Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Locked In A Lab
Well, another one of fearofdark’s levels… I thought he would quit creating when he made his fourth level, but here is it’s sixth. I guess he carefully read my review, because he said he made this level a lot longer then the other Mez level he created earlier (Electro Rabbit, a level I gave a average 6.2) Let’s check out if he learned something from the reviews I gave him…

EYECANDY: 1.75 out of 2.5
The level is made again with one of the Mez tilesets… It’s not my favourite tileset type, but it’s often decent. Fearofdark chose here for the Mez01 Tileset, a set we all know from the funny endurance level You Can’t Scream In Outer Space (LLOONNGG) But it doesn’t look like it was made with that set, because the backgrounds used here are totally different from that level. About the eyecandy, I cannot really say if it is very good or very bad eyecandy, but it leads me more into the positive direction then to the negative. There is some originality in this level although the tileset is overused (in example, the backgrounds and the light settings are fairly original and the look fine) About the sprite layer, I can say that I didn’t found any bugs around, but I also didn’t found the eyecandy very good in any way… But perhaps that’s just a failure of the tileset. The foreground layers are used nice, I can see that the author really put work in this level, but the foreground layer is sometimes annoying, because you can’t see where you’re shooting at (thanks to the strange vertical bars) Overall, I can’t say that the eyecandy is really good, but it’s decent here.

ENEMIES: 0.75 out of 1.0
Now let’s say something about the enemies. As fearofdark said in the author comment, this level is a lot bigger then the previous one, and so that means that there are more enemies around. About 4 types of enemies are used here: The red bubbles, the labrat, the fight turtle and the normal turtle, which is probably enough for this level, and it’s good. I like the amount of the enemies used in this level, it makes the level harder to play then the original SP ones and it’s a bit challenging in some way, because there aren’t that much carrots to heal you and there are now save points on your path, so the advice is: save the game a lot of times, or you have to restart! Overall, I like the enemy placement here, and it will be good for next levels.

PLACEMENT: 1.0 out of 1.5
Now something about the placement. If you play through the level you will sometimes see that the level is a little bit too empty at some places. There is not much ammo in some places and the other pickups can sometimes be hard to find… a little bit more food would be better. About the carrot placement, this has two sides; there aren’t that much carrots around and this will be a little bit hard for newer players, but it’s more like a challenge for experienced players. Perhaps you could add different difficulties next time, so that there are some more carrots in the Easy level and a little bit less in the Hard level. Overall, I can say that the placement isn’t that bad, but it could be improved at some places…

LEVEL STRUCTURE: 1.5 out of 2.0
Let’s talk about the structure. In the comment fearofdark said that the level was miles longer then the previous one. This is true, the level is really longer and it is of a good size, not too small, not too big. With this size you could get a maximal score for structure, but unfortunately there are some penalties. The main problem about this level is the fact that the structure gets boring when you get deeper in the level, because everything you will see is something that you have already seen before in earlier parts of the level. In other words, the structure could be a little bit more diverse at some places. There is some diversity however, there are a few springs, and there are different kinds of platforms to jump on. But overall, the structure is OK, but it could be a little bit more diverse sometimes.

GAMEPLAY: 2.0 out of 3.0
About the gameplay I don’t have that much to say anymore. If you want to talk about the flow, I can say only one thing: it is OK. There aren’t that much flaws around and the speed of the level is adequate. A problem of the gameplay could be the light: the level is a little bit dark in some places so you can’t see the platforms you need to jump on. If you make a wrong jump you sometimes have to do it all over again, which could be frustrating in some way. The music of the level is a good choice, not so original (after all it’s just a basic music file) but it surely fits to the atmosphere of the level. In total, the gameplay was fine, I enjoyed the level a bit and it’s better then in previous levels of yours.

RATINGS:
Let’s conclude this review: the eyecandy is decent, it’s not bad and there are no bugs but it could be a little bit more diverse. The enemy placement was good for this level, sometimes a little bit too hard for n00bs but further no comment. The placement was most of the time OK but there could be a little bit more ammo in the level, because it’s a but too empty now. The structure was OK but it also could use a bit more diversity. The flow, music and other forms of gameplay were nice. Any advice? Mmm…. Let me see… Oh yeah, quit using the Mez tilesets please. They simply didn’t provide good enough eyecandy and diversity, and you could get way higher scores with a better tileset. Although, I think that this is a good level, surely if you see the low possibilities of the tileset used. As you can see in the cores, I can’t find arguments to rate this lower then a 7.0. Good job, it’s your best level so far (from the ones I’ve seen) Keep creating levels, because you’re getting better and better.

Score: 1.75+0.75+1.0+1.5+2.0 = 7.0
Download: Yes, it can be funny for a short time and it’s one of fearkofdark’s best levels.
Host: Perhaps in Coop, I guess that there are better levels to host but it could be funny for a while.

Greetings,
- ChippieBW of XSÐ, CC and XLM

EDIT: I think a 7.0 is a little bit too overrated, since I’ve seen better levels with the same rating. I make it a 6.5.
[This review has been edited by Niels aka ChippieBW]