Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Despite the first review i really liked the rhis episode. It was really fun.
The gameplay was very good. No boring stuff except some ordinary puzzles. There were very interesting ideas like the mirror, new food(!)…
The tileset was a huge mistake! You could use a much better tileset. This ms painty tileset destroyes all the excitement! The new bad guys were also bad. The animated tiles were not enough for it. They run and suddenly disappear. Except that, the levels were not bad. Good placement of goodies and baddies (except the wolfs and bears) There was a huge tilebug in the Cairo’s 8. layer backgorund. Except that, there’s no other, or i didn’t see.
The music choice is good, the standart egypt level musics.
Overall:
Gameplay- +1.8
Idea- +2.0
Tileset- +0.4
Music- +2.0
Bugs- +0.8
Rating- =7.0
I’m waiing for the second epsode! Hope it will be a better tileset!!:)

Please RATE THIS. You won’t regret it. and find the musics WRITTEN IN THE TEXT README. I hope thenext level will be a better level.

I will upgrade the tileset and make it more realistic.

EYECANDY

The backgrounds look OK but they are not the best I have ever seen. It’s good that you used your own tileset to make this but I wasn’t really that impressed with the eyecandy. Some of the tiles looked a bit grainy to me.

6 OUT OF 10

GAMEPLAY

The main objective in this episode is to rescue at least 50 Rabbits from Cramp Farms. Sorta like Abe’s Oddysee on the PS1 where you rescue slaves. There is 3 TNT right next to 3 of the Rabbits you rescue which is used in the end level. If you fail to rescue enough Rabbits then the episode is over and you end up in a room saying that you didn’t rescue enough rabbits.
It did get a bit repetitive in this episode though, some of the levels were EXACTLY the same and this did get a bit boring. I thought that there wasn’t enough Save Points in some of the levels. I spent about 10 minutes in LV 2 and then died and I was right back at the beginning.

6 OUT OF 10

PICKUPS

There are some Gems and food. There are also some Carrots to be found but there wasn’t really that many to be found. TNT could also be picked up for use in the end level as I mentioned in Gameplay. The items were placed OK but I didn’t think there were enough Carrots to find, I was at 1 Heart health most of the time.

5 OUT OF 10

ENEMIES/OBSTACLES

I liked the idea of the custom-made enemies (the robots and spiders), it adds more originality than just using the standard enemies. There were some obstacles that you had to get through by finding a lever/switch. No trigger crates. However, there wasn’t really that many to get me stuck.

7 OUT OF 10

TOTAL = 24/40 (6.0)

RANK: D = OK

DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION

Maybe.

Not only Lori Croft is bpring, I think youre boring too, although thats what I see in your levels, they are all the same (almost), and that tileset you made; why do almost all your tilesets look the same, huhm???

Well, there are quite some good ideas and puzzles, like those mirrors and that scarab grid thingie and a little more, but thats it then….

All those love scenes……
But thats not the only thing, your level making style is always the same too, always those zigzag things full with enemies…….now THAT is boring!!!!!

The musics were one of the good points though, but thats not gonna help you, hear???????

I dont make a worthy review cuz Im not in the hood for it, but if I would rate it Ill gave it a….eehhhhh………i think some kind of eehhh….a 4.8 maybe….
Its not that bad but its far from good, oh what do I say, its as far from good as the heaven to the hell, no, eh its far…………………………….
sorry im gone idiotic, well I HOPE you will make GOOD or DECENT or GREAT levels in future, and Im not even interested in the next levels, and that odyssey thing you released with this one…….

[Mild flame tag clearance. ~Cooba]

Will not rate, but I think you’ve worked very hard on this pack and it is an OK pack.

And, Ischa could really learn from this pack (FDAD Obstacles)

‘Hungry of Truth’ (sic) by Gus is a Single Player pack featuring 18 levels, four custom tilesets (each with 3 different pallets, and an extra ‘credits’ tileset). Its storyline revolves around ‘Team Jazz’ investigating food shortages in the aforementioned four new worlds.

OPENING CREDITS:
The player is presented with, of course, a menu screen, allowing you to choose between viewing credits, a short summary of the storyline, and of course, to begin playing. The menu tileset is pretty bland and there were definitely a few minor tile errors, but this is simply the menu, the game hasn’t begun.

LEVELS 1 – 4: MACARONI POT PASTA LAND PLACE THING
These levels are themed pasta. You heard me right. The walls/floor are, I suppose, giant plain yellow noodles. The background features what I assume to be boiling peices of macaroni and other pastas. You’re given a lot of text, and plenty of it is a combination between what is just plain Engrish and a pseudo-Italian accented twist (“Graces a lot!!”). Little cooks tell you of stories of little girls who can’t buy makeup kits or are lost in ‘da sauce forest’ and so you must go and save them. There are some other interesting platforms designed to look like lasagna, bowtie pasta, and what I guess are herbs. The enemies consist almost entirely of tuf turts and what seem to be bouncing.. meatballs?.. that fly into the air and get spikey on the ground. Some of them bounce straight up and down, and some arc, which I found interesting. It doesn’t take lot of effort to get stuck in walls, so the mask could use some work. If you choose not to die when falling from platforms you’ll have to cheat to get back up. Throughout the levels you talk to various chefs and cooks, who insist on calling you “she” (which the author insists is apparently Italian for “you”). When you complete a “quest” you get a SMACK (kiss) and a single TNT +3.

These levels are quite easy. Most of the danger consists of the kinetic variety, jumping from platform to platform while avoiding certain objects. There are ‘puzzles’ I guess, none very challenging. I got through the level easily, the biggest problems were having to cheat to get out of the walls or off the bottom of the screen.

The second level makes you play as Chuck. Since Chuck can’t fight back, you’re followed around constantly by Floating Lizards. In contrast to the first level, this seems much too difficult. Eventually you come across some cooks with dynamite that can kill the lizards, but getting that far without dying is a trick. The whole ‘help me save [woman]!!’ theme continues (at least this time they give you cuddles instead of smacks). The level is fairly non-linear, and there are some creative ideas. The ending of this level is a “hoover” sucking up bits of pasta, which you were supposed to stop. By the end of this I was very very sick of being Chuck, who moves slowly and is very weak all around.

You start the third level back at the Pasta Hoover. The second level, by the way, had a red tint to the tileset. This last one has a blue and grey tint (including sprites). In this level you finally learn that the moving balls are actually porcupines (which fits perfectly with the whole “pasta” thing).

Finally, the fourth Pasta level. And finally, a change of music! You better hope you saved every piece of TNT for this level, which consists of a lot of small areas with moving scenery that will suck you in and kill you. If you manage to get through all of the areas without dying at least once, you’re quite good.

LEVELS 5 – 8: CHAOS INDUSTRIES
These levels are a bit easier on the eyes. Chaos Industries is apparently a large city/industrial complex with a bad crime problem. Custom enemies include small ‘gangsters’ that shoot at you. Unfortunately they’re very hard to see most of the time.

The eye candy, as I said, is much easier on the eyes. All background layers are well utilized to give an urban feel. Unfortunately there isn’t much else, the same tiles lead you through the entire level, which is mostly cramped area after cramped area. The same ‘rescue so and so’ theme continues as well. I forgot to mention the ‘custom items’ which are basically destruct scenery that you run through that disappears (you get no points for it either, probably because the animation doesn’t finish).

The enemies used remains pretty standard.. norm turtles, tuf turtles, etc. The second level makes you play as the frog, just as the second pasta as a bird. In fact, most of the levels seem to be made specifically for one character and one character only. You get through this level using the frog’s toungue to get coins, and once you’ve gathered enough coins the level is over.

The third Chaos Industries level is in night. This level features wind as an important factor. There are thugs shooting everywhere still, and there is a constant theme of avoiding them as you go down floor after floor. Finally, it’s finished.

The fourth level is a boss level. You again go from small room to small room accomplishing a single task.. getting to the next warp while avoiding one ‘Tony’, a total gangster if there ever was one. There is definitely some creativity in these, which are basically mini puzzles. I got through them rather easily compared with the pasta levels boss. Finally, you defeat Tony. HUGS ALL AROUND!!!!!!!

LEVELS 9 – 13: CANDY HILLS
These levels are candy themed. I think. Or is it Christmas? Is that snow.. or frosting? I dunno, but the scenery is cute. Enemies change a bit, you get some bees now. God I hate bees. And, of course, some custom enemies a la Pasta Land. This time the author insists on calling you “they” (this time it’s GERMAN for “you”). German chocolate. Mmmm. The background layers are normalized as they have been. This time there’s much more variety for platforms and custom items. It becomes more of an eyesore after a while, though.

There are some interesting puzzles in this level. At one point you’re lead through a series of rooms where you are asked a question and must go to the correct answer’s warp. You get math questions, word association.. and others. I won’t spoil it. The engrish here is just delightful. I dare you not to smile. At some points your view is completely blocked by very large foreground layers.

The second level has a different tint and background, as does the third (it’s raining rocks and chess boards and candy!!!) Same stuff as the last series of levels. By now it’s getting old. There are, of course, some original and interesting ideas, but it’s getting pretty tired by now.

Finally, the boss level for this series.. another trip from room to room, each its own minipuzzle featuring Piggy, who is ‘allergic to human dribble’. The ghosts in here are fun, although they regenerate. They reminded me of Pac Man. The enemies surrounding the pig are the feature, and boy do they NOT get really old.. By the end you realize that “there are no peas in Piggy” and so you are beckoned to the last world.. Vegetable Land.

LEVELS 14 – 18: VEGETABLAND
“He” sometimes means “you” in Albanian.

Vegetabland (does ‘bland’ appear in that on purpose or was that hilarious coincidence?) features grassy lettuce stuff and carrots and indescript scenery that I guess has to do with vegetables. The custom enemies? Slugs.

I’d like to go into more detail about this series, but frankly it’s the same stuff. You can see for yourselves.

Finally you get to the boss, one “Lardus”. Same idea as before. Small rooms, get to the warp at the end of each, being careful where you step and watch out for enemies. Same old same old. Creative, but I’m so over it by now. There is nothing fantastic at the end as far as I saw.

ENDING CREDITS:
Uhh.. wait a minute here. This isn’t a happy ending at all. Did I get caught cheating, or is this some sort of bad joke? Come on now, Gus, put down the pipe and tell me you’re serious here. I played through all of your levels and this is my prize? A real shame.

JUST KIDDING:
I jjnext’d (could find nothing else to do) and now we’re at “Final Mick”. I guess this is the final boss.. or the final series of bosses. You have to switch characters between rooms (if you pick the wrong one, oh well). These puzzles are difficult and I am tired of them. A lot of creativity went into these, so much so that I didn’t feel like trying and solving each one. A braver person, perhaps.

Then everything comes back around. You’ve saved the day, and everyone has food. Hurray hoorah.

SUMMARY AND RATING:
This is probably one of the most difficult pieces of work to rate that I’ve ever reviewed. The author made all of the tilesets and levels, which was obviously a lot of work. There are some very creative and intruiging ideas and stuff, and the levels don’t look terrible, per se, the author did the best with his tilesets that he could. While blatantly flawed, I think this level pack has a lot of charm. The storyline is rather silly, but it’s fun, and the engrish and stuff makes for some very memorable quotes. There are lots of custom items and enemies, and they’re usually placed strategically. Several levels are quite ‘open’ and non-linear, while the boss levels are blatantly linear, cramped, and get very old very quickly. The music choice works, but it’s boring as each world has the exact same music.

Gus, you obviously show a great deal of potential, and you’re willing to put in a lot of work. My rating will reflect that, but honestly these levels are not ground breaking or really that great. I wish I could give you a higher rating for this, but I think 6.5 sums it up well enough.

Do I recommend that you download this? Yes. Even though this was not that great, I certainly had fun playing it and writing this very, very long review. Gus creates some priceless moments that I could not help but smile at. It’s quirky, creative, and silly. Download this and don’t play it in one sitting, or it WILL get old, and quickly.

This tileset is OK but it’s not one of the best.

EYECANDY: There are some drawn Sonic characters in the set which look pretty good. Some of the tiles do look a bit grainy though. The custom food items are cool. 6/10

LAYOUT: There are quite a lot of tiles in this set, though not as much as Disguise’s Mega Megatropolis and Galavant’s Miracle of Sun. 7/10

EASE OF USE & USEFULNESS: It is quite easy to use but I don’t think this would be one of the sets that would be used that much. It wouldn’t really be that useful in making a level pack unless you intend to make a Sonic level. EOU SCORE = 5/5 USEFULLNESS SCORE = 2/5. TOTAL = 7/10

TOTAL: 20/30 (6.6666666666666666666666666666667)
Rounded to 6.7

DR: N/A (Yes requires 7)

GRADE: D – OK

IMO, I don’t think this is worth an 8 but it’s a good try though. Try not to make the tiles look too grainy.

Edited to correct maths errors.

OK, First of all i never did play sonic.

THE EXAMPLE LEVELS:

Eyecandy: There was some cheesy aminations but there was Almost no tile bugs.Rating:8

Gameplay: there was lots of game play and things to get through ( Jumping around hoping you don’t fall) Rating :7.5

Music: Thats funny, i never heard any music. rating: 1

items: you used a good seletion of items. Rating:9

The levels: it was a new Way of playing jj2. The levels were short and long. Short if you Jump around. Long if you stay on the ground. Rating: 9.2

Over all: 6.9 Rounded to 7. The levels was good And made sense.

THE TILE SET:

Amination: theres lots of amintaion.
Rating:9.5

Use full ness. This tile set is pretty useless (unless you want to make a sonic level). rating: 7

Tiles: It has every thing you need to make a level BUT signs. rating:9

Over all:The tile set is big And has plenty of tiles. The tile set is Good for lots of stuff.
Rating: 8.5

Overall of overall rating:7.75 rounded to 8. good tileset!

Rating Invaision

Also this tileset of my best friend is created with very well and real Asian things, like the Great Wall of China.

Large, larger, largest
This tileset is extremely big. 1030 tiles!! Overmuch. That’s very good. Because if a tileset is big, there is mostly very much choice.

Much of Asian levels possible
With this tileset you can create a complete episode about Asia. You can create a level in the mountains (Himalaya), at the Great Wall of China, in a city and still much more. Again, there is very much choice.

Beautiful?
Yes, it is very beautiful. The tilesets of Gus are always great. With his tilesets you can create very nice levels.

One disadvantage
This tileset is fantastic, only it is very disappointing that there are no sharp things to your rabbit to hurt yourself.

Conclusion
This tileset has been formed splendidly and you can create very beautiful levels with it. The only shortcoming is the fact that there are no sharp things, furthermore Asia Tileset is an absolute download recommendation.

[Rating (8.8) clearance.. You do not seem to be reviewing this neutrally, given that this tileset was made for you. You give barely any valid reasons that this is a good tileset. ~Cooba]

I did not enjoy this pack whatsoever. No wait scratch that, I enjoyed it, but disliked parts of it which were major enough for me to not enjoy it in the aftermath.
Unlike Ischa, who’s name is now pratically a synonym with “Bad Packs” to me, I always enter Gus’s packs hoping for the best.
Which is why I feel so terrible I left with the worst. I’ll start with something positive, but it probably won’t be too long until I start delving into everything negative (not that it matters, Gus doesn’t listen to the parlent users, I take it)
Interesting Buttstomp technique used at the end. Too bad it’s A) Poorly done and B) The name “Homing Attack” sounds retarded.
It’s a stomp you do with your butt, ergo “Buttstomp”. How the hell does “Homing Attack” relate to that in any way shape or form? It doesn’t even sound all that cool of a name anyways. You ask “Who cares about Buttstomp?”, I ask “Who the hell are you to say the attack needed a namechange in the first place?”
Thats like me all of a sudden going “Who cares about ‘walking’, from now on I’m gonna call ‘Super Hydrosonic Gremwarp’” and expect everyone to follow. Next, The general idea of the plot is very imaginitive and unique, but the problem with it is that it’s not well thought out.
“Team Jazz” are all written like they’re bored to even be there (what a coincidence, so was I). Devan is also poorly written, and it’s hard for me to suspend my belief into thinking that Devan knew his plan would fail. Why would he leave signs saying “I’ve had enough of you meddling! NOW TO SEE THE REAL POWER OF THE PHANTOM!!!”
Looks like even Devan is falling into a routine, which is what’s making SP packs so boring lately.
It’s just not enough to play Situation Madlibs, you have to make the characters
act like they want to be there as well.

Level design isn’t too terrible, but it’s not amazing either. The only real mediocre level in the pack is the last one, where Gus shows he doesn’t know the difference between “Difficult” and “Frustrating”. Listen, just because you toss in a bunch of bees doesn’t mean the level is automatically difficult, it means most players are going to hate your level and will not even attempt to finish it without cheating.
Another frustrating aspect is one puzzle that forces you to type in JJK to redo it.
I’m sick of these. Next time you level makers out there make a puzzle ask yourself “Is there a way I can make this work without making them press JJK?” If not, don’t put that puzzle in. It’s overkill to expect the player to get rid of a whole life just because they couldn’t solve a puzzle. At least use the CTF Base thing, that doesn’t remove a life at all.
There were also a few instances where I asked “Did Gus even test this blasted thing to see if all the rabbits could get through it?” Like in the first level, theres a cliff only Spaz can jump up to. Too bad for Jazz and Lori that the cliff is the only way to continue the level. Maybe Gus should start calling the group “Team Spaz” isntead.

Oh, and I had no clue what was going on at the boss fight with the phantom. Can you people please start giving some instructions on how to fight these “Dodge respawning enemies and do something” bosses? I have no clue what the hell I’m supposed to do, and they’re ussually just JJNEXT fodder.

All in all, the level design is decently average but theres plenty of things I didn’t like about it. These things knocked the score from a 6 to a 4.8.

Personally, I would reccomend downloading it because maybe you happen to like some of the things I dislike (and apparently there are people that do), and generally, the level design isn’t all that bad (but not all that good either). For me however, the cons outweigh the pros, and this is just another forgettable pack I’ll probably never touch again.

Of course, this review is more for everyone else than it is for Gus. No matter what I write here, Gus will find it “offensive” if I don’t give him anything above a 7, and probably wouldn’t take any advice on what he did wrong or knowledge of what he did right I’d put in here.

This Level pack has some very-well designed levels.

STORY
The plot is quite unique, which is good.
8/10

LEVEL DESIGN
The are some very interesting tileset uses in some of the levels.
9/10

GENERAL
This level pack is very good and must of taken about 6 months to make. Nice work, Gus!
10/10

TOTAL
27/30=*9.0*

[Rating (9) clearance. There was no actual support for the given rating. “very interesting tileset uses” is not enough to base any rating off. ~Cooba]

Why has this tileset not had any ratings? I really like this tileset!

EYECANDY: 3 Tilesets are included in this pack and each one is the same but they come in 3 different colours, so these 3 tilesets could be used for a certain time of day: Morning, afternoon & night. I like the animated Robot tiles, they are really cool. It looks like a Factory. 9/10

LAYOUT: The set appears small but there are lots of tiles that can be used. There are very few blank spaces, so most of the Tileset space has been used. 10/10

MASKING: Automask has been used but that’s not much of a problem. Tiles have been masked correctly. Actually, I don’t find background masking as much of a problem because the buidings in the background could also be used in Layer 4 for the character to walk on. 10/10

EXAMPLE LEVEL: When you start the level you see lots of moving Robots in the background. I really liked this level. I am amazed at how much can be done in a level with a tileset this small. This will not be counted in the Rating.

EASE OF USE: This tileset is easy to use. Lots of the tiles can be animated. Some of the tiles can be used as conveyor belts with Belt Left/Right events. 9/10

TOTAL = 38/40 (9.5)

DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION?

YES!

GRADE: A

Starting:
Firstly, There is no gooding, you didn’t have to release it on the web It was Just for Ischa howeever It was not good.

Eyecandy: None, well things for Ischa

those comments were just for Ischa and you so you are supposed to send on e-mail adress thus this can’t be used even for a level without these comments because of the name think I gave 3 for this then rating 3.0

*Comments:*Do not release for Just One User(Ischa). This can’t be used for a level

Finals:

Rating:5
Download?:NO

[Rating (5) clearance. Feel free to edit this review with more support like I said in the PM. ~Cooba]

Is this enough cooba?

WHAT!? I did exactly the same thing. Exactly the same, Exoticus changed. Good though.

Well all i can say is the tileset was too simple, but a good attempt though.

I’m not sure why I downloaded this. But I’m reviewing it because it’s just too awe-inspiring to leave unreviewed.

“Menace to Wonders” is a story about Devan trying to take over a galaxy by “charming” the inhabitants. What this means is, if you fight an enemy that isn’t a turtle, it isn’t actually evil, it’s only charmed to be evil. You’re still supposed to kill them, but now you have the optional added bonus of feeling guilty about it. Especially because I think it tells you to cure them at some point. Well, they’re not charmed anymore, right? There are also a few species that resist being charmed into evil, including parrots, sharks, moths, and women.
…yes, women. I’ll get back to that.
The level pack opens with an old cliche which I had totally forgotten about because I thought nobody used it anymore: a nearly-empty Carrotus Day level with a few text signs and an exit. I think it represents the fact that you leave Carrotus to go on these adventures. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s really stupid. If I go out shopping for donuts, I never expect to see a sign right outside my door reading “Story: There is a lack of donuts in your household.” I suppose I should take this on faith as big signs reading “EXIT” are kind of improbable too, but I have a thing against text on sign tiles which would really never actually appear on a sign. So the intro level sucks.
After that, we get into the heart of the pack, these being the Wonders. See, the way the pack works is each main level is a Wonder of the Galaxy, or something like that, each with a different theme – fire, water, heart, space, plutonium, radium, tumbleweed – and at the start of each level, a sign announces the name of the wonder, the creator of the tileset (this is known as breaking the fourth wall), the theme of the wonder, and the inhabitants. For the first level, Vapor Caves of Randomwordgenerator, the inhabitants are Vapor Souls (Pacman Ghosts) and Lava Monsters (Devils). It seems odd that you need to charm devil things with giant green pitchforks and that they’re not evil already, but maybe that’s just racial stereotyping. Onto the Vapor Caves!
…or, let me take that back, onto the Vapor, because while there is steam all over the level, I counted, and there is only one cave. I have no explanation for this. It makes no sense at all. Almost the entire level takes place on small floating platforms against a background of red sky, often jumping from one platform to another over a pit of lava or something. It is about as uncavelike a level design as you can get. Caves would have probably looked better, too, as with so few walls, there is very little eyecandy in this level. Again, it’s mostly just tiny floating platforms, which the tileset (Raging Inferno) is admittedly very good at providing.
Here I will take the time to quote the level description. “there’s no ‘die when you fall’ holes”. This is very true. Instead, there are ‘get hurt over and over until you finally die’ holes. They’re really annoying and tedious, especially the time when Gus places a pit underneath some stomp scenery blocks, so it looks like you’re supposed to go that way, but then you die slowly. Instakill, come back…!
The next wonder is called Fruit Gardens of Vita, and it doesn’t make incredibly good use of the Fruity Landscapes tileset. The thing is, Fruity Landscapes has a very repetitive wall texture. Fruit Gardens of Vita has big walls with no attempt at decoration. There are fortunately some giant fruit, either serving as useless ornamentation on long horizontal stretches of ground (one of the author’s favorite features of level design) or as floating platforms (another), and amazingly sometimes the giant fruit have smaller copies of themselves on top. Giant floating purple grape platforms have grapes on them to eat. It’s kind of cute. It’s kind of predictable. I’ll lean towards cute on this one.
Like Vapor Skyscape, Fruit Gardens of Vita features stomp blocks, platforms, little background or foreground eyecandy, and generally uninspired level design. It does appear to make more attempt to have secrets than its predecessor, though, which is nice. Here I found a blaster powerup which was my constant friend throughout the rest of the pack as I shot enemies who posed me no threat at all due to usually not even having methods of attack. I might as well say now that the enemy placement in this pack isn’t very good. They often kind of feel like afterthoughts added into race levels. Pacman Ghosts, like Sparks, work well for sneaking up behind you, but they are totally useless if placed right in front of your line of fire.
The next level uses Winterland Wonder and is called Winterland of Alimi. It has ice block buildings which are kind of neat, except, you know, Chandie did it better. Oh well. This level is probably better than the last two as it’s actually kind of interesting with variety in scenery and whatnot, has (random) lighting effects, and even features a puzzle. Unfortunately it follows an unfortunate trend, that being having the explanation on a sign after you’ve already encountered the puzzle, so by the time you have an idea what you’re supposed to do the puzzle is ruined and there’s no way to start it over. Still, this level is better than the others.
Why is everything suddenly cooler when placed in a high-tech situation like outer space? Hi-Tech Base of Roibi, using Top Secret ]I[, is so much more interesting than the previous levels that it almost seems like a cool level. Here are all the ideas of the pack. There’s still standard stuff like platforms over deadly pits, and climbing up (or down) staircases while shooting various harmless walking enemies, but there’s also a sucker tube pit, bridges of collapsing scenery (with the letter F on them… huh?), “robot” things that either hurt or help you, secrets, slippery slopes, and a decent
background. If this level were longer and with some better sprite/foreground layer eyecandy, it wouldn’t be too bad.
Waterworld of Tluba is very confusing because the non-turtle enemies are crabs and the inhabitants are supposedly fish. I think that means there used to be fish but Gus forgot to fix the sign. Anyway, it’s a very pretty level, because it uses a very pretty tileset. It could use the tileset a little better, but it’s not bad. The design is also somewhat interesting, with shark rides, grottos, castles, and a puzzle which isn’t actually all that bad except for the fact that all the challenge comes from figuring out what you’re supposed to do without messing it up. Not really all that memorable overall, though.
The(!!!) Natural Park of Simi also uses a nice-looking tileset, Swamps, although I’m somewhat jaded to it due to overuse. The thing is, by this point in the pack the level design seems to have improved enough that instead of being laughably bad they’re just average and not particularly worth writing about. There’s flat stuff, platforms, ramps, and a “puzzle” where you try to figure out which warp to take, which tends to be my least favorite variety of puzzle. It’s a pity, because the next level is Efreet Palace of Alibuda, a truly unusual level which is the real reason I chose to review this, um, non-masterpiece.
Efreet Palace is the level containing the most storylike elements, as the level is largely under the control of a mysterious creature known as an Efreet who also prevents the charming of his pet women.
Pet women.
“Inhabitants; Efreet, Women, Parrots, Lizards.”
They sit around in various places about the level and speak in really bad old english.
One hugs and kisses you very sweetly because Jazz is totally the kind of fellow who says “Of Course!” when someone asks him if he wants a kiss. I know it’s Jazz because the ending level talks about Jazz, Spaz, and Lori. Hmm, actually, I guess it could be Lori getting hugged and kissed by the pet woman.
“Test 2: Temptation. Resist the pet women’s love or else you’ll die.”
PET WOMEN!
…anyway, this is actually a pretty fun level, it has variety in scenery, okay design, some nice ideas (the temptation test involves women who warp you, and they have wind attracting you… pretty cool, really), a storyline… but then I realize that women are one of the planet’s primary species and it all stops making sense again.
So yeah. That’s the pack.
At the end is another signs-on-Carrotus level where you use the Efreet’s three wishes to… no. I won’t tell you. I’ve spoiled too much already. Just play the pack and find out.
…why is Carrotus-with-signs so ugly, anyway? The last few levels actually had background eyecandy!

—-

EYECANDY: It improves through the pack, but it’s never too good… basically standard fare for each tileset with nothing even remotely inventive. No tile bugs that I saw.
LEVEL DESIGN: Often pretty uninspired. There are some good bits with collapsing scenery and other stuff, and the bits with horizontal springs and ramps are amusing, but a lot of the rest feels pretty interchangable and uninteresting. CliffyB designed his levels as interesting bits with space inbetween, but he did it better.
EVENT PLACEMENT: Not too interesting. The enemies often don’t pose much of a threat, or at least they don’t give any sense of danger. Admittedly that caused me to die once or twice because it didn’t occur to me that I ought to be careful, but still. The pacman ghosts in particular could be used a lot better, and not much of the ammo seemed to serve any real purpose. There is a cool thing where there’s a bomb crate at the end of every level, it serves no purpose but it gives the pack a certain feel somehow.
STORY: Better than some. It’s not a bad idea that Devan charms the inhabitants of various planets (wonders) to attack you, rather than just saying that ordinary innocent creatures somehow cause you pain when you walk into them. However, there’s really no way to cure the charmed creatures except killing them. And I have to give points for the Efreet Palace which is pretty cool and could support the pack fairly well.
OVERALL: Basically, I am not very impressed by this pack, but it does have its moments. Way too much of the levels was boring move-forward-and-shoot, though, with no branching paths to speak of and no special rewards. I’ll give a download recommendation, but keep in mind that’s because of the Efreet Palace…

Rating Menace to Wonders:

To start:
Seven excellent created levels which are considerably long and hard.

Large levels:
This episode contains seven levels which is all long and cumbersome. Gus have made the levels beautiful. The enemies and obstakels are well scattered and the eyecandy is also very good.

No bosses:
A large pity: Gus have placed no end bosses. A pity with a large P, because Gus creates regular his own end bosses and does that very good. For example: download ‘Flashback: Outta dis World’ and ‘The Game Machine’. In the final levels of them Gus has created his own bosses.

Puzzles:
The levels have been strewn with several puzzles and riddles which you must answer to come further in the level or reveal secrets. All puzzles are not just as easy… with some puzzles I was more than one quarter busy!

Conclusion:
In spite of that there are no end bosses this is nevertheless an excellent episode. I look forward to play his next episode, but Gus… could you please put (selfcreated) end bosses in it?

Mark: 8,6
Download recommendation:

[Rating (8.6) clearance. Why were the enemies and obstacles well scattered? Why were the levels beautiful? You still need to specify the upload’s good sides before rating. ~Cooba]

Enemies/Obstacles:
They were good placed, because it were not too much and not too less. The level is on that way hard, but not impossible. I always mean that if I say that the Obstacle Placement is good.

Eyecandy:
It’s beautiful, because there is a nice background, maybe a good foreground and the path is beautiful. I always mean that if I say that the eyecandy is good.

But I never write that in my review, because I think that everyone knows when something is good.

Nah, I really disagree. You put a good bit of effort into the pack, but there were several things that annoyed me.

Eyecandy 3/5
It could have been better, but you seemed in a rush to get these levels out. Please spend more time adding scenery. Also, you need to work on your English. I couldn’t understand the puzzle on the ice level.

Gameplay 3/5
The enemies wern’t really placed anywhere strategically. They were easy to kill and didn’t present much of a challenge. Another thing I had a problem with was all the pits that you couldn’t get out of. You need to warn the player of these or create them so you can see the fire/spikes/whatever just at the edge of your screen when you hold the down key. Nevertheless, it was a decent pack, and not a complete irritant.

Ammo placement 1/5
You need to spread the ammo out more so it’s not in such big clumps (along with all other powerups). The blaster powerup made the rest of the levels too easy. I never even had to use the ammo for a puzzle.

Food placement 3/5
It was okay, but it would be nice if you actually did something with the food aside from putting it into strings of clumps

Enemy placement 2/5
Nothing great. They were all fairly easy to kill and never annoyed me. A big yawn-rating there~

Other:

You need to include the music for your pack in the zip file. I had to search modarchive and j20 for a while to find all the songs I didn’t already have. Assume that someone has just installed jj2 and doesn’t have any extra files.

Work on your english.

and uh..

spend more time on your levels. Make them challenging, but not frustrating. I don’t know why this is becoming such a trend with new levelmakers, but it has to stop.

I really enjoyed this.

MENACE TO WONDERS REVIEW:

EYECANDY: Really nice backgrounds, some fantastic Tilesets used very well. All the levels look great. 10/10

GAMEPLAY: The levels were quite long. The puzzles made them quite a bit harder. 7 fantastic levels. I’ll go into more detail about the puzzles later. You can also replay the whole pack again to try and find the 21 TNT to access the Bonus Level. 9.5/10

OBSTACLES/ENEMIES: Lots of obstacles. I especially like the Collapsing scenery in Level 4. Enemies were very well placed. Not too many or too less. I loved the way you used the crates to make it appear as if there were enemies coming out of the crates. 10/10

PUZZLES: I think all the puzzles were great. I liked them all. My fav puzzle in this pack was the Maze. I love Mazes. I really thought the first puzzle in Level 5 was great, getting the first set of blocks to match the other set. Very well done. 10/10

MUSIC: I didn’t hear any music in Level 5 & 7 but I did like the music in the other levels. 9/10

TOTAL: 48.5/50 (9.7)

DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: YEP!

Some may not agree with this rating but I like this pack.
I hope this review is good enough.

[While I appreciate that you put effort into this review, it certainly lacks support for the given rating. Feel free to rerate, but keep in mind that you need to clarify why is the eyecandy nice or why was the gameplay good. ~Cooba]

Uhh..9.8? Sorry, but no.

The gametype is…interesting, I guess. Too bad this can never be played in multiplayer for so many reasons, and the requirements to play this are…limiting.

However, the levels are better than I expected. Tileset use is decent and eyecandy is average, but at least everything tiles.

The levels are fairly small and consist of random platforms (Dreamland), or long, flat ground (Megatropolis). There’s no pickups or anything, but in the gametype these levels tried to execute i guess you don’t need them.

One thing you couldve done is put freeze enemies (with quick respawn time) in the hiding spots. When you’re frozen by them in multiplayer your name vanishes and others cant see you, so with that at least these levels would’ve worked….somewhat.

Otherwise, these are pretty much levels for young children to play with their siblings, for lack of a better descriptions ;P. Definately not worth a 9.8, however, ugh =P.