Russian developer Saturn+ will bring the English version of "Jazz and Faust" to the US market, an adventure game already released in Russia in 2001. Also a Polish version of the game is to be released at the beginning of 2002. While Saturn+ concentrates on the development of the horror adventure "Midnight Nowhere", I want to look at the less bloody fantasy adventure "Jazz and Faust" in this preview.

In this mouse-controlled 3rd person game the player controls one of the two main characters: Jazz or Faust. Jazz is a smuggler, he comes from a world, where greed is the mainspring. His hardheaded pragmatism however hits the limits, since he gets involved again and again in risky ventures, which often end in fizzling, bad luck and breakdowns. Faust however comes from the other side of the sea. He is the captain of a ship, what does not prevent him from his daydreams. Dreamful and sensitive he looks at the world and has nothing to do with dirty lucre.

Depending on, which hero you select, you will experience a perfect different game. The two heroes will meet one another again and again, however the gamer cannot change during the game process between the characters. Thus there are two different, linear strands, leading to the finale in the long run. You can restart the game with the other character and experience all events from a quite different view, stamped by the different origin and world view of the two leading actors. The world of Jazz and Faust consists of very different locations, 70 scenes altogether animated by 59 3D-characters, with which you can communicate. Partly the scenes differ much by architecture, life-style and climate.

The game begins in a port, which reminds with its impressing gothic buildings of a medieval city somewhere in Europe. We travel to an island settlement surrounded by jungle, and visit cities, which remind of the old Orient with minarets, tea houses and caravanserais. The caravanserais are filled with all kinds of travelers, dealers and chisellers. Gold, camels, spices are commercial objects and smugglers and receivers of stolen goods try to dispose their booty. A ghost town in the sand desert is crammed with treasures, however the life of the desert world concentrates on small ports where people find work and entertainment. On the markets there are hundreds of slaves from the most diverse countries and if you are not careful, you can become imprisoned as a slave, killed or robbed at the next corner.

Everywhere you meet people on the search for money and possessions, and the rogues under them don't flinch from nothing.

Beautiful, prerendered backgrounds are the stage for our two 3D-heroes. The romantic sceneries are animated by special effects such as fire, smoke, fog etc., shadows from several light sources are generated in real time and we can experience the change between day and night.