Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Well, it’s about time Jazz2online gets a nice level. I haven’t seen a good level around here in a while now, but here we go. This level was quite small, but fun, and it uses a variation of the castle tileset (Castle Eclipse).

Eyecandy – Good
Good eyecandy, all though some parts of it seems kind of funny. The background was nicely don’t, especially how you made it look like you were inside somewhere.

Gameplay – Okay
Gameplay was okay. I felt like I was being bounced around by springs a lot of the time, though, and it has a very confusing layout. Not bad gameplay, though.

Originality – Original, but not original. I don’t know. :-p

Weapon placement – Very good
Nothing wrong here, very nice weapon and ammo placement.

Tileset usage – Good
The author made as good of a castle level as you can make, which isn’t all ways that good since it’s such a basic tileset. The author did a good job, though, and I hope some people host this.

Download reccomendation, and again, somebody host this :-p[This review has been edited by labratkid]

This level is kinda nice.

Tileset use: good. I didn’t see any bugs.

Event placement: the ammo was placed in a fine way. Though there wasn’t much of it. Maybe a little more would have been better. Apart from the ammo there were some springs, which were sometimes placed a bit weirdly.

Layout: good enough. Though it’s a little bit hard to get around.

Eyecandy: nothing special about that, but good still.

Overall: average level

Download: yeah, could be fun for a server.

Probably Blacky’s best battle level, however not his best level overall (that was Circut Plug imo)

Anyway, the gameplay here is good for a battle level. The layout and flow (I know flow isn’t considered an important aspect of battle, but it is to me, therefore, it’ll apply to this review) may not be all that but it’s ok as it’s not too rough and frustrating to navigate like in some battle levels.

The eyecandy was a bit above average for this set. Still, nothing really spectacular. Even considering how Blacky spends most of his work on eyecandy this however, was a disappointment.

The ammo and powerup placement was good. I must say this is one of the best aspects here. In my opinion it’s one of the key features that makes a level fun, and this level doesn’t fail to provide it. Sure, it may not look like much from just seeing it, but it’s actually quite fun once you play it.

Carrot placement is either a like it or hate it, personally I like only 2 carrots in a battle level. I’ve always believed battle levels with 5 or more were quite boring because they don’t have as much camping involved, however this is also why I say it’s like it or hate it. Because some players prefer the camping gameplay while others will despise it.

Strategy exists, but probably nothing more than your basic camping. However the warps at each side may add something a bit interesting here.

Overall, this is a good battle level. Nothing special or something that’s a must see/download but I still reccomend it to the hard core battle players to add it to their collection as it’s worth downloading.

- fs[This review has been edited by Fire Sword!]

This level just does NOT agree with me for some reason. I’m not sure why. It looks alright, and in theory should play OK, but it just does not “feel” right to me. Oh, well. Here we go.

TILESET/TILESET USE: Eyecandy was nothing special. It uses BlurredD’s new “Psych3 Night” tileset, which looks quite good, but it did not come out looking extraordinary in this level. In fact, it came out looking a bit messed up. I am not sure why – it just did. Perhaps it’s just me, but much of the level ends up disagreeing with me in this sort of way. It should play well, but it just does not. Regardless, eyecandy was alright, but not great.
Pros: Good looking.
Cons: Nothing amazing.
Rating: 7.2

WEAPON/ITEM PLACEMENT: Weapon placement was perhaps the best part of this level, more or less. Weapons were placed fairly strategically. There were not too many of them, but there were enough to maintain a good battle without having “ammo drain.” Weapon placement did not, as many other categories did, suffer from the strange “should do well but doesn’t syndrome” that the rest of the level does, though.
Pros: Well placed.
Cons: None to speak of that are very major.
Rating: 7.7

ORIGINALITY: Not terribly original, but not terribly unoriginal either.
Rating: N/A

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: Gameplay, unfortunately, suffered from this strange “should do well but doesn’t” problem even more than eyecandy. Flow was the main problem, but layout was not wonderous either. The springs were all seemingly placed in just the wrong place and I often could not get to places I thought I could. Platforms were mostly one way-ed, but some were not, which became confusing. Still, gameplay was decent and well-done enough.
Pros: It should have played well.
Cons: Yet it did not.
Rating: 6.7

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: This level looks like it would be okay to play, but it gets boring a bit quick, primarally because of the forementioned disagreement. This could, however, just be me, and the level needs long-term road testing before a verdict can fully be passed in this area.
Pros: N/A.
Cons: N/A.
Rating: N/A.

OVERALL (not an average): I am not sure what to think of this level. It suffers from the same problem that I run into every once and a while. The level should play well, but it just does not feel right. Moreover, this problem is even worsened by the fact that half of the time it is just me and half of the time others agree. For now, though, I will leave it with a seven. I will play this every once and a while for the next few days to get an idea of whether it is just me or there is actually some flaw with this level.
Pros: It looks like it plays well.
Cons: But strangely, at least to me, and at least today, it does not play well.
Rating: 7.0

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

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

PLACEMENT: A -
Weapons: A -

THE FINAL GRADE: B

THE FINAL RATING: 7.0

+ PROS: Well done. Should play better.
- CONS: At least at this moment to me, it does not play very well. Long-term testing required in order to get whether this is just a one-day thing or there is something wrong with this level that makes it feel like this.

- Trafton

P.S. Happy birthday, NinjA.

Gameplay : 1

choosen : 2
Very good music wich is good combinated to the lvl/tileset so also a well choosen tileset.

event placement : 1

eyecandy : 1,6
Nice. good background

general : 1,2

7,8

Download ? yea

host ? yes it would be good to host, but not good for dueling or team match.[This review has been edited by BúññyÉlmér]

Gameplay: 0,8
Choosen: 2
event placement: 0,6
Eyecandy 1,6
General 1,5

6,5

You have choosen a very nice tileset and good music, But the lvl is a bit messed up, maybe a bit to small. And no new, idea’s or any other posable gameplay is in it.

Blackraptor made another CTF level.

GAMEPLAY:

Well, you happened to place the bases in what could be my least favorite positions: one base somewhat in the middle of the level and the other in a corner. A layout like this could be hard to trully balance. As for the flow, it’s almost alright. The idea with the different tube route depending on where you enter is a nice change from the ordinary (may be the best feature of this level). However, there are several places where you can get stuck because of one ways. And you probably should have used some faster method for setting the triggers at the start. It takes too much away from gameplay (the tube doesn’t have to make players wait that long).

EYE CANDY:

Good, but average, in a sense. It’s a little new in several places but overall done before. The background is somewhat different, but just a slight variation of what FireSword did in High Volume CTF. I think it would be hard to squeeze much more original eye candy, but since you haven’t used this set too often (most likely), be my guest and try.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

There’s a full energy carrot between the two bases. And then there’s a warp at the top right to a +1 carrot, and a tube to +1 carrot on the right side of the level. All carrots are pretty much easily accessible from the top half of the level and would be harder from the bottom half. This could complicate gameplay, and you only really need one extra +1 carrot if any. Ammo placement seems a little scarce but alright and the powerups are placed well enough (from a glipse at least).

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Not too often. The level is alright, but I liked the Starlight level more. 7.2 is the rating.

The level revised: The start now takes less time so that’s good. And there’s now a spring at 25,25 so that’s also good. There were some other fixes along with improved eye candy (as Blackraptor claims), but I can’t really find that so I’ll just take his word for it. Anyway, while I’m in the mood for generosity, I’ll give this a 7.7 just because (but that’s as high as I’ll go).[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

Ok, replies to comments

Violet: Try playing online with someone from the opposite team as you, then you will see. Also, you forgot to mention eyecandy in your reveiw, which is important to me. Ive also reuploaded the level and fixed the “getting out slowly part”. Thnak you for mentioning that.

Ninja: I await your review, thank you for the comment, and once again thanks for the logo.

Also, if anyone finds any bugs here mention them in your review so I can fix them and reupload. I want the least buggiest version of this level on J2O if possible.

BlurredD: In some places there were some layer 5 tiles missing so I added more.
Labrat: There is music, but only the people who unzip it can hear it.

Yay, currently an 8.[This review has been edited by Blackraptor]

‘yay this sucks’
‘whee argh’

J/K

This is a very good level by Blackraptor, using the tubelectric tileset. 3-4 layer eyecandy is as good as it gets. However, the bases are slightly biased.
The background eyecandy (6-7-8) wasn’t so good, however. But still, the gameplay is very good. There are 3 carrots. One full energy, and two 1+ health carrots. There are a few well-placed powerups around the level a couple of which you must use weapon 2 or 9 on. The full energy carrot is in the middle, which is good. Overall, it\‘s a very good CTF level with a few flaws, but nonetheless a good 1-1.
You have a delay when loading the triggers, which could have been easily fixed. I am not good at explaining how, but it consists of using a triggerzone to block off the trigger-loading area once. Think about it, and you’ll figure it out.

The eyecandys great, the gameplays very good, and there is a delay when loading the triggers. Every time. Which kind of sucks, but it gives the other team a chance to score..a few times maybe? :P

Download Recomandation:Yes
Tips:Learn to fix0r the trigger loading, Blackraptor.

Whew. My longest review ever. o.O[This review has been edited by ~[GpW]NinjA]

TILESET/TILESET USE/LOGO: Yes, LOGO. The .zip file comes with a logo for the level, which consists of Blackraptor and Ninja standing on a flat platform. After staring at it for a while, I noticed some faint words reading “Circuit Plug CTF”. Oh well. Anyway, this level uses Tubelectric fairly well, and looks like it was inspired a bit by BlurredD’s “E-line Circuits” (I think that was the name). The author also has a few inventive things such as a lot of the red brick walls being jagged. This leads to a masking problem with the tops, but it looks cool none the less. I can’t say I care much for the background, though.
Pros: Pretty good.
Cons: The jagged walls lead a masking bug, kind of bad background.
Rating: 7.5

WEAPON/ITEM PLACEMENT: I found this to be a little sparse, really. The level has quite a few powerups, too many (IMHO) for the relative smallness of this level, and not too much other ammo.
Pros: Some things are ok.
Cons: Some things just.. aren’t?
Rating: 5.7

ORIGINALITY: This level is reasonably original. Some original tileset use, and there are some nice sucker tube tricks.
Pros: Pretty original.
Cons: Few.
Rating: 7.7

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: The level feels a little too tight, and has too many vertical pits (like Trafton’s Demonic Chicken Forest) for my taste. The author tries to compensate for this with lots of one ways on either end, but they seem to be too far apart for easy movement. Oh, and the bases are about two seconds away from each other. But the level itself is fairly good, though I think it might be better suited for a battle level..
Pros: It’s ok.
Cons: Tight, distance between bases, doesn’t feel too much like CTF.
Rating: 7.0

REPLAY VALUE: This level is kind of fun, so yes, you could spend some time here, with Regen (although to be honest, I wouldn’t mind if the Electro Blaster didn’t respawn), Gamma, and all your friends who could be bothered to come.
Pros: Pretty fun.
Cons: A few parts aren’t too fun, such as the insanely slow way out of getting stuck near the blue base (I’m not even sure how you get stuck there in the first place..). Edit: This is now fixed, but it does not raise the rating enough to change it.
Rating: 8.0

OVERALL (not an average): This is a pretty fun level where the bases are way too close together.
Pros: Nice eyecandy, some nice tubing, goodish design.
Cons: A few bugs (such as a layer 3 bug), not-so-nice background, base placement, and a few other things.
Rating: 7.7

Edit: Yes, I hosted this in a private server so I could see what the author described as not working in single player. Which doesn’t mean I have any idea where they were..
Edit #2: Eyecandy = Tileset Use.
Edit #3: Ok, I tested this with a red person, and was not paticularly pleased with what I found. Apparently for the blue team, the path between the bases is 2-3 seconds, while for red the path is 4-5 seconds. This shows an incredible bias, and I am sorely tempted to lower my rating by one point, but the bug fix makes up for this a little.[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Normally I don’t review CTF levels, but since it is made on one of my favourite tilesets… I decided to have a try. The eyecandy is made nicely, but it looks like some beauty islands on the level. Everything looks quite good, but some places are cooler (fan? ;P) than rest. Ammo placement – a bit too little of ammo for my likes, but I always liked more ammo than others (see my battle pack ;)). There is only one thing a bit overrode – 8 fastfires in one place! Wouldn’t be too bad, if they’d be more hidden… I think I’ll rate this a 7.5… or wait! The level has great music. Make that 8.

A semi important notice:

There have been some bugs which I have failed to discover, so I have reuploaded this level and now the bugs are fixed. Such bugs are the RF without the generater, which now has it, the gun crate, which is now a gunbarrel and I increased the speed in some sucker tubes. Revieweres may want to reupload, but I reccomend just ignoring the certain points. And about bumping your head on the ceiling, as BlurredD said, sadly I couldnt figure a way to fix it without changing it completely, which I did not want. That is all.

Hmm… Looks like someone has been taking my advice…

GAMEPLAY:

Unlike some levels made before this one, I can actually get used to it. I’m a little skeptical about balance, though the layout is good. It could be a bit wider on the right side of the level. The flow needs some fixing in a few places. Like near the fast fires, you should modify it so that the spring keeps the x-value and players don’t bump up against the ceiling. And you should be careful with the types of springs you used and where you placed them. If jump on a spring and hit a ceiling, consider a weaker spring. And avoid unnecessary springs. Also, something I should mention I rather disliked: to the right of the red base there are some sucker tubes that I think are a bad idea. They’re too slow to be much of an escape route. It’s more of a potential death trap if you ask me (since someone could wait at the other end and shoot you). Except it’s not something you would accidentally go into very often. My suggestion would be change the speed of the tubes so it’s faster or change it to something entirely different.

EYE CANDY:

Above average and some of the best I’ve with this tileset (could even compete with some of Cell’s work). The only thing is, it’s a little confusing in several places (like around 68,30), but otherwise it’s good.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

There is a full energy carrot and two +1 carrots in this level. The full energy carrot is somewhat closer to the red base than the blue base which may be a slight problem. The placement of the +1 carrots are a little better. On the left side it’s easier to get the carrot then the blue flag. On the right side, you can get the red flag and then the +1 carrot. Not how I would have done it, with it different on each side, but it’s ok. Ammo placement and powerups are placed alright, though you might want to put a generator on the RF powerup.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

More often than his previous levels. This is a 7.5, but could easily be rated higher if those problems I mentioned were solved.

Thnx, i always seem to forget things. Anyways, the file is reuploaded with the tileset, and Ive fixed one mistake which I forgot to fix before.

I can not review this level since the author did not include the tileset in the upload. Please upload it with the tileset.

TILESET/TILESET USE: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable.

WEAPON/ITEM PLACEMENT: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable.

ORIGINALITY: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable.

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable.

REPLAY VALUE: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable.

COMPATIBILITY: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable.

OVERALL: Not applicable.
Pros: Not applicable.
Cons: Not applicable.
Rating: Not applicable

OVERALL RATING (Not an average): Not applicable. Reupload this with the tileset included, please.

EDIT: Reuploaded a fixed version. Final rating 7.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

This is a symmetrical CTF level. And this is my review:

GAMEPLAY:

It isn’t bad, but I don’t like it much at all. It’s not too easy to get around, and the layout looks plain and boring. I can’t say making the level symmetrical was a bad idea. It’s definitely more balanced as your other levels, but I still feel the gameplay and the layout could be much better. It seems squared off in many places and very little choice of routes in others (like at the bottom near where the carrot is). I also advise not to use destruct scenary too often since it’s nearly pointless and slows players down. And the best way to avoid the spring glitch is to not use horizontal springs at all. Most levels don’t need them for good gameplay so yours shouldn’t either. Also, at the bottom left and right, there shouldn’t be those springs and pole where there is pepper spray. It impedes gameplay and it isn’t worth going out of the way.

EYE CANDY:

It’s nothing special, nor is it that good. The eye candy is basic, but the foreground is a little nuisance and the background could have been designed better (unless if the tileset is more limiting than I thought). When I make my levels, I always choose a good tileset where making good eye candy won’t be too hard. The tileset you used definitely isn’t one of Disguise’s best, so my best advice is to use more popular tilesets (even if you’re against that). This can help you get higher ratings with your levels.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I would guess there are two +1 carrots and one full energy carrot. Not bad, except you can get both +1 carrots easily, though that’s not that big a deal. Ammo placement could use some work, but the powerups aren’t placed badly. You should spread +3 ammo more throughout the level and seldomly use crates and/or barrels.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I’m thinking no. A 6.7 is what I’m going to rate this. This level is not even set to loop. I do like this level more than the prior ones, though.

Recommendation for downloading: O-oh YES.

My favourite color is blue. So, this is my favourite CTF level since this moment. Everything is very original and beautyful. Tileset is perfect.
Music is cool. Everything’s cool, man! I liked it very much, especially background layer: this blue
mountain is just like in 3d game! General impression is very remembered. General atmosphere is mystic and
that’s what i appreciate most of all in all levels: existance of own level atmosphere… uh.
:( now about bugs… it seems to be perfect, but: surroundings of warps in tubes should be painted over
with foreground layer, ‘cause it not very good when you see yourself inside the tube. Also i didn’t like one thing:
when I was running on spring and it threw me up into the tube, i didn’t get into it at once, ‘cause i collided with ceiling. I recommend you to put there some suck events to make Jazz get into the tube at once time.
(or do another thing, if you know what.)

So here is your level rank: (max = 1 point)

1. LEVEL INTEGRITY = 1.0

2. TILESET = 1.0

3. MUSIC = 1.0

4. LEVEL DESIGN = 1.0

5. TECHNICAL DELIBERATION = 0.8
(as i’ve already said, it’s due to tube bugs…)

6. TEXTS = 1.0
(by the way, i didn’t understand that text about math teacher…)

7. PICKUPS = 1.0

8. EFFECTS = 1.0

9. ORIGINALITY = 1.0

10. GENERAL ATMOSPHERE = 1.0
————————————-
1+1+1+1+0.8+1+1+1+1+1=9.8~9.7

Why don’t you try to build a singleplayer level with this tileset and this music?

Gamplay/Layout:

Not great. I found places where I couldn’t make jumps because I was using jazz and not spaz. Also, the thin blue bars should all have ONE WAY events through them. If you look at Disguise’s level examples for the tileset you will see that those were used. So that added to movement problems. The sucker tubes, again look at what Disguise did.

Eyecandy:

Good Enough.

Weapons:

Yeah, ok. I found weapons all over the place. Refer to what BlurrrrrrrredD said above.

Overall:

I bring down a rating huge when you can’t make certain jumps because you use jazz and not spaz. I hate that. I mean really hate it. It doesn’t make the level follow well. I would have given this level a 7.0 but for all the problems I listed above and the jazz problem which I really hate brings it down to a 6.2

BJARNI, you forghot to rate the level!

music: a good one to. Thery original,“BLUE”. I think i heard it somewere.

tileset: well, i think everywone knows BLUE tileset. Personaly , I like it.

level: nothing left to say. The other guys informed you about it.

Owerall: 8

Cool level! With 8 coins! Amazing! But I think they should be Timebombs(TNT) cool anyway! 8 because

-1 Have more weapons
-1 Have Seaker powerup!

(Rating removal! Amazing! -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]