Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

No Way Out is a really nice level, and a nice showcase of some of the new possibilities AngelScript brings to JJ2. I liked the open-ended gameplay and not-too-easy-not-too-hard difficulty, it made for a relaxed experience (also thanks to the excellent music choice and decent eyecandy).

River Secrets is pretty terrible, and has so many glitches it’s practically unplayable (I somehow managed to both die and reach the next episode at the same time, only a few tiles from the start position).

So all in all it’s pretty hard to rate this level pack, since it’s basically one good and one bad level. I’m just going to mostly ignore River Secrets, and give this a 7.5 for No Way Out, which is definitely worth playing.

No Way Out is a decent concept and a decent level. Its script is oddly-written at moments, but it works fine and makes the level enjoyable. Rating: 8.

River Secrets is a decent concept and terrible execution. Both level design and the script are a failure. Occasional glitches bring the level close to unplayable. Rating: 3.

A bit easy but it’s decent enough. What I don’t understand though, is that the screenshots are different from the level itself (the tileset definitely is).
By the way worth giving it a try.

If you don’t see any changes in the levels and their palette, either you are not using PLUS or you’re not using the LATEST version of Plus, the only one which actually supports Angel Script.

Since I recieved many positive comments for No Way Out and as many negative comments for River Secrets, I will try to make my next levelpack more similar to No Way Out.

None of your Angel Scripts work Gus!!

No Way Out doesn’t end once you get 33,000 points!
In River Secrets falling from a height doesn’t hurt and the ambient sound doesn’t change to a music!

Worked for me. I did have to redo the animated tiles and got a divide be zero error when trying to launch the map at first, but then I noticed there were leftover empty animated tiles from before hand in JCS. I got rid of the empty ones and boom, it worked. Now I’m hiding my TSF JCS somewhere so I don’t accidently convert my stuff to tsf again.. But yeah, remember to remove the empty animated tiles if you get a bunch of em. This tool ain’t bad for a quick fix. Just stay away from tsf jcs and use the original afterwords

A nice test with relaxing music and eyecandy, which really helps to put off the stress you get from tests. Nice work with the AngelScript too.

Good stuff to play!

Impressive! :)

Though there’s an overriding sense of familiarity throughout, these levels are generally designed well for the most part. It’s nothing particularly revolutionary, but it’s a decent contribution to the SP scene.

Worth your time, I’d say.

No, i love it! It’s something between strategy and platformer. Those big lands are way original

It was nice to remake this level for the original JJ2 but I don’t know how useful this can be in 2013. Anyhow, it really is the same as the Secret Files version apart from the walls somewhere. Nothing new for original level fans apart from the fact that you will be able to pick up as much ammo as you want.
Still, you can download this just to see it really is the same and that it isn’t bad at all.

Well, well, well. What could I really say?? The last level I review was something I don’t want to replay again. And why? It has a lot of similarities with this pack.

The “rabbit whole” or what you called it was in that level as well and I already hated it. Unlike in JJ1 where these parts lasted for a few tiles, here you spend several minutes to find the right path, which would be a bit more fun if the wall tiles would differ a bit or if there was some kind of sign which showed you which way you should go. Instead you run about until you realize you are back at where you started.

The second thing that appeared here and in the other level as well is the wide open empty spaces with nothing filling them in. No wonder it’s impossible to place enemies well. It’s easier to jump over all of them through the whole level.

I just don’t know why it is so good to put the respawn on all enemies (especially within 4-5 seconds).

Fourth thing, like the other level I played I also noticed the same boring and uninteresting gameplay that I experienced there as well. Even the secrets (which always contained coins) couldn’t help making it better.

Fifth thing, like last time the eyecandy is very plain and simple here as well. Sorry for comparing this to the other level but I felt like playing that one only with different tilesets. Try using better tilesets, or anything better than these which look like they’ve been made with paint. Even the best level creators would need a lot of time to make something interesting out of this.

BUT!!!!!!! I can at least tell 1 positive thing about this pack!!! The music doesn’t shut up for 10 minutes after it’s over. AND the music choice was quite good. I actually liked them.

But so much for the positive things. Sorry to say this but I don’t believe anyone would enjoy this pack. This is unfortunately below average quality. At least try bringing the quality of the original levels or something.

Download recommendation: Sorry but NO!!!

Also, don’t struggle with a story if the levels aren’t good.

To be honest I didn’t think I would like the pack when I first played it. I didn’t enjoy the underwater and the castle level that much. But luckily the first level was quite fun and the last 2 level were easy to enjoy especially “Emerald Everglades”. It reminded me of Moonbeam Moore minus the swamp and plus the items. What surprised me though was how easy the last 2 levels were compared to the previous 2 (the water level only seemed hard because you can’t move fast in water). Easy doesn’t mean that you can just run through the level, I just mean if you were cautious enough you didn’t lose health too often and the boss was challenging but not too hard to beat.
Rating:
Triton V: As I’ve mention it was quite fun, though there were no enemies. 7.5
Carrotus Sky: Not much to say here. Short and challenging though it can get annoying since you move fast which make it harder to go carefully. 5.5
Carrotus Castle Ruins: First level with actual enemies. It has good eyecandy but the level itself is rather difficult because of the spikeballs being overused. Still it’s quite decent. 6.2
Carrotus Waterways: Like I’ve mentioned being underwater makes it harder due to the speed. Another decent level. 6.5
Carrotus Everglades: My favorite level. I like the tileset anyway but when it’s used well it will result in good levels such as this one. I found some secrets on this one as well. Also maybe the easiest level (that has enemies) but requires you to be careful. 9
Carrotus Fortress: Final level and the 2nd best. It was also funny to put “meh” in one of the text since you could describe a whole level in a review with using this word. Difficulty of this is similar to the previous level. Boss fight was good. 8.5
43.2 / 6 = 7.2
Download recommendation: Yes

A high quality level pack of GF-levels for many, but not too many players at once. My favourite one being ‘Darkness.’ What’s yours? Go and share the fun with your friends!

Hey people, haven’t done this in a while. Anyway.. I played two duels here and I really liked ‘Rural Mountains’, so I decided to review it here on J2o.

1) The size of this level is good. It’s suitable for duels, but also for 2on2’s and possibly even 3on3’s (but I didn’t try that). The tubes and carrot placement make movement some what predictable here, so it actually plays like a fairly small level.

2) The EC is okay. It’s nothing spectacular, but still better than average. I don’t like how TW didn’t let colours fade on layer 8. The leaf-EC in the upperleft corner is good – you can hide the upperleft +1 behind it (or at least make it harder to see). No area looks empty or low on EC.

3) The ammo placement fits the level. I like how this doesn’t have a Bouncy or Seek PU. They both would’ve been too strong. RF, Blaster and Toaster are the obvious choices for a level like this and TW uses them. RF is especially handy in the top half of the level, while Toaster is very useful in the rest of it. The three +1’s are placed well and spread out through the whole level. It makes the level dynamic and fast-paced, which is always a good thing when you play a duel or 2on2.

4) Then the gameplay to finish with, which is definitely the strong part of this level. However, if you feel like playing a fast duel (for example about 10 minutes) this level isn’t any good, since getting roasts here is pretty difficult. I like the left tube, since it adds to the predictability of movement here. Same goes for the carrot placement, but I said that before. When you’re low on health, you might want to hide in the somewhat cramped bottom half of the level. However, two +1’s are in the top half, so that might make you reconsider that tactic.

Okay, so I really recommend this level for duels and 2on2 TB. I didn’t try it yet for larger games. Keep in mind roasts are hard to get here, so don’t expect to play a fast game here. Anyway, you should really check this out if you like battle levels like Abandoned Robotics Factory and similar stuff.

Second half of the winter pack, though not the better half. Let’s go level by level.
Cold as hell:
Well I’ve heard a lot of people saying it’s hard to make good eyecand for the inferno tileset. That means it’s not an easy tileset to use. I see you were trying to do something but the level still feels sort of empty. Some of the enemies were placed in a kind of glitchy way (skeletons). There were two parts where the paths split that was sort of good. Amount of secrets was moderate and the item placement was good. Default music. (Still better than choosing something that doesn’t fit).
Rating: 6.8

Spreading cold:
Easily the best of the 3 levels. Different starting positions with a kind of funny part for Spaz. Eyecandy is good (though the tileset isn’t really a winter tileset) like the diamondus levels you combine layer 5 and 6. Enemies are well placed as well as the items. You have to split paths quite a few times which adds to the replay value. Also I noticed that here there are far more places for only Spaz unlike other levels from you. There are a few tricky secrets which are a good idea. This is the only level with different music than the default and it’s quite nice.
Rating: 8.2

Without heating:
A really short level. It’s rather a boss level. Still you managed to squeeze some secrets in it. Not much to say here. Boss fight was really tough and long, anyway I wouldn’t have minded this to be a boss fight level only.
Rating: 6.2

21.2/3=7.06
Rating: 7.0
Download recommendation: Yes
Even though this isn’t the best it’s worth downloading because of the second level. Also fighting the boss is a tough challange which some players may enjoy.

Well since I have downloaded this “winter pack” let’s review it.
There is no story to it so there not a big need to put this and the second part in connection, but whatever.
Eyecandy is pretty good, though it’s the easiest to make good eyecandy in the diamondus and carrotus levels. I like the way you used layer 5 and 6.
Enemies are places well especially some of the flying ones. It’s not that difficult though after you realize how to kill them without getting hurt. Anyway if it’s hard there’s the easy mode. There were quite a lot of items as well as many weapon types which were later useful for some enemies and for secrets or destructable blocks. I like the fact that the level has a lot of secrets which were fun to find. I have to mention though that a lot of them are accessible for only Jazz as well as Jazz’s starting position being longer. That’s may not be so satisfying for players who like Spaz better.
The music was very good in my opinion. It really fitted well with the level.
All together I have to say this is the better half of the 2 part pack. I think it’s worth trying it, it’s medium length level which is fun and has quite and amount of secrets.

Though the design isn’t really for JJ2 because it’s a bit too tight at certain places but it’s really cool to replay these levels with JJ2. Also it’s possible to find secret places thanks to JCS so if you still have JJ1 you can get higher percentage. All in all it’s really fun and a lot of work seems to be put into it. End result a cool JJ1 conversion which is definitely worth a try.

I really like the concept and the idea of this level. Therefore it’s a shame there are parts of it that ruin my view of it.

First, the right side lacks a border. You most likely know it will cause camping, and while it can easily be taken care of in a JDC ODT event, it can make the level unusable in bigger games outside of JDC. I suggest you at least add an invisible border; that should help.

Second, it’s very hard to go up left from the lower carrot for Spaz, and I believe it’s almost impossible for Jazz or Lori. That makes it a dead end and therefore a perfect spot for an ambush, without any chance of the ambushed player escaping if he’s low on health.

Third, the upper middle area is too flat, and that’s not really a good thing for a level with RFs.

As for the good parts: The flow on other parts is really good. The eyecandy is simple, but great; one of the aspects of this level I like the most. The layout is not bad, other than the stuff I have already mentioned.

For now, I cannot rate it more than 7.8. I will give it a DL rec though, if you fix the bugs (and if the J2o admins fix reviews), I’ll raise the rating to something above 8.

EDIT: It appears I was wrong about the right border, sorry. I shall therefore raise the rating, but my other points still stand.

EDIT v2: Thanks for the spring, it’s really useful. I was wrong about the border (only the left border causes invincibility) but it looks good this way as well, and the flow is definitely better now :) Rating raised once again!