Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I know I’m over half a year late with this review but I only recently came across this sequel. So, I’m glad to see you guys put in the effort to bash out a another mod, hopefully it’s better, right?

LEVEL 01 – Penguin Invasion:

Good Points:

- Compared to last year, Holiday Hare 2018 has a FAR easier opening map. For one thing, It’s not filled with cheap enemy placements, buggy mechanics and horrible checkpoint placements. The extra health mechanic is a great idea and makes you have extra HP as your run continues. Neat touch and finally gives the gems some usage!

- DAMN That’s a gorgeous opening song! I love it!

Bad Points:

- The springs inside the wooden boxes near the big beige gate for some reason disappear which means you can be trapped very easily. [Seems to be fixed after I re-added the mod?]

LEVEL 02 – Tipplenborough:

Good Points:

- Technically not a plus for this map but the extra health boost mechanic DOES carry over fore every level. Good idea. :)

- The music is quite cheery and upbeat. I like it. :)

Bad Points:

- Due to the new health mechanic, carrots are surprisingly hard to come by here which is a problem even on easy. Most of my damage is because of the robot penguins being in awkward spots to hit and the fact their shots bounce.

- Some parts of the map are hard to tell when it should be in the background and the foreground. Some trees can be landed on that look more in the foreground whereas other trees are clearly in the background can also be landed on, this is a little confusing.

- The building in the cave couldn’t be destroyed for the longest time but after like 3-4 attempts it all of a sudden allows me to break down the door? That’s rather buggy…

- The new ghost summoning enemy is quite a pain to deal with, especially since the small ghosts he spawns can move at lightning speeds.

LEVEL 03 – Cold Paw:

Good Points:

- The music is fine but nothing to write home about.

Bad Points:

- Way. Too. Dark. Seriously I can’t see what I am doing half the time.

- The hands that come out of the ground to swipe at you really aren’t easy to tell where they are again due to how dark the level is. This is Jazz 2, Not DooM 2.

LEVEL 04 – Under The Weather:

Good Points:

- The freezing mechanic sure is original and a nice touch to get you to keep pushing on rather than dawdle about.

Bad Points:

- The speed at which the heat gauge decreases is a little harsh if you prefer to stay alive (like on Turbo).

- The bouncy snowman enemies really don’t help with the already wonky enemy designs.

- Music really isn’t this level’s strongest point. Fairly bland.

LEVEL 05 – Breaking Out:

Good Points:

- This is very much a fun map to play. Some enemies are annoying sure but WOW is this a breath of fresh air! If you want a GOOD map in this set, this one so far wins

- The cute small story here is quite adorable. :)

- Great soundtrack to go along with a great stage!

Bad Points:

- Ended with an access violation… GG.

- The miniboss at the end dies rather easily to the toaster…

LEVEL 06 – Toyed Badlands:

Good Points:

- None.

Bad Points:

- Extremely confusing layout!

- The song isn’t bad nor good. Just neutral. :l

LEVEL 07 – Pikitia Ara:

Good Points:

- Nothing.

Bad Points:

- HORRENDOUS map design. I got lost very easily.

- The song for this map really is bland and dull.

- From what I can tell, this map straight up lacks an exit. Good map design.

LEVEL 08 – Frigid Fortress:

Good Points:

- The final boss was fun to defeat and I do love the vortex-y background effect. Neat touch!

Bad Points:

- Unless bosses gain more health on higher difficulties, the final boss goes down fairly easily with a healthy dose of seekers and bouncers aimed straight up.

So the overall review:

I can see that you guys wanted to be more relaxed in your approach with HH’18 and I can see why, not every map pack needs to top the previous. My biggest issue here was how it was presented. This did feel rushed. The levels aren’t super well designed (level 7 comes to mind) and I did struggle quite often, even on easy difficulty. Whilst not as hard as HH’17 in some spots, HH’18 really needs polishing. Maybe add in a few more ammo types earlier on? Bouncers only started appearing by level 5, which is over half-way. Another thing I didn’t understand was, why was the music files separate? Without them the game is just mute.

Do I recommend it? Personally I recommend HH’17 over this and I blammed that one fairly harshly as well. If you want a good christmas map-pack I again recommend HH’98. It’s still better to run through.

3/10

Short, sweet and nice! This really is a nice re-creation of a map that never was! Well done on re-creating it fairly accurately to what it may have looked like.

***SPOILER WARNING!***

I enjoy a good custom map now and then and this one at first looked like it as going to hook me in hard! This mod is certainly a gorgeous looking masterpiece but…
I have a good few issues.

Level 1:
Good – For a first stage the snowy design is very eye-pleasing and the music matches very well (than again most of the songs do XD) I also loved the minor nod to Carrotus in some of the design. The presents mechanic was introduced very well and was easy to understand.

Bad – I found the first stage far too difficult for an opening map. Some of the gimmicks confused me at first and weren’t implemented safely (like warning the player they’re going to be trapped in ice and spikes will be below them) not to mention the crystal maze was very tedious and awkward to fly through. Also unless I missed a few, there are like 2 or 3 checkpoints and they’re spaced out FAR.

I don’t even know if stage 1 can be completed on Turbo.

Level 2:
Good – This is how you make a level. Fun, lengthy but not overwhelming, weapons, a good few checkpoints and health. This level while a design-clone of the funky stages personally felt way fairer and much easier. Plus, the ice dragon mechanic was introduced nicely as you get the bouncer just before it!

Bad – I actually had a hard time finding major issues with the second map. Probably the fact that you can goof the graphics if you touch a smoke ring but that might be Jazz+ doing that.

Level 3:
Good – This stage has a fantastic remix of the Candion theme and it fits really well since this level does not joke around! The fact that weapons are so plentiful made this level far superior to the first map.

Bad – Of all of the boses to clone… why the tentacle crab spawner thing from the beach bunny stages. That boss is not fun and here with a smaller arena does not improve that at all. Plus this stage is much harsher than the previous stage… sometimes harder than even the first map… Also this map introduced the worst enemy ever to exist. The bloater… Glad ice freezes them so you can get past!

Level 4:
Good – The auto-move section was a really funny concept and I enjoyed watching Jazz bounce around like a pinball whilst collectin goodies along the way

Bad – You know what I said in Level 1 about being careful when introducing new mechanics? This level does the complete opposite. The innitial staring area is heavily confusing I got lost for a good 1-2 minutes. It was only when I saw an arrow buried in all of the clutter did I realise I needed to ground-pound. Then comes the cave… oh boy… THE CAVE… Actaully that mechanic was really cool but the signs are a bit too hard to read… Add a few carrots in that area and I wont complain much about it. :) The section that gave me WAY to much grief were the jumps at the end… sheesh is that too demanding!

Level 5:
Good – … There was a good point? Where?

Bad – The starting room, like the previous level, had me confused as to how to complete, the arrows were no help at all. The excessive usage of the Rapier turtles is not what I call fun, especially when they can easily glitch into blocks or literally phase through them from areas that have like 3-4 tiles blocking them! And finally… couldn’t you pick a less painful song to have on loop? I’m sorry but stage 5 was a humongous let-down.

Level 6:
Good – Funnily unlike 5 this map is the opposite. A very well made map! For one thing the blizzard effect was exceptionally neat and it added quite a bit more depth in its design! Secondly the ice physics was again a lovely addition. Thirdly schwartzen turtles actaulyl PUSH giant snowballs at you! Fairly smart! And lastly this level tells yo that bloaters are weak to ice and fire attacks.

Bad – Like all good things in life, a bad time comes… firstly the music in this stage is possibly WORSE than stage 5. Not only that but if you kill the Ice queen and then exit the stage it has a chance to crash Jazz2. Lastly the only small segment that gave me grief were the spike platforms in a spiky room with ice dragons… a little annoying but do-able :)

7:
Good – The remix design of the ice stage from Jazz2 is really well made and it looks like it was straight from the original game.

Bad – Personally I didn’t find this level interesting. Very few elements stood out to me like “Wow this is fun!”. Also this level is exceptionally unfair in the difficulty department.

8:
Good – The boss dies

Bad – The boss dies really easily… No really… pummel it with seekers, bouncers and flame and it’ll drop dead faster than the actaul final boss of Jazz2.

Over-all I found this mod to be far too hard in its difficulty. I know its a fan mod but when the easiest difficulty is so hard that I would have game-overed a few times, its just not worth it. And to pour salt into the wound, you CAN’T SAVE in a level! I’m chalking that up to Engine limitation but the lack of saving mid-level really urks me the wrong way. Thankfully after every level there are save levels to help fix that issue… though loading causes the game to crash…

Do I recommend it? Only if you are a hard-core Jazz2 fan or love hard maps, otherwise just steer clear and play Holiday Hare 98.