Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

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…

Ehh…This is the best Single Player pack without any store?! And this deserves 10.0 (EvilMike’s episodes are the best, ofc, but they are with story. If you want make a levels for SP, I have a story :)… ) Download recommendation? YES

Verry nice eyecandy. The gameplay is good, because of the coin collecting you cant rush levels. Still there are some minor things I dont like about these levels like bats suddenly coming out of walls or verry hard to evade spikes. Gameplay should be balanced between verry carefull and rushing so you wont get both too much (Imo).

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 … :)

Alright, I just played this with hard mode and I played this with Jazz.

Gameplay:
The gamepaly is very good and very challanging (atleast on hard mode) I like the way you must get coins in order to finish the level, I don’t know what happen when you get into 100 one though. :P

Eyecandy:
Awesome, and well used, all I can say.

Music:
Good music choices.

I can’t wait when this is fully finished, I hope it will have a good storyline too! :)

It’s recommanded if you want to have some great challanging fun.

And xSnooze, for now, have a 9 rate well deserved, and goodluck with your project.

-Laro B. aka Laro24

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 ^^

I like “Thrax” level because this is easier than others :P
You must play!

Eyecandy couldnt be more perfect, ammo placements are ok, there are only two pu’s, toaster and RF, other pu’s (expecialy bouncy) would probably be way too overpowered, i managed to find two RF climb spots (one at each base) which are really usefull so that u can run away right after u get the flag, its a lot faster than taking fucked up springs, gameplay is pretty good duels 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3 are all possible, map is neither too small or too big, C placements are ok, its rly hard to make a good lvl with two c’s, few fastfires which is also nice. With a lot of things fixed, this map is actually pretty good.

I like this level nice

What the-
10.0?!
I don’t think so.
This level is good, but not that much. It has some nice eyecandy, tolerable gameplay and good colors.
However, it’s a really tiny level. Not oppressively so, but still pretty small. Music was alright.
Some of the eyecandy was nice, but there was too much going on in the level. I suppose this is a natural property of Tubelectric, but still. Actually, the Layer 4+surrounding layers eyecandy was pretty interesting. Just too much information going on in a small area.
I think Tubelectric in particular has been done almost (if not completely) to death, which deals somewhat unfairly with this level. The level itself is okay, although I can only see 1-on-1 CTF fights in its future. Nice, but certainly not worth a 10!

To be perfectly honest, when I saw this in the level list for the first time, I would have never predicted this pack to be the next Upload of the Month.
After a week of curious pondering, I finally downloaded it and was hooked from Level 1.
First off, it has AMAZING graphics. The first [and it certainly won’t be the last] in the category of true “custom” JJ1 levels, it uses the tilesets of Carrotus, Castle and BlurredD’s Desolation. Get that. JJ1 uses JJ2 tilesets. Kind of a switch, huh?
But that’s not all.
Newspaz takes this yet another step further, adding his own baddies and events, even two custom BONUS levels, now made possible by his equally innovative new J1E modification. I was pretty miffed by the cannon baddie in Castle, but even that was a marvelous leap in Jazz history. Custom music is used too, but that’s sadly limited to JJ1 songs specifically. Too bad.
There were just a few small things to be desired, however. For one thing, the levels all seemed quite a bit harder than to be expected. If Evilmike’s Jazz2 levels were the standard for difficultyin that game, then Newspaz’s JJ1 levels are the second game’s counterpart. One or two sections in Carrotus seemed looped, particularly the part with the many waterfalls. I was equally disappointed by the utter lack of a custom end boss, even an end boss period. That would’ve been icing on the cake, although it hardly affects the grandeur of this pack.
Buggage was also surprisingly clean, although maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised, since Jazz1 had far less glitches than its successor.
All in all, once I had finished playing through the whole pack, my doubts to the validity of Mission Spaz’s claim to DL of the Month were immediately wiped away. Nothing could be closer to the truth: That Newspaz’s rockin’ new release is quite possibly definitely the most revolutionary set of kilobytes posted yet on J2O. Download today, with my hearty recommendations.

I want to go describe every room one by one so here goes my review…

Restaurant

The restaurant has some different types of food chosen carefully inculding enough soda. Unlike the kitchen, bathroom’s style is so simple, that you’ll get bored of it and you’ll probably ?eat? something else. Even that, it’s still a normal and sometimes romantic place to eat something. :P
Note: 7.8

Hospital

What a lame room. I’ve never found this one useful only if someone would have to take a carrot. But still, if they had a hospital, the most hotels would have put only them and some beds. The idea is old and I think there should be more ideas about its creation. Also, some medical cabinets or some kits belong to this tileset and they’re not used here. I however need to increase my rating because of the idea for a second room.
Note: 6

Rooms

Oh, I had a lot of fun here renaming all the rooms for my friends and changing their styles. All these boards are so great and fun, every room has something different and there is so much place in them. The stairs and warp target placements are also put rightly, making you to descend them insead of boarding. The exits are arranged good, but still they could be closer to the warp target.
Note: 9.3

Shops

There are here not enough things to be bought. Some power-ups and free warps will actually change the player’s impression, making him thinking about using them and shooting. Besides, there’s only a way to go (from start to end) and there doesn’t even appear some stairs. It’s too simple.
Note: 3.5

Bank

Another room which didn’t suprised me at all. I played some hotels before, and I have seen that sometimes people include a warp for the players who want to ‘‘rob the bank’‘ and a warp target to the so-called ‘Jail’. I find it realistic. Also I prefer gold coins, insead of sliver ones. The good thing of this room is that when you want to get the money, it’s just challenges you to take all of them, making it more provocatie if you use Spaz.
Note: 5.7

Sport

A pretty fun room, when you can relax and also play with your friends. The soccer is interactive, the gates are large, so that the ball will enter easier, the pitch spawn is normal and the stairs are preventing the player to hit it. Wall climb is hard, the edges are very crowded so it’ll be more difficult for users to jump. You’ll receive a pretty big prize if you pass. =P I’ll never get what you have to do in the kung fu place. Never had fun there and it could be more interactive if Napoleon had put a no-fire zone there.
Note: 7.3

Wall Climb

Here I had some accidents sometimes, because if you stomp too much in left you and your partner will be moved out of it. That’s the only thing I can comment here, the rest of it looks pretty… normal.
Note: 8

Fun

Test, Disco, Quiz… sounds some great places to hang out… The quiz was actually interactive for me, I found some interesting and known things, I passed them all and won the prize. The only problem was that I got confused of warp placements (up, down, up down, down…) or whatever, you could be more exact on them. The test is pretty easy, and I somehow found that the lvl 1 answer with the lvl20 of Napoleon Test? Oo I won’t check which one was made first, but I’ll still decrease the note. Disco has the vital things which are present in one, but still the decor is too simple and you’ll get bored fast, as I did.
Note: 7.3

Battle

I’ve never got the real reason why the battles were put in hotels, because as far as I know, hotels are made for the cooperative mode. And also why did you add the ammo there if people can take it from Shops in power ups?
Note: -

Pool

Funny, but I would have preferred to replace the water with the scenery one, even if it means that you would have been forced to delete the left part… The trampolines are simple and also fun, but I’d recommend you not to use the highest one, because your head will probably get stuck into the wall. xD Still an event for them would have been better.
Note: 7.7

Final Rating: (7.8+6+9.3+3.5+5.7+7.3+8+7.3+7.7):9=6.96=>7

Conclusion
I think you should download this only if you want to play a hotel, a normal one, with normal and typical things in your server, with your friends. If you want something new and got bored of these tilesets, don’t expect something from this.

Btw, this was my really first long review, please don’t be raw with me or my mistakes. :)

(Fixed the markup a little. Don’t mind me. ~Violet)

Another review.

Story:
Non is given.
0/0

Music:
Fine, fits the level, but I’ve heard it before. However, there is no better choice.
10/10

Eyecandy:
Allright, but nothing especially pretty like several other levels have.
8/10

Gameplay elements:
Level Layout:
The basic layout is fine. The maze was too easy but still somewhat refreshing.
The Boss was battered in seconds with the Flame powerup. Powerups can absolutely cause havoc on bosses – and especially the Flame powerup.
This level has nothing special aside from two coin warps.

7/10

Pickup Placement:
Way too easy, way too easy. I ended up with having 99 ammo and such, and too many carrots. Alltough I like many enemies, I don’t like many pickups.
4/10

Enemy Placement:
Not enough to kill me… on hard. They are well-placed and well-chosen though, but it is simply not enough to kill me.
6/10

Replay Value:
None altough this isn’t exactly true. But this level has nothing special, while the lack of consistency cuts down on it. The level shows creativity here and there though, but is outclassed on every possible way when looking to several other levels around.
4/10

39/60
6,5/10

——————

Penalties:
End level bug: -0.5 -< Fixed. -0.
Lack of consistency: -0.5

6,0/10

DR: Well, this level isn’t that good. It is a large level, but it is relatively easy and absolutely lacks consistency when looking to conveyor belts and the fans on the floor.

@Level maker:
This level shows creativity here and there. I’d suggest, like Jahari, that you’ll keep making levels and improve your skill at JCS.

I’ll often give a relatively low rating. Don’t let that stop you from making levels. Try to avoid things which can be a real hitter in the rating like being unplayable with certain characters or the end-level-bug which results into a game crash. At the end of episodes, fill in at the “next level” string, “ending”, which effectively stops the bug from appearing.

Edit: End Level Bug is fixed.