I gave the shareware episode another go today and have to agree with everything you’ve said.
That soundtrack, though. Even more banging than Sonic 2/3 at some points (tubelectric, anyone?)
My strategy is also blindly shooting ahead but sometimes even that doesn’t work as it seems that Jazz even catches up with his own bullets!
I prefer Jazz 2 as the resolution and size of Jazz have changed giving the player the advantage of the overview instead of the cramped resolution. This feels like playing a Sonic game on the Game Gear.
The problem with speeding through things and bumping into enemies is solved with Sonic’s spinning: just press down and everything dies (except if you land on spikes). No cigar here.
If you manage to find the bird in the levels, that thing does start hawking and “warns” you of enemies ahead, just a milisec before I see them!