Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I thought I might address some of the comments made. First of all, I must say that I’m impressed with the quality of level reviewing here at J2O. It sure beats the one-sentence commments I placed on the levels at J2C. :)

I must say that I was a little surprised that practically everybody’s main objection was the arches in the foreground. Of course they’re a little annoying since they cause you to lose health, but why should I be encouraged to take away an element that adds difficulty? I did (unwisely?) include elements in the level which cause you to lose health no matter how well you play, but I don’t see the arches as being one of those frustrating elements. Contention was designed around the same time as Dino Station, and the point of both levels was to escape from the nature of almost every single player level I received at Jazz 2 City, in which the challenge was no greater than running from room to room destroying whatever unintelligent enemies you found on the way. There’s really nothing wrong with that since that’s what Jazz 2 is all about, but I wanted my challenges to lie within the environment itself, which I largely accomplished through an overload of eye candy. Unfortunately, in doing this I apparently strayed too far from the fast-paced shoot-em-up gameplay that players expect from Jazz Jackrabbit. Even I admit that Contention lacks in “fun factor.”

As for the shortness of the level, that’s mostly due to the fact that I don’t have the time or will to finish a level I created three years ago. As some of you said, Contention really does work best as an example level for my tileset, but I didn’t want you to rate the tileset because it’s basically just a rip-off of Claw, so you would only be able to rate how well I cut and pasted the images. I didn’t release Contention with the thought that I was offering something new to the community. It should have been released with Dino Station, which received high marks in the beginning and now receives similar marks as Contention. I am glad to see this, since it shows me that you as a community are continually increasing your standards for what defines an excellent level. Finally, I included the coin warp at the end simply because my previous three levels all contained secret messages spelled out using weapons/fruit, so it was kind of a trademark for me. :)

Nice to see a lot of familiar faces here, AstroniA in particular. I hope that the J2S poll results will be more enjoyable than my level offering, whenever I happen to finish that particular effort.

Indeed, it is rarely a good sign when a level author boldly claims that his or her creation “may work in multiplayer.” So I entered this level with modest expectations and I still was disappointed. Personally, I think the “1 person bud i dont now his nickname” person who helped with this level took a very proactive step in remaining anonymous. This level shows a lack of effort, among other things, and one of the most unintentionally funny plot lines since Plan Nine from Outer Space. If you are still interested, read on. If you dare.

STORY: The story is possibly the best part of this entire pack in the sense that it is the most entertaining, though not intentionally. The story starts with you, Jazz the hero, learning that Devan (as in, Devan Shell) has captured the “Pinces Chip” (sounds like a seafood dish.) After that, you run off into “P*k*m*n land” (Pokemon, perhaps?) and battle a few Queen bosses who just happen to be floating around. One does wonder, however, what Pokemon Land and fighting queens has to do with recovering the seafood platter (or whatever it was) from Devan Shell. The entire story comes off as boarderline funny, but not good enough to actually be that humerous. In retrospect, though, it is pretty entertaining indeed.
Pros: There is a story, more or less.
Cons: The story rivals that of some low-budget science fiction movies.
Rating: 1.2

TILESET/TILESET USE: Two different tilesets are used across the four levels that make up this pack, “Chip’s Challenge” by Link (which, unsurprisingly, is not included in the ZIP) and a Pokemon tileset by Splash. The tileset use is…well…dismal. The levels consist mainly of badly placed tiles and a background that is both disturbing and odd at the same time. Tileset use just is not good.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: First the player gathers a lot of gems, ammo, and so on. And then you fight queens. And just as you are feeling some degree of accomplishment from beating the boss set, you get a fantastically ungratifying no level found error. Why? Because the next level setting is non-existant. So you loose everything you collect. Oh well.
Pros: Things exploding like gems are entertaining to a certain degree. Kind of.
Cons: Everything else.
Rating: 1.2

ORIGINALITY: Well, uh, it’s…original…in…some ways…I guess.
Pros: None.
Cons: Tons.
Rating: 1.0

DIFFICULTY: This level is certainally difficult, but not because it is hard. Playing this pack through is really the challenge.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.2

REPLAY VALUE: Any humor or entertaining “wow, this is so bad, it’s good” sentiment will probably fall apart about two minutes into play, leaving you with a bland, unentertaining level pack.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

OVERALL (not an average): I’ve made my point clear. Even for a first upload, this is poor. Avoid this pack.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

GAMEPLAY: F
Layout: F
Bugs: F
Level Quality: F

PLACEMENT: D-
Enemies: F
Weapons: D-
Other stuff: D-

EYECANDY: F
Look: F
Bugs: F
Tileset use: F

OVERALL: F

This just is not a good level. Put a lot more effort and testing into your levels next time. Good luck with further level making, but remember – perfection takes patience, practice, and possibly bribes. But mainly the first two.

- Trafton[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

I’d just like to say this is the perfect example of how not to upload a level. Not to mention how not to make a level. Four of them, in fact. The author claims the levels may work in multiplayer, and yes, that is a bad sign.

STORY: The story, I think, is this. Devan (one of the few words spelled correctly) has captured Pinces Chip, so you run off to P*k*m*n land and fight some Queens.
Pros: There is a story.
Cons: It makes no sense.
Rating: 1.2

TILESET/TILESET USE: The author uses two tilesets – Chip’s Challenge (not included) by Link, and some P*k*m*n tileset by Splash, and I’m not sure if it’s included or not. The tilesets are used insanely bad, with countdown blocks/blue tanks for ground, and ice/Splash and Ash thing for background. The only thing remotely good about this is that the author managed to get the green mover thingies to line up right. Pity they don’t do anything..
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: Enemies? There were.. enemies? Anyway, in the first level, you get a huge cache of gems and ammo. Then you go off to fight a queen in the second level. However, the next level setting for the second level is wrong, so you don’t get to keep it. Anyway, as you might expect, this factor failed miserably.
Pros: I’ll admit shooting tons of super red gems is fun.
Cons: Sadly, it was probably the best part of the entire pack.
Rating: 1.5

ORIGINALITY: Huh?
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

DIFFICULTY: There are two difficult parts about this. One is finding your way through the first level. The other is fighting the three queens in a row in the fourth (I believe) level, with no pits between them. Not that you get to fight them – a defeated queen pulls you back and you fall off of the level.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.2

REPLAY VALUE: No.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

OVERALL (not an average): No.
Pros: There is hardly a good spot to this pack, to be honest. The levels are mostly unplayable, too many queens, practically no enemies, clumping of events, non-working events, bad next level setting.. you name it! This easily beats “ZA’s bad side”, and possibly “Jazz’s house… or is it?”.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.0

I am sorry I sounded so negative in this review, but I couldn’t help it.

NAAAAAAAAAAH! I’m always last!
Ok, ok.

I downloaded this and FiShY to know what changes you made. Not big at all. It’s a nice tileset, I like those flying pigs. And fishs =]. Download recomended if you wanta make a funky level ;).

BTW. You made it for ElecrtoPizza, so make me Chicken version (ChIcKy perhaps? :))

I dunno what to type here…

[2 hours later]

Mwah, I have headache. Ok, so lets start.

The level and tileset are based on Claw (I didn’t played it, but my bro has, and told me everything, where he seen those things ect.).

Eyecandy hurts a little, you don’t know where you are in some areas. Enemies placed well, kinda sucks sometimes, but thats good. Level is shoooort like my 5-year old pants. Oh, and I saw a bonus somewhere.

Overall, isn’t perfect for a 3-year-work level =]. A 7.7.

good bud the levels are very strange and longthe puzzles are somtime to hard and play levels wo loking verie much on the levels jou alredie played out is not realy funnie that make it a 8 bud beacause the levels are funny wen jou see them for first it is a 8.5[please dont email me about this review]

“The tables have turned, it seems. The biased one is now the one who is being reviewed by US. ;-P”
Ironic isn’t it ;)
I’ll post a full review when I have time. Till then, I’ll just say 8. :)

In a word, (Malaysian doorknobs). Well, I guess that was two words. Sue me.

Okay, the level is short, but it is very difficult. Or maybe I just suck. Anyway, the tileset is wonderful. I’ve only played Claw a couple times so I can’t be a judge for accuracy, but it’s still very nice looking.

The level itself isn’t bad at all. It’s tricky, but it’s slow. There are no moments of constant action. Most of the time I was just trying to figure (out where I left my last pair of chopsticks) and where I was trying to go, or perhaps yelling because of all of the hidden tricks. Nevertheless, it was an interesting play. I wouldn’t call it particulary fun, but challenging. Okay, so I never do reviews. Sue me again. I have no real system for rating, but I think I will give it a 7.5. The tileset is beautiful, albiet a little ‘bland’ (but I guess that was kind of the point), but the level is annoying. Though well made.

(Content edit. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

A level by wakeman.

Firstly, let me mention that the tileset rocked, and I havent played Claw and have no clue what it is. Well, about the level. Yes, it is a fairly short single player level, and I didnt like it as much. The eyecandy was good, except the foreground I despised, I couldnt tell where I was going or where the ground was in some places, and I crashed into enemies blocked by layer 3 columns. I despised that, also the sudden booby traps that appear without warning and are quite hard to avoid. I dont reccomend having the demon right on the save point either. The eyecandy mostly confuse me and that lowered the mark by a great deal. The backround is good though. One more thing, sometiems when you go to low in the level, you see the columns in the backround “floating”. It is minor and hardly noticable, but I just pointed it out.
The enemy placement I also didnt like much. Some enemies=placed good. Some=not. There were hoards of enemies in some places and some were blocked by later 3 and were hard to see. Other than that they were good.
Pickup placement: A little on the sparse side, perhaps? There WERE pickups, and they WERE well placed, but I feel there could of been more. Also, the coin idea was interesting, but kind of confusing. I didnt like the spike pit, since you loose a life for almost no reason, and well, I just didnt like it. The apple in the end idea was strange, could of been in a text, but someone wanted some “creativity” or something. The gameplay was kind of poor, since the falling rocks were hard to avoid, the vines hard to see and the spikes almost everywhere. I also despised that wind or whatever it was shaking me, because at the top of the level I almost got stuck to a wall, and when I got free the wind pushed me into a pit where I fell to the bottom of the level on spikes. The first time this happend, I couldnt find the way out of the pit because layer 2 or 3 or whatever was covering the way out.

OVERALL: Though I sounded negative in the review, the level wasnt that bad. Although I didnt like it enough to give it 7.5 or 8, it still had some good elements to it and some things were done quite nicely. I’ll give this a 7 and a download reccomendation. Glad to see you’ve returned wakeman.

When I try to start it appear that theres no tileset! please reupload it whit them.

i just tested it and it is great i like evreting bud then to evreting about nintendo PLEASE say me wen the full version is out

(Unfair rating removal. Judging by your three 10’s given out so far, it would be a good idea if you used other ratings. They do exist, after all. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

So, I just say what you may need to fix in this level.

-Be sure that you don’t have any places in your level that a player can get stuck in those.
-Do not use foreground layers too much. Do not make the level too confused.
-limit your trap and enemy placement.

So, otherwise your level is good.

The tables have turned, it seems. The biased one is now the one who is being reviewed by US. ;-P

Anyways, this is a pretty creative single player level featuring some pretty cool gameplay. While I do want to see that last J2S poll result, I’ll still review this because…well…I have no will whatsoever. Now for the review!

TILESET/TILESET USE: Tileset use looked pretty cool. Indeed, in fact, it was quite enjoyable. The only real problem I had was the arches within the level, which were quite annoying and got in the way a lot. Other than that, gameplay was pretty enjoyable.
Pros: Looks very nice.
Cons: The annoying arches can get in the way.
Rating: 8.5

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: Weapon placement was pretty good, though in general you won’t need to much weapons in this level. It is more of a puzzle level than anything else, and makes this quite clear. While you will fight plenty of enemies, the fights are mainly strategic and you have to know where to land in order to avoid being damaged while still able to kill the enemies. Placement is good.
Pros: Nice placement.
Cons: Maybe a little too little ammo.
Rating: 8.2

ORIGINALITY: This level is pretty original and features some cool effects.
Rating: 8.2

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: Gameplay was not the level’s strongest point. It was often confusing and hard to tell what direction to go in and the player would wind up running around, falling into pits, and trying to avoid dying. Which is not easy. This level, in fact, is not easy at all. But after some practice, it gets easier to understand this level. Still, at the beginning, it can be a bit confusing.
Pros: Good gameplay.
Cons: Confusing.
Rating: 7.0

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: This is the sort of level which you can play a lot since it has so many eyecandy details and secrets.
Pros: A lot of secrets and cool eyecandy.
Cons: None.
Rating: 8.5

OVERALL (not an average): “Contention”, which uses Claw Set 1, is a prime example of a creative and well-done single player level. While it may be confusing at first to players, it’s not that hard to adapt to its unique style of play, which makes this an enjoyable and unique single player experience. The only problem I had was the arches, which get in the way. Enabling low detail helps a bit, but not enough to make up for the fact it removes some other eyecandy. This is a solid and skillfully crafted level that deserves your download not only because it’s good but, heck, because it’s Wakeman!
Rating: 7.5 and Download Recommendation

GAMEPLAY: B+
Layout: B-
Creativity: A -
Bugs: B+

EYECANDY: A
Tileset use: A
Eyecandy look: A
Creativity: A -
Bugs: B+

PLACEMENT: B+
Weapons: B+
Enemies: B+
Carrots: A -

THE FINAL GRADE: A -

THE FINAL RATING: 7.5

+ PROS: Good gameplay, good replay value.
- CONS: Annoying foreground layer, last J2S poll is STILL unanswered. ;-P

- Trafton

EDIT: Oh, yes, it includes the new Claw Set, which is quite spiffy.

EDIT AGAIN: Wakeman, the level is quite good. Really, 7.5 is not a bad grade whatsoever. You shouldn’t be disappointed at all. While it is true that hard levels are good, there is a certain limit to difficulty. This is definitely a good level and the arches don’t detract too much. No level is perfect, but you should focus on the positive. The level is definitely very good, and the tileset is really outstanding and I am sure that it will be used quite a bit. Sorry to sound discouraging – it was not what I was trying to sound like.

- Trafton[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Barfin’ enough, he uploaded it under the level, and not the tileset. The tileset rock.
The level is not so good, because there are many confusing foreground layers and booby traps, so you can’t see what is what and what not. But if you know those, it’s very easy and you’ll do it in a minute or two.
The eyecandy is good, very good. The gameplay is okay, the layers suck a bit but the special effects are nice. So I’ll give you a 6.5 for making a okay level.

What is wakeman doing here?
Anyway, I won’t rate this until you finish the last J2S poll results.

Muwahaha…. revenge… finally..[This review has been edited by Newspaz]

Hi Wakeman

Kinda ironic that after all this time, the first one to review your level is me, eh?

Introductions aside, let’s get cracking…

Having played Claw (the shareware at least) I must admit this is a remarkably well-done copy of the look of Claw. The very idea is just so tounge-in-cheek (Jazz and Claw were destined to rival each other) it’s amazing that no one else has thought of it before (at least not to my knowledge.) The tileset does shine, and while it could use more animations, it does the job well and should be easy to use.

As I said before, I only played the shareware version of Claw, so I can’t tell if this level is new or a copy of one of the original levels… it resembles La Roca slightly, but I think it’s a new piece.

All the foreground layers make it confusing to navigate around, though, and all in all it’s not very long or very challenging. The level feels more like an example level for the tileset, which is a good thing.

I give this an “A” for effort. The tileset I rate 10, the actual level, as a single player affair, I give 2, so split the difference and it’s 8. Good job wakeman, looking forward to the J2S archives!

Well, it is a tileset by disguise ;P

The tileset, unlike its previous fish version, looks more papery and cartoony. The flying pigs are interesting, but i dont like how the tiles are drawn or how they look. Like Violet said, this is too one themed, which gets boring. Looking at it I think it would be hard making a good level with it, but at least its easy to use. It looks kinda bad, and there should be more colors, pink does get boring after looking at it for a while.
Pros: Its a tileset. Easy to use, masking works, has ground in it and stuff.
Cons: One themed, small, one colored.

OVERALL: Though Ive seen much worse, its definately not the best by disguise, and I did like FiShY more. Download this if you want, but i dont reccomend it much.

Empire of dark bunny

The author included three files in the ZIP File: two tilesets and a word file called ‘WOW!.doc’. I didn’t get the ‘WOW!’ amazement when I opened the document. The author probably likes making use of WORDART and also calls his levels ‘VERY COOL’ and ‘GOOD!”. He even offers to give people one of his made tilesets. Heh, I don’t think anyone would want one.

The tileset has pretty much everything ripped, e.g. the spike balls from Medivo and poles. There is a lack of eyecandy and it looks pretty boring. I don’t think anyone would want to make a level with this one. The masking is average.

PROS:
The author put some effort into making this.

CONS:
Ripped tiles, boring, lack of eyecandy.

VERDICT:
You might want to download this if you like red tilesets with ripped tiles. A normal person wouldn’t want to download this though.
RATING:
3.0

er..i kind of like it. :)

but, mirrow, nothing not spam deserves a 1.0.

Raymanworld

The author tells us this is ‘maked’ with Kitfond.pcx. Now, we don’t mind you tell us which file extention your set was at first, but since we rate the tileset, not the level it’s rather inappropriate to tell what the level uses.

The general idea was OK, but the outcome is really bad. The tileset basically lacks everything: platforms, poles, scenery blocks, vines, masking, eyecandy, a background, and fails on every other aspect of a tileset.

If the author would’ve spent more time on it, it might’ve gotten a better rating.

CONS:
Basically lacks anything you expect of a set.

PROS:
The author used an original theme.

VERDICT:
Despite the original thought behind it, it doesn’t make the tileset better. A 1.2. For the effort. Or something.