Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This is a nice idea but it is not executed very well.

EYECANDY

Most of the eyecandy in the original Battle1,2 and 3 levels is still present. There is a new background with the castle pillars and the Tubelectric “EPIC” speakers. It does look good but not there isn’t really much originality in the way of eyecandy. Try adding more of your own instead of just using the original.

5/10

GAMEPLAY

You start off the level in a room where you can choose which Battle level you want to play in. But this is where the problems begin. For starters, if you were playing a Duel you would have a hard time finding the opponent because they might be in one of the other levels and the combined size of all the levels is HUGE!
This would be OK if you had say 6 or more players.

4/10

WEAPONS & ITEM PLACEMENT

All of the original weapons and items from the original Battle levels are still present. Seeker PU is still too campy. Nothing has really changed with the weapon and item placement.
The campy Water Shield is still present.
There are 2 Seeker PUs since they are still in both Battle1 & 3 which is too much because you can gain Seeker ammo too easily.
You should have tried to change the placement of weapons and not make them too campy.

3/10

TOTAL SCORE: 12/30
OVERALL MARK = 12 / 3 = 4.0

DOWNLOAD?

While the idea and concept of this level is good it is just not executed very well. Also, since the level is TSF only, not everyone can play it.
So, no download recommendation. :(

8.1? Errr… NO! This isn’t worth anywhere near 8. Poor palette and colours. Bad quality DOOM tiles have been added to an existing Hotel tileset and looks very bad.
No textured background. I can’t see how the DOOM characters and enemies would be useful in a level at all.
Also, the filename is far too long. Just call it DOOM2 or something.

Having to build the tileset myself was a bit annoying as I have never used the Build feature in JCS before but I then managed to figure out how to use it. But enough about that, here’s the review.

EYECANDY

The eyecandy here is very original and something I have never seen before. The whole level is in the form of a Polish Tractor engine called the Ursus C-360 I guess. Never heard of it.
Everything looks really good and nothing looks repetitive. Though it was hard to see what you can walk on.

8/10

GAMEPLAY

However, while this level does have excellent eyecandy, the size is far too small, it is only 40 × 30.
The whole level is far too easy to navigate, you can find all the Power-Ups and ammo easily.

3/10

WEAPONS & ITEM PLACEMENT

There are 5 PUs here, which is a bit much for a level of this size. The ammo grouping is far too big. You could easily get 50 ammo of all 5 weapons here. Aside from loads of ammo, there are 18 pieces of food which can start a Sugar Rush as these can be collected too easily.
There are 2 Carrots here, one “+1 Carrot” and one “Full NRG Carrot” which is too much for this level meaning that you could gain full health too quickly and easily.

2/10

TOTAL = 13/30

OVERALL MARK = 13 / 3 = 4.33 (RECURRING)
ROUNDED TO 4.3

DOWNLOAD?

While the level is not that great, I do think it would be worth checking out the tileset. So, I say YES for checking out the tileset, but unfortunately, NO for the level itself.

This has got to be the best tileset conversion EVER. This pack contains 3 different versions each with a bunch of other JJ1 tilesets combined into 3 FANTASTIC sets.
There are one or two minor errors but who cares?
This deserves a big fat juicy 10!
Even the example levels are AWESOME!

Don’t have the inspiration to write a full review yet.

The volume is a bit too low. I cannot hear the music unless I turn up the volume on my speakers to nearly full blast.

This is an interesting utility. I have used it in both SP & MP.
I attempted to complete the first level of TSF using only the mouse. I managed to do that, though it did take about 5-10 minutes longer than usual.

To activate it all you have to do is have JJ2 open and run the mouse.exe file. Press 0 (that’s zero on the number keys) to turn it on. You are then able too control your chosen Rabbit using the mouse.
When you move the mouse in a direction the Rabbit will go in that direction.
To do other moves like buttstomping you jump and move the mouse down. For Jazz’s Uppercut or Side-kick move you move the mouse down the screen and right click.
The mouse I used was an optical type. It was very sensitive. I don’t know what it’s like for regular mice.

When you activate the mouse support in MP a message comes up saying the mouse support is now on. If you want to switch back to keyboard, joypad or whatever control method you use, you only have to press 0 again.

I did have two problems when using this utility:
1. Double jumping and using the copter ears is difficult to do.
2. When running it is hard to control your Rabbit.

Aside from those two problems this is a very good utility, even though I probably wouldn’t use it much I would still recommend downloading this.
It is also good for things like flying or copters.
Ermm… a rating? Have an 8.5! :D

Just one question about this utility.
If a client on a server changes the music does it change for everyone else also?

[It doesn’t. ~cooba]

Thanks cooba. :)

When I first saw the rating 9.9, I thought “WOW! If it’s got that it must be good!”
How wrong I was. :(
All that is done is that the JJ2 menu music has been sped up and I was unable to hear the instruments clearly.
I can’t recommend this for download.
1.5 for knowing how to change the speed. But changing just that doesn’t make it a remix.

Doesn’t work. Program produces an error saying that it cannot find vcl60.bpl.

“Get it, play it, love it!”

Well, I got it and played it. But I’m afraid to say I did not love it.
Before I review this, I just want to mention that this is TSF ONLY as my 1.23 JCS crashed when I opened one of the levels.
PLEASE, everyone who makes TSF levels make sure you MARK THEM AS TSF. ;)

OK, enough of that, now onto the review:

EYECANDY

The eyecandy used here is just very bland and repetitive. There is only a background in Layer 8 and not in Layers 5-7.
Layer 4 is very repetitive, the bottom and side edges of most of the walls and platforms in this whole pack are missing. You have only used about 2 tiles for the ground.

1/10

GAMEPLAY

There is hardly any gameplay in this pack whatsoever. Mostly I was just running right through a very linear level into warps. Then most of the levels had a Boss Fight at the end. I know Boss Fights are good, but having them in 16 levels one after the other can get very boring. Most of these levels had a Schwartzenguard at the end.
There are Bonus Areas, but they are too easy to access as the coins are very poorly placed. You should learn how to use Layer 3 to hide things.

1/10

WEAPON & ITEM PLACEMENT

There are hardly any items to be found here. Food is very scarce, I only got a Sugar Rush after about 13 levels as there was only about 7 or more pieces of food in each level.
There is not enough ammo. Some are placed in boring 2 × 2 square shapes.
When you get the Blaster Power-Up, the whole pack just gets far too easy. I could beat the bosses in about 10-20 seconds with the PU.
One of the levels had 4 PUs in one area one next to each other. As I already had the maximum rapid fire, I thought that the PUs were then pointless.
Carrots are nearly everywhere so gaining health was too easy.

2/10

ENEMY PLACEMENT

There were not enough enemies in any of the levels. Not once did I ever go down to one Heart health. There was one occassion were I was at 2 Heart health but that was only when fighting Bilsy and he was still too easy with the powered up Blaster.
Placement is very poor, all I was doing was running right and holding down Space all the time. I was shooting EVERY enemy that I came across.

1/10

OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

There was hardly any puzzle or obstacle that needed going through. There was only one instance where I can recall shooting Destruct Scenery in one of the later Carrotus levels.

1/10

TOTAL SCORE: 6/50
CALCULATING 6 / 5 = 1.2/10.0

DOWNLOAD?

I’m afraid I cannot recommend this level for downloading. But do keep making levels, DT-boy.
Do not try to make a very large pack unless you are experienced enough to make that many levels. Only start by making about one or two levels. If you feel that you can then make a large level pack, then give it a go but do take time to check that everything works.
You should learn how to use Layers 6 & 7 to make good backgrounds and how to use Layer 3 to make hidden passages.

What is KERT, BTW? Oh, OK. Didn’t know that.

Quite simply, this is just THE BEST tileset I have ever seen this year.
The eyecandy is EXCELLENT! The mix of nature and industrial works really well here. Also, the tiles taken from other sets including Redcounter really fits in.

9.8, just because the flames aren’t masked but you can get round that by slapping on some “Bees” events.

OK, here goes. I haven’t reviewed anything for about a week now.

I’ll review the 2 levels, one at a time.

1. WINTER WONDERLAND

EYECANDY

Tileset used is “Newspaz Christmasy” by well… Newspaz :P
The snow in the foreground and background looks nice. Background in Layer 8 is OK but looks kinda boring without something in Layer 6 or 7. I don’t think you need snow in 4 Layers. Some players may think it’s too much.
Layer 3 & 4 looks good with some nice Christmas Trees, Candy Canes, Snowmen and Gingerbread Men. Layer 5 has been used to place the flashing light vines for eyecandy.
Overall, eyecandy in this level is not bad but the snow is probably too much.

6.5/10

FLOW & GAMEPLAY

Flag placement is symmetrical, meaning that players will not have any problem finding the CTF Bases. They are both placed at the same heights. The level is a decent size, 185 × 64. This is a good size for if you are playing with more than 2 people. One way events are used above the vines so that the players don’t get stuck in the walls.

7/10

WEAPON & CARROT PLACEMENT

There are lots of different weapons here but there is only one PU which is Gun8 (Pepper Spray). Weapons in this level are Bouncer, TNT, Electro Blaster and Freezer. However, there is no Seeker here which I think is a must in a MP level.
There are three carrots down the bottom of the level. Two “+1 Carrots” and one “Full NRG Carrot.” This is OK but I don’t think the Carrots are spread out well enough. They are all at the bottom, try varying the positions, so that the players don’t only go down the bottom.

6/10

LEVEL 1 TOTAL: 19.5/30 (6.5)

2. WHITE CHRISTMAS

EYECANDY

Tileset used here is Diamondus Beta Xmas by Pyromanus.
The “Snow Particles” event is used here to make it snow in the level. This makes the level look really nice.
Lighting events are used on the spinning diamonds to make them look shiny.
There is a background in Layer 6, but you can only see it if you are at the bottom of the level.
Layers 4 & 5 look great, nothing repetitive.

7/10

FLOW & GAMEPLAY

This level is smaller than the first one. The size is 61 × 55, which is quite small but it is a good size for duels, 2v2s or 3v3s. It might not be the best level if you are playing with say 16 players all at once.
CTF Bases are not too hard to find, they are symmetrical.

8/10

WEAPON & CARROT PLACEMENT

There is a good selection of weapons in this level. Weapons in this level are Toasters, Bouncers and Seekers which are good weapons for a Multiplayer level.
Power-Ups are cleverly hidden in the walls. There is a Toaster PU in the middle of the level, a Bouncer PU on the left and a Seeker PU on the right. These can only be accessed by shooting Bouncers through the wall using a well known JJ2 bug.
Also, this means people can’t just side-kick the PUs for 50 ammo.
There are two Carrots in this level. Both of these are “+1 Carrots.” They are placed symmetrically, both near the CTF Bases. There isn’t a Full NRG Carrot in this level but that’s OK for a level of this size.
I have noticed that there is no RF Ammo or PU’s in this level so I will have to bring down the rating a little for weapon placement as RFs are mostly used in MP levels.

8/10

LEVEL 2 TOTAL: 23/30 (~7.7)

GRAND TOTAL = 42.5/60

BONUSSES

+Good choice of music. +0.1

DEDUCTIONS

NONE :D

TOTAL BONUSSES: 0.2

FINAL SCORE: (44 / 6) + 0.1 = 7.1833333333333333333333333333333
ROUNDED TO 7.2

DOWNLOAD?

Yes!

Finally, now we have a JJ1 Deckstar tileset to use and it’s better than the other Decksta one that existed before as it has all the animations needed to look like a JJ1 level, including the flashing arrows and the monitors. There are also V & H poles and Vines which can be used. The JJ2 style flames have also been added which would be useful as torches or Hurt events.
Tileset also has the JJ2 scenery blocks which are a must.
Tileset looks weird with all the spacing but that’s OK.
The tileset is easy to use and it’s easy to find the tiles that you want to insert in the level.
The masking in this tileset is also very good, no jagged edges or any other stuff like that.
Overall, this is a very good tileset and as a rating, I’ll give this 8.5.
A Textured Background could also be useful in this set.

SUMMARY – PROS

1. Contains all the tiles needed to make a good level.
2. Has all the animations required including flashing arrows and monitors.
3. Can use V/H poles and vines.
4. Contains the necessary JJ2 style scenery blocks.
5. No masking errors.

CONS

1. No Textured Background
2. Dunno any other cons in this tileset :P

SCORE: 8.5

DOWNLOAD?

YEAH! :D

(Was gonna do a Quick Review but ended up with too many chars, so thought I might as well do a full review.)

[Rating cleared until the property argument gets resolved. ~cooba]

[Rating reinstance. ~cooba]

This is just another Battle1 remake using a Mario tileset. Not much has changed, except for an additional box of ammo in the Seeker PU area.
The background in Layer 8 is very boring. All I can see is black. There are some Mario sprites in layer 5 but that doesn’t really improve anything.
Also, the eyecandy in Layer 4 is very repetitive.
The green pole by the Warp to the Seeker PU is masked meaning the player cannot walk through it.
Overall, this not a very good level.

This is a great level. It may look small but it’s very fun to play. Great for Duels and 2v2’s. Everytime you die, you get a different PU each time, from Seekers to RFs, Bouncers and Pepper Spray and many others excluding Freezer.
Eyecandy may not be that spectacular but the tileset is only 10 × 10 (100 tiles). The eyecandy is impressive for what is in the tileset. Textured BG is used in Layer 8 and looks good when seen through the arches in the background.

As for a rating, I’ll give it 8.0 because the level is fun to play and it is excellent for Duels and 2v2’s as I said before.

SCORE: 8.0

DOWNLOAD?

YES!!!

Sorry, but this is not a very good test.

EYECANDY

Hardly any eyecandy can be seen in this level. The only background is the Textured BG used in Layer 8. There are also Carrots and some of these have tilebugs. The ground is too flat.

1/10

GAMEPLAY

I don’t know if there is really any Gameplay here. All I was doing was jumping over some Carrots avoiding the Warps down below. I get to the end in like 20 seconds and NOTHING happens. Not even a text event to congratulate you. The whole thing is too easy if you use Jazz as he could just copter over everything.

1/10

OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

Other than the Warps you have to avoid, there is absolutely no more obstacles in this level.

1/10

TOTAL SCORE: 3/30 (1.0)

DOWNLOAD?

No. You need to spend more time making your levels as this looks like it was made in less than a day. Don’t let the rating put you off. Keep trying and you will get better.

I’m not gonna remake any of the other original levels. I only wanted to remake Battle1.
But, anyway, thanks for the reviews. :)

Sorry, but this level does not match my definition of “high level design.”

EYECANDY

There is a pretty nice background use here. You can see waterfalls and carrots which look good. Unfortunately, the Layer 4 eyecandy is VERY repetitive. You have used about 2 tiles for the ground. The cave looks OK with the lighting event. But it is impossible to miss the repetitive Layer 4.

3/10

GAMEPLAY

There is not very much gameplay in this level. You start of in a cave and then jump up some platforms and come across a puzzle using a pushable Rock. You are then told to save the game, however there is no point as this puzzle is far too easy and the level is very short. Also, you can get through it without even trying to solve it by using Spaz’s double jump ability to get through.
Star blocks have been used as Buttstomp Scenery which can confuse players as many would think they are shootable blocks.
The puzzle is a nice idea but it is executed poorly.
Once past the puzzle, you are then faced with a VERY TEDIOUS Queen Boss Battle. The gap you stand in is far too small as some of the Blaster bullets kept on hitting the ceiling. This lasted me about 4 minutes which is boring for many players.
After getting through the Queen, you then have to defeat a Schwartzenguard boss along with one respawning Lizard that takes too long to respawn.
Then that is the end of the level.

2/10

PICKUP PLACEMENT

First off, there are absolutely NO CARROTS whatsoever. There is about 14 or 15 pieces of Food which is not enough. There is also a box containing 15 Bouncer ammo which is not a lot. At the start of the level there is some useless TNT.
After the puzzle, there is a Freezer PU which serves no purpose as it is useless on the Queen and Schwartzenguard.

1/10

ENEMY PLACEMENT

There are not enough enemies to kill me. I think I saw about 10 in total. They consist of Normal Turtles, Helmuts, Bats and Tuf Turts.
Hard mode is also no better. All that is different is that a few Bees have been added.

1/10

OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

As I said before the puzzle is executed poorly. There is some Buttstomp Scenery which some players might confuse with Destruct Scenery as the blocks have Stars “*” on them.

1/10

TOTAL SCORE: 7/50 (1.4)

DOWNLOAD?

No. However, don’t let the low rating put you off making levels, DarkHell. Just keep trying and you will get better.

Ooh, my ranking has just gone up to Spaz Slackrabbit.

Hmmm, interesting concept but the Eyecandy and gameplay lets it down. 302 downloads in the last 4 days? :O

EYECANDY

The background has a strange animation in the speakers which does look weird. The foregrounds used were interesting but they obstruct the view of where you are supposed to go and I couldn’t see most of the enemies in Level 2. A lot of the space in each of the levels look empty.

3/10

GAMEPLAY & OBJECTIVES

The objective here is to destroy the viruses (enemies) that you will come across.

I will review the Gameplay for each of the 4 levels (one at a time) including the Boss.

LEVEL 1

The first thing you do is to go through a Sucker Tube that changes direction but is too easy to get through. Next you’re in a maze of Sucker Tubes but there is an annoying bug here. You can end up getting stuck by going too fast in the tube and you will keep going around in circles until you hold down that Shift key and keep going left.

After the Sucker Tube maze you are in a room where you have to keep shooting rats until the way out opens up. The Full NRG carrot placed re-generates too quickly making this part of the level too easy.

After getting through the rats you have a choice of two routes. One will take you to an area of 15 Normal Turtles which are easy to kill due to the fact that the shells will kill EVERYTHING. The other route is to go through a Robot which doesn’t activate or try to attack you. All you have to do is run under it.
Once you get pass the enemies you move on to the exit to Level 2.

All these puzzles were too easy overall. Also, it is possible to fall off the level.

3/10

LEVEL 2

Here, you start off the level by going left through a cool sucker tube. Then you end up on the floor with lots of enemies which you can’t see due to the obstructing foreground. Here you just run right to the exit on to Level 3.

1/10

LEVEL 3

There is hardly any gameplay in this level. All you do is just run right shooting the many Normal Turtles that appear until you reach the exit to the Boss Level.

1/10

LEVEL 4 (BOSS)

All you do here is keep shooting a Robot Boss with the very fast re-generating Toaster ammo. Also, the +1 Carrot re-generates too quickly.
After beating the boss, you move on to the credits level which has no exit. But I won’t review this level as I feel there isn’t any point.

1/10

TOTAL GAMEPLAY SCORE: 6/40

PICKUPS PLACEMENT

There is hardly any pickups in any of these levels. No food can be found anywhere. There is some useless TNT by the Robot in Level 1.
There are also some Carrots which re-generate making the levels too easy.
There is some re-generating Toaster Ammo as I mentioned before in the Boss level.

1/10

ENEMY PLACEMENT

The enemies are too easy to get through. Placement is poor in Level 2 as you cannot see where they are.

1/10

OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

Aside from the the changing Sucker Tube and the Sucker Tube Maze there isn’t many other obstacles.
There is the wall that you have to get through by shooting severall rats.
There is no destruct or buttstomp scenery.
There are the doors that you run through on Level 2.
However, all these obstacles are too easy to get through.

2/10

TOTAL SCORE: 13/70
OVERALL SCORE: (13 / 7) = 1.8571428571428571428571428571429
ROUNDED TO 1.9

EXTRAS

The text events used here are cool. I liked the one after you defeat the boss. +0.1

FINAL SCORE = 2.0

DOWNLOAD?

The only redeeming feature in this pack are the cool text events but other than that the pack isn’t that great.
I cannot recommend this level pack for download, but don’t let that put you off making levels, Krinya. Keep trying and it may turn out great. :)

EDIT: Grammar correction :P

Not a bad level. It seems to have been uploaded as Multiple. Is it SP or Multiplayer? I played it in SP.

Before I go onto the review, I’d just like to mention that this is TSF ONLY!

EYECANDY

Backgrounds are good and don’t look boring. There aren’t any tilebugs in the level. Some platforms looked weird and the Vines floating in mid-air looked very odd. But other than that everything else looked fine.

7/10

GAMEPLAY

The main objective of this level is to find and smash all of the Trigger Crates. If you died, though, you’d have to start again as the Triggers reset which would be very annoying. It was very difficult to understand what to do as all the text events weren’t in English. After finding the Trigger Crates you’ll be in this very strange Boss Arena with multiple Jazz clones but you don’t have to kill ‘em. Just have to find the exit.
The level lasted me just over 10 minutes which is reasonable.

8/10

WEAPON & ITEM PLACEMENT

There weren’t that many weapons to be found here. There were some PUs (Toaster, Seeker & RF) but there wasn’t enough ammo. There is TNT that is needed to destroy the “!” blocks sideways if you are Jazz.
I didn’t think there were enough Carrots. I was on 1 Heart health a lot.

5/10

ENEMY PLACEMENT

I thought there was a bit too many enemies in this level. It was too easy to get killed. Placement is OK but the amount is too much.

5/10

OBSTACLE PLACEMENT

Other than the Trigger Crates there isn’t that many other obstacles in the level. There’s some destruct scenery, “500 Bumpers” and Pinball Flippers but not much else. Though the Crates were quite hard to find.

7.5/10

TOTAL: 7 + 8 + 5 + 5 + 7.5 = 32.5/50

EXTRAS/DEDUCTIONS

No music in level -0.1

CALCULATING: (32.5 / 5) – 0.1 = 6.4

RANK: D+ = GOOD

DOWNLOAD?

I thought this was quite a good level, and I’m gonna give this a YES!