Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

OMG. Everything Hotel Dream had and less, with a basic idea taken from Mirrow’s Kingdom, and ratings such as would impress Eagle. Or someone. What more is needed in a tileset?

GRAPHIC QUALITY: Imagine a mix between Mirrow’s Kingdom and Hotel Dream. Hotel Dream’s tiles (quite literally, in several cases) with Mirrow’s Kingdom’s color scheme. Basically this is a yellow, white and blue tileset with hints of red. And it’s for hotels.
As for the actual quality, this varies between tiles. The authors have brought over Mirrow’s Fire animation, AGAIN, and it almost manages to look ok when placed inside a fireplace. There’s an ugly folding chair, some penguins who change color when they animate movement, a weird pillar..
ok, I’ll be honest. That’s just the bad stuff. And the good stuff, which is annoying because I really wanted this tileset to be bad, is probably the majority. You’ve got your luxurious bed in three colors, various one tile high furniture thingies, an interesting textured background (which WORKS) a few nice textures here or there, and a wardrobe which would look lovely if it was attached to anything.
Oh, and of course, there’s a lot of stuff taken from previous tilesets. All the kitchen stuff, the shower (parts of it, anyway), the tiled wallpaper, Disguise’s font, Mirrow’s fire, Mirrow’s Babe, the |’‘ pipes, the mailbox, text signs ripped from JJ2 tilesets…
All in all, the graphics quality is pretty good, but a few of the tiles you should avoid putting in your levels. For example, the !Tuxedo Penguin, or (depending on the length) the green table.
Pros: The candles, the blue pillars, the ornate stuff, the umbrella.
Cons: The floor texture, the folding chair.
Rating: 8.7

VARIETY: Hotel tilesets should have variety, right? Lots of everything? Of course. But Disguise and Mirrow may not have heard that. There is one type of wall, though you can put a carpet on it if you really like. The platforms can’t be removed from the brick wall, and to be honest, the whole tileset has a “been there, done that, ignored the t-shirt” feel.
Fortunately, Disguise/Mirrow make up for this at least in part by including at least a few helpful tiles. Pillars, golden pipes, that spirally gold stuff, fireplace siding and the letter bars all could concievably twisted into bizarre and interesting eyecandy effects. But not enough. And seeing as there is no official Foreground OR Background eyecandy, levels made with this may end up feeling kind of… empty somehow.
Pros: Some easily usable tiles.
Cons: Mostly one-use-only, no official eyecandy.
Rating: 7.2

MASKING: Disguise (maybe?) saves the day with a masking job! Or so it seems at first glance. There’s stuff in the background, the walls are masked logically with no apparent bugs… but the hotel stuff. Oh yes, the hotel stuff. None of it is masked at all. You cannot stand on the couches, bask in the shower, sit on the chairs, lay in the bath, swing from the chandelier, or even climb onto the umbrella. It is all unmasked. How boring. Oh, and the stairs don’t work too well.
Pros: Most things work.
Cons: Stairs, unmasked thingies.
Rating: 7.5

POSSIBILITIES AND/OR INVENTORY: Inventory first. This tileset has a Vine, a V-Pole (no H-Pole, and it doesn’t work off of a wallpaper), water tiles, sucker tubes and a textured BG, but that’s really about it. None of the poles really work, nor does snow. The tileset is missing lots of absolutely essential things.
As for possibilities? As a direct result of above factors, this tileset is regrettably unusable. It’s too bland for a hotel, too flashy for a battle, missing too many tiles, and of course other tilesets can do basically anything this can do better.
Pros: It has a few things.
Cons: Spikes, H-Poles, better V-Poles, hooks, keys and locks to go with those (distinctly non-working) doors, a better palette… you know, there is a reason for beta testing.
Rating: 6.7

OVERALL (not a batting average): At first glance, you should love this tileset. But it’s a crowd pleaser and little more. Good for those who want to impress everyone graphically, but too lacking if you want more than that. Download recommendation to look at, but if you want to make a hotel, use Dream or True. Or even something else.
Pros: Ok, I’ll admit it. The graphics ARE great.
Cons: Gimme a B! Gimme an E! Himme a T! Gimme an A!
Rating: 8.2

It has been a while since I downloaded and reviewed a test level. Or any kind of level. Still, let us see what I make of this.

Graphics: At first, the eyecandy looked good. But… the author tried too hard. The blue blocks in the foreground ruin what is otherwise a decent non-438 eyecandy system. In the background, there is solid black with stars, and some nice looking red and green pillars made out of flipped sucker tubes. The overall effect looks good, but has a few problems. First, of course, the foreground, which is just the blue mentioned earlier. Second, the pillars are too plain, and look like the background needs something special at the top or bottom. It doesn’t. On a final note, Layer 4’s graphics weren’t too good. You get either some tubes, or an endless repeat of the same 1×1 block, for the walls. Warps, which most tests have, use the teal-blue + tile. This doesn’t look too good, sadly, as it really contrasts heavily with the pillar background.
Pros: Potential, good at first glance.
Cons: Didn’t quite work. Layer 4 = no.
Rating: 5.5

Gameplay: Where to begin… well, most of this level are Jazz-ear-tests – you keep pressing jump and slowly go down through all the warps. None of this is at all hard, as there are no long crossings or anything. Then you get a Spaz-sidekick test, which I don’t think too much of if not accompanied by something else, like morphs or triggers. Sadly, this is not. You sidekick and jump, and that’s just about it. No RF Kicks, even. But it’s the hardest part of the level by far. Which is sad. The level is, by the way, pure test. There is nothing inbetween.
Pros: Errr.
Cons: Well, it’s all… normal. simple. uninteresting.
Rating: 3.7

Originality: I’m actually pretty sure I just finished telling you there was none in the gameplay. But the eyecandy had some originality. Like the warp at the end.
Pros: Bits of eyecandy.
Cons: Shovels of gameplay.
Rating: 2.2

Well, this creates a drawing of a carrot which follows your cursor around. However, it is run as a program, so the carrot will only appear when you are running that program. If you open something else, say, JCS, it will go away.
Now, I happen to know it’s possible to fix this problem. And seeing as this doesn’t use any real transparency, just a grab of the desktop, this all adds up to being pretty poorly done. And pointless. Sorry.

…you can rate music, Taz.

Well, the above ratings looked promising, until I remembered who were giving them. At that point, my expectations for this level(s?) reverted back to N/A.

I can’t recommend this level too highly. The design is strictly linear, with nothing even resembling an alternate route. The traps include horizontal springs which you must morph to Spaz to pass (no revert morphs, btw), collapse scenery over a pit of warps, and a wall of speed blocks with the Destruct Scenery image.
As a result, even if you hit an obstacle and are forced to pause, it is a “darnit I hate this level” pause and not a “ooh I’m an idiot” pause.
How about eyecandy? Well, instead of mixing and matching various block colors, the author splits the level into five seperate levels – each exactly the same except using different colors. He also seems to have no clue how to set up next level settings, as all but two lead to the first level, which leads to the second by some strange coincidence.
The walls are also far too blocky. Waz offers pillars, which isn’t much, but at least you can try to make your walls look better.
On the other hand, this race is occasionally all right.

PROS:
CONS: Next level settings, linearity.

good but dutch
No, not good. It may be dutch, it’s certainly not english, but it’s certainly not good either. Or cool with a lowercase c.

So what is this level? It looks to be a hotel. It features several caterpillars so you can change the palette around, about four (essentially identical) rooms, an undocumented warp zone, some ammo, and a bunch of deadends.
At times, you can pick up coins, but I don’t see any reason to do so. I would honestly expect someone who can figure out that they should put not only the level – but the tileset and the music – in the .zip would be able to document this a little more, but no such luck.
What’s the design? No, that’s not your question, that’s mine. I can’t really see any paticular design. The player walks over a hill into the main hotel, which is rather confusing. The text doesn’t use @s, so they wouldn’t be too readable even if they were in english.
And of course, there’s the eyecandy. Or rather, there isn’t. Most of the level is involved in a movement marching to ban graphic quality. For the rest, the author tries to add eyecandy and things, but he fails. Showers and Bathtubs need layer 3, you know… (it’s the Sprite Foreground layer…)
So after the unappealing review, is there anything good about this level? Not really. The warp zone looked almost all right, but then I noticed the enormous dead end. That and it doesn’t make too much sense. Whoops, getting into the cons again.
The author can use layer 8!!![This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

How to complete a lap in this level:
1. Hold down right and run the whole time.
2. At one point in the level, just before the first hole, press jump.
Congratulations! You have now completed a lap, and lost one heart while warping. Repeat the above steps once you’re done warping, and you’ll have completed another lap!

Get the picture? This race isn’t too long, and it uses (basically) bees as the sole obstacle. Well, there’s a pit, and some spikes, but mainly the bees.
“Bees”, you say? Yes, bees. Read the author’s description. The type that will kill you in race mode, which this just happens to be. Race, not treasure hunt-online-compatible-race. And thus there are bees as enemies. No, please.
Ok, so there are bees. How about the graphics?

Well, this level gives tile repetition a new name. Every wall tile is the same, every ground tile is the same, every cave tile is the same. Well, not every ground tile, there’s a stump and a lot of rabbit stinks signs, which only serve to show the monotony of the other tiles in greater relief.
Eyecandy? Sorry, just the signs. Nothing in the background except a textured layer 8, and there’s just enough dimming of ambient lighting to slow down JJ2, but not enough to be really noticable.

This is, of course, a race level, so I won’t rate the enemy placement, despite it being the main point of the level. Sorry, Bjarni. Try for another point next time. No download recommendation.

(On the plus side, this is indeed not warez!)

Edit: Good gosh, you’re right. You don’t have to jump. Make that 2.0.[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

This is a bad example of a test; this is how you should avoid making them. This test level was very undocumented.
It has two different types of visually poor tests. Music choice is also annoying…

Overall: a 4.0!

No download recommendation if you are a test fan!

(On a slightly more serious note, this level is very unfinished, which explains the complete lack of text or three quarters of the features promised in the level)

Tubelectric is an abandoned munitions factory.
2’s number doesn’t actually appear in the crossword.
1 looks just like 7.
There doesn’t seem to be a 38 anywhere. And what is this strange “44”? Might they be… the same thing?
[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Special note before reviewing: The author has asked that his upload not be rated, and as such all ratings shall be set to N/A instead of whatever I might have otherwise chose to rate.

GAMEPLAY/CONCEPT: The gameplay is classic word search. You are given a list of clans and names, and told to find all of them written out in the big table of letters above. Yes, I found myself. The author seems to assume you already know all of this, in addition to how they can be written out in varying directions. I.E, if you simply look from left to right, not changing position vertically, you’ll get Fireball, CelL, Overlord, Snooz, Batty Buddy, Salamander and Blackraptor, but not too much else.
Pros: It’s a word search.
Cons: I’ve never been too much of a fan of them. It would be nice if instead of this being completely a document, it was a program where you could select a word to show you found it, so you wouldn’t keep seeing it again. Printing could still be optional.

WORD CHOICE/DIFFICULTY/COMMON SENSE: The author, for the most part, chose names of four or more letters. Being names, and not common words, of course, a lot can be found simply by looking for uncommon letters then checking in all directions. The worst of these is J2LC, which includes the number, despite there being no other numbers Anywhere in the game. Aside from that, there are also a lot of 2/3 letters, which is probably not a good idea. These clans and short names will probably show up quite a lot – I found five “ot“s in a rather short period of time.
Pros: Mostly longish, distinct names.
Cons: Too many short things, J2LC has an obvious problem.

ORIGINALITY: What in the way of originality can you offer a word search? Maybe we just haven’t figured that out yet, but the author hasn’t. There’s no “circle all the used letters and the remaining letters will spell out a secret message”. There’s no “find all the words without using the same letter more then once”. No, the gameplay is completely classical, right down to the Fireball at the very top left.
Pros: N/A
Cons: N/A

OVERALL: What can you say about a word search? As a general rule, it’s just there, something to do when you’re bored and your eyes can stand the sight of a large white area. Judging from the other reviews, there’s not too much else to say about it besides “I’m in it.”. BN, yes, you are in there.
Cons: Still not automatic.

This is highly unfinished. Could you let me finish testing next time?

Ok, I wasn’t planning to review this, but after seeing Executor’s review remain there so long and nobody else rating it something more accurate, I gave in.

STORY: Let’s see… Devan is building something with money, so you have to take all the money. Because if Devan does not have the money, he can not use the money. Get it? Get the money.
Pros: Money! Yay!
Cons: A little… simple? Underdeveloped? And why do you fight Devan so early, anyway?
Rating: 4.0

TILESET/TILESET USE: Interestingly, while not anything amazing, the eyecandy is ok. The levels, except for the previously-uploaded bleh CTF level, use Toxic Bunny’s seemingly unknown War Torn tileset. Ok, so the rain looks kind of ugly, and I don’t know why the background mountains Move in the first level, but layer 4 fits together.
Pros: Mostly works.
Cons: Some of the other layer eyecandy kind of sucks, the rainbow brick buildings have too much tile repetition and don’t look very good.
Rating: 6.0

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: The weapon placement is ok. There are a few weapons laying around, and an RF powerup, but it’s neither overdone nor underdone. Now, remember how the goal of these levels was to collect money? Obviously, how the money is placed should have some effect on the rating. It’s all kind of obviously placed, which could be a good thing when you consider you have to have 25 coins to end the level… in the first level. In the second level, you don’t need the coins, and they don’t Do anything (yay, Executor!). So they’re ok, but not all that good. Enemies weren’t all that interesting, mostly just flying enemies where they’d get in the way. Oh, and the other goodies… decent, though underplayed.
Pros: Coins ok, weapons ok.
Cons: Enemies and other goodies kind of boring, coins not necessary in one level.
Rating: 5.5

ORIGINALITY: By this time, collecting coins is not the most revolutionary gameplay. Still, it’s interesting, though I’d prefer doing so in a less linear fashion. The eyecandy contains nothing paticularly new, nor does what’s left of the gameplay.
Rating: 3.7

DIFFICULTY: These levels are pretty simple, really. Just make sure you go in all the obvious pits in the first level, and you should be fine. And of course, don’t run into the ravens.
Pros: Not too hard.
Cons: Too easy, though.
Rating: 5.0

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: Maybe it’s just me, but this pack (and I have played it at least three times to confirm this) did not entertain me enough to want to play it again. The flat design just ends up being rather boring, and the uninspired end boss with the generating Float Lizard doesn’t help.
Pros: Few.
Cons: Not too engrossing.
Rating: 2.7

OVERALL: This is not the wonder pack Executor thinks it is. Sure, it’s ok, but it needs work to be more then that.
Pros: Some things are ok.
Cons: Some things aren’t. I sometimes feel I could just repeat Overall Pros and Cons for most every level I review.
Rating: 4.5

Now there’s a generalization, labrat.

Anyway, I DO have the tileset. Is this a good thing? Probably not.

Hmmm. This seems to be a “update after hosting” hotel. What is the point of uploading these to J2O, anyway? The only way you can really play them is if the host hosts it, as only he/she updates the level.

EYECANDY: The author does not use a very good looking Hotel tileset, and as you might expect, the level does not end up looking very good. Add this to the notable lack of any attempt to make actual eyecandy, the annoying overuse of checkerboard tiles, and the fact everything’s in dutch (or something), and you don’t end up very good.
Pros: Few.
Cons: Little quality.
Rating: 2.0

MANUEVERABILITY: The level has a fairly simple design, hampered by the lack of One Way/Vine events on the elevators. As a result, it takes forever to really get anywhere.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.2

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: The design is aggravatingly simple. The room sector, held together with a few elevators, a small walk to the right, and you find the shop. And that’s the entire level. As for gameplay, it’s rather poor, mainly because of the coins. They are everywhere, and all gold, especially in the INS area, so forget any idea of taking a while to save up for something.
Pros: No.
Cons Yes.:
Rating: 1.0

ORIGINALITY: Originality? Where? There is nothing new about this level, and I’m kind of glad, as the fewer reasons to download this, the better.
Rating: 1.0

OVERALL: This level is so not good is ends up being bad. In the way of quality, it fails. And of course it doesn’t include the tileset.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.5

“No I’m sorry but (Xargon graphics and level design) are copyrighted works and you can’t use their graphics.

Mark Rein
Epic Games Inc.”

Yes, it does.

The level consists of a big jail area with messed up layer 3, a few passages extending out of the right side, and a bunch of powerups. There is not much eyecandy.
(Unsupported rating removal edit. I am so not going to bother telling myself what sort of things to add in order to make this review better… ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

This one seems to be down…. strange.

“not completely copyed from the orginal!”
I’m not sure I want to know…

Ok, let’s see. This comes with a tileset, a level, and a readme. The level does not use the tileset. The readme tells you the level’s password, but the level does not actually use that password. Thus I can not get the level to use that, or any other, tileset.
Quite a masterpiece in unaccessibleness. However, I am getting tired of these.

A few words? Ok:
This level can not be run.[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

“its a great battle lvl”
“it isnt finish yet”
“updated version wil be on this site”
These three quotes sent my pre-download feeling for this level way down. Here we go.

Ok, what the author does not tell you, but becomes painfully obvious once you play the level, is that it is an edited version of Battle2. Now, most Battle# edits are for Battle1, but regardless, this remains a highly stereotypical Battle# edit. I’ll list some of the stereotypical features it has:
Linear passages with little or no eyecandy, coming out of walls, filled with tile bugs.
All the fun parts of the level removed.
Lots of powerups and blocks added.
Tileset changed.

Now that I think about it, there’s not all that much else to say about this. Gameplay’s not paticularly high.

Wow. That was a very impressive review.

Now, the level includes no tileset, and it is not a tileset I have, so I am unable to play it. It does, however, include an image with the standard JJ2 sprite colors in it. Yay!

This upload is a .zip file with the filename of Hotel.zip. Which overwrote an old Hotel.zip. It contains Hotel.j2l (overwrote an old Hotel.j2l) and Hotel.j2t. So far, other then the overwriting, no problem. The author included the tileset and everything.
Well… maybe, anyway. Because, you see, Hotel.j2l does not use Hotel.j2t, but Hotel S.j2t, which is not included. So I opened the level up in TSF JCS, and changed the tileset. Save and Run… oops. This is one of those annoying “Read Only” levels.
Level properties, Read Only off, back to JCS, change tileset, save and run. THEN it gives me an access violation and crashes my computer.

What did I ever do to this level?! Not that it looked like the world’s best hotel in JCS, but still.