An Lighty X-mas

  • Rating: 7.5

Reviews and comments

    Slaz 17 Dec 2004, 21:51

    8Recommended:

    It’s a really good level, nice paths, and suckers…
    So let me review!

    EYECANDY

    Like the others sayd, no tilebugs! But the standard Carrottus eyecandy may had to be something more… Like green plants and plants in walls.
    Really good, but i know Dx makes levels for long :-)

    EVENT PLACEMENT

    The ammo placement is good, but some of the powerups are placed right before flag bases and i not really like that, just place them in some small rooms or places you never find easely. And the snow event is nice but sometimes if you are roasted it dissepears :-(
    Still good event placement!

    GAMEPLAY

    There are nice paths, the sucker tubes behind the flag bases are cool, no deathends, all the stuff for a good CTF game!
    Just very good, not many more to say about this…

    RATING

    Well, another good Dx CTF level, this time not with all those iritating moving backgrounds (there is one, but that’s not too many :P), i will give a 7.5 for ya (download reccomed)!

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    cooba 14 Dec 2004, 12:27

    8Recommended:

    TSF. ;p

    Oh well, since my JCS started to twist inbetween 1.23 and 1.24 versions and thus becoming a quadruple quandary, I will review this anyway.

    Gameplay
    What strikes me here is the fact that it takes less time to get into seeker powerup and the full carrot going from red base. Anyway, it’s pretty easy to get around this level, maybe except some 1-tile wide places, but they’re only one flow issues. However, this level is apparently small, and a little platformy, too. At first glance, it seems to be very random layout, but it grows on you as more you play.

    Eyecandy
    At last, a Carrottus level without tilebugs! Other than that, this is pretty good eyecandy, although needs a little more green. While there are all layers but 1st one used, there’s not really much green in them, but I can live with it. The background fades into black (bad), and layer 7 eyecandy moves for no real purpose. Yes, I made you think like eyecandy is horrid, but it’s nice. The snow looks splendor.

    Eventing
    This is somewhat oddly balanced. It’s easier to get seeker powerup going from red base, but it’s easier to get to two +1 carrots for blue team. Red team gets RF PU and blue gets Bouncer PU, but what blue gets is Electroblaster ammo, which may be used to get another RF PU… Somewhat confusing, but manages to work online. What strikes me is the double RF powerup. This could be better with Blaster PU stuck in wall and some Fastfires spread along the level. Or Toaster Powerup. Other than that, this area is innovative.

    Overall
    This CTF level is, as simpliest to describe it, just good. The balance is original, and eyecandy is nice. Download, because you’d be a stup otherwise.

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    Niels aka ChippieBW 14 Dec 2004, 14:45

    8Recommended:

    A Lighty X-mas
    Thanks for re-editing this level, ÐX, now I will proudly present you this review of A Lighty X-mas (the level title and the notation on J2O don’t match, for your convenience)

    EYECANDY: 2.25 out of 2.5
    The splashing eyecandy of this level is the first thing you notice as you open the level. Snow is falling down in a beautiful Carrotus world. Respect! In fact, the falling snow and the large amount of other eyecandy even made it impossible for my GeForce FX5200 128MB to run constantly at 70fps! Now, it runs around 65fps, which is still decent. I don’t recommend running this level at low detail and 8bits, since the nice effects are gone and the water becomes ugly. Overall, I like the eyecandy much, but the in my opinion not so good moving background and the water near the blue base extract a few points from my rating.

    AMMO: 1.5 out of 2.5
    Ammo then. Ðx has chosen for a lot of ammo in this level, and even so a lot of carrots. In fact, there are 4 carrots in this level (three +1 and 1 Full NRG) which is way to much in my opinion and it takes away a lot of speed from the level. There are four Powerups in the level (One Seeker, One Bouncie and Two RF) which is also a bit too much in my opinion. A powerup near the base is a nice idea, but the RF and the Bouncie are not evenly divided in my opinion. I guess the RF near the red base needs to be replaced with a Toaster to make it a lot more evenly. The loose ammo is placed well enough, although the eyecandy hides it sometimes. Overall, the ammo is fine, but not good. Could have used a lot more work.

    LEVEL STRUCTURE: 1.5 out of 2.0
    The structure also has it’s good and bad sides. There is enough space to move around and there are a lot of sucker tubes and one-ways which make the level more easily to navigate in. Otherwise, all of the action is centered in the lower half of the level, where almost all the carrots, all the bases and all the powerups are located. If some PU’s would be moved higher, the whole level would be used more, but Ðx did a well attempt with this level by using sucker tubes and good springs. Overall, the structure is nice, good enough.

    GAMEPLAY: 2.25 out of 3.0
    On to the final thing: GAMEPLAY. Really an important factor for a good level. The gameplay in “A Lighty X-mas” is good enough, since the flow is good enough at most of the places and you can navigate around easily. I think you need to play this level a lot of times before you finally know it well, which makes it a good level. The music file used is funny, but I still don’t think that Carrotus is a real winter tileset, because the looks fit more to summer in my opinion. Ah well. Overall, Gameplay is good with some minor flaws. Nothing more to say about it.

    RATINGS:
    If the ammo was placed better and the structure was more centered on the entire level instead of the bottom side, this level could be a really good one. Now, it’s still a good one, but far from perfect: it ends up somewhere near the sub-top. I don’t think this level is worth an 80, more like a 7.5. That’s what I’m giving it.

    Score: 2.25+1.5+1.5+2.25 = 7.5
    Download: Yes.
    Host: Maybe a few times, I like to see it in the Christmas server.

    Greetings,
    - ChippieBW

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    DarkSonic 14 Dec 2004, 19:20

    8Recommended:

    Another CTF review. I beta tested this level, and gave Ðx some suggestions about it. I see some things were changed, but I also said there is one carrot too much. Oh well. Just let me review this level.

    Introduction: Ðx made this level for his pack, but he released it as a Christmas level. The level has a feeling that it’s almost Christmas, but I will tell about the level itself. Here goes.

    Starting with the gameplay, I didn’t have many problems getting around the level, except for the spring that’s under the carrot that’s in the center of the level. This isn’t a big flaw though, but there can be campers that are fast enough to hit you from there. The level isn’t too big, but the layout is pretty good. The level has some platforms in it creating space between the platforms to move in. It’s a bit like my layouts. Some nice one ways used, the same for the sucker tubes near the base(which I couldn’t find directly when beta testing the level.). I noticed that you didn’t change what I suggested(placing the platform that’s right from the Full Energy one to the left, so I can run over it without falling.) It would be nice if there was also a tube that went from the right of the carrot to another place. But it’s not really bad, because you used a spring for that. Fine. The bridges can help me getting around, like when I’m jumping from pos 37,76. This level is not symmetrical, but symmetrical levels don’t get the highest ratings. The other springs are good placed.

    I can’t say alot about the eye candy in this level. The snow give you a feeling it’s almost X-Mas(I haven’t seen snow in my country yet, though). It’s a bit strange that it snows in Carrottus, because it’s not a tileset based on snow. The other eye candy is very good, and the Light effects are wicked. I can’t imagine how it would be in real life if I was in this level, it’s a bit strange that it snows when it’s light. The background is nice. Almost all layers are used, only 1 isn’t. Layer 5 and 6 have cave tiles that are traditional in Carrottus levels. Layer 2 and 3 have trees, plants and stuff.

    About the placement in this level, the ammo placement is pretty fine. But I think you get too many ammo without jumping. The PU placement is, how I did in my level I made for my pack, but Ðx send me this level and he did the same as me and uploaded the level, argh. I haven’t seen any level with this power-up placement(1 PU at each base), and there is a Seek PU in the bottom-middle. There are 4(!) carrots, which are too many in a level of this size.(although Dirty Laundry has 3 Full Energies and is smaller than this level.) On the bottom-left, bottom-right and around the top-middle you will find +1 Carrots. The Full Energy is in the bottom-middle, above the Seek PU. This isn’t a major flaw, but it’s taking off the rating a bit.

    The level is pretty original, because there is snow in it, and it has light effects. These 2 don’t fit too well together, though. It’s a good example of how you should make a Carrottus level, because you need to try to make an original level with a default tileset. Well, you succeeded with this.

    Others: this is just a nice level by Ðx(I think this is his best CTF level). So I can only say, gj. I give this level a nice 7.7 and a download recommendation.
    Host: you can, but don’t host it in summer =P
    Edit: maybe this level wasn’t so good as I first thought, but the level is still good and worth downloading. So I will change the rating of this level to 7.5.

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    White Rabbit 16 Dec 2004, 09:55 (edited 27 Feb 06, 19:22)

    7Not recommended:

    I’d like to point first that the snow event only works in sp. In mp, only the host can see the snow.

    The gameplay is kind of random. The bridges do not properly connect to the platforms so you gotta run really fast or you’ll get stuck (either use float ups are make sure you place the bridge correctly). There are many 1-tile wide openings, which also slows down gameplay. The springs are well-placed, however, and so are many of the platforms. The problem is just that the whole lvl seems a bit crammed, which limits the use of most weapons except for seekers because they can head in any direction as long as they have a target.

    The eyecandy is fine but the lvl actually looks better without snow and ambient lightning. :-P The whole lvl is a bit too bright and it seems that it’s a Carrotus heatwave, hehe. Most tiles in the tileset have been used and there are not many tilebugs (tilebugs seem unavoidable in Carrotus – it’s the way the tileset was drawn). Not many foreground layes are used but enough to satisfy so you won’t be confused. The snow should melt any time now…

    The weapons placement is pretty average and there is nothing there that hasn’t been done before although each team has a pu RIGHT at their base. A RF for blue team and a bouncer for red team. I’m not quite sure which weapon is more powerful in this lvl so I guess that the team’s arsenals are quite balanced although the seeker pu is in the middle and red team can access it faster.

    This lvl is nothing special, really, and it feels slightly old when it comes to lvl design and gameplay. There are better CTF lvls out there. Despite a 7, a download recommendation would be too much because this lvl has hardly got anything that is worth looking at, it’s just well-made, without originality.

    EDIT: And don’t bother pointing out to me that I previously wrote ‘I give download recommendations to all levels rated 7 or above’. :-P

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    Anubis 14 Dec 2004, 15:42

    8Recommended:

    GAMEPLAY: 8
    There’s a 1-tile wide place with a spring where it isn’t so easy to jump, but it’s easy to run around the level. The place under the bridge with the RF crate is hardly reachable by Jazz or Lori.
    EVENTS: 7
    Why do the 2 bases have different PUs (blue – Bouncy, red – RF). Blue gets Gun9, Red gets RF ammo and pepper spray. Ammo easy to take like in Distopia. Nice tubes next to the bases.
    EYECANDY: 7.5
    Why is the sky black during daytime (and with stars)? Layer 7 is moving, this is not a science fiction film. Colours are too bright and there’s too much contrast between layers 7 and 8. It’s nice that there are plants in the front layer and the rabbit can hide behind them. Snow looks a bit strange because there is green on the ground.
    Theme: +0.2
    Christmas, very nice!
    -0.2 for the fact that only the host can see the snow.
    OVERALL: 7.5
    As a CTF level teams should have equal powers when playing, but they don’t because of ammo. That’s kinda unfair. In MP, only the host can see the snow (so people who can’t host can never see the snow online). Still download recommendation. 7.5 is not a bad rating, good job, Dx :)
    ~Alex[LR]

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