LevelHead Review

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Fast Facts

LevelHead

Developer: Butterscotch Shenanigans
Publisher: Butterscotch Shenanigans
Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/levelhead
Genre: Platformer, Party
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 30/04/2020
Price: £15.49

A code was provided for review purposes.

Story!

The story in Levelhead is about a premiere delivery service that delivers packages all over the galaxy. A new machine has been created to help with the huge amount of deliveries. The brand new GR-18 service bot…  As a new employee, it’s your job to train this new machine for all eventualities during its deliveries.

Training

To start the training routine you’ll guide GR-18 across the galaxy delivering parcels through many different theme planets.  All the while testing your skills, patience across a huge variety of different platforming challenges. You’ll also be earning many different rewards like stickers from vend-rs and meeting new characters which will give you access to new abilities like wall jumping, the ability to fly. The Hub world allows you to travel across a huge map full of different types of levels, secrets, rewards, and on the job you’ll be learning the game’s mechanics, mechanisms as you progress. 

There’s a lot of humour in Levelhead which gives the game a unique, quirky personality which I just loved.

Each level requires you to get a small parcel to the exit goal, and while that may sound simple at first, it’s the unique gameplay devices that may require some more creative solutions to get the package to its location.  Each level has many collectables for you to obtain, and many secrets that can sometimes be hidden in plain sight, so there’s a lot of replayability here to revisit past levels to gain 100% completion.  Speedrunning is a big part of Levelhead’s levels, this, as well as collectables, will be recorded on the results menu after the level is completed.

To progress to a new level, the previous one must be completed. Some will even have branching paths that will allow you to adventure further, to locate new locations and unlockables.

During your training, you will also encounter service terminals from the Bureau of shipping. These are small introduction videos of new mechanics, possible new enemy types, and characters. These are fully voice-acted sections and are not only incredibly charming but also very funny.

You’ll encounter Vend-r’s which if you manage to get to will unlock new stickers that can be used on levels as headers as your avatar. Certain Vend-r’s though can only be accessed through some hidden paths in levels giving you an extra incentive to replay areas so collect them all.

While training mode offers you a lot of inspiration for your own created levels, it can be a great tool to teach you the mechanisms of the game. For example, the tools and gadgets that you can then apply to your own levels within the workshop.

Workshop

Workshop mode is where you’ll create your very own levels, allowing you to publish them to the marketing department for others to play and share.  You can even use a special cloud slots system to back-up your created levels on to the Rumpus servers, so you’re able to access them across other devices which is pretty cool.  Once you start creating, you’ll be introduced to an in-depth tutorial on the working parts of this tool.  Everything is clearly marked, and very user friendly, which I appreciated. The level of customisation here is extensive, and everything can be manipulated, edited for easy construction.

To the left-hand side of the screen, you have options for helping you to multi-select, copy, grab, paint, and other useful tools that allow you to manipulate objects on the screen.  To top of the screen, you have your object selection slots which can be changed to many different types of objects. At the bottom, you have options to try out your creation, save, and name the level. Controls here use a combination of triggers, button inputs, and an on-screen cursor for more direct control. This allows you to pluck objects from the top screen and put them on to the playing field in the centre to create your dream levels.

I found the set-up highly intuitive, and I had minimal issues creating my dream level with ease with this tool.  Dare I say it, but I liked it a lot more than Mario makers set-up.

Marketing Department

After creating a level and testing it, you able to publish your level to the Marketing Department. What makes this a highly ingenious way of promoting your creations is the way the system works.  Everything you play will earn you cash in form gold bits. This currency will allow you to get your level noticed by investing, tipping money into it.  The more cash you invest in your level, the more likely it will move up the ranks and get more attention from other players around the world.

What’s great about this is everyone will be playing levels created by other users so they can earn enough to tip different levels and there own – promoting both in the process, it’s a great system that allows everyone to benefit.

The Tower

The tower will provide a serious challenge for any player willing to take the plunge into this escalating and punishingly difficult challenge. Plucked at random or selected by yourself there will never be a dull moment. Rankings available such as top scores, speedrunner times will be also available and shown here as well as a new trial which will appear after a certain amount of time has elapsed. You can also check out the tabs that are located at the top of the page if you’re looking for a specific type of level or challenge.  It’s all accessible here, and it’s one huge take away that Levelhead excels in is the ability to make everything you do in the game very accessible and user friendly, making the process of doing anything pretty easy.

Graphics and Sound

Graphics in Levelhead are just beautiful with its bright, vivid colour palette, which looks great on the big screen and in handheld mode. It allows each world and objects to stand out. Having the ability to create your own levels with all these rich, detailed objects really resonates with me, and I just love it.

The game’s audio is also really good with a lot of fully voiced sections, from bureau shipping to a silly, comical intro at the beginning of the game.  Music during levels can be quite sombre one moment and thumping the next giving you a lot to listen to during your time with Levelhead.

Issues

My only real issues here are some of the user-created content that’s quite high up in the ranking ends up being troll levels which can be annoying.  I’ve also encountered a few levels that make no sense being so high, as there was barely any care or attention put into them.  Also, it can take some time to earn enough cash to allow your level to be seen by others. And finally, the game, platforming in later levels can be quite punishingly tricky even though the game has a fantastic quick restart option. Players who don’t have a lot of patience may need to rethink this one.

Verdict

Levelhead is a fantastic, creative tool allowing you to create the most bizarre levels and some unique ones with its ease. The ability to share, contribute to yours, and other people’s creations allow everyone to get some sort of attention in the marketing department. And even if you’re not really into making your own levels, you can play the training mode and download hundreds if not thousands of user-created content.

The game also features support for up to 4 players locally, though I haven’t been able to try this feature out due to the current lockdown. This is an excellent game with solid platforming, great level editor and options.  Do yourself a favour and pick up Levelhead, you won’t be disappointed.

Rapid Reviews Rating

You can grab your copy of Levelhead from the eShop today.