Indie Games Summer Uprising Day 4: T.E.C. 3001 Review

When the Summer Uprising games were announced, T.E.C. 3001 was the one game that I was immediately drawn to. It had robots, it had style, and it seemed willing to do things a little differently. One of the major problems with XBLIGs is that they often feel like watered down versions of retail games; sure, an arena-based, zombie FPS is amusing for 30 seconds, but why would anyone want to play it when there are a thousand superior games readily available? Well, there aren’t many third-person, 3D platformers where you play as a battery-hungry robot that leaps from one hovering cybernetic path to the next, so I think it’s safe to say that T.E.C. 3001 at least manages to distinguish itself from other Xbox games.

T.E.C. is reminiscent of the special stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 if those stages required actual platforming and happened to take place inside the world of Tron. As I played through the first few levels, it felt as if Phoenix Game Studio had solved many of the pesky problems that plague 3D platformers by putting T.E.C. on rails, using a fixed camera and eliminating exploration. That might somewhat restrict the gameplay, but it also allows it to ramp the speed up to ridiculous levels and create a tightly defined obstacle course for the silver robot: a perilous deathtrap that was crafted by someone who wants to ensure that a certain battery-collecting robot dies a thousand painful deaths.

But before I get into my numerous encounters with the digital reaper (and seriously, why is there no tech reaper in this game?), let me back up and find a way to harness the enthusiasm I had for T.E.C. before it was thoroughly smashed against metal barriers, dropped into endless digital chasms, and, well that’s about it. But those two happened quite frequently.

T.E.C. pits you in the role of a robot (named T.E.C.!), whose primary hobbies include dashing from point A to point B, leaping from one floating roadway to another, sliding beneath low-hanging cliffs made of cybernetic material, and bashing through obstacles that are too weak to bother avoiding. While sprinting through the levels, T.E.C. must collect a certain number of batteries before reaching the finish line. The game initially struck me as a 3D Canabalt game set in futuristic, neon-laden landscapes or at a Daft Punk concert, but after playing a few levels, that description seemed to be selling T.E.C. a little short.

There are a ton of little details that really help bring the cybernetic world to life. The robot animates quite smoothly, and little touches such as its roll when landing from a long jump and its bizarre mechanical creak when jumping help give the otherwise inhumane robot some much-needed character. The environment also impresses with numerous pathways that frequently split and twist before coalescing back into a single path. The branches often run side-by-side or on top of each other, and the multiple routes provide the open feeling of choice. Leaping between each pathway felt natural and empowering and somehow gave me the impression that the robot was able to do whatever it wanted.

Boy was I wrong. While the first few levels taught me the basics of the game and gave me a taste of robot’s speed, the game becomes dastardly malicious faster than Apple can find new things to sell consumers. We’re talking controller-hurling, NES levels of frustration that can only be conquered by astute memorization and precise reflexes. I didn’t mind the deaths so much at first; I’m not the kind of person that needs a merit badge for completing a tutorial (although I’ll gladly accept it). I don’t mind getting my thumbs a little sweaty every once in awhile, but as my feckless attempts piled up, the game’s glaring faults began to glisten like a shiny metallic exoskeleton.

The faster T.E.C. ran (and believe me, the game will force you to move quickly), the more frequently the robot mysteriously fell through the floor while landing from jumps and experienced other clipping issues. Turning was also a major problem at high speeds, so it became apparent that while blazing through the levels was quite fun, avoiding the speed-ups was actually paramount to completing levels. Each level has at least one checkpoint, but their spacing feels completely unbalanced. Some are impossibly far away from each other, while others are snuggled cozily together. The game also has the nasty habit of forcing you to replay an entire level if you finish it without the requisite amount of batteries instead of providing the option of restarting at a checkpoint. I found myself committing robo-suicide if I approached the end without an ample stash of Duracells.

I really wanted to like T.E.C., and for a while, I really did. It definitely puts its best foot forward with its fantastic style and fresh gameplay. Unfortunately, the experience is marred by some poor design choices and an unrelenting difficulty. I’m writing this review having only completed 14 stages, and while I’m confident that I could complete the remaining stages, finishing the final 6 grueling tracks of misery probably wouldn’t skew my opinion. I’d definitely suggest everyone check out the demo, but be warned that someone out there has it in for the poor T.E.C. robot and your controller.

Rating:

T.E.C. 3001 was purchased for 240 MS Points. It is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace

By Mike Wall at August 26, 2011.

About Mike Wall

Mike grew up and lives near Philadelphia and has been intrigued with games ever since his parents preached that they rotted his brain. He studied journalism at Penn State and got his master's degree in secondary education before realizing that not even summers off would make that job palatable. He now works in marketing and is trying to find time to continue writing a book about zombies, aliens, vampires, the end of the world, and a talking cat.