QCF: Jazzpunk

rom the very start Jazzpunk grabs your attention with its colorful intro and jazzy electronic beats. As you settle into the core of the game it becomes apparent that you're playing something truly unique. You might even call it an experiment that successfully blends familiar game elements, referential humor, and pure oddity in a way that hasn't been done before.

Characters are stylized in a way that reminds one of bathroom gender symbols. Except these caricatures wear clothes and have some semblance of a face usually denoted by a mouth or pair of glasses. The world is very boxy with its simple geometery but that easily compliments the retro 60's stylings. Information is sometimes fed to the player through blobs of floating text. The same kind which seem to popping up in all kinds of movies and televisions shows these days.

The first person perspective of the game allows the player a great opportunity to really look around and explore the surroundings. There are ton of gags hidden throughout and it will be easy to miss some if you aren't actively poking around. One such gag occurs early on when you find a piece of bubblegum stuck underneath a desk that you can pluck for your chewing pleasure. Delicious!

The real brillance of Jazzpunk is that the comedy emerges through the gameplay. Interaction with the game world and it's cast puts the player right in the middle of the skits that unfold. Better yet it's the kind of snarky humor and word play that permeate Mel Brooks and Leslie Nielsen films. Surely you're joking. Don't call me Shirley. There's also a good helping of both game and movie referential humor on the side. Some notable call outs include Power Rangers, Demolition Man, and Street Fighter 2 among many others.

Minigames help to break up the adventure heavy aspect of Jazzpunk. These are typically based on legit games. Like the Frogger styled segment where you assist an amphibious hacker across the street to retrieve some mission vital headgear. Another minigame diversion called Wedding Cake dresses the tried and true formula of Quake in wedding attire. Items appear in the forms of prenuptials and champagne glasses while the enemy bots consist of grooms and a blushing bride to be.

While the story mode can be conquered in a handful of hours I feel like that's the perfect length for this style of game. Anything more would have been over indulgent and probably tiresome. And like I mentioned earlier there's a good chance that you're going to miss some stuff on first play through so the game warrants returns. Even if it's just to show off some of the skits to friends.

If you're looking for something laid back and most importantly fun, I couldn't recommend Jazzpunk enough. The title was developed by Necrophone Games and published by Adult Swim for Windows, OSX, and Linux platforms. It's available now in both DRM and DRM-free versions online.