Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This level would be probably more popular if it wasn’t for TSF only. Anyway, it seems to be a quite decent piece of work, using the JJ1 Deserto tileset conversion.

In ‘Desert Trench-Warfare’ the gameplay is mostly molesting narrow tunnels or fighting above large sand dunes. The flow of course in a level like this wouldn’t be the easiest. The fact that there isn’t a certain spring or float up assisting you with moving might make you wonder; “how the heck am I able to move in a level this large then?” Well, the level only feels large because of it’s width. There isn’t really a lot of heighth in it. But even in the tunnels you will be needing your jump all the time, because stone bricks and other scenery slow down your movement. As well, there are triggered tunnels that give a nice twist to the layout. Outside, you instead are able to move easier, but then you are already in a dangerously open area, especially if you are chased. Bases lie in the very edges of the level obviously, meaning you come to a dead end when capturing or scoring. Technical problems are the lack of complete mask on the edges of the levels, causing capture-bug, as well badly masked walls that are easy to get stuck into.

Eyecandy is appreciateable, but could be improved a lot. There isn’t a textured background, which doesn’t matter everyone though. The default mountains are in the background as well. Solid wall seems often just bland plain sand, although there are dunes here and there. More waterfalls could probably enhance the looks of the black tunnels, but perhaps that wouldn’t fit to the theme.

Healing yourself here seems to be quite a hard task with a lot of players. There are 3 PowerUps for Toaster, Bouncer, and RF-missiles. Also those are the only ammo you will find from the level. Mostly from your path in the tunnels, but also basements contain ammo wisely for defending. As ammo can be that effective, you will find it really difficult to heal yourself with just two minor carrots, eventhough they spawn during ten seconds.

After all, this level could work for real games and stuff, would be just have to be made sure that no player touches the edges with flag. Luckily that is unlikely to happen accidentally. I would probably like this level much if the technical bugs were removed, eyecandy was boosted majorly and the tactical side of the level was more balanced. So far this good. I would say it is worth it for fun-gaming anyway, so download it this once. Keep up progressing Valco!

SJ

i like it. a bit quiet (hmm that actually isn’t a problem as i play stuff loud) and short, but nevertheless nicely done.

wahhh…

Gameplay

Well, I must say this level has a good flow, it has no dead ends and no irritating things you bump into all the time. However, there are too many things which make you move, like sucer tubes, warps and poles. Too many warps cause that few people know where they are all leading to. You have to know this level well to get the maximum out of it, which is also a good point. Especially in the middle there are some floating platforms, you should have tried to stay to the pattern of the sides and attach more platforms to eachother to form bigger ones. Those were all the negative parts. The open spaces were nicely dealt with so that they did not form any problem.

Eyecandy

This level has great eyecandy, especially for a nature level. You gave it a lot of colours and movement, There are many things to see, also on the foreground, ammo is placed in nice shapes and layer four is also nicely decorated. You must have had a lot of work on the eyecandy.

Originality

In the bottom of the level are some gaps, you decided to not place pits there but to make sucer tubes which hold you down for a few seconds and then blow you up. Also there are falling apples in the top corners of the level and there are some nice ‘freeze enemy/sucer tube combinations’ which bump you all over the level and must have been made by a smart person.

Gameplay: 7.5
Eyecandy: 8.5
Originality: 8.5

Final Grade: 8.2

That looks great :D.. however jazz himself looks a bit ugly.. ;o.
but i am sure u pwn my artwork <3

This is a very good song!
Thank you! :D

Alike New Ages had it volume 3 recently, also Impressions-series continues on with a third level pack. The pack here is a bit smaller though, as well it is more focused on battle-levels. As the title says, there has been some sort of Evolution.

The pack kicks off with ’6 Hour Energy Drink’, a rather small and solid battle-level with it’s neat looks. DarkSonic has been creative to keep you interested to play here. ‘Energy Drinks’ that in the end will make you rush at your opponents. Flow seems good, as well the rest of the pickups. The layout though isn’t anything special and the level itself would be just another random level using this tileset if it wasn’t this solid, and if the background wasn’t as innovative.

‘Darker Remains’ is pretty good use of the fresh Castle-set by Blade. That one is probably the better battle-levels out there, cause it’s excellent visuality and limited enough gameplay. Positions for Pickups is suitable in overall as well.

In ‘Scrap Brain’, the thing is to use your brain. It is mostly about controlling the two MCE-carrots at the top-level, as there are PowerUps placed very close to them. The level is somewhat different compared to the previous level by DS using this tileset, ‘Panic!!!’. Still, the eyecandy is what makes this remind me about it.

‘Mixxed Up’ seems to be relative to ’6 Hour Energy Drink’ with it’s name. Using also a new, fresh, Waste Treatment Facility-tileset by Cooba, it goes far to the better side of battle-levels, because it’s nice eyecandy and more tactical layout. The level utilises pits. Just too bad they are only few. Pickups are where they should be, and I don’t see ice useless either, despite the pits aren’t that risky.

My favourite level in the pack is ‘Unreal Surreality’-CTF, that is very unconventional. You could imagine the top-area is the warground mainly here, and below are pits, but instead the bottom-area is what makes this so abnormal. The bottom-area is where the only PowerUps lie, and is also the fastest route to travel between the narrow bases with flying-ability. That way the gameplay is well spread around the space here. I would probably know a better name for this level, but guess I’ll save it for one of my own.

‘Colourful Compact’ is a more default CTF-level. The PowerUps are placed somewhat unwise, and I was already looking for some variety instead of the very usual Bouncer and Toaster. I’m not either sure if two minor carrots fit here. Eyecandy is colourful, only barely not too colourful to confuse your eyes. Unfortunately this one seems to be the worst level in the pack, not by a lot, but still.

What I was most interested about in this pack at first, was the Street Pass No. 3, using the new FlagRun-gametype, and fairly new Desolation-tileset both by BlurredD. After fixing the few minor glitches here, the level seems to work fine, probably in practical use as well. It is going to be sort of crowded here in big JDC-events for example, so I guess this suits 2vs2/3vs3 FR more. The flag-spot could be less campable though, and bad is that this level is just too much like all other flagrun-levels. I can’t either find any “street” here.

Yet another VIP (Very Important Pack) from this month, or something…Alike NA III, also Impressions 3 has gone through improving, just not as much as it could. Download the pack and have a try of each level. It might be after all more like taste with the Energy-drink concepts and all, but I’d say not all the levels here are evenly decent. All work out though, and definitely ‘Unreal Surreality’ is the big diamond of the pack that raises the pack’s worth even more. I would say this month is one of the greatest with that result of upload quantity-quality comparison. I believe this is promising for the whole year, and upcoming Anniversary Bash 10 as well. DS is one another we can thank for that.

SJ

Old computer meand windows 95, 98 and 2000. New is Windows vista.

Most certainly worth the trouble of downloading. Awesome levels in general.

You go, dude! You go!

I put in ‘The Fights of March’ to be a level for those, who thought the levels in my pack were way too big. However, I don’t myself consider it to be much related to the pack since it was finished so long time ago. You could possibly call it ‘a bonus’, yeah.

The New Ages-series seems to continue on from Snooze. This time the step of improving is long. The ‘story’ doesn’t apparently go ahead anymore though, but instead the levels themselves are epic alone. Which makes it much more entertaining for me at least.

‘Land of Kaamos’, that is probably supposed to be the first level of the pack, creates a very dark and cool atmosphere over the level, that the name stands for. You can barely see the background in fullscreen, windowed players might think it’s just plain black, until the effects of ‘northern lights.’ This level though has it’s fun moments with the gameplay. It might be a bit limiting, but isn’t too crowded at all. Luckily it doesn’t get too tactical since carrots are placed far away from each other.

‘Kurast Bazaar’ is my favorite battle-level of the pack, being another dark level with a mysterious and creepy spirit, enhanced by the good music choice. The level just looks neat everywhere, despite the darkness. I also like how the gameplay doesn’t just stick to the center of the level, but you are able to hide as well. Here you may indeed look out for secrets…secrets that contain PowerUps for instance!

One of the smaller levels in the pack is ‘Water.’ Perhaps the name means a Water Pumping Station, possibly something else. Eventhough it’s smaller, it isn’t much worse than the other battle-levels in the pack. The moving background is a nice effect, but might bore for a longer playing-session. Gameplay is solid, to say at the least. I consider the positions of carrots, PowerUps, and especially ammunition balanced.

‘Desolate Chemistry’ has a very similar concept to the previous level. The gameplay is entirely different though. PowerUps have been thought about well, but instead the carrots are both to the right side of the level. I would have liked another of them to be placed into the empty bottom-left room. For a change, it is nice that this level utilises pits as well.

‘Echo Isle’ is a good use of the Islands-tileset by Blade. Background is very original, though solid walls look bland mostly. The layout is simple, although so it was in WC3. Bonus is though the decent placement and the fact, that the level is only partly symmethric.

‘Northscar Needle’ is probably my favorite level in the whole pack. It is the only symmethric level, but with this gameplay it works. I haven’t seen this tileset used a lot before, especially not this well. This level should be the most practical from a player’s view. The tubes above bases could be easier to reach though.

‘microcrack’ has a more classical Snooze’s layout, that contains two full energies. It reminds me a bit about ‘Teacup’, although this one is just way more open and better-looking. Some electroblaster would be useful here, but it still works with more than 2 players.

At this point you would possibly start wondering, when is he starting to recycle his previous levels? Well, that would probably take a while, since the only unnamed level of the pack is completely different apart from the rest of the pack, and is still fun to play in. Never does the author bore to decorate the levels the way like this either. This level has the bases separated more in vertical dimensions, yet the layout is still horizontal. That explains the situation of the full energy in the somewhat “middle.”

The last level, that is named ‘After Dark’ is perhaps a bit too Eyecandy-focused. That doesn’t mean the level is bad by it’s layout nor that it would be practically useless. It is a more tunnely level of the pack and that way reminds me of ‘The Boneyard’ from NA I. This one is still much better than it. I feel a little unsure about what the name exactly means here, but since the previous levels were mostly dark or twilight, this must be the lighter side of the pack. Refreshing.

I quite much liked the eyecandy-side of this pack, giving a boost to the gameplay-side that wasn’t left unimportant, since the pack finally had some original concepts and stuff to bring with it. The way that pickups were put in satisfies me as well, because it is after all quite important that an imbalance or hard-to-pick-up stuff are sometimes things that ruin levels a bit, or a bit more in general.

This pack is so far easily the best in the New Ages-series. What can I say? Download, host and play this often. It isn’t just about a few good/neat levels, but the entire pack is worth a try. Nice work etc.

P.S. Up for a duel in ‘Echo Isle’? ;0

SJ

These levels were all decent, although it seemed that there was something was missing and I felt some of them were a little lacking in certain areas.

Still, nice job DS. If you ever get bored of the current popluar levels, download these.

this is pretty damn good, only 2 things i would change:

2:29 where it starts playing the normal 1 but faster doesn’t really go, i would have cut the sped up intro bit out and had it continue on a bit more smoothly

should have added some more instruments in to make it a bit busier

Nice pack. All levels are good. Best levels by you so far I think.

Very nice pack. I think that Desolate Chemistry is best battle level and After Dark is best CTF level in this pack.
Nice job Snooze, again :D

nice pack with some very good levels. dl recommendation. 9.1 is kinda overrating though.

What defines an ‘old’ computer?

another really awesome level pack. all of the levels are great imo. scrap brain is very panic!!ish, though…

…and theres a fr! +0.1 for that.

gj DS.

I’m reviewing this on behalf of the review exchange.

First of all, I really enjoy levels of uncommon gametypes. This pack only had one, but it’s one of the best assault levels I’ve ever seen. It was well thought out, however I think you could’ve used more things accessable from your base, like buyable teleport spheres or something. Overall, this is a great original level.

Because the above level was the only unique level in the pack, I will be reviewing the other levels in general.
These levels have pretty well developed eyecandy. You used some very original ideas here, such as translucent hiding spots and corridors, and the slightly less original turrets. This made gameplay fun and strategic. I found the CTF levels in specific were very evenly matched between red and blue. In the CTF levels however, I noticed less originality was used. This is made up for in eyecandy however, as you used your tilesets to some of their highest potential.

I suggest that any multiplayer fan should download this, as it offers a wide variety of levels many people will enjoy!

Originality – 9

Eyecandy – 8.5

Gameplay – 8.5

FINAL GRADE – 8.7

You have a high quality pack here!

I think, it’s best utliy ever for JCS. Becuase it’s simple to use, and what’s most important: it works.
I just tested it in my Miracle of Sun, and i have been suprised, that my level was multipled. I also added big music file… and i didn’s saw any bugs.
We was waiting for it – and it’s time to make one big ultimate world! :)

I don’t really feel like writing a long review, but this won’t be a quick review either.

These levels have some interesting concepts that haven’t been tried before.

Atom Heart 243.5 has already become popular for a lot of people, and it’s one of my favourite levels to play in. It has good eye candy and a strategical layout. Despite its size the 2 Full NRGs it has are placed with thought.

The Sun Fired Blanks is a really big level that I really like as well, but it’s not that good as Atom Heart
243.5. It also has some nice EC ideas.

Center of the Universe (this time with the right capitalization) is not just another random Diamondus Beta level, it might be a bit cramped but it’s fun to play in.

Dim0rphic has a really strange layout that’s hard to learn, I think the level is kinda underrated. It’s really big as well, and has a sense of humour. ;D

Earth is one of my favourite levels of the pack, it uses the Space Warbase tileset in a really creative way and the layout is interesting too. I remember playing here once and I had a lot of fun.

The Fights of March is a really small level that almost feels like a bonus. I think I’ve seen this level some years ago..

Greater Legacy is a really big level. It has great eye candy, the best I’ve seen with Chateau(that’s no wonder though) It’s really hard to learn, but I think that’s not a big flaw.

Central Shaft makes great use of the Pekka Kana 2 tileset, a tileset that hasn’t been used a lot before. The layout is pretty open and not too simple.

The Frozen Throne is one of the smaller levels of the pack. It’s the best use of Glacier I’ve seen, and it has some nice ideas. I remember playing a Team Battle game here and that was pretty fun.

The other versions of these levels are a nice bonus. Overall, this is a great Multiplayer pack. The pack was probably supposed to be bigger, but SJ has made some great levels. These levels are great to host sometime, and because some are pretty big they can be used for things like events too.