Teslagrad Review

In a fictional (or perhaps alternative history) eastern european country, scientific advances are watched closely, lest they pose a threat to the regime.

When a young (and nameless) boy's father is caught out by the regime, it forces the man's young son to go on the run, to protect his secrets. What follows is an often tense and challenging side scrolling platform adventure that combines side scrolling action with head scratching puzzle solving and the occasional battle with a boss...

Run comrade run....

We seem to have seen a return of old style gaming (dare we say retro?) as of late. With this title and others such as Cobalt (review to come, promise) it's seems some developers are happy to bring us new titles that contain elements from the past, and there's nothing wrong with that.

It makes a nice change of pace from all of our third person, or first person shooters, RPG's and the like. And if the latter games exercise our trigger fingers or perhaps driving skills these old style games, test our reflexes and our brain cells. Again, that's no bad thing all in all.

Anyway our hero (who I shall, for some reason, now call Alex) is on the run, chased by burly guards who's very touch is enough to send you back to the start of the level, so you'd better be quick and time your jumps and climbing to the absolute limit or else.

He guards his father's secrets and before long, Alex discovers a gauntlet that enables him to manipulate electricity and magnetic fields. Eventually this will be added to by a pair of boots that enable Alex to teleport short distances and a weapon that fires well, electricity, what else?

It's all about a combination of electricity, magnetism and reflexes. So get to it...

Survival is a tricky business...

It surely is, and this is perhaps it's first obvious challenging factor and for some it could be counted as it's first drawback. If you think of it that way, it will prove to be a major drawback.

There is no checkpoint saves here, if you die, it's back to the start of the current level with all puzzles reset and so with gritted teeth you will have to negotiate the timing of the jumps, and pushes, and climbing, etc to avoid what seems at times, to be certain death.

It's challenging and often frustrating but there comes that feeling of achievement when you finally conquer a puzzle or evade an enemy, or send a boss packing with it's tail tucked between it's legs, but the times you have to die and restart going from point A to point B... well some of you may think it's not worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

It's not quite Dark Souls but it's no walk in the park either. 

Controls, presentation and what not.

The main character and his opponents are presented in an almost cartoon style that stops short of having cel shading. But the animation is smooth and the presentation pleasing to the eye. Nice lighting effects are on offer and as our hero makes his way through various environments it's all pleasant enough to look at with no harsh colours and nothing to assault the senses.

I particularly like the clock tower, with it's stained glass windows and sunlight coming through it, it's a nice splash of colour in the fairly shadowy and gloomy setting at the start. You will encounter a forest and... I'll let you discover the rest for yourself.

Controls are fluid and responsive and so if you fail you cannot blame the controller, you can only lay the blame at your own feet for not timing it all correctly. There is no condescending voice over tutorial, which is nice, and guidance comes from chalk drawn diagrams on the walls, that although a bit cryptic, tell you what buttons should be pressed. Nice style, I like it.

However...

It's all about timing obviously, but it's learning curve is steep, some may say too steep. The lack of checkpoint saves is an issue, and at the risk of repeating myself, you will be sent back to the start of the level if you die.

This can be annoying and soon you may well be gritting your teeth and trying hard not to launch the controller across the room!

It's been said it can be completed in about 5-6 hours, but with all the dying and restarting levels, it's taken me longer than that and I confess, I have not actually completed it. I have had to play 'catch up' with reviews so I have not seen this through to the end, but I shall be returning to it.

It's tricky but it's got it's hooks into me and as said, the feeling of satisfaction you will get from beating a level is one that can make you punch the air in delight. 

I will say that the boss levels don't seem necessary, and may appear to be bolted on as an unwanted extra for some folks. To me, I just wanted to get them out of the way and get back to the main adventure. You have been advised, it might pay to approach this one with some trepidation. Try before you buy if you can.

Thanks Xbox for the review code.