Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I know I’m over half a year late with this review but I only recently came across this sequel. So, I’m glad to see you guys put in the effort to bash out a another mod, hopefully it’s better, right?

LEVEL 01 – Penguin Invasion:

Good Points:

- Compared to last year, Holiday Hare 2018 has a FAR easier opening map. For one thing, It’s not filled with cheap enemy placements, buggy mechanics and horrible checkpoint placements. The extra health mechanic is a great idea and makes you have extra HP as your run continues. Neat touch and finally gives the gems some usage!

- DAMN That’s a gorgeous opening song! I love it!

Bad Points:

- The springs inside the wooden boxes near the big beige gate for some reason disappear which means you can be trapped very easily. [Seems to be fixed after I re-added the mod?]

LEVEL 02 – Tipplenborough:

Good Points:

- Technically not a plus for this map but the extra health boost mechanic DOES carry over fore every level. Good idea. :)

- The music is quite cheery and upbeat. I like it. :)

Bad Points:

- Due to the new health mechanic, carrots are surprisingly hard to come by here which is a problem even on easy. Most of my damage is because of the robot penguins being in awkward spots to hit and the fact their shots bounce.

- Some parts of the map are hard to tell when it should be in the background and the foreground. Some trees can be landed on that look more in the foreground whereas other trees are clearly in the background can also be landed on, this is a little confusing.

- The building in the cave couldn’t be destroyed for the longest time but after like 3-4 attempts it all of a sudden allows me to break down the door? That’s rather buggy…

- The new ghost summoning enemy is quite a pain to deal with, especially since the small ghosts he spawns can move at lightning speeds.

LEVEL 03 – Cold Paw:

Good Points:

- The music is fine but nothing to write home about.

Bad Points:

- Way. Too. Dark. Seriously I can’t see what I am doing half the time.

- The hands that come out of the ground to swipe at you really aren’t easy to tell where they are again due to how dark the level is. This is Jazz 2, Not DooM 2.

LEVEL 04 – Under The Weather:

Good Points:

- The freezing mechanic sure is original and a nice touch to get you to keep pushing on rather than dawdle about.

Bad Points:

- The speed at which the heat gauge decreases is a little harsh if you prefer to stay alive (like on Turbo).

- The bouncy snowman enemies really don’t help with the already wonky enemy designs.

- Music really isn’t this level’s strongest point. Fairly bland.

LEVEL 05 – Breaking Out:

Good Points:

- This is very much a fun map to play. Some enemies are annoying sure but WOW is this a breath of fresh air! If you want a GOOD map in this set, this one so far wins

- The cute small story here is quite adorable. :)

- Great soundtrack to go along with a great stage!

Bad Points:

- Ended with an access violation… GG.

- The miniboss at the end dies rather easily to the toaster…

LEVEL 06 – Toyed Badlands:

Good Points:

- None.

Bad Points:

- Extremely confusing layout!

- The song isn’t bad nor good. Just neutral. :l

LEVEL 07 – Pikitia Ara:

Good Points:

- Nothing.

Bad Points:

- HORRENDOUS map design. I got lost very easily.

- The song for this map really is bland and dull.

- From what I can tell, this map straight up lacks an exit. Good map design.

LEVEL 08 – Frigid Fortress:

Good Points:

- The final boss was fun to defeat and I do love the vortex-y background effect. Neat touch!

Bad Points:

- Unless bosses gain more health on higher difficulties, the final boss goes down fairly easily with a healthy dose of seekers and bouncers aimed straight up.

So the overall review:

I can see that you guys wanted to be more relaxed in your approach with HH’18 and I can see why, not every map pack needs to top the previous. My biggest issue here was how it was presented. This did feel rushed. The levels aren’t super well designed (level 7 comes to mind) and I did struggle quite often, even on easy difficulty. Whilst not as hard as HH’17 in some spots, HH’18 really needs polishing. Maybe add in a few more ammo types earlier on? Bouncers only started appearing by level 5, which is over half-way. Another thing I didn’t understand was, why was the music files separate? Without them the game is just mute.

Do I recommend it? Personally I recommend HH’17 over this and I blammed that one fairly harshly as well. If you want a good christmas map-pack I again recommend HH’98. It’s still better to run through.

3/10

A really cool map with stunning visuals. Though the only downside of this map is that the main interest of players tend to go to the special tube in the upper part of the map. So it often leads to a clustering of players near that area.
Overall a solid map with a nice layout. Download recommended.

The background layers in this map will blow you away, though the sprite eyecandy lacks a bit. The layout seems to work well for larger games. Download recommended.

EDIT: Slightly increased rating because of the improvements made regarding the sprite layer eyecandy. PJ has done an excellent job to give this level an unqiue touch.

A lovely battle map with pleasant eyecandy. The level features traps which instantly kills the player nearby, this is to avoid camping on crucial spots. Though the flow is a bit bumpy sometimes, however this can be adjusted to. The level features some custom weapons which work well for the layout. Download recommended!

An experimental layout is the basis for this map. Which is well done since it feels balanced. The eyecandy is also nice and not distracting. Though it feels that that Tornado gun offsets the bouncers.
Definitely the best work from Jelly so far in terms of gameplay.
Download recommended!

Really solid level by cooba. The theme is well executed and it has some neat features like swinging vines. Default sprites have been replaced to give this level an extra boost towards being different than other maps. The custom weapons this map features are also helping for the given layout. The only downside for this map would be the fps loss. DR!

Very inspirational level by Loon with stunning visuals! The different tileset parts combine here smoothly, giving the level a very unique and epic atmosphere together with the music choice!

I really enjoyed this level, reminds me a bit of the original ones but with additional difficulty. Some of the enemy placements were a bit mean (like the 3 monkeys around you when you drop down through the tree log, and the bats hidden in layer 3 tiles and dragons used on the tree branches where blended in with the leafs) but otherwise I think the difficulty was fair.

The level design was pretty cool as well. I really liked the layout especially in the areas with the boulders. My only complaint would be that I think there should be maybe a bit more carrots 2-3 in the level, you don’t get any untill about 40% of the level (though most likely there are more on easy difficulty).

Personally I like the original music for the jungle level, but the final level music is fine I guess.

This gets a definite recommendation, especially for players who like the original levels as far as layout goes (though it’s a bit harder).

Also nice to see someone else from Hungary also making levels.

Download link is dead… Can anyone re-upload?

[Don’t rate files you can’t download.]

What can I say, this editor eases a level maker’s job at creating very creative levels by a landslide. At the beginning it may take a short while to get used to if you have been using JCS for years, but after that it really pays back in speed and diversity.

My most favorite level from Jelly Jam so far, the tileset is used creatively to create this ancient roman theme, the lake, the pillars, etc, with nice visuals overall. The level involves a nice mix of water and land, it has two power-ups under water which makes swimming in there fun and worthy. Plus you cannot stay underwater for too long since you have limited oxygen. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the pinball bumpers but I got used to them after a while, I guess.
Overall the level plays and flows well. Download recommended.

does exactly what it needs to…

i can see why SJ said what he said but personally i think it might get a bit spammy. this is great.

thank you violet!

It’s not particularly good but it’s at least honest.

Mt. Cinder, the volcano mountain.

Gameplay:
Both CTF bases are on the far edges of the map with the blue base on the left and the red on the right, sitting each on top of the tower. Yes, this level is symmetric, which works quite well in a map like this with the Mt. Cinder in the middle. The volcanic mountain is also where most of the fighting will take place apart from the bases, alot of power-ups sitting on the edges of the mountain or scattered in caves right upon entry. It is where you will also find the full carrot at the bottom where the lava will kill you in an instant aswell as a small carrot at the top of the mountain plus each base also have a small carrot. Flying carrots are also scattered across the exterior of the map, the flying carrots can only be used for ten seconds, but it will also deactivate upon entry of the interiors like the towers or the mountain, which is well thought of to prevent too much flying, and that is important in a map of this size. This makes the map suitable for large public games.

Pickups
This map uses different ammo for some weapons like the bouncers being replaced as stone balls or seekers being replaced as fireworks going straight in the air. The choices of weapons suit the gameplay very well, as the fireworks will be most usefull in taking down players who use the flying carrot. There is plenty of ammo around and spawn quite frequent.

Visuals:
First of, this map is freakin’ huge, and with that, finishing it in just 3 days as stated above is pretty impressive. Despite of being symmetric, you can clearly see how much details PJ put in this map. Also the originality is surely visible, with tilesets like BurningTowers3, Rootalopicus and Volcano(you don’t see these alot nowadays)you can safely state this as a one of a kind map. Everything is amazingly put together while it’s not too distracting while playing, but when standing still you will be amazed by the visuals of this map. The music also fits the level just fine.

Overall this is a unique, very detailed map made for public games of atleast 4vs4 or above. Download recommended? Absolutely.

Very nice map, original made tileset. Love it. :)

Ow, my eyes.

[Changed to quick review ~PurpleJazz]

Gameplay:

Players can choose to move from base to base quickly through the crowded middle area, which is probably most populated together with the base areas themselves.
One can also choose for a safer but longer route from the sides by picking up a fly c and venturing through the top of the map which contains a seeker powerup which most people are too lazy to take. You can also attempt to take a flag from below, which is slightly longer but safer as few people are paying attention to this route, although its easy for them to camp the end of the tube which goes quite slowly.

Eyecandy:

Multiple layers have been filled well with stuff as original as the tileset allows. Quite a lot is happening graphically if you pay attention to it, yet it is not distracting while playing

Originality:

This level is such a relief after all those new mappool maps of last year which had similar pathways and carrot areas. Castle of Devan Shell’s layout is unique, yet it works in games and requires players to think of movements and tactics they never had to think of before. Im really glad you made this so people can be inspired by its originality for making future maps. This map is definitely worth it being played in JDC events and even possibly mappool material.

I tried to adjust my rating a bit to people’s ratings nowadays so it would be more fair, yet Im glad that others already gave you a high grade so I can stick to my principles a bit more.

Final Grade: 8.5

Here we have a level which is not too large for a casual 3vs3 match, but is also not too small to suit events with a greater number of players, though the spawntimes for the latter may not work for everyone, considering that there’s generally not too much ammo piles scattered around the level. But worry not! Those kinds of events are usually hosted with fast spawn settings enabled.

What probably makes this level stand out is the complex layout, which is more or less open at the far ends, and becomes more and more cramped the more you travel to the center of the level where, conveniently, the only carrot is, which makes the center area juicy for some close and chaotic combat. Don’t get too carried away with the chaos though, one wrong move and you may fall into the dreadly pits, so don’t just run around like a headless fly, have some control over your movement!

But don’t let the center make you feel like you should leave the outer areas out, since the outside is where the majority of the powerups are, particularly the seeker powerup at the top middle of the map, which is evenely spaced out and quite isolated and far for both teams, but such a strong and useful powerup is worth the visit to it. That’s a nice little quirk to get some more traffic in the top area, which has a whole new layer of combat since it’s accessable only with the fly carrots. However, with annoying seekers flying around, this path should be used with caution as seekers are even more useful in areal combat, but the huge pillars give the player some nice cover and a chance to utilize the environment against their opponent.

There are also blaster powerups in the walls at the far left and right. Even when you have no ammo you should always try to take one of these just in case. It’s always useful for stuff like fending the flagholder off from the bases. There’s also two electroblaster powerups but those may be less important, unless you happen to be passing by them with really low on electroblaster ammo, you never know.

Lastly, there’s the RF powerup at the bottom middle, quite impossible to miss. This is probably where the most stuff is going on, as it’s right below the carrot and in the fastest route between the bases. If you manage to snag it while it’s there, good for you, it has multiple purposes. You can use its far range to snipe someone flying far away at the top, or use it’s strong blast to get your enemies away from the carrot or bases. There you have it, some might say it’s a bit of an unusual choice of powerups but it’s different from most setups nowadays, and it certainly works with the gameplay.

Now lets get to the aesthetics! The Medivo castle theme is supported nicely with some athmospheric music from Michael van de Boos. The visuals are not at all distracting, so players can easily concentrate on their game, and if they happen to be stationary for a little while, they definitely have a lot to look at, the level is full of fun little details. You can clearly tell apart the cold, foggy blue background from the yellow-orange hot castle in the foreground, the contrast here is simply brilliant, the platforms are clearly visible in motion.

To put it all more simply: great map. An enjoyable, decent CTF level, that’ll surely leave you beside yourself and give you something different from what most popular CTF levels offer nowadays.

The flag placement is good, and the level offers some good crossroads. The tileset and music fit nicely, and the scripted eyecandy is a touch of class. I also liked the use of fly carrots and walled in powerups, as well as the Damnation background used as a fresco in the middle of the map.

I like the PU only accessible at the beginning, the candy theme and the slippery parts, but I don’t like the tight tunnels, how there are other bouncy PU’s around, how a base is above and one’s below and that layer 8 textured BG moving faster than the sprite layer. I mean… There’s AngelScript, and the jjUseLayer8Speeds function!