Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

While this level looks aesthetically modern and contains many scripted elements, this is still the most vanillish JJ2 level by Violet in a while due to the obvious theme of the contest it was made for. While having enough original quirks, the main course here is a pretty straightforward mostly linear level with a mild focus on exploration. Secrets are traditionally placed in walls and most of them are accesed a bit more intuitively than just by hugging every wall around them. There are also more open secret areas that can often be found by following the path not guided by arrow signs.

Gameplay mostly follows JJ2 standards, although there are a few platforming sections that take more precision by means such as chains of platforms appearing and disappearing one after another quickly. Hence why Violet decided to make these skippable by giving good old Coin Bunny a mere 10 coins. The carrot rockets are also a surprising addition, as well as the water slides. And while not by far among the hardest of JJ2 levels, this one is definitely more difficult than standard JJ2 and a slow & steady traverse is recommended above running & gunning around.

Enemies are mostly slight alterations of original JJ2 enemies, such as faster throwing Monkeys and Fencers standing on airboards so that they can cover more vertical space. There are also Devan and Devil Devan clones that behave like their regular boss variant but take only a few shots to kill. The most original enemies are the swarms of pesky pumpkins that can poison you, forcing you to look around for antidotes if you were unfortunate enough to touch one. Ammo is very balanced, with the more useful types such as Seekers and Toasters being relatively scarce. Most of the powerups and shields are placed within secret areas to make them feel rewarding. Bird cages are less secret yet placed very out of the way.

The only problem I encountered on my first run (on Hard) was that I somehow missed the airboard and jumped straight through the vine area assuming the large carrot platforms were meant to be long-jumped. That all went well until I got stuck below, got confused and died to get back up to the checkpoint. Maybe there is a way to clear it without the airboard but I don’t think it was meant to be.

And finally, the bossfight didn’t feel so special and recycled a bit of the Angelscript example level. It’s still better than ending such a beatifully crafted level without a bossfight. The typical J2C-style credits text near the end of the level got me by surprise though. I also liked how the player grading feature from Bunnylover was ported over, it encourages replayability a lot.

Download highly recommended as long as you enjoy SP levels!

Beautiful level with with great gameplay and many hidden secrets!

The first time I played this was in hard mode, it was challenging and the enemies are no joke (God those monkeys). One of the best levels I played for sure. The platforms’ creative effects and the waterfalls add up to the fun. Despite the level being kinda big, it never got repetitive and it kept getting better! It is also well balanced in difficulty: easy is truly easy and hard is truly hard, allowing players with different levels of skill to enjoy it.

Though there were some parts that I have complains about in hard mode:

The last part with the pumpkins: your screen is filled with enemies everywhere, the pumpkins are following you around and your adrenaline is high, you wanna get out of there ASAP, so it was easy to overlook that one special platform at the end that gets you out of there, instead i wasted my time to search for the exit in the water so the water in that part felt useless/misleading. I only noticed that platform when i replayed the level in easy mode (just to realize that i was at the very end when i lost in hard mode).

Some poles flew me straight to collide with enemies with no way to react.

I also agree with slaz about the airboard, I went there the first time without knowing that I needed an airboard to continue and got stuck. (Getting in, grabbing the airboard and getting out was also one of the most challenging parts)

All in all it remains a great level, download recommended!!!!