SA's Grand Review Compilation #3

Hoo baby, another 20 levels down the hole. Thanks again to all the creators who participated in hearing me essentially trash talk all their levels into oblivion for the world's amusement. Seriously though, (most of) you guys did a fantastic job, and without you this whole reviewing process wouldn't even be possible. It is your contributions and your courage in submitting that allow for these reviews. So, what were the most notable levels this time around?

Like last time, I'll be assigning awards to levels that I feel performed the best in a number of different categories. For the sake of fairness, I went back and played all these levels again (minus the most recent couple), and I think I've got some decent results here. Of course, the awards don't actually mean anything specific nor do they elevate your standing in society, please do not try to use them as an excuse to do bad things.

Anyways, here's our winners. Although, I think you are all winners in my heart....except DeathJohnson, what the hell man?

Best Use of In-game Mechanics
It's a little tricky to call this one. Crystal Cave is a great contender here as most of the mechanics pulled the level through very nicely, and Solidplace used all of it's mechanics very effectively to craft a really challenging experience, and finally there's Danmaku Rave with it's insane use of emitter tech to create an amazingly fluorescent experience. As far as best use of mechanics go, I actually have to go with Little Dead Space. The entire level is just one giant mechanical masterpiece from start to finish, and everything flowed from one device to the next perfectly. The others are very commendable, but Little Dead Space was ultimately the strongest.
Winner - Little Dead Space

Most Innovative use of In-game material
Danmaku Rave is another extremely powerful contender here, but then again so is Seeing RED. Both levels came off as innovative in different ways, DR for recreating an entirely different genre within LBP and SR for reinventing the game's visual aesthetic to a whole different degree. These levels both come off insanely strong here, and finally I had to give it to Danmaku Rave for simply using the mechanics in such an unfamiliar, and incredibly effective way.
Winner - Boss: Danmaku Rave

Best Telling of Narrative
Originally "Best Telling of a Story", I've expanded this award to include the story telling ability through environment, setting, and sound as well as simple dialogue, characters, and interactions. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of strong contenders for this topic on this run. At best we've got Little Dead Space, Heart of Gold, Salvation Intro, and the unexpectedly strong Hobo Warrior. Little Dead Space tells a story that makes a lot more sense if you've actually played Dead Space, Heart of Gold is essentially Indiana Jones tweaked mildly, Salvation is like the perfect start to a horror movie, although there isn't a ton of closure to it, and finally Hobo Warrior tells the amazing story of super budget mode Highlander. Ultimately, I felt the overall strongest narratives from Heart of Gold and Hobo Warrior, and the one that really stuck with me better was Hobo Warrior.
Winner - Hobo Warrior

Best "New and Exciting"
It's very easy to say that the one level I was expecting the absolute least here was Hobo Warrior. On a similar note, I was equally thrown off by The Epic Bunny Series, Leaps of Faith, Danmaku Rave, Helping Hand (concept wise, at least), The Way of Madness, She's a Rainbow, and Crystal Cave. This is going to be the hardest category to award because all of you present such vivid and imaginary ideas this time around, I really enjoyed all of them. At the end of the day though, I think the most unique and amazing idea I ran into was probably Danmaku Rave. Hobo Warrior is definitely close, but Danmaku Rave feels like the kind of level that can spur a revolution of new level types within the game. I'm very impressed with all of you.
Winner - Boss: Danmaku Rave

Best "Good Ol' Fashioned"
I'm really looking at two levels here, Distress in Ocean and Heart of Gold. Both levels felt very basic and simple in concept, and very old fashioned in idea. There was nothing especially tricky or complicated in either level, both felt very specifically designed with that classic mood in mind. Between the two, I'm going to aware this to Distress in Ocean for being a lot more rooted on old ideas and executions than Heart of Gold, but both were extremely close.
Winner - Distress in Ocean

Best "Laughing out Loud"
I think this one is fairly obvious, but I'll humor you a little. The first couple times I played through Distress in Ocean, I thought it was one of the most hilarious levels I'd ever played. I can only remember playing that level with the absolute highest level of enjoyment. Still, as you may have guessed, my vote definitely goes with Hobo Warrior.
Winner - Hobo Warrior

Best Replay Value
Normally, I'd just give this one to Danmaku Rave on account of having retried it easily 4 times the amount of the next highest stage here, but I think that only really applies to my masochistic nature trying to beat it endlessly. When asking about normal replay value, levels like Zombie Apocalypse and Solidplace really need to be considered for their challenge approach that isn't completely psychotic, and between those three I would say Solidplace is a much stronger fighter. The real challenge that Solidplace worked with was a level that didn't actually require endless repetition to have replay value, it actually relied more on solid gameplay that was fun and easily approachable. I found myself playing Solidplace a few times, aiming to improve each time, and that was retries made after playing the level as a whole, not as a single room of death. So, I would definitely place my money on Solidplace.
Winner - Solidplace

Most Effective Use of Space
While many levels handled their space very well (Crystal Cave, Solidplace, Danmaku Rave), I still think the majority fall really short of She's A Rainbow. The level encompasses so much space within the level, yet not a single bit of it was wasted. Even better, all the space was used to create a very effective visual aesthetic too. Yeah, there were a bunch of levels that did a great job taking advantage of space, but She's A Rainbow feels like it just outperformed entirely.
Winner - She's a Rainbow

Best Visual Presentation
Crystal Cave, Seeing RED, She's a Rainbow, and Salvation stand out the most. Although it's ultimately a really tough choice between Seeing RED and Crystal Cave, I got to give it to Crystal Cave. Seeing RED challenged visual aesthetic by creating a level of polarity in color, however Crystal Cave openly welcomed and took full advantage of a wild spectrum.
Winner - The Crystal Cave in Autumn

OVERALL BEST IN SHOW
Trying to judge the best of the best is always tough. This time, I'm looking pretty heavily at Crystal Cave, Hobo Warrior, Distress in Ocean, H.A.T.E. 2, and honestly Danmaku Rave. Danmaku was kind of a wild card here, really proving to be a seriously inventive and astounding level in tons of various categories, but it's not as consistently good as the others. H.A.T.E. 2 and Hobo Warrior are both amazing in their own respective ways, but they don't quite hold up to Distress in Ocean or Crystal Cave. So, for the final pick, I'm fairly confident in naming Crystal Cave as the best level I've gotten the opportunity to play this round. Everything about the level was spot on, 100% excellent, and I really couldn't ask for more.
Winner - The Crystal Cave in Autumn

I gotta say, I was really impressed by just how many good ideas you guys have come up with this time. It was an absolute pleasure to review all your levels and I can't wait to see what the future brings. Best of luck to all of you, and I hope you are all excited for the upcoming LBP2.

On a side note, I know I promised this review by Monday, but it is unfortunately 2 hours past due. I'm insanely sleepy.