Jazz Jackrabbit 2

The Good
What's not to like? from the brightly colored, highly detailed graphics with gobs of animation and multiple background layers, to the spot on cartooney sound effects and cool music, Jazz 2 is truly THE platform game for the PC. You can blast right through the levels, or you can take your time and find all the secret nooks of treasure. The included level editor lets you create your own levels and is fairly easy to use. The multi-player mode is highly addictive, and the lag is(was) pretty tolerable, even on slower connections.

The Bad
It's not very difficult, even on the highest difficulty level. An extra episode or two would have been nice.

The Bottom Line
It's like being in an interactive cartoon, and once you have played it, it will make you forget about Sonic the Hedgehog for a while. Very good game in every aspect, I highly recommend picking it up.

The Good
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is quite simply a quantum leap from the original Jazz Jackrabbit, a technicially magnificent game in its own right. Jazz Jackrabit 2 perfects the jump-'n-run style found in other classics (Sonic the Hedgehog comes to mind) with the following features:

• Demo-coding power! Arjan Brussee, originally of the famous demo group Ultra Force, did such a great job on Jazz Jackrabbit - no matter the resolution, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 will run absolutely smooth and look great on any adequate computer (I could run it in just about any resolution on a Pentium 166 with a fast video card). Jazz 2's engine is a marvel of modern programming technique, and without a doubt the best game engine in any platform game to date.
• The music in Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is absolutely marvelous. Written by one of my favorite trackers, Alexander Brandon of Straylight, Jazz 2 has some of the best music in any computer game to date, professionally tracked and with great quality samples. It creates the atmosphere for the whole game, and damn well too.
• The graphics in Jazz Jackrabbit 2 are simply amazing (see screenshots): lighting effects, sprites, explosions and just about everything looks magnificent. Epic simply outdid themselves this time by creating the best-looking platform game ever.
• The level design is great - a few touches of puzzles and generally thoroughly pleasing gameplay.
• Coolest menu system in any game to date!
• The controls in this game are excellent. 'nuff said.

In short - Jazz Jackrabbit 2 rules!

The Bad
Only a few complaints:

• The introduction sequence is simply horrible. While the actual idea isn't a bad one, the execution is simply not befitting the quality of the game, with pretty bad drawings and non-smooth animation. The only spot of light in the intro is the wonderful music.
• The game is unbelievably easy! Even in the toughest level, it's unlikely that you'll ever find yourself in a really bad situation where you're out of lives and have to rely on luck.

The Bottom Line
The best platform game on any platform to date. You can't beat Jazz Jackrabbit 2 - it's as close to perfect as it gets.

The Good
Jazz Jackrabbit 2, as a playable game, is perfect. You can play it for years and still not get particularly tired. With the abilities to make your own levels, tilesets, and combine events in ways never thought of before, an endless stream of originality can come forth from all players. Internet play, network play and splitscreen (the third of which can be tacked on to either of the others) increase lastability so much, I do not doubt the game will still be going strong in three more years.

The Bad
Despite the quality of the game, JJ2 has all too many bugs, which become more and more noticable the more you play. So many, in fact, it's not really possible to list them all. Events stop generating, events don't work, bosses fly out of the level, coins turn into gems, trigger crates won't stay hit, bullets don't appear to hit. In addition to this, the official levels are either all easy (SP) (though admittedly well designed), or just poor (MP), so unless you go to http://www.jazz2online.com or make some levels on your own, you may accidentally become bored with the game. As for the tilesets, their tile placement is all rather strange, and the masking is frequently quite bad.

The Bottom Line
JJ2 is a game with flaws, but these flaws do not wreck it. Especially since the ways of getting around them often turn out to have more possiblities then if the flaw hadn't existed in the first place. Whether as Jazz, Spaz, Lori (in TSF), Frog or Chuck, playing JJ2 ought to be an enjoyable experience from beginning to end. Infinitely superior to most games out there.