Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Um, ok, I rarely review battle levels, and it’s been a while since i reviewed anything, but Skullfish asked to review this.

Eyecandy: way too basic. Like reptile said, just layer 4 and 8. Try making use of layers 6 and 7 for a start, the default single player levels are a good thing to learn this from. It’ll make levels look way better. The only good thing here is that the tiles actually fit together.

Gameplay: can use lots of improvement. Dead ends on both the left and right side of the level, try to avoid those. It’s possible to get stuck in the bottom right corner of the level. The ammo placement is just plain bad: only a few electroblasters and lots of powerups. Good levels usually don’t have more than 3 powerups, and have way more regular ammo. Try spreading these evenly over the level. Try not to make rooms that can only be accessed and left by using warps either. This rarely leads to nice gameplay.

Other: this level uses a custom tileset, you should include it in the download.

Download recommendation: sorry, no. This still needs lots of work.

Hmm, there’s some room for improvement here.

There’s a fairly decent use of eyecandy in layer 4 and 5, but you should definitely start using layers 6 and 7 (and by that I don’t mean using them the same way as layer 5, just have a look at layers 6 and 7 in the standard jj2 levels in JCS, you’ll see what I mean). This will usually fill up a lot of the empty space in the more open parts of levels.

Gameplay could use a lot of tweaking in this one: try to avoid dead ends in multiplayer levels at all costs, ESPECIALLY at CTF bases. Both CTF bases are at a dead end here, and the excessive number of springs near the blue base makes it even more annoying. It should also be easier to run around between the bases. This is a bit of a pain in the level as it is now. You keep crashing into poles or abrupt changes of the ground level. You should put the poles in either the foreground or the background, but they’re not quite in place in the sprite layer the way they are used here. As for changing the level of the ground: that’s perfectly fine as long as you put a float up or spring in front of it; CTF levels aren’t supposed to be obstacle courses. One other thing are the tree branches and the wooden platforms: these would be better with one-way on them.

Overall: sort of ok level I guess, but the gameplay and lack of good layer 6 and 7 use kinda kill it.[This review has been edited by Enigma]

Wow, I’m actually typing a review again.

Eyecandy: decent but basic. The tiles all fit together except for some occasional minor bugs (yet no eyesores). The level looks rather plain though, you could be taking much more advantage of the tileset here. Tilesets usually have a lot of stuff to offer, try using some more of it.

Gameplay: not as hard as some people here make it out to be, i’d consider it average. The amount of enemies is about right, but the level could use some more pickups, since the only ones that are featured now are two crates of bouncers and seekers. One remark about the part with the floating suckers near the end though: there’s a hurt event on the carrot in the middle, which is, in my opinion, completely unnecessary and not exactly fair towards the player, since there’s no indication at all that it holds any danger and people usually don’t expect a hurt event on a carrot tile.

Conclusion: this is an ok level, but i don’t quite feel like it deserves its current 8.3 rating (and don’t get me wrong here, i’m not rating it extra low to affect the total rating or something). It’s definitely a reasonable effort, but there’s still room for improvement. I’d say keep up the good work, just a little more practice and you’re there.[This review has been edited by Enigma]

Hehe, this is a fun little level indeed. It could have been a bit longer, but it’s not like it’s horribly short or something. It’s not too difficult, but enough to make you watch your step. The use of the tileset is quite good indeed, and the “eggs” are an original touch.

(as for the “alien-queen boss”: maybe the uterus crab boss wouldn’t look too bad =D)

First of all: health warning: don’t try to save your game in the fifth or seventh level unless you enjoy tearing out your own hair (in other words: it will give an amnesia error). That being said, i’ll try giving an actual review.

I must say, i quite enjoyed this one. It’s a pack hard enough to keep you busy for several hours, yet it wasn’t insanely difficult. It’s a very nice combination of puzzles (lots of them) and combat (lots of it). Eyecandy looked rather good in all of the levels, at least i haven’t found any major flaws. Maybe the ammo is a bit too scarce for some players, but there’s enough of it to keep yourself alive in every situation.

I haven’t seen many glitches in this pack. The only i can think of is the lack of a next level setting in the Moria level, and a place where it’s possible to get trapped in that same level (mind you, there’s a bit of text to warn you).

Conclusion 1: yes, definitely worth the download.
Conclusion 2: Trafton needs a hobby.

Ok, here goes another review. I like the eyecandy in this level much better than in your last. It’s no so plain anymore. However, gameplay and flow kinda kill the level. Really, get those dead ends out of the level. Placing a warp at their ends will not always do, it makes gameplay a bit confusing and annoying. It’s much better to make openings to other areas in the level. I like the ammo and carrot placement, but like blurred said: don’t hide some of the powerups, especially the RF one can be hard to find for those who never played the level before (in fact, i never found it while betatesting, only just now). At least a part of a pu should be visible, people should at least know it’s there.

Conclusion: this level does need some work, especially on the flow, but it’s better than the last one you uploaded. Just keep going, you’re getting there.[This review has been edited by Enigma]

This level definitely isn’t bad at all. The eyecandy looks quite good, except for a few minor bugs which don’t really bother the player that much. The flow is also decent, though i felt some more branches and platforms needed to be one-way. Blurred did miss a carrot, there are actually two. Unfortunately, both are +1 carrots, one of which is put in the coin warp. At least one of them, if not both, should have been a full energy carrot. Speaking of the coin warp(s): though it’s not hard to find, many people prefer a visible 10 coin warp over an invisible 5 coin warp. The ammo placement looks ok, but i must agree with some others that i don’t see the point of the freezer ammo. Two toaster powerups won’t work very well either, i’d say it’s better to replace one of them with a RF powerup.

Oh, and btw, if your upload stops when it’s half done, at least include the tileset and just leave the music out.

Conclusion: this level is quite decent, and worth downloading, but i can’t help feeling that it’s a bit overrated ;-P[This review has been edited by Enigma]

I wouldn’t exactly call this level junk, but there’s some room for improvement though. For a start, you should try to get some more eyecandy in the level. It mainly consists of small and medium-sized platforms, which all look very plain. The tiles fit together, but that’s pretty much it. This level is also very spaz-biased. It wouldn’t be the first, but in this one, jazz players will really have trouble keeping up. The powerups and carrot are well placed though. Unfortunately i can’t say the same for the ammo in some places. I really wouldn’t recommend putting over 50 units of ammo in one single place, and definitely not in 3 different places of the level for 3 different weapons. Other than that, i felt like there were a tad too many seekers in the level. Games might get pretty boring when people never run out of seekers. As for gameplay, i dunno really… the platforms don’t make me feel too well about it, it could use some more normal floors other than just the bottom. Some springs wouldn’t hurt it either (maybe jazz could move around better that way for example). And the music and level don’t fit together too well imho. The regular heck music might be better.

I’d say this is a nice basic level, but it can be improved in a lot of ways.[This review has been edited by Enigma]

Another nice hell tileset. There’s some nice eyecandy, but like WR said, maybe not enough of it. On the other hand, there are some nifty custom destruction blocks (i just loved the pentagrams), stomp blocks, vines and hooks and stuff. There’s this one thing that annoys me about hell tilesets: they’re often so monotoneous in their colors. But other than that, this is a most admirable tileset, and definitely worth the download.

OMGOMGOMG!! THIS LEVEL SAYS SAL’S A FOO AND I’M A DOODLE! POOR SAL!! POOR ME!! PERSONAL ATTACKS!! BAN!!

ok, enough of that :P This is a level in which you can move around very easily and get to every place in no time at all. The eyecandy looks quite good, and so does the weapon placement. The carrot offers a good camping possibility, but also some nice ways to get the camper himself. The one glitch about this level is that you can get to the other base by just running left or right. Other than that, good job.

First of all, you forgot to provide correct next level settings. Try to think of that next time.

The levels themselves then: the Doom level was still acceptable. The eyecandy is ok there, except for a few minor flaws. You shouldn’t put in masses of enemies in small places though. It looks ugly, and there’s not much of a point to it. Also, there are too many carrots in the level. It’s too easy for the player.

The second level is worse. For a start, it is horribly small. The eyecandy there is not very good either, and there still are these masses of enemies. You should’ve put some more work in this one. Keep practising!![This review has been edited by Enigma]

i’ll have to review this lvl to get WR to give me rest and peace. Knocking him out with a baseball bat didn’t work :D ok, let’s see: the eyecandy is pretty great here (except for a tiny bug, but you can only see it if you know what you’re looking for, so i’ll shut up :D). The weapon placement is quite ok, and there are enough powerups and carrots for some serious battle game.

Good job, WR! (and please, don’t eat me while typing a review again. it’s very unsettling :D)[This review has been edited by Enigma]

Very spiffy level all right. The eyecandy looks fine in most places, and the weapon placement is quite good. Since most powerups are hidden, i think you could have some interesting battles in here.

One negative point though: like mentioned before, the gameplay is rather confusing at some points where you can’t tell which tiles you can walk on and which are part of the background.

Other than that, this level is fine! A nice juicy 8 from me :-)

Bjarni, for heaven’s sake, don’t rate levels 1.0 just because they are TSF. If you don’t have TSF, just don’t download the level.

ok, the level itself now. the level is pretty huge. maybe even a bit too big for battle, i think you’ll need at least 6 players for a nice game in it. the weapon placement is okay, although there are a few spots that are somewhat empty. but, the eyecandy is very good, so this is still worth a download recommendation from me.

i played online in this one yesterday, and i must say that i like it. the eyecandy is looking good in here, and the weapon placement is also quite all right. like everyone else said, there are a few parts that are a bit too cramped, but other than that, this level is really worth the download!!

this level is too short. horribly short. waaaaayyyy too short. the eyecandy also leaves a lot to be desired. there are no pickups in the level, a total of 4 enemies. and i don’t mean kinds of enemies here, just 4 enemies: a bat, a raven, a dragon and a sucker. just practice a little and you’d make better levels in the future.

Hey, this is some pretty good stuff. A funny puzzle to keep you busy on Christmas Evening. Download recommended!

Can you believe the background actually caused the game not to run smoothly on my pc? i’m afraid that’s one of the top ten signs i need to get a new computer:(

But enough of that, the level now: eyecandy was very good, although i generally don’t like those flashing backgrounds, but those are part of the tileset i guess… The size of the level is perfect, good to host games in. It needed a few more weapons though, but mostly this is a good level.

Wow! Tubes, and lots of them! Except for some minor eyecandy flaws, which really don’t bother while playing, this level is really good. I quite liked the light puzzle at the seeker powerup, this way people won’t get it too fast. pretty big level too, i think it requires a lot of players to play in, it looks like a duel could last for hours in here.

10? Robert A. Allen (the music guy of JJ1) will probably love you for this, Labratkid. but electric ir is right, better change your rating to n/a. i couldn’t possibly MAKE anything this good