Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I say, I really must have way too much time on my hands, otherwise I wouldn’t get first review each time :P Not that I care…

First impressions

As the name may explain it all, this is an autumn (fall) themed tileset, so there’s a lot colors related to that season: red, orange, very light brown… A tree, a mountain background and a squirrel statue are the main decorations. Looks nice at first sight.

Ground and Wall tiles, can’t play without them ;p

Like I said above, the main colors are red, orange and a light brown. The red and orange of course are used for the area that are supposed to be green. The actually has nice texture, considering it’s made in MSPaint! No kidding! (It said so in the mask message). The background wall tiles are a pure black with no texture. Hmmmm…

Tileset Extras

Neon Psy was kind enough to put in two pieces of extras: an H-pole and a V-Pole, both masked, and that’s where the problem is. Poles are supposed to be unmasked (Thank you Disguise’s Tileset Resource). The result is that the player will get stuck in the H-Pole (the one standing up) and fly in the opposite direction. The V-Pole works fine, which is a stroke of luck. It can still be used as a vine tho, which isn’t a bad alternative. That’s all I have to say about extras.

Eye Candy

This is the area where this tileset lacks the most. I said in a previous review “Stuff is Good”. The more stuff you put in, the better. Anyway, The only pieces of Eye Candy I can see is that nicely done squirrel statue, with a shootable head, (Squirrel haters here’s your chance ;p), water (a pure blue), a ripped Diamondus tree (nicely converted), 3D Background ripped from Blade’s tilesets (Not so nicely done, it only has two colors and looks a tad weird in 8-bit) and a Mountain background (ripped from Blade’s Desert). At least he credited Blade for them, I may have to ask him if he really gave permission :p

Miscellaneous

The only thing I will talk about here is this: wasted tileset space. Right next to the 3D Background you’ll an empty space of 2 × 8 tiles, and aboe the mountain a strip of 7 empty tiles. If you ask me, they could have been used for more extras of eye candy, like a big tree you can climb in. Given the texture in the ground I’m sure Neon PSY can pull that off :P Or destructable blocks, a must for every tileset. The way I see it, empty space equals wasted potential for improvement.

Verdict

Not a bad try for a first. Everything necessary is there, but that’s it. With a couple of more extras and Eye Candy, people would be able to make a nice level with it. What really i’d like to see is an update, with the poles unmasked, 3D background fixed in 8-bit, and a couple more things added.

Edit: I’m on a roll here folks :p In this edit I’ll just discuss the changes made to this set, so pay attention.

Tileset Extras

More extras were added in this update, in the form of destructable blocks. It’s a shame there are only two kinds: the blank and ! kind. O well, Neon is still a beginner, we can’t expect miracles. He was even kind enough to fix the H-Pole by unmasking it. :)

Eye Candy

Two new pieces of Eye Candy are introduced in this update: A new tree stem with branches, and a new top for the Diamondus tree. They both look good, but the tree looks more like a stick poking out of the ground. It would have been nice if the branches were masked for Jazz to hang on to. The background has been remodeled, but it’s still evident Neon took Blade as an example: he used the same colors, but different shapes, which is fine in my book. The 3D background still looks weird in 8-bit though.

Verdict

Same as before, a nice try. Maybe it’s time for Neon to start thinking about making a new tileset, he definetly shows potential. For now, this set is worth a look at. Well done!

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3