Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Purplejazz7 is learning well, I can tell you that. Compared to the Dam 3 set, this is a major improvement.

Colors
How evil can you get, everything a nice shade of red (I’m a poet and I don’t know it). Somehow the red reminds me of Bluez’ Blood tileset back in the early days of JJ2. The best thing is it’s uniform: no “wacky” or “out-of-place” colors show up through the entire set. What surprising is that the regular background (the one with the “face”) looks like a negative of the original: the brightness level have been switched around. Intentional or not, to me it gives it a bit of a glow effect if you’re used to the original. But I understand if it may irk a few.
I do have a little complaint: the bigger spires are a bit too bright compared to the rest of the set. That doesn’t really detract from the overall appeal.

Added stuff
I’d say this is a first for PurpleJazz7, and a nice go at that. First it’s a textured background, non-standard even. Those are always welcome. It doesn’t have to be Hell all the time you know, you can also make it into a gigantic Demonic Graveyard (don’t be stealing this name). Did I mention it works both in 8-bit and 16-bit?
The rest of the extras are mainly ripped. Starting with the lava fall from Kaven’s Thermal K.1 edit of Carrotus. The lava rain is just a single drop, but it points both left and right. Nice idea.

Mask
No changes here, he basically used Dam1’s mask for this conversion. No problem.

Miscellaneous Comments
PurpleJazz7, ever thought of compiling with a 1.23 JCS next time? You may not know this, but tilesets and levels done in TSF only work with TSF, and not everybody has that (yet). If you could convert it for use with 1.23, that would be really great :)

Final Verdict
Better keep an eye on him, guys. With this set he’s shown he’s capable of making good edits. It’s not on the level of Noka’s and BlurredD’s, but still worth a look. If only it was 1.23…

EDIT: And now it is! That was quick. Thanks! :)

Guys, they’re not myths: they’re proven facts. Try something undocumented for a change.

What is this, Biased City? I refrained from reviewing hoping someone rational would do it first. Guess I was wrong ;P Just to set an example (again) I’ll be reviewing this.

Introduction
For those who have WBRG (Where Bad Rabbits Go) by Skulg will find this set strangely familiar. It’s not just the setting, it’s style. While WBRG takes place in Hell, Colosal seems to take place right above it, at a “gate” mayhaps. Rocky, desolate, with some ruins, the reddish colors really give a hellish atmosphere, which has been done before (like Raging Inferno by Disguise). Colosal is one of the better ones, but does have its faults.

Regular Tiles
What is Colosal like WBRG? The style. The walls and ground are entirely black with red outlines and inlines inside the rocks on the outside. The rocks are actually set in a pattern and each rock fits to the other like a pieces of a puzzle. Geometrically speaking, they’re all pentangles, meaning they each have five corners, and they’re all irrgular. Unfortunately the author went the easy way and used the same pattern for the ground, wall and ceiling tiles: all he needed to do is flip it, and for corners he overlapped. And that had a nasty consequence: the corners can only be placed at one spot in the pattern without creating tile bugs, which hampers the user-friendly a bit.
The rocks are just one part of the set, the ruin part is also there. Pretty generic, it’s nothing more than a collection of bricks. They do come in several sizes and have nice gradients, there are even some for the Layer 4 background (i.e. unmasked tiles).

Background tiles
The Background consists of two things. The first is the obligatory mountain background. They come in three variaties: black with red outline, dark red with regular red outline, and red with an orange outline. As you can guess, the fiery nature grows in intensity the closer the mountains are ;) The peaks are rather smal, but it does like a chain as there’s more than one row in each layer. Speaking of which, you can make it one of two ways:

1) Give each variaty its own layer
2) Include more than one in a single layer

That I really like. The other part of the background is nothing more than a ripped pillar from the Beach tileset. Somehow, I think it fits really nicely with its new orangy colors.
O, almost forgot the textured 3D background. Yes, it’s there, and if I’m not mistaking it’s an adapted version of Medivo’s. Unfortunately the palette isn’t that perfect, in 8-bit it gets… funny where it fades out.

Event Tiles
Here’s where the tileset fails a little. Basically, you only have 4 things to work with:

1. Vine
2. Sucker Tube
3. Destructable Weapon Blocks: Regular, Stomp, Bouncer, RF
4. Invisible Blocks (I’m cluding them here for lack of room)

Nothing else. They’re all original as far as I can tell. My only gripe is that the vine is on a blank tile only.

Eye Candy Tiles
Failing a little again. You’re restricted to the blackness beyond the rocks (kinda catchy). You can fill it stand-alone pentangle rocks or small round one, or maybe even Birdie’s name ;) For the ruins you can add a little pulsing animation, but that’s it.

Mask
Nothing to complain about, everything is smooth to the touch… except for one area: the rocks next to the vine in the set is a bit jagged. Granted it’s a smal dent, so you wouldn’t get stuck, but it’s still a bit sloppy. And it seems hidden mask messages are a standard now.

Shadow Version
I can’t believe I forgot about this one! The same things about the regular version can be applied here, except for the colors of course :p The red and orange have been replaced with shades of purple and violet. A pretty good choice as the cold purple contrasts with the hot red.

Final Verdict
Despite its limitations and faults, it’s a pretty good attempt. The theme hasn’t been done (well) that many times, which is a plus. It’s worth checking out at least.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

This review will be a tad short, because two glances was all it took to have a verdict ready… and it’s not that good :P

Conversion Completeness
First of all, this is a conversion done straight from the .anm in the Tiles Folder of JJ2. Everything that it had is present, but nothing, but nothing was added. At least the colors aren’t off which can plague such a conversion, I guess some brownie points are in order.

Added Stuff
See the previous section. This will be more of a tip section for the author. By today’s standards, a conversion should have most, if not all of the following, if applicable:
o vines
o poles
o destructable blocks
o hooks
o sucker tubes (à la Tubelectric)
o conveyor belts (à la Labratory)
o a textured background
o a working color palette
This conversion has all that stuff missing.

Masks
Auto-mask, ‘nuff said. Seriously, the mask should have nothing but straight lines, here everything is masked so Jazz will bump into everything.

Final Verdict
Need I say more? This conversion is very subpar and unusable because he only took one single step. Add the fact it’s Marbelara yet again, and it’s definetely not recommended.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Ok, time for me to review this, just to get rid of all the short unsupported ones :P

Standard Tiles
In short, I only have one thing to say about: MEZ-wannabe. Seriously, about 75% of the set is nothing but blocks or parts of blocks, talk about a huge collection. Not just the “one tile” kind or the “four in one” kind, you can make them as big or as smal or as oddly shaped as you want, this set comes with every kind imaginable. I’m especially impressed with the slopes: most of the blocks have to white (top) or to black (bottom) gradients and the problem with slope tiles is that they extend beyond the tile when the slope ends. Fortunately, this set comes with a huge collection of blocks with “end of slope” gradients, for every situation possible. However, it is sometimes hard to make out which one you actually need :P
As for the blocks themselves, the author focussed on two main colors, grey and green. There are some black ones which fade to purple. The red ones are actually Sucker tubes (more on that later), but I really like the look of the grey with the blue inside.

Extra Stuff that’s good
I said before roughly 75% is nothing but blocks. The rest is filled up with extras (duh) in the shape of H- and V-poles, spikes for all four directions (in standard orange or moving purple crystals), destructable blocks, (all kind, ripped), a hook (also ripped), keyholes and keys (in red, blue, green and yellow), text signs (ripped and edited, he even made seperate signs for regular and boss levels), arrows (ripped from JJ1), invisible tiles and the Sucker Tube mentioned before. Now what makes the tube special is that it can go diagonally. Now, the event itself can either go horizontally or vertically, so using the diagonal part correctly requires some creative cheating. But it’s not impossible :)

Eye Candy
You’d think there wasn’t any space left for that, well think again ;). With a name like “Crystal Blocks”, it’s not surprising you can find crystals. The best part is you can animate them: either letting them shine and glow, or just blast them like the knights in Castle. speaking of animations, Other pieces of Eye Candy include some standard Smiley-Faces, letters and numbers, and even some random Jazz sprites. The funniest piece would have to be the block with “I was here”. For the background there’s a new Texture made by Olsen, and some pointy orange mountains. If you want you can use the smaller for it as shown in the Example Level.

Masking
As always with blocky sets, not jagged edges or anything. The event tiles are all masked properly: the spikes edges are cut off, the poles are unmasked, and the hook only had that little strip. Nothing worth complainig about. :) Hidden mask messages are slowly turning into a necessity, even this set has them :P

Verdict
A lot of effort was put in it, you can tell by it’s sheer size. Even so, it’s still only a giant collection of blocks, and may not really appeal to anyone. Still, he shows promise. I’ll give it a 7.5 for the effort. Keep it up :)

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

OK, nobody’s reviewed this yet so i’ll do it, being the scavenger I am :)

Lay-out and Flow
For a first level, I don’t expect a mind-boggling lay-out. Here it’s quite simple and easy to grasp. Overall it can be divided into different levels of height; Top, middle and floor. The middle level is an (simplified) arch and the ends of it can only be reached by a hidden sucker tube behind the bases (you end up at the top level), or with Spaz’ double jump. Spaz has a definite advantage here. The top level is just a vertical extension to the ends of the middle level. The floor level however is just one straight line with an “underwater cup” section (more on that later). Overall, you get a “Speedy CTF” level: you just rush right in, grab the flag and rush back hoping you don’t get intercepted by the opponent. However, when both flags are taken, it can get quite problematic. Its simple design makes it like an open field, you just run, run, run.

Tileset Use and Eye Candy
I tell you, the Diamondus beta tileset is becoming as overused as the original JJ2 set in a matter of months! Overall, the use is above average, with some waterfalls in both forground and background and some trees and bushes. The background is very nicely done, tho. The mountain lake is put forward so far, the “mountains” are nothing more than oversized pebbles. Furthermore, the water doesn’t end at the mountain reflections, it goes beyond that without looking odd. Very good job on using the sky like that. The only disappointing thing is that most of the layer 4 eyecandy is on layer 5, even at spots where it isn’t necessary. Still, others have done it before, but when I turn on Low Detail, I sometimes spot a rogue tile of the omitted eye candy. On the bright side, the rest of the eye cnady makes the level look less symmetrical than it already is.

Ammo, Goodies, and other Stuff that’s good
This will be mostly about ammo, as it’s the only type of goodies this level has aside from some Fast Fires in the “water cup”. It’s amazing to see that each side (and therefore team) and level has its own type ammo. I’d like to begin with the sucker tubes behind the bases; Red side has RF, Blue side has bouncer. And let me tell you that compared with the rest, the respawn time is set too low. That makes it easy to stock up on ammo. I won’t go into detail with the rest, as there only Electro Blaster, Pepper Spray (Tip: those two are basically useless), Toaster and Seekers to mention. They’re not clustered, they’re just laying on the floor evenly spread apart. Speaking of Seekers, remember that “Water cup”? That’s where you’ll find the most feared of all CTF weapons: the Seeker Power Up! Evil cackle What’s more, once you reach it, the water level lowers so you can either stomp, kick or uppercut it for max ammo! lots of evil laughter O, Excuse me… on the floor above you’ll find a Super Carrot, if that’s any comfort and normal one hidden in some spikes. On a side note, why is there no ammo on the left top level?

Miscellaneous Stuff
First the music, it’s “The Orion Connection” by Icicle. Not a bad choice, not overwhelming, but it does the job. The next level setting is OK, it’s set to itself.

Final Verdict
Not bad for a first, not bad at all. Recommended for those flag carriers who like to run for their lives. :)

Ok, I have downloaded and looked at the tileset, might as well review it. I will keep in mind it’s a test tileset, so I’ll consider it unfinished for now. If you want to make a level, don’t use this set. Just a warning beforehand.

Graphics
Well, it certainly is different from what I’m used to see. If I have to make an equation; it’s like a page in a sketchbook, or an etching you see in an art museum. That’s the vibe I get. It really is different, out of this world if you will. The colors really support that; I’d say it’s grey scale, but it looks like beige scale at best. Overall, I get the feeling Jazz is stuck in an artsy sketch world, which is definitely different, weird, but also appealing, because it’s never been done before.

Blocks
Even though the hand-drawn blocks look like art exercises in shading, it really looks cool. Shading on the computer is one thing, shading by hand and importing them to JCS is another. Of the three pairs of big blocks, no block is like the other. On the bottom you’ll find patterns of rooftops, realistic brick walls and ceramic tiles. The best thing is, they look good when put next to eachother, because the individual pieces are so smal and the colors obscure the minor oddities. There’s a smaller version of the bricks and one of the big blocks for the background. Overall, very nicely done so far.

Extras
This is a test tileset, so it’s not surprising you won’t find anything like vines and poles. Still, it would have been nice to see at least a preview of them

Eye Candy
I only have to say this: the eye candy is huge. Here we an open back hand, a torch and the Eiffel Tower on a very, very, VERY hot summer day; it’s slightly bent over. They may have been random, but that only adds to the weirdness of this set. They have that “artsy” feel to them too, which makes them fit in anyway.

Mask
Everything is automasked here, as everything is still blocky (even with the sketchyness), except for the three pieces of eye candy mentioned above. You can stand on both the hand and the torch with no problem. The Eiffel Tower deserves a special mention as you can actually climb it! The mask is actually two parts, from the groudn to the first beam, and the second beam. You can’t climb to the top, but such ideas are always appreciated :)

Final Verdict
This tileset is all about looks at the moment, as it has no poles, vines ect. Still, it’s just a test so it’s forgivable. It’s definitely worth checking out for those who want to see something completely different (other than Monty Python). I’m expecting to see a new version with all the extras :)

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Ok, before I start this review, I want to point out to everyone that this tileset is not stolen. I’ve done some research i.e. downloaded Cool Day, and having the two side by side I conclude the two sets are not identical. Just getting this out of the way.

I honestly don’t know how to start, but since the Bad Day and Cool Day are so much alike I’ll use my “conversion” template.

Converison Completeness
Let me this straightened out: even tho it’s not stolen, it however is largely ripped from Ice M A N’s Cool Day, as the author claims. I say largely because a significant chunk of the original can be found in Bad Day: mainly the texture and bricks. That’s all, the many pieces of Eye Candy however, like the Spaz, the Dopefish (swim, swim, hungry) and sun with the sunglasses have been omitted.

Added Stuff that’s Good
Yes, Bad Day has some “original” stuff on its own. Yes, most of it is ripped too, but from another source: JJ2, which is allowable. From top to bottom we have: the arrow signs from Psych, the teleporter from Castle and Labrat, a blank block disappearing, Countdown Blocks (in two colors, tho it’s barely noticable), Weapon Blocks, the standard Fire, a Helmut and a Spaz animation. From other sources we find a moon, a sucker tube, a Textured background, a regular background, clouds, a waterfall, and splashing water, and that’s what’s bugging me a little. Not just because of the fact it’s ripped, it’s that the sources are not mentioned, which is a big no-no. For your information, the textured background and clouds are from Agama’s Heaven, the water stuff is from a Xargon conversion, the regular background is from Overlord I believe… Next time, credit your sources. Lastly, there is some original stuff: an invisible tile, a pole/vine (?), the army style letters, an elevator and a block with a First Aid kit. Cute.

Palette
Yes, a new entry, bare with me here. The colors deserve a mention because… well, it’s grim. Lots of blue-green, grey, black in different shades. In short, not really pleasant to look at. Of course, what did you expect from the creator of Hearts of Iron? Everything fared well with the palette editing except for one thing: the 3D Background. It’s too simplified. Granted, this has happened a lot because it usually has so many colors, it has to be simplified for the transition. Still, there have been successfull rips of this kind, it’s a real shame to let this happen.

Mask
Cool Day already was pretty angular, Bad Day is basically the same. If any, the sucker tubes are all unmasked. It would have been nice if the rounded edges were eliminated. Also, what exactly is that pole thing? A vine or a V-pole? It’s useless either way, the mask is done wrong. It’s too thick for a vine, and poles have to be unmasked in order to work.

Verdict
I’m not going to give it a rating since this tileset is one large rip, not only from Cool Day (the only source mentioned), but from other tilesets as well. The polite thing would have been to ask the person for permission, and credit him if he does allow you to use it. If there was anything worth rating, it’s the palette editing, and even that became a mess with the 3D Background. Not recommended.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Ok, it seems the newer folks have never even seen the original Jazz Jackrabbit from 1994. Back then the graphics were far more… primitive than they are now, think of… Super Mario Advance :P This tileset is a conversion, so the graphics were already made. Labratkid merely ported them to JCS, so it needs to be approached from a different angle than, o say, a whole new level. This review will first focus on the regular 2005 version, then explain the differences between that and the evening version.

Conversion Completeness
Violet will probably disagree, but I don’t see anything missing, and I do mean nothing is missing. Aside from the expected stuff like brick and stone platfroms, windows and whatnot, there are some other things in JJ1 nicely reproduced. Advertisement of the Gravis Gamepad? Got it. “Enjoy Epic”? you betcha. The missles you could ride? They’re back, as animated sprites. Platforms moving at insane speeds? What do you think? City Background, transport tubes, Epic Pinball and One Must Fall, this set’s got it all. Sorry, couldn’t resist. :P

Added extras
In this era of J2O, people expect a conversion not only to be complete, but to have some extras as well. JJ2 has more features than JJ1 and it would be a shame not to use them. Check off time!

- Vines: check, with all three kinds of background tiles.
- Poles: same story
- Hooks: none
- destructable blocks: only two, the * and ! kind.
- Sucker Tubes: see previous sections
- Conveyor Belts: none. In an urban world like Industrius he could have easily put some in.
- 3D Background: it’s there but… why is it blue? I suspect palette issues have something to do with it, but it would have been if it was pink like in JJ1, call me a purist if you will. At least it works in 8-bit.
- Text signs: based on the JJ1 ones.
- Trigger blocks: only the outlined ones.
- Inivisible tiles: check.
- Rain and Lightning: check.
- Sun and Moon: technically it should be in the previous section, but Industrius had neither in JJ1, that’s why it’s here. Check.
- Credits: Check.

Masking
Perfectly smooth, nothing jagged. It’s always interesting to see those hidden mask messages. Of course, it’s all nonsense. Keen fans can rejoice, there’s a message written in SGA (Standard Galactic Alphabet). If only I could decipher it…

Evening version
The evening version is a simple palette edit, but it’s… not all the way perfect. Everything now has a more orange/rusty tint, and I do mean everything. Labratkid has edited the standard game colors too, so they have the same effect. Intentional or not, i’ll consider it a “happy accident” and will hold nothing against it. I do wish there’s more variaty of shades or colors, I have a feeling a coupel of shades have two entries in the palette.

Example level(not counted to rating)
Just a smal battle level, its biggest goal is showing how to use the set. Those who have played Unreal Tournament may feel right at home, not only because of the music, but the overall setting. There are two mini-arenas next to the main one, an interesting idea. It’s only a tad heavy on the pickups in some areas. Not the best level, but it serves it’s purpose.

Final Verdict
A perfect conversion, but the added stuff isn’t quite perfect. More could have been done. That aside, it’s a recommended for those JJ1 tileset lovers :P

[edit: Thank you Cooba, I now see they are invisible slope tiles. Next time, instead of posting a comment, drop me a PM, ok? I’m not amused at the way you just pointed out mistakes in my review]

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Correction: Robert Allen wrote the JJ1 music, Alexander Brandon did that only for the sequels. Just so you know.

And the size limit is indeed 2 MB, Danyjel. It was lowered quite a few years ago to cut down our bandwidth usage.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Actually, it would have been better to upload just the Castle MIDIs alone, because the rest has already been uploaded once. We’re very sensitive about double uploads because we want to keep our bandwidth usage to a minimum. Hope you understand.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Ok, just to get one thing out of the way: Alexander Brandon did the music for JJ2, Robert Allen did the music for JJ1. Somehow people always assume Alex did the music for both games, which is bogus (Alex hadn’t even been hired by Epic in 1994, I think he was still school then)

Hey, just because I “helped” doesn’t mean I can’t review, I only gave suggestions :p

Main Melody

Completely borrowed from the original JJ1 Diamondus song, right down to the last note. Nothing to complain about, it’s his first remix, it’s safe to stick to the original melody. The beat in the background is completely the same, even tho it’s not that noticable unless you listen closely.

Instuments

If there’s one way to describe them, it’s loud. Ok, the one for the main melody is loud, a loud synthesized (aren’t they all? :p) sound. The beat in the background consists of mellow drums and hand claps (hey, I’m not familiar with instruments, bare with me here :P), and in my opinion they sound great, but with a little more experimenting he could have found some better ones :)

Miscellaneous

There are a couple of thing I’d like to note. First, it’s the tempo: compared to the original, this remix is slightly faster (like comparing Pezrox with Ceramicus). Also, the last part of the original has been cut (the amplified beat). The result is a shorter, slightly more active song, fitting for JJ1 Diamondus.

Verdict

Not bad for a first try, not bad at all, it’s worth a listen. He shows some promise. I just wish people would try less conventional JJ1 songs more often, but that’s just me ^^

- JelZe goldRabbit =:3

Ok, I’ll be gentle with this. This won’t be a regular review of mine because… well, this level’s short and seems unfinished. Instead I will just point out the things this level can be improved upon (if necessary I’ll do it in dutch, the filename is dutch)

Lay-out

The lay-out on its own is straight-forward: walk straight forward, enter a warp, walk some more while killing baddies till you meet the boss. The main thing is it’s way too short. I can understand the author intended it for beginning players, but still, it can be made just a bit longer. Also, you can just jump over the boss area and fall endlessly.

Tileset Use and Eye Candy

The second worst offender of this level. The background immediatly shows the author needs to learn some skill before publishing her work: none of the layers have been resized, so the sky doesn’t look the way it should. The eye candy is basic, and incomplete: I see turnips and carrots with out their tops. I’ve also spotted some tile bugs here and there.
At least she know how to make animations: those twinkly stars. Unfortunately she didn’t see the stars are masked

Events

That’s the worst offender. Anyone who’s played this level may have noticed that at the end, the boss music plays, but there’s no boss. Well, a quick trip to TSF JCS reveals why: it only appears on easy mode. That makes no sense! It’s a training level, why is it set on easy only? Better would have been to set it on hard for more experienced players. As for the rest, the only thing worth mentioning are:
- there are hardly any enemies, no ammo, just a shield and just one piece of food: a coconut.
- there’s a gem crate near the warp, with heaps of gems (15 of each)
- the boss area has End of Level. events. The boss doesn’t show up, but come on! This makes the level less than a cakewalk.

Miscellaneous

What do you know? The next level setting is missing, as well as the music. And as noted it’s TSF only (v. 1.24!). That’s all.

Verdict and Final Thoughts

I may have seemed harsher than usual, but believe me: other are even worse than me. I know the author is inexperienced, but it’s usually a good idea to learn some skills first before you publish a level. Sorry to say this,
but this is just junk. Here’s some tips, if you want to be a good level maker, follow them:

1) Learn how to resize layers. It’s easy, and for layer 8 it’s a cakewalk: just check “Texture mode” to resize to 8 × 8. All textured backgrounds have that size.

2) See how tiles fit together. It’s easy to make a level ugly if you just slap some tiles on a level.

3) Make some smal levels first for practice, but don’t publish them. Instead, show them to friends and ask what they think of it, learn from it. Make each level longer than the last, trying something new each time.

4) Find out the filename of the level, and the music you want to use. The level is for the Next Level Setting (setting it blank doesn’t mean it will loop) and the music is selfexplanatory

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

By special request from Danyel, It’s my turn to review. That, and this download doesn’t have a rating yet and I’m trying to catch up anyway :p

Melody

If the name didn’t give it away, this is another remix of the Jazz Jackrabbit theme we all know and love. It starts off shallow, slowly fading in till 0:54, when the real song starts. Nice for keeping the intro limited to 1 minute or so. The intro is basicly the first part of the intro of the original (I think I lost a few readers) over and over. If you’ve read my review of Dan’s Tubelectric Remix, Dan uses the same tactic: switching instruments. Nice strategy, as it helps keeping the song from growing dull. From 0:54 the actual song kick in, it somewhat follows the original(with a piece omitted). At 1:29 we get an intermezzo (quiet period) followed by, in my opinion, an annoying part if you use stereo headphones: The section 1:34 to 1:46 has the melody focussed too much on the left. Kinda painfull as it’s kind of loud. Followed by another intermezzo and at 2:04 we get an orignal solo piece till 2:28, with the same problem: focussed too much on the left. At 2:34 it resumes with the same melody as at 0:54. It goes on like that till 3:27, where we get another original solo (focussed too much on the left again, could ya guess?) It’s quiet long too: to 3:50. Then comes the outtro, which follows the outtro of the original faithfully, only with fade-out. Ok, i’m done.

Instruments

Switching instruments seems to be Danyel’s favored strategy for making remixes, and with the in-game songs being so short (a few exceptions here and there), what else can ya do aside from creating original melodies? I can’t exactly indentify the exact instruments, all I know is that the ones in the background are bassed in the beginning, sounding somewhat heavy and dampered. My guess is they’re synthesized. One instrument that caught me off guard was the piano, used for the original solos. As said before it’s quite loud. It’s also used at the very end, with heavily bassed instruments in the background, it’s a nice contrast wth the clear piano.

Tempo

All I can is: it’s steady. No changes or anything in mid-song. Compared with the original, this remix is a tad slower.

Verdict

A nicely done remix overall, the only problems are that on occasion, it’s focussed too much on the left and the piano’s a bit too loud when that happens. Still, the original pieces are an added welcome. Recommended listening with reservations, be sure not to use stereo head-phones :)

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

TBM: Music modules with the extensions .mod, .s3m, .it, .xm and some others work with JJ2 too. You just have to include the extension in the music field in the level proporties. You have to have version 1.22 or higher to make it work tho (correct me if I’m wrong) And besides, some remixes are just for listening.

Violet: I think he’s either trying to suck up to me (Tubelectric is my fav JJ song) or finding that the song so easy to remix, along with Technoir.

And with that, i’m forced to write a review. How lucky can I be? :P

First impressions

Danyel has really overdone it this time. Just a warning to future reviewers: it’s 10 and a half minutes long! Be sure to have some spare time handy ;p. Anyway, this a real remix, not just a change of instruments, or tempo. Just parts of the song rearranged, but because the original song is so short (2 minutes at the most) you only have that many parts to work with, so repetition is a major danger here. It gets repetitive, yes, but I actually didn’t find it that annoying, especially near the end.

Melody

It’s not a straight conversion, but some part of the original are used more than others. We’re talking 10 minutes of play time here, folks, ten fricking minutes! The Intro is really… well, semi-active, just some beats in a regular tempo. The real thing starts at about 1:20, a tad long for my tastes. That’s where the intro of original Tubelectric kicks in, and keeps kicking in till 1:58. Then we get the intro again, mixed with the second part of Tubelectric, fading in. When near 2:48 it fades out, then the song relies on beats and the second part of the Tubelectric, stand-alone. At 3:05 it resumes its original pattern, but more of the original can be heard. Stay with me folks :P, We’ve only covered a third so far. Intensifying at 3:31, switching to outtro at 3:57… To make this short, It’s repetitive, but not that annoying (Yes, I’m a cheapskate for not giving you the entire song ;p), thanks to the variaty in instruments and good use to fading in and fading out of some parts. I just wish more of the original melody would have been used, would have made it more interesting to listen. As for looping, there is none, only fade-out from 10:00.

Instruments and Samples

Danyel claims this to be techno trance, I’m sensing more techno than trance. In fact, I dare say this more dance music. Heavy beats, synthesized instruments and the like. Tho the melody is repetitive as stated before, the change of instruments gets most of the sting out of it. A real nice example of this is near the end from 8:58, where it keeps switching between two sets. i don’t really have anything else to say :)

Final Verdict

Things are starting to look up for Danyel, he’s finally getting closer to the jackpot. This remix is more for listening (or dancing, it’s perfect for that) than for using in a level, therefor it’s recommended.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

P.S. I’m playing this in XMPlay, but MODPlug works fine too

Ok, nobody else wants to review? Fine, I’ll do it myself then… Only to give it the rating it deserves before it gets knocked off the list. :p

First impressions

If you’ve seen an “Office” level of some sorts, you may agree that this level takes the cake: it’s a real office building, complete with a basement :P This level gives the phrase “Office Party” a new meaning, as it’s filled with ammo ;). Coins are there too, for a bonus. O yeah, you can move between floors via holes on the floor.

Lay-out

Smal and simple at it’s best. The reason it’s an office building is that it’s… well, nothing more than 2 stacked rooms and 2 basement rooms connected by a smal passage. Like I said before, the stacked are connectd by holes in the floor. No worries if you want to get back up again, there are springs placed in this level. The upper most floor can only be reached by using the coin warp, or should rather, I can easily reach it with Spaz’ double jump! It’s not a total disaster (see “Ammo, Food etc.”), but still, the function of that room is now downgraded. There’re still two secrets left tho, in the basement passage.

Tileset Use and Eye Candy

It’s an Office themed tileset, what would you expect in terms of eye candy? That’s right: roll-away chairs, desks, vending machines, lights and what not. The basement section looks like a basement, with elevator doors, switches (non-functioning), barrels and vending machines. An interesting thing to note is that Art Rabbit used only used layer 5 for background eye candy, but he still filled layer 8. The rest is just plain blocks and a “Keep Out” in the basement.

Ammo, Food, Stuff that’s Good

This is a neat part of the level. Each type of Eye Candy has it’s own type of goodie. Vending machines have ammo (even different machines have different kinds), desks usually have coins, coffee machines have carrots and the message board has fast fire. While that may seem creative, it’s also the weakest part. The Vending machines first. I’ve spotted only one of each kind. You can get all kinds (excluding TNT), but if you want a particular kind, you’d have to run :P Further more, why is there Pepper Spray and Electro Gun in the bonus room?! These two kinds are utterly useless in battle, especially the first (See why it wouldn’t be a disaster if Spaz were to get there?). It would have been better to seal that room and fill it with Power-ups. As for the coins (which are now pretty much useless now), it’s pretty easy to get enough for the coin warp if you’re playing a duel (yay for secrets filled with gold coins). Fast fire and carrots are OK I guess.

Miscellaneous

What bugs me is that Art Rabbit included the set in the zip, but not the music (aws_fire.xm “Breath of Fire” by Awesome). It’s about a megabyte big, so it would fit kinda (the limit is 2 mb, but zip files below 1 mb are preferred), but I understand why he didn’t bother. I just wish he indicated what music he used. The next level setting is ok, the level loops :P

Verdict

A decent level, pretty much fit for carnages with the right ammo. If the pepper spray and electro guns would have been replaced with power-ups and the “bonus room” sealed off. It would have been a 7. For now, it’s a 6.5 worth.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

I say, I really must have way too much time on my hands, otherwise I wouldn’t get first review each time :P Not that I care…

First impressions

As the name may explain it all, this is an autumn (fall) themed tileset, so there’s a lot colors related to that season: red, orange, very light brown… A tree, a mountain background and a squirrel statue are the main decorations. Looks nice at first sight.

Ground and Wall tiles, can’t play without them ;p

Like I said above, the main colors are red, orange and a light brown. The red and orange of course are used for the area that are supposed to be green. The actually has nice texture, considering it’s made in MSPaint! No kidding! (It said so in the mask message). The background wall tiles are a pure black with no texture. Hmmmm…

Tileset Extras

Neon Psy was kind enough to put in two pieces of extras: an H-pole and a V-Pole, both masked, and that’s where the problem is. Poles are supposed to be unmasked (Thank you Disguise’s Tileset Resource). The result is that the player will get stuck in the H-Pole (the one standing up) and fly in the opposite direction. The V-Pole works fine, which is a stroke of luck. It can still be used as a vine tho, which isn’t a bad alternative. That’s all I have to say about extras.

Eye Candy

This is the area where this tileset lacks the most. I said in a previous review “Stuff is Good”. The more stuff you put in, the better. Anyway, The only pieces of Eye Candy I can see is that nicely done squirrel statue, with a shootable head, (Squirrel haters here’s your chance ;p), water (a pure blue), a ripped Diamondus tree (nicely converted), 3D Background ripped from Blade’s tilesets (Not so nicely done, it only has two colors and looks a tad weird in 8-bit) and a Mountain background (ripped from Blade’s Desert). At least he credited Blade for them, I may have to ask him if he really gave permission :p

Miscellaneous

The only thing I will talk about here is this: wasted tileset space. Right next to the 3D Background you’ll an empty space of 2 × 8 tiles, and aboe the mountain a strip of 7 empty tiles. If you ask me, they could have been used for more extras of eye candy, like a big tree you can climb in. Given the texture in the ground I’m sure Neon PSY can pull that off :P Or destructable blocks, a must for every tileset. The way I see it, empty space equals wasted potential for improvement.

Verdict

Not a bad try for a first. Everything necessary is there, but that’s it. With a couple of more extras and Eye Candy, people would be able to make a nice level with it. What really i’d like to see is an update, with the poles unmasked, 3D background fixed in 8-bit, and a couple more things added.

Edit: I’m on a roll here folks :p In this edit I’ll just discuss the changes made to this set, so pay attention.

Tileset Extras

More extras were added in this update, in the form of destructable blocks. It’s a shame there are only two kinds: the blank and ! kind. O well, Neon is still a beginner, we can’t expect miracles. He was even kind enough to fix the H-Pole by unmasking it. :)

Eye Candy

Two new pieces of Eye Candy are introduced in this update: A new tree stem with branches, and a new top for the Diamondus tree. They both look good, but the tree looks more like a stick poking out of the ground. It would have been nice if the branches were masked for Jazz to hang on to. The background has been remodeled, but it’s still evident Neon took Blade as an example: he used the same colors, but different shapes, which is fine in my book. The 3D background still looks weird in 8-bit though.

Verdict

Same as before, a nice try. Maybe it’s time for Neon to start thinking about making a new tileset, he definetly shows potential. For now, this set is worth a look at. Well done!

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Well, nobody’s gonna rate this, might as well be me :p

First thoughts

Well, lemme tell you I had to play in Co-op to play this level properly. It’s basicly just a square in the sky, and in SP, you start outside of it. A dirty glitch, but it can be prevented. (Ask Disguise, or take a look at his levels). Anyway, the level is rather smal and simple in every way. Easy to navigate, which is a good thing.

Layout

The easiest way to make a big MP level is just to make half and mirror it. However, symmetry isn’t necessarily a good thing. You’ve seen half, you’ve seen it all. The layout isn’t half bad tho (no pun intended), just an open space with some platforms with springs. The way I see it, it’s made to make a quick getaway. There are sucker tubes in the border walls, which start at the base and end at the top, where you can find powerups (more on that later). The tubes have multiple entrances, so it’s quite easy getting them. On the bottom you can find a darkened cave with a smal tunnel, ideal to shake opponents who use RF a lot. Overall, very simple, but it does the job it needs to do. O forgot to mention, the symmetry is hampered a bit because one of the two springs is misplaced at the blue base. It’s better to keep the one on the edge and remove the other.

Tileset use and Eye Candy

Alien Temple II isn’t that big, it doesn’t have much eye candy. The background only has a fall of gems, a system of tubes and layer 4 wall tiles. Layer 4 has background walls with alien letters, alien faces and gemstones in the ground. The gems have been made translucent, but sadly the ground around the tile too. It would have been better if they were solid. Eye Candy wise that’s it, basic tileset eye candy, but the tileset has more to offer, namely gems sticking out of the ground. And even tho the tunnel has been darkened, it’s not reflected by layer 4 wall tiles. That doesn’t make sense to me.

Ammo, food and other stuff that’s good

No food here, just ammo. Even then it’s only fields of toasters, RF, pepper spray and seekers. There are two powerups, an RF and a seeker one, in the top left and right part of the level. Seeing the level doens’t have a layout based on strategy (ok, maybe the tunnel) but on speed, RF, Toasters and Seekers are all you’ll need. I just wish the placement was a tad more symmetrical.

Miscellaneous

First of all, I’m not fond of the name given to the ZIP-file. “New WinZip file” is too generic, i would have preferred something like “TempleCTF”. That aside… The music used in this level is called “Acid Phuture”, tracked by the Deviant (Tip: most trackers leave comments, including their name, in the sample, instrument, or comment area of the info section in ModPlug Player) The music is simple, but it’s suitable. Speaking of suitable, the level is played best in TSF, because the next level is set to “Townhouse CTF”. Just so know, untill the author corrects this mistake.

Verdict

A nice try overall. This level may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s enjoyable for the ones who like a fast game of CTF without too much thinking. Those who prefer strategy may want to pass. Recommended if the next level setting was set to itself.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Sighs Another Technoir remix? When will it end? There are 35 JJ1 songs to choose from (18 normal, 10 CD, 4 Xmas, Menu, bonus and ending, I’m not counting the end of level one since it’s so short) and all they choose is Technoir!

First Thoughts

Let me tell you this: this doesn’t sound like Technoir at all. I mean, Technoir (pron. Tek-no-war)is a Techno Wartorn planet, and nothing in this song reflects that. Maybe i’m asking too much, but this song could use some work.

Melody and Tempo

What’s noticable from the start is that the tempo has been quickened. The original melody has some parts missing, like the shooting and the heavy voice, and the finale, (BAD move) It’s also been scrambled, like the Tubelectric remix before this one.

Samples

I guess only electric instruments have been used, and even then only 4 or 5 at the most. The tracker put in a sample of the original, but it’s a very minor one. Altogether it sounds like a bad electric dance music.

Add-ons

No parts added, so no comment

Verdict

This is about the same level as the Tubelectric remix, same problems.
Plus this is a remix of a planet song that’s been done to death! Next time, take a planet that hasn’t been done, like Marbelara, Battleships, Exoticus, etc.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

OK, my first review on J2O version 2. :P And probably my last… Maybe I’ll just do music reviews from now on, no more levels or tilesets :P

Ok, what we have here is (yet again) a Tubelectric remix. We have what, 5 of them already?
Sigh, lets get it over with :)

First Thoughts

When I first listened to it, I was expecting another Xmas remix of Tubelectric (the third one .;) Made me wanna scream “Tubelectric is a christmas planet!” It actually isn’t a Xmas remix, just a normal one… not that bad tho, I just wanna hear a remix that doesn’t sound like christmas.

Melody and tempo

The original Tubelectric song (song3 for the ones who are unaware) had a melody which fit together, the “stages” as I call them now create a “story” of the planet (for lack of a better term) when put in order. But in this remix, everything is just thrown together. It looks like the tracker / artist just created each part and randomly placed them into the song. Result: a song that doesn’t make sense.

Samples

Another weak part. A good remix has samples that fit in with the theme. In this, I mostly heard… bells! Yes, bells! I don’t recall seeing bells in Tubelectric :p This fact really made me think it’s another Xmas remix. There are some synthesizer samples in the background, but they don’t help much.

Add-ons

No new parts were added, so no comment.

Verdict

As you can probably tell this remix could a lot of improvement. If the melody was more like the original and not thrown together, and the samples better chosen (electricity in the background for one, hard beats for the melody itself), it would help a lot.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3