Developer: Epic Games
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1994
Stephen's Rating: 6/10
Jazz Jackrabbit was a game I played in the hayday of shareware.
Basic Plot
You play the role of Jazz Jackrabbit, a fast running rabbit with a gun. The story is an extension of the infamous The Tortoise and the Hare. The main antagonist is Devan Shell, a tortoise who conquers planets. Jazz's homeworld of Carrotus proved too strong to conquer, so in retaliation Devan Shell kidnaps the princess Eva Earlong. It's up to Jazz to defeat Devan and rescue the princess.
In writing that it sounds very much like the plot of Super Mario Brothers with the gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Gameplay
It's pretty obvious that this game is a lot like Sonic the Hedgehog. It's a fast paced platform game. The difference is that Jazz can't jump on enemies to defeat the, instead he has a gun. By default he has a blaster with unlimited ammunition but he can collect various other forms of ammunition to help him throughout the game:
- Blaster - unlimited ammo basic projectile.
- Fireball - large radius fire shot.
- RPG - bi-missile projectile.
- Bouncing Grenades
- TNT
Positives
As with other Epic games, Jazz had some of the best music out there. It's interesting that its competitor Sonic the Hedgehog also had excellent music, although the styles were quite different.
The fast pace of the game was enjoyable, and it used the trusted formula of Sonic the Hedgehog so it was bound to be aesthetically enjoyable. For the time it was great graphics.
Negatives
It was pretty unoriginal. The story and characters were pretty cliche and uninteresting. It didn't grip me enough to make me want to buy the full version, although I *really* enjoyed playing it at the time.
Memorable Moments
Although Jazz looks tougher than sonic because he has a gun, it kind of makes him more fragile because he can't jump on enemies (he gets hurt).
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