Author: Steven Wakeman
Year: 1998
Genre: Single Player
Filename: Peachb.j2l
Download: J2C, Mirror
For my first review, I have chosen a compilation of two of the earliest user-made JJ2 levels around. These were made by Steven Wakeman, more commonly known as Wakeman, a prominent figure in the early JJ2 community and primary maintainer of the original community site, Jazz 2 City. While he's not usually recognised for his JJ2 levels, he did have a degree of talent as these early efforts show. Carrot Cream is the older of the two, and is of noticeably lower quality, while Peach Beach has a much more professional feel to it.
Both levels are fun to play, and pose a reasonable challenge, especially since they have a high degree of support for the different difficulty levels the game has to offer. Peach Beach is by far the superior level, being more fun, better looking, and structured better. It's the main focus of this download, since the other level seems to be included as more of a bonus than anything. The problem with Carrot Cream, besides the lackluster eye candy and somewhat amateurish feel, is that it has no real structure to it, being essentially a series of unconnected rooms linked together by warps, arranged in a fairly arbitrary manner. This makes the level rather uninteresting and linear. Peach Beach on the other hand allows some degree of freedom in exploring the level, and allows the player to get from point A to point B in a far less convoluted manner.
An interesting note is that both of these levels take place, to a large degree, under water. This makes them have a similar feel, despite the difference in visual design and quality, and helps tie the two levels together in what would otherwise be an unrelated pairing. Some of the design choices for the submerged areas are a bit strange, for example monkeys who live at the bottom of the sea, but overall these levels use water purposefully and effectively.
Overall I would consider this a worthy download, and while it's not the best collection of levels out there, it's certainly worth playing.
Good:
- Entertaining; short enough to never get boring
- Good support for difficulty levels
- One of the first custom levels made
- The second level isn't very good
- Nothing spectacularly original
4 comments:
Haha, that's ironic. Yesterday, when you were talking about levels that could be possibly reviewed, I went to Jazz2City and downloaded Carrot Cream and Peach Beach :)
All in all, a pretty nice review. Makes me want to play it again, aside from the fact I just did yesterday(!)
They're Sea-Monkeys!
When writing this review, have you assumed that we already know and have played these levels? I suspect you have. Review writing becomes more straight-forward when your audience already has pre-existing knowledge on the subject; however, this methodology leads to the foregoing of a level's defining aspects. It's not enough to say the level has water, that it does or does not look good, or that it's exciting or fun. Those are sweeping descriptions you can use for just about any level. There should be more. Fortunately, description can be kept to a minimum by providing captioned screenshots of the notable areas (might I say that the two screenshots provided here paint a rather boring picture). Make each review as unique as the level it's coupled with.
In order for the blog to prove its worth, it has to offer reviews of a standard not only different from but better than that of J2O's. You're already on your way there. Not many J2O reviews offer a background story, for example, even if it's a little thin. Take it further and do some research: ask other people about their playing experiences, ask the author about the level whenever possible, and, dare I say it, comment on other people's reviews once in a while.
It's a marvelous idea to review noteworthy levels, and in chronological order too. It opens up doors, gates, portals of opportunities. At any one point, you're given the chance to step back and write about the community's progress. It's the perfect position to take when commenting on the history of JJ2 level making, as well as utilizing hindsight to provide a modern perspective. In this respect, your first review is a fair start that nevertheless could've been more satisfying.
Thank for your your feedback, Frazer. I'll keep in mind everything you suggested.
Writing my review, I assumed it would be read by a mixed audience of people who have played the level before and people who have not.
I think the problem with Peach Beach is that it's main defining aspect is that it is one of the first single player levels made with JCS. It's so old that it was actually on Epic's official JJ2 website. Other than that it's pretty generic, with little that stands out and is worth mentioning in a review. I'll admit that I could have chosen better screenshots, but really, there isn't that much screenshot material available in the first place.
I'll be interested to see what you think of my next review, which will be of Another Story. It's already written, I just need to touch it up a bit and then it's ready to post. It's a much longer review, and it talks a lot about its greater influence rather than the technical details (which I think is a more interesting way to go about writing these things.)
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