Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Cooldude, are you not able to read?

Well, well… this pack right here is definitely something of a small gem.

It goes without saying that you’re probably downloading this pack just for a few levels out of all fourteen. It also goes without saying that most of these have gone wrong in a way or another, either by being full of superficial gimmicks, by an erroneous layout, or excessive eyecandy (or a combination of some of these).

But what’s not obvious is that every single level here had potential to be very good. Some of the levels definitely have their visual moments – Myopia’s stone-and-nature parts, for example, I really dunno why weren’t they used as a common motif. Downtown Maze has this real tranquil, dreamy feel that’s uncommon. Those levels that aren’t outstanding are still good and fresh looking. And unfortunately, some levels cross the fine line between “a lot of eyecandy” and “complete inconsistent mess”. For example, Pleased with Presents had a really cool 70’s disco theme, until it became a chaos of christmas toys with a gay rayman rap track. And I’m not even going to beat the dead horse that FurnFace is…

One thing you’ll definitely notice is that Faw has a soft spot for gimmicks. Almost every level will have some, and almost every one will misuse them. This pack will attack you with fly carrots, freeze enemies, cheshire cats, pinball pads, walls which seekers go through, etc. It’s almost as if Faw tried really hard to make each level unique and original. In case of which, it’s probably slightly ironic that the best (in my opinion) levels from the pack are those which didn’t try too hard to be original. This includes nearly all the CTF’s and hardly any of the battles…

In two levels you can even hear FawFul’s musical skills backing up the themes, this aspect should be probably expanded in the future. It’s really too bad that this pack wasn’t as polished and refined as it could have been – there’s a ocean full of potential here.

Think positive!

Nothing terribly exciting but pretty much OK nonetheless.

OH MY GOD ! There really should be better backround and better tileset and better author…

This review has gone through many revisions, but finally I feel it’s ready to be submitted. Also, trying a slightly different approach to my usual reviewing style.

Anyone who knows FireSworD knows that does not just build levels by conventional standards. Looking at his past work, we can see that he thought outside the box and always brought something new and exciting to his levels. Jungle’s Edge and Termite Haven both had very creative visual designs, while Jungle’s Edge has gone on to be one of the most popular CTF levels ever (even if not the best quality). Moving on a short while later, his creations include levels such as Medieval Skyscrapers with its innovative y-axis gameplay with fly carrots, and One Spot with its totally new base system, which wasn’t exactly a huge success but is still remembered for how creative the level was. A few years later FS entered R3ptiles’ Original CTF Contest, getting a very well deserved 1st place with Unconventional Coffee, which had a unique structure in its layout and was also one of the first CTF levels to feature pits. Just under a year ago, FS created the battle level called Enter the Chaos. This level was totally different to anything that had been made beforehand that year. It featured what was basically a “screw the rules I have money” concept, which was despised by some, but for others, it made the level incredibly addictive. I personally saw it as great that he tried something like that as very few people would have the guts to have such an evil concept in a level.

Without further ado, I’ll now talk about the level I’m supposed to be reviewing!

Golem Landscapes uses the rather pretty looking IC – Easterius2 tileset; that is an edit of an edit of Carrotus (the most overused and boring tileset in existence). However, FS still manages to break the “all Carrotus levels look the same” rule and creates something that has a unique appearance – a rock golem, in which the level is built around. While a similar concept was thought of in a level by Sacrush known as Extraterrestrials, where the level featured a giant alien to walk on, Golem Landscapes executes the idea even better as the tileset fits the idea perfectly – the colour of the soil makes it look like stone, while the foliage is used well and clearly shows that this golem belongs to nature. Despite being “man made”, the golem itself feels very organic and fits like a glove with the rest of the level. The atmosphere feels lush, aided by the very well fitting music by Starsky Partridge, which gives the level a very calm and isolated feeling, giving the impression that no man has set foot in this area for some time. The golem structure itself is well designed and although looks “flat” when zoomed out in JCS, that can’t be helped due to being a 2D game and is probably the very best that could be made with JJ2’s limitations.

While the theme of the level is amazing, the real important question about this level is – does it play as great? The answer to that question can be said briefly in one word: yes.

Despite being perfectly symmetrical, given the fact this that this level is designed on a golem combined with some interesting design choices, this level has a unique layout. The base areas are fairly close together, yet movement between them is still not too fast. There are two main routes between the bases: using the warps situated just above the bases, warping you to the central room with an RF PU and tubes which take you to either team’s side. While the distance you travel is very short, the tubes pull you through fairly slowly so this is balanced out. This route is the most frequently used during games, however it’s the most risky as the place you emerge from the tubes is easily camp-able, giving the enemy a guaranteed hit on you if they do so. Thankfully, you can alternatively go around your base and on top of the golem with a copter, falling through the “spring hole” to reach the other team’s base area. Taking this area comes with benefits, as you pass a Bouncer PU and a Seeker PU, as well as an EB PU on top of the golem’s shoulders. However, this route is a few seconds longer than the warp/tube route and you have to wait for the copter to spawn in order to take it, which could waste precious seconds. This level offers choice despite the somewhat “limiting” layout; there is always a backup plan if one plan fails. One of the great things about the design is the shortcut that can be taken only if you have ice ammo on you. It involves freezing the springs in the “spring hole”, which gives you immediate access to the top of the level. This is by far the fastest route in the level; although what’s great is that you can’t always take it – rather, stock up on ice ammo and use it to your advantage while you’re doing well. Basically, you can’t just take it straight away after spawning.

Another possible route is to go under the bases along the long tunnel where the Full NRG is situated, which is the longest route but has some advantages, as it is less predictable unless you have the flag. Be careful though, RF shots are very hard to avoid here.
The base areas themselves present interesting gameplay. While they’re fairly easy to attack, they’re also just as easy to defend. It all depends on how you play around them. Generally, the best way to attack the bases is from above with bouncer rains. Just above the bases is a good area for being RTS in this aspect as unless attackers go to the base from above through the “spring hole”, it’s generally very hard to attack someone who is camping there. If someone is camping directly on the base itself, you can “snipe” them by hitting them through the thin wall with either Bouncer of EB. There are 2 +1s, one just above each base, which although can’t be totally provided on, give you a little life support while trying to stay at the base. This level doesn’t have many areas you can hide in at 1h, so you have to keep on the move. There is however a very evil secret that is very hard to reach, but if you find it you’ll be greatly rewarded (I won’t reveal what it is, but someone probably would have found it by now :P). This level is perfect for 2vs2/3vs3, although duels can work out too.

In general, this is one of the best CTF levels that FS has released so far. I can imagine it getting a lot of attention over the following months and possibly even years. You’d be a fool to ignore this, so if you haven’t downloaded it already go ahead and do so! This gets a well earned 8.6, my seal of approval and a download reccomendation.

Grade: A

Ah, mini levels. Sometimes these are my favorite type of levels since it’s easy to roast other players without much effort, and they work for quick duels. Levels of this size are often used for instagib, to be hosted one after another. A lot of luck is involved, but the sheer randomness makes them fun. That said, these levels look decent, but nothing particularly amazing. Some interesting but weird things like getting stuck to obtain toaster pu (o.O). Mini levels 1 and 5 felt pretty bland, and it isn’t necessary for most of the levels to have symmetrical layouts.

Still, these levels accomplish what they are made for, and that earns this a 7.2 and a dl recommendation.

WELTRUSTEN!! HAHA IK WIN!

EDIT: j/k, decent pack with some good levels like Hard Cheese and Neglected Future is decent too. The battles are not bad either, but overall the levels are way too big (a few exceptions) and have some strange concepts. It’s good to try it, but not always very well executed.

This level should get to be an classic. DZ, this to ZA and ZD…
Also to CL’s mappool.

Golem landscapes has some really unique points, like the RF-powerup placement. It is really easy to get, because there are warps right over bases to RF. Camping RF will get extremely hard when multiple players are present, if someone possesses a seeker PU and uses them with the sucker tubes next to RF PU.

This level has three carrots, one full C below RF PU and two +1 C’s over bases. Carrot placement is really balanced, and even with three carrots, this level should go well with duels.

Gameplay on this level is great. This map is actually friendly to random players(excluding copters/shield). Elite players can also shine on this level, if they copter to the platform over shield, or use good thinking with the ice PU and springs. Seekering through the RF-tubes is a great offensive/defensive move.

Overall, this level has got a really great theming. It receives an over 1000 character-review from me with an 9.5 and a Download Recommendation.

Seemed fun, and had some cool aspects.
Liked the bases and the top and bottom areas. The freezer thing definately turns me on.
Disliked deadends, shortage of ammo, shortage of oneways, and weird spring thing in the corners.
Not bad. =o

I noticed that for some extremely peculiar reason I had not reviewed this, although I was going to review it.

I won’t be writing a humongous review, which this’d certainly deserve, so I’ll just summarize it in a few words.

This is the best or at the very least, the second-best single player release so far and everything about it kicks ass.

A one day made golf on 30 levels EXPRESS GOOD IDEA

Very inspirational, incredibly thought out, with a spectacular design. Made by FireSworD, what’s to expect? Nothing least out the ordinary. Love the idea of the Golem theme, matching very well with the tileset usage, and to top it off, the music fits splendidly.

Not a bad pack, but I agree that quality is more important than quantity. Most of these levels are 7.5-7.8 quality, the best being Hard Cheese which I’d give an 8. Most of these levels are rather gimmicky and confusing, and might be a bit difficult to play in. This pack has it’s moments, but only a certain amount of it is fun to play.

grmbl

what is that supposed to mean louis? ->

what i mean is that louis is randomly spamming around non-sense without providing arguments and help. i want to thank cooba for his extremely helpful review. he seems to understand how i mocked things up.

Quality over quantity :P

FS has done it again.
Another spectacular CTF level with awesome gameplay, an enjoyable and well constructed layout and nice eye-candy that supports the theme.
The ice-shortcut adds a nice strategy-element to navigating the level and even further improves the gameplay.
I’d say this is a top-10 level since 2006, but that’s just me.
Try it out.

Pretty in Pink is one hotel go http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/info.php?levelID=5702 on copy hotel napoleo.

is express on is ender PASWORT?

[Rating (5.5) clearance. I am completely unable to understand this. You copied a level, uploaded the copy, and then rate the original a 5.5? wtf? – cooba]

Disabling ratings won’t stop anyone from seeing this is totally bad level.

Im sorry, but theres absolutely no way this upload should be rated as 10.. the Industrius level is okay, but the stonar level is just plain horrible. also, i think its really worthy mentioning that cooldude probably never downloaded this, considering that nothing here will remind you of b1.

STONAR LEVEL:

EYECANDY/THEME:
From what I can tell, theres a translucent background tile on foreground layers, which looks quite out of place and confusing. it also moves annoyingly fast when you run, which doesnt help. rest of the level is pretty basic, and quite boring. however, atleast theres some versality in the sprite layers. I think there was some eyecandy bugs, altough im not sure since the confusing layer 1/2 makes it hard for me to look for them. thats all..

GAMEPLAY/LAYOUT/FLOW/PLACEMENT:
I dont like the layout at all. It seems very random and confusing and quite messed up in general. it basically consists of randomly placed corridors and platforms, and is also hard to learn. flow is bad, i get bumped into walls, ceiling, and whatever and the spring placement doesnt exactly help it either. Placement seems to be quite sparse, theres not much ammo, but atleast its placed so that its easy to get while running around and stuff. I didnt find any carrots in the level because of annoying layer 1/2 so i wont comment on that..

CONCLUSION:
Could be a good level but its destroyed with the random platforms and the red foreground..

INDUSTRIUS LEVEL:

EYECANDY/THEME:
Well, this is probably suposed to be a city. It doesnt even look that bad, but its still looks quite unrealistic in places (especially the background, which looks really, really weird)
also, the level is quite bland, and not all layers have been used. the rain could be done much better aswell.
What I dislike aswell that you have used a layer 4 tile on layer 3 multiple times, creating even more confusion.
There are also some layering/tilebugs, like rabbit’s feet showing under layer 3 and etc.

GAMEPLAY/LAYOUT/FLOW/PLACEMENT/ETC:

The layout of this level is quite bad, since it seems to be a straight line from side to side. Im not sure why there are trigger blocks at seek up so you can get trapped since its a bad idea. Flow is ok, could be much better, and i found myself crashing into things quite often. placement here is better then in the last level, now that I can actually see things. ammo shapes are bit odd in places, but its still ok.

CONCLUSION:
From these 2 levels, this one is the better one. Still could use lot of improvements though..
Also, I didnt review this to be mean. I reviewed this because I thought its stupid how cooldude just wrote a review without even downloading these levels. heh..

snz

Pretty in Pink no preofile on jazz2online AlexanderKacper100 and Pretty in Pink made Pretty Pink profile.