Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Well, it’s been a goodly long while since I played through a decent custom Jazz 1 level pack, so I popped a Cherry Starburst in my mouth, took one final pit stop, then settled down in my chair for a grand old time with Blackraptor’s “Lost Ages” JJ1 pack…

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Carrotus Level 1

From the very first level of the pack, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the rest of Blacky’s pack. For one thing, the brown rock background cave tile seemed to be malfunctioning (although I do believe he pointed that out himself), leaving brown tile vines hanging in midair in a rather unsightly mess. The sound effects didn’t work either, although Blackraptor acknowledged that as well.

I was also surprised by the difficulty level playing on medium, especially that first “Thorn Tunnel”. Seemed a bit excessive on medium mode to me.

I felt that some of the events (like the goblets) didn’t match the level very well, and the music also didn’t fit the level (although, to be fair, there really isn’t that much of a selection, and there won’t be until some bright person figures out how to put custom songs in a JJ1 level). I would’ve maybe used a song like Fanolint, or maybe Scraparap or Dreempipes (not that my choices are much better, lol).

Edit: It seems that I was mistaken. There IS a way to use custom music in Jazz 1 levels after all, therefore your horizons have officially expanded.

Fortunately, that’s about where the downsides end.

I was blown away by all the ingenious stuff that Blackraptor did with the now virtually limitless JJ1 engine. Custom baddies (with custom ANIMATIONS). Custom moving tomato and airboard platforms. A very well laid out level structure. The Birdie baddies were especially impressive.

There was also a Fast Feet segment, which although not perfect (I kept getting hung up on stuff), it was good enough.

The only thing I was disappointed not to find was any kind of custom weapon (which is possible, by the way, because I’ve done it before in my own Jazz 1 levels). I invented this really cool spike knife gun using the Dreempipes mine shards…

…But I digress.

Overall, there were some snags and bumps, but Level 1 ended on a high note in my mind.

Carrotus Level 2

Hoorah! The cave walls worked in this level!

Once I got over my initial pleasure concerning this, I quickly became concerned with the level itself. To be brutally honest, it confused the sam hill out of me. I could not for the life of me figure out how to get out of that dadgum cave, and I wasted almost every last second of my time in a vain attempt to do so. At great length, I at last figured out that you’re supposed to ride the airboard from one end of the room to the other (with a tricky over-the-tree jump in the middle), then climb out a hole in the roof to daylight.

Sigh.

Fortunately, this level is well supplied with gameclocks, so I was able to escape the “dungeon” with my life, my sanity and a few ticks left on the dial.

The next part was much easier to get through, with some platform-action sequences featuring more bodacious custom baddies (Including some that look like gophers who’re high on meth), a HUGE clump of grape food, and some cherries, too. Then there’s a fake exit sign, some Marbelara dragons, and finally the end.

Thank goodness. I thought I’d NEVER get out of there alive.

Overall, Level 2 was astounding as a complex, custom-made level, but also frighteningly confusing.

Carrotus Bonus

Another level that was brilliant in concept, but far less than impressive in execution. I spent most of all of my time trying to get out of the airplane landing strip that constitutes the first room, so I never did end up finding my way into the rest of the level.

That was too bad, because I was greatly looking forward to it.

Jungrock Level 1

I’ll be honest. At first, I wasn’t too impressed at the thought of a custom Jungrock level.

“Aww, man,” I complained to myself. “This won’t be very original at all!”

Happily, I was quickly proved to be wrong.

Jungrock According to Blackraptor is a brand new place, with seemingly every piece of eyecandy reinterpreted and used in a way you’d never have imagined before. Remember the springy plants? They’re plain old eyecandy now. Remember the green thorns? So are they.

Jungrock’s also been infused by some jungular tiles from…well, Jazz 2 Jungle, naturally. The graceful background trees, the green flora and fauna, it’s here.

And just like in Carrotus, Blacky’s made use of his custom baddies, using the Turtemple Scorpions (although that doesn’t really count as a CUSTOM, per se), turning the Red Buzzers into Spark events, adding a flying brown owl, and adding a MASSIVE gray godzilla/dinosaur monster that lumbers around and feels surprisingly fitting on Jungrock. Maybe because it looks a bit like a rock monster.

Overall, I was initially disenchanted, but ultimately satisfied by Jungrock 1. Well done.

Jungrock Level 2

From the first time I fell into that blasted death pit, I couldn’t settle my nerves down until I completed this heinous level.

Let’s get one thing straight. It’s not heinous because it’s BAD. Granted, a little added directional guidance would’ve been greatly appreciated (since half the time I didn’t know where the devil I was going), and the curiously chosen goblets are back again, but those things aren’t what make this level so wicked sick.

It’s the gameplay that does the trick, and if it doesn’t kill me first, I might actually grow to like it.

There’s a number of instant death pits in this level (created by simply leaving out tiles at the bottom of the level), and sure enough, son of a gun that I am, I fell into one.

After that, I couldn’t make a midair leap without holding my breath over whether or not I’d fall to my death. Miraculously, sometimes I survived.

It’s a crazy adrenaline rush, but this adrenaline rush consequently makes the level a LOT more difficult to hack through. There’s a few gameclocks hidden around, but it still took me a while to master leaping into oblivion and hoping for the best.

Because it’s so tense, this level will DEFINITELY rub a lot of people the wrong way, and it would probably rub me wrong too, if I weren’t such a Jazz 1 aficionado. Fortunately for Blackraptor, I am, and I can appreciate a good challenge.

Overall, the supreme difficulty/challenge of the level is hard to adjust to, but it’s quite fun once you become accustomed to it.

Jungrock Bonus

I was very disappointed to find out that Jungrock has the same exact bonus level as Carrotus, so for a second time I wasted the entire level trying to figure out how to access the rest of the bonus. Quite aggravating.

Corrupted Sanctuary Level 1

At last, the golden goblets belong!

The next level of Lost Ages took me to Corrupted Sanctuary, a dark, grim, desolate world (I don’t care what Blackraptor says, this looks WAY more like a castle than a monastary) where Grave Hands spring up from the ground, black Cobras chase me around, and the Jungrock rock monsters sprout wings, breathing fire. The tileset was expertly used, with wooden beams occasionally criss-crossing the stones and hiding secrets (occasionally). The Medivo song was used here, and added quite nicely to the overall ambiance.

The Fast Feet segment here was shorter, but also less complicated, and therefore easier to execute.

On the less bright side, this level felt quite a bit shorter than the rest. I don’t know if this was because Blackraptor just ran out of steam, but it felt way smaller. I got to the end, and was like, “Huh?”

But oh well.

Overall, I was decently satiated with this level, and had some pretty good fun.

Corrupted Sanctuary Level 2

Complex. That was the word that kept popping into my mind as I played this level. Simply complex.

The stage starts off with a classic Jazz 1 tactic: A Spring Tower with One-Way Floors (although only the floors beneath the springs are one-way here, as that plays into the level to a great extent). As I bounced up the tower (and collected the requisite goodies hidden within the walls), I came to the top floor and entered a second spring tower.

The catch? This time, you’re going down instead of up.

The springs become your enemy here, hindering your attempts to cross, but never enough so to fully keep you from passing. The black bone maze was a perfect addition to the JJ1 tileset.

This level also seemed rather short, just like the first Corrupted Sanctuary level. It was a little disappointing, but I suppose it could’ve been worse.

Overall, this level was about on par with the first Corrupted Sanctuary level. Both were likely the weakest links in this pack.

Corrupted Sanctuary Bonus

Once again, this was a recycle of the first two bonus areas. However, this time I figured out that you could walk along the colored tiles lining the highways, and by doing so enter other areas (well, at least one area. I ran out of time on the clock by the time I figured this out).

Still, it was very frustrating, and I did not enjoy it at all, especially after having two previous cracks at the same level.

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Thoughts on the pack in general? Lost Ages was good in some aspects, not quite so good in others. The creativity was on point, with the custom baddies and events. The tilesets were also well done, with plenty of visually appealing elements to keep me engaged. The gameplay was sufficiently challenging, the cadence of the pack was good, and I enjoyed myself a lot at times.

Unfortunately, there were also times when I nearly screamed myself hoarse over the annoying things Lost Ages did (or didn’t do). The events didn’t always match the levels. The music of Carrotus didn’t fit at all. The bonus level was a valiant effort, but ultimately unsuccessful, since I had three tries to beat it and couldn’t find my way into the rest of the level on any of the three.

Oh, and there was no boss. Why was there no boss? I was disappointed by this, since the pack seemed to be climaxing up to it. Rather a big letdown.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Blackraptor for dragging me into a much longer review than I had originally intended. I had meant to just play a little bit now, then continue my playthrough tomorrow, but the excellence level (for the most part) of the pack had me riveted for upwards of three hours.

This is a terrific pack. Lost Ages certainly has its flaws, but for every single one of these, there’s two other things that are absolutely rockstar. This whole level pack is a barrel of fun, so if you’re looking for a good old fashioned time, Blacky’s JJ1 masterpiece just might be the pack for you…

Original and nice level. Tbh I dont like the flying spring. DR!

Clever but lacking. With such a name and a custom tileset you could have done much more than a nondescript industrial level (even if the tileset looks decent).

Confirming as a cheat tool, also possible malware; the program kept running even if stopped, and thus couldn’t be removed without killing the task. Jotti didn’t find anything though.

For someone who doesn’t make CTF’s that often good job. The music is great and this level has great eye candy overall. The only thing I wish you would have used was the “Imperial March” or other Star Wars music for the level music.

Not bad. This is actually very fun to play with and some features work with JJ2+ (I know I tested it). As far as bugs go, in JJ2+ the spammer and arzatory gives Stack Overflow exceptions. Other than that the utility works perfectly.
How do you unlock the Super Mario Bros. Animator Manipulator (The one that says [Shaker] next to it)?

All I have to say to you shellyJay is haters gonna hate. >:P

Isn’t this a cheat? _{_}

There’s only so much you can do with a tileset.

That, I think, is the primary flaw with Cmdr Dats’s Rock Haven stage. It’s a quality level, after all, with some decently well-placed ammo and some good mechanics. While the layout wasn’t the greatest in the world, it certainly wasn’t the worst.

Okay, so the music probably wasn’t the best song, either. But it was better than, say, a disco song (which would’ve been ill-suited for Rock Haven, in my opinion).

The biggest drawback here is a lack of options with the tileset. There frankly isn’t that much there, so JCSers have to get creative.

That’s not easy.

Nevertheless, Rock Haven is still a decent enough level, and is probably worth a download.

I’m not sure where to start with this.

On the one hand, Diamond Mines WAS a fun level, with some caves (presumably the mines) at the very bottom, a few open areas and grassy plains at the top, and some chambers and passages in the middle. Layout was pretty straightforward, and eventage wasn’t too bad.

On the other hand, the coin warp was a pain in the neck to collect coins for. The eyecandy, while all right, could’ve been better.

Also, the music didn’t really fit very well (see my article Here for how I feel music should mesh with a level). I would’ve gone with something maybe a little more natural, sort of outdoorsey?

In any event, Diamond Mines was STILL a good, quality level, and I think it’s worth a download.

Ah well, it was a good level, in the archaic days of mysticism and chivalry.

Now that I’ve got my Rather Useless Sentence out of the way, let’s have a peek at Stijn’s Rather Useless CTF.

For one thing, I was pleased by how smooth the gameplay was. There were no real places that I had issues with (Well, that’s not entirely true. I DIDN’T like the camper-friendly powerup warps), and the shrewd use of Float Ups (affectionately called Floaties) make uninterrupted movement a breeze, if you’ll pardon the pun. Perhaps the only case of the Floaties in RUCTF I didn’t like was the tunnel immediately above and to the left of the Red base, where you couldn’t go back down again without buttstomping, which was somewhat of an annoyance.

There were also a number of Layer 3 secret passages and shortcuts, most of which added to the level in a positive way.

Events were placed liberally, although I detected a considerable concentration of seeker missiles, which really takes away from a lot of the fun of playing a multiplayer level.

Music was all right, I suppose. It’s not the song I would’ve chosen (I would’ve maybe gone with Epic.xm or perhaps Purple Motion – Nova.s3m), but it fits the level well enough.

Is this Rather Useless CTF a Rather Good Level? Meh, I guess so. It was generally free of errors, decently fun to play and well-rounded (despite a few small drawbacks), so I’ll recommend its download.

Nice lvl. Playing with the frog was quite annoying but… It was fun :)

Gameplay = Very linear. Eyecandy = Very bad, but hey! this is not a mess of tiles. Seems you have the potential to make good lvls, but you need to train more.

“do not use this level if your pc is slow”
Really?

This was on the front page for top rated single player d/ls and I’ve never heard of it til now, so that makes it a good candidate for me when I’m in the mood to dig up my jj2 and play it. Really I was only going to write a quick review but its pretty limiting to explain my rating for a single player campaign :/.

There’s some minor overlooked bugs in the first level with some foreground eyecandy. I didn’t like the small turtles with the hurt events at all especially in their choice of placement which was sometimes cheap. I think the diamondus levels got progressively better as I went along, and I started to notice the cool layouts because of the sparsity of eyecandy to look at. The levels felt really nostalgic to play, even though they were built for JJ2, although sometimes I did feel that they would be better suited or I would’ve liked them better if they had been made in J1E. The difficulty was also challenging and good, but those damn mini turtles really got on my nerves sometimes.

The tubelectric levels were more confusing than the former, and some parts I thought looked almost downright ugly. The crate you must break immediately after morphing into a bird to reach is placed in a very narrow area and its impossible for jazz to uppercut and destroy it. Like the diamondus levels, tubelectric got progressively better as I went through it, both in their gameplay and appearance. The difficulty was again fairly challenging, most of the damage i took was probably either from the abundance of sparks in narrow passageways and the laser turrets which basically reprised the role of the miniturtles from the last planet.

Turtemple was my favorite planet. I really liked it in the original game and I like how the levels were crafted to resemble its design. Also, the eyecandy was done better here. I did manage to get stuck in one of the collapsing scenery blocks, around after the text sign specifically mentioned me not to :(. Not really your fault but the green palette edit of turtemple kind of hurt my eyes to look at. The boss battle was anticlimactic for me because I was loaded up on fastfires and a powered blaster by that point.

The first industrius level had too many narrow passages for me. I think the author himself might’ve thought that at one point, cause the next level is noticeably more open with broader corridors. However, the layout of both levels was pretty simple and linear, with the obstacles (crates) being placed out in the open and fairly straightforward to navigate. I thought the hidden powerups here was a good idea.

Generally I liked the layouts of the levels, you were right to call that they felt like JJ1. However the eyecandy was on average pretty dull, because JJ1 style eyecandy looks fairly barren and dull on a bigger screen. There is a slight variation in that category, sometimes the visuals bordered on ugliness and sometimes it was nice like in the later diam&tubelectric levels and turtemple. Mostly it felt plain for JJ2. The pickup placement in the style of JJ1 worked out better than the eyecandy did, but not quite as well as the layouts. Also, I had a recurring problem where the levels would loop to themselves unless I used the jjnext code. Instead of cycling to the end credits or looping back on itself the last level crashes trying to change to a level that doesnt exist.

Overall, I think the biggest benefit of this pack is also its biggest curse. While many of the aspects of JJ1 translated well into its sequel, sometimes it didn’t turn out quite right or felt dated. However, there was a great sense of nostalgia in experiencing this pack, and i’m curious how these levels would be had they been made for JJ1. Also I don’t think this stood up too well against the test of time, 5 or 6 years ago I probably would’ve given it at least about half a point higher, but I did enjoy it and it’s distinct retro style.

-br

Moonlit Harbor

Gameplay: 9.0/10.0 – There’s a great placement of platforms. You don’t bump on them like in DW. This level has a great flow. It’s hard to camp here and I like it. The best place in this level is on top, it’s so open and only good players will survive there. The only thing I didn’t like is platform on 20,20. It should have had the one way event placed on it.

Pickups: 7.7/10.0 – A lot of ammo on a few places. And everywhere is the same ammo. For me, it’s better to mix ammo instead of adding only one ammo on some place. Carrot is well placed. Hard to camp there, reachable by 3 ways. Power Ups are placed on different sides of level what makes them hard to hog – less camping on a certain PU. Everyone will pick another PU, what makes this level all-round played.

Eyecandy: 8.0/10.0 – Nothing special, saw this before (I think it’s ELC’s level, but not sure). The best part is again – on top. I like the floating island-city on the sea. I see it like that :P. Nice idea, really!

Overall: 8.2

Alienation: Abridged

Gameplay: 9.5/10.0 – Haven’t seen better gameplay so far. Float is excellent, springs are on the best positions. Couldn’t be better. People can camp here, but there is actually no a safe place to camp at.

Pickups: 9.0/10.0 – Better pickups in this level than in previous one. I like the color of pickyps. Fits with level’s default green. It’s really colorful. Makes me feel happy.

Eyecandy: 9.0/10.0 – Original. I guess it wasn’t easy to make anything in this level, because of the tileset, but the eyecandy is just perfect ;).

Overall: 9.2

The Impossible Metropolis

Gameplay: 8.0/10.0 – This is squarish level. I am not a big fan of it. A lot of dead ends, such as the one at 10,40. You can’t go down, so you’re in trap. Should be able to go down at 49,21 too. A lot of “secrets” with springs and tubes. Hard to notice tubes and where are they going.

Pickups: 8.5/10.0 – Not bad at all, but again one ammo at one place. Again, should be mixed. PUs are nice placed ilke the carrots are.

Eyecandy: 7.7/10.0 – Already used in lots of levels. It doesn’t look natural when you’re falling in the pit. Buildings are flipped upside-down imo.

Overall: 8.1

Eye of the Storm

Gameplay: 8.5/10.0 – I am not impressed. Maybe it’s too empty and open, but you probably wanted it to be like that. Hard to notice some walls what makes the momentum stop immediately. I am talking about walls at 108,29.

Pickups: 8.2/10.0 – A lot of ammo, but it’s a battle level! Not sure what is spawntime, but if it’s over 20 it’s good. Otherwise, there should be less ammo. Carrot placement is great. Also the PUs are balanced. top, left and right.

Eyecandy: 9.0/10.0 – It’s good. Could’ve got bigger rating only if there were not those disturbing falling objects in layer 1/2 or 3.

Overall: 8.6

There’s Mithril in Them Hills!

Gameplay: 8.7/10.0 – Good enough to get this rating. I just don’t know what’s for a tile at 39,20. Why is it a hspring at 91,29? I would like to see a normal blue spring instead.

Pickups: 8.0/10.0 – Needs less ammo on more places. I like the placement of RF ammo where the carrot is. Carrot is placed well, but should be able to get it from right side, too. That wall shouldn’t be there.

Eyecandy: 7.5/10.0 – Just a normal background with some buildings or whatever they are. The caves in the ground are okay, but imo, there should be more cave tiles.

Overall: 8.1

Fall Era

Gameplay: 8.7/10.0 – There are nice platforms. You can easily go to another one. It deserves 8.7.

Pickups: 8.5 – Needs less ammo on more places. Just like in the previous level. Carrot placement is great. Easy to camp, but hard to control because it’s too open. I like it.

Eyecandy: 9.7/10.0 – One word: IMPRESSIVE! I like the theme. Foliage on the ground is the thing what is enchanting me the most.

Overall: 9.0

Doomed Citadel

I won’t make categories. The biggest level, the best one. Everything is excellent. Shouldn’t speak more. Try it and you will believe me. I guess this is for 64 players! Can’t be better.

Overall: 10.0/10.0

Overall rate for all levels: 8.7

Music fits excellent in every level, so I give +0.5 on overall rating.

Pack rating: 9.2

Download recommended!

Decent DOM, not sure about ever having a CTF-based layout in a DOM, imo DOM should be campy, but it’s aight. =P

Inspirational stuff.

It’s a nice level. Eyecandy is very good, gameplay too. I just don’t like the platform on 25,13. I got stuck there.

This is my first lev file.It’s a test!Next lev file will be big and good!
Sorry for my bad english!

Novel as the fact this is a .lev is, there is really no other reason to download this. The tileset uses about four distinct colors, and the level about six distinct tiles in a 20×15 space. The only challenge is jumping over a tuf turtle. Marinata_1997, please spend more time on your levels, and/or read www.jazz2online.com/tilesets