I must say, overall I am very disappointed with this title. It plays nothing like the PC versions. If I had to compare it to anything at all, I'd say it plays more like a Castlevania title, but a bad one at that (Which may or may not be a bad thing).

You start off trapped in a cage, being held hostage by Chameleons, but for some reason, they don't use locks on a cage. Conveniently enough Jazz's blaster happens to be waiting for you right outside the cage. His blaster seems more like a 3-round burst of the pepper spary weapon of JJ2 than his real one.

I also noticed Jazz only has his helicopter ears special move. Not the rising uppercut, or even the butt stomp! So this really hinders the fun to be had in a level. (Truth is, the levels aren't even fun to begin with)

Graphically, it's not terrible. While not as good as JJ2 (as expected) Jazz has almost an entirely new look going for him. When it comes to eye candy in the levels, I'd say it's moderate, afterall, it is on the GameBoy Advance.

Sound is very well done in my opinion. Weapons sound good, and the music is catchy, but not quite as memorable as Jazz's PC counterparts.

Overall, I couldn't even recommend this to a Jazz Jackrabbit fan (unless you must own everything purtaining to Jazz). It has some good points, but even these can't outweigh the bad. I think if a future JJ title were to arise again, it should be done by the people who know what Jazz Jackrabbit is all about.

There goes hope for Jazz advertising and future titles...

The fact that Jazz lost 2 very important abilities seems most annoying to me. -.-

(unless you mustown everything purtaining to Jazz)

That would be me.

Hey, he didn't have Any of them in JJ1, and he got along fine..

I liked the game. Lets go down the list:

The Story So Far - Jazz is on his final mission, he's ready to finish the job and take his retirement early, so this should be a quick game, right? Well, after finishing his job, he gets a call from Margsley, the chief rabbit of R.A.B.T. telling him that he still has another mission to go, but theres a big reward for him at the end of the run.

Graphics - The cutscenes have a comic book look to them, which is good, unfortunatley thats all it is, cutscenes, sure there are parts where the sprites go in play, but you have to give the developer credit, its better than nothing telling the story.

In the game, people may not like the new look of Jazz, but the good part is, all of the characters move with fluid animation, and the levels do look good. But sometimes the camera makes it a little hard to see, but it doesnt hinder the gameplay much at all.

Sound - I'd probably say the guns sound the best, and the music is catchy, its too bad that the game seems like that its missing sounds, when a Chameleon thwomps Jazz, there's no thud or anything, maybe a splat, but thats it. The sound is missing a little in my opinion.

Gameplay - You've probably heard it earlier, the game doesnt quite play much like the PC titles. THe game is now more like a game of Contra, thats not a bad thing at all. Your getting plenty of the treatment, loads of weapons to collect, carrot grenades to throw, plus the enemies are now a lot smarter than the PC enemies, they can now throw bombs, duck and shoot, or even kick Jazz if he's right next to him. This may take away some of the arcade feel, but it is definatley needed for Jazz than his easy-to-execute enemies from Jazz 2.

Lastability - There are 4 difficulty modes and Single and Multi-cartidge link, so even if your friends dont own a copy of Jazz, you can still enjoy some of the multiplayer, plus there are levels for multiplayer to unlock in the Single Player game, but if you dont like the new age for Jazz, you may/may not want to steer clear of this title.

I'm definatley getting this for myself, but I'll have to give this game a 3 out of 5.

I'm ordering it today, but I've heard mixed messages. Some love it, some don't. We'll see. Maybe a poll with a "what would you rate JJGBA on a scale of 1 to 10?" question may be in order.

So what is Zoe Cottontail like? Looks? Personality?

Have you beaten it? Because if you've already beaten it, it must stink.

I think the controls suck. For instance, combination moves only work when pressed in a special order.

Like jump+shoot does work, but shoot+ jump doesn't. And I had the feeling I had to wait until an animation was finished before I could use the next move.

Originally posted by Cobra
So what is Zoe Cottontail like? Looks? Personality?

By what I've seen of her so far, she sells you weapons. Can't really touch on personality though.

To answer KRSplat, no, I haven't beaten it yet, but I know that it is very short. Each level takes roughly 5 minutes, and by what I understand, the entire game is only about an hour or 2.

And in response to Newspaz, I noticed this too. They can seem very awkward at times because of the timing factors.

Sure, it may not be a long game, but have you played on the highest difficulty? Dont tell me you dont have to, do it!

Once I get, play, and either beat or get a decent distance into it, I'll post a comprehensive review.

I've ordered it. I'll also post a long and winded review when I've finished it.

Well, I just got my copy today (christmas, obviously), and I must say, the game's not bad at all!

I've only played the first few levels, but I think I can give you a general idea of how the game plays:

I was reading previous posts about control issues, ie: jumping and shooting, and it's true, you can't jump while you're in the middle of shooting, but you CAN shoot in the middle of jumping.

The jump/shoot limitation is due to Jazz's 7 way aiming system, as opposed to JJ1 and JJ2's system that only allowed up, left, right, and crouch shot.

You use B (or A, as default), to fire, and hold up, left, or right, to shoot up, left, or right, and you can shoot diagonally by holding up + left or up + right, down + left, or down+ right. to crouch and shoot, you must hold down, and THEN the fire button. On the same note, if you try jumping while the fire button is held, it doesn't allow it.

As stated in previous posts, the uppercut and buttstomp are missing, but it plays more like JJ1 anyway. The Helicopter ears are achieved by simply hitting the jump button twice, and holding it. no additional pressing necessary.

The AI in the enemies is improved over the PC counterparts, they tend to know how to attack, and take multiple hits (even on normal) to beat. Most enemies are equipped with guns, clubs, etc, and they can shoot in all directions al well. If you're crouching and firing, some of them will do the same!

Although they are smarter, it does take away a little bit of that Jazz "shoot everything that moves, and if you can't shoot it, take it" feel, as you can't plow through them like I so often enjoyed in JJ1 and 2.

The graphics remind me of JJ1, due to the small resolution, and the fact that the GBA's screen is wider than it is tall, so sometimes it's a leap of faith. The animations are well done, if you kill an enemy, he keels over and dies, instead of little bits of him flying all over the place (which is one of the cool things about JJ2.) If Jazz dies, he falls over, gasps for air, and collapses, and if you have more lives, gets up and keeps going. You eventually get used to Jazz's red shirt and jeans, but I still personally prefer the red headband and blue backpack.

The level structure is interesting to say the least, having to shoot targets or kill enemies for keys to open some doors. The tilesets match the level, and the sewer level in NOT an exact copy of the colon tileset, but some tiles from it were reused.

The backgrounds, are quite nice for a gameboy (they're layered like JJ2's).

The items in the game are also different. you collect different guns and ammo, much like in the previous versions, but there's no coins, gems, or other goodies. Your usual 'goodies' are replaced with cold hard cash. Cash by the wad or bucketfull.
Medic packs refill your health, which no longer works on the heart system, but instead a meter, much like in JJ1, but bigger. Carrots, appearantly, are used as grenades, by pressing the L button.

The guns are quite different, and yet, the same:

You have your standard Blaster,

the riochet gun which is kinda like the BB bouncers but you can get hurt if a shot bounces back and hits you,

the machine gun, (which speaks for itself)

the flamethrower, (I'm guessing it's like the JJ2 toaster)

the rocket launcher, (RF missles, anyone?)

and "the big gun", which, from its description, sounds kinda like the UT redeemer. Massively powerful, but also dangerous to the person who fired it.

Well, that's my first impression of JJGBA. Hope it's helped you to form your own opinion of the game.

I got it today too. Although it's not as Jazzy as I had hoped, as a game, it's great. I'll do a reveiw further on in the game.