Review: Jazz Jackrabbit 2

By: Kirk Hiner

Genre: Arcade

Format: CD

Developer: Gathering of Developers,Inc./Epic Megagames, Inc.

Publisher: Logicware, Inc.

Minimum Requirements: PowerPC, System 7.5.3, 16MB RAM, 45MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM

Network Feature: Yes

3Dfx Support: No

Retail Price: $29.99

Availability: Out now

Despite popular belief, the life of a game reviewer is not all about wine, women and song. For example, when my friend Bryan and I moved into our Times Square apartment back in '92, we literally had nothing. Neither of us had a bed, our furniture consisted of two bar stools and a milk crate, and our fridge contained nothing more than a jar of generic apple sauce and a package of Boar's Head Ham. So when some money did come in, what did we do with it? We marched right down to the A&S Plaza to buy ourselves a 19" stereo TV and a Sega Genesis. We may not have had permanent jobs or real food, but we had Dr. Robotnik, and that was good enough for us.

It's now seven years later, Bryan's married, and I'm sitting in my duplex furnished not only with actual furniture, but a full size, fully operational Flash Gordon pinball machine as well. So why these musings of my pauperous past? Because I just finished playing Jazz Jackrabbit 2.

Logicware's Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is a nice throwback to the 16 bit games of the early 90s. With its frantic, colorful action and constant barrage of noise and music, it seems that the only thing missing is the singsong "Sega" announced when the game's turned on. The developers took the nostalgic approach all the way to the splash screens, dressing up Jazz as Prince from his "Purple Rain" days (the Jackrabbit formerly known as Jazz?) and as Michael J. Fox ala "Back to the Future." Former Sega owners will also recall that Sonic's buddy Tails made his first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Jazz is now in his second chapter, so he also gets a companion, his little brother Spaz.

At the end of the first Jazz Jackrabbit, Jazz had rescued Princess Eva from the diabolical Devon Shell. But alas, eternal bunny bliss was not meant to be. Devon returned, messed up Jazz and Eva's wedding, and has traveled back in time to rewrite history. Your job? Do I even have to say it?

Controlling Jazz or Spaz as they make their way through the various levels is simple enough. They can move in the four basic directions, jump and shoot. I was somewhat disappointed that no joystick or gamepad sets shipped on the CD, but it wasn't hard to create one. I recommend doing so. The keyboard is certainly adequate, but it just doesn't feel natural on a fast paced game such as this.

Each level is filled with a multitude of coins, gems, weapons and powerups to aid Jazz in his quest, but they're filled with numerous bad guys as well. Jazz's gun is pretty good at dispensing of any trouble, however, and special moves such as Helicopter Ears (Sidekick for Spaz) and Super Jump help get him out of tight spots. The thing is, Jazz really had no tight spots. Because the game is geared towards the whole family, experienced gamers will find Jazz Jackrabbit 2 to be perhaps too easy to play.

I could handle that, though. What I couldn't handle were the sound effects. I'm afraid that Jazz suffers from the "trying too hard to be cool" disease. Have you ever seen those public service announcements where the cartoon dinosaur dentist tells us to wear a mouth guard when biking because "...mouth guards are cool!" It's kind of like those, and that's just wrong.

Because he tries too hard to be cool with his impatient mannerisms and clever asides, Jazz just comes across as goofy. Whereas these annoyances can be overlooked, the running noise cannot. I can't even begin to describe how irritating this is. It's this constant, abbrasive barage on the eardrums that doesn't leave until well after the game has been shut off. In a game that requires constant movement, I'd've been much happier if a more pleasant sound--like fingernails being scratched down the blackboard or two cars smashing into each other--had been chosen to signify movement.

The jewel case for Jazz Jackrabbit 2 proudly proclaims that the game was created by the makers of Unreal. That's a good joke, if you ask me, but not because one is really all that much better than the other. It makes the point that games don't have to be cutting edge to be entertaining. They don't even have to be filled with all manners of violence...although that certainly helps. As we all justifiably move towards OpenGL and G3, its good to see that those who are driving the industry are making good use of their rear view mirrors. Whereas I try to keep up with technology, sometimes it's fun to lag back and just take it all at a different pace. And during those times, it's good to have games such as Jazz Jackrabbit 2 to play.

Besides, I look in the rear view mirrors myself sometimes. I see a lot of people back there, and I'm ready to serve them a dinner of applesauce and Boar's Head Ham.

Raised on Intellivision and "Tron," Kirk Hiner has been an avid gamer ever since he was tall enough to look through the viewfinder on the Battlezone upright. Although he makes a living using a PC (not by choice) to design websites for Dynamics Online, Inc., Kirk never strays from his 9600/200 or 3400c for computer gaming. When he's not playing the latest Logicware release, he can either be found working on his next "never to be published" novel, rereading anything by Kurt Vonnegut or watching RAW is WAR.

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February 09, 2010