Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Rockingham Gardens
Level rating: 8
Rating
8

A readme cannot fix the fact that you cannot type the levelname in when you host a server (thanks to the “_”).

INSTALLATION RATING: –

Exceptional eyecandy, just a few minor issues that could be ironed out.

EYECANDY: 2.9/3

Solid navigation, and tolerable carrot/weapon placement. Also, 20 coins is a bit hefty for just the Seeker powerup.

WEAPONS: 1.3/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.9/4
SUBTOTAL: 4.2/6

Feels very polished except for a few slightly flaky bits.

OVERALLFEELING”: 0.9/1

A great rookie effort by Merlyn. I have my eye on you. ;)

TOTAL SCORE: 8- (/10)
ROUNDED SCORE: 8/10[This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Distopia
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
8.5

Sorry, no installation rating this time because I got this level via autodownload off of EvilMike’s server.

INSTALLATION RATING: N/A

A great eyecandy effort by EvilMike. The lack of layer use is a bit conspicous, but I cannot find any blatant mistakes in the actual mapping itself. I’m also assuming the tileset is slightly limited, too.

EYECANDY: 2.6/3

Weapon and carrot balance is good, but not perfect. The navigation is great, although I did not find any secrets. The level overall is pretty well balanced with the fast routes near the bottom but powerups/carrots nearer to the top (which is also easy to control, which was one of Mike’s goals).

WEAPONS: 1.5/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 3.5/4
SUBTOTAL: 5/6

This is great. You can tell you are playing a top-notch level when you playing this level.

OVERALLFEELING”: 0.9/1

This level exceeded my initial expectations with flying colors. This is definitely Mike’s masterpiece so far, and it therefore it serves as an ideal model that all CTF levels should live up to. I heartily reccomend this for download. Great job, Mike!

TOTAL SCORE: 8.5/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 8.5/10[This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Scars of Chaos
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
8

Hmm, I just realized I should tack the installation rating on the end of the rating but ironically it doesn’t apply to this level. =/
I’ve been meaning to review this, so here we go:

Normal installation.

INSTALLATION RATING: =

Very solid eyecandy. This is a quality job, folks. If you struggle with eyecandy BlurredD is a great example to learn from.

EYECANDY: 2.8/3

The actual gameplay itself is decent for Battle levels, but it is not up to the caliber of the eyecandy. They are solid efforts – nothing horrible, and nothing truly outstanding.

WEAPONS: 1.5/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.9/4
SUBTOTAL: 4.4/6

This pack has a great base value of fun but lacks the polish to push it into the epitome of Battle levels.

OVERALLFEELING”: .8/1

This definitely gets a download reccomendation, and even a hosting reccomendation. Spice it up a little with these levels.

TOTAL SCORE: 8/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 8/10

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Assault3
Level rating: 8.5
Rating
8.7

sw33t

Normal installation.

INSTALLATION RATING: =

Good eyecandy to keep the level playable, but that is not the focal point of the level.

EYECANDY: 2/3

Weapon and carrot placement are great! The navigation makes inventive use of triggers, and the gameplay is innovative (and ported to Jazz quite well, I must say)!

WEAPONS: 1.8/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 3.8/4
SUBTOTAL: 5.6/6

The level that pioneered Assault. Enough said.

OVERALLFEELING”: 1/1

Download! You are certainly missing something if you aren’t downloading this.

TOTAL SCORE: 8.6/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 8.7/10 [This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Future Evolution v1.1
Level rating: 8.8
Rating
7

I’ve tested this pack fairly extensively over the internet, and I’ve enjoyed it. There have been problems with levels going to each other but I’ll review what I can.

No problems with installation. There was a readme to boot.

INSTALLATION RATING: +

Obviously the strong point of the pack. Shadow obviously knows what he is doing visually, and it shows with his appealing style of mapping.

EYECANDY: 3/3

Weapons and gameplay are the downfall of this pack. Weapon placement is mediocre and level navigation is poor. Carrot placement is awful.

WEAPONS: 1.2/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.1/4
SUBTOTAL: 3.3/6

Feels like a solid, polished pack to me; but it lacks the charm of a classic.

OVERALLFEELING”: .7/1

Pretty decent levels overall. I’m borderline on giving a download reccomendation, but since a good deal of others like it I’d reccomend you download it.

TOTAL SCORE: 7/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 7/10

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: InGame: Special Edition
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Fool, you must succumb to the greatness that is XP! ;P

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: PreSenT PaST
Level rating: 8.1
Rating
N/A

Bug fixed. BTW, it might be a good idea to add that this level is definitely not a good level to play in Low Detail.

I think now PP is polished enough that I can deem it has “Gone Gold”. All future updates will affect the version number. You guys that have downloaded before this latest update have been a sort of beta test. It’s impossible to find all the bugs by yourself (thanks Taz, I thought I had fixed that already! ;)).

So, as a recap, if you downloaded the level before 5/29/02 you should probably download it again for compatibility reasons (yes, all 16 of you ;P).

And Taz: This isn’t 9.5 material? ;P Anyway, if you read the readme you’d know this was intended to be a difficult level but not necessarily confusing (can you clarify what you meant?). And there is an abundance of secrets (I bet you didn’t you know that there is a blaster powerup, a toaster powerup, an electro powerup, an ice powerup, a seeker powerup, and 3 full NRG carrots).

[EDIT: 1.01 version available. Various bugs fixed. 5/29/02][This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: 7th Lava Fall
Level rating: 9
Rating
8.2

Installation went smoothly, with a great readme!

INSTALLATION RATING: +

This is a very well done urban tileset mixed in with a sort of apocolyptic lava mixed in. The mapping takes full use of the tileset – top notch.

EYECANDY: 3/3

Weapon and carrot balance are decent. The navigation is good too, but nothing extroardinary.

WEAPONS: 1.5/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.7/4
SUBTOTAL: 4.2/6

A true classic – it showcases the effort that should be put into all levels.

OVERALLFEELING”: 1/1

This level easily gets a download reccomendation, if not just for the tileset.

TOTAL SCORE: 8.2/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 8.2/10[This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: stripe's race pack
Level rating: 7.1
Rating
N/A

Okay stripe, I will honor your non-numberical request by doing an unconventional non-numerical review.

Heheh, swaddling clothes. ;)

I remember Diamond DASH… First Race level I believe…

Anyway, this pack is great. And I’d say that if I wasn’t biased, too. ;P

Get it already. =P

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Team Battle
Level rating: 7.6
Rating
7.2

Yep yep, a review from ST. How rare. =/

Uh, no readme and the instructions for Team Battle are nonexistant which kind of renders the level pointless (yes, you give some here but they are hurried and not understandable). At least nothing was missing. Most readmes are a luxury but this was a must so I’m marking ya down for this (you’re just lucky it doesn’t count in the ratings… ;P).

INSTALLATION RATING: -

Decent eyecandy. It’s livable but there is no fancy layer work. At least it looks good on Low Detail.

EYECANDY: 2/3

It navigated pretty smooth and had a tolerable “flow” to it but carrots were nonexistant (intentional?).
The weapons were coming through and spades and they were just generally ubiquitous. You’d have to fire your gun until it breaks to stop shooting. Luckily there were no powerups so it was balanced. Still I think there should’ve been at least one regular carrot (maybe two on opposite sides of the level) and the weapons should’ve been toned down.

WEAPONS: 1.4/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 3.5/4
SUBTOTAL: 4.9/6

Felt slightly rushed and kind of like the author was feeling melancholy, bland and/or unenthusiastic. Just doesn’t have that flair and that classic feel.

OVERALLFEELING”: 0.4/1

D/L reccommendation. I never actually got to play Team Battle so the concept has gone untested so far. I may update this review after I’ve tested the mode instead of just the level.

TOTAL SCORE: 7.3/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 7.2/10

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Alien Chemestry
Level rating: 8.5
Rating
N/A

Uh, is that just me or is that a double post?

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Rainy Hell
Level rating: 6.3
Rating
6.2

First off, at the time of this writing this level is seriously overrated but not bad nonetheless.

Installation went smoothly, but the author omitted a readme! Ugh, not again!

INSTALLATION RATING: =

Pretty decent eyecandy, although there is no difference between 8 bit/hardware mode and 16 bit with all effects on. The floating gargoyles are weird too, if you’re going to randomly place them places you might as well make them “fly”. The rain was also just a tad overused in the foreground, and the background could’ve used some brushing up.

EYECANDY: 2.4/3

Okay. The routes (more like lack of routes) were terrible. It was too open in the middle and too closed in on the sides for there to be any variety of routes. Jazz also had a bit more trouble on this level than Spaz, and I’m pretty sure that this level would be “Lori incompatible” (I don’t have TSF to validate that, though).
The carrot placement was a typical “lockbox” placement the majority of the time. Hence the name, they were “locked” inside a box and you had to get to a large horde of them, which I’m really not a fan of that style of “carroting”. The other carrots were a bit too easy to get at, though (the exact opposite).
Weapons? They were overabundant in powerups but a slight lack of regular ammo, but generally okay in placement. Again people, state the balance in the readme!

WEAPONS: 1.2/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 1.8/4
SUBTOTAL: 3/6

Felt pretty cool and spiffy, but didn’t give off that mystical aura.

OVERALLFEELING”: .7/1

Wow, this rating came out a lot less than I thought it would. Sorry, but I can’t make a download reccomendation unless you are a stickler for CTF. There just isn’t enough good stuff to seperate it from the fray, except that it has no fatal flaws. You’re lucky I was generous and upped the 6.1 to 6.2 instead of lowering it to 6.0. ;P

TOTAL SCORE: 6.1/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 6.2/10

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Sirius
Level rating: 9.1
Rating
8.2

Sweet! They look like good candidates for race levels. I must mark down for lacking some chief tiles, but this tileset has some ruX0r other ones!

Wanna join ELM, the premier level designer group? ;)

[EDIT: The Grammar Nazi forced me to edit this sucka’.][This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: EvilCastle CTF
Level rating: 7
Rating
7.2

Here I am, doing my occasional review. Dig in, foo’!

Installation went as it should, but no readme! People! ;P

INSTALLATION RATING: =

Cream of the crop in the eyecandy deal here. A couple places could’ve been fixed up, and layers could’ve be SLIGHTLY used more, but all in all a very respectable effort.

EYECANDY: 2.8/3

Well, the routes were solid and smooth but not too abundant and without variety. A bit too short for a real CTF. A few nice “secrets”, but nothing for the routes.
The carrot placement was virtually nonexistant. It was very unbalanced considering the powerups (if it’s not SUPPOSED to be balanced, then state it in the readme! =P).

Weapons? Unbalanced with the carrots and gasp some powerups were inaccesible with Jazz! You have to be able to get to the powerups to use them…

WEAPONS: 1.0/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.5/4
SUBTOTAL: 3.5/6

Felt great, hehe! Even made in Canada!

OVERALLFEELING”: 1/1

This one gets a d/l reccomendation. Maybe even a reccomendation into a string.

TOTAL SCORE: 7.3/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 7.2/10

[EDIT: Had to fix a few minor mistakes.][This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Heaven v.1.1
Level rating: 9.6
Rating
N/A

Hey, I write long reviews. Just I haven’t bothered to make a rubric yet for Tilesets. ;P

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Heaven v.1.1
Level rating: 9.6
Rating
9.5

I’ll spare you the long review, but this is an excellent tileset. It even has (new) destructable blocks that look like Epic made them (hmm, maybe they did… TSF?)! It takes a little bit of the marble tileset, and sticks it in a whole new one… very nice. It only lacks a few minor things, and the “Epic” look (it’s a bit too “sharp”, and the outline lines are too thin in some places and sometimes in places where they shouldn’t be).[This review has been edited by SteelTalon]

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: 'Ancient Dungeon' CtF
Level rating: 7.4
Rating
7.5

Heya, checking in for my not so weekly level rating.

Installation went fine, but without a readme! How blasphemous! ;P

INSTALLATION RATING: =

Eyecandy. Creative, but lack of technical “cleanness”. Also, looks almost unacceptably bad in Low Detail, but I’m not marking down for that.

EYECANDY: 2.5/3
Navigation? Sort of creative, as both bases were on both sides. It was pretty smooth, but irritating at times. Base routes, sucked, though. There were a decent amount of secrets, so that helped somewhat. Weapons seemed to be in good order, but not great enough to have such a balance as that you could duel in it, or something. Good for a fun romp. Carrots, though, sucked pretty bad in placement, etc.

WEAPONS: 1.5/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.7/4
SUBTOTAL: 4.2/6

Didn’t feel really polished, but it felt like good, old rustic fun. Not really any significant problems here (plus fun text strings, kiddies!).

OVERALLFEELING”: 0.9/1

D/L reccommendation. You might get a kick out of this rerelease, especially if the old Alzheimer’s hasn’t kicked in yet. ;)

TOTAL SCORE: 7.4/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 7.5/10

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Jazz 2 Animation Bl00pers
Level rating: 4.7
Rating
N/A

“Change it from Assault to Other on your description. I don’t know about you, but when I am searching for Assault levels I don’t want to be scrolling through programs. =P”

cough
Hint, hint… =P
cough

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: Jazz Commander v1.2
Level rating: 8.5
Rating
N/A

Change it from Assault to Other on your description. I don’t know about you, but when I am searching for Assault levels I don’t want to be scrolling through programs. =P

Review by SteelTalon

Posted:
Posted more than 20 years ago
For: The Future Evolution (beta 1 v089)
Level rating: 8.4
Rating
7.5

Heh, Shadow, I beta tested ShockWave too, remember? =P

Installation went fine, with a readme too… only thing that kept this from getting a plus was that stupid level string on Shockwave. Fix it, or else. ;P

INSTALLATION RATING: =

Spectacular eyecandy. One minor gripe is it becomes almost TOO confusing in some places. Nice job here.

EYECANDY: 2.9/3

Navigation? Hmm. It was a bit difficult, but that’s good, to an extent. I saw a few springs that did nothing… =P There were multiple routes through bases but I didn’t notice any “secret” routes or any corners you could cut and all that good replayablitity stuff. The carrot placement, IMHO, sucked. They were totally unbalanced with the powerups and isolated, too. You want your carrots out of the way, but not plain isolated.
Weapons? Unbalanced with the carrots and a little overdone in some places, but good.

WEAPONS: 1.2/2
NAVIGATION/CARROTS: 2.7/4
SUBTOTAL: 3.9/6

Felt pretty good, and polished, but somehow they felt pretty bland. Maybe it was the warp usage, or the lack of secret routes. Maybe it was the initially difficult routes. But whatever it was, it didn’t feel that great.

OVERALLFEELING”: 0.6/1

This one gets a d/l reccomendation. It’s a pity, because these levels would need a lot of practice to get good on, but they’re too buggy to practice consistently on. =/

TOTAL SCORE: 7.4/10
ROUNDED SCORE: 7.5/10

  1. 1