Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Here's another medium-sized CTF level by Loon called Erosion. This level comes with a unique tileset and a layout that has certain influences from other recent CTF levels.

The base design is definitely interesting and I'm happy to see that Loon kept the layout only partly symmetric. The layout is fairly easy to learn and I don't have much to complain about it, except that the upper carrot seems to be difficult to counter-camp from the right side, which would be trivial to fix with a spring that goes up to the same height I guess. Luckily it is open towards the left direction at least.

The flow here is a bit more on the quirky side that naturally favors Spaz a little bit, but not overwhelmingly so that's good. There are tactically placed springs here and there to help moving around the level and gain more upper ground quickly.

I'm uncertain whether or not the level is suitable for duels, mainly due to the way the tunnels behind the bases have been designed, allowing for hideouts and easy escape, but would have to try a game here to say for sure. Also the upper carrot might be problematic in duels, as mentioned. The level should definitely suit smaller team games though, at least 3v3 if not 2v2.

The visuals seem balanced and pleasing to look at. There is quite a lot of detail to the solid- and background-walls here, but nothing is too distractive.

There is plenty of ammo all around the level and the weapon choices are classic, except for the modified curly trajectory for Electroblaster. I'm not really sure about the purpose of TNT ammo here though. Maybe just to allow for more ways to move carrots around perhaps?

All in all, it's a solid CTF level by Loon, that has room for minor optimizations here and there, but it's definitely worth a try in team games.

Here goes my review for Freeport, another modern Loon classic battle map I could say!

This level gained quite some popularity in JDC events soon after its initial release, which was on the last day of the year as a Loon tradition. I can definitely understand that popularity, since it is essentially a large horizontal battle map with plenty of different weapons available, various scenery, gorgeous visuals and a very memorable landmark (the crane in the middle).

The irony regarding the gorgeous visuals in this level is that it is a very dark themed level, meaning that for example most of the background can barely be seen until a lightning hits the background mountains and reveals it for a second (which was a strong influence for Thunder Cliffs by the way). But at least the visuals are not distractive that way. I know I may be also at a disadvantage personally by playing the level and writing this review from a very bright room, which made me also realize how dusty my laptop screen was and cleaning it up also helped against this issue a bit.

The other thing to point out from the amazing visuals is that there is a large number of different Epic's tilesets used and combined here after all (and a few non-Epic too). Everything is palette-shifted just so that the different pieces click together, making it all look like it was just one unique tileset being used. Overall the level atmosphere is dark, gloomy and a bit spooky even with the ambient music choice, lightnings striking on the background and eyes lurking in the dark. I think Loon did a very good job at that!

Overall the gameplay flow works well around the level, albeit a bit too spaz-biasedly as is typical for a majority of levels in this game anyway. There is a good mix of large, solid ground and smaller platforms for jumping around. I'm myself not a fan of playing underwater, but I think that part of the gameplay has been executed well here too so that it plays fairly smooth as well.

I'm giving this a 9 out of 10, considering that it is yet another top-quality MP level by Loon that plays well in larger events like Bash and JDC, but I wouldn't recommend it for duels.

While it's not the most groundbreaking level, it's still very solid and adds to the modern levels of jj2+. This is professionally made on all levels. It shows again that Loon is a seasoned levelmaking veteran.

This level truly silenced me in awe in terms of visual concepts when it came out on the last day of the year 2024, especially by its breathtaking background visuals that for the most part are fully original and unique in JJ2 (for now). I don't know the source of the background cliffs and lava pits, and I suppose they weren't self-drawn either, but they do really fit into the overall visuals and atmosphere of the level! The background graphics and also some of the sprite- and foreground graphics add a certain extra dimension to the visuals, making the level look way more 3-dimensional than an average JJ2 level and that is truly special!

If I had to describe the level looks by some other reference, that would probably be something like Mines of Moria from LoTR movies, but with a strong green tone. And speaking of green, I also agree with Violet that there are strong ezhf.j2l vibes to this level on the sprite layer in some places, but I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Guess another way to describe the level would be Green Hell!

Besides the astonishing visuals, there is also a solid gameplay design. However, due to the rather large size of the level it can really take a while to get used to the layout, and players new to the level will find themselves lost easily, especially since there aren't too many unique landmarks to be found around the level. But I do understand that the level size allowed Loon to experiment and utilize the massive tileset combination to its full potential.

Even if the level is large in size, there are hardly any places in the level that would have a quirky flow. There has been a significant effort to get the flow right, and that is something that Loon consistently delivers. The only real issue with the layout that I have found is the very top corner above the RF Powerup, which seems to have a lot of camping potential. Luckily since this ain't a level designed for duels, it probably isn't as much of an issue in the big games that this level was designed for.

This level was definitely fun to play in the last JDC season's final events and it was my favorite Loon level from last year. With that said, I can strongly recommend downloading and playing this level at the next opportunity!

There's a temptation—a narrative, perhaps—to say that Silent Cathedral is green!Hellfire, and I can't deny the resemblance. The use of Damn walls without Damn floors, in combination with Beach wood (especially diagonal wood), is of course very familiar. The big painful liquid at the bottom is another big tell, plus the occasional big vertical drops to the liquid (four in Hellfire, three here). Both levels have a number of one-tile-wide chimney areas with ammo pickups or carrots, though Silent Cathedral has them at the ends of vertical areas, and Hellfire's generally take more work to fall into. They're similarly sized. The cinders… I mean, okay, come on, that's just blatant.

On the other hand, there's undeniably a lot of Castle and Haunted House in this level that simply isn't present in Hellfire. And even little bits of Colon—there's one area with Colon streets on top of Castle bricks that doesn't seem to appear anywhere else, and is probably unnecessary, but still looks cool. So maybe the answer is that Silent Cathedral is a mashup of lots of sources, like a lot of recent multiplayer levels, and one of the sources it's mashing up is Hellfire. This answer would be more satisfying if I could identify specific other levels it's sourcing from, but look, there are a lot of levels out there, okay? Anyway, the birdcages feel nicely original, and it's neat to see the faster boomerang—zoomerang?—from Saline.

After all that I don't find I have too much to say about Silent Cathedral as a battle level. It has some interesting spots, like the boomerang powerup. I'm fond of the top of the level. I don't really see the point of making levels this size at the moment, like it's just going to relegate them to being performance art. It's fine. It's pretty.

It's tough to talk about the eyecandy in a level like this that uses a new, lovely tileset, because the temptation is there to blame it all on the tileset, rather than the level author. But we've all seen plenty of hideous levels using Nick's original sets, so it can't be that simple. So much of this level depends on how detailed the background is, filled with so many different layers with all different speeds. Numerous cave extensions use layer speeds that are not quite 1/1, artfully creating depth—this kind of layer use can be some of the most time-consuming but it can also look the best, helping the level to feel like a real place and not just a 2-dimensional cutout suspended in space. There's plenty of detail on the floors too, with animated grass and stacks of rocks, and the ceilings are all jagged in ways that don't interfere with gameplay. (On the other hand, I don't love the walls that appear jagged but are actually smooth due to invisible masks. And for that matter, I don't believe the level is really a mountain.) Everything feels deeply natural, in a detailed way… it's plausibly organic, not designed.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for the layout. I've been wandering the level for a while now, trying to review it, and nothing sticks out at me except for the giant empty space toward the left. Everything else feels like an inpainting algorithm. Lots of tunnels and thin wooden platforms everywhere, sometimes a powerup, and I'm just not convinced this all forms a cohesive whole. The thin vertical bits with the seeker ammo are kind of nice, though I don't even know that seekers are all that meaningful here. Making a Battle level is a different experience from a CTF level because there's no obvious structure you can depend on: you're not drawing paths between two bases on opposite ends of the level, you have to come up with your own flow. And I haven't been able to find the flow here.

A very impressive map, fantastic, very big with large spaces in some areas however it is quite easy for me to get lost. In my opinion it is a nice map, definitely recommended.

A futuristic vision of how much better our cities could be. Efficient yet cozy apartments. Progressive zoning laws recognizing the utility of mixing residential buildings with cafes, optometrists’ offices, and fireworks. Spacious, scenic sewers. Neighborhoods navigated with rocket jumps instead of noisy, dirty, dangerous cars.

Central Park’s a big level with lots of paths, but with all the long-range powerups and ammo around, you can expect to roast and get roasted pretty fast anyway. Cool all-directions gameplay in the center, with the carrot and powerups being tempting but difficult to control, and the bases are also vulnerable to long-range attacks from several directions.

It’s a Loon level, so of course you can expect lovely visuals with inventive tileset edits. The park and buildings are nicely rendered, with lots of neat little details and color choices that distinguish them from every other town level, and a few simple additions even breathe new life into Colonius’s sewer tiles.

Be warned, this level has a very demanding script (every pickup has a custom behavior to prevent being shot down), so you’ll need a fast CPU for the best experience.

"Gorgeous" is a great word from minmay for this, but the other word I’m leaning toward is "natural." It’s easy for CTF levels in particular to feel very deliberately crafted, to maintain balanced gameplay—which is not itself a bad thing, as the crafting can produce very elegant results—and this is not that. Nor is this the opposite extreme where a level is completely devoted to being a picture with zero concern for playability. Instead Timberland somehow achieves the impossible of an asymmetrical, playable, utterly natural level to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away. Alcoves and slopes abound throughout the map. Powerups and ammo are sufficiently out in the open to seem as if they grew there naturally. The tileset—the truly incredible conversion work, blending Diamondus and Inferno to an impossible degree, with a perfect palette—is so organic that it is often difficult to believe the level is composed of tiles at all. The grid is invisible, the walls full of what looks like they must be nonce or bespoke connections. An absolute delight to play, an honor to experience.

Gorgeous visuals, plays very well, it even has a command to stop the color changing for those who might find it too distracting.
Amazing stuff.

Very nice atmosphere, interesting tileset mix, fluid gameplay and suitable for 1v1 and 2v2. Totally recommend

Gorgeous looking level. You somehow made a Diamondus/Inferno wall mashup look so natural that I didn’t even consciously think about it when I first played it. The large crystals from Ceramicus in the foreground do look a touch out of place with their lack of detail. But that’s more than made up for by screen-filling parallax background layers that give the sense of an expansive landscape behind the sprite layer – moreso than any other JJ2 background I’ve seen.

In gameplay, it’s a traditional CTF level and wears that on its sleeve, no wacky gimmicks. But I always like when levels are asymmetrical and I always like when carrots are placed in out-of-the-way areas, and this level has both of those things so I like that.
Besides, there’s next to nothing to actually complain about here: balance seems good, the level flows pretty well thanks to extensive usage of One Way events, and both flag bases are interesting to approach and defend.

Definitely looking forward to seeing more, and being doubly impressed if you do pull out another great level within 23 days!

love the atmosphere and the good level design

Loon brings us yet another party-sized epic. Strictly for larger games of no less than 5vs5, so best saved for special occasions. There’s some rather inventive things done with the tilesets, and on the whole the level looks dang impressive (but is worth noting that you may experience some framerate issues unless you have decent PC specs).

Featuring two of the strongest powerups (Seeker and Roller) and not many safe places to hide, the gameplay in this level is ferociously fast paced. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but will be a refreshing change for some. The theme of the level is realised well and suitably complements the gameplay style. Give it a go if you’re after a thrill!

This is beatiful

This psychedelic level made me crazy to vote 9.7/10

Nearly Hyped

I recommend to download this!

Nice level, this gave me inspiration for other levels

This is another large, high quality battle map by Loon, which offers a very comfortable gameplay that seems to be influenced by various other famous battle maps, like Wilderness, Virtuosity or Fall Era (though correct me if I’m wrong). The level is also visually pleasant without any distractive graphics. Btw the level looks funny in guide.mut.

Quite the spooky level! The theme is executed solidly, making effective use of elements such as the bloodstains and the noose without being overworked. I also really like the way the buildings are layered in the background. The layout is well-constructed with areas that feel distinct from eachother in terms of gameplay and visuals.