Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

want it!

A nice little Battle level by Ragnarok. It uses a tileset that’s not really overused but it has been used a few times before with success (Pearl-Shell Shore, Sunken Realm) but this level has really good tileset use and eye candy.

I’m also glad that the level has almost no seekers (and there’s no Seek PU!)

Download recommended.

I would like someone that makes a jazz jack rabbit 2.00
(Not cheating)

word

Although this review was written in January 2009 for a level released in August 2008, I still wanted to address what I liked and disliked about “Lost Luggage Landfill.” I will mainly focus on the gameplay aspect of the race level in this review, though I will make some remarks about the appearance of the level.

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Gameplay (9.5/10, 80% Weight):

On my first lap of this race level, I was a little confused. Upon further inspection, this can be attributed not to the gameplay, but the appearance of the level. After several playthroughs, I concluded that the flow, length, and potential for action in this level are likely the most balanced I have seen in a JJ2 race level.

Flow:

The height of horizontal areas and the width of vertical areas in the level switch from “wide” to “narrow” frequently over long stretches. The effect should be more noticeable with more than two competitors. The short symmetrical branching paths (side-by-side pipes) allow the action to split up so the racing can have some semblance of “defense” that is lacking in other levels.

The springs are properly placed throughout the level, and I was also pleased to see them used well with “dissonance” early in the level, in that holding right constantly on the upper path toward the beginning results in the player being pushed back a little by blue springs, which is adequate punishment for holding “right” brainlessly.

The overall route of the level is confusing at first, though there are arrows indicating where to go. In particular, when the route is reversed, it would be nice to have the arrow pointing at the pole route removed via the same trigger and have a different arrow pointing to the left to show the correct path to take for the confused user who is experiencing this flip in the route for the first time. This is again, an appearance issue, but it impacts the flow of the level the first time through. A difficult goal in making the “perfect race level” is making the primary route perfectly clear the first time around. This and another appearance issue I will note later are the only issues, and they are very minor.

On the ascents of this level, Spaz has a minor movement advantage in that he has a few more options to shave his overall time. In particular, his extra jump allows him to forgo the ice ammo over the spring just after the trigger-based crossover somewhat early in the race. On the other hand, neglecting to pick up any ice causes the player to miss out on some decent ice-based shortcuts that would otherwise make up for that time. Other than this and the boxed spring situation very early in the level where Spaz can access the bouncer ammo without the use of the higher green springs using his extra jump, there are no significant advantages for Spaz.

Jazz has a few combat advantages in this level. The slight horizontal descent after the “holes in the floor” area that follows the steep descent through three pipes can affords Jazz better control over freezing his opponents with ice while flying. Additionally, the fact that he requires a jumping punch to access one of the ice shortcuts punishes players taking the same shortcut or merely passing over. Again, these are about as minor as Spaz’s movement advantages.

Most of the shortcuts in the level involve a risk/reward situation. In some cases, (in particular the RF shortcut and the second iced spring shortcut) the risk scales exponentially with the number of players and players may need to think twice about using them.

There is one major “one-use only” shortcut that is probably best used the first time around because it bypasses destructible scenery the first time around. It is close to the point where the course flips around. Unless in the case of race over TCP destroyed scenery is not destroyed for everyone, players can essentially “do all the work” for someone else. It has to be destroyed when the course flips on the player, however, though by this time the player can just use TNT to destroy the blocks. This probably makes taking the shortcut on the first lap every time and then picking up TNT the optimal strategy in every situation, which is the only remotely significant flaw that I can see in this level’s design. To balance this out, you might be able to do something with triggers to slightly punish players who took the shortcut that are also trying to obtain the TNT on the same lap (or not at all, for that matter). This would actually make using the shortcut on a different lap strategic.

Weapon placement:

While combat is less important in a race level than the flow, it is still important to have good weapon placement in case combat takes place. I have nothing bad to say about the weapon placement. Where paths split, bouncer ammunition is placed at the top, RF ammunition (which goes both up and down) is placed in the middle, and pepper spray (which goes straight) is placed at the bottom. The toaster ammunition is placed in wide open areas where it is more effective than other weapons. I only comment on this to point out that this is a good example to look at if you want to know what good weapon placement looks like in a race level. Weapon placement can only be as good as the design of the level, and since there are several symmetrical splits in the level, there are plenty of opportunities to use these effective principles.
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Functional appearance (9.0/10, 10% Weight):

The tiles of the tileset are properly meshed together in all instances so no confusion will occur because of improper use of tiles. The first time around, the level was only a little confusing because I thought I was going back the way I came when I went right through one of three pipes, fell down a warp, and then went left through what looked at first like the same three pipes. This somehow made me think I was going backwards for a while and caused me to question my route throughout the rest of the level. This was not an issue on subsequent playthroughs, but it does reveal a slight lack of variety in that particular part of the level. Variety may trade off with consistency, however. Improving upon the overall design might require changing the first triple-pipe area that goes left. You maybe could just get away with changing the foreground in that area, though. The open view of space underneath it really should have caught my attention the first time through, but I did not notice it when I was trying to speed through the level. More holes in the background might look better, but the amount of holes should be kept reasonable.

I should mention again that the arrow pointing at the pole route around the point where the course flips around is misleading when the player is instructed to go back down. That arrow should be temporarily removed via trigger and a different arrow should appear that points left. It is okay to point arrows along the primary route of the level. You only need arrows pointing at alternate routes when you want those alternate routes to be obvious and they are not already obvious.
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Graphical appearance (8.0/10.0, 10% Weight):

No offense to the tileset creator, of course, but I feel the tileset limits the potential of this race level. The tileset is used very well to create the occasional view of space, and that is easily the best use of the tileset in this level. The “inside” areas contrast with this in that they are comparatively bland, though I could see that much effort was made to optimize the appearance of the level despite this. In short, the level looks good, but it is not eye-catching.
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Overall (9.3/10.0, rounded down to 9.2 to fit J2O’s rating system):

I really feel this raises the bar for race levels with regard to flow and weapon placement. The level is still very limited in its choice of landmarks throughout the course. It is still about as scenic as it can get with the chosen tileset, so I would at least like to acknowledge that some effort was made to make the level stand out aesthetically. You can only really make a race level better by keeping it this great over a slightly longer course and adding interesting landmarks that fit properly in the level, much like what was already added in the case of the space views throughout the level.

Any shortcomings in the “eye-catching” department of this race level are trounced by the excellent level design, which provides fun and balanced racing and combat at all skill levels. This is a short race level, but it has so many movement and combat options for racers throughout the level that races can be conceivably very different every time. I recommend this level as a worthy addition to any race pack on a server as well as a great example of how one should design a race level.

Good work on the level.

~ Derby

Nice level, good for lots of players.

This level was quite enjoyable. The layout was very confusing for the first few minutes I was trying it out, but everything made sense really quick. The level is huge, and relatively easy to learn. I love the way you made some parts of it really Spaz-biased and other parts are completely Jazz-biased. The level looks great, and I love the theme.

Starting Comments
Hey boss.

I’ve already seen this level some time ago… I think back when I was 10 ten years old, on the original Epic level list I mean back in the summer. This level wowed me back then for it’s hugeness (239 × 80). But it doesn’t very much matter if I liked it THEN, it matters wether or not I like it NOW.

Gameplay: Lovely
The level has a rather solid feel to it, while in reality it is really platformy. Several (large) platforms connect to eachother through springs, vines and height-differences that automatically make you leap on the other. The level is quite large and symmetrical, with the exception of the ammo and PU placement (more on that later).

The level plays in three stories, so to speak. The lower part of the level is where the bases are located and where most of the PUs can be obtained. The middle section of the level is mainly there to force players to go up or down, and the upper part of the level provides all the carrots that are to be found in the level.

On the lower level, one can obtain the Bouncer PU, in my opinion the strongest weapon in this map. That is because of the location of the bases. To put this weapon to the best, however, one would need the Freezer gun as well, which can be found (PU inclusive) near the base as well. The bases are located on a floating platform with around it (yes, you guessed it!) PITS! Since the floating platform is a bit lower, one can easily run into the pits after getting a flag. Also, it’s quite easy to defend the base, since a few Bouncers can make the player jump-flinch, as Jazz and Spaz always do, which will drop them in the pits. If you want to be even more sure, stand behind (and thus slightly above) the base and have Freezers at the ready… Spam bouncers and as soon as you hit something, press enter to spam Freezers. Well, if he didn’t fall down NOW, you’re bad at this game. Be ashamed.

Now that you’ve saved your flag, it’s time to grab a hold of the other team’s flag. Luckily the level is very large and has tons of ammo, so you can spread your chances of being caught and killed. If you take the lower route, you’ll find tons of PU’s which can aid you in your quest for the flag. Also, (if you can find it) you can use the ‘special-iced’ route (hint hint, nudge nudge) which will take you to any base or to the full NRG on the spot.

Atmosphere: orjazzm
The level uses a really old tileset, the JJ1 Diamondus tileset. Luckily for Rag (and for us), NOKA was nice enough to make an awesome tileset conversion for us all to use. The level looks awesomely clean and worked out. Starlit Summit gives honour to it’s name by giving us a very nice background and, of course, STARS. WAIT THIS ISN’T MARIO, AAH… Okay…

The level is filled to the brink with eyecandy, ranging from rock formation to simply trees placed in the right spot. Also, while everything looks quite solid, the level is actually more open than you think. This is mainly because of the nice detailing Rag has dealt here with his Shining Paragon of Mousely Correctness. [/overstatement]

Not to forget, the music adds a calm touch to the already calm background and makes you wish real life looked like this inside the United States too.

Eventing: Very neat
Starlit Summit is filled to the brink with ammo and PUs. Now I don’t immediately wanna say I think that’s a bad thing, especially since this is designed for, as you say, a 7vs7… but some things just seem over- or underpowered.

For instance, you can easily get maxed out FastFire in this level, while there is a Blaster PU (making blaster a bit overpowered) and a Bouncer PU with LOTS of bouncy ammo all around. Blaster PU is obviously overpowered for it’s unlimited ammo and the fact that it almost shoots the farthest of all weapons. Next to that is the Bouncer PU, which actually shoots the farthest. Furthermore, most of the players are gonna take the low route, which puts them in a classical Star Wars situation. High > Low. Why? Bouncers can overrun the entire lower section within seconds because of the Fast Fires.

Besides that, there’s also something I found odd about the centre of the map. There are two blue springs there, but they seem to be generated by some sort of MCE event. Why?

Yet one thing that bugs me a little bit… Blue team kind of has an advantage of being able to get to the Bouncy PU first… but that’s just my opinion.

As for the rest of the level, it is absolutely brilliantly engineered. From the frozen spring passageway to the ‘basejump’, every details seems to have been tested and tested again to make sure everything worked properly. Which makes you mister awesome for today.

Overall Awesome
A very good level with overall original and innovative ideas. Too bad 7vs7’s don’t happen that often, otherwise I’d play this all the time. I give this level a 9.1, which is an [Awesome / Perfect]. I hope you liked reading this terribly awfully stupidly long review.

Download Recommentdation
HELL YES

Further Comments
This is my longest review yet. I did my best for you. :3

Good level, it’s mostly balanced. Great for events and games with a lot of players because of its size. I really don’t think this is worth 9.9, as the wow factor just isn’t that high. My favorite aspect is the theme, and the bg is nice.

Starting Comments
It’s time to pick up the pace and head to the starting grid. I have a feeling this level will be blazing!

Gameplay: Excellent
Lost Luggage Landfill is a race level filled to the brink with original ideas, shortcuts, handy weaponry and obstacles. For example, there’s a really tricky part in the level where you must cross a vine-bridge. One shot can make you fall into oblivion and force you back. Rag certainly spent a lot of time to make this level’s flow perfect. Rarely will a player get stuck pushing walls or falling back down… well, except when another player forces you down. ;)

Atmosphere: Good
Although I can’t see the link between “Lost Luggage Landfill” and something that appears to be a space station, I must conclude that Rag’s level looks more than moderately good. He uses the BattleShips tileset in ways I’ve never seen before (or anyone, for that matter). Though sometimes a bit chaotic, the overall directions stay clear and it’s more than obvious wether you’re about to run into a wall or a tunnel. The music emits a spacey vibe that somehow makes you wanna run for it, despite it being a remotely slow song.

Eventing: Good
Bouncers, TNT, Freezers, anything you need in a race level is here. A tricky powerup every now and then and hidden surprises make Lost Luggage Landfill a gem under the sun. Creative use of those hourglass-thingies and springs, not to mention the poles, who surpassed my imagination as far as they can be used in race levels.

Bonusses and substractions
+10 because you’re Rag

Overall Fun
Besides being a good level, this level is actually a lot of fun to play with a handfull of players. Either download this or LET’S GO KFC.

Download Recommentdation
Hell yes.

The creativity in this level just keeps amazing me every time I play it. Every time I play here, I notice something completely new and creative. You could honestly play this level for hours at a time. Would it get boring after a while? The answer is no. I’m just so impressed with Rag’s latest work, and this by far, gets a vote for one of his best all time levels. Maybe not in everyone’s first person view, but for me, this is just superior. The Eyecandy just makes this level flow, and the atmosphere just feels so realistic. The Ideas Rag put into the eyecandy for such a set, are brilliant. If someone was looks for some ideas, eyecandy wise, this would be the level to look at. Another thing I wanted to point out where the tricks and short cuts he put in here, as well as “death zones” such as the vines near the very end of the level. If you fail to cross, you’ll have to start the lap completely over. A trick that he put in here, was the RF jump near the middle of the level. It’s not impossible, but it’s not the easiest to complete, which is perfect for such a simple, but brilliant trick. I give this level 2 thumbs up, and a definite download. Good job Rag.

~Hitch

This is very good race lvl ;)
This is very handly lvl, also the eyecandy is great.
Conclusion:Go and download this lvl fast !!!

Fast paced, innovative, exciting, and most importantly extremely enjoyable; this is a very well designed race level, and one of Rag’s best levels to date. If you like the Race game mode, play this.

I am sorry for it 3,7 I cannot get better one :( the level very good only his front bug :(((

[If you can’t properly play a level, don’t rate. It also helps to elaborate when reporting a bug. ~cooba]

a very nice balance between challenge and creativity and i think this is probably one of those level that match almost exactly in event style (e.g: the bounce wall things). When i checked this level i found no bugs. Suckatubes review states that there are bugs in this level but i havn’t seen the need to cheat out of any problems. The hyperdrive tubes fitted the theme of the level pretty well, especially when your outside in the middle of space.

From the layout of the level i can see you’ve spent some quality time on it, along with fixing bugs and mistakes.

Overall i think this level would definatly be a good first level for your level pack. Good luck and keep it up.

FS pretty much said all of the stuff I was going to say but whatever, here goes.

Both of these levels impressed me on first sight. They are both great for JDC events and also exceptional levels for the upcoming AB10. Not much to say, download these.

two awesome, big levels. they’re huge, fun to play in, look great, overally awesome. hmm, 9. gj Rag :)

Huge levels, with designs that are not overcomplicated and the eyecandy in both levels have a bold appearance.

Easy to learn, exciting, big. Theese are the type of levels for events, and they are perfect for that purpose.

Level appearance:

Tileset usage: 8.0

There is not much to be said about how the tileset was used in this level. Tile incompatibilities were avoided all together because the Mystic Isle tileset, like many other custom tilesets, requires little contemplation in the creation of thick ground platforms. As a result, the appearance of the foreground becomes relatively flat in nearly all parts of the level with the exception of the waterfall area. This is more likely a limitation of the tileset, however.

Overall graphical appearance: 8.5

This race level’s greatest strength is the fact that it is very scenic. The background in the beginning of the level can be best described as a sunset where the sun is hidden behind green mountains with pillars lodged into the mountains. As you descend in the level (around the time you see waterfalls in the foreground) the orange colors also get hidden behind the mountains, leaving darker gray colors that make it seem as though the sun has become even more hidden.

Unfortunately, the path of the level continues to go down into a water cave, which does not leave enough time for the player to notice this great change in the level’s appearance. The level would have greatly benefited from being extended a little farther to the right past the waterfall area before descending into the water cave, as the level is fairly short for a level that is so easy to navigate.

While the background of the level has significant depth, the foreground suffers in all areas with the exception of the waterfall area. You should pay close attention to what you did in the waterfall area, as the attention to elements of the foreground, such as the inaccessible platform with the long rock, could be brought over to other portions of the level. You should not put waterfalls all over the place to fix this problem. Instead, in order to compensate for the tileset’s shortcomings in foreground detail, the level can use more of these inaccessible platforms within the walls.

One last aspect that is very good about this level’s appearance is the illusion it creates in the size of the area. Even though all levels are technically enclosed within an area, the fact that you used the wooden bridge tiles in some places at the top of the level makes it seem as though one could walk on top of the level as well, even though this is not possible in the race without being able to fly through walls. The illusory level continuity helps make this level look very good.

Level design:

Level navigation: Easy

Flow: 7.0

Most portions of the level have acceptable flow, although flow can be difficult to gauge in a race level. The only portion of the level that makes it level navigation seem more intermediate than easy is the spring area, as it requires a curved path to successfully navigate and will result in huge time losses if the player hits a spring. This is not a flow issue, however.

The sloppiest execution of flow occurs early in the level. The blue spring leads to a pepper spray powerup and a red spring that pushes a player downward against some upward force. Not only does this upward force cause the resulting buttstomp that is aimed for a low horizontal vine to become very sluggish, the player will not latch onto the vine half the time. This causes the player to fall into the abyss which warps the player back to the beginning of the segment, which is a significant waste of time in a race level.

Even worse, the blue spring can be jumped over easily, as the gap between the spring and the next part of the level is very small. While getting the pepper spray might be seem to be worth such a risk and loss of time (the next portion of the level requires players to shoot at blocks, which causes any player shooting the blocks during the first lap to be wasting roughly the same amount of time), the winding path of the level gives pepper spray very little advantage over the blaster.

The level has no major problems in flow apart from this.

Gameplay: 7.0

This level could have benefited from being slightly longer in length. The level hardly takes advantage of the fact that the level appears to be darker when the orange colors get hidden behind the green mountains as the player descends into the cave. Increasing the length of the circuit horizontally would thus pronounce this effect a lot better while also allowing the race to require a little more skill to finish.

The level itself has decent weapon placement and is open enough for players to use those weapons as long as the battle is not taking place in the short underwater area. Since the underwater area greatly slows down the racing action, it should be pulled far to the right along with the right-hand side of the level containing the springs and the drop into the water cave. This way, you can extend the portion of the level that best pronounces the receding sunlight and you can insert a segment of the level after the water area that emphasizes a high speed finish, as the race is essentially over when players go into the sucker tube event area at the end of the final lap.

One other issue is in the beginning of the water cave area. When you allow the player to either skim over the top of the water or go into the water, the player needs a very good reason to go into the water, as traveling in water takes far more time than traveling in mid-air. In this particular case, there are no weapons in the water to obtain, and there is actually bullet bouncer ammunition in mid-air. As a result, there is an even more compelling reason to avoid going into the water early at all.

With the exception of the water and the early portion of the level involving the pepper spray, there are no alternate paths, and even the alternate paths described earlier are not truly alternate paths. This level is completely linear, which limits more advanced gameplay possibilities in favor of simplicity. You might consider adding alternate paths if you are planning on extending the length of the level.

One thing you did very well is the use of the implicit checkpoint system that used triggers to make sure that players that fall into the abyss are teleported back to a very fair location. Even though the laps are short and the navigation is simple, the racing in this level can be fairly intense.

Overall concept: 7.7

This short and simple race level has excellent scenery and decent flow allowing for fast-paced racing action. While it is difficult to recommend based solely on its gameplay shortcomings and questionable linearity, it is very easy to recommend overall, as players will enjoy this fun and scenic race level if they can overlook its few gameplay flaws.

Good work.

Review correction on June 25, 2007:

After trying harder to master the massive shortcut across the canyon, I was able to successfully span the gap with both Jazz and Spaz, although the RF powerup in the level is not required to access it for either rabbit (though it is much harder without it), and spanning the gap cuts off about five seconds per lap for Spaz, while it cuts off roughly three seconds for Jazz. Additionally, spanning the gap is more difficult for Jazz.

While the shortcut is not perfectly executed, it is an excellent effort at rewarding players for taking such major risks in a racing level. The shortcut, however, is only helpful when players are spread out over the course, which makes it impractical on the second lap (as intended) and still difficult to use on the third lap if players are close together.

When I originally decided to ignore the shortcut due to it being seemingly impossible to span with Jazz, I scored the level a 7.5. Since the shortcut is still difficult with both rabbits even after mastering it and its practicality in many situations is questionable, the score will not be changed significantly. I have increased the review score by 0.2 to 7.7 to account for the existence of the shortcut.

~ Derby

A couple of older but very neat levels by Ragnarok, nice to see them being uploaded finally.

‘Technodus Cargo Station’ has a layout that radically differs from the usual symmethric or semi-symmethric layouts that levels nowadays use, or somehow it just doesn’t feel like them at all. The author had thought widely about what could everything go like in here, yet it’s all as balanced as possible.
And there’s actually a few minor original things put into the level, for example the frozable ceiling springs. The author took a good care about the overall flow along the layout, and it all just clicks. All the tubes(except the one in very right maybe) and warps are as well very, very useful. There is just barely anything left to be improved in this scene.

The level gives a really amazing lookout, that makes the level actually so interesting to be played also. The eyecandy is nearly the best you could reach with this tileset. The background differs from usual a little by having a diagonal layer-speed, which looks nice. The ambient lightning fits quite perfectly, though it could actually highlight the rather unnoticable animated pulse-lights going on the background ‘X’-tiles. In fact the solid wall has some weird randomness too.

As I mentioned earlier about the ceiling-springs, this is a level that for once has some use for the freezers. It was probably a better idea to limit their amount anyway to a certain box, than spread over the level. Except there’s a few hidden loose-freezers to be “shot down.” The other loose-ammo is still mostly fine, but some groups could be improved slightly. For example I don’t like a flock of 2x bouncer and 2x pepperspray. However, the situation and choice of PUs was great. Seeker-PU that is a more powerful one has a more outlying position, to be shot with electroblaster, while Bouncer-PU is above blue base, which you will likely buttstomp because of the entrance. However, most of ammo could have a longer respawn time, which is 10 at the moment. I didn’t actually notice this earlier.

The level might not immediately feel as good as it is(for me didn’t at least), but because the level is easy to be learned also, after for example a few matches it is really enjoyable. It is an underrated one after all, but that could be because it was yet now uploaded in it’s improved form, and used to be semi-public around 2005. It just looks so “professional-made.” Even the music fits, although it could be something different because it has been used several times already. In my opinion ‘Technodus Cargo Station’ is worth around 8.7 even, which is just ultimately high. Note the level is already around two years old(at least the original non-improved version.) Well done Rag.

‘Very Stupid Floating Castle’ is a symmethric level of some larger size, which we don’t have too many so that is just good. Anyway, what makes this not so good compared to ‘Technodus Cargo Station’ for instance, is the linearity that is probably noticed as first things in the level. Bases are at the very edges on middle-level of course, and that doesn’t really help it. However the bottom-level with just simple warps in pits, that take you to the current side’s bottom-edge are a nice add to the level. Pos. 131,51 is a very safe and annoying camp-spot(that I used in a match to hide, same on other side btw), and should be removed, even if the author meant them just for text signs. The level is quite easy to learn, but some players may have problems moving on the bottom-level at the first times maybe.

The level has a little empty/simple background, but it is full-visible only in the bottom-level. The other eyecandy, especially solid wall looks good, while something special could be still added, because this tileset is less limited. Eyecandy in overall is in fact kind of standard to what most people do with this tileset.

It probably fits to have some larger ammo-groups in a level of this size. The respawn-time could be still stretched by 5 at least. Carrot is placed rather unoriginally, to the top-middle, and it can be actually shot down all way to the bottom. What comes to the PowerUps, they are just fine.

As well the level could have some springs removed/replaced, though I’m not meaning exactly overuse of them. This is after all a decent big level that could be useful in a possible future JDC-event, but it could have been uploaded way earlier for previous season events definitely, if it’s old too. ‘Very Stupid Floating Castle’, grabs my attention once more, and I’m deciding to give it an 8 in overall.

I recommend both for hosting at times, and the first one a little more in fact. They aren’t useless at all. I’ve decided 8.5 could fit as a final rating for the pair. Also I would like Rag to create some more as good, or why not even better levels in future. And I hope I didn’t miss anything important while carefully reviewing this. Do download this!

SJ