Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Collection

This was the metal slug of my time. Can't remember how many times i played the demo, now as full grownup, i have the opportunity to play it full. Thanks GOG.

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 out done the original in so many ways. Just like Jazz Jackrabbit Collection, you get all the levels. You can also play loaded in home cooked levels in the main game or Christmas expansion or download levels. Believe it or not, you can create your own levels or episodes. You originally had two playable characters but they added a third one. All three of them have differences to make the experiences very different from each other. I had no trouble playing this with my controller. You also get JJ2+ mod that's still being updated by the community. This mod works like Extra Crispy mod for Blood II essentially. The purpose behind both mods is updating the games with some nice extras added. Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is absolutely amazing in every sense of the word. Not only it is holding up incredibly well but also packed great content to keep you busy. This game is in my opinion legendary among DOS computers.

When I saw that Jazz Jackrabbit 2 was finally on GOG, I figured I had no more excuse to hold off on playing the game, and man, I'm glad I chose to buy it! Let's start with the positives: The soundtrack. The graphics. The sound effects. The general aesthetics of the game just plain rock. The soundtrack is of special note, however, as it's still absolutely phenomenal. I can only imagine what people who played the game at launch must've thought of it. The level design is also pretty solid, and it throws new ideas at you often enough to keep things interesting. Don't go in expecting a hard game: With the exception of a few levels on hard mode, this is pretty easy for a run-and-gun. This isn't a flaw, and I personally don't mind at all, but I thought I'd point it out for people who may care. Not that you should care anyways, because if you find the base game too easy, you can always turn to the game's incredible level editor. It takes a bit of getting used to, but its feature set is robust enough that it's worth learning. You can even load the official levels of the game in it! Also, the game controls really well, making for a rather satisfying mix of run-and-gun and high-speed action. I haven't messed with multiplayer much, but it's pretty solid from what I've played of it. It's definitely rare to see competitive run-and-gun platformers like this. It also has co-op. Now for the negatives I've encountered: The game's a bit buggy. The levels from The Secret Files are mediocre at best. Hosting an online game requires messing with port forwarding, which admittedly is due to when the game was made. The bosses are usually mediocre, though Flashback's end boss was HILARIOUS. However, despite those small flaws, the game's amazing. I'd give it a 4.7/5 or so if possible, but since it's not, that rounds up to a perfect 5. It probably deserves it anyways. :) I recommend it primarily for fans of platformers, especially of the run-and-gun variety and/or the high-speed variety.

Took em long enough to fork over Jazz to GOG! I guess Epic finally decided that they like money and realized that releasing Jazz digitally might make them more of it. I hope it does because they deserve lots of money for these soulful, creative games, and maybe it will inspire Epic to make a new platformer instead of yet another cover shooter (Gears was fun for awhile, but c'mon!). I love Jazz so much that I bought a used copy of Jazz 2, I think it was like $50 or so on Amazon (downloading this masterpiece free from an abandonware site just felt shameful to me). The Jazz games were great demonstrations of Epic's creativity. They reached their creative peak with Unreal in my opinion, but Jazz was the first hint that Cliffy and the gang were a special team. It was also an early display of Alexander Brandon's musicianship, which would lead to the killer Unreal Tournament and Deus Ex soundtracks (check out his solo albums, available for sale on his website, they're pretty good!). The graphics are wonderful and charming. The artists clearly took pride in their work. As with the first game, the level design is topnotch. As for the game's concept? Imagine Sonic the Hedgehog meets Duke Nukem, he's a bunny and he has a friggin gun. If you like this game, check out Jazz 1 too, which isn't quite as good but it is still worth playing.

Well, unlike the first game, the second game is worth taking a look at. They fixed original flaw of things appearing camera before you can react nicely by simply increasing camera distance from action, to a point that it feels unpersonal until you take control of characters. It also feels easier to a point of being rather chill, aside from bosses that are sometimes hard and often feel quite a chore, outstaying their welcome unless you have huge powerups. Yea, it probably is not that good of game desing, with chilly game stages with even less in-game plot than the original game, with harder bosses, but forgivable for the time. I am sure some will love it this way. You should install Plus, a fan-patch, from goodies of GOG too, it fixes things. Don't use higher resolution tho, it moves camera way too far. Check out multiplayer, even with one friend, it's pretty cute. Never seen such platformer to have same multiplayer as what you expect from FPS games. Too bad it seems you have to fancy around console commands to get coop going in online Internet mode. Chill fun with friends. It also comes with Secret Files add-on already installed into game. It adds Lori, a new bun character to amuse late 90s Internet furries. I mean, the artist who drew her is obviously different, having also done intro and ending, her art style doesn't fit the rest of a gang. Spaz and Jazz look like crackheads in comparison. Sadly, they forgot to add any ability to allow her to reach higher places, so she can get stuck even in Secret Files's own episode. I mean, if you reaaaaally tryhard you can get around that as the faster you run the higher you jump in this game. Is not worth it. If you want to use her, remember JJFLY cheat for when you get stuck. Check out manual for characters special moves, btw. It also still looks and sounds remarkably.