Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Rating Street Zerg

To start:
Like Zerg said in the description this level was supposed to be in an episode, but the other levels were not good enough, so he uploaded just this one. Okay, this might be the best level of that episode, but actually it’s not fun to play.

Eyecandy: (20 pts)
Layer 4, the path layer, is really disordened. It’s just simple with random placed blocks which serves as paths and walls. However, there is a background and a foreground, which is great! However: the back- and foregrounds are not great. Later in the level you go down a bit and then you can clearly see the building ‘floating in the air’! The same goes for two of the five street lights. I’ll give you 1 point for the path, 5 for the background and 8 for the foreground, making an average of 4.67, rounded to 5 points.
Result: 5 pts

Gameplay: (20 pts)
Awful. However it’s a bit longer than most of my levels are, it’s horrible. There are no real puzzles (just one key crate near the beginning). The most horrible part of the level is probably the boss battle. What is an seamonster (I’m talking about the Uterus) doing in a city with his crabs? I think the Tuf Boss was better. Also bad: you can easily escape by destroying a block in the down-right corner with an exit behind. And… there are TWO boss enemies when you play on easy (instead of one in medium difficulty)! And although hard has too, I think it was better if you placed a carrot on easy insted of an extra boss. The only good thing about the boss, is you’ve made it tougher with Tuf Bosses and Caterpillars in the walls and it’s also a bit darker there.
Result: 6 pts

Story: (10 pts)
There is no story. So this factor does not count your rating.
Result: N/A

Obstacle placement: (20 pts)
Like I said earlier: the boss is terrible. Also the enemies are bad placed. For example: just a row of Tuf Turtles! And at the boss: just a row of crabs! Simple and bad.
Result: 5 pts

Bonus placement: (10 pts)
I think the bonus placement is probably the best part! However it’s not great. It’s very prominent you placed barrels with bonuses just on the path, instead of in a corner or on a separate platform. Also: the secrets are very easy to find: they’re not covered by layer 3.
Result: 5 pts

Total points: 21
Maximum number of points: 80-10(story)= 70
Calculating: 21÷70×9+1
Final Rating: 3.7
Download recommendation:
Why? It’s a messy from begin to end. Also: there is just no reason why you would download this! Just leave it.

Thanks :D

I’ll write also a full review:

Story:
None, as said.
0/0

Music:
Allright, easy points to pick here. Too many crabs are annoying though.
9,5/10

Eyecandy
The way you used secrets actually cuts most here. Many tilebugs… too many to list. Also some bad enemy placement, especially placing Fencers in narrow area’s isn’t a good idea. Looks ugly and does not work. The tilebugs were avoidable.
3/10

—— Gameplay ——

Level layout.
Well, it was much better if most of the secrets were (partally) covered by layer 3. Don’t cover all secrets entirely; otherwise players might decide to not search for them. If they actually see something, they’re going through a massive maze covered with layer 3 (unless it is frustrating with a lot of enemies and traps).

Also the 4-destruct blocks were placed wrong; sometimes enemies get stuck with them (especially the destruct blocks.

In general, the level layout was quite horrible. Something was done right, but that’s not enough to be anything more than…
2/10

Enemy placement:
Some enemies were placed well, like the Bats in the beginning and the Fat chicks. Some were not: The rows of Tuff Turtles and the Crabs are obvious examples.
Variety of enemies is good, but do not overdo it. Think of a reason why those enemies are placed there.

Ask yourself the question:
What is that enemy doing there in the first place?

I liked the King Kong monkey, but the other monkey shouldn’t be there because of it.

Huge levels can use most kinds of enemies which can appear in several parts of the level… however, in levels of a size like this level uses, just use a few different enemies. Let’s say, Fat Chicks, Dogs and/or Cats and Tuff Turtles, maybe a few bats or Ravens scattered around.

The bosses… well.
As Ischa said, I would definately NOT pick the Uterus boss in a city level. Probably a pair of Tuff bosses was better. The tuff Boss and Caterpillars in the wall were great.
4/10

Pickup placement:
Too few floating pickups. Could be a lot more (especially ammo)… alltough I would reccommend less crates with ammo when doing so. More difficult to kill enemies (or just huge flocks of Ravens) can force heavy ammo usage though).
Also, what are coins doing in a level when there isn’t a coin warp?
Food placement was fine.
6,5/10

Replay value:
None. I’m sorry. I never want to play this again, so…
1/10

26/60 = 4,3/10

Penalties:
End level bug: -0,5 (to fix this, place “Ending” in the Next level string.)
No Layer 3 usage: -0,5

Final score: 3,3/10

DR: No.

Advice: Most of my advice is already in the review. Other things to note are, that several things are easy to improve, like the End level bug which is very easy to avoid and takes only half a minute.

I honestly think you can make good levels in the future. We all have to start somewhere. When planning to make an huge level, don’t be afraid to put twenty hours, or maybe even a lot more time in a level. Heck, if you need to put fifty hours in a large level to add in everything you want, just use all the time you need. There is really no reason to finish a level quickly.

Put time in a level whenever you want to… sometimes there are boring moments, like covering a large level with tons of layer 3, but just keep on going and do other things in between. You don’t have to work with a deadline, after all.

That’s all I wanted to say…