RecommendedQuick Review by mininis11

Posted:
29 Jan 2016, 07:43
For: Coral Coves
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
8.2

good but if you find the exit it kill you

RecommendedQuick Review by PurpleJazz

Posted:
25 Sep 2015, 09:08 (edited 25 Sep 15, 09:08)
For: LFGPU-3000
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
8.5

A clever level with a unique take on a “death pit” mechanic. While perhaps the layout directly in front of the gun could have been more purpose-built, the execution of the concept remains solid. The level is a chaotic and somewhat surreal amalgamation of the different set elements, which looks messy but is visually appealing nonetheless.

RecommendedQuick Review by Seren

Posted:
14 Sep 2015, 21:33 (edited 14 Sep 15, 21:40 by Sir Ementaler)
For: LFGPU-3000
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
8.7

Few levels incorporate instant death into their design as competently as this one. It involves high level of the psychological factor and is very fun to play. However, I find that gameplay becomes repetitive and mechanical after several matches. Only a small linear portion of the level is laser-safe and that’s where most of the game takes place.

RecommendedQuick Review by Seren

Posted:
8 Sep 2015, 12:32
For: Damn Exit
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
8.5

This level is very enjoyable, especially in the collecting phase. Gems are placed almost perfectly, quite time-consuming to obtain, letting every player get a few, and there are many green and blue ones, making the effort feel like it paid off. Unfortunately the layout and ammo placement are less suitable for fights. Also, excellent atmosphere.

Not recommendedQuick Review by Seren

Posted:
8 Sep 2015, 12:10
For: Coral Coves
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
6

One of the worst treasure hunt levels I’ve seen. Its size, along with the fact it’s underwater, demands at least 10 players. However, its linear one-way layout is suitable for perhaps up to 3, any more and all starting gems will be split between a few players, settling the result of the match within seconds. The eyecandy is quite impressive though.

RecommendedQuick Review by PurpleJazz

Posted:
7 Sep 2015, 09:11 (edited 7 Sep 15, 09:11)
For: Ancient Museum
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
8.7

This level manages to execute the theme well with careful attention to the architectural details of the level. It has the kind of functional and creative layout that CTF levels by FS are generally known for. The base areas are perhaps a little too open for my liking, but others may like them for how being RTS is challenging here.

RecommendedReview by Stijn

Posted:
5 Jan 2015, 01:32 (edited 5 Jan 15, 01:33)
For: Damn Exit
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
8

This level is easily recognizable as made by FireSword: lavish eyecandy, heavy on the conceptual side and with some interesting scripted effects. I found that it played fairly well, with a lot of fighting occuring in the lower corridors. On the one hand this was great, but due to the flatness of the level’s bottom area it was also easy for everyone to just run back and forth shooting with their blaster with no one really getting the chance to grab the dropped gems because everyone was constantly blinking.

There’s plenty of room to move around the rest of the level though, so if the fighting at the bottom gets too intense it’s always possible to roam around looking for potshots and gems people haven’t taken yet. There’s a fair amount of gems in the level and there’s a lot of useful ammo in the upper parts of the level as well which keeps things dynamic. The ammo selection is standard but seekers are relatively sparse but also really useful in the vertical parts of the level which makes them all the more desirable.

The level-ending warp is through a scripted portal in the middle of the level that looks rather spectacular, and puts you in a separate area where not much happens if you don’t have enough gems – in which case you just jump down back into the fight. The portal looks great and somehow even attracts players when they don’t have enough gems. The rest of the level is heavily decorated as well and makes ample use of Castle’s slides, which didn’t look that great, in my opinion; a matter of taste maybe, but I didn’t care much for it. There’s a couple of other areas which looked like tilebugs but might have been meant to look like that, knowing FireSword’s style. I guess I prefer a less experimental style.

Finally, the secret mentioned in the description involves walljumping for a bonus of 100 gems. I think it’s a really bad idea, games where people know of the secret will become “who will get there first” races instead of actual treasure hunts. Secrets are cool, but this one is a bit too big.

It’s things like that – the imbalanced secret, the somewhat-too-avant-garde eyecandy – that don’t really endear me to the level. It’s not bad by any means and will make for good games – and it has that spectacular portal – but there are better levels out there, and in this contest.

RecommendedReview by Slaz

Posted:
13 Dec 2014, 23:03 (edited 13 Dec 14, 23:08)
For: Damn Exit
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
9

Before reading further, please note that I drank a bit too much beer while playing this level and feel quite tired writing this review, but I’ll try anyway. Hope I won’t regret this tomorrow. :P

The base setup of this level is a fancy scripted warp around the center that takes players to the upper part where the exit is. If they haven’t got enough gems they can simple enter the battlefield again by falling back into the pit.

The first thing noticable is the customized tileset, which is basically a combination of the original JJ2 tilesets Damn and Castle. The layout makes a lot of use of the abandoned ‘slide’ tiles that were in the Castle set by making clever use of One-Way events. A lot of the level’s layout resides around towers that players can climb by jumping through the One-Way blocks. Overall I really liked this yet the one-tile gaps that you can get ‘run-stuck’ in felt weird at times (it’s not that you actually get stuck, I don’t know how you call that effect, lol).

Weapons placed are the usual bouncers, toasters, RF, and seekers. I like how the seekers are mostly placed on harder to reach spots, since all those One-Way blocks and the vertical orientation of the layout makes seekers far more powerful. Gem placement is done very balanced and I like the placement of the non-red gems and the gem rings (and of course the invisible gem stomp!).

In my public game, most fights took place around the center and the exit, probably because it were mainly random strangers that felt attracted to the scripted portal and were quite slow moving through the various towers.. At least their seekers gave quite a fight. Matches usually ended pretty fast, but I’m sure more skilled players who know the level can make good use of the RF’s and bouncers as well to steal those gems!

I recommend this download, and just as Laro’s entry I believe it’s worth a solid 9. The tower layout doesn’t demonstrate perfection, or at least I think it doesn’t, yet it plays like nothing that has been done before in a treasure hunt level. Originality and overall fun-factor are the true showpiece here!

Whew, that was quite a speech. I’m going to sleep out the alcohol now hehe. ;)

RecommendedQuick Review by Primpy

Posted:
7 Dec 2014, 10:30 (edited 4 Jan 15, 22:11 by Stijn)
For: Damn Exit
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
9.5

I finally got to play it, and it’s amazing! Very few visual bugs but in the rest it looks very nice. The “story” is interesting for a treasure hunt. I can’t wait to play it with my friends!

Review by Ragnarok!

Posted:
6 Dec 2014, 23:29
For: Damn Exit
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
N/A

Looks a hell of a lot better than i imagined from the descriptions

RecommendedReview by Superjazz

Posted:
28 Sep 2014, 15:33 (edited 28 Sep 14, 15:43)
For: A Giant Drifting Log's Jungle
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
8.7

Well, this one is a fairly interesting attempt at making a remake of one of the classic CTF levels from the beginning of times. It comes with two versions; One that is basically a typical CTF level with classic open bases like in the original level, and the other one being a more typical level author-wise.

So how well does this remake pay tribute to the original level, one may ask. Well, in sense of level designing it is indeed quite different than the original and most of the original level’s awkward flow issues are gone. The use of a different tileset and a completely different and creative theme makes the level look like it’s own for some parts, but the most important dw trademarks are still there, such as the basements, the cramped carrot box and the seeker power up area. Angelscript has been used to some extent as well; A player entering the carrot box will receive a time limit until which the player must exit the box, or receive penalty in death.

I personally do think these changes are good and refreshing for the base level, but I have yet to see the level in proper competitive play to solidify my opinion about the level. The amount of eyecandy in the level is massive, which is supposedly used to cover the otherwise rather bland looks of the original level. While I do appreciate this, and I do agree the level looks more interesting this way, I still think it could have been slightly scarcer in a few places, especially the ones with lots of foreground eyecandy.

FireSworD as the author did want to make the players less dependant on the control of the seeker power up in the level, which resulted in him adding RF- and Bouncer power ups into the level, to spice the gameplay up. I will be looking forward to competitive play to see how it works in practise, but for now it seems good enough. I am personally quite undecided whether or not the “one spot concept” in the first edition of the remake is good in practise for a level like this, but at least the edition with classic CTF bases should be a fun level to play.

Download recommended!

RecommendedReview by Ragnarok!

Posted:
27 Sep 2014, 02:31 (edited 27 Sep 14, 02:33)
For: A Giant Drifting Log's Jungle
Level rating: 8.6
Rating
8.5

Hi, long awaited review but I finally started…

EYECANDY (10%)

I don’t intend on writing too much on this section, however all I can notably say is;
- This level uses the set in a manner that is slightly atypical, the level is mostly made of the logs and the wooden structures of the tileset.
- This level features a cool effect using one of JJ2+‘s later features (scripting) allowing a “glimmer of light” to show from the top of the level, showing the player that they are in some sort of woodland with light showing through the greenery above.
- In terms of distinguishing what is masked and what is not masked, this level is pretty simple once you play it for at least 5 minutes; most of the masks are wooden, and there is one section through the middle (which most existing players) will recognise as passable terrain. There is one section spanning form about 9, 19 to about 29, 29 which looks massively plain but a little amount of carebears are present…
- Unlike a lot of levels in this type of tileset, the use of greenery isn’t overdone and is in fact rather “minimalist” in a pleasant way. It doesn’t clutter the level and it just positively adds to the look of the level.
- Functionally, it’s not hard to distinguish between what is decoration and mask, so the level is fairly easy to navigate, so this isn’t a negative factor.
- Cool Devan events in the box!!! And also the text xoxo

GAMEPLAY – (90%)

Okay this is most of the weighting of this section:
- The main balancing factor of this level (in comparison to the remake) is the fact that it boasts a system that makes the team not matter. It’s not really the “balancing act” i was hoping for, but it does balance the level anyway…
- Rather than just one powerup (which the original level pretty much revolved around in the past), this level features three; all of which can be used to different effects and can drastically alter the gameplay from the vanilla version. These powerups are seeker, bouncer and RF. In addition, the level also features a Lightning Shield which can be obtained for the duration of 10 seconds. This also drastically changes the gameplay of any CTF in a dramatically interesting way. The lightning shield has a huge effect on when you have the advantage of the flag, however, 10 seconds probably isn’t enough to break a game, but it is enough to “dd” for a few extra seconds (which makes a huge difference) in a team-game.
- Moreover the “box” from the original level now has a 20 second timer, by the end of which, Devan “devours” you and causes you to die (and subsequently lose the flag). This removes the quirk of control and camping the box, but adds a further degree of control. What I would have liked to have seen was a range of different warp targets from the box though, as now this poses the problem of making the box as a whole, a hazard to begin with…
- Since the bases follow a 2x “onespot” system, the level seems, on a glance, balanced between the two colours. While this is a balance fix, I feel it isn’t quite the fix I was hoping this contest would sprout but, still a fix nonetheless.
- There’s quite a few areas I would much rather be Spaz, but no notable areas I would rather have the ability to copter; not something I penalize, but something I take note of…
- A lot of the spring/layout changes are very fitting to the level and drastically improve the flow, however there are some areas I kinda don’t like as much, mostly around the top right and top left. I feel most of the areas in the level serve no purpose and since this level runs a “one-spot” system, most of the gameplay relies on finding appropriate places to hide and camp once you have the flag, and then safely rush to a score spot. I feel the small narrow area under the right “spot” is very very good for this purpose. The “campiness” of the bases is still somewhat maintained however, since you can jump around these areas, but the main obstacles which made them safe have been removed, so perhaps not…
- I outright feel there’s a severe lack of ammo in this level and it would greatly benefit from a slightly higher amount, especially since their delays are quite long… Perhaps this level is more suited for smaller numbers, and there are more powerups but I really think the level would benefit from a bit more ammo.
- One of the main layout changes in this level is the giant vertical “log” in the middle of which you can drop down. The poles have been removed and I am quite thankful for this change. This makes the level slightly more fluid…
- There is a copter at the bottom of the level which can drastically increase your “climbing” speed in this level and I feel it’s a really awesome add to the level.

There’s not much more I really wanted to add to this review, but I did like the level all in all. Thank you very much for making this stellar level, FireSworD and I hope the review was mildly worth the wait.

EDIT: I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO MAKE MY STUFF INTO BULLET POINTS. FU

RecommendedQuick Review by Loon

Posted:
31 Mar 2014, 15:27 (edited 31 Mar 14, 15:30)
For: Ancient Museum
Level rating: 8.7
Rating
8.9

Another map by FireSworD huh? Quite a good map tho! One of the better maps, if not the best map, FireSworD made. Tileset usage here is really good. Since I haven’t seen many Haunted House maps around here is the eyecandy also really good. You can easily learn the map and the layout is balanced aswell. Download recommendation!

RecommendedReview by PT32

Posted:
25 Jan 2012, 18:32 (edited 11 Mar 12, 16:48)
For: Enter the Chaos
Level rating: 8.2
Rating
8.1

Whoa. Talk about a hangover…

That’s basically what Enter the Chaos by FireSworD is. A controlled hangover. Eyecandy is layered and stretched chaotically. Weapons are grouped in various places. A unique and really fun Chaos symbol formed by a falling Pole event. Darkness, broken occasionally by a brilliant, yet not overpowering flash of light. Erratic music, filled with clashing chords and wierd-sounding samples. Backwards rain.

A Caterpillar event.

In any other level, this combination of factors would result in complete and utter anarchy. In EtC, it’s brilliance at its best.

Every single aspect of FireSworD’s masterpiece contributes handily to an overall impression of disorderly disarray, yet never seems too over-the-top. It’s crazy, but as the old, cliched adage goes, there IS a method to the madness.

EtC is also available in a Lite and Dark variation, which are simply the same level with corresponding light or dark Layer 8 fade colors, plus a few aesthetic differences (like more/less platforms, caterpillar/no caterpillar, etc.).

Do I have any objections to this level? Not many. My biggest problem with Enter the Chaos is with how dark it is. The vines in the wide open central ‘cavern’ were quite hard to see, and it tipped the level more towards ominous and away from chaotic.

It seems, then, that this Enter the Chaos gives…well, chaos…a pretty good name. I like it a lot, and heartily recommend its download.

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
6 Nov 2011, 03:43
For: Battle1
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Compare n00b’s Colonial Building Remake.

RecommendedReview by Blackraptor

Posted:
11 Oct 2011, 07:21
For: A 2-nd Level CTF Pack
Level rating: 8
Rating
8

I played both of these online with a couple of people, and thought they could use another review. So i’ll quickly state my impressions on both of the levels and how they played.

Tyuka’s Realm Forsaken

I had a duel in here, and it’s a really hectic level. The scores just kept piling up with both me and my opponent trying to out-rush each other in a really crazy way. When we both captured the map became a lot more strategic, with a lot of anticipating the opponent’s moves and hit and run tactics. I really liked the base placement, I think it adds a different element to the level and certainly makes for very unique tactics when playing. The fact that it only takes a couple of seconds to reach both bases, and that both of them can be camped simultaneously through the middle area makes it a pretty important area to control esp. to prevent rush tactics. It also makes the pacing of this level wicked fast, which I found to be a really good thing. The level of detail was also well done and I liked the method you’ve chosen to decorate the eyecandy with esp. with the use of the crystal shards. Music choice also boosted the level’s atmosphere and made it more aesthetically appealing. Overall, a nicely made level with a unique gameplay that’s fun as hell to play in. My first impressions were that it is deserving of an 8 or so, but after properly dueling in it I’m inclined to boost that up to an 8.5-8.7 range because of the playability of the level.

Games: Alive Sky-High

This level is substantially bigger than the former so I ran a 2vs2 in it instead of a duel. First impressions are that this is more of a party-based level than one for serious matches for a number of reasons. Although the level is fairly large, the bases are located a very short distance apart from each other. The powerups, shield and also the full energy on the other hand is located on the outside perimiter of the level, meaning that you are basically helpless to defend the base while you are collecting powerups/health. I’ve seen my team member score 3 flags in a row because all of red team was on the outer rim of the level and couldn’t get back in time :P.
Also, the carrot placement I find kind of strange. The Full NRG is easily campable and is kind of awkwardly placed, imo. I’m assuming its there to counter-balance the seeker powerup but the entire area it is in is just a bit strange. The tileset choice is interesting, and very quirky with some quirky eyecandy and a quirky theme. Can’t say I love/hate it like some of the other reviewers but it’s definitely interesting in the fact that its strange and different. I’m not sure what to rate this level, its not bad in larger servers but I would definitely never play a duel or even a team game in this that would be taken seriously. This would probably score around a 7 if I were to critique it as a serious, balanced map meant for 2vs2s or larger.

Finally, I just wanna say that despite of what my comments may sound like I did have fun playing both of these levels, especially Tyuka’s Realm Forsaken, and would certainly rather see them hosted instead of all the overhosted crap like semi etc. that people just play over and over. I really hope you do decide to make more levels in the future as well, FS.

-Blacky

RecommendedQuick Review by Vegito

Posted:
2 Oct 2011, 19:58 (edited 2 Oct 11, 19:58 by vegito)
For: Golem Landscapes
Level rating: 8.3
Rating
9

@ Gry’s rating: Nah, the level gets played a lot, especially at bigger games and perhaps the level is a bit too big for proper 3v3’s, I find it a great level for bigger games. Works well and it is popular. Love the tricks which you’re able to do there too. :)

Review by Zoro

Posted:
8 Sep 2011, 12:48 (edited 8 Sep 11, 12:53)
For: Battle1
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

I see Battle1 in BG, and JJ2 players who fighting there(just kiddin).
Very creatively and nice tileset using, i like it. But the lvl is unplayable for normal and fair battle, and it’s small…

Oh By the way, thank you for this level. It’s inspired me… :)

Review by cooba

Posted:
7 Sep 2011, 19:09
For: Battle1
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

FFS when will you start making modern MCEs instead of that Buttstomp Scenery crap from 2001.

Review by Jgke

Posted:
7 Sep 2011, 18:02
For: Battle1
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

this level sucks the bavkround is to simple and it is stolen from battle 1 and you didnt even change the tile of the level so it shows you stole the bavkround from batle1 an you can fall of the level and not die eyou should make a warp in the botom so players could get bak up if they fall
also the level is to small
and dont prevent ratins, its coward

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