Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

pack is tedium :—D

(mby moar later)

DJazz’s “Lemon Field”. Set self-explanatorily in a small, paradisaic lemon field, complete with a cheery remix of the Diamondus theme. A small battle level reccommended by the author for Instagib and HLRS sub-gamemodes…

Lemon Field has good, yet rather unoriginal eyecandy. There’s a typical Diamondus bay in the background and two rows of trees in the closer layers. There are also waterfalls and leaves in the foreground, which is nice… but can be a bit annoying in a level of that size. If you have the f9 list open, or 2xf9 (list+stats) and a few players, your field of view becomes a bit obstructed. A -0.2 BOOnus for that. Other thing I don’t quite like (but I won’t rate that) is the night version’s palette. It doesn’t feel like a night on a lemon field, but thanks to the red ‘water’ it feels like a gory murder scene on a lemon field. IMO the author should’ve used New Diamondus 2 for that.

Gameplay-wise it isn’t anything brilliant. It’s only 30×15, which makes it almost single-screen, has some bouncers, toasters and seekers, and, obviously lemons. Lemons are what I actually like about this level. If you have enough, you can turn into a sugar-rushing titan and go on a roasting spree, especially in instagib. While I don’t know if that concept was what made DJazz place the lemons in this level, it’s pretty cool. A +0.1 bonus for that.

Concluding, “Lemon Fields” is an average level. It could’ve been a 6.1 from me if not the view-obstructing foreground. You get a 5.9. Keep on making levels and with practice you’ll be much better soon.

What we have here is a big capture the flag level by Superjazz of XLM. It has a n industrial theme, which is expectable in a level with a WTF set, nevertheless well executed. The industrial atmosphere is completed with an acid techno-esque music track which fits the level well.

The level looks great. On the background layers we have an enormous factory wall with some windows and closer to the playable stage is a huge moving crane (or another pipeline/transport platform). Both of these background layers look very good. What I liked on the sprite level of the eyecandy were the ‘symbols’ on the top left and top right platforms, respectively a shuriken-esque star and a cluster of rhombi. What completes the eyecandy are some translucent waterfalls (wastefalls?) on the foreground layers.

Xyzzy is a big level, although it’s not too hard to learn the layout (unless you’re staring at the nice industrial EC). It’s semi-symmetrical, so the opposing Zones are almost the same. There’s a toast and bounce PU for the Blue Zone and a toast and RF PU for the Red Zone and both teams have a Full NRG carrot on their shuriken/rhombus platforms. Fair enough. There are copters to make travelling through the three floors easier. That’s cool, also I like copters :P The bases are separated by a column on the center of the level and placed in the central parts, on the second floor of their respective Zones. It’s fairly easy to get to them. There is also a white warp at the very top of the level. It can warp you to the first floor of the Blue or Red Zone. Pretty interesting.

I’m going to give this level a pretty high (well-deserved I guess?) 8.6. It’s a good, big CTF and probably a lot of effort was put into it, so you should download it right away and try it out.

Cool concept, great execution. The layout was a bit confusing at first for me (maybe that was because i forgot about the copters?), but after learning it the level becomes very fun to play, I liked how the bases were placed. The tranquil, dreamy atmosphere is another thing which makes this level great. Overall, an awesome level. Download away!

A cool, psychedelic funfest with great eyecandy. While it may seem a bit confusing at first, it’s a really fun to play level after you learn it.

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

omg full review (well, full is too much i guess – let’s just call this review ‘not very quick’) by eigus – is it the apocalypse?! Anyway…

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Device by Snooze and Darksonic

First Thoughts – N/A*/*N/A

A medium-sized (125×64) battle level by sn0z and ds using Gus’ Big Landscape in the evening palette.

Rating – N/A
Bonuses/BOOnuses – ur phat mom LOL haha j/k unfunny N/A
Final section rating – N/A

—-

Theme & Atmosphere – 8.2/10

A mountainy lakeside at sunset with some buildings (perhaps the Device Testing HQs?). Nothing extremely original, so no exceptionally high rating. While it looks like a peaceful evening near a lake, it may also feel slightly creepy (+0.2 for that). Why? Well, Awesome’s music gives this a sad/kind of scary feeling at some parts of the track. Also, while the textured background’s fade looks quite evening-ish, the color also gives a ‘polluted’ feeling (perhaps polluted by the Device…?).

Rating – 8.0
Bonuses/BOOnuses – creepy feeling at times (two reasons; +0.1 for each reason) – +0.2
Final section rating – 8.2

—-

Eyecandy – 8.4/10

Very good EC, looks quite natural, there’s variation (well mostly, just one place I don’t quite like), etc. I especially like the waterfall at 22,50 – if you’ll do similar things in your levels, make it look like in Device! Rather no tilebugs (or it is just me – I don’t have eyes like Rag’s, but oh well since I guess he played this several times he’d point them out), which is a good thing. I like how the natural cave tiles fit with the background bricks. No ‘random’ or spammed ec as well. One complaint about variation – I’d like the bricks in the wall to the left of 8,35 to have more variation when it comes to width or height. Also this is probably just me, but I don’t like one more place – around 33,46. The bg bricks there look kinda out of place… probably just me, but I don’t like it.

Rating – 8.5
Bonuses/BOOnuses – nice waterfall (+0.1), kinda lack of variation in bottom-left wall (-0.1), bricks that are kind of out-of-place (-0.1) – -0.1
Final section rating – 8.4

—-

Gameplay – 8.6/10

Ah, I bet my review will get -20 (or so) helpful ratings for this section :< anyway, here goes. The layout is nice and pretty easy to learn, gj (mostly) ds. It’s easy to get from place to place, no cramped spots or similar things. Ammo and other pickups are placed very well too, they’re easy to reach and no place feels like it has too much or too little ammo. No revolutional shapes of pickups (I like the pepperspray cluster at 41,17 though) but at least they aren’t 3×3 blocks or similar shapes ;PPP PUs are placed well, pretty gj with the suckertubes that transport you to other places after you kick the PU or just want to run away (only the toaster doesn’t have a suckertube behind, but you can kick it facing right and you’ll be able to instantly get outta there). No rabbit bias either, I’ve played this with both Jazz and Spaz and it’s as easy to navigate through the level with Jazz as with Spaz.

Rating – 8.6
Bonuses/BOOnuses – N/A – +0.0
Final section rating – 8.6

—-

Final Verdict – A very good battle by Snooze and DS. You have no excuse not to download this, and I’m sure this will be in AB11.
Final Rating – (8.2 + 8.4 + 8.6)/3 = 8.4
DR – Yes!

~Eigus of XLM

here’s an asflkjagaslkjlkgsa, because i am speechless. this is really awesome.

i like it. a bit quiet (hmm that actually isn’t a problem as i play stuff loud) and short, but nevertheless nicely done.

wahhh…

another really awesome level pack. all of the levels are great imo. scrap brain is very panic!!ish, though…

…and theres a fr! +0.1 for that.

gj DS.

two awesome, big levels. they’re huge, fun to play in, look great, overally awesome. hmm, 9. gj Rag :)

really awesome set. didn’t find any flaws, though it will probably become overused soon.

this is the year of tilesets :X

awesome pack. quick reviews may be not adequate for big levelpacks, but i’m not in the mood to write longer stuff. this stuff is too awesome to be left without a review though, so here’s a 9. i may convert this to a full review later.

awesome level :) btw, nice atmosphere.

lol, nice. :D

This is really awesome. I’m speechless. >O

Aaaaand, Fawful asked me to review this. Here it comes.

H A R D W A R E D A T A B A S E

ABOUT

A Battle level using Mez03 B. I thought it would be an average 6.5-7.0er, but, oh, no way. It’s fun.

MUSIC

Ahhh, Purple Motion’s I think greatest track. <3, <3 and once more <3. Anyway, fits.

EYECANDY

Yeah, it’s nice! Layer 8 is kind of original. 6 and 7 are used nicely. However I think there could be more stuff on layer 5. Oh well, wait, it has speed 1.1. Rest is fun too. Yah, it uses all layers. (whoo) So…

What looks fun:

- Texture bg. Perrty original I think.

What could be better:

- (shoo, nothing here).

GAMEPLAY

You might think – it’s your typical battle level. Placement of stuff good, etc.

Ah.

I played many others and this level is plainly fun even if there’s a ppl overload (I played it in Fawful’s server when there was over 12 ppl in it), and you kinda don’t get bored by it (at least I didn’t get bored by it). Also there’s a nifty spot below a suckertube. Easy roasts. :X

LOLOL! IT’S FUN!

Types of players I saw:

Fastfire man: gets fastfires and stuff and goes on a (jumpin’ usually) kill frenzy. I tend to be a fastfire man. :P

OVERALL – Pretty good, very fun.

I guess I’ll end tha review ‘ere. Best thing – it’s really fun. I think I start to overuse ‘it’s fun’, so let’s end with a rating.

Rating: 7.5
Download Reccomendation: Yes
Host This Often?: Yes
Bonuses and BOO!nuses: ‘It’s fun’ – +0.2
Final Rating: 7.7

~*Eigus*RR of LCL

I M P R E S S I O N S Z

Impressions Z (probably you should read it Impressions 2) is the sequel to DarkSonic’s Impressions. I waited for this pack… I guess I have to review it. (w00t i’m on the betatesters list) AND FIRST REVIEW FOR THE PACK WITH A RATING DAMMIT! 8D 8D 8D

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CTF LEVELS

I N N O V A T I O N

ABOUT
Innovation is the first CTF level in Impressions Z. It’s a not so wide but high level using Wisetyness. It’s also symmetrical.

MUSIC
The music simply fits. It may not have quality like A. Brandon’s, Necros’ or Awesome’s songs, but it certainly isn’t bad. You know, it’s important for it to fit. And it does. (hoo-hah)

EYECANDY
Eyecandy’s good. Layer 7 has a faraway, pretty weird (but good) hill thing that for me looks like someone with some weapon of mass destruction. Layer 6 has hi-tech platforms. They look good. It’s also good that the textured background doesn’t have stars – it gives a cloudy feeling. However on the top of the level, near the column with suckertubes, it’s bright. So what – the sun or whatever other light source can shine through clouds, and it’s natural-ish, besides there are torches there. Also, the leaves in the center of the level remind me of a face. hahaha

GAMEPLAY
Nice, of course. Good ammo placement. Flow’s good too. Same about base placement. And what’s so fun about this level? Well, it would be a bit boring if it wasn’t for the long and fast suckertubes! They make travelling easier. I quote:

“I present to you: one HELLUVA tube.”

Anyway, to sum up, it’s good.

OVERALL – Very good.
SIDE NOTES – N/A

-

B O T A N I Z E R

ABOUT
The second CTF level in Impressions Z. Unlike Innovation, it is unsymmetrical. It uses the first Jungrock tileset from the unfinished Impressive Flashback.

MUSIC
And I thought techno-ish tracks wouldn’t fit in a jungleish level! (I’m not counting Luigi Elettrico’s JungTec) But. It. Fits.

EYECANDY
Very nice! There’s variation in ground tiles, and that’s good. A lot of waterfalls there! There’s also your typical bay with hills, and in layer 6 a block of leaves with nine windows. Looks good. You can actually see the bay and the texbg clouds floating around near pos 50,20. Other places are usually filled with cave tiles and waterfalls. Overall eyecandy’s very nice.

GAMEPLAY
Also nice. Flow, ammo placement, base placement good, BUT! There is one warp that is much closer to the red base than the warp near the two arrows is to the blue base. Or at least I haven’t found a closer warp :P

OVERALL – Very good.
SIDE NOTES – N/A

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R O O M S

ABOUT
The third CTF level in Impressions Z. Also unsymmetrical. It uses Impressive Creations’ IC-IF Pezrox1.

MUSIC
I won’t rate this one because I suggested it :) But a side note, I always thought Crystal Cages would fit Pezrock.

EYECANDY
Ah, eyecandy. We have one layer of faraway palms and two heavily used supporting the sprite layer. It looks very nice! Fun tidbits:

- spikes used as thorns on grass (at least it looks like that to me)

- bushes made from palm leaves

- bg hills used as mud-like piles

Also the level is very colorful. Also, there is variation in the ground tiles (but not as much as in Botanizer).

GAMEPLAY
Duh, very good. All your typical aspects (ammo placement, flow, base placement) are good. And there is one interesting thing – you must buttstomp to grab the flag because of the float up events. Almost everyone says that this thing should be removed, but I think that it makes the level more original.

OVERALL – Very good.
SIDE NOTES – IMO this wouldn’t look as good as now in Pezrock 2.

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BATTLE LEVELS

P A N I C ! !

ABOUT
The first Battle level in Impressions Z. It uses the second Letni tileset from the unfinished Impressive Flashback.

MUSIC
It uses Electricdrug, a MOD music file I didn’t hear before. Fits well, but is a little bit too happy for the title (I rather imagined Panic!! using Purple Motion’s Panic [probably the second version].) and as a side note has nice drums and sounds like something you would hear in that fun but forgotten KD Labs’ game Spanking/Moonshine Runners, except the tracks from that game overuse trumpets and saxophones. Enough about the music.

EYECANDY
Panic!!’s eyecandy is sweet, like in all levels in this pack. Now let’s look closer. On layer 7 we have a column, and on layer 6 a chip wall with a few holes. Layer 5 is a sprite layer supporting layer and we have some nice stuff on it, like translucent static screens, other chip walls, or walls made from the same tiles that are on the column in layer 7 (BTW it is from Tubelectric), except the layer 7 column uses lighter tiles. Other than that, we have layer 3 loaded full of stuff and layer 2, but there are only 5 tiles placed on layer 2. Anyway, sweet.

GAMEPLAY
I’ll just say good. Because I don’t see anything that is bad.

OVERALL – Very good.
SIDE NOTES – I guess this is somewhere on Carrotus/Earth/whatever because of the fade color.

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E X C I T I N G S C E N E R Y

ABOUT
And here we have the second Battle level in Impressions Z. It is not only the last battle level, but also the last level in the pack and the last one that I will review (:P). It uses Gus’ Big Landscape (the normal version, not 2 [the sunset one] or 3 [the night one]).

MUSIC
Exciting Scenery uses Alexander Brandon’s Carrotus Forest. It’s the same track as in Significant. Fits!

EYECANDY
WOOOOOO! Now this is the most impressive eyecandy in the whole pack! Exciting Scenery really deserves its title – it uses various kinds of blocks, from snowy mountains and windows to other variations of the texture background to look really good. In layer 7 there is a wall with a hole and in layer 6 there is some kind of a building. Overall – eyecandy is really awesome!

GAMEPLAY
Of course, Exciting Scenery’s gameplay is good too. Nice flow and ammo placement, and it also uses pits. So, again: it’s good.

OVERALL – Very good, AWESOME eyecandy.
SIDE NOTES – N/A

-

So, now I end my review of DarkSonic’s Impressions Z. It’s a great pack – 3 sweet CTF levels for a Capture The Flag maniac and 2 Battles for a roaster. I’m going to rate it pretty high – here, DarkSonic. Take this 8.5.

Download Reccomendation: Yes!
Host This Often?: Yeah!
Bonuses and BOO!nuses: N/A
Final Rating: 8.5

So yeah. Download this. NOW.

~Eigus

H A P P Y C T F

- – - – -

Ah, HappyCTF. IMO this is the very best CTF pack out there. It contains 6 levels. Now let’s review it.
There goes my second review…

H A P P Y J U N G L E C T F

The first level of Happy CTF and in my opinion the worst one, but it still means very nice.

This level is an example how a small level can be pretty good. Tileset? Look at the name. Used nicely.

Music: nice choice and nice quality. ‘Last Sunset’ fits it, but I expected something more jungle-ish.

Eyecandy is confusing but nice. This level uses the trees for the main background eyecandy.

No other ‘OMG-quality’ fireworks though.

Gameplay… Well, this is the worst level, but it still is pretty nice. The bases are pretty originally placed (red at the bottom, blue at the top). Ammo placement rather good. Flow good.

O V E R A L L – Probably the worst level in HappyCTF, but it is still fun.

H A P P Y D E S E R T C T F

And here we have the second level of the pack. Happy Desert CTF is a mostly vertical level

(136 tiles high!) using Beach.

Happy Desert uses Dark Groove Part 1 for the music; you don’t have to download it, it comes with the game (it’s used in the second Inferno level). IMO it could use something like camel.xm or silver.mod. However, the music fits.

Eyecandy? Yes, eyecandy. Nice. IMO the textured BG could use stars. There are some fun things like sand-filled chambers in the wooden parts, or wooden arrows. The level also uses some faraway dunes on layer 7&6. Layer 2 boasts a ‘pass’ to the sandy part of the level. Overall nice.

And now, let’s get to the gameplay. The bottom of the level is partially filled with water.

Flows very nice, although the level is divided in half on the wooden part and I don’t really like it. Ammo placement is nice. Base placement is nice.

O V E R A L L – A good level. If it comes to compare this one to other HappyCTF levels, this one is average.

H A P P Y H E L L C T F

3rd HappyCTF level – Happy Hell CTF. This is a pretty small level using Inferno Night, and IMO it uses this tileset very well.

The thing that doesn’t fit really well it’s the music – the choice is pretty strange (especially when you see giant skulls lying on the ground ;P). I would rather hear this one in a beach level, but never mind, it doesn’t sting as much as it would when you would hear childish music in Windstorm Fortress or Odyssey.

The eyecandy is good. Nothing really hyper, but the background is interesting. The fog ‘rays’ you would normally see in on the foreground or background on the bottom of the level are zooming through the background layers 7 and 6. One of the rays also floats in the foreground. I only found ONE tilebug and when you run around you don’t really notice it.

You can run around the level and nothing will really block you. The ammo placement is also sweet: not too much ammo, but you don’t run outta it too fast. The bases are placed nicely. The blue base’s platform doesn’t have any dropdown routes, but it doesn’t hurt.

O V E R A L L – This level is pretty nice.

H A P P Y C A N Y O N C T F

The 4th level of HappyCTF is Happy Canyon CTF, also called TIBASL. It is a rather large semi-symmetrical level that uses Labrat 1. The tileset use is sweet.

The music fits well. If this level was more lab-stylized, it rather would end up bleh.

The eyecandy is nice too. What I really liked was layer 8. Well. It looks nice. The looks of the bridge are also nice.

Now for the gameplay. If it wasn’t for the semi-symmetricalness, this level would be pretty boring. The vertical routes to and from the bases are different. Now this is where Happy Canyon gets really fun. There are trigger crates placed in the teams’ vertical shafts. Destroying these crates will affect the bridge and also grant access to the very bottom of the level. For the normal gameplay aspects, you can hop around this level and nothing will block you too. Ammo placement is good.

O V E R A L L – Interesting and fun to play. IMO one of the best levels in the pack.

H A P P Y C A S T L E C T F

Now for the 5th level, Happy Castle (or J.A.I.L). I’m not sure it’s really happy, especially if you have gargoyles floating around that stare at you like >:(. Haha. Anyway, this uses Medivo 2. It’s not very big if you look horizontally, but it is 89 tiles high.

Let’s move on to the music department. It doesn’t fit the name really (‘Happy’ and ‘Jazz Belmont (haunted.it)’? omg), but it does fit the theme.

Eyecandy’s fun. Layer 7 has the gargoyle I mentioned before. The first time I played HCCTF I got as scared as the first time I looked up in Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. But this is not a moon. Layer 6 is used nicely. It has speed a bit lower than 1, so it looks like it is not that far

away from the sprite layer. Also, other fun tidbits include: the muscley gargoyle with a flag-made cape and ghastly lights on inside-the-castle wall tiles. Didn’t see any tilebugs. Inside-the-castle wall tiles are a bit repetitive but not annoying.

Gameplay. Flows very nicely, base placement good, ammo placement good. Won’t write too much – it’s good.

O V E R A L L – Jail, uhm, Happy Castle CTF is another nice level.

H A P P Y S E M I C O N D U C T O R C T F

The 6th level in the pack, and for me also THE level… The great Happy Semiconductor CTF.

The name is kind of long, so I’ll just call it Semi for now. Also, I’ll note that it is not too small, not too big. Also, this uses Tubelectric.

Now let’s see how the music fits. And? Sweet! For a normal ‘radiostation music world’ level it wouldn’t fit but here it fits really nice! Also, not only it fits nice, Darkhalo is also a great artist, so the music has quality.

Let’s look what we have here if it comes to the eyecandy. Also really sweet. We have two layers of faraway pipes and a sprite supporting background layer 5, but it isn’t used that much, only about 10 tiles are placed there. Foreground is superb! Semi has lots of stuff that look sweet on the foreground, like a pipe-made ‘Stripe’ word (the author, duh ;P) or a yellow-block ‘cage’ that is the home to the RF weapon powerup. Semi’s eyecandy is great.

GAMEPLAAAAAY! Sweet – 3 PUs, superb base and ammo placement, and I <3 the flow. Example of splendid gameplay.

O V E R A L L – For me, this is THE level. For you, dear reader of the review, it may be not, but it surely is the best level in the pack and one of the greatest levels ever.

HappyCTF is one of the greatest level packs ever made, and IMO it is the best one ever. A big fat 10 from me.

~Eigus

This level is very small, but you really need to play it. It’s good for duels or 2v2s, cause well, it’s small. However it’s also fun when there are many players, ‘cause that’s where the craziness starts. It also looks pretty nice. And I like that start-get a PU system. Also the music gives the feel of a fierce battle, so +0.2 for it.

~Eigus

Rating: 8.0 + music bonus (0.2) = 8.2
DR: Yes (yes, yes, yes!)

P.S. Brd, if you want it crazier, add some Freezer powerups. It would be neat, heh heh…