Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

MAJOR UPDATE: This review has now been changed a decent amount to accommodate for the improvements made to the level, and the score has been bumped up. I may make another small update if/when I manage to completely, 100% beat the level rather than simply getting decent progress like I have in my previous attempts, but I’m pretty sure this is roughly my final thoughts on it now in any case.

Let me start by saying this: This level has a ton of variety, nice tile-set usage, clever concepts, neat scripted enemies, and generally speaking, I would probably recommend giving it a go. Just to give you all a summary of what I like about it before I delve into details on the positives and negatives.

That being said, with the latest update, while some of the issues have been fixed, a few other issues still remain. I definitely had quite a bit more fun with it this time though.

Positives:
+Excellent tileset usage. It’s a bit of a tricky tileset to use right from what I’ve used of it myself, so this is maybe a bigger deal than I make it sound like it is, honestly.
+The concept of the level. Going around collecting gems while defeating enemies to get ammo to open up more passageways to get more gems and defeat more enemies. This is fun stuff, not gonna lie.
+Nice level design with clever placement of enemies, gems, and other items. This makes the already nice concept even more fun.
+That jump boost item is FUN. Seriously. Okay, okay, it’s a small thing, but the little things count sometimes.
+The rocket booster moving platforms are neat
+The stage tells you your progress, and even tells you how much more food you need for a sugar rush! Both nice touches.
+Nicely scripted enemies with neat concepts

Negatives:
-When Tweedle turns you into a frog, some locations make it way too hard to get back to Eva. I can’t confirm for sure, but some may even make it impossible (certainly FEELS impossible at times in any case)
-A small thing, but some more music variety and/or a longer song would admittedly have been nice
-After a certain point, exploring the stage starts becoming somewhat less fun, mostly because, best as I can tell, the stage isn’t really all that big (best as I can tell, I actually encountered most of the major areas of it in one run or another, even if I still haven’t beaten the stage properly yet). Since the core concept of the stage is exploring around to try to find things, this… kind of makes the stage start losing its charm after a while, unfortunately.
-The ammo is a tad bit too scarce for my tastes. This isn’t an objective flaw, especially with how the stage is designed around said limited ammo, and it’s a pretty small issue at that, so I can’t fault the stage for it too much, but it did hinder my own personal enjoyment of the stage a bit.

Overall, would I recommend a download? Yes. There are a ton of cool concepts here, the stage is mostly well-designed ENOUGH, and generally it’s pretty enjoyable. Still not perfect, but, at least in my opinion, a fair bit better than it was before the update.

P.S. This doesn’t honestly feel like it has much to do with summer, in regards to its status as a Summertime Jazziness entry. Still not a bad stage tho.

The level seems fun at first, but I don’t like grinding and turning to a frog over and over, I didn’t like this as much as I like Stone Abyss levels, but i guess it’s just not my type.