Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This level just does NOT agree with me for some reason. I’m not sure why. It looks alright, and in theory should play OK, but it just does not “feel” right to me. Oh, well. Here we go.

TILESET/TILESET USE: Eyecandy was nothing special. It uses BlurredD’s new “Psych3 Night” tileset, which looks quite good, but it did not come out looking extraordinary in this level. In fact, it came out looking a bit messed up. I am not sure why – it just did. Perhaps it’s just me, but much of the level ends up disagreeing with me in this sort of way. It should play well, but it just does not. Regardless, eyecandy was alright, but not great.
Pros: Good looking.
Cons: Nothing amazing.
Rating: 7.2

WEAPON/ITEM PLACEMENT: Weapon placement was perhaps the best part of this level, more or less. Weapons were placed fairly strategically. There were not too many of them, but there were enough to maintain a good battle without having “ammo drain.” Weapon placement did not, as many other categories did, suffer from the strange “should do well but doesn’t syndrome” that the rest of the level does, though.
Pros: Well placed.
Cons: None to speak of that are very major.
Rating: 7.7

ORIGINALITY: Not terribly original, but not terribly unoriginal either.
Rating: N/A

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: Gameplay, unfortunately, suffered from this strange “should do well but doesn’t” problem even more than eyecandy. Flow was the main problem, but layout was not wonderous either. The springs were all seemingly placed in just the wrong place and I often could not get to places I thought I could. Platforms were mostly one way-ed, but some were not, which became confusing. Still, gameplay was decent and well-done enough.
Pros: It should have played well.
Cons: Yet it did not.
Rating: 6.7

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: This level looks like it would be okay to play, but it gets boring a bit quick, primarally because of the forementioned disagreement. This could, however, just be me, and the level needs long-term road testing before a verdict can fully be passed in this area.
Pros: N/A.
Cons: N/A.
Rating: N/A.

OVERALL (not an average): I am not sure what to think of this level. It suffers from the same problem that I run into every once and a while. The level should play well, but it just does not feel right. Moreover, this problem is even worsened by the fact that half of the time it is just me and half of the time others agree. For now, though, I will leave it with a seven. I will play this every once and a while for the next few days to get an idea of whether it is just me or there is actually some flaw with this level.
Pros: It looks like it plays well.
Cons: But strangely, at least to me, and at least today, it does not play well.
Rating: 7.0

GAMEPLAY: B -
Flow: B -
Layout: B -
Creativity: B
Bugs: B

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

PLACEMENT: A -
Weapons: A -

THE FINAL GRADE: B

THE FINAL RATING: 7.0

+ PROS: Well done. Should play better.
- CONS: At least at this moment to me, it does not play very well. Long-term testing required in order to get whether this is just a one-day thing or there is something wrong with this level that makes it feel like this.

- Trafton

P.S. Happy birthday, NinjA.

Probably Blacky’s best battle level, however not his best level overall (that was Circut Plug imo)

Anyway, the gameplay here is good for a battle level. The layout and flow (I know flow isn’t considered an important aspect of battle, but it is to me, therefore, it’ll apply to this review) may not be all that but it’s ok as it’s not too rough and frustrating to navigate like in some battle levels.

The eyecandy was a bit above average for this set. Still, nothing really spectacular. Even considering how Blacky spends most of his work on eyecandy this however, was a disappointment.

The ammo and powerup placement was good. I must say this is one of the best aspects here. In my opinion it’s one of the key features that makes a level fun, and this level doesn’t fail to provide it. Sure, it may not look like much from just seeing it, but it’s actually quite fun once you play it.

Carrot placement is either a like it or hate it, personally I like only 2 carrots in a battle level. I’ve always believed battle levels with 5 or more were quite boring because they don’t have as much camping involved, however this is also why I say it’s like it or hate it. Because some players prefer the camping gameplay while others will despise it.

Strategy exists, but probably nothing more than your basic camping. However the warps at each side may add something a bit interesting here.

Overall, this is a good battle level. Nothing special or something that’s a must see/download but I still reccomend it to the hard core battle players to add it to their collection as it’s worth downloading.

- fs[This review has been edited by Fire Sword!]

This level is kinda nice.

Tileset use: good. I didn’t see any bugs.

Event placement: the ammo was placed in a fine way. Though there wasn’t much of it. Maybe a little more would have been better. Apart from the ammo there were some springs, which were sometimes placed a bit weirdly.

Layout: good enough. Though it’s a little bit hard to get around.

Eyecandy: nothing special about that, but good still.

Overall: average level

Download: yeah, could be fun for a server.

This is a nice level, with good eyecandy and all. It’s very fun to play. Sorry for a short review. Download this.