Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

+ Visually decent in the night version
+ Good selection of weapons and powerups

- Fairly quirky flow, hard to move in smoothly
- The vines at the top of the level are mostly on the way, rather than adding more gameplay depth
- The buffer tubes and spawn positions are quite evil, it takes a long time to attack the enemy base after dying
- The lower levels feel too cramped and it’s easy to hit the ceiling while moving
- Some things are a bit unintuitive, such as the floor below the bases which is not one way

/ Seems to be playable in 2v2 and 3v3, but 3v3 might get a bit cramped
/ The day version might be a bit harsh to the eye, the night version works better

Copy pasted from contest feedback, note this is rated on its suitability for 2v2/3v3

+ Fun C area
+ Fun to do tricks with the base through the floor
+ Some useful RF climbs that don’t feel forced
+ Atypical PU scheme

- I don’t like the mixed ammo patches
- Ceilings are incredibly bumpy
- Some really awkward spawn positions that allow free rushes
- Generally very cramped, making gameplay feel quite rigid

Other comments:
I recommend as 2v2/3v3

i Like The Place of the level it’s cool and amazing

Gameplay:

This map seems more suitable for 3v3 than 2v2, due to the high vertical height where there’s a lot of space to hide. The layout is based on different horizontal levels with platforms where you can usually reach a higher level using the springs.

Bases can be reached from the top, middle or bottom (a tube containing a +1 carrot). The base can be camped by hanging on the vines above it. Due to the choice of power-ups in the map the bases are not too campy, though. The most useful ammo for camping the area, seekers (on base) and bouncers (from the vines), both come without a power-up. There are pepper and rf power-ups in the bottom corners, and toaster at the top instead. Pepper and rf are especially useful in the open area at the top. While it may seem counterintuitive at first to position rf and pepper/fireball symmetrically to each other, as rf is generally stronger, fireball can be really useful for blocking the way from bases at the top, as there’s a position where fireball covers the whole width of the area.

The full NRG carrot can be shot down through a bridge thanks to a script. It can be shot down either directly or through the walls around it, for which there are electro blaster pickups near the walls. The walls are quite fast to reach from the bases. Any player could die, get some electro blaster pickups and shoot the carrot down within three seconds. Gameplay here would therefore revolve around controlling when exactly the carrot spawns, and/or always having a player around to check if the carrot is up or down.

Eyecandy:

The eyecandy makes use of the good variety Lava Fortress has to offer, from wall columns and industrial background layers, to lava waterfalls, natural or flowing from pipes, or having pipes underneath them to collect the lava! The waterfall at 48,83 seems to be coming from behind a wall, but its origin is somehow missing from the background at the top. The rest all looks quite logical (and fireball pu in a pool of lava, how cool is that!) The vines are a bit difficult to notice due to their color in the tileset, but luckily they are only used at quite an obvious place above the bases.

Summary:

Recommended level for 3v3, should be played with /fireball on. A non-campy map without many overpowered power-ups, and a very interesting carrot area.

too simisymmetrical.

Nice level, although I think a touch too big for purpose, and I think the pickup placement could have been ever so slightly more intuitive!

I think if the top layer was removed this would actually serve as a pretty good 3v3 level. Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing this in a JDC event.

As a JDC entry I’m going to judge it as a ODT. As since this level follows what JDC wants.

The level is short, fast and tricky, it keeps the flow inside. The carrots forces you to think about your actions and calculate what your enemy is going to do. Total map control is absolutely needed in order to win at this map. Well done.

Camping is minimalistic, there are a few tiny spots but you can easly counter that if you just think a bit.

The eyecandy is a bit blant and very dull, but as the tournament admins said. Don’t pay to much attention to it. So i’m not really looking at it, it is functional atleast.

Music choice is purely optional and personal. Won’t remove any points because of this. However I wouldn’t use this track for this tileset/level. It doesn’t feel right.

What I absolutely dislike is the chopper area, this will effect the flow to much. I feel cornered in a dead end as a Jazz player. It should be a help, not a necessary gimmic.

Anyway thumbs up, you are absolutely in the run of being the winner in my eyes.

The level plays well, much of the gameplay is concentrated around timing the three carrots, which can all be shot further down to make things more tactical. Just as the author intended, it’s not campy at all, the only place where I would think of camping is the right-most area because of the stairs and the proximity to the bouncer PU and one of the carrots.
There isn’t really time to pay attention to the coins, so sometimes you end up randomly walking through the coin warp and taking the shield. The warp also works nicely as an escape route in the biggest open area of the map.

Eyecandy looks nice despite being rushed, interesting decorations inside the walls. Overall the level is worth trying for a duel or teambattle 2vs2.

EDIT 30th April 2020 – Originally I gave this a 9, but after spending years of playing various quality battle levels, this one is probably not as good as others of the same rating. It’s still a very good battle level definitely – eyecandy is OK and the layout is good. Though the music choice is not my cup of tea.

Music is a 1:1 rip of T-Tracker’s “Firestorm” (http://modarchive.org/module.php?42288). Is it really that difficult to give credits to the original author of a well-known piece of music, Toni?
Changing “Play this in FT2 only” to “Play this in MPT only!” was the only remotely funny thing in this case.

Small but good level, I like it. Eyecandy is great, gameplay too

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

Testing this was quite fun, interesting DOM level.

Nice eyecandy, gameplay is fine, music fits well. Download recommended.

I like the eyecandy in this level and the PU concept is cool, although I also think a game in it would be too chaotic. Still, you’ll get a good 8.2 and a DL rec from me.

Good luck in the contest!

EDIT: I adjusted the rating a bit after playing it in a server.

It was cool testing this, the bouncers and electros make a nice gameplay, good music choice(by me xd) and eyecandy is decent too.

A bit strange level, nice background, a pair of campy places(a bit annoying), genius gameplay… Good luck with your next works.

A small review for you.
I liked the eyecandy very much, it was decent and never used before. Only the rain is falling very slow.
The layout is a bit dissapointing. The level hasn’t any kind of plants or something at layer 5, just some cave stuff. Could have placed some more cave/plants and all that other stuff.
The level is the same at both sides. It’s clearly done with Ctrl + F. Isn’t very creative to do actually.. I see some tilebugs too which shouldn’t be there..

The gameplay is not good but not bad aswell.., it might be fun to play but it has some weird things in it. Like the bouncer powerup, it is well placed but it’s campy and hard to make your way to the PU.
The RF’s are only getable by Electro which is spammed at a few places. I think people just want to play the map and don’t want to get ammo first to get other ammo.
The carrot is a bit campy too.

Also the spring overlaunches you to the base and the C, that makes the flow kind of bad. But the flow is good, except those 2 springs.

I don’t like the music choice for this map, it doesn’t fit it.

The lighting and sounds are too much placed or placed at a wrong tile where it shouldn’t be used.

Well! Since it’s fun to play this level I’ll give you a 7.

imo you guys (pj, loon) overrated this a bit.
This ain`t worth any rating over 7, just take a look on ctf 02, 03, 04 and btl 02. Won`t explain more, you just need to see it yourself.
In general, it`s a totally rushed pack (except for levels you released before, they look decent).
Next time you`ll think of making a pack, work on it.
6.5 for your eff

Minimalism can be good a thing given the right circumstances, but to what cause for this pack? While there’s nothing rancid, it seems sloppy around the edges. Toni isn’t afraid to show his lazy side – he copies one level and makes another version of it as pure filler. There’s some enjoyment in the pack, but don’t bother digging for gold. B-