Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

A Titan, Ornery and Titan Armory were my two favorites in the JDCE 34 mappool, so it was a real clash of the Titans (pun intended)! I found both of the levels to be extremely entertaining to play battle duels in. While Titan Armory is a level that requires fast and intense maneuvers from the players in a small skirmish arena, this level is more about psychological play and cunning tactics, and so both of the levels brought something unique to the mappool.

Since Titan Armory was more polished on the visual side, I think that won the clash from my perspective, but that doesn't mean that this one would look bad either. It just feels that some parts of the level feel a little empty visually, even the background a bit, although that may be justified to some extent by the use of the massive lightning concept and a limited tileset.

But even without the visual side polished to the full potential, the gameplay here greatly compensates for that, with all the best traits and influences from classic battle levels that allows for enough room for strategic, yet skillful play.

The custom weapons, Elektrek Shield and Fusion Cannon, bring a nice spice to make the gameplay even more interesting and unique. While the Fusion Cannon's purpose and efficiency may be debatable, I think here it serves especially well as a decoy weapon due to its slow speed. You might fire it in a wide open area and make the opponent think they know your location in case they see the projectile, but you may have already changed directions, which might surprise them.

All in all, A Titan, Ornery is a very enjoyable level to play in duels and slightly bigger games, but bigger games may be chaotic. Also happy to see that the lightning concept from Thunder Cliffs yielded another similarly themed level, with a funny execution. Download and playing recommended!

Zeno is probably the 2024 level I can most easily imagine myself making, if one day I decided to get really into springs. It's a very vertical map, to be sure, and this relies on springs to get you around, and those springs tend to be perfectly positioned, taking you to just the right heights and with just the right amount of horizontal displacement. It's deeply satisfying, the moreso because the layout is still interesting and varied, you're not just taking springs from one long smooth platform to another like a 2002 CTF. Over and over exploring this level, you expect something to go badly (perhaps a fall to your death?), only for the level to save you by being designed just that carefully.

Besides the springs, there's also a smattering of energy blast. I'm less sold on that… I can't object to the powerup area after making Scorpio Key (and there's plenty of electro blaster, including very close by), but there's not much energy blast ammo in the rest of the level and it's just not going to last you long enough to do anything cool. The area above the powerup, with the firework ammo, is likewise a bit awkward despite some revisions… the firework ammo itself seems very appropriate though. Other powerups besides the energy blast powerup are pretty much just sitting around in the open, which feels nice, you get to keep getting stronger as you move around without having to think about it too much.

Visually, Zeno stuns in its layer 4, the bright Labrat colors standing out really well against the black, and the tunnel starfield amazing in how well it works for how simple it is. minmay may be right about the intervening layer, though… the not-quite-1/1 speeds work well enough for the pipes, but the rectangles are always a little weird how they don't quite serve as backgrounds to whatever layer 4 area they're associated with. And yes, sometimes you lose track of where you are in the big emptiness. Layer 4 looks so good though, obscure graphics source and all; the stop signs are as cheesy as ever but they sure do their job.

Zeno is deeply cool and has a very clever level description. Maybe some more firework pickups though?

Starling is fun stuff, a bold revitalization of the ancient art of combining JJ1 sets to form new things, but a JJ2 set for a change… the exact reverse of the IC JJ1 episode. And what do you know, it looks great. The deliberately non-fading background is a particularly cute touch, but the layer 4 stuff is still a great mixture of clearly Colon-inspired while not trying to faithfully recreate every single Colon detail. The crates feel appropriate despite not having a clear analog, and the pillars are fine too. I wouldn't have thought of any of this but it's all nifty and clever.

The biggest risk Starling takes is the sewer/coin area, but I don't think I'm thrilled with how it ended up. It just doesn't seem worth it from a gameplay perspective, despite how interesting it is. If you want to go to the roof, you can use the lamposts, even if they are very narrow. If you want the powerup you can shoot it through the wall. The sewer takes a while and feels like a trap to get camped on. It's very interesting but I wouldn't want to go there, although JJ2 players are like ants and I'm sure some people will pass through it anyway.

Outside the sewer, well, I like cramped spaces in Battle levels, with weapons that can reach around corners a bit, and Starling delivers, but with nice smooth walls instead of the uneven alcoves of cramped levels of yore. It's not a silky smooth gameplay experience by any means, but it's consistently interesting, and because part of the problem with the sewer is that it's so skippable, well, you can simply skip it!

True confession: I do not know what produces the lightning strike, here or in Thunder Cliffs. I'm sure I could read the script but I just don't have the pattern recognition skills to figure it out from gameplay.

The original version of Windstorm Fortress is a deep cut, and pairing it with Iron Crown makes a lot of sense. It must have felt satisfying to create all those cloud layers without resorting to animated tiles tricks. The background is still slightly too minimal for my tastes though… I know this is a hugely gameplay-focused level, and the background is as unobtrusive as possible, letting the player easily distinguish between black and gray, but I would like slightly more obtrusion I guess. Visually I'm pretty satisfied with layer 4 and company, though, they're clean and minimally interesting, not trying to do too much and distract anyone. Some of the sloped corners are kind of ugly with the striped blocks, but I guess that's the tileset.

As for gameplay and stuff, this generally delivers on what I want out of battle levels: a bunch of little spots where you can do different things, that play in different ways. Using custom weapons makes this even more possible, and the elektrek shield powerup feels great (though a bit neutered from earlier versions). The fusion cannon feels fairly thematic, I dunno if the layout is especially built toward it but I guess you can point it in some direction and hope you get lucky ten seconds later? The toaster and gun 8 don't feel too necessary but there are lots of springs for the toaster.

The left side of the level seems like a good place for helicopter ears, between the wide open spaces and the bouncer powerup. The right side of the level is very Spaz-centric, with jumps that are a little too high for Jazz or Lori to reach. I guess maybe that balances out?

Other than the elektrek shield, this level doesn't take any big risks, but it feels good to play and it's easy to navigate and it's easy to read. I'm also a sucker for levels inspired by other levels and stuff.

Quite like the gameplay. I'm still oddly fond of layouts with lots of vertical movement, and it's super easy to learn.
Visually, I love all the kooky gadgets in the walls, the Labrat-esque palette, the upside-down powerup, and the stop signs. However, I think the background's too austere – there's a cute textured background and a cute parallax layer matching the layout of the foreground, but that isn't quite enough for me to absorb an atmosphere from, and I'm left reading the level as mostly-disconnected floating platforms.
This minimal background decoration also results in a lack of visual cues for your position after jumping left off the top carrot platform, but I guess there's always the F9 display for that.

Instantly became a CTF gameplay favorite of mine with its gimmicks – antigravity, uppercutty stomp scenery, energy blast ammo to tempt you away from that fly carrot – and most of all, a carrot with a really fast spawn time that somehow just works. Turbo indeed.

And it all looks fresh to boot, with a record number of JJ1 tilesets mashed together!

+ when i first saw it and played it
i was so amazed by it! it did gives me a awesome feeling!!
+ the music fits to it
+ the tileset combination you choose, its awesome
- further up of the level, this is me a bit to short here
+ then we have a very impressive designed background here
+ the level is absolutly impressed designed.

+ lots of new weapons we can find here
(from nuce weapon, to elektro weapons, to firecocktail is my fav)
- i would find it better if the slime would works like a pit
but the jail idea its also good..
+ the firecocktail this makes a lots of fun!!
+ i enjoyed playing this online with my friends
+ the overall concept its a amazing work

The visuals and music make unforgettable a map that would still be a welcome moment of gameplay innovation even without their help. Some of the dark pink is a little too bright though, and the bomb could respawn a bit faster imo?? but like overall this is good, good job, get punched.

The density of cool tricks per square inch of level here is out of control! Deeply copter-ear-phobic, of course, but a cool ride. The QoB theming is cute but not enough to derail the gameplay (although the underscore is bad for typing the filename in the server menu), and Mez01 gets to look good and not empty. Platform above RFs maybe unnecessary.

I can summarize this level with one word: Fun!

I mean it for real. So far I find this level to have everything it needs to be both fun to play and also to work out in more “serious” play. The level seems balanced despite being non-symmetric with a lot of room for skillful play, especially with the custom weapons. Download recommended.

The basic maneuverability is fine, but some spots can require complex double jumps, etc. An energy blast, thankfully, can counter most issues relating to movement, but it’s not always reliable. RF climbers and wjers can gain a huge advantage here. Some spots here are one tile open, so you may want to play very carefully. A hidden passage is a treat for the initiated. Climbing up from 47,26 could be easier.

The theme and eye-candy are quite surreal and satisfying.

I don’t have any complaints about the item placement, except that there may be some minor imbalance.

Not a bad level, especially if you have some skills. I wouldn’t recommend this level for newcomers or those who want something very easy to play, though.

Quite a marvel visually, with the various tileset elements being juxtaposed together very effectively in the level to create a dark, spooky environment. The layout is also pretty nifty, with a cool not-quite-symmetrical design that offers a number of tactical options with the diverse set of weapons available. Download strongly recommended!

Go on! Mr.cooba!

Pro level !

Wow! This tileset reminds me of Pezrock.
I really like this level! Good job Cooba!

Awesome

Definitely one of the most impressive looking levels I’ve ever seen. I’d probably rate this at least 9.5 for eye-candy, themes and ideas.

However, the level can force you to make rather awkward moves to reach certain places, like using complicated double jumps etc. Wjers have a huge adv here.

The level isn’t for everyone.

Also, no rating. This is definitely novelty.

It’s a perfect level for anniversary bash 22

Very thematical level.

Aliens have invaded Earth