Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Let’s see how long this takes.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout is symmetrical, and the flow is mostly good, but there are a couple of huge downfalls. The first of these is the size. There simply isn’t much to the level. It could be used for dueling, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The second downfall is the warp targets directly above the springs. If a player gets hit before or right after entering the warp, that player will be stuck bouncing on top of the spring indefinitely. That’s about all I can point out that’s bad about the layout, yet it’s enough to hurt the rating a lot.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy was made well with this tileset. It’s a little above average, although there are some parts I don’t like all too much. I don’t have anything else to say about it.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Well, it’s a symmetrical level, so the carrot and powerup placement can’t be that bad. Too bad the level is so small. Three powerups aren’t really needed, but they can all stay. Ammo is placed well enough, so no complaints there.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I would say no, but it is a good level for its size. Maybe host this on occasion. 7.2 is my rating.

I tried something different again.

GAMEPLAY:

Let me start out with the bases. Each base is placed within a tube on opposite sides of the level. The best part about this is dying on the flag would be rather difficult. This level is like EvilMike’s Space Island level in that when players fall into the warps below, they get sent back to where they came from. The only difference is that players will only be sent back to the side where they last entered through a tube to a base. This seems to hold true even after the player dies, which could be useful. I would have to say this system can allow for more strategy than EvilMike’s since it’s simple and can be more useful overall. The layout is alright, although it may be a little limiting. I could do with fewer/shorter tubes, especially with the warp system at the bottom, but it’s not a big problem. The tubes that takes players to the top from the bottom of the level are hidden, but they are easy enough to find. The flow is above all decent, and I can’t spot anything really worth changing.

EYE CANDY:

Generally good eye candy for the given tileset. It does have some originality in it like with the red tubes and the lava. Nothing really bad here.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

There is a full energy carrot is within some red tubes in the center of the level. If a player shoots it down, it will just fall into the lava slightly hidden. Evil fun. Nothing’s bad about the ammo placement—I’ll leave it at that. Powerup placement is good as well with a bouncer and an RF powerup on opposite sides of the level. Both are accessible with some electro blaster. The RF powerup is slightly harder to get, but it is, IMO, more useful in this level.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Moderately often. It’s a fun level, although I wouldn’t want to play in it with more than 5 other players. 8.0 is what I think of this level.

My third review of the day. Joy. I might be a bit too harsh with this review, though.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout is the worst I’ve seen in a while. There isn’t much to it. I could duplicate a level like this in 5 minutes flat. The size of the level alone restricts the rating to something low, even if more time was put into making it. The flag bug crate idea has to be the worst part. Why would anyone want the flag bug? Granted, the level is very small, and finding everyone else would be easy, but having the flag bug flash across the screen is extremely annoying and makes it harder to chat. The crate could have at least been placed somewhere so it isn’t easily reached and kicked by just anyone. I’m not even going to analyze anything else about the gameplay at this point since nothing could save it.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy has to be the best part of the level, even though it isn’t much. It’s just some flashing numbers and platforms in the background. I don’t know why that vine is there; it doesn’t do much to add to the eye candy. Overall, I’m just glad the tileset wasn’t horribly misused.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

No carrots and no usable powerups. If this level had a good layout, this would have hurt the rating a lot. My opinion on the ammo is the same. While TNT can be useful, it isn’t particularly useful in this level. Trying to kill someone with TNT is frustrating and pointless. Seekers are the only usable weapon, although I could care less. A wide variety in ammo choice would be a good thing.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Not that anyone would actually want to. This is a 3.2 in my opinion. Try harder next time—much harder.

PS: The license idea is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know why I need a poorly made level to have my name in it so I can host it. I advise not using this license thing in the future.

(Unnecessary content removal. -Trafton)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Let me start off by saying interesting choice of music…

GAMEPLAY:

Hmm… Something different? This is a mostly symmetrical level with a few layout flaws. The layout would be a little better if it was completely symmetrical, since the ledge under 60,26 is harder to get around than the ledge under 39,26. I would also prefer not having to jump into a hole to use each of the blue springs at the bottom. Other than those four springs, spring placement is decent, and the flow is alright. The gameplay is actually something I can almost like.

EYE CANDY:

This level almost uses typical eye candy for the given tileset. Not to many tiles with shadows on them were used, and a few tiles were used improperly, but its nothing big. But once again, the background fades to black in 16-bit. Even though this can fit the theme, some color other than black would be nice once in a while.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I can’t say anything is wrong with the placement of the full energy carrot at the center of the level. Powerup placement is good. Ammo placement is alright, although dull. It’s symmetrical. What can I say?

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Maybe one time only. Ordinary but decent. All in all, it’s a 7.

Interesting view of Wall Street…

GAMEPLAY:

This level has a bland layout and could be more balanced. It looks too squared-off once again, especially around the edges. The flow is so-so since I can get around, but some places are a bit hard to get up and seem spaz-biased. Spring placement is somewhat better than before, although still could be improved. By the way, not that it’s necessary, but a larger level would be nice.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy is almost decent. Where it tries to be original, it fails and makes the level look worse. For example, the wire mesh tiles in layer 3 could have been used for innovative eye candy, but instead it just looks strange since it’s in the foreground. There aren’t enough tiles in layer 3 around the hidden passageway at 21,23; I shouldn’t be able to see my rabbit’s feet. And the tileset wasn’t used 100% correctly (once again).

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Carrot placement is alright, considering the seeker powerup placement. The bouncer powerup shouldn’t be hidden or even there at all. The level is small so one powerup would work better. Ammo could be placed better, but it’s not too bad as it is.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Nah. But this is a 6.7 at least.

PS: Wadledee, no start positions in single player mode isn’t really a bug. There are multiplayer level start events in this level, so it is playable online. And Dx, do me a favor and quit mentioning coin warps unless one is actually in the level.

The Edit: Upon viewing this a second time, I realized this is a 6.2 at best. That sounds a little more accurate.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

I tried something different with this review. Thus, QUICKEST REVIEW EVER.

GAMEPLAY:

Here’s a nice large level with a little originality. The balance is already taken care of with the semi-symmetrical layout. The flow is Jazz-friendly—maybe too Jazz-friendly—but it’s nothing that would make me feel the need to play as Jazz. The basic idea of the layout is that players use the fountain to be beamed up to the top of the level where they either go left or right to one of the bases. The top area is a little confusing at first, but it’s easy to get used to after a while. If this level was smaller, I wouldn’t like the layout, but it does work out as it is now. In fact, everything else works out, so I’ll just stop here.

EYE CANDY:

This level has the best eye candy with this tileset that I’ve ever seen. While it is rather laggy on my outdated computer (sometimes even with Hardware Acceleration on), and some of the eye candy may be confusing at first (e.g. vine tiles were used without the vine event), I’m not even going to consider marking the rating down for that since so much effort was put into this. The theme and the atmosphere is great, and the light beam in the center of the level is a nice touch.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I can’t see anything horribly wrong about the carrot placement. There’s a full energy carrot in the center of the level. There are also a +1 carrot hidden on each side, although I would prefer if I could see them. Hidden carrots are okay, though, as long as they aren’t the main carrots (like the full energy carrot is in this level). As for ammo placement, I can’t complain about it. The ammo is distributed well, and it’s the same on each side, which adds to balance. Powerup placement is also good, with the toaster powerup on the left, the RF powerup on the right, and the bouncer powerup on the top middle. Some while ago when I was playing online, the RF powerup tended not to respawn, but hopefully that’s fixed by now. That’s all I have to say.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

A whole bunch of times. Please host this instead of the same old CTF levels and, of course, hotels. I give this an 8.2 so get hosting already.

PS: The tileset used ISN’T beach. Thank you.

The Edit: Now I can see the +1 carrots. Well, it’s not the biggest change, but it’s something. It’s not enough to make me change my rating, though, and I’ll probably use the same exact strategy as before.

Another Edit: This level tends to get a bit too laggy to play in no matter what the settings are. I like it, but the lag can sometimes be unbearable. There are probably too many events in the level. I’m revising my rating to an 8. Sorry about that.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

Let me guess… CelL’s Zaitox Station 67 was the inspiration?

GAMEPLAY:

I don’t like the layout much at all. It’s too awkward for my tastes. This level has the bases placed close together like in Zaitox, except the two bases aren’t positioned in the center of the level. Mostly because of base placement, there isn’t much balance. A lack of balance coupled with a small level size is the formula for disaster. Moving on, flow and spring placement need work. Also, something bigger than the two-tile high passageway near the carrot would be preferred. And some more advice: check masking next time. I shouldn’t be able to climb into walls.

EYE CANDY:

It’s like Zaitox eye candy—just not nearly as good. The mud tiles weren’t really misused, aside from looking unnaturally squared-off, but many of the other tiles were.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Carrot placement isn’t that bad, considering the layout flaws. I’m not too fond of the powerup placement, though. I would have switched the positions of the seeker and RF powerups, then moved the RF powerup to the far left somewhere. I’m not too fond of ammo placement, either. IMO, there’s too much ammo too close to the ground. And fewer crates would be nice.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I wouldn’t say so. This level tries to copy too much from Zaitox—and fails miserably. Try something more original next time. 6.5 is my rating.

And now, my interpretation…

Prison Sewer CTF

GAMEPLAY: Mostly balanced but a dull layout and a bit too Spaz-biased.
EYE CANDY: Basic but a little annoying.
CARROT PLACEMENT: Full energy carrot placed well. +1 carrots are questionable.
AMMO PLACEMENT: Can work, but could be better.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Maybe once (with the music off).

Genocide City

GAMEPLAY: Same as above, except with blocks instead of hooks near the carrot. Somewhat better this way.
EYE CANDY: Better eye candy than previous, although it’s more confusing/annoying and misuses some tiles.
CARROT PLACEMENT: Same as above.
AMMO PLACEMENT: Same as above.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Maybe twice.

Overall review: These two levels aren’t bad, aside from erroneous/dull eye candy and a questionable layout. What I disliked the most was the eye candy in the foreground, which isn’t really needed and just gets in the way. I might like the carrots more if they didn’t have to be accessed through such a narrow opening, but this arrangement does have its strategic points. Similar applies to base placement; I just don’t recommend using one-tile passageways too often. There also isn’t too much to these levels. I could imagine how long they took to make. And I probably wouldn’t want to play in this level as Jazz, although I can’t really speak for players who use Jazz. Another thing: the start positions need work. Using well-placed “Multiplayer Level Start” events for each team would be a good idea. As for my rating, this is about a 7. I’m feeling nice today.

PS: Does anyone else find the Prison Sewer CTF music incredibly annoying? The music literally hurt my ears.

This should have been a quick review.

GAMEPLAY:

Well, I’m a little surprised. I can’t say much about the balance since the level is semi-symmetrical. The layout actually isn’t bad—for it’s size. This is one of those levels for 4 players or less, although I myself probably wouldn’t want to duel here. The flow isn’t completely smooth, I can get around easily enough. The biggest flaw has to be the missing borders around the level. Why add borders around the edge of the level? To prevent the flag bug where the text saying that someone captured the flag keeps repeating itself. I suggest using at least two tiles (three tiles may be a better idea, though) around the entire level to prevent this bug, even if you still aren’t sure what it is. Other than that there’s its small size, which I personally don’t like, but others might not mind.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy here is typical for a Diamondus. It’s not over the top, but it’ll do. I feel no need to write anymore about the eye candy since nothing is wrong with it.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Surprisingly, it all works for a level with this size. A full energy carrot is located in gap in the middle of the level. There’s also a blaster powerup between the two bases. It’s simple, but it works. Ammo placement works for the most part, although I would prefer fewer crates. Can’t go too wrong with symmetrical, though, and I don’t care what anyone else says.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Probably not, but the level is good for a first multiplayer level as well as a second level. After playing this level for some while, it started to seem a little too ordinary. And small. I’ve decided to give this a 6.0 for simplicity.

PS: I wouldn’t be surprised if this level gets overwritten in the future. The filename “DiamCTF.j2l” has a good chance of being used by someone else. Try avoiding generic names like this one next time.

It feels like I reviewed this level before. Maybe that’s because this is the fifth Dx level I’m reviewing where “D” is the first letter and “(updated)” is at the end. Never mind—I’ll just download the level and give my review.

GAMEPLAY:

While the layout is better compared to the previous levels, it still looks too flat in places like at the bottom left. The spring placement is also better, the balance is okay, and spaz-bias isn’t much of an issue. However, it seems too easy to go from base to base in this level and some areas need to be more open like around 55,39 to 72,38. The coin warp also puzzles me. Why make the left warp go to the red base on the right side and the right warp go to blue base on the right? It would make more sense if the two warps were changed around for the sake of being less confusing. Moreover, I think there should be fewer coins, and they should be harder to reach. I’m not liking the coins placed so close to the carrot and the powerups. The coin warp isn’t even really needed, especially with this small layout.

EYE CANDY:

This level uses basic Diamondus eye candy. Correction: basic Diamondus eye candy with flaws. In general, the unmasked background tiles on layer 4 were misused. Also, the ground tiles look to repetitive in most places, and the foreground can get in the way. There are some additional eye candy bugs, but a good beta tester could point it out. Take out all of those flaws then this is at least average eye candy.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

There’s a full energy carrot hidden at the top left just in case anyone was wondering. The carrot is on the right side, but it would take a similar amount of time to get there from each base. Powerups were placed well enough: the bouncer powerup on the far left with the RF powerup on the far right. As for ammo placement, it’s decent for the most part.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Most likely, no. Almost a 6.7, but just falls short. 6.5 is my rating.

PS: “the bonus is original its the same as in Bblair”—That’s a paradox if I’ve ever seen one.

At least one person likes my Castle 2 Eclipse tileset to use it on multiple occasions. I don’t even like that tileset enough to use it on multiple occasions.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout is a bit bumpy; getting around should be much easier. This level also seems a little too spaz-biased in places. Looks like someone needs to learn the full potential of slopes. This level looks way too squared off. Granted there are a few slopes in groups, a few more slopes throughtout the rest of the level would be a nice improvement. Better spring placement wouldn’t be too bad either. Once again, many of the springs don’t lead me to a platform—just somewhere around a platform. Once again, some springs need to be added—like a red spring near 46,47 for starters. And are these more narrow passage ways? I would like the freedom to move instead of having to go through a one-tile high passage way. With all that being said, let’s talk about the balance: once again not too bad. The blue base is at the top left with the red base at the bottom left. Calculating all of the factors (such as how easy each base is to attack and defend), the layout is once again not too unbalanced. Somehow this is true—I think I’m cracking under pressure in trying to rate all of these CTF levels fairly.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy is just slightly better (keyword slightly) than the eye candy in the previous level. I say that mainly because the chains in the foreground look like what they actually should look like, and it doesn’t seem as bland as the last time. With all that being true, the level still uses the same exact tiles relentlessly throughout the entire level (which, by the way, is a bad thing). I also failed to mention this with the last level which is true for this level as well: the textured background in 16-bit looks bad fading to black. I also find this somewhat annoying.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The full energy carrot is around the same distance to each base. The same could apply for the bouncer and seeker powerups (I feel like I’m repeating myself). As for ammo placement, it isn’t bad but could use some improving.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Once again my answer is no, but at least there’s some progress being made. This is a 6.5 more or less.

PS: This isn’t related to my review, but I have some questions for Dx: What are you trying to get at with point 4 and 5 in your review? Are you saying it’s good that there are no coins/coin warp, or are you trying to say that’s a bad thing? Either way, I don’t see how that could be a deciding factor in a review for a CTF level or any level for that matter.

Here’s yet another level I feared was going to be released on J2O.

GAMEPLAY:

BR said it was unbalanced. I said it was unbalanced. We both said it was unbalanced, so let’s just leave it at that. Other than that, the flow isn’t bad aside from a few poorly placed springs (like near 13,38 and 58,19), but I’m not fond of the level’s small size. I remember saying this for a few levels that other people made: it’s size could be suitable for duels, but I prefer slightly larger levels so I can have a little more space to move around and strategize. I also think players can score way too quickly in this level.

EYE CANDY:

Here’s another level where the eye candy is different from most Agama Swamp levels. It’s a nice change from the ordinary, but I don’t like it all that much. The eye candy isn’t much worse than usually or anything, but the background looks far too flat for my tastes. Yes, I know it fits the theme, but it still looks a bit dull in places.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The full energy carrot is closer to the blue base. The bouncer powerup is closer to red base. The toaster powerup is also closer to red base. And the pepper spray powerup is closer to red base. That’s all I have to say about that since we all already know this level isn’t balanced. At least the ammo placement is decent.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Blame Trafton indeed. Everytime you consider hosting this, you should blame Trafton severely. 7.2 only because a 7.0 felt a little too low.

FYI, this level doesn’t loop to itself. Instead it loops to nothing. I feel like I’m the only one who notices these things.

I’m prepared to have fun with this review.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout puzzles me. Everything seems to be placed randomly and then somehow connected together. I don’t like the way the layout looks nor all of these narrow passages I keep encountering. But at least the flow is better than it was before; it still needs a little work, but it’s a start. Balance, however, is still a big issue. The red base is at the top right of the level with some options as for escape routes. In contrast, the blue base is in an enclosed area at the bottom left with one way in and one way out. It seems that the blue base would be much easier to defend than the red base. But I have to say, the layout actually isn’t overwhelmingly unbalanced for a level with bases placed diagonally, considering the routes base to base and everything. Moving on, spring placement is better than before, but could better yet. For example, around pos 94,13, one spring in the center of the platform would have been much better than those five springs. And I just don’t see the point of having more than one spring in a row in this level.

EYE CANDY:

At least the tileset was used correctly (finally), although the eye candy still isn’t that good. Well, that’s not entirely true; the chains in the foreground weren’t made well. Other than that, the eye candy is repetitive throughout the entire level. In all, the background is the only thing in this level which keeps the eye candy from being horrible, even though the BG is nothing special.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I never liked trying to grab a carrot from a small hole. This level has a full energy in that scenario. Albeit, this carrot is nearly the same distance from each base. I would have to say the same applies for the bouncer and seeker powerups more or less. As for ammo placement, there’s enough ammo around the level, but it wasn’t placed strategically or anything. The ammo is just there for the sake of being there.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Still no. Dx might finally be getting through. 6.2 is my rating. Think of it as a 6.3 rounded down.

In the time it takes me to open up and host this level, someone has already made a review. Argh. Anyway…

GAMEPLAY:

I pretty much don’t like the layout at all. A lot of the platforms in this level are basically large deformed squares which somewhat hinders gameplay and detracts a bit from the eye candy. The flow in this level isn’t the worse I’ve seen, but it could have been much better. The spring placement is not too good, especially at the bottom left. In various places, the springs don’t lead players near a platform; it leaves players several tiles above one thus slowing them down significantly. This flaw also makes the level more spaz-biased. The balance isn’t too bad as far as the layout goes, except with the route to the bottom half of the level. Players would have to go to the far left to reach the bottom area, which just happens to be where all of the goodies are located.

EYE CANDY:

As usually, the tileset was used incorrectly—big surprise. Whenever the tileset is used correctly, the eye candy is dull. Same as usual. It looks like this category will be the same for a long, long time.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

With the RF powerup and the full energy carrot at the bottom right and the bouncer powerup somewhere on the left side, the bottom area of the level can’t possibly be too balanced. Moving along, the seeker powerup was evilly hidden. It’s behind some 3rd layer tiles near the center of the level, and it seems the only way to get it is with a few EB’s. I don’t really know what to think about it since I knew there was that powerup somewhere in the level, but I might not have found it if I wasn’t told. I could already see people complaining about not being able to find the seeker powerup while I kill everyone with it. I would enjoy this, but I probably wouldn’t see this level again anytime soon. It could be way too much of an advantage, but there are two other powerups so I’ll just move on. Ammo placement: still not too good. There are a few too many crates and barrels. And the ammo still seems placed too sporadically.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Don’t, or I’ll be forced to hurt you. If Dx is actually a good beta tester, LISTEN TO HIM. I’m rating this 6.2 and that’s that.

Hopefully this will be a long review.

GAMEPLAY:

This level is basically linear. There isn’t too much too this level: a base on the left, a base on the right, and a few platforms in between them. Also, the 4th layer in this level wasn’t resized. I could jump on top of the area above blue base if I wanted to, and I could fall off the level if I keep going to the right. The balance isn’t too good. For example, the red base is out in the open, while the blue base is only accessible through a narrow hole filled with springs. The flow also isn’t too good, although I could live with it. But what hurts this level the most is the bad start positions. Make sure to use team based start positions next time (that is, with the “Multiplayer Level Start” event). My last complaint has to do with the bridge. It’s absolutely unnecessary so it shouldn’t have been used. Getting rid of it might save this level from “Divide By Zero” errors.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy in this level isn’t too bad. It’s decent—at least until I look at the giant empty space in the background. Yes, I know multiple background layers were used for the leaves. Still, it leaves the rest of the background other than the leaves look bland. Perhaps the traditional background would look best here.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Looks like +1 carrots are the only carrots in the level. I advise (as usual) to use at least 1 or 2 full energy carrots placed well in the level (e.g. equal distances from each base). Ammo is just there so players can get ammo. It’s not distributed evenly or anything. And there’s TNT in this level which seems to have no purpose. Also, the powerups seem were thrown left and right. At least one of the powerups on the far left side has to go.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Nah, but at least this is better than the last level. 5.5 is my rating.

When I saw that Magoo was hosting this, I had a bad feeling that Magoo released this—I was right. Let’s review…

GAMEPLAY:

The flow is decent, the balance is okay for the most part, but the general layout is a bit confusing. Well, the last thing I said is negligible. I can’t find anything horribly wrong with the layout, except maybe it’s easier getting around with Hardware Acceleration off than when it’s on. Lucky me has to play with it on (see Eye Candy section below). Another issue could be the bridges: they aren’t completely necessarily and they could cause some Divide By Zero errors, but the bridges aren’t totally useless and could come in handy.

EYE CANDY:

I don’t know what to think. The eye candy is still BlurredD-unfriendly (that is, it’s too laggy for me to be able to play the level as is). Being that every tile in this level, as it seems, is translucent and there’s some lighting used, this level is really really really BlurredD-unfriendly. I average about 6 fps… On 8-bit. For a second, let me just pretend I don’t get outrageously low fps. The eye candy here would probably be the best eye candy I’ve ever seen in this tileset. Or at least the most original eye candy I’ve ever seen in this tileset. Too bad it’s so incredibly laggy that I have to turn everything off just so I can play.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I’m not the biggest fan of levels which only use +1 carrots, but at least there are two of them so I won’t go totally insane. I liked the version with the full energy carrot more, though. I’m too tired of reviewing at the moment to truly analyze everything else, so I’ll just say it’s good and be done with it.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Maybe. I still don’t know what to think. The pros and cons somehow make 7.5 my rating. Feel free to argue.

The Edit: I didn’t notice it before, but the level doesn’t loops to itself. It loops to “Tinted Titanium.j2l” (instead of “mg02.j2l”) which is the older version of this level. That explains the different music and everything.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

Another level with the word “foo” in it. Let’s all rejoice.

GAMEPLAY:

The base placement reminds me of Moree Mines. Hmmm… Moving on, flow and balance aren’t much of an issue with the layout. The main problem is simply the size. It’s way too small in my opinion. Some might say this could make a good level for duels, but I would have to disagree. While this level does allow some strategy to be used, the gameplay will be most likely completely chaotic. I could also say that the layout was probably made over a short time, which is never a good thing to be said. Another thing is the start positions which need to be fixed; when I was blue, I started right next to the red base a few times.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy is a little better here than in all of LRK’s levels. I don’t know if that’s saying much. The tileset still looks rather restricting, so any eye candy is good eye candy. My computer is slowed down a bit by the translucent BG and the lighting, but I can use Hardware Acceleration (lucky me).

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

In the middle of the level there’s a full energy carrot—decent, perhaps. Ammo placement is good enough but rather dull. The ammo also isn’t exactly balanced on each side (seekers vs. bouncers?). And from what I can tell, there are no powerups. I don’t know what to think about no powerups in this level, but either way, gameplay will be chaotic.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Probably not. Chaos is not a good thing. I’m thinking 6.

Suddenly I feel incredibly lazy.

GAMEPLAY:

Not bad gameplay all in all. I like the flow in most places—just not everywhere. The balance is so-so. And the blah-blah-blah is blah. I can’t think of what else to write. Not too much original stuff. This is just about a typical CTF level layout.

EYE CANDY:

After seeing this level, I did, for a brief moment, consider using the tileset used myself. What changed my mind was that this tileset doesn’t have too much to offer. But the tileset is certainly used better here than in Spazzyman’s super-cramped example level. So does that mean the eye candy is above average? Sure, I guess. But, the background still looks dull with the two layers of the same exact mountains.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

With a full energy carrot in the exact middle of the level, the only thing keeping carrot placement from being perfect are the routes to it. It’s easier to reach the carrot from the blue base than from the red one. Ammo placement isn’t too bad, but I don’t really like it. For example, I thought the RFs were a bit too close to the bases. Powerup placement, on the other hand, is good mostly because of its simplicity.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I don’t know. I suppose a few players could enjoy playing in this level, but it doesn’t exactly scream “fun” to me. Hmmm… 7.2 will do.

How misleading. Not only is the level named Cracco Balloon Races 2!!!, but the type of this level is “Race”. Most test levels are categorized under “Other”, so I have to agree with everyone who rated this as a race level. Maybe there should be a new category for test levels as well.

LabratKid is cheating! Anyway…

GAMEPLAY:

Good flow, good balance, and an evil twist—the three things I like in a CTF level. The first two are self-explanatory. The third one is what makes this level stand out a tad bit. I’ll explain the twist more later on in my review.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy is probably as good as it gets with this very limiting tileset. It does its job. The level has a nice mine feeling. The name of the level is “Moree Mines”. Need I say more?

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

And now, the twist. Instead of the traditional full energy carrot, some substitutes were used. One of them is a shield (gasps) located at the top left of the level. Contrary to popular belief, shields can be placed in levels without completely destroying gameplay. Of course, the only way to do this is to either make the shield hard to access or make somehow make it less useful. In this case, players can only use the shield for 15 seconds. This is hardly enough time to cause a lot of chaos especially when there’s water and the shield only inflicts one heart damage. Moving on, the other subsitute is the +1 carrot somewhat near the bottom right; no one’s going to complain too much about that in any case. And thus, I present to you the twist. Enjoy. As for everything else, ammo and powerup distribution is good, and I don’t feel like explaining why I think it is; just guess why instead.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I would say so. This is an 8.2 and anyone who disagrees can take it up with my PMs (which I rarely check anyway).

The Edit: Top left. Top right. It’s all the same when I don’t bother to do my routine proofread.

ignores any other mistake in the process

BTW, all of those [This review has been edited by labratkid] tags are driving me crazy.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]