Jazz and Faust
This game plays almost like an animated story-book. Two characters, two different
stories, two linked games. Jazz is the pirate, with slightly shady values, either taken
advantage of, or taking advantage of. Faust is the sea captain, a romantic, pursuing a
beauty who he has seen only once.
The action is set in Middle Age Europe, with over 80 beautifully rendered locations. The
characters start out at seaport town and then their travels diverge. Their adventures take
them to a remote primitive island, a desert journey with a caravansary rest stop, a
cosmopolitan city with where one or the other encounters characters in a slave market
and an opium den and finally to the Sultan's palace. It is this brief exchange of opium for
information that gives the game the warning "use of drugs". It feels like the characters
move freely through a 3D world until your realize that the scenes are painted like a
diorama with clever motion touches. The animation of the characters consists mostly of
walking around the many locations, and it is done well. The game is unusual both in
execution and story. It comes to us from 1C, a Russian video game developer and affords
us with a different and enjoyable game experience. We can only hope that this will be the
first of many.
Editor Review 7/02
Ages: Teen+