Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

omg full review (well, full is too much i guess – let’s just call this review ‘not very quick’) by eigus – is it the apocalypse?! Anyway…

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Device by Snooze and Darksonic

First Thoughts – N/A*/*N/A

A medium-sized (125×64) battle level by sn0z and ds using Gus’ Big Landscape in the evening palette.

Rating – N/A
Bonuses/BOOnuses – ur phat mom LOL haha j/k unfunny N/A
Final section rating – N/A

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Theme & Atmosphere – 8.2/10

A mountainy lakeside at sunset with some buildings (perhaps the Device Testing HQs?). Nothing extremely original, so no exceptionally high rating. While it looks like a peaceful evening near a lake, it may also feel slightly creepy (+0.2 for that). Why? Well, Awesome’s music gives this a sad/kind of scary feeling at some parts of the track. Also, while the textured background’s fade looks quite evening-ish, the color also gives a ‘polluted’ feeling (perhaps polluted by the Device…?).

Rating – 8.0
Bonuses/BOOnuses – creepy feeling at times (two reasons; +0.1 for each reason) – +0.2
Final section rating – 8.2

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Eyecandy – 8.4/10

Very good EC, looks quite natural, there’s variation (well mostly, just one place I don’t quite like), etc. I especially like the waterfall at 22,50 – if you’ll do similar things in your levels, make it look like in Device! Rather no tilebugs (or it is just me – I don’t have eyes like Rag’s, but oh well since I guess he played this several times he’d point them out), which is a good thing. I like how the natural cave tiles fit with the background bricks. No ‘random’ or spammed ec as well. One complaint about variation – I’d like the bricks in the wall to the left of 8,35 to have more variation when it comes to width or height. Also this is probably just me, but I don’t like one more place – around 33,46. The bg bricks there look kinda out of place… probably just me, but I don’t like it.

Rating – 8.5
Bonuses/BOOnuses – nice waterfall (+0.1), kinda lack of variation in bottom-left wall (-0.1), bricks that are kind of out-of-place (-0.1) – -0.1
Final section rating – 8.4

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Gameplay – 8.6/10

Ah, I bet my review will get -20 (or so) helpful ratings for this section :< anyway, here goes. The layout is nice and pretty easy to learn, gj (mostly) ds. It’s easy to get from place to place, no cramped spots or similar things. Ammo and other pickups are placed very well too, they’re easy to reach and no place feels like it has too much or too little ammo. No revolutional shapes of pickups (I like the pepperspray cluster at 41,17 though) but at least they aren’t 3×3 blocks or similar shapes ;PPP PUs are placed well, pretty gj with the suckertubes that transport you to other places after you kick the PU or just want to run away (only the toaster doesn’t have a suckertube behind, but you can kick it facing right and you’ll be able to instantly get outta there). No rabbit bias either, I’ve played this with both Jazz and Spaz and it’s as easy to navigate through the level with Jazz as with Spaz.

Rating – 8.6
Bonuses/BOOnuses – N/A – +0.0
Final section rating – 8.6

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Final Verdict – A very good battle by Snooze and DS. You have no excuse not to download this, and I’m sure this will be in AB11.
Final Rating – (8.2 + 8.4 + 8.6)/3 = 8.4
DR – Yes!

~Eigus of XLM