Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I still don’t understand why I didn’t rate this before. I just say: Good job! This pack is awesome!

Just 100%

Its cool but too hard…
i lost all lives in SWS Fencer…

I am not really in the mood of writing a full review but i will point some aspects from the pack. The eyecandy is very good. There are no bugs or anything, gameplay was very good. The levels really make you feel that you are there and the enemy/picup placement is not frustrating. Music is very good and it fits the pack etc. My rating is 9.7 with DR

I noticed that for some extremely peculiar reason I had not reviewed this, although I was going to review it.

I won’t be writing a humongous review, which this’d certainly deserve, so I’ll just summarize it in a few words.

This is the best or at the very least, the second-best single player release so far and everything about it kicks ass.

good lvls!!!!!

GAMEPLAY

So, gameplay is good but too hard… I waiting for continue of Devres… But bad what this is last episode. Anyway gameplay is good…
WARNING: Devres is too long and i review only two levels. Becoz that is my first normal review…
FIRST STAGE NIPPIUS – Oh i bad knows english, anyway ill try write it. More enemies how skeletons, lizards and suckers, oh i forget about ravens… Okay go and kill enemies, go to edge, destroy trigger crate, go up again. Go on tree tops, BE CAREFUL: dont fall… Go and get bonus…
Oh…
Second stage is Devans Fortress – Good place, but room with faster spike bolls is too very hard.
That is all… Sorry for too smart review and sorry for bad english…

Oh, short about eyecandy…
TILESET, EYECANDY, MUSIC!
1st stage – Good tileset by Disguise, good eyecandy, good
happy music… I like this… Eyecandy is very cool…
2nd stage – Nice tileset, but who make it? Good eyecandy, nice music… :D

I give 9.7… This is MAXIMUM RATING for me…

P.S. sorry for bads :)

[Please don’t review and rate like 10% of the full pack. ~cooba]

not perfect, but still really awesome. what i like most here that the levels connect together really well, and the difficulty levels are great. atleast for someone looking for a challenge. :)

EYECANDY7,2

Eyecandy was good but you can do better.

GAMEPLAY.5,7

Gameplay was VERY hard but that is what makes it CHALLENGING.

I give it a 8,7

[Review changed to quick review. – cooba]

Truly an amazing piece of work. As an avid fan of oldschool 2D platformers and sidescrollers this pack contained a lot of resonant elements for me and almost felt like a whole new game rather than just a new single player episode. The difficulty level is brutal but the sense of accomplishment from beating it is worth the effort. A must download.

After about 6 hours, I finally beat this episode. The whole series was just awesome.

Story:

In the story of this episode, you had to travel to the ice cold and remote planet nippius. In there, you had to solve simple but hard and long puzzles to get to the top of the towers, to fight bosses, but not before having to solve another level. Once clearing all 3 bosses, you had to enter devan’s lair, where you fight him. Once you beat him, you have to chase a rocket turtle.

It’s a very good story. It totally immerses you in it. It’s more than I can put in words. You’ll have to see the awesomeness of it for yourself.

Story: 10

Eye Candy:

The eye candy is very good. The levels are beautiful, and obviously, a lot of work has been put into the eye candy itself. You have forests, poison rivers and lots more. The eye candy really fits with the level itself.

Eye candy: 10

Gameplay:

The gameplay was very good, too. The levels were challenging, and if it wasn’t enough of a challenge on easy, there was normal and hard. It was very challenging. Although sometimes it was a bit TOO challenging. At least
it’s a break from all the easy levels. It’s not just a level where you can just hold/tap spacebar, hold shift/press caps lock and just run and jump. I lost all my lives at least 4 times, but it was fun. The pack is very fun. About the most fun I had in years with this game.

Gameplay: 9.5

Music:

The music was very good. Not only was it good itself, it fit with the levels and game. It was a bit dark and shadowy at times, which is exactly what the whole atmosphere around this pack is. Not much more to say about it.

Music: 10

Enemy Placement:

The enemy placement was also very good. It was one of the things that made this challenging. The enemy placement fit well with where you were, and it wasn’t always the same enemy or the same action to defeat them. You had to do all sorts of things to defeat them. Not just tapping spacebar.

Enemy placement: 10

Pickups:

Not much to say about the pickups. They are very balanced, not much seekers, and also very innovative use of the freezer to illuminate the cave. There wasn’t too much ammo, so it was quite challenging.

Pickups: 9.5

Conclusion:

Story: 10
Eye Candy: 10
Gameplay: 9.5
Music: 10
Enemy Placement: 10
Pickups: 9.5
Download recommended: Highly!

I think this one is better than the original one! This one is very handy and it’s easyer to use.

The best SP ever
[Review changed to quick review. For more information, see Review Rules. – Violet CLM]

The ending episode of Evilmike’s amazing series is, as usual, mind blowing. Mike pushed his creative skills to the limit, creating what can be easily considered the most challenging levels this side of Jazz Unleashed.

mike had said on IRC that he aimed for “Old NES Platformer” difficulty. oh boy. If this series is anything what those games are like, then I don’t want any part of them!

Difficulty is not the only thing that this episode excels at. Eyecandy is amazing. The levels have an atmosphere few levels or even games can achieve. ideas abound in this episode, and evilmike once again impresses me with his mastery at JCS.

The story is the strongest part, though. I had to suppress the urge (Which was actually rather strong) to jjnxt and see the ending. Part of the reason is obvious: This is the denounment of the series (The main climax happens, I believe, at the end of episode 3) and mike is trying to tie as many ends as he can. In fact, he explains everything, answering the many questions forming since the start of the series, and letting Devan’s second form fit into the storyline, which is a rather clever trick.

I feel the ending does not provide full closure for what is supposed to be a ending of a series, but I remind myself of what the intro said “This is a story of someone caught in (The empire’s) downfall” and the theme of the title, primarily on “Devan Shell” It sort of makes sense then on your characters action. The main antagonist is defeated; He is one small rabbit, and cannot alter what has been done. and so, the cycle of life continues.

This series has made a drastic influence in the jj2 community, and i would therefore be nuts NOT to give it high mark!

I must say, an epic end to one of J2O’s bestest and hardest SP series. The Fortress of Ruin is the longest episode out of the 5 (and took me a good 5 days to complete properly on easy.). Judging by the fact that this has already recieved 12 reviews, I think that I could be repeating what everone else says. Nevertheless, I shall give my opinion…

Starting off with the eyecandy, as usual, all the levels are excellently made with pretty much no faults to the eyecandy. All the levels have good atmospheres, and the lighting effects are used well too (particularily for the dark caves and the portals in Devan’s Fortress). There are also several styles of levels, and each level contrasts another (with one or two exceptions). Pretty much all I have to say about the whole pack to do with eyecandy. Pretty much bugless and creative in most levels.

The gameplay, and to re-re warn everyone here, it’s very hard to say the least. Episode 5 is probably the hardest out of the 5 episodes, particularily towards the end.

What is also outstanding about this episode is the awesome gameplay in the levels, particularily the layout of the levels themselves. There are several secret areas and routes in each level, and I think I got lost at one point trying to find Devan’s lair. Possibly the most unlinear levels I’ve ever played, so the player has the job of exploring. Also makes the episode fun to play again. Evilmike uses obstacles throughout the episode, particularily time-based obstacles which are overused (as everyone else has mentioned). Most of the obstacles require patience, particularly the classic Spike Boll obstacles and the unstable bridges, but there are a couple where you have to run like hell (the floating platform and most of the ones in the Fortress of Floods), so there is actually a variety of gameplay, just most of it timebased.

The gameplay isn’t perfect, there are some very stressful obstacles (the Fortress of Floods took me quite a while to complete, although that may be due to the fact that I am very bad at JJ2), and I also got stuck twice in the walls (whilst walking underwater, and in the Fortress of Sands in some rising spikes, although I died anyway). However, there are a variety of challenges held in this episode, and even if they’re not the first to be presented on the site, they’re quite rarely used, and even if most of them are timebased. Most of the levels are stretching JCS to its full potential.

Finally, the story (which is another crucial element to the series) is just fantastic. Makes the episode very fun if you pay attention. I won’t say anything else, cause I’ll end up spoiling it. Music and tilesets are also nicely used.

FINAL RATING: 9.8
DOWNLOAD?: That’s not even a question, just play it (the others too to get full understanding of the story). It’s a shame I couldn’t have written a longer review, seeing as most of the stuff that had to be said has been said. It’s very hard to fault, apart from repetitive time challenges and a couple of gameplay glitches. Any JJ2 fan should download this, and if they don’t, then they should be frowned upon until they do because it’s just excellent.

I sorely hope this isn’t Mike’s last episode, but if he does return, this should be a tough act to follow.

Apparently comments get deleted after a few days in JAZZ2ONLINE 2009, so I’ll write a full review.

Obviously, this is the last of five episodes of the Devres (or whatever you want to call it) series. And, obviously, prior episodes were very well received by most everyone, as well as this episode, for that matter.

Nonetheless I think it suffers from a lot of flaws, and those are what I’ll mention in my review, since it seems everyone else has covered everything else.

The first level reminded me of Dreamless (a much lower quality level pack). This was because I fell into a death pit after three seconds, and because it was full of float lizards. Fortunately, it turns out that unlike in Dreamless, all but a few death pits have a lot of warning of their existence (the beginning of the first level is one, and pretty much all of Tempest is another; expect to die once and exactly once to not knowing where they were). Nonetheless, I did not really appreciate this.

One thing to note is that the pack is filled with time-based challenges. Your first experience with this will be rushing up the tower to the first boss, but once you reach The Fortress of Floods you’ll see what I really mean.
Honestly I think these were overused and overdone; if you say that they wear thin after about three of them, then you will probably agree with the rest of my review.

I can’t help but be annoyed by the number of people praising the originality of the challenges. These are not the first implementations of these concepts. Mike made extensive use of frogs in his Platform Jumping levels (they’re not on J2O, to save you some time looking for them); BlurredD implemented the rock-riding in a very similar way with the Jazz Unleashed mini-pack; Violet used rising water in a race level or something (okay, not sure about this one). I really don’t need to mention where the inspiration for The Fortress of Decay’s bridges comes from.

There is also a lack of variety in enemies. Expect floating suckers, float lizards, Tuf Turtles, and more floating suckers. You are going to get sick and tired of shooting ravens. Sick and tired.

However the important question is always is the pack fun? And that it is, as the hordes of 9.7 ratings will tell you. Quite a few things are going to annoy you to no end while playing, but the fact is that this is a really, really well made pack despite its flaws.

Again, I’m not bothering to mention the stuff that’s really great because everyone else did. Download the pack and play it. That is the recommended course of action.

This is an episode where a stunningly interesting storyline and overall excellent playing experience meet. As a betatester I must admit this episode might just be a bit too hard for an average solo-player, which is the only bad thing about this episode. However, for me the difficulty was a fun challenge, and I finished it with Medium in 5 evenings.

I just finished playing, and knew that any rating below 10 would not do. Fantastic work.

edit: I deciderd to re make the review.

The Fortress Of Ruin Ep 5 by EvilMike.

STORY:
After Jazz fighting for Deserto , defeating the turtle boss, saved Deserto by destroying the orbital base, fought for Carrotus but the battle for it was lost,and he was helped by the Resistance chasing Devan, the colonel gave him the mission to kill Devan.
EvilMike finished the last episode of this series, Jazz being on Nippius trying to reach Devan’s Lair but,he found out that the Lair has 3 seales.To unseal them, he has to defeat 3 bosses in three fortresses in a large castle.

EYECANDY:
These levels are very good. Thery have all sorts of things like spikes, spooky houses, acid lakes,icy fortresses, snow, rain, even thunders.Like arjandevries said some levels are colorfull, they are creative, but in only ones you can enjoy things like a thunder.

GAMEPLAY: Gameplay was good. The whole episode is challenging, you have to get to Devan’s Lair but the seals are locked, and you have to fight 3 bosses untill that.
In Tempest you have to fly over obstacles being a bird,In alvl you have to race against a water flowing level, to destroy some blocks.
Anyway the pack is hard, I died 3 times, and most of the levels are harder than the other series.
A level had so many spikes that i had to use a cheat to get past them!But Even if it’s a hard pack it ins’t frustrating.
btw The pack takes kinda 2 hours to complete.

PICUPS:
This time i was actualy surprised about the pack.
This time you actually put gems!Purple gems (20) but i also found the other kinds as well.
There were lots of food especially in Nippius. I had 6 S-Rushes in all.
Carrots: I noticed that in Easy Mode are some carrots but in Normal mode there are enough so a quite skilled player can finish these levels. I did tried to play in hard mode but i died too many times.

ENEMY PLACEMENT:
The levels had a balanced no. of enemies:It was rather challenging for me and i think for everyone who played.
But it isn’t enough to stop me. I died 3 times in the whole game.(Once because of a CTF Trick)
There were many flying enemies(floating lizards, ravens, rapiers ,float suckers) but also many different land enemies(even a crawling sucker)and they make it harder to complete.
But leaving the placement, The spike balls were quite a challenge most of it in The Medieval Machine’s Lair. Where i had to use jjnowall once to have enough hearts to fight Bolly .

MUSIC:
The music is fine chosen for the pack. It’s exactly what it’s suits best with, making you feel like you are actually there instead of playing. Even if I like it, it’s a bit bad for me because I don’t like shadowy music.

CONCLUSIONS:
I waited for this pack for a long time and after i finished it i was satisfied.The pack is fun to play, and even if it takes long to play it, it worths the time spent on it. You must have the pack!

Levels: GOOD
Music: GOOD
Original: YES
Hard: YES
Long YES
Fun: YES
Rating: 9.7
DL Rec? YES
Must Have? YES

Edit: Yes ,Mike of course… It just took me a while to get there…
No big deal. Thanks.

I played it, its cool, the music is cool, the gameplay rocks and the eycandy looks good. I cant give less rating than 10.0! Good work EvilMike!