Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

lol

Nice!

Ok, so apparently this level is Jazz-only…

The error should be specified that you have to play as Jazz (instead of totally nothing), and neither should Spaz be able to play since he looks incredibly awkward with Jazzes abilities (he has uppercut even though he lacks sprites for it). Which is inconsistent because Lori can’t play at all.

EDIT: Okay, “done” playing. Before anyone goes crazy at the rating, read the cons. This contains many spoilers.

Overview
In this level, you start as Jazz (or a Spaz that works weird), incapable of running. Instead of blaster, you get a weapon that behaves like a boomerang. Gain abilities such as running, turning into Chuck the bird and antigrav. You will also gain some (mostly) classic ammo and powerups along the way, to access more areas. Also, many custom bosses must be fought along the way.

Pros
More scripting fun – new bosses (or at least mechanically) and abilities you gain throughout the game.

You can play as the bird, Chuck! (later on)

A few points for creativity.

Overall good music choices. Each boss and sub-world has its own track. None of them have been used before and fit pretty well, if I recall.

Cons
This level completely eliminates the lives system and has no checkpoints. Infact, it doesn’t allow you to start from the beginning of the level after death either. So instead, you must tediously exit the level and restart from the menu. This is not fun by any measure. And gives no chance for the player to stop and take a break.

So, when you enter the Chaos Realm and collect all the coins then reach the warp, you arrive at “Yuo are dead” in its incorrectly spelled glory. Then I look up in JCS…OH, you have a wall to destroy in this room, and then you win! What is this moon logic?

Now, for the less bothersome cons

There’s no difficulty support, or at least there doesn’t seem to be.

Shooting upwards with your default weapon looks incredibly buggy/underpolished. The HUD flickers and an array of sound spam happens, though nothing comes out. Also, it would be nice if the default weapon made its appearance on the HUD instead of blaster.

The Clock tower to enter the Chaos Realm is layer 3’d. Such key areas are usually indicated by well, not being tiles that are normally completely solid. Which strikes as a bit unintuitive. It wouldn’t matter as a secret, though.

It looks pretty barren. Especially eyecandy-wise.

Maybe it’s just my bias for dislike of mazes for finding the Devils Gallery more tiresome and tedious than anything. But it’s also where the barren look sticks out the most. Some transitions aren’t so smooth, resulting in a part of the layout flicking away in a flash (particularly that bookcase and bottom-right window).

Enemies that respawn right in front of you. SDjksdjakjhjk.

Some empty deadends. :( Ammo could be placed into them.

At Castle Wall, there are thin platforms that invisibly lose collision when you get hit. It looks buggy (because absolutely no one would expect why it happens here – it’s not suggested in any way) and either way, it’s not really fun.

The full carrots are also unintuitive. On my first play attempt, I avoided them because I assumed they were just carrots that fully restored your health, not increased your max amount, since they looked exactly the same. Perhaps change the colour of them?

You can take normal carrots even though you have full health. This does not normally happen in JJ2. There’s a good reason for that.

I guess it’s just a nitpick/personal dislike, though I don’t like the run function being removed, even if running is made into a powerup. It feels kind of tedious. To me, a lot of the charm of JJ2 comes in being able to go fast. Even a jog would be more acceptable (faster than walking but slower than running).

The controls to get flight mode is awkward. I got it consistently eventually, but I think it would be a better idea to use one of the unused ammo numbers instead (like a toggle).

Conclusion
This level has some potential, though it has a lot of confusing design and a few elements I dislike, and too punishing on players for dying. Not recommended for less-skilled/easily frustrated players, but more seasoned ones may want to check it out.

…I preferred Damn Lava Planet. Sorry.

EDIT: I’d also like to note I only died twice. Which was on the first boss – so it’s not a matter of me rating 6.5 simply because of the no lives/checkpoint system. I could see this being a 7 or 8, depending on the amount of (or which) issues are fixed.

Windows XP is eol.

this is pretty dang awsome, I like the combination of electronic and rock.
loses points for it not being exactly my style, but still awsome.
also (I was just listening to it for the first time while writing this)
I love the bass drop with the “rapid fire” soundbyte.

As said by Blacky, this level follows the core design of it’s predecessor but modernizes everything else. Everything has been enhanced by neat AngelScript tricks and modern design ideas, as well as entirely new areas being added to explore.

Overall, this feels like a traditional single player level with the basic elements of an original JJ2 level present. You run and jump finding crates, collecting gems and coins (for the biggest coin rewards ever!), exploring some hidden paths, and enjoying the vast amount of carrots. Ammo progression is quite natural too, starting off with Bouncers and moving up to more Seekers and RF’s near the end. The enemies are largely untouched by AS, aside from things like a cool boxing glove trap and stronger (ice) turtles and crows. All in all it’s definitely a generic single player level, a very cleverly designed one that is.

The real standout quality here is it’s sheer size and how it tries to form a ‘world’ by interconnecting various areas with different atmospheres and music. The way of progression in this level feels both rewarding and surprising. It’s probably the biggest single-single player level to date if you count just the amount of gameplay. Also a nice feature is it’s excellent use of JJ2’s difficulty setting, which is not even a scripted feature by itself. Not many JJ2 maps have such meaningful differences between Easy, Normal, and Hard even though it’s a feature for events programmed into the game! I lost on Hard pretty early in the level due to the Cheshire Cat part, but got through Normal twice (once without losing a life) in about 1:45 on my first run and 1:15 on my 2nd (those are estimations). And by the way, the boss is very original, funny, and well made too!

Some parts are definitely a bit confusing, such as finding the exit in ‘White Hell’ and finding the cheese (play and you know what it is, lol). Another strange thing is that you are being warped to a ‘hub’ at some point which makes you think you need to backtrack to earlier areas, while in fact you need to find an entirely new area that just happens to be accessible through this hub. Also, Normal mode could use an extra savepoint or 2, getting set back so far at times might demotivate some players.

I happened to get stuck once, and because it’s underwater I had to use jjk to get out: https://s20.postimg.org/vdjqhm0ql/Jazz2_AGen_SP10_Year_000.png

Overall one of the most amazing levels ever released, and unless anything better comes out in December, this will be the clear winner of the JCS Awards. Download recommended? Of course! Lay down your work and play it now!

This remade level truly competes for the title of the best standalone single player level ever made for the game in my opinion. The visuals are top-notch, although sometimes probably even too excessive, the gameplay very versatile along with the scripted features that make it even more original. The musics are well chosen too. Download recommended.

I wish I could download this, but I can’t, it looks so cool but the link is broken…. :(

[Please don’t rate files you can’t download.]

Probably one of the best levels ever made for JJ2, and I don’t say that lightly.

While I could argue that some parts are confusing almost to the point of frustration (especially towards the end), I’ve not had a single JJ2 experience to date which was this immersive and rewarding. It was almost metroidvania-esque.

Fairly good remix! Listened to it on YouTube. Even though it’s more of a polished version of the original than a remix. Still, sounds great :)

I’ve played it at bash18, and stallfests happened all the time (even with mouseaim and plenty of players), due to lack of ammo types. If you want to encourage people to use an underused weapon, make it strong and most importantly – fun. Also shooting with no ammo could’ve been scripted better, as the current way makes the game look bugged.

Listened to this on youtube before. It gets better further on. A lot of pump and polish! Recommended if you enjoy electronic rock with a retro touch.

It’s like gold!

I can’t download, dropbox and the other link doesn’t work

[Don’t rate files you can’t download.]

I like it, but I can’t download the music pack anymore :’(

Good choice on these tilesets NOKA! I really like these tilesets and example levels, though I can insert the boss at the end of each conversion. I also use some modified tilesets from IC but the levels a bit bugged so I will fix these by erasing some bugged bricks and insert enemies and ammo. I am absolutely genius.

9.5/10 It’s not bad.

Keep up on Future Projects!

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

EDIT: The bugs mentioned below have been fixed by the author! The level’s gameplay and features, and thus this review remains the same!

Wow, to see a new level this big by Tik after all this time. What a simple Facebook group can do.. Anyway let’s review this straight and to the point.

After starting this up, I thought this would be a traditional JJ2 level in jungle style. But quickly I realized this was a more non-linear level with puzzles and other knickknacks that keeps it interesting. I normally prefer the linear style level, but this one makes up for it by providing good platforming with vines and boll platforms, and ememies (monkeys, dragonflies, and bats) in every location along with hidden gems and foods. Every platform and corner encourages exploration. Coins are spread out in fun ways too, with some falling from the ceiling. There are not many carrots but the amount of enemies that may drop them makes up for it. There are several savepoints but the fact they reset all items and enemies after dying makes manual savegames a better option. There’s also a single Morph monitor to switch character for specific situations.

Most original part may be the doors spreadout through the level enclosing powerups and more. Paying a higher amount of coins at a special ‘praying’ spot opens better powerups. Or you can pay less for more simple stuff. In the end these powerups may not be too useful (except maybe Bouncers for shooting down items) but getting one feels rewarding enough.

Eyecandy is good, but sometimes it’s quite hard to see what’s in layer 4 and what isn’t, especially with the trees in the forest areas. I really had to try and remember which branches I didn’t fell through. I don’t really like some of the hidden ememies in the tree leaves either, but that may be more of a personal opinion and no flaw in the level.

Only bugs I could find:
1: When exiting the shrine through the warp, it stays dark in the overworld.
2: There’s no next level set so finishing the level will result in a crash.
3: Not sure about this one, but I believe you could get stuck in the ‘pit’ if you run out of bouncer ammo before reaching the end of the blocks.

I highly recommend this level for the advanced and expert players as the puzzles and some platforming can be quite challenging. It’s not often that such a big SP level gets released these days, that alone makes this worth it. Combine that with the sense of exploration and quality of the puzzles and you have a gem of a level!

Very good idea. I like the JJ1 and JJ2 both the same.

Disagree all you want, if you ask me, this is one of the top 10 tilesets on J2O. Two ground types, abundance of eyecandy, highly customizable background layers, and incredible ease of use. If I could ask for anything, it would be to add more of the same. The second priority would be some art improvements.

I like the Night World levels, with lot of eyecandy, and some secrets. I also modified these levels with new tilesets and even AngelScript codes, for example transition of level’s colors, Bilsy as scripted enemy in Jungle Party level (I can only beat him with physical attacks, before there is a code IGNOREBULLET), and even scripted enemies in Underground Base (boss changed from Bilsy to Devan, and Bubbas and Bilsys are scripted enemies in hard mode).

[Review changed to quick review because you only talked about the upload for five words, see the review rules.