Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I decided to change my review to a full size, since this didn’t yet have any, although it does deserve a few. It is probably Snooze’s best piece of work so far, in such a short time.

This level is just art. It has a theming and decoration you couldn’t even dream about. Or actually you could, this is a dreamland, or a fairytale with influences of surreality in it. It is colourful, yet it doesn’t hurt your eyes, unless you play on 8-bit perhaps. I’d recommend not to. The background might feel a bit strange at first, but it clearly fits to this really open level in a creative way. It’s actually fun to know, that layer 5 wasn’t used AT ALL.

The level has the best theming and eyecandy done in a while but it also plays quite well. The layout is 0ldschool. Platformy, yet it has some solid parts, like the edges. It reminds me about Sandstrand ‘O Hazes, but it is of course far more open and better than that. The level fits well for both duels and big AYCR or TB-games. I played out a 2vs2 TB here and it was a really fun and entertaining experience. The choice of ammunition and PowerUps was good, except for PepperSpray that feels a bit useless, since there is RF spread over the level anyway. I also like how the float ups work as elevators around the falls here.

This is one of Snooze’s best levels of all-time. A bizarre music choice adds atmosphere too. I recommend you to download and host it often.

EDIT: Looking at the rest of the reviews I noticed that I overrated this level slightly, since the gameplay isn’t after all very special. It’s still a really good level by the looks, but it can be just a bit too platformy, since there isn’t any logic in how they are placed.

SJ

The most vibrant, colourful and lively JJ2 level ever created. The creativity in this level is really outstanding, and what’s even more impressive is the incredible speed snz made this level in. The layout reminds you of some old school levels. It is very platformy, yet everything connects together well and everything was generally well placed.

it’s just somewhat amazing snooze can think off thinks over and over again. like many people say the warps are annoying.i have nothing against it. just only that it should provide more start positions. the left is spammed with players mostly. and the not masking surrounding makes people stand outside the map withouth getting hit. but it r veri GUD

Agree with SJ, the level looks very surreal in an interesting way. This is quite a typical snz level in terms of looks, but the layout is quite different to his usual style. It provides more tactical gameplay with the structure and placement, which makes it more enjoyable to play than some of his other levels.

This is a level by Snooze in the colon set. The eyecandy is rather twisted, and has some tilebugs, but otherwise is pretty good. After some playing the layout reminds me about Villain Village by cooba, it is kinda similar to that one, just in a smaller scale. However, PowerUps and carrots offer some tactical gameplay here. Download and try it.

nice lvl, easy to learn and looks quite fun to play

Another Snooze level… where does he find the time to make these?

Gameplay: Well constructed
Destroyed Cassis Factory, a name of which I have a hunch where it came from… The level plays in a somewhat tube-based area. It is completely symmetrical (from what I can tell) and plays smooth and collected.

DCF has one Full NRG carrot and two normal carrots, making it too easy for duels to take place here. The ideal setting for this level would be 3vs3, at the very least.

The bottom part of the level contains all the power-ups. RF missiles, Toaster PU and Bouncer PU (accompanied by the less popular Pepperspray PU). The level also contains ammo for the Electro Gun, which is needed to get the RF and Bouncer PU (unless you already have bouncers and you know how to shoot through walls =P ).

The bases are quite far apart, but good use of the sucker tubes can help you on your way. Various sucker tubes fill the route, mostly leading you to a level above you. This comes in handy when looking for the Full NRG, but because of the ‘hotness’ of that area, it is advised to take the two smaller carrots on your route to the other base.

Overall the level plays really smoothly, with a few spots where you will run into a wall unintended. This is mostly on the ceiling, where there are blockades hanging down to ensure you don’t copter or double jump all the way to the other side, which would have been too easy.

Atmosphere: Clean
DCF uses the infamous 7th Lava Fall tileset. My first idea behind the tileset choice was the reddish tubes that come with the set (for transporting cassis, of course). Snooze utilises the tileset really well, using the rusty and broken tiles to emphasise the ‘destroyed’ part. The background shows us the broken frame of the rest of the factory, along with a city in the background.

The use of this tileset is very common, though, as it is most likely one of the first tilesets to pop up when you open a new file in JCS. After all, numbers come before the A in the tileset list. Therefore, this tileset is (sadly) overused, and usually with all the bad effects that come with it. Snooze, however, manages to make this level look spooky, abandoned, yet fresh, in attempt of creating the ‘destroyed factory’ feeling. An attempt which, beyond a shadow of a doubt, worked out really well.

Overall: Good
Destroyed Cassis Factory is a nice level that, when it comes to it, should serve well in your list of 3vs3 or 4vs4 CTF levels.

Download Recommendation: Yes
This level is definitely worth having. Get it before it’s deleted!

Score: 8.5
Destroyed Cassis Factory has a well worked out theme, as well as a clean feeling gameplay. This should belong in your list as well as in everyone else’s.

The background is transparent, when at the top of the level its a bit buggy.

[Only in Single Player mode, very rarely (with a lot of lag) in multiplayer. ~cooba]

Introduction

After releasing Dreamless and making a start with Dreamless II, Snooze made a CTF level. This might be his last level for a while, but he will probably upload Dreamless II later in 2009. This level, called Destroyed Cassis Factory, uses 7th Lava Fall. Some people might not know what cassis is.. it’s just blackcurrant. In Holland we call it cassis. It’s also a drink.. just like miXXed up cassis. Anyway, enough talking. On to the review!

Layout

This level is symmetrical, and it’s pretty big in JCS. However, it doesn’t feel that big in my opinion. The layout is pretty easy to learn. There are some tubes in the level, and also some float ups in the middle. There are some RF climb spots (including the RF Climb spot 4 SJ) The bases are at the left and right sides. There are also turrets near the bases which make them easier to defend. And there are warps at the far left and far right.

Gameplay and flow

I’ve played a few 3v3s in this level, and I have to say that it plays well. The bases are easy to defend, but it’s also pretty easy to rts here. The tubes are really needed when playing here. I’ll explain why later. The flow is alright. It’s easy to move around the level and you don’t have to jump a lot (except when you use the tubes) And there are some springs that take you up.

Eye candy and theme

With a name like Destroyed Cassis Factory you expect something interesting. 7th Lava Fall is a tileset that’s pretty overused, but Snooze managed to make something original with it. The eye candy in layer 6 is original because it’s supposed to look like bent steel (which explains why the factory is destroyed) The layer 7 also has some of that. There is also some good usage of the pipes here. The layer 8 is also pretty original. The other eye candy is also pretty good. I haven’t seen a lot of levels with this tileset that had good eye candy. The level’s theme seems really good and original (although we’ve had several other factories like Abandoned Robotics Factory and The Zerox Factory) This level is different compared to those because it’s a cassis factory. I mean, who else could think of such a theme? (it’s a shame I didn’t think of something like this before because I really like cassis)

Placement of stuff

This level has 4 PUs. A Toaster PU at the right side, a RF PU at the left side and a Bouncy PU and Gun8 PU in the middle. The ammo placement seems good enough. It might respawn a bit fast but because there is not too much ammo (but there are some big groups of ammo near the Power-Ups) it’s okay. There are 3 carrots. 2 +1 carrots and 1 Full NRG. The +1 carrots are at the top left and top right (like I said before you can use the tubes to get them easier. But you can also use the warps.) The Full NRG is at the top middle. The placement of it is good as people can try to hit someone that camps it with gun9. And there are also some soft drinks and soda pops that are probably there for the theme. JJ2 doesn’t have something that looks like cassis but because I used soft drinks in 6 Hour Energy Drink Snooze can use them in this level.

Further comments

This level is probably not Snooze’s best level, but I think it’s at least one of his best CTF levels. I think this level is pretty fun and I wouldn’t mind playing it sometimes. I give this level an 8.3 and a download recommendation.

Dreamless, a single player level pack made by none other than snooze. Will his ‘legendary’ status aid him in making a good single player pack or will this be yet another popularity hit?

Gameplay: 50-50
One thing that concerns me most about this pack is the gameplay. Simply put, I don’t know what to think of it. The pack carries a heavy mix of feeling rushed and feeling well constructed. Some area’s feel like they serve for no other purpose than to add an extra mile to walk, while some really add to the fun.

Without doubt, the worst thing of this pack were the pits. Some are obvious, but most of the time, you would drop down from a vine and fall to death, simply because you were looking for some more treasure. It IS a platformer, after all, so ammo and gems are always welcome. As recommended, playing on Easy will serve you a lot more justification when looking for aid in this particular pack.

The levels have a really odd feeling to them. It’s not really based on enemy killing, but the puzzles also don’t prove much of a challenge (though that might be just me). The puzzles may be fun at first, but when you think back, you’ll head go “pfft, I knew that” most of the time. Regarding the puzzles, by the way, there is a certain degree of complexity that nobody could guess if they hadn’t heard of that before. For example, there’s this puzzle where the player must use the Electro Gun to shoot a checkpoint beyond a wall and then kill himself in order to get there. Not only is this quite far-fetched, but it can also cause quite a lot of frustration for people new to the Single Player packs presented on this website. On the other hand, the idea itself is very original but feels like an elite player gadget.

The pack is driven by a storyline. A mediocre one at that, but it does the trick. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before, but the aspect of it being all a dream makes up for it. Either way, it is still a ‘bad guy has to be defeated’ story. From snooze, I would have expected something a little lighter and funnier, but then again, no. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

A few things about playing this pack kept annoying me. The pits, as said before, but also the amount of text strings. For example, cutscenes can also be implemented in tilesets. Also, as EvilMike said, some of the ‘protagonist thoughts’ are annoying for the fact that the player may think completely different from what the protagonist is thinking.

Overall, the pack played average. There were too many things bugging me, I’m afraid, and I’m gonna have to stick with the rushed feeling I had in the beginning.

Atmosphere: Good
The one thing that stood out in this entire pack was without doubt the atmosphere. There are two sides to this. One being the excellent use of tilesets, the other being the way in which the levels are presented.

Snooze is of course known for his multiplayer levelpacks, which often feature levels that make an unexpected use of particular tilesets. This results in ‘wow-ing’ the player and therefore earning fantastic scores in the eyecandy department. This pack follows the tradition of unexpected tileset use (with a few exceptions, more on that later).

The level with the Star Wars reference feels the most left out. I simply don’t think it stands out too much in comparison to the other levels. Even when you’re ‘shot into space’ and ‘the view is amazing’, it still feels odd, even for a dream.

On the other hand, the ghostship level is by far the best use of tileset I’ve seen in a while. A completely unexpected turn of events for the Beach tileset (though a previously released screenshot shows us a little spoiler). The level is fairly translucent, making the background visible, showing occasional other ships passing by (maybe too occasional, I personally would make the layer wider to prevent it from becoming boring). The level carries a mystique feeling, which I really enjoyed.

Also, as I said before, the cutscenes especially feel rushed. I would have used a tileset cutscene myself, simply because the cutscenes now look like they were added in ‘just because you needed a cutscene’. They don’t feel like part of the pack, which they of course are. Especially the opening level felt like a big disappointment and almost made me quit on the spot.

Overall: Good
The Dreamless single player pack surely feels like a step forward in the SP setting of J2O. I surely hope that snooze will continue his work and improve upon the critique he has received. Good job.

Download Recommendation: Yes
Though on the hard side for newcomers (even in Easy), learn to think out of the box. Forget the Epic SP packs and use your brain. You’ll have to with this pack.

Score: 7
I was thinking about giving this a higher score before, but this pack had just too much worrying me. I do sincerely hope that you build on these ‘flaws’ (don’t want to call it mistakes or faults) and make even nicer level packs. You have my faith. :)

(Rag, eat your heart out. 5000 characters!)

I didn’t exactly expect Snz to do so great making the leap from MP to SP all of a sudden.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The atmosphere might not be there for everyone, but the levels are very interesting and it often feels like nothing in the levels is insignificant.
Awesome job, do make more SP, but don’t forget about CTF.

Very nice job! Eyecandy was excellent, levels were awesome too, music fit, a few rubbish things [like the DEATH PITS], but worth a dl.

quite evil yet awesome pack, make more sp snz :D

I’m still rather pissed off about the hatemail, but you people should realize that that doesn’t affect this rating. Either way, this levelpack had some key features for singleplayer, eyecandy, enemy placement, ammo placement. The thing that brings your score down painfully is your lack of creativity! I mean, we’re in a dream world, shouldn’t anything be possible?

JJ2 logos falling down, randomly falling out of dreams into senseless puzzles.
I know this will sound very contradictory, but your levelpack made too much sense!

Even though you didn’t do a swell job on this levelpack, thanks to the dream theme, if you make another, make it like this! (No death pits, though)

The only setback you had was your dream storyline. I’m sure I would’ve given this a 7.5, at least, if this was in a regular setting.

to defost: not all these levels have far less ec then what i usually do. only the unimportant levels like the ones with cutscenes.

anyways, thanks for reviewing. now i atleast know to not include instant death pits in the next ep ;0 which will come in 2 weeks i think..

Personally, I don’t really think quite as much of this pack as others do. It was a pretty solid pack overall, but suffers from some big problems.

The first thing I noticed was a stark contrast between the eyecandy in these levels versus the eyecandy in Snooze’s other levels. These levels have far less. You can probably use “but it’s set in a dream world” as an excuse, but come on, you comment on how “realistic and vivid” the dreams are.
Of course, the levels don’t really look bad, just plain. That’s not really a bad thing, but it detracted from my enjoyment a bit.

The second thing I noticed was a pit which had absolutely nothing warning of its existence. I later found out that these pits were prevalent throughout the pack. This really hurts the pack – taking lives away from the player just because they were unable to guess at the existence of a pit really won’t positively impact their opinion of a level (or level pack).

My next quibble came with Dream Drift II – the “QoB level.” You have to find 10 coins, but, like EvilMike, I couldn’t manage. The layout of the level is very confusing, and the seemingly random triggers just made it much worse. It’s just one level, so it’s not really that much of a problem.

And then, as I went further in, I noticed another problem – you never know where you’re supposed to be going. You could roam around for half an hour trying to find a trigger crate, because the levels are just so open and maze-like. This is very frustrating, and, in many cases, didn’t make sense.

Another thing that bothered me was the enemy placement. There aren’t a whole lot of enemies, but there are quite a few, and I didn’t think they were placed very well. The long lines of Hatters in Dream Drift (I), the huge balls of float lizards in Dream Citadel.

However, don’t let the above text fool you into thinking that it’s a bad pack. Far from it; it’s pretty solid. I just only mentioned the bad stuff, because the good stuff’s already been pointed out by other reviewers: there’s unique tileset usage (just look at the ghost ship), some great atmosphere, and a very original and prevalent theme.

Introduction

After making lots of Multiplayer packs like the New Ages series (and some levels for Codename: Alliance) Snooze has created a Single Player pack/episode. But the main question is: is Snooze good at making Single Player levels or should he focus on Multiplayer more? Keep reading for the answer.

The pack starts with some introduction levels. There’s not much to say about that, except that it shows what you can expect from this pack and it’s part of the story.

Then comes ‘Street’ a Townhouse 2 Night level. It’s relatively short, but it’s still pretty fun. Be sure you don’t fall in the pits (as I fell in them right before the end of the level) the level has some nice secrets and overall the level wasn’t too hard. It’s just that I’m pretty bad at Single Player (but I played this on Medium)

I quote: ‘After the normal city, your dream changes into something futuristic..’ that’s Dream Drift (part 1 of the 3 that are in this pack) It’s another pretty short level (if you know where to go) It could take long as it took a while to find out that you have to freeze a spring near the end. The part with the springs is probably the hardest, but still pretty easy. This level has more enemies than the previous one. I especially like the area at the top (which is the end of the level) Another quote: This view is beautiful.. wow.” It’s exactly what I thought when playing it.

After Dream Drift, there’s a big and long level called Dream Drift II. You have to find 10 coins, and some of them can be really hard to find. On my first try (in a previous version of the level) it took me about 20 minutes to get all the coins.. then I died at the boss battle at the end so I had to get the coins again. On my second try I had 8 coins and couldn’t find one of the other 2 (I had to get that one before the last one) This level doesn’t have too many obstacles except spikes and a few enemies, but it’s still challenging. It’s easy to get lost, but the level is not as evil as QoB.

The Voice is Calling is a level that introduces the enemy (more about that later)

After that it’s time for a level called ‘Beach’ which shows some interesting tileset usage. It’s not too hard, and although it looks big it’s not too long. It’s good that the level has different areas and those areas all have different things (and secrets)

Then comes ‘Inside the Ghost Ship’ another Beach level and it’s, one one word, awesome. The theme is something I haven’t been before with this set. The collapse scenery at the start and the disappearing pole are good examples. And the choice of enemies too. This level also has some good ideas, like the trigger crate near the gun crate that you have to hit by shooting a turtle shell. This level has many enemies, and I lost 3 lives in it. But this is undoubtedly my favourite level of the pack.

Dream Citadel is the next level, and it’s another nice-looking level. The level itself is not too difficult, but you have to find a way through the destruct scenery (which is pretty easy anyway) A textstring in the level says: “Warning: unless you have 5 coins, dont go past this area” then you have to go up and find a warp to a trigger crate which opens the triggers at the end of the level.

The Demon’s Castle has an impressive intro with some cool light effects and a short dialogue between the main character and the enemy (not going to spoil what it is) This level also has some cool tileset usage (like the corkscrews that almost no-one uses) The level is a bit shorter than it looks, but it’s still fun. It’s not too hard either (in my opinion) One of the better levels from the pack.

Then comes The Demon’s Castle? A level that’s not too long but if you want to find every secret in the level it would take a long time. This has some more impressive tileset usage, like the tubes and translucent blocks in layer 5 and the crystal window. This level is not too hard if you have maximum fast fire, but it’s still really fun. The level ends with a boss battle, which shouldn’t be too hard either. Well, if you thought that was it, think again..

Dream Drift III is possibly the most evil level of the pack. When you start you will immediately see some enemies that will most likely hit you. And then you’ll get to a puzzle with lots of spikes and trigger crates. Then comes the evil part: ‘Use your guns wisely..’ you probably won’t have too many gun9 ammo by now as there’s only 6 ammo at the start of this level (maybe from the previous levels) but use it to hit a save point. Then you’re supposed to die (so if you have 0 lives that kind of sucks) Then you get to a warp which leads you to a short maze with destruct scenery and hurt events. That’s not too hard though. Then comes a part with different routes. I’m not going to tell what’s there in every route. But the main route leads to some hurt events and a carrot crate with some bees. Then comes a small maze with some spike bolls and hurt events, and you have to get up without being hit. The last part of the level requires you to find 3 coins. They’re not as hard to find as in Dream Drift II. After you’ve found 3 coins, you’ll go back to the area where you had to shoot the save point. Then, after that, you have to search for a warp that leads you to the end of the level.

The ending level describes that the battle is not over yet. But what will happen next? Find It Out.

So overall, this pack gets a really high rating because I was impressed (and I don’t play a lot of Single Player!) Snooze shows that he can’t only make Multiplayer levels. I give this a 9 and a download recommendation.

It’s always good to see people release single player episodes. This particular one is quite good too, and I found it enjoyable to play. It comes from Snooze, who is perhaps best known for his CTF packs, New Ages I, II and III. This is his first major release that is single player, and I hope it’s not going to be his last.

The best part about this pack it its atmosphere. It is set almost entirely within a series of dreams, and because of that the levels take on a somewhat surreal tone. Snooze does a very good job at conveying this theme, with the eyecandy being a particular strong point. In some places it does get a bit weird, but dreams aren’t always normal and logical. One thing I thought was fairly impressive is how some of the levels have different areas that look very different, with the background transitioning and the style of the foreground also changing. Most people would just start a new level to convey this effect, so having it happen within a single level makes it very neat.

The gameplay is also good, though it does suffer a bit due to a few problems. One in particular that I noticed is that the instant-death pits are often hard to spot. You never know when a drop is going to be fatal, and because of that the levels can be a bit more frustrating than they have to be.

I also find that in an action oriented pack, having a QoB-style level early on is a bit disruptive to the overall flow of the levels. I’m not a big fan of maze levels, and this one in particular is difficult due to a lot of obscure triggers. The goal is to find 10 coins. I couldn’t, so I settled with 5, then hit the checkpoint, killed myself, and grabbed those 5 again. That’s a bit of an exploit, but at least I didn’t have to cheat. Call it an alternate solution to the puzzle.

I also thought that the hell level was a bit confusing. It’s more straightforward than the QoB one, but the layout is very open, and I found myself at times not sure where to go next. Also, at the end you wind up with a checkpoint and a dead end. It turns out there’s a hidden tunnel by there, but I couldn’t find it at first.

The final level is a bit different from the others, in that it is more puzzle focused. In a way it’s similar to the QoB level early on, but it’s a lot more action oriented, and I at least enjoyed it (though it took me a while to figure out where to go).

Other than that all of the levels are quite well designed, fun, and challenging. And, due to the very original visual design, you’ll always want to know what’s next.

Like snooze says in the download description, it’s probably a good idea to play this on easy mode unless you are pretty good at single player.

One additional comment I’d like to make is that I found it a bit annoying how the main character (and narrator) of the episode often comments on what he sees. Sometimes this is alright, but sometimes it’s completely unnecessary, because the player can quite easily see what the level looks like. I also thought it was a bit funny how the narrator sometimes comments on how cool/beautiful a certain scene looks. These comments seem to pop up fairly randomly, and come across as the authour of the level complementing himself. I thought this felt a bit arrogant.

Anyway, this is still a great pack, and I highly recommend you download it as soon as possible, since you never know when it’s going to be deleted in a fit of rage.

Quite an evil pack. The best thing in my opinion is the execution of the theme. There are some unfair situations, and you may feel the author (or demon) is being a complete bastard at times, but it’s real fun.

I’m gonna have to agree here, this set looks very nice and is very versatile, but a lot of the graphics just aren’t all that pretty. Still, could be fun to build with for some kind of assault level or something. I think a 7.6 is just about right.