Break Out II

Really tricky with intricate mechanisms! I did realize what was under the hood about the zapper bots starting to move (especially since I did a demo on that ), but I did read two of the spoilers as I lacked the patience . Nice to see

Spoiler

the zapper bots bumping into each other and get stuck forever. That makes it hilarious as it seems the bots are fighting each other because they failed to catch B

-- I was discussing with @richardfu_ in Cool Kids about turning that annoyance into a playable element, but in the end we didn't.

Also, really nice to see that no one is left behind. I think it's what @richardfu_ should have done in his three series instead of always leaving one bot behind.....

@vince It may not look as good, but the flow of the gameplay makes up for it. All of the moves do feel like B and R are making effort to escape together, and the zapper bots are trying really hard to catch them too

I'm having mixed feelings about this level, but I'll put those aside for later. So, AMAZING level![!!!] It was action packed and required you to keep moving at times (usually after you trigger something), but still gives you endless time to plan your next step after stepping out of danger.

I liked the way you had to take out the initial zapper bots one by one. It was laid-back, with a sneaky ambush-like feel, to warm you up for the action later. I also loved how you implemented the levers, and how you alerted the guards underground to B's presence. It probably took a long time to build those (and others, too) mechanisms just for a visual effect, but what an effect! You really implement every detail and effect to make it perfect, no matter how long it may take. But quality > quantity. Really clever ideas!

But while it was an amazing (emphasized with bold, underline, and italics ) level, it also had some very annoying parts. I was actually close to quitting before I finally decided to ask for some hints from @cpw for the last move (I actually just wanted to know if what I was doing was correct, but... ). Here are my complaints:

Spoiler: Complaints

There seems to be something wrong with the ball descent part to escape the guards. Half the time (or more often than that), B runs straight to the zappers when I clearly tapped on the ball (it even shows the white circle/bubble). I have no idea why this happens, and if it could even be fixed, but it's extremely annoying, especially since the first parts, while great, take a good amount of time since you have to wait for the bots to move around :/. But moving on...

Once (just once, though), the pillar pushed by R didn't fall. It just stayed there, teetering to one side but not going any further. It was pretty minor, but it added to my previous frustration.

The last step also had some annoyances. It had a red herring, and was pretty confusing. I also thought that you had to push B on top of R using the slider at first (which, while it may be possible, was too hard for me to do).

Well, I feel much better after getting those off my chest! But the level was so amazing that I kept replaying it despite my frustrations, and it was all worth it. Thank you for this amazing level, and sorry for the really long review .