JJ2 campaign - rather mediocre experience?

[MartiusR]

Funny thing, but somehow I feel that I've taken a look in more "reasonable" way on Jazz 2 content after playing in Jazz 1 (which I've played many years after Jazz 2). My first contact with Jazz 1 ended rather quickly, but with GOG release I had motivation to get back to it (especially with my GPD Win, where I could install both games and enjoy JJ and JJ2 on the go).

Basically - I feel that (freshly after playing and finishing "main single player content" in Jazz 1 and Jazz 2, I've repeated Jazz 2 campaign to refresh memory), that in Jazz 2 campaign is a bit... Bland? Rather mediocre? I know, that Jazz 1 has many things/sins like using the same "section" pattern 3 or 4 times in the level to "extend it" etc. But still - I had an impression, that every episode was very entertaining, very engaging and... Some of them quite hard. And this variety of enemies and graphic themes!


Sadly, I feel that I can't tell the same thing about Jazz 2. Not only that it's "taking again" many enemies or graphic themes from Jazz 1, but also because variety is limited, levels seems to be not so "intense"... . I have impression that in Jazz 2 there is much more "power" in additional features, such as level editor/custom levels and multiplayer mode. So basically all those things, which players are taking care of after finishing "pre-made" SP mode.

It's like Jazz Jackrabbit 2 could be named as well as "Jazz Jackrabbit Designer" or "Jazz Jackrabit Online" (I'm referring here to such games as Rayman Designer and Lode Runner Online, which IMO seems to have quite similar role in their series as Jazz 2).

Of course I don't want to go into conclusion, that Jazz 2 is overall mediocre game. Oh no, it's still great in my opinion! But SP campaign? Seems to have quite a lot of lacks, very noticeable for game from 90', when SP mode was for many games only mode (for other SP mode was a "main course" of the game).

Do you had some similar thoughts? Or maybe on the contrary?

[Jelly Jam]

Might be worth mentioning that those levels were meant for 320x240. I guess you were playing in 640x480, which was added a bit later in development.

I personally never tried playing through the single player campaign in lower resolutions. Might be worth a shot.

(Jazz Jackrabbit Maker. The reference is obvious.)

[Seren]

A significant part of the community shares a similar sentiment. The official JJ2 levels and enemies appear as if they hadn't been designed with capabilities of the playable characters in mind. It is presumed that, during development, players were gradually given more power - such as the ability to see more thanks to increased resolution, the ability to constantly run at full speed, and special moves - and the obstacles they face weren't updated to account for that. As a result, sufficiently skilled players can feel invincible in the official campaign and since it's hard for them to find a challenge, it's easy to lose interest.

In spite of that, I don't think I agree with your reasoning. It's only natural that some of the enemies and locations from the first iteration of the game would be transferred. It provides a sense of continuity. You wouldn't complain about Mario fighting Goombas in the Mushroom Kingdom again - that's just where he lives and who his archenemy's henchmen are. JJ2 does not even revisit that many themes of JJ1 outside of Flashback, the episode specifically meant to be a throwback to the original game. It makes sufficient sense given JJ2's time-travel-based storyline. And despite borrowing old themes, the game goes to great extents to refresh their looks and give them new mechanics.

JJ2 still introduces new themes every two levels: castle, Carrotus, laboratory, colony, Alice in Wonderland, beach, jungle, and two different iterations of hell, and the palettes alternate between day and night on each level. I find it hard to see what your complaint about visual variety pertains to. Gameplay variety, now that there's not a lot of. Many levels introduce new elements, such as the flying carrot in Castle, the airboard in Labrat, pinball bumpers in Tubelectric or falling rocks in Jungle, but they seem to fail to follow up on them and turn them into a significant recurring theme. A commonly used rule of good design is: introduce a new element in a safe scenario, then reuse it in a dangerous scenario, and then start mixing it with previous elements. JJ2 doesn't do that. Often it just sort of introduces a new element and then abandons it forever. Its levels do not show a lot of thought put into them.

[ShadowGPW]

The original JJ2 levels aren't as great, tho for it's time it was fun. If you compare it to the levels people design in here, those self designed levels are much more of an enjoyable experience. :lori:

[Magma Dragoon]

In general, JJ2 gives me the impression that it was rushed for release, not only because of the amount of content which didn't made into the game but also because the game is fairly short (only 4 episodes total) and easy.

[Violet CLM]

"Rushed to release" I have trouble with. Many projected release dates were missed, and the SP campaign was essentially complete a year or more before the game was published.