Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Do you want to play some Jazz 2? Yes? Great, here you go. These levels feel like Jazz 2.

These are fine levels. They are short, but that is probably why there are three levels with each tileset and not two levels with each tileset. There are enemies and ammo and food and even some springs and blocks. All JJ2’s main things are here in these levels. You mostly go right but sometimes you go up and down, and that’s good.

I think pickups could be placed better. There are many pickups, but often all pickups are in the same place. There are parts of the level with no pickups and then suddenly a part with many pickups. They could be spread more evenly.

The snow levels are especially good because they are not single paths. Sometimes you can run around in other directions for a while. That lets you have fun and make choices. That is a good thing. The Diamondus levels do this less… maybe they are older. Coins are always a fun thing for running around but these levels do not have coins.

The graphics are not very different from normal. They are well made but I will forget about them because I have seen other levels that look the same. Trying out more different things might be interesting.

These levels are fine. I enjoyed playing them. The author is doing a good job of making levels that feel like Jazz 2 levels. They are shorter and maybe easier but still similar. They are much better than Medivo 3, and Medivo 3 is only one year old. I am impressed. I hope the author will soon make levels that are unique.

This is a pretty decent pack with 9 levels ranging from average to good.

I do think the level layout is competently done, so is the enemy placement, there are some copy paste sections, but not the very lazy type, more like the ones from JJ 1 or the Secret Files. Also, the 2nd Diamondus level picks up from where the 1st ends, which is a nice touch. I also really liked the atmosphere of the 3rd Diamondus level, something about that rust/gold tint with the low lighting made it rather appealing. One thing I think has room for improvement is the item pickups (sometimes lack thereof). Just like Violet also said, certain areas are complete empty, then you get to a point where you get 30-40 food items clumped together. Placing pickups not only make your levels feel more alive, but they also make the length of you level longer, since you won’t just be running in a straight line while shooting.

Another thing that was excluded was the coin warp. Wouldn’t call it an outright negative, but having an extra goal per level doesn’t hurt. A positive thing about the levels ranging from average to good is that there wasn’t anything particularly bad I noticed in them, so you have a pretty decent base from which you can improve when it comes to creating levels.

At first I thought there weren’t any secrets at all, but I did find 2, so they are either very well hidden or very few. I think the first level is actually the weakest, it’s the one where the lack of item placement is the most noticable. I initially wanted to give a 6.7 with a recommendation, but the levels mostly improved as I progressed, with no real low point luckily.

So I’m giving it a 7.2 with a download recommendation.

(note that after playing this pack, I feel like giving Diamondus 3 a score of 3 was too high, since you are capable of much better, which makes that lazy reskin even weaker in context)