Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

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.

FS pretty much said all of the stuff I was going to say but whatever, here goes.

Both of these levels impressed me on first sight. They are both great for JDC events and also exceptional levels for the upcoming AB10. Not much to say, download these.

Holy Cow! This rocks! Now that you can save in larger levels, makes playing them more flexible and easier! Thanks!

Time for a full review!

Layout:
Good layout. Easy to use. Layout is self explanatory. Graphics aren’t that good but this IS only patch as well as it was made with some sort of program. Glad they added the warning. Nice stuff! Couldn’t be easier to use.

Buggs:
No bugs. Just run the patch on the jazz2.exe and there you go. Not bugs whatsoever.

Usefulness:
Ah what a great patch. You can not play bigger music files. (But huge ones will still do things. I played a 32 megabyte music file and my computer crashed.)You can save in big levels like QOB and the invasion of Deserto space base. Very useful!

My score:10
D/R? This is one of the most useful patches you can download. Download right now. Same goes for the 1.23 version! Download now!

when i just saw this upload i was like “haha i bet DS is gonna give this some ridiculously high rating”

Echo Isle – the first level in the pack. kinda linear and generic, it’s a shame that even after all these years people still make such layouts.. 2.5/5

Northscar Needle – the tileset is butt ugly but somehow snooze gets away with it.. probably the best level in the pack gameplay-wise. 4/5

microcrack // – it’s criminal to give such a good looking level a stupid name like this. the layout is nothing special though, better than the first level but still only average. 3.5/5

- – i find it a pain in the (-) to navigate around here when i move really fast. the tileset is cute though. 3.5/5

After Dark – probably the best all around level in the pack. i actually consider this level one of snooze’s finest levels ever, among with saint zipcode, radiation, the boneyard, teacup and clipboard chaos which i consider snooze’s best level, although it feels unfinished… anyways this level owns. 4/5

people keep saying stuff like “this time snooze focused on gameplay” and blablablabla these levels are very simple gameplay-wise.. i won’t rate this since i don’t give a (-) about battle levels but overall i give the CTF part of this pack 3.5 stars and a download recommendation.

Introduction

For some people this pack might be unexpected, but most people(including myself) knew that this pack was coming. After NAII, a pack that a lot of people liked but some people didn’t really like, it’s time for NAIII. And Snooze beats me again.. with 9 levels in a pack and he uploads his pack before I do it :(

Anyway, let’s start.

Gameplay

The layouts of the Battle levels are all relatively simple and solid. Unlike NAII, which had levels with more complex layouts. These levels have better layouts in my opinion. It’s really easy to run around and you don’t bump against things. I would call the levels’ size medium, although Water is a pretty small level. There is nothing wrong with the flow either.

The CTF levels are like the Battle levels: easy to learn, pretty simple, solid and nice layouts. The ways to the base are not extremely simple, but they’re not complicated either. For example, in After Dark the way to the base is not a straight line and it takes some seconds. Otherwise, really nice gameplay in both kinds of levels.

Eye candy

When you play levels from this pack the first thing you’ll notice is that most of the levels have a translucent background. Snooze has paid a lot of attention to the backgrounds in the levels, especially in Echo Isle. According to the author himself it took a day to create it. The eye candy in the levels is pretty original. For example, Northscar Needle not only has a good background, but it also has original eye candy in the walls(in layer 3) Another example is the eye candy in -(no wonder why the level has that kind of name). I really like the pillars there. There is enough eye candy to look at, in every level. microcrack // uses a tileset that has been used a lot before, but still it has some original eye candy. Land of Kaamos uses a tileset that’s really hard to use, but it has been used well. It has some translucent tiles like the sky. Those few things just show the creativity of the EC in the levels.

Placement of stuff

As usual, the ammo placement is good. Although Desolate Chemistry doesn’t seem to have a lot of ammo, it’s spread well. The Power-Ups in that level are placed with thought, even if they’re in dead ends. The other levels’ Power-Ups are placed well too (although Echo Isle has no Power-Ups!)

The Battle levels all have 2 carrots. In most levels the carrots are spread, but Desolate Chemistry has 2 carrots that are pretty close to each other. However, you will need the copter to reach one of them and that might take some seconds.

Most of the CTF levels have more than one carrot, but – has only one (a Full NRG). There are a few levels with one Full NRG and 2 +1 carrots, there is one level with 2 +1 carrots and there is one level with 2 Full NRGs. There is nothing to complain about here, even though I am not a big fan of levels with only one carrot.

Further comments

I really like the fact that microcrack // has sober at the bottom right corner of the level. Kurast Bazaar has the C-C-C-CHAMBER OF THE SNOOZE and there are a few other secrets in the levels. Just Find It Out.

I’m pretty sure that this pack is better than the previous parts of New Ages. I don’t really like giving ratings before something gets uploaded, because then you know what you are going to get. I just want to say that we need more levels like these: they’re awesome!

well i promised sj that i would review this, so here goes nothing.

EYECANDY:
eyecandy in these levels is really nicely taken care off, and most levels have very nice atmosphere, especially the bg layers.(Especially fiobb.j2l) my only complaint would be the Sprite layer ec in fioctff since i thought it was quite bland in some spots, but other than that, the ec is really nice.

GAMEPLAY/FLOW/LAYOUT:
gameplay is also nice, you can get around easily without bumping into stuff, and levels are sorta easy to learn (except fioctfe)
Layouts are very nice, most of them balance beetween tunnels + open areas which is good enough.

PLACEMENT:
Ammo placement is nice, ammo-flocks dont look bad, and i liked the pu’s you have placed in the levels.

OVERALL:
This is really nice pack, and most of the levels are bash-quality and some would be also good for jdc events and stuff. eyecandy is also good, and so is the gameplay. download recommendation.

(I also might adjust this review later because it sucks. ;/)

- snz -

two awesome, big levels. they’re huge, fun to play in, look great, overally awesome. hmm, 9. gj Rag :)

These are levels that I didn’t mind playing without prior experience. Although not many new concepts, there are more elaborate versions of older ones like the carrot in Evening Shades.

If you can’t think of any levels to play, then host these.

Huge levels, with designs that are not overcomplicated and the eyecandy in both levels have a bold appearance.

Easy to learn, exciting, big. Theese are the type of levels for events, and they are perfect for that purpose.

Seeing as Toxin Twister has had it’s first birthday, I thought I’d write up a review to celebrate this. =D

EYECANDY

I have not seen the original version of this level so I cannot compare it to what it looked like before but Cooba has been very creative with everything in this tileset to make very original eyecandy.
The background in Layers 7 and 8 is much more different to what you would normally see (a textured BG in Layer 8). I really love the moving window in the Layers 6 and 7.
Also, another thing original is animating the textured BG to make really cool animations like the green lights you see all over the level.
The textured BG has also been used to make the eyes of the impressive skull seen at the bottom of the level near the Seeker PU.
It’s also the small details that make the eyecandy impressive including the fast flashing lights.
Absolutely NOTHING looks repetitive in this level so I’m gonna give the eyecandy the highest score possible.

10/10

GAMEPLAY & FLOW

The Bases are placed symmetrically, both next to each other. However, they are only accessible by going up through the One Way ceiling down the bottom as the arrows show. You will not be able to camp on Bases for too long as Seekers can be fired at you from up top down through the One Way floor and also through turrets placed on both sides as shown by the Seeker blocks.

9/10

WEAPONS & ITEM PLACEMENT

PUs are placed well, they are not too campy. There are 3 PUs (4 if you count the second Bouncer) in this level. The RF PU is in the middle of the two Bases and can only be accessed by shooting it with Electro Blasters or Bouncers.
There are 2 Bouncer PUs on both sides of the level near the bottom which are not too campy.
The last PU is the Seeker which can be found above the skull which can be accessed only by shooting with Electro Blasters (or Bouncers if you are that good with them).
The ammo itself is spread out nicely and are not placed in boring shapes.
There are 3 Carrots, one Full NRG which is above the Bases and two +1 Carrots which are at the bottom in both Sucker Tubes. Health cannot be regained too easily, you will probably be on 1 or 2 Heart health a lot of the time.

9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 28/30
OVERALL MARK = 28 / 3 = 9.3333333333333333333333333333333
ROUNDED TO 9.3

DOWNLOAD?

Of course I would recommend downloading this. I wouldn’t say N/A if I gave it over 9. So in other words, HELL YEAH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOXIN TWISTER! :D:D:D:D

Darn, BB Code didn’t work. D:

really awesome set. didn’t find any flaws, though it will probably become overused soon.

this is the year of tilesets :X

awesome pack. quick reviews may be not adequate for big levelpacks, but i’m not in the mood to write longer stuff. this stuff is too awesome to be left without a review though, so here’s a 9. i may convert this to a full review later.

I don’t find the level name exactly fitting and I don’t really like the “castle” tiles, but apart from that this is a really cool tileset :) maybe if you find the time you could improve the castle tiles and add some more variations to the grass tiles :D

Angela, apart from the high grade you gave your friend, you should not review the tileset!

Gameplay

Well, there was nothing good to mension here, except for the bad working trigger bridge. You could have better used triggers on the portals which are now just standing open all the time and can be passed from above. There are a lot of platforms just floating arround, which brings me to another point, there are some float ups just randomly placed. There is also a dead end at the RF powerup and there are some places with little space in which moving is hard and there are some places where you just have a free fall for over 30 tiles. This all gives it an unpleasant flow. This levels gameplay is also very boring, try to add things like secret paths, sucer tubes and warps.

Eyecandy

There are not any tilebugs in here, but the eyecandy isn’t really impressing. You made a lot of white and a little of brownish background and where you made the brown natural background you only made it a few tiles long. Most of the background only connects 2 or 3 platforms and then stops. Try to be more creative with the eyecandy. The castle on the background is not rounded off properly and I am doubing about it being a tilebug or not. You put water onv the bottom of your level to give some extra spfere to it, that was a good idea, try to have some more of those.

Originality

Well, your farther background was quite original though you could have made it better by increasing it’s eyecandy. You missed a lot of oppurtunities in making original things. You, for example, did place a lot of vine tiles, but did not have a single vine event.

Gameplay: 4.5
Eyecandy: 6
Originality: 5

Final Grade: 5.2

Hmm… Eye Candy in my opinion is very good, the most Shafts – cool ;P
Gameplay… According to I, Accommodation of base are brilliant but i don’t like this tileset.
Music in lvl is ok But better will be placed ;D
Summing up your ctf It pleases me… but I know better… and it pleased me more this symmetric.

Gameplay

Your level consists of some large platforms but there are also some small platforms floating arround, however you made them realistic by making them look broken-off. Playing this level requires a lot of thinking because you can only get throught the middle by using either a warp or a secret path. Too bad you only placed 3 (bounch) bullets at some places and more at other places.

Eyecandy

You made a good eyecandy, especially on the background. I miss some foreground-eyecandy though, the onliest I can find is the lava at the bottom which is camouflaging the pits. Try to (partly) camoufage some other parts of your level with foreground next time, it will look even nicer.

Originality

As you mentioned, people gave you idea’s for your level. I have to mention that these were mostly very great idea’s. Not only the pits are timed, there are also blocks which close some things off for a certain period of time and then dissapear for a certain period of time again. You could have done something more with the dead ends of this level, which have only either warps or sucer tubes.

Gameplay: 7.5
Eyecandy: 7
Originality: 8.5

Final Grade: 7.7

Such a shame that no one has rated this pack yet.

The levels are all laid out well – what you’d expect in a Blur level. Eyecandy and everything else really, is also well taken care of and tbh there isn’t really anything to complain about here.