Writings of Mass Deduction

One of the best looking games associated with the Indie Games Summer Uprising was “T.E.C. 3001”. It was also one of the hardest.

The game is a bit like a mash-up of “The Impossible Game” and “Sonic Adventure”, meaning it requires exquisitely timed movements and plays out from a behind-the-character third-person perspective. You run, jump, and slide, and must time it all perfectly… with it all happening at frenetic speeds. This creates interesting gameplay challenges, and more than a few moments where you’ll have to retry levels until you get it right, as level memorisation helps makes up for the tremendous speed and pixel perfect timing the game’s looking for.

But the game’s fantastic presentation goes a long way to making this palatable, because at least it looks and sounds good for each retry. Elements of the gameplay remind me of Commodore 64 classic Trailblazer, and elements of the presentation remind me of the Death Star trench run from Star Wars. 240 Microsoft Points for this experimental, challenging, and enjoyable game.

Here’s what the developer (Phoenix) has to say about the game:

“T.E.C. (Tesla Energy Collector) 3001 is 3D action single player game. You are guiding a robot through a virtual space to collect leftovers of energy for human kind. There are 20 levels and each one of them brings unique challenge to the player. Player will master in guiding a robot (T.E.C.) on level through series of trials and repetitions.”