Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

It’s easy to dismiss Jazz 2 as just a multiplayer game, because its default single player campaign is so easy (at least if your age is in the double digits), but that’s not really fair. Jazz 2’s single player is easy but there’s still something undeniably fun about it, and many levels over the years—Agama’s Night World comes to mind here as an example—have succeeded on the basis of giving you that gameplay with all the ingredients measured out just right. Keep changing up the flow of things, but not too much, not too frequently, and yet not too infrequently. Ammo pickups, springs, enemies, crates, coins, carrots, on and on and on for as long as Jazz (or Spaz if you’re nasty) can run and jump. It’s a proven formula for success.

Blackraptor does not quite follow that pattern to the letter, despite the level’s name, but instead treats it as a template to add just a little bit to here and there. Enemies feel tougher and more demanding of strategic handling. Health feels more rewarding. Change in level design is accomplished by mixing in and out different parts of the tileset across the course of a single level, rather than employing level transitions to use entirely new tilesets. Obviously the xargon set gets a lot of credit here for offering so many possibilities in the first place, but blacky uses those possibilities to immense effect, liberally covering the screen with layers and eyecandy that somehow rarely (though not never) obscures the level design more than it should.

I played through this level a number of times while it was in development… I’ll confess I haven’t actually played through (or even downloaded?) its final release, which hopefully cleared up some issues I had with unclear design elements, so I can’t comment too much there. One way or another though, there are times when the level becomes less clearly linear than others, and at its extreme that can become frustrating. The level shines when it’s basic JJ2 gameplay with that added bit of polish/heft/zest/shine to it, and conversely falters when it wanders too far off in another direction. The White World is an example of this—it feels very blackyish, to be sure, but it doesn’t seem to totally fit in with its surroundings.

I feel somewhat the same way about the scripted enemies, despite having rather contributed to their existence… the fact that they’re fairly back-loaded, appearing toward the end of the level but not the beginning, gives off the impression that the level was designed linearly and those enemies were a late addition. (Fun fact: basically true.) Obviously I’m not complaining about scripted enemies on their own, but I think a more balanced distribution would have worked better in this case, to prevent the impression that the level loses confidence later on in its ability to please without bringing in bells and whistles. There’s nothing wrong with games getting better or more complicated with time, but it’s important for that progression to feel natural, rather than to give the impression that the earlier parts of the game simply didn’t get much editing after they were first designed. (A similar problem applies in blacky’s JJ1 pack as well.)

Nonetheless, I don’t want to give the impression the above complaints are a huge deal. It’s just that we’re all very familiar with the standard JJ2 gameplay, and when most of the level is that—albeit implemented very well_—it’s only natural to talk about the handful of _deviations from that pattern. But really, the level plays and looks great. It’s huge and majestic, hard but not impossible, pretty but not incoherent. There’s always stuff to do. There are plenty of secrets to find. There are no obvious places to skip ahead. It’s a great level that sometimes strays outside its wheelhouse but is mostly more on point than can be managed by some entire packs.

As said by Blacky, this level follows the core design of it’s predecessor but modernizes everything else. Everything has been enhanced by neat AngelScript tricks and modern design ideas, as well as entirely new areas being added to explore.

Overall, this feels like a traditional single player level with the basic elements of an original JJ2 level present. You run and jump finding crates, collecting gems and coins (for the biggest coin rewards ever!), exploring some hidden paths, and enjoying the vast amount of carrots. Ammo progression is quite natural too, starting off with Bouncers and moving up to more Seekers and RF’s near the end. The enemies are largely untouched by AS, aside from things like a cool boxing glove trap and stronger (ice) turtles and crows. All in all it’s definitely a generic single player level, a very cleverly designed one that is.

The real standout quality here is it’s sheer size and how it tries to form a ‘world’ by interconnecting various areas with different atmospheres and music. The way of progression in this level feels both rewarding and surprising. It’s probably the biggest single-single player level to date if you count just the amount of gameplay. Also a nice feature is it’s excellent use of JJ2’s difficulty setting, which is not even a scripted feature by itself. Not many JJ2 maps have such meaningful differences between Easy, Normal, and Hard even though it’s a feature for events programmed into the game! I lost on Hard pretty early in the level due to the Cheshire Cat part, but got through Normal twice (once without losing a life) in about 1:45 on my first run and 1:15 on my 2nd (those are estimations). And by the way, the boss is very original, funny, and well made too!

Some parts are definitely a bit confusing, such as finding the exit in ‘White Hell’ and finding the cheese (play and you know what it is, lol). Another strange thing is that you are being warped to a ‘hub’ at some point which makes you think you need to backtrack to earlier areas, while in fact you need to find an entirely new area that just happens to be accessible through this hub. Also, Normal mode could use an extra savepoint or 2, getting set back so far at times might demotivate some players.

I happened to get stuck once, and because it’s underwater I had to use jjk to get out: https://s20.postimg.org/vdjqhm0ql/Jazz2_AGen_SP10_Year_000.png

Overall one of the most amazing levels ever released, and unless anything better comes out in December, this will be the clear winner of the JCS Awards. Download recommended? Of course! Lay down your work and play it now!

I’m not sure if one of the JJ2+ updates broke anything, but the music doesn’t change for me. Also oddly “neve.s3m” doesn’t play, and I had the same issue with the original levels.

Edit: I opened up the original UMX file in OpenMPT and saved it as an S3M over top of the one in my JJ2 folder and it works now.