Jazz and Faust

Jazz and Faust, from Russian 1C Company, is an adventure-based game where you control the fate of one of two characters: the smuggler Jazz or the ship captain Faust. Based in a mythical Eastern European setting, the object is to find treasure and adventure, not necessarily in that order. I had the opportunity to preview Jazz and Faust and while there have been many improvements to the beta version of the game, it still suffers from a very linear mode of play, as well as some distracting character movement and translation issues.

There are many things to enjoy with Jazz and Faust. The concept of differentiating storylines in the same world setting was unique, as was the excellently rendered backgrounds, music and artwork in the game. However, much of the same issues I had with the beta release remain in the gold edition.

Character modeling and movement are extremely awkward at best, as is the dialogue, which feels only loosely translated from the original Russian. Gameplay is reminiscent of pre Monkey Island, in that the ability to interact with NPCs and objects is severely limited, and will not allow for any 'short cuts'?. There's more challenge in the Space Quest series than in Jazz and Faust.

Overall, Jazz and Faust suffers from the same mistakes of many other lesser adventure-based games: The gameplay takes a back seat to the 'gimmick'?, in this case, the two different storylines intermeshing between characters.

Those looking for eye candy and scenery will enjoy this game, but even minor enthusiasts of the adventure scenario should pass on this.