Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Way too full of very simplistic errors. Animation speeds are wrong (esp. the boss), animations are wrong, blaster uses the RF sprite for no clear reason, and there’s really no level design to speak of. At the least, glance at the tiles and make sure they look like they tile right before uploading. The bonus level has boundary issues.

I see a lot of good design principles that are let down by poor execution. You definitely have a sense of what kind of challenges are germane to single player — respectable enemy placement, some precision platforming, triggers, collapse scenery, and other such things — but it’s all done way too quickly. The running section (you should know, btw, that fast feet events don’t actually do anything in JJ2) is ended by a wall which signals that it’s dangerous once again and there’s an enemy coming; that’s a great touch. I see tiles being used for specialized purposes, and definite hints of JJ1 design philosophy (e.g. the secret level hidden behind the end of level sign). As PJ said, you just need to spend a lot more time polishing your levels and making the good ideas that you have more appealing to look at and play. Choosing different tilesets will also benefit you tremendously. Inferno is difficult to use even for experienced level designers, and the other sets you used aren’t really very high quality. Find a nice good-looking, easy to use set and see if you can’t find some inventive graphical tricks to complement your level design intuitions. Keep it up.

Nice as it is to see a custom Battery Check level (this is possibly the first???), this really has no other redeeming qualities. It’s tiny, tiles don’t match up too well, and there’s little challenge and absolutely no use for the batteries. But please keep practicing: we need more Battery Check levels!

The atmosphere’s not bad, although you owe the tileset a large debt there. Eyecandy does get repetitive. Occasional tile bugs but fewer than usual for Carrotus. Not nearly enough ammo (pretty much just powerups), and too many walls, especially that carrot portion. No incentive to hang around the dangerous pit area. Good ideas, but too cramped.

A small level that takes no real risks and could use a bit more polish. The ammo placement is bizarre — somewhat sparse, but with lots of pepper spray and even some TNT — and the path to the blaster powerup is way too long and slow and unbranching. Not fond of the upper right. Eyecandy is serviceable, if unadventurous, and there are good areas.

The authorship looks a bit too much like a he-said-she-said situation for me to try to resolve, and there’s not much to say about the gameplay here, but I do like the eyecandy. :) You(?) make Top Secret look pretty.

The issue with alternate palettes is that the tileset is 100 rows and I already had to truncate its background somewhat to fit in that space. Creating a more straight up Carrotus expansion with regular palette and background but all the expanded walls/bridges/vines/thorns/etc. — CarrotusV, obviously — would definitely result in TSF-only territory. If there’s demand I guess I could do that, but it wasn’t my top priority.

The graphical quality of the tilesets is a bit iffy and the level designs are rather simple, but the overall atmosphere achieved in these levels is still amazing. Like Another Story, it’s more a cinematic experience rather than an active one.Very few levels since gave me the same feeling of immersion in the environment as these did here.

Oh wow, this is really nice! Finally some decent diagonal tiles (excuse my horrible mess in Carrotus Fix)!
The additions from other official tilesets all work well with the theme.
I wish there would be different palette versions though, seeing as this tileset completes Carrotus in a direction different from mine and zapS’s.

WHEN I HEARD THE MUSIC I GOT EARGASM IMMEDIATELY. THIS HAS EPIC EYECANDY AND IT IS A REALLY DIFFICULT TEST. I SHOULD MAKE IT A FEATURED DOWNLOAD BUT W/E I`LL JUST GIVE IT A 10 AND DR

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LOL, It’s not your test. I made it a few years ago and you only changed tileset.

THIEF!

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This is the first time in months that I played a new single player level so I had to get used to the gameplay mechanics once again. Nevertheless, I like to write a proper review for it as it was a pleasure to play througth it.

As this pack’s name indicate, it’s prime story and setup is similar to EvilMike’s Devres packs, only taken slightly lighter with more linear level design, less side story telling, and no real puzzling. Most levels are a fine mix of classic ‘run ‘n gun’ style gameplay and the well known ‘find crates and exit opens’ type of design.

The pack starts with 2 introduction levels. A well known text scroll introducing the story in movie-like fashion, and a short playable level that sets things off. It’s clearly not the most original way of doing things, but it sure isn’t bad and it works well getting the player (me in this case) perfectly into the simple storyline.

After finishing the first set of levels and coming to the first ‘Save’ level, I used the point to stop playing and take a rest. Yeah, this pack is pretty hard. As I said it might just be my hiatus from single player, but the shortage on carrots and nasty narrow spike tunnels gave me a real challenge resulting in 1 gameover and many lives lost. Especially the invisible bats and the other flying enemies later on, made the search for health even more important. And ironically, I found most carrots by abusing the respawning enemies..

However, what I played was enjoyable enough to live on with the action and story while looking at the well made eyecandy. The tilesets used are the Jazz2 tileset remakes, which include enough for the eye. I’ve seen no obvious tilebugs (I’m no expert on this) and almost any wall is portrayed with tasty eyecandy. I did manage to stuck myself 2 times, once in a narrow edge at the castle, and once at the underwater tree in the woods. All levels make good use of light effects, not only to accompany backgrounds but also inside walls to create a nice cave atmosphere.

The strangest thing I noticed is that the latter 40% (or so) of this pack got a lot easier. Yes, it gets easier in the end. I don’t mind it personally, but it did came to me as a surprise. The enemies were more forgiveable and I found more barrels with health. There’s also less crate searching than in the middle levels. The overall pack felt more flowing as I progressed through it.

As this is an episodic pack, it’s obvious that the ending stays open for more. Yet this ending, didn’t really gave me a clear clue of how the events could continue, instead it came quite surprising compared to how some other quality episodic packs did it. Or it’s just my movie-filled December that made me tired of story telling..

Either way, I’m still looking forward to episode 2 and hope for some spectacular plot twists and original gameplay mechanics. This pack had a great flow of gameplay that didn’t got off the ground all too well, but sure was more than just enjoyable and it’s leaving me want more! While there are other SP packs with better quality, SP packs don’t spawn out of nowhere and Laro’s work sure has paid off!

The overall pack is a flowing SP experience and I recommend this to everyone who loved packs such as Devres and Tomb Rabbit. Yes those are totally different, but those 2 far exceed the average, this does too! Worth a good 8.0 to me, and download recommended!

The original team battle level was not strictly a battle 1 remake, but it certainly contained elements from it. It was meant as a strong homage though, not a remake. The level used an original design that deliberately tried to avoid battle 1 style gameplay (part because it’s meant to be played with 3 hearts, and part because I never liked battle 1 much, even 10 years ago). To me, a proper “remake” of battle 1 should preserve the gameplay and overall feel of the original map, and not just have a bunch of rooms that look similar.

The level uploaded here is obviously a remake though. Also contains elements from other levels, which is interesting. Looks a lot better than my original version too, which I hope can now be considered obsolete.

Sorry, my friend.

Not only is this tileset NOT from Stargate (and I’ve seen almost every episode, believe you me), but it’s NOT worth a perfect 10.

For your (the uploader’s) sake, I will list each problem, then give you a possible solution for it.
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The level was quite small. There were about four or five main rooms on one long, narrow ship, and a little flying around action on the outside. Everything was too one-dimensional.

The solution here is obvious: Make it bigger. Add at least one additional deck to your ship, if not two.

There wasn’t enough ammo. In addition, the fans inside of the ship were a little irritating, and the pipes on the outside even more so. The trigger crates served little purpose, and the Fly Off on top on the ship, in conjecture with the bottomless abyss at the bottom of the level, was very frustrating.

In keeping with the last solution, put some more ammo pickups and sundry in the new rooms you build. In addition, put a carrot or two in. Carrots keep you alive, and to not have even ONE in your level at all is tantamount to a federal offense within this community. Remove the trigger crates, since they do almost nothing.

Remove the Fly Off on the top of the ship, or at least create an MCE Death Pit at the bottom of the level. In case you didn’t know it, the very bottom of Jazz2 levels is NOT an instant death pit. You will hang in place there for the rest of time, and this is an absolute no-no in any level.

Take the interior fans out, please. They’re just plain annoying.
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On the converse, your level DID have a decently good song, being the JJ1 Battleships song. Always remember, Duke, that a level’s song is almost as important as the level itself. Atmosphere can be created or ruined with music, so getting a good background track is essential.

It actually earned you points in my review, which otherwise would’ve graded you MUCH more harshly.

The eyecandy of Star Ship Terra, while not terrible, was nonetheless quite underwhelming. Odyssey is such a potential-loaded set. Use it! There are so many impressive levels using this tileset, so take a page from them (although don’t rip them off outright, ‘cause that’d be rather cheap).

In closing, I would like to tip my hat to you, for beginning your legacy here on J2O. Keep chiseling away at your craft, and watch it improve. Lord knows mine has.

Unfortunately, that also means that, since you’re in the thick of the beginner’s doldrums, you’ll get a lot of negative reviews until your levels start turning heads. It’s all right. Hopefully, you’ll improve quickly enough that you won’t have to get used to the sensation.

No download recommendation at this time, but just wait. Time will tell how far Duke can go.

Way small and poor, although the ammo tree idea was pretty good.

And why are there 2 musics for one level?

Tileset is from stargate!

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

Good tileset and good level Duke

My name is Marinovan_zajo and my other name is Marinata_1997.This is very simple and small level.

[Review changed to quick review, see the review rules.
[Rating clearance. You are not allowed to rate your own uploads, even if you use a different account to do so. -Violet]

@Leus,

The White Tile can be achieved in certain tilesets by using a solid color tile in a Layer 8 textured background. If the palette of the tile has been appropriately tailored, it will make the textured BG one color, often white or black.

Anyways, I loved this set, for all of the reasons that Leus mentioned. The hole in the floor (borrowed of course from the Haunted House tileset) was clever, the bones were neat, and none of the colors of Aquarius were hard or unpleasant on my eyes.

My one issue with Rage of Aquarius is that the Castle tileset is so overrused. There’s half a million recolors, palette swaps and custom versions of the set that it isn’t too original anymore, and successive versions have to be REALLY good to capture my fancy.

Fortunately, RoA is.

Good tileset, download today, and start making totally awesome levels with it.

Anything else?
Is that all?