Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Time to fulfill my part of the review exchange deal ;P.

Atom Heart 243.5 by SJ

I’ve already had a 2vs2 here (which I lost but ;|) and I’ve gotten a good impression of what I’m going to give this already, but I’m playing it again anyways >O.

First, eyecandy is really nice in this level. Everything is pleasant to look at (even the backround has a nice fade color) which makes playing here enjoyable because nothing distracts you or hurts your eyes or anything. It’s also different from other eyecandy I’ve seen using this set so that’s nice.

Gameplay, let’s see. The level requires you to jump in several places, but still uses a lot of springs to keep the flow good. There are some out of the way passages which I saw people camp at sometimes because nobody goes there and they aren’t that hard to defend, but SJ did use some things to try to prevent camping, which I’ll touch on later. Everytime I run by the large tubes in the top right/left with seekers in them I always jump into them because i think they’ll take me somewhere, instead of jutting me back out :(. Otherwise, some passages might be a bit too small and could be annoying to get into during the heat of battle. Otherwise, gameplay is good enough.

One of the things which I like the most about this level is actually the carrot placement. There are two full energies in the middle of the level, one on top and other on bottom. Both can be reached through the middle of the level but also through top/bottom routes. This really takes off a lot of stress during games when you have 1h and your opponent is camping at the carrot, and I greately prefer this placement in this level rather than a full energy and +1 carrot(s) or something. It worked good in the 2vs2 and it prevents carrot camping which gets annoying.

Ammo is placed nicely and powerup placement makes sense. Ammo is also placed creatively instead of in boring clumps so that’s good too. Music is a really nice choice too, and I don’t see .mtm files being used often.

To conclude this review, Atom Heart is a pretty good level, and will probably provide at least a handful of JDC matches (i’ve already been in one, heh =P). Nothing here is really outstanding or completely new, but it is a solid level and it plays well, and has no major flaws or anything. I’d give this an 8.4 and a download reccomendation.

~Blacky

Edit: After further playing and careful consideration (and threats from FS) I’ve decided this level deserves more than an 8.4. 0.2 points more, specifically.