I’ve deleted this sentence several times now, and I’ll be surprised if this one makes it in. it’s near impossible to describe Jazzpunk to someone without losing something in translation. I’ve tried for several days now to pin down exactly what makes it such an oddity, but aside from a few scribbled notes and a doodle of a geisha-fly hybrid, I’ve got nothing.

Let’s start with what we know to be factually true. Jazzpunk is a story-driven adventure set in the first person perspective. You play the part of a secret agent called Polyblank, tasked with completing assignments given to you by a strange man in a repurposed train car. Your missions will have you travelling across the world to appease your handler, stealing objects of interest and throwing spiders at people as you go.

From this point on, things are going to get a little bizarre.

My first steps into the world, and I find myself greeted with a long tunnel full of clutter. A rudimentary search of my surroundings provides the first clue that this game isn’t your average adventure, as performing my mandatory “let’s click action on everything until I activate a secret” spree sparks a conversation between me and, well… a cardboard box. As the sentient box gargles and groans aloud in an incoherent ramble, its words become projected across its surface. Not only is this piece of litter alive, it’s begging me to leave it alone because it’s “just a box”. Prodding, staring intently, and eventually climbing on top of the box failed to persuade it to say anything else so I pressed on to the first level, slightly bewildered from my encounter with a cardboard entity.

I find myself continuously drawing comparisons between Jazzpunk and the old point & click adventure games like Monkey Island. There’s a certain charm factor that exudes from every piece of dialogue, every obscure scenario that plays out, and every sexual liaison with the roaming robot prostitutes in the streets. Each interaction is set up like a witty one liner, and for the most part they land on target, leaving you either grinning from ear to ear or scratching your head in a daze of bemusement.

Jazzpunk is set up in a way that encourages exploration over progression, and by not fully searching the outer reaches of each zone you’ll be missing out on the essence of the game. Take the first mission, in which you’re plopped right in front of a Soviet office that holds your goal. You could just stroll right in and get down to business, but a closer inspection of the surrounding buildings will yield a whole host of side activities to draw focus from the main plot.

Whilst searching through the game’s different levels, you’re likely to stumble across one of the many mini-games scattered around. Whether it’s beating up a car with your fists, slaying pizza zombies, or racing across a busy street as a frog, you’re likely to crack a smile as you play out these fun homages to old school classics. Perhaps the best of these, Wedding Qake is a like-for-like copy of the old Quake FPS arena shooter. You’ll swap heavy firepower and monsters for matrimony and cake shaped mini-guns in this satisfying distraction that I may have spent more time in than I should have.

Numerous hidden paths and secrets go a long way towards breaking apart the different sections of the game. and whilst the constant quick-fire of gags starts off great, the constant barrage of jokes tallying up against you at later levels can leave you somewhat exhausted by the torrent of humour. While it’s disappointing to see Jazzpunk diminish in the later sections, it’s to be expected from something that relies on comedy to be the focal point of the gameplay.

Jazzpunk is a breath of fresh air for adventure games, and by flaunting its own flamboyant take of a number of well known gaming tropes it pulls off an excellent parody of this culture that is both unique and entertaining. While the game does start to wind down in its final moments, there’s no reason why fans of the absurd shouldn’t jump right in and face the brain melting weirdness just waiting to be discovered.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using the PC version.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Ever wonder if there is other life out there in the cosmos? Perhaps some civilizations are exploring the vast reaches of space, or even at war with one another. What if, during such a war, an errant shot from a planet’s defences missed its target and hurled itself out into space? Perhaps that very shot is coming into our own solar system, hurtling towards Earth, with us unaware of our impending danger. At least, that is what I was thinking when I made a huge miscalculation while playing the pre-alpha build of Interplanetary by Finnish based studio Team Jolly Roger Games.

Bombardment!!

Interplanetary is a hard science fiction, turn-based strategy game where you use artillery weapons from your own planet in order to blow up a rival planet. If you have ever played Tanks or Scorched Earth back in the day, it is very much like that, but on a much larger and complex scale. In this game, you must first build up your forces before you are able to begin chucking warheads across the solar system. There is strategy involved as you must manage a multitude of things such as building material, power, planet defences, planet armaments, and of course, your population. Your “life” comes in the form of cities; you must protect them at all costs while at the same time attempting to bombard your opponent’s cities into a smouldering crater. Do that, and you win. Simple right? Nope!

While attempting to destroy that one pesky planet, you must account for things such as planetary orbit, gravity wells, travel time, and other planets and planetoids as well as their respective orbits and gravity. While you do get a guide showing you how your shot will travel, it only takes into account the current state of the system. You must predict how your aim will be affected by other planets and the gravity of the local sun in order to get a shot to land perfectly. Science! Ballistics! Math! …My head hurts.

With skills you can make curved shots around the sun.

The pre-alpha version only comes with multiplayer at the moment, and AI opponents are not integrated yet to my knowledge, but it is planned for a future release. I loaded up the hot seat multiplayer and began playing a solo game. Although LAN and online support is there, I have yet to try them out.

Build up your planet.

Playing both planets did little to stifle my “strategy” since fired rounds may behave in unpredictable ways due to planetary influences. So due to this, playing both sides on a solo game still made things a little challenging. Before I knew it, hours had flown by, and I was still in the midst of a great war, firing shells, missiles, and even laser beams. This reminded me a lot of Scorched Earth where my aim, or lack thereof, can make games last quite a long time.

I am extremely impressed with this, considering it is only a pre-alpha build; it has quite a lot of gameplay and core mechanics already down pat. It is already a strong build in its current state – more than enough to convince any fans of artillery-type games or science fiction buffs. Team Jolly Roger have many plans for the future of Interplanetary, and I for one am looking forward to future builds and releases. Definitely keep an eye on this title in the future, and one in the sky for one of my off-the-mark artillery shots.

I may not be able to hit the planet next to me, but I guarantee the neighbouring solar systems have fear in their hearts whenever they hear my name.

Check out the Interplanetary website
Team Jolly Roger’s Website

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Specs

The gaming experience in smartphones and tablets has been greatly enhanced because of the improved specs of those devices. Before, 8-bit video games like Space Impact and Snake were the only titles that you could play on your phones. Fast forward to today and you can now play Need for Speed or Grand Theft Auto II on mobile devices with all their high-definition glory. Samsung S4, for example, shows why it’s a leading device for portable gaming. According to O2′s Galaxy S4 page, this device has a glorious 5” HD screen, expandable memory, and a long battery life. It even has its own compatible game controller that allows you to play a wider genre such as role-playing or first-person shooter games.

Although mobile device hardware is improving, the game quality is obviously still light years away compared to the latest consoles on the market. These consoles have massive storage capabilities that let you store hundreds of games that are more lengthy and complex compared to their mobile counterparts. Only with these bulky devices can we have this mind-blowing and realistic experience wherein we get to fight dragons and meet dazzling princesses that are worth saving. Not even the 5” HD screen of Samsung could top that.

Convenience

If a console’s hardware is better, then why is it that mobiles still own the market? A main reason is because of its convenience. Searching for a more convenient way to play a game is a human habit that has killed consoles over the years. This happened before in the age of arcades when playing at home became easier with the rise of Sega and Nintendo consoles.

These days, more people prefer smartphones and tablets for gaming because of their portable features. Unlike those bulky game consoles that constrain people to play indoors, these gadgets allow them to play anywhere and anytime. It satisfies the people’s need for entertainment during those 30 boring minutes when they are riding a train or waiting in a long line.

Mobile Reach

It also helps that devices have a wider reach than traditional consoles. In the Mobile Games Trend Report from NewZoo, there are 100 million mobile gamers in the United States alone and 4.2 million iOS games are downloaded daily.

Meanwhile, console gaming sales are plummeting downwards. A news report from Time said that console sales in the US dropped 21% last year.

Conclusion

Mobile gaming is a bane to traditional gaming consoles because of the increasing market and convenience. However, we can’t totally say that it’s “game over” for the consoles because the best games on the market are played best on more powerful machines. As long as there are gamers out there looking for more complicated and exciting video games, these devices will always be there to satisfy their cravings for virtual action.

What console do you usually use for gaming? Which do you think is better? Share us your thoughts!

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The personalities of each shape shine through wonderfully.

The indie gaming scene has gone through a transformation over the last couple of years, and the ‘quirky platformer’ has wedged itself firmly at the forefront of the scene. Between its simplistic visual design and narration courtesy of Danny Wallace (who may have played Portal 2 once or twice), Thomas Was Alone could easily fall victim to such a tag. Its key to making it different is in the way the characters are developed throughout the game, made all the more incredible due to the avatars being nothing more than quadrilaterals. Each one has its own personality and ability. The great thing is as you progress through the game, you start to develop a picture of what each shape might look like in human form. Chris’ clearly suffers from a case of short-man syndrome and his inferiority complex shines through amusingly. As you progress further, this tiny little orange square turns into a short, stubby little man in your imagination.

The controls are fluid for the most part, although I found on a number of occasions my character of choice would fall into the water and respawn flying straight back into the water, because I was still holding left or right – It’s a minor foible and might just say more about my inabilities to use a keyboard for gaming.

The soundtrack is gorgeous and slick with its arrangements, and there are flickers of 8-bit blips to round everything out.  It complements the visual design of the game perfectly and full credit should be given to David Housden for adding another layer to the presentation.

Downsides? It’s too easy. The game can be finished in around two hours and is an acceptable length that coincides with the story, but it is simply not challenging enough. It does not fall into the ‘style over substance’ category, but for all the praise that can be heaped onto our rectangular friends and their personalities their trials and tribulations end up not counting for much. There are only several levels in the game where you ever truly need to stop and think of what might need to be done, and only several levels have any form of environment that limits you to the time you have to complete it. It’s all of this that stops Thomas from being a true indie classic. Nonetheless, Thomas Was Alone is still unique and charming enough that if you have any interest in indie games you should invest your time and money into it, as you will be rewarded.

Thomas Was Alone is available through either IndieCity or Desura.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.