of design - I suspect the whole thing was made with terrain, and then converted to the blocks you see in the final product - but the level itself is an exciting little challenge. I did not expect to complete the thing first go, with perfect health, but miracles happen sometimes.

I will say that the bottom left corner is a bit mean for a level describing itself as "medium" difficulty. The really hard bit is optional, true, but I'd have been gutted if I'd been hit by those falling spikes after surviving the tap/fire manoeuvre. Even with the spikes out of the way, though, I had to stop and think pretty hard about whether I really wanted to brave it again just for two treasure boxes. (The flames reach their peak a total of nine times during their animation, including the initial flare-up, so count to eight and then jump!)

The walking robots are also a little under-utilised as hazards. They're great in areas that force you to stand and fight, jumping over the particles they shoot at you; this level gives you lots of safe standoff areas to jump in and out of to dispatch enemies - although I guess that works well with the theme of ultra-precise, pre-planned moves. Even the fruit's pretty easy to get - it's just a matter of timing jumps between drops correctly.

Conclusion: This level feels like the Duke Nukem 1 level designers were given the original Sector Alpha level from the first episode of this game, and told "do this, but with harder obstacles". I could've made it easier for myself by going for the key earlier than I did, but c'est la vie. I think I'd have liked it a lot less if I hadn't been so lucky, but for those who want a serious 100%'ing challenge, check this one out.

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