Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This is a simple, classic Jazz 2 level using a modified Diamondus tileset. Everything about it is quite good. The level layout is excellent (and open, which is welcomed these days), and ammo placement is expert and well-considered. Everything in the level “clicks.” The only problem that keeps me from giving this level a higher rating is that it is somewhat indistinguished. Besides from the colour modifications in the tileset, which are quite attractive, it’s a standard oldschool Diamondus level. A little more creativity would be welcomed, and there is a sense that it’s all been done before. However, it’s done extremely well. My sole complaint is the slowness with which carrots respawn. An open level lends itself well to play with many people, and the slow respawn time damages this potential. Overall, though, that’s just one qualm; it’s quite good.

This is a classic case of a fundamentally good level tinkered with until it just doesn’t quite “work.” That isn’t to say that it is a bad level. However, the eyecandy is way overdone — everything feels busy, unrealistic, and synthetic. The flying spaceships were unnecessary, and while there are some cool features (the bouncing spring power-up), all of it is overshadowed by the level’s overall crowdedness. Gameplay fares better; overall, it’s fluid, if not a little clausterphobic. Ammo placement is well-executed. There are a few bugs involving layer 3 and the flagholder (insufifcient coverage), but it’s still well-made — perhaps a little too made, though.

This tileset looks like some odd dystopian combination of “Blasteria” and “Metal Mania.” Not that this is a bad thing at all.

The demo level sets the mood: You start by a lone blinking streetlight in the middle of an odd alien landscape with strange, green nebulai behind you. A moon – a few of them, in fact – can be viewed in the distance. It’s pretty, yet weird at the same time – perfect for a space-themed tileset.

What helps this tileset avoi falling into the realm of space tileset mediocrity like so many others do is the combination of “spaceyness” and the Disguise-like gradient use that strongly reminds me of another excellent weird tileset, “Metal Mania,” as I previously mentioned.

I have a few gripes with this tileset. Like with “Blasteria,” the other tileset that this reminds me of, the tiles seem to vary from quite realistic to near cartoony. This ends up conflicting a bit, and reducing the quality of the tileset. Case in point: the Star Trek-y “beam me up, Scotty” things that look like they would be used for warps but aren’t in the demo levels. They glow red through little holes in the top and bottom (there are two parts, one coming out from the ceiling and the other from the floor.) Compared to the background, this just does not look totally right. However, unlike in “Blasteria,” the cartoonyness is less polarized, making this a significantly more minor gripe than for that tileset.

The other annoyance is the foreground eyecandy. I have always been a proponent of foreground minimalism, and the blocks sort of look weird anyway. However, it is optional whether to use these or not, and I’d recommend against it personally, but it is again a choice.

Masking could use some work, especially in areas where you can get in between two diagonal blocks, which just is asking for trouble. Other than that, though, this is an excellent weird space-themed tileset that is sufficiently original as to not fall into “Mez01”-like cliche.

Caveat emptor: I’ve never been a very good reviewer of Jazz 1 conversions, mostly because I’ve failed to be a good little Jazz Jackrabbit fan and actually bother to get and play the game. Unfair as it may be, the following review is entirely based on its merits as a Jazz 2 tileset, not how well converted it was. Although, really, this is a moot point: a rushed Violet conversion is still an excellent conversion.

As JJ1 tilesets go, “Pezrox” was among the weirdest. It’s literally, as suggested, seemingly made of the chalky American Pez candy. However, there are also many odd-colored yellow and green bricks that contrast with the level as a whole. This isn’t a bad thing at all, and actually comes off looking much better than it does when I describe it here.

As for the tileset itself, there is no possible easy way to describe it. It’s some odd world with a lava background and bricks. I can’t imagine what theoretical situation this would follow, so let’s just file it in the “mystical lands” area. In any case, considering the monotonousness of previous JJ1 conversions which lacked sufficient eyecandy to make anything more than a decent-looking utilitarian level (cough, Security Breach, cough), Pezrox has enough colors and trinkets to keep even the biggest eyecandy-obsessive interested. All of the eyecandy looks in the tileset as if it would clash awfully, but you quickly see (as in the excellent demo level) that this is not at all the truth.

I am somewhat concerned about the masking. If you look in JCS, it appears to be fairly easy to get stuck if one tries. However, in play, I never got stuck accidentally. The diagonal tiles also appeared to have jaggies that were rounded off into wave shapes. This is not a major complaint, but if you really pay attention while playing the demo level, you can tell this is the case. Still, there is obviously not much that can be done about this.

This tileset lends itself well to both single player and multiplayer ventures, although it has all the little “cool items” that are required to make an excellent single player level and that should be taken advantage (although it lacks spikes, there is some sort of metallic wheel that could be used instead.)

I hate – hate – to give another 8+ rating to a JJ1 conversion, but they just need to stop being excellent like this one is. Another disappointingly excellent conversion from Violet, and another disappointingly – um – existent – download recommendation.

“boxes”: The name does not scream originality. However, then again, it did not scream “retro tileset endeavor,” which is exactly what this tileset is. It is also slightly underrated. However, it all comes down to one point: This tileset is so totally 1999, and that is so totally not a good thing.

What we have here is a primarily orange-red tileset consisting of, as advertised, quite a number of boxular objects. Here we have all the standard blocks for a hotel level circa Summer ’99: random bricks that seem to lack any potential use, letter blocks, and a few novelty items (large blocks containing Pez and Pepsi logos.) Everything is compiled together somewhat haphazardly, with an automask applied (although, honestly, in a blocks tileset, that isn’t all that surprising nor bad.)

Could a level be made out of this tileset? Theoretically, which is definitely a bonus. It would look ugly, and play badly, but it would still work. There are no major masking errors here, either, which is certainly something, although considering the easiness to mask squares it can’t count for too much. The crate tiles at the beginning of the tileset may look like they could become a clever animation, but beware: For whatever reason, it is just the same tile repeated over and over again.

This is not a tileset completely lacking in effort or talent. Rather, it is a tileset that harkens back to the days when small clan levels were made using tilesets that didn’t use PSP gradients. It was the days when Paint was acceptable as a tileset maker.

It’s much harder for the average computer user to create a tileset than it is a level, and there is effort here. Unfortunately, it translates into something that may provoke nostolgia, but won’t provoke much use.

**** (out of 5)

I think this level is underrated, and that is from someone who is rating the level lower than he believes others should be rating it. That is, I am rating a level higher than the average, which I believe should be higher, even though I will not rate it as high as the average should be, because I underrate. Got it?

In any case, this is a very nice level. I am going to be brief in my review. The eyecandy is top-notch, and the flow is excellent – easy to navigate, but not easy to the point where the level is pointless. Despite what Blacky says himself, which is that this level sucks, I like it quite a lot and believe it deserves the amount of hosting it gets, which is quite significant.

This level is somewhat limited by itself, though, in that the level’s concept is not unique enough to earn a rating higher than 8.2 (8.5 I reserve for creative levels; 8.7 for really awesome and creative levels; 9.0 for levels of near perfection, but it is higher for a single level to get a rating higher than that.) Still, it’s one of the better CTF levels of this year and definitely worth the download recommendation.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Captain Cook comes from a long line of variously successful programs that attempt to do what is impossible in many cases: Organize the Jazz 2 miscellanea accumulated by a veteran of the game over several years of play. The specific method here is to have an external program used instead of Jazz 2’s built-in home cooked levels program, which is limited to 255 levels and thus useless beyond a few months of play.

TK’s program is probably the best thing that any Jazz 2 hyper-organizer/packrat has in their arsenel at this point, yet I cannot say it lives up to the hype Blackraptor’s review gives it. When I originally loaded it, straight from my Jazz 2 folder (which is located in the default installation directory of C:\Gamse\Jazz2,) it gave me a level not found error and an empty box. After pointing it directly to the location through options, it gave me an error saying a random .j2l file could not be located but loaded the list anyway. The Jazz 2 folder setting program forces you to chose the location of jazz2.exe, and did not work for me. All of these errors were avoidable, and frankly confusing. This has not been mentioned yet, which leads me to suspect that I may be the only one suffering from this. However, with the latest Visual Basic runtime files, a default Jazz2 directory, and Windows XP SP2 RC2, I can’t see what variable would do that.

The program works as it should other than the errors, providing a quick launcher for levels. You can set what character you want to be and what difficulty, but little else than that. Perhaps it would have been nice to see more features, but I cannot expect much more than this and honestly do not know what could be added.

The layout is standard and utilitarian. There are no fancy graphics or even a splash screen (the latter item is not only forgivable, but commendable.) There is not even a Help>About-like window or copyright of any sort. Despite a number of temporary hangs or crashes, Captain Cook is a good program that needs to have a few bumps worked out, but certainly is the most promising new program release of late.

Cat Maze
Despite the claim in the level that the gameplay concept was by Pyromanus (editor’s note: this is the trigger concept), I had difficulties figuring out what was novel with this level. It seems to be a fairly standard, although high-quality race work. The various mazes in this level have all been seen before. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there just ain’t much creativity in this level I’m sad to say. The level starts in a cave-like structure, as many levels with this tileset do (Blacky has previously used this tileset in a battle level.) It goes on through a somewhat predictable repertoire of Psych level clichés. In-between, there are many different sorts of obstacles, but none of them unique. Gameplay is good, although there are a few bugs (such as at the end of the spike area) in the masks that make movement more difficult than it should be. Still, it’s just more of the same race stuff.
PROS: Gameplay is solid.
CONS: A few bugs make movement difficult, and there isn’t any innovation.
RATING: 7.2

As usual with a Blackraptor level, eyecandy is excellent. In this case, I was somewhat disappointed though that there is also not much in the way of innovation here. The tileset used is not exactly the most flexible in the world, but there are a number of ways in which tiles could have been used that they simply weren’t. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the eyecandy here, but I just don’t find it interesting enough to warrant a higher rating than this.
PROS: No tile bugs or anything of the sort.
CONS: At least tile bugs would have been more exciting.
RATING: 7.2

Race levels have traditionally been one of the more enjoyable gametypes. They allow for silly puzzles and don’t conform to the strict standards of gameplay that constrict other gametypes. In this case, however, I feel as if this potential wasn’t used to its fullest. Although the level is fun enough, the puzzles are occasionally more like obstacles than games. They are also not new, and not even done in an interesting way. The entire thing is about as different asDiet Pepsi – it isn’t even Diet Pepsi with Lemon.
PROS: As with all race levels, it is fun to play.
CONS: Not as fun as I expected.
RATING: 7.0

To summarize this level in one word, it is solid. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much: It is little more than solid. There is nothing new about the concept or the execution. However, as negative as this may sound, the level in question is still quite good. Not a breakthrough, but certainly a welcome addition to a gametype that could use a boost these days.
PROS: Fun, well done, and solid.
CONS: Nothing new.
RATING: 7.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: Not different enough to highly recommend to those who don’t like race.

GAMEPLAY: B+
Flow: B+
Layout: A -
Creativity: C+
Bugs: A -

EYECANDY: A -
Tileset use: A -
Eyecandy Look: A -
Creativity: B
Bugs: A

~ Traft

some race level
This level has a bell curve of quality, so to speak. At the beginning, there is an annoying wind/block maze. Hitting the edges of the blocks is a jarring experience that, despite all of my playing, I have never gained an immunity against. The middle section is the best by far. The entire thing feels smooth and works well. At the end, things begin to deteriorate slightly again – not as bad as in the beginning, but still it’s a falling down in quality. Gameplay in this level is interesting and definitely more creative than the last. However, it is still nothing all that new.
PROS: Solid and interesting gameplay, especially toward the middle of the level.
CONS: The beginning and the end aren’t so hot, and there’s still nothing that new here.
RATING: 7.5

The Diamondus modification used here is fine enough, but it’s still Diamondus. The backgrounds, such as in the annoying block part of the level, are interesting, but still this does not make up for the fact that we’re talking Diamondus here. The tileset is used well here, and this is probably the best one can expect from Diamondus. Because of this, I am upping the rating to a 7.2, which is very nice of me considering…well…if I say Diamondus again, someone will kill me.
PROS: Outstanding eyecandy considering the tileset that has been used.
CONS: It’s still that tileset.
RATING: 7.2

This is definitely improved over the last level. The more I play it, in fact, the more the first part does not bother me as much. It still could use some editing, but it is a decent puzzle. I feel that those who play this level probably will like it, and it does grow on you. As replay is important in a race level, especially a circuiting one where nothing changes from circuit to circuit, this is a plus.
PROS: Enjoyable, and it grows on you.
CONS: Nothing dramatically creative.
RATING: 7.5

Although the start (and to a lesser extent, the end) of this level could take some improvement, it is overall well done. This is more what I expect from a talented level maker like Blackraptor, although I paradoxically consider this level more flawed than the previous one. It takes some chances, and fails in a few of those. However, the chances make it more worth it, and despite the fallout from the bad ones, this level’s rating is higher than the last. Imagine that!
PROS: An enjoyable play and more creative than the last.
CONS: I would prefer different play each circuit like in some of the greatest race levels, and perhaps some more creativity would be nice, but I suppose I’m being a tad picky.
RATING: 7.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: At first it may seem vexing, but the level becomes better as you keep playing it. Overall a good level, although those new to race might want to concentrate on a better-flowing level.

GAMEPLAY: B+
Flow: B
Layout: A -
Creativity: B+
Bugs: B+

EYECANDY: A -
Tileset use: A+
Eyecandy Look: B
Creativity: B+
Bugs: A -

OVERALL PACK RATING: 7.2

~ Traft

[Annoying/broken HTML removed. ~cooba]

“Good level” is pushing the envelope here, unfortunately. I simply do not like this level. For a first level, it is not bad, but you seriously need to spend much more time on your levels and the testing of them if you want to get any rating above this one.

“Capture the Sun” is a simple Capture the Flag level using mirrow’s “McKinley” tileset. It is rather useless that it uses a custom tileset at all, as it makes little use of it. The ground is the only thing here. It is the standard reddish-orange “McKinley” ground without any eyecandy. In fact, this level entirely lacks any eyecandy whatsoever. This is not acceptable; any level with good time spent on it should at least make an attempt with eyecandy inclusion.

The gameplay is just as utilitiarian as the eyecandy is. The player runs back from one end of the level to the other with the flag. Although they do have to use the springs this level provides, the path from one end of the level to the other is simplistic to the point where there is no use in strategizing. There is only one possible useful path to take.

The ammo in this level is limited to a few basic seeker weapons near the bases. These provide a small increase in play quality, but not enough for anyone to possibly notice. Simply put, this level is not good enough to go in deep about uses for the weapons within it.

This level would be less distressing if it was not so obvious that there was little effort put into it. This is the sort of level that can easily be created in five minutes. I’d rather see, and perhaps give higher ratings for, attempts at eyecandy, even if they hurt the level. Part of what I look for is some sign of effort from the level maker to demonstrate that they can, in fact, use JCS in a competent manner. It is not that I doubt that the author here is capable of it, but rather that there is no sign that the author wants me to know that he is.

This level needs to be bigger, much bigger, and better, also. It is a good starting attempt, but you need to work, work, work in order to make truly good levels. I don’t mean to insult you as a level maker or anything; it’s good that this is obviously not your best effort. Just keep at it and spend more time with JCS before making a level (and spend more time at that, too) and you should see a better rating. Even then, it probably won’t be perfect (it will take time), but at least it will show effort and be a commendable try. The best progress can only be made through toil.

FINAL RATING: 1.9 (2.0)

I do not have much time, so I’m afraid this will have to be a fairly brief review.

What we have here is a fairly standard Games Factory shoot ‘em up game, which doesn’t even have a changed title bar header. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to make a decently fun game with this program, but this is certainly not the one. Everything about this game, sadly, screams “meidocre.” Despite the somewhat odd claims in the author’s description which I will not contest beyond saying that they represent some inaccuracies (even though the author could obviously beat me; inanimate objects can beat me), I really did want to like this game.

The game puts you on some unknown island-lair thing where you simply run around blowing up turtles with your gun. Each reload of the gun supplies 100 bullets.

The problem here is not conserving ammo but avoiding getting hit. It is a good thing that there are so many enemies, because they are as dumb as dirt. Instead of programming a capable AI, the author instead elected to simply create many of them. And by many, I mean too many. At times in the game, there are few enough enemies to make it easy. However, at other points, enemies are generated so quickly, it is impossible to fend them all off.

You can shoot the bases that they generate from, but that is pretty useless. There still will be too many. Putting a cap on the number around twenty would have been nice. Unfortunately, I was able to get more than fifty at a time.

One of the other gripes I have with this game is that you can never easily tell when an enemy is attacking. It is common that you can simply pass a turtle enemy and it will just completely ignore you. However, sometimes, it will attack you. Being attacked is instant death in this game.

Another gripe is the storyline. The “Xan” character is never fully explained, and one must wonder why anyone named “Xan” would name their child “Devan.” You’d expect that Devan’s father would be named Frank or something. However, the lack of character development is a more important manner than naming. There is no real reason that the turtles want to enslave the rabbits or any contraption they are making. It seems they are simply being bloodthirsty. Possible, I guess, but if everything was good if it was possible, we’d have sitcoms about actuaries.

The storyline section also features a good number of grammatical errors and repeats itself a number of times. The general idea of this game seems to involve an excess amount of blood, which seems weird in a Jazz game.

The music is bothersome, as well. The weird MIDI Nirvana intro music seems more suited for a B-grade mafioso movie than a game about rabbits. The rest of the music is fairly obnoxious and highly generic rock-metal. I’d rather have quieter, more game-y music in my games.

So, what can be do to improve this? I’m afraid I doubt you’ll see very high of a rating with this program. The graphics are decent, but the storyline really needs work. Tone down the enemies, and add more puzzles, and that should do away with some of the monotony of the game. It is a commendable effort, but it just doesn’t gel.

FINAL RATING: 3.9 (4.0)

Reply to author: The warp machines cannot all be destroyed at once. Even if they could be, they still produce too many enemies and this game is too reliant on action and not on strategy.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

First of all, I’m saddened you forgot to list me as a beta tester. >”“|. Now the review.

Gameplay in this level reminds me somewhat of EvilMike’s platform-hopping “SPACE LEVEL WITH ISLANDS.” Not only are the tilesets sort of both industrial-looking, but this level features lava towards the bottom and you must step accross stones to get to the other side. It is more easy than in EvilMike’s level, but this is the quickest way of getting accross and it is annoying to get seekered into it. This is, however, a good thing. It gives this level a nice dose of originality that it needs very much. The score would be a deal lower if it was not for this part of the level. There are a few other interesting points. It is the sort of level that obviously had a good deal of work put into understanding where players are going. While it does not make it very easy for the player to go through the level and the flow is not perfect, this is not necessarily a bad thing. “Perfect” flow would consist of the level making the user capture the flag themself. That wouldn’t make any sense. Rather, this level does a good job of balancing ability to move with the necessary obstructions to making the level interesting. You have to be careful on the lava, but otherwise the rest of the level is pretty fool-proof. It’s well done.
PROS: Well done. The lava, while not massively original, is still good.
CONS: There are not many routes between the flag bases. One extra one would be nice and add more dimension to the level, although it also might ruin it. That’s levelmaking for you.
RATING: 8.5

There is nothing absolutely great about the eyecandy in this level. In fact, I was tempted to give it 7.7 if it were not that the lava at the bottom provides a good distraction from the rest of the level. It may be that I have seen far too many “Seventh Lava Fall” levels, but nonetheless I am beginning to find the eyecandy in most levels using this tileset a bit tedious. While this level does use the tileset strongly and has no easily visible tile bugs (I thought a quick sweep would be sufficient in this case), the top of the level simply is not that interesting. It’s standard 7thLF fare, with industrial bricks. Supposedly, the entire thing is supposed to look like a factory, but I don’t buy that. It is better suited to be a postapocolyptic industrial area abandoned than a factory. I cannot imagine that anything could be made here. Which brings me to another point. Why is it that there is not much creativity with 7thLF levels? There are plenty of things, like boxes, that could be used to make a decent-looking factory. I once made a test level simply to show that this could easily be done, and if I could do it, anyone could. Think conveyer belts. It’s sort of fun to watch. Still, this level offers good eyecandy, especially considering the tileset.
PROS: The lava looks nice. The lack of any questionable tiles is also commendable.
CONS: The top part of this level is not reall ythat exciting.
RATING: 8.0

This level takes a fairly untraditional approach to distribution of powerups. All of the powerups in this level are in the wall and are only accessable using the electroblaster gun. Because of the fact that they take time to get, much of the game will usually revolve around the use of basic ammo. In CTF, this is not a bad idea, and this level is just big enough to pull it off. Had it been any smaller, it would be difficult to kill the opponent before they reached base. In this level, the lava provides a challenge of crossing and also forces the player to slow down and gives opportunity to kill an opponent. The placement of the basic ammo is also quite good. It is spread out in a fairly random manner, which does good for this level. There are no cheesy patterns that hurt the eyecandy.
PROS: Ammo, both basic form and powerup, is just sparce enough to make things interesting.
CONS: Some may consider it a bit too sparce, but I do not.
RATING: 8.0

Originality is one of those categories in my reviews which sort of spill over into other categories, which is why I have no specific section for it. Much of originality ends up in this category, “fun factor.” In this case, this level is not exactly original, per se. Rather, it melds elements of other previous levels while still changing them enough that it keeps it fresh and exciting. The lava is similar to that seen in “SPACE LEVEL WITH ISLANDS” by EvilMike. The base-in-a-sucker-tube has been done plenty of times. And, of course, having powerups in the wall is not a novel concept. However, Blackraptor manages to put these all together in a way that neither feels stale, nor feels stolen. The level is fun, although not so amazingly new that it is that fun. However, a CTF level like this does not necessarily need to be fun, just good, and that is definitely what this is.
PROS: Enjoyable to play.
CONS: Not groundbreaking or anything.
RATING: 8.2

This level is a good CTF level with a twist. While it is nothing extremely new or anything, it nonetheless is enjoyable to play and probably will see a nice bit of hosting. Despite the eyecandy on the top of the level not being fabulous, it still remains that this is a far above average level worth playing. It is not a classic, but is not meant to be. It is aiming to be a fun Capture the Flag level that has some original elements, and it hits this mark exceptionally. This level is definitely worth a download and several plays and would make a welcome addition in any idle Capture the Flag server’s pack.
PROS: A very good level. The lava is fun. Fairly original.
CONS: The eyecandy on the top of the level could have been a bit more interesting.
RATING: 8.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: Everyone will probably like this level, although CTF freaks will especially love it.

GAMEPLAY: A
Flow: A-
Layout: A
Creativity: A
Bugs: A

EYECANDY: A -
Tileset use: A -
Eyecandy Look: A -
Creativity: A -
Bugs: A

PLACEMENT: A -
Weapons: A
Carrots: B+

~ Traft
[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

This is an interesting level. Interesting in the way that it continues digging its own grave even after it is painfully obvious that it has been dug far enough that it will not be able to get out of it. The more I played this level, the more I disliked it. The entire effort (not the author, mind you, but text in the level) seems aloof and self-important. Additionally, there are some seriously bad ideas here. The two most notable ones are a crate that causes flag bug. And this is not just an unintentional bug. The author allows anyone in the server to enable flag bug. Of course, someone curious will quickly stomp the crate, or perhaps on accident, and flag bug will be caused. I cannot tell you how bad of an idea this is. The second is perhaps entertaining to some extent. The level requests that you register it before playing it; hosting it, according to the sign, is unauthorized unless you register. Fortunately, it appears that registration costs nothing. However, you should simply save yourself the trouble; the author fails to make a sign that legally informs the user that the work is under copyright per penalty of law, thus voiding any legal claims the author may have against miscreant hosters. I suggest that, if you create a level like this, you not force registration; this simply will be laughed at, even in great levels. And this level is far from great. On a completely unrelated note, this is the first time I will be using my new review image things. I hope you like them. Or something.

Joy, oh, joy. This reminds me strongly of the levels of 1999. It is basically made completely without thought towards game mechanics with a few “neat-o” things thrown in that honestly have not been neat for years. Simply put, you see the entire gist of the gameplay the first time you play this level. There are two bases on top of eachother. Fortunately, the author does not make it so easy as to just be able to go between bases, but might as well. This level is small, which is not always a problem, but the size of this level is handled poorly. The balance is questionable. The two bases are accessed on different sides in a large room, which is the only other part of the level other than the bases. That large room has a warp to the blue base on the left side (near the bases) and to the red on the right (far from them). This causes a number of balance problems, which are obvious when you consider this. Players simply run around in this fairly standard issue level. The bases are only accessable via one warp, causing an easy warp kill.
PROS: The level runs and does not feature any traps of any sort.
CONS: Poor layout and gameplay that obviously was an afterthought more than the focus.
RATING: 4.5

When I first looked at the other reviewer’s ratings, I was somewhat confused. At that point, I had decided that I would probably give it somewhere in the low 4’s. Then I realized I was playing with Low Detail turned on. With it off, I was greeted with what may be one of the most annoying backgrounds ever conceived outside of a CLIFFYB level (the fake CliffyB levels, not the real ones.) Not only does the back of the level feature binary 1’s and 0’s, but they are animated. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this background is entirely animated. The headache-inducing display is enough to make anyone want to give this level a 1.0. However, I will restrain from doing so. It is obvious that the author put some effort in here. There is an MCE, which naturally is the very ugly multicolored swinging carpet thing, and another MCE of a nonfunctional rope that does absolutely nothing and is easy to miss unless you are actually looking for it. Beyond that, the eyecandy is a standard poor use of “Blocks of Sprite” by Violet CLM (who should have been credited – just putting “dunno” is kind of inappropriate.) The background behind the 1’s and 0’s is not bad, but it is hard to get past them.
PROS: The eyecandy beyond the 1’s and 0’s could have been worse.
CONS: The binary blasphemy is aggrevating to the nth extent.
RATING: 2.7

The first thing I look for in a CTF level is at least one carrot, especially in this one. After all, as previously mentioned, it is not hard at all to accidentally warp into someone’s seeker fire and this tends to make it impossible to enter some areas. Naturally, the level continues to shoot itself in the foot. There are no carrots – not even a single-healing one. Ammo does not fare much better. There is seeker ammo, which is probably the most likely to be used. There is also TNT ammo, which is accompanied by a sign reading “Who says that TNT is useless in Party Mode?!! :-P”. No one said it was useless. However, it is pointless. There are also two electroblaster powerups which can only be reached using an electroblaster, which naturally can only be found in form of the powerups. Whether an attempt at irony or simply a mistake, this is not good.
PROS: There is seeker ammo.
CONS: TNT ammo is not worth putting into a multiplayer level, especially considering that it can mess up the host. The only powerups in the level are not usable, and wouldn’t be worth using even if they were.
RATING: 3.0

There is very little “fun” about this level. The care-free whimiscalness that it probably doesn’t posess anyway are sort of squashed by the signs threatening legal action if someone hosts this without registering it first. Uh-huh. The only people persuing legal action should be those forced to play this level. Not that it matters: The sign contained within fails to state in proper legalese the definition of “prohibited.” Besides, one could just claim that they never saw the sign. There are also a number of inappropriate obscenties in the level which I will not direct people to. Please refrain from uploading levels that contain obscenties such as these in the future. As you can tell from the other ratings, there is nothing fun about this level. You could trigger the CTF flag bug, but why would you? It’ll probably be done on accident anyway. Not fun at all.
PROS: Very few.
CONS: Just plain not fun.
RATING: 3.0

Before seeing the background, I would have given this a higher rating. However, I am glad that I rechecked the level, as I also saw a number of other problems mentioned above in addition to the old ones the second time around. All of these problems and inadequacies add up to what is in general a poor level which it is doubtful that anyone will host. And, of course, the fake legalese makes this level seem somewhat aloof, and acts as if it is more than it actually is. Whether or not you restrict its play and force pointless sign-ups, it does not change the fact that no one will want to register this level – threatening them will do nothing for you. I suggest that in the future you try much harder, and focus on levelmaking instead of fake legal restrictions.
PROS: Very few, if any.
CONS: Annoying background, useless registration…the list goes on.
RATING: 3.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: No. Just no.

GAMEPLAY: D -
Flow: D
Layout: D
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -

EYECANDY: D -
Tileset use: D
Eyecandy Look: F
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -

PLACEMENT: D -
Weapons: D -
Carrots: N/A

~ Traft[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

There is just something about this tileset that bothers me to the very core of my existence. Call me a cynic, but for some reason – probably because it is – this tileset feels like much of it was put together from different tilesets. Usually, when someone does this, it turns out looking very poor and being completely unusable. This is not the case, although it does really make this tileset a lot worse than it could have been. Oh well; here we go.

THEME: The theme of this tileset is…uh….to be one hundred percent honest, I have no idea what the theme it. It appears to be ground. With waterfalls. This is a genre that is way too old. The ground, in fact, looks like it is from many tilesets from 1999. There is not much creativy contained within the tileset. It features the standard, minimal features for a tileset such as this: Ground, mountains, a waterfall or two, and grass. Yawn.
Pros: It is not a space tileset.
Cons: It is a nature tileset.
Rating: 2.0

GRAPHICS: To put it bluntly, the graphics here are dismal. As I previously mentioned, the ground looks like something made in Paint in 1999. It has little jaggies which you would never find in actual dirt, and is pretty much the standard brown “ick” color with the same pattern repeated over and over again. When going down a hill, one notices that there are little bumps in the hill. This could have been made to look good, but instead simply looks like a lazy alignment problem. There is an alternative ground color, slightly darker, which is not much better and is even more depressing. The rocks look surprisingly good, although not very realistic. The grass reminds me of Hotel Heroes tilesets, which is arguably a good or bad thing. However, it just does not fit in with the ground. The vine looks okay, although its color suggests that it may have been made out of Wheat Thins. The hook looks more like a noose than a hook. The text sign is okay, although it is a bit too resemblant of a pillow speared onto a fence post. There is also a mushroom, seemingly stolen out of Commander Keen, that sort of fits in, yet at the same time looks too bright for the level. It is a decent addition, though, considering. The other mushrooms, which look like spades from a card game, are too dark to be noticed very easily against their background. A standard crystal-like waterfall from (insert 8-bit game here) and some various pictures of players and players’ names round off the rest, with a few okay-looking mountains thrown in for good measure and layer seven use. The whitesmoke-colored lumps are probably intended to be clouds. If they are intended to be anything but whitesmoke-colored lumps, though, they don’t do the job very well. Come to think of it, the ground looks out of a Hotel Heroes tileset, as well. Overall, disappointing.
Pros: Nothing looks hideous…
Cons: …except for the clouds and the ground.
Rating: 4.5

INVENTORY: I’ve never been very good with finding things, nor remembering things that should be included in something. However, for the most part, it appears that everything is here. There are vines, hooks, and the like. There is also fire, disappointingly the default sort. Rarer items like sucker tubes appear to be completely missing from this tileset, while the more common sucker tubes also seem not to be here. In this sort of tileset, there is no excuse for missing sucker tubes, as just having the sucking effect out in the open looks bad.
Pros: Most things are here.
Cons: Sucker tubes are missing, as are most things considered extra.
Rating: 5.2

ORIGINALITY: No. There is little to say here other than “no.” This tileset frankly lacks any originality whatsoever. It is just like nearly every single earth-themed tileset before it, and does not do a very good job, either. There are a few interesting inclusions, such as the mushroom, but everything else is too standard to be regarded as anything of notable originality. And even the mushrooms – although not those mushrooms specifically – are fairly common in tilesets like this.
Pros: None.
Cons: No originality to speak of.
Rating: 2.7

EASE OF USE: This is one category in which this tileset excels. To put it simply, there are few easier to use tilesets than this, mainly because it does not take any risks at all. There are a few places in which the use of another layer are necessary in order to make the tileset look good, which does do damage to its score, but other than that, it is an easy tileset to use. Not that you would probably want to.
Pros: Really easy to use.
Cons: There are a few areas in which it could have been made more user-friendly.
Rating: 7.5

MASKING: So-so. All the little ridges and stuff are translated to the mask, as well, which probably should not have been done, since they are small enough to theoretically get stuck in. However, getting stuck was moderately difficult in testing, so I suppose they are not too small. Still, there is no point in having them. The masking on the hills worries me, mainly because it goes from fairly straight to way to steep. This is the sort of place where one could easily get stuck while running. The whole thing bothers me, but I think I’m just being paranoid. It more or less looks okay.
Pros: Not easy to get stuck.
Cons: Questionable masking proceedures that are more or less bad ideas; no reason to have them, despite them not doing much damage.
Rating: 6.0

OVERALL (not an average): I just cannot like this tileset, no matter how hard I try. I hate to be the person who rates so low, but unfortunately I just do not see in way in which this tileset could possibly deserve a score of eight. It looks below average, the mask is below average, and most everything about this tileset is generally subpar. There are not many bright spots, either. This tileset lacks creativity and feels more like a “hello world” than a release. What sort of level would benefit from this tileset’s use, I do not know. It is too generic to show effort, and seems to not want to go to any pains to develop an identity. So, it remains in the bins of sub-mediocrity.
Pros: Very few to note.
Cons: Lots of problems. Just plain not very attractive.
Rating: 4.7

SCORECARD
Bugs: C
Eyecandy: D+
Background Eyecandy: C+
Foreground Eyecandy: C -
Masking: C
Tile Variety: D
Tiles Included: C
Quality: C -
OVERALL: C -

Pros: Very few to note.
Cons: Lots of problems. Just plain not very attractive.

FINAL SCORE: 4.7

- Trafton

“Cracco Balloon Races 2” is basically the quintessential sequel. It is, all things considered, well-intentioned. There is nothing to suggest that this pack was excessively rushed, nor that little effort was put into it before release. However, there is just something missing from it, or rather a number of things, that makes it not add up to the sum of its parts. To be truly successful, a sequel must only improve on the original, but maintain a lot of creativity. This sequel to the original “Cracco Balloon Races” succeeds on a superficial level. It features good gameplay that is, all things considered, fun. And it does remain true to the premise of the original. However, the dedication is perhaps too obsessive. There is little more, different leveldesigns notwithstanding, that makes this sequel seem sequel-y. Rather, it is simply about equal in interest to the original. And, after the time the original has been out and played, that simply is not good enough. The starburst-esque claims made in this level’s description perhaps do more damage to it than anything. This is not a gala event of any sort. It is a race level, and by all accounts, an excellent one. However, it is touted as being much more complicated than it really is. Each level has its own name, when honestly they are simply different-looking ways of doing the same formula. Take this level at face value and ignore the pitches. It is quite fun in that case, especially for those who have not played the original.

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: This level is 980×40, making it effectively 80×5 larger than the original Balloon Races. For those who have not already quite guessed from the name of the level or the previous release how exactly this level works, it goes a bit something like this: you hop from balloon to balloon, avoiding various obstacles, trying to get to the other side of the level. Each level features a unique look and unique roadblocks (for the most part) that try to stop you from reaching your ultimate goal. The levels are oftentimes character-dependent, although some of them can work with both characters (for those who enjoy trying levels with characters that supposedly do not work for them: do not try very hard; this level’s labels are more or less accurate on which characters can and cannot traverse certain challenges). If the balloon part of Balloon Races sounds generally like a ploy, it is. There is no reason for which this level could not feature another sort of obstacle, something that, while playing, occured to me many times. As nice as it is to have a themed race level, it would be more interesting if there was more creativity involved than simply different ways to stop the player from getting to the other side over balloons. Gameplay quality depends on your personal preference and the “sublevel”. NOOB is basically the test level for the game, and features nothing more than a few sucker tubes blocking your way. Getting past it is hopefully easy. FAKETREES is sort of like NOOB, except harder and, instead of just balloons, it features trees. GHOSTS features yet another one of those annoying disappearing ground tests that relies on good timing and luck as much as game playing skill. FROSTY is simply a windy version of the earlier simplistic balloon levels. EVVIL is kind of the opposite of the previous levels, perhaps because of the extra “V”, and here you try to jump from ledge to ledge whilst avoiding the balloons. SPRINGTIME features springs which you must freeze to get through. OWNED is the sort of race level that I have been complaining about since the dawn of time and will continue to until the end of the Earth. There, you try to find the balloons that are actually balloons. This is the sort of level that bothers me, mostly because a significantly higher amount of luck is involved than skill, but also because it is monotonous. MINI is the novelty level, featuring much smaller ledges. HOVER is another really annoying luck-based level, where this time you simply navigate pitch-blackness to reach your goal. STUFF is a trigger zone-based level but otherwise pretty similar to earlier levels. MIX is apparently a mix of previous levels, with both freezies and bouncers to stop you from reaching the other side. OMGDASDADASADSADASDSA or whatever it is consists of a decent puzzle, which will either be a breath of fresh air or the most annoying thing ever, depending on your puzzle-related disposition. I had a strong sense of deja vu for much of this, as if I had played similar levels in the last pack. And, in fact, many of the levels were at least loosely based on the previous Balloon Races. I suppose creativity does have its bounds. The next complaint I have is the difficulty level. I am tired of levels simply throwing in a high level of difficulty and then insulting any player who complains about it. I may be a bad player, or a n00b, or whatever you want to call me, but test levels like these are simply too hard. While I think Foo Races is a bit on the easy side, this is nonetheless a very frustrating level. Players tend to give up quickly on the first few levels, which is not fun. This is less of a race than a “can you finish?” sort of level, which there are already far too many of. It is more fun to compete with other players than to idle with them because you cannot get past one of the levels.

PROS: Challenging and fairly creative, considering the limited options. Does not do a carbon-copy of previous levels.

CONS: A bit too much like the previous pack. Does not feel as fresh or new as the original. Unneededly hard.

RATING: 6.2

TILESET/TILESET USE: CraccoBoy’s use of his own tilesets and nothing else continues in full stride in “Balloon Races 2.” This time, the tileset in use is Cracco Party Casino (bad Elvis impersonators not included). It is more or less a good tileset, although the colors feel very fake to me (even considering that this is supposed to be a casino). The tileset is not supposed to be realistic, though. The colors have, however, improved since the original. Before, they appeared as unearthly hues that only a low-flying pilot could appreciate. Now, at least everything looks like it could reasonably be put in the same room and look like it fits. Not to say that it is completely streamlined and natural now, but at least it is improvement. The animation on the balloons is also a lot less jerky than in the previous version of this level, and while the level does suffer from the equivilant of visual verbosity, it at least maintains truth to a somewhat 8-bit casino atmosphere. The trees seem to float in the middle of nowhere (they are, after all, fake) and look suspiciously like balloons covered with leafs. The water in SPRINGTIME looks more like many blue shark’s fins, and there are many things that appear to just float magically, but it still looks realistic. Or at least more realistic than it theoretically could have looked. Oh, yes, except for the background, which is just horrible.

PROS: An improvement in realism over the original.

CONS: The colors are still just a bit too bright, the natural items just a bit too artificial-looking, and the scenery a bit too out-of-place.

RATING: 6.2

REPLAY/FUN FACTOR/ORIGINALITY: Ah, the saving grace of race levels. This is the category which is either life or death for race and puzzle levels such as this. Is it fun to play, or not? Isn’t that the entire point of a race level? In this case, this category is sort of a disappointment, but not a surprising one. Race level is not the title I would appoint to a level such as this, but that is what we have been asked to review it as. There is very little race involved here. It is hard to complete the final level, and this is mainly because the level intentionally makes it hard. It does, however, do a better job of balancing everything off than many other levels. It still, though, feels as if the difficulty of this level was added in simply so that many players could not finish it and so people would rate it higher just for being hard. This level is not any better for “highly skilled players” than it is for anyone else. Sure, they might be able to finish it more easily, but even for them, there is no fun in finishing if no one else can. There is a certain element to race that makes it more fun. The feeling that any moment, a player could come up from behind you and pass you. In this, you could theoretically take a nap on one of the higher levels and it is doubtful that many would pass you at all. The excitement simply is missing. This is like a game of chess without much thought put into it at all, and most players do not expect a game as long or difficult as chess from a race level. We want a fun, simplistic level. A fun level. And this simply tries too hard to be hard to be fun.

PROS: Challenging. This could be good for some. A decent replay, being a race level.

CONS: Repeat after me: hard does not mean good. Hard does not mean good.

RATING: 6.5

OVERALL (not an average): Aside from not quite being as new or creative than the first version, this level is much harder. While hard levels are getting high ratings lately, they are still being overrated. I would rather see a lot of creativity in a level than an artificially inflated challengingness. This level has its bright spots, and is by no means a bad level, but simply does not satisfy that wish for race levels that there will be another race level that will stop trying to be something bigger than it is. Race lovers have a simple view on playing. They do not care about the story behind a race level. They just care about going as fast as they can through a level. This level will find its fan base. It is not boring, but just not exciting enough. And, as many sequels before it, simply is too sequel-y. And way too self-important.

PROS: Challenging. Balloon racing is still enjoyable.

CONS: Slow and pointlessly hard to beat. Not much of a race level because of that. Ugly background.

RATING: 6.5

GAMEPLAY: B -
Flow: C+
Layout: B -
Creativity: B
Bugs: B+

EYECANDY: B
Tileset use: B
Eyecandy look: B -
Creativity: B
Bugs: B

THE FINAL GRADE: B -

THE FINAL RATING: 6.5

~ Traft

REVIEW EDIT IN RESPONSE TO CRACCOBOY’S COMMENTS: I suppose I may have been the most tad bit confused by the name of the level, which sort of suggests that this is, indeed, a race level; regardless, the level is presented as a race level. I still maintain, in fact, my original rating even if this was a test level. I was afraid that it would turn out to be a test level upon this review, so I was more generous with rating. The eyecandy and general lack of originality are enough to drag this down to something in the 6.5 to 6.7 range. I am going with the former due to the classification of this level as “Race” and the name. I do, however, understand your position. It does remain, however, that this level is stated to be a race in several locations. It is a decent test, and if it was uploaded as such, I would probably adjust my rating to 7.0-7.2. If it is, in fact, uploaded as such, contact me and I will do so, although I do not have enough time to provide a revised review in such of a case.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Levels like these are the ones that scare me. Not because they are inherently bad or anything, but because of the way that they are rated. Back in the good ol’ days, when I rated a lot (which has nothing to do with it), most reviewers would not give this a 7.5, not to mention a score of above 8. And, as much as I try to keep up with the times, I just cannot bring myself to adjust my rating to the new rating field. Therefore, this rating may seem a bit lower, but it is not because I have any personal vendetta against this level. It is just simply that I think it is heavily overrated.

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: While it is not quite as hard as any of the reviewers previous to this have made it out to be, I would still say that it is difficult. Unfortunately, this first category is where this level seems to fall apart in every way. The first thing that frustrated me is when I tested what exactly the lava pits did by falling into one. While it worked the second time and nearly every single time after that, the first time I went in, instead of dying, I was stuck in the place that is supposed to kill you using the CTF base method. I am not quite sure why this happened, but it was very annoying. On the subject of the difficulty of this level, I must also say that I think it is more difficult than Enigma does. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but in this case the level is, as opposed to doing a good job of applying puzzles and whatnot to make the difficulty enjoyable, forcing upon the player many odd ways to die. There is barely a single tile not covered with an enemy, and the lava pits are a bit too common. There is nothing wrong with a difficult level, but unfortunately in this case, the level is trying too hard to be difficult and the strain shows.

PROS: A challenging level, but not impossible. The use of automatic death is not new, but is not seen often.

CONS: The difficulty comes from fairly annoying limitations. If you fall into a lava pit, you have to basically start over.

RATING: 6.0

TILESET/TILESET USE: The first thing I noticed when the level started was the little scenery that occurs at the beginning. This was actually quite nice, and did look as if the character was blasting through a wall to get into the level. The next thing I noticed was the sign noting the tileset’s maker that disappeared. Unfortunately, the disappearing sign is replaced with blocks that do not look the same as the blocks that are behind the sign. This ends up appearing very cheesy and strangely done. The rest of the level had decent eyecandy, although nothing that went all that much beyond the typical Carrotus look. This is a spinoff of Carrotus that features a few more tiles and a different coloring type. Those with 56K connections will be annoyed by this, as really this level could be accomplished with the normal Carrotus tileset. However, even though it may be similar, just seeing something slightly different for once is sometimes enough to make a level enjoyable. There are not many eyecandy bugs, although there are a few questionable tile connections, and the lava sometimes looks a bit weird. However, the eyecandy in this level shows a decent technical composure and some creativity on top of that.

PROS: Nice to see something other than Carrotus 1/2. Not many tile bugs. Some creativity shown.

CONS: The use of a weird Carrotus spinoff wastes bandwidth in the opinions of some. Tile placement is sometimes questionable.

RATING: 6.7

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: This is another area in which this level runs into a few problems in the realm of gameplay. Weapon placement is okay, as is item placement in general, although it does lack save points where they would be nice. Enemy placement, though, is what really does damage to this score. Enemies are placed nearly every tile in which there is any space for them. The entire level consists mainly of platforms, giving the player a chance to fall into the afforementioned lava pools, leaving little room for placing baddies. Unfortunately, the level author decided that the only way to make this level harder was to put foes with such quantity. I would rather see puzzles, or at least some creative liscence inputted into making the level harder. A challenging level is good, but the ratio of walkable-to-enemy filled tiles is a bit high for my tastes.

PROS: Challenging.

CONS: Few save points. Too many enemies, and too little space.

RATING: 6.0

REPLAY/FUN FACTOR/ORIGINALITY: This is a fairly small single player level, so there is not all that much of a replay value to it. However, it is decent fun. Challenging levels are typically much more fun to play over and over again than levels which are really easy, and this is not an exception. While puzzle levels do tend to suffer in replay since you already know the answers (unless, in very rare cases, they are polymorphic), enemy-filled levels rarely suffer in that way. Still, I would prefer puzzles, and the somewhat unoriginality of this level does subtract from fun factor. However, it also gets a boost in originality from the lava pits. While they do not always work, which can be quite annoying, they are an interesting aspect to gameplay, as weird as it does look to be first warped out from the lava pit and then killed.

PROS: The lava pit is an interesting addition. Challenging, which makes for good replay value.

CONS: Not all that interesting, per se.

RATING: 6.5

OVERALL (not an average): This is an above average level that has a number of flaws which severely detract from play. As previously mentioned, the main problem with this level is that it tries way too hard to be a difficult and challenging play. Part of being a great level is a smooth way of applying difficulty. Cramming the levels with enemies, making it very easy to die by falling into a pit, and reducing save points a lot is not necessarily the best way to accomplish this. It is a good play, but probably one that will not last. I can recommend download for one quick play, but beyond that this level is not extremely lasting. It looks fairly good, plays fairly good, and is fairly fun. Overall, the quintessential fairly good level with a few twists.

PROS: Challenging and with things, such as the lava pit, rarely seen in levels.

CONS: The difficulty of this level comes from a barrage of enemies, which is disappointing.

RATING: 6.2

GAMEPLAY: B -
Flow: C+
Layout: B -
Creativity: B
Bugs: B

EYECANDY: B
Tileset use: B
Eyecandy look: B -
Creativity: B
Bugs: B

PLACEMENT: C
Weapons: C+
Enemies: C -

THE FINAL GRADE: B -

THE FINAL RATING: 6.2

~ Traft

Whether or not it is a horrible sign of horribility that I am lazy and have not reviewed anything up to this point is either an omen or a coincidence. Going for the less poetic stance, I’d go for coincidence. Or at least because these ratings confuse me. And, as any great reviewer should (which begs the question why I do), I disagree with all of the above reviews. Labrat’s and dx dc’s overrate this, primarily because it is hard, while mikeejimbo underrates it, probably for the same reason. However, difficulty should be balanced. This goes beyond just difficult and more to something along the lines of trying to kill the player. Being dumped onto spikes and enemies does not make this a good pack, although it nonetheless is one. The fairly good level design and decent eyecandy make this a good pack, while the unbalanced difficulty hurts it severely. This pack is overall flawed in many ways; the eyecandy is riddiled with inconsistincies and just plain is not great, while the gameplay suffers from hiccoughs and dead ends. A good pack, but certainly not a 9. Read on.

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: First of all, dropping into enemies is simply something that is not supposed to happen and is considered taboo in levelmaking because most players would rather not have to buttstomp whenever they fall into somewhere offscreen. The first level in this pack, the capitalization-challenged “on the beach” features decent gameplay at the beginning with obvious and clear paths, but then quickly begins to deteriorate as the level goes on. There is an area with a pole that oftentimes sends the player in the reverse, away from the target. Additionally, you can back up in this level to basically the start if you have ice, which is a definite no-no. The secrets are placed creatively, but for the most part are far too minor to prove worth your time. What can easily be noticed the first play of this level is that it is miles from easy. This is not a compliment in this case for several reasons. You tend to find yourself dumped upon enemies or with too many chasing you to do much about it. This is too hard, simply put. Besides, simple shoot ‘em style game play grows old, and this level lacks any puzzle elements to back its action elements up. Finally, if you are hoping for save spots or a good amount of ammo, you will be disappointed. No save spots are to be found, making this level go from questionably hard to trying-too-hard-to-be-hard. When you add on a nearly impossible to find exit to the formula, you have yourself a disapointment. “Carrot land” continues the proud tradition of poor naming but at least improves the capitalization rate fifty percent. The start of the level features what has to be the biggest mistake in levels like these you can make: spike pits. Ah, yes. Spike pits. The scourge of levelmaking. Of course, as Carrotus lacks spikes, those spiky plant things are used. As if once was not bad enough, the most difficult part of this level is based on doing it again. While bouncing off springs. While trying to climb using those springs. While fending off enemies. Get the idea? This is just another way in which this pack tries too hard to be too hard. And, above it all, all of the signs in this level begin with “sign”. Uh-huh. Thanks for clarifying that. At least there are save positions in this level.
PROS: Challenging and generally high-quality.
CONS: Has some indiscrepencies throughout the levels. The difficulty oftentimes is too strained.
RATING: 7.0

TILESET/TILESET USE: The pack’s starting level, “on the beach”, is an example of utilitarian eyecandy at its best. While there is in fact eyecandy, most of the visual treats that are to be found are simply required elements of any decent level using the Beach tileset. Beach is not at all the easiest tileset to use, but the wood in this level is far too wooden and not creatively used. For those about to complain that I am being unjust in demanding more out of the Beach tileset, I recommend you take a peak at FireSworD’s excellent “Termite Haven” CTF level, which manages to make Beach look great – and using only the wooden tiles, too! The second level, “Carrot land”, follows a similar path to “on the beach”, although there are a few less masking-related errors. Carrotus is indeed a really boring tileset, and despite levels attempting to make it better, most mainstream use continues to center upon the same boring old formula. If you are going to use the formula in question, though, at least it should look fairly spiffy. This does not. Because of the spiky pits, or whatever you call them, which require tall, one-tile squares, much of this level’s eyecandy looks pedestrian and a bit off. Which is disappointing, especially considering that Carrotus is infamously easy to use. And regarding that lightning: since when do random areas of caves become pitch black while the rest is light as the outside day?
PROS: Good looking in some parts.
CONS: Dull. Not much more than the base requirements.
RATING: 7.0

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: I can’t complain that a level has bad ammo placement because it is hard? Just watch me. While playing “on the beach”, I found myself thinking “thank God that there are at least carrots in this level.” In fact, I was initially glad that there was ammo, however little of it there is. Ice and TNT, perhaps the two most useless ammunition types for this level, are naturally the two most common ammunition times for this level. There are a few creates and miscellaneous other things that contain ammo such as bouncers, but for the most part you will have to rely on your trusty blaster unless you want to suffer through the slow TNT and fast-melting ice when attempting to defend against some very hungry fish. “Carrot land”, the second level, is a bit more liberal in the distribution of healing items, and perhaps a bit too much. At one point, there are three carrots right next to eachother. Additionally, it was before – not after – a hard part, and most players really trying to play well in this level would already have plenty of lives at that point. Besides, carrots together in such great quantities look amateurish and one has to wonder why they were not distributed throughout the level in the first place.
PROS: It gets better as the pack goes on.
CONS: Little ammo. Little thought to how the ammo would work in the specific levels.
RATING: 6.5

REPLAY/FUN FACTOR/ORIGINALITY: This category was obviously going to be trouble. “on the beach”, which I really, really want to capitalize, at least gives you a short period to recover before falling into some hungry piranah. There is some enjoyability to it, but some is definitely the word. The fact is, this is little more than a difficult and bland level with various defects that make it tedious. After being off reviewing levels so long, I am surprised to find perfectly sane people rating this so high. Perhaps that’s why I am going to avoid rating much else for a while (if I can control myself, that is). This level is nothing extraordinary, and due to lack of puzzles, it is simply too carbon-copied to hold interest. “Carrot land” has a good concept going, sort of, but is maddeningly irrelevant. It requires you to wade through several key-finding missions before finding the correct warp that leads to a key. This is not a puzzle as much as complete and total random luck, and does not count as a puzzle in my book as much as a really annoying obstacle. Calling this level fun would be a lie. The spiky pits and key puzzles certainly make this level longer, but at the expense of the player’s enjoyment and interest.
PROS: Hard, which can be fun.
CONS: Hard, which can be annoying.
RATING: 6.5

OVERALL: I am sorry for not providing good reviews for the remaining levels, but I do not think that I can say much more. They pretty much follow a similar prototype and template. This pack – despite what I have said – is good, and I am mainly being a bit mean in the review because it is overrated. It has some good ideas and is difficult, but really, really needs better enemy placement and perhaps a bit of a tone-down on the difficulty. After all, you can make it so there are many enemies only on hard mode. Then even neophytes can play, and us reviewers can sleep at night!
PROS: Hard…
CONS: …unnecessarily hard.
RATING: 7.2
DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION: For single player fans and obsessives and for level obsessives. An okay play when bored.

GAMEPLAY: B+
Flow: B+
Layout: B
Creativity: B
Bugs: B+

EYECANDY: B+
Tileset use: A -
Eyecandy Look: B+
Creativity: B
Bugs: B+

PLACEMENT: B
Weapons: B
Enemies: B -

~ Traft

Back a few months ago, there was some discussion revolving around the concept of a program that could scan JJ2 servers to find out when a certain player is online. While this is not by any stretch of the imagination that program, it is nonetheless a program with similar goals. ServerScan attempts to – and quite successfully does – find certain servers depending on certain specifications as they come up. There are a few possible uses beyond looking out for specific servers, though. Dull day? Set ServerScan to scan the list looking for any server at all. This also applies to late-night gaming sessions when a 1.23 server is about as rare as a decent resteraunt in Montana. Some other possibilities include waiting for a server to come up matching the IP of a JDC host (that is, when JDC comes along), for a specific hotel server, or just when someone has said they are going to serve but it is taking them a while. I tested every single feature on all four testbeds, except, under Windows XP Pro and Windows NT 4, the one that plays a .WAV file when the specified server is found. I can only assume this works, as I lack a working speaker set on these two test systems.

The Interface
The first thing you notice about the program when starting it is, as always, the splash screen. The splash screen in this program is delightfully irrelevant to anything. Granted, it looks nice, but it is a bit misleading. It displays a somewhat futuristic-looking layout with various messages from the program splattered randomly. It is a bit misleading as to how the program looks. This, of course, deserves no markdown. While it is cool looking, it is nothing more than that.

SPLASH: Good looking but, as usual, completely useless.

The program uses the icon from what looks a bit like the Find Files & Folders function under Win9x. This is an okay icon, although it is a bit difficult to distinguish it as a program from it. Perhaps the letters “JJ2” across the icon would have been preferable.

The actual program interface is fairly nice. The first prompt is for a list server (the options being Monolith’s or Logicware’s or a user-typed one). Beyond the options of what to do when the server is detected and what specific things are being looked for to alert for, the only other options are those defining whether ot not to show the list server actively refreshing to the right side of the program and whether private servers should or should not be scanned. After the Jazz 2 locations and whatnot are filled out (the only thing the program remembers between executions are the locations of the various versions of Jazz2.exe; that information is stored in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\Jazz 2 Server Scan\Paths), the user can customize what they want to happen when the server is detected (options include opening Jazz 2, playing a .WAV file {untested}, and displaying a customized message box). Finally, the user customizes what server they want to look out for. Options include version number, name, IP address, and game type. Not all of these have to be filled out for the program to work, but – obviously – at least one does. The interface is fairly clean and everything, although having the Logicware list server automatically chosen unless specified otherwise would have been nice. Also, it would have made more sense if “Include Scanning Private Servers” was listed under Miscellaneous Options instead of its current location, Notify Configuration. If there is one thing this program has problems with, it is customizability. This is sort of disappointing, especially when you consider how much of this program can potentially be user-defined. Such options as refresh rate are completely lacking reperesentation, putting those who do not wish to have it refresh so often because of bandwidth issues out of luck. More advanced options would definitely be welcome additions.

MAIN WINDOW: Your basic Visual Basic program interface with little room for tweakaholics to play.

Features
This program has a good supply of features. Unfortunately, it could easily have many more. Aside from the lack of much in the way of user-defined options, the program also lacks a few things which potentially could make it great. Boolean logic would do wonders for this program. As stated in the previous review, the program is greatly missing the ability to detect a server which is not matching the defined configuration. For instance, if you were waiting for a server to come up and the only current server crashed and has been pinging for sixteen hours because of this, it would be nice to have the program wait for a server that was any server but the pinging one. This feature, among others, is missing. While on the subject of pinging, there is another feature that could be added: the option to ignore servers which are currently pinging. This would be useful in situations such as the one described previously. Some other possibilities include an exclusion list, the ability to load a currently active server’s properties by right-clicking on it, the ability to look for a server that matches one or more of the specified criterea but not necessarily all, and even the ability to check which players are playing (much like JazzTool, except hopefully without the annoying flashy colors). The problem of “JazzTool attacks” (flooding a server with JazzTool probes until it is unplayable) could be easily solved with a cross-program floodguard (as in, if more than one ServerScan was active on a machine, they would make sure that there could be no flood of this type between eachother and natively to that one program instance). I think, above all, though, the features this program are most missing are definitely the ability to have more than one query going at once without having to open an entirely different instance of the program and the ability to use modifiers such as asterik () and maybe even question mark (?), notably in the IP field. For instance, if you know someone has a dynamic IP address but is in the range 127.5.35.xxx all the time, being able to input 127.5.35. would be very helpful. To a lesser extent, this would also be welcome in server names. For instance, if you were waiting for a JDC server, putting in “JDC” or “pregame” would be a lot easier than guessing the name of the server. Another problem that I found during testing was a field that should be ignored in some situations. As many long-time Jazz 2 add-on users know, private servers have their IPs masked. This can be problematic in this program, especially if the user is using the IP lookup function. A user might be confused and think that they are able to find private servers by IP address, which is not possible. For instance, say that a user was waiting for a friend’s server who used the IP 192.0.34.166 and had a static IP address. They might put in the version (say, 1.24), name (perhaps “Come John”), game type (battle, in this instance) and the IP address, as well. Even though the server might match everything other than the IP address, ServerScan would make no alert because it is unable to lookup the IP address and considers it to not be a match because of the IP lookup failure. I propose that the program might instead ignore the IP address if the server in question matched all of the other criterions, there was a minimum of one other criteria in addition to IP address, and the other criteria was not version. There are a few things this program could do that would be quite nifty, but more problematic than anything. As cool as being able to specify which level would be looked out for, what player would be in the server, or similar things that require a probe to the server to be known, such things would make the program much more annoying than it already is. At this state, it is completely invisible to server hosts beyond a refresh of the list server and causes absolutely no problems or annoying “OMGWOWCOOLBOT“-like messages. The program’s stability is not an issue at all. It does require Visual Basic 6 and its respective .dll files along, naturally, with the Common Controls DLL and Mswinsck. Most systems already have these DLLs, although an upgrade to Visual Basic 6 (not included) might be necessary to run ServerScan on some systems. The program claims support of Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. The program was functional under Windows 98, Windows ME (which apparently was, as it often is, forgotten in the compatability listing, despite being functionally almost a carbon copy of Windows 98 Second Edition), Windows NT 4, and Windows XP and is probably functional under the other operating systems as well, although I lack a way of testing those. The only notable stability annoyance was a minor to moderate one, in that the program freezes until the notification .WAV file (if applicable) finishes playing. For longer WAV files, this could be somewhat of an annoyance.

Conclusion
ServerScan is an excellent program in every way. It is, however, a first-generation program and does suffer because of this. There are an ample number of options to entertain most program enthusiasts, but it lacks the features of a highly refined program and also suffers from a general lack of customizable things. Still, this program does what it claims to do in a nearly flawless manner. The interface is good, although it probably could stand to be reorganized a bit and, in testing, it did everything it was intended to do without any major problems. ServerScan is a fine program with many uses and, while it does not have the features that it could, and really should, have, this is not a sign that this program is bad as much of a testament to how good this program could be. With a bit more refining, ServerScan could truly be a program in the league of JazzTool, Controller, and the like. For now, though, ServerScan is an excellent example of a good program with great potential that has long been painfully missing from the repertoire of Jazz 2 add-on programs.

Test Conditions
On all test systems, the program was ran both with mIRC, AOL Instant Messenger, QuickTime, Trillian, WinZip, and CuteFTP running and without. There was no measurable difference in the stability of this program with or without these programs running.

Test System One
3GHz Pentium 4 Processor, 1024MB of RDRAM, ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9700 Pro, and Windows XP Professional in safe mode.

Test System Two
450MHz Pentium 4 Processor, 96MB of SDRAM, Diamond Viper V560, and Windows 98 Second Edition.

Test System Three
Dell Inspiron 8000. 650MHz Pentium 3 Mobile Processor, 128MB of SDRAM, ATI Rage 8MB Mobile Graphics, and Windows ME.

Test System Four
Micron DeskPro. 250MHz Pentium MMX Processor, 32MB of SDRAM, Integrated Graphics, and Windows NT 4.

The Good, the Bad, and the Rating
PROS: Very useful and stable program with a great future ahead of it if work is continued on it.
CONS: Suffers from first-generation syndrome. Not very customizable. IP lookup and private servers do not mix. Freezes until .WAV is finished playing.

RATING: 8.5

EDIT: Disregard part about variables like * and ?. This is supported already.

- Trafton

Introduction
The All Your Base phenomenon, while short-lived, embedded itself permanently in not only popular netculture, but culture in general. The badly-translated Japanese-to-English video game sequence has, in all accounts, became an Internet legend. While most everyone has, by this point, grown tired of the various catch phrases of the All Your Base fame, it is still always fun to occasionally poke fun at the oddly-crafted Engrish which made the rare successful migration from so-called “geek culture” to the general public. Somewhere, out there, a level celebrating the joy that is All Your Base and its various lines and stupidity was waiting to surface. This is not that level. Instead, what you get here is an excellent example of a space-themed Capture the Flag level with a creative title. This level – I repeat – has nothing to do with its name. In fact, the closest it gets to propegating the All Your Base legacy a few weeks, months, or perhaps years beyond its life time is one simple text sign reading “How are you gentleman?”. That is it. Perhaps that is a good thing, though, as it avoids it becoming a gimmicky level with absolutely no quality. And that is definitely not what this level is.

Eyecandy
The level itself uses Blade’s excellent Space tileset. Blade’s work in this tileset is, as it always is, not extremely flashy. The tileset is not quite borderline cartoony, but does look nothing near realistic. This quasi-cartoon methodology definitely works for Blade in his tilesets, and it worked for CelL in this level. CelL, a true eyecandy master, is at his best here. The eyecandy, from the vairous pipes that wind throughout the level to the control panels, background, and everything, is well-done and without any major deficiencies. This, however, brings me to my first complaint. Either my eyes have not adjusted after a long time without reviewing or there is something odd about the scroll rate in this level. The way the background was moving in proportion to the sprite layer gave me a slight headache, but was not too much to bare. Turning on low detail helped this a bit, but it was not way too significant, and since I have no way of knowing whether it is just me or the level, I will not subtract for it. One thing about the eyecandy – and a minor one – did, however, bother me either way you slice it. The little animated microchips that read what looks like graphs and wavelengths changed in a very unnatural way. It looked like they were meant to stay as the same tile instead of be animated, and this bothered me. Plus, their attachment to the pipes seemed a bit artificial, and the surroundings just looked unfit to place that sort of tile there. Other than that, however, eyecandy was what everyone has came to expect from CelL.

Gameplay
While CelL may excel eyecandy, that does not mean by any measure that this level is a slouch in gameplay. Flow was, as it generally is with CelL’s levels, quite good. This level is, however, a bit on the small side, notably when going from base to base. The average start-to-base time is about three seconds while the average base-to-base time is around seven. This does not allow for time to pick up ammo or to plan strategy before getting the flag as it does in other levels. Instead, the player must get the flag and then think. This might be a challenge in larger games where the other team can spare enough base guards to shoot the player down to two lives while getting the flag and then just hunt the flagholder down and “do away with him.” Layout was good, although it takes some getting used to. As with any level with a playing area of this size, it is somewhat difficult to distinguish the various “layers” of the level. However, the author has made them significantly distinct. The only part of this level I object to is perhaps its linear qualities. There is one route to the base which is fastest. The others are less so. Along the fastest route is a seeker powerup. Where is the fun in that? This is a fun level, although there are a few layout quirks.

Item Placement
I have a few problems here. The first of them is the placement of the seeker powerup. It is positioned in the middle of the level, but it is also positioned on the shortest route between the bases. Other than to get a carrot, the player would not at all have to stray off of the original route for most of the game. Dying is quicker than getting a carrot in this level, anyway, other than the loss of the flag if applicable. The second problem is that the red team gets RF missles while blue only gets pepper spray. Do not get me wrong. Pepper spray is an increadibly versitile weapon – just not in this level. The long-range effects that lend pepper spray so well to chases are completely useless in a level like this, being that there are often walls and many other weapons (like RFs) would go just as far while doing more damage and being more likely to hit the opponent. This is somewhat uneven placement and, while it is not a huge problem, it is significant, since this will probably be the second most-used weapon behind seekers. For that matter, seekers are not all that hot (no pun intended) in this level, because of their sluggishness. Otherwise, however, powerup placement is fantastic. Basic weapon placement is a completely different story. Everything is placed very well and there is a good deal of strategy. Effort was definitely put into this level in that respect. The same goes for carrot placement.

The Enigmatic Fun Factor
This level is enjoyable to play. However, it is not all-out fun. The trouble is, while this is a high-quality space level, there is not much that revolutionizes much of anything. I am sure that this level will see a good deal of play and admiration, but it just does not interest me all that much. There have, over the past year, been a great number of solid capture the flag levels. This one is yet another one. And perhaps that is the root of the problem – there are too many solid capture the flag levels out there. After a certain amount of time reviewing CTF levels, I have found that these days, the best you get is a solid level with nothing new. Unfortunately, there are only so many solid levels one can play before solid starts feeling a lot more antique. Still, this is what it is billed as – a good capture the flag level that is enjoyable to play. Ho-hum.

Summary
There is really no other way to say it. This is a fine level. In fact, it is a great one. Unfortunately, the only thing that is really creative about it is some of the eyecandy and the name. After about a year of very nice capture the flag levels, it takes a good deal to distinguish a level, especially one using one of Blade’s excellent, but unfortunately not extraordinarily versitile, tilesets. It is difficult to complain about this level. It is excellent in nearly every single respect. And that is really all I can ask. Still, I feel as if there was some creativity missing from it. Not that this level lacks any kind of creativity. The eyecandy does, in fact, push Blade’s tileset beyond what it is normally used for. However, the gameplay just feels the same. There is no new spin on it. It is just, in every way, a solid capture the flag level. Not, of course, that there is anything wrong with that.

The Report Card
GAMEPLAY: A
Flow: A
Layout: A
Creativity: B+
Bugs: A

EYECANDY: A
Tileset use: A
Eyecandy look: A
Creativity: A
Bugs: A

PLACEMENT: A -
Weapons: A -
Carrots: A
Enemies: N/A

THE FINAL GRADE: A

THE FINAL RATING: 8.0

PROS: Great level. Creative eyecandy.
CONS: Not much creativity other than in the eyecandy field. Annoying background scroll rate.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

I truly was wishing that I did not have to give this a 1, and happily, my prayers were answered. While this level does show a complete lack of any quality whatsoever, it does have a few – emphasis on “few” – places in which some JCS skill is demonstrated, which is at least worth a few points onto the upside. Not that I am praising this level in any way. The truth is, it is much below average and barely misses the lowly distinction of getting a rating in the range of 1.0 to 1.7. Now, on to the review.

EYECANDY/TILESET USE: What can I say in defense of this level? Not all that much. Pretty much the only thing that this level has going for it is that it could have been much worse. The level by itself is not a looker – far from it, in fact – but it is not what it does do, but what it does not do, which saves it from the ultimate disgrace. A few things that this level does not do include: misuse tiles absolutely horridly; use tiles that do not in any way, shape or form fit the area in which they are located; ignore eyecandy completely and totally (which it almost does, but not quite); and, most important of all – it has a background. Now for the guilty parts. This level not only uses Mez01 (boo, hiss), it uses it badly. There is no innovation here. The only thing that I noted which was even close to showing effort was a few loops in the tubing eyecandy. However, just not making horrible mistakes is not enough to distinguish a level. You have to be creative with eyecandy. Unfortunately, not only is this level uncreative with it, the level is so minimalist, Philip Glass would be proud. And, no, that is not a good thing.
Pros: This level does not look absolutely horrible. In some places, there are small bits of creativity attempting to peek through a very, very small hole.
Cons: Very little in the way of eyecandy.
Rating: 2.2

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: Unlike some previous levels that I have seen lately, this level actually has a few weapons. I am unable to tell whether this is a good or bad thing, in this case. However, this level is so poor, it would probably be a bad thing either way. There are a lot of RF-related things, including powerups and several 15-ammo crates. There is also a seeker powerup. What really bothers me, however, is the amount of carrots in this level. There are, in one place, six carrots all together. One is left to wonder exactly why there are so many carrots. It makes battles profoundly uninteresting. Not that this hurts this level all that much. Anyone to play this level long enough to become annoyed by this is either a reviewer or someone who really, really, really needs to find something else to do.
Pros: To quote the infamous BOB_ALLEN, how about a nice bag of no?
Cons: After that, there is an enjoyable sack of yes with your name on it.
Rating: 1.7

ORIGINALITY: I have been through this a lot lately, it seems. I have yet to see a Mez01 level which is in fact all that original. This is certainally not one of them. What you have here, for the six hundreth time, is a poor Mez01 level with absolutely not a ray of creativity in it. It is not even that there are a few things which are fairly uncommon but have been done before. There is nothing – nada, zip – that is different from any other darned Mez01 level out there. The only things you probably will not see in many other levels? The worthless trigger zone that rids of a perfectly fine walkway which was, needless to say, simply going about its business and supporting up a few choice springs and, probably a tad more common, the giant wall of pointlessness only scalable via copter (which is, thankfully, there, respawning quite functionally) that barely suffices to somewhat make an attempt at interrupting what is still a long, monotonous run that spans the length of half the level.
Pros: The wall-by-coptor thing at least is not found in many levels. Not that it is a good idea. However, it is still something that is not entirely aggrevating while still being uncommon, so it deserves note.
Cons: Everything else.
Rating: 1.2

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: If the Dopefish had to chose one level to live in, this would be it. And I am not calling this level dopey. As most devout platformer fans know, the Dopefish (second dumbest creature in the universe) has a mind which understands only swim, swim, hungry, hungry, and, of course, sleep, sleep (or some ordering of those three.) This level has enough of all three. It is a standard Mez01 level (for hopefully the LAST TIME) with springs on the side that allow for some odd transportation method. Inbetween on the bottom is a lot of water (swim, swim). On the top, there are a few strawberries (hungry, hungry) and a long runningway which is only interrupted by a wall which needs to be coptered over. The bottom part is equally as long and annoying, but at least there is the water to keep things interesting…somewhat interesting, that is. Gameplay in this level is nothing much at all. One just runs around shooting the other players with the absurd amount of ammo and healing frequently with the absurd number of carrots. This level is, in every way, boring, which brings us to the third Dopefish favorite – sleep, sleep.
Pros: The level runs.
Cons: The player also runs. For a really, really long time, if they play the level, and as fast in the opposite direction from this level if they know what is good for them.
Rating: 1.7

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: Who here enjoys a monotonous, boring, plain, pointless, dull, and uninteresting level with absolutely nothing to offer other than hapless gameplay which is equally interesting to its lame and conformitive eyecandy, and which has horrible weapon placement, equally bad (if not worse) carrot placement, and is, above all, made in Mez01? If you do, you will love this level. If not, you will hate this level. Or maybe you will love it, but for a different reason.
Pros: Yes.
Cons: No.
Rating: 1.0

OVERALL (not an average): There are very few things which I would not enjoy more than this level. It is poor in every aspect, from gameplay to eyecandy and back, and shows no creative function. I would seriously recommend spending much more time on your levels, concentrating on one thing at a time, and reducing the number of annoyingly long platforms in the level. Until then, you will get more low scores. Please try harder next time.
Pros: It sometimes works.
Cons: It sometimes works.
Rating: 1.7 (Yes, I changed my mind.)

GAMEPLAY: F
Flow: F
Layout: D -
Creativity: F
Bugs: F

EYECANDY: F
Tileset use: F
Eyecandy look: D -
Creativity: F
Bugs: F

PLACEMENT: F
Weapons: D -
Carrots: F
Enemies: N/A

THE FINAL GRADE: F

THE FINAL RATING: 1.7

Pros: It sometimes works.
Cons: It sometimes works.

- Trafton

Err…ik been Amerikaan? ;P
Anyway, this is a level using Mezz’s venerable (I do not know what that means, but I like the word) Mez01 tileset. Sort of, that is. The point is, this level is just not good. The major problem I have had with it is that I just can not get it to execute. I am not sure whether the previous reviewers have some sort of updated Mez01 version, but divide by zero errors were abound. After I got that all fixed up (an animation problem), I got to playing the level. And I am not sure if that is a good thing. While the level size is physically of moderate size (256×64), the level itself is much, much smaller (~50×40). It is a Mez level, and has Mez-ish eyecandy (obviously). Unfortunately, even a tileset as simple as Mez is used badly in this level.

EYECANDY/TILESET USE: There is nothing even remotely pretty about this level. It is, in every way, a bad Mez level. The eyecandy looks okay at first, but then you start to notice some somewhat subtle things, such as the use of the diagonal land tile for the inside of a ramp wall (oops) and carrot with a fairly hyper 6-second respawn (double oops). The level looks ugly in most every way possible. There are no points in which there is much in the way of quality eyecandy. The background looks okay, but the rest of this level just has horrendously flawed eyecandy. Unless, that is, you interpret the strange tile use as some form of abstract art. If this is so, I would seriously recommend professional help before your condition deteriorates.
Pros: Despite the sheer number of tile errors, this level somehow ends up not looking awful – just horrible.
Cons: The eyecandy in this level is ugly in every single respect. The only decent thing is the background, which shows no creativity at all.
Rating: 2.0

WEAPON/ITEM/ENEMY PLACEMENT: This is a small level. In a small level, you would expect mostly only basic weapondry. Not so. This level features an RF powerup, a flamethrower powerup, and a seeker powerup, all not that far from eachother. Beyond that, it also has many crates in which ammo can be easily obtained. For a level of this miniature size, that is quite a lot of unneeded ammo. There is also a carrot with a six second respawn, but that really only makes matters worse. Are there any bright spots in the ammo distribution of this level? Not really.
Pros: None to speak of, really.
Cons: Ammo clumping. Fast-respawning carrot. Too many powerups. The list goes on. And on. And on and on…
Rating: 1.2

ORIGINALITY: I can some up the originality of this level in one word, but I refuse to. This is a Mez1 battle level. Can it get much worse than that? Yes. It can. And it does. It is a Mez1 TSF battle level with no eyecandy whatsoever. The only thing that this level has that avoids getting a score of 1.2 for originality is the lack of any ripped content. Then again, this level might benefit from at least some ripped content. It is that bad.
Pros: No.
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.2

GAMEPLAY/DESIGN: Gameplay? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Anyway…this level features no gameplay whatsoever. At all. None. It is a small Mez1 level with too much ammo. What is there to do? It is not fun to play. There is no flow. It is far too small to have any definable layout. The only layout there is would be pretty much randomly-connected cooridors between really small rooms. There is no layout. It is just whatever connects it and makes it at least somewhat of a loop. As you can obviously gather, I do not like this level.
Pros: This level did not explode and turn my computer into a deadly fireball of doom.
Cons: I sort of hope it would have.
Rating: 1.2

REPLAY VALUE/FUN FACTOR: If your idea is fun is playing a bad Mez1 level for hours upon hours, you have found your best friend in the entire world. If it is not (and I can see why it would not be – this level is probably painful to play for even those who enjoy playing bad Mez1 levels), I am sure that you will be best off avoiding downloading this level.
Pros: Uh. It loads.
Cons: “Uh. It loads.”
Rating: 1.2

OVERALL (not an average): What more is there to say about this level? I can not stand it. It is a small Mez1 level with poor eyecandy, no gameplay, and seemingly random and completely overdone weapon placement. It is not worth a download even if you are the most staunt fan of Mez01, mostly because it will probably crush any visions of grandeur one has for the tileset. This is in no way a quality level, and absolutely not deserving of 10s. I smell ratings fraud. And, by the way, if that is in fact what is going on, you risk low access if you continue to cheat the ratings system. You have been warned. And that goes for both potential downloaders and those who rated this 10.
Pros: No
Cons: Yes.
Rating: 1.5

GAMEPLAY: F
Flow: F
Layout: D -
Creativity: F
Bugs: D -

EYECANDY: F
Tileset use: F
Eyecandy look: D -
Creativity: F
Bugs: F

PLACEMENT: F
Weapons: F
Carrots: D -
Enemies: N/A

THE FINAL GRADE: F

THE FINAL RATING: 1.5

Pros: No
Cons: Yes.

- Trafton