BRACKET 1 - PUBLIC REVIEW

[Juub005]

If I get more time I'll review basic and standard charts, but it's not looking
good. I don't reward points for extras.
Edit: Wow, I'm wordy again, argh.

Anjelier
- Heavy: Well, this is going to be a controversial rating... This was definitely the most interesting of the Heavy charts. That having been said, however... I have to say at the outset that this is not 6 feet. It's a 7, and I could even understand if someone rated it an 8. I love the rhythms and the basic ideas: some great 16ths, some really interesting spins. But practically every 4-measure section has a spin, and you leave the player guessing too often where to double-step in order to complete the freezes without ending up facing backwards at the start of a LUDR, RUDL, RDUL or LDUR pattern. And the freezes go way too long – that's just a pain to do if you want to get O.K.'s on all of them. I decided in the end that I didn't feel like it and would just play the chart pretending like the freezes weren't that long. Lastly I did not like your pause (and as a side note, this creates the so-called blue-arrow syndrome for half of the chart where in the editor, the quarter notes are on the 8th beat and are blue arrows instead of the red arrows they should be). Still, despite all this the variety of your rhythms and the effort to play with positioning and throw in interesting rhythms makes the chart something to come back to, and I had fun all the way through, which is not something I could say honestly for any other chart here. Needs fixing, though, and the parts where the freezes are annoyingly long are a big flaw. 16/20 (8/10)
- Presentation: Decent, but the text needs to be bigger or stand out more in the banner (I feel like my eye is pulled neither by the text nor the silhouette to the left) and the background, though it has good colors, is kind of ordinary-looking. 3.5/5

Back 2 Back
- Heavy: No technical faults, but this isn't really interesting either. I feel like you spent your effort on trying to make the positioning and emphasis (e.g. putting a jump here or two consecutive 8ths on the same arrow rather than on different arrows) perfect, but overlooked how you chose the rhythms, which I didn't think were very diverse. They matched the song well, but the song is really repetitive so the steps needed to be more inventive in rhythm to compensate. 13/20 (6.5/10)
- Presentation: I really dislike the font and the dull-looking coloring for the title, and the artist text is rather plain, which is a shame because otherwise the graphics would be great, with the fantastic backdrop. 3.5/5

Barbie Girl
People are giving this entry a tough time on song choice. Honestly, who goes to Bemanistyle and actually downloads every Barbie Girl file that's up there? This was, furthermore, one of the better song picks of the bracket.
- Heavy: I had fun playing this and really enjoyed much of the patterning. The parts from the second chorus onward aren't as good, though, which is a really good reason to put in a shorter cut. Also not a fan of the beginning four measures. 17/20 (8.5/10)
- Presentation: Banner is good, background is okay but feels kind of empty and would benefit from some Barbie-style makeup work on the text, although I understand how you were going for the simple old-style look. Your cut is too long and hurts your steps. (If I can't dock for this here, I'll dock a point from the step score.) 3/5

Battle Funkastic
- Heavy: This starts out well, but when Rip Slyme comes in it starts to get less interesting. I think a better way to follow the song would be to improvise over the beat just like the rapper does but without copying his rhythms exactly, especially since you were following the instrumentals pretty closely before the rap came in. And when you're not following the rap exactly, the 8th streams aren't very interesting either. This leads to a chart that carries the same level of intensity all the way to the end without much variance, which means the ending doesn't stick out at all like it should. 13/20 (6.5/10)
- Presentation: Average, gets the job done but needs significant improvement. Your banner isn't very attractive, which is possibly because its backdrop is distracting under the somewhat plain text. A different font might've been better for either the title or the artist text, or both. Background is decent but doesn't stand out very much. Lastly the sound quality isn't very good either. 2.5/5

Come Back to Me (Tony Moran & Warren Rigg Club Mix)
- Heavy: Good, but could be better. I disliked all of the brief 16th gallops except the first two. The chorus isn't particularly distinct; I might suggest eliminating the jumps there and emphasizing in other ways. The development after the chorus (or for its second part? Well, wherever you start adding in more 8ths) is good, and early on the chart is interesting. 15/20 (7.5/10) As a side note, the parts after the chorus probably would've felt cooler to do if Utada didn't seem to weakly trail off rather than singing out resolutely, of course not much you can do about that really.
- Presentation: The graphics are fine, but I don't much care for the title text (in particular, the font should be changed), and the banner was on the plain side. Good background. 4/5

Kachoufuusetsu
Shame this song is so boring.
- Heavy: Good, but, and this is a typical flaw with many 10-footers I see, it could really use a break (e.g. a short section with no steps) so that you have at least two major sections of the chart that are distinct from each other. I also don't understand why this has to be a 10-footer, but honestly with this song it's probably either that or 7 feet, it's like there's no in-between. I guess I'd put this on challenge but that's not fair to have that affect the rating, so yeah. I really like the part with the complicated crossovers, and I like that at very few points this is really really hard, with the difficulty kept at a good pace throughout. 18/20 (9/10) I'm reluctant to give this such a high rating because playing 10-footers is more of a stamina test than fun for me, but if I were in ridiculous shape this would be pretty damn enjoyable since it's very well made.
- Presentation: Great background. The black outline really needs to go or be shifted diagonally in the banner, and you should've centered the title text rather than move it out of the way of the red butterfly because it looks awkward and unprofessional. 4/5

Kokoro no Tamago
- Heavy: Some of the patterns are rather run-of-the-mill. The very last 5 steps in particular I feel should've been better positioned, to make a better ending. Some of them, though, are on point. Overall this is solid and enjoyable, but it could be more innovative still. Also I wonder if this is really as hard as 8 feet. 15/20 (7.5/10)
- Presentation: Graphics are okay, not too special really. I don't care much for the title text in either the banner or background, as it fails to stand out in either place probably because of the font. 3/5

Like This
How many of the sampled songs can you name here? The title comes from a song called “Like This” by MIMS, for which I had step ideas but which I didn't step because it's a lousy song. Girl Talk, on the other hand, sounds like he's pretty great; hadn't heard anything from him before. He came to my university but I missed him, unfortunately.
- Heavy: This has potential, but as it is it's not a cohesive chart. There isn't too much to make one part of a chart stand out from the other, and while I understand that this song doesn't develop in an obvious, logical fashion, a little bit of a feeling of progression from one end of the song to the other would've been a good idea. The “like this” chorus (if you can call it a chorus) would've been a great point at which to end the cut, as that part has the standout melody, and the steps just are not very interesting after the chorus. Also, the verse from Ghetto Supastar where ODB raps (and says “I'm gonna kill everyone!”) is in particular in need of revision to make it more interesting. There are some parts of this that are fun, but the parts need to differ more from each other. 10/20 (5/10)
- Presentation: This may not be true on your theme, but on mine (default 3.9), the background's text is partially blocked by the top of the screen. It would've looked cool if it were just a bit lower, and it was a good idea to put it above the scene rather than centered in the screen. Your banner really needs effects on the text, but it has a good backdrop. I'd put an effect on the background's text too but with that font (I think I've used it before, actually) that's probably hard to do. This would be a 2/5 but I think you deserve an additional half point for at least having a decent concept for a background with the text above the scene. 2.5/5

Lost
- Heavy: Decent first and last 4-8 measures or so, but overall this was really messy. The positioning on so many of the 16th patterns was a real pain, and I don't know how to explain this, but you've got to stop the regular flow of the 8ths when you put so many 16ths in. For instance, at one point in what must've been the first half of the chart, you have LDRU as 16ths. If it were a pattern with LDRU as 8ths, I'd be fine with that, but that's such a pain when you have to continue into an 8th stream right after, and it feels wrong when the song isn't all that intense itself. 8/20 (4/10)
- Presentation: Not that great. You do shadow the text in the background, but the text needs more effects on it than that. The banner is really plain; it's basically red text on a woody black-and-white backdrop, and needs to be more colorful or interesting. You have a decent picture to work with for the background, but because of the text, the background looks unfortunately really dated. 2/5

Lunatic Eyes (Invisible Full Moon)
- Heavy: You need to start again from square one on this. There are way too many positioning problems, first of all, but the most glaring thing is the way in which you follow the song. The sudden appearance of the stream of 12ths makes no sense (neither does its length), and your steps match the song too closely in a way that prevents them from having any logical development. I can't understand the choice of where you began the chart and how you began it so full-on, and then followed it with a fairly empty part that was a bunch of long freezes while the beat continued its same intensity. The fadeout also shouldn't have had any steps in it, or you should've at least eased up on the gas a little because those jumps go to what's basically nearly silence. The whole chart needs to be revamped to put in some logical development and much better positioning. 5/20 (2.5/10)
- Presentation: Did you just not use anti-alias on the text? The banner text has a decent glow on the title, but the subtitle and the artist text don't look good and need shadowing (along with a small stroke) to be visible. Plus it looks too jaggy-looking. The background image is decent but the text could use cleaner effects, although it's certainly not as much of a problem as the banner. 2/5

My Boy
- Heavy: The steps are strong as a whole, but leave something to be desired in some parts. First off, the lone electric guitar isn't as strong as the other instrumentals, so following a guitar part by putting in an intense stream pattern (I don't mean necessarily like 20 steps long but like even just 7-8) doesn't feel completely right. This chart needs to hop a little more, and I don't necessarily mean with jumps, but with hoppier rhythms, like switching off on 8ths constantly instead of going into brief streams (this isn't very precise, sorry). There are parts where you're just moving in a walking fashion with brief groups of quarters, bringing down the intensity in between hard streams, which hurts the flow. The last 100 steps or so are very, very good and are probably the best ending in the whole bracket, although I feel like the stream at the end suffers a little from the guitar being a little weak while the beat has mostly dropped out. 16/20 (8/10)
- Presentation: Decent. I don't understand why the title text had to be as it was in either the (animated) banner or the background. *Should I be judging the still banner?* In the animated banner the title is too small and does not stand out enough. In both, the small red stroke on the text doesn't add much and in the background, the brightness of the red and the simplicity of the effect means the text doesn't mesh well with the background. 3/5

Release Me
- Heavy: Good, but not too much that stands out except the good ending and the nice transition to the chorus earlier on. There are a couple of awkward transitions earlier on with 16ths that don't feel like they belong there, and you end a great beginning with an awkward LR jump. Apart from that it's okay. 15/20 (7.5/10)
- Presentation: Clean, but kind of unexciting. The banner doesn't really evoke the dance-club feel. The horizontal line in the background is positioned awkwardly, too. 3/5

S.P.A.M
- Heavy: Some neat patterns. I really like the jumps that go with SPAM, and the quarter spins complete the chorus patterns wonderfully. The streams are just really awkward, though. Overall it's okay. 14/20 (7/10)
- Presentation: The BPM sync is lazy and distracts from the steps, meaning a significant point deduction. I don't like the graphics much either but they serve their purpose. 2.5/5

Son of Sun
Why do people step Sampling Masters?
- Heavy: CROSSOVER OVERKILL, which means none of the more difficult parts in this stand out. You probably shouldn't have made it so difficult so soon, so that you'd have something to build up to. It's a real shame too, because pretty much any part with stomps in this is gold, especially the ending. 15/20 (7.5/10).
- Presentation: I dislike the artist text, and the title text is fairly normal, but the graphics overall are okay, with an appropriate color choice. 3/5

Super Driver
- Heavy: Earlier on, when the first 16ths came in, I was hoping they wouldn't return in full force and they did. This chart is just kind of all over the place, and it was good before it just went crazy with the chorus. I have to admit there was ONE part with 16ths that led in to a really good, intense stream, but it was later on, and it didn't work any of the numerous tries you tried it earlier. In fact, it made much of the chart feel like the same, which isn't any good. Also, the very end is unnecessary. At least the beginning was pretty good, with the jump parts being impressive. 10/20 (5/10)
- Presentation: Decent, but having the same style on every part of the text in the banner, coupled with an anime backdrop (no matter how appropriate), makes it look rather generic. You should especially look into changing the black outline. The background is good, but a little more playing around with the text and perhaps other effects might make it stick out more. 3/5

You Can't Beat Airman
- Heavy: Good use of complicated crossovers, but not too much stands out here. You do seem to have a tendency to face northwest, but that's more like earlier or in the middle of the chart than anywhere else. 14/20 (7/10)
- Presentation: Great artist text, but the title text, with its white coloring and black outline, looks pretty generic. This makes the background kind of unexciting. This doesn't affect your score, but why the Japanese translation of the title, and only in the banner? 3/5