Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Cool level! I like all the stuff done with scripting and while in my opinion it isn’t the heavy mappool quality some players demand, at least it has great eyecandy and you already have fun just by running around the level!

This is a nice replica of the original tileset, but a history lesson is the only reason you may want to download it. As opposed to Diamondus Beta, this conversion is only a palette swap of Castle1N.j2t and actually removes some bottom rows of that tileset instead of adding any new tiles.

Sancrosanct is a well designed, enjoyable CTF level by veteran level maker and J2O admin cooba – his first contribution to the JCS scene as a member of the prolific levelgroup Mystic Legends.

It’s clear that the level is intended as a tribute to Sanctuary in more than just the levelname. cooba has gone a long way to try and recreate the visual style of the 2004 level that inspired him, with Sacrosanct sharing many of the same visual attributes despite using a different tileset. Sancrosanct uses a palette edit of Violet CLM’s Medvio conversion, which has been given a blue/greyish colour scheme that resembles that of the Pezrock bricks – the set which Cell’s level used. In addition, the tileset use in cooba’s level also evokes the visual style of Sanctuary, through a similar use of the pillars, minimalistic background and even with a few splashes of green here and there to break up the monotony, much like the original. However, the comparisons end there – in spite of his intentions to vaguely resemble the original Sanctuary, cooba has taken his level further and added some scripted flourishes to the visuals, primarily through the use of lanterns, coloured water and all new weather effects; the latter courtesy of JJ2+ version 5.0. While on the surface Sancrosanct may appear to be a doppelgänger of its key influence, it manages to achieve its own feel. Cell’s Sanctuary has a sort of dreamy, spaced out vibe to it, whereas Sancrosanct feels dark and murky. This hallowing feel is realised by a clever combination of elements such as the occasional use of green patches that resemble mossy overgrowths, a shallow pool of marshy-looking water at the bottom of the level and the constant deluge of rain that pours over the dilapidated structure. From a practical viewpoint, the rain might be considered distracting for some players, but fortunately cooba has provided players the ability to remove it by enabling Low Detail. This has the unfortunate side effect of making the water look terrible in 16 bit, but that’s not important and out of his control anyway.

Gameplaywise, Sancrosanct has a rather different design to Sanctuary. Whereas the original level had a slightly more typical layout, this level runs with a semi-symmetrical design where the bases are situated in the approximate centre of the level, seperated only by a thin wall. While this style of layout is nothing revolutionary (even featuring in other old CTF levels by Cell such as Zaitox, Botanica and Stone Ways, and also in Toxin Twister by cooba), this level manages to have its own distinct brand of gameplay. The bases cleverly mimic the skewed nature of the carrot placement in Sanctuary, however it is debatable whether or not this design choice has any positive impact on the gameplay. Overall, the level has a somewhat circular design, whereby players get around either by circumnavigating the main structure, or by cutting through one of the numerous side paths. The layout is pretty vertical, featuring a number of springs, vines and RF climbable passages to help you get up. However, the level features just enough x-axis gameplay in order to keep things from becoming too overly vertical. A bit of side effect as a result of this general layout style is that it makes the gameplay fairly slow paced, since it involves a lot of going back and forth when it comes to hunting down enemy players. It also feels a little on the cramped side in some areas, which may make bullet dodging difficult in some situations. One unique gameplay aspect is the JJ1 inspired “wheel spring” at the bottom of the level, which periodically moves back and forth along the lower ledge. It’s a cool feature, but has one minor issue. At some angles the spring doesn’t bounce you high enough to reach the upper ledges adjacent to the base areas, and so if you don’t time the springs exactly right you can often find yourself unable to get up without the extra height from Spaz’ double jump; this has the potential to become frustrating for the player, especially if they’re playing as Jazz or Lori.

All ammo types sans TNT are present in this level. The weapons are exceptionally well balanced here; each one brings something different to the table with the given layout. The three powerups; Bouncer, Toaster and Gun 8, all receive roughly equal use here. I think Bouncer is perhaps slightly more useful overall due to the amount of climbing involved, although Toaster still comes into play when defending in some of the narrow corridors, and Gun8 serves as a chasing weapon in the upper and lower areas. I like how Ice can be used strategically here to freeze the wheel spring at the bottom in order to temporarily halt your opponent. The level features 3 carrots – one Full NRG and 2 +1s, all of which can be shot down. The use of freeze enemy (egg timer) events is interesting, since they can delay the player’s escape from the carrot area. This is particularly potent if the carrot is shot down into the small cavity below.

The level seems to be most suited to game sizes of 3vs3 and up. Due to the layout style, killing may be quite difficult in a duel or a 2vs2, although it should be fine with more. Overall the level generally facilitates gameplay focused around defense, which may not be to everyone’s tastes but tends to lead to gameplay based upon smart, tactical play as opposed to mindless ammo spamming, which is a good thing of course. The level isn’t perfect, but it’s a very solid and respectable effort, made by a creator that has a clear understanding of good level design principles. If you’re fed up of all of the overplayed CTF levels out there and would like to find an alternative, I recommend you give this level a try, or a download at the very least.

I always love seeing new Jazz1 levels being uploaded, especially when they include completely new worlds, not just new levels on existing planets. I’ve always preferred Jazz1 to Jazz2, and I think it catastrophically lacks in custom levels in comparison to its sequel.

So, about this level: it is great. It fits into the game perfectly, I find it has the same kind of layout used in regular Jazz levels, and the music not only fits the atmosphere of the level but sounds as if it has been written by Robert Allen specifically for Jazz Jackrabbit. The level is incredibly good looking, I love its atmosphere and eye candy is perfect.

I did not find the level too difficult, in fact I’d say it is easier than most custom Jazz1 levels. I think it is just a bit harder than your average Jazz1 level.

I give this level great big 10/10 on all aspects (design, gameplay, music selection, difficulty). Downloading this is a must!

I sort of remember promising I’d review this, so here we go ;-).

I don’t remember playing the very first versions of this as being a very pleasant experience for some reason. Of course the artwork is nice, the chosen enemies were awesome (except for one) and the level layout is just the way I generally like it. But there was one big something that sort of put me off.

When I started playing I immediately realized that it was the difficulty that put me off in the first place. So my very first action was to go back to the main menu and load the save game for the easy difficulty instead of the medium difficulty (thanks for adding those by the way). I’m a wimp, what can I say. I managed to get through the level only losing a single life this way. The things that made my life most difficult were the trigger happy turtles, and the toaster shooters. Okay, so that’s enough about the difficulty. On to the good stuff, because the difficulty really is the only bone I could pick with it. The level actually is a lot of fun to play.

I never really adored this tileset in particular, but I love the way it looks in JJ1. You made some clever additions too to make it fit in better, like black backgrounds and the splashing waterfall. If I wouldn’t know better I probably would have guessed that it was an original. I also really like the background in this level. It is an interesting purple that fades to blueish, black and even green colors. That might sound weird, but it doesn’t distract the player. I guess most people won’t even notice it during their first run through the level.

The layout of the level is enjoyable. There’s not a huge wealth of pickups and ammo, but it’s well balanced and carrots and checkpoints are in the right places. You can tell from cooba’s style that he enjoys puzzles. There are a few hidden passages and platforms that you need to find before you can advance to the next part of the level. It also occurs a few times that cooba sends you to an area to have you pick up an item that you need to access another area in the level. I personally am a big fan of stuff like this, but I can imagine it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.

A tiny point of criticism: I thought the silver bullet enemy was kind of disappointing. Especially when you look at how much time cooba spent on all of the other sprites. This might have to do with the fact that he decided he’d rather have a level out, than have it sit on his hard drive for another two years though. It’s a tiny flaw for me, but one I can live with. I can imagine that he might not even have bothered to finish the level if he would have had to put in much more time.

Overal: if you like puzzles, Jazz1 and a bit of a challenge, I’d say go for it. Good job cooba.

Nice!! I think I’ll use it in the future for a level or two.

Nice level, though it sometimes didn’t work at certain parts.
It’s worth downloading it.

Fine enough, eyecandy is fine, though I expected much more.

Original and nice level. Tbh I dont like the flying spring. DR!

The original team battle level was not strictly a battle 1 remake, but it certainly contained elements from it. It was meant as a strong homage though, not a remake. The level used an original design that deliberately tried to avoid battle 1 style gameplay (part because it’s meant to be played with 3 hearts, and part because I never liked battle 1 much, even 10 years ago). To me, a proper “remake” of battle 1 should preserve the gameplay and overall feel of the original map, and not just have a bunch of rooms that look similar.

The level uploaded here is obviously a remake though. Also contains elements from other levels, which is interesting. Looks a lot better than my original version too, which I hope can now be considered obsolete.

Heh, I played the original Team Battle endlessly back in the days, but never realized it was based on battle1. Nice idea to remake it.

A 9.4 and a 9.5? Sorry, but while this level is solid that is grossly overrating it. It’s a 7.5 for me. Perfectly adequate, nothing major to complain about, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from cooba by now. Don’t think I’m putting level down though, I’m not. It’s a quality piece of work and well worth your time. Download recommended.

Cool level. I Played it couple of mins ago on Zeal Beta server….

This is a great upload! This was my favorite level on the bash, (and not that is the reason for this,what you can see on the third screenshot :) ) It has a great eyecandy, ammo placement, gameplay, everything is really good.

I’ve played all Battle level at the Bash, and this was one of the few levels I really liked to play in.

Music:
Easy points up for grabs as always
10/10

Eyecandy:
I liked it. The eyecandy and the way of using it really lived up to the name of the level.
Almost no tilebugs or whatever. It seems also the best that could be done with given tileset, so
9,5/10

Gameplay:
Everything felt allright in this medium sized battle-level. It wasn’t especially Spaz-biased or so (except the bottom-left corner).
The long food-trail in the left which lead to the carrot and two coins felt a bit slow at the beginning though (probably a few more sucker-tube events?), but I liked it otherwise; not many levels have something along those lines.
The two green springs with the Toast PU were usable in a good way if you know how. Not too bad :)
No bad things to mention.
9/10

Pickup placement:
Pretty much nothing to complain about. The fly carrot isn’t used too often but fits here well and really has some use if you know what to do with it and when to grab it (and how to get rid of it if needed, considering there was only one place with Fly Offs).
Can it be better with given layout of the level? Probably not.
9,5/10

Replay value:
Well… what to say. It felt better balanced than previous named and I can there are places were you would use either Jazz, Spazz or Lori.
9/10

47/50

Penalties: None

9,4/10

DR: Yes!

First off, I can say nothing but spectacular. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to rate it.

Art Style:

Wall-to-wall gorgeous sharpness and close attention to detail. Looks good in every variant. This gets a solid 8.0

Diversity of Tiles:

Quite a good arrangement of options here. Some stone for more natural caves, with the addition of dirt, and some very good-looking clouds. Not only can it do two types of sky, but the added bonus of stars and two types of planet can really make the difference. Most people will be using the metal and city buildings, but that’s probably because of how good they look. I give this a 7.6.

Layer Management:

Very strong and very competent. It’s possible to use just two layers for the main level, which is extremely rare for a tileset to do, and makes a huge difference to the quality. Does not fall short of excellent on even its weak points. Worthy of a 9.2 here.

Environment:

Where does the amazingness end? Variant determines the environment, but all of them look insanely good. While Acrid can do environments capable of making Jazz mutate, Borealis can mercilessly chill, Crispy burns away critics and Deadly is just downright ominous. This one gets a 8.6.

Result:

Art Style – 8.0
Diversity of Tiles – 7.6
Layer Management – 9.2
Environment: 8.6

Total —> 8.35

Final Rating —> 8.5

well i havent seen such a beauty level
so i will write a review
ok lets start i have seen this
level in the server well when i downloaded it
i studied it it was great
well the little eyecandy places were
great and the little pit in the left
all layers are used eyecandy is
marvellous! my eyes have been
popped out but i never cannot build a level
i need to say
download? yes!!!!!

(P.S no one likes my reviews)

I like this level. It as a decent layout, it’s big, and it looks good. I’m not going to go into too much detail on these aspects, since other people have. So instead of just describing the level, I’ll look at a few of the things that don’t work and comment on those.

I’ve played this level quite a few times, and so I know the layout about as well as I can. However, I still find that I often have no idea where I am. The problem here is partially one of size, but also because much of the level uses the same style of eyecandy. Whether I am on the left side or the right side, it all looks about the same. To give an example: I know where the warps go, but if I didn’t, I would have no idea which side of the level they took me to. The only thing I have to go by is the ctf arrows.

This level really could have benefitted from some “pointers” in the eyecandy. What I mean by this is stuff (usually in the background) that the player can use to get a good idea of where they are. For example, this level could have used more of those gargoyle statues, which conveniently point left or right (and used them so they always point toward the middle of the level). Other levels do a similar thing with colour, although waz18 doesn’t really have much in that area. There are even subtler ways of doing this – for example, in my most recent CTF level, I used waterfalls to indicate which side of the base is towards the edge of the level (the wrong way to go).

Another problem is the ammo. Most of it respawns fairly quickly, but there isn’t very much of it for a level this size. In large games (6vs6 or larger) it’s quite easy to find yourself using the blaster 3/4 of the time. This can be fixed a bit by turning fast ammo respawn on, but it’s still an issue. I would have liked to see more ammo placed along the common routes here, with things like seekers being kept more out of the way.

A final, more minor comment has to do with the placement of the springs. This level goes out of its way to make you not use them – they are put inside gaps in the floor (forcing you to stop if you want to hit them), or put above bridges so you literally run underneath the springs. I understand why this is done, but it runs counter to what pretty much every other level does. Generally speaking, if you see a spring in front of you which you don’t want to use, you will jump over it. You do not expect the level to have an invisible bridge event that will let you run underneath it. And likewise, if you want to use a spring, you usually will expect to be able to use it if you just run into it (no jumping required). Basically, this level messes with your regular intuitions when it comes to how these things work. This isn’t a major issue, but I feel like this feature, which I assume is intended to make the level flow better, is having the opposite effect it is supposed to.

Aside from all of that, this is still an enjoyable level and I recommend it for any large CTF game. It’s also a good level to look at if you want to see how this tileset ought to be used (it’s probably the best use of it I’ve seen, or maybe tied with medieval skyscrapers).

I hate the theme, tiles, but is so good for making levels and so easy to hand that I just can’t give 8 just because I don’t like the theme so that makes me give a 9 and DR(Download Reccomendation) . Thank to your tileset colours that made me give 5 from 9 points.

PS:p I gave the + 0.2 just because you deserve them and because you are such a great man in the J2O community. Be proud of you.

this is cooooollll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!