Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

SPAZ MISSION REVIEW:

EYECANDY: The Tilesets were used quite well especially the Beach level. There could have been more Eyecandy in the other levels. 7/10

GAMEPLAY: The levels were quite long and hard to finish. But the enemies made it far too hard. Level 8 was just a short Boss level with no items at all. 5/10

OBSTACLES/ENEMIES: Now this is the part that really let this pack down. There were way too many enemies in all of the levels, especially in Level 1, far too many Bees. Yes, having enemies in levels is good but not over 100 of them. Shooting enemies all the time can get boring. 5/10

MUSIC: There’s no point in rating this since it was the JJ2 music. N/A

PICKUPS: There was a bit too many Gems in Level 2 (about 300). The coins were quite hard to find. There wasn’t many 1UPs though so getting Extra Lives would be hard. 6/10

TOTAL = 23/40 (5.75)
Rounded to 5.7

PLUSSES/MINUSSES:

The End Boss text event in Level 3 said “Level 1 Clear!”. No points will be deducted.
I really liked the way you could see what was coming up in the Jungle level. +0.5
There was a bug in the Jungle level. The Bubba boss ended up going off the screen. -0.2

OVERALL MARK: 5.7 + 0.5 – 0.2 = 6

DR: N/A (Yes requires 7.0)

I’m going to start off with eyecandy first since it’s the most noticable thing and I have a lot to say on it.

First, there’s a lot more eyecandy then I expected here. Which isn’t necessarily good. A lot of it (nearly all of it, even) is extremely confusing because you can’t tell what is solid and what’s just for show. Its nice that you tried to make the level pretty, but honestly, I have no idea what the hell is going on sometimes in the level because too many things crowd the screen.

There’s a lot of creative stuff I see though. Some things I know I used in my Chasm level before, while there are some which are fairly new and I haven’t seen before (the pillars at 41,48 for example). Of course, using this tileset and trying to be creative at the same time usually ends up with a load of tilebugs, but I’m willing to overlook them for creativity’s sake because I’d rather have a level that tries new things (minus the confusing eyecandy part and using solid stuff in layer 5) then a level which doesn’t and is extremely limited visual wise or is empty. Some of the tilebugs, however, like the layer 3 bug at 92,30 in jj2 should be fixed (same bug reoccurs in the same spot except on blue team side).

So basically, its creative and look cool in some areas, but too confusing since you used the same tiles in layer 4 and 5, and there’s too much in areas and it crowds the screen and makes it annoying if you’re playing.

As for the layout, it’s pretty much symmetrical. Spaz can quickly get to the bases by RF climbing and not needing to take the tube or extremely long route. Normally I don’t mention spaz biases because basically most people use spaz anyways and he is better in more situations online then jazz is (imo), but this one pretty much makes it seem like you either didn’t know about RF climbing or want everyone to be spaz here because jazz would get humiliated.

I had some trouble getting around too, but that’s mainly the fault of the eyecandy. The way this level is made, with all the layer 3 passages and sucker tubes and warps which are fairly hidden, makes it EXTREMELY hard for new people to learn it, and can lead to a lot of people losing fairly quickly in this level because they weren’t aware of a hidden warp to a powerup, or a sucker tube to the base, etc. If you’re going to have stuff like that, at least point it out. I had no idea about pretty much most of it until I looked in JCS.

Some passages are pretty much useless for the most part. You have a sucker tube, a very quick and effortless RF climb spot, AND coinwarps to the bases. Who would use the slow and vulnerable staircase passage on the far sides of the level aside from just getting loose ammo?

Gameplay wise, I don’t like how this level plays out all too much. It’s extremely easy to get to the base and you can get there in a matter of seconds, making it pretty hard to defend. I think the coinwarps could at least use some more coins to get into, personally. This level can also get pretty cramped and is chock full of very thin walls blocking your path which would make electroblasters at least twice as useful if they were included in the level.

The level includes 3 +1 carrots. I can’t tell if I like this or hate this. The level is definately too small to house a full energy with those +1s being there, yet I don’t really like having to always need 2 carrots to ensure I am not one hit away from death. It could work though, I guess, and I might prefer it to the One Full Energy method which so many levels used before and which basically ensures you’re screwed when youre at 1h and your opponent is camping the carrot (memories of snooze duels go here ;P).

Ammo variety is…limited. I would’ve liked some EBs here since they would kill in this level, and maybe even more loose ammo to make some areas seem less useless and dull. AFAIK there’s two powerups, found in warps which you probably won’t find unless you know where they are, or are just lucky and/or explorative. Powerup choice is well done, though.

Overall, this is basically a small level which is an example of what happens and how confusing a level can get when it overused layer 4 platforms and tiles in layer 5 scenery and overdoes the eyecandy. It needs to be less author friendly (rather, not hiding nearly every useful thing in this level) and an eyecandy facelift, imo. I don’t like how easy it is to get to the bases either, really. Possibly taking out the coinwarps entirely would fix that.

However, the eyecandy is creative despite being confusing and some things are pretty cool. The level is small but isn’t another AYB or something where there’s only one full energy. I’m giving this a 7.2.

Download reccomendation, but mostly to see some creative tricks used in the eyecandy and a lesson to what happens when you overdo it and make stuff confusing and seemingly crowded.

And finally, a reply to Cooba because I half wrote this review for the sole purpose of debating on what he said when he edited that 6.5 review: I think tileset choice DOES matter when it comes to levels, really. Tileset choice affects what you can do with a level, what tiles you can use, and it can really determine whether your level is worthy of an 8 or over. Eyecandy basically depends on tileset choice: you can use a bad tileset and make something creative in it, but it would never really be as good as the eyecandy you can do when using a wellmade tileset. Also, limitations in the set can influence things outside of eyecandy. If there were arrows in this tileset, the warps and the sucker tubes need not be hidden which would definately improve the rating this level gets, but there aren’t arrows in this set so =P. Music choice can matter, but to a much lesser extent. I wouldn’t take marks off for it personally, but I would get annoyed and definately bring it up in a review if a music was irritating or completely doesn’t fit a level.

Well, this was kinda fun. HURRAY!!

~Blacky

Edit: Fixed a few wording errors that made one sentence pretty much not make sense. That’s what happens when you review while being half awake I guess.

Rating Hellsinki:

To start:
Very well Capture the Flag-level for lucky people and people who remember good.

Mysterious paths:
It seems that there are in this level many paths present… but that is not correct. You would THINK that it are paths, but it is background… Lucky people have no problems with that challenge… because if you choose a wrong platform, you’ll fall down… At people who much luck it will not happen often.
In fact also a type Memory, because you must really can remember: which paths are real and which paths not?

Strange Title:
The level is called ‘ Hellsinki ‘, probably named to the capital of Iceland. (Helsinki therefore) So, Peter and I thought that it was in the snow… but no, was in the shelter of Devan Shell, there was everywhere magma!

One thing is unfortunately:
It is a pity that the one flag left and other right in the level is. My favoriete Capture the Flag-levels are he where you really must search the flags.

Conclusion:
In spite of this disadvantage this is a very well Capture the Flag-level with a strange title.

Mark: 8,4
Download recommendation:

I finally get reviews and they don’t even make sense :(

Can’t review this. It crashes when I click START.

WOW! This is just FANTASTIC!

SINGLE-PLAYER TIME REVIEW:

EYECANDY: The JJ2 Tilesets may have been used but they were used very well all the levels look great. It was a bit confusing in the Tubelectric level as you said but I think that was the whole idea anyway. 9.5/10

GAMEPLAY: There may only be 4 levels but these are very long. This pack took me about 1 hour to finish which is very good. 10/10

OBSTACLES/ENEMIES: I think there was a bit too many Sparks in the Very Very Voltage level but this will not affect the score too much. The puzzles in the levels were great. Looking for the crates in the Street Gangs level was fun. I also liked the puzzle in the 1st level. Memorising the symbols was quite challenging. I liked the way it reminded you to remember the 4th symbol when you get to the last warp puzzle. The puzzle in the Pancake Hills was great too, choose the wrong warp and it’s back to the beginning of the level. 9.5/10

MUSIC: I really loved the music in all the levels. I especially loved the music in the Street Gangs level. 10/10

OTHER POINTS:

Never hide the starting level in the HC list. This will not affect the score in any way. Just remember to not hide the starting levels next time.

TOTAL = 39/40 (9.75)
9.7 since J2O can’t do ratings to 2 decimal places.
DR: OH YEAH!!

(Added more detail to review)

@Jazz-Les: Download Captain Cook from here: http://www.jazz2online.com/J2Ov2/downloads/info.php?levelID=3316
Use it to find the level you want to do and just click “Play.”
Did you put Captain Cook in the folder where you installed Jazz 2?
That’s OK Jazz-Les. :)

Poor level at all.

First, the Eycandy sucks. Too much of it or sometimes on wrong plases, it just sucks.
-1.5

Second, The mask positions sucks:P.
It’s better than other levels, but it still sucks. A simetric small level with 3-4 ways in it is not a good level
-3.5

Third, the tileset sucks. Bad tileset, bad usage… What can I say… Some lava, some masked tiles, some sulls…
-.5

GOOD POINTS

The ammo placement is good! Not too much, just enought ammo to make the game hard.+1

The warps and winds/sucks are good placed. Really cool idea to put a warp in the skull!+.5

Music is cool! Half point for that!+.5

CTF bases placement is good, but it can be better( I think it’s because the level is small)
+.5

My comment is that: If you like small levels with no area to walk, download it!

I like small levels, but there is no enought stuff.

Download recommendation? N/A…
I don’t like the level, but other people will like it. Download at will!

[Rating (6.5) clearance. The reasons provided were entirely irrelevant of the level quality, again. Do *NOT* rate music and tileset choices, thank you. ~Cooba]

Nice, but what program should I use? WinAmp only works with a few, and the rest sound awful, even the ones that are supposed to work!!!

What program would you recommend?
(Unsupported rating (8.5) removal. ~Violet)

Hahahah, wow. This is amazing ;P. You don’t even have to lift a finger to see some really cool effects this level can provide. A few of the ideas used are pretty basic spring things, but there’s a lot of really creative and original things done like the pillow ghost area and the float lizards. Too bad the level doesn’t look pretty, but the chain effects done here to keep your rabbit moving more then make up for it. I’m guessing it took a LOT of trial and error and testing to get this working right, but it was worth it since this is a unique and fun level :).

The originality, fun factor, and gameplay tricks more then make up for where this level lacks. Well done indeed.

~Blacky

Theming and Eyecandy – 2 out of 5

Well uh yeah. The eyecandy itself is a major drawback. The eyecandy is way below average. It doesn’t use the great potential which Castle2 gives. There are tilebugs in the walls, barely any details, and the background is extremely bland. No background layers used, no scrolling, textured background fading to 0. This level is kind of unpleasant eyecandy-wise…

Gameplay – N/A

..but the gameplay makes up for it. There can’t be much said on this field, since it’s just basically Jazz/Spaz/whoever automatically moving across the level. The way it’s done is brilliant and it’s extremely fun to watch (aside from some really boring elements… like the path full of poles at the end) fits more to the event placement description, so…

Eventing – 5 out of 5

Some of the eventing here was just brilliant. There were a lot of tricks (and I mean a LOT) which made the level tick. I was literally stunned when I saw some of the awesome effects. To name a few, there was a short path of ceiling springs bouncing me to the right by continually stomping the Pacman Ghosts which were on the way. There was a part exploting the Queen’s unique behavior, which I enjoyed a lot. There’s also an ingenious part featuring sugar rush and lots of float lizards, which bounce you up upon touch. The eventing is perfect.

• Awesome motion effects
• Awesome motion effects
• Awesome motion effects

• Bad eyecandy >:(

Overall
This, I think, was one of the most original levels I’ve ever seen. It’s like a large hotel rollercoaster, except it uses amazing effects which make the level really tick. This technically would get a 6.5-7.0’ish rating, but that would be some severe underrating since a ton of effort went into this level. 8.2 is my rating for this. You inspired me =D.

Already fixed that. I was afraid that bug was still there, as I put xlmhahaha in the pack and didn’t replace it with another version with ‘xlmlife’ as next level. Also I fixed some other stuff, like tilebugs in xlmburn and xlmtree.

And it’s funny that Snooz’ review is featured. It’s not bad, really. But this pack is still one of the uploads that needs a review(this is just a comment on some stuff) so a really good review would be appreciated. ;p

WOW!! Just FLIPPIN’ BRILLIANT!!!

RUNNING RABBIT REVIEW:

EYECANDY: After replaying this level today, I decided to re-think the rating for the eyecandy because I now feel it is a bit overrated. Backgrounds are a bit dull, nothing in Layers 6 or 7. The tiling is not that great. So this is the part that let the level down. 7/10

GAMEPLAY: You don’t even have to press a SINGLE button. Spaz just moves by himself. A really great idea. How long did it take to get this right? 10/10

OBSTACLES/ENEMIES: Spaz just bashes through the obstacles by himself without having to even press a single button. There was a small bug with the floating lizards, Spaz just stopped. This won’t affect the score too much. I love the way the Pacman ghosts are used. 9/10

MUSIC: The music you have chosen is very well suited to this level. 10/10

STORY: No story. This doesn’t matter so N/A.

DIFFICULTY: This doesn’t matter so N/A.

TOTAL = 36/40 (9.0!!)
DR = YES!! You’ll love it!!!

SUPERB IDEA!!!
Got any other ideas like this planned?

Fix the bug with the Floating Lizards and improve the eyecandy and I might change this to a 9.7 or 10.0!

EDIT: Rating lowered to due to eyecandy, but you still get a 9.0! :D

Wow! Really cool man! Next time, fix the bugs and put some eyecandy in it! You can get easily a big rating!

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.
The weapons Respawn a little Too Quickly
(that might make it a bit campy.)
[Useless edit from the author – review changed to quick review.]

Hey all!
First of all! This level is awsome! Perfect for duels. This level is a big step of leveldesign for you Arti!
Eyecandy
It’s perfect! Don’t add more or less! It fits the level, and you use a lot of different things. You also used all the layers, really good! Sometimes it’s a little confusing because they look like walls but that’s okay.

Gameplay
Very cool! Very nice idea to get to the base’s. I like the secret ways. It’s kinda Spaz based, but Jazz would get itself out of the jumping case’s. There’s nice flow but its kinda confusing sometimes like the tunnel with coins and the suckertube.

Ammo
Good placed, and enough ammo there is. Also when you need to go up to the base, you can use the ammo if somebody attacks you from below. They aren’t really in nice shapes but that not bad.
Overall: Your best level!
9.2

Well thats a relief. I thought people would mind about the symmetrical bases.

Wow! A Battleships level! You don’t see that every day.

EYECANDY
Good, nothing special. The whole level is very symmetrical, except some things like the suckertube at the left side of the level.

GAMEPLAY
You don’t need to run at the whole level, the bases are on the down side of the level, blue on left and red on right. It doesn’t make sense.

WEAPONS
Bouncers and Seekers. Don’t use Bouncers in an open level, they are affected by gravity (what gravity?). The crates are placed in a line. I’ve heard that crates cause lag. Don’t use only two types of the weapons, use all if you can.

MUSIC
Well, it’s good. It fits the level, I think.

SIZE
Small, 10-15 players max.

TILESET
Jazz 1 Battleships v1 by >CelL<. You should use version 2. It has more animations and tiles, and a better palette.

Final rating: 4.0
Download recommendation: Hmmm…
Comments: Try to make a larger and better level with more ammo types. Don’t make symmetrical levels.

Because of your annoying endsong remix i almost hated the original. Don’t do that again.

[Blank rating (7.7) clearance. ~Cooba]
(Textile fix. ~Violet)

[BEST REVIEW EVER DUDE!!! Blank rating (5) clearance. ~Cooba]