Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Preamble (geared towards other elderly fans of JJ2):
As someone who grew up playing Jazz Jackrabbit and now rarely opens it aside from the odd Anniversary Bash, I have memories of a game that even pre-2010 seemed stretched to its limits by the community. Feeling a bit dissatisfied after barely playing in this year's Bash, I figured it was a good time to get re-introduced to all of the wonderful ways the community has expanded the game (specifically in Single Player which was always my favourite mode) while I sort of looked on from the periphery. I guessed that a recent upload from Violet would be a great starting point. It was a very, very good guess. She delivers.

That said, I don't want this review to just be gushing about how heavily (it seems to me anyway) that this level features JJ2+'s capabilities. It's just relevant for players like me who might be looking for a fix of their old favourite with a lot of the new bells and whistles to marvel at. You'll be impressed.

But as delicious as it is to encounter new enemies and use new weapons and everything, is it actually fun? Well yeah.

Weapons, Enemies, Difficulty:
As minmay said, the new elements make you approach the enemies in a fresh way that didn't get stale. Standard weapons variety is very deliberately limited, but I am not sure why. Perhaps it was done for simple thematic reasons? Custom enemies are used well and provided great novelty, although I don't know if I would say they were challenging enough a lot of the time. I probably need another play through on harder modes. The boss, however, was another story for me..

Theme, Goals, Gameplay:
So, the actual goal of the level was not clear to me for quite a while. It may have just been that I wasn't paying close enough attention initially. I wasn't sure whether I needed to collect a certain amount of skulls or coins or if I was trying to open new areas by seeking out trigger crates. To be perfectly honest, for the first few minutes I was avoiding the skulls because they seemed more like enemies. So naive of me. So innocent. Once I worked out that it was mainly about collecting coins, I enjoyed scouring areas again for something I might have missed. There were also times I would need to find how to get a coin just out of reach, which was very motivating and kept me engaged.

The custom platforming elements were very fun, except for the shooting sucker tubes over spikes which, I dunno, maybe I'm too old and I don't have the patience or reflexes anymore. I still adored the trigger crate animated vine/tree platforms and the custom twisting platforms. And who doesn't love pole dancing? Very fun!

One small issue I had was that (and I assume this is a JJ2+ problem in general?) I couldn't save. I ended up playing for much longer than I intended originally because I didn't want to start over again. I stayed engaged for it but I was rushing towards the end. So a warning: give yourself plenty of time.

Eyecandy, Music:
There are several different themes as you travel around the map. Violet's combinations of different tileset elements were sometimes a little jarring (but maybe that was a part of the point given the spooky theme?) in their contrasting vibes/styles but after a while you settle into a coherent.. setting. She also made use of the newer textured background features to really great effect.

Drastic changes in mode or theme were accompanied by music changes that were both always welcome but also soon became a touch stale as they were, again, a little jarring. And, again again again, maybe that was the point? Very spooky. Very zany. Like a deluge of bees angrily fighting over a split trash bag stuffed with sprinkles that had passed their use by date.

Overall:
A very fun, sensational level absolutely stuffed with engaging new kinds of gameplay opportunities. Definitely recommended for Single Player fans, especially those of us looking for a taste at what JJ2+ has on offer. (And I know, I promise this review isn't just about JJ2+ itself, but good god all of you guys are absolute legends <3). While I found myself a little frustrated or confused sometimes, and I didn't like that I needed to complete the level in one session, it was novel in a ton of different ways and left me smiling. Definitely have a go!

Coming in as someone who has very little experience with JJ2 since the advent of the more advanced features in jj2+, I was pretty quickly blown away with Holiday Hare 17. For the record, I played in Normal difficulty in TSF, and I was pretty rushed, but managed to complete the pack in a couple of hours (what a way to start the new year!) Keep in mind that some things that are not as surprising or impressive anymore for people who’ve kept up to date with the game are all pretty new to me.

• On two occasions from the very beginning of the level I was stuck, with no clue as to what to do to go further – one of these occasions was the very first level! Not a great way to start out, but I am hoping there was something obvious I was supposed to do that I overlooked.
• Not enough 1up’s – the only place I found any were in sixth level. This is an annoyance I’m only realizing after not playing jj2 in a long time. Level 4 ate my lives quickly and when I finally lost all of them on Level 5, I got an Out of Memory Fatal Application Error and had to start from my save. That bug itself I won’t discount points for, but it’s still frustrating that towards the end I was compelled to cheat when my hearts got to 1 so as to not have the game crash.
• Sometimes it felt too hard given that I was playing on Normal difficulty and this tried my patience
• At times I was left wondering where to go next – I’d find a trigger crate and then retrace my steps wondering what new thing had opened up, unaware of where to go
• The tilesets were mostly great but the usage was sometimes quite boring

• Because of the hurried nature of this and the variety of level designers, there is sometimes a very sharp disconnect between difficulty or design as you progress.
• Some of the obstacles felt a little unfair/gotcha-y with combinations of platforming challenges and enemy placement
• The weapons usage started out feeling purposeful and good but very quickly took a turn into seeming (for the most part) disorganized
• The Christmas themed enemies were great but when an unedited enemy came around they felt weirdly out of place (bees, guys. snow bees).
• The music change during hoverboard sections felt out of place
• Storyline doesn’t really make any sense to me :)

• The tileset choices and edits are wonderful, I was delighted and impressed over and over again
• The scripting, custom enemies, items, I loved it – I was gushing every time something new came along
• Even though the disconnect between level design was so stark sometimes, it was kind of welcome and made every level feel fresh
• The final boss battle was unlike anything I’ve seen in jj2
• Even just levels 4 and 6 alone make this worth playing. Level 4 especially was gorgeous, sprawling, fun, creative, challenging, long but not tedious (although the music got pretty old after a while..), and is exactly the kind of thing that keeps me coming back to play jj2. Level 6’s outdoor areas also left me feeling impressed, but I’ll let you see for yourself
• Good replayability – there is heaps I didn’t manage to see, and I’ll probably play it again this coming December and try to take my time a bit more

This was just all around good fun. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to play it before Christmas (but who can blame them). I don’t think projects like this are released often at all anymore, and this blew me away and left me feeling inspired. The bad things about it are altogether quite minor and the gameplay makes up for it. Please download this!

Episode Five serves as a climax to EvilMike’s slowly and arduously produced saga, and it fits the role to a tee. If you’ve played the previous episodes before then you have a good idea of what to expect – a detailed, important storyline, coupled with extensive gameplay that usually manages to balance combat and platform challenges. You also will know to expect that it is no picnic.

If you haven’t played any previous episodes, well, I highly recommend that you do so before this, but you certainly don’t have to. If all you’re after is gameplay then you will not finish this unhappy.

Just to reiterate the warning: THIS IS HARD. I played it on Normal mode and it was frustratingly difficult on many, many occasions. I’m planning to play through all five episodes sometime soon, and I will be doing so on Easy.

Now, Episode Five is highly detailed. Each level usually features unique gameplay aspects that won’t be repeated in the next level. There is one exception but it doesn’t become monotonous as each instance is unique in its own right. The levels start out slowly, in my opinion. They start with basic challenges you’ve probably encountered a few times – although maybe in different ways. As the pack goes on it gets progressively more interesting, difficult, and unique.

Many of the levels are not linear which is very refreshing. You will have to explore, often aimlessly, sometimes back and forth where you thought you’d already been countless times. While frustrating, it’s nice to have that freedom. It also means that save points are on the dry side which is rough if you’re like me, but such is a necessity with open levels. It also means that if you die and you’ve already completed most of an area, you’ll have to do it all over again. Play through carefully the first time and you’ll know what to expect if (and often when) you die.

Changing subjects, there is no generic theme as far as tilesets and music go. Don’t worry if the level you’re stuck on doesn’t have too much to look at, the next one may be similar on some levels but it’s never the same (with a single obvious exception). No JJ2 tilesets are used either, an obvious requirement these days but not always adhered to. The music is usually appropriate and interesting to listen to as well, but it gets old quickly after it repeats enough. No fault of the author’s that.

By the way, there are lots and lots of secret areas. Many aren’t even hidden besides their entrances. Many levels have bonus areas if you can find all the coins, but that’s a choice if you’d like that element. The gems are actually used with a reason (even if they don’t really matter).

Mike also makes use of the Cucumber event (someone had to).

So, in conclusion: This is excellent and unique. Please play it, and maybe even from Episode 1 – 4 first. Take your time, savour it. Things like this don’t come along very often – they never have, not even during the days when JJ2 was new (especially not then, come to think of it). I actually wonder if this is something of JJ2’s swan song as I doubt Mike or anyone else with his skill will ever again take the energy and time to make something so diverse, detailed, unique, difficult, and long. Now, it isn’t perfect either. It’s often irritating and there are glitches to be found. But it’s mostly an experience to be had.

Have it.

The third installment in EvilMike’s series of level packs comes with a well-understood precedent of quality and innovation. If you haven’t played Invasion of Deserto or Rebirth of Evil yet, you really should before playing this, however it’s not very necessary. The plot continues but you can pick up this installment fresh and have little trouble understanding anything. This is especially good because this pack is very heavily story based. The main bulk of the levels are, in fact. However, the narration has several different methods through which it is conveyed, so it doesn’t get monotonous.

The main theme of the pack is a sort of militarized space. The levels are designed logically and yet remain very versatile and organic. There’s only one level that uses a more organic feel, but even that has a twist.

As I stated, the bulk of the individual levels are for story purposes. The ones with more regular gameplay are quite excellent, however. They are chock full with all the necessary elements for a good level to remain fun and entertaining. Enemies, puzzles, and platform obstacles are well placed and paced. Ammo and goodies are usually well placed as well. Although there are several levels that are substantially large, the annoying memory bug that doesn’t let you save your game is usually moot.

This pack is a bit of a challenge. I played it once on Normal and once on Easy, and both of them were tricky in some places. That’s how a good level should be though. I never tried Hard mode but I can imagine it must be quite a challenge.

Although some may argue that the previous packs were better for this or that reason, this is still a welcome addition to the ongoing saga. Lots of innovation and creative story telling. I can remember playing and wondering why Epic couldn’t harness the full potential jj2 has to offer.

The eyecandy can be a little drab sometimes, but as I said, it has a space sort of theme. There’s not a huge amount of room for extra details in that sort of environment.

The music choice is rather flawless although some songs can get old quickly in large levels. I usually prefer to keep sound off during jj2, but the music added well so I kept it on.

In summary, this is an excellent download that I recommend. Play the the first two releases in the series first if you can. It has some minor flaws, but over all the quality is very good and the work shows. And it’s all backed up by a good storyline.

The Smallest Tileset Ever (Woody) contains nine tiles (that is, one row, including the first empty tile). You’re given a single block, a half of a block, four tiles for creating slopes, an unmasked darker version of the single block, a vertical vine, and a single tile for a background. Noka’s level proves that a decent, if boring, level can be made using this with a little creativity.

While I have respect for a successful minimalist approach, there are simply too few tiles to properly utilize a lot of jj2’s environment events. No horizontal vine, horizontal/verticle poles, hook, etc etc. In the end, the tileset is okay, but only having one row of tiles is not an impressive gimmick.

Because it at least looks fine, with enough colour variation to suit a basic level, I give you credit for that. It’s difficult to misuse this set, as well. There are no mask problems, either (it’d be sad if there were).

I’m giving this a 6.2, because it’s not terrible and it’s certainly not amazing. At least.. it’s useable. No download recommendation, though, unless you’re looking to make a level facing varietal restrictions.

[Rating adjusted to N/A upon the upload author’s request. ~Cooba]

‘Hungry of Truth’ (sic) by Gus is a Single Player pack featuring 18 levels, four custom tilesets (each with 3 different pallets, and an extra ‘credits’ tileset). Its storyline revolves around ‘Team Jazz’ investigating food shortages in the aforementioned four new worlds.

OPENING CREDITS:
The player is presented with, of course, a menu screen, allowing you to choose between viewing credits, a short summary of the storyline, and of course, to begin playing. The menu tileset is pretty bland and there were definitely a few minor tile errors, but this is simply the menu, the game hasn’t begun.

LEVELS 1 – 4: MACARONI POT PASTA LAND PLACE THING
These levels are themed pasta. You heard me right. The walls/floor are, I suppose, giant plain yellow noodles. The background features what I assume to be boiling peices of macaroni and other pastas. You’re given a lot of text, and plenty of it is a combination between what is just plain Engrish and a pseudo-Italian accented twist (“Graces a lot!!”). Little cooks tell you of stories of little girls who can’t buy makeup kits or are lost in ‘da sauce forest’ and so you must go and save them. There are some other interesting platforms designed to look like lasagna, bowtie pasta, and what I guess are herbs. The enemies consist almost entirely of tuf turts and what seem to be bouncing.. meatballs?.. that fly into the air and get spikey on the ground. Some of them bounce straight up and down, and some arc, which I found interesting. It doesn’t take lot of effort to get stuck in walls, so the mask could use some work. If you choose not to die when falling from platforms you’ll have to cheat to get back up. Throughout the levels you talk to various chefs and cooks, who insist on calling you “she” (which the author insists is apparently Italian for “you”). When you complete a “quest” you get a SMACK (kiss) and a single TNT +3.

These levels are quite easy. Most of the danger consists of the kinetic variety, jumping from platform to platform while avoiding certain objects. There are ‘puzzles’ I guess, none very challenging. I got through the level easily, the biggest problems were having to cheat to get out of the walls or off the bottom of the screen.

The second level makes you play as Chuck. Since Chuck can’t fight back, you’re followed around constantly by Floating Lizards. In contrast to the first level, this seems much too difficult. Eventually you come across some cooks with dynamite that can kill the lizards, but getting that far without dying is a trick. The whole ‘help me save [woman]!!’ theme continues (at least this time they give you cuddles instead of smacks). The level is fairly non-linear, and there are some creative ideas. The ending of this level is a “hoover” sucking up bits of pasta, which you were supposed to stop. By the end of this I was very very sick of being Chuck, who moves slowly and is very weak all around.

You start the third level back at the Pasta Hoover. The second level, by the way, had a red tint to the tileset. This last one has a blue and grey tint (including sprites). In this level you finally learn that the moving balls are actually porcupines (which fits perfectly with the whole “pasta” thing).

Finally, the fourth Pasta level. And finally, a change of music! You better hope you saved every piece of TNT for this level, which consists of a lot of small areas with moving scenery that will suck you in and kill you. If you manage to get through all of the areas without dying at least once, you’re quite good.

LEVELS 5 – 8: CHAOS INDUSTRIES
These levels are a bit easier on the eyes. Chaos Industries is apparently a large city/industrial complex with a bad crime problem. Custom enemies include small ‘gangsters’ that shoot at you. Unfortunately they’re very hard to see most of the time.

The eye candy, as I said, is much easier on the eyes. All background layers are well utilized to give an urban feel. Unfortunately there isn’t much else, the same tiles lead you through the entire level, which is mostly cramped area after cramped area. The same ‘rescue so and so’ theme continues as well. I forgot to mention the ‘custom items’ which are basically destruct scenery that you run through that disappears (you get no points for it either, probably because the animation doesn’t finish).

The enemies used remains pretty standard.. norm turtles, tuf turtles, etc. The second level makes you play as the frog, just as the second pasta as a bird. In fact, most of the levels seem to be made specifically for one character and one character only. You get through this level using the frog’s toungue to get coins, and once you’ve gathered enough coins the level is over.

The third Chaos Industries level is in night. This level features wind as an important factor. There are thugs shooting everywhere still, and there is a constant theme of avoiding them as you go down floor after floor. Finally, it’s finished.

The fourth level is a boss level. You again go from small room to small room accomplishing a single task.. getting to the next warp while avoiding one ‘Tony’, a total gangster if there ever was one. There is definitely some creativity in these, which are basically mini puzzles. I got through them rather easily compared with the pasta levels boss. Finally, you defeat Tony. HUGS ALL AROUND!!!!!!!

LEVELS 9 – 13: CANDY HILLS
These levels are candy themed. I think. Or is it Christmas? Is that snow.. or frosting? I dunno, but the scenery is cute. Enemies change a bit, you get some bees now. God I hate bees. And, of course, some custom enemies a la Pasta Land. This time the author insists on calling you “they” (this time it’s GERMAN for “you”). German chocolate. Mmmm. The background layers are normalized as they have been. This time there’s much more variety for platforms and custom items. It becomes more of an eyesore after a while, though.

There are some interesting puzzles in this level. At one point you’re lead through a series of rooms where you are asked a question and must go to the correct answer’s warp. You get math questions, word association.. and others. I won’t spoil it. The engrish here is just delightful. I dare you not to smile. At some points your view is completely blocked by very large foreground layers.

The second level has a different tint and background, as does the third (it’s raining rocks and chess boards and candy!!!) Same stuff as the last series of levels. By now it’s getting old. There are, of course, some original and interesting ideas, but it’s getting pretty tired by now.

Finally, the boss level for this series.. another trip from room to room, each its own minipuzzle featuring Piggy, who is ‘allergic to human dribble’. The ghosts in here are fun, although they regenerate. They reminded me of Pac Man. The enemies surrounding the pig are the feature, and boy do they NOT get really old.. By the end you realize that “there are no peas in Piggy” and so you are beckoned to the last world.. Vegetable Land.

LEVELS 14 – 18: VEGETABLAND
“He” sometimes means “you” in Albanian.

Vegetabland (does ‘bland’ appear in that on purpose or was that hilarious coincidence?) features grassy lettuce stuff and carrots and indescript scenery that I guess has to do with vegetables. The custom enemies? Slugs.

I’d like to go into more detail about this series, but frankly it’s the same stuff. You can see for yourselves.

Finally you get to the boss, one “Lardus”. Same idea as before. Small rooms, get to the warp at the end of each, being careful where you step and watch out for enemies. Same old same old. Creative, but I’m so over it by now. There is nothing fantastic at the end as far as I saw.

ENDING CREDITS:
Uhh.. wait a minute here. This isn’t a happy ending at all. Did I get caught cheating, or is this some sort of bad joke? Come on now, Gus, put down the pipe and tell me you’re serious here. I played through all of your levels and this is my prize? A real shame.

JUST KIDDING:
I jjnext’d (could find nothing else to do) and now we’re at “Final Mick”. I guess this is the final boss.. or the final series of bosses. You have to switch characters between rooms (if you pick the wrong one, oh well). These puzzles are difficult and I am tired of them. A lot of creativity went into these, so much so that I didn’t feel like trying and solving each one. A braver person, perhaps.

Then everything comes back around. You’ve saved the day, and everyone has food. Hurray hoorah.

SUMMARY AND RATING:
This is probably one of the most difficult pieces of work to rate that I’ve ever reviewed. The author made all of the tilesets and levels, which was obviously a lot of work. There are some very creative and intruiging ideas and stuff, and the levels don’t look terrible, per se, the author did the best with his tilesets that he could. While blatantly flawed, I think this level pack has a lot of charm. The storyline is rather silly, but it’s fun, and the engrish and stuff makes for some very memorable quotes. There are lots of custom items and enemies, and they’re usually placed strategically. Several levels are quite ‘open’ and non-linear, while the boss levels are blatantly linear, cramped, and get very old very quickly. The music choice works, but it’s boring as each world has the exact same music.

Gus, you obviously show a great deal of potential, and you’re willing to put in a lot of work. My rating will reflect that, but honestly these levels are not ground breaking or really that great. I wish I could give you a higher rating for this, but I think 6.5 sums it up well enough.

Do I recommend that you download this? Yes. Even though this was not that great, I certainly had fun playing it and writing this very, very long review. Gus creates some priceless moments that I could not help but smile at. It’s quirky, creative, and silly. Download this and don’t play it in one sitting, or it WILL get old, and quickly.

Diamonds n’ Flags is, in summary, quite a boring CTF level. The author shows some basic knowledge of properly designing the landscape and placement of eyecandy and items; however, the level is more or less linear. And surprise, it uses Diamondus.

There is a cavern twisting up and down to the northwest of the map with a lot of random items placed rather closely together. This would probably make blue’s defense advantaged compared to the red team, whose base is located in the southwest in a large expanse. There the only natural formation promoting defense is a small triangular knoll (wherein lies the coin warp’s target and an rf powerup). There is a also a single tree a bit to its right, with one very long stem and a perpendicular branch leading out from either side, springs leading you upwards towards the narrow blue base or left towards a large floating arrangement of gold coins. These coins do not regenerate, mind you, so good luck getting into the warp (which lies directly under this stash of coins) after the first time.

So the red side has a lot of coins that do not regenerate, weapon 9 and bouncers. The blue side has seekers, bouncers, and rf’s. The northeast corner has a fire shield and some more gold coins. There are at least two carrots. It’s obvious that /some/ thought went into things, such as the bouncer powerup directly by the blue base (which is above what becomes a pit), but you can only get it with weapon 9.

In summary, the level looks meh, about average or slightly below. But there is potential and you’re on the right track, so keep trying to improve and experiment and I think you will see some results.

The Invasion of Deserto is, in my opinion, one of those rare SP level packs that comes around every once and a while, suprises everyone, and becomes a staple pack many users will look back fondly upon. It has a good storyline that is more than just a thin set of ideas to tie the levels together, you are actually playing along and interacting with it most of the time. It is also quite challenging with a variety of obstacles. There are areas that emphasize puzzles, your skills in maneuvering, simply killing enemies, and complex mixes of the three.

A lot of thought went into the placement of everything in the levels and you can tell. There is plenty of creativity that will make the pack refreshing for any seasoned jj2 player but it’s not (usually) too difficult for the newer players either. Sometimes you might get stuck in a certain part only to discover a more counterintuitive method to solve the same problem.

The general theme of the pack is somewhat similar to Tomb Rabbit and Another Story. You’re on a mission to see why Deserto was invaded and stop everything, but there’s a larger storyline going on that doesn’t get to finish (until Episode 2 and beyond). The Deserto tileset, though not seen much and rather unappreciated, starts to get old sometimes, but there is enough variation and the levels are usually just long or short enough. You revisit areas to discover new paths and even get to play some parts backwards. The non-Deserto levels are also particularly well made (though sometimes they just seem to be there so to allay the Deserto monotony). Also, because of things like the revisitting, levels tend to be very large and therefore you cannot save in them. This is abated by save levels right before these, however for those save-whores out there it’s annoying.

I can’t think of much else to say. I was able to beta test the pack and have been anticipating its release. This is a very enjoyable, original, challenging, and even important piece of work. Do yourself a favour and play it how it was meant to be played. Then write a review so that we can see the sequel. With that, I give this pack a 9.5. Packs like these only come around so often.

On a final note, I also encourage people to play the extra level. I got to play it a while ago and was quite impressed – you’ll see some things done with JCS you were unaware were possible.

This is certainly a tricky one.

The songs definitely do seem to intwine fairly well, but you really didn’t do anything new, per se. Besides that, I think Linkin Park is awful in general, but that isn’t really your fault. But there aren’t a lot of vocals (THANK YOU), so it’s not that bad.

As a song, it mixed pretty well. The quality is nice. Transitions between break downs in the songs sound natural. This is still just a mix, though, so I can’t give you that high a rating. I give it a 7.7 and a DR. This is quite usable.

This mix works suprisingly well. It doesn’t sound distinctly like either Labrat or Medievo (although you can tell which parts came from what in the song), it has its own new feel that is much more electronic. It’s an interesting listen that is sure to add a sense of action to any level. Great job, Lark.

My only complaint is that these sorts of things aren’t that hard to make since you don’t make up your own parts, so I’ll lower the score to an 8.5 from a 9, which is still quite high. Download this sirs.

Ah, very interesting.

I never played Duke Nukem 2 so I cannot say whether or not I spot any missing/inaccurate tiles. So, I will just explain what the set looks like.

This is a very dark, almost entirely monochrome, set. There is not a whole lot in the area of eyecandy, but the example level proves you can make a fairly decent level with this set, though it won’t blow you away. The grow is black with some metallic grey siding that fades into blackness. There are various green sewer-like contraptions, including some dripping sewage that can hurt you as demonstrated in the level. There are a number of animations, including a lot of computer-like ones. My only complaint about those is that each set appears many times in its entirety when only half of it involves the animation at all. There are various treasue chests, electric bolts, odd contraptions, blood stains, pipes, jail bars, cameras, etc.

In the example level (which was nothing amazing like he said, but hey, it’s an example level, who cares), Lark shows the tilesets capabilities, which basically summed up are described as “dark and monotonous”.

The 50% version is certainly more ‘crisp’, but the contrast between the white and black on many of the tiles being so close together is rather annoying to look out. The game was designed to be seen 2×2 pixels anyway. I won’t take off points for that.

All in all, this tileset isn’t that pleasing to the eye, but it has enough in it to make a fairly interesting, if not monotonous, level. I give Lark a 7.2 for this work. Good job all around.

To sum it up, this is a very solid conversion by Violet.

Everything I can remember from playing jj1 exoticus is here. There are the main land tiles placed very understandably and compacted three times, each time with a different background. My only suggestion would be for a way to switch directly between the two dark backdrops, but I’m not going to take off for that. Also included are the solid pink and yellow beveled blocks and a way to transition between those and the ground.

All of the extra components I can think of are there – spikes (floor and ceiling, both animating, and can be made into a custom length), vines, poles (two different kinds, including with backgrounds), arrows (animated), destructable scenery (self made), lights (animated torch), hook (only works with the background tiles, though*), etc.

He included some beach-ripped tiles* (for background, I presume) as well as many other background-purposed tiles. Some water/sewer tiles including any animations that went with those are also all there. The textured background fits in well, though it’s your average jj2-copy background.

The winter version is just a simple palette change into a harker purple/pale yellow/red hue. It doesn’t look particularly ‘winter’ to me but it still looks alright. I don’t think I’d ever use that version, though.

My only major complaint is that there is not a variety of specific eye candy (little things that make a tileset look less monotonous). Nevertheless there’s enough here to make an interesting level.

This is a solid conversion. It has many tiles and includes everything you’d need to make a quality level in any gamemode. I didn’t give it a 9+ simply because it’s not amazing or groundbreaking and the eyecandy complaint, but it’s definetly worth your time if you’re a fan of conversions (as I am).

*Violet corrected me that there is, in fact, a hook for the outside parts, and that the background sand stuff is not from Beach, but from another jj1 set.

Definetly download recommended.[This review has been edited by Spaztic]

What the crap you guys? This tileset in no way deserves anything above a 7.

The tileset is very small, has hardly any variation of colours in it. While the masking is good enough, the tileset is simply very, very dull.

Most of it consists of very 2d, almost entirely solid one colour blocks, very mez-like only without any texture or variation whatsoever. As you get to the bottom there is more of a 3d side-walk esque thing with, again, almost no variation whatsoever. I don’t see how the flat blocks and the very wide 3d tiles are supposed to fit together. It looks there are tiles that switch between the two, but even together they still don’t look that good. Your example makes good enough use of it. I like the background, but the foreground needs some serious work.

As far as alterations and eyecandy go, there are trees, if they can be called that. You get a brown stick and a green oval, I guess in theory that’s a tree. There are also ‘railing’ like things, which, while it is an okay concept, the railings themselves are merely 1 pixel wide lines. There are also tiles for rain, and a stoplight thing useful for lighting effects. There is no textured background. However, there are a couple building-like tiles which are fairly cool, albeit simplistic. You at least made good use of them in your example level.

There are some animations on here, and while I give you kudos for making them, they aren’t all that interesting or anything.

Look, don’t get me wrong, here, zapS, for a beginner you avoided a lot of common mistakes. The masking is quite well done too. Any tone of sarcasm and annoyance in my review is simply because of the gross overrating we have going on. Your tileset is simply okay. It isn’t bad, but it certainly does NOT deserve an 8.1. That’s the only reason I was inspired to write this, I was very annoyed.

First and foremost, everyone asking for ‘colours’ knows nothing about fonts. Fonts don’t have colours, and the colours you see in Jazz2 are made in Jazz2. So if you lowered your rating for not having colours, then raise it up a bit.

Alright, frankly I wasn’t impressed for a number of reasons:

1.) These are not filled characters, just outlines of the characters. I can see why it would be tricky to do that any other way, but still.

2.) Characters are missing. That’s an obvious one.

3.) At smaller sizes, its not readable. Lots of special fonts are like that, though. However, at large sizes the characters are very…blocky.

4.) The font is just outlines, which still isn’t so bad. However there are holes in the outlines. This may not seem like a totally bad thing, but when it comes to someone who photoshops or messed with fonts, using whatever, having holes in outlines can be very inconvenient. Especially for things like filling or with gradients.

Despite these, all in all, it’s really not that bad for a first time. You could improve upon it in the future, if you wish. Though I may begin making a sort of Jazz2-font thing myself…

Ack, this is what I was going to do for my next game conversion. Well looks like you saved me some work. I’ll review it later today..

You can make any event hurt by placing a “Bees” event over it (Or maybe it’s “Bee”…it’s one of those). I was torn between making the flower monster things scenery or enemies…

I will add Bowser/Other of those bosses stupid heads in a future version, plus the magical wand thing.

There are event tiles in here, despite what Trafton said. There are tiles for hooks, vines, poles, blah blah. There are also vine things that work as ‘ladders’. A lot of tiles WERE modified to meet Jazz2’s standards.

And that’s all I have to say.

I wouldn’t be reviewing this but Trafton (face) asked someone to download it just to take a glance. And since I did, I thought I might as well review it.

The description of the tileset is short but nice enough to make you want to take a look, I guess. The author said the tileset was for TSF, which is curious because it doesn’t seem to have an overwhelming amount of tiles. In fact, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in 1.23…

Anyway, on to the tileset itself. The author gives you three different versions of the set. A Day set, which is a green and brown morning looking thing, and I have to admit that it doesn’t look half bad. The trees are very spiffy and there are some fruits scattered on the 3d-ish ground that make it look a little interesting. The clouds included look nice. It kind of reminds me of a spring day or something. But while there is eyecandy, there isn’t a huge variety of it.

The evening version of this site is more or less a red-orange version of the day. I think the author was trying to acheive a sort of ‘sun set’ effect. However the color conversion looks rather gross. The dirt is red and green pixellated blah. Maybe I just don’t like the color red very much. The night version is very very blue. It looks neat but the true standout version is the Day set with it’s nice green trees and brown dirt sand stuff.

There are still some major flaws in this tileset. I’ll list them:

- There are no poles to swing on
- There are no vines or hooks
- There is no left ‘ending’ tiles. You have to flip
- There are no ground to floor connecting tiles
- The masking shows effort but is still weak (the tops of trees for instance)
- Blah blah blah, etc

Despite those the sets do look quite nice…but there is no example level which is quite annoying. I set up a small thing myself, and the textured background works perfectly at least in the Day version. In fact, there are two backgrounds to choose from and a fair amount of background eyecandy as well.

So in the end, I give it a 7.5, even though I have no idea if that is fair because I’ve never written a review for a tileset before. The set is nice but there are some major flaws. However, I must give you a hand, RightField. These sets show GREAT promise. Keep making sets and improve upon your work. It’s obvious you have an understanding of the mechanics and logistics of making a set so keep working to progress. Very nice job, and a download recommendation from me. Not that that means anything.

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]

AHahahahahahasjkdhasha

This is the best tileset ever! Download recommendation for a good laugh ;)

Rock on, Disguise, Rock on.