Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Wow. A 9.3 for just a smaller version of Diamondus Warzone? I can not say that I like this level that much, but I suppose I will have to do a rating. Meh, it will not be easy.

EYECANDY
Tileset Use: Tileset use was, well, shrunken. This level is completely the same as the original Diamondus Warzone except much smaller. I have to give points here for retaining the original Diamondus Warzone eyecandy as opposed to messing it up grandly. I can imagine this was hard to do, and props go where props are due. Still, this level does not offer anything extra special in the realm of eyecandy.
Creativity in Tileset Use: Well, the level was pretty much as creative in tileset use as the original Diamondus Warzone. I mean, this is an exact carbon copy of the original except smaller. Still, again, points are due for not totally messing up the level by shrinking it to a minute size. There are many different ways of doing this (all of which involve more effort than you would think), but the final product seemed to turn out fairly well. Epic did do most of the tileset use, but the shrunken version did not ruin their work.
Tile Errors: This area was actually surprisingly good. Sure, the level had a few things that looked a bit off, but in general they did not mess up the eyecandy of the original, which, when shrinking a level, is pretty easy to do. Some things just did not look normal and other visuals took some getting use to, but all in all I was impressed by the accuracy of this recreation and how little it sacraficed for becoming such a small size.
Creativity: This is an interesting idea to say the least, and I am not quite sure whether this level is just a novelty or actually a really playable level. Creativity in eyecandy is in the eye of the beholder in this case. As mentioned in nearly every paragraph of this review so far, it does take quite a bit of effort to make such an accurate conversion. Then again, since they did not make the level, I can not reward them for all the eyecandy points. This is what is making this level so darn tricky to rate.

PLACEMENT OF STUFF
Carrots: The same as in the Diamondus Warzone original, this level contains one full heal carrot in the box with RF’s. However, the box may not contain as much strategy because of its diminutive size. Yes, it is hard to lurk in the box waiting for an opponent and battles in it are nearly impossible because it is so easy to accidentally fall into the warp. This may or may not be a bad thing depending on where you are coming from strategicly, but many people would probably prefer a normal-sized carrot box. This is probably where scaling caused the most change in the level, for good or bad.
Powerups: As always, this level contains only one powerup, the seeker powerup. This has always been one of the more important parts of the level, and getting it is now even harder since the area is miniturized. It is now about double the size of a character, so there will be a lot of colliding between players while trying to get this powerup.
Basic Weapons: There are many many basic weapons in this level. All of them are placed relatively close to the way they were in the original Diamondus Warzone, though some of them seem a little off. During normal gameplay, this never seemed to be a problem, but when making side-to-side comparisons of the two versions of this level, the difference was somewhat noticable. Thankfully, before this level was released, the shield was removed and the flag bug was patched, so there is nothing to crow about there.

GAMEPLAY AND FLOW
Flow/Navigation: Flow is where this level could be considered inferior to the original. Because of the diminutive size of it, it is not hard to bump into objects while going through small areas of the level. This feeling is akin to that of playing Super Smash Brothers Melee in giant mode. While it does feel “off” from the original, it is still fun, but mostly as a novelty. Flow generally was fairly good, but still not up to the original’s standards. Regardless, it did not severely detract from gameplay, and it still was not very hard to get from place to place after you get use to the smaller proportions.
Layout: Layout was extremely good, though a little bit small. Obviously, this level is going to be smaller than the original in overall size, but it still does not quite fall into the “small level” category since Diamondus Warzone was actually a fairly large CTF level relatively. Layout, as it went, was very nice. Still, I prefer the layout of the original to the miniture version, but that is a given. There was enough room to move around but not too much that it did not seem small.

CTF SPECIFICS
Balance: As usual in Diamdonus Warzone, balance was well-done. The smaller version did slightly benefit the blue team, but not significantly enough to complain about. Balance was overall quite nice, though it was slightly distorted by the seeker powerup’s easiness to get in this particular version. Regardless, it is balanced enough for fun play.

SUMMARY
Wow, this is going to be really, really hard to rate. After all, this level was not originally made by the author, but then again it took a lot of effort to do this. It is a great novelty level, but little more than that, and I can not say that it will probably find much popularity in the long run beyond a few oohs and ahhs on first sight. Still, it is a fun “party gag” if you will and maybe even a good level for some late-night sleep baked play. Anyway, this level does not deserve a rating, but I pledged to give it one, so an eight will suffice. There are plenty of other novelty levels out there and (eww) level edits, but this one probably takes the proverbial cake. It is fun to play and there was effort put into it. It may not deserve an eight, but that is what it is getting. Do not ask me why.

+ PROS: Great conversion. Proportions well done. As good as novelty levels get these days.

- CONS: Not really a new work to speak of. The seeker and carrot box areas have changed majorly. Some players will be forced to adopt a new strategy if they want to play in this level seriously, though I doubt that this level will be used for competition.

VERDICT: An excellent novelty but little more than that. It is fun to play in moderation but probably will not find itself being hosted very often after a short period of time. Yes, it is unique. Yes, it took effort. Yes, it has never been done before, but there is only a small niche of people who have probably said “boy, I wish I had a miniture version of Diamondus Warzone.” But for those who have said that, an eight and download recommendation will seem quite low. For all the rest, go ahead and flame the socks off me. But it is about as good and effort-created as novelty levels get, and there is not more to ask for. After all, it is Christmas, and on Christmas I give high ratings that I just end up editing later. Oh well.

EDIT: Removed rating.
[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Wost ever seen, take this off.
wut were u thinking when u made this?

Ofcourse it works in TSF if its a 1.23 level..

Very nice and fun! a 8 will do.

I like it. Good for those who want to have a quick match of DW in a small area or have a huge frenzy with 4 vs 4 in a tiny DW. > : )

ALL HAIL CELL FOO!

Blargh, cos its a re-scale of an original, I won’t give a lot of points. 8.5 for j00 and a download recommendation

Do not upload “test” levels. Please, the tileset use is awful, some of the tiles are actually OK standard. But please, stop wasting J2o space and get a life and build some proper tilesets and levels.

Ghods. FFS We should make a JCS 4 N00bs. This level is not one of the worst n00b levels that I’ve seen, but some of the worst ever ideas. bad eyecandy, bad tileplacement, events not gone right etc. I think you should think about not having a HUGE load of ammo and it will make it a breeze to go through the level. Plan it out. For example look at my pack, Rabbit Force, there’s a good example ;) Nice idea though, keep trying

This is just me! ;-p

I don’t want to rate this because of Super Saiyan’s over-rating, why I think it’s that, is because the carrotus levels are rushed, they look very bad. You didn’t do enough out of eyecandy, thought I liked the levels using Daimondus.
So I would say, you should download this, because it’s fun, but you may find yourself being bored in this pack up to more times.

Yeah.. evil Winzip, re-download all 22 of you. YES YOU THERE. xD

Its awesome! Tha levelz looks like they are the same, but the placement of stuff RUXOR!

Try to hold that style, Blade!
[This review has been edited by Trafton AT]

Downloading, review later.

[EDIT] OK, so start reviewing :).

Story:
It looks like every Jazz2 based story (in shortcut: Go defeat Devan for glory:))

Levels:
AAHhhhh. They are’nt so good as those from RGH, but … they are good :). Too short and easy for me =]. Enemy placement average (fat chicks in Carrotus for example), text strings good (one thing has made me mad: “thanks God for that flamethrower!” :)), some sort of fun (Roseta leaved her bra here ect. ;)), eyecandy average, gameplay good.

Overall:
This pack isn’t the greatest i ever played, but its very good for first try.

So here’s 8.7 for the JJRF team.[This review has been edited by ScionFighter]

Nice program, but one thing bugged me, when i chose the colours in this proggie i would automatically be set to default colours right after. neways, this is a good program. Sorry i didnt review sooner

Well Red, it look long but its finally here, huh. As I should not rate one of my levels Ill just stick up with the rest in the pack. All I have to say is, youve done an outstanding job dude :D Each level has something special in it and I like it. Eyecandy, Weapon Placement, Enemy Placement and Music, theyre all FINE! My compliments for all the authors. And a download recommendation from me. Ow yeah dont forget the warm rating, good thing its christmas for you :p

Edit: People, check out the Flash page, its awesome :)[This review has been edited by Super Saiyan]

the ending YES!

Good level… I also think it’s cool to let it snow in other tileset levels (Like in my own episodes Kill ‘em all when Sevil wanted to turn everything into christmas)… and the size of your level didn’t become boring… as a matter of fact, I like it!!!

Good levels, just like the original…
just watch out that you don’t make them too big or don’t add the same stuff every time. Use some variation, a story or some kind of level boss… but I like your levels!!!

Look, nice levels, but there are just to big, next time also put less gems in it…

Trafton did not reviewed the other level, so I’ll do. The first level anyway was very orginal and lol to play. The jellyfish rule.
GEMneric CTF
This level is TOTALLY diagonal, using the Diamondus tileset.
No, the:
D i a m o n d u s
Tileset. (Bad joke)
This is orgianal like the jellyfish level, but this is diagonal, so i said. There are many diagonal lines you cant see, but that’s okay. It’s again really a orginal stripe-level, with the PuUs hidden etc. No much to say about this. All what I said totally fits it. I give this pack a 7.7.. no wait, again, it’s ChristMas, so I give a 8. Hey you! Catch!

Cool episode including its own story and wiping levels on original tilesets. It aslo includes 9 multiplayer levels.

This episode based on Lost World rox! it isn’t perfect, becuz itz 2 eazy =] The Dinosaur stampede level is kool, tileset too, gameplay ruxor, eyecandy rulez.

DOWNLOAD RECOMMENDATION !!!