Review of Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure by Niclas

Overall, I’m very happy with the game. It feels like seeing an old friend again playing as Tex. Some good story, acting, music, puzzles, and interesting locations make this a very likable Tex Adventure experience. The only thing that I did not like was that the inventory/detective puzzles were way to easy. They were actually pretty well done and integrated into the environment, but you are given way too many hints on how to solve them, even when playing Gamer mode. Tex basically spells out the solution for you most of the times, which takes away all the fun and thought process that could have been. I was OK that Tex gave a proper explanation and guidelines for the Stand Alone/Isolated puzzles in the game. That is totally OK with me, since I’m not a big fan of guessing the logic for these kind of puzzles. There were also too many hidden object hunts that did not make sense and felt forced. A few of them would have been OK, but not for 6 instances (collecting 9 cards, 7 symbols, 7 letters, 7 puzzle pieces, 5 ladder pieces, etc). Some of them were actually fun, since it lets you explore the beautiful environment while doing some detective work (I loved walking around with the flashlight in the dark), but most of them feel forced and only exist to make the gaming experience longer. The last puzzle is also timed. Why??!! I thought we were over stuff like that these days of Adventure Games. I’m debating if I should give it 4 or 4.5 stars, but it will be 4 stars, solely based on the puzzles being too easy to solve from to much hints from Tex (even on Gamer mode), a little too many hidden object hunts, and a timed puzzle in the end. However from a gameplay and story perspective, Tesla Effect is on par with Pandora Directive and Overseer, which I rate as 5 and a 4.5 in my previous reviews.

Overall great story that will keep you coming for more, “good” hammie acting, interesting locations to explore, well integrated inventory puzzles (most of the time). In other words a awesome Tex game. Keep em coming.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours
Difficulty: Just Right