Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This is an interesting level. Interesting in the way that it continues digging its own grave even after it is painfully obvious that it has been dug far enough that it will not be able to get out of it. The more I played this level, the more I disliked it. The entire effort (not the author, mind you, but text in the level) seems aloof and self-important. Additionally, there are some seriously bad ideas here. The two most notable ones are a crate that causes flag bug. And this is not just an unintentional bug. The author allows anyone in the server to enable flag bug. Of course, someone curious will quickly stomp the crate, or perhaps on accident, and flag bug will be caused. I cannot tell you how bad of an idea this is. The second is perhaps entertaining to some extent. The level requests that you register it before playing it; hosting it, according to the sign, is unauthorized unless you register. Fortunately, it appears that registration costs nothing. However, you should simply save yourself the trouble; the author fails to make a sign that legally informs the user that the work is under copyright per penalty of law, thus voiding any legal claims the author may have against miscreant hosters. I suggest that, if you create a level like this, you not force registration; this simply will be laughed at, even in great levels. And this level is far from great. On a completely unrelated note, this is the first time I will be using my new review image things. I hope you like them. Or something.

Joy, oh, joy. This reminds me strongly of the levels of 1999. It is basically made completely without thought towards game mechanics with a few “neat-o” things thrown in that honestly have not been neat for years. Simply put, you see the entire gist of the gameplay the first time you play this level. There are two bases on top of eachother. Fortunately, the author does not make it so easy as to just be able to go between bases, but might as well. This level is small, which is not always a problem, but the size of this level is handled poorly. The balance is questionable. The two bases are accessed on different sides in a large room, which is the only other part of the level other than the bases. That large room has a warp to the blue base on the left side (near the bases) and to the red on the right (far from them). This causes a number of balance problems, which are obvious when you consider this. Players simply run around in this fairly standard issue level. The bases are only accessable via one warp, causing an easy warp kill.
PROS: The level runs and does not feature any traps of any sort.
CONS: Poor layout and gameplay that obviously was an afterthought more than the focus.
RATING: 4.5

When I first looked at the other reviewer’s ratings, I was somewhat confused. At that point, I had decided that I would probably give it somewhere in the low 4’s. Then I realized I was playing with Low Detail turned on. With it off, I was greeted with what may be one of the most annoying backgrounds ever conceived outside of a CLIFFYB level (the fake CliffyB levels, not the real ones.) Not only does the back of the level feature binary 1’s and 0’s, but they are animated. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this background is entirely animated. The headache-inducing display is enough to make anyone want to give this level a 1.0. However, I will restrain from doing so. It is obvious that the author put some effort in here. There is an MCE, which naturally is the very ugly multicolored swinging carpet thing, and another MCE of a nonfunctional rope that does absolutely nothing and is easy to miss unless you are actually looking for it. Beyond that, the eyecandy is a standard poor use of “Blocks of Sprite” by Violet CLM (who should have been credited – just putting “dunno” is kind of inappropriate.) The background behind the 1’s and 0’s is not bad, but it is hard to get past them.
PROS: The eyecandy beyond the 1’s and 0’s could have been worse.
CONS: The binary blasphemy is aggrevating to the nth extent.
RATING: 2.7

The first thing I look for in a CTF level is at least one carrot, especially in this one. After all, as previously mentioned, it is not hard at all to accidentally warp into someone’s seeker fire and this tends to make it impossible to enter some areas. Naturally, the level continues to shoot itself in the foot. There are no carrots – not even a single-healing one. Ammo does not fare much better. There is seeker ammo, which is probably the most likely to be used. There is also TNT ammo, which is accompanied by a sign reading “Who says that TNT is useless in Party Mode?!! :-P”. No one said it was useless. However, it is pointless. There are also two electroblaster powerups which can only be reached using an electroblaster, which naturally can only be found in form of the powerups. Whether an attempt at irony or simply a mistake, this is not good.
PROS: There is seeker ammo.
CONS: TNT ammo is not worth putting into a multiplayer level, especially considering that it can mess up the host. The only powerups in the level are not usable, and wouldn’t be worth using even if they were.
RATING: 3.0

There is very little “fun” about this level. The care-free whimiscalness that it probably doesn’t posess anyway are sort of squashed by the signs threatening legal action if someone hosts this without registering it first. Uh-huh. The only people persuing legal action should be those forced to play this level. Not that it matters: The sign contained within fails to state in proper legalese the definition of “prohibited.” Besides, one could just claim that they never saw the sign. There are also a number of inappropriate obscenties in the level which I will not direct people to. Please refrain from uploading levels that contain obscenties such as these in the future. As you can tell from the other ratings, there is nothing fun about this level. You could trigger the CTF flag bug, but why would you? It’ll probably be done on accident anyway. Not fun at all.
PROS: Very few.
CONS: Just plain not fun.
RATING: 3.0

Before seeing the background, I would have given this a higher rating. However, I am glad that I rechecked the level, as I also saw a number of other problems mentioned above in addition to the old ones the second time around. All of these problems and inadequacies add up to what is in general a poor level which it is doubtful that anyone will host. And, of course, the fake legalese makes this level seem somewhat aloof, and acts as if it is more than it actually is. Whether or not you restrict its play and force pointless sign-ups, it does not change the fact that no one will want to register this level – threatening them will do nothing for you. I suggest that in the future you try much harder, and focus on levelmaking instead of fake legal restrictions.
PROS: Very few, if any.
CONS: Annoying background, useless registration…the list goes on.
RATING: 3.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: No. Just no.

GAMEPLAY: D -
Flow: D
Layout: D
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -

EYECANDY: D -
Tileset use: D
Eyecandy Look: F
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -

PLACEMENT: D -
Weapons: D -
Carrots: N/A

~ Traft[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

A hosting liscense..right..

Anyways, I joined a server with this being hosted so I might as well review it.
Alternate Exit: By Dapete10

Gameplay: No. Barely any ramps and stuff, flag bug possibility (flag bugs are horrible in levels, intentionally done or not), nothing to point out where the warps are. Dead ends (though small). No springs or stuff like that at all.

Layout: It will take you approximately 3 seconds to see the whole level. Small? Very. Horribly done? Yes. There is a crate which makes some of the surrounding tiles to go away and cause an intentional flag bug possibility, I kept crashing into stuff, ugh. I dont like the base placement, nor do I like the layout overall. Very small and poorly done, sorry to say.

Eyecandy: Probably the worst part of the level. Those 1’s and 0’s are just plain annoying. The red and blue tiles in the backround are confusing. The MCE vines in layer 4 are pointless and just look ugly, and some of the layer 4 eyecandy doesnt tile/looks horrid/missing some tiles. Oh, and exit and text signs should remain on the ground, rather than in midair.

Placement of stuff: Well, theres barely any stuff to begin with. There are 2 EB powerups, some seeker ammo and some TNT ammo. They could of been placed better, and there being two EB powerups is kinda useless, since they’re both only a tile or so away from each other. TNT is not needed as well.

OVERALL: It says you need a hosting liscense to host this, Im sort of against this since you can’t really control people’s free will and they’ll probably host this if they feel like it, hosting liscense or not. Not that I would host this, though, sorry to say.

Gameplay: 1.9
Layout: 2
Eyecandy: 2.4 (the author attempted to put some in, but it doesnt look too good)
Placement of stuff: 1.9
Overall: 2
Final rating: 2.04. +5 for effort. Download Reccomendation? Nope. Sorry, but this level needs work, a lot of work. Hopefully your next level will be better.[This review has been edited by Blackraptor]

My third review of the day. Joy. I might be a bit too harsh with this review, though.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout is the worst I’ve seen in a while. There isn’t much to it. I could duplicate a level like this in 5 minutes flat. The size of the level alone restricts the rating to something low, even if more time was put into making it. The flag bug crate idea has to be the worst part. Why would anyone want the flag bug? Granted, the level is very small, and finding everyone else would be easy, but having the flag bug flash across the screen is extremely annoying and makes it harder to chat. The crate could have at least been placed somewhere so it isn’t easily reached and kicked by just anyone. I’m not even going to analyze anything else about the gameplay at this point since nothing could save it.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy has to be the best part of the level, even though it isn’t much. It’s just some flashing numbers and platforms in the background. I don’t know why that vine is there; it doesn’t do much to add to the eye candy. Overall, I’m just glad the tileset wasn’t horribly misused.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

No carrots and no usable powerups. If this level had a good layout, this would have hurt the rating a lot. My opinion on the ammo is the same. While TNT can be useful, it isn’t particularly useful in this level. Trying to kill someone with TNT is frustrating and pointless. Seekers are the only usable weapon, although I could care less. A wide variety in ammo choice would be a good thing.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Not that anyone would actually want to. This is a 3.2 in my opinion. Try harder next time—much harder.

PS: The license idea is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know why I need a poorly made level to have my name in it so I can host it. I advise not using this license thing in the future.

(Unnecessary content removal. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

what I’m glad about is that my ratings are getting higher, and yes, I should practice practice practice.

Any self-respecting person should listen to Trafton and do not download this.

That said, I’m done here.

-RoW