Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Perfect example of how a pack of a few good levels is so much more enjoyable than a pack with several bad ones.

A random mess of poor, linear level design, complete lack of replayability, very little effort spent in making the levels look pleasing, all topped up with a weak storyline.

Good theme, also nice to see someone using this palette of the tileset. Not too keen on the layout though, from the looks of things it seems a bit red biased due to being so much easier to defend than the blue base, and tunnely layouts like this are a bit cliché, however it was fairly fun to play despite being a bit confusing at first. D/R.

(Review part of a review exchange. Yes, this review is very late, I apologise.)

Dubbed Marine is the latest effort by arising level creator Crimiclown, who continues to improve, which is shown clearly in this level. This uses the steadily becoming overused WTF Borealis, although this level seemed to be a breath of fresh air in the looks department. The theme is a clever idea and is well executed, instead of the usual “factory” approach with the eyecandy made with this set, Crimi used the tileset in a more clustered way that gives the feeling of something more organic and lifelike; rather than something really neat and organised; yet it still retains the feeling of something man made, however you still get a feeling of decay in the environment as many things begin to lose their shine; like with the brown rotting areas in the walls and the falling ice flows. Combined with the music, you get a very ambient level which stays true to the idea of a lost submarine in every aspect. Bravo Crimi, top marks in this area. =)

Speaking of clustered, this stays true in the gameplay too. The whole level is tightly packed, which although is part of what makes the theme so great, it sacrifices gameplay a bit as with anything with more than 4 players will be horribly claustrophobic, trust me. A bit of a shame really, as the layout structure seems better suited to that of larger games, which unfortunately will get rather messy since there is little room to dodge bullets. However, it’s still a very solid level with an intuitive layout and design, so if you decide to play this level (which I highly suggest), play in 2vs2s.

Moving on to placement and layout design. This is a symmectrical level; although a popular layout type in CTFs today this one felt different from a lot of generic CTFs I see being made today, despite having a seemingly standard design. The carrot situation is fairly normal, a Full NRG in the middle and a +1 in each of the upper corners. Nothing overly creative, but no real complaints so no problem here. The Power up placement was pretty interesting here. This level has 3 of them; 2 Bouncer and 1 RF. The RF PU is in the bottom middle, underwater which requires gun 9 to get at. I’d have much rather it be Toaster though, as it’s quite hard to really run around and use RF to it’s full potential here due to the cramped spaces which will cause you to accidentally bounce of walls with it a lot unless you don’t meaninglessly spam it. Still, does provide a few good uses such as chasing people trying to get the +1s down the long passages. However, it is the Bouncer PU placement I find the most creative. It is placed almost right next to the bases, which could be considered a bad thing as it means base campers will have a consistant source of ammunition, but it works here and saves the pain of running far out of the base desperately searching for a necessary power up, and makes it more challenging to be RTS here. The water was a really important gameplay aspect here as it prevents movement between between the bases from being a few seconds which would be anarchaic. It is possible to go around the water, although the route for doing this is a bit longer so this balances it out. Everything else is solid enough, no real huge design flaws except it should probably be made a little bigger so it can be played better in 3vs3s.

In conclusion, a very solid CTF definately worth your time, I highly recommend downloading it and having a few games in it. It offers a lot of potential fun, and really shows what Crimi is capable of, I see a bright future for him in level making.

The blocks are pretty generic and plain. Which comes to my main about the tileset: the general lack of detail. All the tiles are too basic and lacking in versatility to create anything with it, nearly all the basic requirements of a tileset are not here, not even slopes. Also, the palette is messed up. I’d use a better program next time.

Simple, fun, exciting, this is a very enjoyable level for a wide range of players (except very large games as they can be a bit chaotic) and one of the best FR levels out there.

The weakest of the Agama tilesets. The drawing quality is lower than that of other Agama sets (although it is still pretty good), and the theme is not too justified. On the bright side of things, this tileset contains of a lot of originality and is ideal for creating an abstract level.

This tileset has a great art style. While it is not the most versatile set in existance, it is a very creative image of the concept of a “heaven”, and can produce very nice looking levels.

Easily one of the best tilesets ever.

This has a very random and platformy layout, combined with a generic tileset doesn’t help either. Not terrible, but I honestly wouldn’t reccomend this for a serious game.

This tileset has a very high standard of drawing. Although this tileset may appear easy looking at the tileset layout, this is one of the hardest tilesets ever as it requires the hand of a master to use at a high standard. A lot is possible with this set, so those with some JCS skills looking for something to be creative with should try this.

One of the most creative tilesets I’ve seen. The red colouring and innovative drawing style combined with a unique theme really make this a showstopper. Too bad very little can actually be achieved with this set, else I would have given a lot higher.

A solid, but generic battle level with a cool background and a decent layout. The placement was generally good, but I felt that the hooks were unnecessary and just got in the way a bit instead of helping out the gameplay. I agree that getting 100 coins just for a 15 second Fire Shield is too much. The eyecandy felt quite basic, but not empty.

Faw tried here. While the new additions may come in some use, nothing really here is added to increase the overall usage of the set. It’s not a bad attempt, but really doesn’t achive much. The 4th pallette looks quite nice though, although a little twisted.

This shows how storylines be made, it is absorbing and the levels are designed near perfectly around the story concepts, to the point of making it feel like an interactive DVD. However, there is very little gameplay to speak of. It’s almost impossible to die and can be completed in a few minutes. However, the creativity is what makes it shine.

A fun DOM. The tileset is used in an interesting way to mimmick that of the S&K level Lava Reef, and the result looks pretty decent, however it feels a bit overdone or confusing it places. Gameplay is solid, nice CP placement and in general there is nothing really to complain about. This gets a solid 8, worth downloading and hosting a few times.

Very fun level, but a little too gimmicky for my tastes.

Just wondering, is this level an entry for my contest?

(This review is part of a review exchange)

Chaos. While quite a few levels have “chaos” in the gameplay, no other level ever made has perfected the concept of chaos like this level has. It’s a great achievement that FireSworD has created in his secret lair of JCSing.

The theme of course, is what stands out above the rest. Everything in the levels stays true to the theme of chaos; the background and foreground layers move at high speeds to trick your eyes and create confusion and chaos. The smoke rings above the pit created more chaos. Hell, even the placement creates more chaos by having a very large amount of PUs for a level of this size. Everything in this level feels really synced together, including the music, which just like the smoke rings gets progressively more chaotic and powerful as it continues. All of these elements combined come together for a unique experience.

However, while the “chaos” here feels great, does this level actually play great? While the level generally flows well, the smoke rings can get extremely frustating when they get to high quantities. While I believe this could be adjusted to in time, I don’t think this level would be a popular choice to play in because the vast majority of players these days do not like having to cope with new kinds of obstacles. On your first play of the level you will probably fall in the pits quite a few times, but after a while you’ll likely get used to them and then only fall in by accident or by intention of another player. It takes a lot of skill to master this level, which may turn off some people but others may see this as an oppertunity for success against the weaker players in this level. To succeed here, careful play around the smoke ring area and good predicition are required. I feel it’s quite easy to predict players here because of the limiting layout. What I find genious is that despite the large amount of PUs this level still feels really slow paced in duels, however it becomes a fast paced level when a larger amount of people play.

This level is a work of art for me, however most players looking for serious games will probably look else where. However, FS took the liberity of making a Lite version for the little wusses who can’t stand the smoke rings or the dark feel. This still gets my Seal of Approval simply because of how well the theme is executed.

(This review is part of a review exchange)

Domination is a fairly new game mode. Quite a few DOM levels have been made since Blur first introduced the popular UT game mode into the JJ2 scene with the latest update of plus, however no one has really experimented with the concept; it has a lot of potential, which is very slowly being realised. Who knows what wacky DOMs we may see in the future? This level, though, is the first step into seeing what kind of gameplay Domination is really capable of.

I had my doubts on this level when seeing it in it’s early stages, however Quickz designed the level to near perfection. The thing that possessed me the most was the theme; creative tileset usage made the level appear to be on a quiet shoreline. I consider it genious how the layout fits in perfectly with the theme; it moves up in layers from the bottom right, rising out of the sea onto sand until reaching tall cliffs. Caves reach inside the sandbar in a complex network, containing nice touches such as the waterfalls representing condensation. The music makes the level feel so epic. In fact, this level feels so magnificant that this even inspired me to take a trip to a beach myself, although the weather sucked. D=

Aside from looking great, it plays amazingly too. The positions of the two CPs were no doubt the best; the level would not work anywhere near as well if they had been placed elsewhere. The rest of the pickups are placed with thought, there is only one PU (Seeker), although in the DOM game mode spending time camping a PU rather than a CP would be utter stupidity. The fact that there are no Full NRGs make staying alive harder, but that could be seen as a good thing. The level feels cramped, however not so cramped in a way that makes movement slow, and the cramped feeling in the caves is part of the theme. The thing which I like the most about the gameplay is the fact this level can work with pretty much any number of players; not too big for smaller games like 2vs2s or not too small for larger games like 5vs5s. Pretty much everyone will enjoy this level, and for the moment it plays much better than all of the other released DOM levels.

This level inspired me to work on a DOM level, and I’ve been having great fun experimenting with the concept. In general, this level is pretty damn amazing, I don’t really think there will be any people who won’t enjoy this level. However, what stops me giving higer than 8.5 is that I’ve still yet to see what Domination is truly capable of.