Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

As this won Rag’s Domination level making contest, I couldn’t wait to review this.

EYECANDY

The first thing I notice is the unusual mix of pink and yellow in the Layer 8 Background. I really like this and think that this goes really well with the tileset that has been used. Quickz has made extensive use of all the Beach and sand tiles in this set. The water background in Layer 7 looks very nice. The waterfalls don’t look like they are pouring down from nowhere but really look as if they are coming from the ceiling itself and they stop at the water like real waterfalls should do.
Quickz has made excellent use of Layers 3-8. Layers 1 & 2 aren’t used but you don’t need to use every layer to make a good level.
Everything here makes this look like a Shore as intended by the level name.

9/10

GAMEPLAY & FLOW

This level has very good layout, is easy to navigate and doesn’t feel cramped. The top right is empty but I don’t think that is an issue in this level. You can choose to do two things. You can either capture the Control Points located on the left and defend them or you can go for the Seeker Power-Up, the only PU that can be found in this level located on the right by going for a swim through an underwater tunnel on the far right.
If you decide to go for some ammo or the PU you can be sure that the CP you were defending is going to get recaptured.
The flow here is excellent, there are no annoying dead ends that you will bump into. There are also no warps so there is no way to escape from attackers by warping to other places.

9/10

EVENTS & PICKUP PLACEMENT

There is a nice amount of ammo to be found in this level. All the ammo for each weapon grouped up very nicely. There is neither too much or too little of every weapon.
As I mentioned in Gameplay, there is just one Power-Up and that is the Seeker and the placement is not campy. Spaz players can kick the PU for 50 ammo but since most people use Spaz I do not find this a serious issue in the level. Jazz players can still uppercut the PU by pushing it a bit to the left. There are three “+1 Carrots” to be found here. No Full NRGs so that players cannot regain full health to easily. The Carrots are spread out nicely so you shouldn’t have a problem gaining 1 or 2 Hearts back. One Carrot is placed by the Seeker PU so that you can get some ammo and regain 1 Heart back. Only one Carrot can be found nearest to the CPs so defenders shouldn’t regain any health too easily.
There are two Control Points (CPs) here. One CP can be found in the top left so it’s possible that you might get surrounded and get Seekers and other weapons fired at you from all directions. The other CP can be found at the bottom left in the middle of two pools of water. The two pools can be used as protection from ammo that may be fired at you while protecting the CP. Seekers may still hit you.
Five different weapons can be found here, these are: Bouncer (Gun2), Seeker (Gun4), RFs (Gun5), Toaster (Gun6) and Pepper Spray (Gun8).
Most of the ammo can be found on the right side of the level so if you are defending any of the CPs you will have to go some distance away from the CPs to regain some ammo.
All the platforms can be accessed easily with all the available Springs.

9/10

OVERALL IMPRESSION

Pearl-Shell Shore is very fun and has excellent placement of pickups and has impressive eyecandy. I love the mix of the pink and yellow in the background.
This is a level I would definitely play online and host.

EXTRAS

The Artificial Sun (artsun.it) music used is a perfect fit in this level. +0.1

TOTAL SCORE = 27/30

OVERALL MARK = (27 / 3) + 0.1 = 9.1

SHOULD YOU DOWNLOAD?

Since this won Rag’s Domination level making contest and has been awarded the Featured Download of October 2008, you REALLY MUST DOWNLOAD THIS!

As the tileset author, I was very impressed with how you managed to make a smooth and rich layout using so few tiles as the set had. It always makes me happy to see people get in depth with my set and make such impressive levels, and I’m honored you choose my set for your contest entry.

I would rate this but I’m afraid I’d base my rating on your usage of my set rather than the actual game play. I hope that a few kind words will do. ;)

(This review is part of a review exchange)

Domination is a fairly new game mode. Quite a few DOM levels have been made since Blur first introduced the popular UT game mode into the JJ2 scene with the latest update of plus, however no one has really experimented with the concept; it has a lot of potential, which is very slowly being realised. Who knows what wacky DOMs we may see in the future? This level, though, is the first step into seeing what kind of gameplay Domination is really capable of.

I had my doubts on this level when seeing it in it’s early stages, however Quickz designed the level to near perfection. The thing that possessed me the most was the theme; creative tileset usage made the level appear to be on a quiet shoreline. I consider it genious how the layout fits in perfectly with the theme; it moves up in layers from the bottom right, rising out of the sea onto sand until reaching tall cliffs. Caves reach inside the sandbar in a complex network, containing nice touches such as the waterfalls representing condensation. The music makes the level feel so epic. In fact, this level feels so magnificant that this even inspired me to take a trip to a beach myself, although the weather sucked. D=

Aside from looking great, it plays amazingly too. The positions of the two CPs were no doubt the best; the level would not work anywhere near as well if they had been placed elsewhere. The rest of the pickups are placed with thought, there is only one PU (Seeker), although in the DOM game mode spending time camping a PU rather than a CP would be utter stupidity. The fact that there are no Full NRGs make staying alive harder, but that could be seen as a good thing. The level feels cramped, however not so cramped in a way that makes movement slow, and the cramped feeling in the caves is part of the theme. The thing which I like the most about the gameplay is the fact this level can work with pretty much any number of players; not too big for smaller games like 2vs2s or not too small for larger games like 5vs5s. Pretty much everyone will enjoy this level, and for the moment it plays much better than all of the other released DOM levels.

This level inspired me to work on a DOM level, and I’ve been having great fun experimenting with the concept. In general, this level is pretty damn amazing, I don’t really think there will be any people who won’t enjoy this level. However, what stops me giving higer than 8.5 is that I’ve still yet to see what Domination is truly capable of.