Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Top-left corner was purely to allow single player testing. It’s not supposed to be used in multi-player. It has been fixed.

I also dispute that the level is spaz biased. I think it’s pretty fair myself.

it seems to be nice level but i dont understand the top area

I’ll write a proper review if/when I get a chance to play this online, since it’s hard to judge the gameplay of a level by playing it offline. But just for now, I want to say that this level really isn’t as spaz-biased as jgke and millocz seem to think. Jazz and lori can get to all the same spots. This includes the (somewhat weird) top left corner area. Overall this actually looks pretty balanced. Probably deserves higher than 7.0.

Yeah, i dont know how can jazz or lori get to that high cliffs.
But it is nice level, if i would be able to host, i would host it :)

Too spaz biased.

AWESOME

Lets start out with Medivo. The tileset, although its an original that epic made, is not as overused as some others like carrotus and castle etc. The level shows one of the more finer ways to use the medivo tileset, although i still think it could of been used a bit better, but still great. When i first started this (I test all levels in SP mode), i got stuck in the celing. Next time, i reccomend you to put some warps up there so when you quickly test this by dragging the icon and putting it on top of jazz2 therefore making jazz2 run the level inSP mode, you wont have to cheat to get out all the time. Next time, can you please do that, put some warps up there in case if you play the level the way i did, and make the warps lead to somewhere in the level. It wont affect internet play or anything, so dont worry. But thats just a reccomendation, and ill get on with my review. The level is a bit small, and i found very few tile bugs. The oneways were used good, i especially liked those clashing columns, they were cool. The bases were ok placed, a bit to close to each other (it takes like 6 sec to get from one base to the other.) 6 sec is my record btw ^–. Anywayz, there are powerups, each base has one near it, and a good choice of powerups. There is only one carrot in this level (I found only one) and its a full energy which is placed in the middle of the level. I have really no complaint about only one carrot, for the level is so small. Though i do feel the red base is a bit more guarded because of the clashing columns (what i call them, they may be named differently by the author). The weapon placement is still a bit boring, but its an improvment. It could of been more creativly placed, but its good enough for me. Springs are well placed as well. Eyecandy is good, i only managed to find one bug, and the eyecandy is basic and good. I have no idea why the author put the exit sign up there, maybe to signify that it is not a dead end and a way out covered by layer 3? Well, if that is the reason i cannot take any marks off for that, because the author might have feared people will lower their rating thinking its a dead end. There are some very nice eyecandy tricks here and some mini secrets, though there arent any coin warps. My major complaint about this is the size needs to be bigger, but its great for 1vs1 or 2vs2.

OVERALL: A great, but small, Medivo 2 CTF level which is great for 2 vs 2 or 1 vs 1, but i dont think it can handle more than 10 or 12 people. Other than that, i dont see much wrong. Although not an 8, a 7.7 will do. Keep at it, download recc. This will get hosted a few times, in my opinion.

This level uses the overused Carrotus tileset, but i dont mind that, since i have no hatred for Carrotus, and will continue on with the review. The level name, Rockingham II, is creative but doesnt relate to anything i can think of right now. The eyecandy here is basically good, and basic. There are some secrets here, which add to the fun of this level. Im not to fond of the music though, for it sounds like the level is race or somethin’. Although the eyecandy may confuse some people, it is used to hide springs, coins, and much more. The tileset use is good, and creative, like those carrot ladders etc. I found some bugs in the walls, but they didnt affect the rating im giving it much. There have been good vine placememnts etc here so thetileset use was good. The ammo, however, lacked creativity and was placed in boring square-like shapes. I also felt the blaster powerup was to much in the open and could of been placed better. The toaster powerup has been placed great though. There HAS been some creativly placed ammo here, but not enough to give a really high rating for this column. The coins were very well placed though, and i have no disagreement about coin placement. I think that there should of been more Full energy carrots, considering the blaster powerup is in the open and reachable, and that it does 2 heart damage. I felt as the electro-blaster was to close to the carrot, but other than that it was placed well. I have no idea why those poles and exit sign where there to signify that the warp was there, the poles, ok, the exit sign, i have no clue why it was placed there….. I feel that you should of made that gold coin and toaster poweup accesible ONLY by finding the hidden spring, but ill let that one go. I found a few eyecandy errors in the place where the bonus warp leads, and the powerup which you get after collecting 20 coins and going to the warp makes a better reason to include more full energy carrots in this. I thought that those “sparkles” used in the cave walls were VERY creative and added more fun and interest to the level. Although i must say that they were originally used for the thorns to make them look sharp, but this is another creative way of using the so called “sparkles” (at least thats what i call them). The gameplay was good here, a circular level which is good, and well placed springs, although i felt some places needed more springs. A well done Battle level by Merlyn this is.

OVERALL: This is one of the more finer carrotus battle level you’ll see out there. It has strenghts at every point, and weaknesses which are barely noticable. It has fun and interactive gameplay and it makes you look at carrotus for the better. I hope you weill continue making levels like this, Merlyn, for they are creative and fun to play making them show you how well an original tileset made level can turn out to be. I’ll give this a big fat 8 and a download reccomedation!

The final version of this level is much better than the previous version. I can’t seem to find any major problems in it.

GAMEPLAY:

It has a good layout and the “Crusher” system is a nice touch. It’s a basic CTF level, but a good one at that. I had no problems getting around the level. The only thing is it’s not too original, though I still like it.

EYE CANDY:

It’s slightly above average at best. There isn’t anything too bad in the way you used the tileset. It’s generally good and no improvement is really necessary.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The full energy carrot is placed in the middle of the level—good enough for me. Ammo placement is alright. And I have no complaints as to the placement of the powerups.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Probably. It would be good for a duel or maybe a 2vs2.

Hmmm. I saw it on the internet a few days ago. Good layout and everyhting… The music kinda bothered me a lil bit. Didnt suit it. Neways this was a medium-good lvl. Download reccomended.

I had the pleasure of playing this excellent battle level online and must say that while I am a CTF lover, this is one of those few levels that actually makes me consider playing more battle levels (not that I’m un-lazy enough to get around to doing so.) If you thought that there was no room for battle levels in Carrotus to get anymore (or any less, for that matter) innovative, you may want to rethink your assumpitons, let alone your entire world view. Most battle levels fall into a fairly narrow margin of creativity. A lot of them are fashioned off of the gameplay of Battle1, and these days the sight of one that truly attempts to put some strategy into the realm of battle is a rare commodity. While it does not go as far as to revolutionize the entire gameplay as a whole or introduce some psychadelic funky eyecandy set, it does what it does best: be a really, really, really good and solid Carrotus battle level.

When you first start playing the level, it is hard not to compare it to Every Other Carrotus Level Ever Made. After all, Carrotus levels have been stereotyped more than Michael Jackson has had pretend skin diseases. This level is not predictable in any way, shape, or form. That’s why it is so strikingly different from other Carrotus levels out there (I am not saying the tileset can not be used with interesting gameplay, it’s just that levels using Carrotus often are similar in gameplay – solid but uninspired, much like the tileset). Gameplay is always very good. Weapon placement is one of the two areas, however, that were not perfect and could have been improved if it was thought about enough. While most powerups were fairly well-placed, certain areas had an overkill of powerups that seemed a little too out in the open. While I can’t say that this effected gameplay that much, it still was just one of thost things that annoys me without actually mattering that whole too much. However, WCS (Weapon Clumping Syndrome) is annoying beyond belief, and this level has a very minor case of it. A few weapons moved around here and there would be nice. The second area that could use some minor improvement was eyecandy. Generally, the level looked solid and had sufficient eyecandy to keep you interested, but in many cases there were small overlookings in the scenery. A few tile errors here and there did not exactly help how the level looked, but unless you were specifically looking for them, it probably won’t bother you too much. Since I informally beta-tested it, I must say that I am disappointed that the author did not fixed either of the two mentioned tile bugs after we pointed them out, but nonetheless that doesn’t detract a huge amount from the overall feel of the level. Flow was excellent for a battle level. Flow isn’t as important in battle levels as it is in Capture the Flag, but that doesn’t mean I like to see levels just ignore it, and this one certainally pays due attention to this often overlooked aspect of the battle genre. Another interesting thing which may fall under the “pros” column or the “cons” column depending on personal preference is the use of coins and a bonus coin warp in this level. You don’t see this often in battle levels, since the “roast as fast as you can” additude of battle levels does not exactly lend itself to hunting for various coins to get a powerup which you will probably lose after being killed a minute later. Still, while few people were able to get this powerup, the coin price seemed fair, and its inclusion certainally did spice up the level a bit.

What you have here is an example of a Carrotus level at its best. While it may not echo every other Carrotus level ever created, it achieves the hard-to-garner goal of being new and lemony-fresh without being so revolutionary puritist players who refuse to play anything more revolutionary than Chemical Warfare won’t play it. It bridges the large gap between classic and innovative, and bridges it quite well. While it may have a few quirks, the amazing level of concentration, ability, and knowledge of how gameplay structure works in a new JCSer is about as common as unpoisoned water in Death Valley. Even if you aren’t a fan of battle and aren’t amazed by this rating, it is definitely worth a download just to see the great skill of a new level designed. I seriously recommend you download this pack, and I think that a 8.2 rating, while it may not seem extraordinary, is still quite high. This may be the highest rating I’ve ever given someone’s first officially released level, and I really hope to see future releases from this level’s author. Rockingham II is really that good.

Levels using the Carrotus tileset are common, but truly interesting Carrotus levels are much harder to find.

This battle level features some interesting ideas paired with the old Carrotus style, which turned out much better than I anticipated. There are two versions, one with shield and one without, and it’s obvious that the shieldless version is the better choice of the two.

Both have smooth and very good gameplay, fairly good ammo placement, and good eyecandy that suffers from the fact that Carrotus levels seem to look similar to eachother no matter how they try. The only level I’ve really ever seen that looks very much different from other Carrotus levels but is made in Carrotus is Warlord!‘s SMACKDOWN CTF.

This is a great battle level that I would recommend for download.

Very good level, a good level to host for some fun.
I saw you hosted a version with shield, the idea with the seeker power up is better.

A readme cannot fix the fact that you cannot type the levelname in when you host a server (thanks to the “_”).

INSTALLATION RATING: –

Exceptional eyecandy, just a few minor issues that could be ironed out.

EYECANDY: 2.9/3

Solid navigation, and tolerable carrot/weapon placement. Also, 20 coins is a bit hefty for just the Seeker powerup.

WEAPONS: 1.3/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.9/4
SUBTOTAL: 4.2/6

Feels very polished except for a few slightly flaky bits.

OVERALL “FEELING”: 0.9/1

A great rookie effort by Merlyn. I have my eye on you. ;)

TOTAL SCORE: 8- (/10)
ROUNDED SCORE: 8/10[This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Pretty good, I must say.

…His :)

And thanks for the comments (everyone), they’re appriciated.

Merlyn

Edit for Violet: I am TomMK :) I changed my name when i came back to Jazz2 a couple of months ago[This review has been edited by Merlyn]

A very good battle lvl. It’s way better than my first lvl (which you can – conincidentally – download on J2o as well ;-)

Rockingham Garden has got very good gameplay. It’s floating and springs/warps are placed sensibly. No dead ends here either, too.

The eyecandy could have been a lot better. There are all the usual carrots, vines, more carrots and large plants but otherwise, it’s quite boring. Try experiementing more with layers nxt time, it’ll look much better.

Weapons placement in Rockingham Garden really great. There aren’t too much nor too few ammo and they’re placed in a decent manner around the lvl.

Overall, this is probably the best first-try lvl I’ve ever seen (not that I’ve seen many ;-) so I’ll give Rockham Garden an 8 and a big good luck to Merilyn on his (or her?) later lvls.

Cheers,

White Rabbit.

Wowa! This Rocks!

It’s a very nice battlelevel. The best is the Gameplay. There are nice orginal ideas like a warp next to 2 v-poles. Only bad things are:
- The music, it’s no carrotus music.
- Some things are a bit confusing.

The eyecandy is nice, but too much on some places.All right, Shocko. Here, a 8 for this rockin’ carrots.[This review has been edited by Taz]

This is a rather good battle level, that, indeed, uses the Carrotus tileset. It contains one or two original ideas (and you thought everything possible with Carrotus had been done) and I like it.
The design is fine, no really annoying onstacles or anything. A few things might be familiar, such as the seeker warp in Battle1 appears slightly modified, but it’s fun nonetheless.
It’s easy to move around, except once or twice it’s kind of unclear what’s solid.
The eyecandy’s fine, nothing special, except for a lot of tile bugs. Carrotus levels often have tile bugs, it seems.

Edit: It has come to my attention there is a level in my cache made before I got this, called “tommk1”, made by Tom MK. It seems to be the same level, except this has more stuff. Did you make this level, Merlyn?[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]