Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Since Hitch has reviewed three of my uploads in a row now, I guess the right thing to do now is to review this.

All of the levels have semi-symectrical layouts, so they are all almost perfectly balanced. I would rather see un-symectrical layouts as they offer more gameplay vareity, less limiting layout design, and often symectrical levels can turn out generic, imo. At least the layouts aren’t very repetitve, but in some of the levels they could use a little more originality, particually in 04. 01 and 05 have more “tunnel” like paths instead of just a random bunch of platforms in the sky. 05 is slightly linear, but there is still some multiple routes. I just feel that these kind of layouts are made too often, I would prefer to be seeing some original layouts, rather than popular styles.

The eyecandy is quite pleasant; there is usually a decent sized vareity of it, and there are a few original things in some places. They are well decorated, nothing really looks unrealistic or ugly, and it isn’t all on layers 3/5. The EC is not over done either in these levels. The music is very well chosen, and gives these levels good atmospheres. Some levels use the standard backgrounds for the chosen tileset, but I don’t find that any problem. The creative backgrounds aren’t distracting, ugly, or just plain weird. Some ambient lighting would be nice, since it may add to the levels atmospheres. In my opinion, I would say 01 has the best EC in this pack.

The gameplay is generally pretty smooth in this pack. It is fairly fast paced, and it doesn’t get too linear, except in parts of 05 maybe. Some warps/tubes nicely make the levels more strategical. The flow is very good; you don’t bump into very many obstacles and you can move about easily, even in cramped levels like 01. While the gameplay in this pack is not very original, it is still fairly solid. I think the best gameplay in the pack is in 01, there are some nice tactics and it flows well. I do think the Pu’s are too close to the bases however, which can lead to a lot of camping. However, like what I said about the layouts, the gameplay here should be different to other levels, in my opinion.

The placement I thought here is not lacking of the quality I expect. It is quite scarce in 03, but in the other levels it was just how I wanted it. It is placed in some nice shapes, and rarely do two types of ammo mix together. It could get random in places though, in my opinion. I think ammo should be placed where it is useful, not just randomly placed everywhere. At least the ammo placement doesn’t get very chaotic. When it comes to Carrot/PU placement, it can be very repetive, as in every level there is a full energy placed at the high middle. No doubt is this the best place for it, since these levels are semi-symectrical, but I would still like to see more creativity.

Now I will give a breif description of all the levels:

Destiny Islands is the only level which has a somewhat creative layout. The EC is the highest quality in the pack, and the gameplay is actually quite srategical. The music is very well selected, combined with a nice background the level has a great atmosphere.

The layout and gameplay in Tomato Soup (a name very similar to Blur’s Nuclear Soup :P) reminds me of DS’s level, Inevitable chaos, manly though the base placement. As the name suggests, the level uses the Red Odyssey palette.

Lost in paradise Island has got easy, horizontal gameplay, but as I said before it needs more ammo. The sprite EC is kinda average though. Nice music choice, btw.

Using the rather tile buggy Ic-Medivo conversion, Hitch has made a decent level, called Midnight Territory. Like what Blur said about this level: “This is nice but just not very special”. I don’t really like the base placement much though, since there is only one way to them.

The final level, Circular Motion, uses Birdie’s underused Dreamland set. There is an original, but slightly weird Seek PU placement. The widest level in the pack, about 200 tiles. Also the only level with some added food.

If I was to summerise this pack, I would say the EC was nice, so was the gameplay/placement, it just needed some more creativity. These are very good for Hitch’s first CTF levels. The highest rating I’d give to level in this pack if it was uploaded seperately is 8.0, but this gets extra points for the effort in compiling a 5 level pack. Do download this and give a review!