Review by abgrenv

Posted:
22 Apr 2023, 09:30
For: Day/Night cycle at Diamondus
Level rating: 7.2
Rating
7.2

A pretty decend 3 level pack by Spyro.

Once you get dropped into the level, you might notice 1 big improvement, that being the eyecandy with the background layers. I have to say, it’s a pretty noticable jump in quality compared to previous levels.

The level layout is pretty decent as well, with some split paths and secrets sprinkled in occasionally.

If I’m being honest, these levels feel like something that you would find in the Homemade Level section of The Secret Files, at least that was going through my mind while playing through them.

Though enemy and item density is improved compared to previous uploads, the levels can still feel a bit barren. I know from myself that I can often go overboard with item and enemy placement and make my levels cluttered, but I believe there can be more added to your levels. That way there will be less dead air areas while going through them. Especially considering how your level otherwise are pretty competently put together.

Overall, the improvement is noticeable, so keep it up!

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
13 Apr 2023, 10:13
For: Easter The 9th
Level rating: 8.3
Rating
8.7

Finally, a new single player level I can check out :)

This is a really fun, well crafted level. If you like secret hunting, then there’s plenty to find here, you’ll also get a large percentage of your coins in secrets, though other than for being a completionist (which luckily I am, or at least try to be) the reward is not that big of a deal, plus it’s put right at the end, before the boss room. It also gives a 1Up powerup, which is usefull I guess, but the boss and the level overall isn’t difficult.

Enemies are standard turtles and lizards, but their placement is pretty well thought out, meaning you can’t just rush through the level. Tileset is the standard Easter tileset from Secret Files, which is fine since it’s an easter themed carrotus which is already a pretty varied and userfriendly tileset, though I wouldn’t have minded something else when it comes to the music, though that’s mostly a personal thing.

It’s too bad JJ2 never incorporated the end level score for enemies and pickups like JJ1 did, because 100%-ing this level is a lot of fun, there are a ton of side areas which aren’t even necessary to finish the level, all full of mini secrets. I actually managed to find enough coins for the coin warp on my first time, since I always try to explore everything I can, when I’m enjoying a level, which in this case I certainly was.

I don’t think there’s much more to add, it’s a tightly crafted fun level, which is definitely worth playing through.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
2 Feb 2023, 17:56
For: gsaurus lost levels
Level rating: 7.6
Rating
8

This is one really big pack I have to say. The fact that you came up with it in a single summer, and as a KID!! Pretty impressive.

Like Bloody_Body said, levels are really unique. There are some tradiotional as far as layout and gameplay goes. You can’t really go wrong with those if they are competently made, which these are. Then there are the gimmick levels, 2 of them involve dropping through the whole level trying to get pickups and avoiding spiked balls and level hazards, I think the second one is better, since it’s shorter, the first level that’s like this goes on for a bit too long, also the lighting and arrows made up of destructuble blocks guide you away from harm, which is neat. Other gimmicks involve teleporting back and forth until you unlock the intended path. There’s even one that serves as a "credits roll" level, where you go in a straight line, picking up all the ammo types you’ve encountered during the pack, then you teleport and continue on foot doing the same with the enemies you’ve encountered during pack, I think it should have been after the final boss (unless I’m misunderstanding it as a concept)

My issues are pretty similar to the other review, mainly that texts aren’t in english, so most people will not understand, which is pretty bad if the texts are actually hints helping the players progress.

Some of the gimmick levels can outstay their welcome (the teleporty ones in particular)

Tilebugs, I normally don’t notice them, but here there were some pretty obvious ones. It’s most noticable on Carrottus, Hell and Damn levels.

Still this is a rather unique take on level design, especially considering if this was uploaded when it was created, I’m pretty sure it would have caught a lot of attention. Especially considering that you were a kid when you made these. It’s impressive, download recommended.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
21 Jan 2023, 18:05 (edited 23 Jan 23, 15:24)
For: The Town Pack
Level rating: 7.7
Rating
7.5

3 levels, each scratching different itches, and rather inconsistent difficulty compared to each other.

Let’s start with Jungle Town since it’s the first map. The gimmick is that you can’t use your weapon, unless you get a special pickup that give you 1 shot (generally needed for destructable blocks) or you get the 3 way rockets from the coin warp. You also get multiple birds (I believe they respawn, unless I’m mistaken). Logically the difficulty is worked around this handicap, and does it so mostly successfully. The only issue is when you are supposed to shoot the destructable block you have to go running back and forth to get the 1 shot pickup, which adds padding to an already big and long level. Thankfully this particular level has a layout that generally nodges you in the correct direction, though due to the already mentioned lenght, you might get some fatige by the end. The level like the other 2 has an open structure, letting you do the exploring until you reach the path needed to progress, where you’ll generally be required to find a trigger crate or a 1 shot pickup. While the level is well designed, I think it should have been divided into 2 seperate levels, since the scenary will start to blend together, and being lost in an average sized level compared to a giant one is quite the difference.

Now for French Town, you can shoot in this level, so the difficulty is ramped up accordingly, but it stays well manageable. 1 thing I need to mention before anything else, is how cool the background for this level is, it’s basically a wide shot of a city (presumably in France). I wouldn’t normally even consider an idea like this, but I think it fit in very well, and looks unique. Now for the gameplay. You’ll be doing quite a lot of trigger crate hunting. Unfortunately this can sometimes lead to frustration, since you often have to enter sewer areas, and due to the tileset used, the manhole covers often blend in with the grass, so you may end up running around looking for the correct path and missing it multiple times. The level ends with a pretty fun boss fight. Luckily the level is shorter than the previous one, so it ends roughly at the time it starts to wear out its welcome.

Unfortunately this can’t be said about the final level. The biggest positive is definitely the music, which is my favorite track from the original game (Dark Groove, Hell2 level). This isn’t to say the level isn’t good at all, but there are some really big flaws in my opinion.
Number 1 the massive difficulty SPIKE, pun intended since a lot of it comes down to the spikes, they are placed in such positions that you have to make perfect jumps to avoid them which is hard with the often cramped up spaces they are placed in. Unfortunately due to the level having probably the most confusing layout out of the 3, means if you don’t know exactly where you should go and how to get there, you will be traversing through these spiked areas constantly while trying to find out where you have to go next. Add on top of that, some enemies respawn.
Number 2 is the layout and the trigger crate hunting. Even though the level may look smaller compared to the first one. I’d say it feels twice the size. The high difficulty does add a lot to it, but what doesn’t help either is how you may find a trigger crate on one side of the level, and then have to retrace your steps back to where the crate opened a new path on the other side of it. And since on your way you meet multiply trigger blocks, you won’t really have an idea which one it does open up (yeah you get text messages, but on your first playthrough will you really remember where the mentioned area is?). At one point you are required to defrost a frozen spring, so you have to go look for flamethrower ammo. The funny thing is when I got there, I couldn’t pick it up, because you have to jump from a vine/rope so only a double jump will work, which Jazz doesn’t have. This leaves your only other option as far as I could tell, getting hit by the Floating Sucker enemy, which launches you high enough to get the ammo. Of course there’s a 3rd option, but you might not have that option due to circumstances. The 3rd option is using TNT and letting the explosion throw the ammo down where you can pick it up. There is a big reason why this may be out of question, you may not have TNT anymore. Maybe you are wasteful and used it when not necessary (you get maybe 6 from the previous level) or more likely, you killed the deflated Floating Sucker with it, since when it hits the ground it will be so low that crouch shooting will still have your shots going above it, so you can either ignore them, or kill the with TNT, since no other ammo will hit them (yes, even the seeker ammo won’t register it walking around on the ground). So unless you play as Spaz or are lucky, you’ll have to take damage to get an item needed for progression, which would be fine normally, but the level is already difficult enough. There were also some areas where I had no idea how I was supposed to progress.
Edit: 2023.01.23 I was informed that the intended way was to buttstomp the Floating Sucker. Fair enough, since it respawns, it can get annoying if you don’t know that since if you shoot it by instinct it will fall into the spikes where you can’t kill it without taking damage, or you can run back far enough where it will respawn as a Floating Sucker. (I guess I was impatient at that point and didn’t even consider buttstomp an option) This also does justify some of the respawning enemies since now I actually realised they serve a purpose. Since those high areas can be reached with buttstomping, though in my opinion some require too much precision.

Number 3, the moving platforms. I don’t know if the intention for them was to work like this, but they are extremely annoying, and make platforming a crapshoot basically. You barely get any control over your character whenever you land on these moving platforms, since they will catapult you off themselves unless you are standing next the wall, but since you can’t just through them since the One-Way funcion wasn’t added to them, you have to try your luck by going to the edges and jumping from there which requires far more patience and precision from the player than it’s realistically worth. One of these examples is the frozen spring area. If you return from where you picked up the flamethrower ammo, you’ll eventually have to somehow jump up to the area with the frozen spring. It’s in the area where the gold coin is, even getting back to that point is questionable since in the underground area I have no clue how I’m even supposed to continue, there’s a long strech of spikes with 2 Floating Suckers and a very tall wall with a Normal Turtle on it. I have no idea how you are supposed to get back up there when returning. I ended up using JJFLY and JJINV cheats to see through to the end, because I had very little fun that would justify me to find the end of the level through normal means. And judging by the boss arena, I think I made the correct choice. Seriously? Bubba boss in a small space with springs covering the ground, walls and ceiling with 2 pinball bumpers? It is quite a shame because otherwise the level is pretty, and like I said, at least the music choice was awesome.

Still though, I think the first 2 levels were good enough to warrant a recommendation, since those were well worth playing through.

The 3rd level would need some changes to be enjoyable because as of now it’s a confusing frustrationfest. Maybe I missed something or assumed the wrong path as the intended one, but then it should be made more obvious. I’m sure it’s not that confusing for the actual level designer, since they were the one to come up with the layout and different ideas, and spent who knows how long creating the level. But if possible either simplefy the level a bit, make more deliberate methods of shoving the player in the correct direction and if possible don’t have the trigger zones and trigger crates be 2 levels worth of distance from each other.

But like I said, the other 2 levels are good in my opinion. So this pack get’s a download recommendation.

Edit: 2023.01.23 Due to some of my issues being cleared up for me level 3 makes a bit more sense, Navigation can still be tricky and frustrating, but certain choices at least have a purpose rather than being oversights. Due to this I’m bumping the score up a bit.

Review by abgrenv

Posted:
5 Jan 2023, 15:37 (edited 5 Jan 23, 15:39)
For: Entrance
Level rating: 6.9
Rating
7

I’d say this is probably your best level so far. Still a lot of the issues your previous levels have had are present.

Them being lack of difficulty due to big open areas with very scarse enemy placement. Along with item placements.

The level feels like the layout has been 95% complete, while item and enemy placement are only 50-60% complete. Which is a shame, because the actual level layout is pretty good, reminds me of the original levels though more linear.
More item pickups, a coin warp with coin pickups, more enemies would have all added to the score of the level.

Luckily the level is still pretty competent. You tried to vary enemy types, and luckily you didn’t overload the player with 80+ ammo at the start of the level. Ammo is far better spaced out and placed much more liberally. There are also a couple of secrets, though I found 2 which were empty (which is why I feel like item and enemy placement is only 60% finished).

I appreciate your effort to keep making level, and you are improving. My personal score would be 6.9 but I can’t give that score, so here’s a 7/10.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
3 Jan 2023, 19:05
For: Jingle Jumble
Level rating: 9.3
Rating
10

Not much to say honestly, this is a damn near perfect level, with an insane size, gorgeous eye candy and level design crafted to near perfection.

The whole open ended nature of the level is greatly appealing to me, reminds me of Silent Night level made by Slaz. Here you need to collect gift packages instead of coins. Aided with a very soothing soundtrack to the level, makes for a great overall package.

My only complaint might be that for a level this big, some extra checkpoints would have been nice, other than that, this is a perfect level in my eyes.

Definite recommendation.

Review by abgrenv

Posted:
24 Dec 2022, 09:00
For: The Lapidarian Chaparral
Level rating: 7
Rating
7

Well, other than the fact that the approach of this level is not my cup of tea, I think it’s overall a good level. I think the layout and the eyecandy is really cool. The open ended nature of the level actually appeals to me (though this most likely came due to the fact that it was designed as a battle level originally). Music is pretty good, though I don’t know why there’s that noise at the beginning of it that sounds like background chatter in a bar.

Things I didn’t enjoy are basically the fact that the level can’t be ended in a traditional way, since there’s no level end trigger, basically you just run around the map until you find everything. Which brings my second issue, everything respawns. Obviously it’s not a flaw, since it’s an endless loop level anyway, but still, navigating through the level gets a bit frustrating when enemies you’ve already dealt with spawn back on top of you. Also, it’s supposed to be a single player level, but pickups all still have the “battle level” mindset, so you only pick up ammo and health (and a secret water shield).

Rather than making it an endless loop, I think it would have been more fun if there was a coin warp that teleported you to the end, once you collected all the coins after exploring the map.

Still, the level itself is really good, just the overall fundamental design to it isn’t really for me.

Review by abgrenv

Posted:
7 Dec 2022, 11:54
For: Fortress
Level rating: 4.8
Rating
6.5

Pretty decent level overall. Has some platforming challanges added in, which was a nice addition. There’s 1 secret, and a detour to break a crate to be able to progress.

Issues are mostly the same, a bit too much ammo packed right at the start of the level, while the level isn’t really difficult enough to warrant that much ammo, and especially that many health carrots.

All things considered, I had a decent time.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
23 Nov 2022, 10:46
For: Diamond level
Level rating: 6.7
Rating
6.7

Second map by this user, and I have to say it’s an improvement compared to the first one.

Let’s start with the positives:
The level layout is pretty good. While the first map was pretty straightforward, being a straight line with some platforming for extra goodies in some rooms, this one feels more like a complete level. No branching paths that loop into each other, but there are some areas where you can go out of your way to get some extra goodies.

Luckily the pickups have been spread out much more sensibly this time, so there aren’t just a bunch of areas with a ton of goodies as if you entered a coin warp.

Same can be said for the enemy placement, while nothing challenging, they are competently placed.

Also, a coin warp and boss fight is present as well.

Now for some negatives:
The biggest one I can bring up is the difficulty, the lack of it to be more specific. While the enemies are much better placed than in your first level, there are a still a bit too few of them. There were multiple pretty long streches where I was just walking in a straight line because there were neither pickups nor enemies. If you are afraid the levels would become too difficult if you put many enemies in them, you still have the option to make some of the enemies be “hard difficulty exclusive” in the level editor.

While I don’t think the level itself looks ugly or empty, I did instantly notice that you only used layer 8 and didn’t do anything with layer 5, 6, 7. Diamondus is one of the best tilesets for beginners because the it has a lot of potential to be made interesting looking. The boss area for example stands out in a good way, since you had a bit of fun with how you made it look.

Here are 2 examples of what can be done with this tileset:
https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/5775/mines-of-diamondus/
https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/6921/cold-flash/ (this is an altered tileset, but most of it are still the original Diamondus tiles)

Some extra advice: Adding some secret areas make levels a bit more interesting. Use layer 3 to hide secret rooms, or just place warps in certain particular places for warp secrets. Don’t make them obvious, but give small hints through tileset patters.

As for the coinwarp, that isn’t part of the tileset (even though there is a partial tileset for it). All you have to do is place the warp, set the amount of coins and change the “ShowAnim” part from 0 to 1 to make the coinwarp rabbit appear, though this only works for 10, 20, 50 and 100 coins in the vanilla version of the game. If the coin warp requires any other amount of coins, then yeah what you did is a viable alternative.

Summary:
A rather significant improvement over your first level. Improved level layout, improved item and enemy placement, improved the general use of events. It’s a competent decent level.

Review by abgrenv

Posted:
14 Nov 2022, 10:26
For: Spyro's test level
Level rating: 5.5
Rating
5.5

First upload by this user.

Let’s start with the positives:
For how linear and straightforward the level is, it actually looks pretty decent. The different layers are used pretty well, so even though you’re mostly going in a straight line, at least it doesn’t look boring or lazy.

Though it’s short, some areas have potential, as far as the layout is considered. Sure it still needs to be filled with some enemies and the variation of pickups need to differ, but it’s apparently a test level, so there’s that.

Now for the negatives:
Most importantly. Variety in pickups and item placement. Don’t just make a room with 8 large gems, and 4 weapon powerups. It’s like placing all the gems at the beginning of a Spyro level, so then you don’t bother to explore the level itself. The level is basically a continuation of rooms with a bunch of pickups, which don’t complement the decent layouts of the rooms.

Enemy placement needs to be improved. You only used normal turtles, but there are about 8 in the whole level, and half of them are in a straight line grouped up in each other (use the Stop Enemy function to keep them apart from each other).

The buttstomp and destructible blocks don’t work as intended, you shoot 1 and the whole row disappears (you also need to shoot the buttstomp block, though it’s irrelevant since you can jump over it).

All in all, there might be some potential here. Some of the issues are easily fixable (item & enemy placement), while others may need some practice in the level creator to learn (what functions each event has)

Review by abgrenv

Posted:
3 Mar 2022, 23:08
For: Infernal Fortress
Level rating: 6.2
Rating
6.2

Haven’t played the other levels from this user, but based on the ratings, this should be a definite improvement. The level is pretty competently put together. No splitting paths or secrets or coins, but since it’s a short level that can be completed in about 5 minutes, it doesn’t matter all that much. The eyecandy seems to be on the blander side, since from what I see, it seems only layer 4 and 8 were used. Item and enemy placement were decent, but there weren’t any carrots, not that the level is that difficult, but 1-2 may have been better. There’s a boss fight with Bilsy at the end but bosses were never the strengh of this series.

Anyway, overall I think this is a competent/decent level. It does enough to tip the rating on the more positive side. Most of the basics are there and there’s nothing outright bad in it. Like I said, I didn’t play the other levels from the uploader, but this seems to be going in the right direction. Keep up the improvement!! I’d definitely encourage you to make more levels.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
13 Feb 2022, 15:12
For: Green Paradise
Level rating: 6.7
Rating
6.7

A pretty decent level pack, held down by some tilebugs, spring & pole sections not working as fluidly as intended partly due to the tileset and partly because of the level creator, lack of variety in pickups since you only get a few gems, apples the occasional carrot and a small amount of ammo.

Level 3 makes probably the most mistakes, you have to find 2 trigger crates and the first one is hidden behind shootable blocks that look like tileset walls that are just above soft lock pits (meaning it’s a pit that doesn’t hurt or kill you, you just remain in the fall animation at the bottom of the map, with cheating jjfly being the only way to get out). Also some of the vine areas can get you permanently stuck in the wall tiles if you press down at the wrong moment, leaving your character in a permanent buttstomp animation. The thing is, none of these issues are unfixable, just remove the endless pits, check the tileset masking with the vine areas, and the spring and pole areas, maybe add some variety to the pickups, though that shouldn’t be the priority while the other gamebreaking issues exist.

On the positive side of things, I think the level layout is pretty good, the choice of music is good, the level is pretty despite the tileset being somewhat simple. Enemy and item placement is okay too. This can easily be a 7.5-7.7 upload once the mentioned bugs are fixed (though given how this is a 14 month upload, I’m not sure it will happen), but for now I’ll give it a 6.7 with a download recommendation, since it’s a solid pack once you look past or avoid the bugs and oddities associated with the levels.

Hoping to see more

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
11 Feb 2022, 15:45
For: Swamps of The Sleeping Jaguar - Level for Agama's tileset
Level rating: 7.9
Rating
8.2

2 really nice looking jungle themed levels. I really love the visuals for this, and the music choice is fitting. One negative I have to mention is the fact that you used those ugly red X tiles to indicate trigger tiles, I think it’s unnecessary since they look out of place and the level design is already good enough for the player to see the trigger tiles appear, since the crate is in a position where you will see the tiles appear once the crate has been broken. Like Primpy said, the boss doesn’t fit the theme, the Tuf Turtle boss would have fitted better and functionally it works very similarly.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
11 Feb 2022, 15:18
For: Back In Time Episode
Level rating: 7.2
Rating
7.2

This is a pretty decent pack with 9 levels ranging from average to good.

I do think the level layout is competently done, so is the enemy placement, there are some copy paste sections, but not the very lazy type, more like the ones from JJ 1 or the Secret Files. Also, the 2nd Diamondus level picks up from where the 1st ends, which is a nice touch. I also really liked the atmosphere of the 3rd Diamondus level, something about that rust/gold tint with the low lighting made it rather appealing. One thing I think has room for improvement is the item pickups (sometimes lack thereof). Just like Violet also said, certain areas are complete empty, then you get to a point where you get 30-40 food items clumped together. Placing pickups not only make your levels feel more alive, but they also make the length of you level longer, since you won’t just be running in a straight line while shooting.

Another thing that was excluded was the coin warp. Wouldn’t call it an outright negative, but having an extra goal per level doesn’t hurt. A positive thing about the levels ranging from average to good is that there wasn’t anything particularly bad I noticed in them, so you have a pretty decent base from which you can improve when it comes to creating levels.

At first I thought there weren’t any secrets at all, but I did find 2, so they are either very well hidden or very few. I think the first level is actually the weakest, it’s the one where the lack of item placement is the most noticable. I initially wanted to give a 6.7 with a recommendation, but the levels mostly improved as I progressed, with no real low point luckily.

So I’m giving it a 7.2 with a download recommendation.

(note that after playing this pack, I feel like giving Diamondus 3 a score of 3 was too high, since you are capable of much better, which makes that lazy reskin even weaker in context)

Not recommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
9 Feb 2022, 16:52
For: hose (my live) 2.0 :D
Level rating: 4
Rating
4

Eh, what’s there even to say, it’s hard to give a rating or a review or any sort of opinion on this upload, since I don’t even know what it’s supposed to be. I mean yeah, I guess it’s categorised as a “Single Player” upload, but the level doesn’t seem to want to fullfill the list of things required to be called a single player level. You just drop into a (apart from the layout and pointless pickups) completely empty map without any purpose or goal of what you are supposed to be doing. Once you actually start exploring the level you realise it’s just a bunch of warps to different locations with seemingly no good reason. There’s a coin warp that just warps you back to where you came from (also, the gold coins respawn in the exact same room the coin warp is in).
Then you have another room that just gives respawning green gems. It’s one thing to add dozens of warps that progress the level in no particular way, but it’s another to give mostly no good indication of where these warps are. Sure some of them are in door textures but a lot of them are just randomly placed.
Also apart from a Dog I found, there are no enemies in the level, adding even more to the confusion of what this level is intended for. Are walking simulators a thing in platformers too?

The worst thing is that there is actually a complete level (as far as layout is concerned), so this whole thing could be salvaged by making it into a proper single player level, that would at the very least be decent (with sensible item and event placement of course).

I feel bad for giving it such a low rating, but there’s not much to recommend in this, since there’s no real point in playing the level. I don’t even know if it has an actual end or if it’s just a pointless loop inside a goalless level, since I didn’t even see an ending areas with end level triggers, but to be fair I only checked the level in the editor for about 2 minutes.
Maybe you guys can see what I can’t see and understand what this map is supposed to accomplish.

Review by abgrenv

Posted:
23 Jan 2022, 21:25 (edited 9 Feb 22, 17:25)
For: Nostalgia Pack
Level rating: 8
Rating
N/A

Thanks for the review, much appreciated! May I ask what you mean by the one way not working in the Colon level when you morph into a bird? Also in the first Beach level, did you get stuck in the spring and pole section? Did you play as Spaz or Jazz? Because I do recall Spaz having some difficulty in that area.

By the way, that bird morph gimmick was a compromise unfortunately, I wanted to make an underwater section, changing the water level several times to be able to break trigger crates, but giving maps a water level resets the lighting to 100% (something I wasn’t aware of), so I had to come up with the bird morph instead, otherwise the level lost atmosphere with full lighting in the sewer areas. The only reason I included the Uterus boss was because the game crashed every time I used the “End level” trigger events (no idea what caused it).

Edit: Odd, looks like the Bird has different hitboxes depending on if you morph from Jazz or Spaz, I played through the level multiple times as Jazz and never had the issue, but with Spaz the “one way” event didn’t work as intended, it does actually function though, but only if you try to pass through it while wallhugging the right side of the wall, it’s a rather weird bug. On the Beach level, I’m assuming it’s the spring at 145, 25. I’ve fixed that, it should work properly now

Primpy, didn’t test it with her, so that is a rather odd coincidence. Thanks for the review!

Edit: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the pack, much appreciated :)

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
7 Jan 2022, 22:36
For: Silent Evening
Level rating: 8.5
Rating
9

A really fun xmas themed level. Level design is extremely open ended, it’s almost designed like a regular multiplayer map would be, obviously bigger. I think the level flows really well. You can go whereever you want, and as far as I’m aware the only point of no return is with the boss fight, this gives you time to explore the entire level and check out every corner you want, since the level design facilitates (or more appropriately recommends) having a look around.
The difficulty is pretty much my cup of tea, where it’s not extremely punishing, but you still need to play attention. Plenty of pickups to look for, as well as secret areas. To be honest, I feel like the single checkpoint you placed in the level is unnecessary though. When I died, I would have preferred a clean start from the beginning of the level, since it’s designed in an open ended fashion anyway.

The music choice is fitting, it’s a calm and nice tune.

My only minor complaints are that the level could have had 1-2 more enemy types in it, and that the boss fight was sort of meh (though that’s mostly thanks to how bosses are pretty 1-note in the game anyway)

Overall I think this is a really well made level, worth having a run-through and exploring it. Definitely recommend everyone to give it a go.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
7 Jan 2022, 21:00
For: Jazz Jackrabbit 2,5 - The Big Rescue (Part 1)
Level rating: 8.4
Rating
8.2

A pretty good level pack, a bit too difficult and dickish for my liking. The level design visually is awesome, with equally fitting music. It’s pretty obvious that the level designer worked a ton on the aesthetics and the item/enemy placement also looks like every single placement was thoroughly thought out, so basically every dick move in the levels are completely intentional (bats in front of death pits, checkpoints after difficult platforming areas rather than before, no saving allowed, death pits that aren’t obviously death pits due to the game resolution, copter lizards in very awkward spiked areas etc)

Though I’m not the target audience for this level pack, I can’t look past all the things that I loved about it. The humor in the text messages are funny, and an enjoyable read. The levels look pretty as hell. The level design/layout itself is well thought out apart from the deathpits. The choice of music is great and fitting.

Despite the difficulty not being my cup of tea, I’m pretty confident in recommending this since all this work deserves to be seen.

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
1 Jan 2022, 16:37 (edited 1 Jan 22, 17:57)
For: Lapper Festive
Level rating: 9.2
Rating
9.5

it’s a pretty nice tileset, though I feel a lack of chemistry between the background layer (layer 8) and the rest of the tileset, separate they both look great, but combined they sort of differ in artstyle and look like they belong in 2 different games

other than that it’s nice, plus Violet informed me that the classic background is always available in JJ2+, so that issue is also negated

RecommendedReview by abgrenv

Posted:
14 Dec 2021, 19:56
For: JJ1 version 1.3 fixes
Level rating: 9.5
Rating
9.5

Not sure how other feel about this, but I think most of the invisible springs are pretty pointless, and the version that removed them did the right thing (apart from the Marbelara secret level of course), in Jungrock 2 for example you can’t even get the invincibility powerups since the flowers act as very weak spring which don’t bounce you high enough to get the said items

also I’m not sure if this is an issue you are aware of but on one of the Ceramicus levels, a moving spring could get you permanently stuck. Do you intend to add the final bit of Tubelectric 2 back into the level btw?

Other then that, it’s a definite recommendation, and it’s awesome that you guys are actually fixing the game to make it the best it can be.

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