If there’s anything to associate with far out mind trips, it’s the 60’s, espionage movies and cyberpunk. Jazzpunk, written and directed by Luis Hernandez and Jess Brouse, most definitely taps into cold war suspense films such as the Manchurian Candidate, Dr. Strangelove and Eon’s early James Bond. It also remembers some of that 50’s and 60’s kitsch that influenced homes and architecture. On the cyberpunk end there’s plenty of clunky machinery, human augmentations, virtual reality simulations and strangely fitting Japanese influences as dictated by the likes of Blade Runner and Shadowrun.
Even though the veneer is very nice, it’s also largely inconsequential, down to a soundtrack that’s made up of more modern beats with very little jazz or punk to be found. The story and the eras it blows a kiss to are more so they can get away with a plot that’s akin to taking psychedelic shrooms. Nothing is as it seems, missions take quite bizarre turns, and at one point the story hints you’re not who you think you are which is more an excuse for another nutty level than it is a serious revelation.
Gameplay? Well you walk around, interact with things. Sometimes what you do means something, sometimes it doesn’t. A few puzzles in Jazzpunk require a little bit of outside the box thinking, but once you work out the ‘logic’ of the game you can quickly progress through it. Levels allow you to wander around and engage in additional objectives, so you don’t have to clear missions as fast as possible. In fact you shouldn’t, if you want the full Jazzpunk experience.
If you like your insider “geek” references this brings it in spades. Any fan of cinema, video games, computer programming and language, and really obscure commercials is going to find an easter egg to point and chortle at. In fact there are a couple of playable game parodies, from Quake to Street Fighter 2 and the much maligned Virtual Boy. 20 years later and those red on black graphics remain harsh on the eyes.
It may sound like you’re getting a lot, but you’re really not. Even with talking to every character multiple times, playing every parody and doing every sidequest I only logged a total of 2 hours in the game. The core game is also on an incredibly linear path, it more references espionage to parody its known cliches rather than using the genre to any deeper effect.
The game also has quite a few bugs for being so short and relatively narrow. I encountered at least one crash trying to load up a survival horror type simulation, while later on loading a save made sure I was trapped in one of the level’s rooms with no way out, it seems it literally reset around me. After a little bit of research online, it appeared I wasn’t the only one suffering bugs, others experienced them littered through out the game. There’s a thread currently open on Steam attempting to troubleshoot any issues players come across, which means the title is actively being looked into.
Jazzpunk is a pretty good and entertaining joke, it’s also filled with plenty of weirdness. I feel I should say this was sponsored by Adult Swim so it could get on Steam, just to give you an idea of the scope of the odd humor. It’s also a bit of an expensive purchase for a few punchlines, currently $15.99. Unfortunately with the current bugs, length and price point I can’t make it an enthusiastic recommend, though it certainly provides a good experience and I’d like to see more from Necrophone in the future.
