Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

(13-years-later edit: Sorry, but no, this pack aged really poorly, and the levels are extremely annoying)

A very good pack which definitely deserves my download recommendation.

Birdie enjoys experimenting with CTF layouts, and it shows. Most levels here feel different than your typical Capture The Flag fare. Not all of them do, though, such as Fluid Surface Oscillator and Temple of Hakkar, which have their own gimmicks but aren’t too memorable.

Speaking of gimmicks, this pack does a pretty good job on balancing between the gimmicks part and the standard gameplay part. The gimmicks vary in magnitude, but the levels don’t revolve around them entirely, which makes the gameplay smoother. Level 6 may be an exception from this, though, but even that level didn’t feel too awkward and it was enjoyable to spend time in.

I liked the way these levels looked and sounded like. Birdie managed to build a nice atmosphere in basically all of the levels here, I especially like the way SandBox feels like (aside from its glitched background layer scrolling..). All in all, very nice looking levels.

I give this an 8.4 and a pretty obvious download recommendation. Host this in your free time, I guess.

^{(Birdie included some old beta version of Omen Woods instead of the final one, causing the fourth level to break if one doesn’t have the right version. -0.1 points.)}

Maybe not the highest quality SP pack out there, but it was pretty fun anyway. The plot was hilarious :D/, fairly well executed through the whole pack. Most of the time I found the level design a bit frustrating, for most of the levels were pretty dark (especially the intro level), and overall it needed more ways of being hard than just placing a lot of enemies.

The levels looked pretty good, with some pretty nice tricks such as the waterfalls in the first level (you’ll get what I mean when you play). However, it would be better if you’d have used newer versions of some tilesets, for example NOKA’s Tubelectric SE, Violet CLM’s new Exoticus or Lark’s Bloxonius. Those are a lot better than the old sets you have used :p The music paired very well with the eyecandy, creating a nice atmosphere there and there (eg. Diamondus level)

Overall, the levels in the pack are around 7.5-ish quality, but the whole pack deserves a higher note for effort. Good job, I’m looking forward the other episode ;)

A really great tool for hosting and joining JJ2 servers.

This widely expands over XJJ2 or JazzTool (does anyone even use those anymore), and by being a “mere” mIRC addon it’s even more convienient. Hosting servers has never been so easy before (too bad I no longer can host), and joining via the addon’s GIP is fast and slick. The player profile is something I wanted to be implemented in JazzEd for a long while now (I admit I haven’t used the addon until now).

There’s basically no thing which can’t be configured with this utility. If there was an option to run Carrotade additionally with the server (without having to run it manually), it would be even better. Aside from that, the possibilites are endless, and this program so far has been flawless. All I really need now is an antivirus with a working ignore function :p.

EDIT: A link to the #jazzjackrabbit channel would have been a nice addition too. Same with #jdc perhaps.

Gry don’t eat me for being two weeks late with this.. please

Visual Appeal – 3 out of 5

Good enough for me. Nothing really got changed in the resize, and the original semi managed to look somewhat alright, too. The author even tried to shrink the machine in the lower right corner (which I presume to be the semi conductor?), which looks quite cute nice.

minisemi2, though, has got some additional eyecandy all over the level, such as layer 4 background bricks (which shouldn’t end with the shaded tiles when not connecting to a wall/ceiling), a better background (nothing too noticable though, except from layer 8 is now textured), and, well, foreground layers at the bottom. They feel a bit overdone and clutter the bottom area if anything. (I suppose Saphir made the eyecandy changes?) Though, next time you resize a level, do align layer 4’s size with the actual level size, because it looks tacky.

Overall, the eyecandy’s nothing too much of a deal here. After all, nobody will really play this for something else than competition, and you don’t really care about the looks in competitive play.. right?

Playability – 4 out of 5

What can I say? The level seems to still function pretty well, balance wise. By jumping out of the base areas (which is the shortest route from and to a base) you can get from base A to base B in about 3.5 seconds, and vice versa, which is kind of fair game for me.

As for other routes.. now you can double jump up to both bases, which kind of negates the other ways of accessing those. Getting down a base and running/jumping up the another does take more time, too, and if you mess up somewhere it may cost you a point.

Other than that, not much is to be discussed here, is it? I really don’t like reviewing level remakes and the changes :(

Summary

• Is not all that special, but doesn’t really break anything
• fastar.. gameplay

• Not too memorable
• Could be resized at least..
• Music choice.

Overall
I hate writing this section and I’m experiencing the writer’s block recently, so :) suffice to say this is a good resize. With horrid music.

EDIT: the sun is burning down los angeles

Myself I’d just recommend to rip the system from this pack. It uses the technique better than SPAZ18 described it, because this one makes the player lose a life, and SPAZ’s doesn’t.

You don’t need to include all 3 tilesets, just use the necessary one

Please reupload with only one version of the level, and without any folders inside the .zip.

Hmm…

Visual Appeal – 3 out of 5

This level uses Tik’s conversion of the Marble Garden tileset from Sonic 3, and well, uh, it could make much better use of said tileset. The background looks decent, even if it could use layer 7 in a better way than scrolling clouds, but the sprite area does leave room for improvement.

The tileset doesn’t really allow for too much eyecandy variety, but myself I see a few creative options there and there. Anyway, aside from being a little bland, it manages to look so-so. There are no obvious tilebugs, at least.

Playability – 3 out of 5

First of all, this level is way too short. I think I was done finishing it in a bit more than 5 minutes. Some areas are a bit interesting (such as the one with float lizards and vines), and it would’ve been cool if they had been expanded.

Also, I played this level in Hard mode (as I always do), and unfortunately, it was a cakewalk. The only place where I lost a heart was the boss arena (which was done alright, but could use some more ideas). Work on the levels difficulty more next time.

Summary

• Looks decent.

• Too short
• Too easy

Overall
Well, this shows promise. Keep my advice in mind and practise making levels.

Well, it would be great if you’d at least give some basic info to how to use the program.

I’d reccomend taking the “(2)” away from the white set’s filename, to avoid in-game download troubles.

This level isn’t too much aside from a showcase of JCS tricks. However, not only all of these have been discovered before, but a fair amount of them uses outdated methods of creating the tricks. (I looked in JCS)

Besides the quirks, there’s hardly any gameplay than just getting to the exit. The eyecandy is moderately decent in some places, but overall it’s just bland and lacking, and the mez01 (ooold) tileset doesn’t help it, either.

For all those who don’t understand the way the keys are done in this level

“While the waterfalls look good in this set, they are becoming overused in tileset conversions, so they are becoming boring.”

The problem is, it’s you who made them overused and boring in your conversions, so downrating P4ul’s tileset for the mistakes you made is quite illogical :)

I would recommend giving different filenames to the tilesets. The @ and _ characters might give problems when downloading them via JJ2.

Visual Appeal – 5 out of 5

Long story short, this level makes the best use of the CyberSpaz2 tileset. I have never seen such eyecandy in a level using this set. Said set is basically a few random tech-themed tiles thrown together, but this level does a very good job at not looking awkward. Everything looks as it should, there are no tilebugs and there’s also some inventive tile use (the digits). I also like how this has an in-door feel, as opposed to most of the CyberSpaz2 levels.

The music is a very good piece, it sounds good and fits this level like nothing else would. Bonus points for not using Mechanism 8 in an Assault level, too. The background fade helps the fast-paced atmosphere, and the slowly moving background layers nicely contrast with the quick gameplay. Overall, I really like the eyecandy here.

Playability – 4 out of 5

I’ll start with the layout. It’s shaped like a rectangle, with horizontal paths cutting it through. Occasionally the paths fork and merge with other paths, so one can move around freely. The corridors are a little enclosed, but it helps out the gameplay because the pace would be slower if the level was more open.

This level also has carrots. I’m not really a fan of carrots in assault levels, but this one makes good use of them. They’re placed in pairs (fully heals the player in CTF) and in places where people are likely to get ambushed. At times I found this level a little lacking in ammo (the attackers don’t start with anything, and the defenders get a Bouncer PU), though it shouldn’t become too much of a problem.

The included map of the layout (PNG file) makes it easier to remember, which is a definite plus because this layout might be a little complicated. It’s easy enough to get the hang of it, though, in my opinion at least.

Summary

• Very good eyecandy
• Easy to play, fast paced
• Enjoyable. This is what counts.

• A bit too few ammo
• Layout might be confusing

Overall A very good assault level by Blacky which is on par with Assault3, in my opinion. Go to heck if you disagree. I liked playing here, and if I like something, then it means something. Go play this level now. BR put a lot of effort in it, so don’t neglect it.

Have you actually put Carrotade in the same folder as JJ2?

Alright, I have had it damnit. This is overrated to the point where the author himself asked me to review this fairly. Which means, these ratings make my blood boil.

Visual Appeal – 3 out of 5

The main change here is the color, obviously. However, while I could live with the original Castle tilesets being based upon very few colors, I will not stand this conversion being just monochrome. Everything now has a cyan tint, which not only doesn’t go together with the castle tileset, but is very boring on the eyes. The background tiles now use a strong shade of blue, which does not fit to them, either, and makes the background look dull.

As for the additions, there’s the beach seaweed (which has ugly pixels around it and isn’t even fully ripped), the water block stolen from Persian Paradise, and a textured background. Unfortunately, the background doesn’t work well in 8bit mode, and thus neither does the JJ2 water.

Usability – 3 out of 5

The layout is the same as in the original Castle levels, which means that it’s rather unorganised, chaotic and hard to manage. Anyway, this doesn’t fix the bugs which the original Castle had, and doesn’t take advantage of the unusable tiles (the slide) to make them usable in one way or another. To put it shortly, this field hasn’t changed at all.

Summary

• The colors don’t look awkward at least :|
• The theme was a nice part

• Kind of miscolored
• Nothing really changed on the technical side
• The additions are average, and the seaweed is kind of ugly.

Overall
While you are improving, PJ7, this conversion is still not much above average. Try harder next time, and don’t rush things, and you’ll make great conversions.

Bah…

Visual Appeal – 3 out of 5

This tileset, being a Disguise one, certainly isn’t capable of having too great eyecandy, but this level doesn’t even look as if the author tried (sorry). The background looks bland and uninteresting (putting rain in the background in such a tileset is a… waste, for me), and layer 8 isn’t even textured. For one knows, why? I’m not sure if it could get anymore overused and boring with the background like that.

The other layers don’t help out the level either. Battlespaz uses the same one brick in terms of soil, and the same one wall tile in terms of a wall. Please. I don’t think I need to explain it’s a bad thing. There’s also very few eyecandy aside from the casual shields, torches and knights. How about some actual tile variety? I’d appreciate it, to be honest.

Playability – 3 out of 5

First off, the flow of the level could have been better. Specifically, I don’t like the bottom of the level (it gets frustrating with how the platforms above the pit are designed) and how the hook tiles used the Hook events. It’s certainly not the best thing to put in a multiplayer level, since hooks can seriously slow a player down. Use the Vine event next time, please.

Another bad thing I noticed, is that the ammo was so scarce it makes no sense collecting it. In fact, I’m 90% sure that there is more food in this level than ammo. What sense does it make? It’s like that in one of the coinwarps (three fastfires and like 10 candies?) which makes it heavily unrewarding and thus pointless. The other warp has a seeker powerup, and there’s a blaster powerup somewhere else in the level. Seeing as this is mostly enclosed, the Blaster and Seeker weapons will be the destructive here, which would just lead to total chaos, and chaos is not a good thing.

Summary

• Might be playable.

• Slow, generic, probably not worth the time.

Overall
Let Saphir’s really high rating not deceive you, as this is only a slightly above average level with several problems. Download? Nope.

Visual Appeal – 4 out of 5

Yay, I liked this one a lot ;D. This level certainly has a good amount of eyecandy. The plants, which are often neglected, are used widely here and give the level a nice feel. There are some original things made with the plants, such as the singular vines, which are also nice. The background is nice (albeit taken from the official JJ2 levels?) and there’s enough stuff to keep it alive in the foreground. There weren’t really any outstanding bugs in the tileset use, nor any bad eyecandy ideas.

My only gripe here is that more could be done with the background. You could have experimented with the textured background fades (which work only in 16-bit mode, by the way). You also could have put different tiles on the layers than just take them off the official levels. Anyway, that’s pretty much my only complaint, as this is very good use of the Carrotus tileset.

Playability – 4 out of 5

I also like the way this level plays. This level’s definite plus is that the level’s main path forks into two, and the player is supposed to choose the way. Not really an original concept, but it’s always nice and the newer levelmakers tend to neglect that design feature. It’s easy to backtrack once a way ends and take up with the another one, which is also good. This level is also full of random pickups and secrets, which is an important thing in a SP level. I really like the biggest secret in the level, which is kind of tricky to access, but is certainly rewarding. (I’m not going to spoil it though, download the level and play it yourself).

However, this level also has a bit of problems. The main one is that it’s a bit easier to play this level with Spaz (the so-called Spaz bias). Like, there’s this place where the player needs to crash a crate to access coins by jumping from a platform. However, Spaz can get to the coins just by using his double jump. It’s also easier for Spaz to get back to the upper road if the player is coming back from the lower road.

Other than that, there are no real bugs which could destroy the gameplay (maybe except for the secret warp target with ID 143, the player gets stuck in the wall if he warps), and the gameplay itself is solid.

Summary

• Decent eyecandy
• A fine example of how a SP level should look

• Could use a little more original eyecandy
• As well as some polish to the gameplay

Overall
As you can see, I did enjoy this level because it’s how a real JJ2 SP level should look like, in my opinion at least. If I like it, why shouldn’t you?

Whoa, whoa, and once more whoa.

Visual Appeal – 4 out of 5

It will be hard for me to describe this without abusing the expression whoa, but I’ll have to give it a shot nonetheless. Anyway, I’ll have to say that I don’t really like the palette edits in the Labrat v2 (like I aptly call them) sets. I definitely don’t like the palette of the sixth tileset, which just hurts my eyes and shows that the soil texture doesn’t really tile with itself (like in Diamondus). I also don’t like the contrast between the metal plates and the soil in fourth tileset, and fifth’s general color scheme. Sorry :|

Enough complaints. I’m gonna be blunt and say that the Tubelectric and Letni tilesets are AWESOME, PWNAGE, L33TAGE AND ALL THE WAY BEYOND. I LOVE the concept behind the Tubelectric tileset here, I’m surprised no one has even attempted to bring JJ1’s Tubelectric style back onto its JJ2 cohort, which did lack a certain feel. Now, all the identity troubles are GONE!!! Who really cares if NOKA did use Agama’s tiles to back up the tileset, it looks great and Agama herself probably wouldn’t mind.

The additions to the Tubelectric are great, such as the spikes I’ve long awaited for, the belts using JJ1’s tiles which look great, the warps, the signs (stolen from Haze’s muckamok but no one should mind), the 5th palette which looks reminiscent to Industrius, it looks great and takes the old Tubelectric tileset to a whole new level. Great job here, and I mean great. The only thing I’m not too fond of is the 3rd Tubelectric set, which has, um, ugly bricks D: Everything else is sweet.

And now that I’m done praising the brilliant Tubelectric, I’m onto Letni now. And guess what? It’s as amazing as Tubelectric. In some places it was so amazing I couldn’t resist staring at it. Like taking Labrat’s monitors and giving them Letni’s red glow. It was so genious that my jaw has dropped. To sum it up shortly, it’s like Tubelectric, except just made to look like Letni. I’m going to cut it here, just download this and look over the set yourself already, the potential reader. No more spoilers for you D:<

Usability – 5 out of 5

I honestly have no gripes here. In most of the tilesets, the palette color events will work fine. The tilesets are extremely easy to use, for they are moderately blocky. The Labrat tileset is also made a lot easier, and has tiles which its precedssor greatly lacked, such as slopes. The mask is as smooth as it can get, there’s really not a little problem here; these tilesets are a JCS user’s dream.

Summary

• Great improvement over the original official tilesets.
• Generally great work, shows that a lot of thought went into the tilesets
• Tubelectric owns owns owns, need I say more?

• Some of the palette edits just won’t work well.
• Labrat could use some more stuff. Such as better background tiles? Who knows.

Overall
Definitely the successor tilesets for the official ones. They have what the officials had, what they lacked, and much more than that. If there’ll be someone who continues on using the default Labrat or Tubelectric tilesets, they’ll sure have to be insane. Even if one may not like the palette changes, there are still tilesets with the palettes remaining unchanged. So all in all, download this, use this, and review this. Saphir has underrated this heavily, 7.2 is definitely too low for this. If it wasn’t for the Labrat tileset a little lacking, I’d gladly give this a higher rating.