Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Haha, I somehow passed by this program by clicking too many links.. It works fine for a 2006 utility and does it’s job, besides Modplug Tracker supporting J2B’s for years now and Bass.dll giving a more accurate touch to all mods while played through JJ2+.

EDIT:
I see you’ve made some positive changes to the level. Generators are present now and have their respawn time set quite low, which works fine in such a small fast-paced level. Just remind yourself to set it higher if you ever build a bigger MP level. Next we have the much desired vertical space in the form of the upper platform and a big ‘chimney’ wall in the middle.

I generally like these changes, but my biggest concern lies with the chimney in the middle as it blocks off the entire path. Maybe try making an opening in it and/or in the upper platform? Death ends and linear movement can easely kill a CTF level.

Another (tiny) problem I found has to do with the PU’s in their enclosed areas on the upper left and right. Now that there’s a platform inbetween them, skilled players can use Bouncers to shoot the PU’s through the wall, making the coin warp obsolete. You may choose and keep it that way, or thicken the walls a bit to make coins absolutely necessary.

Also try and look at the tilebugs in the walls. I know the Holiday tileset can be a pain to do fully right, but this level has some masking problems that adds unnecessary gaps that players can stand on. Just enable the masking view in JCS’ editor window and make sure all walls are straight lines.

My original rating was a 4.0, and I believe the current changes are worth half a point extra. Keep up the good work and I’m sure it can get better!

Original review:
First things first, merry christmas and a happy new year! Now that that’s out of the way, let’s review this teeny weeny level.

The layout is as basic and simplistic as it can get. Well, it’s no ‘Best CTF Party Good Luck’ yet but you readers get the point (haha). One base on the left, one base on the right, the middle contains vines above spikes, a little secret passage, and that’s about it. I missed any form of vertical movement in this level.

Some things felt unexpected concerning tileset usage, especially the houses’ layer-3 usage and the choice of using the ?-block as a coin warp. There are also tilebugs in the ground and an overall lack of variety in available tiles (all spikes have their star animation, not all xmas light colors were used, etc).

Weapon choice is okay for a symmetrical level. Both sides have a weaker and a stronger weapon, and teams are used to switch sides after a round nowadays anyway.

Also, don’t forget to put in Generators in multiplayer levels for all events you’d like to respawn. This level is currently drastically broken due to the lack of them.

I give a 4 and can’t really recommend it in it’s current state. It’ll need some big changes before it reaches the amount of simplistic fun Mulch/Malch style maps do. Please don’t see this review as being too harsh, but take it as a way to improve the level! ;)

Before reading further, please note that I drank a bit too much beer while playing this level and feel quite tired writing this review, but I’ll try anyway. Hope I won’t regret this tomorrow. :P

The base setup of this level is a fancy scripted warp around the center that takes players to the upper part where the exit is. If they haven’t got enough gems they can simple enter the battlefield again by falling back into the pit.

The first thing noticable is the customized tileset, which is basically a combination of the original JJ2 tilesets Damn and Castle. The layout makes a lot of use of the abandoned ‘slide’ tiles that were in the Castle set by making clever use of One-Way events. A lot of the level’s layout resides around towers that players can climb by jumping through the One-Way blocks. Overall I really liked this yet the one-tile gaps that you can get ‘run-stuck’ in felt weird at times (it’s not that you actually get stuck, I don’t know how you call that effect, lol).

Weapons placed are the usual bouncers, toasters, RF, and seekers. I like how the seekers are mostly placed on harder to reach spots, since all those One-Way blocks and the vertical orientation of the layout makes seekers far more powerful. Gem placement is done very balanced and I like the placement of the non-red gems and the gem rings (and of course the invisible gem stomp!).

In my public game, most fights took place around the center and the exit, probably because it were mainly random strangers that felt attracted to the scripted portal and were quite slow moving through the various towers.. At least their seekers gave quite a fight. Matches usually ended pretty fast, but I’m sure more skilled players who know the level can make good use of the RF’s and bouncers as well to steal those gems!

I recommend this download, and just as Laro’s entry I believe it’s worth a solid 9. The tower layout doesn’t demonstrate perfection, or at least I think it doesn’t, yet it plays like nothing that has been done before in a treasure hunt level. Originality and overall fun-factor are the true showpiece here!

Whew, that was quite a speech. I’m going to sleep out the alcohol now hehe. ;)

EDIT:
I see you’ve fixed the hook platforms to have One Way events now. That makes navigation through the level a ton easier already. Maybe try replacing the Hooks with Vine events instead? Vines allow for quicker jumps the Hooks. Other annoyances are still present, such as the high amount of open space between jumps and the leaps of faith. The unnecessary hurt events are still there as well.

And is it just me or does the blaster fire in shorter distances than it used to? If that’s the case, then I suggest editing the script to make the distance like standard or even longer, as it’s still the only weapon this level depends on.

On a side note, here’s a place you can get stuck

My original rating was 6.5, and I’ve decided to crank it up to 6.7 for now. It needs more fixing before I can truly recommend it, but it’s moving towards the right path.

Original review:
Let’s review this level as a fellow contest attendee!

First and best thing noticable in this level is the use of pits and the script made to overcome it’s problems. Normally, players would lose their gems after falling into a pit breaking treasure hunt as a whole. But the script included here will cleverly save your gems before dying and load them afterwards.

There is, however, a huge downside to this idea in the sense that when players shoot each other near the pit, gems will likely fall into it and be stuck there unless someone decides to suicide in order to get them, which will get very tedious when the match is active for a while and everyone starts to shoot each other.

Other than that, the level is lacking in a lot of ways. There is, in my opinion, too much open space which at times makes it hard to see where you can jump to. At some point it almost gets to JJ1-style leaps of faith! The platforms with hooks below them don’t really serve a purpose since you can’t one-way through them, which also makes the level a pain to navigate with Jazz, and damn (lol) tedious as Lori.

Also, the lava trunk thingy has hurt events on them, which in treasure hunt only makes players blink without losing gems. That’s just unnecessarily slowing down the gameplay even further. The level relies on using your blaster, yet it’s very vertical-oriented making it tedious to get into shooting range with each other.

I would’ve given this level a 5.5 for the fun left VS it’s problems, but decided to give an extra point for the effort in the nice script idea. May I suggest adding to the script so that gems falling into the pit will somehow respawn? I’m no good scripter, so I feel a bit weird suggesting it. Anyway, until these big issues are fixed I can’t really recommend it. Feel free to edit your level and I’m sure it can become a fun experience!

Okay let’s review this level as a fellow contest attendee.

This is, as partly noted by the author’s description, a fast-paced level of average size with about half of it taking place underwater. There is plenty of open space to move around in on land, and mostly diagonal tunnels underwater leading to open spaces where gems, fallen from Super Reds, can splash into. Some highly visible warps are placed to increase the pace even further.

I love how there is an emphasis on pinball events in the ‘dry’ part of the level. Most gems are to be obtained by making high edge jumps on the paddles, which are sticked next to most of the vertical walls. Some bumpers are placed in line on the top, rewarding gems to those who can control bouncing off of them.

The choice of ammo is as usual for most treasure hunt levels, with some RF and a few seekers thrown in as a bonus. Eyecandy is not too exaggerated (I tend to go slightly too crazy on that myself) but good enough to make no place feel empty. The exit is in an accessible spot.

Though the author recommends 6-8 players, it’s also fun to play with 3-4 in my opinion. When everyone knows where the big gem scores are, fights will quickly appear at the underwater blue gem in the middle and the Super Reds on either sides at the top.

This is an excellent Treasure level that has pinball, and you know we love pinball :P! It has some fresh ideas, yet it’s not like a revolution in treasure hunt (but so isn’t my level). In the end, my judgment is all about fun, and fun is what you can have with this level. Here’s a solid 9 for a solid level, and download recommended!

@Cooba: Haha, J2VF was a level group me and NOKA started late in 2003, but it didn’t last very long. You and DS used to be in as well, so I hope remembering it doesn’t hurt too much. :P

I silently revived it last year since I began some new attempts at JCS, as I thought it’d be fun to release my levels under that old tag. For now it’s just a one-man group though. xD

@ThunderWalker: Thanks again for reporting that bug. That and other masking errors should be fixed now.

@Treya: Wow, that’s lots of cons VS pros.. Anyway, the vault reward was designed with ‘mechanic knowledge’ in mind, and I’m fully aware that it was a risky choice to surround the entire level around it. For weapons, well, in my playtests (with 4 to 6 players) the bouncers and hidden seekers did the job quite well, while ice was pretty much ignored. However, I fully agree that the final level size far exceeds the intended ‘duel-style treasure level’ I was going for. At least some people liked playing it, and in the future it could be a great addition to event playlists instead. Thanks for the 7 though, it’s a fair and good score (compared to the overrating-nature that haunts J2O lately)!

I somehow missed this fangame in the old days, so thanks for pushing it to the top of the downloads list again!

This fangame is a so called ‘Click Game’ made with the software from ClickTeam. I played it under Windows 8.1 and it works surprisingly well. Only fullscreen doesn’t work which is expected as 8.1 has problems utilizing DirectDraw.

The game starts with a menu screen sharing similarities to that of JJ2. Once starting a game, you see a charming intro movie with Jazz waking up in a cave(?) being surprised of something. It looks nice for a fangame, but doesn’t necessarily make it clear why Jazz sets off to a snowy planet.

The gameplay involves Jazz automatically skiing down off snowy slopes, and you have to move left and right to avoid obstacles, and move up to brake and down to accelerate. All while jumping in the air through ramps and grabbing Gold Coins. The game’s simple to control but I had problems getting used to the very sensitive hit detection and amount of precision that’s required at times. This means it’s easy to move over ramps and coins, but also that it’s a tad too easy getting hit by rocks and especially trees.

After 3 levels comes a fun bonus level involving a big jump, followed by another fun cutscene. The final level doesn’t have anything to do with skiing, but instead takes on a traditional platformer where you having to walk, jump, duck, and roll through what appears to be Devan’s base. It’s fun to see how all obstacles here make Jazz die in a different way. Yes, it made me want to try getting hit by fire just to see the different yet simple animation.

The only problem I had in this level was again the sloppy hit detection, which is more a problem of ClickTeam’s standard Platform Movement engine rather than Et’s. But once getting used to that it’s actually a pretty solid level to explore with a good tileset and fun obstacles.

The game ends with another cutscene which makes clear what the intro didn’t. Jazz lost his gun and chased down Devan to get it back, who apparently stole it in his sleep! Next comes a screen that let’s you unlock bonuses with the coins you collected. You can buy the ending movie or one of the levels which is kind of unnecessary. But 300 coins gives you a bonus level, and I had 215 coins so that means back to start..

In my next run of the game I kept hitting obstacles on purpose whenever I missed some coins. Getting 300 required a near perfect play, but I managed to do it and finished the festive bonus level!

I recommend this game as it’s probably the best Jazz fangame made that’s actually finished. The graphics are pretty rough and sometimes out of proportion, but also very charming and nostalgic. It’s too bad Et doesn’t have the source anymore, otherwise compiling it with newer ClickTeam software would make this an excellent HTML5 or mobile game! I give it a solid 9 for quality and a bit of nostalgia, and recommend it for download even in 2014!

This pack takes you through 6 fairly short Single Player levels all using the Haunted House tileset.

The gameplay involves traditional JJ2 gameplay in a more linear level design. In all 6 level you start moving to the right and will eventually move up and turn around once or twice until reaching the end point.

The biggest problem I had with these levels is the utter lack of consistency. A lot of different enemies show up not really fitting in a haunted house, and there is enough (evenly diverse) food to get at least 3 Sugar Rushes. 1ups are spread all over the place, ammo is mostly Seekers, Freezers, and some Toasters.

The tileset usage is mediocre, but not distractively bad. There are little to no tilebugs, yet eyecandy and diversity are almost nonexistent. The background is just the layer 8 texture, with some levels having the textured BG enabled while others don’t, which is another weird inconsistency.

I assume this is your first run in JCS, so I try not to be too harsh here and add a little to the 4.5 rating I would’ve given it. I think a 5.2 is alright now, but in your next level(s) you should focus on the things I pointed out above. Even if that means it’s going to be shorter, as a short yet memorable level is better than a long, linear one.

I didn’t play either Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles, but I do know Spaztic’s excelent conversion of Marble Garden that was made years ago. But since this is single player and a new tileset conversion, I’ll rate the overall experience.

The first thing noticable about the tileset compared to Tik’s remake is the size of the graphics being x2, much like the Rayman 1 forest conversion. Other than that, it’s obviously more lacking as it doesn’t contain JJ2-like features such as poles, vines, tubes, destructable blocks, etc.

The levels are generally OK, especially for a first upload. Both levels make a big deal out of diagonal ramps, a feature that doesn’t work too well in JJ2 as you can’t run down from them without falling forward. Yet on paths going upward or forward I genuinely got a Sonic-vibe that kept me running without too much hassle from enemies or obstacles. Eyecandy is very little, all in the form of those plant-pillar things. The background is non-textured blue with moving clouds.

In terms of pickups, there are enough carrots scattered around, coins for the usual coin warps and savepoints. Ammo is restricted to Bouncers and the Toaster, which might be a bit lacking even though they can be upgraded (with PU’s) at some point. Enemies consist especially of Lizards and Fencers, but a commonly used hazard in these levels comes in the form of the Rolling Rock. It’s used in pretty much the same way as in the original JJ2 Jungle level, until at one point they’re used as still platforms, giving players the fear that they may fall down at some point by touching a Trigger Rock.

Another fun thing to point out is the bossfight. Something as simple as placing Bubba on rows of Collapsing Scenery is still pretty fun and works well to make the boss more interesting.

All said and done, I recommend trying this download only if you enjoy Sonic games or conversions in general. If you’re looking for a Marble Garden tileset you’re better off with Spaztic’s conversion. For better Sonic themed levels I recommend, of course, Sonic With a Gun! I’d give this 6.5 for the OK conversion and gameplay, but slightly raised it to 6.7 as it’s a solid job for a first upload! :D

You forgot to include the tileset TopSecret.j2t into the zip file. It’s mandatory to include it for downloaders who don’t have it yet.

And I consider myself a JJ2 veteran. But psst.. I can’t get past the starting area, I wonder if it’s possible.

Oh, and people can bypass level passwords using TECJCS or a hex editor. :P

As trendy as Flappy Bird may be, the addiction never really got to me. I admit playing it twice or so. But I never expected it to be ported to JJ2.

Basically, what we have here is a direct conversion of the game’s graphics (which is partly a conversion of Mario in itself), including the city background and score numbers. There are both masked and unmasked pipes, but that’s about it for the tileset.

Included is a test level using only Fly Carrot movement, which confronts to the gameplay layout of Flappy Bird. You just have to move all the way to the right avoiding pipes and the ground, as they’ll warp you back to the beginning. Instead of scoring after passing pipes, you’ll get to see a message saying Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc, etc. Also, you can fly on your own pace, while part of the Flappy Bird challenge is the forced scroll.

Now, as Ande300 encourages others to make their own level with it. This just asks for an AngelScripted version that uses forced scrolling, score counting, flappy movement, and randomized pipes. I’m terrible at scripting, but the idea is there!

I recommend downloading this only if you played and liked Flappy Bird, and give a 6 for the effort of porting the graphics and an OK attempt at porting the gameplay.

This is a small CTF level about the size of MALCH. The bases are in small square enclosures on both sides, linked with a long vine. The bases are entered from the downside or up from the big vine. Springs give easy access to the vine, as well as jump you up behind the bases. Spaz has a clear advantage here, as he’s able to jump the vines without a spring.

On both lower side corners are warps that take you up to a 3h carrot and directly warp you back to the middle. Here comes the issue that falling on a vine after being warped will give weird movement results. Also, the warps are easely accessed by accident as they’re not enclosed in a wall or anything.

Ammo is there, but not evenly spread. The left base has a Toaster PU and ammo, while the right side has a Bouncer PU and ammo. This gives the right team an advantage with the ranged bouncer. Though both sides have a few (regular) seekers behind the base.

Eyecandy is almost nonexistant. There is plain ground, and all walls are made of blocks. There are some flowers and trees on the ground, waterfalls in the back, and a regular clouds layer 8 background.

So, I don’t know what else can be said about this. I guess it’s yours (and Naruto’s) first level? I can’t recommend this level for download, and give a 4 for a solid first attempt. It’s not too bad for a very first level, but I suggest you keep on practising (and perhaps reading sites like JCSref or HowToJCS) and I’m sure you’re able to make a splendid level someday!

Some weeks ago, Mithos (in person) reminded me of these levels and their obvious reference to Touhou 11, so I played another game in them to get them reviewed! For the music, I couldn’t find the file ‘underwater2.mp3’ used in the first level, MegaUpload has since then been demolished.

Let’s get to the point. The first level is Deeper Depths, made with the popular Xargon tileset conversion. I’m familiar with UT’s level ‘Deep’ but don’t know anything about the game Ever17 (the inspiration for the level). A Google search got me an interactive novel game with an underwater theme, so I guess the level fits that. It’s a small to medium sized symmetrical CTF level with multiple horizontal and vertical pathways to the bases and a PU gimmick. Stomping a crate in the upper-middle will make a Seeker PU fall down, which is interesting for coordinated 2v2’s but a little risky in a duel where your speed is even more crucial. The pathway layout is done alright, there are no annoying dead ends, and arrows point at your possibilites. There’s no shortage on ammo and PU’s, so expect heavy fire in the narrow paths. There are 1h carrots on both sides, and of course a 3h carrot in the middle near the Seeker PU. I’m personally not too fond of the Bblair style warps (which take you away to a place in a ‘random’ fashion). Also, there’s these sucker tube events that pull you up on ledges, supposedly to bring back the flow of the game if a player’s jump was off, but I’ve never been too fond of those. Overall, a not too original but fun level. It’s speciality is clearly the unusual placement of the Seeker PU in which controlling it will give you an advantage. Personally, I’d say it’s more fun in 2v2 than in duel.

The 2nd level, Subterranean Apocalypse, is the gem in this pack if you ask me. It’s pretty small and has a clear focus on duels. It’s a symmetric level as well, and the left and right sides houses the bases protected by a triggered wall that forces players to enter from the top or bottom, thus into combat. There are 2 carrots in the middle to protect (a 3h and 1h), and plenty of PU’s both low and up. All lava either falls or warps into pits and will kill you (with a fun message though). The pits on the upper side are placed quite tricky just after having used a spring. Ammo is just right for a duel, there will be no overflow of bullets and there’s plenty of space to dodge in the middle. Eyecandy is good enough, though I understand the tileset has it’s limits. Gameplay is what this level’s about, and that’s original enough to reccomend!

For the third level (supposedly added later), well, there isn’t much to say about it. It’s symmetrical too and mostly based on horizontal movement and feels a bit plain in design. There is a lot of ammo, maybe too much, scattered a bit randomly and several PU’s. Best thing’s probably the tubes, they allow to save you from the lava pits in the bottom and let you take small shortcuts too. I can’t really recommend this one, it’s bigger but hasn’t really got anything special that makes it stand out.

Overall, with this pack’s original 2 levels Deeper Depths and Subterranean Apocalypse you can sure have a good time. I recommend them for friendly matches, but little makes them stand out compared to the big names in competitive CTF levels. SA alone would get an 8.5. Thus with a bit of generosity towards SA’s quality, all 3 levels combined justifies an 8! Don’t forget though, Deeper Depths is worth a try too!

Alright, this took me somewhere between 6 to 8 tries to finish on Normal in one continue, but I finally did it and oh boy, this pack exceeded my expectations and overloaded my nostalgia! Across all playthroughs I found 3 secret levels and played 4 bonus levels. I’m not sure if that’s all of them, but let’s just review this beast!

The first stop is Emeraldus, an easy-going planet that mixes elements from Diamondus and Sonic’s Green Hill Zone. Right from the start it’s noticable how clever the levels are designed towards Jazz1’s low field of vision, with every jump landing Jazz where you’d expect him to land. I rarely bumped into spikes or enemies without expecting them to be there. Also, both levels have enough carrots to let players get the hang of Jazz1’s mechanics.

The 2nd planet, Marbelava, is perhaps the strangest and a bit of a black horse compared to the others (just like Sonic1’s equivalent). The underground parts encourage slow movement and precision jumps. It’s also filled with cleverly designed moving platforms, like blocks floating on lava and plateaus hanging on a chain. I generally liked these parts, except for the section with falling blocks which appeared to form a stack yet they didn’t. Just jumping into them worked, but it’s a bit unclear as to how and why this was intended or not.

Oh, and without trying to spoil, I got to play a secret level with an incredible atmosphere. It literally turned darkness into light. :P

Next stop is Gravis, mixing various elements from the Casino styled Sonic levels with Jazz1. All focus is on spring, bounce, and jumping mechanics here. In my view, the difficulty took a significant rise from this planet on. Carrots get less (or harder to find), enemies are placed harder, and environmental hazards are more fierce. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and visual details set here, such as neon-lights and the fact that the downside of the level is dark while the upside is light! I also liked the little Jazz clones, they remind you that it’s still a Jazz game following the same base plot (without the Twin Battleships).

In one of my latter playthoughs I found a secret level that felt as a springy reward, those extra lives really helped in learning the harder levels to come!

Labyrinthion, the fourth planet, was where most of my playthroughs ended. It mixes water-level puzzles with carefully placed hazards such as rolling rocks. First off, the way how the water slide at the beginning loops through warps is a cool way to resemble Sonic1’s counterpart. Thereafter starts a cleverly designed puzzle that requires you to open high pathways by raising the water level. I didn’t particularly like the slow pace of the first level, but the minecarts and moving platforms in the second one got me amazed! And then I haven’t even talked about the JJ2 style crate puzzles that halted my progress until asking on the JCF thread! Best thing introduced here may still be the granade weapon, it works well and gets rid of the fact that Jazz1’s weapons aren’t too different from each other.

The fifth planet is Noirlite, and reminds you that pits in platform games are evil! Thus it more than ever encourages you to stay up whenever possible. It also encourages fast movement like no other, and uses sucker tube mechanics to simulate loops. The booby-trap enemies introduced here were annoying (as they should) and it took me a while to learn how to overcome them. All while enjoying the starry sky including falling star effects!

In an earlier playthrough I found another secret level that really took things different with a Jazz clone. It relied on muscle-memory to clear it but wow, it was amazing!

Next there’s an oddly titled (extra) level ‘cloudsduel’ that resembles Sonic’s flying trip to Eggman’s base in Sonic 2, except we have Jazz on his trusty airboard! Me as a shoot ‘em up fan really appreciated the gameplay of this level! And it felt like an easy interlude for what is to come…

…In Fabricus, the final planet which is Devan’s base! It resembles both the ‘Death Egg’ and Scrap Brain Zone from Sonic. And just like on Sonic, environmental hazards are everywhere and way harder to avoid than on the previous planets. There’s things like electricity, torches, sawblades, and spears. The enemies however, are somewhat more passive and predictable, like those pigs shooting ball-things. I got through the first level pretty easy, but the 2nd started with another water puzzle (now with more hazards) that took many of my hard earned lives. The rest of the level went smooth, and the most surprising thing were the magnetic circle platforms, very clever and fun to play around with!

A lot more can be said about SWAG. But this review is a wall of text already, so let’s just say that even though there’s no such thing as perfection, a project of this scale with every nook & cranny thought-through with a purpose. The purpose of letting people play a game mixing Jazz, Sonic, fresh surprises, and nostalgia that’s well worth a 10! Chances are slim that you will like this pack if you don’t like the original Jazz1, but it’s well worth a try. Download recommended? No, it’s mandatory!

I know a charity worker that often visits Africa to build on a children’s school. They got a laptop sponsored, I might just pre-apply this patch and burn a copy of JJ2 and ‘sponsor’ it to them. lol

Awesome work though!

Before reviewing, I’d like to say that I didn’t actually host this level or participate in an actual multiplayer session. I merely observed the layout from the perspective of both bases and the road to back and forth, including ammo etc. Still, my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. :P

First thing I noticed was that the gameplay is very speed-based and there’s little room for camping, except maybe in the middle-down area that is only accessable by tubes. Next there’s the obvious (and intended) lack of serious ammo placement and PU’s. I got to say that it’s an unusual design choice but could be interesting especially for 3v3 games that are normally very hectic.

The upper vertical pathways involve sucker events that pull you up, which took me some time to get used to. It feels rather gimmicky to me, and I’d rather see small platforms there. It does however allow you to carelessly hop up allowing for easy speed and flow of the game.

And lastly, the eyecandy and overall look of the level is plain and simple, but OK for the kind of gameplay it’s intended for. The rain/lightning background is dark but pretty original (though I say it, who shouldn’t :P).. There’s little that reminds you it’s actually a Tubelectric level, and the blocky diagonal platforms are ‘foregrounded’ to (again) allow for more speed.

Overall a simple yet original level ideal for a no-nonsense match as the title of the level suggests, but don’t expect a miracle in CTF land. Download recommended, and I think a 6.7 is a good rating here. Don’t take this the wrong way, you should really give this level a go for the purpose it was made for: No-nonsense skill testing, especially for movement speed and team coordination!

Very fitting climax music. Easely something Robert Allen could’ve mixed in. The added guitar tune blends in perfectly with the ending music that is to come.

‘looking forward to episode 2’ is what I said in my review of Episode 1, and here it is! This time I played through the episode in one sitting unlike episode 1, in which I took a break due to a certain level..

Episode 2 starts with a similar text scroll telling the player what happened previously. After that the first level begins, a dark place where you’re put right into the action. The level feels slightly maze-like and puts a dark, dramatic atmosphere to the story and scenery. The gameplay felt like basic run & gun style, and other than some minor searching the level design felt easy-going. There is pretty much food placement and in this level, due to the story, the ammo pickups are packed in a stash along the way.

The 2nd level feels comfortable to any old school Jazzer and it keeps true to Medivo standards. There are chain balls which you can use as platforms and lots of spike pits. Yes, these are true deathpits (plus required hehe) and that’s the only thing I personally didn’t like about the level. It took a while for me to learn which chain ball platforms had pits below them, it made this level took most of my lives. Other than that, the level is very forgiving and ammo is well spread over the place. There are some carrots, but not many (same as episode 1).

The first boss fight (with cool music) was well done, just not very original. Of course, many things have already been done with the Bilsy boss but I’ve never fought him in such a dark and fitting atmosphere before. Again nothing really new, yet still a surprising and refreshing bossfight.

The dark atmosphere continues to grow in the next levels. Some levels will feel familiar if you’ve played episode 1. Thanks to that I got through them pretty fast, even though enemies were less forgiving now and they’re hiding in the foreground and darkness again (an aspect that made some parts of episode 1 somewhat hard). One time I got stuck inside a rock (rock event) that was apparently there to block a path, but seeing it made me think I could jump it..

After some more story-based levels I got to a Swamp level. This tileset has been used often (Agama’s) yet Laro came with some nice level design here. The lower area is a constant row of trees and thick growth while the upperside has more bushes and high trees, much like the real amazon rainforest. This level has easier enemies than the previous and it gave me more urge to explore due to many gems and passages. Unlike it’s name of ‘Iron Mountains’, it felt more like a true rainforest!

Then there was what I think is the most interesting level in the pack, a bossfight against Rocket Turtle. He follows a belt-path all the way to the end of the level and your goal is to defeat him before reaching it. Luckely, a warp at the end gives you the ability to retry after a failed attempt. I learned the level design after 3 attempts (yes I think I sucked) and used tricks such as planning a path around him, waiting for him to come towards me while shooting rockets, freezing him, and more. The level is well designed around finding strategies to defeat him quicker. I know much more has been done with the Rocket Turtle boss, but this is now my favorite fight against him!

After more story (it’s still of some interest, yes), you get in a level with a snowy blizzard where you’ll need to find your way. Due to the lack of pickups and enemies along the way I thought the level itself was the worst of the pack. But since it’s part of the story I can live with that. The rabbits stuck in the snow (and their names) were kinda funny, too.

Then at last there’s another story-based level at a snowy base. The rabbits talk to you and the ‘Commander’ will eventually have a ‘mission’ for you. But for that, we’d have to wait for episode 3. Yes, the ending came very sudden again. There’s no real action in the end, making this pack itself feel slightly less complete than episode 1 was..

Overall I really enjoyed it. And I think Laro has made better decisions in both gameplay and level design. There is less annoyance, more forgiving enemies, and I personally found it easier than the previous episode (on medium difficulty). Likely due to the fact that I can’t handle respawning enemies. :D

Download recommended, but I highly suggest you to play episode 1 first! And an 8.2 (especially) for the improved level design!

I just came back from my trip to Ðx’s cave swamp, as I played this because the level is another one of the SP nominations in the 2011 JCS awards. So let’s review!

The first thing that got my attention were the deathpits. It took less than 10 seconds to notice that the whole level is based around one huge deathpit. In this case it’s a river, and the player has to cross it. This requires focus, planning, and precise jumping.

This level is clearly meant as a good challenge rather than a rollercoaster ride. It consists of short ‘tests’ with savepoints inbetween. There are some lives and carrots scattered and there is plenty of ammo to help you roast the flying enemies. Some gameplay elements included in these tests are moving platforms, precise platforming in low space, and stomping enemies to extend jumps. Most gameplay appears original to me, but some elements are just well known ways to make SP levels harder (or more annoying?).

The eyecandy is simple and effective, which is good for a level that lays focus on gameplay challenges. The whole background is covered in a dark brown color, and the green vine tiles are used to cover enemies. This all including the music are very fitting for a cave level.

I recommend download only if you want a good challenge. It took me 1 gameover and after that I used (or abbused?) the first part of the level to stack up extra lives. Worth 8.0 for the inventive gameplay!

This is the first time in months that I played a new single player level so I had to get used to the gameplay mechanics once again. Nevertheless, I like to write a proper review for it as it was a pleasure to play througth it.

As this pack’s name indicate, it’s prime story and setup is similar to EvilMike’s Devres packs, only taken slightly lighter with more linear level design, less side story telling, and no real puzzling. Most levels are a fine mix of classic ‘run ‘n gun’ style gameplay and the well known ‘find crates and exit opens’ type of design.

The pack starts with 2 introduction levels. A well known text scroll introducing the story in movie-like fashion, and a short playable level that sets things off. It’s clearly not the most original way of doing things, but it sure isn’t bad and it works well getting the player (me in this case) perfectly into the simple storyline.

After finishing the first set of levels and coming to the first ‘Save’ level, I used the point to stop playing and take a rest. Yeah, this pack is pretty hard. As I said it might just be my hiatus from single player, but the shortage on carrots and nasty narrow spike tunnels gave me a real challenge resulting in 1 gameover and many lives lost. Especially the invisible bats and the other flying enemies later on, made the search for health even more important. And ironically, I found most carrots by abusing the respawning enemies..

However, what I played was enjoyable enough to live on with the action and story while looking at the well made eyecandy. The tilesets used are the Jazz2 tileset remakes, which include enough for the eye. I’ve seen no obvious tilebugs (I’m no expert on this) and almost any wall is portrayed with tasty eyecandy. I did manage to stuck myself 2 times, once in a narrow edge at the castle, and once at the underwater tree in the woods. All levels make good use of light effects, not only to accompany backgrounds but also inside walls to create a nice cave atmosphere.

The strangest thing I noticed is that the latter 40% (or so) of this pack got a lot easier. Yes, it gets easier in the end. I don’t mind it personally, but it did came to me as a surprise. The enemies were more forgiveable and I found more barrels with health. There’s also less crate searching than in the middle levels. The overall pack felt more flowing as I progressed through it.

As this is an episodic pack, it’s obvious that the ending stays open for more. Yet this ending, didn’t really gave me a clear clue of how the events could continue, instead it came quite surprising compared to how some other quality episodic packs did it. Or it’s just my movie-filled December that made me tired of story telling..

Either way, I’m still looking forward to episode 2 and hope for some spectacular plot twists and original gameplay mechanics. This pack had a great flow of gameplay that didn’t got off the ground all too well, but sure was more than just enjoyable and it’s leaving me want more! While there are other SP packs with better quality, SP packs don’t spawn out of nowhere and Laro’s work sure has paid off!

The overall pack is a flowing SP experience and I recommend this to everyone who loved packs such as Devres and Tomb Rabbit. Yes those are totally different, but those 2 far exceed the average, this does too! Worth a good 8.0 to me, and download recommended!