Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Sean here without a rating to say congratulations on stealing that song I wanted to use. I no longer have the luxury of saying I discovered this awesome song. :c

i always really liked this level (previous version even with crappy set) and i guess i wont change my mind ever, especially that now you can move there more freely than before and, goddamn – music rox!

What makes this level good? For starters, it’s made by Ragnarok, and a lot of things he constructs have the habit of turning out pretty darned well.

Just as this level, Starlit Basin, does.

It’s a battle level, but it feels more like war games on a deserted tropical island. Weapons and powerups are distributed liberally, and plenty of springs and escape routes are provided to make this stage a blast to play. I was a little skeptical about the blaster PU with accompanying fast fires right out in the open, but it’s not a game-killer.

Buggage is minimal, and the music fits the level quite well.

I think my only real complaint is that the Mystic Isle tilesets are so limited, and it’s difficult to come up with something original with them since everyone else has already done it to some extent. I feel that holds this level back to some extent, and that’s too bad.

In any event, Starlit Basin is still a very satisfactory level, and I’ll gladly give it my seal of approval. Download today.

Very well designed race level.

What a nice pack. Really.

It’s pretty hard to make an attractive, significantly useful level with a JJ1 tileset, especially Diamondus, since the graphics are so last-generation and so limiting.

So Ragnarok took what he had, put it together a different way, and lo and behold we have Starlit Summit.

Huge CTF levels can be truckloads of fun if they’re executed well, and SS is no exception. This thing is GIGANTOR. The Red and Blue bases are farther apart than east and west, and there’s a dizzying plethora of original, noncliched routes and passages to get there.

Plenty of ammo is provided for shooting at the opponent, as well as a small number of powerups, and it may be entirely possible to run aimlessly about for thirty seconds without seeing a single opponent.

And the eyecandy here is excellent. Unique shapes are cut out of the blue cavewall backgrounds. Trees stick out from the topmost sections of said blue cavewall. Nothing is overdone or copy-pasted, and it all looks like it belongs.

I wasn’t, however, as impressed as Crimi was with the music. The song Rag chose seemed a bit too ‘technological’ to me, for a naturesy, outdoors-type environment like Diamondus. Perhaps something like AMBIENTtwist.xm or even aws_ox9f.xm would’ve worked better.

In any event, Starlit Summit is a great level with lots of character, and it’s worth a download.

I have played this level with a bunch of people in Ragnarok’s server and I was surprised. It was better than I initially thought. The good use of the tileset, as Toni said, led to good eyecandy (not anything special, but it’s good). The gameplay is great, it works well with a lot of people (a bit surprising for such a small level) and ammo is so conveniently placed. This level deserves a high rating, and if I forget I need the reward for a minute I can rate it 8.5 and give it a DL rec. Good job and good luck on the contest!

For the originality, gameplay and concept I give it a 8.0. For a good use of tileset I give +0.5. Nice idea. Good job!

[shall I say that I finished a lap once and it didn’t count ?]

Its a nice lvl, a bit small but that was the point. Btw i totally kicked ur ass in it >]

It sure seems like I’ve been reviewing a LOT of Ragnarok’s levels lately, doesn’t it?

Never mind, because most of his levels, including this one, are pretty danged good.

Dusk uses the Traditional Japan set brilliantly, with imposing Japanese palace-things on both sides of the level, a small handful of pagodas housing CTF bases in the middle, liberally distributed ammo pickups and a couple of powerups, namely the RF and Toaster ones.

Eyecandy was placed without qualm or reserve, and it really enhanced the overall appearance of the level. Take, for instance, the rock caves in the upper midsection of the level. Instead of just making a plain old flat wall, Rag punched a cheese grater through the back, creating holes left and right, some of which he placed waterfalls behind. It was the sign of what all good JCSers do, which is work with what they have and make something really good.

One problem I DID have with the eyecandy was that all of the waterfalls seem to be moving at the exact same speed. Seriously. I would’ve liked to see maybe some moving a little faster, some moving a little slower, but instead everything moves at an identical rate. Bummer.

Eyecandy aside, the gameplay was smooth, bugs were generally avoided, and the whole level rocked.

I didn’t download the song (since I’m paranoid about that because I got nasty spyware the last time I tried that), so I won’t include it in my rating. Knowing Rag, though, it’s probably also really good.

Therefore, it seems in the end that Ragnarok has continued his winning ways with Dusk of Serenity, building another champ level that just happened to take DL of the Month in its respective month. Great job once again, Rag. DL rec.

EDIT: Waterfalls fixed. Rating modified.

Whoa. What a level.

I was very much impressed by what Ragnarok was able to do with the JJ1 Battleships tileset, taking it and building a race the likes of which are rarely seen.

Lost Luggage Landfill is expertly built. There’s clever Spring traps that can both punish and reward a player, depending on how they’re used. There’s loop-de-loop segments, where the racers go through one section, then make a return circuit through it. Like basically everybody else here has said, gameplay was completely on point, and this level rocks.

That being said, I was VERY confused by the segment at the beginning (which I am quite disappointed to find no one else addressed in their reviews) with the in-wall trigger crates, which although doubtlessly intended as a whimsical flourish of excellence, ended up frustrating the bejeebers out of me.

Which was too bad. I dunno, maybe I’m missing something important regarding the fancy sequence, but I’d be willing to bet that’s the bug that Daemon was talking about in his review.

Rabbit trails.

Contrary to what he insists in the upload description, Rag seems to have an uncanny knack for building race levels. Lost Luggage Landfill, once past the annoying intro, is a terrific race and a blast to play. Ragnarok’s good, and his levels even better. Download today.

There aren’t a lot of people who build race levels. Still less who actually care about them.

No, I’m completely serious. Next to Treasure Hunts, quite possibly the most irrelevant and unspectacular multiplayer mode of Jazz 2 in terms of quality custom-built levels is the Race category. For whatever bizarre, unappealing or totally unexplained reason, JCSers just don’t want to put in the time and effort required to create a decent course.

Because of this, J2O members generally pay little to no attention on the rare occasions when a race (or a Treasure Hunt, for that matter) is uploaded. After all, nobody ever makes worthwhile maps, so what’s the point?

As a result, the vicious cycle comes full circle, returning to the JCSers who are not properly encouraged to try and make these sparse and often unappreciated styles of multiplayer levels.

My point is compounded by the glaringly obvious fact that, despite being a Featured upload with 446 downloads, Ragnarok’s race level has but one quick review and but one full-length review.

True, that full-length review may happen to be a Featured Review, but that’s mostly because it’s the lone votable review for the level, and is thus the most likely review to be sampled on the front page of J2O, which in most cases greatly contributes to Featured Review status.

The whole thing’s a terrible shame, really, because Nature’s Plot of Land is one of the best races I’ve EVER seen. And believe you me, there’s nary a level to challenge it.

First off, the structure is fantastic. NPoL meshes perfectly with its Mystic Isle tileset, going from expansive, roomy caverns one minute to steep, foreboding cliffs the next, then magnificent waterfalls, then winding subterranean rivers…the list goes on and on and on.

Ragnarok then avoids the classic blunder, the biggest of which is getting involved in a land war in Asia, but only SLIGHTLY less significant is to never put warps where they don’t belong!

Princess Bride quotations aside, Rag chose not to take the cheap way out and use a space-age teleporter in a naturalistic, outdoorsey environment to warp the player back to the start, instead employing a really cool sucker-tube-aided passage that flings the player through still more earthy tunnels, magically depositing them back at the start.

Beat that!

NPoL uses Mystic Isle brilliantly, with just the right amount of eyecandy dotted in various places to make it seem natural. A-plus there.

Then there’s the obstacles. Oh, be still my heart! Ragnarok showed a masterful flair for levelmaking with the obstacles he placed in this race. Spring traps (Cleverly executed ones like the Blue Spring right at the beginning never grow old). TnT booby-trap crates. Freezers to immobilize fellow players, powered-up RFs to knock them backwards (plus an ingenius method for procuring them), Keep-1 springs (A lot of people miss this crucial level-building trick, which prevents springs from automatically killing a player’s left-to-right momentum) that send the racer flying off the edge of a cliff.

The TnT crates are especially devastating in the underwater segment.

I was also VERY happy to discover certain types of ammo that Ragnarok left OUT, namely the seekers and toasters. Seekers used to be my favorite weapon, but they’re so overrused now that I’m absolutely sick of ‘em. Toasters would serve little purpose on a race anyway, so it’s good that they’re not wasted here.

The weapon I was most pleased to find present was the Pepper Spray powerup. Pepper Spray is so underrated, due to its complete uselessness in singleplayer. Nevertheless, it is instrumental in multiplayer, thanks to its minuscule size and difficulty in subsequently avoiding. It works great here.

NPoL had a great song, too. Its fast pace kept me hopping through the stage (as any good race song will), yet it was organic enough to be completely appropriate for this level. Hats off to Rag for an excellent selection.

Not much needs to be said about buggage, since it’s basically nonexistent.

The absolute ONLY criticism I have is the “Bouncy Cliffs”, where one tile is slightly high enough that, without a full head of steam, it requires a few tries to successfully climb up.

Think about that for a minute. THE WORST THING I CAN FIND TO SAY ABOUT NPoL IS THAT ONE TILE IS PLACED ONE SPACE TOO HIGH.

Summary? Nature’s Plot of Land took my breath away, not because it was such a tremendously well-executed upload on all fronts (which it was), but because it went almost completely unnoticed by prospective reviewers. I probably wouldn’t have even played it at all if I hadn’t picked a random level of Ragnarok’s to evaluate, in exchange for his own review on one of mine.

And just think of what all I would’ve missed out on.

7.8?! Heck, no! This race deserves better. So much better.

It was an almost perfect upload, so I’m going to give it an almost perfect rating. Nature’s Plot of Land was a terrific level, and I think it’s just plain ridiculous that people don’t make races like this more often.

Wonderful job, Ragnarok. Wonderful, wonderful job. Two thumbs up, a standing ovation and an immediate and unconditional download recommendation go to you today.

VSFC is by far the superior level here, and is the main selling point of the pack in my opinion, despite what the other reviewers have stated. Great event level. TCS has cool aspects to it such as the the freezable celing springs, although suffers from severe Red bias, due to having faster attacking routes than Blue and a more defendable base.

thios are a level very hgood

I liked it.

Definitly one of the best CTFs in 2011 so far. Great layout.
Only objections are that an almost slopeless set can be chaotic at times with so many springs and that the music annoys me after a while but w/e.

Mad props to the ec, especially for this set. Eventhough I think some ec parts are a little overdone, it doesn’t matter. Download this now!

making level like a boss

played a very fun 3v3 there

balanced

nice trix

the lonely mameluke riding a path would be proud of this level :D

I agree with Derby but I like this level enough to think it’s underrated!

Due it’s a very small level, it’s fun to play. You actually need a few tricks to control this map. It has a movement to gain ammo in a special way, which more levels have. This map looks awesome for me, except layer 6.
Also, not the best music choice..

Definitely a fun level. What makes the gameplay interesting here is that whilst it’s a small level, the sheer amount of PUs and carrots means that it can work under pretty much any game size, whilst still not being too difficult to learn but also being strategical enough to provide entertaining matches. It also has a basic but solid look.