Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Comment time!

Good level, hampered by the fact that it’s rather Spaz-biased. This isn’t really a bad thing unless you happen to be one of the six or so people who are die-hard Jazz users.

The rain is nice, the music is appropriate (and a darn good choice in general), and I like the layout better than in most of your recent levels.

Download this, because Beach needs some love.

A faster tempo and an extra drum or two does not a remix make. No/10.

EDIT:

Ok. Comparing this and the original in ModPlug shows that you added a bass, two drums, a hihat, and a drum loop. Every other sample from 1-14 is exactly the same. The patterns themselves are also the exact same, barring the drums you added. The tempo was also upped from 124 to 138. Even if the instruments were different, just doing that isn\‘t what constitutes a good remix.[This review has been edited by Scizor CT]

I suppose I’m a bit overdue with reviewing this. Oh well. Here’s hoping this doesn’t end up being TOO biased…

Unlike most, if not all, other conversions, this particular one consists of five (plus one copy with a minor color edit, which was probably unnecessary anyway) different tilesets, each taken from one of the many different locales in Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle. Despite being released in 1991, it is still a fantastic game with great and highly creative art.

Nearly every tile from the original game is included, seeing as how this was created from a rip of the official tileset. Additions such as hooks, vines, poles, destructable blocks (albeit ripped from official sets), and a textured background are also present. Pole, Pinball, and snow events aren’t recommended because they tend to look bad.

Not every piece of eyecandy could be added into every set due to JJ2’s somewhat restrictive tileset size, but everything that should be in each set is. The animations are all present and accounted for, as are all of the game’s various collectable items. Triggers can easily be manipulated with the doors, keygems, and switches. In some sets that had a little extra room, the full SGA was included along with a translation. I can only imagine what sort of messages some of you people out there would concoct.

Masking is smooth. Very smooth. I could not intentionally get myself stuck, and since every set uses the same masking for its solid parts, they are all quite well done in this regard.

A couple of the tunes from CK4 were also included (“Eat Your Veggies” and “Welcome to Another Kick in the Pants in Good Old Hillville”, for the inquiring minds), which certainly doesn’t hurt anything. I’d converted another one of the songs, but he refused to include it because it wasn’t used in an example level. The fiend.

Overall, I really cannot find much fault with this. Each locale has been pieced together flawlessly to look exactly like the original, along with all of the minor embellishments that made the Keen series what it is. My only real complaint is the fact that a full version with every set together would have to be TSF-only, but that merely further testifies to the quality of the source game. There’re also a couple things I’ve noticed during the typing of this that were left out, but they’re minor enough that they don’t affect the score, and I can bug him about it later anyway.

It’s a bit hard to decide what to give this, considering my bias towards the series and my constant involvement in the creation of this conversion (read as: slave-driving perfectionism and unforgiving criticism), so I’m going to semi-arbitrarily give this an 8.5.

Nice work. Now if your name is Labratkid, stop reading this and go ask me what you left out.[This review has been edited by Scizor CT][This review has been edited by Scizor CT]

First off: Weirdest. Name. EVER. And that’s beating out “The Zerox Factory” and “This level is untitled.” Even a Google search only came up with two irrelevant hit to some guy’s email address, and it wasn’t even the same anyway. Moving on…

Unfortunately, this is a level where, had it been playtested and polished a bit more, could have been more than it is. Many aspects of it just don’t quite make sense, and others are just unbalanced.

Gameplay/Layout:

The level is more or less your typical CTF, although with quite a few more sucker tubes than anything else. I can’t say that there’s anything overly special or bad about the gameplay, although I wouldn’t recommend this to groups bigger than 3vs3. The water is a nice addition, but it also discourages use of the bottom path due to the slowness of swimming. Speaking of paths between the bases, there’re only two. Maybe only 1 and a half, because the bottom path ceases to exist in the middle. This ends up being very linear overall, because there just aren’t really choices as far as getting around goes. The sucker tubes, although not a bad idea, per se, are a bit too ubiquitous, and in some cases are completely redundant (55,67; 83,67; 25, 76). Flow, on the other hand, is very, very good as a result, barring the hanging piece of ground that BR mentioned. There’re a couple spots that Jazz has a little trouble getting to, but the vast amounts of tubes pretty much makes up for that. The only other thing, layout-wise, that this really, really needs is a path under/through the middle. Camping is far, far too easy because you have to go through one specific and easily defensible point to get between the bases.

Eyecandy/Music:

Also not an overly strong point, regrettably. From what I saw, there is absolutely no foreground eyecandy outside of a little grass, which hurts, considering that it could have really helped out the looks of the level. Otherwise, there’s nothing particularly bad about the eyecandy. It just happens to be the same stuff that we saw back in 1994. The music choice works, as it sounds somewhat like what you might have heard back in the day of JJ1. Maybe not entirely appropriate, but it’s catchy nonetheless.

Item placement:

Oog. This is a doozy. For starters, LR has placed four powerups in the level, two of which are within 10 tiles of each other and placed right next to the Blue base. The RF powerup is encased in a wall underwater, and must be obtained with the EBs that aren’t too far away. The Blaster powerup is right next to it, also underwater, and would be very useful, given the amount of Fastfire in the level. I say would be, because of the Seeker powerup located in the middle of the level, right underneath the level’s Full NRG carrot. The location of the Seekers and the Full NRG is a bit closer to the Blue base also, and it doesn’t help that while Blue has an open path to them, Red has a nice big cliff. Incidentally, whoever can camp in the center can control the level, thanks to the fact that both of those are right on the level’s only path between bases. Finally, Red gets a Bouncy powerup, also underwater, although not as close to their base as the RF and Blaster are to Blue. In contrast, much of the basic ammo is situated on the Red half of the level. However, I must question the logic in placing two RF crates (which create a massive pile of ammo over time, ala B1) right next to each other, while 12 more +3 RF ammo wait right below them. The only EB and Toaster ammo in the level is placed closer to Blue, and Bouncy ammo is just plain scarce in comparison with RF or Seeker ammo. Both sides also have a few Fastfires placed right next to their base.

Conclusion:

Despite what you may think from the review, I’ve still had quite a bit of fun playing this. However, it needed more work and polish before being released, and that hurt the rating significantly. I can only hope that LR will fix and rerelease this, as it could be much better than it is.

Ok, ok, I’m reviewing this at last.

BR’s “The Zerox Factory” is a rather interesting CTF using the somewhat-too-popular 7th Lava Fall tileset. Heaven knows where the name came from, although my own efforts aren’t any better. It sounds good anyway. Regardless…

Gameplay:

The main gimmick of the level is that if you fall between a number of small platforms at the bottom, you get warped back to the last base you came from. However, this effect lasts as long as you don’t go to the opposite base, so you can potentially do some evil things with a little planning. Outside of that, there isn’t anything too unusual about the level design, outside of the fact that it makes frequent use of sucker tubes, including sticking the bases in them. Flow is good, with few, if any, spots that would hinder normal gameplay.

Eyecandy:

Unfortunately, the problem with overused tilesets is that it’s hard to come up with new and exciting things to do with it. In this case, the bottom and background looks nice, and several layers were obviously used. The top is somewhat less spectacular, although still not at all bad or boring. Several long, streaming lavafalls, chains, and cables the stretch from top to bottom are scattered about the level in several layers, so it rarely feels empty. My own opinion is that it looks better without the lighting, as the tileset is dark already, but that’s probably just me. In BR’s defense, he’s done a great job with an overused tileset, there’re no tilebugs, and the eyecandy in general is great.

Pickups:

BR has provided a nice variety of ammo to suit any given situation, but RFs, Pepper Spray, and Seeks are probably the most useful. For that reason, of the two powerups, the RF is harder to get than the Bouncy, though Jazz players won’t find it difficult thanks to coptering. Both of them can only be gotten with the relatively rare Electro Blasters, thanks to their location in the walls. Basic ammo is scattered about, although a tad sparsely for my tastes. I won’t count off for it though, as what is there is enough. Unpowered weapons will probably be used the most, though, as the powered weapons should generally be conserved until they’re really needed. One Full Energy carrot can be found at the top and center of the level, so no complaints there either.

Conclusion:

All said and done, this is a great CTF that is far above the vast majority of the levels that are currently produced. I had fun testing it, and I expect that it will show up more than once in the future.

Download: Unless you want to miss out on a great level, yes.
Host: Please. New material is always nice to see.

stth:
JJ1 remixes are ok to upload alone get it?

Outside of that, it was still pretty interesting, although a bit too much like the original for my overly critical music tastes. Maybe it’s just the drums.

(Annoying text format edit, caps removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

If it were smaller, it would look…odd. And it’s a conversion, not a remake. Moreover, I’d have yelled at him if he edited them at all. ;P
Technically, the bottom hole tiles are the layer 3 tiles, although it isn’t the best use. And I also yelled at him about the empty space, but…eh.

On the other hand, where can I get this de-pixelating program?

Full review coming later…maybe.

There seems to be nothing in the .zip.

EDIT: Better.[This review has been edited by Scizor CT]

I suppose I whould be honored to have been included as “CT Man”. What scares me more is that I actually know a good deal of these. o_O

Wow. Not knowing quite what to expect, I must say that this is one of the neatest things I’ve seen to date. The effect itself is very cool and versatile, and the uses of it were well documented. It takes a little work to do properly and giving the example levels a look in JCS is recommended. Still, I expect this to show up in new and creative ways in some levels before long.

As a side note, a little experimenting I did showed that using Steady/Pulze Light events on every other square seemed to work just as well as having solid walls of them, with negligible side-effects at worst.

Final word: Neat stuff. Go use it.

Er, Lab? That’s Disguise’s new tileset, not Blade’s.

Ya know, this reminds me a lot of the Diamondus remix I just reviewed, and it’s pretty much the same basic thing. Double the tempo, and throw in drums. At least he did a little more with the track than this.

For the record people, this DOES NOT MAKE A REMIX.

Please, if you really want to make an actual remix, don’t rip off so much content from the very thing you’re remixing. You’ve copied and pasted every instrument and note from the original Diamondus tune, doubled the tempo, and thrown in drums with the occasional original part. Not impressive, in my opinion. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I’m going by what I hear. At least the drums were actually pretty well done.[This review has been edited by Scizor CT]

No rating just yet, but here’s a suggestion. Many, many times the level was Jazz-unfriendly, making him do extra work to get through. Try not to let that happen. Also, try to put most of your food on the normal route, rather than slightly off of it.

Spotty, the word you’re looking for is “canon”. :P

Anyway, aside from the blatant overuse of the diamond wall tiles, this is about as close to a perfect replication of Diamondus Warzone as you could get with the J1 tileset (the only real problem I noticed being the missing spring mentioned above. Fix that. Also, a few minor inconsistancies around the pole shaft actually make it a little easier for Jazz to get around. Although this isn’t major and it really helps a bit, some people might rise up in arms over it.). However, although this was made in the interests of duplication, the eyecandy is rather sparse everywhere but the bottom (which looks rather nice) and the background is still bare. An extra tree here and there could only help your score out. Moreover, move the text events somewhere away from the bases where they aren’t in the main vein of gameplay. Perhaps somewhere in the corners would work well.

On the plus side, the shield has been removed, although that’s a rather standard edit. I also noticed no masking bugs while playing around in it.

Overall, there really isn’t too much to say about this. It’s DW, only with a different face. I can’t give it that high of a rating merely because it’s a remake, although a good one at that. It does what it’s supposed to do, but not much more. My compliments to you, LR.