Author: Qaz
Year: 2001
Genre: Single Player
Filename: redoct.j2l
Download: J2O
This level is being reviewed because it is the only JJ2 level where you get to pilot a submarine. Plenty of levels have had cutscenes which take place in some sort of vehicle, but this is the only one which lets the player actually control the thing. It's probably one of the coolest gimmicks ever done using JJ2.
Hunt for red october is a pretty strange level, all things considered. It was made by someone whose only other releases (that I know of) are completely forgettable; at best, they mediocre. Indeed, even hunt for red october has its issues: the gameplay difficulty tends to be unbalanced due to a lack of carrots, and the tileset usage, while entertainingly unorthodox in parts, can be bland and even sloppy. If it wasn't for the submarine segment, which takes up the bulk of the level, this level would be forgotten today.
The authour created the submarine segment in this level by using a number of clever JCS tricks that have to do with layering (background and foreground), and a number of invisible tiles. The overall result is quite compelling, and someone not familiar with the methods used here would be left wondering how it was done. There are, of course, a few cracks in the illusion, but it's as good as it can possibly get using this game engine.
The choice in using the Tubelectric tileset for this level is an interesting one. It has the necessary tiles to make a good submarine, but it completely lacks the material needed for an outdoor setting, which hunt for red october seems to be try to convey regardless of this limitation. The result is a rather surreal environment, with trees growing out of metal tubes, and subterranean caverns lined with red bricks snaking their way beneath the ocean.
The level ends in a boss fight against an enemy submarine. Innovative as the rest of the level, the boss fight manages to use a normal boss enemy in a unique way, turning it into a missile turret. Gameplay-wise it's actually kind of awkward, but the sheer fact that a submarine battle could actually be pulled off in JJ2 is entertaining enough to make the fight worth it.
Overall, this is an astonishingly unique level that is all about showing just what is possible if you are creative enough in making levels. I can't give it a perfect 5.0 due to the gameplay issues, but this is still one of those levels I recommend to absolutely everyone.
Good:
- The one and only submarine level
- Defies normal conventions of what is possible in JJ2
- Can be a real inspiration to level makers
- Surreal eye candy can be entertaining
- Lack of carrots and checkpoints creates artificial difficulty; save often
- Submarine control can be awkward, getting stuck in corners sometimes
- Some sections, particularly the tunnels, are ugly
- No music (at least, none included in the zip file)
6 comments:
I remember playing this level back in '01 and being amazed at how clever the author was. After reading your review I went back and played it again and I was still blown away by how creative this level is.
The submarine concept may be a complete gimmic, but it's probably the best executed gimmic ever.
The hunt for red october. It's short - there is little to explore in your littler submarine, so the gameplay's limited. Its plot falls short - submarine or not, it's most unremarkable. Despite those twin torpedoes, the whole ship is being kept afloat, thanks to its one outstanding feature. The submarine concept, in fact, is so central to the level that it becomes the level. It follows, then, that it's not the submarine, but the level that is the gimmick.
There is no denying that it is a gimmick, but it's an incredibly elaborate one. The level doesn't have much else to go on, but that one feature makes it a classic, in my opinion. I'm of course biased - as a level maker, I naturally love this sort of thing. I like the level not for its gameplay, but for what I suppose could be called a more cinematic type of experience. One might still argue that this doesn't justify the rating I gave it, but the scores I give on this blog are ultimately just my opinion, and I'm not trying to base them off of any measure other than how much I personally enjoyed it.
I didn't mean for you to defend your rating, but, yes, I certainly used 'gimmick' as a negative word in my comment, which looks like disagreeing with your high rating. But I also said that the submarine is not a gimmick. Just to clear things up...did you (and Bobby, I suppose) use 'gimmick' as a negative word? Why do you choose that word over, say, 'gameplay feature`? After all, doesn't the submarine affect the gameplay in significant ways, as well as being the level's cornerstone in and of itself, and therefore merit a somewhat more elevated word?
I don't consider my use of the word gimmick to be positive or negative. I use it mainly because this level was a one-off thing, and on top of that, the submarine concept is really not part of anything bigger. The level itself does not have much going for it besides the submarine concept.
To me a gimmick level is any level that is constructed around a novel concept like this one, and uses it to drive the entire level, with everything else being somewhat mediocre. This level is an example of that, but I still love it anyway. A lot of gimmicks suck, but this one just happens to be the coolest thing ever.
Nice level discriptions :)
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