Not recommendedQuick Review by n00b

Posted:
6 Sep 2009, 22:16
For: JJ4 Episode 1 -Demo-
Level rating: 1.5
Rating
1

My mind is still melted from trying to comprehend how someone would think these were fit for player consumption.

Not recommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
1 Dec 2008, 23:18
For: Are You Puzzled?
Level rating: 4.5
Rating
3.5

Are you puzzled starts with a question, which is of course: Are you puzzled?

And in its defense, I was most of the time. I was puzzled at why a simple platforming level was deemed worthy material for a puzzle pack. I was puzzled at why the pyramid stage was super open and freeform compared to the other stages. I was puzzled at why the levels were all so short. Finally, I was puzzled why none of the levels presented anything particularly puzzling.

Things start off to a decent start. An extremely short level with two quick and easy tigger puzzles (which are pretty much the only puzzles in the entire pack) but in level 2 everything goes downhill. Instead of being presented with an actual puzzle, you instead jump up some platforms to be transformed into a frog and jump up more platforms. Then after that, you become a bird fly up to hit a trigger and then make your way back to the exit. I guess the puzzle was… what to do with the bird? I don’t know.

Stage 3 is hold right to win, smash all the crates, and hit all switches. Thats it. Thats the puzzle. Once again the stage feels like it was meant to be a segment in a full blown SP stage, but is too short and too simple to stand on its own. Gains minor bonus points for attempting a puzzle with the “repeatedly hit the two switches to lower the crate” section.

In stage 4 Ischa attempts something clever. The rules get changed up and now the stage has a lot of empty space and you aren’t being corralled by small hallways. The rules also get changed up in that the stage has a bunch of different elements in place but none of them are explained and some are useless. Beforehand, nothing was explained but it was ok because each stage was self-explanatory. However in stage 4 I’m not sure why one fire block turned me into a frog. I’m a bit confused on whether I was supposed to remove the fire blocks on the way to the TNT, or if I somehow found a way to cheat the stage like Crimi by just getting through a small gap at the end of them. Without any sense of direction the stage becomes a bit confusing and somewhat puzzling by sheer accident, and yet still plays like a really poor generic SP level.

The final stage has this really cool puzzle though! You have these 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 countdown blocks, and after the countdown you have a scant second or two to make a jump before the blocks reappear! Oh. Wait, these blocks all seem to have one-way events on them… so really the puzzle is to get to the crate they’re blocking and wait. This sounds super… exciting. Oh and it plays like a regular SP level like all the rest to boot? Awesome.

All Are You Puzzled? really proves is that Notary and his short shenanigans are no match for Neobeo and his mighty Firetruck. Ischa does a much better job when sticking to traditional SP levels. Hopefully he (she? I get confused) does so in the future because these more experimental packs (which also include the minigame-filled Jazz Planets series, and Boss Championship) tend to be nothing short of rubbish.

Quick Review by n00b

Posted:
5 Nov 2008, 22:45 (edited 6 Nov 08, 15:02 by cooba)
For: QBA Pack
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

All I can say is
SHOOOOT THEN BOOOOOOM! Then you are a winner :)”

Amazing.

[Rating (10.0) clearance. – cooba]

RecommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
11 Jul 2008, 17:21 (edited 11 Jul 08, 17:23)
For: Troglobite's Dark Forest Adventure
Level rating: 7.5
Rating
7.8

There are currently two reviews with completely different viewpoints. You, as a potential person who reads these things to be informed of what to download, may be completely confused and conflicted by this. “Which review is closer to the pulse of this pack’s quality?” you may ask. I’m here to say “Stijn is. Listen to him” as well as bring my own opinions to the table.

Dark Forest Adventures is comprised of four core levels and then two repeats that are actually quite good because they offer a different take and add new challenges to the original (fledgling level designers take note- this is pretty much how you can reuse levels and get away with it.) These levels mostly feature Mario-esque pixel perfect platforming and traps (Bowser would be proud of the way Devan refurnished Carrotus Castle) only in a JJ2 set of mind. Instead of the platforms going right floating over a pit, they’re strung across large expanses of forest, caves, and castles having the player explore an area in pretty much every direction. While its not perfect, its still a refreshing ride to play through these levels. Also littered about are some decent puzzles that give the pack a nice sense of variety.

Unfortuantly there is only one tileset used for this pack making the two castles and the outside bits look a little samey respectively but I think that can be outweighed by the fact troglobite went out and made it himself putting forth some extra effort very few level makers actually take by making his own set. Even if it isn’t really up to par, I can’t think of a pack in recent memory that had tileset developed specifically for playable levels. Further proof of this guy’s great creativity is the story giving proof to what I’ve been rambling about for years: You don’t have to be EvilMike to make a good Devan story, you just need a good story. The twist was unexpected and wonderful, and the fact that the villain had some actual motivation beyond “RAWR IM EVIL. TRY AND STOP THIS TEAM JAZZ!!!1” should be applauded.

In a time thats currently comprised mostly of decent one off levels and awful JJ1 remake packs, its great to see someone combine the ‘decent’ and the ‘packs’ bit to create something worth your download and time.

Not recommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
11 Jul 2008, 17:02
For: Dark Adventures
Level rating: 2.4
Rating
1.3

I’m guessing the name of Dark Adventures is cribbing from the rather fun “Dark Forest Adventure” pack. Mostly because theres no adventure and its hardly ever dark! Whats the deal? as Seinfeld would inquire.

In fact continuing on with my one note all text Seinfeld impression, whats the deal with these levels? They’re short, bland, and pretty awful. Except for Mission Impossible which not only was out of place, but was semi-decent at the start making me think some thievery Limbo of the Lost style was at work here (it goes back to being awful halfway through so my fears were put to rest).

How awful are these levels. Lets take a quiz. You are playing a level where you hold right and shoot things, ocassionally having to hit a spring or stomp something.
Do you
A) Like it
B) Dislike it
If you chose B, you can be rest assure that the first two levels hold nothing for you (despite the second starting to show some deviation from this, its a lie). Also, do you like awful boss arenas? No? Well then the two boss fights (one is Uterus in a tiny cramped box like area, the other is Devan in an arena where he’s more likely to jump through walls than actually attack you) will do nothing for you either.

Level 3 offers a different variation in which you occasionally go left to shoot enemies and hold down the directional button. Awesome. For the record, Level 4 is just the Devan boss fight.

I cannot recommend downloading this, but to Esteban I say keep trying, the first part of Level 2 showed some promise.

Review by n00b

Posted:
9 Jul 2008, 18:47 (edited 9 Jul 08, 22:25)
For: Minigame Madness v.1
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

A minigame compilation pretty much lives or dies by its minigames. The concept of having to complete games to win a race is very cool, but many of the minigames here are pretty awful. Im not sure I completed mutation lab correctly (and it also felt quite slow), vault doesn’t seem to work right (and is impossible to return to the top to change the combination), the warp/spring one, the frog game, and moneybags are frustrating, dull, and far too time consuming, and the maze is kind of confusing (why are there two exits if only one works?).

Some people here will be like “focus on the eyecandy!” and I’m here to tell you “NO.” Do not listen to those people. They are bad. For two reasons: 1- This is an in progress proof of concept. 2- Even if they looked pretty, most of these games woukd still suck. I liked the signpost one although the final stage was a bit too complex (there was about 4 different ways those arrows could be interpreted) and I liked the water leveling one.

I think for a race-minigame hybrid to work, the minigames need to be challenging, but at the same time fast-paced. Adding some freeze events into the Signpost game would add some challenge and still keep the speed intact provided the player minded to avoid the hourglasses.

Axe everything but the signpost, water rise, and cat minigames (since those would work well, however at the same time all need some degree of fixing), and try coming up with some speedier concepts for minigames.

I have a seperate idea on how to change the minigame select mechanic although its not really necessary at this point and I doubt you’d want to hear me ramble about it anyways.

RecommendedQuick Review by n00b

Posted:
7 Jul 2008, 21:10 (edited 7 Jul 08, 21:11)
For: Radio Ga Ga
Level rating: 7.9
Rating
7.1

Radio GaGa is a rather odd level in the sense that its not as different as the description would lead you to believe. It is however a rather solid first showing. Despite being rather linear and keeping the player confined, Radio GaGa is a fun and quick diversion. That and some original ideas sprinkled in earns Radio Ga Ga a download recommendation.

Not recommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
1 Jul 2008, 18:08 (edited 2 Jul 08, 05:51)
For: jp-->3-1 Fanolint
Level rating: 3.1
Rating
1

EDIT- In that case PT32, I’m expecting a good amount of updates in a short amount of time. Also, and this may sound crazy, but theres a menu in the jazz2.exe that most people tend to choose levels from. It’s more userfriendly to just let people select levels from the menu instead of making them open passworded levels in JCS (which doesn’t give players the benefit of difficulty or character choice)

After spending the 10-20 minutes it takes to download and properly install Jackpack, you’d think that I’d be able to play the levels released for the friggin’ Jack Pack. Its been two releases so far and this still is not the case.

Considering these levels are intended for Jackpack, its more than a little frustrating that its impossible to play these levels in Jackpack without dragging over the Homecooked Levels episode and modifying the first level in each release’s properties. This is made more frustrating by the slowness of releases, meager level selection in said releases and the random level choice in each release. Odds are that theres a 1:16 chance the next release will be something playable (I.E. Diamondus levels), add on a release date of about a month between releases and we’re looking the prospect of having to go over a year before levels in Jackpack are actually playable. For watered down versions of JJ1 levels, this honestly just doesn’t feel worth it.

Since these levels cannot work in Jackpack as intended, I feel that this pack cannot garner more than a 1.

RecommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
27 Jun 2008, 14:12
For: Sand Ocean
Level rating: 6.3
Rating
7.2

Sand Ocean is Chazz (now Wazz) Jackrabbit’s second level and I’m not feeling it as much as the first. That is not to say that its a bad level, but it doesn’t have the same level of polish that Castle Manor did.

It has some clever ideas in it, for example it implements a few speedy QTE-esque areas. I would have liked to see these bits in the level a bit more, honestly. It also is split up into two core segments. Segment 1 is essentially a proper continuation of Castle Manor, and the design doesn’t really mesh well with the Beach tileset. Of the two segments, its my favorite, but it doesn’t feel “Beach-y”, and would do much better in an indoors tileset. The second segment is your average CliffyB styled JJ2 level with a clever bit where a player must properly navigate V-poles to find a secret, and a not so clever bit where the player is subjected to V-poles with no gameplay (A redux of the earlier Freezer-spring QTE-esque bit would have been perfect here). The Bubba boss fight takes place in a clever arena thats marred by JJ2’s quirks (the hurt events need to be moved up one tile each for them to work).

The gameplay creates a rather fun experience, but compared to Castle Manor (especially when its right after it) Sand Ocean’s flaws start to show. The action doesn’t feel as tight as it did in Castle Manor, and some of the areas in the second segment just seem to be there to fill up a bunch of empty tiles without any real gameplay in mind. Despite this, I still recommend to download Sand Ocean, even if you’ve already played its superior cohort Castle Manor.

Review by n00b

Posted:
23 Jun 2008, 22:37
For: Castle Manor
Level rating: 7.9
Rating
N/A

Collecting coins is classic JJ2 level design? What game did I play?

Anyways, Chazz- are there any core differences between this and your older version of this upload aside from the music? I want to know if I can just copy and paste over my old review.

Review by n00b

Posted:
7 Jun 2008, 21:45
For: jp-->5-3 Dreempipes
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

I like how if you do go through all of the Jackpack installation marlarkey you technically can’t even play these levels unless you toss in the homecooked levels episode.

RecommendedQuick Review by n00b

Posted:
10 May 2008, 18:04
For: Episode Four: The Resistance
Level rating: 9.3
Rating
8.5

The weakest in the series. Episode 4 is much easier than the others, and keeps its gameplay mostly tame and generic. The story and little touches in levels stemmed from it is what propels this ep into stardom. The most fresh level is the first one, which is brilliant but made frustrating by a few engine quirks. However, overall still a must play

RecommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
12 Apr 2008, 01:35
For: Big Robot Boss
Level rating: 3.1
Rating
5

This was rather interesting. I would have liked more eyecandy for starters (Since I really couldn’t tell I was fighting this huge generator robot thing).

The boss concept isn’t bad, but is rather wasted in its execution. The fun comes from a Wario Ware like sense of trying to figure out what the hell is going on (I won’t spoil the specifics) but once you do it becomes all too easy to win (Just stay light on your feet, and it’ll be easy to avoid the two schwarzengaurds which provide the biggest threat.)

However, once you figure it all out it just doesn’t have any other reason to come back to it, and theres no real challenge past “How do I kill this thing?” Your experimentation time may vary but I figured it out just right before I died the first time.

I say download, since its worth a look. Its a semi-interesting approach (even though the mechanics have all been done before) and unlike the recent Bosses pack by DX, its not out to kill you. So it has that going for it. Just be warned, that the gimmick wears thin far too quickly.

Not recommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
7 Apr 2008, 22:42 (edited 7 Apr 08, 22:43)
For: Jazzed Lab
Level rating: 4.3
Rating
2

This level is honestly not that good. I’m assuming Spaz18 added around 4-5 extra points to his score because of the fact that this was Puffies’s first level.

I’m trying to be as fair as possible when I say that this level is in the same league as “Uterus’ Castle”. Puffie has a good focus on his level that keep it from being painful to play, but it reeks too much of bad design to be recommended for playing.

The number one thing thing Puffie gets wrong is overpowering the player. You get far more ammo than you need, and oftentimes there is a Powerup monitor right next to a cache of ammo. The number two thing that is wrong here is letting the player know too much. A few bits of discovery are absolutely ruined by textstrings. The one right before the highjump, for example, is high unnecessary since the blue spring is right in sight. There is another one, placed by mistake I’m assuming since the same message can be found in an out-of-the-way text sign a little ways ahead, that spoils a secret gemstomp completely. The second instance of this rather offputting text (i.e. the one that is a littleways off and on a sign) is actually welcome since it rewards the player for going out of their way by clueing them into a secret they might of otherwise skipped over. The first instance of this textstring however is right in front of the secret, which diminishes the fun. The third major thing that Puffie gets wrong is the extremely dull boss arena that is used for the robot boss. To be fair, a decent arena for the robot boss is hard to get right, so my suggestion would be for Puffie to have used a different boss.

Onto the more broader subjects, the level design is extremely linear. There are bits where it gets somewhat clever but there are too few of these and they’re never clever enough. Design is far too open for any of the enemies used to be effective at rabbit-roasting, and enemies that do work in open areas are seldom used if at all. The design would work had Puffie made varying paths that were still rather linear (ala Green Hill Zone in Sonic 1) or had the player go through multiple areas with a clear, well-thought out minor puzzle/enviroment interaction along a sole path (ala Marble Zone in Sonic 1 or the game Whiplash) with good filler material inbetween. Puffie does neither and the level feels dull to play because of it. By expanding his level designs to be either slightly non-linear, or more focused on challenging the player, Puffie will be able to create quite decent levels for a fledgling designer. As it stands, this level shows Puffie has potential (its overall “feel” is much better than the usual trite uploads from first time designers) but it just isn’t all that fun.

Second broad subject is the eyecandy which is rather basic. The design of the level hurts the eyecandy as Puffie cannot flex the tileset all that much on layer 4. The background layers are used very poorly, and at times background objects appear to be floating in midair.

While Jazzed Lab is a good effort for a first level, and is backed by a better handling of the JCS that other fledgling designers like jackflash don’t have, it isn’t all that good, far too short, and somewhat dull.

Not recommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
31 Mar 2008, 20:35 (edited 1 Apr 08, 21:34)
For: Bosses
Level rating: 1.7
Rating
1

Veg, I challenge you to describe how the drivel I just played was fun in any manner and what the hell they were supposed to train you for. Last I checked, not many levels force you to contend with spikes, flailerangs, dragon fire, a handful of other enemies, and the boss you’re supposed to hit all at once and the ones that do Suck. Hard. The only training this pack provides is how to be good at this pack.

I’ve tried hard not to touch this, I’ve been burned far too much on past boss packs and their staleness. However somewhere down the line something caved in. Luckily enough this pack was different. Despite that, it has to be the worst set of boss battles I’ve ever played.

The pack tries desperately to be challenging and over the top and sacrifices fun and good design for it. None of these levels offer a modicum of fun, and the ounces of cleverness they display are completely outsed by the fact that the levels are designed not to be completed. I know what you’re thinking. However most level packs have challenge that is not repetive, rewarded well, and knows it must be eventually overcome because the player needs to know what happens next. These levels are not chained by any significant storyline, location or gameplay changes. They have it in their minds that you just murdered their wife and kids right and front of them and pissed in their shoe. They want you dead and could care less if you make it to the next stage. When difficulty is designed solely for the sake of being difficult, everything else suffers.

Let’s take for instance the final fight against Devan. It is a multi tiered fight where Devan constantly moves up ropes that can only be shot at by hanging at the rope above him. If DX focused on making the ropes themselves difficult (like maybe using the suckers on ropes concept from a previous boss) and allowed Devan to go up more than two floors, this would have been a good battle. It instead focuses on making the entire arena intent on killing you. The arena is cramped and its easy to get hit by fire, and more than likely you’re going to get hit by the Tuf bosses every time unless you play the boss fight really, really slow. Which saps out all of the fun of fighting Devan. Dude has 200 health or so, and your arsenal is rather limited, and will quickly become just the blaster. I don’t have time for this.

Also don’t give me any damn excuse for the eyecandy. I don’t give a crap that its only a few boss levels. These levels look like all DX did was take a bunch of concepts from older packs and then put them all together in one tiny-ass room, hit the “blend” button and then repeated that seven more times. Heck sometimes he even forgot to change the boss. This does not show effort on the designing end. I could have made this pack in five minutes minus the time it would take for testing. Show me that there was some effort put into this pack. A review that says “Well the gameplay sucked but at least it was pretty” is way better than “This is pure trash on every front”. Hell at the very least change the tileset. This could have just been one level that looped itself with a hub where the player picked which boss he/she wanted to fight. Actually that sounds kind of cool, it’d be much better if the pack actually did that.

However “Bosses” doesn’t want to be cool, it just wants you dead because it thinks you raped its mother, and thats a shame.

RecommendedQuick Review by n00b

Posted:
26 Jan 2008, 01:46
For: Roger Lake
Level rating: 7.6
Rating
8

I’m usually not a big fan of Gus’ sets (although I do like Multiuse1) however this set is really awesome. Great job, Gus!

RecommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
15 Jan 2008, 01:16 (edited 15 Jan 08, 20:46)
For: O Brother
Level rating: 9
Rating
9.2

I’m not sure what exactly was going through the beta-tester’s heads during the first three playable levels, but I really want to know what it was. For everyone else: Start playing from Brother6. Here’s a quick summary: The rabbit you didnt choose has gone missing, presumed kidnapped by a gang of turtles, and your trail led you to the desert. The first few levels have horrid design. The Western Suburbs levels especially, since they dont seem to realize that theres about 90% of levelspace thats not being put to proper use. I honestly felt cheated after I finally found the end level goal in the first level, and even more cheated when I found that there was nothing done to make reaching the second goal harder. In the first level you can hunt for coins in the rather large level to give to Eva to enter a bonus room, however your end goal can be easily gotten to by making a beeline to the right.

Now lets stop and think about this predicament. The majority of the level is used for a subgoal, one that is extremely optional no less (I got through perfectly fine without it). Why did this level not make the coins the number one priority? Say the landlord wants his rent paid or something, whatever. Give me satisfaction for actually exploring the level and finding the exit by mistake.

While the first suburb level might get a slight pass on this since the player is not aware of its design, the second level should be perfectly ashamed of itself and sent to the corner. One of the first things learned in the first suburb level is the entrance of Battery Park, which is the end goal in level 2. Since we’re running the same level backwards, might as well spruce it up a bit eh? Unfortunately, all thats done is the addition of some enemies nothing that truly forces me to find another way into the park. I honestly don’t get this, and I may be alone here but why design an large open level if its merely going to be used so linearly?

The third level (i.e. Battery Park) suffers from this in a slightly different way. Theres a part in the level where it splits paths. One path is again “Hold button in one direction and do minimal work”, and the other one is slightly more interesting but extremely frustrating to go through due to a rather finicky puzzle-y area. Now don’t take that the wrong way, I loved the puzzle idea. The problem is that I was never sure if I was actually doing it right until I looked at the level in the JCS because I consistently landed only slightly off. I’m all for nonlinearity in levels, but couldnt the choices be something other than “Braindead Easy” and “Braindead easy with a wonky test level segment”?

Now at playable level 4 (I.E. The Desert) things all of a sudden change, the level has one sole path and a clear idea of what it wants you to do. Suddenly, it no longer feels like you’re aimlessly wandering around goalless. You’re instructed at the start to get to the top of the cliffs. Ah- an endgoal. Something levels 1 and 3 were missing. Somewhere specific to actually go to. This removes the fears of feeling like I was cheated at the end of the level, and I wasn’t. To say the least, level 4 is quite simply sublime.

The next level however is extremely whack. I get it, its to get us further into the story. Fine. Can we please start injecting some gameplay into these “Run from one world to the next” midlevels? I mean actual gameplay, not falling down into floating coins that are for the most part in a simple line. I don’t mean not doing anything for a level (i.e. JJ2 The Movie, not this pack). I mean something where I interact meaningfully with the level. Unless you’re giving me a large ammount of exposition, I personally feel like I’m wasting my time. Considering I tend to make up 33.3%-50% of the audience that actually writes a full 350 plus word review for single player levels I think I’m slightly entitled to use this space to urge level makers: STOP MAKING LEVELS WHERE YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING. I’m not saying “No levels where you sit and watch scrolling text”. I don’t mind those, don’t get me wrong. However if I’ve completed a JJ2 level and I haven’t gotten a better understanding of the plot, or shot and/or stomped anything (and no I daresay a lone turtle shell doesn’t count), then I think something is extremely wrong with said level. Theres a lot of repetition going on this subject, I think its time we move on.

The next level is oddly enough a coin hunt level furthering my hated for the wasted opportunity in level 1. The main thing I love about this level and the next is great use of the Top Secret tileset. The eyecandy caught my eye, which to me means it did a rather good job since I tend not to notice eyecandy. There was one odd design choice in this level, its one that I’m not all to fond of. Its the JJ2 cliche of large line of baddies thats somehow meant to be challenging. Maybe it wasnt, and was soley for story’s sake. Ok, in that case, its cool. I can dig that. However, if I was supposed to feel some challenge from this, I did not.

The next level is again quite well crafted and so is the final level. No major complaints that I can think of, and with gameplay this good (albiet not terribly inventive) the last level makes perfect sense.

Of course the last level also works as a twist ending to a well made story, which was for the most part well written and entertaining. My sole gripe with it (which may turn into an oversized rant), and quite simply something that I have a gripe with constantly in general, is that had the enemy gang been called “Devan’s goons” the story would be the same, and perhaps add some punch to ending. The real lack of motivation from the enemies doesn’t really make for a good case against removing Devan solely because “Devan stories are teh bad” (which is what I’m assuming the reason is, since the author made a point to mention that this pack contained no instances of Devan in the download info) Here’s the deal people, and listen up: Devan plots are NOT boring. Dull plots where the villain (typically Devan) has no sole motivation beyond being evil for evil’s sake are boring. The fact that this motivationless villain tends to be Devan has led to this misconception that Devan=bad story. Swapping out Devan for any other villain does not automatically improve a plot, dull or brilliant. While the plot in this level is quite good, the enemies’ motivation is quite rank, and I dare say thats the sole flaw with the story: without any explanation for the enemy’s actions I honestly don’t understand why the Turtles and Lizards are working together, why they have this elaborate base in the desert (though this stems from not know what the heck they’re up to), what Lori is doing in the base (though this is more of just plain random period), how the baddies are able to function extremely well without their leader, and why they even attacked the town in the first place. Perhaps that is the entire point of the story: while trying to achieve goals important to us, we seem to miss out on details in the bigger picture. The ending leaves many questions, and any answer can develop to an interesting story idea for a sequel pack. Though again, I’m probably looking far too much into a bunny game, sorry for going Roger Ebert on you guys.

I started playing the pack as Jazz, and interested by the information that there were differences for each rabbit, I decided to play as Spaz afterwards. Perhaps I expected to see the story from Spaz’s eyes (After all I just spent the last chunk of time trying to save him), however was quite discouraged that the story simply switched the roles around and I was no longer motivated to see any possible changes. Though thats a fault of my own expectations more than anything else.

That being said, this pack is worth a download. It tells an interesting story, and aside from some problematic opening levels has a consistent quality in level design throughout. If this pack does not win the featured download this month, color me extremely disappointed, and I look forward to playing more of Aeries’ levels in the future.

RecommendedReview by n00b

Posted:
5 Jan 2008, 00:23 (edited 5 Jan 08, 20:10)
For: JJ2 1.23 Mouse support v1.0
Level rating: 8.5
Rating
8.5

EDIT- Hey other reviewers, could you like, and I’m sorry if this is asking too much, list more than just two things about when you used the program?

As per usual, once a month or so I get an MSN message asking me to review something if I have been on MSN that month for a considerable amount of time. This time the plea for a review came from Gry who didnt specify what he wanted me to review but left a link nonetheless. I clicked the link and was intrigued. I then took out some trash (not a metaphor mind you), came back and got to work on reviewing this rather nifty utility.

Now right off the bat, I’m going to say that this is not idiot-proof. I know so because I’m an idiot. The rundown of the controls does not specify how to move exactly, so when it said “running is left to the keyboard” I assumed it meant the arrow keys (or whatever you use) and the shift key (again, whatever other key you use). Had this been a year ago the neutrons in my brain would have clicked a bit sooner since the actual movement control scheme works much like the way one would have had to rig up a flash platformer for use on the wii before the API came out.

It’s quite simple and intuitive actually once you know how it works. When the mouse is in the center Jazz (or your bunny of choice) stands still. When the cursor veers to the left or right, your rabbit moves in that direction. Moving the cursor upwards on your screen makes your rabbit of choice look up, and likewise moving downwards makes him duck. These can also be used with the right mousebutton (which does jumping just in case you didnt read the instructions) to pull off special moves such as the sidekick or uppercut, and also to buttstomp if in midair. Now that I’ve gotten all the controls out of the way for my fellow mooks, let’s talk about how the program feels during gameplay.

Being a single player JJ2 gamer, my first priority was to see how the program would fare in SP territory. It holds up fairly well, actually. It was quite fun playing through levels using the mouse though movement felt a bit slippery. This slipperiness made it a bit hard to aim making enemies like dragons, fencers, and floating lizards much more of a pain than with just the keyboard alone. Spaz’s double jump felt wonky to pull off which probably affects MP players a heck lot more than it does SP players. All of Jazz’s moves, however, worked fine.

I then attempted a multiplayer game using the program and found that activating and deactivating the mouse mode prompts a little message to appear in the chatstring. I found that nifty, though I guess players used to using programs during MP matches would have already expected it would do that. Unfortunately for me the only server I had access to was the Long RF Jump or whatever it was called. Its a rather popular level where you use rfs and a double jump to propel you as far as possible. I couldn’t turn fast enough to make any real progress in the level, though that may be because of me not moving the mouse quickly enough instead of a problem caused by the program. Since the level wasn’t really a competitive one in the regular sense I couldn’t get a real feel of how the mouse worked in an MP match.

Which was why I later asked Odin to host one for me. The level hosted was battle 1, played in battle mode. I found that, once again, the mouse controls were a bit too slippery to efficiently roast someone (although thats all well and good for something like a public server). There were some major revelations during my playtime however. Well more specifically one- Copters (and theoretically jetboards) play much better with mouse support. If a level extensively used these vehicles (term loosely used, mind you), I think mouse support would be the best play method. Another thing I found during the battle match was that I was longing for a way to utilize the scroll wheel to scroll through weapons. I’m positive that most, if not all, wheels can be clicked and used as a third button and its a shame it wasn’t put to good use since using the keyboard for weapon switching with the mouse feels annoying.

From the time I spent with the program, I found it to be an amusing gimmick but not something that can fully replace the tightness of pure keyboard play save for a few niche situations. Its great for when you’re tired and just want to easily goof around, or the aforementioned copter example, but for anything serious it doesn’t seem like a good match. That being said, the program was crafted quite well and works like a charm. There is no reason not to own it since it is quite nifty initially, though you may find later on that you have little reason to actually use it again. That initial time is time well spent however, and enough fun (while it lasts) to bump the score up to an 8 with a .5 added for the ease of control it adds to flying machines.

Review by n00b

Posted:
2 Jan 2008, 21:23 (edited 3 Jan 08, 04:01)
For: VERY BAD LEVEL!
Level rating: 2.8
Rating
N/A

Somebody please tell me that the level author at the very least tried to inject some humor. I always make sure my terrible uploads have some humor that usually the general public does not get or grandiose reason for why I’m sharing such drivel (I.E. wasting the 4000th upload on a useless level thus removing any significance such an upload could have had and thereby removing any such chance a level gets extra praise for merely uploading at the right moment)

RecommendedQuick Review by n00b

Posted:
28 Dec 2007, 15:56
For: Medivo2
Level rating: 8.1
Rating
7

The changes to the song is kind of minimal or at least feels that way, with “Jazz Jackrabbit iz the best” laid over it every so often being the most notable difference. It’s alright, but not the best. I’d still like to see you remix another JJ song, preferably something off the beaten track like Colonius or a gameplay track from JJ3.

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