Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Before I review this, I’d like to mention that you should not upload this as a RAR file as it wouldn’t work properly when opened in J2O.

Anyway, lets get started. On first opening the file, I think “OMG, 54 levels!” But I then find it’s not so good.

EYECANDY

Some of the levels have good backgrounds but the eyecandy in Layer 4 is very bad, there are tilebugs everywhere. Some of the levels also had very bad backgrounds which looked a mess. Also, not many of the levels used animated tiles.

1.2/10

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in this pack is poor. I have no idea where I’m going. Everywhere I go, there’s a Warp I’d never expect. There was even a checkpoint NEXT TO the exit sign in one of the levels. Why?

1/10

PICKUP PLACEMENT

Very poor. There are PUs everywhere. Some of them were even RE-GENERATING which would make the level too easy. Shields could also be found out in the open. There wasn’t enough food and there were Gems everywhere.

1/10

ENEMY PLACEMENT

There wasn’t very many enemies in this pack either. Not enough to kill me and the placement was bad.

1/10

OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

There was Buttstomp, Destruct & Trigger Scenery but they were all too easy to get through. Placement is not bad but it’s too easy to get through them.

2/10

TOTAL SCORE: 6.2/50 = 1.24
Rounded to 1.2

RANK: F = Bad

DOWNLOAD?

Backgrounds are good in some levels but the eyecandy in Layer 4 in all levels is very bad. So, no DR.

COMMENTS

1. Think about what music you choose for each level. E.G. Christmas music in a Labrat level is not a good choice.

2. Spend a lot more time on your levels. Try thinking about how the level looks. It’s not about how many levels there are, it’s more about the quality of each level. Remember, QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY. ;)

@WR: You’ll have to open it in WinRAR as that’s what it was uploaded as (I think).

yay, episode one megamix

Introduction:
White Rabbit has done a nice job, making a kind of Egypt looking temple with a not so easy tile set.
Here goes the review…

Eye candy:
Getting out the maximum what u can do with the tile set.

*Layer 1: N/A
*Layer 2: Ok
The Lava looks not so good but its not your fault that the 2×4 blocks don’t fit.
*Layer 3: Nice
Layer 3 was nice, it covers some tiles, there was some nice translucent light and a Lava fall.
*Layer 4: Middling
This layer is pretty normal is has some eye candy but not much, i didn’t like the water.
*Layer 5: Very Well
You used this layer very well!, it makes the pillars looking good, there are some torches added, a fence, some falling sand and other fixes.
Some tip about the water; make it translucent, use it in layer 3 and cover it in layer 2, that will help ;)
*Layer 6: Great!
*Layer 7: Very Good!
Both layer 6 & 7 are making a great difference in the background.
*Layer 8: Well Done
In combination with the other layers its looking good.
*Animating Tiles: Medium
You did use some, but you could use some more, like moving zombies, worms, and some others.

Summarized:
There are a lot good things to say about the eye candy in the layers, there are some improvements but u can see that White Rabbit is skilful in using layers.

!http://bp2.blogger.com/_cI1gdj2JQao/SBmt6jmdmeI/AAAAAAAAAJs/Fzy-jGCCUw4/s200/Jazz+Layout+(s).jpg! Layout:
Greatly affects the game play

*Level Size: O.k.
The level is 150 by 100 tiles what good enough for this battle lvl.
*Masking: Super!
I almost don’t have to say anything of this, only that Spaz could be stuck in the small tunnels.
*Masked looking of the level: Good
I see some platforms, some pillars and tunnels. There is quite variation.

Summarized:

Although every layout is unique, I didn’t have some good or bad things to say on these…

Game play:
The most important thing of all

*Easy to navigate: Can be better
This is something that u might be improve; above in the level there are a few dead ends, but there are goodies to, the warps are confusing in the beginning and a bit vague (a warp tomb?), The pillars might be nice but they are a bit frustrating to because sometimes u can’t see where u jumping on. I recommend that u remove that lava river since u almost cant see where u can get out of it, the hidden tunnel makes it even more difficult. Walking back in the tunnel right under may be not so easy or you must know the hidden sugar tube.
Maybe there are some others that i forgot…
*Jazz-Spaz-Lori Balanced: Medium
I noticed that W.R. did make a pillar more Jazz/Lori friendly, but in my eyes Spaz still has a better chance to getting through that pillars.
*Easy movement: Average
There are some improvements here to; some pillars and vines are very small, this is good for single player games but in battles you must move easily. Another one is the lava fall but I did talk about that already ;) At last something important about the V-poles; if u on it, it will greatly slow u down and you’re an easy quick bite for a other player :O And if ur hit, you will go down again :P making yourself again a target for the others… My tip; Remove the poles and replace them for a blue spring ;)
*Correctly Working of events: Correct
No Problemo 
*Prevent getting stuck: O.K.
Only in the small tunnels Spaz can be stuck. When I did play the game, I got stuck by the small pillars (left above) when I was shooted by an other player, I don’t now why…
*Finding & getting (hidden) goodies: Good
Both Carrots and Upgrades are good balanced in getting them, an exception is the seeker PU
That is easy to find but pretty hard to get. (Shooting at full speed on the wall with upped bouncers.)

Summarized:

I did try to give some comments on this part, what u do with this is on you ;)

Placement of Events:
A widespread element of the Game play

*Power ups: Right
They are spreaded pretty well (not in the tunnels but that’s not such problem :D), I did’t see any strategy though…
*Weapons: Poor
All weapons are just mixed spreaded somewhere and aren’t balanced in the level.
*Carrots: O.K.
3 Carrots, they are spreaded good, ill guess some are more popular to get than others ;)
*Springs: Middling
Some places can use some more.
*Starting Positions: N/A
Lucky that there is a warp by the only starting point there is, but its still a chaos if u start with 10 people by that V-Poles :P

Summarized:

Some extra time in this could make it even better…

Originality:
What kind of extra’s has your game what other games don’t or rarely have?

*Special Effects: Very Good!
I did see good working lightning and flicker light, and a simple but effective trigger zone by the sugar tube. That brings me on the idea to use that to! Tnx for that :D
*A overused tile set?: Sure Not!
I never saw a battle game used this set, maybe because its leaking on some events, or because its to hard to use it for much JCSers…
*Events matching the theme: N/A
*Nice fitting music: Excellent!
Yes! this music fits perfect by the theme! Its not a real killing battle music but that’s not a problem :)

Summarized:

Good Job, how more must I say?

Conclusion:

Interesting; Some very good things, Normal things and things that can be inproved…
2.6 of 3 for Eye candy
0.8 of 1 for Layout
1.1 of 2 for Game play
1.2 of 2 for Weapon placement
1.4 of 2 for Orginality
I give it a 7.1!(rounded up 7.2)

Download Recommendation:

This level is great, but there are some places that you can’t reach (when you are on the submarine. Still, I think you weren’t supposed to get there. There should be a way to get off the submarine. The final boss is difficult to kill, because I shot at him and it didn’t do any damage at all. Despite this bugs, it is a great level, Perhaps should have been on an episode?

EYECANDY

This looks like it was rushed as the eyecandy is not very good. It does have a Layer 8 BG, and I do like those little moving penguins in Layers 6 & 7 but the Layer 4 eyecandy needs improving. It looks repetitive as the same blue tile is used a lot.

2/10

PLAYABILITY

There is a shop where you can buy weapons, carrots and other items. Unfortunately, the warps are right in the corner, meaning that the player gets stuck. NEVER place a warp in a corner, next to the wall or 1 tile under the ceiling. Place the warp AT LEAST 2 tiles AWAY from the wall. There was also a jet pack game using the Air Board where you avoid the obstacles although it was a bit too easy. I liked the loading % at the beginning of it. Get through this and you get 110 coins.
But there wasn’t much fun to be had anywhere else. There was also a Disco, Pizza Parlour and other places to see but they weren’t very good.

2/10

TOTAL SCORE = 4/20 (2.0)

RANK: F = Bad

DOWNLOAD?

No

RATING Electro Rabbit

This is benchmark’s first level! but is very bad!!!

SO:

EYECANDY
Good points:
very detiled. bg-looks ok!
Bad points:
The level start looke like a bad battle level. Tube Electric Night not so match.
Total: 65/100

GAMEPLAY
Good points: There is a trap in suckertube in pos 28,61. i like it.
Bad points:
VERY VERY VERY Hard! i lose the game in this level!
Total: 30/100

PLACEMENT:
Good points: ???
Bad points: bad placement!! too much items in coin warp!!
Total: 30/100

RATING- 41.666666666667~42=4.2
download? NO.

and a tip:
Level don’t making in one day.
It’s not a placement of tiles. levelmaking is art.art we learn in a long time. I’m sure your next levels will be better!

The race has too many hard traps and not enough shortcuts or things that speed up the race. The race is too slow paced and if you do fall into one of the traps, you get whizzed back to the start. Also, the eyecandy could be improved a bit by scanning your levels for tilebugs and prehaps fixing them, although the backround was OK and you did use the foreground.

I won’t rate this, but I certainly don’t recommend to download this.

RATING Hotel Dream

I like that tileset!
i love hotel tilesets!

That Hotel tileset was very nice. A good-designed eyecandy objects and Hotel parts. Nice roofs and paths! but the thing was worst is the letters. it’s look a metal what ugly the design of the tileset. but this was nice!.

RATING: 9.2
DOWNLOAD? Yes!

Eyecandy

What could be said about the ec in this level, if it looks just like one of THE classic SP episodes on J2O. It’s normal use of the KejeroEgypt tileset, which may not be too shocking today as it once was, but it’s good enough nonetheless
One of larger errors here, though, is that there’s a lot scarab symbols. You may ask whats wrong with it, well nothing too much if they’re placed further away. But here you see the scarabs everywhere D=. Also the use of the water block events is a little questionable, because imo it should be used when the water tiles are in front of the player, not in the back, because it looks odd.

Gameplay

The layout here is a bit different from all battle levels, there are a few dead ends with powerups and +1 carrots. The level is platformy, but the eyecandy helps covering it up a lot. Also a lot of platforms means more freestyled gameplay, without fixed routes (hence why lvls like BBLair and DW are so strategical). The level also contains (only) two pits, one of them in the lava room, and one hidden on the right, in the area taken from the last Tomb Rabbit level – the one with the crate puzzle, the first mummy encounter and the pit with bees.

I don’t like the ammo placement here though. It’s just scattered chaotically across the level, there’s a lot of ammo basically everywhere, and it comes in mixed groups which makes the ammo placement hard to remember overall.

• Original idea
• Interesting gameplay
• Classic eyecandy

• Chaotical ammo placement
• The scarabs are overdone D=

Overall
This is a very original and interesting level, which should be used in some dedicated server loop, not to mention the soon coming ab10. I give this an 8 mainly for the sheer originality. Aside from a few bugs it’s a good level and fully deserves the rating.

The Crazy Christmasbattle 2007 doesn’t quite live up to its name, but there are many notable features in this level, and among them, the bonus warp, the water, all the V poles, and of course the hour glasses. To sum it up, it’s 180×72, consists of two towns on each side, a few large platforms in the middle, and a cave under the right town.

EYECANDY
The level looks very average. There are only a few tilebugs (remember to cover all the spots around the windows, not just the actual window frame, or parts of your rabbit will stick out). For the most part, the surroundings look like a typical HH98 level. I found nothing really original in the eyecandy, and sometimes it was a bit plain, especially in the middle, which is the emptiest part of the level, with only two L-shaped platforms.

Technopauluz has opted to use a third layer of mountains in layer 5, which I suppose is slightly original, but it takes away from the level, as layer 5 is usually the most important background eyecandy layer. A tileset like HH98 lacks a lot of transition tiles, so eyecandy is made MUCH more flexible using layer 5.

Simple things like putting those large, brown trees in the background, changing the colour of the layer 8 sky, and using more of those foreground streetlights would make a real difference. Remember to use all available tiles in a tileset.

GAMEPLAY
The level has mostly good flow, but the water and the poles really slow you down unnecessarily. I see no reason why water was included, and it looked slightly out of place too. Always be careful of where you place poles. In Crazy Christmasbattle, they’re at the exit of every cave, which really makes you think twice about entering it in the first place, especially if you’re being chased. I also didn’t like the time-delayed springs, as people aren’t likely to stick around for long in one place (I’ll get to that later). Watch out for pointless dead-ends. There are two of them in the right town.

The level is quite large, but has no carrots, nor does it have any power-ups apart from a few for the freezer gun. More power-ups are only available by entering the bonus warp. Players really do move around a lot in the level, as there are virtually no places worth camping.

Areas above the bubbles are slightly Spaz biased as Jazz/Lori can only reach one platform of the two, but it’s not a big deal.

Like the eyecandy, everything feels quite average. It’s not bad, but you feel there’s nothing different here. The level has an interesting bonus system though. It really is Christmas, as entering the bonus warp does not directly give you anything, but instead drops a goodie down somewhere else in the level for anyone to take. There is a large range of “drop-downs” available, and none respawn. I feel there should be more coins available, so players can enter the warp more often. It’s a good attempt to keep the gameplay interesting, but it’s quite random, and it’s tediuos to enter the coin warp again and again, with nothing but a few crates dropping down.

The hour glasses are another novelty. As the author said, you can shoot them down to get in the way, but people mostly jump over them. Try to test your level online as much as possible, and note the spots where people congregate, or don’t. If nobody ever goes to a place, then it is simply useless space.

OVERALL RATING
This is a well-built level, though not so well-designed, and I can see a lot of effort has been put into the level. I’m sure it’s possible to have a lot of fun in it with enough people going into the bonus warp, but the rest is nothing we haven’t seen before, so the rating won’t be very good. See this level as a learning experience, and a stepping stone to better levels.

I was searching for good new tilesets and have found this one. It’s rank 5 in the tileset category, so it Has to be good… I thought. But as I opened it in JCS, it shocked me. This fastly-Painted small tileset is rated even better than Disguise’s tilesets. It doesn’t deserve to.
So, here’s my review:

Theme:
It’s supposed to be a factory-theme, but I can’t really recognize it.
0/1

Main tiles:
Well, there are all necessary ground tiles. They’re untextured and look boring. Furthermore, vines, poles and suckertubes are missing.
0.5/3

Eyecandy:
There isn’t any eyecandy besides the well done animations.
0/2

Background:
Nothing special. Just a textured bg and some ugly buildings for Layers 6&7
0.5/2

Animations:
I think the animations are well done in this tileset. There are also switches, which are missing in many other tilesets.
1/1

0+0.5+0+0.5+1=2 +1 because “1” is the lowest Rating on J2O
Final Rating:* 3 *

Try to use some textures, more tiles and find a better theme for your next tileset!

This is really nice level since it has unique gameplay. im not really sure what makes this level unique, since it uses default tileset and all that stuff, but eh, my guess is that its because of the vertical-based gameplay. the layout is symmetrical though, and usually symmetric layouts are very boring, but this one is not. also, the pits are nice touch.

there’s also lots of powerups, and four carrots, which is unique for this size. first i wasnt sure how it works out, but now that i’ve played through level a bit, and been looking around and stuff, i can say that it works out here. the powerups are nicely chosen too, there’s even ice one. there’s also two coinwarps, which lead to carrots i think.

eyecandy is pretty good for this set, since this is quite limiting tileset in some cases. however, fs managed to make a level which looks nice, and doesn’t look boring, so thats nice.

i don’t have anything more to say, except that this is indeed very unique level. download recommendation.

(im sorry about this bad review >:()

RATING The Invasion Of Deserto

I said one thing: I not like wild tilesets(like deserts and jungles) so much. but this episode was change that.

so:
EYECANDY

Good points:
Apart from using of Jazz 1: Ihlvndi tilesets i like your the secret level, your “The Castle” level, but i liked so much the smart way you used in Jazz 1: Ihlvndi and the way you use it to create the “Temple” tileset. Good job!
BAD POINTS: ?
Total: 100/100

GAMEPLAY

Good points:
Some levels are huge with a lot of traps! I liked it!
AND… In “Deserto City” you use on a lot of things what do the gameplay to difficult!
Bad Points: too hard or easy levels.
TOTAL: 95/100

STORY:
Great! very creative!
TOTAL: 100/100

EVENT PLACEMENT:
Good points:
The events are placed well! lot of enemies. so the items!
Bad points: Lot of levels are placed with GUN 8 Pepper Spray-It’s too weak weapon. You can replaceit with GUN 2-Launcher or GUN 6-Flamethrower.
TOTAL: 95/100

MUSIC:
i cant rate it because i didn’t download the music… :-P

RATING: 97.5 ~ 98 = 9.8
DOWNLOAD? YES!

Response to Rotesta:

No, It dosen’t work

RATING Unconventional Coffee

‘Unconventional Coffee’? So complicated name, and so UNUSUAL level!

so:

EYECANDY
Good points:
Very unusual eyecandy. big level. Smart use in one of the Epic’s involved tilesets. Nice!
Bad points:
PLEASE Help me to find bad points!
I didnwt find! :-)
Total: 100/100

GAMEPLAY
VERY UNUSUAL!!
LOTS OF SECRETS!
SO LOVELY!!
Total: 100/100

PLACEMENT
This is the FIRST CTF level i downloadED USING food, some goodies(like Freeze Enemies)
BUT i liked the Traps!!
SMART!! COOL!!
Total: 100/100

Music:
You do a smart way to not select “Colony.j2b”-It’s sucks. but NICE MUSIC!!
Total: 100/100

RATING: 100/100=10
Download? YES!

p.s: you can use “Town House Lite”- TSF Tileset converted to 1.23. I think is better than colon.

i was download this and when i run the exanple level i get pink interface(the points and all the jj2 interface). why is that?

the best of all 5 episodes. maybe keeping it shorter was the way to make it fun, but there were many original ideas also! i liked the frog-based levels (i like froggy:p) the levels were enjoyable and easier than the previous ones and that made it fun.
the tileset was improved a lot since the first episode so it made the levels look much better.
the end boss level was also good. Trying to turn off the four buttons. But a familiar end boss would be more surprising (like the whole big enemy was one of our end bosses.) so we could fight with him face to face after this end boss level.
Anyway, the final episode was the best one. takes a 7.6—7.7 from me!

by the way, thanks for writing my name in the credits! i did nothing but to review :)

I’m late. Almost a year later and I decide to review this level…

I feel a need to as after a certain period of time standards change and levels can been seen through different lights and I’ve decided to try reviewing levels this way from now on.

Now to begin with the review, this is Blackraptors’ best released level by far. To start off, the main appeal of the level is the theme and look. Now here’s where I start stating my personal opinions. It’s obvious Blacky was aiming for a random chaotic look, and the theme seems heavily influenced by death metal, in that aspect, this level still retains its originality. Even after other levels that have copied certain eyecandy aspects still have not captured the same style presented in this level.

Now here’s where I state the problems with the eyecandy, yes, you heard me, there are problems with the eyecandy. Unlike what other people here may have you believe, the eyecandy was a thin line between being butt ugly and brilliant. To support the eyecandy the level had to be totally reliant on the theme, which justified some of the chaotic uses in the level…HOWEVER some uses simply DID NOT WORK; like the purple pillar tiles did not tile and clashed horribly with the black tiles, and they were used quite a lot in certain places and some other uses around the level were borderline ugly. Ambient lighting helps hide this to some extent but keep in mind the level is relatively big and some people need to free up fps to play seriously in jdc events or in servers where a lot of players will abound, and this level was designed for a lot of players, so turning off ambient lighting will be a common thing and will reveal the eyecandy flaws to a large enough extent where it will be distracting. Now there are a lot of levels that have recieved rather low ratings for simple mistakes like tiling problems.

That aside, the eyecandy and theme were awesome, as Blacky used the complex method mixed in with efficient placing (for example the pulsating large purple pillar at the center of the level) which is rarely seen. Whatever unconventional uses that worked were also quite amazing. So in my opinion this level has a great theme but the eyecandy is not perfect.

Now on to the gameplay, and this is where the review starts revealing important, unstated facts about how the chasm really plays. The two reviews above, although well written, do not state much about the layout and gameplay, which I will go into detail here. The basic layout is two chasm-esque parts at the right and left side of the level, separated by rather long and linear paths. The layout is really quite simple and not very strategic. There are some nice tactics, like the tube which can be used to change direction, but since the paths are so close, this tactic will not produce much of a different outcome if it hadn’t been added, but other than that, the level mostly consists of running and shooting. Ofcourse the level does nothing wrong as far as flow is concerned, but as we all know perfect flow in battle levels means little strategy and more weapon spam. Since most of the level is linear wherever you go, this makes the RF powerup the most powerful weapon in the level and this will cause plently of fake health deaths. The lack of areas in the level being safe means a lot of matches will depend wholly on luck, since the best playing style here is hit and run. So there’s really nothing original or unique you can experience in gameplay here. The level is basically fast paced and although some areas I thought should have been easier to reach, the layout is still easy to navigate. So if you’re looking for fast paced and exciting games with blurry outcomes, this level is for you. If you feel like having a tough match based on skill and planning, there are better battle levels designed for that.

This level is best fit for an anniversary bash like event where there is no serious playing.

Despite giving this the lowest rating, it’s a must to download the level for the fact that it shows eyecandy is not all about just decortating a level randomly with tiles, it is all dependant on the theme and the theme totally determines the personality and which light the eyecandy should be seen. The same can also be said for gameplay, as gameplay is not really just following the standards perfectly and making a level flow right, there are plently of ways to make a fun level that breaks standards in exchange for flow.

I hope to see more levels like this one in the future. Until then…

EDIT: I totally forgot to mention anything pertaining to the LRS version. Oh well, I pretty much covered what I wanted anyway.

-fs

PLEASE REMOVE THE PICTURE FROM THE LEVEL DOWNLOAD PAGE. IT’S TOO HEAVY!

[Heavy? It’s 22KB big, which is pretty small in all honesty. ~Cooba]
[To put things in perspective, your (Fox282) posting of that comment and getting sent back to the info page made you download around twice the amount of kilobytes that it cost to download that picture. – FQuist]

FS, stop being against players who enjoy fast paced matches… ;/

[Offensive remark removal ~cooba]