Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

The way to access Far Out is a neat idea… if you find a secret earlier in the level, you get an alternate ending at the end of the level. It’s an understandable way to attempt to get the mid-level secret level experience while not knowing how to fix vanilla JJ2’s treatment of secret level area (it’s possible but takes some setup). The implementation has issues, though: the tiling at the end is pretty dubious, and more importantly, nobody’s going to find the trigger crate without knowing to look for it. If you find an area totally covered in layer 3 with no goodies in it, you’re not going to think “oh, I should stomp everywhere in case there’s a trigger crate.” And even if you do stomp it, there are no nearby effects, so there’s no way for the player to know what happened or why the secret level entrance is/isn’t open. Finally, this is a level with a bouncer powerup, and it’s trivial to shoot those bouncers through the trigger scenery events and hit the secret level signpost that way.

I couldn’t actually figure out how to get to the Tubelectric and Labrat secret levels in these edited versions. :?

Anyway, the main attractions here are the secret levels themselves, and they’re not great. “Shocking Experience” is just an extra (non-thematic) boss fight—is that really a good reward for finding a secret? And while this version of Far Out makes a good decision by using a unique palette, like Return of Birdland does, there’s not much to recommend it past that. It’s ‘finished’ to a pretty minimum extent, with strings of pickups and no other edits, and the foreground layers are a mess that you can barely see through.

The basic idea here is good, but I don’t actually want to play these secret levels, so I don’t want to apply the patch to my official labrat2 and tube1.

I must agree with FS. These levels are way too small and easy and gameplay is just too boring and annoying. There are really poor foreground concept in level 4. I didn’t like it. Well the eyecandy is ok in some levels like in level 2 but it could be better and more improved. I must say that story is interesting: ‘‘Jazz descends into te abyss for one final romp before he dies’‘ Sounds cool. Concept is also good and theme is nice.

After all nice story but poor gameplay. I’m disappointed but you can do a lot more better levels right?

Download recommendation: No
Rating: 5.2

-TripleJ

Shade wanted me to review this through exchange and it took me a while to get to it, and I’m still the first reviewer? ;o

This is a simple concept of exploring and falling deeper into a chasm…as does the level design quality.

Just kidding!

It’s actually not that bad and the design of Dark Passage looked promising, however as with all theese levels they are just too short and easy. A good concept and story but pooly executed, I’m sorry.

The bosses were obviously set up in ways the author intended to make difficult but no apparent thought into doing it creatively, not to mention the difficulty of the boss fights and the usual gameplay are so distant. The second layer (abyss4) had an incredibly annoying foreground concept that just wasn’t fun and I thought to myself “why do I have to play through this if I am not enjoying myself?” and just left.

I really like the theme but the gameplay wasn’t fun and the creativity ended at the overall concept. Don’t feel discouraged though, I am looking forward to the implied sequel and I hope my review didn’t kill the chance of it, but you better put a lot more effort into it, this was just a disappointment.

You probably already know this but if you notice other packs like EvilMike’s ‘The Rebirth of Evil’ you’ll notice how sp levels are supposed to be made and you should take that as an example.

-fs

“The Mine Battle” makes some attempt to portray a mine, but it is hampered by a few factors, primarily the tileset, which does a much better job of being described by its name. “Lame Tileset” is a very simple set consisting of a few blocks and not all that much else. The colors are somewhat nice, and I am amused by the recolored Hocus rips, but it doesn’t lend itself to very nice-looking levels, as this upload illustrates. The eyecandy is very dull, and the radiation towers, rather than being imposing instruments of genetic mutation, merely come off as green squares with tiles poorly strewen around them. The inside of the mine is worse, making no attempt to have any sort of graphical quality beyond endless blocks and a simple background, with no variety at all.
That could perhaps be saved by an intriuging level design, but while Mine Battle manages to be unconventional, it does not manage to be appealing. Aside from the radiation towers, you mostly just run around in big boring tubes, with occasional tiny one tile platforms, trying to kill your opponents with (of all things) TNT, Electro Blaster, and thankfully Toaster. The Electro Blaster is supposed to be some sort of secret, hidden by the gray destruct scenery blocks which are all over the mine, but really add nothing to the gameplay except some initial tediousness.
I see no spark of divine inspiration in this level. I see nothing that causes me to believe that it is good. I see only a bunch of passages with a few events and blocks placed randomly in hopes that the combination of the story, the radiation towers, and the strange level design would somehow result in something good. They did not.
Furthermore, this level uses the hurt event, which is typically considered unwise in a multiplayer setting. The “radiation” causes you pain, which is kind of sad, because there’s no reason to approach it at all. No goodies or anything. Everything is in the mine, so why bother climbing up all the ropes of the towers?

well, its too empty.
and it doesnt look like a mine.
its a good idea of those radiating poles things, but they doesnt look like radiating poles things.

overall a ~ not ~ fine level you would use in some occasions.
The ideas where good, but not worked out well…

The story is ok.

and you used the wrong tileset,(in my opinion) because it doesnt look like a mine…
you used it because its very easy to use, but i think not that you have chosen it because it looks like a real mine, am i right???

I give it a 4.9

~~ Jazz-Les ~~

What. The. Hell.

Whatever you may think, Battlea is NOT a secret level. Moreso, Battle4 is a level which came with v1.00g. However, the edit itself is awful enough to blissfully ignore that Battle4 has been done. Hurt events. Lighting Shield. Ultimate Weapon of Doom accessible via a coin warp. Invincibility carrot kept. And many more poorly overlooked flaws.

Far Out has been edited so badly that I just can’t explain how badly is that done. Zapper apparently has no clue how to make foreground layers move, so he puts there various loads of junk hoping that someone (maybe Jarno?) could find it nice. The way to access the level itself is also bad. Crash a crate and get a secret!!1

Anyway, as Zapper has informed me, I shouldnt rate it because it’s not a level pack, but a patch (tisk tisk). gg.

Yo Zapper for Battle4 please update the tileset of it please thnx

ITS GREAT!
(Essentially blank review, rating removal. Yay this sucks whee argh. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Did you make it with the TSF JCS? If so, than it’s 1.24.

i wont review its TO broing. problebly a 4.9