Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Okay, this is much better than the previous versions. You added eyecandy and fixed the bugs.

Here is what I found wrong with the level:

1. It was still too hard to do without cheats. Instead of putting spikes and things that crush you everywhere, you should create a puzzle, or put in some baddies.

2. There were hardly any items to pick up. I got kinda bored halfway through, but I wanted to write you a review so you could do a better job next time _{_}

2. There were not many baddies to kill. Killing stuff is fun. Destroying trigger crates ALL THE TIME is not-so-fun.

4. Yes, there is a 4 this time. When you create eyecandy for a level, try to make it logical and less hard on the eyes. You should also use tiles in the way they are supposed to be used. If a tile has a mask for sprite layer use, you should use it in the sprite layer (though not always). Using a tile in more than one way (lets say a regular block) can confuse the player. Imagine if you put blocks in the sprite layer and layer 5. The player won’t know the difference. It will look like a solid wall to him. Basically, you should use the tileset in the way it is meant to be used.

Try to come up with more ideas than spikes, mazes, and trigger crates. Your levels could be really fun, but at the moment, they’re very repetitive.

I saw some very minor good stuff, but I also saw one thing which prevents me from rating this. Bare in mind, the line between inspiration and outright theft is crossed here. Now I feel like playing QoB

Death Cild*? Is this a different user?

Anyway here is the review.

LEVEL – The Journey of Jazz

EYECANDY:

There was a lot more Eyecandy than in the previous version. However it made it hard for me to see were to go in the “Cave of the CRATE.” 6/10

GAMEPLAY:

Basically just hit all the Trigger Crates. Find one in the cave and then get to the exit. This is OK but as Janus says destroying crates all the time is not so much fun. I stopped playing after about 2 minutes coz it just got a bit repetitive. 6/10

OBSTACLES/ENEMIES:

There were lots of obstacles. Only I think there was a bit too many. Try to reduce the number of Trigger Crates to be buttstomped. The Cave was really hard but couldn’t see the way to go coz of the background. 6/10

PICKUPS:

There was some. TNT at the beginning to destroy some of the crates. But no other uses for it. 4/10

MUSIC:

I think the music was pretty good. Never heard it before. Goes quite well with the level. 7.5/10

BONUSSES:

I shall give you an extra 0.5 for effort and for trying to make the level better.

TOTAL = 29.5/50
CALCULATING 29.5 / 5 = 5.9
Rounded to 6.
FINAL SCORE: 6 + 0.5 = 6.5

DR = N/A
Yes requires 7.

[Blank rating (7.7) clearance. ~Cooba]
(Textile fix. ~Violet)

I agree with Janus on all four points. First of all, the level was way too difficult. I’m tired of seeing levels that dillute the gameplay experience by being so difficult that you have to replay the whole shtick one again (from the beginning, mind you— add some more checkpoints for God’s sakes!).

There were only a couple items, and I recall only one type of ammo powerup, and that was for the dynamite. No coins, no bonuses, no food. Well, there might have been SOME food, but all of the real pickups were hidden. You should leave at least a couple for the poor player to see!

When I say they were “hidden” I mean to say that they were (very) stealthily placed into secret areas with no indication as to how one is supposed to get into them! Don’t get me wrong, having impossible-to-find secret areas isn’t that bad a couple times, but that’s only in levels where you don’t get killed by blinking and falling into the impaling grounds that is the bulk of this level. I can’t tell you how much it pains me inside to see poor Lori give out that shrill cry of despair when she is hit :’(.

There was no actual formula for the tileset use, as stated previously. There’s nothing more annoying to a player than to see a decorative bunch of tiles that match the tiles that form solid walls. You inevitably find yourself going up and down the level having to press against the walls to see if they’re real or not. This is seriously not fun.

I must commend you, however, on the creativity of the use of the tileset, anyway. As a note, it might not be the best idea to have scenery that tries to crush you, because you will get stuck often, and that’s grounds to cheat to beat the level. No one likes to have to cheat to beat levels. They lose their sense of satisfaction at that point.

At the same time, it was a fairly large level with only some stickiness errors, maybe some improper use of the Sprite-Foreground layer (3) to create secret passages (saw the character’s outer edges leaking from the said passageway). Besides that, it was clear that effort was given for it. So here’s 6.5, and a big, big “E” for effort.