Jazz Jackrabbit 3

"Jazz Jackrabbit 3" (alternatively called "Jazz Jackrabbit 3D" or simply "Jazz3D") is the unreleased third installment of the popular PC game series, Jazz Jackrabbit. Spear-headed by Dean "Noogy" Dodrill (an animator for Jazz Jackrabbit 2) and coded by World Tree Games, it was developed for the original Unreal Engine technology in 1999. Like many other mascot characters of the late 90s, Jazz would venture into the realm of 3D for the first time.

Despite interest to develop the game, it never was released after Epic MegaGames failed to find a publisher, and it was canceled sometime in May 2000. Since then, the original proof-of-concept alpha has been leaked on to the internet.

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Following the events of Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Jazz and his wife, Eva Earlong, settle down in Carrotus Castle to rule the planet and have children. The game ties in with Jazz 2, starting with a battle between Jazz and Devan in a 2D environment, either in cutscene form or actual gameplay. (A story board for one such cutscene was drawn, but never animated.) The premise has Jazz and his wife with kids, which Devan comes to kidnap. Devan is successful in snatching the kids away, taking them into an alternate universe using the Jazz 2 Time Machine. (converted to a Dimensional Machine) This alternate universe turns out to be the 3rd Dimension, and of course, Jazz must venture into the 360-degree world to rescue his children. During the search, Devan uses the kid's dreams against Jazz...

Gameplay

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"Jazz Jackrabbit 3" is a third-person shooter with platforming and adventure game elements. The mouse is used to aim and shoot, while the keyboard moves Jazz around the world. Jazz can fire his weapon, or charge up a more powerful shot similar to games like Mega Man X. Jazz's arsenal can be expanded using coins collected to purchase new weapons and combine them with Elemental "Dream Cells" to create various weapon effects. In the alpha, only Fire and Ice Dream Cells can be acquired, and usable with two guns (the standard Blaster and the Gizmo Gun.

Unlike previous games in the series, Jazz Jackrabbit 3 has no levels to speak of. Instead, it is played section-by-section, similar to Super Metroid. At specific points in a map, the player can travel back and forth between "sections" of the game world. Each new area Jazz visits is prefaced by its name. The areas in the Alpha include:

* Carrotus VillageWhere Jazz begins the demo. Generally designed to fill the player in on the plot (via talking to NPCs), and allow as a resting point where they can purchase weapon upgrades.

* Tutorial/MinesLocated at the center of Carrotus Village. Provides the player with a small area for learning how to play Jazz Jackrabbit 3 demo.

* Razz RocketOne of the most unfinished areas normally accessible in the alpha. Features a huge arena with a rocket ship in the center, which was built by Jazz's cousin, Razz (short for "Razzmatazz", originally meant to appear in Jazz Jackrabbit 2).

* Carrotus PassThis is a way to go to Carrotus Castle.

* Carrotus ForestA huge forest with massive trees, a memorial shrine of Jazz, and lots of room to explore, leading up to the entrance of "Carrotus Castle"

* Carrotus CastleJazz and Eva's former home, now over-run with Devan's minions. Features three elemental versions of normal enemies as stand-in boss characters.

Additionally, a few more (clearly unfinished) levels were bundled with the Alpha that cannot accessed without first enabling the console and loading them manually. Often these levels are so unfinished that they cannot even be played at all, only viewed through UnrealEd. These maps include unfinished Battle arenas, Level Select hub-worlds, maps that might have possibly been used for cutscenes, and even a playable (but unfinished) singleplayer map originally seen in Jazz Jackrabbit 3 concept art (involving a cliff-side waterfall, a giant mine shaft, and undersea ruins).

Also, there is a blue rabbit at the top of Carrotus Castle who is freed after Jazz defeats Devan's final fire-elemental minion. If spoken to, the rabbit says "Thank you for saving me Jazz! Cosmo has taken your child away from here, and into an underground laboratory. However, that area isn't finished yet :)", which seems to suggest that there was also an underground laboratory level in development.

It is unknown how many worlds and areas would have been featured in the final game, but it is thought Jazz would travel between different planets (as he did in previous games in the series), possibly using the Razz Rocket.

Multiplayer

Utilizing the Unreal Engine's strong network code, Jazz Jackrabbit 3 continued the tradition of having multiplayer gameplay (first introduced in Jazz Jackrabbit 2). The only mode featured in the Alpha was straight up "Battle", and the interface for playing multiplayer was not yet finished. Many glitches effect gameplay but is possible to host and join servers via an IP address.

Production Team

* Programming: Jason Emery, Devon Tackett
* Artwork: Dean Dodrill, Christian Bradley
* 3D Modeling: David Carter, Will Sweat
* Level Design: Dean Dodrill, Jason Emery, Anton Wiegert, John Falgate
* Music: Alexander Brandon

Alpha Origins

It is currently unknown when or how the Unreleased Alpha for Jazz Jackrabbit 3 found its way on to the internet. World Tree Games' website is defunct, and Dean Dodrill provides no comment on its origins, leaving the question of whether or not the Alpha was officially posted or unofficially leaked currently up in the air. It is, however, known that Cliff Bleszinski has mentioned in the past distributing the Proof-Of-Concept Alpha for free on the Internet; however, this would cost World Tree Games a very large sum of money in order to officially license the Unreal Engine for distribution purposes, even if non-commercial.

Revival

It was revealed at the end of the 2005-07-29 episode of G4TV.com that Cliff Bleszinski is still very interested in the idea of doing Jazz Jackrabbit 3, and is still actively pitching the concept to publishers [http://www.g4tv.com/g4tv/episodes/4306/Summer_Better_Than_Others.html] . Although Bleszinski would not reveal too many details about the game, he seemed to imply it involved Jazz getting into trouble with the Turtle Mafia, suggesting that his concept for Jazz Jackrabbit 3 is completely different from the version Dean Dodrill was working on in 1999.

Additional Information

* Although difficult to understand any of the plot just by playing the leaked Alpha normally, story details were eventually uncovered by digging around the game's files in the copy of UnrealEd packaged with "Jazz Jackrabbit 3". In there, lost voice clips were found from an unfinished cutscene, revealing Jazz's children discovering Devan's old time portal.
* Other lost voice clips include Jazz himself vulgarly swearing.
* Although the game only lets you acquire Fire and Ice Dream Cells, UnrealEd reveals many, many more Dream Cells including Water and Earth.
*Earlier versions of Carrotus Village started the player from the Canyon entrance. Aside from being largely unfinished (NPCs had no dialogue, there was no carrot shop, you couldn't visit other levels) the entrance to the tutorial was originally going to lead to a different part of the Carrotus Forest.

External links

* [http://www.jazz2online.com/j3f/ The Jazz Jackrabbit 3 FAQ]
* [http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf JazzJackrabbit Community Forums (JCF)]