Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Level one barely touches on the challenges of the next levels, and it’s still pretty damn hard, nice work!
(Unsupported rating (10) removal. This is a good try, but it would be appreciated if you spoke of more than just the difficulty… especially as we don’t really know what these challenges you mentioned are, from reading this review. ~Violet)

A bloody good utility period.
(Unsupported rating (9) removal. ~Violet)

If people can make such short reviews and get away with it, so can I.

The flow is subpar. It’s very easy to get stuck, there’s too much ammo, the powerups you chose don’t do anything, and there are hurt events. Never use hurt events in a battle, or else you’ll get an access violation if you get killed by one. The eyecandy isn’t all that great, the tiles look like you just threw them together without caring, and there’s barely any background.

A 2 from me for effort and creativity. I feel like 2 is too much. So i’ll give you a 1.5.

Yes, I love you, Jazz. Nice mix. Really. I’ll maybe review it soon.

Yay, another bash pack.
I will check it out later.

Not bad at all, simalar to the origional level, but more ‘open’ I’d say it is about normal in difficulty and could easily be a level the designers created themselves. Some versions of Jazz don’t seem to like it though, but my CD version ran it fine.

Interesting, a new lvlbuildinggroup (or sth like that)…
Plz write a short description about you, that would interest me! :D

-Nick [PoL]

I don’t normally review, but I got a chance to play this so here it goes.

Shockwave Sanctuary: 6
This level bothers me for a few reasons. The main one being the so called “new system to capture the flag”. That system not only makes the bases nearly impossible to defend, it is also tedious to go through and has a confusing coin system to top it all off. I feel this detracts from gameplay overall.

I think the design of this level is pretty average. It doesn’t really have anything unique about it (other than the weird system) and is alltogether unmemoriable.

Eyecandy is ok. I’ve seen better things done with this tileset, but there is only so much you can do with an official set that hasn’t been done before. Still, the level pretty much looks like countless other tubelectric levels.

I don’t like how this level flows. There are weird “turret” things near the base which shouldn’t be there for example.

Finally, one thing in particular seems to catch my intrest about this level. The tubes around the 1h carrot near the bottom are arranged into what seems to be a contorted swastika, with the carrot in the middle. What this means, I don’t know.

Cave Connection: 7
This level is a bit better than the other two. The overall layout is a bit more unique, with the level sectored off into 4 distinct areas. Two of the areas are out of the way from the main path from base to base, but those areas contain all the goodies. Carrots can only be obtained by going through tubes, and both tubes lead players to the same area.

This isn’t a bad idea, but the way it is presented is bad. First of all, each tube has a pair of 1h carrots. Since a player has to pass over both, this can lead to some weird situations of there only being one carrot sometimes. 4 carrots is also a lot, and can slow down gameplay. I personally don’t see the point of this, and think full nrg carrots would have been a better choice.

The bottom tube is also painfully hard to access, and is probably near impossible to get into with jazz. I don’t mind bias towards one character, but this is just bad. Aside from that one tube problem and a few oddly placed warps, the flow seems ok though.

This level has average eyecandy, like the other ones in this pack. There are a few tile bugs here and there, and a lot of places it could be better, but not bad overall.

God’s Garden: 6
One thing I really noticed about this level is that it is way too easy to get stuck. This level feels like it wasn’t tested.

One of the reasons it is so easy to get stuck is because it seems like most of the level is made up of one way events. This also has the effect of making the level a haven for seekers, which happen to be abundant. The weird thing is, the seeker powerup is placed in a wall, even though it is kind of pointless to do that for this level.

There are a number of tubes, but I found the exit points to be in weird places. I kept trying to enter tubes which just shot me back out. There are also tile bugs on those tube entrances/exits.

This level has a pretty bland look. Swamps is a pretty hard tileset to use if you want to make a good looking level. It requires extensive usage of layer 5, something there is not very much of in this level.

Overall: 6.33, rounded up to 6.5
This level pack is pretty mediocre. The people who made these levels seem to know what they are doing, and I bet they are capable of making good levels. In this case though, the levels seem pretty rushed and uninspired. My suggestion for the authours is to take a look at various popular levels, and see what makes them good.

Alright.. I haven’t played it all, but I guess here goes something.. XD

The first level, I don’t know the level, but I swear that the tileset could be a small bit better. Even though I recognize it’s a JJ1 conversion, the sands there didn’t need to be.. Outlined, still, it’s a good “Intro-before the Action” type level. The eyecandy isn’t much, but I guess it’s enough not to keep you bored.

Rating: 6/10
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The second level, where the enemy killing begins, there’s a lot of uses for the Skeleton guys here, and certainly quite a bit of the Underground mazes, traps, travels and flight that’s needed there, the “Insta-Killing pit” event there is pretty simple to intermediate Jazzers, sometimes uppercuts and speed are needed to access secret high-areas. Which fondle somewhere in the sky, though the placement of some enemies, like directly you get hurt by an enemy once you come onto a platform. It’s rather annoying.. Still, this is a good level for starting out quickly. The eyecandy, as in the background and such is pretty basic, but better than the first level at the very least.

Rating: 7/10
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The third level, from what I remember, is that Egyptian like cave, the Temple they have, it’s rather amazing the uses of events are there, but still, the eye-candy lacks it’s appearances in these levels. The enemy placement in here is OK though. It’s rather easy to beat in Easy or Medium mode for an intermediate. However, this doesn’t mean that you should be rejoicing on the difficulty..

Rating: 7.5/10
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I ain’t good at remembering levels, but if I guess right, the fourth level is the Underground Temple, now THIS level has a good dosage of eyecandy, the problem here are the crashing Spike-balls in this level, I avoided shooting them as the author requested, freezing them was a good alternative however. The enemy placement is very good in here, however it’s also very tricky to the human eye. Sometimes a purple-bat may just appear out of a layer 3 covered corner, surprising the player and taking away one of his lives.

Rating: 8.5/10
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Fifth level, if I remember correctly, is the surface of the Temple again, though it still lacks eye candy, it’s still a strong challange like the Underground Temple level…

Rating: 7/10
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Alrighty.. That’s how much I exactly played, if I remember correctly, now based off this rating, I’d give this.. 9.2

[Unacceptable rating (9.2) clearance. Never rate level packs if you haven’t played them to the end. ~Cooba]

Author of this remix claims that the song is “unremixable”. Come on, that’s illogical. If something is impossible to remix, how did you make this one? Every song is remixable, because even if the melody can’t be improved even more, you can always go for a style change. There are so many possibilities!

And yes, this is the first Deserto remix indeed. We had a rearrangation already made by Jackhabit, which was nice and all but didn’t change the melody itself enough to notice the difference. This one’s a fresh look on the song, which was my favourite from the A-C ones.

S is for style
I expected a techno remix and so I got it.. sorta. The beat is well expanded and uses good drumloops, giving a “nasty” style, especially thanks to those power-uping parts with snares going wild, ya gotta love’em! The samples are chosen well, fitting to each other. At first I thought marimba is out of place, but later I noticed that it greatly fits as a integer for other parts. Everything makes it a jumpy and cool tune, I think it would be neat as a background music for breakdance show. Hmm, gotta ask JSZ Arkardo about that.

A is for arrangement
Most of the original melody is there. Tiny bits that are gone are the scratching-like instrument on the end of loop and one “riff”. I liked them in original but I doubt they’d fit the remix, so let’s let that be. What I really like in this remix is the beggining – kind of approaching the listener, being made of short, silent parts in the very beggining and then quickly building and speeding up to reach the actual tune. Among with well chosen samples that gives a nice climax.

N is for nice
Hey hey, I didn’t expect that to be so entertaining! At first I listened it just because it was my duty. Later I found myself playing it again… and again… and again… man, it’s addictive! This is definetely different than other Danyjel’s remixes – I don’t know if this is caused by getting to see TIMM WIPs, daring to get a higher rating from JC or just a nifty idea, but whatever it was it was worth the trick.

D is for Danyjel!
C’mon, give it a try and download now, you won’t regret it!

No it’s not.

> Sorry for the creator or song_revenge of cats.it.

That would be Skaven/FC. I mean, it kind of said that all over the original file. :)

Wow this is great, ill review after some playing.

Well, it’s good for my first battle lvl anyway

The Invasion of Deserto is, in my opinion, one of those rare SP level packs that comes around every once and a while, suprises everyone, and becomes a staple pack many users will look back fondly upon. It has a good storyline that is more than just a thin set of ideas to tie the levels together, you are actually playing along and interacting with it most of the time. It is also quite challenging with a variety of obstacles. There are areas that emphasize puzzles, your skills in maneuvering, simply killing enemies, and complex mixes of the three.

A lot of thought went into the placement of everything in the levels and you can tell. There is plenty of creativity that will make the pack refreshing for any seasoned jj2 player but it’s not (usually) too difficult for the newer players either. Sometimes you might get stuck in a certain part only to discover a more counterintuitive method to solve the same problem.

The general theme of the pack is somewhat similar to Tomb Rabbit and Another Story. You’re on a mission to see why Deserto was invaded and stop everything, but there’s a larger storyline going on that doesn’t get to finish (until Episode 2 and beyond). The Deserto tileset, though not seen much and rather unappreciated, starts to get old sometimes, but there is enough variation and the levels are usually just long or short enough. You revisit areas to discover new paths and even get to play some parts backwards. The non-Deserto levels are also particularly well made (though sometimes they just seem to be there so to allay the Deserto monotony). Also, because of things like the revisitting, levels tend to be very large and therefore you cannot save in them. This is abated by save levels right before these, however for those save-whores out there it’s annoying.

I can’t think of much else to say. I was able to beta test the pack and have been anticipating its release. This is a very enjoyable, original, challenging, and even important piece of work. Do yourself a favour and play it how it was meant to be played. Then write a review so that we can see the sequel. With that, I give this pack a 9.5. Packs like these only come around so often.

On a final note, I also encourage people to play the extra level. I got to play it a while ago and was quite impressed – you’ll see some things done with JCS you were unaware were possible.

stup resample. i hate metal. and all the cal.

To Haze: OMG Skaven? JJMusic? Impossible. It’s classic Allen’s style…

It’s not bad and it’s not good. There is hardly any backround but there is so much ammo so they both even each other out. I say this deserves a 5.7 at the most because i’m in a friendly mood today. Its too bad can’t give you a good recommendation.

And i think it’s great! Music is good for level.. Good eye candy!
I give 8,7 for it! :D
(Unsupported rating removal. You tried, but all you really said was “this is good this is good ok bye”. We could use some specific examples, and it might help if you actually mentioned the level design. On a final note, commas are for big numbers like “1,000,000”, not decimal points like “1.5”.)

awesome edit of battle2!!! the tileset is great and it gives that boring lvl a great new feel!
(Unsupported rating removal. How does it? Explain more. ~Violet)

what more do i need 2 say? i think he did a wonderful job on it and that it beats the original battle2. really its a good lvl he had 2 do a lot a work on it and he should be given credit 4 it. i think its great that someone would make an original lvl that gets boring different and fun again. so i give it a 9 an dont edit that cuz it deserves a good rating.

[Unsupported (9) rating removal. Care to explain why it is good, not just that it is good? – FQuist]

Ugh. I had to restart this review 3 times now because of stupid computer self restarts and internet crashes, so I’m rather frustrated right now. Anyways, here goes:

Since this level has only one review (although its a great review) I decided to review it.

Introduction

“What is this?” is a solid, enjoyable level by Newspaz of J2LC. It’s no wonder it made it into the bash, since this level excels in several categories.

Layout/Gameplay
The layout of this level is interesting. In fact, its a mix of several different types of layouts. There is an open, platformy terrain in the top right, narrow corridors in the temple area, and corridors linking to “rooms” (open areas) in the cavern area. Yes, this level even has a dead end with a carrot in it. This bizarre mix of ideas can only add to the creativity of the level, and through my experience with this level, works alright (although people tend to stick to one area frequently). The gameplay of this level is also nice. There are even springs on the sides of masked objects to bounce you around, which could become very chaotic with several people playing. Although the gameplay is generally good, there are a few
annoyances that could be improved in it. Some springs are rather unneeded (like the one in the very topmost platform on the top right; what is it doing there?) and some could be of a different type of spring (the two red springs in the bottom right room, a blue spring there would suffice). 6, 22 – the area there should be revised. The floatup is too noticable and annoying – it causes a noticable delay before you hit the red spring. The slope should be smoothed out so the floatup wouldn’t be needed and there would be no delay. 57, 30 – Spaz can run and double jump up to the blue springs, while jazz has to go underneath the one ways to get up there. Otherwise, I rarely found myself bumping into stuff or getting stuck, although I think the room in the bottom right could use another exit since its a big dead end (at least have the sucker be lower so you wouldn’t have to climb up to get out.)
Rating: 8.5 (Generally good, and an interesting combination of different things, but it does not come without small bugs/annoyances which horde up together).

Eyecandy
Probably the section this level excels at the most, the eyecandy is probably even more bizarre than the layout, and probably gives the level its name, “What is this?”. Although strange, it’s creative and adds to the already-strange mood of the level.
There is a good amount of eyecandy in the level, and thankfully none of it really gets in the way or blocks view. The eyecandy could be confusing at first, but personally I got used to it quickly. The trees in the backround layer could be moved up more though, since they are barely noticable and the top right of the level is more empty than the rest. There’s not much to point out about eyecandy, though some of it looks particularly random (ferns growing out of the center of stone boulders and rocks growing on tree branches?). To sum it up, the eyecandy has a lot of creativity in it, and is pulled off nicely. The level doesn’t really have much of an atmosphere (except some screwed up jungle perhaps?) but it still looks good.
Rating: 9

Placement of Stuff
Let’s start out with the ammo, since it is battle. Personally, I didn’t find the ammo as creative as the previous two categories. Most of it is seemed to be placed in bunches, forming random shapes, usually rectangles, lines, or stairway like things. The majority of the +3 ammo is in the top section of the level; underneath in the caverns you’d find more powerups and +15 crates (while on the topic, I don’t think having two +15 crates of seeker ammo next to each other is a good idea). I think the top right could’ve used more ammo, since it’s quite empty in terms of events. Powerups (3 of them) were placed alright, I didn’t have any problems with them. Maybe the seeker was a bit easier to get than the rest, and more of a target since it even has a carrot next to it, and a Toaster powerup might’ve been good here (replace the RF with the toaster, perhaps?). Otherwise, nothing noteworthy. With the carrots, I think the one in the top could’ve been further away from the seeker. With the one in the bottom, I found that either it was ignored for most the game because of the inconvenient area it was in, or many people camped at it because it was a good place to regain health in without being noticed. Strategy wise, that could be a positive or a negative thing. Suckertubes were well placed. There also appears to only be 1 start pos, which could explain why people pile up in one area.
Rating: 8.3 (not as creative as the previous categories, and there is room for improvement)

Originality/Fun Factor:
The area where this level excels at the most. One of the most bizarre quality levels I’ve played (even the name indicates it’s strangeness), this level has seemingly random, but yet nicely pulled off eyecandy, and a combination of different layout types. The music choice is even original (although really weird..). As for Fun Factor, this level was fun enough to play in, although after the random level selection in the anniversarry bash forced people to play this level dozens of times it started to get boring.
Rating: 9.2

Overall (not an average):
I like this level, and so do many other people (its average is 8.8 and it made it into the bash). There is a lot of things in this level that make it stand out from other levels of the same set, and there is a lot of things in this level that make it enjoyable. (While I was typing this my computer crashed a 3rd time (4th if you count the internet crash), good thing I was typing this in notepad this time ;D). You should definately download and play this level if you haven’t had a chance to through the numerous times it was hosted. Among all the positive things in this paragraph about the level, there is still always room for improvement.
Rating: 8.5

Final Rating: 8.7 on the dot. This is a great piece of work that definately earns the rating and the download reccomendation I’m giving it, and I hope I will have a chance to review & play more of Newspaz’s works in the future

~Blackraptor.

Edit: wow. It took me an hour and 7 minutes to complete this review. Darn computer crashes..