Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Before I start this review, a short note to the author: Please don’t take this review personal, I don’t write it because I am mean or something, I write it so you know what’s wrong and how to improve your levels.

For a first level, this isn’t too bad (I’ve seen far worse). It has, however, several problems. The first one is that it is way too short. After killing a few baddies and collecting some ammo you get warped into the boss arena, where you fight the Robot. After that the level ends. I think it took me 1 or 2 minutes to play through this, a good level should take at least 10 minutes of length. The second problem is that it is way too easy. The robot boss was never really hard to beat, and the few baddies don’t really add a challenge either. When making Single Player levels, always try to give the enemies an advantage. For example, look at the bat. What things can the bat do which Jazz can’t? It can fly, and it can fly “through” walls. If you now place a bat under the floor Jazz has to be quick to buttstomp it before the bat gets him. Also tone down on carrots and goodies. Always think to yourself: Does the player need the goodie I’m going to place? If you can beat the robot without a full energy carrot, then don’t place one. Third problem: Creativity. The only thing you do is run around, collect ammo, kill baddies and shoot the boss to pieces. Try doing something which hasn’t been there before. A good idea would be to make a puzzle. Puzzle’s always add a nice touch to a level, and there are endless possibilities. Problem number four is Eyecandy. The tileset you have used is a little crappy, the tiles look ugly and I often couldn’t tell the difference between the background and solid tiles. There are plenty of good tilesets around here at J2O, search a little and you’ll find one which suits you. The last problem is the lack of story. There is absolutely no point of killing those enemies and the robot, no goal, nothing which keeps the player trying to win to see how it ends. A story doesn’t have to be complicated, a simple reason why you’re doing the stuff you do is enough in most cases to get a decent level. It shouldn’t be as dull as “Devan is back and you have to stop him!” though.

I hope this helps you to improve your skills, just keep trying and you’ll become better. ;)

Download Recommendation: No

I finally found a good Tubelectric conversion !)

I’ve also found the most UNUSUAL Tubelectric conversion. You’ve included the turrets with ammo. Also, there are more animation tiles and eyecandy tiles.

One of the problems is that the wall turrets (The ones facing side-ways) follow the direction of the black backround bricks so the turret has to shoot the minute the one it shot before goes (Confused? Basically, it means that the turret has to shoot without pausing).

Despite that, this is probally one of the best Tubelectric conversions i’ve seen.

i added the music and tileset now

Include Tileset and music

Danyjel pretty much said what I was going to, honestly. But. . .I’ll try and add on to that.

Introduction:
Long story short, this is a simple, four-channel version of “Jazz Be Damned” by Alexander Brandon. Or is it?

Song Analysis:
I consider myself very familiar with the works of both Alexander Brandon and Robert A. Allen. . .but this file. . .sounds like nothing from either artist. Nothing I can trace to Jazz Jackrabbit 2, anyway. I just don’t know. . . It sounds nice enough, and all, but it just doesn’t sound familiar.
Also, as Danyjel said, “instrumental does not always mean a low count of samples.” Honestly, any song that does not have lyrics to it is a freaking instrumental. Heh.

Sample Analysis:
The one and only sample used in the song is a very nice sample indeed. Not much else I can say about that.

Final Analysis:
I’m not at all entirely sure what this was supposed to be, regardless of the title. I also, as I’d mentioned, can’t trace this back to “Jazz Be Damned” at all, so. . . Going by that, I’m going to have to give this file a 3.7. It’s pretty, but it’s entirely unfamiliar-sounding. . . Worth a download, though.

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“I am the “Simon Cowell” of Jazz 2 Online‘s Music Scene.”
~ Joseph Collins

“Dr Lithius” or “LithiuServer” on Jazz 2

Man, this is AWESOME! I just don’t understand the episodes part. Is it supposed to tell you when you finish an episode? If it’s supposed to, somethin must be wrong with my Jazz Jackrabbit 2 game. I also loved the battle levels in “The Fortress”. This has got to have been the best(and longest) thing I have downloaded yet. Rabbit Honor Gaurd is excelent, but a bit hard. That doesn’t change my rating though. I like challenges.

Ok.

Eyecandy:
Hmm, there is not really much if you fall down, but there is in the rest. Like in the water and top, but it really isn’t much. The waterfall looks a little bit weird. Try fixing it?

Okay…

Gameplay:
So… you can fall down and stuff. The level is a little bit linear. You did a good job on changing the direction, cause you can go to the right and down :) But, You can just go that way and keep going that way until you meet a wall. On the right side on the top there are vines where you can get stuck :\ So… this is not so good.

Meh…

Weapons:
Whoah, not much. You also did ice and a ice PU. A lot of people don’t like Ice in battle, so sorry :( But there needs to be more ammo. You did put a PU for the .. firethingie that goes through walls.

Alright.

Bugs:
Only the stuck in the vines and you could keep falling… In the water there are place where you get ammo… but get stuck if you go in them anyway. So mainly the stuck bug. I only saw a few tileset bugs you did, but other than that it is fine.

A Okay :)

Sorry. Try to download some of those high rated and see how many ammo and stuff they put in it. You do nice eyecandy, but a lot of places in this level are … empty.

Hmm, lets start.

Eyecandy:
This level mainly uses ONE tile for the ground and stuff. Nothing special and no other pretty things. You did do a background.

Alright…

Gameplay
The level is very lineare and it is very hard to get around. There are a lot of deadends. Try to avoid dead ends! But this might be fun for a blaster fight or a toaster fight.

Meh, not so good.

Weapons:
Only crates. While you did place weapons, there is way too less of them. And I’d try to stay away from ice. You did put a few toasters, so that gets you point :)

Nice, but could be better

Bugs
Only some tileset bugs, but couldn’t really find the rest.

Good!

Ok.
Sorry, but try to do more eyecandy and place some more weapons. Look at some recommended downloads to see what people are looking for.

A Remix :)

I too like how it sounds and I have to agree with Blackraptor with the beep thingies that lead it.

The music sounds very happy. The sounds are very nice and it isn’t too repetitive, but sometimes it is. I really like it. Although I can’t put up my volume too high because off the beep. I think that is one of those things that could have been a litle bit softer.

Very nice remix. It is a kinda Club thing :)

If you didnt notice there are two key words… “OS X” and “OS 9”… those have to do with Apple computers and therefore wont work on Windows.

Wow. DN2 was one of my favorite games. I actually might make a lvl with this since I know the DN2 design style so well. (Or maybe convert the other DN2 tiles) BTW: Puffie, theres no Prison in E3.

The Tileset:
Nice. I would like to see the camera looking up tiles. and the turret looking back and forward. Also, theres anothe type of “orange thing”
9.5 EDIT: I gotta give it a 9. ALL the shaft tiles are missing.

The 50% Set:
Ick. Not useful for anyrhing. lot of stuff to small to use. Lots missing too. This would really hurt the rating. Id say 5 but im not adding that in.

The ex lvl:
Nice. Shows off some features with the cameras and stuff. I dont think im allowed to base rating on this though. 9.5

Music:
Maybe its just my laptop, but its quite choppy and skips a few notes. Id say 9 because its better than a converted IMF/MIDI and ive seen a custom made PERFECT midi of this.

Overall: Well, theres only one thing that counts, the main set, 9.5 EDIT: Changed to 9

Download highly recommended especially for a DN fan.

This has a hell of a lot of problems.

DIAMONDUS:Firstly, this is missing many of the features in JJ1. But you couldn’t help that. Anyway, many of the items were only possible to collect in JJ1. Then there’s the bonus level. What was the point of putting in houndreds of birds when you can’t get them all? Well in JJ1 there are houndreds of birds but you can get them all.

TUBELECTRIC: This is just a dissapointing as Diamondus. The shooting turrets are missing which makes the level easier. Both the levels are too dark and you changed the end of one of the levels.

MEDIVO: Even more dissapointing, no swords which make the levels easy and no lava which light up the level. The Helmuts made it even more easy.

GUARDIAN: Bad choice of boss and is activated too early.

Yay, you helped me for one time, the WINNER. =D
I might add that I updated the level, like mentioned in the description. This is mainly for Chip, because he hated some things that lowered the rating alot. So, maybe he can re-download the level and check again or something. (Unless he is too lazy)

(comment that has nothing to do with rating)
“And I dno why I just said that. Anyway, nice level, and I snuck on in my schooltime to write this. So flame the WINNER if it sucks.”

The only thing I can say to this is: I like how sometimes people find sneaky ways of flaming me without admins noticing. Especially when I did nothing!
(end of comment. Begin review)

Eye Candy 8.0
I see you are really limited to the eyecandy offers of this tileset. I mean that the tileset doesn’t have lots of things to do good eyecandy tricks. The lack of animations. I found none. There’s a little confusing part at the bottom. The bottom-middle, exactly. Anyone could think “I can go through that!” but they can’t.

Gameplay 7.0
I decided to agree with Chippie a bit, and hate the springs. I really hate them at the bottom. As mentioned in the eyecandy section, you can’t go through the bottom-middle, although it looks like you can. You actually can go through it from a 1-tile high passage. WHY did you do a 1 tile passage, although you could have made all of the tiles at the bottom-middle able to go through? The annoying springs do a good job on hiding it. Nobody can notice it, because they just get bounced up by the springs.
Now for the suckertubes in the base area. I dislike how you can use a suckertube to easily catch the flag, and the only way to defend it is to shoot seekers all the time, hoping someone goes through the tube and gets hit.

Placement of Stuff 8.5
What idea made you have a blaster powerup as the “middle-powerup” and bouncer/toaster powerups as the “side-powerups”? It’s simple to say that toaster and bouncers are better than the blaster. Except if you keep bashing the spacebar (or other fire button) like mad. You should have fastfires, if you have a blaster powerup as the middle one.

Overall 8.1 (not an average!)
So this concludes the review of another XLM level. You did a better job than other XLM people.

Space Station: Milaria
DarkSonic frequently asked me to review this level of him (mainly because I reviewed nearly all of his better levels so far) Anyway, it’s one of my rare reviews these days cause I’m too lazy to write any others and I’ve got better things to do with my precious time, but I promised DS to pull another one off for his latest level: Space Station Milaria (I’ll refer to it as Milaria for the rest of this review) Let’s see if I’m still able to review.

EYECANDY: 1.8 out of 2.5
In one of the textstrings around the level, DarkSonic mentioned that he was inspired by Zaitox for this level. Once you start the level you’ll indeed see a large similarity between the two levels: both use the same tileset. The eyecandy itself is different from Zaitox: DarkSonic did use other backgrounds are there are actually some original things, like the yellow bars in the background and such. After a few minutes of playing however, you can get the idea that the eyecandy is a bit boring. Some tiles don’t seem to match, but I guess that’s more a fault of the tileset maker than DarkSonic’s. Overall, I can say the eye candy is pretty good but not really one of the best.

PLACEMENT: 2.1 out of 2.5
Maybe some more original things inside the placement stuff? Who knows. At least there’s some originality in the Power-up placement: Instead of the ordinary Seeker/RF-Bouncie-Toaster Power-up system, DarkSonic used a Blaster powerup as central PU. The usual Full NRG carrot is placed just a few tiles above the central PU, which could make the tiny place a good spot for camping. The other smaller ammo is placed quite nice and in original shapes, mostly in vertical shape (along the walls and the central pillar) I don’t have any major negative comments about the placement, ammo is nicely placed however the carrot near the main PU is a bit nasty and asking for campers.

STRUCTURE & GAMEPLAY: 3.4 out of 5.0
On with the major point of this level: structure and gameplay! Well, the level is about 95% symmetrical, and the red and blue half are divided by a large on-tile-thick pillar in the middle. This pillar has two open spots, one with the carrot and main PU (middle of level) and one on the bottom, which can be heavily guarded by two turrets, a nice position for a camping defender. The level is more open than other levels of DarkSonic, and he even managed to make it more original by giving all the platforms in the level “a purpose” (there aren’t floating objects in the sky anymore, but they seem to have a function in the space station. So far the good points. Not everything is good about the structure, and I will start with the very annoying springs in the lower corners of the level, which actually make me want to lower the rating of the level with one full point. The problem is: you approach these springs with high speed and once you hit them, you bump into a wall. You have to break if you want to take them correctly and then quickly move in the other direction. I know this is kinda original but it just kills a lot of the flow. As Ragnarok pointed out earlier, some parts of the level are a bit unneeded and the roof is still a bit Squared-Off. Overall, the flow is decent, but not quite good, and some parts are questionable. I like the music which is used here, but I don’t really think it fits to the level.

RATINGS:
DarkSonic did a brave job by releasing a new level which is slightly different from earlier levels he produced. However, all new designs have a difficult start and so does DarkSonic’s. The level would/could have been a lot better if the nasty spring situation would have been improved, and some other parts too (read review) I think I’ll give this around a…. 7.3. Yeah.

Score: 1.8 + 2.1 + 3.4 = 7.3
Download: Yeah, it’s a quite nice new-style level by DarkSonic.
Host: Maybe a few times.

Greetings,
- ChippieBW

EDIT: I see that you re-uploaded the level, which you really didn’t have to do for me alone =P. Anyway, now it’s been improved, I need to recheck it. Some factors in the level could raise the rating a lot, the placement of the springs is one of these things. The situation as it is after the change is really A LOT better, and after re-playing it, it enjoyed me more. There are still some small flaws in the level, but it’s truly a lot better now. Rating has been raised with 0.5 points. Good job.

I don’t really have much time to review, so I will keep this short.

This level is a brilliant example of how to use Blade’s recently (one month ago? ;p ) uploaded tileset, Islands. The tileset use is really splendor. With all of the layers being used and gems scattered on the whole level (like Radium has said on this level in Anniversary Bash 7 server, “INTERACTIve eyecandy fx” the outcoming effect is a pure pleasure to the eye. However, I do have a few (really, really minor) gripes. Por exampla’, the coast-like thing on layer 5 visible when you’re underwater shouldn’t have bushes (unless they’re the underwater kind of).

The gameplay is as smooth as it gets with a Blackraptor level. No flow issues, clear and easy to learn layout (after a few minutes of playing in here you should remember each place and most of the (rather pointless, but still funny) secrets), bits of creativity there and there (like both of the coin warps, allowing for quick moving from edge of the map to edge of the map if you have got enough coins. I like it very much, it’s extremely useful when it comes to strategies in this level. Aside from a very slight Spaz bias in some of the places, the gameplay rocks.

Placement of events is a strong point of this level as well (to be honest this level lacks any weak points whatsoever ;p ). The powerups are all logically placed, maybe except for Toaster powerup placed just a few tiles away from the underwater area ;p but that’s about it. There’s enough ammo scattered over the map, and you won’t find yourself running into a place lacking any kind of ammo. Somehow TNT manages to work in this environment as well (handy for blowing up opponents chasing you underwater), and that’s a rare thing in battle. The wide variety (vaarsiinety!!!11omb) of food also makes its job; you will get a Sugar Rush (rather pointless as well) in a matter of seconds. And of course there are three carrots. Unlike WR has said, it’s quite hard to stay alive even with three carrots, when you consider the level layout as a rather tricky one. The similar situation (and the same review issue ;p) could be seen in FireSworD’s Garden Brawl.

(Or it might be just me being rusty. ;p)

Overall, this level does a flawless job on putting you on a pirate coast, which is what the tileset is supposed to represent by itself, but that’s an other story. ;p In short, I give this the rating of 8.7 and a download reccomendation. Keep on making levels like this, Blacky!

This sounds like the sort of stuff that would get on OverClocked ReMix. And, as hard as it may be to believe, I don’t mean that in a good way.

Introduction:
Completely rearranged the Bonus Stage theme from Jazz Jackrabbit, adding echoes with repeatitious and progressively recognizable melodies, and that’s what you get from this.

Song Analysis:
I dunno. I agree with what Labby said, for the most part. Repeatitive. It also takes too long to get to where it needs to go, if you ask me. The arrangement is pretty generic, even if it’s only vaugely recognizable.

Sample Analysis:
The samples used work for what they were used for. It’s a nice, little, quiet song. Nothing bombastic, nothing overpowering. Echoing, yes. But it doesn’t sound bad.

Final Analysis:
Eh. Not a bad song. But nothing special. I give it a 10.0!!! . . .no, of course not. =P 6.2 for this one. And a download recommendation. Makes good background music.

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Joseph Collins, the Music Review Freak
“Dr Lithius” or “LithiuServer” on Jazz 2

To sum it all up, this pack is horribly overrated. “The Episode” does feature six levels, all of them are decent. The problem is though, that they are “only” decent. In every level, you have to collect stuff, kill enemies, find the exit, then in the next one collect stuff, kill enemies, find the exit. Come to think of it, the other levels aren’t different either. The levels are not bad, but they’re just boring. To quote Ninja Dodo, “Why would anybody want to play what they played over and over again in numerous other episodes?” What “The Episode” fails in is creativity. There is nothing, really nothing which is different from the standard episodes. The standard episodes have a story though, aswell as some puzzle elements, and other stuff, like the Cats in the Psych levels. This one is just straight forward exit-finding, and come to think of it – in the last level you have to defeat Bubba in another lame arena. To make it even worse, that is totally easy. Neither the bad guys feature a challenge, nor Bubba does. I started playing with three lifes, and ended up having six, which means there must be something wrong. The only difficult thing is to find all the coins for the coin warp as there are thousands of hidden ways, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that it is still very easy to beat the Episode.

The best thing about The Episode is the eyecandy, which is very well. I especially liked the last last level, which looked amazing, and there weren’t any tilebugs either. That’s were the 7.7 comes from, otherwise it would’ve been even lower.

Still, the levels get boring very fast, and there isn’t even a storyline.

If you like uncomplicated, easy single player levels, then this is for you. For me, it’s just too easy and standard.

Still, I give it a download recommendation, as I maybe have been a bit rude.

I get an amnesia error aswell. :-/

Thankyou JelZe for giving me that information. I knew for sure that Alexander Brandon made the music for the sequel, but it seems that a lot of websites are misleading and say different things regarding who actually composed the JJ1 music. I wish Brandon had a website that I know of. He could broaden his fame even further. :p

I didn’t sample any bits of the original song. This song was made entirely from scratch, but I did try to emulate the original song’s instruments. The only thing I DID sample was my voice, and I synthesized it to make the low humming noises and medieval trumpet chorus sounds.

I’d submit the entire song to stop people from calling it repeditive if I could, but it’s too large.

As for the volume, it’s a little quiet yes, but if I made it any louder, the instruments would distort. I’m still learning (only been doing this for a year).