If there’s one thing I’m mostly relible for, it’s reviewing SP packs. And if theres one thing those level packs are relible for, it’s bland, repetive gameplay and horrible level design. Ok, so that’s two things. Anyways, the thing that makes this pack unique is that despite being tedious, the gameplay isn’t anything like most SP uploads I’ve reviewed recently.
System Crash answers the question: What if by some odd chance Jazz accidently broke through those gray lines that form a protective case around him?
The answer is flip switches, find root keys, and stop viruses.
When you first enter the realm outside JJ2, you find yourself in a Recycle bin.
From there you collect a program, and learn that the blue bars of each program is ussually climbable. From there you go from one place to the next flipping triggers and stopping the occansional enemy.
It’s a unique idea, but after the first few switch flippings, the format wears thin. “Flip switch, enter program, return to main hub” Is mainly what you do for all of the first level. As I said, it becomes repetive fast, and the level rarely tells you where to go, forcing you to remember the state of each ‘utility’ in the Control Panel so that way you’ll know which switch to flip next. But don’t worry, if you dont get confused on where to go, the level will be over fast.
The second level introduces a bit of a storyline, the virus S474N has entered the computer. ‘S474N’ is just a bubba boss, and you even have a sheild to fight him off with. Anything before the boss is not worth talking about.
The last level is a contination from the second(lots of packs are doing this now.) You enter the control program for the virus, and will need to uninstall it. This mixes the now bland trigger flipping of the first level, with some enemies tossed in. Some areas in the control room are a waste of time and health, and I don’t see why they were included other than to have more things to shut down. Once you get to the uninstall console, uninstalling is as easy as Stomping and then jumping.Which then returns you to the original area which then loops you back to the first level.
Other than a few 1ups, there are no secrets so replaying it is really worthless.
The tileset has some major masking problems that got Jazz stuck in various areas he couldn’t get out of, otherwise it’s one of the best windows conversions you can use.
Final Thoughts: This pack seems unique and innovative at first, but after a while it starts to feel the same. It’s worth one play through since it’s a great break from the usual SP packs uploaded. The tileset is a wonderful Windows XP conversion, but theres some masking problems that can limit it’s use. The boss fight felt way to easy, and the arena could’ve deffently have been improved.
Bleh that’s one of my worst reviews. Next review goes back to the old format, be there!
Final Information:
Download Reccomendation?: Yes, it’s only 3 short levels so playing through all of it isn’t going to be a huge waste of time. Plus despite some masking errors, the OS tileset is better than the Windows 98 tileset here at J2O. And the music files aren’t too bad either.
Final Score- 5.3
Despite the fact it was monotinus, it’s charm and erm, differentness from most recent JJ2 levels, gives it a boost in score.
System Crash
Single player, by _TK_,
requires 
The Secret Files
Description
System Crash is a 3-level single-player pack with a custom tileset. The levels take place in a Windows-like operating system. See the readme file for more information.
Contains 7 Files
 SysCrash-readme.txt |
1.01 kB | |
 Crash.j2l |
Lost in the OS | 3.43 kB |
| virus.j2l |
Virus Attack! | 2.44 kB |
| virus2.j2l |
S474N Control Center | 4.08 kB |
 OS.j2t |
OS | 12.70 kB |
 GODOWN.IT |
Go Down | 1995.93 kB |
| SHADOWRU.MOD |
Shadowrun | 179.90 kB |
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Reviews and comments
n00b 20 Sep 2005, 00:38
KboutR 22 Sep 2005, 07:24 (edited 22 Sep 05, 07:25)
I completely agree with n00b, but I don’t think this deserves a 5.3
This pack is pretty original. You are inside an operating system and have to flip switches and find root keys to gain access to other parts of the OS. This makes the pack a bit like a puzzle, but sometimes you don’t know what to do next and need to search through the whole level to find a difference somewhere.
The second and third levels are much the same, but they’re a lot shorter than the first level.
The eyecandy isn’t that good, but this isn’t required for an OS, and the tileset hardly has eyecandy tiles.
There are a few enimies, like dragonfly’s and turtles, but I don’t think they fit in an OS (or have they escaped from the Jazz Jackrabbit window?). Also there are hardly any secrets.
Still I don’t think this pack deserves a 5.3. It’s fun to play through and has an amusing – but sadly a bit overused – gameplay.
Fun 4/6
Eyecandy 3/6
Gameplay 3/6
Event placement: 3/6
This gives you a 6.2