Bonsoir, amis. Novembers are usually marked alternately with tryptophan-induced slumbers and chaotic consumerism, though for us video game types on Giant Bomb it's more about cramming in as many current-year releases as possible before GOTY podcast season rolls around (what the normies call "the Holidays") and with it the requisite torrent of spoilers and arguments. While I have certainly begun to accelerate that process at home, I can't help but look to a little Source engine game called Jazztronauts for the occasional kleptomaniac reprieve.
Jazztronauts, you might recall from a semi-recent Unprofessional Fridays, is a game mode that runs in Garry's Mod that draws from the wonderful world of fan-created levels for its content. The goal is to travel by extradimensional tram to one of these user levels, steal everything that isn't nailed down, and then steal everything that is nailed down. And then steal the nails. You're specifically looking for rainbow-colored "shards" that are randomly distributed across these maps, but the capital you earn from fencing everything from barrels to wall decals can still be used to purchase new tools and abilities from the game's sole vendor: the Bartender. Speaking of whom, let's introduce the game's ca(t)st:
Bar Samsara and the Catburglars
With that out of the way, it's time to start casing some joints:
Larcenology 101
Heist the First: Lucrative Lucasfilm Lootage
You ever see that Solo: A Star Wars Story heist movie? This is like that, but good.
Now that we've covered the basics of the game and ripped off The Mouse (kind of a weird coincidence that both Mickey and Half-Life are celebrating some major anniversaries this week), I think we can wrap this introductory episode to a successful close. Later entries will focus on completing side-objectives the other Jazztronauts have given us, and more goodhearted mockery of the hard work GMod's various users have put into their elaborate worlds.
As @gamer_152 said in his wonderful piece on the game, for all its irreverence Jazztronauts feels like a paean to the creativity of the GMod crowd, as well as a nostalgic trip to a period of gaming history when custom Half-Life and Counter-Strike maps were everywhere, following the explosion of downloadable Doom .wads that caused our 28.8k modems to melt. As for me, I'm hoping to share the best and/or dumbest maps I come across in my destructive criminal spree and maybe see what happens when I get these insane kitties all the garbage they keep requesting. Stay tuned for another heist update tomorrow, and then sporadically throughout the remainder of the month.