Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Another awesome CTF level by Evilmike. It used the Swamps Day tileset by Agama, wich is a good choice, because much custom tilesets are very underused these days, imo. The used music is the good, old Jungle music from the epic jungle levels. Its nothing exiting, fresh or new, but as Mike said yesterday, he did’nt have anything else to use in it, and this one fits fine, imo. This level has superb gameplay, very decent eyecandy, and good item placement. I could just give away a rating and run of, but that would be too easy now wouldn’t it?;) So let me talk just a bit more about these factors and other things in this level.

The used tileset, as i said before, is Agama’s outstanding Swamps Day tileset. The use of the tileset is very good. There are trees everywhere, and leaves in the background. There are some uncommen, good looking arangements with tree branches. At the bottem of the level, water was used. Not the water event, but the water thats in the tileset. Background layers have also been used very well. Nothing looks anoying or confusing, improving gameplay, and making it easy to see where you’r going.

Gameplay and level design are two major factors in a level, and in this level, both are very, very good. The level is made very open, and I’m all for that. This might also give Jazz a small advantege, because he can copter over the large empty spaces. The level plays very fluent. Theres no dead ends or such, and its easy to get around in it. You can see that (probably) a lot of thought was put into placing all the diferent platforms, because its easy to get from one to another. Of course, that could have just been dumb luck =P.

Ammo and other items were also well placed. Scatered well around the entire level, and easy to find. A suficient amount of each weapen was added. You’ll probably never have to walk around with only your blaster to defend yourself. Every weapen was added, apart from ice and TNT. There are 2 full energy carrots, wich were placed ingood locations. 3 Powerups have been added, wich were well located as well.

I must say that i really like this level. This is a must download for each Jazz2 player, be thee CTF fan or not. So go download this right now, and host a CTF server;). Very high 8.5(!) points from me.[This review has been edited by >CelL<]

Very good ctf level. A nice tileset choice, and used very well, giving nice eye candy.

IMO, the best part of the level is that it is very open, i’m a sucker for open levels, and it just doesn’t get any better than this, no cramped moving areas, you have huge spaces to move through. If that’s not enough to please you, the level is very fluent and once you get to know your paths you barely ever have to use the jump key. Some float up scenery was also used to get over annoying flat areas that could’ve been used as diagonals in the mask of the set, but i’d better finish about that now, I’m picky about masks and this is not a tileset review ;)

Event placement is good, but there are some debatable issues. There are a lot of powerups, but carrots balance that. One thing though is that the carrots are hard to reach, and if you go for them there’s a very high chance the opposing team will get your flag before you can score a point. It’s a huge risk, and is nice in a way, but some people might not like it. I’m undecided though, as I like the idea to take a risk, but when playing it can be very annoying at times.

That’s it really, a very good level and deserves a thumbs up! 8.5 sounds about right, so here ya go! :D

EvilMike’s “Marshland of Evil” has long been one of my favorite levels of all time, and Agamas “Swamps” tileset is probably my favorite tileset of all time, so I finally decided that I should rate this level. And I have to say, it’s even better than I remembered.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: It is very hard to use Swamps really badly, but it is even harder to use it very well. And this level definitely uses it very well. The lush greenery, which is lacking in many levels using this tileset, adds great atmosphere to the level, as does the shadows cast upon the leaves in different parts of the level. Eyecandy is nothing amazing, but certainally looks as good as this tileset allows. The spider webs are well-placed. In fact, this is pretty much a perfect level eyecandy-wise.
Creativity in Tileset Use: Creativity in Agama tilesets is not that flexible. After all, if you use it too different from the original intended use, it ends up looking pretty derned bad. Still, this level uses it as creatively as possible without making everything look horrible. The interesting placement of the different pieces of eyecandy does not interfier with level flow, nor does it make the level look bad. In fact, it is not very easy to make eyecandy that does not at least slightly interfier with gameplay using this tileset, but EvilMike managed to make eyecandy that even helps level flow, such as the sighing (sleeping) jaguar with the float up.
Tile Errors: If you look really really really closely, you can see a few things in the leaves that are not exactly completely accurate. Regardless of this, the level still does not have as many tile errors as you would expect for a level using this challenging but rewarding tileset. There were no errors in the ground tiles, and the shadows that were casted by the various objects were as near to flawless as you can possibly get. EvilMike did an excellent job with eyecandy especially in this level, and definitely this is the best level eyecandy-wise using this tileset that I have ever laid eyes upon.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: This is a big level. What I am trying to get at here is that I may miss one or two things in the next few paragraphs, but feel a hundered percent free to correct me. I could only find two carrots in this level. Both of them were full energies and located about equal distances from the perspective bases (one was right of the blue base, the other below the red.) They are placed fairly out in the open, and are both about equally as easy to get. This is good placement, and while most EvilMike levels do tend to have a lot of carrots, this one seems to lack a bit. Maybe one more carrot would have done it. This may be because the level is so big or it may not be, but there was sometimes times of carrot drain. However, the generator time was fair, so this was not that much of a problem. Overall, carrot placement was very good.
Powerups: This is the area where I will probably miss something. From what I could find there were powerups for the following weapons: bouncy, seeker, pepper spray, and RF. The bouncy powerup was located in an area that requires some skill in jumping to get to, which is fair placement. The seeker was hidden in an area that can only be reached by use of the warp in the upper right corner of this level. The pepper spray was pretty much out in the open, being that it is a somewhat underpowered weapon. The RF was more out in the open than I expected, but for a level so big, the RF placement was fair. Overall, weapon placement was quite good, but the sheer number of powerups sometimes made me wish that there was another full energy carrot in the level.
Basic Weapons: Basic weapon placement was all-around very good. The variaty of basic weapons was enough to make them so they were not useless in the face of so many powerups. Still, there was nothing that detered the player from using powerups instead of basic weapons, and players that decide to only use basic weapons in this level will probably end up being toasted. Still, it is obvious a lot of thought was put into the placement of them, and points are due where points are due.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: Flow was very good, though there are a few annoyances that make the level a little worse flow-wise. The trees, while they do provide good access to the different parts of this level, can be annoying to those who take a run-and-jump approach to playing. This level does not seem as adaptive to different types of play as some other EvilMike levels, but still is no slouch in this area. The more I played it, the more natural it felt. The level, which may seem a bit overwhelming at first, really is not that hard with enough practice. There seems to be several planned routes to follow, but going out of them did not really cause much damage.
Layout: This level feels large. I am not sure whether it is actually large or not, but while playing, it really feels like it. This could be attributed to the tileset, but in reality the level is actually only a managable 150×70 tiles (Distopia, in contrast, is 115×60 tiles.) Still, layout was all-around excellent. On paper, the layout even looks better than during play. Still, it is obvious to see that this level was well planned out beforehand. Certain “touches” like the sucker tube trees add to the overall layout and mask some problems that could have made this level be much worse layout-wise. An excellent layout.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: Balance, as expected, was quite good. The seeker powerup is still slightly nearer to the blue base, but it seemed that both teams took equal time to access it. It is a bit hard to get out of the blue base area sometimes because it is in a bit of a ditch, but still is not much to Mr. Crow about. Balance was uniformally good, though a few small things seemed like they could be adjusted in order to make the balance a tad bit more equal.
COMPATIBILITY/STABILITY: Naturally, this level, like anyone made since early 2002, lacks the flag bug completely. The real question of levels of this day and age is whether it is easy to get stuck or not. It took some effort to get stuck in this level, but since the tileset has a very good mask, it is not common during normal gameplay. There was no crashing during play, though some of this level does use moderate amounts of animations. Nothing in this category to worry about.

SUMMARY
This is probably one of the most underappreciate levels of all time. I do not see it hosted often, but it really should be. There are no big flaws to this level. Sure, it may not have extremely flashy eyecandy, but everything is still good. There is not much to say about it other than it is a great example of levelmaking at its best. Do not download this expecting amazingly flashy looks or some new gameplay type that you have never heard of. However, this level definitely makes the best use of the tileset that it uses that is possible and also pours on the gameplay value. A definite classic and a must-download.

+ PROS: No major flaws at all. Eyecandy, gameplay, balance – everything is very good. Jazz 2 at its best.

- CONS: None that really stand out. There are a few small errors, but those are forgivable. The real shame is that this level is so underhosted.

VERDICT: What more is there to say about this level other than download now? This level, while it may not be anything new, is JCS at its best. Everything about it is near-perfect. Yes, there are Capture the Flag levels that are better than it in certain areas, but overall you really can not beat this level overall. It looks good, it plays good, and best of all – it is not overhosted. Download this. Now. My verdict is a 9 and a download recommendation.

Awesome level by EvilMike with Agama’s Swamps-tileset. Time for a review!

4 PU’s in this level, with the Seeker PU being in a box. It might be a risk to go there, on the other hand: you don’t really need it with RF and Bouncers being just as useful here. Even the Gun 8 PU fits this really open really well. The ammo is scattered through the whole level, so it won’t be hard to find the particular ammo you’d like to use. Two Full NRG’s too, both in the lower half of the level, which is great, since the connection between them is quite fast. That results in making this level being good for both duels as teamgames with a huge ammount of players.

The springs are placed at exact the right places and platforms are placed so well that the flow of ‘The Marshland of Evil’ is nearly perfect. Moving through the whole level is really easy and stuff is easy accesible. The bases are quite far from each other, but you will notice it isn’t hard to reach them, since there are a lot of choises you can make here and because the level is so open. Both bases are good to defend, but attacking players won’t be chanceless. Tubes are used well and are a good alternative for springs here.

The eyecandy of this level is really good. I especially like the fact where even the platforms, without needing the leafy background, look great (f.e. the left carrot-area or the Bouncy PU-area). The leaf-tiles are used at the right spots, which really adds to the great atmosphere here, and it just all feels quite realistic.

Definitely download this classic, since it looks okay and it plays great in large teamgames or even duels!

MIKE DID GOOD.
This level is so smooth and erm … It just ruxors. This will definately be a 2 vs 2 level. Try it out. I didn’t give it a 10 because .. MIKE SUXORS .. Nah, Because there is something that bugs me. I don’t know. Its great though. N00bs could be seeker campers too easy. BUT THIS LEVEL R00LZ YOU ALL. DOWNLOAD IT NOW OR DIE

Another good level by EvilMike. It’s not one of my favs, but it’s still good nonetheless. The gameplay is good, has nice weapon layout, and the tileset was used well. The only thing I really didn’t like about this was the music choice. I don’t think the Jungle music fits here entirely. Other than that, it’s worth your download.

Agamas Tileset levels always get high ratings…cant miss it.

I love this level. It has a nice fluent design and some nice ideas (for example the area float up near the jaguar.)
The eyecandy and placement were good.
The only thing that bugged me was the enclosed seeker spot, and the fact that the level is a bit small.

Very nice CTF level Evilmike, great eyecandy and smooth gameplay.

Yay! This rules! :-D
The gameplay is fantastic and it’s very fun to play in the lvl. I can’t say the same about the eyecandy though. But it doesn’t matter. The Marshland of Evil deserves this 8.5.

Strong download recommendation.

All Your Bases Are Belong To Mike.

Great level!

I have seen many people host this many times so i decided to rate this and get it over with.

The eyecandy of the level is excellent, dont know how it could be better 5/5
The ammo placement is also excellent, can be better, but Mike tried his best 4.9/5
Th gameplay is ok, good use of one ways and springs, bases are placed ok as well 4.9/5
The tileset use is far greater than excellent 5+/5
Overally, this level gets a 10/10 but because of a bias i have it gets a 9 ;P

Nice level, easy to get lost in though, and the background / leave eyecandy seems a little bad in some places, but this is still great.

Its really good ctf level.it has it all(like platforms,weapons,etc)
It also has good tileset use and music choice is very nice.

rating:8.7(Download recommendation)

Great level EvilMike, this is a good level to play CTF in. The tileset is nice and good used. Eyecandy was very good here. Ammo placement was good too. Gameplay: the gameplay is good too. The level is good. Everything is good on this one. One of your best levels I think.
Rating is a 8,7
[This review has been edited by da man]