Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

So I thought I’d return Slaz the favor and do a quick review of his level in return.

This level offers very enjoyable vanilla experience. It has a good pace and balanced gameplay with slight difficulty spike towards the end. I managed to get through on Normal with 1 life lost and no saving. Tileset was well used (especially for such a limited one) and overall it was pretty to look at. Additional falling lava tiles gave it the right eyecandy polish it needed. Also well placed and just right amount of goodies and enemies. There are no scripts obviously, but it still manages to do quite a few original things, like when you have to shoot the block by bouncer through tight crevice for metal crate on top of it to fall down and get destroyed by generating TNT event. Also plus points for humor.

Now to few things I didn’t like. One of them was a long lava section on the bottom right of the map, which was kinda hard. I got lucky and got a sugar rush right before it on my second life, but otherwise it could’ve been a bit annoying. I understand it’s important for pacing to mix easy and fast sections with difficult ones that require more careful approach, but I think at least one more carrot along the way (on normal) wouldn’t hurt.

Also the final “boss”. What was the point of that? I mean, even in vanilla, we have ways how to make him work in a way of chase challege, like EvilMike did. If you want to provide a classic boss room fight, wouldn’t it be better to pick one of the working bosses instead? I kinda imagined he was there for story reasons, like, to steal the ring again from you after you went through all that trouble to bring it back, but there wasn’t any text before, nor after, the fight to confirm this.

To conclude, as I didn’t really find anything wrong with it, I wouldn’t mind giving this a full rating, but I’ll substract a point for a boss, lack of originality and for maybe being a little too short. If you want to play something new and unique that would stand to today’s plussified standards, you should probably look somewhere else. But if you’re looking for a quick SP vanilla fix, this is just perfect.

Let’s briefly list the pros and cons of this level.

Pros

- Well, the level is rather difficult, but this is indemnified by unlimited lives. And there are enough of savepoints – not too much, not too few.

- A lot of things depend on difficulty you choose. “Hard” adds lava tiles that definitely won’t make you feel good, “Easy” places springs at the tops of some spikes (but this won’t prevent you from loosing a heart if you jump on them) and adds a lot of cannonball platforms that prevent you from falling into the spikes or bottomless pits.

- The boss (Devil Devan) isn’t modified, but the arena is. The vines, yeah. They make the things harder. Generally speaking, you have to climb the vines all over the level (and look out for blue vines – you can’t keep a grasp on them)

- I also liked level’s music.

Cons

- The gameplay is a lil bit tiring. You literally don’t have a chance to catch your breath when you simultaneously have to avoid a couple of respawned bees and to maintain balance on a cannonball. It’s not the best option for those who like fast gameplay.

- All those morphing TV-sets that can be found all over the level are useful only if you don’t play as Jazz.

- I really don’t think that adding some food to the level would spoil it.

- Though the difficulty has a strong influence on the level itself, it doesn’t look like it changes anything in the boss fight. Thus, Boss seems too miserable after you accomplish the level on “Hard” difficulty :)

Conclusion

Nice level. Pretty challenging and not too big. Check it out!

Because this level pack is quite lengthy and levels vary in quality, I’ve decided to review each level separately. On the other hand, I didn’t separate it further into gameplay/eyecandy etc. categories as I wouldn’t have all that much to say about each of them in every level. Let’s get to it.

Down the Rabbit-Hole
By far the least enjoyable level of the pack, at least for me. I admit I’m not huge fan of puzzle games or mods, however I can appreciate them if they’re done right. Making puzzle game requires more effort than any other type of game, level and puzzle design have many rules a level designer has to adhere to to make level enjoyable, not confusing and not too much or too little difficult.
This level feels more like a maze then a puzzle, there are series of switches throughout the level, but in 90% of cases no indication whatsoever what they switched. This may not be a problem with smaller scale puzzles but in levels this big, it gets very confusing very soon. There are also many hidden places, again with no clue for the player. This is ok if you’re making a secret but not if the hidden path is imperative for progressing further.
There is very little eyecandy here but that is rather tileset’s fault, otherwise it’s quite pretty and I like that author tried to distinguish certain areas by color so they wouldn’t blend so much.
I have to admit I didn’t have the patience to finish this level in the end, and that even with frequent consulting the source map in jcs (due to high amount of switches and warps I still couldn’t figure out what to do next). However you’re given warning at the start that it’s only for patient people and also you’re given an option to skip it entirely at the start of the pack, so I won’t include it into final verdict.
Verdict: 3

Mine
This is where the fun starts. This level is very cramped place with some really tight spaces to go through. Sometimes you’ll block your way with a box or something and have to go around and also your maneuvering is limited so you have to be more careful in fights. Fencer and bat enemies are well chosen for this. Bats are very annoying as they are blending completely with purple background but I guess that was the point. Graphics are a bit boring sometimes with nothing in foreground or background layers and repetitive tiles but that’s more because of tileset’s limitations than anything else.
Verdict: 5.7

Psychotic Brain
One of the better ones. Very nice looking level, despite ever present pink goo. Author makes a good use of tileset’s assets in all layers considering how limited it is.
The level is kind of mazey, you have to collect coins and destroy bunch of crates spread throughout the level to progress further. As with DtRH, there’s little indication about what crate opens what and navigation here may get confusing due to little variability in graphics but the level is not that large, so backtracking isn’t such a big issue. Also I think that due to some bug a few enemies reappeared in my playthrough at certain points, which made backtracking much less dull than it would otherwise be (they were not generating events, I checked in jcs).
Verdict: 7

Kisten Karussell
This level is kind of forgettable due to being one of the few with classic tilesets. The best thing here is pacing, there’s lot of enemies, goodies and weapons everywhere, so it plays good even if it drags for a bit longer than necessary.
Carrot walls at the end are annoying, I missed one crate and had to backtrack good half of the level to open the wall and get to the boss (and of course there are no clues about crates locations).
The boss is well done, Schwarzenguards are usually a good way how to make easier bosses more challenging and requiring more maneuvering without making them super tough.
Verdict: 6.5

Spaceship
Not very long and very well paced level. There are some puzzle elements here and there but less than in previous levels. It is more linear and more centered on combat, there’s little backtracking here. Also music works well in combination with ambient lighting and chosen tileset, the final result is quite atmospheric and it makes the level feel somewhat epic. Definitely one my most favorite levels here.
Verdict: 9.2

Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen
This is a strange one. My first reaction was it’s downright ugly, but that is again because of limited tileset.
This is very linear and short left-to-right flying level. When I think about it, the tileset is actually well chosen with this concept in mind (or other way around). It feels more like a quick intermission bonus area. Also the checker pattern on walls in combination with flying and forest and mountains in background kind of reminded me of Harry Potter quidditch scenes, which is a neat touch.
The only problem I had with this is the animated mountains background which just looks weird, I think the tileset wasn’t designed with this in mind.
Verdict: 7.2

Blizzard
Very nice looking level, author makes a good use of all layers here. The music is well chosen, together with foxes and cottages it gives the level kind of laidback atmosphere, like a sleepy winter refuge deep in the mountains. There is a bit backtracking and sometimes I wasn’t sure where to go due to many branching paths, but nothing really difficult.
One notable thing here are reappearing smoke ring events which could get quite annoying as they are pretty much invisible with white/blue everywhere. But they make the level a bit more interesting so it’s not all bad.
The Boss here depends on whether you’re using fireball kick trick or not, I can imagine it could be quite difficult without it, especially with smoke rings flying around. At this point I was already packed with weapons and fast fires and spammed him with RF missiles, so I can’t really tell.
Verdict: 7.5

Kanal Krümmung
It was my first time seeing this tileset used in a level and I think it is utilized quite well despite its limitations. It can get quite boring (the tileset) after a while but there’s lot of pipes in all direction and enemies in them, some of them hidden, to keep your attention. Otherwise nothing much to say about this one.
The boss is well made here with a low ceiling and some reappearing rats at the back. It could have provided a good challenge haven’t I spammed him like the previous one.
Verdict: 7

Sandsammler
Again a very good use of tileset here, especially the sand. The platforming sections with disappearing blocks, elevators and moving spikes provide for a nice change of pace, even though they can get quite frustrating. I liked the fact that there is always one stable block you can stand on and calm down before continuing further (or save you game). The bad thing is that there isn’t any pattern in these disappearing blocks so jumping around them is kind of a guessing game. In my opinion it’s better when all blocks have animation of same length so you can learn their pattern while retrying.
Verdict: 8

Magic Moshrooms
Not very memorable level. Diamondus gets old fast and bees and turtles are as annoying as ever. Inclusion of crabs and Uterus boss and those magic mushrooms is a nice touch though, it kind of give it this feeling of ‘something isn’t right here’, like in Dreamscape. But otherwise quite forgettable level.
Verdict: 5.2

Frosch Flöte
Definitely one of the most original levels here. As if drowned castle and frog morph wasn’t enough, there’re also pinball bumps and paddles thrown into the mix, which allow for some interesting platforming when you jump from below the paddle to get some speed. As you cannot fight it’s quite short and linear, you’ll run past most enemies (mostly fish) as fast as you can before they’ll even notice you.
The only problem I had here is with the last two consecutive paddles, which seemed impossible to me and I had to resort to cheats in the end to get past them.
Verdict: 8.2

Kairo
Quite memorable level, for good and bad reasons alike. On one hand there are some unique ideas here like shafts where you have to look for a draft wind to go up, on the other end there are problems like hidden crates in the sand you have no chance of noticing unless you pay super attention. I also didn’t like the use of a tileset very much, it could use a little bit more variety, especially with yellow bricks in layer 4. I’m not talking about foreground/background eyecandy here, as I know Egypt Cave tileset doesn’t really have any.
What I like on the other hand is the boss here which was pretty much the most challenging for me. The good thing about Queen is that you can’t spam her, so you have to beat her in a traditional way. Reappearing dragonflies in the walls proved to be quite a challenge, you have to shoot the queen and be prepared to move away each time she stomps or you’ll see a sparkle in the darkness indicating a dragonfly generation. Also they dragonflies are placed in a way that you can kill them with ricocheting bullets from the shield with the right timing. Great work on this one.
Verdict: 6.5

Japan
This is a linear rocket turtle chase level. The idea here is that you’ll chase him towards the end where he gets stuck in the wall and you finish the level by Area End Level event. This is a neat idea though the problem is, you don’t have to do anything to trap him in the wall, he’ll always go there. So at my first playthrough I didn’t even know I’m supposed to chase him, I just let him go and played through the level at my own leisure. I still enjoyed the level even then though. The level is beautiful and together with calm music it gives pleasantly serene atmosphere. Normally there’s supposed to be boss music playing but due to some loading error it skipped back to standard level music so I kinda enjoyed the level in a way I wasn’t supposed to.
I guess to make one play this level in a way it was intended, some angelscript would be needed to kill the player or close the path for him should he stray too far from the boss. Or have a metal crate at the end of the level that would trigger the wall to entrap the boss, otherwise he would get away – something like that.
Still a neat idea though, also plus points for using blue ghost enemies, they actually kind of fit in here.
Verdict: 7

Nikolaus
Christmas themed Candion level. Good work with the tileset, nothing in background/foregroung layer but it still looks nice due to good looking textured background in layer 8 and solid wall tiles in layer 4. Also pink snow is a nice touch and I liked that candies match the level theme. Otherwise pretty standart level, it is quite linear with no puzzles, but has a good pace.
There’s Xmas Bilsy as a boss but nothing unusual about him either, except one generating floating lizard in a wall in a top right corner. The arena is maybe a little too cramped and complicated for a boss like this, but you can always rush him or use a fireball trick. So nothing too bad.
Verdict: 8

Party
A really unique hotel level, it’s all just one big house, or several interconnected houses. You’re party crushing a club full of lizards, monkeys, and several tileset characters and your goal is to get to the largest party at the end. There are MANY enemies on the dancefloors and picking them one by one can be quite tiresome. You can just disregard them and go on, or if you absolutely need to kill them, dynamite works great here. The problem is, you have to get quite close and the explosion will probably throw you right at them, hurting you in the process. It would be great to be able to use some bomb weapon you could throw right in the middle of the crowd without risking getting hurt, something like what was used in Tweedle Wheedle level by Bloody_Body.
Still fun though, even as it is. Only issue here was an atrocious red/yellow/blue tapestry backgroung in some rooms which just burns my eyes, but that’s the tileset’s fault, not creator’s.
Verdict: 7.5

Dampflokomotive
A really cool train level made in dark industrial WTF – Deadly tileset. It’s very linear with no puzzles and little platforming due to no verticality, you’re just traversing a train from left to the right. At the start you’ll get a Chuck bird who’s gonna be great help in a cramped train car corridors if you’re careful and won’t lose him.
It’s just pity the creator didn’t feel need to make a real wheels for train cars which would make it look even cooler, but I understand that making tileset adjustments can be quite time consuming.
Verdict: 7.2

Baumkrone
I always liked rainforest tileset in JJ1 and its JJ2 conversion is absolutely gorgeous. It’s good that creator realizes this and have tries to utilize it to its full extent. There’s lush jungle in the background, leaves and vines in the foregroung and even raindrops in layer 1 which finalize the deal. Monkey and Dragonfly enemies feel of course right at home here. Just beautiful.
The whole level is very vertical, you’re moving up all the time and it feels like one big treehouse with interconnected bridges and platforms. It all looks very complicated, what with all those overlapping vines and leaves, but it’s in fact quite linear for most part.
There is a Schwarzenguard boss at the end with one additional one at bottom as a support. He’s standing on top of a tree and you have to jump on the spring to ba able to shoot him while evading attacks from both of them. Fun stuff.
The only bad thing here is Diamondus music. I’m sick of that stuff.
Verdict: 9.7

Gift
Very cool, even if a bit too long level. Good work with the tileset, there’s nothing in foreground but it still looks pretty well. There’s giant ground mass slowly moving through the air in a background layer and rocks with structures and toxic waste pouring machinery sticking from them here and there in layer 4, together with well picked music it all gives a feeling of this dangerous alien planet in a post apocalyptic state with mutants (in form of Tuff Turtles and Fat Chicks) and monkeys all over the place.
There’s a lot of platforming here based around the idea that you cannot fall down as there is sludge lake at the bottom. Thankfully it doesn’t instakill you but instead warps you back to the start or the last checkpoint. Later half of the level is all about making it across big gaps on lizard copters while evading enemies along the way. It may be quite hard, though definitely not impossible. You also get as many tries as you need as long as you don’t bump into enemies too often. It’s a nice challenge well befitting the endgame towards which you’re getting close.
Verdict: 8.2

Hölle
The last level, and damn, it sure feels like it. This level got the most attention in terms of atmosphere. JJ2 Hell levels look like a friggin’ paradise compared to this hellhole. There’s lava everywhere, hooks, pentagrams, your copies on hover boards confusing you when you touch them, everything bubbling and flashing and exploding and ominous sound playing in the background… It’s a mess and you have to get through somehow.
The level is very short though, it’s basically just prolonged boss room. The idea here is that you have to go to these pentagram blocks which open a way further and warp you at the beginning at the same time. Then you have to repeat the level towards the next block until you get to the boss (all enemies are of course reappearing). It feels like you’re opening these seals one after another and slowly working your way towards the master of hell itself.
The final arena with Devil Devan is well made, it’s big and you have a lot of room to maneuver around. You can get to the top parts on hooks but it can be quite difficult while fighting him and you may just want to stay on the ground instead and fight him there, which means the whole potential of the arena is kind of wasted. There’s also lot of reappearing ravens everywhere which can often kill you more efficiently than Devan himself. Maybe redoing the arena so there would be less of careful jumping and platforming and removing some of these Ravens (or setting them on hard) would make final fight slightly more enjoyable. Being as it is, spamming Devan with RF Missiles seemed like the best solution.
Verdict: 8.5

Conclusion
I really enjoyed this pack. Most of its flaws are lack of eyecandy, especially in foreground and background layers and sometimes maybe sticking too close to traditional gameplay – a little angelscript here and there would be nice, even if copied from other levels. However I have to give a credit to creator for having a courage to work with custom assets, many of which are not very easy to use in big single player levels.
Most of the levels play very fluently and it seems the author has a good understanding of balanced level design and pacing in traditional JJ2 platforming. Placement of enemies and goodies is usually spot on and there are plenty of weapons and carrots all around so you don’t have to play extra carefully for fear of getting hurt. The author doesn’t experiment too much but for what he’s trying to accomplish, he’s doing well. Now if only he’d understand puzzle design so well…
Final verdict: 7.5

Never liked labyrinth-like levels (sorry for tautology). But they aren’t that bad for a beginner.

Most of the bosses are pretty easy to beat. For example, if you’re fast enough to reach Bubba and Bilsy before laser shield expires the fight literally is won within 1 second.

I liked the mechanics of the last boss though.

I played this pack in small doses after it’s release to overcome the repetitiveness that people were experiencing, but I still like to give it a little review.

This episode basically consists of a Carrotus hub world, which leads to 4 worlds somehow inspired by human history and myths. In turn these 4 worlds have their own hub, or Central Area, that leads to several levels. I love how the tilesets used are Chandie’s own arrangements of JJ2’s original sets, often with modified palettes to serve a different purpose and combined with oddly photorealistic looking temple-ish graphics similar to Tomb Rabbit.

The story is basic but slightly more portrayed than your average single player. Jazz and Eva’s daughter got killed by Devan and original character Merlin will help Jazz and Bonus (the Coin Bunny) go back in time to get it undone. For this they need 4 ‘Time Freezers’ scattered in historic locations. For some reason Bonus wants coins for every warp they make. While silly, I liked that Bonus had some character with funny texts and unexpected places where he showed up.

Gameplay mostly involves you searching an area for a lot of trigger switches, which in turn open up the exit or lead to coins needed to go to the next level. Ammo is plenty but other pickups such as food are very scarce. Some levels like Temple of Sun or Alibaba’s Cave are pretty well designed while others, especially the Central Areas, felt more empty and dull. I also disliked the morph sections where you often had to open up an area with Jazz’s high jump, only to return and come back as Spaz to finally get that coin. That often repeated several times in each Central Area.

So long story short, the hub worlds are kind of repetitive and meh, while most ‘real’ levels are pretty good and well-made as vanilla levels.

Level specific things that stood out to me:
Temple of Sun, among some other levels, had nice animated tile traps, as well as Toaster fire cannons.
I liked the perspective of the doors in Cave of Wonders, as well as the pun on the bosses’ name there.
Poseidon Islands had a nice escape level with flashy lights, and cool stuff like that.
The later bosses, Alchemist and the Devan tank thing, were pretty well made.

Specific things I didn’t like:
West Desert had a very unclear long jump, even with the trigger platform slightly giving it away.
Too many trigger switches is a general problem, but Atlantis Central Area topped it all.
Atlantis’ underwater lab had a very unclear path, and no guaranteed TNT to progress.
In general TNT usage was confusing, and hindered progression in Atlantis.
Buddha’s Temple in particular had confusing tile masks a lot.
The ending felt a bit rushed.

Now for some problems:
In Temple of Sun, the last checkpoint gets you stuck in a wall after dying.
The Arabius Intro’s next level leads to itself after pressing ‘space’, but jjnext does work.
The 2nd time in Atlantis Central area, Bonus has incorrect text ID set.
Tibetius has a tube that exits right under a Demon enemy, and it’s easy to get stuck inside the corners of temple roofs.
The 2 times Chandie knew a trigger door was bugged were annoying (in Atlantis’ ship & Buddha’s Temple). Bonus does tell you to walk back a bit to make it work with varying results.
Some music files near the end may be missing?

Overall I do recommend this if you can enjoy vanilla single player, have some patience, and can look through some oddities here and there. This is not Chandie’s ‘ultimate episode’ or something but still worth a play even if you just jjnext the hub worlds to reach the better levels.

This map has quite a few interesting things to offer. Bouncer is extremely powerful here to wreck your enemies in these curves. RF on the other hand gives an extra boost for more speed in those curves. This map is actually quite fun once you have played a couple of games here. I’d like to see more eyecandy here, though it’s not a big deal I assume.

OK, so here is my review of levels:

Level 1 – Welcome aboard the S.S.Fancy – Well, this level isn’t bad, especially using beach tileset and extra Diamondus trees tiles. The music “frolick Lane” is perfect for this level.

Level 2 – Under the S.S.Fancy – This is the water level, the traps and ghost enemies fit perfectly for the level. Music also fits perfect for the level. About the boss, it isn’t very bad, Robot and Queen aren’t the worst threat, however Bloody_body offers you a scripted collisions of Robot from Plumbing Climbing level From the pack called Stone Abyss. This will make the boss very difficult to beat.

Level 3 – Titanic Tube Tussle – This tubelectric level is very stressful because there are trigger crates and lots of ammo and enemies, however this doesn’t look bad for me.

Level 4 – Small Circuit Skirmish – The short boss level, however I could buff Bolly up and prevent from stomping on his top like Bloody_Body did in Thunder Wander level of Stone Abyss.

Level 5 – Heck’s Pinball – This level is good, lots of pinball objects, enemies and two bosses at the end. However this level will be played better if I choose Damn + Ice tileset from Holiday Hare ’17 pack and erase some of unnecessary tiles.

Level 6 – A Duel of Green Beasts – The final boss of the episode is set perfeclty, however I used the RMFinalBoss.it music for the preparing for the fight, for the fight I use ckbroken.mo3 music from Holiday Hare ’17. Also, the perfect tileset for this level is once again Damn + Ice from Holiday Hare ’17, unlike the previous level, there aren’t any unnecessary tiles to erase. I will also use HH17_Roar.wav (jjSampleLoad(SOUND::BILSBOSS_APPEAR) “HH17_ROAR.wav”); and EXPSTD3.wav (jjSampleLoad(SOUND::COMMON_EXPL_TNT) “EXPSTD3.wav”); samples for this level.

Summarizing, the pack isn’t so bad, I’ll give you 7.7/10.

Download surely is recommended

You have some artistic skills, but probably you’re a little bit lazy.

A nice and tidy tileset. I liked the way you’ve rendered grass and stones. But the tileset sufferes from a serious lack of eyecandy – if you’ve added stones, small roots or something else the soil would look significantly more realistic. The same goes for the sand. The same goes for the forest as well – only the edge of it is filled with trees, while the middle is filled with empty green tiles. This is pretty boring. The colour of the distant walls should be just a little bit darker than one of the soil, otherwise it doesn’t look harmoniously. In other aspects the tileset is well-done!

P.S. OMG, this thing was uploaded almost 14 years ago… And I’m arrogant enough to judge about author’s artistic skills and to give him advices on painting :D

If you’re a lazy dumbass like me, if you only like to run, shoot and type “jjnowall” and “jjfly” when the level you’re currently playing is tedious but you want to get a better look of it to write a review, please scroll page down to “Brief review” – that part was written exactly for you!

Detailed review.

The level is really huge but my review isn’t going to be huge at all. Honestly speaking, I’ve spent an hour or so on checking out the rabbithole, and, obviously it was hardly enough to explore even 20-30 % of the level. Probably I should have spent a little bit more time on playing the level in order to write a non-quick review, but I was really fed up with it. However I managed to feel the gameplay and to make up my mind about the level itself.

So, what I was talking about, you are supposed to explore this enormous area of the rabbithole, which looks more like a futuristic space station. There are different areas or zones that are connected by warps and tubes (sometimes you have to walk in the tubes as they don’t actually suck you). The laws of physics don’t always work there (don’t forget that it’s a rabbithole, wonderland, Lewis Carol’s logic and stuff like that – how much better the level could be if you’ve used Psych tileset with its rich eyecandy!) – sometimes you may slam into an invisible wall, or be captured by “sucker tube” events that hang in the air, bullets and bird’s feathers are flying here and there but they don’t affect you in any way – they are kinda eyecandy.

Brief review.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time on finding your way. In fact it’s just a huge labyrinth. Only if you like unhurried monotonous gameplay (which I highly doubt if you’re reading the bief review) can I recommend this level to you.

6.0… Ok, well, let it be 6.5 for your efforts.

I actually liked this level, the idea to make a chaotic and silly map (especially for April Fools’) is appreciable, the music and the tileset is fitting and fun. However (although I know this level was meant to be a joke), I’d prefer to see two or more rooms for this level, that would make the matches last even longer on this map and doesn’t take much effort to do.

This tool is really handy for making translation files, being fairly easy to understand and allowing for an amazing level of customization. The interface is a bit simplistic and lacking even a simple kind of flair to make it easier on the eyes, but it gets the job done.

However, it’s worth noting that the tool isn’t perfectly user-friendly. For example, the “Capture the Flag” menu option’s text appears to be separated drastically from the rest of the text from the same menu. This probably is related to the structure of the language files themselves, but it nonetheless is an issue, however small it may be. It can also be a bit hard to find the specific line you want to replace, which, again, is mostly due to the fact that this seems to pretty directly give you access to the structure of the language files, flaws and all, instead of trying to present it in a way that’s more readable to the user.

I get the reason why it’s done this way, mind you. It’d be quite the daunting task to do it in a more user-friendly way all things considered! That, and this is merely a modified version of an existing tool, so I can understand how it’d probably be outside the scope of this project to fix all that.

Nonetheless, the user-friendliness is the main thing keeping the tool from getting a perfect 10, since aside from the less-than-perfect presentation of the interface, everything else is pretty solid. And hey, it does its job, and that’s what matters the most, right? I can’t really complain, it’s a good tool. :)

If you don’t mind a tool that’s not 100% perfect in the user-friendliness department, I would highly recommend this tool.

…somehow my first review on this site is for a tool rather than a proper level or such.

Who would’ve thought?

(Speaking of which, I hope I did this review right, seeing as how it’s not only my first review, but also a review for a tool rather than a level.)

A very atmospheric level with a cool background mixing rain and thunder , The level is big thanks to its width. Running from one base to another feels like a marathon, but the abundance of carrots compensate for that. Fireworks and its weapon placement are great, I also like how the Roller PU places you at a risk of drowning (If you’re slow)

I Like these title set, i take it!

[Review changed to quick review, see the review rules.

SteFan I really like your super-hard training level, the edgy sides and lack of eyecandy is the main problem, however, the pack doesn’t seem bad. I’ll give you 8 of 10. Also Bloody_body made a mistake – there are 2 main levels in each planet. That means there will be 24 main levels and 3 secret ones – 27 in total, all of them super-hard.

Download recommended

Also, you could use MLLE to insert more layers or tiles from other tilesets. This editor will be useful to you. Also, transitions of level’s colors in boss battles are also useful, because Bloody_Body and I are fond of recolors.

Good luck!

EDIT: The first castle level (Castle2-SH.j2l) is very good! Keep it up to the end and rest of the levels will be released.

Hey this j2s web is working! Guys remind me cuz it works on JJ2+, not non+. Like!

A very challenging level. Or, probably, it seems so to such a butterfingers as me :D

Well, the level is challenging and at the same time it’s rather small so that’s why it isn’t tiring. What I loved most of all is a new gameplay the level offeres. You have to climb the mountain in spite of the strong winds. Obviously, it would be pretty easy to accomplish if there either were no pits or no wind. However, lots of wide platforms would prevent your falling from the top of the level to its bottom.

When I finally reached the top of the peak and encountered a boss I was surprised by the fact that boss restores his health after you fall down from the battle area. I wondered whether it was a bug or a feature. Only after accomplishing the level I took upon myself to read the readme file that explained everything. Anyway, it is clever and inventive usage of game’s limitations of the distance where the object can be active.

Nice, original and challenging level. Download recommendation!

Definitely one of the best levels using Tubeelec tileset, tunnel Background is cool, combined with the other eyecandy. Fireworks fits the layout pretty well (combined with the level theme) Layout is good. Fun level overall, download recommended.

Actually a very solid level in my opinion, because of its satisfying eye-candy, game-play and use of custom weapons. My favorite aspect is the use of energy blast, which goes well with the quite vertical and open layout in my opinion.

I was really confused by zzaj’s review since Smoke’s levels are usually of a good quality. Even though I usually don’t review MP levels, I’ll make an exception this time because I feel like 6 is an exaggeratedly low review for such a great level.

Eyecandy [10/10]

First off, the visuals are absolutely stunning. I’ve played Sonic Mania and I really liked the Press Garden acts but never expected it to look so damn good in JJ2. It really does, I played this level all by myself for like 15 minutes just because of how good it looks. That, plus the custom weapons which I’ll talk about later.

Music [9.3/10]

The music is good but… well, I’m not saying that it’s bad but it’s just not the kind of theme you want to hear for longer than 5-10 minutes. I love the track itself but it gets really irritating after listening to it for too long. Maybe it’s just too tense? Hell if I know. Suggestion: If you want to keep it Sonic Mania related, you could use the Metal Sonic Boss theme, the final boss theme or even the Press Garden Act 2 theme, even though it’s a bit too calm for a battle level.

Level Design and Weapons [9.6/10]

The level design is top notch. As zzaj mentioned, it’s got an overall vertical layout. This, however, is not a problem as the custom weapons are made specifically for this kind of level. The tornadoes and the fireworks are designed to hit the opponents who have the higher ground and the thunder makes vertical navigation much much easier. The ammo placement is just fine, maybe there’s a bit too much ammo in some areas (or at least that’s how I feel about it). Oh yeah, also it’s one of those levels that are much easier to play as Spaz. It’s a common thing but always brings me down.

Overall rating: 9.7

It’s not flawless but really solid level nonetheless. I haven’t play tested this with a friend but I can tell that it’s really fun to play. Great visuals, great music, great level design, great level overall.