REVIEW : Time Loader (XBOX Series X)
Flazm Games’ Time Loader is a new puzzle platformer about a small time-travelling robot. It’s a game that openly embraces the “arty” label and strives to use every component to convey a tale. Unfortunately, even though the plot is not poorly written, it never progresses. Arty games have been popular in independent circles for a time now, and when a craze lasts long enough, cracks appear. A message is intended to be conveyed through good art. Some kind of moral or deeper theme that is only revealed at the end. However, it’s all too easy to become caught up in that message.
While Time Loader is entertaining, and some of its story moments are effectively implemented, the game’s meaning becomes unclear. I was certain the conclusion would be “you can’t alter the past, so move on.” That occurs, but not in a pleasing way. Time Loader is a tricky game to pin down, with no failure for messed-up puzzles, a truly lovely design, a wonderful soundtrack, and a plot that meanders to a close without engaging. I’m not sure what it’s trying to be, and it ends up being mediocre in the end.
The plot revolves around Adam, a man who aspired to be a baseball player but also had an interest in science. When he was young and playing on top of a treehouse in 1995, he tripped and fell to the ground, losing his legs and his entire goal of ever having that sporting career.
Back in the current day, in 2020, he creates an unnamed robot—which I will refer to as Dum-E from now on because it looks exactly like Dum-E from Iron Man—that flies back in time to 1995 to save him from falling off the tree.
The story is simple, yet the depth of the plot caught us off guard – which was very much appreciated. You get a little instruction on how to control Dum-E, with simple and fluid controls, and then you’re off to the past.
My wife and I noticed the Tamagotchi first, and then our eyes darted for anything else referencing the 1990s, which there was an abundance of. We had a great time looking left and right for any sort of reference, and the game does an excellent job of recreating the 1990s. The game’s ambience was a visual feast, with lovely colours and great animations.
This is enhanced even further by Time Loader’s excellent audio design. There was not a single sound that felt out of place, and many of them just added to the immersion. Simply told, the game boasts some of the best audio designs I’ve ever heard, from the sombre soundtracks that played in the background to the exquisite attention to detail in how the wheels sound while travelling through different surfaces.
The game is divided into three acts and the average gameplay takes about four hours. You receive various improvements throughout the acts, and while you can keep the most of them, some are removed when the game ends. The few dialogue lines in the game are narrated by Dum-AI, E’s who mainly talks about what to do and where to go while adoring Adam.
Everything happens in and around Adam’s residence. Because the robot car is the size of a toy, it is commonly obstructed by simple domestic obstacles such as furniture, books, and boxes. All of these are portrayed in a clean, colourful, and appealing style. Given the period in which the majority of the game takes place, there are several nostalgic touches from the 1980s and 1990s scattered throughout the locations.
A Super Nintendo and an outdated VCR are connected to the Wrights’ CRT television. A boom box, a model of a DeLorean, and Dungeons & Dragons pieces are among the various details visible in the backdrop. It’s a lot of fun seeing the robot search Adam’s room, the living room, the kitchen, a tiny greenhouse, the garage, and other domestic settings from the robot’s microscopic perspective.
With its near-pure tonal motifs, the game reminded me of a mellow version of Blade Runner, in line with the eighties theme.
The score drifts into the background never seem monotonous, and corresponds to the condition of your journey, expressing a more foreboding feeling upon returning to the less-than-perfectly transformed present. The thumps and bumps of moving about the environment are accompanied by the whir of the robot driving along and the hydraulic piston buzzes of its grabber’s arm in motion. The small bot is also extremely conversational, commenting on each mission objective as well as bits of background scenery you encounter.
It makes a wonderful companion during the voyage with its warm, calm, male-sounding voice and cheerful outlook. I even felt sorry for it when it returned to the present to discover the consequences of its intervention.
Time Loader lacks classic adventure puzzles. There are no dialogue trees or inventories to manage, only a few little items that can be grabbed with the grabber claw. Instead, the entire emphasis is on navigating the environment and figuring out how to avoid various obstacles. The bot gets new powers as it travels by discovering accessories such as a screwdriver, capacitors for charging small electrical devices, and a soldering iron.
These can be applied to a few hotspots distributed across the area, which are highlighted by ghostly arrows or brackets when the robot approaches. When the robot is close enough, a quick push of a button causes it to employ the proper tool for the job. If you get too close to a screw, the robot will use its screwdriver to drive it in or pull it out.
The game demonstrates its puzzle components near the conclusion and in the hidden ending, becoming slightly more difficult but not to the point where we considered the game challenging. Time Loader is a lot of fun to play. The way Dum-E moves gave me the impression that it would be clumsy, but it has some of the smoothest controls I’ve ever used.
REVIEW : Formula Retro Racing (XBOX Series X)
