Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Ah, this takes me back. These levels are what you’d see in 1998 or 1999 or so, a time when the distinction between battle and hotel levels could still be pretty loose and JCS was notable not because it let you make battle zones perfectly in tune with specific theories of gameplay but because it let you build your own worlds and populate them with distinct features and environments. That is, incidentally, the only respect in which the music chosen really makes any sense. It kind of works in the Top Secret level, but for the other two levels the music is totally wrong, and can only be saved if you consider that it came from a Castlevania game, and these levels are much closer to that in design then they are to ordinary battle levels.

Probably the best-known comparison for these maps is Hotel Orion (and to a lesser extent many of its cousins): the eyecandy is minimal and individual tiles are blocky, chosen to convey specific ideas about what’s going on around them rather than to create a beautiful, unified image for the entire level. This is eyecandy as one might find it in Cracco Land of Coins, but even more broken down than in that. In the Top Secret map in particular — my favorite, and the best example here of what I’m talking about — the author uses letter blocks to tell you what the place you’re in is. “3 Way Arena” is all you need to understand that you’re in an arena where you fight with powered-up RF Missiles, because that’s the only thing around. The maps are segregated — sometimes by elaborate warp systems, sometimes by empty space — into very specific areas for very specific ideas. You’ll never find speed dating (or even a chatroom) in a level of today.

It isn’t that the author doesn’t know how to use JCS, and so doesn’t produce what we’re used to. There are plenty of destructable scenery, springs, floats, trigger crates, and warps, all working flawlessly. The other layers are populated and have had their settings changed — they’re not remotely attractive, particularly in Bloxonius, but they’re technically proficient. One particularly intelligent area features animated tiles that remain solid for a while, then change to smiley-face blocks to indicate that they’re about to disappear, then go unsolid for a bit so you can fall through. Next to them are countdown animated tiles so you’ll know how much longer you have left before escape is possible. This is the kind of thinking you’ll see in these maps but would never see anywhere else, at least not so primitively.

Right now, these maps are mostly unplayable for anyone but the author and whoever lives in real life proximity. None of us have the right endearment or can actually understand the importance of the place in the Space Warbase level where you fall through collapse scenery and collect ammo, and the moving columns make no sense to us. But this author has everything it takes to improve later on. The author needs to decide what is most important in level design, fast-paced gameplay or worldbuilding — clearly right now the latter, but things may change — and separate the two out. The vast quantities of ammo right now are torn between being actually used for battle games and for invoking specific sentiments, and that’s not right. But it is from levels like this that a new Craccoboy or Miracle of Sun might eventually evolve, although a little more time spent on eyecandy might help, at least to sell concepts to casual players. And making the levels smaller would be a good step too, so that the author can actually focus on places for more than a minute or two before having to move on to fill the rest of the enormous layer 4.

If you’re looking for battle levels, absolutely do not download these. But they’re wonderful reminders that there’s a lot we could be doing with JCS that we’re not right now. This author doesn’t yet have the skill to make it palatable to a wider audience, but maybe some of us do. Or maybe it’ll take another couple years. If you do download these, maybe skip the Bloxonius map (battle4s) entirely, as it’s more of a battle level than the other two but a throwback to a school of design we absolutely do not need. But try to keep an open mind, and ask yourself if what you see is necessarily worse than what we do in JCS today, or just (a very primitive, experimental version of) something different.

I can’t stop that crappy feeling!

Story
Non is present so I won’t rate.

Eyecandey
This level is very small and boring. the background has tilebugs in it but only in one layer. Layer 4 is boring as the eycandey is basic. There’s lots of tilebugs and a lot of the walls don’t have edge tiles. The ground has tilebugs in some places and everything is boring to look at. Animation are minimal and the hats aren’t covered up. No layer 3 is used.
1/10
Gameplay
Go right, kill enemies, drop down, warp, warp again, go right the fight a boss. You can do this in about 2 minutes. No puzzles are added.
1/10
Enemy Placement
Very few enemies are here. Not enough to kill me and the boss has no Challenge. Also there’s a Blisy boss in one point of the level that you can’t avoid because it doesn’t activate.
1/10
Pickups
Not much is present at all. Little gems and carrots, no food and a little ammo.
1/10

Final Score: 4/40
Score: 1
Rank: F
DR? No. Spend more time on your levels. Keep trying though!

This is Spaz’ head on Jazz’ body with some awkward recoloring and few of Razz’ gadgets. More importantly, I’d say it’s really more appropriate material for the JCF or Rabbitjournal.

First of all, it said “version conflict” even though it was on 1.23, so i couldn’t play the darn thing. Had to view it in JCS.
Secondly, I wasn’t able to view it in JCS, cos it was passworded.
So furthermore, i think you should’ve done a better job on this level, so…IMPROVE THIS LEVEL AND REUPLOAD IT!

It could be a more large picture…
61×61 does not offer more detail…
But… wait. When i look closer i see that is a Jazz body whit a Spaz’s head, with that nice color and some of Razz’ gadgets….

Useful tool, very fun for a challenge.

Docked marks basically for glitchyness, but it is very fun because you can switch Jazzes animations through unintentional use of this.

Other mark docked because the blaster ammo say X_X not an actual number…

Still download for a fun challenge

Haha this thing is cool! I loaded a sp level and shot out all my blaster ammo (would be neat if you’d put a counter) to see if it would work. Then I had to get through a destructable wall and got screwed :—DDD

Giving this a 7 because it could have had more options (such as less health, or a tougher ammo limit). Other than that this is fun!

Well… I don’t really know what to say about it but lets begin.

This level is kinda short with lots of bugs in eyecandy the idea wasn’t original like, Dx said that the carrotus bridge was stollen from him.
Ischa considered that Dx’s bridge idea is a good one and he decided to use it.. not to steal it.

The music wasn’t quite addequate for a carrotus level, but in a cave(not a carrotus garden)he thought it is.(Not a bad thing)

The eyecandy was buggy(like i said earlier) it didn’t have anything new n the use of the tiles.

Tileset use was good but some ideas were -stolen-(“stolen” is a hard word. They were borowed).(The cave by Dx) and it was a kind of level that did not have anything that showed an exterior.

Baddies: When i downloaded it, i played in hard mode and i was dissapointed.
Not to many baddies at all. Only the spikes made it more harder.

Goodies… There were some places where you had 1up a full NRG and 50 coins not to hard to find.

Gameplay was weak because it did not have any action… It was used that thing with the trigger where it sais “access granted” and it was just a common level… Nothing special..
At the end of the level i’ve discovered an active boss music without a boss… Well that’s not very common but still… I was expecting to find a boss at the last part and then suddenly finished. Edited.. It looks like it had a boss between 2 waterfalls.

So in conclusion i didn’t like it.too borring.

Final Score……
Original:Not quite but there were some good stuff in there.
Long: not long enough
Fun: Not really..
Rank: D.
Score: average.
Rating 7.0
Dl rec… yes..Download if you don’t have anything to do for 5 min but you will enjoy.
Sorry… but you should fix this level and after that you just have to wait.

This tileset contains fails of the epic proportions.

All you did with this is take the tileset that came with jazz 2, corrected the weird blue colors, and added your name. Nothing was added. No hooks, vines, backgrounds, tubes or anything was added. Not even any animations were found, making this tileset almost useless. I usually rate the colors next, but since this is a direct rip from the one that came with jazz i won’t say anything. The masking in on auto masking meaning jazz will bump into everything, even furthering the uselessness of this tileset.

Need I say more? you have no reason to use this tileset and deserves a big fat embarrassing 1. I know it’s no use complaining about something that was uploaded 4 years ago, but even by the standers of 1997, this is inexcusable.
Final Score: 1 and a not download recommended.

Pretty bad tileset.

What this is
this is basically a tileset designed with the sole purpose of making a desktop. While it may sound like a good idea, it’s poorly executed.

Tiles
Not much is added. A lot of the tiles include icons, a window, and a task bar. that’s it for a lot of it. there’s a sign and some blocks. That’s about it. everything looks ugly and there isn’t anything like vines, hooks, textured background or anything that can make a good background. In a lot of areas, black hasn’t been replaced.
1/10
Animations
No animations so no points.
0/10
Color
Colors are bad as everything looks like it lost color and everything looks ugly.
2/10
Pallet events
Non are used so I won’t rate.
Masking
This masking is almost completely auto masked. The grid is masked for some reason and the mask looks ugly. that being said, it is usable.
6/10
Reusabilty
Considering you can barley us this, the reusability is almost non existent.
1/10

Final Score:10/50
Score: 2
Rank: F
DR? No. There is no way this could be used to make a really good level. No download.

Sad attempt at a CTF level.

Eyecandy
Eyecandy is very bland. Everything is floating which I guess is ok for space. theirs a background of space and that’s it. The layer 4 bland and repetitive, using trick tiles to make it confusing to get to the bases. Very few animations are used and the level is to small for CTF. overall, boring eyecandy.
1/10
Gameplay
Gameplay is boring. most of the ammo and carrots are put in secret locations and once you figure out how to get to them, It can basically be impossible for you to die. There’s no powerups at all and only a little bouncer ammo is out in the open. There are 6 carrots in one area which is to much and everything doesn’t have a delay for the respawn. The bases can be hard to get to because for blue, there’s one little area that you can go though and for red, you have to go through some fake tiles which can be confusing. there’s arrows, but your not likely to notice them in a hard core match to the death. Also the map is way to small.
1/10
Ammo and Carrots
Bad. Most of the ammo is in secret areas and very little is in the open. once you figure out how to get to everything, you’ll never run out. There is a stash of 6 carrots that respawn to0 quickly meaning you won’t be dying anytime soon.
1/10

Final Score: 3/30
Score: 1
Rank; F
DR? No. There’s no way i would host this level as there’s not that much fun to be had. No download.

I would like someone that makes a jazz jack rabbit 2.00
(Not cheating)

I would like someone that makes a jazz jack rabbit 2.00
(Not cheating)

[Rating (7.0) clearance. – cooba]

Did’t liked it, and you even stole my ‘carrottus-bridges’ idea. How nice.

Gameplay was boring
Eyecandy was unfinished?

This is a sad attempt a race level.

Eyecandey
I think I can safely say that some on my oldest levels are better then this. The background looks horrible, like you garbed the background, and spread it while you held down the mouse button. the layer 4 is made up of about 7 tiles in the whole tileset. Layer 7-5 is the same thing as layer 8 even still using the background tiles. This is pathetic.
1/10
Gameplay
Once you warp in, you can take many paths. Most of them lead to traps and one you hit those winds are your in a trap, your out. In a way it makes in challenging. this whole thing is that it is too short and once you figure out where to go, it takes about 20 seconds. Not only that but when you do get to the end, your in a coin room with a flag. Who plays race in ctf?
1/10

Ammo
No pickups of any sorts unless you count the coins.
1/10

Replay
You will not want to replay.
1/10

Final Score: 4/40
Score: 1
Rank: F
DR? NO way.

Now here comes something that EVERYONE should have yet it doesn’t have a full review. Time to change that!

What this is
This is basically an.ini for JCS that enables holiday hair enemies in TSF and trigger zones for all versions. It works, and that trigger zone event is a lifesaver.

Ease of use
You just drop in into your Jazz2 folder and run JCS. couldn’t be simpler!
10/10

Look
Since this can only be a notepad file i won’t rate.

Does it work?
YES! It adds the enemies and trigger zones without any problems. If it doesn’t work, you really shouldn’t be using a computer.
10/10

Would I use it?
Of course! The trigger zones alone make this a great download and everyone should be able to use them.

Final Score: 20/20
Score: 10
Rank: S
DR? YES! Everyone should be running this INI period. If you haven’t downloaded, download.

This is one of the saddest attempts at making a battle level.

eyecandey
We got a background and a couple of tiles making a one tile wide hole with some animations. That’s it. About 10 tiles were used.
1/10
Gameplay and flow
You drop down into a hole with a regenerating seeker box. you then sit there, look up, and keep firing. Lots of fun right?
1/10
Ammo Placement
There’s on regenerating box of ammo. Great.
1/10
Carrot Placement
NON
0/10

Final Score:3/40
Score: 1
Rank: Z
DR? No. This is so sad I can’t even say anything witty.

wow. Fun level. sarcasm

Eyecandey
Well layer 8 is used so good I guess. Layer 4 is un-animated an everything is floating. This looks like it was made in 2 minutes.
1/10
Gameplay
This is supposed to be a test, but this is so easy I could do it blindfolded. (Maybe not) You sidekick across warps and then copter ears your way around the warps. After that you have a choice to do it again or to end the level. (what do you think I did?)
1/10

Final score: 2/20
Score: 1
Rank: F
DR? No. This is garbage.No way I’d ever host this.

sigh

What this is
this is supposed to see a hotel tileset but you would have to be out of your mind to use it. Why?

Ok 0.5 mark down because the tilesets name is to long.

Tiles
this is horrible. there’s a textured background but god help me if it works. A lot of the tileset has horrible ripped sprites and objects from other games and Jazz. Everything that was hand drawn just screams MS paint at the top of it’s lungs. Everything looks poorly done and chunky. A lot of event tiles aren’t here and the ones that are aren’t masked properly. Black isn’t replaced in a lot of areas. Very little of the tiles you can actually use to create a good looking level as well. There’s also destruct block but they look horrible. Overall, all the tiles are poorly, ripped or drawn and It’s hard to see anyone make a good looking level with it.
1/10
Animations
There are animations, but they look bad. The sprites have tons of frames missing and the ones that were hand made don’t look that good as well. (I don’t even know what one of them is) there’s also a lack of animations you can use to make something interesting as most of them are sprite animations.
Overall, bad animations.
1/10
Colors
Colors look Ms painty and they all and a lot of them are just solid colors for a background. What is there looks off as well.
1/10
pallet Events
Non work so i won’t rate.
Masking
Masking is bad, but not unusable. Lots of stuff isn’t properly masked though and it’s defiantly uneven in tons of places. lots of things have holes in the masking. Not great masking.
3/10
Reusability
Well considering I would never use this tileset you get a 0 on that.
0/10

Final Score:5.5/50
Score: 1
Rank: F
DR? No. if I want a hotel tileset I’ll use hotel dream. Don’t waste your time to download.

Now I’m not that good at reviewing conversions, but It doesn’t take a genius to see this is a great and usable tileset.

What this is
This is basically a conversion of the old battery check level Binnen. While at first glance it looks like it has everything, there some things missing I would have liked.

Tiles
I haven’t played Battery check in a while, but I can safely say pretty much everything is here. All the background, foreground, animations, and tiles from the original tileset look like there here and well. It was nice you added destruct locks in with the tileset as I love using those. The water area in here as well. There some things I would have liked that isn’t here. Vines, hooks, tubes, textured background and arrows aren’t here. I’m sure you could get tubes working by using some of the tiles to make something that looks like tubes, but some custom ones would be nice. Overall, everything is here, i just wish there was some more stuff added.

Edit: Most of these have been added! I’ll give you an extra point!
8/10
Animations
The animations are good. They all have there frames but some of them have bugs. The static TV has a bug where part of the railing flashes in the third frame. Other then that, the animations look great and fluent. Nice job!
9/10
Colors
Colors look perfect, exactly what i remember from battery check. Great job there!
10/10
Pallet Events
Won’t rate because non are used, but thanks for fixing up the pallet!
Masking
Masking is good. It’s a lot better then the old tileset. Masking is straight lines and almost everything is masked properly. the only thing that has weird masking is the tiles with the monitors near the bottom of the tileset. Other then that, nice work fixing up the masking job!
8/10
Reusability
Not the best. While you do have a variety of tiles to use from under water, factory or lab, your still limited because there’s no outdoor background. If you included this, It would have been a lot higher of a rating.
6/10

Final Score:41/50
Score: 8.2
Rank: B
DR? Sure. This is a great tileset and I won’t be surprised if someone will use it. Download now and enjoy!

Edit: Changed rating by a little.