Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Let’s see…I’ll start with candionbatle.j2l.

This level, named Sweet Tooth, is a decent level in the JJ1 christmas tileset. The eyecandy is fine for the tileset—you’ve got your gingerbread men, your lollipops, your chocolate, and your oreos—who could ask for more? There are two powerups and two carrots: a bouncy powerup, an RF powerup, a full energy carrot, and a +1 health carrot. I don’t see anything wrong with weapon placement.

The main flaw in this level is in the flow. The RF powerup is situated at the end of a hidden passage on the right side of the level. The room it is in has no exit other than the entrance, basically leaving the level as a circle with a line going off it at one point. I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with that inherently, but in this case it seems to make the level a bit restrictive, IMHO. The layout might also be more expansive, and easier to navigate. There are a few dead ends in other places, too, such as the bouncies at the left.

I’ll rate this level a 6.5-7.0. Before rating it I looked at some other levels with average ratings of 7.0; it seems battle levels have a lot to stack up to in terms of competition, so I would say a 7, or even a 6.5, isn’t a bad score at all.

Next level: Dune Battle, filename desertobatl.j2l. This is a fun level with some nice secrets. The bottom part of the level seems fairly jazz friendly; however, it is difficult for either character to easily navigate through the dunes at the very bottom where one’s view is blocked by a foreground layer. I found this an annoyance while playing this level. Enigma noted that some of the hooks can be replaced by vines; I echo this. There’s a passage in the upper middle that can be annoying to climb through because of the hooks.
Rating: 6.8

Last level: Frostbattle, filename nippiusbattle.j2l. Probably the best level of the pack. The flow is very nice; the level is quite easy to navigate. I see no spaz bias; if anything, the level slightly favors jazz (which isn’t bad). With just powerups (plus ice), the level’s three +1 carrots seem to be enough. Rating 7.2.

Oh, yes, I forgot: the music. All of it blends quite nicely with the levels. I haven’t played JJ1—is this the original JJ1 music? In any case, the 3sms are very nice additions.

Overall pack rating: 7.0. A nice battle pack; download recommended.

I like it…not the best level for duels, but aesthetically it’s quite nice.