Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

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

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

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

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

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

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

Even though I don’t know what PEZROCK planet looks like. I give you a 9.5 for the conversion.

EYECANDY SEARCH: Just like Dreempipes, good. Again, not many foreground tiles and loads of backround tiles.

FEATURES: I think this tileset has more features than most of the other JJ1 tilesets. You have spikes, Skyline ect. The only thing you don’t have are shooting blocks.

COULORS: Some are too bright, EG. The skyline you could make a little darker.

RATING: 9.5

Download?: You can guess.

Violet CLM Releases Pezrock Conversion

By PT32
March 20th, 2012
Jazz2Online

On August 2nd, 2004, a new conversion of the Pezrock planet from the Jazz Jackrabbit 1 video game was released by Violet CLM. CLM, known well throughout the community of the Jackrabbit games’s popular website Jazz2Online for his high-quality Jazz 1 tileset conversions, apparently completed the set for some kind of birthday celebration, hurrying to finish it as soon as he could.

“[It’s a] totally untested rush job,” said CLM, jokingly adding, “It’s probably not worth the download.”

The Pezrock conversion, while generally disliked for its questionable masking and distinctly bright color palette, was nonetheless accepted by members of J2O as a solid upload.

“Not [Violet’s] best,” wrote J2O member Blackraptor in a review on the tileset, “Although [he] did a good job, considering it was apparently rushed and had no betatesting.”

“The tileset lends itself well to both single player and multiplayer ventures,” fellow reviewer Trafton AT added.

Overall, despite having some minor drawbacks, Violet CLM’s rendition of the classic Jazz 1 planet of Pezrock portends to be another big hit for the veteran tileset maker.

Related story: FoD Cites Rival Pezrock Conversion

_{PT32 is a reviewer for Jazz2Online.}

I keep trying to point out that there’s already been a conversion of this tileset, but what the hey. :D Here is the link to the first one I say, made by Onag and posted by.. well, me. :P

Technically, I only played Jazz1 all the way through once, but it was amazing. Tilesets from it are cool, but as I found in my attempts, not always the easest to use in a Jazz2 level. However, this is a good tileset.
Long live Jazz.