Fascinating look at what might have been
Jazz Jackrabbit has starred in a number of games over the years, including Holiday Hare and The Christmas Chronicles, with most of them taking the platformer style of Sonic and throwing in fairly hardcore shooter elements. The series is a pretty decent one on the whole and offers plenty to attract genre fans, thanks to the mix of fast and furious run 'n' gun action and challenging platforming. It comes as no great surprise to find Jazz jumping into 3D, following in the footsteps of Mario and Sonic himself and on the whole this is a worthy addition to the series and it is just a shame it was never actually officially released. The story follows on from the second game and finds jazz settling into married life while ruling an entire planet. However, the peace doesn't last and Jazz soon finds himself tracking down his kidnapped children. This translates into a pretty straight reinterpretation of the familiar style of the series, only of course it is now played out in 3D. There's the same mix of platforming and shooting, mixed up with op[en world-type exploration, while there are of course plenty of weapons and enemies to find and battle against respectively. This really is quite a fascinating vision of what might have been, and although it isn't exactly finished, there's enough on show to make you wish it had been completed. The action comes at you as fast as the traditional games, while the platforming and exploring benefit from being blown up into the third dimension. If you are a fan of the series or just curious about what might have been, then this is definitely worth tracking down.
