JJ1 Level, by 
Alright, this took me somewhere between 6 to 8 tries to finish on Normal in one continue, but I finally did it and oh boy, this pack exceeded my expectations and overloaded my nostalgia! Across all playthroughs I found 3 secret levels and played 4 bonus levels. I’m not sure if that’s all of them, but let’s just review this beast!
The first stop is Emeraldus, an easy-going planet that mixes elements from Diamondus and Sonic’s Green Hill Zone. Right from the start it’s noticable how clever the levels are designed towards Jazz1’s low field of vision, with every jump landing Jazz where you’d expect him to land. I rarely bumped into spikes or enemies without expecting them to be there. Also, both levels have enough carrots to let players get the hang of Jazz1’s mechanics.
The 2nd planet, Marbelava, is perhaps the strangest and a bit of a black horse compared to the others (just like Sonic1’s equivalent). The underground parts encourage slow movement and precision jumps. It’s also filled with cleverly designed moving platforms, like blocks floating on lava and plateaus hanging on a chain. I generally liked these parts, except for the section with falling blocks which appeared to form a stack yet they didn’t. Just jumping into them worked, but it’s a bit unclear as to how and why this was intended or not.
Oh, and without trying to spoil, I got to play a secret level with an incredible atmosphere. It literally turned darkness into light. :P
Next stop is Gravis, mixing various elements from the Casino styled Sonic levels with Jazz1. All focus is on spring, bounce, and jumping mechanics here. In my view, the difficulty took a significant rise from this planet on. Carrots get less (or harder to find), enemies are placed harder, and environmental hazards are more fierce. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and visual details set here, such as neon-lights and the fact that the downside of the level is dark while the upside is light! I also liked the little Jazz clones, they remind you that it’s still a Jazz game following the same base plot (without the Twin Battleships).
In one of my latter playthoughs I found a secret level that felt as a springy reward, those extra lives really helped in learning the harder levels to come!
Labyrinthion, the fourth planet, was where most of my playthroughs ended. It mixes water-level puzzles with carefully placed hazards such as rolling rocks. First off, the way how the water slide at the beginning loops through warps is a cool way to resemble Sonic1’s counterpart. Thereafter starts a cleverly designed puzzle that requires you to open high pathways by raising the water level. I didn’t particularly like the slow pace of the first level, but the minecarts and moving platforms in the second one got me amazed! And then I haven’t even talked about the JJ2 style crate puzzles that halted my progress until asking on the JCF thread! Best thing introduced here may still be the granade weapon, it works well and gets rid of the fact that Jazz1’s weapons aren’t too different from each other.
The fifth planet is Noirlite, and reminds you that pits in platform games are evil! Thus it more than ever encourages you to stay up whenever possible. It also encourages fast movement like no other, and uses sucker tube mechanics to simulate loops. The booby-trap enemies introduced here were annoying (as they should) and it took me a while to learn how to overcome them. All while enjoying the starry sky including falling star effects!
In an earlier playthrough I found another secret level that really took things different with a Jazz clone. It relied on muscle-memory to clear it but wow, it was amazing!
Next there’s an oddly titled (extra) level ‘cloudsduel’ that resembles Sonic’s flying trip to Eggman’s base in Sonic 2, except we have Jazz on his trusty airboard! Me as a shoot ‘em up fan really appreciated the gameplay of this level! And it felt like an easy interlude for what is to come…
…In Fabricus, the final planet which is Devan’s base! It resembles both the ‘Death Egg’ and Scrap Brain Zone from Sonic. And just like on Sonic, environmental hazards are everywhere and way harder to avoid than on the previous planets. There’s things like electricity, torches, sawblades, and spears. The enemies however, are somewhat more passive and predictable, like those pigs shooting ball-things. I got through the first level pretty easy, but the 2nd started with another water puzzle (now with more hazards) that took many of my hard earned lives. The rest of the level went smooth, and the most surprising thing were the magnetic circle platforms, very clever and fun to play around with!
A lot more can be said about SWAG. But this review is a wall of text already, so let’s just say that even though there’s no such thing as perfection, a project of this scale with every nook & cranny thought-through with a purpose. The purpose of letting people play a game mixing Jazz, Sonic, fresh surprises, and nostalgia that’s well worth a 10! Chances are slim that you will like this pack if you don’t like the original Jazz1, but it’s well worth a try. Download recommended? No, it’s mandatory!
