Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

“Hangmen Rush”, in addition to being a weird name, is a weird CTF level. The author boasts that it is strategic, but this seems to be more the “I’ll-call-it-strategic-because-it’s-unusual” syndrome than actual strategicism, as there is really only one path between the bases. This path is made up out of warps. I think this level has been done before.

EYECANDY:
Eyecandy is a mixed bag. Everything in the background is zooming towards the right, which is presumably intended to make it feel like layer 4 goes to the left, but fails (don’t worry, few levels accurately achieve the perspective effect). The stuff flying by consists of, basically, whatever tiles Cooba saw in the tileset and liked. This means the sucker tubes, the giant scaffolding things, and of course those girders which show up in every 7th Lava Fall level. Layer 4 is about the same, with random wall tiles thrown here and there, in an effect which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. The most notable flaw in the eyecandy is the lava animation next to the blue base, which does not even pretend to be done well. Fortunately, you can only see a small portion of it.
PROS: Good variety of tile use, multiple layers.
CONS: No foreground, some tiles feel random, that lava is really ugly.
RATING: 6.0

DESIGN/GAMEPLAY/ORIGINALITY/SUPER-MERGED-FUN SECTION:
As the author’s description graciously informs you, this level is split up into several small rooms, connected by the spinning pink warps which you know if you’ve ever seen the tileset before. There are, unless I’m mistaken, five different rooms – the blue base, the red base, and three inbetween, each with a +1 carrot. The designs of these rooms vary – some have slopes, some do not, some have annoying combinations of slopes/non-slopes. Possibly my favorite is the tetris style room, which is a rotated L with warps and no ammo. Anyway, these rooms are all held up with chains, but that doesn’t effect the gameplay at all.
To get from one base to another, you must travel through all three rooms, meaning there is only one path between the bases. Not one best path, but one path. Just one. I’m not sure how much this would add up to strategy, as there’s going to be 97% camping and 10% bad math. Fortunately?, the setup of the warps is mostly symmetrical, with the possible exception of the blue base, which has warps in two different places, both leading to the same room. The left side of the level is just annoying period, because it has a red fog one way area beneath the blue base, and a really long sucker tube to reach the middle room. I have now talked enough about the design of this level that my brain is complaining. Let’s move on.
PROS: Well… the author tried.
CONS: Camping, camping, camping, I hate that sucker tube.
RATING: 3.2

CARROT/BASE/WEAPON/PANCAKE PLACEMENT:
I didn’t pay too much attention to the weapons, but there aren’t enough of them, and I see no need for the RF’s when the whole level is made up of tiny rooms. There are also a whopping three powerups in this level, each accessible by Electro Blasters (or, in the case of the Toaster, Jazz’s uppercut), which is an all right choice but might be a little much for such a small level. Carrots are kind of annoying, as there’s little challenge in getting them, especially when warps are right above them, and this just leads to base-biasedness with the SUCKER TUBE that I mentioned earlier. Bases are boring and logically placed. Pancakes.
PROS: Bases are thankfully in opposite sides of the level, powerups generally need EB’s, and there are no seekers.
CONS: Not much use for a Blaster powerup without fastfire, so why is it the most hidden?
RATING: 5.5

MUSIC:
The music doesn’t fit well.
PROS: N/A
CONS: N/A
RATING: -0.1

SUMMARY:
This CTF is somewhat… rushed? It’s not too bad, but it’s not particularly interesting, and the sucker tube is really rather annoying. The idea behind this level could probably have been expanded to create something more fun, but I don’t feel like figuring out how. Next time, have more than one route between bases, and make sure the placement and design aren’t biased. A bigger level might also be nice. Depends.
PROS: It does have a concept behind it, and the eyecandy’s not too bad.
CONS: There are a lot of things about this level which rub me the wrong way.
RATING: 5.7