Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This add-on is great! I’ll list some Pros.
Level Browser
Server Info
Co-op and Race serve options!
Shortcuts
Refresh list
Cons…
Freezing at level browser (!!!)
Hmm… How do i explain this… ALMOST NONE OF THE BUTTONS WILL STAY WHOLE (!!!!!!!!!)

Level browser is Great! You can see the level and the tileset! Rating: 25

Server info, is ++! You can all of the players on that server, the level name and the fur! (It sometimes doesn’t work…) Rating: 17

Co-op and race options, no more having to pull out controller just to get co-op! Its rather small but deserves a 20!

Shortcuts: Really handy, but it could be hard for new mIRC users. (ex. run “C:\Games\Jazz\jazz2.exe”) It IS great, I give it a 25.

Refresh list: Needs a little bit adjusting to just it perfect but still great. 20.

Freezing at the level browser: Not too bad but you could use some timers to regulate it? -10

Almost none of the buttons fit! a list: the < button Pallette “CL guide” Pallette dialog, etc. THIS IS BAD! -20!!!

25 + 17 + 20 + 25 + 20 _107_ - 10 - 20 -7 80/100.

DR SUPPERRRR

——

@Kax www.mirc.net

EDIT: Eww, can’t host co-op w/o adding MEDIUM to the level name?!?!? -7

Runtime error, on XP SP 2, 0xc000…

Uh, sorry cooba, but that is the most recent version to my knowlage, also I forgot to mention that level 4, TorchWood Cannot use carrotade.

Wow! How was that possible to make the gravity go upside-down?

EDIT: now I figured it almost out… But I still need help… Make a tutorial?

—ischa
Is not liking Pokemon a -2.5 punishment? that should be removed.
—
However, the download is dead, will review it later.

The reason we didn’t use the new tilesets you mentioned was that they probably didn’t exist when we built the fundaments of the levels. Most of the levels are really, really old; we have just upgraded them and put them together, and btw, if we would’ve used a new version of exoticus tileset, the walls would probably not be automasked so the wall climbing wouldn’t have worked. But thanks anyway for the nice rating!

EDIT: janus aka jahari, we’ve written that you must play as spaz in big letters, both in the lvl description and in the readme, and, in case some people doesn’t read the description or readme, we wrote it very clearly in a text event in the beginning of the first lvl. How could you possibly miss that??!

Maybe not the highest quality SP pack out there, but it was pretty fun anyway. The plot was hilarious :D/, fairly well executed through the whole pack. Most of the time I found the level design a bit frustrating, for most of the levels were pretty dark (especially the intro level), and overall it needed more ways of being hard than just placing a lot of enemies.

The levels looked pretty good, with some pretty nice tricks such as the waterfalls in the first level (you’ll get what I mean when you play). However, it would be better if you’d have used newer versions of some tilesets, for example NOKA’s Tubelectric SE, Violet CLM’s new Exoticus or Lark’s Bloxonius. Those are a lot better than the old sets you have used :p The music paired very well with the eyecandy, creating a nice atmosphere there and there (eg. Diamondus level)

Overall, the levels in the pack are around 7.5-ish quality, but the whole pack deserves a higher note for effort. Good job, I’m looking forward the other episode ;)

Ok time for a review.

The story is nice and original. First Spaz try to look where Jazz is and suddenly he notice that Jazz is dead. Then Spaz uses different recepies to clone Jazz back alive. Music fits nicely for all of these levels.

Like you said levels are quite different so gameplay varies a lot, but still there are nice gameplay in every level. Baddies placement is good and goodies placement is ok most of these levels. There are some puzzles also, but they are way too easy to solve. But overall gameplay is good.

Eyecandy is really nice in some levels, but in some levels eyecandy looks really empty. There are some tilebugs, but they are harmless. You have used some underused tilesets too like in level ‘‘666’‘ There are some cool effects in this pack like in level ‘‘The first try’‘

Overall good SP pack. It was fun to play and that is the main thing right?

Rating: 8
Download recommendation: Yes

-TripleJ

This tileset is JJ2 Orbitus.But it is very good.Download reccomedation

After my last time playing jazz2 (months ago) it was my first sp pack and it was wonderfull.
Very original idea. Spaz finds Jazz dead in ETs Planet and tries to make a clone of Jazz.
Level design was good, not much bugs, also the goodies and baddies placement was fine. Sometimes the carrots weren’t enough and enemies very hard to beat (or i forgot how to play:) ) It would’ve need one more level that before your journey to find the objects to clone Jazz, you could have gone to the lab and find a DNA sample of Jazz. The pack is fine like that anyway.
The best idea was Jazz shaped Devil Devan Boss. It fits on well with a story for the first time.
Music was awesome. Especially the ones in the diamondus and the first kejero’s egypt level.
The diamondus level was a bit boring unlike its music.
In conclusion this pack worths to play. Have a nice single player, thank you Booman!

It’s not bad, but the eyecandy isn’t that great.

EYECANDY

Eyecandy is OK, but it can be better. The level could really use a background in Layers 6 & 7. The Sewers area looked it a bit repetitiveas all I could see down there were loads of bricks. There aren’t any tilebugs. The buildings look nice but as I mentioned it would look better with the Layer 6 & 7 backgrounds. The Exit and Boss Arena looked weird. It looked as if the buildings were floating in the air and it looked empty at the bottom.
Overall, OK eyecandy but can be improved.

5/10

GAMEPLAY

The level was too linear in my opinion. It was mostly just running to the right and picking up all the various items you come across. You then shoot therough some RF Blocks in order to access the Boss Arena.
There is nothing much else to do here other than find the 20 Coins to get to a Bonus Area which contains 4 Blue Gems and then you blow your way through Bouncer, Seeker, RF, TNT and “4,3,2,1” blocks to get to an area with LOTS of Super Gems and more Blue & Purple Gems. Also here, is a Lightning Shield which would then make the Boss too easy.
Overall, Gameplay is not that great.

5/10

ITEM PLACEMENT

At the start of the level, you are greeted by a GIANT PYRAMID of pickups including Burgers, Freezer Ammo and Seeker ammo. Finding Seekers too early would then make it all too easy. As you go through the level there are 20 Coins to find as I mentioned in Gameplay. There is a “Food” and “Candy” shop.
There is enough food to get a Sugar Rush but it is placed in very large clusters. Most of the items are placed in the Square & Rectangular forms which may look boring to some players.
Overall, item placement is not that great.

3/10

ENEMY & OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

There are enough enemies to kill me. Placement is OK but some can just be jumped over. There are lots of enemies in the Sewer but since they can be killed in one shot all you do is run to the right and keep shooting. With Spaz/Lori you could just side kick through the enemies.
There are some obstacles but they are not that hard to get through. There isn’t any Trigger Crate/Zone puzzles so the level is a bit easy.

5/10

OVERALL SCORE: 5 + 5 + 3 + 5 = 18/40 = 4.5/10

SUMMARY – PROS

1. No tilebugs.
2. Decent eyecandy.
3. Enough enemies to kill the player.
4. 20 Coins to find

CONS

1. Repetitive eyecandy in Sewers
2. Exit and Boss Arena look weird.
3. Some places look empty.
4. Seekers found too early.
5. Too much food found in one place.

DOWNLOAD?

Normally I’d give no DR if the rating is under 5.0 but as this is your first level, I’ll just leave it as N/A.

RANK: F = Not good

ok, quick review.

well first off, i’m not gonna feed you a bunch of crap about how these levels have GREAT EYECANDY and AMAZING GAMEPLAY and INSANE AMMO PLACEMENT
because i’m sure none of you are going to read this review and see that the levels have that and be like WOW! i should download this. i’ve come to realize it just doesn’t work that way.

as an introduction, here we have several quite impressive levels by blurredd. while very impressive, i was also somewhat disappointed with a few of the levels, it really wasn’t what i expected. the levels are good and all, just a few of them kinda bothered me, like “action basement,” i just couldn’t really bring myself to enjoy that level. same with “air base vii” and “the genesis reactor core.”

i did really love a few of the levels though, especially “chemical lake,” “turbo-shock star cruiser ctf,” and “pathetically easy ctf.” there’s always something original about blurredd’s levels and these are no exception. even the levels i didn’t really like had something new and creative in them, like the pit that you fall into in “action basement,” and the way you have to shoot down the carrot in “the genesis reactor core.”

i’m not going to carry on and bore you, because nobody actually reads long reviews. and nobody likes short ones. so a medium one should work for this, right?

this is the first upload i’ve downloaded in a long time besides some promising looking music, and some levels that have used my tilesets (that end up being pathetic). and i don’t regret downloading this, it’s the first thing that’s actually been worth taking a look at that’s been uploaded in a long time.

i’d give this a big download reccomendation, this is really worth downloading, especially because you don’t really see good uploads much anymore. these are truly some solid, creative levels.

ik wil het spel nu gaan spelen
oke

Rating Tresure Forest

To start:
This Treasure Hunt level has a good Eyecandy and it really have the Swamp-theme. But it can cause some trouble, because we found some problems and bugs.

Eyecandy: (20 pts)
I really LOVE this Eyecandy! On the background are trees, bushes and water. I’m amazed how one could make such a good Eyecandied level! But… one problem: as good as each level with this tileset have the same Eyecandy. Please try something new the next time.
Result: 16 pts

Gameplay: (20 pts)
After a pretty good Eyecandy I have to disappoint you with a bad Gameplay. I think it was better if you have tested the level in multiplayer mode first. The level is very small, there is no marked exit (luckily I found it) and the Swinging Vines won’t work in the Multiplayer. And what about the food? It’s useless. So no points for the Gameplay. I’m terribly sorry.
Result: 0 pts

Gem placement: (20 pts)
In the ‘How Many Gems Could You Grab In Three Minutes Test’ I found 106 gems. But for my opinion a good Treasure Hunt level needs at least 200 gems. The difference between 182 and 200 is pretty big and it can take a very long time to get a winner. If you know that in a normal play you have to collect 100 gems. I think you will agree that 106 is not enough. But… I have to tell that the gems are good placed! And not too much blue! (I didn’t even find a blue one in the the ‘How Many Gems Could You Grab In Three Minutes Test’!)
Result: 6½ pts

Ammo placement: (10 pts)
Ammo is good placed. You have placed lots of ammo into these levels. My opinion is that you need that. It could be very consume when you confront or chase your antagonist.
Result: 8 pts

Conclusion:
This level really have some shortcomings, but there are also some good things to tell. But I really have to disappoint you: it is not enough for a pass. But I can see you did our best, but I really can’t give you a higher mark than a 4,9. I’m so sorry…

Total points: 30½
Maximum number of points: 70
Calculating: 30½/70*9+1=*4,9*
Mark: 4,9 (4,9214285714285714285714285714286)
Download recommendation:

How do you make that “text boss”???

(Oh, and I forgot to rate the level and the tileset!
So, music:1.4
overall graphics:1.9
mask:0.5
background:0.9+0.5(rain)
animations:0.3+0.8(trigger traffic light)
how easier to make a level with this tileset:very easy(1)

overall rating: 7.6

Download Recommendation: YES!)

This program’s best feature would be the level browser, which is awesome, and so far to my knowledge the only of its kind. The rest doesn’t impress me too much. I can even think of a few things I dislike:

- Use of registry.dll, using com-snippets would have made things better, since that wouldn’t have triggered Norton for me

- Listing jj2 servers via mirc-sockets. The server will get delisted if mirc closes

- Not following the policy of not giving out IPs of private servers

- The functionality for bypassing server passwords

- S.I. botname selection. Just make it use a proper “query-packet”… this feature will only serve to annoy players, “rofloloasjhajkshaksj has joined the game/left the game”

• Drop system privileges
• Statistics (wtf is the point:D)

Cataphract does however make good use of dialog extensions, and as I said before, the level browser is awesome. I’ve only eyed through the msl-code, and it looks good, however with some double checks.

So in all, if this was just the level browser, I would have given it a 10 immediatly (even if level copying doesn’t seem to work here, from version to version that is). To me, though, the menu is too cluttered, and configuring via a menu rather than via a dialog really sucks because it closes as soon as you’ve made a change. But, since it all is GNU-licensed or freelier, masse thank you, Cataphract!

This gets an 7.5, and a download recommendation in the sense of “you should give it a try”.

EDIT: This script ONLY uses the socket functions to: 1) Retrieve the server list. 2) List a server. 3) Check for updates. 4) Download the updates. 5) Get the list server statistics.

What about the UDP functionality?

A really great tool for hosting and joining JJ2 servers.

This widely expands over XJJ2 or JazzTool (does anyone even use those anymore), and by being a “mere” mIRC addon it’s even more convienient. Hosting servers has never been so easy before (too bad I no longer can host), and joining via the addon’s GIP is fast and slick. The player profile is something I wanted to be implemented in JazzEd for a long while now (I admit I haven’t used the addon until now).

There’s basically no thing which can’t be configured with this utility. If there was an option to run Carrotade additionally with the server (without having to run it manually), it would be even better. Aside from that, the possibilites are endless, and this program so far has been flawless. All I really need now is an antivirus with a working ignore function :p.

EDIT: A link to the #jazzjackrabbit channel would have been a nice addition too. Same with #jdc perhaps.

mIRC? mIRC?
What is it???
Where to get it, because these files are useless without it?

U don’t get my review untill u tell me, the program looks great BTW…

The second I read the description and thought “A minigame compliation, eh?” I knew there was only one controller fit to play them.

Wiimote in hand, I loaded up the level pack and was shocked to find myself dumped into a minigame without a lick of ingame storyline. Come on, this isn’t the ’80s. In this day and age minigame compliations have ingame cutscenes. WarioWare is at the forefront of this, with Rayman Raving Rabbids trailing not too far behind. Even Mario Party has an intro cutscene to explain why you’re running around boards.

The plot we are given also has one gaping flaw (well, two but we’ll get to the second one in a bit): If we’re supposed to stop Devan’s minigames, why are we playing them? Doesn’t that defeat our purpose?

The next flaw is that I don’t see why game companies feel they’re threatened. First off there’s only four games, and they’re all minigames. Even the most terrible minigame compilation on the market has way more minigames than that, and they’re much more interesting to boot.

The first minigame in the game is the “Break a barrel” which is an extremely dull concept to begin with. You’re in an area filled with crates, and only one of them contains an exit sign to proceed. The first level is dull enough with it’s small ammount of crates, but in each world the ammount of crates increases and as they increase, the fun decreases. There has to be a more inventive way to design this minigame past the “shoot! shoot again! look out for that enemy! shoot! shoot some more! shoot!” mentality shown here. The level design is at it’s worst on the Megairbase level where you get stuck in pits you can’t get out of.
Dear level designers: Stop making areas that force me to type “JJK”, it’s annoying and lazy design.
From, n00b.
There isn’t anything redeeming found in this minigame, however if it cut down the number of crates and made me have to solve a small puzzle to get to them or have a crate hold something that I need to access the end crate, this minigame idea could be pretty fun.

One vs. Millions should be renamed “One vs. two, maybe three”. Instead of facing off hordes of JJ2’s more relentless enemies (such as the demons, the monkeys, and the bees) you face off a lizard and a tuf turt, who will respawn after being quickly taken care of. Most, if not all, airborne enemies are in locations where if you don’t jump(which you don’t need to) they will ignore you.
Also, while the airborne enemies change with the scenery, the land team of Lizard and Tuf Turt never change, which added with the fact the air enemies mostly leave you alone, make this minigame another exercise in boredom.
It doesn’t help that DX pulled off this concept much better in his cancelled Jazz X pack, if you can get ahold of the betatest levels, try to study this stage.

Suck Through has the makings of a good minigame, but like the other minigame concepts in this pack the concept is wasted. Jazz is sent hurdling through a large water tube filled with fish and must survive to the end. The first of these shows promise, but it’s far too short with far too little obstacles to avoid. The second level attempts to rectify this by adding far too many fish that are near impossible to avoid, but it’s still the same length so even if you get hit a few times you’ll still be able to make it through the level. Unfortunately, the remaining two variations of this minigame follow the mindset put in place by the second, and still cease to change size. It doesn’t help that you can also shoot down the fish.
This minigame can be fun if the right balance is struck in the ammount of fish needed to dodge, or leaving it at the ammount in the first level mixed in with different kinds obstacles. Also it’s far too short and should be longer.

Out of all the minigames in the pack, Pinball is the absolute worst. All of the levels are essentially the same level where you must get to the top, with the exception of one pinball table in Nippus where you must find the hidden warp. There are no clues as to where this warp may be, and again the pinball table is essentially the same as all the others. This elusive goal is more frustrating than fun, and is worse than the abundant “get to the top!” style pinball levels. The get to the top levels all have the same strategy, and zip by too quickly. There is next to no challenge, and at first you may be confused as what to do since the instructions sign is placed not in the put where you start, but instead on the far left making you have to work a bit to get there. Out of all the minigames in the pack, the pinball ones are the worst since while dull like the rest, there is nothing that can really make the concepts shown in the pack any better. If you’re still interested in making a pinball minigame, I suggest axing the ideas here and reworking it from the ground up.

The bosses while all tile based, are pretty much a rehash of a minigame you already played. While each of Devan’s accomplices are named after a video game star, none of them bear any resemblance to their namesakes. Backman is essentially “Get to the top” only you now have to buttstomp each of his eyes to open up the exit, and the level’s height is drastically shortened. Super Rario is just no frills One Vs. Millions, and Devan just takes the dullness of Break the Barrel to a new low. Ponic is the only one of these boss encounters that show any real promise, and yet it would work much better if he was just a regular Suck Through minigame instead of a boss. You’re supposed to be chasing Ponic, but every time you stop to shoot through blocks (The level’s ‘twist’ over the regular minigame) not only does the high speed chase grind to a halt, but so does Ponic. If he’s just going to wait up then why am I even shooting these blocks down? The ending of this level is also nonsensical, as Ponic runs headfirst into spikes and then blames you for it. If the level worked like the regular suck through levels (I.E. no shooting through blocks, more stuff to avoid) and ended with a fight against a Ponic tileboss, this stage would have worked much better.

All in all, this pack is dull but if tweaked slightly could be entertaining. This could have easily been fixed beforehand if Ischa had someone else betatest the pack. However until a Jazz Planets 3 comes out that hopefully kicks it up a notch in the design and fun departments, I suggest not downloading this.

Review Nutshell!
Pros- Some promising concepts, nontraditional bosses
Cons- Nonsensical storyline, concepts fall flat in execution, bosses are just the same minigames ocassionally with small twists.

:)
(Unsupported rating (6.7) removal. ~Violet)