Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Lab, just rate it like a normal SP pack.

A conversation I had with myself:
“Labrat must be crazy, this pack wont probably be THAT good.” “But I promised Blur I would do a long review at it anyways. Oh look, 5:00 EST, the pack should be uploaded now.” “What the heck? A demo!? There goes my review” “Might as well download it and play it”
A couple of minutes later…. “OMG HOLY **** THIS IS ******* AMAZING! Im definately going to review this!” ————————————————————
Well, the review will start now. I’ll probably edit it a few times and fix0r things up.

Teh intro: An intro. One wouldn’t expect too much from that. Well this intro is different. 3Dish pwnage effects, this looks more like an intro for a 3D game or stuff, just plain great. Probably the best intro I’ve seen.
Pros: Just plain amazing.
Cons: A bit short..
Rating: I don’t usually rate intro’s, but looks like a lot of work was put in the tileset, so have fun with your 9.5 (-.5 for teh shortness.

Level 1: Green vine forest
This was the level that changed my perspective towards the pack. I was expecting a basic normal level, but this is beyond that. This level just plain shocked me, and I haven’t been this surprised for a very, very long time.

Eyecandy: The BG is great, I like the color it fades to. It makes it look more real. I also like the BG eyecandy. Instead of those overused trees, there is something new. Not the first time I’ve seen this, but its still great. The backround and foreground ground (that sounds strange O.o) makes a nice effect, reminds me of another game I’ve played, dont know which though. Its quite original and looks spiffy. The eyecandy is just plain amazing.
Pros: Amazing, original.
Cons: None come to mind that affect the rating by more than .2 points.
Rating: 9.6

Layout/Design of level and stuff: The level idea is quite original. Near the beginning I saw a pit, and decided to fall in for the sake of curiousity to see what was in it. I thought it would be a hurt event of some sort, but this pack has proven me wrong once again. I was warped to a black place and died. I lost a life. I didnt expect losing a life since I thought this was the CTF dying thing I’ve seen many times. Though I did lose a life when I fell, I liked it. Added more action. Instead of just avoiding enemies, hurt events and traps, I had to avoid falling as well. Bloody genious idea. The level went along fine, I didnt like some parts because they were a bit too low near the fall warp, but i liked this level a lot.
Pros: Good Design, Great concept, and fun.
Cons: Some minor ones
Rating: 9.8

Placement of goodies/springs/stuff:
A bit scarce, but the level’s idea somehow made those seem unimportant. I don’t recall seeing any food at all in the level, and ammo was scarce. I didnt see any coins either. But the concept and layout and eyecandy just took my mind of those things completely.
Pros: There is ammo conveniently placed.
Cons: Sparce and no food or stuff, but then again they aren’t really needed.
Rating: 9

Music: Sounds good and fits.

Originality: what more to say, this level is original in many ways.
Pros: Original in many ways
cons: Nope
Rating: 9.8

Final rating for level: im just going to rate this 9.6 because that fits it for me.

Level 2: Devan Express
Probably the first train level I’ve seen, good idea, good level. Blur wasn’t kidding in that server when he said the second level is near impossible. I even had to cheat a few times to beat it or I might have not gotten this review done anytime soon.

Eyecandy: Didn’t shock me as much as the previous level, but still definately above average. BG eyecandy wasn’t too original, seen it before. But its acceptable. the layer 1 partially covered in Black tiles to narrow the vision down, and I found that it is better this way for me.
Pros: Good basic eyecandy
Cons: Didnt surprise me as much
Rating: 9.4

Layout/other stuff I’m too lazy to type:
Just like the previous level, original and brilliant. Train idea was **** great, and the way blur did it was even better. It was quite difficult, and it was annoying when I accidentally shot down a coin >(. The hurt events at the top where evil, and the falling/dying/loosing a life thing was even more fiendish in this level and added to the difficulty in a severe way.
Pros: Original and great
Cons: A bit difficult.
Rating: 9.5

Eventing and stuff (aka Placement or whatever you fiends call it): Wasnt much ammo, there was coins but they were sparce and where needed for the main idea of the level. Didnt see any food, and I predict there wont be any in the pack. I like the destructable scenery and stuff.
Pros: Basically good.
Cons: Sparce.
Rating: 9.6

Music: Fits the situation.

Originality: Top marks for this again.
Pros: Very original.
Cons: Not as original as the previous level.
Rating: 9.5

Final rating: 9.5

Level 3: A rocky Ride to nowhere
firstly, I thought what the heck? I pushed the rock of the ledge gently and it flew….Wow, first time I’ve seen rocks fly. After several game overs I’ve beaten the level. Harder than the previous. But I loved it. This isn’t one of those levels you beat in 1 try and never play again. You’ll have to play this many times to finally beat it. Just Darn fun.

Eyecandy: BG pwns, BG eyecandy pwns, great basic eyecandy.
Pros: good eyecandy.
Cons: Not that amazing
Rating: 9.5 (my fingers are getting tired >()

Concept/layout/level design: The most original and best I’ve seen so far. Flying rocks=idea of the year. Though it was annoying when they suddenly fall from the sky and take you along for the ride, the idea still pwned and was great. Plus the level design was fun, and hard as heck.
Pros: I love this level.
Cons: None, difficulty made it more fun.
Rating: 10 (yes, you heard me right, I’d give this a 20 if I have to)

Eventing: Sparce ammo, but I dont mind that too much. Food wasnt there but not really needed. Coins could of been added for a coin warp near the end to give you bonus powerups or stuff. Enemies where chosen nicely but the dragonfly was censored annoying when it would hit you off the rock >(.
Pros: good eventing
Cons: somethings are sparce and others annoying.
Rating: 9.3

Music: Pwnage.

Originality: More pwnage.
Pros: Pwnage
Cons: insert blankness here
Rating: 10 (fun)

Level rating: I’d give this 9.8, no matter how innacurate it is from the technical rating(which I’ll add to all the levels late) but I think it fits.

Flames of Fury:
Interesting level. I started with a sugar rush (food, finally!) and I didnt know what the rush was for. I used it to kill the few enemies I found, which was strange..Why place so few enemies with a sugar rush? Then when I got to the frog part I found out…

Eyecandy: Good enough for me. (Sry for teh shortness, I’ll edit the review later).
Pros: Basic eyecandy
Cons: Could of been better
Rating: 8.2

Concept/Level Design/Layout: You start off with a sugar rush, at first it seems strange but then it comes together. You have to make it to the frog part with the sugar rush still going to destroy the stomp blocks. At first i found it extremely hard, but then I quickly got better at it and did it. Be sure to grab some EB’s along the way to get the safe points, or you will regret it. Then the eyecandy gets better and confusing, which was blurs intention I’ll bet. You have to avoid a ton of bats and demons evily placed. then you fall with a bunch of rocks and have to destroy a block in time or get hit. After that and some you turn into a frog and do some “pumkin hoppin’” With some evilbats. The puzzle is also very evil btw. Would of been nice ifthere was a save point there. This is also the puzzle which I couldn’t solve, until CelL or somebody told me how to. It was a genius idea, and I regret asking for help on it since trying to solve it would’ove been much more fun. Then there was some other original stuff, and I didn’t quite like that sucker tube thing where it jutted(sp?) you into the wall where you had to helicopter ear or double jump to reach the platform, since unless you have a really good reaction you wont make it to the platform the first time, and the boss is quite hard, you should of added a carrot or something since there is a good chance you’ll be low on health when you make it to him.
Pros: Some original stuff.
Cons: Quite hard, not as good as the other levels.
Rating: 8.7

Eventing: I would of liked a full energy somewhere, or possibly a save point before the boss/before the puzzle (instead of the one after the puzzle). Some nice sucker tube stuff and other original eventing, and it was generally OK.
Pros: Some original stuff, generally good.
Cons: Some minor annoyances and lack of things like full energy’s and +1 carrots.
Rating: 8.9

Music: Fits, but a little boring.

Originality: Good and original, but doesn’t meet up to the standards the other levels set. Compared to other levels this would stand out more, but this isn’t the most original level in the pack.
Pros: Original
Cons: Doesn’t meet up to the standards of the other levels.
Rating: 9.

Level Rating (Not the technical one): I dont like this as much as the other levels, partially because it isnt original enough, partially because I think of the tileset (or how its been used at least) to be boring, since the layer 5 is always the same color, except for the several lava flows. The tileset itself is mostly made up of similar color shades. Only a few parts enlightened me, the pumkin part for example, where that ugly dark reddish backround is not found in.
Pros: Has some original stuff, challenging, has some surprising stuff.
Cons: Some parts where a bit dull (no offence intended) and I didn’t like the repetitive color (mostly fault of the tileset).
Rating:8.5

Level 5: Astroid City.
Gah, when I save in this level it gives me a memory error trying to load. That sux, since this is the hardest level of all. >((((((((((((((((((

Eyecandy: Most of the bg is black, but there are some other eyecandy things, but most of it…black. At least its better than the red BG (I find black to be a better color than red). And the tileset is limiting when it comes to backround eyecandy. There are some interesting eyecandy like the way the ground was designed etc. Has some eyecandy, and none of it annoys me much.
Pros: The eyecandy is calming, and its ok considering the limits of this tileset. And there are some interesting and cool things done with the eyecandy.
Cons: Not the best eyecandy seen in the pack.
Rating: 9.2

Concept/Layout: Not that much new things. This level was near impossible though, at least in my point of view it is. I couldnt even get up to the save point in all my attempts. Plus I couldnt save here which SUXED >((((((((((. I couldnt even get past the freeze-sucker tube thing. This is probably the only level in the pack where I think dying when you fall is cheap. Would of been nice if there were some things to make up for the memory bug when you save, and getting game overs every 10 minutes doesn’t make me feel any better or make me add more to the pack rating. Since I can’t beat this yet, I’m not going to fully rate it until I do, since there may be some stuff further in my level which may drastically affect my rating for it. Plus I think I there should be some kind of safety net in this level when in easy mode, due to the extreme difficulty of this level.
Pros so far: It’s original.
Cons so far: Hard as hell.
Rating: N/A at this point.

Eventing: So far, I would like there to be more carrots, or more ammo at least. I didnt see any food so far, and as far as I can tell the coins are suppose to be used for something. I dislike the placement of a certain floating sucker at pos 255,186, since you tend to bump into it frequently when you bounce on the red spring.
Pros so far: The enemies are nicely chosen, somethings are interesting.
Cons: Some enemies placed in spots where they are hellishly annoying, lack of carrots and ammo and stuff. Somethings are severely difficult (like that freeze thing, since I guarantee it would take you several game overs to figure out how you do it, IF you figure out how to do it). I would of liked some more stuff to be in easy mode since it isn’t easy in easy mode, despite the fact that its called easy mode.
Rating: N/A at this point.

Music: Fits well and sounds good. Good Job on picking it.

Originality: Some original tricks used, but it just didn’t shock me like level 1 and 3 (and sort of 2) did.
Pros: Has original things.
Cons: Barely meets up to the standards of the other levels (mind you I am only saying this of what I seen so far, some further testing this level and hopefully getting to further parts of it may inflict drastically to my rating, for the better or worse.

Level rating: N/A at this point.

Some final comments/rants on this pack:
Firstly, this pack is probably the most original that I’ve seen so far. Goes all the way from trains to flying rocks, and beyond. Though I found the “dying if you fall” thing to be cheap in some levels (mainly the final level). Also, I dont like not being able to save in the 5th level, since the 5th level’s difficulty exceeds even Derby’s edit count. I think this level lacks more ammo and more food, and I would of liked it if you could of started off with at least 50 lives instead of 30 since getting game overs every 50 seconds is darn annoying. Nonetheless, the pack is marvelous work, too bad you cant rate Demo’s >(. I can’t wait till the final version, and I hope to finally finish this review before it comes out.

Review version 1.1 (incompleted, un-spellchecked and stuff).

Review Version 1.2 (after probably over a year of forgetting about this, I return to finish it!)

Astroid city:

Concept/Layout: Other then what I mentioned above, this level seems to have the most obstacles, and the most original obstacles, of all the other levels. And its also so **** big. The obstacles in this are also generally impossible. Even if you beat one obstacle, before you know it, you get game over to another one. Plus, like I mentioned above, you cant save. I STRONGLY STRONGLY advise you find a way to fix it, or at least arm the player with 97 lives when they begin this, otherwise I don’t see how you would expect someone to beat this without cheats.
Pros so far: Most original ideas, lots of them, long level.
Cons: Generally impossible, saving doesnt work, more lives needed.
Rating: 8.2

Eventing rating: 8.5 (Mostly because easy mode isn’t “easy”, more 1ups needed, maybe some other stuff).

Originality rating: 9.7. Concept/Layout and stuff where really original, eyecandy was fairly original, ideas and stuff etc etc.

Level rating (not the technical one): I really like this level, the ideas in it, the music, the eyecandy etc. Its just so darned hard. I would really find it better if you could have more lives when playing this, or at least be able to save, because getting game overs is annoying and subtracts from the fun of this. Otherwise, for now, I can’t really give it too high because of that =\.
Rating: 8.7

Final comments on the pack v2!: Other then what I mentioned in the above comments about this pack: Firstly, I like how the levels’ difficulty gets harder and harder as you progress levels (e.g, Green Vine forest was fairly easy, the train level was hard but possible, rocky ride to nowhere took a few days to beat, was nearly impossible to beat the inferno level but one day I magically did it, and I still cant beat the Astroid city level). Very original, very fun, and at times, very annoying. Still, probably my favorite SP pack, and I hope the final version (not the demo >((() of it comes out soon. Then, I’d happily rate this 9.7 or 10 or 20 if I could.

Now, finally, or something. The rating time:

GREEN VINE FOREST:
Eyecandy: 9.6
Layout/Concept/Level Design: 9.8
Placement of Stuff/Eventing: 9
Originality: 9.8
Technical Overall Rating: 9.55 = 9.5
My Rating: 9.6
Final Overall Rating (My Rating + Overall Rating /2): 9.575 = 9.5.

DEVAN EXPRESS:
Eyecandy: 9.4
Layout/Concept/Level Design: 9.5
Placement of Stuff/Eventing: 9.6
Originality: 9.5
Technical Overall Rating: 9.5
My rating: 9.5
Final Overall Rating: 9.5

A ROCKY RIDE TO NOWHERE:
Eyecandy: 9.5
Layout/Concept/Level Design: 10
Placement of Stuff/Eventing: 9.3
Originality: 10
Technical Overall Rating: 9.7
My rating: 9.8
Final Overall Rating: 9.75 = 9.7

Flames of Fury:
Eyecandy: 8.2
Layout/Concept/Level Design: 8.7
Placement of Stuff/Eventing: 8.9
Originality: 9
Technical Overall Rating: 8.7
My rating: 8.5
Final Overall Rating: 8.6 = 8.7

Astroid City:
Eyecandy: 9.2
Layout/Concept/Level Design: 8.2
Placement of stuff/Eventing: 8.5
Originality: 9.7
Technical Overall Rating: 8.9
My Rating: 8.7
Final Overall Rating: 8.8 = 8.7.

MUSIC:
GREEN VINE FOREST: 9.5
DEVAN EXPRESS: 9.5
A ROCKY RIDE TO NOWHERE: 10
FLAMES OF FURY: 8.5
ASTROID CITY: 9.5
OVERALL MUSIC RATING: 9.4 = 9.5

FINAL WOULD BE RATING OF PACK:
GREEN VINE FOREST: 9.5
DEVAN EXPRESS: 9.5
A ROCKY RIDE TO NOWHERE: 9.7
FLAMES OF FURY: 8.7
ASTROID CITY: 8.7
MUSIC: 9.5
INTRO: 9.5
FINAL RATING OF THE PACK: 9.3, > 9.2 (+.3 because it rocks so much =D) = 9.5

Too bad this is a demo and you can’t rate them, but I really look forward to playing the full version and hope it gets done soon. You did a magnificent job on this pack and it is in my top 10 SP favorite packs, if not the first. Definite, definite, download reccomendation.

~Blackraptor. (Review version 1.2 finished July 3 2004)

Edit: Took a bit to get the bold tag working right. Stupid misleading view info D=.

[This review has been edited by Blackraptor][This review has been edited by Blackraptor][This review has been edited by Blackraptor][This review has been edited by Blackraptor][This review has been edited by Blackraptor]