Developer: Bulkhead Interactive
Publisher: SQUARE ENIX LTD
Platform: PC, Xbox One
Tested on: PC
The Turing Test – Review
Square Enix is at it again, bringing us another amazing indie game. Paired with developers Bulkhead Interactive, we are brought The Turing Test, a first person puzzler that is an interesting and challenging take on Alan Turing’s Turing Test, a test devised in the 1950’s as a means of deciding whether an artificial intelligence can pass for a human. At first glance at its gameplay you’ll be reminded of the Portal series, but this serious sci-fi adventure is in a world of its own.
Story
You play through the game as engineer Ava Turing, who has been sent by the International Space Agency (or ISA) to locate the ground crew on Jupiter’s moon Europa, who have disappeared with no explanation. Partnered with the stations AI, TOM, you journey to locate the missing crew and discover the ground base is locked away behind a series of puzzles that TOM informs you are a special tests, designed to be solved using creative thinking, which he as an AI cannot solve. Armed with your EMT (Energy Manipulation Tool) You will make your way through the puzzles, constantly questioning motives behind actions (or lack there of) the missing crew have made. TOM has an answer for every curiosity, and as he informs you of the presumed situation your crew mates are in you feel as if something else may have been at hand. With the each testing area more and more dialog between Ava and TOm will have you wondering if you really can trust the AI’s intentions. And considering the missing ground team had themselves sealed away behind tests that TOM couldn’t solve, his presence feels like cause for alarm.
The overall flow of this tale is consistent and interesting, with the gameplay adding little treasure troves of information to uncover on your quest to understand what went wrong on Europa. This game plays very well on the timeless man vs machine debate.
Graphics
The Turing Test’s 3D graphics are well polished, and the view of space and Europa at the beginning of the game is beautiful. Developed with Unreal Engine 4, this game is delivered in such a beautiful way that even the bland warehouse style puzzle rooms are good to look at. The character and object movement is smooth with no complaints. The added little glare that accompanies orb retrieval is a nice touch, and there is no inconsistencies with the the neon lighting that is placed in each room. All in all, it’s very well done and never distracts from the gameplay.
Sound
The music in The Turing Test is beautiful. The music that plays while you sort your way through the series of test has a suspenseful feel to it, and never distracts or over takes the game experience. The music style feels perfect for a sci-fi game. This music is accompanied by piano tracks that strike a cord and make you feel a little sad, hinting at the feelings provoked by subject of your journey. The voice acting is done well, with the only complaint being the voice acting in the audio logs you will find on computers throughout the station. These recordings contain a lost crew member speaking and Tom talking to them as he records. The crew member voices sound like your typical recording, but Toms voice in reply sounds much louder and clearer, like it was just slapped on top.
Gameplay
The Turning Test is a first person puzzle adventure, and the gameplay is captivating and challenging. It’s obvious to see that alot of thought went into the puzzles. You’ll find yourself moving with ease throughout the smaller puzzles, consisting of powering doors or bridges by placing powered cubes into slots, or by using your EMT to remove an orb from one spot and place it in the slot. As you’re feeling rather smart and confident that you’ve got this all solved, it will throw out an intense puzzle with multiple steps that will really have you thinking. The control scheme is simple and straight forward – you retrieve an orb from its slot with a right click, and place it in a slot with a left click. You pick up and place the powered cubes with one button. While holding these cubes you cannot climb ladders, which make puzzles more interesting with you having to use alternate methods to get the cubes closer to where you need them. There are also force fields that you cannot pass through while holding a cube or orb. Each test area has 10 different puzzles, and the time you spend solving them relies half on the difficulty curve and half on how well you’ve learned the game mechanics. You may get through one area with a manner of seconds, or you may spend several minutes on one spot.
After each set of puzzles, you will find yourself in an area that unlocks more of the plot. These areas contain snippets of information in the form of audio logs and journals, and will add more to the story.
There is an extra side room in each area with puzzles that are slightly different to the puzzles in the normal areas. These puzzles require some quick creative thinking to progress to the next secret area within them , that unlock little extra bits of your story. These areas are well worth solving for the experience.
You will be reminded of the Portal series from the get go. From the way your gun works, to the level design, this all has the same sort of feel. However The Turning Test’s story is so different from the Portal series that it really stands out on its own. It has a more serious tone so therefore it lacks the humorous banter that Portal contains, which in no way makes for a bad game. It’s what separates these two games and although they share a genre, it’s rather unfair to compare them.
The loading screens between areas can seem a little lengthy, and may be bothersome to some people. They can feel a little like they are disrupting your puzzle solving flow, but they are in no way a game ruining obstacle.
Conclusion
The Turing Test is a fantastic first person puzzle game that will have you thinking outside the box in order to solve its interesting and well designed puzzles. On first glance it seemed like a Portal clone, but after delving more and more into the intriguing story, which plays upon the Human vs AI debate in such an enthralling way. The puzzles will have you frustrated as you realize that the way to go all along was the way you had already been 5 times over. There were a few flaws and bugs along the journey but they in no way ruin this awesome game experience. The more we play this game the more it’s clear to see that Bulkhead Interactive have truly created a gem.
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[…] Enix Collective and Bulkhead Interactive previously worked on The Turing Test, which is a celebrated puzzler. To catch a glimpse of what they’ve created now you can watch […]
[…] We reviewed the PC version of The Turing Test before, which you can check out here. […]
[…] If you’re curious what we thought of the game, you could check out the review we did of the PC version of The Turing Test. […]