Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Future by Biggles

So, this is your first J2O submission huh? Let’s see what you’ve done. The zip file includes 6 files, of which two tilesets, two music files and two levels. I won’t go detailed into the levels because it’s all about the tileset.

Overall, this tileset is above average but I was not hugely impressed and I think most ratings (10, 9) are overrated. The semi-3d environment you drew was one of the things that made me decide this rating (7.2). It is something that makes it a lot nicer and you don’t see it very often in a regular tileset. There are some missing tiles (e.g. vines or hooks) and water or snow events are incompatible.

@Labratkid:

There are no VPOLES, which are the horizontal poles that let you swing vertically with. You only included HPOLES.

This is not true. In the set you can find both. The ships are nice, but it doesn’t include anything extraordinary. One major thing of why to use this tileset is because it is extremely easy to use.

Rating:
7.2

Meztempel

ZIP FILE:
It extracts in the folder rxm/Jazz2. This sucks! You can’t run it that way, because it doesn’t show up in the homecooked levels list and since it’s passworded you can’t launch it via JCS. After some annoying copy & paste actions, I managed to open this level.

GENERAL:
The author refers to this level as a ‘temple’ (or tempel, staying at the same level as the author.. ;), but I don’t particularly see this as a temple, more like a blocky level without a real concept. But hey.. This is Mez01!

The level involves some new ideas and they’re OK

BACKGROUND:
Textured, but no other background layers used.

EYECANDY:
None to speak of.

ENEMY PLACEMENT:
Bad. There are very few enemies which makes the level really easy to rush through. The level ends with a Devan Boss which is really easy to beat because of the respawning carrots and the seeker powerup.

MUSIC:
Fits with the level, it’s OK.

GRAMMAR:
You should seriously learn how to spell, it’s awful! The levelname contains one spelling mistake, the description counts six mistakes and the text strings in your level contain even more.

RATING:
3.7[This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

hi hi hi hi hi (Hotel Expansion)

The level name is disturbing and the description doesn’t make sence either. Let’s see if this level’s good though. The actual level name is grazz kid dc’s hotel.

ZIP FILE:
The zip file contains 2 (!) music files, the author appears to not know which files he used. Clever. It also contains the level and a tileset.

GENERAL:
This level starts somewhere where you can choose different parts of the hotel: Casino, Vlinders and Food. The main navigation is by using warps, you can’t really walk freely through the level.

GRAMMAR:
It makes use of the orbitus remix track, so weirdpersonalities shouldn’t have to be included. The author appears to have a problem with spelling (“WELKOM”). A lot of other text signs are in Dutch, or a mixture of Dutch-English.

EYECANDY:
None to speak of. Background is flawless, but I suspect it’s ripped.

AMMO PLACEMENT:
Extremely bad. At some areas it’s really overused, while in others there is none.

CONCEPT:
Just a plain hotel. No original ideas involved, except for the Idols show maybe.

RATING:
2.0.

[This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

Empire of dark bunny

The author included three files in the ZIP File: two tilesets and a word file called ‘WOW!.doc’. I didn’t get the ‘WOW!’ amazement when I opened the document. The author probably likes making use of WORDART and also calls his levels ‘VERY COOL’ and ‘GOOD!”. He even offers to give people one of his made tilesets. Heh, I don’t think anyone would want one.

The tileset has pretty much everything ripped, e.g. the spike balls from Medivo and poles. There is a lack of eyecandy and it looks pretty boring. I don’t think anyone would want to make a level with this one. The masking is average.

PROS:
The author put some effort into making this.

CONS:
Ripped tiles, boring, lack of eyecandy.

VERDICT:
You might want to download this if you like red tilesets with ripped tiles. A normal person wouldn’t want to download this though.
RATING:
3.0

Raymanworld

The author tells us this is ‘maked’ with Kitfond.pcx. Now, we don’t mind you tell us which file extention your set was at first, but since we rate the tileset, not the level it’s rather inappropriate to tell what the level uses.

The general idea was OK, but the outcome is really bad. The tileset basically lacks everything: platforms, poles, scenery blocks, vines, masking, eyecandy, a background, and fails on every other aspect of a tileset.

If the author would’ve spent more time on it, it might’ve gotten a better rating.

CONS:
Basically lacks anything you expect of a set.

PROS:
The author used an original theme.

VERDICT:
Despite the original thought behind it, it doesn’t make the tileset better. A 1.2. For the effort. Or something.

Technoir Remix Deluxe (6:11 long!)

6:11 long! Is that a good thing? I’m not sure. After listening to this file, I still didn’t make up my mind.

It all starts nicely. The instruments build up and a rhytm with some odd instrument starts. It doesn’t sound particularly bad, but a little freaky and it might get on your nerves.

On 3:30 there’s a break in between and all instruments slowly build up again, together with the weird instrument and some fuzzy sound effect. It all ends from 5:00 till 6:11.

CONCLUSION:
It’s quite a long one and therefore it might get boring after a while. It has some weird effects and instruments, but it’s an OK remix.

RATING:
5.0.

(Little) Jazz2 Theme pack

This could’ve been far more interesting if the author put more effort into it. The idea was nice but the outcome is bad.

The zip file contains 8 items, of which each consists of a Jazz, Spaz and Lori. On each picture they’re in the same pose, you could’ve had more poses and so it would be more interesting, unfortunately you didn’t. The small versions are way too small for your desktop and might only fit on a notebook. But hey, like there’s any function for a wallpaper.

Also, the chosen poses are rather weird. Lori is turned away from all that’s happening, Jazz looks demonish with his red eyes and Spaz is falling to the left. Choose better poses next time.

Conclusion: Interesting idea but lack of effort and graphical quality.

RATING:
3.5

Devans Factory Gooder

Uh.. Gooder? The correct tense is “Better”. However, you’re not supposed to rate somebody’s grammar and spelling but the file. The zip file contains no readme file so I just randomly started with a level. All levels, except for censored 2 (ripped) show up in the Home Cooked Level list, so that doesn’t give any clues either.

• Level 1: Colon Cluster *
  The beginning seems ripped from the official Epic levels, it even gives clues to some copied stuff. However, this level is full of tile bugs, overused ammo, enemies and events. Colon might be a hard set to use, but this level is just bad.

• Level 2: Bad Pitt *
  The author obviously edited this official level or added the wrong file to the zip. No rating. But look! The next level setting obviously works. This means the author just tried to fake us with who actually created the level.

• Level 3: Crazy for Christmas*
  You forgot to include Xmas1.j2t in the ZIP file, so I had to copy it from my TSF folder to the 1.23 folder.. Annoying!

It has disturbing foreground scenery (the lamp poles). And again an overuse of enemies. There is no background scenery, the author obviously found this too hard to manage. It again has some serious tile bugs. If Project One would ever see this, they would awake from the death!

• Level 4: Devan’s Factory*
  Bad choice of background and music (censored.j2b!?). The foreground chains look pretty dumb. The level also has text strings making comments about the level. ‘Devan must love seeing that every day!” and “What is this thing”, for example. Well, that thing was just a can with a chemical fluid. The level has no eyecandy and guess what? Even more tile bugs.. The level ends with a Devan Robot Boss.

Well, and that’s pretty much it. These levels keep on looping. It doesn’t matter where you start. Probably the author couldn’t make up his mind or something.

OVERALL:
The colon level is plain bad, there are many tile bugs. The censored level is fake and the author didn’t make this (probably only edited it) and the Xmas level doesn’t give a ‘merry xmas’ feel at all. No download recommendation.

RATING:
3.5[This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

Ed’s 15th Symphony

I wonder why nobody else reviewed Captain Spam aka Nicholas Killewald’s level, so I do it now.

It sadly uses the overused Diamondus set. There’s no background scenery.
A good thing is that it’s treasure hunt: you don’t see TH levels very often. The exit idea is original and in the level are some hidden gem places. There are no tile bugs.

- CONS:
A bit boring, could use a little more eyecandy.

+ PROS:
It’s treasure hunt and it shows interesting ideas.

VERDICT:
This level is not very recent at all but worth playing. It even has one funny text string.

RATING:
7.0.

Battle In The City!

The level is not actually called ‘Battle In The City!” but ‘Battle en Ville’. I know, this means exactly the same but it’s still different.

There aer lots of tile bugs, there’s an overuse of ammo and the gameplay is bad. Besides, it’s edited.

- CONS:
Bad ammo placement, unoriginal, edited

+ PROS:
One original idea, the ‘jumping crates’.

VERDICT:
Don’t download this unless you are really really bored.

RATING:
3.2[This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

Nighty Battle Pack

This file has been uploaded almost a year ago and still nobody bothered to review this one, so I do so now. I think every download should get at least some reviews. This zipfile contains 9 files, of which 3 are levels, 3 are tilesets and 3 are music files. It doesn’t contain a readme file saying which one you should start with, but I suppose that’s Wolf Battle.j2l.

• Level 1: Temple of the Night *
  There’s a moving background and some clouds passing you by. In my opinion, this is not enough background scenery; you could’ve added some more. The music doesn’t fit the level at all and even if I would’ve listened to it seperately I would dislike it.

You forgot to make the water translucent, so it looks pretty odd. There could’ve been a bit more springs, for example on (3,45). Although it uses Agama’s Heaven set, it doesn’t have a single tile bug so far I have seen.

• Level 2: Night Forest*

Despite the unoriginal title, the music is better than the other level. The gameplay is average, the ammo placement OK. There are no tile bugs spotted, even though it uses the extremely hard to use Swamps set.

• Level 3: Planet of Night *
  With a terrific music choice and a good textured background (+ bg scenery) this level has nice ideas, but is too small and I counted three dead ends. However, it’s not bad for its size.

- CONS:
The levels are a bit too small and the first one has a bad music choice.

+ PROS:
There are no tile bugs and the last two levels have nice musical support.

VERDICT:
The author proves that he can work with JCS but should mind the size of the levels. Nevertheless, if you want to download a small levelpack consisting of three small levels, download it.

RATING:
6.2

Cracco Warfare

The zip file contains 4 files, of which one is the level. The three others are a readme file, a music file and a tileset. The tileset is one of Cracco’s ripped tiles sets.

The level has a textured background, but there’s no background scenery. The concept is interesting, and the start is OK. In one of the areas you can get warped there’s an overdose of ammo.

There are no serious tile bugs, but that’s basically impossible with all those blocks and stuff. This is not really a good level because the tileset that is used is average.

- CONS:
No eyecandy or background scenery

+ PROS:
Interesting game mode

VERDICT:
The author obviously tried to make something original, but due to the limitations of the tileset and the lack of eyecandy I’m not really satisfied with this release.

RATING:
5.0.

Blue Jazz

The author categorized this as ‘Multiple’, so I wonder what’s in this ZIP package. Now, what seems to be the case: this is just a Battle Level. Please choose the correct filetype next time.

The level makes use of Pavlik’s Blue World tileset. There is no textured background, background scenery or eyecandy. Sometimes you had really weird tile placement, e.g. the construction next to the fire shield.
There is no real gameplay and all of a sudden the screen gets a blue mask in the foreground, which looks dull.

- CONS:
No eyecandy, some minor tile bugs, overuse of ammo, no textured background, bad gameplay, no eyecandy.

+ PROS:
The author shows some original things like the transparent blue screen covering the foreground for a while.

VERDICT:
This is below average and I really can’t make more of it.

RATING:
4.5

Nasty race

The zip file contains a level, no readme file. It luckily shows up in the Homecooked Levels List, this is essential for a local splitscreen race game.

You can start on two positions, one lower than the other and its placement is fair. I spotted some minor tile bugs, especially the corners and places like (31,15). You can climb over obstacles in different ways. There are also several paths and ways to finish a lap, depending on which basket you take.

Not every basket is handy to take, some paths take a long time to complete, some include very slow sucker tubes.

- CONS:
Not too big, some minor tile bugs and no real eyecandy.

+ PROS:
Several pathways.

VERDICT:
The author thought of strategyful ideas and several pathways are nice. The only thing is that this level is fairly small.

RATING:
5.5. [This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

Final Fight!!!!

Probably the author went a little insane with the title. The description tells us to open a word document, although there’s only a txt file in the zip. Don’t feel offended, but there’s a huge difference between a word document and a notepad text file. The text file contains a story and a description what the level is about. It unzips in a seperate directory (FinalfightS) in your JJ2 folder and so you are unable to open it unless you take it out of the folder.

The level itself does contain NO start position. I doubt if the author played this level even once! It’s also a bit Spaz biased since you need to kick eachother, buttstomping just won’t do. It doesn’t have a lot of eyecandy and the gameplay is minimal.

- CONS:
Small, no eyecandy or start position, unhandy unzip method

+ PROS:
You don’t see assault levels very often.

VERDICT:
The author obviously thought of making something interesting, but didn’t really work it out.

RATING:
5.0

Black is Back

Although everybody above me complains about the filename I found there’s nothing wrong with it. The zip contains 22 files: 12 Levels/9 Tilesets/1 Textfile.

• Level 1: Project Black Battle*
  The moving and flickering background scenery is annoying and discouraging you from playing. So, I immediately switched Low Detail on and it was way better. This shouldn’t be the case, something in Low Detail should be lower detail, not higher. ;-)

The pipes have some dead ends and it lacks ammo. You can’t even get out anymore at some points! No, this is certainly not a good level.

• Level 2: Project elctroman*

Ignoring the spellingmistake and the lowercase first letter of the second word I take a look at this level. The foreground scenery is annoying.

It again lacks some springs and it has some dead ends again. The layout isn’t that good and the ammo placement is bad.

• Level 3: Project Blaster *

Just like all the other levels I have to complain about the background scenery. It’s moving just like in the other levels which doesn’t improve your eyesight. There are no tilebugs but that’s basically impossible with Mez01.
The whole level layout is like a maze, and I dislike the ammo placement.

• Level 4: Proyect DeathMatch*

It’s surprising how you first write it down correctly and now suddenly write ‘Proyect’. This level again has foreground scenery, but because this is a dark one you won’t really notice it, so it’s OK.

The level’s pretty symmetrical and doesn’t have anything original.

• Level 5: Project Big War*

Getting a little obsessed with the projects? Anywayz, the background scenery is placed too high, look at the trees! The foreground trees don’t look really funky either.

And: I. NEED. MORE. SPRINGS. Yes.
I didn’t find any tile bugs but the layout isn’t that good.

• Level 6: Project Jumpinthefier*

Probably a misspelled title, the author might mean ‘JumpInTheFire” instead. The moving background irritates me again. It’s also way too small.

• Level 7: Project Goodbye*

Uh, Seeya later? Well, I wish. Because this level isn’t any good. You can’t see yourself when you’re a bit too low because the clouds will cover you. Every once in a while some guy on a platform will also pass you by. Buh.

• Level 8: Project Kobra*

I won’t even bug you anymore with the levelname spelling mistakes. The stars in the background are too bright and so irritate your eyes when you look at it.

There are no serious tile bugs but this ammo lacks gameplay, springs, ammo, size and effort.

• Level 9: Project Space Man*
  Too short and simple, using a set by FrankenQuist.

• Level 10: Project Gunfire*
  This is a level using the Temple tileset by EvilBike (no offense). The rain in the foreground goes to the right, eh.. Pardon? It’s annoying as well, and the background (the grey one with the clouds) is boring. The whole level is boring. ZzZ. gasp.

• Level 11: Project Blue War*
  Eiffel 65 sign! Yay! ;-p This level uses WiseCoffee’s Blue tileset with rain going down! Wow ;-P The flash thingy is hurting my eyes, but it’s probably Canadian lightning (just like VeggieMan’s level, hahah.)

• Level 12: Projest Boomerang*

Whatever a Projest may be, this is probably another dull level from the pack. It has dead ends and lacks originality.

- CONS:
All levels lack ammo/effort/originality/good spelling. Every level has some dead ends.

+ PROS:
No serious tile bugs.

VERDICT:
The whole pack isn’t too exciting and it’s not original at all. Black is back.. Well, if it’s back, please let it leave again.

RATING:
4.5.[This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

LG2: Story

This is one zipfile containing one single TXT file: a story. The author made this after playing Lost Gemz 2.

It’s nothing special, and generally just a little ‘blablabla’ introduction to the levels.

- CONS:
It’s pretty much nothing.

+ PROS:
None.

VERDICT:
The author tried to make something interesting, but failed though. J2O is not the place for this.

RATING:
Since this is a single TXT file I won’t rate this. Better upload something real next time.

Evil Ghosts

This large zip file contains 28 files of which 26 are levels, 1 is a readme file and 1 is a musicfile. The readme is a good and clear one, with some cussing such as ‘GETDA*censored*UP’. Chill out.

“Nirvana”
The story level using Mez01. It’s a nice storyline and there are no bugs encountered. Good.

“Pandemonium”
The second level uses another Mez set, and it all starts in the Sewer. In my opinion this is very original and it looks good. I played along for quite a while without any comments just because this is a good level. You even made use of sound, which is good as well.

Just like other people mentioned before ‘TASTE THIS censored’ and other language isn’t really needed, although it fits the mood of the level. Remember, there are kiddies around.

Too bad I also found some tile bugs like this:

Later you arrive in an area with springs on each side and respawning food in between. What’s the point of this? Do you want us to get sugar rush?

This level also has an endboss. That’s pretty much this level, and I liked this one.

- CONS:
Some tilebugs, sometimes too much repeated tiles, mature language

+ PROS:
Strategyful, long, interesting, good ideas.

VERDICT:
A good level which requires skill and strategy to finish it.

LEVEL RATING:
8.0.

“Under The Sky”
This level uses the Easter tileset (like that one!).

You overused the eggs in the floor a bit, it’s kinda annoying in your direct vision. You can go two directions from the start, so I first took the right one and then the left one. This appeared to be possible, so that’s a yay.

Going to position (337,33) you can see that you repeated one specific tile lots of times.. It disturbs a little because it’s a weird tile.

You should also practice a bit in stomp scenery blocks and the tile they change in when you stomp them. Look at this:

There’s also some excessive food use on the hills and a tile bug at (482,62).

Together with help of Chuck the bird and the needed powerups you can finish this level pretty fast.

- CONS
Sometimes a little boring, some small tile bugs

+ PROS
Chuck, interesting trigger ideas.

VERDICT:
A good level which you shoudl play when you want some challenge.

RATING:
7.0

“Some Carrotes For The Rabbit”

Levelname: Carrotes? I think you mean Carrots or something. Please check your levelname before you put it in a pack.

Again, there are some minor tile bugs. Using a destruct scenery block as a thing a V- or H-Pole can stand on isn’t very professional, it actually looks pretty noobish. Prevent that from happening next time.

- CONS:
Average looks, quite boring. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did the other ones.

+ PROS:
The size is OK. And just an average level.

VERDICT:
Not my favourite by far, but it’s OK.

RATING:
6.0.

• “DIE censored DIE”
  Uh, excuse me? I don’t like any of that, especially because JJ2 is a game for all ages, also young children. I don’t think they enjoy being called a censored.

Again, this level has some minor tile bugs. It begins original, first you have to find a crate to begin.

Now, you gotta fight Bubba, and that’s it. End of level. Well, ‘censored who made the level,’ I didn’t die. ;-P

I don’t really count this level because it’s just a boss level. No rating given.

“THE DARKENING”

This is supposed to represent the Hell and lol.. When you fall you’re pretty much dead. I don’t know, but I found this level very odd.

“HELLRISER”

Hellriser starts off with a text saying ‘Here lies Spaz, friend of Jazz.’ and it’s followed by ‘Rust in peace’. Heh, that’s ofcourse supposed to be rest in peace. Probably you just mistyped yourself here.

The background probably has to be something like water and a bridge. This level is nice.

Here lies the author of this level. Rust in peace.
RATING: 7.0.

“New-Jazz-City”
No comments. Nice, 7.5

“Balls of Evil”
OMG. This scared me and made me type jjnext. This isn’t any good.

“City’s Powerhouse”
Pretty disturbing text strings, again. “Find and censored!” uh, come on. Got a little trouble with your hormones, eh? I mean, just express your sexual feelings and behaviour in real life and don’t bother us with it.

“Electric Death”
Thanks for involving my name in the title.. Err j/k :P One thing that’s bad about this level is that you can just walk off… Not good.

Another thing is that it again uses some mature language. ‘censored Bolly or he’ll censored your rabbit-ass!” Uh, come-on! You DON’T put such text strings in a level. Shame on you.

“Daddy’s Birthday”
Apparently Daddy’s Birthday around Christmas and may it be a good one.
I can’t help it, but this level’s not really good or bad. It’s average.

“Whispers of Ghosts”

At first sight I already found a tile bug, check (2,88) and (19,114 + 27,114). At (26,20).. Helmuts walking on vines? That’s sorta odd. I also found a very original idea, you know, the “bended stuff” on e.g. (58,75).

Also, I think that swinging vines (122,12) in a Castle looks weird. The idea is ok though.

Generally, this level is just fun to play.

- CONS:
Tilebugs here and there, some weird events involved.

+ PROS:
The author put some serious effort into making a challenging and interesting level. Good.

SEPERATE LEVEL RATING:
7.0

—
And these are just a few levels of this level pack. All have some kind of strategy and tile bugs. Some are just good, some are average. However, I won’t bother rating them all; it would take ages and it wouldn’t get too interesting to read.

I think I recommend this if you have a whole holiday of doing nothing and you don’t know what to do. Peace.

RATING
7.5

MESSAGE TO DESTROY:
Yes, I knew you meant the cussing something differently from what you wrote down explicitly, but still you could’ve put it an other way. It was all clear for me what your purposes where, you just could’ve said it nicer.
[This review has been edited by Electric Ir]

Space’s Plummet

Below that nice message of Bjarni I review this file. It uses the overused Mez01 set and the used Music file is Castle, which sounds horrible in combination with the level and tileset. At least there is a next level setting..

Is this supposed to be an actual Treasure Hunt level? There’s only one gem ring, and there’s not a lot of ammo either so I doubt if this is a battle level. The only thing that’s working are the triggers and scenery. Uh, yay?

The Bouncy +15 is overused.. Don’t you think 20 instead of 99 would be better? There’s no background scenery or eyecandy.

- CONS:
You can’t decide whether this is a “test”, a battle, a CTF, a co-op, a single player or a TH level. The music choice is bad, the tile placement is bad, there’s no background scenery or even eyecandy.

+ PROS:
The author apparently knows how to use triggers.

VERDICT:
Maybe if you want to die you should choose this level to play. Absolutely no download recommendation.. You’d better not waste your time on this.

RATING:
1.5.

Devans Revenge special: 13th Diamond

The zip file consists of 2 files: The level and the readme. The readme doesn’t tell us a lot more than the author described above, but at least we get to know he made this level because it was his 50th download on J2O… Are you sure this is true? :-P

The level makes use of the over-over-overused tileset Diamondus by Epic. I played for like 20 seconds and I found a dead end already, on (24,0). If you walk on one of those blue bridges (20,27) you notice some tile bugs at the spikes and that’s basically everywhere you placed spikes. Also, look careful what you do to the sides: (135,51) for example .Another thing is that you should use more springs. Lots of double jumps and uppercuts annoy ya.

.. And another dead end! This time at (69,48). The text signs are good: they’re multilanguage, Dutch and English. Next time you put text strings in a level, make sure you place some @s in front of them, e.g. 3. Otherwise it occurs that the text stucks to the top of the screen, which makes it read pretty hard.

The small puzzle was fun, but not too hard. The idea of a weather forecast (Strong Winds) was obviously stolen from The Secret Files’ Easter levels. Also, you spelled it wrong.

Text String #3 tells us to find a crate, but to stomp this one you have to get up. This is basically impossible with either Lori or Jazz, since you need to use the double jump. Try to make your levels not Spaz, Jazz, Chuck or frog biased.

Lunchroom Frogface was intended to be a nice idea, but it wasn’t that good. With all the enemies at the table, eating food you steal from them, a smoking caterpillar it’s not really a nice place to be.

Whee! Frog fun. A witch comes out of the blue, turning you into a slimy frog. Jump over the turtles and other animals and let Eva kiss you.

The level ends with an endboss.

- CONS:
Some minor tile bugs and places which are Spaz biased. Not too challenging.

+ PROS:
OK Size, some good and inventive ideas. The level shows the author put some decent effort into it.

Verdict
An OK level with good ideas and could use some eyecandy. Not too challenging, but it’s fun.

Rating
A 7.0.