Science-Fiction Weekly – The Turing Test, Livelock, The Final Station

If you love Portal, you need to play The Turing Test. I don't often like to compare games to others, but the similarities between Portal and The Turing Test are too much to deny. Almost every Game Informer staffer that entered my office as I was playing The Turing Test, said something along the lines of "this looks like Portal."

At its core, The Turing Test is a first-person experience that follows a female protagonist through testing chambers in which she solves puzzles by either using an energy weapon or moving power cubes, as an A.I. voice provides insight into the world. Yes, that sounds like Portal, but the gameplay is different, and the game's overall message is, well, wow. I was blown away by its twists, turns, and ending. And no, it has nothing to do with cake.

Most of the puzzles revolve around energy redistribution to open doors and make contraptions work. The gun you carry never once causes harm, but is instead used to store energy that can be shot into inactive power supplies. As the game unfolds, different energy colors (which hold different properties) are sewn into the puzzles. A few gameplay twists are tied to the narrative that I won't go into for the sake of spoilers, but they add another satisfying layer of difficulty to the puzzles. Of the 70-plus puzzle rooms in the game, I enjoyed most of them. A few of the solutions are clearly telegraphed, almost acting as tutorials, but most rooms bring a serious challenge, and those moments where you stand still in place just to think through how the energy should be distributed.

The Turing Test's story is also good. It gets a little heavy-handed (and long) in its setup, but once its concept is fully established, it rolls along beautifully and is something that makes you think about the advancements of technology and the dangers they possess. For those not in the know, the Turing Test is a test developed by Alan Turing in 1950 to see if a machine's logic could be believed as human. The game dives deeply into this idea, and applies a nice science-fiction spin to it. Play this game, mostly because it's good, but also because we should have a conversation about its story and conclusion. The video below is the first 30-minutes of The Turing Test.

If you enjoy punching things in video games, you may want to give Livelock a look as well. I've vested a couple of hours into this cooperative top-down action game from Tuque Games, and I'm having a good time punching the scrap out of robots. My character, Vanguard, doesn't have hands. He instead has two giant rounded gauntlets, much like Rumble from Transformers. Waves of enemy robots approach, and they are all smashed to bits. The environment also takes a beating; cars go flying and walls crumble.

Up to three people can play together online, and yes, there are three different classes to create a nice team dynamic. Hex handles long range duties, Catalyst unleashes drone minions, and Vanguard is of course the tank. The action is fast and chaotic, and the levels have a nice flow to them, focusing more on linear pathing than exploring maze-like dungeons. I also like that you don't have to pause the game for upgrades or loot analysis. All of that is handled post level. Livelock is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Just go into it knowing it constantly bangs the drum of a ridiculous story about the end of days, and mankind loading their minds into robots to survive extinction.

All sci-fi video games that released last week are apparently good, and they couldn't be much different from one another. Next up is The Final Station by tinyBuild. This side-scrolling action game gives us a fascinating look at mankind's first contact with aliens...or in this game's case, the second. Seen through the eyes of a train engineer, we learn of a "second visitation," but we're intentionally left in the dark as to who is visiting or why. We learn these things as the train moves from town to town. The pacing in this reveal is deliberately slow, but excellent for world-building and atmosphere. Nothing really happens for over the span of the first half hour, but the intrigue is boiling over, and ends up being a great driving force.

I won't go into what happens (and you should avoid the trailer below if you want to go in with the mystery intact, as I did), but The Final Station is divided into two gameplay experiences: on train and on foot. The train you are driving is in rough shape and needs to be maintained. The passengers are sometimes equally as banged up and need your help. These needs are handled through simple gameplay actions. Keeping the train's engine cool, requires a few knobs to be turned. A hungry passenger simply needs food be brought to him. There isn't a lot of gameplay in this section, but it is still a cool part of the game that is used as a vehicle for storytelling. It also strengthens the on-foot sections, as you'll need to secure the supplies needed to take care of your passengers.

When you're in town, the game takes on a survival quality. Bullets are often in short supply, but things need to be killed in order for you to proceed. You can try to punch your way through the threats, but again, you are best off scouring the environment for supplies and ammo. The towns are also loaded with people to interact with. Some of them become your passengers. Most simply offer more interesting context for the state of the world.

It's a fascinating little game. I'm not in love with the combat so far, but it gets the job done against the threats I'm facing thus far. I mostly want to see where this mystery goes, and if my little train will make it to the end of the track. If you want to check out all three of these titles (and I recommend you do), start with The Turing Test, move to The Final Station next, and end with Livelock (which is the only multiplayer title in the bunch).

Outside of games, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story marketing and merchandise will soon be everywhere you look. I'm hearing stores should start carrying product on September 30 (Force Friday). Hasbro has slowly been revealing its action figure assortments over the last month or two, but Pyramid International just decided to throw all of it stuff into one giant catalog. I highly recommend you flip through it to see a bevy of new art from the film – most of it is awesome. I've included a couple of images below for your viewing pleasure. Gotta love that classic trilogy look!

Update!
I should also point out that The Tomorrow Children launched on PlayStation 4 today. I've logged about 45 minutes into this free-to-play town-building title, and couldn't be more confused at this point. After a simplistic tutorial, in which I was asked to use a pick axe to create a passageway leading to gold, I was thrown into a bustling town, and found myself doing various tasks to raise its economy. The cool thing, I wasn't the only player doing this. Other players helped out. I found myself running on a treadmill to produce energy, mounting a cannon to shoot a Godzilla-like beast that was getting too close for comfort, and spent far too long ringing a bell for whatever reason. I like the look of the game, and would love a great town-building experience on console, but again, I have no idea how to get my own town going at this point. I love the vision of the future this game projects (which takes place after a failed experiment in 1960s Russia), but the gameplay I've engaged is making me feel like a drone, and perhaps that's part of the point of The Tomorrow Children.

Regardless, I'll hopefully have more on this bizarre title next Tuesday in another edition of Science-Fiction Weekly. Hope you're all having a fun day!