Now that after sixteen bajillion (bajillion is now a measure of time. Complain and suffer.) years, SXR has finally been reuploaded by everyone’s favorite Spaztic Face and BOBBT so I can finally get my vengeful, greasy, bony, loathesome reviewer’s fingers on it and boy, oh boy, what a whammy it still is even after all this time. Spaztic asked me not to rate the menu level so, naturally, I will. Now on to the review!
THE SXR EXPERIENCE: UNZIPPING
Unzipping went smoothely, aside from the muskrats attacking.
Level 1: The Menu
Much like Spaztic said it would be, this level is a bit, well, behind the times. It features an ultra-spiffy (or not) graphic of credits rolling by and looks like it is straight out of one of the more high-class cruddy hotels from 1999. But at least it is high class. The menu actually works, but well, this is definitely not a very good credit level. But at least it is there.
Under Lock and Key
The second level, entitled “Under Lock and Key” and using the Castle tilset, is also pretty well-done and stuff. The eyecandy was a bit subpar, but I suppose that is because of this pack’s age. After navigating your way through the lower dungeons (hint: it is not as hard as you think, and it definitely invovles fighting quite a few less enemies than you may think. Look for secrets.) you find yourself running through several corridors and up a few vines before falling into a fight with two robots being controlled by four Devan $hell. After defeating the Devan quadruplets’ mechanical monstrocities, the level ends, and on (in classic Jazz 2 single player progression) to Carrotus you go…
Carrotus Chaos
“Carrotus Chaos” is an accurate name for two main reasons. The first being, obviously, it uses Carrotus. The second is that this level is quite chaotic. If you thought the first level was difficult, you may find yourself dying quite a bit in this level. There are plenty of Tuf Turtles and various floating baddies that will rain on your parade, along with some sparkly miscellaneoties (if that’s a word) that distract. Beyond that, it’s a fairly straightforeward process with a few save points along the way. At the end, you warp back to what may confuse people since it is the start, but a trigger has opened which lets you exit the level. At the end, it ominously warns that harder levels are in the future. We’ll see.
Mines of Moria
Ah, Mez01. If there ever was a tileset that truly reperesented everything that was 1999, this hotel favorite would be it. Simple, easy-to-use, and groundbreaking back then, this tileset was both easy to use and hard to make a bad-looking level out of, so experts and new levelmakers alike enlisted it as a tileset of choice. This level, “Mines of Moria” is another level to count among the Mez01 levels of greatness. After a series of various annoying puzzles, I must admit that I was tempted to completely skip this level. Some may have more patience for this sort of puzzle than I, but I finished it anyway. Not my favorite level of the pack, but for the puzzle-obsessed, you’ll like this (I like puzzles slightly more than action, but this was a bit of overdose.) This level takes forever to get through, and may make some like this pack a lot less or a lot more. It is in many ways hard to tell.
Sandy $hells (KILL THE CENSOR)
After the small cramped areas of the previous level, the openness of Sandy $hells (without the $, but I had to use it because of the stupid censor headed censor) (uncreative name alert) was welcome indeed. Also the lack of so many puzzles lended some hand to this level. The start of this level bares mild resemblance to that of “Marinated Rabbit” in that there is about equal time before you get into water, but otherwise this level is quite different from all others. This level is in general good, and other than using the infuriatingly pestering “BeeBoy/Bees” event, the only real felony this level makes is using the bad worn-out “Sea Monkey” (a standing monkey under water) joke. A solid level, if I do say so.
Holy Tree!
“Holy Tree!” (I don’t even want to know) starts off with a sign saying that you must defeat “Diamondus and Midivo (sic)” to get to Shellion and Eva. Another save Eva plot line, but at least it was one of the earlier ones, sort of. This Diamondus level is more or less standard, with good eyecandy and quite a few enemies (mainly Tuf Turtles and Bees) along with plenty of “Kill This Rabbit” signs. Do not even consider trying to go through the level without killing many enemies – they will simply come back to haunt you, literally. A good level, though maybe a bit hard.
Tree Glee
“Tree Glee” (pfft) is yet another Diamondus level. Upon beginning it, you read a sign declaring “Just because you’re out of the Mystic Forest doesn’t mean you’re out of the enormo Diamondus!” While I am unsure how “enormo” Diamondus happens to be, this level is indeed a fairly large one. The general part of the level is more or less standard, with unsurprising eyecandy that throws you back to…well…the last level that you played. Still, the level is definitely unique from the other one. Overall, a good level, if not unimportant, which I won’t go into extraneous detail on.
Knight Fight
Knight Fight is staged in (surprise) Medivo (not Castle.) It’s a fairly standard level, too, featuring a lot of spikes, hidden passages, helmuts, and of course…cheese. Come prepared to be hit by a lot of spikes, because there are quite a few of them. As with all of the other levels here, there are a lot of spikey things and various other objects to massacre yourself on. Come prepared to jump from thing to thing in order to avoid dying. This level has gameplay similar to all of the others, so I won’t say any more except the word fish. Fish.
I somehow managed to forget the name of this level.
This level uses the Candy tileset. Nothing much to mention here, other than I think it would have been better to play around Christmas. That and the Tuf Turtles look funny turning one way and the next rapidly on top of oreos. Yayayayayayaya.
Radical and Funky Fresh
Radical and Funky Fresh, which sounds like a deoderant slogan, uses the Psych tileset. Dragonflies, hatters, and caterpillers…oh my.
Tech Centra
Pressed for time as I am, I will just say that this level uses a techno-ish tileset I always forget the name of and is otherwise a good if standard level. Whee.
The Final Level
MCE bosses are never very reliable. Neither are springs. Some of them reversed in this level, and after I killed one of the Jazz clone bosses, they just revived. Still, this is a fun boss fight with a few tricks involving the springs. Could have been better, though.
…Or not. (Electric Slide and more)
A not bad at all Tubeelectric level tacked on. Since I hate it because it made me think I was finished, I will say no more.
A few more good levels occur after that. Due to lack of time, again, I am unable to review them in length. Play them yourself.
The ride home
As with any good story, there is a nice ending. You are transported home on a sucker-tube based space ship. This was well-done and looks spiffy.
Overall
I suppose in some ways, this pack has became worse with time. This is the natural cycle of things. Regardless, this remains one of the most all-time spiffy packs and I seriously recommend download. Great job, Tic. Keep making more stuff.
+ PROS: This is truly a great pack in almost every way.
- CONS: Not as good as it was in 1999.
Due to the number of levels in this pack, I will not use the grade system.
THE VERDICT: My final rating is an 8.5 and a download recommendation. Truly a classic.
- Trafton[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]
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