Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Introduction

This level, City of the Sn00zE, has already been uploaded but that was in Codename: Alliance, a pack of 17 levels. Due to popular request Purplejazz uploaded it as a separate level, so the level could possibly get more attention. This level deserves a good review, as I’ve played it several times now and now that it’s uploaded as a separate level I finally get the chance to do it. So beware.

Layout

The level is semi-symmetrical, and has a few big platforms and lots of small platforms (roofs) and one ways. It also has several warps and secret passages. I think that the layout is pretty easy to learn, even when it’s not entirely symmetrical. The underground (aka the |U|||||||n|||||||D|||||||e|||||||R|||||||g|||||||R|||||||o|||||||U|||||||n|||||||D) is a bit darker than the upper area of the level. One of the bases is placed at the l33test position ever (13,37) I feel special because I was the first one who found out that it was placed at that position (except PJ himself who placed it there intentionally)

Gameplay

Like I said, there are lots of one ways and warps and there are also some vines. The flow is alright. You have to jump a lot but that’s probably the tileset’s fault (because it’s a pain to use) The balance seems okay. No red or blue bias like in some popular levels. And yay for all those textstrings that are hard to find (one is in the wall so if you find that without looking in JCS you’re cheating. Yes, I looked in JCS because I couldn’t find all of them.)

Eye candy and theme

For the given tileset, the eye candy is really good (GUD AND STRONG) Really, if anyone uses this set without making lots of tilebugs or boring eye candy that person is a winner (Snooze already did it with Persona Lity) Almost all eye candy is in layer 4, except some tiles that were needed to make things tile (now that was a weird sentence.) There’s enough eye candy in the walls too. The background is pretty (and I <3 the fade colour) The theme seems to be some sort of city where the Sn00zE lives (so BEEHAIV OR U GETT VOTB) and the music fits, as it sounds pretty happy.

Placement of stuff

This is a level with 3 Power-Ups (actually 4, but 3 different ones) and 3 carrots. The 2 Bouncy Power-Ups are at the top left and top right. The Toaster Power-Up is in the middle (sort of at the top, but under the platform between the two Bouncy Power-Ups) The Seek Power-Up is in the UnDeRgRoUnD (it looks like it’s closer to the red base though) There are 2 +1 carrots. One near each base. The Full NRG is in the middle, although it seems a bit closer to the blue base. I guess that still makes it balanced.. however, the only Gun9 ammo seems closer to the red base too. Not that it matters much though. The other ammo placement seems alright. There are no fast fires in this level, which seems good.

Further comments

This level, called City of the Sn00zE, has potential to become popular. And I think it already is, because people often suggest to play it. If you didn’t get Alliance yet (although I doubt it with more than 20000 downloads) then download this. Even when you already downloaded it I recommend to download this as it will make ur head asploed. I also recommend to host this. It’s good for team games, but even duels work well although it might take long. I give this a 9.7! No, just kidding. I give this an 8.4 and like I said, I also give this a download recommendation.

well, it seems Sfaizst came up with an pretty program. for the use off clients so they lose hearts when joining a server. the buttons and stuff makes it really easy to use, and the detects aren’t really a problem i guess since they’re not many jazz.exe’s that are different then the names stated their.

their is one thing i noticed tough, the utility works from the client. not as a setting from the admin on the server. in that case.. to let real concepts work with Coop, then all clients need to run this utility. which is quite a hard job and irritating.

also, it is a windowed program beside JJ2.. which is actually bad. We don’t really appriociate to run more programs at once just for jj2.. you should have made a patch for it instead. so it patches jj2 to it’s new upgrades.

however.. good job. to come up with this. i don’t say this is bad. unfortunately, it’s awesome. but you should try to make those points i stated here. ( for instance ask blur to put it in jj2+ as an option) if you manage these fix these annoying things. then it will also upgrade your rating.

Clever, original and helpful for those learning how to play guitar. I am note sure whether or not to rate this and how to, so I’ll leave it a blank. nice job, though. I didn’t play them from tabs yet (mostly since I always have trouble keeping up with them), but by the looks of it, they’re pretty accurate as well. I can’t give a full check, though, since I can’t read a single note and play everything by ear.

Anyways, props to you, Lark.

Edit to add: I’d like to see the intro riff for Jazz Be Damned added. It’s hard to get it on paper, but it’d be quite helpful.

This episode is brilliant, definitely an example of thinking out of the box if compared to other levels from the same time. What’s kinda creepy is that these were made at the same time I’d made my very first levels. Cool huh? Download now.

Yeah! Thank you very much Sfaizst!
You fixed this Bug in a few hours, nice =)

Thx u, i hate this bug. This was rly unfair.. And now i can play with lose hearts :)

[Start making your one-liner reviews quick PLEASE. ~cooba]

Aah, another Christmas-y level. While this is not the first Christmas level this year, let’s hope it’s certainly not the last either.

Gameplay: Nice
This battle level has a typical DS-layout. Not too complex, yet it does the trick of looking very carefully built. Icy Environment carries an action-packed feeling, created by the large amount of useful ammo. Three different power-ups (no seeker) add to the tactical use of weapons.

The level is basicly divided into two areas. The lower level and the rest. The lower level isn’t much interesting, since all of the PU’s and carrots are above it, but it does have various ‘shortcuts’ to the above level, including the outer edges both leading to two of the three carrots present. The third and last carrot sits safely on his platform high in the level.

On the lower section are two crossing tubes, one propelling you upward and the other propelling you to the other side. Both are handy to escape a rabbit on your tail, since they can give you quite a head start if you keep on running afterwards.

There are three PUs to be found. Bouncers come in handy for shooting the people on the platforms below. RF missiles can easily haunt a player down walking either in the top or bottom paths, since they’re long and straight. The Toaster PU comes in a little less handy, but can still be used in a way only the Toaster can be used; just block the path of narrow corridors with tons of flames. A player is almost bound to run into those soon enough.

Overall, nice gameplay and use of ammo dispersion.

Atmosphere: Even nicer
This level has a typical DS-atmosphere (where have I heard that before?). The tileset is used to the extreme, providing us with lots of goodness for the eye. The platforms can easily be made out for solid walls and it’s quite obvious what is supposed to be the background.

Speaking of which, the background is plainly gorgeous. DS makes use of the tileset like rarely anyone has ever seen before, creating an original background, as well as ‘wall-eyecandy’. Simply charming little details fill your heart with Christmas spirit as you run by killing rabbits.

The music choice is a whole different story, though. It seems DS is rather fond of his collection of Sonic the Hedgehog tunes. I myself, however, get rather bored by these tunes easily. Several DS levels already include music from this franchise, and I can’t really appreciate this. It does add to the feel of the level, on the other hand, but I personally would rather play without the music on.

Overall: Very nice
Icy Environment gives a whole new, refreshing look to Nippius. Festivity is in the air and this should occasionally be hosted, especially during the season.

Download Recommendation: Yes
Of course.

Score: 8.1
This level, Icy Environment, gives a whole new twist to Christmas levels in a way that neither the Holiday Hare 94 nor the Holiday Hare 98 sets could bring.

tis tileset arrangement is good

i think tis could be useful aswell as unuseful at times i will give tis a 9

[Review changed to quick review. – cooba]

Pt.. i removed some seeks.. (note that there weren’t a lot off seeks and there isn’t a seek power up what also prevents seek spam)

also.. the tileset is not an fix.. but only som add-ons

there are now 3 spots off seekers.. most times 5 to 7 missiles on each spot.

(ignore the text saying it’s an fix.. i don’t know why i named it like that.. but i removed the maskings from the foreground things atleast.. you shouldn’t rate the tileset parts anyway.)

Well, very…. interesting level…
Not what I expected, Aurora Citadel is a Christmas level using the Holidaius ’98 fix tileset [which doesn’t really appear to BE fixed, but ow] and is very unusual. Why? no layer 8 bg. The level is devoted to seekers, having so many spots with them that I lost count. The amount of hidden shortcuts and side routes amazed me. The eyecandy was quite nice.
So to finish up, I will give a rating of 7.9, and a neutral dl rec, because the level was good but the high concentration of seekers unnerved even me.

Hello
Now i need to say some words too:

I know my bad english, but i think its not to hard to understand

We started developing the Tool on September of 2008, the first versions we had a lot of friends and a funny time, the first sever got be hacked, we started agian, the second too, now we are on the 3rd server, we use a better system, this new works without problems now.

But what i not understand why none of you understand the big diffrence to the + mp3 support, this support is quite not for single player games, its an additional tool for Online playing games, we choosen the ‘Secret Filed’ in Jcs to enter the title, the reason is:
This filed is not often used and no one who is not using the tool is really attaced.

So finally i think its better to play online with a streaming title from YouTube or the Server else to download a title choosen from the JJ2server witch needs 10 minutes or more (the most time is the sevrer with level cycling faster)

I’m happy to see some persons respect our work on this Tool and be quite more happy if you one day use it

Edit: I forgot to say, online I see more Servers using our Tool else using the + mp3 support (This is not a attack to + users or the developer its only a fact)

Marry Christmas
Sfaizst

Edit for PT32 (and others who are thinking so too):

Hmm, i hate to repead me, but i think you not understand me, the diffrence IS to play from youtube or a server, i personally hate it to hear no music from the server when I’m playing online, i have some mp3s on my Pc too, but when i wish to hear the mp3 or mod file the server selected i need a lot minutes to find it,… to download it and to implement it to my JJ folder, as well my so small disk space is going down too.

The JJ2mp3 support is smaller then 2Mb , so smaller as the most Mp3s you can find in the internet
(I know, we all have HDD problems, HDDs are the most time in new PCs over 250gb big but we have no place for a Tool what needs at this 250gb 0,0008% of it)

And as well i think this with the illegal content you can find in links on the readme or in this tool arent the problem here too, just look on the page of the list server digiex, go to the
Forum —> Games —> Jazz Jackrabbit 2 —> what do you see??

But finally i think you not want to understand it so no word what I’m saying here will change ur oppinion about this tool

So a nice 2009
(I really hope something will change 2009)

Dreamless, a single player level pack made by none other than snooze. Will his ‘legendary’ status aid him in making a good single player pack or will this be yet another popularity hit?

Gameplay: 50-50
One thing that concerns me most about this pack is the gameplay. Simply put, I don’t know what to think of it. The pack carries a heavy mix of feeling rushed and feeling well constructed. Some area’s feel like they serve for no other purpose than to add an extra mile to walk, while some really add to the fun.

Without doubt, the worst thing of this pack were the pits. Some are obvious, but most of the time, you would drop down from a vine and fall to death, simply because you were looking for some more treasure. It IS a platformer, after all, so ammo and gems are always welcome. As recommended, playing on Easy will serve you a lot more justification when looking for aid in this particular pack.

The levels have a really odd feeling to them. It’s not really based on enemy killing, but the puzzles also don’t prove much of a challenge (though that might be just me). The puzzles may be fun at first, but when you think back, you’ll head go “pfft, I knew that” most of the time. Regarding the puzzles, by the way, there is a certain degree of complexity that nobody could guess if they hadn’t heard of that before. For example, there’s this puzzle where the player must use the Electro Gun to shoot a checkpoint beyond a wall and then kill himself in order to get there. Not only is this quite far-fetched, but it can also cause quite a lot of frustration for people new to the Single Player packs presented on this website. On the other hand, the idea itself is very original but feels like an elite player gadget.

The pack is driven by a storyline. A mediocre one at that, but it does the trick. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before, but the aspect of it being all a dream makes up for it. Either way, it is still a ‘bad guy has to be defeated’ story. From snooze, I would have expected something a little lighter and funnier, but then again, no. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

A few things about playing this pack kept annoying me. The pits, as said before, but also the amount of text strings. For example, cutscenes can also be implemented in tilesets. Also, as EvilMike said, some of the ‘protagonist thoughts’ are annoying for the fact that the player may think completely different from what the protagonist is thinking.

Overall, the pack played average. There were too many things bugging me, I’m afraid, and I’m gonna have to stick with the rushed feeling I had in the beginning.

Atmosphere: Good
The one thing that stood out in this entire pack was without doubt the atmosphere. There are two sides to this. One being the excellent use of tilesets, the other being the way in which the levels are presented.

Snooze is of course known for his multiplayer levelpacks, which often feature levels that make an unexpected use of particular tilesets. This results in ‘wow-ing’ the player and therefore earning fantastic scores in the eyecandy department. This pack follows the tradition of unexpected tileset use (with a few exceptions, more on that later).

The level with the Star Wars reference feels the most left out. I simply don’t think it stands out too much in comparison to the other levels. Even when you’re ‘shot into space’ and ‘the view is amazing’, it still feels odd, even for a dream.

On the other hand, the ghostship level is by far the best use of tileset I’ve seen in a while. A completely unexpected turn of events for the Beach tileset (though a previously released screenshot shows us a little spoiler). The level is fairly translucent, making the background visible, showing occasional other ships passing by (maybe too occasional, I personally would make the layer wider to prevent it from becoming boring). The level carries a mystique feeling, which I really enjoyed.

Also, as I said before, the cutscenes especially feel rushed. I would have used a tileset cutscene myself, simply because the cutscenes now look like they were added in ‘just because you needed a cutscene’. They don’t feel like part of the pack, which they of course are. Especially the opening level felt like a big disappointment and almost made me quit on the spot.

Overall: Good
The Dreamless single player pack surely feels like a step forward in the SP setting of J2O. I surely hope that snooze will continue his work and improve upon the critique he has received. Good job.

Download Recommendation: Yes
Though on the hard side for newcomers (even in Easy), learn to think out of the box. Forget the Epic SP packs and use your brain. You’ll have to with this pack.

Score: 7
I was thinking about giving this a higher score before, but this pack had just too much worrying me. I do sincerely hope that you build on these ‘flaws’ (don’t want to call it mistakes or faults) and make even nicer level packs. You have my faith. :)

(Rag, eat your heart out. 5000 characters!)

while this may seem like a good idea, it really isn’t.

What this Does
This is basically a utility designed to play live streaming MP3 or youtube audio over a server. It is however, poorly exacted. Why would i want to use this? Jazz2+ supports MP3 already and even in I’m using the normal version, I think a regular song would work better. I know this came before MP3’s were in Jazz2, but even so, I shouldn’t really want to use this. It’s an inconvenience to have another window open along with anything else your running. The library does have a lot of songs to it, but I don’t really like a lot of them. I may be wrong, but haven’t I seen some of these songs uploaded to J2O? The youtube thing doesn’t really add anything. The one thing that really rates this down is the fact you gave out links to places where you can download ALL version of Jazz without permission.

Overall, I don’t really see the point in this download and I think using Jazz2+ or searching for a song on J20 or Mod archive is a better choice. No download recommended and please take down those links!

Just some tips: It is A CHRISTMAS, not AN CRISTMAS ^^. Also I is spelled in CAPITALS. ^^

Gameplay

The flow is good, I also recognise some of FF’s famous sucer tube-spring cominations. What bothers me most however, is that the middle platform in this level only contains 2 ways to go down, which are at it’s both ends, while there are more ways to go up. I would have like to seen a 3rd and maybe also a 4th way to get down from there.

Eyecandy

The eyecandy is pretty nice, especially for this tileset. There is plenty of back and foreground, while layer 4 also posseses great eyecandy.

Originality

There isn’t a lot of originality in this level, that is also what I miss the most.

Sorry for the not so long review, Im busy :p

Gameplay: 7
Eyecandy: 8
Originality: 6

Final Grade: 7

I recommend this download for playing public in the Holidays.

I see no point in this upload.
It is no different than the latest JJ2+, infact it’s worse.
I wouldn’t normally do this, but the fact that you put an illegal link to JJ2 in your level IN MULTIPLE PLACES disgusts me.
For this reason, I will give you a negative dl rec, and a rating of 1.3, because it could be usable by some inconceivably long stretch of imagination, but is a terrible waste of disk space. I hope the admins will remove such content from J2O.

Just to make it clear that this is NOT an attack in any way on djazz. I simply see no good in this download.

Edit: to Sfaizst:
But the point is…There IS no difference between this and JJ2+, because JJ2+ ALREADY provides mp3 support! I don’t even use Youtube, and having more windows open simply makes the game even slower. I see no point, and cannot recommend a download! Thank you for your politeness though.

————————————-
I’m not even going to try to argue this point anymore, because it’s going nowhere fast. Thanks for your courtesy, but we shall have to agree to disagree.

I didn’t exactly expect Snz to do so great making the leap from MP to SP all of a sudden.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The atmosphere might not be there for everyone, but the levels are very interesting and it often feels like nothing in the levels is insignificant.
Awesome job, do make more SP, but don’t forget about CTF.

Hmm….
Interesting level. It is a level with CTF bases, super red gems, a tricky and confusing race, and battle possibilities all rolled up into one. Unfortunately, this makes the level a bit cramped, as evident when played.
There’s one whole quarter of the map I haven’t even figured out how to GET TO yet
The pipes can be annoying, esp. if you are trying to pinpoint one to enter.
Eyecandy is classic, not very original.
I wish…..I wish…..I wish you would fix these things up.
I’m afraid I’ll have to hand out a no-dl citation, because it simply is too crazy to conceive playing on. Hope you can fix it, and look forward to seeing a better version!

Very nice job! Eyecandy was excellent, levels were awesome too, music fit, a few rubbish things [like the DEATH PITS], but worth a dl.

quite evil yet awesome pack, make more sp snz :D

I’m still rather pissed off about the hatemail, but you people should realize that that doesn’t affect this rating. Either way, this levelpack had some key features for singleplayer, eyecandy, enemy placement, ammo placement. The thing that brings your score down painfully is your lack of creativity! I mean, we’re in a dream world, shouldn’t anything be possible?

JJ2 logos falling down, randomly falling out of dreams into senseless puzzles.
I know this will sound very contradictory, but your levelpack made too much sense!

Even though you didn’t do a swell job on this levelpack, thanks to the dream theme, if you make another, make it like this! (No death pits, though)

The only setback you had was your dream storyline. I’m sure I would’ve given this a 7.5, at least, if this was in a regular setting.