Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

The fact that this project was finished at all, in 2017, only a little over its deadline, is a cause for celebration – earlier collaborative projects have usually ended in difficulties or run into multi-year delays, and this was basically thought up and finished in less than two months. So, well done to the authors on that basis alone.

But is it any good? Yes, it is – the levels are fun to play, have exciting custom enemies and pickups in them and especially the later levels display some beautiful script-based visual effects as well.

That said, the quality is a little uneven, which was always going to be the case with 7 different authors and little time to forge the separate levels into one unified episode. Blackraptor’s and PurpleJazz’s levels are sprawling, scripted affairs while Jelly Jam’s, Primpy’s, Slaz’s and Shadow’s levels are more in the spirit of the Epic MegaGames school of design and consequently a little less exciting, though still mostly pretty good. Cooba’s sits in the middle of these with some light scripting to spice things up.

I think this is actually one of the strengths of the episode, as it keeps things varied, and the difficulty curve is mostly a steady climb from the early, relatively middle-of-the-road levels to the later ones that have new challenges and gameplay concepts (though Shadow’s is a return to the norm). One constant factor are the winter-themed enemies, which are mostly souped-up versions of vanilla enemies such as fencers and doggy dogs. These were great, presenting somewhat more of a challenge than their vanilla counterparts without becoming too difficult (I played on easy). Then there were the Christmas presents, a new type of crates that only break when falling on the ground. These afforded some mini-puzzles where you have to figure out how to get them to fall down, which was also a fun diversion. And there’s also the boss fight at the end – I personally never really care for boss fights, but this one seems well done and wasn’t as unfairly hard as custom bosses often are.

One recurring problem is a lack of signposting. The most egregious example is probably the already infamous tunnel in Blackraptor’s level, which was unclear enough that it necessitated a step-by-step guide (see PJ’s comment). But Slaz’s level also had some annoyingly hidden warps. This kind of problem is often solved by playtesters identifying the issue, something there was probably no time for in this case. So it’s an understandable issue, but annoying nonetheless, and I had to skip part of Blackraptor’s level because I just couldn’t figure out how to continue.

So all in all, this is a varied, enjoyable episode that’s slightly hampered by its lack of testing, but a lot of fun to play anyway. Without discussing every level in detail, I can say that there’s something in here for everyone – even if you don’t enjoy single player usually, you’ll enjoy checking out the new concepts and enemies this episode brings to the table. So click that download button, you won’t regret it.

Don’t know how to solve the puzzle in level 4? There’s a guide for that (spoiler warning).

First, there’s a lack of eyecandy. Levels are short and going to second vanilla Labrat level. Nothing exciting about being bird and avoid some floating suckers. But still it’s a good thing that people are doing some SP levels.

It’s oddly satisfying.
Bonus points for loss.

Unless you are completely bored and just want to kill 100 enemies in 1 blow. This is your thing. That’s it.

I’ve never actually needed to use any of the tools included with this, but the information on JJ1’s file formats alone is invaluable – this is an essential collection of files if you want to do anything with JJ1 that’s not playing it or creating new levels (and even then it might still be useful)

nice level

As always, PJ shows us his skills in making a big battle map using a small tileset, Background and eyecandy are great. Flow is great which makes it easy to travel in. This level is bloody, gorish and intense. If you don’t get super ultra mega extreme insanely hyped when you play this level, I don’t know what will. Download recommended.

I’m going to briefly review each of the levels in this list:

Coagulation:
One of my favorite big-ctf-games level, aesthetically looking, especially the sun, the bases areas and mid-upper section are cool, and awesome music!

Sidewinder:
I like the tileset as it’s not used so often, eyecandy/BG is good. However I think it would be more fit to be a battle map rather than a CTF as the roads are kinda confusing for a CTF map and it gets easy to go astray.

Zanzibar:
Cool layout and theme, espiecally the ship in the background, the flying carrot and the pickups at the top are a nice addition too. Definitely one of my favorite CTF levels using this set.

Eden:
It has bubbles which automatically makes it a good map .A fast paced CTF level. Cool level theme, layout is great, would definitely play CTF matches here

Valhala:
A fun level for medium/big games, especially the bottom area.The stun gun is original and cool (but might irritate some sensitive players). Layout flows good.

Gephyrophobia:
A HUGE level, definitely fun to play in, you might get lost in its vastness, but it’s not a problem, since bubbles weapon fixes everything :)

Adrift:
A gloomy city, played many times here, recommended for large games, It’s good overall in terms of layout and eyecandy. Though I think the other battle levels in this pack are better than this one.

Riddleham Hope Hall:
A rainy castle surrounded by lakes. Fun level for medium sized games (possibly big too), I always like Castle themed levels, including this one of course. Water area is nice too.

Djibouti:
Definitely a unique level as it’s the only level I’ve ever seen with this tileset. Great layout, nice river at the background and the water at the bottom is pretty shiny.

Overall this is a great pack and it is clear that lots of work has been put into it. Download recommended.

10/10 HYPE

I played this level and the eyecandy looks perfect! By the way, the Warp Horizon Texture BG is better than Spiral Texture BG.

Perfect pack! 10/10 HYPE! By the way, Grave of the Snooze level is best played using “IC – Diamondus3” tileset from Impressive Flashback.

Download Recommended!

EDIT: Inserted screenshot of level “Grave of the Snooze” in my own version.

None of these levels struck me as being very solid or classics, especially because of Adrift’s confusing one-way/non-one-way platforms and Sidewinder’s questionable flow, but they are still very impressive in most aspects and very fun.

An enjoyable level. The layout isn’t very special but it looks nice, and has a few scripted weapons that make for fun games. Maybe not suitable for duels or serious games, but definitely a good choice for a public server or a JDC event.

I’m not much for full reviews, so just shortly – I really enjoyed playing this, even though it’s so much different from other levels. It’s a testimony to what can be done with jcs. If you’ll play this with open mind and appreciate what it’s trying to accomplish (more realistic story and level design), you’ll enjoy this a lot!

Constant crashes, can’t even render parallax (at first I’ve thought it would be displayed in the main window as there seems to be no parallax window, but it does nothing and parallax doesn’t show. Also, it shows this on startup: https://pastebin.com/NsMEg69k

[Don’t rate utilities that are not functional ~cooba]

Pretty much must have. Well done.

This pack is very good, the third level music “Mercury Rain” is composed by Skaven, as I checked on Modarchive, so I will edit text string in that level. By the way 10/10 HYPE and download recommended.

This is my best pack of New Ages series! I like these levels, although I have some music files missing.

10/10 HYPE

Download is surely recommended.

Great work snz!!!

Wow its true now.
btw there is no Continue for loop. :-/

This mutator is both fun and useful. It’s really handy especially in giant levels.