Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Introduction

After making lots of Multiplayer packs like the New Ages series (and some levels for Codename: Alliance) Snooze has created a Single Player pack/episode. But the main question is: is Snooze good at making Single Player levels or should he focus on Multiplayer more? Keep reading for the answer.

The pack starts with some introduction levels. There’s not much to say about that, except that it shows what you can expect from this pack and it’s part of the story.

Then comes ‘Street’ a Townhouse 2 Night level. It’s relatively short, but it’s still pretty fun. Be sure you don’t fall in the pits (as I fell in them right before the end of the level) the level has some nice secrets and overall the level wasn’t too hard. It’s just that I’m pretty bad at Single Player (but I played this on Medium)

I quote: ‘After the normal city, your dream changes into something futuristic..’ that’s Dream Drift (part 1 of the 3 that are in this pack) It’s another pretty short level (if you know where to go) It could take long as it took a while to find out that you have to freeze a spring near the end. The part with the springs is probably the hardest, but still pretty easy. This level has more enemies than the previous one. I especially like the area at the top (which is the end of the level) Another quote: This view is beautiful.. wow.” It’s exactly what I thought when playing it.

After Dream Drift, there’s a big and long level called Dream Drift II. You have to find 10 coins, and some of them can be really hard to find. On my first try (in a previous version of the level) it took me about 20 minutes to get all the coins.. then I died at the boss battle at the end so I had to get the coins again. On my second try I had 8 coins and couldn’t find one of the other 2 (I had to get that one before the last one) This level doesn’t have too many obstacles except spikes and a few enemies, but it’s still challenging. It’s easy to get lost, but the level is not as evil as QoB.

The Voice is Calling is a level that introduces the enemy (more about that later)

After that it’s time for a level called ‘Beach’ which shows some interesting tileset usage. It’s not too hard, and although it looks big it’s not too long. It’s good that the level has different areas and those areas all have different things (and secrets)

Then comes ‘Inside the Ghost Ship’ another Beach level and it’s, one one word, awesome. The theme is something I haven’t been before with this set. The collapse scenery at the start and the disappearing pole are good examples. And the choice of enemies too. This level also has some good ideas, like the trigger crate near the gun crate that you have to hit by shooting a turtle shell. This level has many enemies, and I lost 3 lives in it. But this is undoubtedly my favourite level of the pack.

Dream Citadel is the next level, and it’s another nice-looking level. The level itself is not too difficult, but you have to find a way through the destruct scenery (which is pretty easy anyway) A textstring in the level says: “Warning: unless you have 5 coins, dont go past this area” then you have to go up and find a warp to a trigger crate which opens the triggers at the end of the level.

The Demon’s Castle has an impressive intro with some cool light effects and a short dialogue between the main character and the enemy (not going to spoil what it is) This level also has some cool tileset usage (like the corkscrews that almost no-one uses) The level is a bit shorter than it looks, but it’s still fun. It’s not too hard either (in my opinion) One of the better levels from the pack.

Then comes The Demon’s Castle? A level that’s not too long but if you want to find every secret in the level it would take a long time. This has some more impressive tileset usage, like the tubes and translucent blocks in layer 5 and the crystal window. This level is not too hard if you have maximum fast fire, but it’s still really fun. The level ends with a boss battle, which shouldn’t be too hard either. Well, if you thought that was it, think again..

Dream Drift III is possibly the most evil level of the pack. When you start you will immediately see some enemies that will most likely hit you. And then you’ll get to a puzzle with lots of spikes and trigger crates. Then comes the evil part: ‘Use your guns wisely..’ you probably won’t have too many gun9 ammo by now as there’s only 6 ammo at the start of this level (maybe from the previous levels) but use it to hit a save point. Then you’re supposed to die (so if you have 0 lives that kind of sucks) Then you get to a warp which leads you to a short maze with destruct scenery and hurt events. That’s not too hard though. Then comes a part with different routes. I’m not going to tell what’s there in every route. But the main route leads to some hurt events and a carrot crate with some bees. Then comes a small maze with some spike bolls and hurt events, and you have to get up without being hit. The last part of the level requires you to find 3 coins. They’re not as hard to find as in Dream Drift II. After you’ve found 3 coins, you’ll go back to the area where you had to shoot the save point. Then, after that, you have to search for a warp that leads you to the end of the level.

The ending level describes that the battle is not over yet. But what will happen next? Find It Out.

So overall, this pack gets a really high rating because I was impressed (and I don’t play a lot of Single Player!) Snooze shows that he can’t only make Multiplayer levels. I give this a 9 and a download recommendation.

Personally, I don’t really think quite as much of this pack as others do. It was a pretty solid pack overall, but suffers from some big problems.

The first thing I noticed was a stark contrast between the eyecandy in these levels versus the eyecandy in Snooze’s other levels. These levels have far less. You can probably use “but it’s set in a dream world” as an excuse, but come on, you comment on how “realistic and vivid” the dreams are.
Of course, the levels don’t really look bad, just plain. That’s not really a bad thing, but it detracted from my enjoyment a bit.

The second thing I noticed was a pit which had absolutely nothing warning of its existence. I later found out that these pits were prevalent throughout the pack. This really hurts the pack – taking lives away from the player just because they were unable to guess at the existence of a pit really won’t positively impact their opinion of a level (or level pack).

My next quibble came with Dream Drift II – the “QoB level.” You have to find 10 coins, but, like EvilMike, I couldn’t manage. The layout of the level is very confusing, and the seemingly random triggers just made it much worse. It’s just one level, so it’s not really that much of a problem.

And then, as I went further in, I noticed another problem – you never know where you’re supposed to be going. You could roam around for half an hour trying to find a trigger crate, because the levels are just so open and maze-like. This is very frustrating, and, in many cases, didn’t make sense.

Another thing that bothered me was the enemy placement. There aren’t a whole lot of enemies, but there are quite a few, and I didn’t think they were placed very well. The long lines of Hatters in Dream Drift (I), the huge balls of float lizards in Dream Citadel.

However, don’t let the above text fool you into thinking that it’s a bad pack. Far from it; it’s pretty solid. I just only mentioned the bad stuff, because the good stuff’s already been pointed out by other reviewers: there’s unique tileset usage (just look at the ghost ship), some great atmosphere, and a very original and prevalent theme.

Dreamless, a single player level pack made by none other than snooze. Will his ‘legendary’ status aid him in making a good single player pack or will this be yet another popularity hit?

Gameplay: 50-50
One thing that concerns me most about this pack is the gameplay. Simply put, I don’t know what to think of it. The pack carries a heavy mix of feeling rushed and feeling well constructed. Some area’s feel like they serve for no other purpose than to add an extra mile to walk, while some really add to the fun.

Without doubt, the worst thing of this pack were the pits. Some are obvious, but most of the time, you would drop down from a vine and fall to death, simply because you were looking for some more treasure. It IS a platformer, after all, so ammo and gems are always welcome. As recommended, playing on Easy will serve you a lot more justification when looking for aid in this particular pack.

The levels have a really odd feeling to them. It’s not really based on enemy killing, but the puzzles also don’t prove much of a challenge (though that might be just me). The puzzles may be fun at first, but when you think back, you’ll head go “pfft, I knew that” most of the time. Regarding the puzzles, by the way, there is a certain degree of complexity that nobody could guess if they hadn’t heard of that before. For example, there’s this puzzle where the player must use the Electro Gun to shoot a checkpoint beyond a wall and then kill himself in order to get there. Not only is this quite far-fetched, but it can also cause quite a lot of frustration for people new to the Single Player packs presented on this website. On the other hand, the idea itself is very original but feels like an elite player gadget.

The pack is driven by a storyline. A mediocre one at that, but it does the trick. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before, but the aspect of it being all a dream makes up for it. Either way, it is still a ‘bad guy has to be defeated’ story. From snooze, I would have expected something a little lighter and funnier, but then again, no. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

A few things about playing this pack kept annoying me. The pits, as said before, but also the amount of text strings. For example, cutscenes can also be implemented in tilesets. Also, as EvilMike said, some of the ‘protagonist thoughts’ are annoying for the fact that the player may think completely different from what the protagonist is thinking.

Overall, the pack played average. There were too many things bugging me, I’m afraid, and I’m gonna have to stick with the rushed feeling I had in the beginning.

Atmosphere: Good
The one thing that stood out in this entire pack was without doubt the atmosphere. There are two sides to this. One being the excellent use of tilesets, the other being the way in which the levels are presented.

Snooze is of course known for his multiplayer levelpacks, which often feature levels that make an unexpected use of particular tilesets. This results in ‘wow-ing’ the player and therefore earning fantastic scores in the eyecandy department. This pack follows the tradition of unexpected tileset use (with a few exceptions, more on that later).

The level with the Star Wars reference feels the most left out. I simply don’t think it stands out too much in comparison to the other levels. Even when you’re ‘shot into space’ and ‘the view is amazing’, it still feels odd, even for a dream.

On the other hand, the ghostship level is by far the best use of tileset I’ve seen in a while. A completely unexpected turn of events for the Beach tileset (though a previously released screenshot shows us a little spoiler). The level is fairly translucent, making the background visible, showing occasional other ships passing by (maybe too occasional, I personally would make the layer wider to prevent it from becoming boring). The level carries a mystique feeling, which I really enjoyed.

Also, as I said before, the cutscenes especially feel rushed. I would have used a tileset cutscene myself, simply because the cutscenes now look like they were added in ‘just because you needed a cutscene’. They don’t feel like part of the pack, which they of course are. Especially the opening level felt like a big disappointment and almost made me quit on the spot.

Overall: Good
The Dreamless single player pack surely feels like a step forward in the SP setting of J2O. I surely hope that snooze will continue his work and improve upon the critique he has received. Good job.

Download Recommendation: Yes
Though on the hard side for newcomers (even in Easy), learn to think out of the box. Forget the Epic SP packs and use your brain. You’ll have to with this pack.

Score: 7
I was thinking about giving this a higher score before, but this pack had just too much worrying me. I do sincerely hope that you build on these ‘flaws’ (don’t want to call it mistakes or faults) and make even nicer level packs. You have my faith. :)

(Rag, eat your heart out. 5000 characters!)

to defost: not all these levels have far less ec then what i usually do. only the unimportant levels like the ones with cutscenes.

anyways, thanks for reviewing. now i atleast know to not include instant death pits in the next ep ;0 which will come in 2 weeks i think..

I’m still rather pissed off about the hatemail, but you people should realize that that doesn’t affect this rating. Either way, this levelpack had some key features for singleplayer, eyecandy, enemy placement, ammo placement. The thing that brings your score down painfully is your lack of creativity! I mean, we’re in a dream world, shouldn’t anything be possible?

JJ2 logos falling down, randomly falling out of dreams into senseless puzzles.
I know this will sound very contradictory, but your levelpack made too much sense!

Even though you didn’t do a swell job on this levelpack, thanks to the dream theme, if you make another, make it like this! (No death pits, though)

The only setback you had was your dream storyline. I’m sure I would’ve given this a 7.5, at least, if this was in a regular setting.