Single player, by 
Ah, it’s always nice to see new additions to J2o’s already very extensive single-player section and this particular one is a level made by Bjossi, a new-comer (I presume?) to JJ2, and uses the tileset D4mn.
The Lava Cave, is Bjossi’s 3rd level. It’s uploaded completely by itself and there is no story whatsoever nor does the player know what to do, apart from getting to the end of the level, obviously. This is ok, but most players like their single-player levels to come in packs and also have a story. That way it won’t feel boring.
The level is quite large and one can immediately see that the author likes big, empty spaces because I would estimate that 60% of the level is…air. There are numerous platforms, bridges, cliffs to walk on and they are very well placed, giving the player a feeling of distance between one place and another. But, apart from that, there doesn’t seem to be much to walk on. However, I can’t see why it matters because the level design is so good that one won’t ever notice the in-efficient use of space in the level. The springs are placed in decent manners and so are the poles, although there seems to be a little too much of them. Variation never hurts. I would recommend using float-ups, more suckertubes, or simply more places for the player to run on.
The enemy placement is one of Lava Cave’s strongest points. Although few, they are placed so that you can almost never avoid shooting them. This adds to the difficulty, but there are simply TOO FEW of them. Also, add to this the fact that there are way too many carrots, way too much weapons and a way too easy to reach bonus warp, an experienced jazzer will be able to complete this in 5 minutes without getting hurt once. The Lava Cave is far too easy to make it fun to play. Add more spikes, more enemies, boulders and perhaps more challenging situations where you have to do more than one thing at a time. For example, you’re running. Suddenly you hear a rumble. Realizing a giant boulder is racing towards you, you sprint towards the nearest cliff. When you arrive at the edge you discover the bottom is full of deadly spikes, and the gap is too wide for you to jump. You notice the swinging vines above you. Climbing onto one of them, the boulder rushes past you. But then the ravens come, swooshing down from above forcing you to jump onto the other swinging vine in order to get to the spring and onto a platform where you can fight the ravens more easily. THAT’S something which people want to see.
Not only is the Lava Cave too easy, the eyecandy is far too average. Although there’s nothing wrong with it, I couldn’t spot a single thing of originality. It’s just plain BORING. Use lighting effects, put more stuff in layer 3, use ALL available tiles in the tileset (I noticed you didn’t use the skull) and be creative! It doesn’t matter where you put it or how you put it, just make sure it looks nice.
The Lava Cave is a very good level for such a new level-creator and therefore I’ll be much more lenient. Let this be a lesson for everybody. Good level design will not make a good level if there is not enough eyecandy and challenges.
A 6.7. Wish you good luck next time![This review has been edited by White Rabbit]
