Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I’m going to start off with eyecandy first since it’s the most noticable thing and I have a lot to say on it.

First, there’s a lot more eyecandy then I expected here. Which isn’t necessarily good. A lot of it (nearly all of it, even) is extremely confusing because you can’t tell what is solid and what’s just for show. Its nice that you tried to make the level pretty, but honestly, I have no idea what the hell is going on sometimes in the level because too many things crowd the screen.

There’s a lot of creative stuff I see though. Some things I know I used in my Chasm level before, while there are some which are fairly new and I haven’t seen before (the pillars at 41,48 for example). Of course, using this tileset and trying to be creative at the same time usually ends up with a load of tilebugs, but I’m willing to overlook them for creativity’s sake because I’d rather have a level that tries new things (minus the confusing eyecandy part and using solid stuff in layer 5) then a level which doesn’t and is extremely limited visual wise or is empty. Some of the tilebugs, however, like the layer 3 bug at 92,30 in jj2 should be fixed (same bug reoccurs in the same spot except on blue team side).

So basically, its creative and look cool in some areas, but too confusing since you used the same tiles in layer 4 and 5, and there’s too much in areas and it crowds the screen and makes it annoying if you’re playing.

As for the layout, it’s pretty much symmetrical. Spaz can quickly get to the bases by RF climbing and not needing to take the tube or extremely long route. Normally I don’t mention spaz biases because basically most people use spaz anyways and he is better in more situations online then jazz is (imo), but this one pretty much makes it seem like you either didn’t know about RF climbing or want everyone to be spaz here because jazz would get humiliated.

I had some trouble getting around too, but that’s mainly the fault of the eyecandy. The way this level is made, with all the layer 3 passages and sucker tubes and warps which are fairly hidden, makes it EXTREMELY hard for new people to learn it, and can lead to a lot of people losing fairly quickly in this level because they weren’t aware of a hidden warp to a powerup, or a sucker tube to the base, etc. If you’re going to have stuff like that, at least point it out. I had no idea about pretty much most of it until I looked in JCS.

Some passages are pretty much useless for the most part. You have a sucker tube, a very quick and effortless RF climb spot, AND coinwarps to the bases. Who would use the slow and vulnerable staircase passage on the far sides of the level aside from just getting loose ammo?

Gameplay wise, I don’t like how this level plays out all too much. It’s extremely easy to get to the base and you can get there in a matter of seconds, making it pretty hard to defend. I think the coinwarps could at least use some more coins to get into, personally. This level can also get pretty cramped and is chock full of very thin walls blocking your path which would make electroblasters at least twice as useful if they were included in the level.

The level includes 3 +1 carrots. I can’t tell if I like this or hate this. The level is definately too small to house a full energy with those +1s being there, yet I don’t really like having to always need 2 carrots to ensure I am not one hit away from death. It could work though, I guess, and I might prefer it to the One Full Energy method which so many levels used before and which basically ensures you’re screwed when youre at 1h and your opponent is camping the carrot (memories of snooze duels go here ;P).

Ammo variety is…limited. I would’ve liked some EBs here since they would kill in this level, and maybe even more loose ammo to make some areas seem less useless and dull. AFAIK there’s two powerups, found in warps which you probably won’t find unless you know where they are, or are just lucky and/or explorative. Powerup choice is well done, though.

Overall, this is basically a small level which is an example of what happens and how confusing a level can get when it overused layer 4 platforms and tiles in layer 5 scenery and overdoes the eyecandy. It needs to be less author friendly (rather, not hiding nearly every useful thing in this level) and an eyecandy facelift, imo. I don’t like how easy it is to get to the bases either, really. Possibly taking out the coinwarps entirely would fix that.

However, the eyecandy is creative despite being confusing and some things are pretty cool. The level is small but isn’t another AYB or something where there’s only one full energy. I’m giving this a 7.2.

Download reccomendation, but mostly to see some creative tricks used in the eyecandy and a lesson to what happens when you overdo it and make stuff confusing and seemingly crowded.

And finally, a reply to Cooba because I half wrote this review for the sole purpose of debating on what he said when he edited that 6.5 review: I think tileset choice DOES matter when it comes to levels, really. Tileset choice affects what you can do with a level, what tiles you can use, and it can really determine whether your level is worthy of an 8 or over. Eyecandy basically depends on tileset choice: you can use a bad tileset and make something creative in it, but it would never really be as good as the eyecandy you can do when using a wellmade tileset. Also, limitations in the set can influence things outside of eyecandy. If there were arrows in this tileset, the warps and the sucker tubes need not be hidden which would definately improve the rating this level gets, but there aren’t arrows in this set so =P. Music choice can matter, but to a much lesser extent. I wouldn’t take marks off for it personally, but I would get annoyed and definately bring it up in a review if a music was irritating or completely doesn’t fit a level.

Well, this was kinda fun. HURRAY!!

~Blacky

Edit: Fixed a few wording errors that made one sentence pretty much not make sense. That’s what happens when you review while being half awake I guess.