Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I love this. I’m not sure of the exact reason, but it’s just cool. Except for maybe the multiplayer levels.
(Unsupported rating removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Well, well, well, if it isn’t the 2000th upload. :) Anyway.
Waz seems to be unable to use tilesets other then his own. While this does mean he uses tilesets he knows very well, it does seem a little repetitive. The tilesets are, as you might expect, used well.
The levels feel too cramped. They’re full of small passages and a few deadends. There are places where a spring or two would be more convinient, as well. One interesting thing about these levels is that you are basically unable to see the bottoms of the levels.
While these look cool, not enough attention was given to gameplay. Make sure you’re making levels, and not just example levels.

Edit in response to Waz:
2: I know you meant to make them be normal levels, but they feel too much like you’re just trying to show off all the tiles available, and not enough like more playable levels. (Levels by Craccoboy are often good examples of this)
3: Nothing to do with you, but this is the 2000th file uploaded to the downloads section. And because 2000 is all 0s except for the first number, it’s important.[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

BASIC GROUND TILES: They’re mostly there. The author, however, made three tile wide slopes, and two tile wides, but no one tile slopes at all. He also included tiles for one tile wide structures, but they can’t have bottoms, they must stick out of a larger platform structure.
BASIC EVENT TILES: Vines, h/v poles, text sign, exit sign, cool sucker tubes, arrows, blocks (*, !, Bouncy and Trigger) and hook are there. No spikes, though, or belts (though belts are excusable).
LAYERS 5-8: There’s a working textured backgrounds, and two different mountain ranges. The author obviously either looked at or had in mind the background mountains from JJ1 Diamondus, as these resemble them closely.
LAYER 4 BACKGROUND: In contrast to the green and purple walls, the “tunnel”, as some people call it, is dark blue. It’s obviously a copy of the main wall tile, shrunk and with the color changed, and it’s way too repetitive, but it works fine and you can put everything (I think) on it.
EYECANDY: This is the tileset’s main failing. There’s a not-all-that-well-done slime fall, but that’s really all there is in the way of eyecandy. (Not counting stuff listed in LAYERS 5-8). The whole tileset seems based on Darkened Landscape, by Disguise, which had the same sort of floor as well as tombstones for signs, but also had little eyecandy to speak of. Come to think of it, very few of Disguise’s tilesets do. If you’re going to make a level with this tileset, have a lot of slopes, because otherwise the level will start looking monotous Really quickly.
ORIGINALITY: There’s basically nothing in this tileset you haven’t seen before, assuming you download a lot of tilesets. The name’s interesting, but it seems to have little to do with the tileset itself.
VARIATION: This tileset has very little variation. There is one type of ground, which fortunately you can make platforms with instead of just walls, one type of tunnel, both of which have only one tile for their insides.
MASKING: Masking seems fine. The sucker tubes have their outsides masked, so if you want you can have the player be only able to enter them from the correct end.
OVERALL, I WOULD SAY: While I complain about this tileset a lot, it’s still an interesting tileset I might use if I needed Darkened Landscape with tunnel. Spend more time on this, and it would be better.

Me likesh space rodeo!

..read Trafton’s review. The only good part of this tileset is that the graphics are good, but you can’t see any of the graphics unless you use low detail, at which point everything looks bland.
Oh, and the masking mostly works, though even it has bugs. Yes, it’s 40 tiles, and he didn’t get the masking perfect.
(Unsupported rating removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

Ten (I think) basically random single player levels, with (AFAICT) no real plot. At the start (assuming you’re able to read the story text on top of the background), it says Devan’s on the loose, and you’re sent to stop him, but after that there is no inkling of plot. You just play the (often quite short) levels.
The Carrotus levels are quite badly done in the graphics department, and their gameplay isn’t all that good either. Having bats come out of the ceilling would be nicer if you weren’t so close to the ceilling.
The Diamondus levels (you go to Diamondus after finding carrots in carrotus (as I said, there’s no real plot)) are noticably better. I paticularly liked the place where you climb up through lots and lots of trees.
The Colonius levels aren’t as good as the Diamondus ones, but not as bad as Carrotus. Two short levels going in and out of the sewers. Lending strength to the “no plot, I just wanted to try this” idea, is that they start with you being thrown out of the window of a house and being told to never come back. How did you get there? What did you do? Sorry, there’s no explanation.
I’ve never been a big fan of pure boss levels, but I’ll admit this one was better then it could have been. You fight Bolly, with two generating Tuf Turtles, and maybe crash into some platforms.
The bonus level is poor. Tileset use bad, and you go through a layer 5 maze (so just use low detail) before going to the credits level, which I won’t talk about.
Overall, this pack had potential, but the lack of plot, poor eyecandy, short levels and annoyingness prevented it from getting a higher rating.

Look, it takes some skill to edit official levels. This is not evident in this.
Is this a Battle level? Any level in existance can be called a battle level, as its only requirement is at least one start position.
Is this a good Battle level? Not at all. It’s extremely linear, has bad ammo placement, and it’s hard to get around.
Is this a CTF level? I think so. There’s a blue base, anyway. There might be a red base, but I got stuck trying to find it and gave up.
Is this a good CTF level? Not at all. There’s only one (basically) path, it’s hard to navigate, and it’s too hard to go from red to blue.
Is this a Treasure Hunt level? In the loosest definition of the term. One secret contains like all 100 gems, and there are a few other hidden in other secrets, or left over from the original.
Is this a good Treasure Hunt level? Not at all. I think you already can tell why.
Is this a Cooperative level? I doubt it. The author removed all the enemies, for a start, so you just wade through the awful level.
Is this a good Cooperative level? Not at all. It plays terribly, lots of blocks don’t have events for them..
Is this a level with eyecandy? Technically. But the eyecandy seriously sucks.
Is this a level with gameplay? Technically. But it, like the eyecandy, seriously sucks. Same goes with design.
Is this a level with good points? Yes. But they’re rather rare, and I won’t list them.

Yes, it has a lot of bad guys. Sadly, the author focused a little too hard on this. Along with exclamation marks..
Anyway, this is an ok single player level, using the unoriginal filename “Crazy.j2l”. Like the author’s other level (uploaded today), it starts out better then it ends, The level dissolves into fighting huge armies of enemies, and it’s rather short. However, I love how if you open the door of a house, the enraged owner punches you.
This level has foreground eyecandy (which is annoying) but no background eyecandy. Interesting.
Jeffrocks, I think that your main problem is that you try to make the level all at once, and run out of inspiration after the start. If you feel the level isn’t as good as it was previously, take a break. Work on it later when you’ve got some new ideas. And try to make it longer.

Yes, you can. Fancy that.
“Colon3” (actual level name Untitled) starts out fairly well. Decent tileset use, gameplay, enemy placement, design. It gets worse, though. The author starts making errors with the tiles (though the sewers, except for the exit, are done well) and the design gets worse (near the end you go through a long empty passage). There are several layer 3/tile bugs, and the level’s fairly short.
On the good side (did you know that, in general, it’s easier to find bad points then good points?), the level’s ok. I wouldn’t recommend inserting it into your normal single player game, though.

I evidently liked this level a bit more then Chandie did.
It’s a medium-small length level with quite a few goodies and secrets. It uses the tileset fairly well (except in some spots in the background), and has a variety of stuff.
Now the bad part.
It’s seriously easy. There are WAY too many extra lives (and they’re way too easy to get), and the enemies are usually in places you can walk up to them and shoot at them. The end boss is about the same, but Bubba’s generally easy anyway. You can get the silver coins and the coin warp without hitting the trigger crate, and there are some layer 3/tile bugs.
Still, especially for a first level, this is good. I’m too mean to raise the rating for it being your first, though.

At first glance, this conversion looks great. But it has quite a few bugs.
The colors are off. Yes, I looked in the original Medivo, and yes, the background bricks are Really pink. But the black isn’t black anymore. The rain changes color while animating. The lamp animation is messed up. The thing where yellow and red go by to the left and right is wrong, as you’re supposed to be able to see Jazz through it. CelL made the transparent parts black, it seems.
It’s also missing tiles. Yes, it has tons of tiles the previous Medivo conversions didn’t, mostly variants of the same few tiles (though admittedly a decent amount of them were in the original Medivo), but CelL should have looked at the rain more closely. Yes, he noticed it is in layer 4. However, it has more then one animation. It actually lands on the walls.
Also, it overwrites Ice Wolf’s conversion of Medivo. Now I have to remake all my levels (just one, fortunately, I think) that used it. Blah.

On the good side, this has tons of tiles, is far superior to the old versions, has a working (You can tell CelL is improving just from that) textured background, good tubes, H/V poles, blocks, MOST of the original tiles, and a large variety they are!

This is a very good conversion, but its more-then-fair-share of bugs prevents it from getting a higher rating.

I find any level that advertises its having “new failures” suspicious.
Anyway, while rather evidently a sequel to the other one (the other one is also included in the .zip, but I found it best not to rate that..), the idea has gotten some upgrades. This time, instead of collecting 1000 gems, you go into three dungeons (still full of gems) and find the “magic switches” which are marked by having gem tiles on either side of them. Once you hit all three, the fourth dungeon opens, wherein you open a combination lock, then see a bit of foreshadowing for the sequel.
The dungeons vary – the first two are rather linear, you go through them a while, find the switch, then find the way back (there are potions to help you do so – blue teleports you (using sucker tubes), grey lets you fly, orange stops your flying), but in the third one you have to hit four crates before you can find the magic switch (which will also get you out of there)
A variety of ground blocks is used, as you might expect, though there are a few bugs that come from him using all four different enviroments – for example, the magic switch gems are on the background from Hocus02 (the tileset), though they appear on the background of Hocus01 (the tileset) at one point. Speaking of backgrounds, that’s one of this level’s failing points – though it’s not entirely its fault – the background doesn’t really work. It use the pillars from Hocus04 (the tileset) wrong, and the mountains have no base – because the Hocus backgrounds don’t work without the status bar. The author, however, didn’t seem to know you can have a Blank status bar (that doesn’t talk about crystals, level number, and TT-JJ2).. oh well.
This level is a definite improvement over the other one, but parts of it prevent it from getting a higher rating.

Why, yes. The method I used is called “standing on the other side of the tube the robot can conviniently not cross and then just shooting at him”.
Needs work.. eyecandy low, gameplay low, design decent. I’m not sure this should be rated, though.

Level 1: Project Black Battle
I’m not sure what Unhit meant about a lack of powerups. There are three of them that I found, in fact. The level is mostly a connected network of the big 3 tile wide tubes Metal Mania has, though they don’t use layer 3. There’s also a small outside area with an annoying background, and that’s where the powerups are.
Level 2: Project Electroman
Sadly, this level had nothing to do with the “Electroman” game by Apogee. Instead it was a battle level using Mez02. The main feature is a few tube things you see here and there which take you up and down. There are like three powerups and a fire shield. The seeker powerup is especially interesting, because there’s nothing to stop you from shooting it through the wall, and if you warp into it, there appears to be no way out unless maybe if you’re Spaz. The whole level needs more oneways. Too much ammo, but other then that, this is a decent level.
Level 3: Project Blaster
Why do people make so many maze like levels using Mez01’s white bricks and only that? Anyway, this is a mazish battle level with some pockets of ammo (so I’m not sure why it’s called what it is) and quite a few carrots. The eyecandy consists of rainbow blocks flying by. Ok, but not enough gameplay, as it’s hard to get around. Oh, and there are those annoying \ (or /) tiles on top of solid tiles, so you can get stuck (sometimes)..
Level 4: Proyect Deathmatch (that’s how it’s spelled!)
Yay. This one actually uses the tileset semi-well (except for the annoying background effect) and the design is ok. There are too many deadends, though, and all the ammo is powerups (which is I guess why Unhit found powerups here), so there could be a lot of deaths here.
Level 5: Project Big war
This level attempts to be big. Yes, attempts. Most of it is trees (which can be hard to get by), almost all the ammo is powerups (again). There are deadends, eyecandy bugs, etc. Still, this one has some good points.
Level 84! YES YOU HEARD ME!: Project Jumpinthefier (fier?)
There is no fire in this level. I just thought I’d say that straight away. You start out with a few powerups you can’t get back to afterwards (unless you die). You jump down into the main area, which is a linear place with lots of powerups. It can take a while to get somewhere, but there’s nothing there. You should have stayed back with the powerups. Tileset use is ok, though.
Project 7: Project Goodbye (not the last level)
Never make a Heaven level unless you know that the key and lock tiles aren’t supposed to be hung around on the wall randomly (and not do anything), and you can make good eyecandy with it. People who see the Heaven tileset want levels with good eyecandy. This one’s eyecandy falls under “ok”. The design is nothing spectacular, and the author needs to use some transparency and one ways. Too many powerups, not enough ammo, and a platform flying through the air with statues on it round off this not so spectacular level.
Level 8: Project Kobra
This level is saved by the tileset, which is decent looking and easy to use enough that it’s hard to be bad in the eyecandy factor. That said, this level actually has decent eyecandy. Nothing special, but nothing terrible. And he shows off that the author (Jaws, I think) put a sea creature in a tileset where water doesn’t work. Enough about the tileset. The level’s design could use some work. It’s basically a flat (well, there are slopes, but you know what I mean) area with a platform or two up above. You also can jump in the water and swim right to the bottom of the level! Is that not enough? Ok.. you can get easily stuck at the top right corner.
Level 9: Project Spaceman
The fact that stands out in this level is that it is hard to see what is solid and what isn’t. The wall and layer 3 are the same tiles often (and sometimes you think the Real walls aren’t solid), and the design isn’t that great. Run around in small passages and get powerups. It’s kind of linear, too, never a good sign. However, tileset use is fair, though admittedly it doesn’t use all that much other then the basic walls.
Level 10: Project Gunfire (I sense a trend in the level names)
I thought Unhit talking about the rain would prepare me. I was wrong. The rain, which is in the foreground but not transparent, actually moves the opposite X direction it faces, as well as not moving Y at all. The design’s ok, though. Tileset use would be good except for the fact that the masking of the sand in Temple sucks, so you should have put it in layer 3 over more normal walls or something. Too many carrots and powerups, and too much ammo sometimes.
Level 11: Project Blue War
A smallish level which feels bigger then it really is. Uses the tileset rather well, except the lightning effect, but the design isn’t incredible. Still, this level has good points, and is IMHO one of the better levels in the pack.
Level 12: Project Boomerang
I’m sorry, but this needs some lighting effects to feel right for me. Its a level set in the caves of the Space Warbase tileset (and it would use them well if not for the fact that the insides of the walls are all repetitive.. repetitive.. repetitive…), and tries to feel like a cave. As in, it’s a bunch of narrow passages, most of which are deadends. Too many powerups, not enough of anything else.

I had a lot of bad comments about the levels, but they have good points sometimes, too..[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

A few big animals saying “Hahhhm”. Lasts about seven seconds max.
Music. Jazz related.
This file is the first two things. Not the second two.
(Reluctant unsupported rating removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

The level (using the Hocus Pocus Episode 1 tileset (which isn’t included (despite only about 130 people having it))), is a large castle with one goal: To collect 1,000 gems. The author apparently placed exactly 1,000 gems in this level, though you must remember you can get gems out of enemies.
There is a main area, and four dungeons, three of which are called “Monkey Dungeon”, so I presume the author got the text mixed up, and the fourth called “Secret Dungeon”, which you must read the readme to find.
All four dungeons are more or less packed full of gems and coins (if you get 100 coins, you get a sizable chunk of the 1,000 gems), and a few enemies. My favorite was probably the Secret dungeon, with the evil person and the icey area, with the Real Monkey dungeon in second.
Despite the tileset being (I think) fairly easy to use, the eyecandy isn’t all that great. The author did an ok job constructing a Forest area background (used the music for it, too), and had a variety of tiles, but most of the walls were the colorful blocks from the Iceland levels of Hocus Pocus. What other tiles there are, are often misused.
At the end, if you THINK you have 1,000 gems (the author has no way of checking if you do, obviously enough), you can go to an exit. I turned out to have 1,013 gems, but you’re free to beat that. So no, there’s nothing stopping you from running across the whole level, not entering any dungeons, and just going in the exit.
There’s also an area to thank the authors of this “cool and mysterious tileset”. Some of the Hocus stuff (lightning, potions, etc) flash around the names of Fooruman and Greenkiller, along with Black Ninja, Spotty and Violet.
Overall, if you want to see an.. interesting parody, you might want to download this. Might.

Way better then Persian Paradise, but then, that applies to quite a lot of tilesets. Oh well.
Anyway, Oasis is a desert tileset with palm trees, but no water. In fact, by the looks of things, any water made in this tileset would be all muddy. So you wouldn’t want to rest your horses at this oasis.
It feels like Forest, really, only that the tiles look different (same stuff, same versatileness), and there’s a bunch of building tiles. They look a bit hard to put together at first until you get used to it. One of my only complaints is that the doors and windows are just a bit too small.
Basically there’s tons of cool stuff, everything looks good (although I’m of the impression the background eyecandy is just a little bit too cartoony), the tiles offer lots of possibilities, etc.

Now the level.
The level’s good. It’s quite short unless you go for all the secrets, sadly, and it overuses little platforms with gem crates attached to the right side of walls, but other then that. It obviously enough uses the eyecandy well, and all that.

I’m slightly undecided between a 9.2 and a 9.0, but I’ll go with a 9.2 because it’s just darn cool.

I find it interesting that you have uploaded your changing the filenames of two music files.

My, yes, it has been fixed totally. Which is why.. uhhhhh.. well, you get the idea.

It’s a single player level, true. You can go in two directions at the start (after getting the four electro blaster powerups), one of which gives you some stuff and sends you back to the start, the other of which is the “main” path. At the bottom is some scrolling lava, but sadly said lava is also to be found at the top, which looks weird. The tileset is used semi-ok in some places, but most places have a bad use of it.
There are either no enemies or lots of enemies. At the end of the first level, you get to fight Bilsy (after getting the eight or so Seeker powerups). The second level is a plain fight with Devan, no platforms or anything. Yawwwwn.
You get the idea. However, it’s kind of ok. For example, there’s this interesting place with ramps, and I sort of liked what you were trying to do with the blocks.. though it came out rather badly.

Unofficial Official Reply N/A Review:

@luuk:
I actually had reasons for choosing which enemies were which. Mushrooms, Bear-Dogs and Penguins all walk around normally but run at you. That’s what a Doggy Dogg does. Dragons and Eskimos walk around and shoot at you. That’s what a Hatter does.
I’ll admit the flying enemies were less accurate, but JJ2 has no flying enemies that are very similar to those in Hocus. Red Demons and the Birds act the same, so I went with appearance for bats, and Sparks were green demons because they can move great distances.

@Trafton:
I know about the bug in Level 4 with the Doggy Doggs, and I meant to put something in the readme about it, but I guess I forgot. So..
Warning! In Level 4, get the Silver Key before using the combination lock switches after the Gold Lock. Otherwise you are likely to get unfairly hurt.
For those you care, the sucker tube bug mentioned is as follows. If you go into the white potion to test the first combination lock in level 4 from directly below it, exactly on center, you’ll get stuck. Because that’s how JJ2 works. Sorry.
Can’t believe I missed the bug where you get stuck in Level 7. File reuploaded.

@AcId:
They might have a file size limit. Try WinZip.

@No one in paticular:
[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]