Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Late CTF Level Review Number 07: Capture the flag

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

Oh look, another level where the J2O name and the actual name of the level differ. Let me start with the layout. It’s not very balanced at all with the blue base at the top left corner and the red base at the bottom left. Base placement like this requires an extra effort to keep the level balanced. While the flow isn’t as bad as it gets, it could be better in a lot of places. Better spring placement and less obstacles is a start. Relying less on platforms would be good as well. I know I don’t normally complain about this, but the top area is a little too open; I don’t enjoy blind jumps too much. And of course, there isn’t a border around the entire level. What could one expect from a first CTF level? A border along the edges of the level at least two tiles thick (three tiles recommended) would prevent the flag bug from appearing. But that’s not all. My biggest problem with this level is the shield. I’m surprised to still see someone place a shield like this in any level. Even worse, it’s right next to the carrot. That’s pure chaos. I only condone shields in a level if they aren’t too easily accessible (like if a coin warp is required or players can only get it once at the start). And an invisible pole: WHY? The last time I checked, Carrottus had pole tiles.

EYE CANDY:

Could be a lot better, but at least the tileset was used correctly for the most part. There isn’t much of a background aside from the textured background and the few tiles aligned with layer 4. The unmasked dark brown tiles (assuming everyone knows what those are) are not to be found in this level. The eye candy is close to being average except it falls short. Thus, I deem this below average.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

It looks like there’s just a full energy carrot near the top. If this carrot was lower or if there was another carrot, I could live with it, but that isn’t the case. I rather dislike the way the ammo is placed. It’s not distributed too evenly; its huge clumps here and small clumps there. I would say the ammo was placed for the sake of having ammo in the level. TNT and ice aren’t exactly needed in this level. And if they were, I would strongly recommend not adding much of it or in places where players will constantly get it accidentally. I’m also thinking there are way too many crates in this level. Crates tend to have lag problems connected to them, so the fewer, the better. Powerup placement also needs work. It seems as if the powerups were placed as if this was a battle level with no regards to the fact that this could make the level even more unbalanced.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

No way. I’m thinking of a number between 5 and 5.

PS: I find it odd how you beta-tested CTF levels without ever finishing one of your own. BTW, I enjoyed reading this level very much.

Late CTF Level Review Number 06: The Dark Dream

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

edits previous review

To no surprise, this level is also Spaz-biased with bad spring placement. Actually, this is much more Spaz-biased than the last levels. How could anyone play this and not notice the obvious problems with the flow? The flow is a whole lot worse than in the War Time! level, which is easy to tell. I have to say that while balance isn’t the biggest problem for once, the layout is still horrible. This level isn’t even completely symmetrical. There are still the same dead-ends and pointless areas as seen in previous levels, such as much of the bottom area of the level. I should also mention the size of the level didn’t help.

EYE CANDY:

Still bad. It’s still boring. It still completely lacks variety in tiles. The tileset is still used incorrectly. And the background tiles are messed up. Work on this, please.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Carrot placement is good enough from what I can tell. Ammo placement still needs some work. There are multiple powerups of the same weapon for no good reason, so I advise not to do this. I’m probably making this review too short, but I seem to keep repeating myself with each review.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Not a chance. 5.5, so there.

PS: Either you aren’t listening to your beta-testers, or your beta-testers are doing an awfully bad job at giving good advice. Something needs to change there. And I don’t know where exactly the assault part comes in. I should probably take off points for that, but I won’t.

Late CTF Level Review Number 05: War Time!

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

Simply stated: Distopia gone awry. This level is Spaz-biased with bad spring placement. When I say “Spaz-biased,” it means anyone playing as Jazz will have a much harder time getting around the level than if they were Spaz. When I say “bad spring placement,” it either means some springs should be moved, some springs should be removed, some springs should be changed (as to a different color), or some springs should be added. The level is also way too cramped in places, such as at the top right. Running around base to base through all possible routes before uploading this level might have helped to discover these problems with flow. The Blue base is crammed into some tight space while the Red base is in a much more open area—a sign of unbalance. The unevenness of open and cramped spaces here and there makes most of this level unbalanced. The same type of dead-ends as seen in the last level are present here. Also, some of the animating lights have masking problems (meaning that as it animates, the light occasionally becomes solid, which it shouldn’t). I doubt this will ever be fixed, but I said it anyway. In short, use better beta-testers, please. Thanks.

EYE CANDY:

Eye candy is basic, but it still suffers from misusage and tiling errors. There isn’t enough variety in types of tiles used. And near the bottom of the level, I could see the textured background underneath the mountain tiles in the background. That’s a bad thing, BTW.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The placement of the full energy carrot is decent, but it’s completely dull and all. Ammo placement isn’t improved too much. It still isn’t distributed evenly throughout the level. Powerup placement is almost decent, if the carrot is considered as part of the balance, but I still question it.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I don’t think so. Reviewing this level made me tired. 5.7 just because.

PS: Do me a favor and make a level without using one dead-end whatsoever. And don’t forget to add a next level setting next time. Some music would be nice as well.

Late CTF Level Review Number 04: Temple of darknes

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

The layout is a lot better than I thought it would be. Of course, one could imagine I had very low expectations when I saw the name “Temple of darknes.” The level is symmetrical, or at least it’s suppose to be (I found a missing spring), so I can’t complain about balance too much. The layout is bumpy here and there, and it looks Jazz unfriendly. It’s also too cramp in a lot of places, and some of the dead-ends are annoying. If the dead-ends around the bouncer powerup were shorter, I wouldn’t mind them as much. There are probably too many dead-ends (however small they may be) overall. I can see why most of the layout is the way it is, but I don’t see the point for making those areas with the horizontal springs; they just look pointless to me. From what I can tell, there are a lot of pointless events in this level like springs that could be avoided. In general, spring placement is horrendous. And for the biggest problem of all, there are some missing borders at the top areas which we all know can allow for the flag bug to appear. A two-tile (three-tile recommended) border at the edges of the level would fix this problem.

EYE CANDY:

It could be a lot better in many places. The huge areas of the same tiles look awfully bland. Another thing I dislike about the eye candy is the lighting. The lighting looks horrible outside of the temple, so some “Set Light” events would have been useful here. While I’m on the subject of “outside of the temple,” let me point out that the background is incredibly boring. The last time I checked, EvilMike did include BG tiles in his temple set, so I advise using them. The only thing that makes this eye candy any good at all is the usage of the small brick tiles. Granted it’s a little annoying in the 3rd layer (as it could be confusing), it makes a few areas in the level look a lot less dull. But I have to say, a found a few tiling areas with those bricks.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I suppose for the size of the level a few extra carrots would be a good idea, but some of them are too close to one another. In regards to the carrot placed above the green-red-green spring combo and to the other carrot near the bouncer powerup, I suggest removing at least one of them (preferably the latter). The ammo could have been distributed better, such as with more ammo in the top and center areas and a little less at the bottom. I should mention that TNT can be slightly useful, such as for getting the bouncer powerup through the wall, but I feel it’s in too large of a quantity and should be closer to the bottom to where that powerup is. As for the ice, I see no use for it unless there’s some secret area somewhere (which I doubt). Also, I wouldn’t advise on multiple powerups of the same weapon.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Nope. I’m thinking 5.7 for my rating.

PS: I don’t know why this is called “Desert Storm” on J2O while its name is “Temple of darknes” in the actually level itself. Some continuity would be nice.

Late CTF Level Review Number 03: Teh Space Station

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

Unresized Layer 4: MY FAVORITE. That was just lazy. Let me also mention that this level is mostly linear, so I already disliked gameplay a lot from the minute I started playing this. I don’t think I understand this level. I think the idea was to put horizontal blue springs on the left and a coin warp on the right to make this level even more unbalanced and chaotic. This level reminds me of a BBlair modification gone awry. Did I already mention balance needs work? The flow needs a lot of improvement as well. Linear layouts (which I advise to avoid at all costs) are no excuse for incredibly bad flow. And there are too many obstacles for my taste. decides he doesn’t feel like continuing

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy is probably the best part of this level. Or really, I should say the “atmosphere.” This is the kind of atmosphere I tend to use for a lot of my levels (indoors for the bases and outdoors for the section between the bases). On second thought, I don’t like the eye candy all that much. It seems to be dull in several places throughout the level, and it isn’t all too innovative. Also, the waterfall in the foreground irritated me. I would say the eye candy is average overall.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The two measly +1 carrots—which are also poorly placed—will surely hinder gameplay. Like always, I suggest a full energy carrot or two. Ammo placement isn’t great. There are too many crates and it isn’t distributed well. And I don’t know what the TNT is for. As for the powerups, its placement also isn’t too great. The RF and Seeker powerups (which just happen to be two of the more powerful powerups) are placed way too close to each other. There are also the two bouncer powerups on the right side for reasons unknown. Furthermore, the blaster powerup and the two toaster powerups also help to make this level unbalanced. The blaster powerup isn’t needed at all. And is it me, or is 15 just seem a tad bit too fast? I still advise at least 20 as the respawn over 15, but I have to say this is definitely not the biggest problem in this level.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Nah. I’ll make my rating a 5.5 for now (and probably later).

PS: Play some more good CTF levels before adventuring into making another one of your own, please. And yes, I will die for not playing this on the internet, although technically I was on the internet when I was playing the level (thanks to my cable modem), so ha. I highly doubt playing this online will persuade me to rate this much higher in any case.

Late CTF Level Review Number 02: Tree CTF

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

I can’t say I like the flow from the first five seconds I saw this level.

wonders how fast he can review this

I don’t like this. The flow is too rigid and Spaz-biased. It’s hard to see where I’m going (I blame Disguise for the way the tileset has to be used, but some improvisation could have been applied here). The balance could use a lot of work. The start positions were placed lazily (not even team based). And the one tile border may allow for the flag bug to pop up midgame. Unfortunately, I’m not in the mood to give a lot of advice so I’ll stop here.

But… Let me just ask this: if you know you can get stuck in certain places, why didn’t you try harder to prevent this?

EYE CANDY:

It’s confusing to say it simply. Players might get used to it, but I don’t really want to (to be honest). Actually, eye candy isn’t too bad; I just hate those tree branch thingies in the background. But in all, I have to say good job on actually being able to use this tileset at all.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

No carrots, uneven ammo placement, and questionable powerup usage. I don’t know what to think about the two ice powerups. No wait, I can: they are unneeded and just get in the way. Ice in this level in general is probably not needed at all. I say this from what I can tell, and what I can tell is this level needs a major overhaul.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Don’t. 5.2 and try again. I get to be the first person to actually rate this. Joy.

PS: I am almost sure “Tree.j2l” will be overwritten one day. Anyway, message me if you actually want some real CTF advice.

Late CTF Level Review Number 01: Evil steel cage

(Against my better judgment, I will review this level offline. I may later on adjust the rating when I finally get around to hosting this online.)

GAMEPLAY:

This level sort of confused me when I started playing. It’s pretty straight forward—which I discovered after making a few false presumptions. Albeit, after a while this level reminded me of a few of CelL’s older levels (Factorial Fiasco and The CelLlevator!). The level is symmetrical so balance is not an issue. The flow is just good enough for players to get by (not to say the flow is good). Naturally, getting around would be easier with Spaz. On another note, the size is getting to me. “Please do not lower your rating because of size.” That’s kind of hard to ask for others to do. That’s like saying, “Please don’t fire me because of my incompetence.” Size just happens to be a major part of the level. If it’s too small there may be problems, just as if the level was way too big (like something around 300×200). This is the size of a level I feel is too small for dueling or much of anything else. Lower numbers of people may allow for annoyingly long games. Higher numbers of people may create chaotic gameplay. I doubt many players can have a lot of fun in this level, to be honest. It’s too small to become an addictive level so BIGGER IS BETTER.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy isn’t bad, but I think a lot more could have been done with it. After seeing this tileset used a few thousand times, I’ve raised my expectations for “average” and “above average.” I think the eye candy here is just about average, more or less. It’s actually a little boring in places. Feel free to disagree.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

For starters, there are the full energy carrots at the sides of the level right above each base. I suppose this could work for this level, if it wasn’t for the weak powerups. There are only the EB and the pepper spray powerups to wreak havoc with, which seems a tad boring. Ammo placement isn’t the greatest in this level, but it might do. Overall, I am not impressed.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Ummm… no. There are probably some other problems or other things I should mention but whatever. 5.5 means try harder next time.

PS: I don’t read anyone else’s reviews until I’m done reviewing, just in case you were wondering.

I rarely rate musics, since its hard (at least for me) to review them, and even harder to give a long, descriptive review on them (at least for me). This I had to make an exception to because I loved this song.

The song starts out with a christmasy tubelectric like beat, then some new notes keep getting added in. The beat is pretty repetetive, although thats how the tubelectric song is, and the fact that new notes keep being added in kinda distracts you from that. It sounds pretty winterlike , not like any xmas song, and its unique as well (I havent heard any song or remix like this). Plus its fun to listen to. As for the remix quality, I can easily tell what parts are which in the original song here, since the beats sound the same except more wintery. 7.7 is final rating.

well here is my review.

Eyecandy:
No no no!!! Well the problem is it has no eyecandy. Ugly background and layer 4 is ugly ugly ugly sorry.

Enemy placement:
what the heck!!! Well one queen.

Item placement:
None!!! Well in short none.

Other:
Bad BAd BAD!!! well it`s a training level for beginners but it doesn`t train us. O and the level takes 3 seconds.

Try a lot harder next time take your time for eyecandy gameplay and some cool puzzles ore something.

Sorry a —1—

Does anyone have any feedback they would like to give on this small maps collection?

Quite good. It is partly based on the JJ2 Tubelectric, but basically it’s the old one. Like Haze said, the bass is a bit dull. It makes some climax, but later, when all the channels are filled, it’s barely hearable. But a + for you is that you used the MP3 convert ending – something what we at TIMM discovered lately. After listening to this, I’d like to see a wintery Tubelectric tileset change… OK, let’s make the final verdict. I say it’s not much of a remix, more an instrument change, but what you have done, sounds good. When I say good, I don’t talk about repeatity – it’s a problem of Tubelectric, gotta say, but still, a little of imagination and you could make it less repeative. But since this is your second Jazzy track, and first remix of ‘em, I give you a hard 7. Now, I hope that you are not done, ‘cause we haven’t got any competition on J2O for us since I and AcId formed a team… By the way, maybe he’ll show up to review this, too.

well here is my review.

Eyecandy:
okay!!! The eyecandy is in some levels very good like the first three but in the easter and the last level no. In the easter levels there where a lot of mistakes like thing that don`t and well.

Enemy placement:
Okay!!! hmmm in the first levels better than the later levels because in the first levels sometimes to many enemy`s on the same spot but later everyware to much enemy`s.

Item placement:
Good!!! There is enough ammo a lot of gems and food and save points and every level coins for a shop.

Other:
Good!!! the lengte of the levels are okay the tilesets you used are really good and a lot of triggers.

It`s okay could be better here a [7.2]

Trigger at start didn’t work, so I wasn’t able to destroy the blocks. Dx, have you set the trigger id to 0?
Triggers with id 0 don’t work

Oh! I see what to do now, but I first have to play through this, then I’ll review

WOAH! This is soo HARD!!!!!
YAIH! I am medium reviewer ;-D
Sry let’s begin with my review

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN:
The gameplay is good I think, but has some bad points. Main Comment is that it is too hard. For example at the start where you search the crate to make some ground appear, if you enter the room with the crate, 3 rocks ‘attack’ you and you almost have to loose energy. (YAIH! I didn’t loose a life one time :-P). The idea with th bats flying out of the wall was annoying but good. At first I was confused because I thought shooting at the blocks at start haven’t got any effect so Dx made the trigger thingie wrong. Now I see you must shoot longer. Then there was a bug, but that exists because the tilesets masking, but that’s Skulg’s fault :-P. So, you can fly near the right wall (under the blocks) and stand on it, then look up and shoot and you can destroy the blocks without finding the crate and loosing energy because of the rocks. Dx had some good ideas like at one place you must buttstomp on a floating sucker and go to the next and don’t fall in the lava. That’s a good idea, but really hard and annoying. I think it is the hardest part of the hole level. As I fell in the Lava the first time I thought this must be the classical CTF death, but Dx made something make you gonna loose a life if you fall in the lava. I don’t know how he made this, but it’s cool. Bad point of this dying is that you loose lifes but no credits :-P
PROS: some new ideas
CONS: TOO HARD!!!!
Rating: 7.0

TILESET/TILESET USE:
The tilesez Dx used was “Where Bad Rabbits Go” I saw before in ‘The Demon Invasasion’ from moonblaze. I like this tileset a lot, also I like how Dx used the tileset. I saw no tilebugs and the eyecandy is good I think.
PROS: good eyecandy, cool tileset choosen, not the epic one for hell
CONS: The ‘lava falls’ in the background are a bit too slow I think
Rating: 8.5

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT:
There wasn’t any ammo, only some bouncers that I couldn’t reach, because Jazz can’t jump high enough. Dx, MAKE AMMO IN YOUR LEVELS!!!!!!
Also I saw no items so far, ok there was I checkpoint (that I really liked) but what about coins or diamonds or things like that? The enemy place ment was ok I think, There were devils, some bats that attacks through walls and suckers/floating suckers. The floating suckers you must “use” to because you fall in lava if you don’t do :-P.
PROS: The checkpoint ;)
CONS: TOO LESS AMMO!!!, no items
Rating: 5.0

REPLAY/FUN FACTOR/ORIGINALITY:
Hmm….I think I will play this again sometimes, because I still hope I can finish this :-], the fun factor was ok, but it could be better if this were easier. The lava thing and the “Buttstomp the Sucker” parcour where original but HARD
PROS: Some original ideas, makes fun because it’s hard
CONS: It’s hard, that can be very confusing
Rating: 6.0

OVERALL:
IT WAS SOOOOOO HARD!!!!!! O_o
But as I played and tried to do this, I began to enjoy the hardness. I think this is a good level for a rainy evening when you are alone and don’t wanna think on the girl/boy you love that don’t loves you :-[ (like me today)
PROS: HARD
CONS: HARD
FINAL RATING: 7.5
DOWNLOAD RECCOMENDATION: If you feel like me today evening or search a HARD level than YES

PHT
[This review has been edited by PHT]

censored IS THIS PEEP!?

SPIKE BALLS!?

DEADWALK ROOMS!?

Plz c’mon, this is not a battle thisi s censored what you can find at www.noobs.com~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~ srry!

Dx, you have wrong version of tileset.

you have to overwrite it. i included that wasteland tileset wich has background stuffs. not that version in energized action.[This review has been edited by snooz]
and, if you have problems with playing level2, open a new file with JCS choose a tileset , open properties, and set next level to : SNOOZ3 [This review has been edited by snooz]
Cooba, you dindt start with 2SNOOZ1.J2L” you started with “Snooz7!” foo[This review has been edited by snooz][This review has been edited by snooz]
[This review has been edited by snooz]

SNOOOOOOOZ!!!!!

THIS IS GREAT!

1-great eyecandy
2-long levels.
3-some old levels.
4-Little bugs
5-GREAT AMMO PLACED
6-Great food placed!!!!!

download this now!
and this is not stupid![This review has been edited by dx dc]

nice eyecandy
nice backround
hardness bad
blocks strange

a 7.0 from me

Hey,

Dx, this is really, really, your best level ever. But still not perfect ;P j/k…

Eyecandy:
There is only 1 tile in the tileset so it’s very easy to make a good eyecandy. The background is very nice too. Layer 7… The tubes have a ‘Automatic Speed’, that’s a little negative.

Gameplay:
The gameplay isn’t so good. There’s almost no variation and if you shoot the destruct tiles, they are invisible and you can run tough it, and if you shoot it again it will explode. At the top of the level is a suckertube. It’s very bad to make a suckertube without suckertube tiles and in a race level. In the begin are there springs too. That’s more for a test-level. Other people can freeze it etc. etc. The ‘Freeze Enemies’ event after the long suckertube is good placed, but it respawns too slow.

Weapon Placement:
6 ice….. I don’t have more to say about it.

Overall:
Dx, good work. It’s a good level (for you) and I like the eyecandy. Make next time more variation in weapons and gameplay.

Rating:
7.2/10

Greetz BS

Yes, Jazz Jackrabbit-remixes are allowed, even when they’re NOT (currently) used in any levels or so! And yes, don’t rate the music, rate the remix quality instead! ;) But that’s all beside the point. On to the song.

An interesting take on Tubelectric. Overall a nice choice of instruments. Though too bad that you didn’t find any room for the melody, which was one of the highlights of the original version.
Another gripe is the somewhat “dull” bass line. It could use some spice, and not just in the climax of the song.
Speaking about the climax, that could also do with a bit more bang. The build up to it is just fine, with the reverse cymbal and all. But you could do with a bit more than just letting all instruments play different parts. Think of for example a different snare-drum or some supportive pads (strings/synths/etc.). You could easily squeeze out a few more channels to do so.

Well, that’s all for constructive criticism. Time to get yourself up and rolling for your next tune. Keep this up![This review has been edited by Haze][This review has been edited by Haze]

dont rate music.