Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This is essentially a Test level, but made to be played in Single Player rather than online. As someone who never enjoyed online tests that much I appreciate that, and there's less of a sense of urgency when playing just by yourself.

The tests are a mix of standard test fare – jumps, precise sidekicks, etc – and one or two more creative challenges including one where you need to do maths. I don't understand the math clue, which tells me that the formula to figure out what the right gun number is is "[number] x 2 + 1". The number for the first block is 0, so that's 0×2+1=1 i.e. blaster, so far so good. Then the next number is 1, so 1×2+1=3, i.e. freezer? Which doesn't work, so I'm not sure what's supposed to happen here. But overall it's an okay selection of challenges, even if most of it is pretty standard.

Rather than warping back to the start of each challenge, in this level you simply die if you fail, most of the time. Lives are not infinite though, which I found really annoying. Some tests took me a few tries to figure out what I was expected to do and not having the chance to fail more than once or twice seems to only serve to frustrate the player. This was demotivating and I would enjoy the challenges much more if I could take my time trying to figure them out. It also kind of breaks the level once you reach the end of the challenges – you're supposed to shoot a checkpoint and then kill yourself to respawn beyond a wall… but what if you have no lives left at that point?

There's a bit after the challenges where you have to swim through a school of fish. This is pretty easy to do by just speeding through with maybe one or two hits. Then there's a boss, which I found way too hard and no fun at all, but I guess it could be a fun challenge if you're really good at the game. The fact that it takes place in an arena with the same insta-death spikes found in the rest of the level at the bottom feels a little cheap though.

Visually, the level is not terrible, but not that interesting either. I guess using a blocky tileset is more or less a genre requirement, in Test levels – by that standard, this one is one of the nicer-looker ones, with some effort spent on making the background look nice, for example. This level takes place on a world orbiting an oval sun. The argument that it looks right in 16:9 doesn't really work for me – sure, it does, but then everything else looks bad.

Overall, not a bad take on the test genre, but with a bit too many elements that spoil the fun for me to really enjoy playing it.

The level is rather reminiscent of old Test levels, which also forego the usual level design conventions and strip things back to an arrangement of blocks (such as those made with the Top3 tileset), focusing entirely on gameplay over aesthetics. The level looks just about serviceable in terms of functionality, but lacks any kind of visual design flair, mainly consisting of brightly coloured blocks placed haphazardly, like a box of crayolas. There are certainly plenty of far worse looking levels out there, I appreciate that this one lacks many of the more egregious elements found in many similar levels such as flashing colours or obstructive foreground layers. The AI generated clouds look passable but do feel very out of place with the rest of the level, being semi-realistic while everything else uses flat colours.

I didn`t like that I was forced to restart the level after having died once before the water section, that felt like an unfair gotcha! moment. Fortunately it didn`t take long to get back to that section as the level is very short and rather trivial. Most of the challenges I was able to cheese in some way, most simply by doing running jumps as Spaz, such as the Mega Man-esque disappearing block section which I was able to clear in a single running jump (after having died due to not realising the green bar was a pole). I didn`t bother trying to decipher the clue for the destruct block section and just brute force guessed my way through it first time. The water falling section was far too short to be of any real threat. The end boss I just cheesed by jumping to its platform and buttstomping it to death, abusing the i-frames.

Aside from the aforementioned restart, there was nothing else particularly unfair but nothing really grabbed my attention either. If you have been playing JJ2 as long as I have, I`m pretty sure you will have seen just about every obstacle in this level in some shape or form before. I don`t think there`s anything inherently wrong with that, and I can at least applaud this level for not going completely overboard with the difficulty like so many other levels of a similar ilk have done. I feel that the concept of the level, while not exactly novel is an honorable one. It does feel fairly accessible to newcomers unlike other challenge levels which is a nice attribute, although I would still have a hard time recommending it over the vast treasure trove over other similar levels out there that come in a far more polished package and offer a more refined experience. You can certainly do much worse than this, but the bar is set pretty high nowadays.

(My note to the author: please do not feel discouraged by my feedback, I was in your shoes once as well. The best thing is to take feedback as a learning experience, and take it on board for your next project. Making mistakes is a huge part of the learning process for any creative pursuit. Literally every successful JJ2 level creator I can think of started out making mediocre levels but then gradually improved each time with persistence and a willingness to take on board criticism. I do genuinely look forward to seeing your next project!)

Good level imo

Well, the level is amazing! 10/10 Hype.

By the way, my own version of this level contains one xm music module from game "Tigger's Honey Hunt" made by Disney Interactive and Doki Denki Studio, and it was from the level "Beyond the Frog Pond.

This one is a battle level that I am a bit torn between liking and disliking. While I do enjoy the theme and certain gameplay aspects of the levels like the swinging platforms and no-clip sucker tubes, I can't help but feel like the overall gameplay is perhaps a bit too quirky and old-school for my tastes. But that doesn't mean it is a bad level.

The biggest issue I have with the gameplay is the layout that reminds me more of a single-player level or even a race level, rather than a battle map (even the respawn area at the bottom left reminds me of Race1.j2l a bit). I think this level could actually even work much better as a race level (from the bottom-left to the top-left corner) with some adjustments.

From my perspective, it is difficult to create levels with vertical gameplay that would play out smoothly. While there are certain good elements for quicker access to the upper ground, like the sucker tubes and such, I feel that the overall flow could be much more optimized. The flow seems to be favoring Spaz quite a bit more than other characters.

Another issue for me are the cramped passages under the "hill", that just encourage camping in those areas. Especially the area with the Gun8 power up that seems to be extremely difficult to counter from below, although reverse bouncers give a small chance at that. The upper left corner of the level seems also relatively campable, although there are slightly better chances at countering that. There's also that passable "pipe" at the top of the level where I'm having an issue with the tileset masking that gets me stuck momentarily when jumping against the ceiling.

But on the positive side, I like some of the extra spices added to the gameplay, like the double bouncers and other ammo choices, swinging platforms for elevation, long sucker tubes that go far across the level in order to quickly gain higher ground, airboard access that took me a while to notice and figure out, etc.

I find the level's visual side to be decent overall, but maybe a bit lacking in certain areas. Perhaps I'm just not the biggest fan of the core tileset used here. However, I do definitely like the overall blood moon-theme and the way it has been executed.

I do realize that whether you'll like this level or not depends quite a lot on your tastes and what you're looking for in multiplayer levels. This definitely ain't the optimal duel level or a fast action-packed level, but perhaps a more tactical one where wise choices with control for objectives and zones matter. Actually out of custom game modes, this level could do potentially well in LRS-based game modes that encourage finding good camp spots and other key objectives quickly.

What an amazing pack this is! I especially enjoyed Transantarctic Mountains. The complete atmosphere of that stage is such a treat! The northern lights… the soothing background music… the calmness of the floating bubbles, wow. I can't help but to play just that level over and over again. The title doesn't really feel right though, as I don't have the feeling it's a proper mountain stage.

The other stages are great fun playing as well. Shivering Stronghold is a true masterpiece and you really need to take your time for this experience. The Queen battle was unbelievable… to me the ice serpent fell a little short with that. If that one had been left out I probably wouldn't have missed it. Now it felt a bit anticlimactic.

Still: great pack and really recommended to download. I really hope for a Holiday Hare '25… I'll definitely join the project if it comes alive!

Here's yet another space-themed level by Warren and I have to say I greatly favor Warren's space-themed levels so far compared to his other works, which aren't bad either though, which is probably because of the amount of detail and effort put into the visuality and the gameplay traits. This one ain't no exception!

Spherical Coalescence is a level that has a background that could as well be your computer's shifting screensaver background, but not necessarily in a bad way. It's just that visually the background feels a little empty, although that is maybe justified to some extent since the visual decorations are plenty on the sprite layer. The changing background (and palette) is definitely a nice gimmick (although not completely original as a concept I guess) that makes the level feel more "alive" and less "static", since it does not cycle too frequently. The only bad side is that I notice occasional sluggishness in the game when a background/palette cycle happens.

While there is a lot of detail attached to the sprite layer and around it, the visuality is still not too distractive compared to many other levels, especially the ones that use some of the Mez-tilesets. I'm just not sure whether the featured custom sprites for weapons, etc. completely fit into JJ2 graphics, but I've seen worse.

What comes to the level layout, I think it is slightly challenging due to its size and complexity. It can take a little time to get used with moving around the level as there are also a lot of special features like 2-way tubes, custom springs (or spring sprites), custom vehicles and a few custom weapons. The level quite obviously is far from duel-compatible, but I suppose 4v4 games or bigger should be quite enjoyable here. I definitely like the layout as a whole and I notice some level of influence and vibes from other classic levels, like Medieval Skyscrapers, Sacrifice, SILWI, etc.

Regarding the custom weapons, I'm not sure how efficient they are in actual gameplay yet since I've yet to seen a big game organized here, but they definitely seem powerful by first impression. I'll be looking forward to blasting off the Starmageddon gun here especially!

Download recommended!

Astral Witchcraft is an unique multiplayer map that combines visuals and audio like never before with a fresh tileset and new weapons. It's a scripting marvel showcasing the power of SPRITE::MAPPING. Every levelmaker can learn from this in the future.This level does so many new things, that it's a real risk taker. I'm very appreciative of level designers trying new things, however taking risks can go both ways. Other reviewers have covered the basis of the level already, I'll try to go into detail of each level aspect to provide some good feedback on what I liked or didn't like about it.

To start of with what I really liked about this level:
The jungle 2.0 leaves are a great addition to the tileset. Not just for the tiles themselfs, but also the way Minmay utilized them. The way the thin leaves curve around the bricks is really clever and I can't deny I'm a little jealous not thinking of that myself. I wonder what the inspiration for this was. Together with the writings on the walls, drifting objects, potions, particles and background it sets the tone of the level immediatly. The map has clear landmarks for an open area at top, a middle area and a basement area. It's easy to learn and to move around in. Also I can't forget to mention the background colour shifts are amazing. This level is the reason why generalized mapping functions for scripting are rising on everybodys wishlist. Overall it feels great how alive this level feels.

Things I liked less about the level:
While this level is a visual marvel, it also pushes the boundaries a little too far sometimes. I think a little bit 'less is more' on the visual effects could have been applied here. The flashing foreground (during the bridge part of the music) hurt my eyes. The floating tiles I was talking about earlier, are also screen filled in a 1 -to-1 tile proximity which I can only describe as spilling a bowl of rice on my monitor. A small last nitpick about the visuals is that the tree branches from Agama Swamp feel a little bit tacky due to the artstyle and vibrant colouring, but I give this a pass because it's very difficult to find and match those tiles. I couldn't think of any better replacement myself.

The level limits itself to 3 weapons, one of which looks and plays like a blaster resprite and 2 other special weapons which can be collected at the centre of the level. They look great, they sound great, they play not-so-great. The novelty of them also quickly falls off when realising they are both incredibly powerful and easily collectible, way more powerful than any existing JJ2 weapon. This not saying the balance of jj2 weapons hold some golden standard, but the nuances of the gameplay are missing. Other reviewers have mentioned the level layout is build around the weapons, but this isn't necessarily a good thing when this allows the bullets to fly everywhere with extra area denial. The distance of the bullets is so high that it constantly hits atleast 3 screenlengths away. While playing with many players in the server it felt chaotic and like my actions were meaningless. My whole tactic in this level became camping and being afraid to ever make sudden movements. Any agressive movement is a death sentence for some of the bullets coming at you at mach 8 speed. This in addition to being limited to 3 weapons becomes stale quickly. You win by sticking to the ground as much as possible, because there is no weapon like bouncer that covers below you.

So overall: The scripted visuals are revolutionairy for jj2 and I hope to see them more often. I liked the eyecandy implemented here for the most part. The gameplay felt refreshing, but only for a very short while.

Spyros Battleships CTF is exactly what you would expect. It is a CTF that is in the style of JJ1 Battleships. Visually it doesn't do anything groundbreaking, but the gameplay is alright. It's nice to be able to see the outside of the ship, although some areas feel slightly ambigious. It looks like you can go outside the ship for a playable area, but it's actually out of bounds. The level is flat and small, which works nicely for fast action packed games in small multiplayer lobbies. The bottom right seems to be a loose dead end without rewards, which is maybe perhaps not the best design choice, however it doesn't hurt the level either as it can be ignored.

Good Map For CTF Spyro,It is bit small but cool !

Fixed Now ! You can play the lvl with the full files

This is among the best custom content I've had the privilege of playing, all the contributions from everyone involved in making this have so much quality put into them that I've thoroughly enjoyed the experience from start to finish. Clearly a lot of effort has been spent testing this episode and giving it a high amount of cohesion even though the levels have different authors (and sometimes multiple authors) who imprinted their own personal styles and design philosophies and also which import lots of custom content into them. The many scripted bosses in particular have been a standout and really showcase how fun boss fights could be with some ingenuity and care put into their craft. I also appreciate that the episode provided a good challenge but never felt like the difficulty curve was unfair or that the levels asked too much of me even though I haven't played in ages.

I highly recommend Holiday Hare 24, regardless if you are someone new who is checking out custom content for the first time, have played this game for years, or are returning after a long hiatus to relive some cherished memories and fun times. I think there is something for everyone found here, and it's a great celebration of the holiday spirit of this community.

Your screenshots show that the level uses a custom weapon, but you don't include the script file to make that work. If you're using MLLE, try the "Tools -> Package in ZIP file" dropdown menu option: that will give you all the right files so that other people can play your level.

That said, we can basically play the level, since there's not enough here for the secondary weapon to really matter. The initial section is a bit interesting because you have to jump onto the sides of the pillars, then from the sides onto the tops, dodging (or stomping) the skeletons. But everything is buggy. Destruct scenery doesn't really work (https://www.ninjadodo.net/htjcs/ht/anim.html), hooks don't have the Hook event, the sky doesn't tile correctly because you didn't resize the background layer. It's good that you have different challenges, that part of the layout is interesting, but the basic technical details aren't here. Read some tutorials, study some other levels that do the things you want to know how to do, find a friend who can verify that you actually included the right files to play your level.

Not Bad Idea,LoL

I Have a question !
how to upload the mutator in the single player mode ? (i didn't find any mutator option in the mlle level maker)

I forget script files !

very cool ! this level is a merge of funny and lightness of playing
I liked it

Really awesome!!! I'm gonna play it some more around Christmas.

Your screenshots show that the level uses custom weapons, but you don't include any of the script files to make that work. If you're using MLLE, try the "Tools -> Package in ZIP file" dropdown menu option: that will give you all the right files so that other people can play your level.

In description it says Battle, but you labeled it as 'Single Player'. Maybe edit the upload?