Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Ok all bugs are fixed and I left pits in there

finally I got around to do this
So, on with the review.

Eyecandy
Nonexistant. The level is split to two sections, one containing the cave background and the other has a clear sky. The layers 6 and 7 were used, but not in a really visible way. Other than that, there is simply no eyecandy, nothing. There are several severe tilebugs present in the level.

Gameplay
There are multiple seeker PU’s located in the level, every single one placed in a campable position. There isn’t really much ammo in the level, so a player has to use the powerups. The lowest part of the level is left completely open, so it’s also open for lots of airs. Also, one of the seeker PU’s doesn’t have a generator in it.

Flow
It is impossible to move around in the level without constantly bumping into different things, like corners, walls and stuff like that. There aren’t any spots that I could really say something good of, sorry :(

So, the overall score is 5.0. Please try to review levels before you submit them to J2O.

Edit: Now that you edited the level, I think it still contains the exact same bugs. Bottom is campy, seekers are campy. Tilebugs are still present. Atleast there’s ONE waterfall in the background of the open section, but the level still looks bland. I would give an extra .3 for trying, but those points go away due to the pits. Under laggy conditions, a player might die from simply jumping over the pit…

Join NC

Cobra requested I take a look at the level, and give it a review. I’m afraid I didn’t get to it as quickly as I should have, and I apologize for that.

Eyecandy: 3/10
The stuff outside is passably interesting, and the background layers are used fairly well. However, they also are very standard fare for this tileset. Inside, the background is essentially one tile, repeated over and over. It looks very bland and repetitive. And everywhere on the level, each wall or floor seems to be made of only one tile, dragged vertically or horizontally. The tileset has a nice variety of ground and wall tiles, and using a variety would make the level look a lot more natural and organic. The foreground always has leaves and waterfalls, which can look a tad strange inside, not to mention the problems with the waterfalls. The waterfalls are all concentrated on one side of layer 2, and are set to scroll horizontally rather quickly. Especially because the layer also moves relative to the player, this can lead to a very awkward looking waterfall darting halfway across the screen (while you’re supposed to be underground in a mine), pausing for a while, then disappearing as quickly as it came, if the player runs back and forth wrong. The waterfalls are also very poorly constructed, and some have jagged, square edges. There are also several tilebugs, such as the ones at tiles (145, 8) to (145,11), or the extra layer 3, at or around tile (22,6). Overall, the level has a rather unfinished feel, and could benefit from some more time being spent on eyecandy.

Gameplay:6/10
The gameplay was also far from perfect. There really wasn’t much flow. The level alternates between narrow, tunnelly portions that are nearly impossible to navigate without running into several different walls, and wide open spaces that are tactically uninteresting. There are also a lot of very difficult, accurate jumps that the player has to make. There a several one tile wide platforms, and at least one, one tile wide one-way. These are awkward, and pausing to line up and do it accurately breaks up gameplay. Also, these routes are no better than any other path on the level. While adding some difficulty to a level can be nice, skilled players should be rewarded for their skill. This is not the case, and taking the more challenging route will feel awkward for anyone, and the level essentially punishes a player for attempting the challenge. The level also suffers from far too many power-ups, a few too many carrots, and a lack of normal ammo. And the power-ups seem to be randomly scattered about. There are two rf power-ups, rather near each other in the bottom right corner of the level, and both can be grabbed with essentially no effort. However, just a bit further left, is an electroblaster power-up which is protected inside an underground bunker. Again, I feel that the level is rewarding the player for doing easy things more than for being skilled, which makes the level much less fun. Also, there are some bugs with the gameplay. Not everything that should be a generator, is a generator (The Full NRG carrot and the aforementioned Electroblaster powerup, for example. There may be more)

Overall, 3+6/20=9/20=4.5

I’m afraid this level has some significant flaws. While it was a good attempt, and I like to see the experimentation, I think a bit more effort should have been put into cleaning it up and removing bugs. Even with the bugs fixed, the level does have some issues, and I would suggest studying popular levels to figure out what makes the best levels so good. Once you get a better understanding of the theory behind gameplay, and with a bit of practice, you’ll be able to create some great levels. Keep practicing.

Before making something, try to spend much more time… Think about how player can play this lvl… If you can: Host it…or ask someone to do it…