Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

First of all, I would like to say that BlurredD must be smited for making me review five levels at one time. Since the original levels have not changed a great deal, and the original small bugs did not hugely effect my rating, the review pretty much remains the same for the first twenty. However, the trouble here is the new five. So it’s time to review them. Yay.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I’ve updated this review several times since originally making it for various reasons, including information addition.
Wow. It’s been ages since BlurredD last uploaded something, so I think I’ll give this a really long review that will beat the pants off of EvilMike’s really long review. This is an early version of it, so I’ll edit it when I get finished. I just wanted to post it in the off-chance that my computer would crash (OK, so maybe the chance isn’t so off) and I would lose everything. So, here we go, reviews of levels one through eight in a twenty level pack. I hope you brought a book.

Level 1: Thermal Scorch
“Thermal Scorch” is the first level in this pack. It uses the excellent 7th Lava Fall tileset. When playing, the background was a bit distracting, but looked very good. This level has very good eyecandy. The playing area consists of many black boxes over, unsurprisingly enough, a lava pit. There are a few small pockets of ammo with bouncy, flamethrower, seeker, and RF contained within. Graphically, this is one of the best levels in the entire pack. It’s pretty easy to move around in, and it’s clear that this level was tested heavily. Very good, and fun to play online. On a scale of one to five: 4.

Level 2: System Clogged
“System Clogged” looks a bit strange at first glance. It features plain gray tiles in combonation with oblong-shaped blue worm-like circles. It’s hard to explain without actually seeing the level. This level’s flow is not as good as that of Thermal Scorch’s, but is still quite easy to move around in. This level adds TNT ammo to the mix, which is a welcome addition because there are many more tiles in this level. I found it pretty easy to fall in, especially late in the game. During single player testing, I noticed a strange bug that stems from the huge amount of animations in this level: my fire completely disappeared in many areas. Still, this is a good level, but I can’t say it’s my favorite of the bunch. It’s graphical blandness and only mildly interesting play make it not the best play. On a scale of one to five: 3.5.

Level 3: Water Drain
This level, dubbed “Water Drain”, which has TNT, ice, flamethrower, and electroblaster ammo, and is one of the more plain-looking levels of the pack, but is one of the easiest to navigate around in. It uses Blade’s somewhat dreary Wasteland tileset. This level has one of the thinnest bottoms of them all. Many areas are just one tile high and are very easy to fall into with one wrong move with the TNT. Others are completely empty at the bottom tile, making it increadibly easy to go out. This is one of the quicker plays in the entire pack, but is no slouch on gameplay. Still, it’s not my favorite of the pack by far. On a scale of one to five: 3.5.

Level 4: Heaven Sent
I was surprised that BlurredD decided to use Agama’s excellent Heaven tileset in a surivor level, but this is one of my favorites of the entire pack. “Heaven Sent” gives out a peaceful serine look, but in no way is it a light play. When I hosted it, it was a very rushed game. TNT and RF were used heavily, and pretty much the entire level was destroyed in less than a minute. The passages are fairly small and it can be slightly annoying to move around, but this does not detract from the overall gameplay. This is especially good with many people, but don’t expect to play this level for long. It’s very easy to go out. An excellent play, though there are a few somewhat annoying bugs that may detract from the level’s quality a bit. On a scale of one to five: 4.

Level 5: No Escape
“No Escape” uses Skulg’s Lava Lamp tileset. Happily, it contains no lava lamps (the level doesn’t, at least.) For the area there is in this level, there are less blocks than average and most of the bottom tiles are not covered, so it’s really easy to go out in this level if you make a mistake. There is one ammo area that is only accessible if seeker ammo is used, but otherwise all areas can be shot and broken. Some of the blocks are different looking, but most are standard. The most annoying part of this level was the flashing background, which surprised me every time. When I was playing this level, several people complained that this flashing light was annoying and wouldn’t take “disable low detail” for an excuse. Still, this is pretty good, and fairly fun to play online despite it’s occationally annoying quirks. On a scale of one to five: 3.5.

Level 6: Electrical Wipeout
“Electrical Wipeout” uses the plain old Tube Electric tileset, which causes it to look pretty plain. In fact, the blocks that were used as shootable reminded me of bad old blocks-as-ground levels using this tileset. This is probably one of the longer levels included in this pack. It takes so long to play because it is vertically tall, and takes a while, even when trying, to get to the bottom. Also, the areas where you can fall through at the bottom are quite thin. It took about five minutes to finish this level, which was toward the high end of all of the level’s play times. This level shines when you have a lot (and I mean a lot) of people in the server. Otherwise, it’s graphical tediousness and long play time make this one of the less interesting levels in the pack. In fact, this may very well be one of my least favorite levels of all these. On a scale of one to five: 3.

Level 7: Polar Chill
Level 8: Tri-Sides
“Tri-Sides,” which uses the huge, industrial CyberSpaz v2 tileset, is also one of the better levels in the pack. There is a unique twist to this level which makes it so different than all of the other levels and adds a bit of spice to playing it. The walls on the side of the level function just like the bottom part. In other words, if you are shot into the wall, or just accidentally fall into them, you’re out. The level never says this (it would be nice if BlurredD mentioned this in the text string at the beginning of the level, but then again, it is fun watching people scramble to try to figure out why they just went out.) Playing the level quickly turns in to a melee of sorts. You’ll have better luck winning this level if you concentrate on trying to knock your opponent into the walls, because it’s much, much, much harder to go out by falling into the bottom. One of my favorites. On a scale of one to five: 4.5.

Level 9: Diablo’s Outlook
“Diablo’s Outlook” is the second level in this pack to use a non-custom tileset, Medivo 1 in this case. This level differs from many of the other levels in that there are two seperate parts to the level, seperated by an impassible wall for most of the level, but an empty space with two platforms that slide in and slide out in the middle of them near the bottom. Passing from each side of the level to the other frequently is a bad idea, since it is really easy to miss the platform and go out by falling to the bottom. The eyecandy on this level is good, unlike the Tube Electric-based level. Still, this is a fantastic level and one of my favorites. It requires more strategy than most of the other levels, but is still enjoyable as a quick or long play. This level also features more non-standard blocks than any other, including some buttstomp blocks that are practically suicide to break. On a scale of one to five: 4.

Level 10: Uncharted Territory
“Uncharted Territory” uses Blade’s aptly named Space tileset. It’s a very metallic level. Other than the background, the entire level in fact is in a metallic-ish gray color. It is a bit plain to look at, but the background is strikingly different from the blocks used. It’s black-and-purple with white comets flying by. Due to the way they were animated, the blocks in this level disappear immediately when shot instead of having the usual collapsing animation. This is strange, but an interesting effect. The losing area looks very plain and bulgy off of the level. This is not my favorite level. It looks a bit off, but it’s pretty fun to play. Still, “Uncharted Territory” is better than almost all of the other levels based on this gameplay out there, but it does not live up to the pack’s standards. On a scale of one to five: 2.5.

Level 11: Twenty Six Second Frustration
“Twenty Six Second Frustration” is a blalant joke on the “Twenty Four Hour Coffee” level that was hosted constantly in 2000. The level uses the unknown but amazing-looking tileset MeZmErIzE (sic), the same one that was used in “Twenty Four Hour Coffee.” Levels made with this tileset tend to fall into two categories. The first is amazing looking. The second is levels that have so many tile bugs or just use the tileset wrong and end up looking like someone that the Fluffy the bunny rabbit deposited on newspaper. This level definitely falls into the first category. If you can get past the stunning looking green blocks and emerald waterfall background, this level turns out to be one of the better-playing levels of this pack. Despite it’s name, gameplay was not frustrating at all. In fact, I can safely say that I thuroughly enjoyed playing this one in particular. It has TNT, bouncy, and ice ammo and is horizontally large. The ammo is scattered out well, and is extremely well placed. This is one of the most enjoyable levels in the pack, and definitely a favorite of mine. It plays great, and is graphically dazling as well. Because of it’s size and fairly solid tiles, it may take a while to play this level, even when there are many people. It’s best with plenty of people, but enjoyable with any amount in the server. On a scale of one to five: 4.

Level 12: An Insidious Illusion
The third tileset in the pack to use a non-custom tileset, “Insidious Illusion” uses the Castle 2 Night tileset. This is one of the strangest levels in the entire pack in that it is reverse. The tiles that can be shot are see-through and appear as background while you walk on the dark tiles. It takes a while to get used to, but is a fun little trick involving invisible tiles. It’s hard to get used to this level, and even after playing it a lot, I’m still confused by it to a huge extent. While this level is definitely unique and interesting, it always appears dark, even with no ambient lighting change. It’s a cool idea, but I can’t say that I like it. The Castle tileset is overused, but the parts using the normal Castle tiles are fine looking. Still, the see-through tiles look strange. Not the best level in the pack, but some may like it. On a scale of one to five: 2.

Level 13: Safety Precaution
Of all of the levels in the pack, “Safety Precaution” (which uses the space-themed “ETs Planet 1 v3” tileset by – of course – ET) is definitely the strangest one. In fact, it’s nearly completely different than all of the others. Instead of having blocks on the bottom, it has springs that block you from falling into the warp. There is only one way to go through the springs, which is to hit them while you are blinking from damage. You will then go straight through into the warp. To spice it up a bit, BlurredD include the automatic firing laser MCE one tile above the springs so, if you are unlucky and hit by them, you go out. The rest of the level features some steel pseudo-3D blocks that can be broken as tiles in any of the other levels can. However, there are areas inbetween the blocks where you can’t slip through even though it appears you can, making navigation sometimes annoying. Also, note that there is a small area in which you can just fall directly and there are no springs, which often can cause a problem. It’s still quite fun to play, and one of my favorites, though it’s hard to move around. On a scale of one to five: 4.

Level 14: Mechanical Clock Chaos
The fourth level to use a non-custom tileset (in this case Labrat 1), “Mechanical Clock Chaos” has some cool ideas in it. The first is an interesting animated device at the start, which doesn’t add to gameplay, but certainally looks great. The second is how the blocks disappear. As time goes on, a clock (hence it’s name), activates and destroys tiles. This is a very hard concept to pull of, but definitely adds to the playing value. It’s great to see interesting new concepts like this in levels. Nice job. The rest of the level is pretty much standard. It has the same bad-looking blocks as in the Tube Electric level. It also has a few areas that you can only get to using bouncy ammo that contain TNT. There’s not much to say about this level. Gameplay is a heck of a lot like all of the other levels, but the clock idea is really fascinating. You won’t notice it much during play, but it’s an advancement in JCSing, which is always welcome. On a scale of one to five: 3.5.

Level 15: Chain Reaction
The fifteenth level in this pack, “Chain Reaction,” uses Overlord’s space/secret agent hybrid tileset Top Secret ]|[. “Chain Reaction” seems to have tiles in a U shape. The right and leftmost sides all have large stacks of tiles, which gradually slope down to the point where there are only two to four tilesets seperating you from the warp in the middle of the level. This isn’t one of the most innovative of the levels, but is still a fun quick play. Most battling will occur on the top of the hills on the left or right, since the middle will quickly be destroyed. This level contains the standard ammo plus pepper spray, which is practically useless other than that it is hard to see and may be of some use if your opponent is stalling. Other than that, there isn’t much special about this level, but it’s good. On a scale of one to five: 4.

Level 16: Vacant Mine Shaft
“Vacant Mine Shaft” uses the apparently annoynmous “Mining Operations” tileset, which is now less apparently annonymous and is now apparently made by Violet CLM. The tileset itself is very funny to look at and contains many jokes. It’s also not a slouch on tile quality either. The level, like the tileset, is fun to play but is well-made, too. Both of these together is uncommon in levels, especailly in these days of cloud-and-colored-blocks tilesets and levels. In order to carve out a path in which to play, you shoot the three turle’s hard surface on it’s back (the simple word for it is apparently censored.) at the top of the level. They break many of the blocks, creating three seperate path ways for playing. The path of these turtle’s hard surface on it’s back was planned well. The tiles that are taken away leave a smooth-looking level with ammo visible in the right places and hidden in others. The ammo is fairly standard, but eyecandy is very good. I give extra points for managing to calculate the exact path the turtles censored would take and making the level accordingly, because I can imagine this was very hard. This level is fun to play and amazingly well-crafted. One of my favorites. On a scale of one to five: 5.

Level 17: An Insidious Illusion II
“An Insidious Illusion II” is apparently a secret to level 12, “An Insidious Illusion” using the infinitely more interesting Jazz 1 conversion of Battleships (“Jazz 1: Battleships”), which was converted by CelL FoR. The level was much easier to get used to than the original “An Insidious Illusion,” but it still isn’t my favorite level. The black background with white stars contrasts well enough from the dark blue background to avoid confusion, but it’s still ugly. I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the idea, but this level falls into the middle of the pack in the pack (no pun intended, fortunately.) Some may enjoy this, but I do not count myself amoung them. The tileset is good, though. On a scale of one to five: 3.

Level 18: Mean Green Elevator Machine
“Mean Green Elevator Machine,” which uses the excellent “J2LC – Alien Space Lab” tileset has one of the better backgrounds of all of the levels and an interesting concept. The level is checkered with solid and non-solid blocks. There are start positions in the non-solid ones without ammo. The level is surrounded to all sides with a stream-like thing that warps you out of the game if you touch it. However, the most striking thing about the level is the optical illusion that it uses. While it wasn’t immediately evident to me when I started playing, I realized that the background makes it look like the entire level is moving, much like an elevator. In fact, it’s actually the background that’s moving, not the level. It’s still an interesting idea, though I have seen it before. This one is slightly above average compared to the pack in gameplay, but the eyecandy is simply amazing. Not only is the optical illusion good-looking, but there are no tile errors and the level is great-looking as well. On a scale of one to five: 3.5.

Level 19: Crater Maker
“Crater Maker” uses the “Space Warbase” tileset by Disguise, the same one that is used in the level Zatox CTF. However, it appears that BlurredD used it a little differently than it was used in Zatox. The level’s start looks sort of industrial, with gears and such, but the actual level is more classic Zatox. There are comets flying around in the background and annoyingly yellow “caution” blocks used for the shootable blocks in the level. There are two things that make “Crater Maker” different from the other levels, the first of the way it distributes weapons. The actual level itself has no weapons in it, but when you warp at the start of the game, you fall through several lines of ammo. This limits the amount you have, so you have to make sure to use that amount you get with care or you may end with only your trusty but slightly plain blaster. The second is that most of this level destroys itself. Shoot one of the crates and TNT explodes. Many nearby crates will also explode with it, destroying a lot of blocks at once. This can knock opponents clear out of the game in one sweep, but can also be troublesome for the person who initiated the chain reaction. The yellow blocks which are used are so bright, they often become annoyingly distracting, but it wasn’t much of a problem. One of the better levels in this pack I think. On a scale of one to five: 4.5.

Level 20: Tower of Death
Just when I thought I could get through the entire pack without getting a single missing tileset error, the last level caused one. Mumbling, I went off and downloaded the tileset pack for the level, which I only needed one tileset from. The tileset which I was missing, “Where Bad Rabbits Go,” is a great tileset that I really should have had in the first place. Once I could stand to look at my reflection in the computer screen, I prepared to review the twentieth and final level in this pack. I then ran “Tower of Death” in single player and realized, much to my annoyance, that I would have to host this level in multiplayer or it wouldn’t work. It took a while to realize what in the world I was supposed to do in this level (and several deaths), but it turned out the idea behind the level was simple: climb or be hit by the laser shield MCE and fall. The level is pretty derned tall, and it took me in excess of twenty seconds to get to the top. When I did, it was pretty much a standard battle with whoever was able to outrun the laser’s fire with me. At the end, it turned into a melee not to fall into the bottom when the laser got to the top (it took it’s time.) This level and the laser shield evasion and outrunning is an interesting idea. However, it has been done before, but not quite like this. Still, this is one of my favorites, especially with a lot of people. On a scale of one to five: 4.5.

Notes
In order to play the level, someone must be active so that they can be the level “controller.” This person will need to go into the warp (in the starting room’s top left corner there is an area where the controller can go in) and then start the level. The controller also gets five coins, which can be used to end the level. To end the level, the controller must first go out and then go to the top left corner of the out area. Then the level will end.

This level stops people from playing as Jazz because Jazz has a distinct advantage. There is a trap at the beginning which involves a bridge that stops Jazz players from getting into the areas. Those who dislike Spaz may find this annoying, but it’s fair.

Explination of how Survivor is played
Survivor, which goes by many names, is pretty much universal in gameplay: there are many blocks in a level. These blocks can be shot. Eventually, when many blocks are gone, you get to the bottom. The person who avoids falling into the warp at the bottom for the longest time wins. There are several variations, but this is the one used in the pack.

Is this really survivor?
The quick answer is no. The gameplay type used here is in fact, not Survivor. There really isn’t much of a name for it, but it’s not Survivor. The actual name of the gameplay type is Ground Force. The gameplay type was invented by ET. One of the levels in this pack, in fact, uses ET’s tileset entitled “Ground Force” which was specially made for making levels of these type. As the levels caught in, people started calling them by the more descriptive name of “survivor” levels. The name stuck, and is still used today. The actual gametype is named Ground Force, as Violet mentioned, but calling it that while probably confuse most players, because so few know that it was originally called that.

AND FINALLY, THE VERDICT…
This is going to be hard to rate. At first my idea was to rate it by adding up all the values that I assigned it on a scale of one to ten, but since those were compared to the other levels in the pack, I quickly realized that that would give it an unfairly low rating. So, I decided to play them all and see how good they were as an entirety. After much debating with myself, I cam e to the conclusion that my rating would be somewhere between 8 and 8.7. I eventually decided on 8.5. There are 20 levels in this pack of varying quality, but most are 7-8.5. All together, though, I can see a lot of effort was put into this pack and while many of the levels are similar to eachother, it nonetheless presents a unique new twist on a gameplay type with a few levels that differ from the normal formula. This pack is sure to become a classic, especially certain levels of it. I’m going to give it an overall 8.5. This is definitely the best pack of this type I have ever played, and there is no dobut that BlurredD is an amazing level author. This is definitely a download recommendation. The tileset pack alone contains many must-have classics, and the music is not half-bad either. It was hard to rate this beast, but I think that 8.5 and a download recommendation is fair. Great job, BlurredD. I look foreward to your single player pack, but this definitely made for a great afternoon of reviewing and playing. Great job.

-Trafton
Edit: I included that Mining Operations was made by Violet.
Edit: Added individual ratings, updated “rating” section.
Violet: Time to throw fish! My review was about 3,000 characters longer, with or without spaces included. ;-P
Evades several waves of angry trout.
More STUPpingly STUP edits: I’m glad that some of the glitches have been fixed, and I like the screenshot of the Odyssey tileset that was included (though I already have an early version, because a certain person leaked it onto J2O.) My rating remains the same, though I’m really glad the bugs were fixed. Think of this as a 8.59. ;-P

NEW LEVELS (HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE)
Level 21: Cursed Pharoah Ruins
“Cursed Pharoah Ruins” is an Egypt-based level which manages to squeeze everything single Egyptian cliche into one name. Regardless, this is quite a nicely crafted Survivour level, much like the rest of them, in fact. This level is definitely an improvement overall quality-wise compared to the originals. I would like to say at this point in the review that it is very important to review these levels in multiplayer, as they simply do not function at all in single player. What is there in this level? Basically a lot of somewhat randomly placed floating platforms and squares and such. The tileset, the very, very, very, very good Egypt by Agama, is used fantastically as it should be. The level is indeed somewhat small, but it is still quite nice and very much fun to play. One of my favorites of the pack. On a scale of one to five: 4.5.

Level 22: Intergalactic Space Carrots
Yet another somewhat badly named level using the Carrotus tileset.

“Boo, hiss. Boooooooooo. Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Booooooooooooooo. Carottus sucks. Boo, hiss. Boooooooooo. Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Booooooooooooooo.”

I am sure we are all farmilar with such cries by not, and to be honest, this level does not do all that much to make these objections invalid. This level simply reminds me way too much of some not-so-good Carrotus levels I have seen over the years, which is in many ways, it’s worse feature. The entire level just suffers from a lack of excellence. The beginning area looks okay and such, but the level itself uses non-standard tiles for blocks to shoot. This ends up looking alright at first, but really ugly after a good time of playing. Still, it is decent, and I am undecided between a 3.0 and 3.5 for this level. So far, a hit and a miss for the five new levels, although this is only a miss relative to the other excellent levels.Boo, hiss. Boooooooooo. Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Booooooooooooooo. Boo, hiss. Boooooooooo. Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Booooooooooooooo. On a scale of one to five: 3.0 or 3.5.

Level 23: Bathtub Catastrophe
This is yet another very nice level using the Survivor gametype. This time, however, the focus reverts back to another default Epic tileset, this time Colon. Colon is, for all matters practical, not an easy tileset to make look odd or unusual without totally screwing up the eyecandy in the level that is using it. However, BlurredD manages to make an unusual but very nice-looking level here with good gameplay to boot. At the beginning, the entry way into the level uses the very standard eyecandy that Colon provides. At first, I thought the bathtub mention meant something related to the sewers (ick). I was relieved to find out, however, that this simply eluded to the rest of the level, which features bathtub-like eyecandy. It is hard to explain what exactly this looks like, and one has to download the level for themself in order to understand it. But I definitely find this one to be one of the most enjoyable levels in the pack. On a scale of one to five: 4.5.

Level 24: Devastation
Devastation is a somewhat uninspired-ish level using Skulg’s depressing goth-like “Death Metal” tileset (death and metal…wow!). This level is not uninspired eyecandy-wise, surprisingly. It is the gameplay which seems just a little bit lacking compared to the rest of them. In what way, you ask? Well, the level plays well enough. The problem is that the level plays way too quickly. The entire level is just the bottom few layers of bricks, and this makes for a quickly ended game, especially when a lot of people are there. So the game eventually turns out to be a mad dash to jump on top of something or hit a lag clone to avoid falling out of the game when all the tiles come down. A skilled player trying their best could probably bring an element of non-random play to this level, but for casual play, the winner is often far too random. Still, it is a solid-looking level and good for non-competitve play. On a scale of one to five: 3.5.

Level 25: The Sludge Grounds
The final level (again) uses the “ETs Planet2 v3” by (gasp!) ET. It is obviously a space-themed tileset that was used in EvilMike’s “SPACE LEVEL WITH ISLANDS” level. It is nice looking, and definitely fits the name of the level in every way. This is probably one of my favorite levels out of the entire pack, although there are a few small things that make it a bit annoying. The entire level features very inspired gameplay. The TNT with the springs is something that you will see in no other Survivor levels. In fact, it is something completely unexpected and, after 24 levels, it is nice to see that BlurredD still had a few ideas of how to make this level interesting. And the rest of it is interesting, too. Gameplay was all-around well done and just fun to play in general. Quips? A few. There was an area in which a spring nearly unavoidably bounces you into a warp that most players would not expect to exist (in the ceiling, to the left of the TNT). But, other than that, this is definitely a good twenty-fifth level and final (at least temporarily, judging from the somewhat unexpected release of this pack) BlurredD Lost Gemz Survivour level. On a scale of one to five: 4.0.

Yet again, nice job. My final grade for the pack is a 9.0. Very well done. Keep up the good work, BlurredD. I hope that you will consider producing more Survivor levels when you get some more good ideas and a well-earned break.

- Trafton

This is a fun gametype idea especially for hosting. It has very many entertaining levels and i personally like this, some of you may not, but i like this gametype.

Edit: Since Violet and Trafton made such long reviews, i will too.

Survivor, being named that because it is more catchy then the ground force name, is played in treasure mode. There must be 1 controller, the person who hosted the server should usually be the controller, unless he or she lets others. First, you must sidekick to the left to get into a box. There is a morph near the place you must sidekick in. The morph generates, and is meant for all jazz players to shoot and become spaz. This is because the survivor levels can only be played as Spaz, not jazz, because spaz falls faster, which will make the game end quicker. When in the box, the controller quickly scampers to a secret passage in the top left, gets the coin, triggers the scenery, then stomps the crates if all the players are in the box. You must not enter the secret passage when flashing, itscrews it up, there also must not be more than one controller, or it also gets screwed. BTW: Dont be surprised if you get error saying de\ivide by 0. Diz told me this is caused by bridges, and this error has nothing to do with the levels themselves, it just like popping up in any bridge filled level. Once everyone is in the box, the controller stomps the crates, which makes the ground in the box collapse, making the players fall into a warp below.b This happens to the controller as well. Then the ground reappears, so newjoiners cant play. This is good, because ppl will keep rejoining when they are out to keep playing hoping to be the last one left, hence the name, survivor. The warp leads to a battle field. The ground at the verybottom has a warp which takes you to a box and you keep spinning in circles, if you fall and warp to the spinning box, you are out and loose. You must avoid this, so you can be the survivor. The blocks you stand on can all be destroyed if you shoot them, except the walls, which prevent you from falling off the level. You must try shooting the blocks which the other players stand on, and try to make as many go out, so youll be the lastone left. That is basically what you do. When the controller, or person with the coin goes out, he or she warps by a special coin warp to a place covered by layer 3. There, he she gets a blue gem, and there is an area end of level nearby. NOTE YOU MUsT SET TREASURE HUNT, NUMBER OF GEMS TO WIN 10 OK PPL THNX IN ADVANCE. Then, when there is only one person in the arena (the controller could find that out by asking who is still in and who is out) the controller goes to the exit, wins the level, and then the next survivor level comes on and u do the same thing.
OK my level review
ONE MORE THING BTW: Dont be surprised if suddenly 100 tnt crates fall down and blow up seversl bricks that ppl are standing on an make them fall out, its part of the game ok.
Survivor 1 aka thermal scorch

This level uses the 7th lava fall tileset, and its basically oneof the average survivor levels. It has some RF ammo and such for more fun. It has toaster ammo,which is good for blasting close blocks, and bouncer ammo, which is VERY useful in survivor levels, youll find out why as you play. This is basically one of the average survivor levels, nothing new or interesting about it except that its fun. The eyecandy is a bit interesting, but nothing really special. This ranks as an average level. Music fits, but could of been better. Another thing, though this has to do with the entire pack I thought I’d just put it here: I like the idea of putting gems in the sucker sqyuare when you’re out (I dont recall that being in the previous survivor)

Survivor 2 aka System Clogged
The mez tileset survivor level, it has more different tiles to blast than the thermal scorch level, which the only blocks you blast are the grey ones with nails. This one, has TNT ammo, which i must say to me, its the best and funnest weapon to use in the whole survivor pack. IT blast many blocks at once, therefore causing the blocks to go away quicker. Eyecandy is fine.

Survivor 3 aka Waste Drain
Hmm, a nwe version of blades wasteland tileset, except the only thing added was layer 6 and 7 eyecandy, not bad. This level, is again average, TNT is inlcuded, i dont got nothing more to say about this though. Note: When I try vieiwing the new version of this, I get application errors, therefore I am unable to review it.

Survivor 4 aka Heaven Sent
OMG BLURREDD USED HEAVEN TILESET, NEVER IN MY LIFE I WOULD OF THOUGHT………..
well, it has a variety of destruct tiles, and is more expanded in width, and contrassed in hieght. THe warping ground looks nicer here, and this even though its also and average survivor level, has better eyecandy then the others, maybe its because of the tileset quality. In the newer version the already nice looking eyecandy is enhanced even more. I also like the music.

Survivor 5 aka No escape
A strange name for a level like this, it uses Skulg’s lava lamp tileset, but like everyone said, it uses no lava lamps. The flash bacround just WOAH, but i use it as an advantage. While the players’ eyes are recovering from the flash,i quickly blast the blocks they are standing on >:D IM evil@ In the newer version the flash is gone, which is better for your vision I guess.

Survivor 6 aka Electrical Wipe out
Hmm, a non custom tileset, tubelectric, predictable name, to short in width, springs to help you..I like this level, although i suck at it. Whenever someone wipes out all the blocks the floating springs are the only support. Everyone keeps shooting me and i cant hit the springs while im flashing so i die all the time. I think its a tad harder for me to survive in this level. The level is quite tall, so It may take longer.

Survivor 7 aka Polar chill

This is one of the better ones, the destruct blocks have a big variety and such, the tileset looks cool, well, i cant describe this more except say that this is the better one, and it uses the ground force tileset, by ET i think, and such, i like this one, nuff said. The eyecandy and level isnt enhanced very much in the newer version, the only thing that I think might have been added was the foreground snow, but Im not sure.

Survivor 8 aka Tri-sides
A level using the Cyberspaz tileset, this one is a bit different. In the arena, not only can you not touch the ground, but the walls are lethal as well. Yes, infact the walls have the same warp target as the ground and if u touch the walls your automatically out, so this survivor level is a bit more, how u say this, extreme. Beware. But its still fun anyways. It doesnt take very long, and its chaotic. The freeze enemies is very evil here.

Survivor 9 aka Diablo’s Outlook
A level using the Medivo tileset, its abit different as well. There are 2 arenas which u start from, both only about 20 tiles wide. They are linked togehter at the bottom, but only at the bottom. Though this is a new idea, im not sure if its good, for if there is only 3 ppl playing, 2 will warp in one tower hysterically shooting each other while the 3rd person warps to an empty tower having no care in the world waiting while the 2 others kill each other so he or she can be the survivor. This is very evil and fun, though its good that there are more crates falling from the sky so that if there is a person all alone in a tower, they will be blasted lower and be part of the action. I have grown to like this level.

Survivor 10 aka Uncharted Territory
This is a level using Blades space tileset, there are 3 different warp targets to arive in the arena in, and you arive in midair and start falling. I think once i got out and not even touched the ground, because i was falling into a space with no blocks*stupid me* and i was the first one out. There is a variety of destruct tiles here, and the level is fairly wide.

Survivor 11 aka 26 second frustration

A level suing MezmemerIze by Dethman i think, im not sure, when you get into the arena, you start off in a box which u have to shoot to break open. Also, the walls have the riccochet event on them, so you could shoot at the wall and the bullets will riccochet off them. Everything else is basically average, except the name, which is……….well…………Strange, or so to speak. The backround eyecandy is ok, and there is a variety of desturct tiles.

Survivor 12 aka Insidious Illusion
A level using BlurredD’s own tileset, Castle 2, i didnt really like this one. It was well, to confusing, thedestruct blocks being the backround o course, and i just didnt like this much, its an average survivor level that i didnt like. It wasnt very tall, but it was fairly wide. The destruct blocks are very creative though they may confuse you at first. I have changed my opinion about this, and think of it as ok.

Survivor 13 aka Safety Precaution

OMG BLURREDD 13 IS BAD LUCK NUMBER U FEIND. anyways this tielset is by ET, and the survivor level is just way different. Its VERY small, about 20 tiles high and 50 or 60 tiles wide. There are floating red springs above the warp zone, which u can only loose if being shot, because u cannot jump on springs when flashing. Though small, this isnt that bad, and it is more of a quicker survivor level, which takes less time to beat. Before I thought that if you had the coin and where the only one left in, you couldnt skip to the next level, but you can by getting hit by the lasers or the delayed spring, which was added in the new version. Im glad the delayed spring was added in, since it doesnt hurt the gameplay at all, and the lasers take forever, and they might miss you.

Survivor 14 aka Mechanical clock chaos

Another tubelectric level, again. There are some cool effects here, like when u start those moving pipes, cool. It an original survivor level, so i cant say much about it. This is a tall one though, but not very wide. The backround is cool, with that moving orb or whatever it is. The main key in this level is the bouncers, since you need them to reach the TNT, springs and crate.

Survivor 15 aka Chain Reaction

The reason i liked this one is becauseof the tileset, and thats its wide, not tall, i like wide levels more, because tall ones take to long. Well, there are more bircks on the sides than in the middle just to tell. Also, I like the effect of how you fall along with the crates, and how airboarding jazzes come out.

Survivor 16 aka Vacant mine shaft

I also liked this one, it uses the mining operatino tileset. There are 3 turtle censored at the top (There are 4 in the improved version), which when u shoot down destroy a heck of a lot of blocks, and thats fun and gives nad advantage to the ppl at the top and a disadvantage for ppl on the bottom. There are lots of destruct tiles here, and the backround is better than most. This is definately the level with the most turtle censored, and its fun to play.

Survivor 17 aka and insidious illusion 2
Using the battle ships conversion, this isnt that bad. It uses backround tiles like the insidious illusion 1 does, but this time its a bit better. Maybe because of the tileset. There are way less destruct tiles than usual, which makes this level quicker to win/loose.
The stars in the BG are cool and the level looks nice.

Survivor 18 aka Mean Green Elevator Machine

Woah, probablt the longest name, uses the j2lc alien space lab tileset, which i mistook the creator for Disguise, but ppl told me quist made it so.. This one is one of the smallest, but hardest of all survivor levels. You are trapped in a fairly small box, which all sides you touch cause you to be out, woah thats hard. But its also fun and challenging, so overally i liked this one. Though the ground tiles are oftenly mistaking with the backround due to similar color which may lead to dangerous moves. There is a lot of eyecandy, but all of it is the same color: Green.

Survivor 19 aka Crater Maker

Space Warbase tileset-Disguise
I liked this levekl and the tileset it uses. The bomb crate idea was interesting, that you can wipout more blocks at one time. The destruct blocks are yellow, and the name of this level was one of the most creative. Other than all that, this is your basic survivor level wihich i liked. The music is great and fits the theme. I noticed more added eyecandy (Or it just stuck out more) and I like the cool BG effects. The crate idea was fun and interesting, instead of falling crates the crates are already there and when youi shoot them they cause a chain reaction etc. Another new idea.

Survivor 20 aka Tower of death

The last and probably around the hardest. BlurredD wanted to make the last survivoer level, different form all the rest. The arena is very big, although the blocks are moslty found only in the middle formed as a tower. They collapse over time because of special tricks blurredD used(lasers, and to be the survivor, you must continuesly climb out to get to the top. Once youve reached fairly high hieght, the arena gets smaller and the blocks begin to take up all the arena, not just the middle. Thid one probably having th most blocks, is the most funnest, differentest, and most effort was put into it. Thats why blurreDD saved it for last. It uses Skulg’s where bad rabbits go tileset btw. Also, let me mention that in my playing with FS (FiresworD) I found this level EXTREMELY fun and addictive to play, Amazing work BlurredD! It may seem hard at first, since you have to think fast, but then it gets really fun, you climbing up to avoid being lasered and having blocks destroyed. The finalists (The ones who manage to get to the top) will fight out in a small arena high up and to summarize this, I’d say that its really fun.

Well, hope u enjoyed reading my review, it was probably the longest i’ve made, evne thpugh not as long as Violet’s or Traftons. In conclusion this is a fun creative pack reccomended for EVERYONE. It has a good new idea, and is veery good. My conclusion is……..

JAZZ JACKRABBIT 2 ROX SO GO PLAY IT NOW CYA

~Blackraptor aka Blacky

Now, for the 5 new ones.

Cursed Pharaoh Ruins: I found this level interesting to play. The eyecandy and everything is good, though I found it could use some more TNT (Tnt rocks in survivor). I found this level good, like the rest of the survivor levels, though it unfortunately doesn’t stick out like Tower of death. It looks awesome though, and has that realistic nightish feeling.

Intergalactic Space carrots: The name actually sounds interesting, like a black and white movie made in the 80ties. The level is also good, it fascinated me (great bg) and it was just fun to play, I felt like I was playing a true well made survivor level. Unlike Trafton, I actually liked this level.

Bathtub Catastrophe: Well,BlurredD managed to make another great and unusual level out of a basic epic tileset. Firstly, the starting did make me think it took place in a sewer, but then that all changed when I entered the arena. I actually beleived i was in a bathtub (which is good, since its the levels theme). I had some fun playing this level, and liked the tile placement, eyecandy and that water effect. Another great level. There is not muchTNT here, but I dont mind, since the TNT would be used to hack into the powerups covered by certain ammo blocks.

Devastation: I didn’t like this level as much as the other new ones, but it was still awesome. The level has lots of crates in it, but not much bricks. It only consists of a few bricks near the bottom, (about 3-5 rows, approx.). The level was ok, it was different, but I didn’t like it much, which doesn’t mean that you wont.

The sludge grounds: Firstly, let me comment on the good variety of destruct blocks, instead of having plain and simple blocks. The warp on the top did get me, I had no idea it was there. The level did appeal me, and Ill comment more on it after further play. After further play I found the warps on the top a great and new idea, since there are springs there, but if you get shot you arent affected by the springs and hit the warps. This is a bit like safety precaution, but the springs are on the top. I also like how you enter the level.

New level comments: Most of the levels here were spaced theme, and I had no problem with that, since I like space. I was amazed at how inspired and well made these levels where, and when playing I had that ‘good feeling’. I like how interestingly the tilesets were used, and it was great to play these.

I’ll give this a whooping 9.5, which I dont give much these days, and a great download recc. The new levels were amazingly great, and the whole pack was plain awesome. You can have many strategies while playing survivor (I have a good strategy that helps me win when I play, though Im not going to say it out loud) So not only is survivor well made, cool and fun, but its also strategic as well. This definately makes it into my top 10 downloads!
Great Work BlurredD!

Wow, my longest review =)

One question: In Safety Precaution, how do you skip to the next level without using any programs if you’re the player with the gold coin, and you’re also the survivor, those springs do not let you fall and there isnt anyone to injure you. Im going to look for a way to fix this, my rating stays 9.5 but may be decreased to 9.2 due to the minor problem.
Edit: Thanks for telling me this, I missed this in my tests, but thanks for telling me. I have also made updates to my review since you want me to include all the extra new stuff you added in (That was included in my mark in the first place, BlurredD, I just didnt add it into my review which I did now)[This review has been edited by Blackraptor]

Better than the original survivor, and lots of people run this on their servers. I love playing survivor, and these are great. I hope you make more, by the way!
Download, everyone!

BlurredD makes the best survivor levels there are. I dont know anyone else who makes that good survivor levels. Another good pack off him.

Seeing that many more people aren’t going to review this, I’ll just use my only comment now.

Trafton: Most of the original levels have not changed a great deal, but I did drastically change some levels like “Waste Drain” and “Heaven Sent” which you conveniently ignored. That’s OK, I forgive you (at least for the time being).

Blackraptor: You’ve pointed out something that has been fixed a long long time ago with the original survivor version. First of all, you should have noticed (which you may have completely missed, from what I could tell from your outdated review) that there are lasers that occasional shoot right above the springs. You could get hit by these lasers so you can fall through the springs. Unfortunately, that could take a while, so I created an alternative method. On each side of the level there is a spring with a delay on it. With this, you can jump on it then stomp quickly so you can fall into the warp. Don’t worry; those two springs won’t affect gameplay much at all, which is obvious since you and most others probably didn’t even notice it in the first place.

Violet: I’m surprised you haven’t reviewed this yet. That’s alright. As long as you don’t review it the same way Trafton and Blackraptor did (that is by simply posting your old, unmodified review with the new review of the five latest levels).

I should also point out there is more than you think there is in 4 of the 5 new levels. So you could either waste time opening up JCS and trying to figure it out yourself or you could bug me and I might be nice enough to tell you of it’s secrets (which I did put much effort into making).

Review removed… I hate my younger self

an great survivor pack blurredD.

1-good new levels!
2-good bugs fix.
3-good eyecandy!

an 9.7 from me!

Well, since i was bored, and there was nothing to do, i decided to review this pack, and give it a long, long review. and i really mean long. i woudln’t be surprised if this review is my longest one. well, let me continue.

REVIEW of the Lost gemz, Volume II: Survivor:
Welcome to my review of this fantastic ground force pack by BlurredD, which is my favorite ground force, or survivor pack ever. all levels are really good, they have nice backgrounds, ( which isn’t really needed in ground force levels though. ) and very nice gameplay, and ammo placement. i like this pack alot, and thats probably why my review is so long. i don’t have more comments, but let me welcome you to my REAL REVIEW OF THIS PACK =)))
maybe ill update this review later, incase if i forgot to mention something..

Thermal scorch: Thermal scorch is very good level and it uses excellent 7th lava fall tileset by Dethman. in my opinion, tileset use was great, and there’s no tilebugs, and tile placement looks awesome. i can see 2 different lavafalls on the background, other one is big. ( 2 tiles wide ) and the other one is quite small. ( 1 tile )
There’s more background eyecandy too, like a steelish x-like things on the layer 6. i like the gameplay in this level. this level is very big, ( height )
and you start from the bottom. there’s lots of destructable tiles, all of them use tile number 59, ( im not sure if im right here ) Which looks quite dull. level would use different kind of destructive tiles. it would look better. i have no complaiments about ammo placement either. its very nice in my opinion. music fits to the level fine too.

System clogged: Yay, more cool-looking levels. System clogged uses mez’s MEZ03/04 tileset. (im not sure which)
and the tileset is overused, but author used it nicely in my opinion. background layers look nice, and no complaiments about them. ammo (mostly TNT) is placed nicely around the level, and i have no complaiments. 1337 placement. Gameplay is nice too. level is very big, i don’t know how much it takes to beat it, but my guess would be around 3-2 minutes. destructive tiles doesn’t look dull here, since you used some blue-uhm.. bubble like tile, which looks very good with silver metal blocks. music (Dh-glctc.s3m) fits nicely IMO.

Waste drain: i don’t have the tileset, or then i have the wrong version of the tileset. i got an access violation, so i can’t rate this level.

Heaven sent: Heaven sent uses agama’s outstanding Heaven tileset, which is used nicely in this level. i like the color where the background fades into. it gives a good atmosphere to this level. Destructable tiles won’t look dull, because author used ground tiles of heaven tileset. instead of dull look, they look really nice, (sorry for my bad grammar)and i really can’t find complaiments about this level. gameplay is nice too, this level isn’t too big or too small. good job, BlurredD. Ammo is placed nicely too, and i like the placement alot. no more comments / complaiments.

[Ill finish this review later, i promise. i must go now. ]

This pack rules! Has basically all the original ideas of ground force! The best level i think is Tower of Death, it rules. Nearly all the levels have good eyecandy. And especially good gameplay. And good placement. The design is extremely good. And so are the ideas. This pack has a few original ideas mising but it is good enough for me, this is probably the one of the best things from J2O. Ill finish the review later.

Good pack. But I got a problem – some levels crash, saying “level\tileset not found”. And some (for ex – survivor03) have access violation errors.

So, where can I get all the tilesets for this pack, except those that are already in there?

What For Tilset Have You Used In Survivor 10 ?????