Seite - 185 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 03/01
Bild der Seite - 185 -
Text der Seite - 185 -
Review: The Turing Test |
185www.jrfm.eu
2017, 3/1, 185â190
Frank G. Bosman
Game Review
The Turing Test (Bulkhead Interactive)
Action-Adventure, UK 2016
The Turing Test is a first-person puzzle game developed by Bulkhead Interactive
and published by square enix in 2016. the developers of The Turing Test previ-
ously also made the game Pneuma. Breath of Life (2015), which uses the same
game mechanics. from a ludological perspective, The Turing Test closely resem-
bles other games in its genre, such as The Talos Principle (2014) and the Portal
series (2007, 2011). The player has to navigate through different levels that have
been divided into sections. A save point is created between sections. in each
section, the player has to navigate through a maze-like room in a moon base,
and does so by manipulating energy balls, levers, and gravitation machines and
by clever logical thinking. As in the case of Portal and Talos, some of the more
difficult challenges can only be overcome by out-of-the-box thinking, using the
game mechanics in new ways. the suggestion is that using these tricks amounts
to âcheatingâ, but in fact the creators specifically designed them to be used.
the learning slope accommodates an easy pace, with new game mechan-
ics introduced in an easy-to-learn manner. Player death does not occur in the
game (with one possible exception). And while it is possible to restart a level
at any time, to do so will only reset the puzzle; players do not do restart a level
because they have died or become stuck in an insoluble situation. Ludologically,
the game becomes quite repetitive, especially in its second part, but the deep
narrative prevents the player from quitting before the very end.
THE TuRING TEST: the stOry
the player controls Ava turing (whatâs in a name?), a female scientist onboard
the space station fortune, which is orbiting Jupiterâs moon europa in the year
2250. When contact with the ground crew is lost, Ava is awoken from cryostasis
by Tom, the shipâs Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Tom sends her to the moon to in-
vestigate what has happened to her colleagues, who have apparently cut off all
contact with tom on the fortune. When he is in the base on europa, tom (who
âtravelsâ with Ava and stays in contact with her through the radio) observes that
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Band 03/01
- Titel
- JRFM
- Untertitel
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Band
- 03/01
- Autoren
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Herausgeber
- Uni-Graz
- Verlag
- SchĂŒren Verlag GmbH
- Ort
- Graz
- Datum
- 2017
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Seiten
- 214
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften JRFM