Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Ok, since i heard lots of good comments about this, I decided to check it out.
ill start by reviewing the levels in the order they are in WinZip.
Happy Hell CTF: Strange, but interesting music. I liked the backround, dont know why, but it looks cool. Layout sometimes bugged me, but it was good, easy to navigate and roomy. I thought the blue base was more easier to reach, because the red base has all these things around it which distract you, while the blue base is in an open space. This was a normal level overall, deserves an above average mark.
Happy Castle CTF: Feindish level, seen it hosted to death. This was also the level where box(the person) has claimed he has been defeated by Salamander in…Anyways, good music choice, nice eyecandy and layout, except for some pointless dead ends. I like the use of the medivo2 tileset here, looks interesting. I’ve said enough on this, though its a fun level.
Happy Canyon CTF: Despite the eyecandy being confusing here, I loved it. Stripe has used labrat in a whole new way. I just love this level. Some major downfalls that lowered the mark of this was that the crate idea, although strange, made the level look a bit screwy, and there was tons of places waiting for you to get stuck in. The layout somehow offended me(just dont ask), and it had some unfortunate dead ends. The bottom part of the level I despised, didnt look as good and easy to get stuck in. The ammo was sparce as well, and the bases are a tad bit to close. Music was awesome. Ingenious idea, but a so-so level.
Happy Jungle CTF: Good music. The eyecandy and layout was too confusing at times, and the level was a bit small. Not much more to say, but i didnt like this one as much as the rest.
HappySemiconductor CTF: This is also a fiendish level overhosted to death. I couldnt hear the music here for some unknown reason i dont have time to investigate, but it makes the level more fiendish. Layout was ok, some parts i had trouble getting out of (liek the place where the RF powerup is)The tileset use is…..amusing….I dont have much more to say about this level, since a level without music is hard to get “hooked” to. Note: After some extensive research, i found out the sound of my jj2 was somehow automatically turned off…wierd. The music was interesting. I also liked the backround here, and the tileset use.
Happy Desert CTF: Strange music choice,
i also remember this level being hosted a number of times (not as much as castle and semi-conductor though), at the top of the level it feels “empty” since the backround eyecandy appears in the bottom where it may get a little confusing for some people. Im pretty sure you can get a flag bug here ,but im not entirely sure, and im unable to play online and check. I liked the bottom eyecandy, though confusing, it attracted my attention. The layout was confusing at times, but ok. Im not to fond of base placement, but i dont know why.

COMCLUSION STuFF: This isnt the best CTF levels i’ve seen, but i can tell that the people ave made these statements since this is only the 11th upload on j2o. The levels are fine and get hosted frequently (most of them), but they arent as good as I hoped them to be. Still, these are old levels worth a download by you ppl. Well, ill give these an 8.5 (may seem low compared to other ratings, but be glad it wasnt an 8)
Happy CTF!

Great idea and well pulled off :) I don’t play CTF much but it’s bound to help some people. Besides, I hate colours in names anyway :P

It’s not.
The level feels linear. You walk along a fairly straight path, with one or two alternate routes. There’s some sparse ammo placement, and a few tubes which don’t go in the direction their arrows say. The tileset use is kind of bad as well.
On the plus side.. ummmm…. there are a few interesting things.. and the ammo’s kind of ok.

Hmmm. Nice.
A medium sized Inferno battle level with an ok design and a textured background. The main defect for this level is the large amount of hurt events – never use hurt events in multiplayer, unless you’re Mike or someone who found out how to use them to improve the level.
Eyecandy’s all right, though a little sparse, and there’s a good amount of ammo and stuff.
All in all, this is one of those fairly good battle levels which don’t leave much to be said about them… except that this one is filled with hurt events (the fire, the snowmen, and those purple things).

ow yea its a beta so uh… just rate it;P

This is exactly what you see when you see new levelbuilders. And you might not be new, but it still is more than clear. The level is to much stretched out. It’s simply to big. Further I think the tileset could have been used better. Like actually using all layers. Because it feels quite empty right now.[This review has been edited by Newspaz]

I dont have much to say about this, since there are so many levels using this set. The music is good, although it is overused, someone should find some new music for this.
The eyecandy is good, but then again it usually is for a level made bythis set. The tileset use is…..new. I havent seen it like this in other levels, great work. Pickup placmeent is creative as well. There are coins, food and ammo all placed in different ways. The splash in one certain place is a bit off (the splash appears higher than the actual green watery liquid) Interesting spikes and all that foreground stuff.

Well, it is creative and I will give this a download reccomendation, but i wont rate it as high as the Marshland of Evil or Zaitox Station 67, this just doesnt strike me as much as it does to most of you. Its still a great effort worth checking out though.

Hmmm…some battle levels by BlurredD. Here goes my long reivew:

SC60feet:
The level name is 60 000 feet under, and im sure once you play it you can tell why.
Gameplay: A bit bumpy, and some springs in certain areas would be nice. Apart from that its tolerable.
Eyecandy: WOOT, i love it. SO creative, it certainly looks like its 60 000 feet under, great work BlurredD.
Placement: Tolerable, dont have much more to say.
Layout: A bit hard to navigate but tolerable.
Tile use: Great work here, very creative and imaginative.
Pickups: A bit sparce for some people, but they are done well.
OVERALL: Great and fun level, with some downfalls, but still fun.
SCdruins:
A.K.A dungeon ruins, uses BlurredD’s own tileset, Castle2. My first comment is on the lightning, even though I despise it, it was made well here and isnt very annoying.
Gameplay: Quite good, not very special or unique, but it lies above average.
Eyecandy: Its basic and good
Tile Placement: Well duh, its his own set, the placement is good.
Pickups: They’re good.
Layout: Yeah, no problems here.
Overall: A fun level to play and adds to the score im giving this pack.

SCecircuit(or something like that):
E-line circuit is its name, and I liked the music choice here, as I did in all of them so far.
Gameplay: Could of added some float ups for easier gameplay, but most people will think of it as average or above.
Eyecandy: The creativity strikes again, the backround looks cool, and good use of the tiles.
Tile placement: Great
Layout: Its ok.
Pickups: Fine…
Overall: A fun level to play, with great music and cool eyecandy.
SCForsaken: Forsaken is its name, and it takes place in an ancient egypt tomb.It also takes place outside a bit, where blurredD added a trig crate to open a wall (great animatiob+trigger use btw)
Gameplay: Except for that dead end withthe toaster powerup (it is a dead end depending on which way you come from) its fine.
Eyecandy: This shocked me, the eyecandy was near perfect. Great eyecandy, i didnt find any bugs, and great tile use.
Tile Use: Amazing what a person can make out of a top quality but hard to use set.
Layout: What I said in gameplay.Its good.
Pickups: A bit to much squares, but its ok.
OVERALL: Another fun level in the pack.
SCgfeed:
Galactic feed, it makes interesting use of the tileset.
Gameplay: A bit confusing at first, but when you get used to it its cool.
Eyecandy: Ingenious, those flashing yellow bricks, and all that eyecandy, another well eyecandied level.
Pickups: Could use a touch of creativity. Other than that its suitable.
Tileuse:Very well done.
Layout: The warps may confuse you, and the size may make it hard to navigate, but its ok.

OVERALL ABOUT PACK: A great and creative pack, some very cool idea’s here, and interesting levels worth that space on your hardrive, it definately deserves a download reccomendation. THe levels are fun and detailed and these levels are definately more than just “alright”.
Pros: Lots of detail, great eyecandy, very creative, great levels.
Cons: Ammo could be better, layout sometimes needs work, but these are minor.
These levels rock and should certainly be downloaded by everyone.

I was going to review this entirely but my computer konked out due to an electrical outage (yes, I know, excuses, excuses.) Oh, well, here I go. I will borrow Blackraptor’s reviewing criterea since mine takes ages.

GAMEPLAY: Overall, gameplay was more or less standard. This is all in all a basic Medivo level and little more. Level flow was OK, though there were some quirks that made it not as good as it could have been. The passages were mostly small, and gameplay probably would have been a tad better if they were bigger. Still, gameplay is fairly fun, and the small passages are not exactly so small that they become annoying.

EYECANDY: The eyecandy needs work in a few ways. First of all, the rain is used in a strange way so that the rain’s rate of falling increases and decreases depending on how fast you are going in the level. This looks really weird. Also, the ugly red-tinted rain falls way too fast regardless of how quickly you are moving, and quickly becomes destracting. The “black lightning” is strange. It is one animated tile that is above everything else. Once in a while, the level flickers black once for just a milisecond. This is weird, as it adds no apparent atmosphere and is kind of annoying. The rest of the eyecandy, standard for a Medivo level such as this, is good but nothing amazing. There are a few small things that could have been changed to make this level look a lot better. Still, this is excusable.

LAYOUT: Level layout was pretty much a mixed bag. Some areas were nice and wide open while other areas made me feel claustrophobic. These areas were somewhat hard to get around in, though I eventually got used to them. If they were just slightly wider, it would have made for a better overall level layout. Unfortunately, this brings down the level’s score a bit. The overall layout seems to be a bit Jazz-oriented, though it was not that bad for Spaz (I have to disagree with Blackraptor on that one.) However, it sort of seemed like it was biased towards whatever character I was not playing.

TILE PLACEMENT: All around, this is a basic Medivo level with basic Medivo tiles. There is not much to distinguish it from other Medivo levels eyecandy-wise. There is not much creative use of eyecandy, but it still looks fairly good. Nothing special, but nothing bad either.

PICKUP PLACEMENT: Pickup placement is only slightly above average. The powerups are placed interestingly and there are plenty of them, so expect that a lot of the battling will consist of bouncy and seeker powerups. The seeker powerup is placed in the middle of the action, so a lot of battling in the middle room involves getting the seeker powerup over and over before running out. This is good to some people, and bad to others. If you really like action and powerup-filled battles, well, this level is for you, I suppose. The other powerup, the bouncy, is placed towards the right of the level, and probably would be used more during coordidor battles. Basic weapon placement was pretty good, as well, though there is not much to write home about there.

OVERALL STATEMENT: This is another case of a level that would have been very good a few years ago but just is not amazing by the standards of today. I have to say I enjoyed playing it more than the other level I reviewed (“Diamond Battle v1” or whatever). There are a few interesting things in this level, but there is not much to distinguish it from similar Medivo levels. Levels often do not age very well, and this is one of those levels that did not. Still, for battle freaks and those who like seeing old levels yet again, you will like this. Download recommended for those kind of people.

+ PROS: A solid Medivo level. Good for action-packed battles.

- CONS: Small cooridors, maybe too many powerups. Strange foreground eyecandy.

VERDICT: Overall, I give this a 6.7 and a download recommendation for old level fans and battle fans. It is not really a necessary download for anyone else. For the time it was created in, this was very good. Compared to the levels of today, though, it simply falls into the above average category. This and the other level VeggieMan uploaded are very similar in construction, so if you liked the other level, you will probably like this. Not a bad level, but by today’s standards, it is not anything amazing either.

One thing. My levels are never Spaz biased. I never use Spaz. My level has areas in it in which if you use Jazz to can mover around much faster. But Spaz, never. I make my levels for me. So it’s perfect in terms of my movements.

Since Trafton is apparently running a bit late on his review, ill review this.

First, before I start my review let me just mention that the lightning was completely unexpected and scared the hell out of me.

Lets begin:

GAMEPLAY: Its ok. There were some flaws such as the dead end in the bottom right/left corner which could easily have been fixed, I couldnt find any other gameplay bugs that take away from the rating. The level isnt really smooth, but thats mostly because of the many masking bugs medivo2 has. There were lots of springs, but I think the author overdid the hooks and vines a bit. Other than that, I rarely crashed into walls.

EYECANDY: Its basic, except like I said the lightning freaked me out at first, but then I got used to it. Im not a major fan of lightning, so I may be biased on rating lighting. The rain was ok, maybe it should of been in the backround though…Otherthan that, the eyecadny is basic. Nice lighting by the way, it helped prevent the level from being to dark.

LAYOUT: Some parts I think were to open, and some to crowded and hard to navigate. I think that there should of been some layer 3 hidden secrets (I couldnt find any, and I dont think there is any) so the level wont get boring as fast. The warps were good, helped avoid dead ends, but why werent they used in the bottom right or the bottom left? I found a few passages that were a bit to small, and the level wasnt really “smooth”.

TILE PLACEMENT: Yeah, nothing wrong here, just a basic medivo level.

PICKUP PLACEMENT: Twas either average, or a bit above. It was sparce in some areas, and a bit overused in others. I think the carrot could of been placed better, and there should of been more than 2 plus one carrots(The other is found in another big room filled with ammo). The powerups were also to close to each other, and to close to the carrot. On the left there is a passage with the blaster powerup leading to a big room with vines and many ways out where a carrot and seeker powerup is placed. Then, leading from that room there is a passage to the right where the bouncer powerup is located. They are all basically in the same place leading many people to go to that specific area when they are playing. The ammo is placed creatively enough though, and sometimes I think it was a bit overused in places.

OVERALL STATEMENT: The level is fine, but its not that good compared to some other levels of today. A year ago, it would of been thought as good, but now it doesnt seem like that anymore. Also, since i forgot to mention this in my reivew: The level can be spaz biased, some vines are to high. and require a double jump, or an accurate running jump, since some vines are placed to far from each other ranging in height. My final rating is 6.5, and I might give this a download reccomendation, depends on if you like these types of levels or not.

Haha, I love it. I told you the level was never finished. I wonder what I would have got if the level was finished.. Hmmm..

Overall, Trafton is one (bad) level reviewer.

(Filter bypass edit. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

This is a fairly old level, which sort of shows. It was apparently originally created in late October of 2001. While it is a pretty fun play, by today’s standards it is not the best of levels.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: Tileset use is OK overall. There are some things that look bit strange, such as the trees, the spikes (which don’t hurt you – they are actually springs) and where the sucker tube is. Tileset use is otherwise fairly good, though there is not anything groundbreaking. The basic ground tiles were all used well. Tileset use, aside the few “iffy” looking things, was generally good.
Tile Errors: I can not exactly say that these were tile errors, but some of the tiles in this were used in really unconventional ways that many would probably consider erronious. As I mentioned earlier, the spikes being springs was a little odd (though better than them being hurt events). Also, the sucker tubes looked weird. There was not all that much to complain about, though some of these things should have been done slightly differently.
Creativity: The tileset was not used very creatively. In fact, it was used as it generally was back when this level was made. There are a few interesting tile uses, but most of this is fairly standard. Nothing amazing here.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: From what I could see, there is only one carrot, located in the middle of the level. This is fairly good placement for it, though it can be a tad bit hard to get.
Powerups: I only could find two powerups in this level with a quick look, one located at one end of the level and the other at the opposite end. The blaster powerup is somewhat harder to get to than the bouncy, which can be frusterating.
Basic Weapons: Many of the basic weapons in this level are located within barrels. This means you have to take the time to

stomp the barrels, which can be a bit annoying. Other basic weapon placement was good. Unfortunately, this level contains the infinitely useless TNT ammo.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: The flow of this level is…interesting. And in both a good and bad way. While the Float Up use is creative and well-done, it slightly detracts from the overall flow of the level. Flow is not as important in battle as in CTF, so this is still acceptable.
Layout: Layout needs work, mainly because there are a few dead ends that can only be exited via sucker tube. This is not a huge problem, but still it would be nice if there was a more constant layout. The layout of the middle area is very good.

BATTLE SPECIFICS
Compatibility: No crashes or anything. Yayness. The level file, however, is passworded.

SUMMARY
Back when it was created, this would have been considered a really good level. These days, however, it seems very slightly lacking. The flow of this level and the layout needs a bit of work, as do a lot of things in this level. Still, it is a fun battle level to play and great nostolgia. Just do not expect a masterpiece or anything. If you look at this level, you can see some common mistakes that were accepted as normal back when this level was made. This is not a bad level in any way. It is just that a few small elements need work. Other than that, it is a very good battle level that I recommend for download for battle freaks.

+ PROS: Solid level overall.

- CONS: Everything seems to just need a tiny bit of work.

VERDICT: My overall rating is a 6.7 and a download recommendation for battle and nostolgia freaks. If this was to be uploaded in 2001, this rating would probably be much higher. By that day and age’s standards, this is a great level. By today’s standards, though, it is just above average.

“Banana Beach Demo” is an excellent and entertaining single player pack which truly shows what a good levelmaker can do with the Beach tileset. Tileset use is very creative, in fact, at some points looking almost three dimensional. There are a lot of enemies in the final level, but it is still fun to play. The puzzles may be my favorite part of this level. They are interesting and fun to do. The end is probably the most annoying part of the pack, due to the overuse of enemies. Other than that, the pack makes good use of enemy placement and the tileset. The eyecandy is very spiffarific, as is the gameplay. Other than the end part, the pack is really enjoyable. There is a certain “fun factor” put in place by the completely untedious puzzles and tileset use that boosts the score. These levels are not quite like traditional levels using this tileset, which is definitely a good thing in this case. These levels are creative and well-done and great examples of what a good levelmaker can do with the beach tileset. Definitely worth a download.

+ PROS: Fun, entertaining, and great puzzles.

- CONS: The last level is not up to standards.

VERDICT: My overall verdict is an 8.5 and a download recommendation for everyone. Those who like puzzles will definitely love this especially.

Here is my original review with some added comments:

“Patchy” is actually an apt description overall for these two levels. The enemies on both are usually very close to eachother, and there are long areas of “droughts” where there are no enemies. This can get a bit annoying after a while. I generally dislike levels that use this method, though it can be used creatively. This was not one of those cases in which it was used well. Parts of the level had way too much action while other parts had absolutely none.
>> This still rings true for these levels. Very little about them is patched, and I am very disappointed at the author saying “If you fall and can not get up, type in jjk.” The user should not have to cheat to be able to finish the level under any circumstances. Fix your own level before uploading. Especially since this is supposedly a “fixed” version, I would expect to see fixes for major bugs such as these – apparently not.

The eyecandy of this level is so-so. There are a few REALLY SMALL tile bugs that get in the way of play, but not enough to completely destroy the rating. Eyecandy is slightly below average in this respect. The backgrounds from these levels were ripped from levels that came with the original Jazz 2 episodes. While this looks and feels fine, I would rather see a unique background for each levels. This is a case where there is very little to complain about eyecandy-wise, but there just is nothing interesting.
>> Barely any interesting eyecandy was added at all. I wonder why the author chose to upload this anyway, because there is very little difference between this and the other one he uploaded. First off, fix EVERYTHING before uploading. And if you must upload a fix, make sure it is worthwhile.

Some parts of the level are harder than they needed to be, such as the spike pit which is pretty much impossible to avoid. The dragon pit thing (hard to explain) was also too hard. This is an example of the “patchy” quality of this level.
>> There is not much more to add here either. Gameplay remains more or less the same. I can not see many fixed bugs, and this should have simply been reuploaded.

There were not enough weapons. Only one powerup and some bouncy ammo was in the level, and was hidden. Prepare to rely mainly on your blaster for getting through this level.
>> Yawn. Yet another example of a lack of change. I do not see much that this fixes at all.

Gameplay is far below average. The “patchy” thing really makes the level not fun to play at all. If the enemies were to be more spread out, this level might be even slightly above average. Unfortunately, everything is bunched together. This downgrades the quality of this level by a lot.
>> Same old, same old. This level has not changed significantly enough to warrant any mention.

+ PROS: Few eyecandy bugs.
>> No change.

- CONS: Bunched together stuff downgrades overall fun. Uninteresting eyecandy. Ripped backgrounds.
>> Add to that list “Few actual changes. Should have been reuploaded.”

VERDICT: My rating for these levels is 3.7 and no download recommendation. Even single player freaks will find this level aggrevating. It simply is not very good. I am sorry, but I can not recommend this at all.
>> I was considering giving this something in the 4’s, but decided not to. There just is not enough change. Also, you packagesd several files that should not have been packaged (mod2j2b, for instance) and are of no use. I will be nice and give this a rating of 4, even though it does not deserve the extra 0.3 points over the original. Next time, if you need to make a bug fix, reupload it instead of doing this. That is all I have to say about this. Oh, and one last thing: why did you have to reupload all of the tilesets and music? Unless I am missing something, nothing much really changed there. This barely deserves a reupload, and definitely not a seperate download.

EDIT: My apologies on one note. You uploaded the tilesets and music under a seperate account and they were not functional. Still, the question remains of why you need so many accounts in the first place. This still is worth nothing but a reupload, regardless.

EDIT again: Oh, yes, alright. I only saw two levels. I raise my rating slightly.
[This review has been edited by Trafton AT][This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

“Patchy” is actually an apt description overall for these two levels. The enemies on both are usually very close to eachother, and there are long areas of “droughts” where there are no enemies. This can get a bit annoying after a while. I generally dislike levels that use this method, though it can be used creatively. This was not one of those cases in which it was used well. Parts of the level had way too much action while other parts had absolutely none.

The eyecandy of this level is so-so. There are a few REALLY SMALL tile bugs that get in the way of play, but not enough to completely destroy the rating. Eyecandy is slightly below average in this respect. The backgrounds from these levels were ripped from levels that came with the original Jazz 2 episodes. While this looks and feels fine, I would rather see a unique background for each levels. This is a case where there is very little to complain about eyecandy-wise, but there just is nothing interesting.

Some parts of the level are harder than they needed to be, such as the spike pit which is pretty much impossible to avoid. The dragon pit thing (hard to explain) was also too hard. This is an example of the “patchy” quality of this level.

There were not enough weapons. Only one powerup and some bouncy ammo was in the level, and was hidden. Prepare to rely mainly on your blaster for getting through this level.

Gameplay is far below average. The “patchy” thing really makes the level not fun to play at all. If the enemies were to be more spread out, this level might be even slightly above average. Unfortunately, everything is bunched together. This downgrades the quality of this level by a lot.

+ PROS: Few eyecandy bugs.

- CONS: Bunched together stuff downgrades overall fun. Uninteresting eyecandy. Ripped backgrounds.

VERDICT: My rating for these levels is 3.7 and no download recommendation. Even single player freaks will find this level aggrevating. It simply is not very good. I am sorry, but I can not recommend this at all.

Well….ill rate it…its good level for first but make some good grass, ground etc.

By the way i’m JSZ Mateusz.

Derby: Rating Nullification.[This review has been edited by Derby]

These levels are very what I like to call ‘patchy’. They’re on the whole good, but have distinct ‘areas’ to them – the enemies are al bunched up together, and a lot of stuff is in the same place. This happens when the author thinks up a lot of good ideas one after another, then encorperates them into the level.

Anyway, on to the ratings and stuff. The eyecandy isn’t bad, the backgrounds have (I think) been taken from the single player episodes and so work fine. I couldn’t spot any glitches in the foreground eyecandy, but there’s nothing overly special about it. It works though, so I can’t complain.I can’t really say much about the level design – it’s hard not to notice the patchyness of it. It’s also got some annoyingly hard bits, such as the big spike pit which is almost impossible not to hurt yourself on, and the dragon climbing platform bit.

There wasn’t any weapons as far as I can see, except for some bouncy bullets and a powerup. And they were well hidden. You need to use the Blaster to get through most of this. There’s also hardly any fruit, only apples, and these are all bunched together.

So, overall…not really worth a download. it’s too patchy and samey, and offers nothing new, really. Try to plan your levels out first, then add the extra stuff in afterwards, as then it looks more varied and not so patchy.[This review has been edited by Shen]

Nice titleset. The carrots in the wall are funny, and now you can stand on top of the carrot! The example level workt out very well. But theres one bad thing: It looks very like Carrotus…

This is pretty darn good for a first level. It’s a little more interesting than “go from point A to point B” because it’s more of a coin hunt level. It was pretty easy, but the coins were well placed, some requiring actual searching to find. Some eyecandy fixes, and more variety in enemies, and it’d be pretty good. If you made it, it’d get a 6, but since it’s not your level, I’ll refrain from rating it.