Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Boy, this is pretty awesome!! Another old game converted to Jazz2! I got some special thanks in that cool outro…and i guess i know why. The whole thing reminds me pretty much of the Blues Brothers remake i tried with some guys (which i like a bit more, esspecially regarding the graphics, but that’s probably not your fault :-).
Unfortunataley, i don’t have the time to give a detailed review of the very good levels and tileset. But i hope i will be able to write one soon.
Then, i will eventually change my rating to fat NiNE POINTS then, too :-)
However, my first impression is that this is definitely one of the ALL TIME TOP 50 DOWNLOADS IN JAZZ2 HISTORY!

Heh, i’ve read those mask messages and i will not miss to answer with a nice little review for this. Very soon…the rating will probably be 8 points, btw :-)

“Flag Rat” is a 75*60 tiles small CTF map that indeed could fit well for a decent duel or 2 vs 2.

The design of the level is good and open, it has many platforms and easy navigation. The weapon placement is okay (we have a lot of ammo and two powerups here, which will at least garantuee some action :-), except maybe for the annoying ice. There are two carrots to regain some hearts.
The route from the red to the blue base is quite simple and, because of the level size, not very long. Scoring is easy in “Flag Rat”.

The layer work is pretty good, too, but maybe the author paid a bit too much attention to the background instead of the foreground (nearly no use of layers 1, 2, 3).

Unfortunately the next level setting is wrong. Otherwise, this is a nice little CTF map for servers with not-so-many players, and action is garuenteed. So why not download?
Plus, being in a good mood today, i give out fat 7 points.

Okay, well, i do find this…interesting. “Bloody Battle” is about 55*55 tiles small and uses Disguise’s nice little “Darkened Landscape” tileset (which i have never seen until a minute ago, shame on me).

The design of the level is okay, nothing special. Kinda open with some nice gimmecks like springs, sucker tubes, good use of one-ways and even pinball events. The “elevator” thing at the right is original, but doesn’t add a lot of gameplay in my opinion. Ammo placement is okay, very slightly above the average maybe.

Same with the eyecandy: nothing spectacular, the typical lack of foreground elements and some nice ideas in the background layers (really, the idea with the eyes is neat).

But the thing that annoys me most in this level is the background music: “Deserto Action” by JSZ Jazz is not really the Scream Tracker hit of the month, it sounds more like a set of wild electric guitar and other samples. Sorry, not my style.

The value of this level derives solely from its originality. It’s worth a look because of some nice ideas, but not really something you’ll like playing for hours. “Bloody Battle” gets a high 6.5 from me (again, i tend to 6.5 instead of 7 because of all the overrating taking place).
And btw, i have no idea how people can rate this 8.7.

And yet another great, 140*70 tiles large CTF map from Mr. I-Hate-TSF :-) It uses Disguise’s awesome “Winterland Wonder” tileset, with its very cool snow covered atmosphere.

The design of the level is very good, nothing much to criticize. Many platforms, very open, perfect navigation: “south african school” as i call it (even though it’s such a “cold” level :). The use of OneWays is very wise and so is the event (nice copter) and weapon placement throughout the level. The routes from base to base are not too short and not too long.

As for the eyecandy, it’s very decent as well, but nothing too spectacular: for example, i find the foreground layers a bit underused (the background scenery is very nice, though).

The music is a pretty cheap, but five minute lasting Protracker MOD from Germany that tries to catch a bit of ealy nineties techno hype (at least in Germany). Not my favourite style, and i don’t think that it fits too great here, but hey, i guess the “wonderland” title stands in some kind of relationship to the tileset name :)

My conclusion:
Of course, this is pretty overrated, like all levels recently. That may also be a reason why i don’t want to give a 8 here (which it would actually deserve), but a high 7.5. But anyways, this is your favourite CTF level for the upcoming snowy evenings at home. STRONG DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION!

Well, Black Killer, if you would have read the readme file, as i recommended in my level info above, you would know that a.) this is a beta version, and unfinished and b.) that the SP levels are made in 1.24 JCS.
Nevertheless, all six tilesets are for 1.23 and so are the MP levels. I think you are underestimating the effort i and Renko and Sliser put into this.
I recognize that it may have been a mistake to release it at this stage. However, if i only had released the tilesets or level 2 and 3 of the episode, i guess the ratings would have been higher. Oh well, nevermind. I don’t do N/A comments usually.[This review has been edited by Aiko]

“Fake ]I[ Arena” gets my “butt ugly level of the week” award (remember that contest by stripe at J2C?).
It uses the legendary Mez01 tileset, is 100*25 tiles small, has one platform with two CTF bases (i thought it’s a Battle level?) and a lot of useless ammo and food in one place. There is no eyecandy and i have no idea, why this should be “very useable for JDC or TSF tournament”. At least i won’t participate in that kind of tournament :-)
The author should really spend more time on his level creations. This is more like a waste of webspace.

Well, JelZe, old pal, it is not too much my kind of level actually :-) It was a good idea by the author to use an awesome custom tileset like DethMan’s “7th Lava Fall”.

But i don’t like the design of the 70*70 tiles small level too much: the lava at the ground may be an original idea, but think the Sucker Tubes and all that cost too much time. The rest of the level has some platforms and a few weapons, not to forget a coin warp. Open and stuff, but nothing too spectacular, in my opinion.

The layer work looks okay which may be caused by the cool, dark look of the tileset.

The music choice, “Astraying Voyages” a 1994 ST3 made tune by S3M super hero Purple Motion fits good, but it’s not my favourite PM tune and the filesize is pretty large, too (~700 KB).

All in all, there is missing something in “Lost City” to give it an outstanding rating. I guess it’s just a decent battle level, nothing more, nothing less (low 7 points). Well, anyways, why not download it? :)

Well, well, “Ultimate Warzone” (hmmm, if i remember right there was a pretty cool level with the same name years ago…by Distruct of J2LC i think, well, seems like it’s a boring name many people think of, eh?) is a quite average battle level using Overlord’s “Plastic 2” tileset. It is eventually a tad too large regarding the width (210*30 tiles).

The layout is okay, but somehow not really exciting. There are a lot of annoying dead ends and warps that warp you back to the level start at the very left. The weapon placement could have been improved as well: a whole lot of powerups, which are all very easy to get (and that “secret room” isn’t really secret, if you ask me).

Furthermore, i think there is a major lack of eyecandy in “Ultimate Warzone”. A few background layers are used, but not much in the foreground. And on a side note, i don’t like the look of the tileset too much. Quite boring.

The very guitar orientated “Boss” music doesn’t really fit here as well, i think.

To sum it up, “Ultimate Warzone” isn’t my favourite download of the week. There’s just something cool missing. No download recommendation from me, sorry (slightly below the average=4.5).

“Galactic Hollow” is another very well designed CTF map from Mr. Cell’s level factory. It uses our beloved Mez03a tileset and is only 80*60 tiles small, but that’s a good idea in times like these i guess (not too many people playing online anymore).

The layout of the level, as i said, is very good, open and easy to play. Ammo and event placement is good, too. The bases are pretty close to each other, but i don’t think that will spoil the fun. Sometimes you need an easy CTF map with a lot of shooting and scoring in my opinion. CTF experts may complain about that.

The eyecandy is neat as well, not too much of it, but well done by Cell.

For the background music, the author chose a FT tune called “galactic” by darkhalo, which most of you probably remember from HappyCTF. Well, i love it and therefore, i won’t complain about the horrible filesize of 1678 KB this time. It’s worth every byte, really.

Well, i really don’t have much too add here. Just a very good level. DOWNLOAD NOW!

“Super Mario Battle” is a pretty average battle level using the “SMB3: Grass Land” tileset by Taz (which is not too much above average as well).

It is 170*40 tiles large and has a simple, but at times confusing layout. The navigation isn’t very easy (a few dead ends and annoying warps) and, for example, Hurt events in multiplayer levels make no sense: they only hurt the server. Read your HowtoJCS :)

As for eyecandy, it is nearly non-existant. Or i missed the stuff you placed on other layers than number 4.

The background music is legendary already: “super mario land” by reflex/m0vement! 2 minutes and 18 seconds of pure protacker chiptune madness! Very oldskool. And fits great.

Nevertheless, my conclusion is that “Super Mario Battle” (what a dull level name btw) is horribly overrated here. Because i find it only slightly above the average, i give it the corresponding rating: 5.5 points. Download or not? Decide for yourself. Mario fans will probably like this.

I have to agree. “Spider Swamp” is a very neat battle level using that completely awesome, colourful Swamps tileset by Agama.

It’s not too large and not to small (120*60 tiles) and the design is very classic (open and playable, that is). Not to mention a wise event and ammo placement.

The layer work looks very good, too. I think the tileset is so impressing, that you don’t need too much eyecandy in such levels (that’s also a reason people tend to overrate here: they rate the tileset, not the level in first place).

However, the background tune (a FastTracker file of german origin! Yay!) fits great to the whole atmosphere of this level.

So i really have nothing to complain here. Actually, i wanted to give out fat 8 points here, but i will choose 7.5 points because i have the feeling all those newbies that appeared the last few months tend to overrate a bit, recently. Remember that 7.5 points (from me) is very good.
No doubt, “Spider Swamps” gets A CLEAR AND STRONG DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION! It’s a very very good battle level.

I’m one of Shadows biggest fans. I want second review (coming later :-).[This review has been edited by Aiko]

Detailed review coming soon. I am very sorry. This pack owns me. Check my rating.

(Long time later, no detailed review… unsupported rating removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]
(Rating RESTORED due to date review was originally posted. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

“Toxic Landscape” is another release from Cell’s little dutch level production plant. It has 120*60=7200 tiles and uses the very good looking Muckamok (you know, the tileset from JJ1) conversion from Haze.
And Cell definitely made the best of it: the layout is very open and seems to be playable as hell (promises fun CTF matches). Weapon placement is great, only the full energy carrots are quite questionable (personally, i don’t like them at all). The layer work is fine, there wasn’t really much more that Cell could do with the 330 tiles of the tileset. It still looks beautiful.
The background ST3 module is “Introspection” by Necros^PM. Need i say more?
So…DOWNLOAD NOW! I love this level (and i award it with unbelievable EiGHT points, even if some of the kids above really tend to overrate all kind of stuff lately).

“Deserted Debris” is a very good CTF level using grandmaster Blade’s awesome “Wasteland” tileset. It is 150*64 tiles large.
The layout (including event placement) is very neat (well, some may argue about the food events, but i dont’t consider that a major problem :-), open and it’s easy to navigate your rabbit. The CTF routes are neither too short nor too long
Regarding the eyecandy: it’s really worth mentioning here…the way the author used the different structures with their “steelish” look is quite original and looks cool. Good work, F
The Impluse Tracker made background music called “ACID.IT” isn’t of bad quality either (au contraire!) and it fits the atmosphere of the level pretty good, i think.
Overall, “Deserted Debris” is A MUST DOWNLOAD for all Jazzers; esspecially the CTF fans will love it. That’s true J2LC quality.

Woah! Great german-dutch co-production in this pack. (where the german part, the tileset, is the best, of course ;-).
“Death Metal” has 320 beautiful tiles for you and your JCS and just looks great. It has a whole lot of useful stuff like spikes, vines, poles diagonals and erm…bones. Many bones. And metal. And some bubble blood bath. Not to forget a few background structures like a dark sky with stars, a half moon or those mountains. All in all, very cool (yes, also the masking with your witty message and so on :-).
Cell’s example battle level is 80*80 tiles large and looks very good, too. It has lots of platforms, navigation is fluent and there is some really sweet eyecandy. Horribly playable, i’d say (not to mention the long and a bit too large “Almagest” music tune by canadian tracker Stefan Xenos, which isn’t bad either).
Oh and Blade, old dude, it’s more like “Skulg *WO*man” ;-) German style, mehr davon, Skulg!! Acht fette Punkte für dich (<— describes my high rating of…eight points! w00p!). “Death Metal” and the whole pack is a MUST DOWNLOAD for everyone, of course.[This review has been edited by Aiko]

Oh, there is not much to say about “Battle Out V”. Diamondus is overused, the design is pretty good (many platforms and very open, as Violet already tried to say) and there is a fair amount of layer work. It is not too large so it will make a good and fun battleground for servers with five or less players.
The music is by a german tracker and yeah, it’s nice. Still, not favourite track and nothing very outstanding. Like the whole level. I’m not even exactly sure if we still need more and more of this type of level. Sorry.
Nevertheless, “Battle Out V” definitely gets a DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION from me. It is a pretty good level.

P.S.: The next level setting is missing/wrong. Not good. Here’s my 6.5 for that (und the fact you used Diamondus because you were “lazy” :-)…

“Spaced World” is a pretty cool “spacy” battle level using the legendary MEZ01 tileset.
The layout is tight, somehow, but still very playable in terms of easy navigation. The amount of ammo is a bit low throughout the map in my opinion but doesn’t affect my rating too much.
Of course, MEZ01 is super easy to use but hey, i still like the colourful layer arrangements everywhere.
The scandinavian background music (“Rocket Life” by Laxity^MoN) is awesome, relaxed as hell and creates a large part of the very spacy atmosphere.

Conclusion: “Spaced World” gets a clear and straight DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATiON from me for being kinda…original and cool. Way to go, Sauron aka Scizor.

“Heck Hole” is one of those 100*50-tiles-battle-levels from the mass production you can’t say much about. It was a good idea to use the “D-a-m-n” tileset (because i like it), it has a neat layout (platforms all the way, very open and so on), the weapon placement is okay (except the ice, maybe) and the lack of eyecandy is obvious.
Really, what else is there to say? Battle fans and others, add “Heck Hole” to your collection. It is good.