Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Quite honestly, there is little to add to EvilMike’s comments. This is like a new version of XJJ2 (Xperimental JJ2, a fairly revolutionary program relatively speaking.) There are a few differences from XJJ2. First of all, the program interface and clicking system is vastly improved. The artwork is much nicer and does not look so hand-drawn as XJJ2. Plus, yes, this can host battle (strangely, no one ever seemed to notice XJJ2’s inherit inability to host battle games. Apparently no one cared either.) The general idea is that the interface is much more smooth. I am not sure if this can be billed as a completely new program, but I love it. If the XJJ2 lineage would still be being created today, this would probably be what it would look like.

+ PROS: It’s XJJ2. It can do anything XJJ2 can do, plus change character profiles. Oh, yeah, and it can host battle.

- CONS: This program offers nothing that is revolutionary to speak of. While it is quite useful, it is not a new program that will redefine JJ2 or anything.

VERDICT: This is sort of hard to rate. I will give it a seven point seven. It is not anything that you probably have not seen before, but it is the best serving program ever created, and the interface looks quite spiffy. Yes, there is nothing here that you have not seen before. But it still is a versitile, pretty much all-encompossing hosting tool, and for that it deserves a download recommendation.

This level is evil in my humble opinion for a few small reasons. First of all, the entire level is nearly completely covered with layer three eyecandy. Sure, this makes the level look better, but it really does not do much for gameplay. In fact, I can find many instances where the level just sacrifices gameplay in the persuit of great-looking eyecandy. Yes, this level has some of the best looking eyecandy around. However, this causes the flow to suffer, and suffer it does. The only thing that annoyed me eyecandy-wise was the annoying rain. It falls waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too fast and confuses me. Still, this is a good level, but is a little more look than substance.

+ PROS: Looks great, plays pretty well.

- CONS: Annoying hidden masked tiles, rapid rain.

VERDICT: Not a bad level, but I was nota s smitten with it as the other reviewers were. I give it a 7.0 and a download recommendation. For CTF lovers, this is a must-have. For others, this is not a necessary download, but still will not disappoint.

Well, Nickadot, I have to say I am disappointed. Almost all of your uploads have either been 5 minute levels, rips of other levels, or just blalant theft of another’s work. And this Battle2 edit is not exactly reassuring. First of all, this .ZIP file unzips to /jj1diam/ or something like that, which is really annoying. Make your ZIP files unzip to the default directory, PLEASE. And now for the review.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: If you are going to make a completely ripped edit, you should at least put some effort in it. And this obivously lacks effort. There is nothing but the basic ground tiles in this level. Not only does it look way too simplistic, it is downright ugly. The only redeeming quality to the eyecandy is that the author at least did not use the same ground tile over and over, but the level still looks ugly. The eyecandy in this level just is not good at all.
Tile Errors: Tile errors abound in this level. There are plenty of questionable uses for tiles (such as using the same tile for destruct scenery as the wall.) but then there are just plenty of downright errors. Blocks placed incorrectly, gem patterns only half completed, missing tiles – you name it, this level messed it up. There were plenty of oppertunities for interesting tile use in JJ1: Diamondus, none of which the author elected to use.
Creativity: Creativity is in the eye of the beholder. Sure, edits may have some creative spark to them, but this edit is not creative by any definition. This level is about as creative as a bar of soap, and about as enjoyable as well. There is no background where there should be one, and the default layer eight background is about as interesting as dirt. The level in general shows no creativity eyecandy-wise, nor gameplay-wise. Oh, yes, and the springs are floating in mid-air in some cases.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: One carrot. Yes, one carrot. And in the same place it always is in – the room with the springs. There is not much to say about this, since nothing was changed about it. So I will leave it with that.
Powerups: This level completely lacks powerups, just as the original Battle2 did. Not much to say there.

Basic Weapons: Well, there has not been anything changed since the original Battle2. Basically the weapon placement is the same as in Battle2 – nothing more, nothing less.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: This version really messes up several crucial parts of the level flow. All instances of One Ways have been completely removed, and the springs that occupy the upper right of the level are just floating in mid-air. Not only does this look strange, but they are quite easy to get stuck in. It does not completely ruin the original flow and navigation of this level, but it definitely hurts it. This just is not a good edit.
Layout: Layout is, again, the same as Battle2. Not much to say here either. Everything is where it used to be, though there are problems caused by the conversion that hurt the layout. Nothing much to say here other than just look at Battle2 if you want an idea of what the layout of this level is.

BATTLE SPECIFICS
Compatibility: The level did not crash my computer, nor did it cause any problems. Yay. I guess.

SUMMARY
I’ve never been particurally fond of edits of Battle levels. I have really never been fond of conversions into different tilesets. And I’m not fond at all of this level. Not only is it a conversion of a level that really did not need conversion, it hurts the level. I do not mind conversions as much if they improve eyecandy and even maybe level flow, but this one worsens both of the forementioned areas. Unless you are really and truly desperate for a JJ1: Diamondus version of Battle2, I suggest you stick to the original. Then again, if you are desperate for a JJ1: Diamondus version of Battle2, personally, I would wait for a better one to come along.

+ PROS: This level has a next level setting, so you will not have to play it in a loop.

- CONS: Ooh…Where to start. There are many tile errors, flow problems, and problems that could have easily been avoided if any time was put into this level. It probably just took about ten minutes, and that was it. No effort whatsoever. Shame.

VERDICT: Again, I despise edits of levels and I also despise conversions. This level does not do anything to lessen my hate of this genre. In fact, if anything, it just strengthens it. This level really messes up the original and makes it more tedious than it originally was. With an uninspired background and equally as uninteresting idea behind it, this level is definitely one to avoid. You can find much better conversions than this one, which is saying a whole heck of a lot. For this, I give a 2.2 rating and no download recommendation. Put more effort into your levels or you will likely see more ratings along this line.

Sigh…Another ripped tileset from CraccoBoy, and not a very interesting one at that. The other tileset that he recently uploaded, CG+, at least contained some non-ripped files. This, on the other hand, contains very few non-ripped tiles, and even less if you do not count the numerous uncalled for clan advertisements (as a rule of thumb in my book, it is usually OK to put your clan abbreviation in your name, but much beyond that can be a little over-the-top, and stops non clan members from using the tileset.) The tileset is a Final Fantasy one mainly. It consists of a large amount of Final Fantasy characters, all of which are – you guessed it – one hundered percent ripped. Now, you ask, why would anyone make a tileset so easy? Well, to be honest, ripping can be a pain – but, still, it requires a lot less effort than going the “real” way and drawing your own characters. Then there are some tiles from a Jazz 1 tileset I am unsure of that I recognize from JJ1: Viper’s Pick, another very ripped tileset. There is not much more to say about this tileset. It is small, bad, and almost totally and completely ripped.

+ PROS: This tileset did not destroy anything, nor did it explode.

- CONS: Ripped, bad-looking, and generally unusable.

VERDICT: A 2.7 and no download recommendation.

I can not honestly say that uploading this is a good idea. Nearly the entire J2O reviewing group dislikes Pokemon and even moreso ripped tiles. And this tileset is full of both of those. There is not much to say about this tileset at all. The idea behind it is pretty derned simple. There are Pokemon (plenty of them), various rainbow blocks, a “clan globe,” and various other pieces of propeganda. Is this tileset very interesting? Not really. Most of it features blalantly ripped tiles from various Pokemon merchinside which looks blotchy and pretty ugly. The rainbow area is just way too happy for everyone’s good. Still, it is fairly well-drawn and is probably my favorite part of this otherwise unremarkable tileset. Masking is fairly good, though especially in the Pokemon, there are some minor bugs that could cause a player to be stuck. I can not see this tileset being used in any levels, for it is both too happy and too surrounded by dead copyrights. No download recommendation and a verdict of four point five for this bad, Pokemon-themed tileset.

The Holiday Hare tileset triplets have pretty much monopolized the Christmas tileset realm and for good reason. They are packed full of everything Christmasy – trees, houses, decorations, snow, etcetera. There have been many attempts to make a better holiday tileset, but very few of them have actually left a mark. This could be because there was not enough effort in them, or maybe it was because the Holiday Hare tilesets are just so darn well done. Whatever it is, people still seem to continue to try to dethrone them from the crown of most loved holiday tileset(s). The newest attempt is C3mini, by CraccoBoyCC. C3Mini was originally an entry into Disguise’s rigerous tileset competition, which accounts for its small size and lack of varied colors. For such a small tileset, it captures the spirit of Christmas fairly adequately. Within it is snow (which almost looks like clouds), signs, a block, red tapey stuff, one tile for background creation (actually turns out looking better than you would think), a very nice looking Christmas tree, and some jewel-covered item that I can not seem to figure out. The first thing I checked about this tileset was the mask. Not only has this been a problem with past CraccoBoy tilesets, but this is one part of the tileset that the competition did not limit. Gladly, the mask was fine. Such a simple tileset is not hard to make a mask for, but it is good to see that it was not messed up badly. The colors were surprisingly accurate and generally cheery. Still, as I can not rate higher just because it is a part of Disguise’s contest, my rating seems a bit low. This tileset is good, especially for the size. If this did not come close to winning, I am very anxious to see the other entries.

+ PROS: Excellent use of colors. Looks quite cheery. Christmas tree looks spiffy.

- CONS: Inept background eyecandy. Small. A string of Christmas lights would have been a nice addition.

VERDICT: Overall, this is probably pretty good for its size. Unfortunately, it still is very small. I can not rate higher just because it was in the competition (that would be unfair), so I will give this tileset a 4.7 and a download recommendation. I know it seems strange that I am giving a 4.7 tileset a download recommendation, but it is an interesting use of the provided space. I can not wait to see the other tilesets (especially ET’s) that were in this competition. While I’m waiting, however, this one will keep my attention long enough.

UPDATE: Oh, yes, and a note: I await the final, expanded version of this tileset. The mini version is high-quality, and I hope that the same high-qualityness (is that even a word?) will also be there in the final version. The “big”, non-contest version may give the Holiday Hare tilesets a run for the money if you keep up the quality through the entire tileset and – most importantly – avoid ripping of any sort. ;-P[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Indeed, this is a tileset and not a level. Piccolo’s entry to Disguise’s contest certainally would win a prize for strangest name. “Weird War for Blarghing Money,” not to be confused with the infamous Weird War for Blarghing Monkey, is indeed a very strange tileset. There is not much you can put in a tileset of such a diminutive size, but I still must say that I was disappointed by a lack of well…everything in this tileset. I could list the exact contents of Weird War for Blarghing Money in a few sentences. It contains what looks like the branches of a tree (there is, of course, no tree to be found), a green E-like thing, sucker tubes (I think), exit sign, an unreadable sign, and some tree-ish parts that confuse me as to their use. It took me about two minutes to realize what parts were ground. The apparent tree branch-ish tiles are the ground. The mask is really nothing like the actual tileset contents. There is also a scythe which seems out of place. If there was a theme to this tileset, I missed it by far. To be honest, this is probably one of my least favorite tilesets that I have seen recently. The suckers blend in well, yes, but still look really awful.

+ PROS: Not many to speak of. This tileset does make OK use of small area. The signs did not look that awful.

- CONS: This tileset, to be honest, has many cons. It looks ugly. It’s hard to use. No theme to speak of. I could go on…

VERDICT: I was tempted to rate this higher because I knew that Wisety’s tileset competition’s rules are strict, but I can not rate higher just because of why the tileset is so limited. The truth is that this is not a very good tileset at all, even for the small area. I give it a 3.5 and no download recommendation. Do not let this hurt your feelings, though, as I doubt any other contest uploads will be anywhere near a ten. Keep working on tilesets and good luck. I’m sorry, but after a lot of consideration, I feel that I should rate this. I know it was for the contest, but that should not sway my rating. I still think that this tileset is worth 3.5 and only 3.5, regardless of the conditions it was made under. If I made a special thing for only this tileset because of the competition, I would have to give others the same treatment. I am sorry, but 3.5 is all I can give this.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Indeed, it is difficult to tell what is and what is not ripped in this tileset. However, I am frankly disappointed at any ripping. Sure, I can understand taking the fire animation from the original tilesets, but ripping from games is just bleh. I can not tell what is or is not ripped in this tileset, though it is plainly obvious that the characters have been ripped from various Final Fantasy incarnations. The morale of this story is: draw it yourself. Sure, it is the easy road just stealing it from another tileset, but that is not what tileset making is all about at all. If you insist on using those characters, why don’t you just draw them yourself? That is not the only reason why this tileset is disappointing. What is obviously not ripped is not well done or crafted. Levels using this tileset always end up looking bad and closterphobia-inducing. Not only does CraccoBoy rip from Final Fantasy, but he also takes tiles from Carrotus and Castle. These tiles not only look out of place, but they just look plain ugly. Pretty much all of his tilesets look a bit the same to me. Final Fantasy characters, a few related land pieces, and rips from Jazz 2. I liked Desert of the Lazy Donkey, but it seems ripped tilesets are now back in season. While I can not say that I think this deserves such a low score as 2.5, the truth is that this tileset tries to be too many things at once while not doing anything in particular well PLUS is ripped. There are few redeeming qualities to the tileset, but there still are some. I’m sure Final Fantasy lovers will swarm over this tileset, but even FF fans probably have seen this all before – again, and again, and again.

+ PROS: Final Fantasy is a cool game, and fans probably will like this. It has more tiles than the original. This tileset did not cause my computer to explode and set fire.

- CONS: A lot of rippings. Too much different kinds of tiles. Mask has not improved.

VERDICT: My verdict is a 4.7 and no download recommendation. This tileset just is not anything that has not been seen before, nor is it high-quality in any way. If you have any other C(Any letter) tileset, you have seen this before, probably more than you would like. However, if you do not have any other Cracco tilesets, I suppose this would be worth getting.

EvilMike’s “Marshland of Evil” has long been one of my favorite levels of all time, and Agamas “Swamps” tileset is probably my favorite tileset of all time, so I finally decided that I should rate this level. And I have to say, it’s even better than I remembered.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: It is very hard to use Swamps really badly, but it is even harder to use it very well. And this level definitely uses it very well. The lush greenery, which is lacking in many levels using this tileset, adds great atmosphere to the level, as does the shadows cast upon the leaves in different parts of the level. Eyecandy is nothing amazing, but certainally looks as good as this tileset allows. The spider webs are well-placed. In fact, this is pretty much a perfect level eyecandy-wise.
Creativity in Tileset Use: Creativity in Agama tilesets is not that flexible. After all, if you use it too different from the original intended use, it ends up looking pretty derned bad. Still, this level uses it as creatively as possible without making everything look horrible. The interesting placement of the different pieces of eyecandy does not interfier with level flow, nor does it make the level look bad. In fact, it is not very easy to make eyecandy that does not at least slightly interfier with gameplay using this tileset, but EvilMike managed to make eyecandy that even helps level flow, such as the sighing (sleeping) jaguar with the float up.
Tile Errors: If you look really really really closely, you can see a few things in the leaves that are not exactly completely accurate. Regardless of this, the level still does not have as many tile errors as you would expect for a level using this challenging but rewarding tileset. There were no errors in the ground tiles, and the shadows that were casted by the various objects were as near to flawless as you can possibly get. EvilMike did an excellent job with eyecandy especially in this level, and definitely this is the best level eyecandy-wise using this tileset that I have ever laid eyes upon.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: This is a big level. What I am trying to get at here is that I may miss one or two things in the next few paragraphs, but feel a hundered percent free to correct me. I could only find two carrots in this level. Both of them were full energies and located about equal distances from the perspective bases (one was right of the blue base, the other below the red.) They are placed fairly out in the open, and are both about equally as easy to get. This is good placement, and while most EvilMike levels do tend to have a lot of carrots, this one seems to lack a bit. Maybe one more carrot would have done it. This may be because the level is so big or it may not be, but there was sometimes times of carrot drain. However, the generator time was fair, so this was not that much of a problem. Overall, carrot placement was very good.
Powerups: This is the area where I will probably miss something. From what I could find there were powerups for the following weapons: bouncy, seeker, pepper spray, and RF. The bouncy powerup was located in an area that requires some skill in jumping to get to, which is fair placement. The seeker was hidden in an area that can only be reached by use of the warp in the upper right corner of this level. The pepper spray was pretty much out in the open, being that it is a somewhat underpowered weapon. The RF was more out in the open than I expected, but for a level so big, the RF placement was fair. Overall, weapon placement was quite good, but the sheer number of powerups sometimes made me wish that there was another full energy carrot in the level.
Basic Weapons: Basic weapon placement was all-around very good. The variaty of basic weapons was enough to make them so they were not useless in the face of so many powerups. Still, there was nothing that detered the player from using powerups instead of basic weapons, and players that decide to only use basic weapons in this level will probably end up being toasted. Still, it is obvious a lot of thought was put into the placement of them, and points are due where points are due.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: Flow was very good, though there are a few annoyances that make the level a little worse flow-wise. The trees, while they do provide good access to the different parts of this level, can be annoying to those who take a run-and-jump approach to playing. This level does not seem as adaptive to different types of play as some other EvilMike levels, but still is no slouch in this area. The more I played it, the more natural it felt. The level, which may seem a bit overwhelming at first, really is not that hard with enough practice. There seems to be several planned routes to follow, but going out of them did not really cause much damage.
Layout: This level feels large. I am not sure whether it is actually large or not, but while playing, it really feels like it. This could be attributed to the tileset, but in reality the level is actually only a managable 150×70 tiles (Distopia, in contrast, is 115×60 tiles.) Still, layout was all-around excellent. On paper, the layout even looks better than during play. Still, it is obvious to see that this level was well planned out beforehand. Certain “touches” like the sucker tube trees add to the overall layout and mask some problems that could have made this level be much worse layout-wise. An excellent layout.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: Balance, as expected, was quite good. The seeker powerup is still slightly nearer to the blue base, but it seemed that both teams took equal time to access it. It is a bit hard to get out of the blue base area sometimes because it is in a bit of a ditch, but still is not much to Mr. Crow about. Balance was uniformally good, though a few small things seemed like they could be adjusted in order to make the balance a tad bit more equal.
COMPATIBILITY/STABILITY: Naturally, this level, like anyone made since early 2002, lacks the flag bug completely. The real question of levels of this day and age is whether it is easy to get stuck or not. It took some effort to get stuck in this level, but since the tileset has a very good mask, it is not common during normal gameplay. There was no crashing during play, though some of this level does use moderate amounts of animations. Nothing in this category to worry about.

SUMMARY
This is probably one of the most underappreciate levels of all time. I do not see it hosted often, but it really should be. There are no big flaws to this level. Sure, it may not have extremely flashy eyecandy, but everything is still good. There is not much to say about it other than it is a great example of levelmaking at its best. Do not download this expecting amazingly flashy looks or some new gameplay type that you have never heard of. However, this level definitely makes the best use of the tileset that it uses that is possible and also pours on the gameplay value. A definite classic and a must-download.

+ PROS: No major flaws at all. Eyecandy, gameplay, balance – everything is very good. Jazz 2 at its best.

- CONS: None that really stand out. There are a few small errors, but those are forgivable. The real shame is that this level is so underhosted.

VERDICT: What more is there to say about this level other than download now? This level, while it may not be anything new, is JCS at its best. Everything about it is near-perfect. Yes, there are Capture the Flag levels that are better than it in certain areas, but overall you really can not beat this level overall. It looks good, it plays good, and best of all – it is not overhosted. Download this. Now. My verdict is a 9 and a download recommendation.

W00t. A Capture the Flag level to sink my teeth in. And judging by the ratings, it’s a good one, too. Let’s hope that this lives up to it’s lofty rating. It would be nice to have a new level to add to server rotation.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: Unsurprisingly, this level uses Agama’s Heaven tileset. Levels using this tileset often turn out to look pretty good no matter how bad they actually play, though there are some exceptions. This is not one of them. The level looks very good, though there were some small annoyances. Some areas had a lot of eyecandy while others seemed to have significantly less. Still, during normal play, this would not be very noticible. What was noticable was an annoying jerking motion by the background of this level. The clouds went by at a pace that for one reason or another was just at the right speed to annoy me. I’m probably the only one who thinks this, but I believe speeding it up a bit would have maybe bettered the atmosphere.
Creativity in Tileset Use: I can not say that this level used the tileset in any way that is new or fresh, though it still is used well. This is not surprising. Because of the way Agama made the tileset, it leaves little to no room for changing how tiles were meant to be used. The background is supposed to be used a certain way, and using your imagination and trying a different method will usually just make it look very bad. This level pretty much uses the tileset as creatively as it is possible to use the tileset. I can not detract points for creativity, but I can not add them either.
Tile Errors: This level contained very few tile use errors. In addition, it contained very few parts of the level that looked off at all. The bottom clouds are a bit vision-obscuring, but not as badly as I have seen them used in other levels. If you look extremely closely at the ground (again, something that you would never see while playing it) you will notice that some of the eyecandies (skulls, etc.) inserted into the ground break the pattern of the cracks in the cement/dirt/whatever the floor is made out of. This is nearly impossible to avoid, but it is still a tile glitch, albeit one of the smallest possible ones. Eyecandy overall was very good, but nothing you have not seen before.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: Call me a conspiracist, but this level reminds me of Diamondus Warzone in many respects. Heck, I know that it is hard to make a level that does not at least borrow one idea from the classic Capture the Flag level, but there are certainally some disturbing resemblances, possibly the biggest being the carrot placement. The carrot is in a box in the middle of the level only accessable by warps, one located on each side of the level about equal distances from the bases. Suspicious, eh? Well, this has never been my favorite aspect of Diamondus Warzone, as players tend to get in a loop of damage opponent, go to carrot box, wait for damaged opponent to come, kill them, score a point. While I have been unable to do extensive testing on this level, there is probably a good chance something similar to that may happen during regular course of play. Whether it is a conspiracy or not, this is certainally something to keep in mind while playing. And remember – the truth is out there.
Powerups: Just as I started to think that maybe, just maybe, the carrot box was a coincidence, I noticed a seeker powerup very close to the carrot box, JUST LIKE IN DIAMONDUS WARZONE. However, there are a few things in this category that make it certain that this is not Diamondus Warzone’s evil twin. First of all, this seeker powerup is just out in the open, as opposed to somewhat tucked into a narrow alley like in Diamondus Warzone. Also, there is another powerup – a gated bouncy powerup. I would probably have preferred to have the two switched, with the bouncy out in open and the seeker a bit harder to get, but I can see how this works. Overall, powerup placement was good, but a little unbalanced.
Basic Weapons: Basic weapons are an aspect of the level that many authors of CTF levels these day seem to miss. In fact, when looking at some levels, it seems that a few CTF level makers regard basic ammo as decoration, just waiting to be made into interesting patterns, as opposed to an interesting part of the level that should be placed very strategicly. Thankfully, this level does not take that attitude towards basic ammo. Instead, careful planning seems to have gone into how to align the ammo and where it goes, as opposed to how well it will contribute to the feng shui of the level. This kind of attention to detail is good to see, but unfortunately rare, in even the best CTF levels these days.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: When it comes down to it, a heck of a lot of my rating is based on flow. I often have people join my server and claim that “this level is great” or “this level stinks” without ever playing it. Most people judge on eyecandy above all. While it is important to have a good-looking level, in the long run flow is the most important aspect of a level. After all, no matter how pretty it is, if players keep bumping into walls that should not be where they are, aggrevation is a given. While it does not have perfect flow or anything, this level still has very nice flow that is suitable for playing over and over. The more I played this level, the easier I find it to adapt to the interesting layout.
Layout: Layout is sort of an overall rating of how well everything is placed in the level (an extreme simplification.) This level has excellent layout through and through. On paper, the layout looks just as good as while playing. Though it is not predictable (this can be frustrating when you are first playing the level but really makes it more worthwhile in the end), the layout still manages to be effective and flexible, allowing for all different types of strategies. This variaty in options is what makes this level so great and why it is so fun to play over and over again.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: At first, I had a lot of trouble finding the red base. Instead of having the bases fairly the same distance up, CelL and Rage elected to have the blue base and the top left and the red one at the bottom right. I kept going to the blue base over and over, which was quite infuriating. In fact, several times, I entered it by accident. You can literally just run right through the blue base, capture the flag, and be out of there in less than a second. The red base, which has a wall behind it, requires turning around, but the level was still fairly well balanced. Both powerups seemed much closer to the blue side than the red, but balance was O.K. during normal play. Still, the blue team felt like it had a very slight advantage. Balance was not as good as I would have hoped for, but still not bad at all.
BUGGINESS/COMPATIBILITY: This section notates any problems (bad shield use, getting stuck, flag bug, etc.) that I noticed during play. I am happy to announce that this level pretty much passes with flying colors. Heaven, a tileset that really could have had a terrible mask, is not easy to get stuck in unless you are trying. There was, of course, no flag bug. There were also no shields in this level. I have never had stability problems with this level, and since it does not use anything fancier than triggers, I doubt there are many.

SUMMARY
At first, I thought that this was overrated hideously. After playing for a while, however, it turns out that indeed, this level deserves near the rating it has. While the eyecandy may be nothing new and the level may seem slightly annoying at first, this level has such a high replay value that it is really hard to get bored with. This level is excellent for any number of players. The best part about this level is how flexible it is, as I have already stated. You are not forced to adopt a strategy to do well in this level, nor does the level prohibit certain playing types. The only thing that caused me concern was the carrot box. It seems that this is not as strategically important as in Diamondus Warzone, but it still is probably fairly easy to get into the same loop that often decides the outcome of DW battles. Overall, an excellent level that will probably be played often in the future.

+ PROS: Allows for a great variaty of playing strategies. Also looks good. High replay value.

- CONS: The balance is just a little off. While it does look very spiffy, it is not anything that I haven’t seen before. The carrot box, while not as important is in DW, still could cause annoying “loops” in gameplay.

VERDICT: This certainally is a great level. It is enjoyable no matter how many times it is played. While it may seem fairly run-of-the-mill, underneath, it shows that great thought has gone into it. Sure, it may not revolutionize Capture the Flag as we know it, but that doesn’t matter. The truth is that this is probably the best Capture the Flag level that I have played in ages, and will find itself being played a lot if fate is fair. A definite recommended download and an 8.7. Great job, CelL and Rage.

-Trafton aka NOT AIKO, DARNIT.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Wow. A 9.3 for just a smaller version of Diamondus Warzone? I can not say that I like this level that much, but I suppose I will have to do a rating. Meh, it will not be easy.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: Tileset use was, well, shrunken. This level is completely the same as the original Diamondus Warzone except much smaller. I have to give points here for retaining the original Diamondus Warzone eyecandy as opposed to messing it up grandly. I can imagine this was hard to do, and props go where props are due. Still, this level does not offer anything extra special in the realm of eyecandy.
Creativity in Tileset Use: Well, the level was pretty much as creative in tileset use as the original Diamondus Warzone. I mean, this is an exact carbon copy of the original except smaller. Still, again, points are due for not totally messing up the level by shrinking it to a minute size. There are many different ways of doing this (all of which involve more effort than you would think), but the final product seemed to turn out fairly well. Epic did do most of the tileset use, but the shrunken version did not ruin their work.
Tile Errors: This area was actually surprisingly good. Sure, the level had a few things that looked a bit off, but in general they did not mess up the eyecandy of the original, which, when shrinking a level, is pretty easy to do. Some things just did not look normal and other visuals took some getting use to, but all in all I was impressed by the accuracy of this recreation and how little it sacraficed for becoming such a small size.
Creativity: This is an interesting idea to say the least, and I am not quite sure whether this level is just a novelty or actually a really playable level. Creativity in eyecandy is in the eye of the beholder in this case. As mentioned in nearly every paragraph of this review so far, it does take quite a bit of effort to make such an accurate conversion. Then again, since they did not make the level, I can not reward them for all the eyecandy points. This is what is making this level so darn tricky to rate.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: The same as in the Diamondus Warzone original, this level contains one full heal carrot in the box with RF’s. However, the box may not contain as much strategy because of its diminutive size. Yes, it is hard to lurk in the box waiting for an opponent and battles in it are nearly impossible because it is so easy to accidentally fall into the warp. This may or may not be a bad thing depending on where you are coming from strategicly, but many people would probably prefer a normal-sized carrot box. This is probably where scaling caused the most change in the level, for good or bad.
Powerups: As always, this level contains only one powerup, the seeker powerup. This has always been one of the more important parts of the level, and getting it is now even harder since the area is miniturized. It is now about double the size of a character, so there will be a lot of colliding between players while trying to get this powerup.
Basic Weapons: There are many many basic weapons in this level. All of them are placed relatively close to the way they were in the original Diamondus Warzone, though some of them seem a little off. During normal gameplay, this never seemed to be a problem, but when making side-to-side comparisons of the two versions of this level, the difference was somewhat noticable. Thankfully, before this level was released, the shield was removed and the flag bug was patched, so there is nothing to crow about there.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: Flow is where this level could be considered inferior to the original. Because of the diminutive size of it, it is not hard to bump into objects while going through small areas of the level. This feeling is akin to that of playing Super Smash Brothers Melee in giant mode. While it does feel “off” from the original, it is still fun, but mostly as a novelty. Flow generally was fairly good, but still not up to the original’s standards. Regardless, it did not severely detract from gameplay, and it still was not very hard to get from place to place after you get use to the smaller proportions.
Layout: Layout was extremely good, though a little bit small. Obviously, this level is going to be smaller than the original in overall size, but it still does not quite fall into the “small level” category since Diamondus Warzone was actually a fairly large CTF level relatively. Layout, as it went, was very nice. Still, I prefer the layout of the original to the miniture version, but that is a given. There was enough room to move around but not too much that it did not seem small.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: As usual in Diamdonus Warzone, balance was well-done. The smaller version did slightly benefit the blue team, but not significantly enough to complain about. Balance was overall quite nice, though it was slightly distorted by the seeker powerup’s easiness to get in this particular version. Regardless, it is balanced enough for fun play.

SUMMARY
Wow, this is going to be really, really hard to rate. After all, this level was not originally made by the author, but then again it took a lot of effort to do this. It is a great novelty level, but little more than that, and I can not say that it will probably find much popularity in the long run beyond a few oohs and ahhs on first sight. Still, it is a fun “party gag” if you will and maybe even a good level for some late-night sleep baked play. Anyway, this level does not deserve a rating, but I pledged to give it one, so an eight will suffice. There are plenty of other novelty levels out there and (eww) level edits, but this one probably takes the proverbial cake. It is fun to play and there was effort put into it. It may not deserve an eight, but that is what it is getting. Do not ask me why.

+ PROS: Great conversion. Proportions well done. As good as novelty levels get these days.

- CONS: Not really a new work to speak of. The seeker and carrot box areas have changed majorly. Some players will be forced to adopt a new strategy if they want to play in this level seriously, though I doubt that this level will be used for competition.

VERDICT: An excellent novelty but little more than that. It is fun to play in moderation but probably will not find itself being hosted very often after a short period of time. Yes, it is unique. Yes, it took effort. Yes, it has never been done before, but there is only a small niche of people who have probably said “boy, I wish I had a miniture version of Diamondus Warzone.” But for those who have said that, an eight and download recommendation will seem quite low. For all the rest, go ahead and flame the socks off me. But it is about as good and effort-created as novelty levels get, and there is not more to ask for. After all, it is Christmas, and on Christmas I give high ratings that I just end up editing later. Oh well.

EDIT: Removed rating.
[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Unfortunately, I am not sure that I am hugely fond of this pack. Here is my review.

Just Got A Carrot Away
EYECANDY
Tileset Use: The used tileset was Carrotus. Yes, Carrotus is increadibly overused, but it was not used in an annoying way. In fact, the way it was used is a way I have never seen before. Still, it looked a bit “off” and I can’t say that eyecandy lives up to my expectations.
Creativity in Tileset Use: This is definitely like nothing I have ever seen before, but I am not completely sure whether that is a good thing or not. The background consists of a purple layer that looks gelous. I am not sure what this was supposed to be, but whatever it is, it is not pretty by any definition. There are pudgy carrots floating around in the background that just look strange. Still, tileset use was OK.
Tile Errors: This level pretty much entirely lacked tile errors. However, I can not say as much for lacking tileset inconsistincies that detracted from the overall quality of the eyecandy. In fact, there were several parts of the level that just looked a bit off. They did not quite look ugly, but I know Stripe is capable of better.
Creativity: The ideas presented in this certainally are creative. Some may love the eyecandy of this level, and others may want it to burn in eternal fire. Whatever your preference, you must admit that the Carrotus tileset is showing its age. The same “wow-gee-whiz” effects that would have captivated some people in 1999 are standard everyday stuff these days. It is hard to make a Carrotus level with generally interesting eyecandy, and while this eyecandy may interest some, I can not say I was nearly as impressed.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: This level has one carrot. Yes, you heard me right, only one. And it is quite well hidden. It is well-known that Stripe never goes overboard with carrots, but one single carrot (not even a full heal one) is a little, well, little. Maybe if it was a full heal or at least was not in the sucker tube the level would have played better. As strange as it sounds, carrots are even more important in small levels since it is much, much easier to get killed.
Powerups: If you thought only having one carrot was not enough, you probably want to stop reading now. This level contains no powerups. However, during normal play, it was not that much of an issue. In fact, I am almost glad that it contained no powerups. Otherwise, it would have been way too easy to die, being that the level only has one carrot and all.
Basic Weapons: The normal non-powerup ammo was placed quite well, in fact. There was always enough to suffice for some good fights, though RF seemed to be used more than anything. Still, the weapon varaity was good and well balanced. Kudos to Stripe, since this has always been an area that he has excelled in.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW<
Flow/Navigation: This level did not have as good of flow as I would have liked. I ran into the sides of the level many times and the frequent collisions started to get a bit annoying. On top of that, Stripe elected to make it easier to get from blue to red as from red to blue (or maybe the other way around, it does not exactly matter.) Still, this was not much of a problem during general gameplay. Flow was still good, though it was not as well done as other Stripe levels.
Layout: Layout was another area that was quite good, but not exactly up to Stripe’s high standards. The general idea behind the level was great, and on paper the layout looks fantastic, too. However, in practice it seems as if the layout was at some points lacking. The routes were fairly linear, and to stage “surprise attacks,” the players were forced to memorize an array of sucker tube combonations. But layout was still not bad at all.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: This is probably the area that the level is best in. Both teams have a pretty equal standing in this level, even though it is not a “mirror” level if you will in any way. This is hard to accomplish, especially with a level that is neither semitrical nor large, so it appears that Stripe did plan this aspect of the level quite well.

SUMMARY
This level was, at least for me, worse than I expected. But that does not mean that is not a very solid Capture the Flag level. Do not be fooled by my negative sounding review: a seven point five is still a fairly high mark for a Capture the Flag game. And while I can not expect Stripe to return and be back to his original glory immediately, maybe I was expecting something a bit more. I lack time, being that this is Christmas Eve, so I will leave my review half way done and finish it tomorrow. This is still an excellent level and 7.5 is not a bad score. I hope GemNERIC will be as good as promised, but this is enough to keep me entertained for now.

+ PROS: Excellent balance between teams. Not a bad looking level. Fairly creative.

- CONS: Not as good as Stripe’s previous works. Flow could use some work. A few people got stuck in test server.

VERDICT: Good and solid, but not as good as I thought it would be. Still, the first level (there are two, the second I will test later) still will not disappoint if you are looking for a solid and highly playable Capture the Flag level. A seven point five and a download recommendation for now until I am able to completely rate the other level. Hopefully, the rating will go up then. This may sound surprisingly harsh, but even though the score is lower than I expected, it is not a bad level in any respect. Good job so far, Stripe.

GemNERIC CTF
EYECANDY
Tileset Use: This level uses the Diamondus tileset. Carrotus and Diamondus being pretty much the two most often used tilesets, this was a bit surprising (Stripe seems to like using the official tilesets.) GEMneric, like Just Got A Carrot Away, uses eyecandy in interesting ways that you would not expect to see. However, unlike Just Got A Carrot away, it turns out to look pretty darn good. The background, which consists of blue tiles in a sort of jigsaw patern, looks really cool and gives some interesting eyecandy to the level.
Tile Errors: I could not find any tile errors that are worth noting here at all. This was not surprising, as Stripe has a pretty good history of levels that lack tile errors. The eyecandy overall was definitely better in this level than in the other level that I am reviewing here. There were no tileset uses that looked off, and overall eyecandy, while nothing extremely innovative, was high quality.
Creativity: Creativity in eyecandy is not that easy in Diamondus. Unlike Carrotus, it leaves very little room to edit it’s standard look, though many have tried. This is about as creative as eyecandy in Diamondus can get and definitely is worthy of praise. The background looks quite spiffy and gives a nice cave-y atmosphere to the level. Also, it contrasts well from the plain vanilla look that Diamondus is typically associated with. Eyecandy is one of the strong points of this level and it definitely shoes. There are no errors to speak of in the eyecandy, and while it may not be anything new or extremely exciting, it is quite solid.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: This level, unlike the first one with only one carrot, contains two full energy carrots. It is nice to not have the same carrot drain in this level that the original suffered from, and I think that this was generally well-done. The two full energy carrots are pretty much placed the same distance from the perspective bases and it seemed quite fair. I prefer this carrot setup to the other level’s.

—-I will continue this review. I am way too tired to write anymore right now, sorry.—-[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

I am very excited about Disguise’s contest. From the various tilesets I have seen come out of it, none of them is anything but excellent. And this tileset by Moonblaze is no exception. “Dark Marshland” is not, despite the name, really a marshland. Rather, it seems like to be a dark, slightly swampy, forest. And boy is it dark. Looking at this tileset in JCS, you would think that it would be impossible to see any of the eyecandy if you made a level with it. That is not true at all. Rather, levels using this tileset do come out looking quite dark, but that is not a bad thing. In fact, the demo level I made did not look extremely dark. The few bright tiles more than make up for the somewhat depressing vibe that the dark tiles give off, and it is very well balanced. Moonblaze does the forest tileset type better than anyone, and it definitely shows here. Included are exit signs and pretty much anything you would ever need in a full tileset. There are two tileset versions included. One is Dark Marshland and the other Dark Marshland EX. Note that Dark Marshland is the entry for Disguise’s contest and Dark Marshland EX (EX possibly being extended?) is the full version of the tileset with all the features. This is an excellent tileset, though I recommend you use the EX version as opposed to the tiny one for Disguise’s contest. Still, this is definitely a good entry to the contest, and I hope to see the results. I give the full version an eight point two and a download recommendation. Great job, Moonblaze. Keep the good work up and make more tilesets.

I never knew this was uploaded, but I have always wanted to rate it.

Simply put, “War Torn” is one of my favorite tilesets of all time. In fact, it is right up there with 7th Lava Fall in my “second place” column (behind anything Agama has ever made of course.) I first saw this postapocolyptic tileset used in EvilMike’s Distopia and have unable to forget it since. It looks much like a city that is, as its name suggests, suffering from the aftermath of some sort of war. Still, for a city that is supposed to be mostly exploded, it looks quite spiffy. The buildings are very well textured and the green tubes, while they do not exactly make complete sense for the surroundings, do give a cool high-tech feel to any creation. Also included are various other types of tiles, including some that make a pretty good sewer. There are few missing pieces, although hooks and vines would have been a worthwhile addition (even though they would slightly detract from the theme of the tileset.) The only bad thing that I could think of is that this tileset can be really hard to use in some cases. Sometimes, the tile that I needed just was not there. I was able to substitute other tiles for it, but I would rather that these tiles were included. Still, an excellent level can be made with this tileset, and it is absolutely worth a download. In fact, I recommend you do so immediately. It sort of reminds me of “Metropolis” by Bluez (oh, Aiko said that. Heh.) This tileset also has a strange 3D feel, despite not actually being 3D (same with “Metropolis.”) This really makes it a worthwhile tileset and one of my favorites. In short: a nine point two and a recommendation to download this tileset. Now. Or face the wrath of the Snufuss.

+ PROS: Excellent 3D-ishness, jam packed with lots of features, just looks great.

- CONS: Not much to crow about. It’s a bit hard to use, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

VERDICT: Every self-respecting Jazz Jackrabbit 2 fan should download this now. It is severely underused. Download it. Make levels with it. Date it. Marry it. At least download it. (A nine point two verdict for this. Great job, Toxic Bunny. You’ve outdone yourself this time. Again. :-)[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

“Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Pinball” would be a possibly new interesting concept if it is an interesting new concept. Unfortunately, the concept is neither new nor interesting. This level, which uses the fairly uninteresting Tube Electric tileset, consists of basically nothing except sucker tubes, pinballs, and pie (the food event, I am not being humerous.) It uses the interesting idea of placing hurt events under the pinballs instead of the normal warps. Less fortunately, jumping over them are really, really easy and offer absolutely no challenge whatsoever. After that, you are forced to go through an overly lengthy system of sucker tubes from point A to point B. Would it have killed to crank the sucker tube speed up just a tiny bit? Eh? After that, you are dumped in a room where you can either choose one route or another. Both end up in the same place, and you have probably already wasted the time difference there is between the first and second routes just by reading this. After that, you are dumped into room containing mainly carrot bumps. Damaged? If you are skilled enough to buttstomp well, you can heal it all. Not that it will matter much. The warp from the room leads back to the start. Over and over again. While Unknown File may have elected to use an interesting gametype for this level, it is used badly. Still, if this level was much longer and harder, it might even be worth a play. Keep working on levels, and you will probably be quite good one day. While this is not very good, it does show promise.

+ PROS: Interesting new gameplay, while the level was made badly, it could easily be much worse.

- CONS: A somewhat promising gameplay with terrible execution. Barely any eyecandy. Way, way too short.

VERDICT: As interesting as the idea behind it may be, this level is not very good at all, so it gets a three point five out of ten.

Reply: It’s fine. No one can be great on their first level, Unknown File. Keep making levels. :)

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

One more question: Why didn’t you make the last Dark Forest level loop back to the first level? You should consider fixing that.

This level is highly overrated, and it seems that most of the parties responsible for this overrating are members of the XD clan, which Onion co-leads. Hmm.

This is an above average but not notable level. It features livable, but still not great, flow coupled with some pretty lame weapon placement. Playing it was not bad, and was enjoyable at some points, but otherwise was unexceptional all the way through. Some parts of the level were way too linear, while others were too spacious. A level of contrasts that may contrast a bit too strongly. Still, it is a worthwhile play, though I’m not sure I can say that it is a definite keeper. Play it for a while, and then throw it back to see. Heck, you might hit some overrators.

(And a 7 and download recommendation for this.)

Being the rating scale stealer that I am, I will now steal my scale for this review from BlurredD. You have my permission to sue me. But I am warning you that you will have to wait in line. Here we go.

GAMEPLAY:

Basically better off as a battle level. For a CTF level, it has no balance and it lacks some flow. Hurt events in an MP level: a horrible idea. You should get rid of those, it doesn’t help the gameplay at all. In the level it says it’s not finished. I could only hope so since it could use a lot more work.

EYE CANDY:

This level is quite dull eyecandy wise. While there are a few bright spots of note, they are few and far between. If you are going to lack in gameplay like this level does, I would recommend you at least spend some time making the level look spiffy. After all, spiffy-looking boredom is better than boring-looking boredom.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

There are way too many carrots in this level. They seem to be placed randomly with little consideration for gameplay. Some people make like this sheer amount of carrots (EvilMike), but no one can say that the carrots are placed well. Weapon placement was also below average. It seems that the author decided to just put weapons everywhere and anywhere instead of planning out how a game would flow and everything. Speaking of flow, it was also quite bad. I bumped into everything and it was annoying and challenging getting from the blue base to the red base with my sanity intact. In fact, I wouldn’t accomplish it. Manical laughter.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

No, I am lazy and never remember the file names of anything so I just put EvilMike2 followed my random numbers and hope it is a level. But if I was blessed with such amazing powers of memory, I probably would try to forget anyway. This just isn’t worth hosting.

“One other thing: if you’re going to make a CTF level, avoid putting “battle” in the name. And don’t make levels that suppose to be playable in CTF and Battle. That’s never a good idea. Either it’s one or the other.”
Unless you’re Warlord!, follow this advice. ;P

As for rating, I will give it a five. It is plainly average and not interesting. It, like many other people have said, is pretty much just a battle level with bases. Not worth a download. Purely and universally average.

I suppose I will use a scale similar to Violet’s to rate this level.

Is this a Battle level? Well, yes, you can slap anything together with a start position and call it a battle level. But not all play like true battle levels.

Is this a good Battle level? Linear through and through, so no. Being that it is an edit of a single player level, there is only one path, so it is not much of a battle level, and certainally is not a good one whatsoever.

Is this a CTF level? Similar story to Violet. There is a blue base, but I did not waste my time trying to find the red base. It just was not worth my time. No matter where the other base is located, this just is not a worthwhile level for Capture the Flag.

Is this a good CTF level? No way. There is only one possible path and it feels like a single player level. That is because it is a single player level. It is really too bad they removed the cooperative/single player elements, because that was the only thing going for this level.

Is this a Treasure Hunt level? Sort of, but I can not say that it was intended to specifically be a treasure hunt level. Sure, there are gems (about a hundered) left over from the single player game type, plus a few that the author took the liberty of adding, but not enough to make a good treasure hunt level. Or a playable one for that matter.

Is this a good Treasure Hunt level? Not in the least bit. There are not enough gems to actually make a worthwhile game and there certainally are not enough to make it good. Oh, yes, and you will have to take the annoyingly long time that it takes to find the end of this level, if you actually bother playing that long.

Is this a Cooperative level? No! The one thing it had going for it, the single player type, has been completely removed. Read: all enemies have been deleted. Sure, I suppose it could fit the most loose definitions, but it certainally is not a “real” cooperative level.

Is this a good Cooperative level? No. The eventless blocks look ugly like the Heavens, there are no enemies, and play is one hundered percent boring. Avoid this mode at all costs.

Is this a level with eyecandy? Every level has eyecandy. This level included. But what eyecandy is there is really, really bad. Like the event-lacking blocks.

Is this a level with gameplay? Sort of. There is gameplay, but it is not good gameplay. For any mode except single player, this level has terrible flow. And playing in single player is pointless, since all of the enemies have been removed. D’oh.

Is this a level with good points? There are plenty of good points. But no where near enough to even fall into the average category. The author demonstrates some knowledge of JJ2 (like in the description, albeit saying that something that works for 1.23 will work for 1.20 is redundant.) The level itself is just awful.

What are you going to rate this? 2.

Will this level get a download recommendation from you? No way. SO STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS, DIEMBODIED VOICE.

-Trafton

DaPete: I didn’t mean you could be worse, I meant that you did this better than many people would have done it! I wasn’t trying to be negative.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

When someone abandons a level pack and its prospective levels, it is usually because one of several things: the pack was not going the way the author invisioned, there was a lack of time, or the author just lost interest in the project. While I’m not sure why Unknown Rabbit decided to ditch this collection of levels, I can say that it could develop into a simplistic, yet fun, single player level pack. Now for the review. The first level, which is named Diagon Fly Alley (a harry potter reference, the filename is tubby.j2l, which does not have any connection to anything that I can think of right now) is based in Jungle. The first thing I noticed about this level was that it does not have an excess of eyecandy, and that eyecandy that is there is not particularly creative. Still, gameplay was solid, and there weren’t many tile bugs. Near the beginning, there is a hole which opens up leading to a secret (designated by a text sign), but I would not recommend waiting such a long time for such a small secret. Next, there is a swinging vine which goes through walls (and takes you along with it). Fortunately, there are warps in the walls in case you get stuck. A hard-to-get One Up lies above. The level becomes less easy to navigate as time goes on. One place is very hard to not get stuck in. Enemy placement is also substandard. Some enemies are in places where the player would fall right into them – ouch. Other than that, this first level was quite solid. The second level, “The Diamond Factor” (which, in case you have not guessed, uses Diamondus) plays very much like the first in some respects. However, I have to say this level gets annoying. And quick. If you have never liked the Bees event, I doubt that you will get through this level with your sanity intact. Not only does this level use the Bees event, but it has spikes. And a lot of them. When I say a lot, I mean a lot. There are about ten seperate long spike fields to avoid. Do not expect to get through this level without being damaged some. It isn’t hard, but it also is not easy. Another gripe relating to enemy placement surfaced. I entered a very slow sucker tube leading to full health carrots with two lives. Nearby bees swooped in while I was in the tube and killed me when I was less than one tile from the carrot. Argh. Unknown Rabbit also seems to have gotten his blocks mixed up. He used sidekick/buttstomp blocks where he should have used trigger blocks. Regardless, this level was still good, despite the small-to-medium sized annoyances. After that, I got through the level only to find that the next level was Diagon Fly Alley again, and then Diamond Zone, and so on. It would be nice if the next level was set correctly when uploaded. There were two other files in the pack, one an apparent duplicate of The Diamond Zone, and the other seacar.j2l aka Flood!, the third (or fourth, depending on how you are counting) level in this pack and the final, as well. Flood!, surprisingly, is a Carrotus level (not Beach), but thereis a reason it is named Flood!. This level is plainly uninspired. All of it is set underwater, which is not my favorite location for a level. Also, Carrotus looks really strange underwater and a more appropriate tileset should have been used (any tileset would work for this level, it uses little more than the basic ground.) Not much to say about this one. It was OK, but linear and uninteresting. This pack, well random collection of levels, is solid but uninteresting. Eyecandy is passable, with few errors, but still not noteworthy. It is not a joy to play, but it is still a good timewaster. Moreover, it is a seven if I ever saw one.

Original rating: 9 (temporarily set to N/A for house cleaning reasons)

The pack is named “Woodlands,” but don’t let yourself be fooled by the unassuming name. This pack actually consists of many, many files which explains its enormous filesize. These files are:

TILESETS
Aztec
Beton
Beton Night
Desert
Glacier
Rocks
Wasteland
Woodlands

LEVELS
AztecBattle
BetonBattle2
RocksBattle4
WasteBattle2
WoodBattle2
WoodBattle3
WoodBattle4

MUSIC
Challenger (J2B)

TEXT FILE
BladesBattle

My first gripe with this collection is Blade’s blunt naming. I normally do not mind when files are given simple names, but unfortunately many files from this pack overwrite others (the tilesets mostly.) I lost about five ancient tilesets whilst installing this pack. I’m sure the pack’s tilesets are better than whatever it replaced, but I would rather have them not replace anything at all. Anyway, on to the step-by-step reviews.

AZTEC (Tileset, aztec.j2t)
“Aztec” is not a new tileset to me at all. In fact, I have used Aztec many times. It is a fairly simple-looking tileset, but with enough skill, a really good level can be made with it. This is similar to many other of Blade’s tilesets – simple but very functional. As the name implies, “Aztec” is a tileset featuring an Aztec (a native tribe in South America) temples and ruins. Also included are some vegitation and things you generally would find in the areas that the Aztecs inhabited. Before downloading this tileset, you have to get one thing straight: if you are looking for a tileset that combines both temple and forest plots so you can make a level with both types, you will be sorely disappointed by this tileset and probably the rest of the pack. Why? Because this pack is about one thing – simplicity. You won’t find any jungle/building/lava pit/ocean/toaster combonation tilesets here. Just simple, high-quality, and to the point works of art. The first thing you may notice when starting to use the Aztec tileset is that it does not use very complex textures. This may be offputting at first, but it really should not be. While it is bare bones in terms of its variaty of tiles, it definitely has nearly everything you could ever want in an Aztec themed tileset. There are six types of wall tiles. One has a brown box in the middle, another bricks, yet another texture-ish roughness, another blank but slightly textured, yet another a skull, and the last one an S (though I’m not sure what you would need an S tile for, I’m sure it could be of some use for someone.) There are many different types of ground tiles for dark and light situations. If you feel the need for some eyecandy, this tileset provides some good, if cartoony vines, and something that is either for a ball game or hangings. There is also a good-looking but cartoony tree, and various other good-looking but cartoony pieces of eyecandy. However, there is one very ugly part of this tileset: the mountains. The purple and dark purple mountains look much more like bubble gum than anything and feel very amateurish. I expect much better from such an accomplished tileset maker, and I was sorely disappointed by this. And also – darnit – Blade elected not to include the must-have sucker tubes. Regardless, this is still a really good tileset that I can see many, many uses for and probably will be used quite a bit.

BETON (Tileset, beton.j2t)
“Beton” is a strange tileset, especially by Blade’s standards. It features a milky-white city landscape with some unproportional eyecandy. There are also spikes. My favorite part of this tileset was definitely the blue-glowing sucker tubes. They contrasted well with the rest of the tileset and gave a sort of high-tech aura to a definitely low-tech tileset. Much of this tileset just consists of land tiles. While I have few complaints about having many different types of land and your disposal, Blade neglected eyecandy in exchange for having such a huge variaty of land tiles. Still, when making a test level with this, it actually looked much better than I expected. I suppose how good this tileset is really depends on the way you use it. For some uses, it could be downright horrible, but for other types of levels Beton could be a godsend of a tileset. Other than the sucker tubes, this tileset pretty much follows the standard Blade formula: simple but effective. The only difference in the formula this time around is that Beton can actually be hard to use. While the general idea of the tileset and how it turns out looks and sounds increadibly simple, going through and finding the right tile for the right situation can be quite a workload. Still, this tileset can produce some good looking levels if enough effort is put into it. This is not my favorite tileset in this pack, nor is it one of my favorite tilesets overall by far, but Beton is still a solid choice. Still, I advise anyone who wants to use it to plan ahead of time or your level could end up looking really bad. A good, solid tileset, that could be terrible in the wrong hands. Still, it has definite promise despite these annoyances.

BETON NIGHT (Tileset, betonnight.j2t)
There is not much to say about night versions of tilesets most of the time. Other than a darker color shade, the only thing that they usually change are some of the eyecandy pieces (for instance, any tileset featuring a sun, i.e. Cool Day, usually changes to a moon in the night version.) Beton Night is not an exception to this rule. There are no new tiles from Beton, or even tile changes, but Blade made some interesting coloring descisions that I think are worth note. First off, instead of simply making it grey and ugly, Blade decided to change the milky-white tone of the tileset to a more managable deep blue. This is probably a good choice, as I can imagine how boring this tileset would be if it was entirely grey. A more appropriate name for this tileset might be “Beton Sunset.” The colors featured on both the sucker tubes and some of the platforms are yellow-gold and purple, colors that are commonly associated with the sunset. I think that I actually prefer the night version of Beton to its day counterpart. It looks more interesting and colorful without sacraficing Blade’s simple style on tilesets.

DESERT (Tileset, desert.j2t)
One would think that a desert tileset would be the perfect tileset for Blade. One would be correct. The simple named (much like everything else) Desert is a very solid tileset that seems to have inspired much of Blade’s newest tileset, Oasis. The ground looks very cartoony, but that does not degrade from the tileset’s quality a bit. In fact, I think that I like it better that way. Sometimes simple can be good. Eyecandy features standard Desert articles. Prickly cacti, desert flowers, and rocks are all present and accounted for. Also included are spikes (every Blade tileset seems to have a great deal of spikes, even a Desert one) and some very spiffy looking brown dunes. What struck me most upon seeing this tileset was that the drawing style resembles that of LeSmashy’s. Simple, cartoony, but really good-looking and functional. In fact, I have my suspicions that Blade may be LeSmashy, but that is another conspiracy for another day. The current conspiracy is how Blade got so good at the kind of tilesets he makes – simple, good-looking, and functional. Desert is this formula at its best. While it may lack sucker tubes (a big BleH for many of Blade’s tilesets), it does have nearly everything else you could ever ask for in a tileset and then some. Plus, it is easy to use. What more could you ask? And don’t you dare say “sucker tubes.”

GLACIER (Tileset, glacier.j2t)
Glacier almost reminds me of an Inferno with ice. The shading is asimilar to that of Inferno (other than the fact that it is blue instead of Inferno’s red.) Also, the land types are like that of Inferno’s. Still, this tileset doesn’t “feel” like Inferno in any way. The sloping land looks great and is as much eyecandy as it is functional land. The 8-bit background, which is ripped, may not look amazing, but it works for this tileset. Also included is a brightly contrasting flower that stands out without looking like a sore thumb, if you will. The exit signs also are very much different from the surrounding scenery, but just like the pink flower, do not look bad compared to the rest of the tileset. It is this level of detail that makes Blade’s tilesets so good. They may not have as great shading techniques as other tilesets, but Blade really knows how to make the most out of so little. If Paint was the best drawing program available, I’m sure Blade would be what Agama is today. Another great, solid tileset from Blade that definitely would be a great addition to any tileset collection and really should be used more. In my opinion, all of Blade’s tilesets are far underused, this one especially.

ROCKS (Tileset, rocks.j2t)
Rocks, which happens to posess the same file name as about ten million other tilesets, is probably not one of my favorite tilesets in this pack. It may look a bit dull, being made of grey-colored rocks and all, but it is fun to use and comes out very well. Rocks has two backgrounds, apparently depending on what kind of level you want to make. One of them is the standard blue background that appears in almost every Blade tileset that has ever been created, and the other is a firey version of the blue background that might just simply be the blue background with inverted colors. Whatever it is, it looks really nice and definitely would lend itself well to any flame-and-lava based level using this tileset. Then again, it might not be so easy making a flame-and-lava based level. After all, this tileset contains rocks and nothing more. If there had been some flame or lava eyecandy hazards included, I would have liked this tileset quite a bit more. However, it does lend itself well to any level which just needs to be made completely of rock tiles. In level making, my level turned out to look pretty bad. This is both my fault and the fault of the general lack of eyecandy in this tileset. This tileset does not live up to Blade’s standards, but then again, those standards are very high. By any other measure, this is a very far above average tileset. It is still excellent, even if it isn’t as good as some of the other files in this pack.

WASTELAND (Tileset, wasteland.j2t)
Wastelands is, so far, my favorite tileset of this excellent pack. It may be because Blade finally decided to make his tilesets a little more high-tech looking, or maybe it is just because Blade accomplished the impossible by making a really good looking tileset that is easy to use and functional. Whatever it is, this tileset kicks hiney. Set in a factory setting reminescent of 7th Lava Fall, Wastelands has a high-tech theme with different pipes and factory-esque entries. All of them look absolutely astounding. The metal parts do not look cartoony, and they do not have that extremely depressing feel that some of the industrial tilesets of the past give off. The spikes, which are disturbing large, also look very good. The ground also looks very spiffy and the masking nears perfection. I think this is the most underused tileset in the pack, if not the most underused tileset period. It has excellent shadings and is overall one of my favorite tilesets of all time. I highly recommend that everyone downloads and uses this tileset. It can make some really amazing levels.

WOODLANDS (Tileset, woodlands.j2t)
Woodlands is an interesting tileset that definitely breaks apart from the pack. It is really the only wood-only tileset that I have ever seen, and it definitely earns props for creativity. The tileset is not only creative, but it is also high-quality. It does not look as spifftacular in JCS as it does when it is actually used, but don’t ever read a tileset by how it looks in JCS. When used, this tileset is excellent. Still, I like this tileset less than Wasteland, mainly because the brown only wood tileset does not look as good or advanced as the neo-metallic Wasteland. Despite this, this tileset, which gives the pack its name, is an excellent one and really should be used more. Blade is the best at this kind of tileset, always has been, and always will be.

TILESET SUMMARY
Sure, Blade may have a simple drawing style, but these tilesets are all astounding. There is no tileset in here that I can not recommend. I only hope that the battle levels included live up to the tileset’s expectations. Temporarily, until I am able to finish this review (I must quit now due to a lack of time), I give this pack a 9.0 and a download recommendation.[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]