Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Cataclysms asked me to review this, and who am I to refuse? This is my first review after a long break, so don’t expect super duper quality ;)

[I played this in the Medium difficulty level]
Frog Chase (which is a rather unoriginal level name) is a level in which the player plays as a frog and has to collect coins to reach the level exit. The coins are either hidden or guarded with enemies (or both), and it’s quite a challenge to finish the level without dying once (at least it was for me).
The level itself is linear and rather short, even when travelling through it in a slow pace (e.g. when you try to find secrets). When you walked through the whole level, you will encounter Bubba, who is accompanied by a Tuf Turtle and a Bat. He’s standing on a floor that collapses after half a minute or so, so you’ll have to withstand him (remember you can not destroy or harm enemies while you’re a frog) until the floor collapses and you will be warped back to the level’s start, where you can either collect coins you didn’t collect yet (there are 10 coins, and you need all of them to finish the level) or warp to the level exit.

The level idea is quite original, I must admit – it’s all been done before, but together it’s a nice change from the usual run-through-the-level-and-kill-everything gameplay. However, the level suffers from several bugs. For example, you are chased by a floating lizard through the whole level, but you also encounter several exploding TNT bombs – a smart player will use it to destroy the lizard and make the level a lot easier. This might be an intended effect though, as the level is hard enough without the floating lizards – bats are a real pain in the (-) when you can’t destroy them. Another bug involves Bubba – as you know, he easily jumps through solid ceilings and that way he’ll probably disappear sooner or later while fighting him. The layer work could use some improvement too: you can see half-hidden events here and there, which looks strange. By the way, please always place one-way events on the large four-branch trees.

Apart from that, the level is pretty decent. Average eyecandy (nothing special, but it does the job – try to use tiles in ways they aren’t meant to be used next time, it usually turns out great), some bugs, a few easy puzzles, and a high score on the originality scale – a seven would fit. Download this if you like to play something different.

This review is just as rare as an upload by Blade ;)

Let me give you a first impression. “Islands in the sapphire sea”, which I will call “island” from now on, is a very detailed tileset with as main theme a carribean pirate island, it seems. The “feeling” of the tileset is exactly like it should be: Piratey! It has all that stuff you always used while playing pirate in your youth, plus more. Barrels full of fruits, rum (or some other liquid), and treasure, cannons, skulls, and SWORDS. Everything looks like it has some kind of cell shading, which gives a very “relaxed” feel to the tileset, especially in combination with the blue background.

As you can see in the beginning of the example level, it’s possible to create some “depth” in the level, as if it’s semi-3D. As Blade mentioned, you have to know the tricks of JCS to create those great effects in the example level, but it’s certainly possible.
Unlike in many other isometric tilesets, the objects in “Island” actually cast a shadow on the ground. This looks so leet that I hereby decalre this my new standard for 8+ ratings >8)
So the main feature of the tileset is the absoultely breathtaking 3D-like graphical quality. The drawings itself are nothing revolutionary, but combined with the perpsective Blade put into the tileset the tileset becomes a masterpiece.

So is it really worth a 10, you may ask? No, as you may know if you read my other reviews, I always keep my critics for the last part. While the tileset contains a great deal of objects like treasure or guns, the most important part of a genuine pirate island is missing: the pirates and the buildings they live in. If Blade combined the buildings of Oasis (redawn, ofcourse) and the amount of objects and detail in Island, this would certainly be worth a 10*. Another set of tiles that’s missing are the water tiles. Ofcourse, there are water tiles for the background and you can create small ponds. But there are no tiles to create the coast of an island, or tiles for underwater enviroments. Surely you can use the water level event to create underwater level parts, but it always looks sort of artificial if you use land tiles to create underwater stuff.
There’s no textured background either. The background provided in the set looks really nice, with clouds, a sun, a ship and island in the background, but some level creators will undoubtly want to use a textured background. Always try to please the masses if you want a good rating ;)

Alright, time for a verdict. I really like this set, but it misses some parts that would make the tileset so much better. The provided tiles offer a really really really one of the best-drawn JJ2 game enviroments ever (did I mention I like the anti-aliasing? Well, I do) and you can create a really versatile and detailed level with it, but this certainly needs a sequel. Grab it now!

^{(*) Yes, a 10. I never rate downloads or games like school work, where perfection exists. You’ll probably agree with me that creating the perfect tileset is impossible: yet there’s a “10” rating. When I consider a tileset really really great and one of the best tilesets ever, I won’t hesitate to give it a 10.}

(I just wrote this review to get rid of WR’s constant stream of “plz review” so don’t expect anything good)

The first things I noticed when playing were the pinball thingies. While they may be a nice addition to the gameplay, they simply look horrible because Easter Islands doesn’t support the pinball events in it’s pallette. One of them was partly hidden by green plants, and the contrast between the green and the white (the pinball bump was white) made it look even worse.
The second thing I noticed was the lightning. It reminded me of another level of SuperSaiyin’s (I can’t remember the name now, but it used the Psych tileset) and it really fits the tileset. The background was quite nice too, the orange fits well with the sea and the sky.

The eyecandy wasn’t as good as I expected. It’s basically lots of trees on lots of platforms that all look the same. The usage of foreground scenery is quite good so it doesn’t really matter, but a little more creativity wouldn’t have been bad. I also think you should’ve used the layer 4 background scenery (the brownish cave stuff) more, especially at the bottoms. Currently most of it is at the top of the level, which is somewhat weird.
The green plants I have written about earlier is generally used very well, but at some places it hides springs and other gameplay events, which brings me to the third part of my review: the gameplay.
The gameplay, in my opinion, isn’t really good either. It relies on springs too much, which isn’t a problem if the springs are placed on the right places, but they aren’t. Usually two springs (a red one and a green or blue one) are placed right next to each other, which is really annoying if you want to get to the top area quickly because it’s hard to jump on the right spring the first try, also because part of the springs is usually hidden by foreground scenery.
The waterfall is in my opinion too “white” to be used as foreground scenery: you can barely see what’s behind it, which is (again in my opinion, maybe I just dón’t understand the authors’ intentions) quite annoying.

So can I only write really bad things about this level? No, in general it’s quite good. The lightning effects are surely original (though they have been used before), the event placement is good and the overl “flow” is okay. It’s just the small things that bring down the rating of this level. I’m not sure if I should give a 8.0 or a 7.7. I think I’ll go for the 8.0 since a 7-8 is usually reserved for average level and this level is above average.

Download recommendation? If you play Battle now and then, it’s certainly worth a see.

Story: A man finds orbs, suddenly turns evil, wants to destroy the world, but then he falls into a volcano together with his brother because URJazzCC (oh yeah) saved the world. Great story!

First level [UR Legend]
Very bad eyecandy, a background that keeps changing colors, lots of texts that are very close to each other so before you read one another already shows up and no clue what you have to do. Almost no enemies at, just hurt events that you fall on without warning. I really hope the rest of the levels are better

_Second level [UR: The legend continues]__
Again really bad eyecandy and again I have no clue what to do. The level’s “gameplay” basically consists of running around (it’s way too big) and hoping you find something that helps you to complete the level. The music doesn’t fit.

Third level [UR Worlds]
Well, it’s basically the same as the second level, but now I finally know what to do: “find one orb”. Sure.
This level has lots of bugs, for example after a sucker tube there’s a float up that doesn’t get you high enough to reach the platform you were meant to reach via the tube. Well, you get it.

Fourth level [Credits]
Useless level, because at the start of each level there’s a “level by URJazz and idea by Craccoboy” text sign, but whatever. Well, the music again doesn’t fit.
After the credits you enter a room with lots of gem rings and a grave. You fall through the grave, see Joe’s brother there saying “IM POWERFUL” or something and then the levelpakc starts again. Yay…

All levels have bad eyecandy, non-fitting music, puzzles that are impossible to do because I have no idea what the goal is, and lots of bugs. I really wonder if the other reviewers are biased in one way or another, because this levelpack is crap. No download recommendation, 2.5

I really don’t understand why all reviewers are so fond about this pack. Actually, I didn’t like it at all.
The start of the first level looked nice, with a story like Another Story’s.
You know the wise, old saying “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”? My first impression was good, but the overall impression wasn’t. After moving left I saw a slope, so I walked down. Then suddenly I got warped by a warp I couldn’t see because it was hidden by a quite annoying and non-goodlooking layer 2 eyecandy thing (you know, “widescreen”). It appeared I “slipped off a branch”. How about warning the player earlier?
So now I knew I should keep walking on the trees. I advanced, eventually lost 4 hearts, and encountered some enemies. Three of them FELL BLOODILY, but then there were a few I couldn’t directly kill with my blaster, so I tried buttstomping them. I didn’t find any way to do it, which may be my fault, but I however don’t like 4 enemies on 2 tiles at all.
I completed the first level and went on to the second one. Yet again this ugly layer 2 eyecandy. And yet again I fell into a pit I couldn’t see at all. Well, I could see it, but there was no hint that there was another way out of the level, so I walked into it. Again one life less!
After that I saw a solid-looking slope, I jumped onto it and fell in the pit again. I got frustarted and typed jjnxt.
The third level was some cutscene level, with bad eyecandy. Next level!
Yay, more Swamps of the Sleeping Jaguar. In this level most of the time 60% of my screen got hogged by either the widescreen thingy or annoying trees on another foreground layer. Usually enemies were behind the trees so I constantly got attacked by ghosts I couldn’t have spotted at all. After that came some credits level which was rather boring.

It was hard indeed, but not because there ware hard puzzles or enemies: just because I constantly died or got hurt by something I couldn’t have destroyed or spotted. If you add the bad eyecandy to this, I think a 4.5 is enough. Maybe even a bit too high. 4.0 8D

EDIT: spelling etc.[This review has been edited by Fl@$h aka blewmeup]

Dranzer, it is not a “cover” or “remake” ot whatever you seem to think. I added some tiles to the original version, but the original tiles are still in there.

1337! It looks like Tubelectric!

Bwahaha. This tileset contains even mroe animations than the Diamondus one. No surprise, Tubelectric was very animated and NOKA managaed to capture the exact “JJ1tubelectric feeling” in this set. It even has the Bonus gems! Also included are animations for nearly all platform types, the big lights, arrows (snow?), the 1337 TURRETS (altough it’s a bit blocky). It also includes 1337 layer4 background eyecandy, a cool textured background and at last a “now approaching” sign with the original JJ1 font! The background of it should be black though. Ofcourse, it also contains stuff like poles, blocks, vines, hooks and bla bla bla… WHAT ARE YOU DOING READING THIS? MAKE A LEVEL WITH IT NOW!

8,7 ;)

Oh BTW, next time try to make the sign of devan match the size of the “End of level signpost” event so you can make it work exactly like in JJ1 (where you have to shoot it)

*censored*OMG 970 TILES! :O

And the original set had 50 tiles or something… Anyway, the review. All tiles are there, just like in NOKA’s Diamonuds conversion. All “basic” tiles come in 3 different versions: one version with no background, and two that have one. Yet again the tileset has a “Now approaching sign”, but it still has that newish font while it would have been cool if you used the original JJ1 font. Also included are a 1337 textured background, the JJ1-style signs, animated arrows and basic things like vines, poles and hooks. Also added are two versions of destruct blocks, a not very useful image of the JJ1 score bar, different kinds of layer 6+7 eyecandy (I didn’t like the one with the flower pots, they were too “compressed-jpg” like, if you know what I mean), a JJ1-style gradient background, a few signs with the author’s name on it, and well, that’s it. Everything you need to make a good and interesting level. The example levels are well-done, I didn’t fully complete them but they gave a good impression on the tileset.
The tileset comes in two dfferent versions: a night and day version (I guess). Both look good altough the changes are quite minor, the most prominent change is actually the color change of the background (alyer 6,7 and 8) eyecandy. This time the night version isn’t too bright like in the JJ1Diamondus conversion. The masking is okay, I couldn’t find any bugs, and once again the author added 1337 mask messages ;)
I could only find two bugs: the parts of the flower pots that were #000000 black are transparent on the layer 6/7 thing which makes the grey/purple land shine though it. The second bug: IT IS TSF. Next time you upload a tileset, first ask someone who has 1.23 to compile it in 1.23 for you, so also 1.23 users can download and use a tileset.

Almost bug-free, no tiles missing, full of eyecandy: 8.5 and a big download recommendation, not just for jj1-freas.

dx dc, do not rate the example level. Kekeke. http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/moreinfo.php?levelid=3
:D
First some off-topic notes: you misspelled “Violet” and the font for the “approaching” text could have been better. I won’t take points for that though.

The tileset is good. In fact, I think it’s better than EvilMike’s conversion. It has everything his conversion had, plus lots of extra’s like a textrued background, text signs, JJ1 sprites, the “approaching” picture (yay!), destruct blocks, sucker tubes and well, lots more.
It basically has every tile that was in the JJ1 diamondus, I ddin’t check everything but at a glance I didn’t miss any tile. It also borrowed some tiles from the JJ2 Diamondus, like a mushroom and the arrows. It still has the JJ1 (animated) arrows though. The textured background looks quite nice and is useful, however the author didn’t forget to include a JJ1-like gradient background (that doesn’t have the same colors as in JJ1 anyway).
The layer 6+7 eyecandy is there too, however it doesn’t look allright at some places, probably something with the palette. The masking is pretty good, luckily the “rabbits stink” sign isn’t masked like in EvilMike’s conversion. I am still amazed by the amount of animations in this set, really everything that was animated in JJ1 can be animated with this tileset.
The author keeps telling you that he sucks while Violet rules, but I think he has created a JJ1 conversion that s at least as good as Violet’s conversion. You earned a 9.0 ;)

EDIT: I forgot to speak about the night/evening versions. Well, they are just as good as the “day version” ;)

EDIT 2:
JelZe, I still don’t get what your point is. I reviewed it with TSF because it didn’t work in 1.23. You mean I forgot to mention that in my review? In that case:
THIS IS TSF BAH

For some reason, I don’t like it. hides

To start, the layer 6+7 eyecandy is ripped, something I don’t like. The waterfalls and fire are also ripped, I won’t take points away for the fire because it’s very hard to make a decent fire animation but you could have created the waterfall yourself easily. The ground looks nice, however it’s almost the same color as the background eyecandy and the contrast is too low. Some gradients at the edges would have been nice. The grass is okay, too bad there are no tiles with grass for slopes. Some things that I will add points for altough it’s unfair: The commander keen mushroom (hurray!) and the Total Freaks signs (hehehehaha). I also EXTREMELY LIKE the support act >)
All items that should be in a decent tileset are present, including hooks, poles spikes and text signs. No exit sign, but you can use an “EOL Signpost” event for that.
The textured background is fairly nice, the fog tiles can be useful but overall the tileset looks quite boring. Everything has the same, brown color. A little gradient at the edge of the platforms could have taken this major setback (in my very humble opinion) away.

Make more colorful stuff next time, the graphic quality shows your tilesets have some potential >)

Level 1: Some sort of introduction. You first have to do basic “training” which consists of jumping onto a big rock to reach higher places and pro trainign which consists of pretty basic shooting at enemies. Then the real level starts. Yay.
The “real” level is hardly playable because of one of the most un1337 backgroudn I ever saw. basically it’s just some tiles placed on layer 7 and 8 and the result is very confusing. You usually can’t see what’s platform and what’s background, and omined with an overload of enemies the result is called “sucks”. Another annoying thing is that you have to wait every time you see a “door”; an anim that disappears every minute.
Level 2 looks a little better, but still the contrast beween the background and layer 4. Again, there are way too much enemies. This level is basically as good as level 2. For some reason I couldn’t find an exit event at the place that said “exit” so I had to use jjnext. Hurray! Maybe level 3 will be the best level of the pack?
Well, yes :P. But it’s still bad. Level 3 is supposed to look like a flying space ship, and to let it look like that the author used a moving foreground layer with what looks like random objects on it. It wasn’t really clear first, but you ahve to jump from platform to platform and if you fall down you are DOOMED by evil SPIKES :(. After trying a few times I got so furstrated I used jjfly because it just is too hard. At one part the only thing to stand on is a one-tile block with a spring on it and you have to destroy some 4* blocks. This is quite hard when the whole level is full of “wind left” events. After that you get sucked by a sucked tube and get stuck. Hurray. I guess that was the end.

The story is pretty basic, the turtles do evil stuff and you have to save them. This is made clear by texts that don’t have any capitals at the beginnign of sentences and also miss proper punctuation.

Next time you make a level pack focus more on eyecandy, make the levels longer and less unfair for the player. Thanks!

Just a note, dx dc. For some reason every review you make says “fast review” or “i suck at rating tilesets” or something. Using capitals at the start of a sentence would be cool too and you don’t have to use a new line for every word.

(Possible insult removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Okay, you all say this tileset has bad palace tiles and stuff and bla bla bla.
Well, time to review >)

I recently finished a level with this tileset and I must say: it does not really matter that the palace tiles have no texture. It would only look annoying, especially if you are someone who places tons of eyecandy in his levels like me. The genies may look useless, but they are very useful when used in combination with the food stalls. I easily created something that looked like a crowded market with it.
The sand looks very great, but has one major drawback. It has only one “inside” tile, meaning the ground will look quite monotonous when you create big bodies of sand. Oh well, you can place small platforms inside it. The water looks RUX.
Background scenery looks rather cool. The sand mountains are almost photo-quality (maybe a bit exaggerated), and the textured background is leet. I wouldn’t use the palace-blocks-with-thin-borders as layer 6 or 7 eyecandy (as in the example level) but rather as level 5 eyecandy (in the meaning of “sprite background layer”), if you understand me (probably not, harrrr). The music for the example level really sucks, at least it doesn’t fit, I would rather use that ZARASATHURASTA by DRAX music or how it’s called. Whatever, I’m rating the tileset, not the level. The fire sprites by mirrow have been re-used once again. The small fire looks better than the big one. I like the curtains, altough they could use some more shading like FQuist mentioned. The throne is usable too, but it’s too bad you HAVE to include the “super saiyin” sign with it or it won’t look good.

To sum it up: the graphical quality of this set is not as good as we wanted, but that is taken away by the HUGE amount of possibilites this set offers. A lot of different landscapes can be built with this set, from a crowded market to an empty desert. h00ray for the hotel heroes! This tileset truly deserves a 9.0.

BTW: My HERO!

JelZe: The .css file is a file that contains info about the font and font color and stuff for the HTML readme. Thanks for the review, btw ;)

Labratkid: Sorry :D and OMG ILL WATCH IT.

Biohazard: It is must unlikely I will create another tileset. I just found the bmps of this one on my HD a few weeks ago, and optimized everything to release it, but it will probably be my first and last tileset :P.

Litenante_91: Rate the tileset, not the (sux) level.[This review has been edited by Fl@$h aka BlewMeUp]

System error &H8007007E (-2147024770) Can’t find specified module.

What about writing a review where you explain WHY it is good work, snooz? :P

At least this level is not worth an 8.2. It is one of those puzzle levels where you have to destroy lots of trigger crates and well, I have seen better ones than this.
The level is full of the “Blue ghosts” and they regenerate, so you will often loose a heart because you are trying to destroy a crate when suddenly the enemies regenerate and attack you.
I wasn’t able to complete this level without cheating. After 2 crates I couldn’t destroy the next one so I used jjnowall. I destroyed the other two crates and went to the exit.
That’s it. Destroy four crates (very easy when you destroy the ghosts and run away) and you’re done. No pickups in the whole level, except some electro-blasters (Probably emant to be used to destroy the crates. Too bad that doesn’t work for trigger crates). To complete it the level has no next-level setting.
The eyecandy is not bad though. It is nothing special either, but it looks okay.
It seems like the author claims he made the Blue Ghost enemy himself. This isn’t true, several people already discovered it. Foo.

To sum it up: Boring, too small, no pickups, annoying enemies, bad gameplay. Don’t download this.

Here I go!

And yet another MS paint tileset. This tileset consists of a few platforms in 6 geometrical forms (=O), some trees, grass, spikes, blocks and some stuff I don’t recognize. The colors don’t fit together. None of the objects are shaded, and the tileset really looks like if it’s your very first tileset. Keep on trying :P

Quotentia, I suggest you to download PSP (evaluation version ;) and make your next tileset with that program. Also look at JCSref or Disguise’s tileset site to learn a few basic things. Also try to be original; this set is in no way different from other first tilesets uploaded here; those sets also include circles in the colors you used.

As I said, keep on trying.

And at last. BlurredD’s Oddysey. Coming in 4 different versions, and with 5 example levels. w00h00.

The theme of this tileset is probably a space station, since there is a pic of the earth for the background and it looks quite… metallic or something. No grass-tiles in this set. There are a lot of eyecandy tiles though; animated lights, fans, electric cords like in tubelectric, animated platforms, animated pipes, and a big bunch of other animations too. They all look awesome and are very useful. For layer 6/7 there is some 3D-ish texture with a window and it also looks good. In fact, everything looks good.
Negative stuff? Yes. It would have been nice if there were some more blocks in the set. Now there are only 4 blocks, if I’m not wrong: a “locked” block, a blank block, a buttstomp block and a destruct block. Counter-blocks are maybe not used very often, but they should be in every tileset in my very humble opinion. Another bad thing is the userfriendlyness (or something). Or better, the lack of it. It is not always clear what the tiles can be used for. For example, I have no idea how to use the tiles in the upper left corner.

Apart from that it is very good. I suppose you already downloaded it.[This review has been edited by Fl@$h aka BlewMeUp]

whee argh

This race level uses a quite monotonous tileset that is appearantly made by Waz. The tileset is boring, and the eyecandy mainly consists of Jazz2, GODgames and project 2 logos. There are two start positions in the level, just like in the official Tube Electric race level. Too bad the quality is not the same as in the Tube Electric level. The obstacles basically consist of vines and blocks, and it’s (too) easy to pass them. I completed one lap in 45 seconds, and that’s definetely too short. The ammo placement fits the level; there are only two places where you can get ammo, and because there are no good places to place a bomb or use your freezers (except maybe at the start where there are a few destruct blocks).

This level has boring eyecandy and is way too short and easy. No download recommendation.
Waz, try to make more obstacles and a longer level next time. Also use a tileset with more eyecandy tiles in it.

EDIT: Yes, but I still don’t like it. I just like longer race levels more than shorter ones. Sorry.[This review has been edited by Fl@$h aka BlewMeUp]

I agree with everyone (except destroy himself ;) about the religious stuff and swearing. Jazz2 is a cartoonish game and the f-word (stup censor) doesn’t fit. And if you use it, use it when it fits. In “Destroy the reactor and f***” swearing has absolutely no use and sounds quite stupid. I also didn’t like the idea of using Eva as a whore :P

The levels are quite nice anyway. There are many tile bugs (look @ elecs screenshots) but most of the levels look very good anyway. I especially liked the Town House levels; they somehow look like there actually lives someone, and you wont think the whole city is empty and there are only some buildings. I didn’t really like the labrat and tube electric level tho; they are too hard because you’ll often just bump on enemies without being able to kill them before they’ll kill you. The castle level was quite nice and had terrific eyecandy, and the event placement is good, altough there are way too much pickups.
The Diamondus, Carottus and Easter level were average altough they had some parts with weird tileset usage, but overall they’re okay. The medivo level was rather original, altough the rain was buggy and they eyecandy a bit overdone. The medivo level was one big maze and I found it a bit too hard, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough. The platforms on the foreground weren’t a very good idea though.
The haunted house level was kinda lineair but still good. The enemy placement was not very good again, but it was playable.

Overall, I liked this, especially the town levels (omg superb) but those “mature taunts” (lol) were really stupid. What does it matter that you live in Russia? I live in The Netherlands and I know that they are not words that actually mean “fun” or “enjoy”. I also didn’t like the things like “you hear the voice of god” or something. Not because I’m anti-christian, but because it doesn’t have anything to do with Jazz and because it sounds stupid in such a context.
The music didn’t fit when it was custom music and did fit if it was official music. Try to use music tunes that fit, it really adds something to the playfeeling. The eyecandy was very unbalanced; sometimes it was near to perfect and sometimes it sucked. Same goes for gameplay. The pickup placement wasn’t good (way too much food and gems; you can get 3 sugar rushes in one level) but the author used very much trigger crates and stuff in such a nice way that that makes up the food and gems thing ;) I recommend the download, just don’t look at those “voice of god” and swearing texts and you’ll have fun while playing this. 8.0.

Btw, why do you dislike JCS? Did you actually use the hotkeys? JCS has quite much hotkeys that make the usage of it a lot easier but it’s hard to find out which keys you should use. If you don’t know them, you could ask someone :P