Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Hi Wakeman

Kinda ironic that after all this time, the first one to review your level is me, eh?

Introductions aside, let’s get cracking…

Having played Claw (the shareware at least) I must admit this is a remarkably well-done copy of the look of Claw. The very idea is just so tounge-in-cheek (Jazz and Claw were destined to rival each other) it’s amazing that no one else has thought of it before (at least not to my knowledge.) The tileset does shine, and while it could use more animations, it does the job well and should be easy to use.

As I said before, I only played the shareware version of Claw, so I can’t tell if this level is new or a copy of one of the original levels… it resembles La Roca slightly, but I think it’s a new piece.

All the foreground layers make it confusing to navigate around, though, and all in all it’s not very long or very challenging. The level feels more like an example level for the tileset, which is a good thing.

I give this an “A” for effort. The tileset I rate 10, the actual level, as a single player affair, I give 2, so split the difference and it’s 8. Good job wakeman, looking forward to the J2S archives!

What is wakeman doing here?
Anyway, I won’t rate this until you finish the last J2S poll results.

Muwahaha…. revenge… finally..[This review has been edited by Newspaz]

Barfin’ enough, he uploaded it under the level, and not the tileset. The tileset rock.
The level is not so good, because there are many confusing foreground layers and booby traps, so you can’t see what is what and what not. But if you know those, it’s very easy and you’ll do it in a minute or two.
The eyecandy is good, very good. The gameplay is okay, the layers suck a bit but the special effects are nice. So I’ll give you a 6.5 for making a okay level.

The tables have turned, it seems. The biased one is now the one who is being reviewed by US. ;-P

Anyways, this is a pretty creative single player level featuring some pretty cool gameplay. While I do want to see that last J2S poll result, I’ll still review this because…well…I have no will whatsoever. Now for the review!

TILESET/TILESET USE: Tileset use looked pretty cool. Indeed, in fact, it was quite enjoyable. The only real problem I had was the arches within the level, which were quite annoying and got in the way a lot. Other than that, gameplay was pretty enjoyable.
Pros: Looks very nice.
Cons: The annoying arches can get in the way.
Rating: 8.5

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: Weapon placement was pretty good, though in general you won’t need to much weapons in this level. It is more of a puzzle level than anything else, and makes this quite clear. While you will fight plenty of enemies, the fights are mainly strategic and you have to know where to land in order to avoid being damaged while still able to kill the enemies. Placement is good.
Pros: Nice placement.
Cons: Maybe a little too little ammo.
Rating: 8.2

ORIGINALITY: This level is pretty original and features some cool effects.
Rating: 8.2

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: Gameplay was not the level’s strongest point. It was often confusing and hard to tell what direction to go in and the player would wind up running around, falling into pits, and trying to avoid dying. Which is not easy. This level, in fact, is not easy at all. But after some practice, it gets easier to understand this level. Still, at the beginning, it can be a bit confusing.
Pros: Good gameplay.
Cons: Confusing.
Rating: 7.0

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: This is the sort of level which you can play a lot since it has so many eyecandy details and secrets.
Pros: A lot of secrets and cool eyecandy.
Cons: None.
Rating: 8.5

OVERALL (not an average): “Contention”, which uses Claw Set 1, is a prime example of a creative and well-done single player level. While it may be confusing at first to players, it’s not that hard to adapt to its unique style of play, which makes this an enjoyable and unique single player experience. The only problem I had was the arches, which get in the way. Enabling low detail helps a bit, but not enough to make up for the fact it removes some other eyecandy. This is a solid and skillfully crafted level that deserves your download not only because it’s good but, heck, because it’s Wakeman!
Rating: 7.5 and Download Recommendation

GAMEPLAY: B+
Layout: B-
Creativity: A -
Bugs: B+

EYECANDY: A
Tileset use: A
Eyecandy look: A
Creativity: A -
Bugs: B+

PLACEMENT: B+
Weapons: B+
Enemies: B+
Carrots: A -

THE FINAL GRADE: A -

THE FINAL RATING: 7.5

+ PROS: Good gameplay, good replay value.
- CONS: Annoying foreground layer, last J2S poll is STILL unanswered. ;-P

- Trafton

EDIT: Oh, yes, it includes the new Claw Set, which is quite spiffy.

EDIT AGAIN: Wakeman, the level is quite good. Really, 7.5 is not a bad grade whatsoever. You shouldn’t be disappointed at all. While it is true that hard levels are good, there is a certain limit to difficulty. This is definitely a good level and the arches don’t detract too much. No level is perfect, but you should focus on the positive. The level is definitely very good, and the tileset is really outstanding and I am sure that it will be used quite a bit. Sorry to sound discouraging – it was not what I was trying to sound like.

- Trafton[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

So, I just say what you may need to fix in this level.

-Be sure that you don’t have any places in your level that a player can get stuck in those.
-Do not use foreground layers too much. Do not make the level too confused.
-limit your trap and enemy placement.

So, otherwise your level is good.

A level by wakeman.

Firstly, let me mention that the tileset rocked, and I havent played Claw and have no clue what it is. Well, about the level. Yes, it is a fairly short single player level, and I didnt like it as much. The eyecandy was good, except the foreground I despised, I couldnt tell where I was going or where the ground was in some places, and I crashed into enemies blocked by layer 3 columns. I despised that, also the sudden booby traps that appear without warning and are quite hard to avoid. I dont reccomend having the demon right on the save point either. The eyecandy mostly confuse me and that lowered the mark by a great deal. The backround is good though. One more thing, sometiems when you go to low in the level, you see the columns in the backround “floating”. It is minor and hardly noticable, but I just pointed it out.
The enemy placement I also didnt like much. Some enemies=placed good. Some=not. There were hoards of enemies in some places and some were blocked by later 3 and were hard to see. Other than that they were good.
Pickup placement: A little on the sparse side, perhaps? There WERE pickups, and they WERE well placed, but I feel there could of been more. Also, the coin idea was interesting, but kind of confusing. I didnt like the spike pit, since you loose a life for almost no reason, and well, I just didnt like it. The apple in the end idea was strange, could of been in a text, but someone wanted some “creativity” or something. The gameplay was kind of poor, since the falling rocks were hard to avoid, the vines hard to see and the spikes almost everywhere. I also despised that wind or whatever it was shaking me, because at the top of the level I almost got stuck to a wall, and when I got free the wind pushed me into a pit where I fell to the bottom of the level on spikes. The first time this happend, I couldnt find the way out of the pit because layer 2 or 3 or whatever was covering the way out.

OVERALL: Though I sounded negative in the review, the level wasnt that bad. Although I didnt like it enough to give it 7.5 or 8, it still had some good elements to it and some things were done quite nicely. I’ll give this a 7 and a download reccomendation. Glad to see you’ve returned wakeman.

In a word, (Malaysian doorknobs). Well, I guess that was two words. Sue me.

Okay, the level is short, but it is very difficult. Or maybe I just suck. Anyway, the tileset is wonderful. I’ve only played Claw a couple times so I can’t be a judge for accuracy, but it’s still very nice looking.

The level itself isn’t bad at all. It’s tricky, but it’s slow. There are no moments of constant action. Most of the time I was just trying to figure (out where I left my last pair of chopsticks) and where I was trying to go, or perhaps yelling because of all of the hidden tricks. Nevertheless, it was an interesting play. I wouldn’t call it particulary fun, but challenging. Okay, so I never do reviews. Sue me again. I have no real system for rating, but I think I will give it a 7.5. The tileset is beautiful, albiet a little ‘bland’ (but I guess that was kind of the point), but the level is annoying. Though well made.

(Content edit. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

“The tables have turned, it seems. The biased one is now the one who is being reviewed by US. ;-P”
Ironic isn’t it ;)
I’ll post a full review when I have time. Till then, I’ll just say 8. :)

I dunno what to type here…

[2 hours later]

Mwah, I have headache. Ok, so lets start.

The level and tileset are based on Claw (I didn’t played it, but my bro has, and told me everything, where he seen those things ect.).

Eyecandy hurts a little, you don’t know where you are in some areas. Enemies placed well, kinda sucks sometimes, but thats good. Level is shoooort like my 5-year old pants. Oh, and I saw a bonus somewhere.

Overall, isn’t perfect for a 3-year-work level =]. A 7.7.

I thought I might address some of the comments made. First of all, I must say that I’m impressed with the quality of level reviewing here at J2O. It sure beats the one-sentence commments I placed on the levels at J2C. :)

I must say that I was a little surprised that practically everybody’s main objection was the arches in the foreground. Of course they’re a little annoying since they cause you to lose health, but why should I be encouraged to take away an element that adds difficulty? I did (unwisely?) include elements in the level which cause you to lose health no matter how well you play, but I don’t see the arches as being one of those frustrating elements. Contention was designed around the same time as Dino Station, and the point of both levels was to escape from the nature of almost every single player level I received at Jazz 2 City, in which the challenge was no greater than running from room to room destroying whatever unintelligent enemies you found on the way. There’s really nothing wrong with that since that’s what Jazz 2 is all about, but I wanted my challenges to lie within the environment itself, which I largely accomplished through an overload of eye candy. Unfortunately, in doing this I apparently strayed too far from the fast-paced shoot-em-up gameplay that players expect from Jazz Jackrabbit. Even I admit that Contention lacks in “fun factor.”

As for the shortness of the level, that’s mostly due to the fact that I don’t have the time or will to finish a level I created three years ago. As some of you said, Contention really does work best as an example level for my tileset, but I didn’t want you to rate the tileset because it’s basically just a rip-off of Claw, so you would only be able to rate how well I cut and pasted the images. I didn’t release Contention with the thought that I was offering something new to the community. It should have been released with Dino Station, which received high marks in the beginning and now receives similar marks as Contention. I am glad to see this, since it shows me that you as a community are continually increasing your standards for what defines an excellent level. Finally, I included the coin warp at the end simply because my previous three levels all contained secret messages spelled out using weapons/fruit, so it was kind of a trademark for me. :)

Nice to see a lot of familiar faces here, AstroniA in particular. I hope that the J2S poll results will be more enjoyable than my level offering, whenever I happen to finish that particular effort.

Contention. The name suggested to me that your engaging in battle with the enemy is a major part of the gameplay.
But it turned out that you engage in battle with the level.

“Contention” is an intricately constructed level. Every tile is carefully chosen so that the level is a challenge without being frustrating. The tileset is also superb: there is a variety of colour, without any of it clashing or any tiles veering away from the theme. It’s quite reusable. I was distracted by what looked like misuse of the set, but as I never played the game, I don’t know whether or not this was intentional.
As I have said, the very structure of the level forms an entity against which you battle. There were some bits that came as a nasty surprise, but this merely adds to the replayability.
However, this level will depend on its replayability, as it is rather short. The problem is reduced by the well distributed secrets, but still stands.
As for the comments about the arches, ignore them. They scroll.

I know I can’t prod Wakeman into making more levels, but that’s not going to stop me. Prod.[This review has been edited by Toxic Bunny]

As usual with your levels, I had a pretty tough time finishing this one. Having played Claw, i expected some of the traps and also expected there be vine swinging (that was a toughie in Claw as well). I liked how similar it was to Claw (badies in the narrow slots where they are sometimes tough to kill, etc.) and think you used the tileset pretty well. I guess the good level makers never forget how. ;)

Wow. that’s what i said when i played it. i thought the biased one was dead. but he lives(!).

the level is very good, except for some minor things that i’m too lazy to post here. the arches are a tad annoying, but i think they are the most challenging part of the level. the level also includes a bit of a Scriptural message, that only through Christ do we have the victory. that’s the .2. very good level. get it now.

Neadless to say it’s a hard and entertaining level.

The arches on the foreground are a bit annoying but I can live with them.
Very nice use of the Claw tileset, nice music too..

See everything is just nice :)

And don’t forget original!

Rating: 9

Dan

Level were confusing because of the layer 2 stuff. but the level were good.

(Unjustified rating removal. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Ahhhhh… this is a fine level indeed! Here’s the review:

Contention

Gameplay: Fairly good, a lot of traps and triggers.
Eyecandy: Great, but the annoying archway on the bottom-half of the map really made it annoying and difficult to see.
Enemy Placement: Good. Fairly basic but overall they are placed pretty well.
Pickups Placement: Good. Fairly ordinary though.
Length: Average, this is about your average level length. Perhaps a little shorter.
Overall: Good! A download recommendation from me! Nice job! 7/10[This review has been edited by Dago]