About Jazz Jackrabbit 2

Jazz Jackrabbit 2, or JJ2, is a 2d platform game that was developed by what is now Epic Games and released in 1998. It's the sequel to the DOS classic, Jazz Jackrabbit, a game which many people remember fondly. Though the original game is much more of a "classic" than its sequel, it is the sequel which has managed to withstand the test of time and sustain a vibrant, if small, community dedicated to it for almost ten years to this date. The reason is twofold: unlike the original game, Jazz 2 comes equipped with both a level editor and internet multiplayer.

The editor, while somewhat limited when compared to advanced level editors such as UnrealEd or Hammer, is still powerful enough to be satisfactory. The community has used it to create literally thousands of levels, the best of which are much better than anything that comes packaged with the game. As for the multiplayer, it manages to be simple and easy to grasp on the surface, yet deep enough to be comparable to any other online game. Competitive CTF play is especially challenging, with new strategies still being developed. Not to mention the fact that the game is extremely fast paced, with the time it takes for a good player to run between two CTF bases rarely being greater than fifteen seconds.

While the gameplay can basically be summed up as "run around and shoot enemies", there's enough variety to keep things interesting. There are nine normal weapons (plus three special, rare ones), each of them serving a unique, useful purpose by behaving in completely different ways. Six of those weapons can also be powered up to more useful forms, if you find the right item. Some weapons simply travel in a straight line, others can go through walls, one is affected by gravity, and one of them is actually a flamethrower. You can even "rocket jump", if you know how to. Another important fact is that all of the weapons are affected by momentum: if you are running when you shoot, the weapon will travel much farther, sometimes even in ways that defy physics. In single player, the amount of damage each weapon deals is hard to quantify, but in multiplayer, normal weapons will take off 1 heart (out of 5 or 3, depending on game mode), and their powered-up forms will take off 2 hearts.

There are three playable characters, and each one has three special moves. Some special moves double as attacks, and all of them are useful for mobility purposes. These moves range from stomping on the heads of enemies to jumping in mid-air. Special moves also tend to be highly damaging, killing enemies in one hit and dealing 2 hearts of damage to other players. Some single player levels even have entire sections which can only be accessed by one character, making the levels more replayable.

Since this is a very old game that never sold that well, it's considered abandonware now. This doesn't mean that it's entirely legal to download a copy of it for free, but it does mean that the developers tolerate such a practice due to the game no longer generating any money. A good site to find the game is Home of the Underdogs. You can find it under "links" on the right side of this page. I have linked the 1.24 version, which serves as a standalone expansion pack of sorts, and has more features than the original game. You can also find the original JJ2 though (v1.21 - v1.23), if you look for it, and it might be worth getting since the two versions are incompatible with each other in multiplayer. Note that 1.24 levels will not work in 1.23, but 1.23 levels will work in 1.24. Most people make their levels with 1.23 because of this, but some people don't, so that's why I have linked the 1.24 version, also commonly called TSF (The Secret Files).