There hasn't been a really great adventure game since Lucasarts' Grim Fandango, and with gamers clamoring over the latest FPS and RTS games, things looked mighty grim (no pun intended) for this once thriving genre. Enter Russian developer Saturn+ with their latest title, Jazz and Faust. If first impressions are indicative of anything, then this might be the that gives the adventure genre a kickstart.

Jazz & Faust is a true throwback to the old graphic adventure games that many of us know and love. What Saturn+'s game does differently than its predecessors is that it actually tells the story of two characters from two completely different viewpoints. At the start of the game you'll have the option of either playing as Jazz, a cunning smuggler, or Faust, the noble seafaring explorer. At the start of Jazz's story, you'll find yourself thrown in the slammer, with a deadline of 3 days to raise enough money to pay off the court and win your freedom. With Faust, you begin your adventure by chasing after a lucious redhead at the harbour. Both Jazz and Faust will visit the same locations and talk to the same people, not to mention cross paths several times themselves.

The game controls easy enough, using only the mouse to control everything that Jazz or Faust do in the game. Double click on any area and they'll run towards that spot. Click on an object and your character will interact with it and possibly pick it up if they think it'll be important for use later. If your character picks up an item, it will automatically be deposited into your inventory, where you can call it up whenever you need to use it. One of my minor gripes with Jazz & Faust comes with the inventory system, because you actually need to select the item that an NPC needs in order to give it to them. While it's certainly not a deterring factor in the game, it's definitely somewhat annoying when you think you should be able to progress with a certain NPC character, only to realize you forgot to equip the appropriate item.

While the gameplay is all find and dandy, one thing that I noticed thus far in the preview build is that the game primarily focuses not on puzzles, but on trading. When you start off the game with Jazz, you wander around a bit looking for various items that NPCs are looking for. In essence, all you're really doing is just trading back their goods for whatever bit of information they have or for money in order to pay off the court. The wine keeper has a bag of gold to give you, but won't give it to you unless you can find a wine jug for him. You know that the Snake Charmer in town has a wine jug, but he wants a container to replace it. For a good two or three hours, this is essentially what the game boils down to, fetching items for a string of characters in order to get what you want. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it might not be what some gamers are looking for.

Thus far, Jazz & Faust is shaping up to be a great adventure game, and it's possible that it may be one of the last ones we'll ever see. Scheduled for release in a couple of months, 1C should have a great title on their hands if our first impressions are any indication.

· · · Reno