Quality NOT quantity makes a good pack!
EYECANDY & ATMOSPHERE
The eyecandy in this pack (all 60 levels) is VERY repetitive. Everywhere I went I could see tilebugs, buttstomp and destruct blocks used for the ground. I like the way you tried to make a highway or train track out of the Carrotus and Diamondus sets but unfortunately all of those blocks made it look repetitive. The backgrounds are nothing original. Most of the levels have only the backgrounds ripped out of EPIC’s own JJ2 levels. Some levels even look EXACTLY the same but with those ugly blocks thrown in.
The music used in all the levels was very much questionable. Christmas music in a Carrotus level?! Castle music in a Diamondus/Carrotus level?!
After getting through the last 50 levels I find that the eyecandy is just recycled from all the previous levels in this pack.
1.6/10
GAMEPLAY
There was no actual gameplay to speak of in this pack. All I was doing was running left/right and holding Space Bar down ALL THE TIME. After getting the Blaster PU from one of the SEVEN boss levels it gets far too easy. 60 levels is far too many to make.
There were some Secret levels but they were mostly the same. One of them was the original JJ2 secret level with the Bird ripped straight from there. Only differences are the FAST MOVING impossible to dodge Spike Bolls and the ugly buttstomp blocks thrown in again.
Most of the levels were the same ones repeated at least 4-6 times. The Boss Arenas are far too big. Why does the arena have to be like 200 tiles wide for ONE BOSS?!
The “radio electric” level was boring. All I was doing was watching the player just fall down 468 tiles FOUR TIMES through MASSES OF BLUE GEMS and then I bounce staright back through about 20 Blue Springs to the exit.
Gameplay overall was extremely repetitive as I was running, shooting, jumping, stomping and breaking crates for most of these levels.
1.2/10
PICKUPS & ITEMS
GEM OVERUSE is the first thing that comes to mind here. I found approximately 18,000 Gems in one of the levels. Food was also too much since I got about 8 Sugar Rushes throughout the whole game.
Ammo was just EVERYWHERE! One level had ALL THE POWER-UPS next to each other so I had every single weapon after that.
In the final level there was 4 Power-Ups and 8 Fast Fires REGENERATING meaning that if you die there you can get your Rapid Fire back again.
1/10
ENEMY PLACEMENT
First, why is there enemies everywhere in every level? This doesn’t make the levels any better but more frustrating for the player. One of the levels had about 1,000 FLOATING LIZARDS! which is just far too many. I had to JJINV sometimes in some of these levels since the enemy amount was just too much.
The first level was very annoying to play since there were Dragons everywhere you went. Some were hidden in front of flowers and EVEN behind Layer 3 scenery meaning I got hurt without knowing why it happened in the first place. DO NOT place these Dragons on every single one of the platforms since I almost ended up dying for no reason.
Placement is also very bad because some of the enemies were on the EDGE of platforms meaning I got hurt no matter what.
The final boss of this pack was 8 Devans which was just pointless. This doesn’t present any kind of challenge but just makes the boss annoying to defeat.
1/10
TOTAL SCORE: 4.8/40
CALCULATING: (4.8 / 40) * 100 = 12%
FINAL MARK = 1.2/10
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION & COMMENTS
With repetitive eyecandy, gameplay and very bad enemy placement I cannot recommend this for download. After playing this episode, I don’t know if I’ll want to play through Episode 2 since it’ll probably be all the same.
I suggest not trying to build a massive level pack but attempt one at a smaller scale of say 2-4? Or try building just one level at a time. Making 60 levels would take at least 2 years!
PHEW! Done after 3,900+ characters!
