An Epic of Jazzy Proportions

Bruce Von Stiers

There is a Russian software company called 1C Company. I had never heard of them before receiving press material for a game they were about to release. This game was supposed to be a graphical epic adventure for a couple of scoundrels. The title of this game is Jazz and Faust. It takes its name from the two main characters in the game. I thought that a taking a look at the game would be worthwhile. I found that it was a game that could have been better, but wasn’t all that bad.

The short description of the game is that it is a 3D quest / adventure game that has players assume the role of either Jazz or Faust. These two guys are adventurers who take different paths during the course of the game. Jazz is a smuggler who cheats steals and bluffs his way through difficult situations. Faust is a sea captain. He is bewitched by a woman and searches the seas and lands for her.

One of the drawbacks of the game is that once you have selected your character that is who you will play the entire game as. That was fine by me, but some people like to switch between characters in a game to give it some variety. The two characters will meet up on occasion but you can’t hop from one to the other during gameplay.

The game has 90 different locations that can be explored. The weather doesn’t change much but there are day and night cycles where you will have bright sunlight or starry night skies and darkened streets. There are also several different light sources to cause shadowy effects in various locations. A lot of effects have been built into the game including swaying signs and swirling winds.

A lot of what you do during the game is talk to people. Have Jazz talk to Hank outside the tavern at the first of the game and learn some interesting things. Faust will find out a few things by talking to the snake charmer in Khaen. You will also have them interact with a lot of the characters. Jazz has to give a bottle of wine to a policeman to get out of jail. And Faust has to pawn the crystal given to him by the lady.

This is where some players might have an issue with the game. It isn’t a game like Morrowind where you have complete control over your character. You have to follow the story that the designed for the game. You can’t vary too far from the path or you get stuck. It took me a little bit to get accustomed to not being able to do my own thing. I kept trying to find different ways out of the police station for Jazz before I finally realized that a bottle of booze would have to be given to the desk sergeant. Of course, I am far from being a rocket scientist when it comes to playing these adventure games. My son has told me that I should stick to games like Ms. Packman.

There is plenty of adventure in the game. There are harems, barroom brawls, slavery, corrupt cops and officials. There are curses and romances, broken hearts and busted heads. An opium den is one of the places to visit as well. This is definitely an element that could have been left out of the story. I’m all for story variances, but promoting drug use doesn’t enhance the game at all and will probably tick some parents off. But the box cover does warn of use of drugs in the game.

The music in the game is nice. It has a new age feel to it, like listening to a David Ackerstone CD. The sound effects are good too.

Jazz and Faust will provide hours of puzzles and humorous gameplay. The things that I found lacking in the game weren’t so great that I wouldn’t finish playing it. The only real gripe I have is the drug use aspect.

Although there could have been better player control over the characters and more action going on, it was still enjoyable to play. Experienced gamer should be able to get through it in about 15 hours.

For more information about the game, visit www.jazzandfaust.com. The game should be available on store shelves by the time you read this.