Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Finally after months of hard work, Darksonic has finally completed and uploaded Impressions, which I think is his best CTF pack yet. Now to review!

Significant

This level uses the somewhat underused JJ1 Exoticus Tileset. It’s medium sized and it’s symectrical, so it is balanced. It isn’t too simple either, which I think is a good thing. There is a tube at the lower middle area with takes you too a higher level, collecting a Full energy on the way. This level has a good flow too.

The eyecandy is not the best I’ve seen with this tileset, but it is still very good.
Some temple tiles have been used in layer 6, which gives it a different atmosphere compared to other levels this tileset along with the music. The leaves in walls don’t look very good though. Plenty of EC things have been used with the sprite layer as they should be used, but with a few more original things like the wooden pillar which were meant to be used for sucker tubes :).

The placement is also original. The seeker PU has been placed at the top above a brick, which there are triggers which destroy the brick, and the Seeker PU comes falling down. The ammo is all placed in interesting shapes instead of the standard 2×2 squares. Like I said before, the Full Energy is placed in the middle of the level which can get by riding a sucker tube.

So this is a level with some original ideas. This gets an 8.4 from me.

Sharp Icicles

The level name suits the level theme well. I haven’t very many levels with the Glacier tileset, and this is probably one of the best. It’s semi-symectrical this time instead of symectrical, but there’s not much differance. The layout is quite a lot simpler than 01. It’s still solid though, and flows well. This also the smallest level of the pack.

The EC was pretty good for such a limited tileset like this, even though it was a little repetive in places, especially the caves on layer 5. The music and the Background fade colour give this level a nice, peaceful atmosphere. As the name suggests, there is lots of Icicles in this level. Layer 6 is original too.

The placement was nothing really special, but it’s decent. There is a Full Energy in the middle, a Bouncer PU and a Toaster PU placed on each half of the level, and the bases placed on almost the same Y axis. This is quite normal for a CTF level. This level would be niced with some original placement like in 01.

This worse than 01, but it is still fairly decent anyway, which is why I give it a 7.9.

Nature’s Bad Habit

03 uses the Natures Ruins Tileset.
The layout on this level is completely different to the layouts in 01 and 02, because it is Un-symectrical, but balanced. There are warps in this level to make it more complicated. There are fewer ways to the Red base than to the Blue Base though.

The EC was the thing that made this level special. The yellow fade colour, the beautiful music that I suggested to DS and the Rain give this level a nice atmosphere like in 02. The background is original as well. The caves look a bit squared off in places, but it shouldn’t matter too much. There isn’t too much variation in the EC but that’s typical in levels with Disguise’s tilesets. 1up’s have been used as EC things, something which I have never seen yet in any level with any tileset.

The ammo was placed in nice shapes and it was well balanced, but rather like in 02 it wasn’t really anything special.

The EC in this level was the best part, The gameplay was good but the placemnt could use a bit more originality. I think this deserves an 8.3.

Perception

We are now half-way through the pack, this level uses my D*mn + conversion. This level’s layout is completely symectrical and very platformy, but the flow is very good, and there is plenty of ways to the bases. It is simple too.

The eyecandy here is a master piece. There are lots of caves, bones, staglites/staglimites and other stuff which have been used to flood the level with EC, without overdoing it or making it too repetitive. The EC in this level is one of the best EC’s for this tileset, it’s almost as good as The Chasm. The music combined with all the other elements gives this level a scary atmosphere, unlike in 01,02 and 03.

The Placement was slightly more original than in 02 and 03. Things like the “Freeze Enemies” used around the full energy is an example. One thing I have noticed in this pack is that so far all the levels had a full energy in the middle. This is not really a bad thing, since it is the most balanced there, but more variation between the levels would be nice. There are 3 PU’s: Bouncer, Toaster and RF. The Bouncer and the Toaster PU are placed near the bases, and the RF PU in the middle.

This level has the best EC out of the pack I think. Which is why I give it 8.5, which is high for a single level.

Return of the Doomed

At first this level used the Dark Palette, then the Shade Palette, and finally decided to use the Fire palette. In case you don’t what tileset I’m talking about, its Inferno 2.0, a conversion released by P4ul a couple of months ago. This level is unsymectical, but it seems to be balanced when playing it. The level feels a lot larger it actually is, because it has a lot of open space. The flow is not as good as the previous levels but it is still pretty fluid.

DS tried to make some good EC with this tileset, but he failed a bit in some areas. The caves don’t have very much detail, and 80% of the EC is all on layers 5 + 6. There are quite a few tile bugs too, some which weren’t the tilesets fault :(. This could use just use quite a lot more of everything in
an EC point of view.

The placement was decent in this level. This has 2 Pu’s: Seeker and RF. They are placed fairly near the bases. Quite a few interesting ammo shapes where there too. There is also some food to fill the level with events. Not much else to say about the placement in this level.

The EC could use a bit of work on in this level, but everything else is good. Therefore, I give an 8.

The 8th Dimension
This level uses BioCorridor 1.26, which is underused. The layout on this level is also unsymectrical, but it’s balanced, linear but still solid. The layout is extremely simple, with two “floors” of platforms. While linearity is not a bad thing, it can just get annoying. Again the flow is good.

The EC is quite average for this tileset, there are lots of things in this tileset that DS could of used, but were just ignored. I guess this because he didn’t want to copy Snooze’s level, which had very good EC, and so made this EC simpler so it didn’t resemple his level too much.
The background layers are quite simple too, but layer 7 is good and sort of original.

There are 3 PU’s in this level: Bouncer, Toaster and Seeker. The Full energy carrot was nicely placed, down a long narrow tunnel with a warp at the end to avoid camping. As with all the other levels the placement in interesting shapes.

This level is not really very special, but it is still good. So the rating is 7.8.

Disastrous Dungeon
The pack is all most done now, here is 07, using the Castle 2 tileset.
This level is symectrical, so that means it is balanced. This level is the most cramped of all the levels in this pack. The layout is not like a “DS layout” because it is not as simple. Flow is not as good as the other levels, but it plays well.

The first thing you’ll notice when you play this level in the background, it is original, and it reminds me of the Background in Lava Lagoon. The EC here is probably the best I’ve seen with this set, lots of things have been used in this level, such as EC in the walls, EC in the caves, chains in the foreground, plenty of ground EC things like Knight and Cannons, and the music gives the level a strange atmosphere.

The placement is well done, it was very balanced and in good shapes. There are only 2 PU’s in this level, Bouncer and Seeker. They work well together in a cramped level like this. There is also a Full Energy in the middle of the level.

The EC was very nice in this level, but the flow could have been better. I think this deserves an 8.3.

The Sweet Revenge
Last stop in this pack, a large Persian Paradise level. This is the most open level of the pack, and has an amazing flow. I didn’t even though Darksonic made this until I found the Text String, it is a completely new style of level to him. The layout is quite complex, and in some cases original.

The EC here is truly great. Practically every tileset in the level was used in this level, and they are used extremly well. I never thought you could make eyecandy like this, good job! :D The background is original, it makes the level look like a sort of Arabic Town rather than a desert.

The Placement is very nice here too. Stuff like the Seeker Pu only availble with a Copter. There is a Bouncer PU on the left and an RF PU on the right. The ammo is in good shapes like in all the other levels.

This level is probably the best in the pack, everything in it pwns. I give it an 8.7, which is very high for a single level.

Score

8.4+7.9+8.3+8.5+8+7.8+8.3+8.7/8 = 8.3

Bonus Points
0.1 for suprising me with 08
0.3 for effort in this pack
0.1 for using some underused tilesets

Final Score = 8.8

This is not only your best pack ever, but one of the best CTF packs on J2O.
This beats New Ages I by far.

This review took me 3 hours to write BTW.

EDIT: This review was very biased, so I’m removing the rating.