Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Cataclysms asked me to review this, and who am I to refuse? This is my first review after a long break, so don’t expect super duper quality ;)

[I played this in the Medium difficulty level]
Frog Chase (which is a rather unoriginal level name) is a level in which the player plays as a frog and has to collect coins to reach the level exit. The coins are either hidden or guarded with enemies (or both), and it’s quite a challenge to finish the level without dying once (at least it was for me).
The level itself is linear and rather short, even when travelling through it in a slow pace (e.g. when you try to find secrets). When you walked through the whole level, you will encounter Bubba, who is accompanied by a Tuf Turtle and a Bat. He’s standing on a floor that collapses after half a minute or so, so you’ll have to withstand him (remember you can not destroy or harm enemies while you’re a frog) until the floor collapses and you will be warped back to the level’s start, where you can either collect coins you didn’t collect yet (there are 10 coins, and you need all of them to finish the level) or warp to the level exit.

The level idea is quite original, I must admit – it’s all been done before, but together it’s a nice change from the usual run-through-the-level-and-kill-everything gameplay. However, the level suffers from several bugs. For example, you are chased by a floating lizard through the whole level, but you also encounter several exploding TNT bombs – a smart player will use it to destroy the lizard and make the level a lot easier. This might be an intended effect though, as the level is hard enough without the floating lizards – bats are a real pain in the (-) when you can’t destroy them. Another bug involves Bubba – as you know, he easily jumps through solid ceilings and that way he’ll probably disappear sooner or later while fighting him. The layer work could use some improvement too: you can see half-hidden events here and there, which looks strange. By the way, please always place one-way events on the large four-branch trees.

Apart from that, the level is pretty decent. Average eyecandy (nothing special, but it does the job – try to use tiles in ways they aren’t meant to be used next time, it usually turns out great), some bugs, a few easy puzzles, and a high score on the originality scale – a seven would fit. Download this if you like to play something different.

I played it, and now, the time has come to review it! :)

Gameplay
In the very beginning you turn into a frog. Seeming that you can’t attack, you must run from your enemies. When you found 10 coins, you can exit the level. Nice idea, but it needs some improvements, like a story (As you mentioned).

Eyecandy
Not much eyecandy… And even a few tilebugs… Try to find the correct tiles for every corner and such.

Creativity
In this level, loads of puzzles and other stuff I never saw before. Very nice on the sucker tube usage.

Originality
Frog levels aren’t that original, nowadays, and also since this level hasn’t got a story… Well, it’ll cost you some score…

Overall
Not a very bad level, but at least you had some creative points.

Good Thing
Push a crate on a TNT to explode it.

Bad Thing
Scenery and Tilebugs

Score
8

Download recommendation
It is worth the try, and you could learn something from the idea’s used.