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Best of the Rest: Ludwig's picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Jazzpunk Jazzpunk is likely to be misunderstood, or impossible to understand, by design. You could say explanation comes as an insult to its eccentricity. The gist of it is that you're a spy completing missions in a surreal, robot-dominated world, the kind you might dream up after dozing off in the middle of a late-night Leslie Nielsen movie marathon. And while the convoluted wordplay wouldn't feel out of place in a Zucker spoof - in Japan, for example, you're asked if you prefer kimonos or kistereos – the barbs of reality are what really make Jazzpunk stick. Take its odd vision of dystopia, which is regularly mocked through one-off minigames (like a first-person shooter dubbed ... Wedding Quake). Here, you can put on a special visor that lets you see and blast nonsensical Wi-Fi passwords as they dance in the air around you. I mean, that's weird, but ... think about it. The concept is kind of weird to begin with, right here on Earth. Taken as a form of escapism, then, Jazzpunk is silly without taking you too far from the truth.
Humble Indie Bundle 13 features Jazzpunk, OlliOlli
Comedy adventure game Jazzpunk and side-scrolling skateboarding sim OlliOlli headline the latest Humble Indie Bundle, with Shadowrun Returns available as an incentive for buyers who pay $12 or more for the package. All bundle buyers receive copies of OlliOlli, 2D exploration game Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, and twitch FPS Tower of Guns. Beat the average purchase price (currently $6.93) and you'll unlock Jazzpunk, survival horror sequel Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and four giftable copies of the 2D action-roguelike Risk of Rain. Humble Bundle's organizers are also offering up Teleglitch: Die More Edition free of charge for Halloween. The Humble Indie Bundle 13 is up for grabs through November 11. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Risk of Rain, Jazzpunk among IndieCade 2014 finalists
Juried game event IndieCade has announced its 2014 finalist picks, revealing a lineup of standout independent works that will be featured at this year's festival in Culver City. Featured picks include recent releases like Jazzpunk, Hack 'n' Slash, Risk of Rain, and Mountain, along with upcoming games such as Elegy for a Dead World, Classroom Aquatic, Hyper Light Drifter, and Never Alone. All finalists will compete for a spot in the Closing Awards ceremony on the event's final day for the Festival Audience, Developer, and Media Choice Awards. IndieCade kicks off this year on October 9, and runs through October 14. [Image: IndieCade]
Joystiq Weekly: Titanfall, Thief review, Twitch Plays Pokemon and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. This week's news of a new Tony Hawk game isn't exactly what we were hoping for, but it can't stop us from digging out our old cartridges and discs to revisit the series that made us mount real-life skateboards for the first time. Without the killer soundtracks and a focus on pulling off special moves that progressively got more insane with each entry, we might never have spent hours trying to learn how to ollie. Or earning fresh headaches from trying to drop into half pipes. Or building ramps out of scraps from the garage so we could grind our faces off on the pavement. Thankfully, a revitalization of childhood injury memories isn't the only thing the Joystiq Weekly has in store - news of a Titanfall bundle, reviews of Thief and Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare and a sociological exploration of Twitch Plays Pokemon are also available for your immediate consumption! Dive into this week's biggest moments in gaming right after the break. [Image: Robomodo]
Jazzpunk review: Doo-wop skidoo bop pow
Jazzpunk occupies a crossbreed universe of 1950s Americana and modern convenience. It's an alternate-history exploration of the Cold War era: The world is occupied and run by machines in a society that appears to be equal parts Russian, Japanese and American. The construction workers are robots. The sushi chefs are robots. The police force is made up of robots. Pretty much everyone is a robot – except for you. In this PC, Mac and Linux adventure, you are a crooked-fingered, human detective who accepts secret missions by popping psychedelic pills. You're a spy in the oddest interpretation of the most romanticized espionage era ever. Buried in Jazzpunk's dissonant settings and puerile puzzles lies a bucket of laughs at the expense of Russians, Americans, islanders, Japanese, Scots, robots and humans – everyone. Nothing is off-limits in Jazzpunk, and everything is funny.
Joystiq Streams: Getting surreal with Jazzpunk [Relive the stream!]
Joystiq Streams needs a break from all the high octane shooting action it's been doing in Titanfall. What better way to unwind from massive bouts of mech violence than with Necrophone Games' deeply strange Jazzpunk? Its heady blend of bizarre humor, pop culture detritus, adventure and weird mini-games has entranced a number of players this month, Joystiq's own Jess Conditt among them. Jess will be streaming Jazzpunk on Joystiq's Twitch channel at 4PM EST. Anthony John Agnello will be hanging out in the chat, feeding your questions directly to Jess. Come talk with us and reveal in Jazzpunk's peculiar glow. [Image: Necrophone Games]
Jazzpunk spoofs cyberpunk in live-action trailer
As an adventure game rife with pop cultural spoofs and slapstick comedy, it makes a certain kind of sense that the latest Jazzpunk trailer would be an extended riff on the 1995 Keanu Reeves "classic" Johnny Mnemonic. In development at Necrophone Games, Jazzpunk is described as "a comedy adventure set in an alternate reality Cold War World, plagued with corporate espionage, CyberCrime, and sentient martinis." Its developers claim that the game is largely based on the spoof comedy films of yesteryear and features open-world exploration. There's no mention of the trailer's ill-fated pocket pigeon, but we're sure that will all be explained when the game makes its February 7 Steam debut. For more details visit the newly-launched Jazzpunk Steam site. It's worth a look for the "Key Features" list alone.
Comedy adventure Jazzpunk out on Feb. 7
Necrophone Games' offbeat espionage-themed adventure game, Jazzpunk, will hit Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms via Steam and as a DRM-free download on February 7, developer Luis Hernandez announced this week. Published by Adult Swim Games, Jazzpunk promises a unique tale set in an alternate Cold War universe, with spoof-styled humor inspired by Zucker brothers films like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Jazzpunk was recently named as a Seumas McNally Grand Prize finalist in this year's Independent Games Festival, competing against the likes of acclaimed indie standouts like The Stanley Parable, Device 6, and Papers, Please. Jazzpunk can be preordered directly from its developer for $15.
