Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Full of dead ends and hard to navigate. Too many pointless crevices. The powerup is hidden behind TWO secret passages, PLUS a coin warp…. or you can shoot it with electroblaster. The level does do a good job of visually distinguishing different areas, though, and the houses look nice even though there’s little incentive to be aboveground.

This battle level excellent in my opinion. let me review it.

Gameplay:

Gameplay is very good here. navigating is hard sometimes, but when youll learn this level properly, its very easy.

Eyecandy: Sewers Area is kinda awesome. no tilebugs, and there’ lots of eyecandy. top area has eyecandy too, but not that much. i like the background layers too.

Layout: layout is ok. i don’t have any problems with it. ;b

Placement: Ok. tehres many weapons in this level, and they’re placed very well imo. i don’t have problems with the placement.

Overall: This is very good battle level. download is recommeded. ;)

Now, the sewers I thought were awesome, but the the top area wasn’t as good, so I thought I’d review the sewers as one… and the top area as one… than average them together.

TOP AREA
————
EYECANDY: 7.0
Could have been better, some of the tiles just didn’t seem to cut it. Nothing “special” here, either.
WEAPON PLACEMENT: 7.5
Nice, but I think you should never put food in your battle levels; Sugar Rush isn’t fair sometimes.
BUGS: 9.5
Good, but at the upper left corner of the map, after you climb the one way window-sills… there is a small area (like 5×1) covered up by Layer 3. Nothing is here. Was there something in an earlier version?
OVERALL: 8/10

Sewers area
—————-
EYECANDY: 9.5
Perfect. Nothing is wrong here, but not too much is impressive. Great, though.
WEAPONS PLACEMENT: 8.5
Still, too much food, but not as much here. Also, I think it was smart to make the carrot in a place where you needed bouncy ammo to get to it. You can’t give away free carrots, now can you? :-b
BUGS: 10
No bugs.
OVERALL: 9.3/10

9.3 + 8.0 = 17.3
17.3 / 2 = 8.65 = 8.7

8.7 (ding, ding, ding!)

Pretty good.

TILESET USE/EYE CANDY: Good. All the tiles fit together, I thought there was enough eye candy. There could have been more though, and it would have been just as good. Still, an 8 isn’t bad.
8/10

GAMEPLAY: The flow of the level was ok, but I think that the entrances to the sewers should have been farther on the left and right. I like battle levels to be circular.
8/10

ITEM/WEAPON PLACEMENT: I don’t understand the food, and wherever you have weapons, I think you have too many in one place. Also, I think you have too many rapid fires. On the plus side, the respawn times are good.
7/10

ORIGINALITY: Really, it’s just a battle level, but the sewers are neat, so you get a 7.
7/10

REPLAY VALUE: This seems fine. I think replay would be more if it were larger, or more secrets, so an 8.
8/10

OVERALL (An average): I like math, so my overalls are average. (My overalls are average? I don’t wear overalls.)
7.6, rounded up to 7.7.

PS (Trafton, I hope I did better on this review)

I have to say that the first time I saw this rating, I thought that it would be extermely overrated. And while it is significantly overrated, I have to say that I am pleasently surprised by the level. For a first level, this is really, really good and absolutely shows quite a lot of promise. Keep working on levels – this is nicely done.

TILESET/TILESET USE: The tileset used is the somewhat difficult but still nice-looking “Colon” tileset. Everything fits together fairly well. There is not anything amazing about the eyecandy, though – it is more or less plain as a general rule, and the walls look sort of messed up, but generally everything fits together and it looks good.
Pros: Everything seems to fit together.
Cons: Nothing amazing.
Rating: 7.5

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: Weapon placement was probably the worst aspect of this level. There are a lot of barrels put together in one place in some areas (“clumping”) and the basic ammo is a little sparse and seems to be placed in some not-so-interesting ways. Still, there may be some room for improvement, but generally weapon and item placement is good, especially for a first level.
Pros: Well placed.
Cons: Some clumping.
Rating: 6.7

ORIGINALITY: There is not anything ultra-original about this level. It is just a solid, Colon-based level. There is little here that has never been seen before, and nothing amazingly original, but, well, it is still really good for a first level, and that is what counts.
Rating: N/A

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: This level is relatively small, more or less. It’s probably about half way between small and moderate-sized. The layout is fairly unusual though still nicely done. Flow was a bit difficult in some parts, and I often did hit into walls, but that is not as important in battle levels as it is in Capture the Flag levels. Gameplay is good, though there are a few problems that need to be worked out before this level can be really good. Very good for a first level.
Pros: Nicely done.
Cons: Small. The flow needs a bit more work, even for a battle level.
Rating: 7.5

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: There isn’t anything that is really amazing about the level, but it is still generally fun to play.
Pros: N/A.
Cons: N/A.
Rating: N/A.

OVERALL (not an average): Colon is not an easy tileset to use, even for more advanced levelmakers. This level uses Colon well and also has solid gameplay. It may need some work, but for a first level, this is extremely promising. The flow needs work, even though it is a battle level, but is still not bad. Many of the common mistakes that occur when making a first level are completely missing here, which is definitely a good sign. Keep making more levels, as this definitely shows some very good promise. Nicely done.
Pros: Shows promise. Not bad gameplay.
Cons: Still needs some work. Small.
Rating: 7.2

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

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

PLACEMENT: B
Weapons: B

THE FINAL GRADE: B+

THE FINAL RATING: 7.2

+ PROS: A solid level, especially for the first.
- CONS: Nothing amazing, still. Small. Ammo clumping. Still, very good for a first level.

- Trafton

EDIT: One last thing. The carrot is contained within an area of destruct blocks. It would probably be better, if you want people only to be able to warp into it, to use one way instead of thsose blocks and surround the area with riochets so no one can shoot through to get it. If you want people to have to go through blocks to get there, use buttstomp scenery. Just a tip, although it is not that flawed the way it is.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

I se what you mean about the floating houses. I re-uploaded the level and fixed that.

You see, I usually play in split screen mode, so I have a habit of ALWAYS going into split screen mode, even when playtesting a level. With the smaller area of vision, I missed those houses.

Anyway, here’s the fixed version.

Interesting level. I’ll try to rate as per the usual, ‘professional’ rating outline.

TILESET USE/EYE CANDY: Very good, everything fits together, and it looks nice. One problem (minor detail), is that at the very top there are houses in the background that are ‘floating.’ But, I can overlook that. One thing though, it doesn’t really look Roman. The street lamps and clothes poles kind of distract from that idea. However, I have not let this lower my rating.
9/10

ITEM/WEAPONS PLACEMENT: Also good, but I never understood the point of food in a multiplayer level. I feel a sugar rush would be an unfair advantage. But, to each his own I always say. (Someone else does too, but I can’t quite remember.) The carrots and weapons are well-placed, and the power-ups are not too easy to get to.
9/10

GAMEPLAY/REPLAY VALUE: Since it is a battle map, (and a well made one at that) there is plenty of replay value. The travelling is smooth and circular, like the way I like battle maps.
9/10

ORIGINALITY: It’s a battle level, there have been plenty of those. The idea of being in Roman times is kind of new I guess, but like I said, it doesn’t seem very Roman. I’m not sure if there are a lot of battles in sewers, but it seems like a good idea.
8/10

OVERALL: A good level I think. But who am I to say?
8.7