User:Michael peto/sandbox

Plot:
The game is centered around a top-secret espionage agency operating out of an abandoned subway station in late 1950's Japan. The player takes the role of Polyblank, a silent protagonist. The game begins when Polyblank is mailed to the espionage agency in a human-shaped suitcase. He is then given several missions by the head of the organization, all of which begin by ingesting a dose of prescription medicine and which end with the protagonist sitting on a bench in a Zen garden, feeding breadcrumbs to Koi fish. The missions assigned to Polyblank are almost always bizarre and nonsensical, relying heavily on free association and references to older movies and video games. Tasks include degaussing and smuggling pigeons, assassinating cowboys, cross-dressing, killing a pig with a six-string guitar, and photocopying Polyblank's bottom to fool a security scanner.

Gameplay:
Jazzpunk is a single-player, first-person adventure game, focusing on exploration and comedy over puzzle-solving. Each mission has one central objective, but the player is free to explore the game world at their own pace, which is populated with a large number of interactive NPCs, each with their own action or gag. Mini-games, including [mini-golf], a Frogger clone, and a version of Duck Hunt in which the player pelts cardboard ducks with slices of bread from a toaster, also feature prominently in the game's storyline. Jazzpunk is simplistic in its controls, letting the player use the keyboard to move in all directions, jump, cycle through the player's inventory, and interact with highlighted objects, while the mouse allows them to manipulate the camera and look around. The game also features a bonus game mode entitled Wedding Qake, in which players try to shoot AI-controlled enemies with champagne corks in a Quake deathmatch-style contest and the loser of the match is forced to get married.

Development:
In an interview with Kotaku, developers Luis Hernandez and Jess Brouse stated that the game was originally intended to be a serious game with moments of comic relief thrown in, but that the team liked the comic aspects so much that they changed the entire game into a comedy. The game was originally created as a prototype in 2007, running on a standalone engine. The project was then transferred to Torque3D before being transferred to the Unity game engine, on which the final build was created.

Influences:
According to interviews with staff at Necrophone Games, Jazzpunk is a combination of the creators' favourite literature, movies, and music from the spy, cyberpunk, and film noir genres. The game makes many references to older movies, including Blade Runner, Alien, and Evil Dead 2. In early 2014, the authors appeared in an interview conducted by Rock, Paper, Shotgun in which they stated that their idea for a short-form comedy game was partially influenced by the success of the original Portal. During this interview, the staff also mentioned that much of the game's writing was influenced by 1980's cyberpunk literature. The game's unique, cartoony art style was influenced by the work of Saul Bass, Josef Albers, and Gerd Arntz, while the music was composed using audio production methods common in the 1950's and 1960's.  The game's visual elements are also quite similar to Thirty Flights of Loving, whose developer Brendon Chung is thanked in the end credits.

Reception:
Jazzpunk received favourable reviews from critics on launch, earning a 9/10 from Eurogamer, a 7/10 from Destructoid, and a Metacritic score of 78/100.