Jazz and Faust

The Good
The game comes with a 32-page well written manual which explains everything you need to know about the installation, characters and gameplay. Installation took a bit longer than I expected. I had a surprise when I started the game - it played ~without~ the CD in the drive!

Options include everything you would expect in an adventure game including a subtitles on/off selection. The subtitles can be hard to read because of the foo-foo font and the light gold color in which they are written.

The interface is a bit different but it doesn't take long to get used to. All of the menus (inventory, options, save/load games, etc.) are fancier than necessary with ornate borders and frilly type styles. For once, you probably won't need all of the save game spots because of the handy Quick Save and Auto Save features.

You choose to begin as one of 2 different characters - Jazz or Faust - in any one game. No matter which player you start with first, you will see how the plots intertwine at the end of that chapter and at the end of the game.

I give the highest marks to the background graphics in Jazz and Faust - picturesque seaports with architectured buildings and objects in brilliant colors. The characters were not done as well and in some scenes had a blocky appearance.

The music in the introduction is fully orchestrated and beautiful, and the in-game music is nice although not as elaborate as what you hear at first. Each location you visit has its own theme music which adds to the atmosphere of that particular place. There are a few sound effects as well.

Something I'm not sure I liked was the games linearity. You must always know that something is needed before you can pick it up, and conversations don't happen until other actions have been taken. This means you may get stuck very often without a clue as to why.

The Bad
Playing two characters sounds really cool ... but in this game it makes for weird gameplay. The common locations to both players act differently. For instance, Jazz will have the opportunity to talk to a Magician, but the Magician's door will always be locked for Faust. A guy asking for a cigar can't be satisfied by Faust, only Jazz. I would have rathered they didn't even give me the option to open that door or talk to that character if there was nothing to be gained.

In the English version, some of the voices didn't sound much like the characters they are portraying, especially the voice of Faust and the "red haired girl" (who by the way doesn't have red hair!). I think most of them were too "American", except for the occasional oriental merchant who at least had the right accent. The voices while playing the Jazz portion were better, I might add.

Adventure gamers are not ignorant and don't appreciate being told they are. In the Faust chapter, whenever you try to use the wrong object in the wrong place, Faust says, "No! That's just stupid!" Not a very considerate comment, to be sure. At least Jazz was more courteous with something like "I don't want to do that."

The Bottom Line
Jazz & Faust was made by a Russian company, so it stands to reason that much of it would be different than many of you are used to. Be prepared for a very linear game in which things must be done in a certain order. Depending upon whether you use a help file or not, the game is rather short. I finished it in one full day ... approximately 6-7 hours. I liked it but it is one that will easily be forgotten.

When you play it, be sure and take everyone's advice and play the Jazz portion first. It makes the story during the Faust segment make much more sense.