Jazz Jackrabbit 2: Holiday Hare 98

The Good
Judging from the title, Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare '98 is the christmas version of Jazz Jackrabbit 2. And yes, it is created by Epic MegaGames, in conjunction with Orange Games and Gathering of Developers. (What kind of silly name is Gathering of Developers, anyway? Why not just GODGames to make it consistent with their website URL?) Holiday Hare '98 has only three levels, along with the same gameplay and sound effects that is seen in the original Jazz2. As Jazz, or his wacky brother, Spaz, you must go through the level, shooting such nuisances like turtles and bats. Along the way, you can also collect sweets and ammo for weapons. If you collect enough sweets, you have a "Sugar Rush", making you invincible for a few seconds. With invincibility, running into enemies destroys them. Unlike the other Holiday Hare versions of Jazz Jackrabbit, you get to defeat the boss in the final level.

The graphics are of Jazz2's standards, but they are slightly modified to give a Christmas feel to them. For instance, most of the enemies wear Santa hats wherever they go. Furthermore, although Holiday Hare '98 has the same psychedelic background like the one in The Secret Files, only red, snow falls out of the sky, as you would expect when it's Christmas time up north.

And although there are only three levels, each of them are quite long, with each one of them taking at least over ten minutes to complete, but if you expect much more, then I suggest that you play all holiday versions of Jazz, as well as this game, and consider them as one huge episode. Call it something like "Jazz vs. Christmas" or something along those lines.

Since this game is considered shareware, you also get the levels that were included in the original shareware release of Jazz2. The only different between Holiday Hare '98 and these levels is that you won't get the modified graphics. Unfortunately, you don't get to play with the Jazz Creation Station, a program where you get to design your own Jazz2 graphics and levels.

The Bad
The music is nothing special. Although Holiday Hare '98 is much better that its Jazz counterparts in terms of structure, the music is the same for all three levels. Jazz2's introduction is left behind in Holiday Hare '98, and does not relate to the Christmas theme.

The Bottom Line
If you enjoyed playing Jazz's Holiday Hare versions, I'm sure that you will find this one enjoyable enough.

Rating: ***