Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

A rating of 8.3 looks promising, but after downloading the tileset myself I honestly don’t understand why this gets such high ratings. Sure, it’s huge, but sheer vastness isn’t enough for such a rating in my book.

And it’s a pity, but the tileset has little more to offer than sheer vastness. A lot of space is taken by animations of Black Ninja’s JJ2 character doing various things, and other JJ2 characters standing around doing nothing. Those animations are only really useful when making story-driven SP levels, and because the player names are part of the tiles a story-driven level using these animations is confined to using Black Ninja, Spotty, Violet, KJAZZ, Trafton or Hugela as characters. No offence to those mentioned, but I would rather have the possibility of making my own choice on who to include in my story.

The tileset of course does offer more than just these animations, such as platform tiles. Black Ninja’s Castle is drawn using semi-isometric perspective, which works well. However, and this is my main problem with this tileset, it just doesn’t look good. Colour reduction didn’t work that well and everything is dithered and looks grainy. The stone blocks are just grey tiles with a border, without any texture to speak of. The doors look like they had the wrong palette applied to them, the light beams look like a 10 second job with Paint’s spray paint tool.

There may have been some nice ideas and concepts behind this set, but it’s executed very poorly. The text suffers a lot from lack of anti-aliasing and horrible colour scheme, eyecandy tiles such as the “Ninja Cola” are grainy, destruct blocks and arrows are just normal block with ugly text on them, etcetera, etcetera.

All in all this is a very mediocre set that is not really worth downloading or using, except if for some reason you have a brilliant story for a level involving Black Ninja and Pals. 5.5 might be a little harsh, and 6.0 was my original rating, but to balance out the ridiculous ratings others have given it’s a 5.5 after all.

This is really awesome. I’m speechless. >O

This is great! Love it! 10 all the way.

BTW good job on getting the best rating a tileset has ever gotten. (I’ve yet to see another tileset with a 10 as an average rating XD Agima came close)

If you don’t want to bother reading all of this, here is what it basically says: This tileset is awesome in every way. Download it now.

Practicality:
The most important thing about a tileset: Does it work? And does it work well? Violet CLM’s latest tileset conversion shouts the answer as a resounding “Yes!” The masking is flawless. I encountered no bugs whatsoever, and I believe that none exist. The content is great, especially for a conversion. There are so many types of… things available for use that it is almost staggering. There are (to name a few) belts, hooks, platforms, spikes, vines, poles, and sucker tubes. Everything that should be included is there, and then more so. You can make just about any type of situation you want with this tileset, and that in itself makes it great.
Rating: 10/10

Eyecandy:
The second most important things about a tileset. If the eyecandy is dull or monotonous, any level made with that tileset is likely to be dull and monotonous too, no matter how well it’s made. Thankfully, Violet has provided endless opportunities for eyecandy. There are at least six types of ground for you to just to stand on, depending on the version and how you want to classify it. And it is very possible that I could have missed some. I only have one single problem with the dirt-ish part. The horizontal pieces of ground lack the ‘sheen’ that is present on the slpoed tiles. The lighter color gives the ground a nice feeling of depth, and that it is missing in the hirozontal tiles looks slightly odd. But really I’m just nitpicking. Then, after that, there are three or four types of crystals, and wooden and metal ledges. Various walls, boxes, chalices, crystals, and ostriches (?) are included depending on which version you wish to use.
The animated tiles are plentiful. The water is gorgeous, and Violet even went so far as to animate the arrows on the signs. The walls literally sparkle due to another flawless animation. Even the 4-stage destructing scenery is ingenious. Four small crystal are on the blocks, and each time you shoot it a crystal disappears.
The background possibilities are endless. You can use black interspersed with decorative crystals, or use a slightly different colored ground. Animated waterfalls are also available, along with a very nice diamond-y pattern. You can use the background to set your level in a cave, but there is also and outside-sky for level eight.
There is some foreground in the form of large, transparent crystals, but the possibilities pale in comparison to the background. Yes, this may be the only area that is lacking. But in its defense, no one really likes too much foreground, and the crystals do their job well enough. You could get creative and use different types of vertical crystals as foreground, too, so there is really no need for more. The only reason it seems like there is not much foreground is because there is so much everything else.
Plus all of that, there are tiles only available in each version of the tileset. But I’ll get to that in the next section…
Rating: 10/10

Tileset Versions: I think different versions should be a staple of all good tilesets. Sure, having one is good enough, but is simple to modify the palette slightly in order to change the entire mood of the tileset. And Violet does this not twice but thrice. And what makes this even better is that they are not just simple palette changes. He has changed tiles in each one. The staples are all the same, but it’s the extra eyecandy stuff that gets a slight modification. A dinosaur in CrysilisV gets replaced with yet another background in CrysilisV2, then to a differnet type of wall in V3. The subtle changes are a lot better than what you see in most tilesets, and they still maintain the overall feel of the tileset. CrysilisV is my least favorite of the bunch. The bright yellow has a tendency to burn my retinas, but if it’s used sparingly no big problems should come of it.
Rating: 10/10

Organization: Also needed in a tileset. If you have to search everywhere for a piece you need, no one is going to bother looking and will soon abandon the idea of using your tileset. Not a problem in CrysalisV, because every tile is ordered in a very logical, easy-to-understand way. All the ground is grouped together at the top, followed by eyecandy, a nice section for invisible platforms, then transitioning into background and ending water animations. There are no odds and ends floating around to be overlooked, and everything has it’s own place.
Rating: 10/10

Ease-of-use: No matter how complex I made it sound, there is very little to mess up. Every tile is clear on what it is supposed to be, and are no ambiguous pieces. Once you familiarize yourself with the layout, which takes surprisingly little time, you will find yourself zipping around the tileset at warp speed. This is a great tileset for beginners as well as old pros because you can make it as simple or as intricate as you want. All the tiles fit together wonderfully, and you can blend and mix them in whatever way you wish.
Rating: 10/10

Reusability: This tileset can be used and reused in many different ways, but at its heart, it is still a conversion. The old 8-bit style shows through, and if this is overused, it will become old. (Battleships comes to mind) Mainly I am worried about the bright yellow I mentioned earlier. This is offset, though, by the fact that there is so much to offer. People that know what they are doing should be able to combine backgrounds and level designs to make something new every time, but still, it can only go so far. I think it will be new for a long time to come.
Rating: 9/10

Example Levels:
All three levels, including all three versions of the tileset, are top-notch. Short and sweet, as examples are supposed to be, they demonstrate the possibilities of this tileset and the proper way to utilize it. Layers two through eight are used extensively, and with them comes a clear picture of how this tileset is supposed to be used.
No rating, but if there was one I’d give it a 10.

Conclusion:
Violet CLM comes through with another brilliant conversion. It does everything right and very, very little wrong. In fact, I can’t find anything wrong. I do not own Jazz Jackrabbit 1, so I have absolutely no problem with it not containing every single tile in the original Crysilis. I am looking forward to some amazing levels built with this amazing tileset.
Yes, I know that 10/10 implies perfection, and perfection cannot be achieved. This is as close as it gets, though, so here you go: A ‘perfect’ ten.

One of the few times I felt like I was playing a totally different game.

Bravo Violet.

This has got to be the best tileset conversion EVER. This pack contains 3 different versions each with a bunch of other JJ1 tilesets combined into 3 FANTASTIC sets.
There are one or two minor errors but who cares?
This deserves a big fat juicy 10!
Even the example levels are AWESOME!

Don’t have the inspiration to write a full review yet.

Well, since I’m the reason this tileset conversion more or less exists, I feel obligated to write a review for it. Not that I don’t want to in the first place.

For a long time, now, I’ve been bugging Violet to make a Crysilis conversion, since the original one from a long time ago was subpar (in my opinion, at least) and contained various tile errors, as well as missing key components. Finally, my constant bugging has been answered, and Violet has delivered no doubt his finest work.

CrysilisV is really three tilesets in one: the first one is a straight-up conversion of Crysilis, with many extra tiles from other JJ1 levels thrown in. The second one is a recolor that is reminiscent of Mystic Cave/Hidden Palace Zone from the Sonic games, and the third one is a light blue recolor that mimics Marbelara, complete with lava (even lava-colored water for you 8-bit palette freaks). Each of the tilesets has its own original art, but are organized in such a way as to minimize confusion and allow users to change the tileset on a whim. The tilesets are complete with destruct scenery, tubes, vines, hooks, and everything else you need for your JJ2 level. There’s even extensive invisible platforms.

I know it’s not kosher to review the example levels, but I feel that Violet put an effort into these, and it should be noticed. The example levels themselves do an excellent job of showcasing what the tileset can do, as well as being fun and enjoyable in their own right, chock full of new ideas. If you play them (which you should), honor Violet and play them in 8-bit.

Everything about this conversion, from idea to execution, is flawless. This tileset has literally unlimited possibilities, and sets the standard to which all conversions are measured by. If you play JJ1 or JJ2, you must own this tileset.

Good

GOOD JOB VIOLET!!

Good level Violet! I have Jazz Jackrabbit 1

Full review time!

What this is
This is basically a conversion of the pallet Candion. For the most part, the conversion is complete with little problems, but there are somethings to talk about.

Tiles
For the most part, everything is here. The basic candy is here. Caves, gingerbread man, lolly, jazz 1 style signs, different types on candy, candy polls, tubes and jazz 1 style background. The mountains are here as well. I’m not a huge fan of the destruct blocks. We got arrows, textured background, hooks and vines as well. As far as I can see, mostly everything is here. Good job!
8/10
Animations
The weird flashing poles are here. So are the arrows. However, the lollipop had an animation to it and it isn’t present. Good job, but you missing one.
8/10
color
For the most part color is good. the color’s look kinda deducted from the some of the tiles but it’s not your fault. I’m giving a 10 because the color blending isn’t your fault. (Dang pallets)
10/10
Masking
Masking is near perfect. Straight lines for the most part and everything is masked properly. Good job there!
10/10
Pallet Events
Well lets see. Water, textured background work perfectly. the jungle poll is usable as well. That’s about it.
5/10
Reusabilty
Not bad. Even though it is only a conversion, you can still quite a bit with this tileset. From caves, to a candy garden, to outdoors or a mixture of everything. Good job!
8/10

Final Score:47/60
Score: 8.7
Rank: A
DR? Yes. this is great tileset from Violet. I look forward to more of his work.

Exelent lvl.

It’s the same as the original Hocus Pocus!!! Same graphics, same feeling (though in JJ2 you have special movements, which you shouldn’t use here) and same levels. The most noticeable bug was on the ladder blocks, which your feet actually get into, but that’s a clipping error. This pack is one of the best for JJ2 so stop waiting and download this!!!

It’s been quite a while. I enjoyed FSP, and while I wasn’t able to finish that (yet), I was even more encouraged to find all the coins in this level.

Shade Castle, by the name of it, doesn’t look like a castle a lot. If I had to describe it in two words, I’d probably pick “creepy Bizarroworld” or something like that. The concept is as usual, finding the coins to exit the level, but the whole level design is pretty inventive. The ten coins needed are hidden all over the level, but you get to choose which you want to collect first. This makes the playing experience very refreshing. Along the way are several challenges and traps, along with lizards, demons, hardly noticable spikes (argh) and some clever puzzles. The level itself is kind of small, but it’ll take a while till you figure out how to get that annoying little coin that’s hidden behind the trigger blocks. And where to find the appropriate crate to smash. And the meaning of Eva’s hint. That, and the many sharp objects and baddies contribute to a high difficulty level. To finish the level successfully, the player has to use his reflexes and think at the same time. There were enough carrots and ammunition to keep you alive throughout however. Maybe even too many RFs. Once the money is collected, you’re transported to the big boss. I expected an interesting boss fight, but the outcome is kind of weird. Instead of using the copters to avoid the spikes, I pretty much spent my time standing on the edge and killing that devil guy with bouncers and RF-ammo, dodging the occasional attack and winning pretty easily. Dissapointing.
The eyecandy is simply awesome. It just looks like from another dimension, all the tiles have been used in a very creative way. To add to that, I just love those scream-like guys standing all over the place. Love them.
There wasn’t any kind of story involved, but this is just a preview, so it doesn’t matter.
I’m also babbling far too much here.

Let’s just say that I give out an 8.5 rating, and a download recommendation here. Have fun!

~LF

My first review here…

I did play the game and it was pretty good but i didnt get all the coins maybe it was beqause i played Lori.

Visuality: It looks good nice layer work and tileset placement but sometimes i dindt see if it was ground or not and things are a little bit vage 7/10

Gameplay: I did play a few minutes on normal, but restart at hard, that was not easy at all so hard=hard=good!
I cant get ride of the last 2 coins i saw them but cant get them i run away the whole lvl but no succes at all.
And when i did shoot on te enemy’s i hit the spring crate and cant get above anymore. Killing some enemy’s is was sometimes very hard and u walk in some enemy’s to in some case.. 6/10

Fun Factor:
No waste of time, but not a level to play again & again. 6/10

Orginality:
The coin system is well known by me, but there were some nice actions thats you need for getting te coin. 7/10

Music:
Thats fitting the game, but isn’t very outbalanced. 6/10

A give u this points beqause i am a critical person. Succes!

I had great fun betatesting this, and it really deserves more reviews than it currently has, so I feel as I should repay my enjoyment of this with a review.

Shade Castle is a really enjoyable level that I haven’t really seen coming until just a day or two before it was released. It’s fairly small, but still takes a while to finish as there’s quite a lot of exploration and revisiting areas in this level due to it being on the other side of the spectrum from linear. You’re free to travel wherever you want and don’t really have to complete most of the objectives in any order. This enhances replay value by quite a bit since you’re not forced down the same road each time you play and you get to decide what you want to do and when you want to do it.
Tileset use is really awesome. The eyecandy just radiates creativity and is really a pleasure to look at things. The tileset chosen is a very underused one and it’s great to see people using different sets instead of making the same repetetive Swamps levels. I particularly loved the “Invisible Tiles” platforms, those were ingenious and made me put on a smile the first time I saw them. However, because you used tiles in ways they certainly were never intended to be used, some things got slightly confusing for a bit, as sometimes I wasn’t able to tell what was solid and what was for show, or if that pole tile actually had an event on it or not. Although not really your fault, the spikes in this tileset are really hard to notice. Most the damage I took in this level came solely from them =/.
The layout of this level is awesome. Non-linear, and very creative. Coins and crates are placed in amusing locations and not just floating around in a random part of the level. The level was challenging, and it was enjoyable yet agonizing to see all the different and wonderful ways you made spaz take damage. The level was also pretty difficult, mostly from the hurt events and certain evil placement of enemies in walls or near poles ;P.
However, the area which this level really shines in is event placement. A variety of tricks were pulled off in this level which made it all the more fun. Using events such as spike platforms to increase the difficulty level is a nice alternative then just stacking enemies everywhere.
The level does feel noticably more empty in the open areas then the caves. The backround is pretty typical in eyecandy terms especially compared to the rest of the level, and there’s not much layer 5 eyecandy to obstruct the view. The caves are really well done, however.
Aside from the annoyingly small spikes to constantly harm you, Violet also took the liberty to place dragons into walls, lizards under vines and demons near poles. This does make the level considerably more challenging (and the lizards under vines thing was a creative trick), however nothing screams pain like getting hurled into a wall dragon by an h-pole while being at one heart.

The level was rather short (provided that unlike me you don’t receive a game over from constantly running into sharp objects), however each and every part of it is definately worth playing. The level is fun, creative, and inspiring and was really a pleasure to betatest. It’s too bad it won’t be in FSP2, though ;(.

Overall rating 8.8. This level looks like the author had a fun time making it and really shines in several categories, however it’s only a single level with no real storyline (as it is a preview) and could have been a bit bigger, as well as the exterior parts of the level possibly more visually pleasing. As a stand-alone, this is definately among the better levels uploaded on J2O.

Awsome. If every one of the levels in FSP2 is like this, I will give you a 10 without a doubt. I would recommend adding more carrots to hard mode, though. I never finished the level, but it was worth dying three times :3

Edit: The other serious flaw in the level is areas where v/h poles throw you into an enemy that you can’t avoid.

Actual rating prompted by Cooba >_> :

Eyecandy 3/3: Excellent. You threw all kinds of tiles into areas where there would otherwise be plain-colored walls. I can’t think of any complaints at the moment.

Gameplay 3.5/4: The gameplay was great, and challenging. The only trouble I had was getting thrown into enemies via a pole. That just frustrates the player. Also, I would have provided a save point for the boss or at least made it slightly easier. Copters tend to be frustrating on the player since you can’t change the direction you’re facing. The wide variety of events you used was amazing. You’ve inspired me to use a similiar method.

Item/enemy Placement 1.8/2: Wonderful. I just would have wished for a few more carrots. Some of the enemy locations were frustrating sometimes, but I enjoyed the challenge (examples: lizards 1 cell under vines, baddies that poles throw you into). Otherwise, it was very good.

Originality 1/1: Granted, the coin collection concept has been used many times before, but the level itself was quite original. The eyecandy was used in a very different way, and you used a tileset I had never seen before (until I searched the database for it =p).

That was close! Its tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tough!
Jump up rotating floors not that good… or bad either.

Firstly…………………
(Normal Ratings and Comments)

Gameplay:

Remember the 9 roooms. they were fully filled with ammos(2) and springs(-0.5) just nothin’ after and no any powerups either except for that stupid shooting that go through walls that you must use the ammo to get ‘em.(-1)

Rating:0.5

Eye Candy:

Okay, by Cooba I’ll tell. Only layers 3,4,8 were used +1 and the Places were not gone and they were some also no nedd exept for springs that remind me of frustfration(I mean my fav. pkmn)
Rating:+1

Warps: I won’t write about exept in the improving comments.N/A

Triggers and animations:

Used Just for Frustfration;

Animated Blocks In bouncer room was terrible! Plus that your GEM-Trigger crate was no idea. coz, Gems aren’t suitable for battles. Rating:1

JCS: Environment: Just annnoing with those FRUSTSPRING[frust*spring frustfrating spring].EDIT:THey were no need and no Copters as usual as any battle level.

rating: 0.4

(Part One, Finished)

Secondly………………………..
(Improving comments)

1-Please Don’t put spring annoying this way!

2-Use Warps for the powerups

3-No frustrating animations

4-Fun isn’t easy… it’s not hard either its a join between two.some hard and some easy. profeesionaly meduim, not either medium.

5-I am not cruel! THat is final rating and i wrote the comments!EDIT: I’m creul when some one edit my reviews

EDIT:

6- The editing of removal clearence lowers the level from better to false

(Part 2, Finished)

————————————————
(Final Rating)

Final:1. Happy?
Download:NO

(Part Three, Finished)

Lastly——-The boring edits for rating removals that makes troubles:

[…rating (2) clearance. This rating lacked any kind of support. All the review says is that the level is frustrating and the eyecandy is tricky, which clearly isn’t enough. Also, when reviewing, use only the rating YOU think you would give. ~Cooba]*Donda97*: Could this be deleted?

[No. You still need to write more in your reviews. ~Cooba]

I don’t think that this is not much……….

Rating Frogger Levels

Rating Story: (max: 10 points)
There is a good story, but please… write the story next time in the Level Description!
Points: 7

Rating Length: (max: 20 points)
Seven levels, one cutscene and one final. That is very good! The levels are pretty long and that\‘s very nice!
Points: 17

Rating Obstacles: (max: 20 points)
The levels are very, very hard! And there are also good bosses in two levels. And in the final. And I also liked the guards in Mellenwah.
Points: 18

Rating Bonus Placement: (max: 15 points)
In almost all levels are much too much bonusses.
Points: 6

Rating Eyecandy: (max: 15 points)
The foregrounds are good, especially in Mellenwah. You have also decorate the foreground good and also the background is super!
Points: 13

NUMBER OF POINTS: 61
MAX POINTS: 80
CALCULATING: 61/8=*7,625*

Final Rating: 7,6
Download recommendation: YES!

I thought the levels were too easy for anyone, but still ALOT of fun. Everything was great and I liked the last level the most, that was very cool.