Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I’m finally getting around to reviewing this level, something I said I’d do quite some time ago. Now that I have played in the level more, I have no excuse to not review this.

This is an all around good level, suitable for duels or 2vs2 ctf games. It has a fairly original feel due to the usage of pinball events, and is well balanced due to it being symmetrical.

The level is a little too skewed towards the top. Almost all of the good stuff is located there, and the only real reason to go to the rather large bottom area of the level is to get the +1 carrot. Even then, there is a full NRG that spawns at the top. You can also find gun9 at the bottom which can be used to get the RF powerup, but you can also get it with bouncers. This makes the level suffer from a bit of a battle 1 complex, in that it has a large area that doesn’t serve enough of a purpose. Perhaps this could be changed if the two carrots were swapped, so the full nrg spawned at the bottom.

The design of the level makes the gameplay fairly straightforward and fast paced. There aren’t very many places to go, and it is very easy to corner your opponent. For duels, I would say that it is perhaps a bit too easy to get cornered, since this creates a potential for standoffs. This wasn’t a major problem when I dueled here though.

The level requires a fair amount of skill to be good at. The carrot at the bottom is a bit tricky to get, and there are a few areas where somewhat difficult jumps and RF jumping are helpful. This lends a bit of complexity to the level, which it otherwise lacks.

The RF powerup in this level needs to be shot to get it. As stated earlier, you can get it with either gun9 or gun2. Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be enough “loose” rf ammo around the level, which was particularly annoying when I shot the powerup and only got 3 ammo from it.

One aspect of the level I particularly liked was the floor under the full NRG: it was covered in pinball bumpers. If the full NRG gets shot down, the only way to get it is to stomp. This takes time, and causes it to be a bit of a deathtrap. Fairly entertaining.

This level is fairly solid and well polished, and because of that I give it an 8.

This just about passes my scale of a great level. A few odd things but everything else picks up and cancels that out. I’m being kind to review some levels that some friends made. And this review is mainly coz you beat me. D;

Anyway, BlackRaptor obviously worked hard and tried to make such a good level. Nice new eyecandy stuffz and interesting level. Lets see how well he did …

Eyecandy
Rating : 8.5/10
Comments
I kind of have to down-rate you a tiny bit because the overused tileset, and a few places not looking so spiffy like the middle. I have to comment on the orange cheesy blocks; they look nice! A load of pinball bumpers and loads of circular blue block things, that looks nice like a pinball bumper with color sucked out, and turned blue of course. Okay, also there are radio blocks on the base areas, I think that was used in FS’s instagib. But again great job.

Layout
Rating : 8.0/10
Comments
Okayz matez, somez upratingz. Anyway… The layout is nice and solid, solid and amazing that is. Dead ends? Maybe, but those dead ends were covered. ++Warps and such. Anyway, BR obviously thought about his level, planned it, pwned it and uhm made it? It has about 3 blocks im guessing? 1 for each base and the solid outline. Not so platformy at all. Nice and solidy. But the one thing that I need to complain about is that I dont like the bottom quite so much. It seems a tiny bit rushed, much like my levels I’m sure. =( Gj anyway.

Gameplay
Rating : 8.0/10
Comments
Okay, new technology here. Suits the tileset eh? Anyway the level has new technology of transport and flow. Pinball bumpers as platforms, Pinball Paddles as springs, a bit of stuff like that. I dont believe in a terrible level, just a bad maker. Obviously that works vice-versa. But vice versa, it is a good level too. ;)
Anyway, the flow isn’t bad, the warps can be told apart and stuffz, so good stuff. Stuff. Stuff? Im banned from China for saying stuff like stuff. ;(
Next important part is the stuffz like camping and tactics. Camping isn’t so easy yet so hard either here, quite a few big camp-spots, which need a bit of changing.
Now, the level has a few tactics, maybe a few RF tricks to move around faster here and there and a few bouncer things, but the walls arent necessarily thick enough to produce everything. Quite a few bombarding tricks and shortcuts and uhh things that help you go faster. GL HF finding.

Placement
Rating : 8.0
Comments
Okay, the ammo and power-up placement is very super uber sexy. However, the powerups has one little dib that is bad. Dab or dib, who cares? Anyway, I feel that it is too chaotic with 2 RF PUs, and they are quite close too. But I suppose it suits this level as you cant chase very well.

Overall
Rating : Chinese 8.2 Or something.
Comments
Shup. Nice level GG. Download have fun, just shup?

Finally, after two long days of waiting, this level was released.

Medium / small sized CTF level by Blackraptor. Should be fun for 2v2’s and duels, but I wouldn’t try to put more than six people in it without things getting a bit too chaotic.

On to the review. The overall gameplay in this level feels very good. Pinball events are put to good use in order to make this level have a unique feel to it. Something I look for a lot when I play CTF levels is whether or not the layout generates a good balance of jumping and not jumping. Nobody wants to play a level where you can navigate the entire thing, or almost the entire thing without jumping. Likewise, levels where you constantly have to jump, and you struggle to move around with ease are no fun either. This level has a fairly decent balance of the two, leaning slightly towards the not-having-to-jump side.

On to eyecandy. This is Tubelectric like I’ve never seen it before. One of the things that immediately caught my eye was the fact that Blacky effectively used the stereo equiptment meant for background layers in the sprite layer. Translucent tiles are also put to good use here by changing the colors of some tiles to red, with a brick textured. Kind of weird when you stare at it for a while, but so is a bunch of rabbits running around a pinball arena shooting eachother, right? Plenty of animated tiles, lots of stuff going on. Eyecandy gets a solid 9/10 from me.

Ammo placement is ADEQUATE, as Sciz would say. That’s pretty much all I have to say about it. The full energy carrot is placed in such a way that you can strategically shoot it down, thus making your opponent have to buttstomp pinball bumpers to get it, slowing them down and giving you time to hit them with some of the RF missiles in the level from afar.

Music choice is decent, I guess. I’m not sure I love the song, mainly because the stereo hurts my ears, but it seems to fit. Kinda reminds me of some One Must Fall music.

Overall, this is a solid, original, easy to learn CTF level. I really hope to see this used in some 2v2’s or duels.

Final score: 8.2/10

Average levelpack. Many issues and bugs were already pointed out in other reviews. But I also have my own cons: don’t say anything about music in readme when there’s NO music at all in the zip-file. No, I’m not going to download mods especially for your pack, you didn’t includ’em = there’s no music. You always could use one of the original tracks.
Some of the tilesets you’ve used are good others are not – especially 3rd level, but that was your choice.
Covering some area with leaves on 2nd is really annoying – well, I know it’s for increasing difficulty, but that’s cheap method, couldn’t you do better?
I’m stuck on last level and can’t find the way to trigger crate – that’s bad. I know puzzles are nice and everything, but if I want a puzzle I play a puzzle game which JJ2 is not. The gameplay should flow rather continously but it doesn’t. Puzzles in JJ2 are usually based on finding secrets in walls and not on logic thinking and I hate spending my time on hitting every wall I see.
And last but not least – why do I see all levels on my homecooked list when it’s levelset/episode. There should be only the first one, I was quite confused – which level should I start with.
The only pro is that you can play with Lori. But my overall rating is averge unless some things in this pack are improved in upgraded version.

I don’t really have much time to review, so I will keep this short.

This level is a brilliant example of how to use Blade’s recently (one month ago? ;p ) uploaded tileset, Islands. The tileset use is really splendor. With all of the layers being used and gems scattered on the whole level (like Radium has said on this level in Anniversary Bash 7 server, “INTERACTIve eyecandy fx” the outcoming effect is a pure pleasure to the eye. However, I do have a few (really, really minor) gripes. Por exampla’, the coast-like thing on layer 5 visible when you’re underwater shouldn’t have bushes (unless they’re the underwater kind of).

The gameplay is as smooth as it gets with a Blackraptor level. No flow issues, clear and easy to learn layout (after a few minutes of playing in here you should remember each place and most of the (rather pointless, but still funny) secrets), bits of creativity there and there (like both of the coin warps, allowing for quick moving from edge of the map to edge of the map if you have got enough coins. I like it very much, it’s extremely useful when it comes to strategies in this level. Aside from a very slight Spaz bias in some of the places, the gameplay rocks.

Placement of events is a strong point of this level as well (to be honest this level lacks any weak points whatsoever ;p ). The powerups are all logically placed, maybe except for Toaster powerup placed just a few tiles away from the underwater area ;p but that’s about it. There’s enough ammo scattered over the map, and you won’t find yourself running into a place lacking any kind of ammo. Somehow TNT manages to work in this environment as well (handy for blowing up opponents chasing you underwater), and that’s a rare thing in battle. The wide variety (vaarsiinety!!!11omb) of food also makes its job; you will get a Sugar Rush (rather pointless as well) in a matter of seconds. And of course there are three carrots. Unlike WR has said, it’s quite hard to stay alive even with three carrots, when you consider the level layout as a rather tricky one. The similar situation (and the same review issue ;p) could be seen in FireSworD’s Garden Brawl.

(Or it might be just me being rusty. ;p)

Overall, this level does a flawless job on putting you on a pirate coast, which is what the tileset is supposed to represent by itself, but that’s an other story. ;p In short, I give this the rating of 8.7 and a download reccomendation. Keep on making levels like this, Blacky!

Another great pack or level by BR. Its a long, hard fun SP pack. You seem to be journeying through a forest at the start. And off we go.

Wise Owl Forest (Level one)

The swamps tileset was used here, and there was a GREAT effect of a forest. BlackRaptor obviously spent a long time on this. And its time well spent. A good level, where you can actually die. Its not TOO easy. Its fun, not linear, and there are many points to get. You can go so many ways. And there is so much variety in the level. I don’t necessarily love the top area. But its okay. I guess. The level is smooth, with baddies and half way marks at appropriate places.

Rating : 9.6

Demon Forest (Level two)

The tileset really bought you down here man. The tileset isn’t very good at all. The music makes it sound like some haunted village. There aren’t much effects of EC. But the forest isnt so bad.

Rating : 7.6

Foreign lands (Level three)

The level is okay here. Not something to scream YAY about, but its nice. The EC looks good. And the tileset isn’t the best, but its good.

Review unfinished

I AM SICK AT JAZZ-UNFRIENDLY LVLS! -0.3 FOR JAZZ-UNFRIENDLINESS!!!!!!!!!!111111 Right, now that I have gotten my point across, I can start with my review.

The Corsair’s Coast is yet another battle lvl using Blade’s newly re-named Islands tileset. I’m eagerly anticipating the race for the first CTF lvl using this tileset, guys. :-) For now, I’ll be happy that I won the race of ‘Who gets to review this lvl first?’

When I first looked at the lvl in JCS I was quite surprised at how 3D-ish the tileset made the lvl look (from 12.5% size). The bottom platform is especially large and chunky. The lvl itself is quite basic and consists of 7 main platforms and the rest are just giant ledges connected to the lvl’s walls/cliffs.

There are not many secrets in this lvl (just 1, involving a suckertube, which will hopefully make you double back faster than your opponent can). The rest are just little text messages. The two coin warps are quite fun and however hard you try, you can never, it seems, be able to run out of coins for the warp but I wouldn’t recommend going to the bottom, gold-chest coin warp unless you got plenty of coins, because without coins, that place is a dead end. Add to the fact that there are seekers, PU bounces and PU RFs in Corsair’s Coast, and you have yourself a serious health hazard at pos 9, 86.

The gameplay, as I’ve already mentioned, is seriously Spaz-biased. (And he can reach two of them easily by using sidekick – bet BR’s betatesters didn’t notice that when they tried to make it less Spaz-biased ;-P), reaching all the platforms, etc. For the most part, the springs are well-placed, the float-up useful when you want to go down but suddenly change your mind, and best of all, you don’t have to be Spaz to jump back up :-P, and the water makes for interesting strategies with RFs, bouncers, seekers and hazardous semi-dead-ends.

There isn’t enough ammo in here. And far too much carrots. Two carrots are too close to each other. I am writing incredibly short sentences. Ahem. Anyway, there aren’t enough toasters, seekers,peppersprays, the electroblasters aren’t close enough to the RF PU, and so on. Not enough ammo, not enough explosions, not enough HAHA-5hks, too much carrots and not a single weapons box in sight. Ok, they cause lag, but just one box for one type of ammo would solve a lot (provided they are placed correctly…but BR knows his stuff :-p).

The eyecandy is about as good as you can expect from a lvl using the newly-renamed Islands, and I just remembered that I mentioned that Islands was re-named in an earlier paragraph. The under-water “hills” should be animated, but since they’re not, I guess that’s Blade’s fault. All background layers are used but there aren’t enough foreground stuff. BR could’ve looked at Blade’s example lvls and put a lot of stuff in the foreground, especially in layer 1 and in the large, yellow, empty sands. It won’t make the lvl look too full and it will only make hapless reviewers like me fall for simple eyecandy tricks and rate 9.2 or something.

There’s not too much to talk about one single lvl. This lvl is basically:

1. Slightly Spaz biased.
2. Has good eyecandy.
3. Apart from points 1, 2 and 3, has great gameplay.
4. Needs more funny text signs (rating not deducted because of an absence of 4).

Corair’s Coast is a solid ****-star lvl. 7.9 and a DL recommendation.

I promised to review more so here it goes!

Gameplay: rating: 8.6
Before you can play you need to choose a skill. Each skill has his own weapons but also each skill has his own task. One task is defending the base as an other skill your task is to attack the enemy base and some other task is killing your enemies. You really need teamplay because if you dont everybody haves the same skills or all the wrong skills and then your team will lose for sure, so you need to think before you choose a skill and thats something I really like, teamplay. the level itself is also really fun because Blackraptor made some turrets so its hard to camp in the level. There are also enough up and downs in the castles. Outside the castles its flat but I think that’s fun because its hard to get to the castle without dieing so you really need to focus. Also the gameplay keeps changing when you keep choosing different skills witch makes the level even funner. GJ Blacky ;p.

Leveldesign: rating: 8.2
The leveldesign is really well. The castles really looks like castles so the level looks realistic and nice. Outside the castles its really open and inside the castles its really closed and solid and that also looks really realistic. The dungeon is also really well designed and looks believeble. It looks like you really are in a castle with dungeons weapons knights and flag bases ;l. GJ!

Placement: rating: 8.0
The placement is really well. Each skill has his own powerup(s). In the level itself its full with groups of ammo witch are nicely spread out in the level. There is also a full carrot in the center of the level and 2 1+ carrots in the castles witch isnt bad at all. The springs are also placed where its needed and gets you to places witch arent reachable with a normal jump.

Eyecandy: rating: 8.1
Blackraptor always says: Eyecandy>> ALL. And in this level the eyecandy is completely fine, the Background contains an textured background with nice stars and the fade-in color looks really well, also there is a big cloud witch shoots rain down and yes it looks good. The castles looks really well because its full with animated chains, Knights, flames, weapons, shields and many more. Outside the castles there are also some eyecandy stuff like nicely animated flags. Everything combined and BOOM you have a good looking level full of details. GJ Blackraptor

Extra stuff:
-Nope

Final rating: 8.6+8.2+8.0+8.1=32,9->-> 32,9:4=*8.2*

-Satan

As there are only two reviews yet I will also make one. :D

Eyecandy:
In all levels the eyecandy was very good, I see the author put a lot of effort into it. I especially liked the background layers, but the sprite eyecandy was also done very well. In the last level there is a wall in a forground layer with speed 0 which I think is because this way you can see a bit less which makes it harder. I saw no tilebugs, and I really have to give a 9.2 for this great eyecandy.
Pros: Very good eyecandy, a lot of effort put into
Cons: in the 3rd level could be a little bit more in the foreground
Final Rating: 9.2

Gameplay:
The gameplay was interesting. Even tough it was a bit too easy, I really had fun playing this. Cool enemies, original ideas, good puzzles and else. Nothing amazingly cool tough.
Pros: Original ideas, good puzzles
Cons: Too easy
Final Rating: 8.5

Ammo placement:
The ammo placement was very good, I never ran out of ammo but sometimes there was just too much ammo.
Pros: Solid ammo placement
Cons: sometimes too much ammo
Final Rating: 8.5

Enemy placement:
The enemies were placed very well, they always fit the level (I don’t agree with Superjazz :P) and are sometimes strategically placed.
Pros: good enemy placement, sometimes strategically placed
Cons: In some places are definitely a bit too much
Final Rating: 8.5

Bugs:
I couldn’t find a lot of bugs, the only one I remember is in the first level. You have to answer a question from wise owl, but where is it? She never asked me anything else then “Do you believe you can answer this question?” I answered yes and she said I should go on.
Pros: Not many bugs
Cons: Wise Owl bug thing
Final Rating: 9.0

Overall:
Overall I really like this pack, it’s done in a way which makes it a lot of fun and I hope to see part 2 soon. Good Work!
Pros: Original Gameplay, solid enemy and weapon placement, great eyecandy
Cons: Bug with Wise Owl in level 1, sometimes too much ammo, too easy
Final Rating: 8.7 + bonus level included: 9.0

Greetings! Yay, J2ov2 has come, and oh, there seems that you have uploaded a single-player episode, perhaps I should download, play and review it. Ok, let’s start reviewing then. And I prefer more to rate the levels one by one, when here’s so many of them, like many other guys do.

WISE OWL FOREST:

DESIGN / FUN FACTOR
Well. I didn’t find out the story from the game, but as I read the readme, I found out the design and story. I think it was greatly planned, but it could have been more exciting still, but as you forced on this, I would like to give it a 9. FUN FACTOR is only when there is no design in the episode / level. But well, I shouldn’t of course rate the whole pack’s design, so let’s see. In the forest I meet the wise owl, Hoot Hoot, not a bad idea, I also wondered about some pits I faced when the owl asked me something. I should have saved before I went on to the pits, as I always answered correctly. I would have liked to test if I went to the wrong one. But it’s 9 for now.
9/10

EYECANDY
Wow, there is very much of the eyecandy and it looks great, although it might be a bit confusing in some places. But I must agree that you can really make the eyecandy better than me, at least about this tileset, which I used in my UC-episode.
Although it might be a bit irrelevating to talk about the my episodes now, I wonder why did you give it a 7.2 although you gave 7.5 for “Hunting for devan 1/3”, which should have been much worse than the UC-pack. Whatever, back to the
subject.
Well, as some things in the foreground layers, looked some weird, I can’t give it a full 10 this time.
9/10

ORIGINALITY
You had very nice ideas and you made it very original, but still, the tileset isn’t yours, that doesn’t make it a 10. But I can’t hear the music as you didn’t upload them, or even worse is that you didn’t put one at all.
Well, I must give it an 8 anyways, unfortunately.
8/10

GAMEPLAY
Now, the layout was very well done, although some places had kind of small space to move on, but you had done nice secrets, and btw, I chose hard when I started to play this, but I didn’t find this so hard yet, but thoughout it was meant to be a bit easier as it comes more difficult along the episode.
9/10

STUFF PLACEMENT
Yes, I must agree that you overused some pickups a bit, but that doesn’t matter much because you overused them only a bit, I just found a few from weird places, but also, there were strange enemies along the level. I know that there was meant to be a village where lived fat-chicks and fencers, but I still think they don’t fit the level enough, so this wasn’t the best of this level.
8/10

OVERALL: 43:5=8.6
LEVEL RANK: Good level.
COMMENTS: This was overall Good-Very good level, I don’t have other comments as I already explained most of them.

DEMON FOREST

DESIGN
It could have been better, but not bad at all. I liked the elevator room which I had to go through somewhere in the middle. There wasn’t anything other special design in this level.
8/10

EYECANDY
It’s about the same as in “WISE OWL FOREST”, or then just a little bit worse, but the leaves in the background just look fine, and this time there isn’t so confusing tiles in the front of the screen. The tileset you used contains good-like 3d-tiles, some of them pwn, but they could be always better.
9/10

ORIGINALITY
Now I faced a whole new tileset for me, which isn’t your-made anyways, but the originality is just like same as in the last level. But still I can’t hear the music.
8/10

GAMEPLAY
You could have put off the awful trigger-files in to rounded and nice tiles in the elevator. It looks kind of awful when I suddenly break a crate and it looks like, aargghh. Well, the thing you used as a hurt-event didn’t look really like that, so you could have replaced hurt event with something else, but if there wasn’t a suitable one, then you shouldn’t have put them at all. Some of the trigger-crates were also in annoying places, and this wasn’t very hard neither yet, but I expect still that it will become harder to the end.
8/10

STUFF PLACEMENT
This is a bit better than in last level as you didn’t overuse the things so much. Now the enemy-choice was more suitable and looks like you did this one well enough.
9/10

OVERALL: 42:5=8.4
LEVEL RANK: Good level
COMMENTS: This was just as similar as the last level, just a few negative differences because of that 0.2. Btw, I don’t review the bonus level.

THE BATTLE FIELD

DESIGN
Not bad at all, a warfield, which the player has to go through to get to the castle. The warfield just looked kind of evil.
8/10

EYECANDY
It didn’t improve as much as in the last levels, but thoughout it was the tileset’s fault, or then yours. The background didn’t look very fine, and there wasn’t much more of it except, layer 7, or so.
8/10

ORIGINALITY
Same as in other levels. Now there is a music finally, but it has been used many times before, so I don’t give additional points about it.
8/10

GAMEPLAY
Could have been much more better. I must agree that some of the triggers were placed nicely, but the spikes were just a total mess, and oh, an enemy camp? Hmmm, a good place to get stuff, but as it was a dead end, I didn’t like that idea very much. I also had a little problems with navigating, after I broke some triggers, well perhaps it was just good as it was a little challenge, oh yea! I just didn’t like this level so much, it felt like kind of empty and a bit too simple. I anyways liked the warp-place in the end, so that rises it from 7 to 8.
8/10

STUFF PLACEMENT
This felt like ok also in this one, some of the enemies didn’t fit the level, like helmuts in the enemy-camp, and the pickups would have been placed so well that, omg. Similar…
8/10

OVERALL: 40:5=8
LEVEL RANK: Good level
COMMENTS: Everything 8. Like I said, this was just kind of a medium-good level, which didn’t have anything special like others had a bit.

Drinks some milkshake in this moment

CASTLE OF GALTHILDOR

DESIGN
The idea is to get to the king in the castle, to save him somehow as I saw a text in the level about that. Just fine.
8/10

EYECANDY
It looks good when there is castle-towers in the background, but you could have put something else also. But a bad thing is the annoying wall in layer 1 or is it layer 2. I think it’s not necessary, I can’t understand why is that for. It just distracts me during the level.
8/10

ORIGINALITY
Good. Not your tileset, plus I don’t have the music. But everything else seems to be by you.
8/10

GAMEPLAY
Could be better! It was a bit hard to navigate and after all I didn’t prefer to use TNT much, but actually I can’t say it was a bad idea. There were a few bugs, like when I fell from one of the houses room’s, I got stuck when I was hurt by the spike-ball, where I was being sucked to. I also couldn’t have read one of the texts properly because another row was too long. The hurt-weighs or what could I ever call them were a good idea. And guess what. I didn’t find the episode that difficult at all, it was around piece a cake, although I anyways saved a few times, as I died a few times, but it wasn’t like a total challenge. Well, I’m gonna look for the next part of this. Hope it’s gonna be a bit more difficult then.
7/10

STUFF PLACEMENT
Kind of ok. There were fencers again but this time they fit the level more as it was a city-based level or so. Good that the pickups weren’t so overused this time. I would call this quite good.
8/10

OVERALL: 39:5=7.8
LEVEL RANK: Medium level
COMMENTS: This was the worst level of this episode. It looks like you forced on the levels in the beginning more. Just vice versa than I did in my UC-pack, where I forced more on the last levels. Well, this was kind of good also, it wasn’t much worse than other levels, but worse anyways. It’s the only Medium level. Whatever…

OVERALL OVERALL: 32.8:4=8.2
LEVEL RANK: Good level(Episode)
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: Yes, like there is a choice now in J2Ov2.

ENDING COMMENTS: Well well well, you did this pack quite well. Just make the next part even better. I’m eagerly waiting for the next part. And I wish you could make the next part a bit longer and more difficult also, and make the design very exciting, and put something and something, to make it more fun to play. I perhaps would like to play this again if I was bored, but not instantly. Fine one blacky, keep going!

-Superjazz was here

hmm. this pack kinda owns. i like every level of this pack, because they all have something special in them, ( like eyecandy, design.. etc. ;p )
and gameplay is also very good. oh well, the eyecandy may look dull in some levels, but the levels are still very good. ( not superior though )
hmm, lets get started the real review.

EYECANDY:
Eyecandy is very good. there’s lots of eyecandy in every level, and i like it. it may look little bit dull in some levels, but it doesnt matter, because these levels are still 1337.

GAMEPLAY:
Good. i like gameplay in this pack alot. it just owns. or something. ;o ;o

PLACEMENT:
Good, i like enemy placement too, but it could be better in some levels. ;-P

ORIGINALITY/FUN FACTOR:
I would play this pack again, because it was so 1337, and original, and fun to play. this gets big download recommedation.

OVERALL:
Ok. this pack has good eyecandy, nice gameplay, and placement. and its fun, too.. sooo, what you’re waiting for? Download this right away!

RATING: 8

**** (out of 5)

I think this level is underrated, and that is from someone who is rating the level lower than he believes others should be rating it. That is, I am rating a level higher than the average, which I believe should be higher, even though I will not rate it as high as the average should be, because I underrate. Got it?

In any case, this is a very nice level. I am going to be brief in my review. The eyecandy is top-notch, and the flow is excellent – easy to navigate, but not easy to the point where the level is pointless. Despite what Blacky says himself, which is that this level sucks, I like it quite a lot and believe it deserves the amount of hosting it gets, which is quite significant.

This level is somewhat limited by itself, though, in that the level’s concept is not unique enough to earn a rating higher than 8.2 (8.5 I reserve for creative levels; 8.7 for really awesome and creative levels; 9.0 for levels of near perfection, but it is higher for a single level to get a rating higher than that.) Still, it’s one of the better CTF levels of this year and definitely worth the download recommendation.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

I promised i would review, and i think it seserves the rating i am going to give. (For all who don’t know and who care, I am Ragnarok). I may be a stupid overrater, but i love this pack, especially because it can be hosted online. Well enough talking, here is my promised review: LEVEL1 Cat Maze: My rating: 8.7 General comments: Well, this level is fun and also quite tactical. It works with good timing and good skill and also a good memory. My favourite thing about the level is that it is fun yet challenging. Quite a few race levels that are challenging, are not fun. Eyecandy: Well, you chose a great tileset. And a great person made it. But really the eyecandy of this level is kind of good, but not extremely heavy! But it is good. I love the cats and the waterfalls. No tilebugs which is great! Gameplay: Well the level is fun. And the level is big, which makes it a challenge, but what is even better is that it is fun. Good spring placement, good flow, easy going (if you know what to do). This is great again. Placement: Pickups were placed nicely and so were all of the other events. Some animations could be annoying, apart from the cats, they are cool. LEVEL2 Some race level: My rating: 9.0 General comments: I love the beginning of the level, where there are destruct tiles but for different guns. That looks like my favourite part. The eyecandy is kind of RUXOR! Blah Blah, i can go on. Eyecandy: The eyecandy again is heavy. But i kind of prefer the previous level’s eyecandy, but again it is good. Gameplay: The gameplay is heavy especially the spring placement and the part at the beginning. But the levels can be gay if there is lag but there is hardly any for me (at race). Placement: Placement is great but i don’t have much to say. OVERALL: My average rating: 8.7 Host often: Definately! Download: Go on, are you dumb?

Great job Blackraptor! As I like to think and i know all your levels rock, here is an addition! Okay, here is my STOOPID review: ;D Eyecandy: My rating: 10/10 just… Comments: Okay, i love the background, and i especially like the lava use at the bottom with warps and stuff. Also the tileset used is really overused IMO. The level doesn’t get dull in the eyecandy and the level is nearly symmetrical, and is solid and platformy at good places. Gameplay: My Rating: 7/10 Comments: Well, over here the gameplay is good, but i don’t like it too much. It has a very original idea to it, which is good. One thing I don’t like is that there is hardly any springs. But the idea of a suckertube with a base inside is good. It can be kind of annoying in this level because of the warps at the bottom that take you back to the base you were last at. I don’t really like that, but it is a really cool idea, so good thinking! ;D Placement: My Rating: 9/10, just… Comments: I have hardly any comments here, but all i remember is that the placement was good. But the power-ups need electro blaster to get them. It is used quite a lot, but I can’t live with it. (-1) Overall: My Rating: 8.7 Comments: This level has a 85% chance of must download. DOWNLOAD IT NOW, YOU CRAP!

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Originally posted by Rapcore:
Ok let’s see here, graphics are great, gameplay is great, and basically this level is great. Good weapon placement, more food would have been nice. Interesting and somewhat pointless secrets soemtimes, nice medium size well-rounded level. 8.2 for you.

Most importantly add more food, and make it harder to get to the base. It’s too easy a run from left to right and vice versa.

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Why add food? Most levels in MP that had food in it got a comment with “No food, people don’t need a sugar rush”.

Ok let’s see here, graphics are great, gameplay is great, and basically this level is great. Good weapon placement, more food would have been nice. Interesting and somewhat pointless secrets soemtimes, nice medium size well-rounded level. 8.2 for you.

Most importantly add more food, and make it harder to get to the base. It’s too easy a run from left to right and vice versa.

Looks like Blacky uploaded the diamdust file I didn’t want the public to have. Hooray.

Heh, time to write a review because i have nothing better to do.

CAT MAZE

This is very good race level. i think you once hosted this online, i didnt play this much though, maybe, some minutes, and then i left the server. well, its still very good race level. eyecandy / tileset use is the best part of this level IMO. tileset was used rightly, and i can’t find any eyecandy bugs. gameplay and race obstacles are kind of good too, and i like it. one of the best race levels ever IMO. ( really. ;p )

EYECANDY
Very nice. i like it. BlurredD’s Psych edition is cool tileset, and you can create very nice levels with it. ( this level, waterfall caves.. etc )
I like the eyecandy alot. there’s lots of it, mushrooms, flowers, and even cats. background layers are nice too, and i kinda love them. i like the way you used the tileset too. there’s no tilebugs, and everything looks nice. tileset choice was good too,since i never saw much levels with this tileset.

GAMEPLAY:
Very nice. there’s lots of standard race obstacles, which are very cool. myself i like the X – block and 4x block combinations. i hope you understand what i mean by the way. my english is lame, but now back to the subject. yeah, all these race obstacles are kind of nice, and i have no major complaiments.

FUN FACTOR:
These levels are quite fun, and i would host these online, if i could host. too bad i can’t D=
Well, i like this level alot because its fun.

OVERALL:
Very nice race level which has standard tileset use / good eyecandy, onee of my favorite race levels ever. you did good job. congrats. this level is fun to play too, and i really can’t find complaiments. level could be bigger.. well, then again, im not experienced when it comes to race levels.

SOME RACE LEVEL

EYECANDY:
I like it. it looks awesome. i like flying leaves in the layer 1-2. ( i dunno which layer. i didnt check )
they look nice. well, trees, and the background looks cool too, and i can’t find complaiments about it. there’s some waterfalls too, which fit on the level. heh, almost perfect score from the eyecandy. i like the color where background fades into, because it fits in the level, gives this level a good atmosphere.

GAMEPLAY:
This level has a very good gameplay. level is not too big or too small IMO. i like race obstacles here too. the “wind tunnel” part is probably my favorite. i don’t know why. its just is. don’t ask why. other obstacles are nice too, and i can’t find serious problems or cons from the gameplay. good job, this level has a very nice smooth gameplay. this level has original race obstacles too, by the way, which affects in my rating. the part where i fall to the water is nice touch, because i think its very original. or something.

FUN FACTOR:
This level is very fun to play. i guess its the right size,( not too big or not small )and original eyecandy / gameplay ideas. if i could host, i would host this level too, because its nothing but rux.

OVERALL PACK:
This race pack is very good, and i like it alot. Good job, you made a good race pack. i like these levels alot, and like i mentioned above i would host these if i only could host. i like this pack alot, and it gets a high download recommedation.

by the way, cret, long time since i saw a blank review. those aren’t allowed though. D=

OVERALL PACK RATING:8

(Rating removal. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Cat Maze
Despite the claim in the level that the gameplay concept was by Pyromanus (editor’s note: this is the trigger concept), I had difficulties figuring out what was novel with this level. It seems to be a fairly standard, although high-quality race work. The various mazes in this level have all been seen before. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there just ain’t much creativity in this level I’m sad to say. The level starts in a cave-like structure, as many levels with this tileset do (Blacky has previously used this tileset in a battle level.) It goes on through a somewhat predictable repertoire of Psych level clichés. In-between, there are many different sorts of obstacles, but none of them unique. Gameplay is good, although there are a few bugs (such as at the end of the spike area) in the masks that make movement more difficult than it should be. Still, it’s just more of the same race stuff.
PROS: Gameplay is solid.
CONS: A few bugs make movement difficult, and there isn’t any innovation.
RATING: 7.2

As usual with a Blackraptor level, eyecandy is excellent. In this case, I was somewhat disappointed though that there is also not much in the way of innovation here. The tileset used is not exactly the most flexible in the world, but there are a number of ways in which tiles could have been used that they simply weren’t. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the eyecandy here, but I just don’t find it interesting enough to warrant a higher rating than this.
PROS: No tile bugs or anything of the sort.
CONS: At least tile bugs would have been more exciting.
RATING: 7.2

Race levels have traditionally been one of the more enjoyable gametypes. They allow for silly puzzles and don’t conform to the strict standards of gameplay that constrict other gametypes. In this case, however, I feel as if this potential wasn’t used to its fullest. Although the level is fun enough, the puzzles are occasionally more like obstacles than games. They are also not new, and not even done in an interesting way. The entire thing is about as different asDiet Pepsi – it isn’t even Diet Pepsi with Lemon.
PROS: As with all race levels, it is fun to play.
CONS: Not as fun as I expected.
RATING: 7.0

To summarize this level in one word, it is solid. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much: It is little more than solid. There is nothing new about the concept or the execution. However, as negative as this may sound, the level in question is still quite good. Not a breakthrough, but certainly a welcome addition to a gametype that could use a boost these days.
PROS: Fun, well done, and solid.
CONS: Nothing new.
RATING: 7.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: Not different enough to highly recommend to those who don’t like race.

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

EYECANDY: A -
Tileset use: A -
Eyecandy Look: A -
Creativity: B
Bugs: A

~ Traft

some race level
This level has a bell curve of quality, so to speak. At the beginning, there is an annoying wind/block maze. Hitting the edges of the blocks is a jarring experience that, despite all of my playing, I have never gained an immunity against. The middle section is the best by far. The entire thing feels smooth and works well. At the end, things begin to deteriorate slightly again – not as bad as in the beginning, but still it’s a falling down in quality. Gameplay in this level is interesting and definitely more creative than the last. However, it is still nothing all that new.
PROS: Solid and interesting gameplay, especially toward the middle of the level.
CONS: The beginning and the end aren’t so hot, and there’s still nothing that new here.
RATING: 7.5

The Diamondus modification used here is fine enough, but it’s still Diamondus. The backgrounds, such as in the annoying block part of the level, are interesting, but still this does not make up for the fact that we’re talking Diamondus here. The tileset is used well here, and this is probably the best one can expect from Diamondus. Because of this, I am upping the rating to a 7.2, which is very nice of me considering…well…if I say Diamondus again, someone will kill me.
PROS: Outstanding eyecandy considering the tileset that has been used.
CONS: It’s still that tileset.
RATING: 7.2

This is definitely improved over the last level. The more I play it, in fact, the more the first part does not bother me as much. It still could use some editing, but it is a decent puzzle. I feel that those who play this level probably will like it, and it does grow on you. As replay is important in a race level, especially a circuiting one where nothing changes from circuit to circuit, this is a plus.
PROS: Enjoyable, and it grows on you.
CONS: Nothing dramatically creative.
RATING: 7.5

Although the start (and to a lesser extent, the end) of this level could take some improvement, it is overall well done. This is more what I expect from a talented level maker like Blackraptor, although I paradoxically consider this level more flawed than the previous one. It takes some chances, and fails in a few of those. However, the chances make it more worth it, and despite the fallout from the bad ones, this level’s rating is higher than the last. Imagine that!
PROS: An enjoyable play and more creative than the last.
CONS: I would prefer different play each circuit like in some of the greatest race levels, and perhaps some more creativity would be nice, but I suppose I’m being a tad picky.
RATING: 7.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: At first it may seem vexing, but the level becomes better as you keep playing it. Overall a good level, although those new to race might want to concentrate on a better-flowing level.

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

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

OVERALL PACK RATING: 7.2

~ Traft

[Annoying/broken HTML removed. ~cooba]