Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Preamble (geared towards other elderly fans of JJ2):
As someone who grew up playing Jazz Jackrabbit and now rarely opens it aside from the odd Anniversary Bash, I have memories of a game that even pre-2010 seemed stretched to its limits by the community. Feeling a bit dissatisfied after barely playing in this year's Bash, I figured it was a good time to get re-introduced to all of the wonderful ways the community has expanded the game (specifically in Single Player which was always my favourite mode) while I sort of looked on from the periphery. I guessed that a recent upload from Violet would be a great starting point. It was a very, very good guess. She delivers.

That said, I don't want this review to just be gushing about how heavily (it seems to me anyway) that this level features JJ2+'s capabilities. It's just relevant for players like me who might be looking for a fix of their old favourite with a lot of the new bells and whistles to marvel at. You'll be impressed.

But as delicious as it is to encounter new enemies and use new weapons and everything, is it actually fun? Well yeah.

Weapons, Enemies, Difficulty:
As minmay said, the new elements make you approach the enemies in a fresh way that didn't get stale. Standard weapons variety is very deliberately limited, but I am not sure why. Perhaps it was done for simple thematic reasons? Custom enemies are used well and provided great novelty, although I don't know if I would say they were challenging enough a lot of the time. I probably need another play through on harder modes. The boss, however, was another story for me..

Theme, Goals, Gameplay:
So, the actual goal of the level was not clear to me for quite a while. It may have just been that I wasn't paying close enough attention initially. I wasn't sure whether I needed to collect a certain amount of skulls or coins or if I was trying to open new areas by seeking out trigger crates. To be perfectly honest, for the first few minutes I was avoiding the skulls because they seemed more like enemies. So naive of me. So innocent. Once I worked out that it was mainly about collecting coins, I enjoyed scouring areas again for something I might have missed. There were also times I would need to find how to get a coin just out of reach, which was very motivating and kept me engaged.

The custom platforming elements were very fun, except for the shooting sucker tubes over spikes which, I dunno, maybe I'm too old and I don't have the patience or reflexes anymore. I still adored the trigger crate animated vine/tree platforms and the custom twisting platforms. And who doesn't love pole dancing? Very fun!

One small issue I had was that (and I assume this is a JJ2+ problem in general?) I couldn't save. I ended up playing for much longer than I intended originally because I didn't want to start over again. I stayed engaged for it but I was rushing towards the end. So a warning: give yourself plenty of time.

Eyecandy, Music:
There are several different themes as you travel around the map. Violet's combinations of different tileset elements were sometimes a little jarring (but maybe that was a part of the point given the spooky theme?) in their contrasting vibes/styles but after a while you settle into a coherent.. setting. She also made use of the newer textured background features to really great effect.

Drastic changes in mode or theme were accompanied by music changes that were both always welcome but also soon became a touch stale as they were, again, a little jarring. And, again again again, maybe that was the point? Very spooky. Very zany. Like a deluge of bees angrily fighting over a split trash bag stuffed with sprinkles that had passed their use by date.

Overall:
A very fun, sensational level absolutely stuffed with engaging new kinds of gameplay opportunities. Definitely recommended for Single Player fans, especially those of us looking for a taste at what JJ2+ has on offer. (And I know, I promise this review isn't just about JJ2+ itself, but good god all of you guys are absolute legends <3). While I found myself a little frustrated or confused sometimes, and I didn't like that I needed to complete the level in one session, it was novel in a ton of different ways and left me smiling. Definitely have a go!

Here's some good showcasing of what's possible with AngelScript when it comes to raising the intensity of typical boss fights in JJ2+. Too bad the fun is over quickly.

This was definitely an entertaining experience! The level required me multiple attempts to finish, as the gameplay is versatile and it is easy to get lost in the level on the first try. Still, all the custom enemies and approach to the available weapons is very refreshing in the modern SP scene. Download recommended!

Perfection.

This pack technically consists of 4 levels but only the last 2 are interesting gameplay-wise. The first is a tiny prelude to the (silly) story and the second has a bit of gameplay but is over very quickly. The third one is where it really starts. You have to cross a jungle filled with traps while looking for a carpenter. These traps are a hit & miss across the pack, with some giving a fair challenge while others are more or less unavoidable unless you’ve seen them before, such as some sneaky rolling rocks. The animated tiles used as hazards, mostly in the form of retracting sticks, are hard to avoid and at one point they can even hurt you while retracted (inside a hollow tree trunk). It’s really trying to push the boundary of what vanilla JJ2 offers, and luckily that’s not all negatives. The lock puzzle in the fourth level consists of multiple small contraptions that you have to solve to un-obstruct the final pattern that you have to see and input in order to proceed, all done through trigger scenery ‘magic’ in a world before Plus.

All levels in this pack have these theater-like foreground decors. While I understand the reasoning behind it (The two primary sources of inspiration for this pack also did this), I felt like it was too visually obstructing for the sheer difficulty of these levels. Furthermore, it’s not always easy to spot what walls and floors are masked, and plenty of enemies (like bats) are fully or partially obscured by layer 3 tiles. All of this isn’t a huge problem as long as you continually remind yourself to traverse very slowly, and that this pack is more about small nifty obstacles instead of flowy run & gunning. There are, however, enough enemies to shoot along the way, but aside from a few of the monkeys they won’t pose a big threat. Collectibles like food are also plentiful, getting a sugar rush never felt more useful. The amount of carrots feels just right, with some of them placed in less straightforward places, making them very rewarding.

All in all a decently fun and unusual vanilla JJ2 experience. Its shortcomings are mostly technical, but so are its qualities, with the big puzzle near the end being the icing on the bittersweet cake. Download recommended, although the majority of the score is due to the fourth level that carries most of this pack’s quality.

Not much else to say other than "Masterfully done!".

In a way, I'm glad that this was released separately from the Halloween collaboration in question as it would've likely overshadowed the other levels (assuming said collab will be finished at some point).

Highly recommending this level.

Its amazing how even though this being in 2d, it still captures the feeling of threed in earthbound.

A beautiful premise with beautiful execution, Threed Realms looks small, then unfolds to be bigger than you ever imagined.
One striking setting and song become several, the new enemies are tricky and cleverly placed, and a ton of checkpoints and shortcuts prevent tedious backtracking.
Replacing the Blaster with the shorter-ranged Melee Sword really changes how you want to approach enemies, and it's a twist that stays fun throughout the whole level.
My favorite part is the boss battle. It's readable without feeling trivial or unfair, and it's really fun to swing at.

With original gameplay, lovely presentation, and the most groan-inducingly punny title I've read in a while, you don't want to miss this level.

All that said, I'm not gonna try to find the remaining 3% of the skulls. I spent enough time looking for skulls back in Monster Bash…

Absolutely amazing.

An enjoyable non-linear level for the experienced player. Some creative enemy placement such as dragons in walls and lizards under vines. Sometimes it's a bit unclear what path a crate opens, and masking isn't always obvious. There's more ammo than you'll ever need, and the boss gave a decent challenge until you find out where to camp.

Great mutator, especially with the extra effort of the HTML! Slight improvements could be made to saving gradients. It still lacks the colouring of the default ammo type gun and the death animation. Other than that this is a perfect mutator.

It's a great idea to make the color of the characters customizable as you want, it's perfect and works very well.

As a big fan of boss rushes, this level is the strong candidate to achieve good rating.

8/10

that underground, do have a awesome eyecandy!!
about the slime or poison sea:
i think.. this is a very good concept, also very interesting..
and it inspire lots for any future projects
.
about the city ,
- i miss a bit places where my rabbit is in savety
(..but of course everything should be like this!!)
and i also like the idea of the bombs very much
.
- a bit short the lvl..
i wish it would be a bit bigger..
.
..but its really amazing!!, the slime/poison sea do have a awesome eyecandy
and i think: this idea is really good and inspire for any future projects
.
+ im endless much thankfull, for this new background feature!!!
.
.
about the overall concept, its a great work!!

Cool weapon ideas that feel a bit unfinished. The weapons lack sounds and visual queues to help identify them. Neither weapon works as you would think. The teleport is too instant and spammable and causes nausea. Running with wings mid-air looks and feels weird. It feels like these ideas can be executed a lot better than they currently are.

A great twist to normal CTF gameplay. Flag scores happen a lot more often, the rules are simple enough to explain to people, and it’s always entertaining when one base has both flags and everyone in both teams ends up fighting there.
This was really fun in JDC events and I think it will be really fun for 3vs3 and larger games in general, too!

I didn’t think Jazz 2 levels would make me cry. I didn’t think Jazz 2 levels would make me cry three times.

Weapons are cool! 10/10 HYPE!

BTW Naps made new types of weapons, like Anti-Gravitational Bouncer and Hornet Gun. Violet, you could update this weapon pack with these two new weapons.

FANTASTIC!

Thank god I’ve stumbled across this download lately! The gameplay mechanics akin to the OG Sonic games is the definition of neatness on the highest level. I especially loved the part where you do the loop thing, as well as when at certain speed you can stick to the vertical and semi-vertical surfaces, which reinforce the Sonic feeling even more. The boss fight is literally the best one I’ve had playing a JJ2 level.

What I kinda disliked was the fact that the enemy placement was occasionally cruel and unforgiving. Like, you are running like you just don’t care and enjoying yourself and then BAM! you just ram into a group of baddies, inevitably losing all your ri… I mean gems. Also, there were sometimes some spots at which the floor layer blended with the still background one, which was slightly confusing and led to me hurting myself because I didn’t actually know whether I was supposed to land on something or not.

Apart from the cons mentioned, the whole experience was totally great and I wish Violet released even more levels like that (maybe even the whole series, hee hee).

Def recommended