The Demon Invasion

  • Rating: 8.9

Reviews and comments

    Violet CLM Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    Level 1: Carrotus in the Target (huh?)
    As the level begins, you come out of the secret exit from Carrotus Castle (which a Limit X Scroll removes from vision so you can’t see it doesn’t look like a castle), and then you see an army of tuf turtles invading Carrotus. Everyone’s asleep, so your goal is to run around removing carrot signs from burrows, so the turtles can’t find the rabbits and eat them or something. The enemies in this level got really annoying, though, armies of tuf turtles and bats. A few not-too-secret secets, and voila. Did I mention that despite you come from the castle on the left side, you go into Carrotus Castle on the right side? Are you in some courtyard that the castle wraps around or something? The eyecandy in this level is also rather poor. Layers 6 and 7 are used normally, but layer 5 is set to X/Y speed 1, and it’s used EVERYWHERE. It gets hard to tell what’s solid and what isn’t. By the way, for those who are frustrated, one coin can be found underneath the rightside tile of a raddish.
    Level 2: Invasion of the Castle
    This one’s a bit more normal. Eva has been captured (again) and you must rescue her (again). Thankfully, Eva’s still in the castle, so the whole pack isn’t built around saving her. You just have to find three trigger crates inside the castle, each of which are guarded by enemies and spikes and stuff. This is a fairly short level, and a bit more linear then the last one.
    Level 3: The wolf rabbit (no explanation of name)
    Suddenly, you’re out on Carrotus with Eva. You slowly walk towards her, and she tells you (somehow she found this out) that a demonic force is attacking, and you should go to see her friend Moonblaze. You didn’t really think Moonblaze could make something not involving him, did you? (No offense to Moonblaze intended) So off you go, into the forest.
    Level 4: Sunset forest
    The most linear level of them all. You plow through small passages filled with monkeys and dragon flies. The layer 5 problem in “Carrotus in the target” is back again here, in full force. At one point, there’s a pit of spikes, with some tree trunks placed so you can jump on them. SURPRISE! They’re not solid after all! No, the real way to get across are the swinging vines, which are practically INVISIBLE due to the background eyecandy! Did I mention the tree which you can’t get through without being hurt? Or the slight overdose of rocks? Anyway, if you make it through this level (I found myself just running through it madly), you’ll find a tree, which you enter. Done before, but ok.
    Level 5: Meeting with Moonblaze
    This level shows Jazz standing motionless, staring at Moonblaze, who is standing motionless, staring back, and looking incredibly shocked. There is no background. They’re in a tree! Perfect oppurtunity for a cool background! But no, all the (self made) tileset consists of is them standing there looking at eachother. Jazz tells Moonblaze of his problem, and Moonblaze promises that Jazz will see Devan in hell. (;)) IF Jazz can get him three gem rings to work the magic spell with. Ok!
    Level 6: Gem Search
    This level uses a modified version of Disguise’s “Nature’s Ruins” tileset. In JCS, it’s called “Nature’s Ruins 2”, so if you wanted Disguise to make a sequel to it, sorry, you’re out of luck. (Unless he does “Nature’s Ruins ][“) Anyway, there are three gem rings, one in a temple, one in the trees, one in a cave. The cave is very dark, and there’s a rock in it which reeks of poor placement. It stuck me in the wall once, and another time it lodged itself in the path, unmovable. Rocks can be cool, Moonblaze, in the proper place. Anyway. The Temple gem ring is a bit easier to get. You jump onto a few platforms, avoid two arrows (yes, Virginia, they are solid), fight a few monkeys, and grab it. Then you try to grab some cherries on the way down. The third one involves jumping on a few platforms. The main thrill of this level is exploring the inbetween area, which, while small, has several enemies, as well as trying to get the cave gem ring.
    Level 7: A flame of power
    Now it becomes obvious it’s a modified version. Still in Nature’s Ruins 2, you stand inside a small temple, where Moonblaze works magical incantations. The gem rings are nowhere to be seen, maybe he ate them. Anyway, you are told to “Protect Moonblaze”, because enemies keep generating and entering the temple. They have no effect on Moonblaze. Because of a certain secret in the previous level, not to mention enemies give stuff away (like fastfires) when they die, the only problem in this level is staying awake. You have to run back and forth killing enemies for about 5 minutes. Maybe it was less, but it seemed that way. Once five coins have dropped from the ceilling, you’re ready to be sent to hell.
    Level 8: Where Bad Rabbits Go
    If the name is familiar, that’s also the name of the tileset it uses. And the example level of the tileset. Considering how similar the backgrounds look, I’d say Moonblaze copied the example level and changed layers 3 and 4 without bothering to modify the name. Anyway. This is a fairly linear level with devils and ravens, as you might expect. Fight through them, and you get to fight Devan. Of course, there was a blaster powerup somewhere along the way (I forgot where) so he’s no problem at all. “Thanks for playing” says the rainbow text. Moonblaze is telling you that, I guess.
    Level 9: (I forgot what it’s called)
    A credits level. You watch credits scroll. Why couldn’t the author just have put the credits in the tileset with Jazz and Moonblaze staring at eachother? Sadly, they are seperate files. It credits a lot of people, and then says hi to others, just like in Tomb Rabbit, except much less interesting. No images or anything. (See, this is another reason Moonblaze, at least, should have been in there)

    This would get a higher rating, but I simply hate the layer 5.

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    Blackraptor Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    Well, i seem to be missing out on a lot here, so i downloaded this for the fun of it, and here goes my review.

    Carrotus in the target:
    Nice start to the level, interesting music as well. Eyecandy, in the start, was very confusing, cant tell what object is in what layer unless you go and try bumping into it. The carrot concept was amazing, i was very impressed how it was done, congratulations for good use of triggers and stuff mb. Pickup placement was good, not to underused, not to overused. Again, some of the eyecandy confused me, like the very right, i thought those blocks were solid. Greast tileset use. The ambient lighting was good, not so dark so you cant see anything. Nice puzzles and challenges included, good enemy placement. The level made me discover that if you shoot a hanging platform, it will move (really, i never knew that!) Some enemies were irritatingly placed, but the difficulty was fair and the level was really fun. Sometimes though, the lighting would make the bats blend in with the set, so required you to be alert for any rogue bats, but it added to the challenge of beating the level. Some well hidden secrets as well. The only major flaw here that the bats were to irritating, hard to beat this unless your really careful, or you just cheat. But the author tried to lighten the difficulty by adding fullnrgys, so beating the level without cheating is possible. The level style and layout was good and fun, i enjoyed playing this level, though it took me 3 lives to beat it.
    Invasions of the castle:
    Cool music. Again, the lighting is there, but its a bit harder to see here, i barely noticed eva was standing behind those crates. Again, lots of irritating enemies, and a bit to hard. Layout is fine, again, the secrets were well hidden. I think the two poles near the first crate were unecessary, only one pole could of been used, but thats ok. The level took me many lives to beat, but was fun as well.
    The wolf rabbit:
    Strange music, but it fits. The text reminded me of Lotr 2, of that orc army or something, and the storyline was great. The part were u get flinged un the forest is VERY creative and deserves a round of applause applauses.
    Sunset forest: The first minor flaw is that when you start u suddenly are being attacked by a dragonfly, and its kinda crowded, byt awesome eyecandy throughout the level, feels so forest like! It also made the level great to look at and fun to play. Not particularly fond of the enemy placement though, a bit hard to avoid the enemies. Music was cool, and pickup placement was well done. The falling rocks could of been “overdone” in some areas. There is a save point here (finally), and some secrets that were well placed and not to hard to find. Again, dont know why mb puts 2 poles together (maybe some kind of trick that i dont know?). The layout and flow was ok. Good design, and not as hard as the other 2 (no ambient lighting, thank you!)

    meeting with moonblaze:
    Lol funny drawn rabbits, good idea of making jazz’s words be normal, and the words moonblaze is saying colorful. Good addition to the story, and nice rabbits.
    Ring search: A modified version of disguise natures ruins tileset? Interesting…..(wonders if fishguise had gave mb permission (havent read readme yet)) Nice music, fits into the level/set. Backround eyecandy ok, but sometimes confuses me (blends in with foregroun). Also, some parts like that mudcave, were to dark, and i couldnt see where i was going. The arrows were life like, but were possibly moving at a very fast and hard to dodge speed, which in my opinion, is one of the things which made this the hardest level to beat so far, it almost made me cheat(The monkeys in the cave irritated me so much, that i couldnt resist using jjbird). The enemy placement was irritating and hard. Great tileset usage, and i assure you, the secrets werent forgotten in this level. Cool how getting 3 rings and going to the warp makes you win, must of taken skillz to figure that one out, great work mb!
    A flame of power: I loved this level, excellent music, great and cool style which u had to protect mb and all, an expert level! Level got easier as you got more fast fires though, but it was hard in the beginning. Great work on this one! This level can also make you very greedy, seing al those fastfires, gems and carrots lying on the ground from those a\enemies, makes you want to grab them, but when you do, at about that time the enemies regenerate and give you a smacking. I think i did a good job protecting mb and stuff :)
    Where bad rabbits go:
    What an obvious name for the level,good eyecandy and tileset use. The level had hordes of enemies, and even all those fastfires in the previous level barely helped. I was so releived when i had the sugar rush and when i saw the save point. The level was very short though, and there was a bug were devan took the form of a yellow sign post refrains from laughing. The level was probably the hardest in the pack, reminded me of RHG. The sign said something wierd, as if the text was backwards (the sign which sometimes devan took the form of)

    The credits level: Its a credits level, what more needed to say?

    What a great pack….
    The eyecandy was very good, sowas tile usage and stuff. The story line was good, all those cool events and stuff. Enemies didnt spare you though.
    EDIT: Forgot the rating ;P
    Edit: Read Violets review, its HILARIOUS;P

    [This review has been edited by Blackraptor][This review has been edited by Blackraptor]

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    White Rabbit Posted more than 20 years ago

    9Recommended:

    INTRODUCTION
    After all this praise and celebration of Moonblaze’s new single player pack: The Demon Invasion, such an experienced reviewer like me could not possible resist to test it out himself. (Did I say ‘experienced’? Looks like I did.). So, I sat back, clicked on the Download link and watched as the percentage went up…slowly…slowly…slowly…done. After reading through the rather short and very un-helpful readme I loaded the first level. And with that little double-click I was about to find out if this was the great single player pack that it was meant to be, or if it’s simply another over-rated download.

    LET’S GO SAVE THE WORLD! AGAIN!
    The story of The Demon Invasion is quite simple and about as original as the usual ‘kill-the-baddies-rescue-princess-get-the-gold’ kind of thing and is, you guessed it, about saving the world…yet again. The game starts with Jazz exiting a secret castle entrance that looks much more like an over-sized piece of rock (which it incidentally is), and discovers an army of Tuf Turts marching into Carrotus thanks to some great trigger work and some nice lighting effects. This kind of beginning is really powerful and it already shows the player that this level pack is going to be good. In other words, Moonblaze makes the player want to know more, just like a good author makes the reader want to read further to find out more about the plot of the book.

    WOW! I LOVE IT! NO! I HATE IT!
    The Demon Invasion has some very odd but original eyecandy. Most of the levels are crammed to breaking point with it and there are heaps of marvellous things you can see in all the levels, with the exception of the cut-scenes. Wherever you are in a level, you’ll always be surrounded by lighting effects, trees, carrots, rocks, caves, bushes, plants, fire, vines, spikes, lava and bridges. If I was to name only one reason to download this pack, I would say download it for its looks. Moonblaze has obviously done an excellent job and worked very hard. But is it overdone? The answer is, sadly, yes. Although giving the levels great looks, the eyecandy severely handicaps the players in loads of different ways. It blocks the player’s vision, hides enemies, gets in the way, confuses the player and generally speaking, makes the player’s life so much harder but in a frustrating way. Most of the time, you never know if a tile is solid or not or if touching those spikes will hurt or not. This is utterly confusing and it’s not exactly good that the eyecandy also hides enemies so that they’re almost invisible until too late. Less experienced players will find themselves losing hearts for no reason and the only way to get through a level alive is to walk really slowly so you can spot baddies in time. It’s a real pity that such good eyecandy makes the levels so hard to play. This sort of thing makes one develop a hate-love relationship with the eyecandy.

    BANG! ZAP! KABOOM! ouch
    Moonblaze has made some amazing enemy placement for The Demon Invasion. There are always at least 3 different kinds of enemies in all levels (including spikes and lava). You always have to keep guard and stay hyper-alert which is fun especially if you just came home from a rough day. And believe me, to be able to play through some of the harder levels without getting hurt once will require about 15 cups of coffee and at least 3 sugar cubes to sharpen up your reflexes. What does annoy me is the fact that some enemies are impossible to avoid. You simply have to get hurt in order to move on which is really irritating. Also, at the beginning of the jungle level, you are immediately surrounded by nasty bugs and monkeys and it will confuse you enough for you to lose valuable seconds of shooting. But these aren’t that big problems since I never expect to get through a level without losing a heart or two. The difficulty level is one of The Demon Invasion’s strong points and is a real pain in the back. But it’s not as hard as Moonblaze said it was going to be in the readme. By saving often you can play through all levels without losing a single life but I suppose it will provide a challenge for people who aren’t as good.

    OK, WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO NOW?
    The gameplay for The Demon Invasion is interesting. Moonblaze has made most levels a mix of puzzle-fight levels where you have to find and buttstomp crates, look for gems and so on which are fun to play but those things have all been done in masterpieces such as Rabbit Honour Guard and Tomb Rabbit. Still, I don’t mind re-using old ideas since they work and it’s always fun to see a good singleplayer level made with Nature’s Ruins. One of the more original levels is Ring of Fire. It consists of Moonblaze doing some magic (I think) and you have to protect him from hordes of enemies. Nothing will happen if the enemies do reach Moonblaze so although it says protect Moonblaze, it means keep yourself alive. It’s awesome seeing all those baddies coming and it feels almost like that scene in Starship Troopers where the humans defend their base against an army of bugs coming like waves. Except the baddies here in Jazz2 move so slow that anyone can kill them in time. Perhaps faster regeneration time? The last playable level of the pack is the worst one because it’s so much more linear, uses a tileset that could easily have been beaten by censored 1 or 2 and has no puzzles whatsoever. It would be nice if there were some boulders to avoid and crates to find. Overall, gameplay is all right but could be improved to make the levels more fun.

    WHERE DID THE WEEKEND GO??? OH, IT’S STILL SATURDAY
    All the levels in this pack are of very high quality, but they…are…simply…too…short. If you don’t care about the secrets and run around like a headless chicken shooting all over the place you can complete even the hardest level in a matter of minutes. Having seen all the triggers, baddies, ammo and eyecandy you immediately know that Moonblaze has spent a lot of time on every single level but 3 hours work for him means 3 minutes play for us. This is a serious weakness of the pack and shortens its life-time and re-playability dramatically. Once you complete the pack, you kind of get a feeling of just leaving it there and not to play it again. I finished the whole pack in one single day.

    CONCLUSION
    After going through all the pack, I’ve come to the conclusion that The Demon Invasion is not the great singleplayer pack everyone else thinks it is, but deserves something better than an 8. It has got a boring storyline but amazingly beautiful eyecandy (amazingly annoying eyecandy too), provides a fun challenge for most players and has some really nice cut-scenes (one with my name in it – yay!). I would’ve given this a much higher rating if the levels were longer or if there was more levels. I completed this in one day, as mentioned before.

    Pros:
    Great eyecandy.
    Gameplay should satisfy everyone.
    Hard, but not impossible.
    Good cut-scenes – keeps the story going.
    Good effort put in by Moonblaze.
    Good baddie placement can make life hell for the player (in a fun way).

    Cons:
    Eyecandy is annoying.
    Short levels.
    Not much re-playability.
    A couple of dodgy baddies.
    Even more dodgy storyline.

    Final rating:
    8.5.

    Cheers,

    White Rabbit.

    EDIT: I got the longest review![This review has been edited by White Rabbit]

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    chandie Posted more than 20 years ago

    8

    Well, it seems that Demon Invasion is a pack that full of surprises.
    Carrotus In Target: the level design was confusing. There were 2 castles in the level. On of it was in the background, the other one is on the 4. layer which seems bad.
    Invasion Of The Castle: there was a small area that needs three trigger crates to save Eva. (for the first two levels, there were too much Tuf Turtles and hidden(!) bats, so they were annoyingly hitting you and you were quickly loosing lives. In this level, the lighting and the goodies-baddies placements were fine!
    The Wolf Rabbit: A storytelling level
    Sunset Forest: This level, you’re searching for Moonblaze. This level seems like a real forest according to the eyecandy. The bad point of the level was, there were some places that you’re falling into the spikes and cannot rescue yourself.
    Meeting With Moonblaze: A good idea! It looks like a non-animated cinematic file:p but it was really good!! You talk with Moonblaze in this level.
    Gem Search: You’re searching for three gem rings. A good choosage of tileset! The bad point was some places were too dark!!!
    A Flame Of Power: A boring level! You’re waiting for coins falling from the ceiling. Also too long waiting time for falling coins.
    Where Bad Rabbits Go: This tileset choosage was worse then the Nature’s Ruins. It’s a quite short level. At last you’re fighting with Devan Shell and then everything is over again!
    Generally the pack was good but it could be better. Generally, the goodies were well placed and ete-candy was good (except the false layer tiles in the first level!) Overall a 8.2 from me[This review has been edited by chandie]

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    Snowball Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    Very cool, I just have to say… err, anything to say except what Flash said..?
    I really like it, even though I played it without sound :P

    an 8.7 from me, some will perhaps say it derserves more, but not enough levels if you ask me

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    Taz Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    Yeah, all is already said, so what i have to say?
    I agree with all foos who reviewed this and I would recommend to give Moonblaze a applause.

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    Blade Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    Ow. I’m will never be able to create one of those 1 million row reviews…

    Eye-candy rocks in this pack. Yum! Moonblaze has showed the JJ2 community his creativeness. Not all can make a good episode with a storyline (like me :p).

    Great work.[This review has been edited by Blade]

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    Black Ninja Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    exceptional. the levels are great, deserving of a 10, but there are some problems with eye candy that….are problematic. Other than that, this is one of the best packs you’ll download. certainly worth downloading

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    Sun Fun Dude Posted more than 20 years ago

    10

    Some great new ideas and very good eye candy. It gets a little hard near the end but this is one of the coolest packs ever. You should really download it right away![This review has been edited by Sun Fun Dude]

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    sonictth Posted more than 20 years ago

    10

    Its very interestingto play it: It tellshis own story (+1 point) very great eyecandy (+4 points) the table talk level where you can meeting Moonblaze(+2 points) great tilesets (+3 points and much of fun by playing it! You have done PERFECT WORK!:
    1+4+2+3=10!
    But just what i want to know: Why the sentence ``Dont use Disguise Tieset if you doesn`t ask him´´? I must be a bandit otherwise!

    Review by Sonictth

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    Sacrush Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    i like this.
    Good story eycandy level design.
    The first level is really good
    you need to hide all the carrot’s sine’s.
    i think 1 of the best levels is wehn moonblaze is on that circle to go to hell.
    Good episode not to long and not to short and it’s a bit hard but that will keep it funnnnnnnnnn!!!
    download this now.

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    Mike Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    These levels are really funny, with a good story and everything. Good idea with the carrot signs… the 7:th level, where you had to stop the baddies had a good idea but was booooring! Anyway, download recommendation for all those rabbits who like SP levels (and for all those who don’t like them too).

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    Ðx Posted more than 20 years ago

    10

    Dis episode is great!

    yeah!

    1- great eyecandy.
    2- nice tilesets :D
    3- nice ammo placed.
    4- nice goodies+food placed.
    5- Nice baddies placed.

    This is an good episode!

    9.5 from me!

    download recommed!

    Good job Blade!

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    Ischa 7 Feb 2006, 16:00

    8Recommended:

    Rating The Demon Invasion

    RATING ENEMIES: Good choice! Very good choice! I love the choice! I have nothing more to say, it was very good.
    RATING: 9.0

    RATING MUSIC: There was no music in the episode…
    RATING: 1.0

    RATING TILESET: The most tilesets are no classic JJ2-tilesets, only exept the one from level 2.
    RATING: 8.8

    RATING FUN: It was a nice episode with long and hard levels.
    RATING: 9.5

    RATING GAMEPLAY: Average of the last four ratings.
    RATING: 7.1

    RATING UTERUS: There was no level with an Uterus! Great!
    RATING: 10.0

    FINAL RATING: 7.6

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    White pinguin 8 Jan 2014, 08:15

    9Recommended:

    I enjoyed it very much. The levels were short but very fun. Jungle level my favorite. Good music.

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    Skulg Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    I just love it. Love love loooooooooooove.

    It’s amazing how you did the MCE (or SCE? I dunno…) stuff and.. stuff!

    LOVE.

    Download this. NOW.

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    ScionFighter Posted more than 20 years ago

    10

    Oww, owwww this RUXOR!

    Great story, great gameplay, great eyecandy, great EVERYTHING!!!

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    spazz Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    I’m not going to write a long review. I only want to say that this is realy good. But one thing: This isn’t all beach levels. Please canche it.

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    Superjazz Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    Ummm… What could I say: Good but more gameplay plz.

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    snzspeed Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    I really liked about this pack, because levels had some really good ideas. levels had lot of eyecandy and other things. my final rating is : 9.2

    Download recommedation

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    Crusader 5 Feb 2005, 23:02

    9Recommended:

    Alrite, lets see. These i understand took a long time to make. I rate this an 8.5 cuz the bats and thingies/most enemies r invisible and very hard to spot. i had trouble completing these lvls but they are great. good training for u too. =D

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    Bjarni Posted more than 20 years ago

    Is that true Voilet CLM? Had you help him! Cool! (He is who give my levels always high! That´s cool! I see nothing wrong. I loved battle with Devan so 10! It´s perfec´!

    (You are rating this upload, not the people who helped with it. Rating removed. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

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