Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Woah! Three single-player levels in a row! As one of the last few rabbits who play single player elusively, I am thrilled to see there is somebody who’s still willing to make levels for us. Although Apple Surprise is far of the quality of some of the single-player packs on J20, the sheer fact that it exists means it deserves a review.

THEME:

Apple Surprise is based on a quite simple but interesting premise—every time you encounter an apple in the level, something dangerous lurks near. Most of the times the ground beneath your feet is about to collapse, although sometimes the apple warns you the next few steps you make might inevitably hurt you. Since this is a single level only, I cannot judge it like an episode; still, the apple-danger theme runs consistent throughout the level, and makes the experience coherent.

8/10

EYECANDY & TILESET CHOICE:

It is 2016 and there are plenty of great tilesets and tileset conversions on J2O. Of all the original tilesets, Carrotus is the one I feel most overused to the point where it’s boring to play it. This might be a personal preference of mine, but I still feel it is best to encourage the use of other tilesets. There were also quite a lot tilebugs throughout the level, although nothing experience-breaking. Most of the times, the eyecandy felt dull and repetitive; in my book this is unavoidable due to the use of classic Carrotus tileset.

Using a tileset conversion of Carrotus would raise the score in this category.

4/10

LEVEL DESIGN & FLOW:

The level utilises a lot of warp points, and uses them well, even better than some of the great levels on J2O. However, at times I felt lost and disoriented, and simple instructions might have improved my experience. If the author intended those moments to be like “puzzles” of sort, the implementation wasn’t great—those moments didn’t make me think, but jump around rapidly, trying to find the secret “hidden passage” to the next part of the level.

I also had to replay the level once for what I assume was a triggering mistake; I might’ve missed a required step to which I couldn’t go back, and thus I couldn’t move forward as well. However, this might have been due to a mistake on my end, so I won’t take points for this.

5/10

GAMEPLAY:

Hanif went for a strictly vanilla gameplay, which still has unexpected twists and turns. The difficulty isn’t too high and the level is suitable for somebody who hasn’t played in years, or with very little experience in the game. Still, the game play is quite enjoyable, even when accounting for all the flaws. Might be the fact that there are not many new single-player levels, yet still I found myself entertained at the end, and even glad I downloaded this level.

7/10

ANGELSCRIPT:

There is no AS for this level. It’s not required for every level to implement JJ2+ functionality, but I believe this level can greatly benefit from some scripting, even if it is used only for eyecandy enhancement.

N/A

BONUS:

Every new single player level deserves at least +1 point for just existing, and this level is good enough to get a second one! So here it goes, 2 bonus points for still making levels for us, single player rabbits! Thank you!

+2

OVERALL:

While Apple Surprise is far from perfect, if you enjoy playing single-player levels, I suggest you download it and try it out. It might disappoint you, but it is far from awful, and it presents some new thematic ideas which I haven’t seen in another single-player level.

6.5/10 (26/40)

I really like this level. I remembrer it in Annvicersary Bash 18 pack and it’s awesome! I recommend everybody to download this!

Edit: It also appeared in Anniversary Bash 17 and Anniversary Bash 20!

HOW TO DO THIS?

Judging this level from a competitive point of view, it is a solid level that offers a fresh new layout.

Update: The latest version fixes the major gameplay flaws so I’m updating my rating appropriately as well. Good job FireSworD!

This level has a very original layout, yet it is still fun to play in competitive games. I like the way the bases were implemented especially. The level should be somewhat balanced as well. It contains 2 full energies, but they have a long spawn time, which ensures that players cannot survive too easily. It works well for games of any size too.

That was fun and challenging. Thank you for bringing back the JJ2 nostalgia feeling.

Late answer again, but’:

1. This test IS properly tested. I passed it myself and I know some people that passed it as well.

2. You probably can’t figure out the end of level 2, entire level 3, or end of 4. All are possible.

But yeah. More levels = better test level. Will add more in next one.

Late answer, but I thought people think that tests are supposed to be challenging/hard.
But the lightning is annoying. I’ll fix that.

EDIT 30th April 2020 Nevermind lmao this level stinks

awesome level, very fun to play, different than other levels because of the eats. gj

after playing this level for a while i realize my rating was a bit harsh. great level, you can get used to the color, and every bit is well made

I normally don’t approve of symmetrical levels, but this is symmetry done well; it works well with this level.
The Rocket pu/bouncer pu are inset(accessible only by electroblaster and maybe bouncer) but those inset pu’s is ok because of easily accessible electroblaster and well balanced by the two well placed full c.
The sweet elevator in the middle also adds to the fighting experience, its a tough level fight or die. a bit too fast paced, you just gotta be good.
The egg cases are real nice too, normal cases would be way too distracting. but the eggs are almost invisible(I don’t wonna see that ** there!)

A big battle level with no odd ammo; consistent with itself in every conceivable way,
with blaster pu, flame pu and fireshield where it is almost meaningless.(in the water)
The movement is smooth, nowhere to trip or fall back down, clear vines, carrots spaced nicely, with springs inset where they should be; this only make you slow a little if ya wonna use em and no tripping if ya don’t.
This level lets ya move without thinking, you just go where ya like; the ammo restrictions make the fighting closer and the level bigger than it already is.

Very cool pack, I liked it. I can use them for my own battles and CTF matches with some of friends, seriously. The music is perfect for me, especially mo3 modules and ogg music files, which I can convert them to MP3 using Total Audio MP3 Converter.

The tilesets are very cool, I can use them to create my own levels.

Architecture of levels seem ok, especially the warps to arena in the start. When I’m playing single player this technique can show me these arenas and test the fire skills.

[Rating (10) removal – PurpleJazz]

I really like these levels, especially the tileset. I can make a single player level and change background from normal to textured. The tileset is the fix of FooMergev2 tileset. I really like it, because there are mixed worlds for my thoughts. Impressive work. The music is so fast-paced, I can make an mp3 format using Total Audio MP3 Converter and use it for my own level in other games, because mp3 formats fit to them very well.

Very good level! The anglescript code is superb! I can also change music in angelscript using Notepad++.

Also, you forgot to insert the rest of music Violet CLM.

I also like custom weapons like shield cubes, ricochet fire, chain launcher and flaming footprint. I also think about the angelscript code of ricochet fire weapon.

By the way, the level is awesome!

10/10 HYPE!

Very good level, I knew that would be inserted to AB18 pack, I like it so much! I really like this mo3 music. I can convert it to tracker using OpenMPT or even mp3 using Total Audio MP3 Converter.

Pretty good tilesets, especially some of them are look like natural forces. I also discovered that file xlmdamn3.j2t is missing, I report that to PurpleJazz and recommend other users to download this.

Really good tileset, especially some blocks came from original Jazz Jackrabbit 2 game. I recommend to download this! I will also use them for my future projects.

I really like these tilesets, and I think I shall construct some levels to know that my version of this unfinished episode will be finished. Diamondus, Tubelectric and some other tilesets are awesome. Due to my memos on my smartphone, I wrote that I will construct these levels and send them here. In fact I will construct the levels project in the other game i have on my laptop – Super Mario Bros. X. Also one note that I am background and block ripper, I can use this ability to create custom backgrounds and blocks and I think I will create the level clear jingle song like I was writing on my Impressive Flashback memo on my smartphone. I can also use some songs from mods.jazz2online.com or from site Modarchive.org. I have to name them due to music name, for example IC-IF043.j2b, but I need to convert these modules to j2b. No need to worry, I can also convert modules to mp3 files using Total Audio MP3 Converter for SMBX (shortcut of Super Mario Bros. X) project – also in that order, e.g. IC-IFWorld1-1.mp3.

If you don’t mind, I’ll review this entire episode as whole instead of spreading it through 3 downloads, as I haven’t played your Castle and Carrotus levels before and a lot of points apply to all of these levels.

Well then, surprisingly this pack starts off with a recreation of the “Rabbit in Training” level you get when playing the original levels on easy, and I guess it’s mostly doing a better job at it aside from the weird Layer 3 platforms you unexpectedly fall through. Are these to explain secrets in the walls? The text is all Hungarian so it’s hard to tell.

Anyway, from the first real level on, you immediately get the classic JJ2 vibe, yet it also has a tone of it’s own which I like. The levels are better designed around the rabbits jumping capabilities and special moves, as well as proper usage of weapon-specific destruct scenery. Some of the levels (especially Castle3) felt a bit too “mazy” for my taste, but on the other hand I really liked trying to find my way into the many secrets in the walls. Speaking of Castle3, the use of poles to break through walls felt fresh and actually made the poles useful.

Some levels may have too many respawning enemies (although that may be opinion-based here), but overall enemies were placed strategically enough to make other weapons than the blaster useful. The bosses were good too, all 3 of the original first episode are there and all have been made harder with a simple twist in their arena (which I won’t spoil here). The least fun to me was the Schwartzenguard in Carrotus, though the idea was certainly nice.

Speaking of Carrotus, the least favorite of this pack to me was Carrotus1, as the level felt more “plain” than the others with less secrets and interesting pathways. The best one may either be Carrotus2 or Labrat3, even though the Bird section in Labrat3 had it’s tedious moments. Also, the placement of the Bird Morph is a bit off, as dying will reset you to a further savepoint. Luckily I had my Gun9 ready to backtrack and shoot the Bird Morph through the wall. And lastly, the part in Carrotus3 where you move on spikes using Inv carrots worked well!

Here are 2 places I got stuck too easily:
By stomping into the Steam and moving right
By running near the wall and jumping

I recommend downloading this if you’re in the mood for some classic unscripted JJ2 goodness. There is enough personality and variety in here to keep it interesting from beginning to end, but it’s lacking a story (well, other than part of JJ2’s original story) and about 90% of all text lines are in Hungarian which I can’t read. So long story short: play this if you enjoy JJ2’s singleplayer, but don’t expect a Devres or Dreamscape.