Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Had fun betatesting this

Just like I had mentioned in the JCF post I made about this pack, it is a very good one (Imo I prefer it over time tripping) and this is the place where I’ll justify my reasons.

Legends and Hints

Well, to summarize this in one sentence: This is one of the best cutscene levels I’ve seen. Not one of those old overdone ones where you’re taken through a sucker tube and read text strings (I’ve done those a few times =P), but a hocus style one with even pictures (Taken from google!). Good first impression on the pack.

A Random Castle
Not particularly the most creative name I’ve seen, but the level itself is good. Firstly, it’s non-linear, which, at least for me, made playing it more enjoyable. I really like the chesire trick used here (and throghout the pack), original and cool. The level was challenging enough, and provided several off-route secrets which made it more fun to play. Eyecandy was alright-good, nice to look at, but I’ve seen it before. Enemies where placed alright, even though the bats may have looked a bit awkward floating in midair.
Layout/Gameplay: 9.2
Eyecandy: 8.5
Placement of Stuff: 8.5
Originality/Music: 8.4
Overall (not average): 8.8
Average: 8.68 ~ 8.7

Lack of Marmalade

This was one of my favorite levels. Firstly, I liked the music choice here. Layout was also nicely done, I had trouble finding some of the coins here playing the first time, and spent a while on it. I don’t like some of the changes made to it after I tested (the dark lighting) though, looks strange and I don’t like how it interfers with the playing arena =\. Other than that, the level was fun, had some cool effects, and was nicely done.
Layout/Gameplay: 9.5
Eyecandy: 8.3
Placement of stuff: 9
Originality/Music: 9.5
Overall/Not an Average: 9.2
Level Rating: 9.1 (on the dot).

A Cold Day In Foomania

Hm. A nice change, a level in the pack that doesn’t use the hocus tileset =P. Looking at the tileset (which is rather limited – Ground Force by ET) Violet did a good job. I like the music, it gives the level a nice feel, and the eyecandy is near the best it could be considering the set. I really like the layout, very nicely done, and lots of secrets too. Considering the chosen set, this level is very well done =P
Layout/Gameplay: 9.8
Eyecandy: 8.7
Placement of Stuff: 9
Originality/Music: 8.6
Overall (not an average): 8.7
Level Rating: 8.96 ~ 9.

Black Ninja’s Castle

Beginning (and lighting) of level owns (especially the nice blackness effect of the skulls). Level is actually fairly short, but the boss battle with BN owns (must’ve been annoying animating all that =P). I like the eyecandy here a lot, creatively done.
Layout/Gameplay: 9.2
Eyecandy: 9.2
Placement of Stuff: 8.5
Originality/Music: 9.7
Overall/not an average: 9
Level Rating: 9.12 ~ 9.1. The shortest level so far got the highest rating, heh.

The Nature Castle
Nice & different scenery, interesting layout, and lots of secrets. Not the best level, but I like how it differed in appearance from the rest of the hocus levels so you wouldn’t have the same eyecandy thrown at you and stuff. Different enemy choice, and nice (but overused ;() music. Lots of chesire2s, too.
Layout/Gameplay: 8.5
Eyecandy: 9.3
Placement of Stuff: 8.4
Originality/Music: 9
Overall (Not an average): 8.8
Level Rating: 8.8 on the dot.

Mellenwah
Also nice first impression & tileset use. Music is alright, fits the mood. Eyecandy rux, layout is alright and the level is flooded with enemies. I like how the mad monks were designed. Seemed to be less hidden stuff in this one.
Layout/Gameplay: 8.5
Eyecandy: 9.3
Placement of Stuff: 8.4
Originality/Music: 8.7
Overall/not an average: 8.7
Level Rating: 8.72 ~ 8.7

Fooruman’s Hologram Machine
This level was HARD. And long. Layout was nicely done, multirouted. Lots of sparks, hurt events, lava, hatters, etc. Ergh. But lots of shields and pickups too so =D. Eyecandy was chaotic but managed to peice together alright, we couldn’t find a better music for this so this stayed, although I don’t mind M04. I had no idea what to do in the end boss place. I just stayed crawled up on the left side platform where nobody seemed to be able to hurt me (sparks were faced towards me, Bilsy didn’t notice me). Stomp scenery = evil. Sooner or later I somehow won. So yay.
Layout/Gameplay: 9.2 (haarrdd, try it on hard mode :P)
Eyecandy: 8.8
Placement of Stuff: 9
Originality/Music: 8.9
Overall/not an average: 9.2
Level Rating: 9.02 ~ 9

Just a question, but what was Greenkiller doing in Fooruman’s Hologram machine? =P

Oh Yeah

This is really a level ;o. I like the effects in the beginning of the level (the Hologram machine’s destruction, Fooruman being a stup and taking your coins). Most the level is just credits in a level (Nice idea), except the epic battle in the end which is nicely done. I don’t really know how to rate it since it’s not really a level (level, credits, cutscenes and EPIC BOSS BATTLE in one!) so I’ll just say it was an awesome ending.

Final Notes: I really like the concept of this pack. Needing to collect a certain amount of coins is more original and fun then just searching for the ending. It also had most the levels be multirouted and non-linear, which is also good. I had a lot of fun playing, testing, and giving suggestions towards this pack, and I think it is definately something you should all download and play. Happy (Early) holidays!

=Ratings=
A Random Castle: 8.7
Lack of Marmalade: 9.1
A Cold Day in Foomania: 9
Black Ninja’s Castle: 9.1
The Nature Castle: 8.8
Mellenwah: 8.7
Fooruman’s Hologram Machine: 9
Average: 8.914 blahblah ~ 8.9. I’ll be nice and up this by +0.3 because the cutscenes were rux enough to help the rating of this pack. 9.2 is what I give, and definately a download reccomendation.

Good Job Violet!
~Blacky.

(Kinda ironic that I would give this less than I gave your hocus pack. Heh, standards changing I guess.)

IMO this lvl pack is underrated and overrated at the same time. I was thinking of giving this a rating of 8.5 – 9.2 at a first glance, but apparently it has a rating of 7.7 and 10 at the same time, which is ridiculous.

FSP: Rent Collection features 9 lvls, 8 of which are playable. They are mostly very long and their difficulties range from medium to the kind of stuff Jazz Jackrabbit himself (if he existed for real) would have problems dealing with. Nevertheless the pack is worth completing, even if you end up throwing your PC into a river nearby (I used the Thames – it’s already pretty polluted so I don’t think anyone would mind having a PC on the riverbed).

There are lots and lots of puzzles in almost all lvls and there is an abundance of varied eyecandy although it seems to me that Violet has concentrated more on the actual puzzles and gameplay. Still, nobody should feel disappointed with Rent Collection’s eyecandy. It implements heaps of animation together with enough foreground and background tiles to simulate a JJ2 kaleidoscope. The triggers and destruct scenery are beautifully made. Unlike those of other lvls, any tile you trigger or shoot will fade in or out, fragment into shards of multicoloured, er, shards or “magically” appear. You just have to see it for yourself to understand me fully because I’ve never seen this kind of animated trigger scenery before. It would have been nice, however, if the diagonal blocks weren’t disguised as square blocks on the floor. I don’t see why you can’t just put in real diagonal tiles instead of hiding them? I think that it may be because the game Hocus Pocus didn’t have any diagonal tiles and therefore any Hocus Pocus tileset shouldn’t have them either. This may be conforming to Hocus Pocus standards but it sure is annoying, especially when you lose a heart or a life because you run straight through a tile into a baddie.

This lvl pack is very short, which is its biggest Achilles’ heel because practically anyone can complete this in under 3 hours (provided that you are able to survive on the harder lvls). Rent Collection has one little intro lvl, 7 fully playable lvls and 1, which is a cutscene, ending and super-boss lvl all rolled into one annoyingly-hard-to-complete lvl. The first lvls are quite easy compared to the later ones and also slightly shorter. Violet has really concentrated on triggers, puzzles and making the player jump like they’ve never jumped before. When I played I jumped so many times I ended up being grateful that my rabbit’s tendons couldn’t snap. The jumping can be very challenging because Violet has nicely asked cough*forced*cough us to not run and not to do special moves. I don’t mind playing according to Violet’s rules and the lvls are fully playable without running or coptering, etc, etc, but I wish that Violet didn’t stick to the Hocus Pocus-style gameplay like an obsessed puritan and not put any springs, float-ups, vines at all in the lvls. Yes, there are floating cats but they don’t tend to be reusable. Despite the frenzied jumping you have to do the gameplay is still marvellous and Violet has made all lvls suitable for walking, not running, rabbits. Like in his previous Hocus Pocus SP lvl pack, there are suckertubes to prevent players from reaching places by uppercutting or double jumping.

Puzzles? What puzzles? Oh, you mean those 100000000 million puzzles in front of me? Yes, Rent Collection is filled to the brink with puzzles. There are so many that I can’t even begin to list or describe them. Some are tried-and-tested ideas while others are on the cutting-edge of JJ2 puzzle development. Some will add to the fun by surprising the player while others will add to the fun by infuriating him. Puzzles make Rent Collection tick.

Unfortunately, there are numerous bugs and some confusion in the lvls (as always). You can’t save in some lvls (‘Black Ninja’s castle’ is one example) because you get an Out of Memory access violation message. ‘Black Ninja’s castle’ isn’t exactly huge so I wonder why I had that error. Another irritating thing is that sometimes there are not enough signs or hints to direct the player. In ‘A Cold day in Foomania’ I had problems finding the coins, finding the right passages and finding the keys. I ended up looking in JCS but found nothing. At last I realized that the Cheshire Cat could only be used once and I messed up when I was on it so I couldn’t get back up… I had to type jjfly and jjnowall for that because I didn’t want to restart the whole lvl. Rent Collection is actually not a bug-filled lvl pack, thank goodness, so ppl shouldn’t be worried too much about the things I mentioned.

There are other stuff included in this great pack that I haven’t mentioned, simply because it would take another 20 minutes of writing. Rent Collection is disappointingly short but what it lacks in…guess what I’m going to write next…quantity, it makes up for in quality.

A short but intense and consuming lvl pack, Rent Collection is a must-have for all jazzers, especially those that are bold enough to face the Fooruman, which, by the way, I could not defeat. eats Violet

Download recommendation and a 9.2.

Jarno vos, that’s the way Spotty talks. There are no accidental typos in Spotty’s speech! ;-P

Yes, all typos made by Spotty were completely intentional. If you’ve ever talked to him on MSN, you’d know. ;-)

[test edit. ignore me. ~cooba]

I’ve never came to review this episode, so I shall do now.

When downloading, I had expected another Time Tripping JJ2. When I was playing, I realised it is a lot better than the above mentioned. Not only does it have an actual story, it is original as heck. Every level lets you do something different. The levels still have the typical Hocus Pocus gameplay, in all levels you’ll have to find a required number of coins. However, they don’t have that “I must get everything as accurate as possible” feeling Time Tripping JJ2 had. The suckertubes are still there, and you aren’t allowed to run, kick, etc., but I can live with that. There are some custom bosses, which are uber-cool. I’ve never seen something like that before, amazing work. Still, the gameplay is not perfect. First, I feel that some parts were really unfair. In the “jungle” level (it was supposed to be a jungle I guess), there is a part with lots of spikes/lava, and you’ll have to manouver over it by using swinging vines. That is not only extremely difficult, I often found myself hurt without having any chance. How could I jump from a vine, land on the floor, get attacked by bat I can’t kill cause I can’t buttstomp and get the next vine without getting hurt? In the ice level I got killed right after I got the last coin by a raven and had to do it all over again. Same in the hologram machine, where a sparks killed me after I finally bet Greenkiller. The boss in the last level I couldn’t beat, but I won’t detract points for that. The levels are overall very difficult, which I like, but sometimes really frustrating and unfair, which I don’t like. The eyecandy is good and uses the tilesets well, and there are some cool effects with light. The story I liked, it made sense while not being dull or boring. I love Spotty’s comments, they add a nice feeling.

Overall this is a very good pack, but it’s not perfect due to a few bugs and some unfair parts which really frustrated me, aswell as an out of memory error when saving in BN’s castle, which could’ve been avoided by using another music file.

Download is recommended.

Eyecandy

Wow Great! Really layer 7 is great used in each level also layer 5-6 ar great used, ther is also good layer 4 eyecandy. I just love to play this many times.

Gameplay

Awsome long hard levels not spaz or jazz based, the level flow is great, i did’t found any bugs so – good

Ammo/Pickups

Good placed nice gem placed good secrets the coins also good placed in the level ( like the last one :P )
Also the carrots ar good placed.

Baddies placed

Cool also the endboss is really cool, Black Ninja’s movements ar awsome. I like the baddies placed i cant say this is bad.

You really deserve a 10 ( no 7.7 >.< )

Cooba i agree this is awsome.

10.0

~Dx

Ps: Download Recommed

Wadledee, if you’re running Win 95, 98, Me there should be no problems. If you’re running Win 2000 or XP then try changing the compatibility settings to Win 95/98 and that should work. I hope.

Another alternative for the .bat files is using the “Captain Cook” program, or just running JJ2 with a command line.

I never had problems with the .bat, and I have XP. So WADLEDEE LOSES!!1

No Labratkid
I May From My Dad Not Talking On MSN With Persons That He Never With Talking On SORRY!!

Wadledee use Captin Cook

I write a short:
-Intresting bosses but
Frustring me a GreenKiller (What I must do to kill him)
(Unsupported rating (8.7) removal. Greenkiller can be killed by shooting him until he disappears. In any case, this review does not mention much except the bosses, which is hardly enough to give a reader an accurate picture of the pack as a whole. Try to go into more detail and explain more sides of the upload. ~Violet)

My real review comes later, first I have to delete something like 300 levels so I can see the FSP levels in my Home Cooked List. Now you all think that I’m crazy and I’ve to use the Bat, but it doesnt work.
ReViEw LaTeR

Carrotpie

Yay!
Your Hocus pocus conversion episode is better…
But this one is very good too.
Placment of events is not perfect.
Eyecandy is good.
Gameplay rocks!!!
Overall:8.5

Rating Frogger Levels

Rating Story: (max: 10 points)
There is a good story, but please… write the story next time in the Level Description!
Points: 7

Rating Length: (max: 20 points)
Seven levels, one cutscene and one final. That is very good! The levels are pretty long and that\‘s very nice!
Points: 17

Rating Obstacles: (max: 20 points)
The levels are very, very hard! And there are also good bosses in two levels. And in the final. And I also liked the guards in Mellenwah.
Points: 18

Rating Bonus Placement: (max: 15 points)
In almost all levels are much too much bonusses.
Points: 6

Rating Eyecandy: (max: 15 points)
The foregrounds are good, especially in Mellenwah. You have also decorate the foreground good and also the background is super!
Points: 13

NUMBER OF POINTS: 61
MAX POINTS: 80
CALCULATING: 61/8=*7,625*

Final Rating: 7,6
Download recommendation: YES!

Wow Great Levels. Violet CLM

And By Some Levels Have You Used
A Hocus Pocus 3D Tleset (9.7 For The Tileset That You Have Used)

Eyecandy Ehhh
What Can I Says Over The Eyecandy EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Nothing :P (8.7)

By The Things That Spotty The Ghost Says
Have You Typed Words Wrong!

~Jarno

Nice Level Pack…

But its so much like the Hocus Pocus JJ2 levels some other person made -Edit: (I think its made from the same person).Even if I don’t like it that much, I’ll give it what it deserves because a lot of effort was put into it.

Edit: Raised rating. It was down just because I like playing co-operative with my brother – If one person just accidently touches a coin, we would have to load form the last save. If the person who is collescting the coins dies, we would have to load (He dies, loses his coins and the coins don’t come back)

More Edit: What I hate is that when I use the cat and jump of too early or late, I end up being stuck in the wall. Pay attention to how high you are when you’re on a cat cause something might happen…