Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Since Trafton is apparently running a bit late on his review, ill review this.

First, before I start my review let me just mention that the lightning was completely unexpected and scared the hell out of me.

Lets begin:

GAMEPLAY: Its ok. There were some flaws such as the dead end in the bottom right/left corner which could easily have been fixed, I couldnt find any other gameplay bugs that take away from the rating. The level isnt really smooth, but thats mostly because of the many masking bugs medivo2 has. There were lots of springs, but I think the author overdid the hooks and vines a bit. Other than that, I rarely crashed into walls.

EYECANDY: Its basic, except like I said the lightning freaked me out at first, but then I got used to it. Im not a major fan of lightning, so I may be biased on rating lighting. The rain was ok, maybe it should of been in the backround though…Otherthan that, the eyecadny is basic. Nice lighting by the way, it helped prevent the level from being to dark.

LAYOUT: Some parts I think were to open, and some to crowded and hard to navigate. I think that there should of been some layer 3 hidden secrets (I couldnt find any, and I dont think there is any) so the level wont get boring as fast. The warps were good, helped avoid dead ends, but why werent they used in the bottom right or the bottom left? I found a few passages that were a bit to small, and the level wasnt really “smooth”.

TILE PLACEMENT: Yeah, nothing wrong here, just a basic medivo level.

PICKUP PLACEMENT: Twas either average, or a bit above. It was sparce in some areas, and a bit overused in others. I think the carrot could of been placed better, and there should of been more than 2 plus one carrots(The other is found in another big room filled with ammo). The powerups were also to close to each other, and to close to the carrot. On the left there is a passage with the blaster powerup leading to a big room with vines and many ways out where a carrot and seeker powerup is placed. Then, leading from that room there is a passage to the right where the bouncer powerup is located. They are all basically in the same place leading many people to go to that specific area when they are playing. The ammo is placed creatively enough though, and sometimes I think it was a bit overused in places.

OVERALL STATEMENT: The level is fine, but its not that good compared to some other levels of today. A year ago, it would of been thought as good, but now it doesnt seem like that anymore. Also, since i forgot to mention this in my reivew: The level can be spaz biased, some vines are to high. and require a double jump, or an accurate running jump, since some vines are placed to far from each other ranging in height. My final rating is 6.5, and I might give this a download reccomendation, depends on if you like these types of levels or not.

One thing. My levels are never Spaz biased. I never use Spaz. My level has areas in it in which if you use Jazz to can mover around much faster. But Spaz, never. I make my levels for me. So it’s perfect in terms of my movements.

I was going to review this entirely but my computer konked out due to an electrical outage (yes, I know, excuses, excuses.) Oh, well, here I go. I will borrow Blackraptor’s reviewing criterea since mine takes ages.

GAMEPLAY: Overall, gameplay was more or less standard. This is all in all a basic Medivo level and little more. Level flow was OK, though there were some quirks that made it not as good as it could have been. The passages were mostly small, and gameplay probably would have been a tad better if they were bigger. Still, gameplay is fairly fun, and the small passages are not exactly so small that they become annoying.

EYECANDY: The eyecandy needs work in a few ways. First of all, the rain is used in a strange way so that the rain’s rate of falling increases and decreases depending on how fast you are going in the level. This looks really weird. Also, the ugly red-tinted rain falls way too fast regardless of how quickly you are moving, and quickly becomes destracting. The “black lightning” is strange. It is one animated tile that is above everything else. Once in a while, the level flickers black once for just a milisecond. This is weird, as it adds no apparent atmosphere and is kind of annoying. The rest of the eyecandy, standard for a Medivo level such as this, is good but nothing amazing. There are a few small things that could have been changed to make this level look a lot better. Still, this is excusable.

LAYOUT: Level layout was pretty much a mixed bag. Some areas were nice and wide open while other areas made me feel claustrophobic. These areas were somewhat hard to get around in, though I eventually got used to them. If they were just slightly wider, it would have made for a better overall level layout. Unfortunately, this brings down the level’s score a bit. The overall layout seems to be a bit Jazz-oriented, though it was not that bad for Spaz (I have to disagree with Blackraptor on that one.) However, it sort of seemed like it was biased towards whatever character I was not playing.

TILE PLACEMENT: All around, this is a basic Medivo level with basic Medivo tiles. There is not much to distinguish it from other Medivo levels eyecandy-wise. There is not much creative use of eyecandy, but it still looks fairly good. Nothing special, but nothing bad either.

PICKUP PLACEMENT: Pickup placement is only slightly above average. The powerups are placed interestingly and there are plenty of them, so expect that a lot of the battling will consist of bouncy and seeker powerups. The seeker powerup is placed in the middle of the action, so a lot of battling in the middle room involves getting the seeker powerup over and over before running out. This is good to some people, and bad to others. If you really like action and powerup-filled battles, well, this level is for you, I suppose. The other powerup, the bouncy, is placed towards the right of the level, and probably would be used more during coordidor battles. Basic weapon placement was pretty good, as well, though there is not much to write home about there.

OVERALL STATEMENT: This is another case of a level that would have been very good a few years ago but just is not amazing by the standards of today. I have to say I enjoyed playing it more than the other level I reviewed (“Diamond Battle v1” or whatever). There are a few interesting things in this level, but there is not much to distinguish it from similar Medivo levels. Levels often do not age very well, and this is one of those levels that did not. Still, for battle freaks and those who like seeing old levels yet again, you will like this. Download recommended for those kind of people.

+ PROS: A solid Medivo level. Good for action-packed battles.

- CONS: Small cooridors, maybe too many powerups. Strange foreground eyecandy.

VERDICT: Overall, I give this a 6.7 and a download recommendation for old level fans and battle fans. It is not really a necessary download for anyone else. For the time it was created in, this was very good. Compared to the levels of today, though, it simply falls into the above average category. This and the other level VeggieMan uploaded are very similar in construction, so if you liked the other level, you will probably like this. Not a bad level, but by today’s standards, it is not anything amazing either.