Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

WOW!
Are you kidding me?!?!*

This is just Amazing (yes, with the capital A!).

Violet CLM made a final punch in proving that he is a PROfessional level maker and very talented developer full of ideas. I was observing some of his work before and I really think that the rest of the people whos work I’ve seen can not come even close to his Jazz Jackrabbit convertion skills.

By professional level maker I really mean that his work in this particular area is professional (and by “professional” I really mean professional). The levels can’t get boring at any point (i’d say that they are much more interesting than the original JJ levels), they have their own feel, very innovative, but at the same time you can tell that someone put a lot of thinking in constructing everything to make sense, That include eyecandy, placement and gameplay – everything with a very high standards.

By talented developer I mean that it takes some damn freaking talent to take an old DOS game and convert it to something new, but at the same time balance it right, so it won’t lose it’s own atmosphere and at the same time combine that atmosphere with the one of the different game from a different platform (Sonic, in this case). SWAG is so full of new goodies invented by Violet that it really warms my heart. The popping tiles from the lava (WOW), lava going up and down, destructive blocks, blocks falling down, blocks swimming, riding platforms Jazz can jump on, bunch of new enemies, some of them very complex (consisting of a lot small parts), new pick-ups and so on to infinity…

By claiming Violet’s JJ convertion skills the best I mean that he definitely knows how to convert something, enrich it with his own inventions, and at the same time keep the original feeling. I don’t know too much about Sonic, but playing SWAG I felt like playing Jazz Jackrabbit 1 for the first time, when I still was wetting my bed at night. I do NOT have this kind of feeling when playing the original JJ1, maybe because I already know it too well, and it rather bores me instead of bringing me some emotions. That special magic which was present for that first time is gone, it stays only deep in the memory and will never come back… But SWAG felt so real, so JAZZ JACKRABBIT 1 and at the same time felt so FRESH. It definitely went very deep and freed a little bit of that magic.

Achieving that is a huge success in my opinion.

It’s not hard to not see one thing, not only through SWAG, but also throughout all Violet’s works. While being very keen in converting, bringing back memories and in programming, he is not that good in graphics / drawings. All of his biggest works are based on copying other peoples’ graphics. Usually it is JJ1 (as Violet clearly is way more into JJ1 than JJ2) but in case of SWAG I could see variety of sources. Primarly it is still JJ1, and then Sonic (I’m guessing), but there is more to it. For example Agama’s Heaven (Labirynthion which also include some of the Marbelara tiles which were never present in JJ1) etc. And… I love it! I love the fact that someone can realize that he is not that good in one area and lets the others to do the job, instead of throwing some crappy art which completely doesn’t fit the graphical touch of the base of the tileset. In this case he just took someone else’s great pieces of work and… NOT just throw everything together and be like “Hey everyone! Check out this cool collection of nice graphics”, but blending the gathered material, achieving unique atmosphere of the new worlds. That takes some brain, not just research, copy, paste.

I think in this matter everything is perfect. There are some things I dislike, though:

• I’m not necessarily into the music choice.
• Gravis is my least favorite world, even though I still think that the tileset is perfect. I just don’t like the way eyecandy is placed in here – it’s too messy, platforms look like they have tile bugs (I know this placement is intentional, I just don’t think it looks good), there is too much going on with all that flashy stripes and mini-Jazzes flying all over the sky, the only enemies that fit the theme is that spiky creature and the jumping, annoying blue thing. The red crab (from the first episode) and the Grey Rabbit (even though an excellent enemy! I love him!) don’t fit the industrius-like atmosphere.
• The bonus stages seems to be corrupted. You can walk on all the platforms, there are no borders to stop you.
• The water system in Labirynthion is confusing, especially if you die and restart from a save-point.
• The biggest disappointment was when I finished the first episode… I was fooling myself that there are actually 6 full episodes with the same ammount of levels as in Jazz 1 (but probably that is mentioned somewhere in a description, I just didn’t pay attention).
• Few minor bugs.

Despite all that I am still giving a 10 just because this piece of work deserves it. It is simply brilliant, the author went an extra mile in many aspects of the game, he packed it with completely NEW things unseen anywhere. He never used any of the old enemy from the original game, he even placed a completely new weapon (I love that pineapple-granade! As seen in Technoir used by that annoying pink tank), the secret levels have completely new theme (at least the one in episode 2 has – and oh boy, I was nicely surpriced!)… The only thing missing is new music for each theme.

*What the hell? Such a great piece of work with a rating 5.9? This is the other reason why I’m not going to include all the small details in my rating, since the system here is clearly curropted and allows some weirdos to jump on a piece like this and give it a RIDICULOUS grade for some insane reasons. Game is too hard? Oh no!… There are freaking 4 different types of difficulty to choose from! If you suck at playing just go with the easy one. But apparently Ischa expects from a game to be full of eye-candy and no challenge (how that even goes with your “Challenge/difficulty” category of rating?). All the creativity and work are not even mentioned, all there is are some platforms placed not low enough and Ischa is having problems in jumping onto them. Stupid reveiws like that should be deleted and the authors should be banned.

If you expect from a game just a beautiful eyecandy, then turn on the episode of Care Bears and don’t even bother to start playing any game… GAME MEANS CHALLENGE! Also, in such a big and ambitious projects like this one there is way more to take into consideration than just eye-candy and difficulty. Since you clearly don’t understand that you should really never post any review. Ever.

Sonic With A Gun is probably the fourth most ambitious Jazz-related project to ever see completion. The first three are Jazz Jackrabbit, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, and JJ2+, and now that I think about it, I’m not really even sure about those.

In case your country has censored the upload description: SWAG offers six new Jazz 1 episodes, most with two normal levels, a secret level, and a bonus level. If you only include the normal levels then you would expect roughly the size of two original Jazz episodes, but most of the SWAG levels are much longer than the original Jazz levels, so it is closer to 3 or 4.

The levels do a remarkable job of stuffing themselves full of Sonic references, and while the game is still, at its core, Jazz Jackrabbit, SWAG feels very distinct from that. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a different game, but it feels much more like a full-fledged expansion pack (one of the cool ones, not horse armour) than a mere set of custom levels. Every planet has its own complete tileset, most of them more intricate than the original Jazz ones – Emeraldus is certainly a lot more attractive than Muckamok. Despite most of the graphics coming from some part of Jazz, the environments feel completely fresh, due to how much those graphics have changed. Just look at the 1st and 3rd screenshots. You won’t see a single enemy reused from Jazz, either – every single one is new, and there are lots of single ones, too. This being Violet, some of them are positively evil in their behaviour and placement. Even the pickups have new sprites!

The level design is tight all around, several times more appealing than that in the original game. Levels are filled with multiple paths, cool tricks, and interesting challenges. Despite many levels having complex layouts, it’s rare to feel lost; there’s a fantastic job done of showing the player where to progress. Or maybe that’s just because you always want to get from the left side of the level to the right side of the level. Whatever. The only planet that didn’t really impress me was Gravis – the graphics were surprisingly dull, with little detail and lots of floating coloured lines, and the pinball portions were really awkward with Jazz’s physics.

I was also very impressed by how well Sonic’s bonus levels were recreated. They’re certainly a lot more exciting than the original Jazz bonus levels – although I would have loved to be able to see the UFOs from more than 2 centimetres away.

The boss fights are on par with Sonic 1, and a good deal more interesting than the ones in the original Jazz. Then again, a trained gerbil could beat the boss fights in the original Jazz.

Playing SWAG, the only things that really bothered me were the timer running out on later levels (like I said, they’re long!), the small field of vision in Jazz (but SWAG handles it /much/ better than the original levels), and the limitations of the Jazz engine itself (every now and then you might notice a spike ball or spring spontaneously ceasing to exist).

I don’t think the difficulty was actually that much higher than the original Jazz levels, I didn’t have much trouble beating it on Hard. Mind you, Jazz 2 single player is about as difficult as drinking a glass of chocolate milk, and by comparison Jazz 1 is more like eating a small cactus. Except the cactus is actually delicious.

SWAG even has its own title screen. This is a product that is impressive in every respect, well worth the time it took to develop. I mean, the worst things I could think of to say about SWAG were actually complaints about the ORIGINAL GAME. I haven’t ever had that reaction to a mod before.

Rating? 9.8, because I’m reserving 9.9 for an especially large piece of the True Cross, and 10.0 for a machine that turns my toenail clippings into money.
Quick Review? I don’t think so.
Download recommended? What do you freaking think?

P.S. After completing SWAG, I managed to fix my Windows computer. Coincidence? Okay, yeah, it probably is a coincidence.

I am not a professional reviewer, and this is my first about at JJ1 mod, so please forgive any stupidities I may write! ;)

Sonic With a Gun is absolutely phenomenal. It combines the high quality design of the original Jazz Jackrabbit with new and experimental additions to the engine, allowing for more variety in gameplay.

Unfortunately, I have never played Sonic and can review this strictly as a Jazz Jackrabbit game, but here we go:

Emeraldus: This level is the closest to the original Jazz in terms of gameplay, nothing new is really added here (aside from the new enemies). To me this is the least exciting world, including visually, but then again, it wouldn’t have been a great idea to give away all the cool stuff right in the beginning of the game, so it’s all good. And is it just me, or there are not really any emeralds in this tileset? ;)

Marbelava: Despite the title, this feels way more like Pezrock than Marbelera. This is where things start to get interesting, and the gameplay is already significantly more varied. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I will say no more, other than that you have to see it for yourself.

Gravis: This is pretty much Industrius revisited, but again, with many new enemies and enchanced gameplay. I love that miniature version of the final boss (the gray hare) as an enemy! My only criticism is about those horizontal lines suspended at random places in mid air, they look kind of awkward.

Labyrinthion: This one is perhaps my favorite in terms of visual appearance, and again, a slightly different kind of gameplay here, this level is more puzzle-like. I do not have anything bad to say about it.

Noirlite: I hated it when I first played it due to how difficult it was (seriously, this one is not recommended for noobs). The death pits were especially frustrating. But after practicing and finally completing it, I can say with absolute confidence that it is one of the best planets in the game. However, I’m not a big fan of the Pezrock music in the first level, it just doesn’t fit the level at all. For some weird reason, the second level uses the Tubelectric music, which goes way better with this planet.

Cloudsduel: This is the only bad level in the game (only imho). It is about as linear as it can possibly get, eye candy is poor compared to the other levels, and all i need to do to complete it is press continuous fire and travel in a stright line to the exit. It would have been a million times better if it was an actual level with a cloud-themed tileset.

Fabricant: I don’t even know what to say anymore, other than this level is amazing, just like almost everything else in the game.

I also found three hidden levels (or two, since one of them comes after Noirlite level 1 anyways, so I’m not sure why it is called Hidden zone and whether there is another secret level on that planet). I love the fact that you use completely new tilesets for the secret levels instead of just making them a part of the planet on which the exit to them is located. On a sidenote, that Hidden level on Gravis is EXTREMELY annoying. If you find it, you will see exactly why ;)

UPDATE: Today, while playing this game with all kinds of cheats, I found the regular exit in Noirlite 1 for the first time. It’s funny how the hidden zone is actually easier to find in that level than the real exit. I also found the secret level in Emeraldus. Not much eye candy here, but it uses a pretty cool engine feature.

I like those “mystery weapon” orbs, I find that they are a really cool addition. I also like the new Grenade gun (which actually shoots pineapples lol) although I still haven’t learned to use it properly, i keep missing the target most of the time :/

I’m not sure why, but on the bonus maps I can walk anywhere, the borders of the road do not work. Is that intentional or a bug?

So, on to the ratings. I do not want to have the poor rating of Cloudsduel bring down the overall rating of this otherwise mind-blowing pack, so I will give that level a separate rating. For gameplay, it’s a 2/10… maximum 3. For design and eye candy, 4/10, because I like how it starts where you finished on Noirlite and then blends into the cloud world as you fly up on that airboard, but the rest of the level is very bland and uninteresting.

As for the rest of the game:

Gameplay: Solid 10/10

Design and eye candy: 9.5/10. Emeraldus and its hidden zone are noticeably more basic looking than the other levels, but maybe that’s just me. Also, those horizontal lines on Gravis… i don’t know.

Difficulty: 10/10 It’s nice how levels vary in difficulty. It’s somewhat harder than the original JJ1 levels, which can be good or bad depending on personal opinion, I think it’s great, after all, if you are downloading this, you probably want something new to play in JJ1.

Music selection: 8.5/10. Music selection is flawless other than for that first level of Noirlite, as mentioned above.

Final rating: 38/40 or 9.5/10.

Download recommended? Should be obvious :)

Sonic With A Gun… it’s promoted on the homepage of Jazz2Online, so it must be a very good download! And today I gave it a shot.
It contains a pack of six worlds. Firstly we have Emeraldus, which was a tough start already, it was a hard job for me to complete. The second world of Marbelava was my personal favorite, I especially like the part with the platforms floating on the lava and the ‘eruptions’ carrying a platform allowing you to make it to a higher spot. Gravis was very, very hard because of the – so high that they are nearly impossible – jumps I had to take. Especially the ones with a bad guy waiting you up on top. VERRRRY frustrating. The pinball like places however are a nice touch! Then we have Labyrinthion, which was a labyrinth for sure: it was very difficult to find my way through, you can easily get lost. Noirlite let me actaully feel like Sonic with those ‘loops’. It is however very easy to fall to death. The final world of Fabricant was another big hell to get through, just like in Labyrinthion you could easily get lost and the spears sometimes simply block your way, with just no way through, actually forcing you to pump it full of lead before it finally blows. I think the overall difficulty of these levels is way too high for the average JJ1 player, so that necessitates me to reduce that from the rating of these levels.
Eyecandy is simply great! You really took your time in creating these levels. The backgrounds are very well decorated. I especially like the touch of that mast in Noirlite, which actually moved! That was very cool, I can’t remember seeing that before in a JJ1 level. But what I like the most, is the revamped menu! The Sonic theme of the levels continues in the menu and that was something I never saw before!
I think the overall difficulty of these levels is way too high for the average JJ1 player. It’s a good thing that levels are challenging, but it should not be too hard, especially not in JJ1, where you move so fast and you don’t have that much view around you. If you would’ve created these levels in JJ2 I think it would’ve been a better play, for JJ1 however it’s a total disaster.
Item placement is much better. You’ve spread the collectables well throughout the stages. Because of the hard difficulty however, some extra checkpoints on certain places wouldn’t been a luxury. The (revamped) enemies were great! I especially like the custom bosses at the end of every world.
For the gameplay I already told about issues like the hard jumps in Gravis, getting lost in Labyrinthion and the spears in Fabricant, making the gameplay not very smooth on certain moments, but there is also something I like, which are the 3D bonus stages, once again revamped. Instead of blue gems you have to collect purple UFO’s! And I also like the pinball, of course.

I’ll give you the points for your upload.

• Eyecandy gives you 20 out of 20 points, with extra compliments for the revamped menu!
• Challenge/difficulty gives you only 2 out of 20, because of the difficulty being way too high.
• Item placement gives you 7 out of 10, that’s a bit lower because of the checkpoints which are missing on certain places.
• Gameplay gives you 20 out of 40, because the gameplay is not always smooth, but I really like the 3D bonus stages and the pinball.

That makes it a total score of 49 out of 90.
For the final rating: 49÷ 90 × 9 + 1 = 5.9. See for yourself if you want to give this download a go…