Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

For such a relatively new levelmaker, Blackraptor is quite good. This level is very good, though there are a few somewhat large things that effected my rating some. The first complaint is that this level may cause flag bug. The second lies within the music choice. The third is how the springs are used. Other than that, this is a really good level and I hope to see more CTF levels by Blackraptor. This is quite good.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: “Mirrow’s Kingdom” by Disguise is not an easy tileset to use at all. It may look really easy to use but the fact is that it is not as easy as you would think to get really good looking eyecandy using this tileset. Still, this level manages to use the eyecandy in this tileset pretty well. The eyecandy is not anything extra-special but still looks “good enough.” The tileset which is used has some masking bugs, but this is not the fault of the author.
Tile Errors: There are not really any tileset errors in this level to speak of. I do, however, have a few complaints about the tileset itself. While “Mirrow’s Kingdom” is indeed a good tileset, it does have a few masking problems. Most notably, it’s very easy to get stuck on the slanted cieling tiles. This happened several times when I was testing this level (luckily, Controller’s self destruct got me unstuck.) This can not really be fixed by the levelmaker, but it is still a problem and is worth noting.
Creativity: The tileset was not used extremely creatively. It’s not easy to make a huge creative tileset expedition with this tileset. It just does not allow for it. Maybe a little too flatteringly, Blackraptor put in a heck of a lot of pro-Mirrow tiles. It made me wonder for an instant if Mirrow was secretly Blackraptor’s evil doppleganger, but I doubt it. Still, this does add a certain varying to the level’s eyecandy. Regardless, there is not much to complain about or go on and on about regarding the creativity of the eyecandy. However, I will use this time to talk about the music (I don’t have a music section.) While I will not downgrade for this, the music had nothing to do with the level and seemed out of place and wrong. This doesn’t have anything to do with eyecandy at all, but I thought I would talk about it here anyway.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: Carrot placement really needs work. There are two carrots in the entire level, both of them full heals. They are placed in adjacent terraces that are only accessable via sucker tubes on the opposite ends of a large platform. They are way, way too close together and a player could easily grab both. There was little more than one carrot needed in this level since it does not go nuts with powerups. Or at least a little distance between the carrots would have been nice.
Powerups: The level, as far as I could tell, contains two powerups. The first of which is an RF in the coin warp and the other a bouncy powerup which happens to be fairly hard-to-get but not hard to find. Both of these are placed fairly well and I can not complain. It does take a while to find a powerup in intense large battles, making this level more suited for smaller, less roast-intensive battles, that will probably be 0wned by whoever happens to posess a powerup.
Basic Weapons: Basic weapons were very well placed and just the right amount was used. The overall amount of ammunition seemed a bit low, but this could be attributed to the abscence of easy-to-get powerups. The basic weapondry was well distributed accross the play area.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: Flow was good, though not as good as the layout would make you expect. It was not that hard to get around the level, but it did certainally take some play to get used to. Flow was alright, though there was nothing extraspecial about it. The springs were well-placed but apparently Blackraptor tested in single player and did not take into account that the flow of which directions you are sent by spring changes from single player to multiplayer. This showed. It was obvious what Blackraptor was trying to do, but in some cases it did not work. Still, flow was pretty good overall.
Layout: Layout was outstanding. This was probably the area that the level excelled in most. On paper, you would expect that this would be a really, really good level. The bases were well-positioned. In fact, everything except the carrot were nearly perfect layout-wise. This is not common in levels these days, but it does show that a great deal of planning went into the layout of this level, and it definitely slows. Layout is probably the level’s strongest point. It takes some degree of getting used to, but once you do, you will love the layout of this level.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: This level is pretty much just a flip of itself. There is not much difference between one side and the other, though red was a tad closer to the coin warp. Overall, balance was good, but the two carrots just felt “wrong.”
Compatibility: I am worried about whether this level has flag bug or not. In my testing with FireSworD, I was unable to cause flag bug. Then again, I’m really, really, really, really, really, really bad at causing flag bug. I can not say whether or not this level is prone to it or not, but it sure looks like it is (half-masked one tile wide walls…eurgh.) Until I cause it, I can not knock the level for flag bug. Still, I would seriously recommend making the walls in the level much more thick, just in case. This level did not cause my Jazz 2 to crash, though I did get stuck several times. This getting stuck was, however, the fault of the tileset’s mask, not the levelmaker.

SUMMARY
Blackraptor is getting really good. For a level by a semi-new levelmaker, this is outstanding work. There are a few bugs that make this level annoying such as the repetitive and ill-fitted trance music and the carrots being so close together, but overall this is a very high-quality work. The best aspect of this level, layout, is even better than a lot of the layouts you see in levels today made by much more “famous” levelmakers. This is definitely a good level, though it does have some annoying bugs that may deter some.

+ PROS: Layout is great. This level is pretty good overall. Looks good and plays good, too.

- CONS: Annoying music. Possible flag bug. Carrots wayyyyyyyyy too close together.

VERDICT: I’m not a huge fan of flipped levels, but this one is quite good. The layout is the best part of this level by far, as I have stated many times before in this review. The level does take some getting used to however. You can’t just start playing and automatically grasp how to move around in the level. It takes practice. This is not necessarily a bad thing – luck is not what Capture the Flag is about. Still, the learning curve may be steep, but this level is quite good. There were a few bugs that really bugged me (no pun intended.) The music was out of place, the carrots were far too near to eachother, the springs were a bit glitchy, and there was possible flag bug. Still, these problems could be fairly easily fixed. This level is not anything mega-extrodinary, but it is a very good and solid Capture the Flag level, especially for someone who is relatively new to levelmaking. Overall, I give this level a seven point five and download recommendation. You may want to play some other music while playing this level, but it still is great fun. Great job, Blackraptor.

Im quite impressed by this level. The tileset is…..different, but its been made to look quite good by Blackraptor. Its a difficult level to learn so you’ll have a definate advantage if you know where youre going. I liked the layout around the bases, thought that was quite unique. Things i didnt like were that sometimes you got taken for a ride by tubes jutting out from walls that you didnt intend on hitting (but i suppose you can avoid these better if you learn the level more throughly) and the trancy type music. Overall though its a very good effort, ratings will depend much on personal taste of the tileset. I liked it so it gets a d/l recommendation from me.

Blackraptor’s latest level. Better than the last eight. It’s not horrible or great nor original or clichéd, but it’s decent.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout in this level isn’t hard to get around in, but a few tweaks could improve it a lot. The thing I dislike the most about this is it lacks balance. For example, at the top there’s a lot more space around the Blue base on the left side than the Red base on the other side. On top of that, Spaz can take a shortcut to the blue base by double jumping, while Jazz will be forced to use the route with the two poles. And one thing about poles: use poles as seldom as possible. And try to avoid putting them into one of the main routes to a base (though you can avoid at least two of them in this level, like the pole near the Red base). Also, try to get rid of some useless things like the tubes near pos 93,29. Think about making the level more strategic and stuff like that.

EYE CANDY:

Somewhere around average, I guess. There’s nothing I find appalling in the eye candy. But what’s with all of the Mirrow pics in the level? Secret obsession? Even Disguise didn’t use that many pics of him in his example level of the Mirrow’s Kingdom tileset. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone (except everyone that reads this review). You can keep it in, but it doesn’t add for eye candy much.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I can’t really say I hate the way you placed the two full energy carrots. It’s a little boring, but it’s alright at best. Just like the ammo placement and the powerups (I suppose). I also don’t feel like analyzing all of it at the moment.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

If you somehow find this level fun, play it 24/7. If you’re like me, then don’t. 7.0 because I don’t know. Maybe I’m being “nice” again.

One other thing: I normally don’t mention things like this, but the music could not possibly fit any less then it did in this level. Don’t do that. Use better music next time (it’s better suited for Shadow’s ShockWave), and maybe some you found on your own.