Jazz Jackrabbit 2

This review's single-player comments will be mainly based on the spin-off entitled The Secret Files, as I haven't completed the original for several years. This takes the familiar characters of the 1994 game, Jazz Jackrabbit, and puts them in a new one, with a more advanced(due to improvements over the years) engine, and utilizes it well to bring you more fun, cartoon-style platform action/adventure gaming. Yet again Devan Shell, the devious turtle, has something sinister in mind; this time, Jazz has to chase him through time for the ring with which he had planned to wed Eva Earlong(also from the first game), but he is joined by his brother Spazz(who's got a flying karate kick to help dispatch enemies) and in, introduced in The Secret Files, also his cousin, Lori(who can do a martial arts move of her own... Jazz can do a Superman-y flight-upwards move(for a second or so, not far up), and all three of them must have gotten training from Super Mario(and there are things similar to other games, as well, including Earthworm Jim and Sonic The Hedgehog) because they can now jump onto enemies for easy elimination, provided you press the whatever button you have assigned to Down while in the air). The game-play gets bigger and faster. The dynamic camera returns, this time more "loose"(not in a bad way, you never lose track). The characters take up less of the screen, making for more elaborate setups(in that you can see more of the level at any given point than in the first), and they make good use of it. While you can use the moves I mentioned earlier to take out foes, the game seems to tend to reward shooting them, more(with things you can pick up), but fear not, your main gun is still outfitted with infinite ammunition. Not only that, but pick up enough Fastfires(and keep yourself from losing lives) and it'll turn into a darn machine-gun(or at least an SMG, sub-machine gun). You can fire in both directions, like in the first, and now also upwards. There are other types of bullets(same gun, though... gotta love technology), including a flame-thrower type one, an ice one that freezes the opponent it's fired at, and more. These can also be upgraded if you find the power-up. There are at least two other weapon-type upgrades, and they're awesome. I won't reveal what they are, here, that's for the players to discover for themselves. Not necessarily *by* themselves, however... this also offers multi-player mode. Internet, LAN, and on the same computer(split-screen), using two different keyboard setups, two joysticks, or one player on each, a mix. As far as I know, you can at the most play four at the same time. There are five different modes of playing multi-player: Cooperative(the players, in the main game, side by side and helping each other get to the end), Battle(fighting each other, as the title of the chapter of Monty Python's Meaning of Life goes), Race(more or less self-explanatory... get to the end before the other one does), Treasure Hunt(get more gems than the other player) and Capture the Flag(now, that one *is* self-explanatory... grab the opposing player's flag). Graphics are smooth, detailed and gorgeous. Backgrounds are done in 3D, offering a marvelous sense of depth, and the camera helps this well. The colorful, cartoony tone of the first is kept up, as is the humor. There are plenty of things to pick up... some are for points, others are power-ups, and of course not all are easy to reach. Each time you get a certain amount of points, you get a Sugar Rush, where for a number of seconds, you can just touch enemies, and they'll croak. The level design is great, throughout. There is plenty of creativity and imagination found in it. And it doesn't have to be limited to just theirs, either... the game comes with the Jazz Creation Station(which, along with the spin-offs, is not available for Mac users; The Secret Files adds new "tiles", most of which are from the first Jazz Jackrabbit), a fully functional level editor, and this is reasonably easy to use(if nothing else, at least considering how much it lets you do), works flawlessly, and actually seems to have everything needed to make levels as intricate as that of the game, itself. Of course, you don't have to make that much of an effort, if you don't want to... levels can be made as big or small as you like, and may have any look that you see in the game itself, as far as I've been able to tell. The game is very entertaining, and of reasonable length(without being too long). This adds spring pads(much like those featured in Sonic The Hedgehog), and Jazz can now use his ears like a propellor, to slow down his fall(just like... yup: Earthworm Jim), while Spaz gets a double-jump(he *is* something of an athletic type, isn't he? Well, Jazz got the looks). Sound is nicely done, and fitting. Music is hip and cool. The AI, well, the foes *will* sometimes seek you out, if you enter the area they patrol or wait, or attack if you come close enough, but Jazz Jackrabbit, the game and the series, were never about outsmarting enemies. They tend to have set paths/movement modes, to patrol and/or to attack, and once you figure those out, it can be pretty easy to avoid getting hit, whilst making short work of them. The game, like one of the bonus episodes of the first, has swimming, but it's not as fun as the first. The difficulty settings help ensure that beginners can safely approach, and that more seasoned players may still be challenged. This is definitely worth playing if you liked the first, and/or if you just in general enjoy platform gaming. I recommend this to anyone who feels that aforementioned traits fit them, and/or who's developed an interest in playing it, from reading this review, that you're reading now. 8/10