Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

It’s looking good. :)

This is really good!
Good tiles, eyecandys, etc…
And I’m waiting LetniV and TechnoirV :P
Take Care!

+plus! — You added Night vers. and it like a winter level.

I’ll use it.

I dont give 10 i give 11 :)

And finally this is a featured download.
Yay!

A new SP level, and I want play it.

No story.

I liked this…

Eyecandy.
Gameplay.
Hardness. (not too hard, it’s good)
Enemies.
Warps.
Longness.
Boss Fight.
etc.

8/10

I didn’t like this…
2 bonus.
More pickups.
Wrong belts.
Hurting fans.

-2/10

6/10

DR:? Yes.

Stunning. That’s the one word I can think of when I see this conversion. Simply stunning.
Violet CLM has done it again, taking a (seemingly) boring and bland tileset like Raneforus and turning it into a bona fide work of art. From the standard JJ1 version with a new and fresh twist (which I’ll get to), to the “past” version (with a color scheme that could only be described as “sexy”), to the future, TechNoir-laced set, just about anything you could ask for is present and accounted for in this set.
So, let’s to Raneforus V.

V1

THINGS I LIKED:
I liked the fact that so much creativity could be found in such a drab set as Raneforus. It has all the tiles (that I know of) from JJ1 present, as well as tiles from other JJ1 and 2 sets. Take the bluish BG trees from the Jungle tileset. Take the expertly recolored blue rock BG from Scraparap (it’s actually green in this set). Take the leafy branches from Jungrock. Even the rain looks perfect. Violet doesn’t bother with any “Cool” tiles……At least, none that don’t look like they absolutely belong. See, that was the thing about the set: everything just belonged. And that’s hard to do in a set.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
These were very few. Perhaps one would be the textured background. I didn’t think it fit very well in the colors. Too light, perhaps. I always kind of thought of Rane as a rainy forest planet. But that’s pretty minor. Overall, V1 was a great success to me.

V2

THINGS I LIKED:
Ahh yeah, this was my favorite of the pack. It looks sort of like a sunset tileset palette, with the subtle orange and brown hints in the set. There was a very shrewd input of the Jungrock….rock tiles, in addition to some very neat rock graphics already present in the set from Stonar. Very pleasing to the eye. I could go on and on about the amazing color choices here. Did I mention that I loved the colors? I do. But enough of that. Very nice set.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
Hmmm… There honestly was nothing I could find after my initial run-through. I guess this is the first “perfect” tileset I’ve ever seen.

V3

THINGS I LIKED:
This was also a cool set, with enough TechNoir present to counterbalance the Raneforus there. Variety does indeed help, which lends the set a rather convincing impression of a rainforest being gradually overrun by the machines of industry. Neat concept. The colors once again meshed quite prettily. And the birdie tombstones? Man, I just about lost it when I saw ‘em! Priceless.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
However…..This was the set I liked least of all. For one thing, there seemed to be more space devoted to TechNoir background details than that of the set itself. There was a tree or two, but not much. Also, while I DID like it and it WAS cool, the color didn’t seem much different than that of the first V. I would have liked maybe a darker colored set. But there is none, leading me to believe that the sun always shines there (And it sets partway every night :D). I was disappointed by that.

So all in all, I really thought the sets were quite good. But that’s only the half of my review…

THE EXAMPLE LEVELS:

THINGS I LIKED:
The levels themselves (as Violet’s custom of sorts seems to keep perpetuating) were so good that I felt I just had to review ‘em. They have master level event placement. The level design is just as good, as is the buggage. The first one was exactly the length of a singleplayer level, which seemed quite a bit long, but showed off a LOT of the set. Which is always good.
Violet put as much work (it seemed) into the levels as the tilesets, which really pays off. I loved ‘em.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
But, as is almost always the case, there were a few minor issues I had. For one thing, the second example level had a small sprite of the Dreempipes Owl flying in the foreground. Which is nice, except that it can fly backwards as well as forwards and never seems to leave the screen, which gets kind of annoying after awhile. I’m not a big fan of foreground “creatures” like that, since they are so HARD to get right.
The music for Level 2 didn’t really catch me, either, whereas the songs for the other two were generic Jazz songs. Which is not bad, except that I would’ve expected something original from someone of Violet CLM’s stature. The use of the TechNoir song in Level 3 only added to my (weird) conception that the TechNoir elements in said level and set seemed to be conspiring to choke out the Raneforus elements. Fortunately, excellent eyecandy in that level helped ease my discomfort.
The first level seemed long, the second one was medium, and the third one was short. I mean, I did a catch-22 when I got to the end of 3, it was that short. Kind of surprised me. I think 2 was the best length.
I said this already but I will do so again: I was fairly disappointed that there was no dark tileset. I mean, there’s three different sets, and they’re all light colored. What’s with that? Why not make one, say number 3, a midnight or dusk color? It would’ve been the final knockout punch for the set, but instead is quite absent.
Masking was interesting too, but as Violet said, there is a reason for this, so I won’t take too much away for that.

SUMMARY

So, what should be said at the end of the day? Good job, nice digs and try again someday? Why goodness, no! This set deserves so much more than that. It’s not a perfect set, and it has its flaws, but that’s the beauty of it. Just like every remarkable diamond has a scratch or two, so every worthwhile upload on J2O has a tarnished spot. Don’t let it scare you away. Download today.

EDIT: (3/10/2012)

Now that Violet’s released a fourth version of the tileset (LOL, look how far behind the curve I am…), I thought it would be prudent to review the new(est) one as well, since it affects my final grade of this set.

V4

THINGS I LIKED:
I could keep this up all day, and I’m not kidding. Here at last, ladies and gents, is the Raneforus Night tileset we’ve all been waiting for, and for a tileset (and example level, for that matter) that was merely “thrown together”, it’s pretty good.

No, that’s a massive understatement. It’s absolutely stinking awesome.

Raneforus V #4 is painted in olive green and indigo blue/purple shades, almost as if the player were walking through a withered and dead forest. The “rocks” are colored perfectly. The torches were a stroke of genius. Every single leaf, branch and pebble jelled together like a Swiss watch, and I’d be hard pressed to put a finger on anything I didn’t like.

The example level was so good, it’s almost a crime. One of these days, I wish Violet would take all of his considerable levelbuilding talent and make a great singleplayer epic. That would be so much fun to play.

But I digress.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
Once again, nothing significant to point out. That makes two 10/10 tilesets in one upload, which I’m sure will never ever happen again…Until Violet CLM releases his next tileset conversion, that is.

The music track was not present, so I wasn’t too impressed by that. However, since this upload is a tileset conversion and not a singleplayer pack, I won’t count that against the upload (Although if this were a singleplayer pack, I would most certainly subtract points).

SUMMARY

In the end, Raneforus V #4 blows the previous three sets out of the water, including the Past version that I loved so much. My revised rating is 9.6, and I now recommend Raneforus V’s immediate and unconditional download.

Thanks for these tilesets. I will use them in the future. :P

Nice conversion,But can’t you do one for 1.23?
I’m right now remaking JJ1 lvls using JJ2 tilesets…

map is cinda good but tileset is awsome ! its litle but good

One of the better new levels lately. We had a lot of fun 2v2ing and 3v3ing in it. It looks horrible to duel in though (since you can basically just idle forever in the powerup corners in order to never die)

Perhaps quick review isn’t appropriate for this, but I think you deserve a perfect score. for creativity, versatility, and because the sonic inspiration/influence was amazing to see :)

Only bad thing here is that some very usable tiles, mostly transition/connector tiles are missing.

EDIT: I noticed the waterfalls in past ver.

This level suffers from one fatal flaw: there’s way too many carrots. Seriously, there’s at least one carrot every 6 or so tiles you move, meaning that it is practically impossible to die here, even on Hard. Aside from that, there’s not really much to say, aside from the bland eyecandy and overly linear level design. E+

How could I miss this, a level with several 9 or close to 9 ratings?

Desert Fight is, as far as I know, Laro’s debut in the JCS scene, and a decent one I may add. However, “decent” is about the epitome about what can be said about this level, for there are no real aspects about it that have a certain plateau of polish and charm to justify giving it such high ratings. This does not necessarily mean I consider the level bad in any shape or form; I just think it does not deserve the tremendous amount of praise it has received so far.

The name “Desert Fight”, while being decidedly generic, is descriptive enough for this level – it’s set in a desert, and you’re going to fight here. Oasis was a good choice for this level, and is used adequately to create the environment one would expect to find in a desert. However, I found the level looking rather unnatural in places:

Yes, that’s right. Straight aka “squared-off” edges are ever present in this level. I don’t generally have a problem with this if the level has a theme which justifies the use of more regular patterns, such as an indoor technology based theme. Here, seeing so many straight edges just makes this level feel “forced”. I mean, tell me how many times you have seen a cave or cliff overhang with a perfect, smooth edge like that? It’s almost as if someone carved the level out of a colossal slab of stone. Speaking of which, an overview in JCS shows that it is highly probable that Laro created a simple box first, and then built the layout inside it. Is that really a good idea though, to confine your thoughts to within a box? He seems to have thought so.

It’s not exactly an easy task to see what Laro was trying to accomplish with the visual design here. From a first glance, it seems as if he was trying to make a barren desert environment, in comparison with other levels with this set which make much more liberal use of aspects such as the buildings and the palm trees. I prefer the subtle approach he takes to the eyecandy in that regard, from what he was trying to create. However, the “artificialness” of the structural design counteracts this ideal, so it ends up being a useless move, only making the level feel somewhat bland. A real desert would look curved and jagged, so why not at least attempt to make the level like that? Fortunately, this is MP so I can somewhat overlook that while I’m playing, but I still consider the general appearance of this level somewhat lazy. Meh.

Seeing as this level was an entry for jjnet’s duel contest, the gameplay here deserves more of a sharp focus. The design is basically somewhat diagonally based, with an emphasis on uphill climbing. This is generally a very risky design choice, because at most any given time, the player with height over another player is usually at an advantageous situation. Surprisingly, the balance here is met quite well. While I think there might be a slight favour towards red due to having more immediate access to both carrots, the blue has the advantage of having a much less exposed base, and a quick escape route via the RF PU and copter. Also, the lack of a Bouncer PU eases the bias somewhat. The two PUs which do exist, RF and Toaster, compliment each other well in this level, and both come in handy in many situations, ie chasing your opponents on the long straight corridors with RF and defending the bases with a flood of fire from Toasters. The middle section of the level, aka the no-mans land, will see heavy usage, for it is the central hub connecting the rest of the level together. It is quite open; not as open as something like Distopia but still could be annoying to navigate if the server lags. Fortunately, the lack of a Seeker PU does remedy this – the number one cause of airs in a server. However, expect Toaster spam there now and again. It isn’t that much of an issue, but just be careful. At least the items are well spread out, meaning just about every area in this level will get some use.

The carrot situation is alright, but not perfect. They’re both placed fairly equidistant from eachother in comparison with the bases. As I’ve said already, the red team can reach either one of them slightly quicker than the blue team, due to having to make nothing but a simple drop, whereas blue has to make a couple of tricky jumps in order to reach them. This can prove quite an advantage for red at moments, as being able to make a fast escape from the base after being hit while you’re RTS while the enemy is being RTS. Blue team does have the copter for quick access to the left carrot; assuming it has spawned that is. Speaking of the left carrot, it suffers from the same problem as the left carrot in BBswing – you cannot check to see if it has spawned without taking the risk and looking yourself, as it is obscured by the foreground. While the hole it is in can be shot with EB to check if it is there (it will fall), I still dislike having to randomly check if it has spawned or not – I should be able to tell for sure by seeing it. In duels, carrot control will be a vital aspect in this level, as it is for the BB duo. So far many of the reviewers have stated that it is impossible to camp them successfully. This is true to an extent, although due to them being placed on almost a straight line, it is possible to run back between them with relative ease, dominating the control over the level. Shooting down the left carrot helps with this.

Would I recommend this? Yes and no. While there is nothing particularly outstanding or innovative about this level, and it does have a couple of annoying flaws, I can imagine many players these days will enjoy the gameplay it provides, which is reminiscent of many popular levels. I did find it somewhat amusing to play in after all.

If you’re into online play at the moment, try it and see what you think.

EDIT: To be fair you did improve this level a bit, so it’s only fair I increase the rating.

Nice lvl :)

This will be my first review, but I think it’s worth it. First things first:

Eyecandy: 8.7
Nice and simple use of the tileset, the thing doesn’t feel too full or too empty, it feels just right. Nothing special, but the point isn’t making it flashy. If it looks and it feels cool, then it’s cool.

Layout: 9.5
This is the level’s strongest element. It’s really well balanced, not too complex, not too simple. Just right. Flow is great, very easy to move around, except a few platforms here and there which you’ll need some practice to get perfect every time (which is why I don’t give it a 10 here).

Pickups: 9.5
All weapons are placed exactly where they are supposed to. It’s not too one-sided since there are only two power ups (RF and toaster). The carrots are very wisely placed, and it’s almost impossible to camp at them. Yet some weapon pickups aren’t enough to make them selves useful, like the few bouncers in the bottom center. Everything is well balanced though, which overall gives this a sweet score.

Overall: 9

Download recommendation…? Hell yeah. This is just as good as some of the most famous levels in my opinion.

Dueling here feels familiar. It has the great flow of Distopia, but without all the carrot camping. The two carrots make it feel like bbswing, too. If you like dueling in these two levels, you’ll love this one.

It’s a great level for 2v2. Tactically it’s pretty sweet, since there are many routes to get from point A to point B, some more risky but more rewarding, some less. Good flow and balance.

3v3’s… Well, I attempted it, and it feels a little small for it. If you like action though, 3v3’s are very fast-paced here, it just feels like there are too few power ups for it.

To conclude, this is an excellent level for tourneys and small events, I’d love to see it make it to the duel tournament.

Edit: Due to the recent edits, I raised my score a bit and slightly edited the review.

I’m also not agree with “10.0” of Starcraft lord…… the lvl is too messy, i can’t find myself…

@ThunderWalker

“End level bug: -0.5”

Me and my 2 friends who tested this lvl encountered no bugs…. This is a problem with YOUR JJ2 client, sorry.
Altough i changed the exit like you said, putting “end” on the “next level” string…

I promised to review so here I am. Level looks nice. Eyecandy is good, and game play is too. I would like to play this level in Duel Tournament v2.0 . Eyecandy was bad, imo, but you fixed it, and now looks a lot better. Keep making levels and you will get better and better and … :)

I need real Muckamuk (Muckamok?) conversion…
But It isn’t bad too…

Good, but some effects (especially spaz :P) more red in evening and night.
I waited more blue more yellow… :)
And you didn’t add some background :)
But good again :D

Just… Yes!

Small and pretty ^^